Categories Uncategorized

Judge tosses Sidney Powell's countersuit against Dominion Voting Systems

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday agreed to dismiss a lawsuit that pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell filed against Dominion Voting Systems as the voting machine company pursues a $1.3 billion defamation claim against her.

In a three-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols granted Dominion’s request to toss the case after finding Powell failed to show that Dominion’s defamation suit against her constituted an abuse of justice.

“Powell’s complaint fails to link her abuse-of-process claim to any act that Dominion has taken other than filing and pursuing its lawsuit,” wrote Nichols, who was appointed to the federal district court in D.C. by former President Trump. “She has thus failed to state a claim for abuse of process.”

Attorneys for Dominion and Powell did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The ruling Wednesday comes after Nichols tossed a