National & World Headlines
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The House has approved the debt ceiling and budget cuts package, sending it to the Senate. President Joe Biden negotiated the deal with Speaker Kevin McCarthy to avert a U.S. default crisis. They worked to assemble a coalition of centrist Democrats and Republicans to push it to approval over blowback from conservatives and some progressives. The U.S. was facing a potentially disastrous default in less than a week if Congress failed to act. Despite deep disappointment from hard-right Republicans that budget cuts don't go far enough, it was approved on a bipartisan House vote with Democrats. The Senate is expected to act quickly by the end of the week.
May 31, 2023 -
The Air Force has announced the permanent location for many more U.S. Space Force units — and none of them are in Huntsville, Alabama. This suggests the service may be moving ahead with at least part of the design it originally sought for the new force before it became entangled in politics. Four more Space Force missions will now be based in Colorado Springs, a notable choice during a larger and now politicized battle over where to locate the permanent headquarters of U.S. Space Command. Colorado Springs, which is housing Space Command’s temporary headquarters, was the Air Force’s preferred location. But Donald Trump, in the final days of his presidency, selected Alabama instead.
May 31, 2023 -
NASA is publicly addressing the subject of UFOs a year after launching a study into unexplained sightings. And it insists it's not hiding anything. The space agency televised Wednesday's four-hour meeting featuring an independent panel of experts. The team includes 16 scientists and other experts selected by NASA including retired astronaut Scott Kelly, the first American to spend nearly a year in space. NASA says several committee members have been subjected to online harassment for serving on the team. They say that detracts from the scientific process. A final report is expected by the end of July.
May 31, 2023 -
The head of the U.S. Border Patrol says he's retiring. Chief Raul Ortiz has seen through a major policy shift seeking to clamp down on illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border following the end of Title 42 coronavirus pandemic restrictions. Ortiz said Tuesday in a note to staff obtained by The Associated Press he'll leave June 30. It’s unclear who'll replace Ortiz. Ortiz says he leaves “at ease,” knowing Border Patrol has “a tremendous uniformed and professional workforce” and "outstanding leaders." The border has not seen the high numbers of crossings or chaos anticipated by even President Joe Biden with the end of the Title 42 restrictions. And the number of crossings has dropped.
May 31, 2023 -
Even with new spending restraints included in the congressional debt limit deal, the U.S. government’s deficits are still on course to keep climbing to record levels over the next few decades. The projections are a sign that the two-year truce between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy might be only a pause before a far more wrenching set of showdowns over the federal budget. Why will the debt likely keep rising? It is due to the growing costs of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says. But both Biden and McCarthy ruled out any Social Security and Medicare cuts before this round of budget negotiations really got going.
May 30, 2023 -
The debt ceiling deal has come with just days to spare before a potential first-ever government default. On Sunday, President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached a final agreement and they are urging Congress to quickly pass it. Biden pronounced the development “good news” in remarks at the White House announcing the agreement. This followed a tentative compromise announced late Saturday. The deal risks angering some Democratic and Republican lawmakers as they begin to unpack the concessions, which include spending cuts. McCarthy and Biden spoke Sunday evening as negotiators drafted legislative text. They face a June 5 deadline when Treasury says the U.S. would risk a debt default.
May 28, 2023 -
Vice President Kamala Harris has become the first woman to deliver a commencement speech at West Point. In her address, the vice president lauded graduating cadets for their noble sacrifice in serving their country. But she noted an “unsettled world” because of Russian aggression and the rising threats that China poses. Some 950 men and women took part in the graduation ceremony. While Harris visits West Point, New York, President Joe Biden heads to Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Thursday to dole out advice to graduates at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Earlier this month, the president was the commencement orator at Howard University, his vice president’s alma mater.
May 27, 2023 -
An upbeat President Joe Biden says a deal to resolve the government’s debt ceiling crisis seems “very close." He spoke late Friday, shortly after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen pushed the deadline for a potentially catastrophic default back to June 5. That announcement seemed likely to drag negotiations between the White House and Republicans into another frustrating week. House Republicans led by Speaker Kevin McCarthy spent the day negotiating by phone and computers with the White House. One Republican negotiator, Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, called Biden’s comments “a hopeful sign” but also cautioned that there’s still “sticky points” impeding a final agreement.
May 26, 2023 -
The Air Force fighter pilot tapped to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff got his call sign by ejecting from a burning F-16 fighter jet high above the Florida Everglades and falling into the watery sludge below. It was January 1991, and then-Capt. CQ Brown Jr. had just enough time in his parachute above alligator-full wetlands. He landed in the muck, which coated his body. That's how the man nominated to be the country’s next top military officer got his call sign: “Swamp Thing.” President Joe Biden announced he was nominating Brown for the chairman's job during a Rose Garden event on Thursday.
May 25, 2023 -
Many residents of Guam are without power and utilities after Typhoon Mawar tore through the remote U.S. Pacific territory and ripped roofs off homes, flipped vehicles and shredded trees. The governor's office says there were minor injuries reported but no fatalities. She declared the “all clear” Thursday evening. The typhoon is the strongest to hit the territory of roughly 150,000 people since 2002. It briefly made landfall Wednesday night as a Category 4 storm. The island’s international airport flooded and the swirling typhoon churned up a storm surge and waves that crashed through coastal reefs and flooded homes. An island meteorologist said Thursday that “what used to be a jungle looks like toothpicks.”
May 25, 2023 -
Powerful Typhoon Mawar has smashed the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, lashing the island with wind and rain, tearing down trees, walls and power lines, flipping cars and pushing a dangerous storm surge ashore. The typhoon is the strongest to hit the territory of roughly 150,000 people since 2002. It briefly made landfall Wednesday night as a Category 4 storm, according to the National Weather Service. Videos posted on social media showed fallen trees, a flipped pickup truck, solar panels flying through the air, and storm surge and waves crashing through coastal reefs. An island meteorologist says the aftermath “looks like toothpicks.”
May 24, 2023 -
House Republicans passed a resolution on Wednesday that would overturn President Joe Biden’s student loan cancellation plan, but the measure faces an uncertain path in the Senate, and the White House has vowed to veto it. It adds to the GOP’s ongoing attack on Biden’s one-time student loan cancellation, which was halted in November in response to lawsuits from conservative opponents. The Supreme Court is now weighing the plan after hearing arguments in February. Biden’s plan would cancel up to $20,000 in federal student loans for 43 million Americans. About 26 million had applied for the relief before federal courts intervened.
May 24, 2023 -
There's a new leader at America's National Archives. President Joe Biden’s nominee to head the Archives was confirmed Wednesday after a partisan battle over the agency’s role in the investigation into sensitive documents seized at Donald Trump’s Florida home. The Senate confirmed Colleen Shogan as archivist in a 52-45 vote. Republicans mostly opposed her nomination and sought to portray the National Archives as weaponized against Trump. Shogan stressed that she has not been involved in the ongoing investigations into Trump’s handling of presidential records and promised she won't bring a partisan mindset to the job.
May 10, 2023 -
In today's Federal Newscast: The Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee has a hankering to hold Secretary of State Blinken in contempt of Congress. Ground forces: check. But GAO said the readiness of U.S. sea forces has declined. And HUD employee attrition blamed on a dearth of telework opportunities.
May 09, 2023 -
President Joe Biden is expected to announce Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr. to serve as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Brown is a history-making fighter pilot with years of experience in shaping U.S. defenses to meet China's rise. If confirmed by the Senate, Brown would replace the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Mark Milley, whose term ends in October. It would be the first time that both the Pentagon’s top military and civilian positions were held by African Americans. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is the Pentagon’s current top civilian.
May 05, 2023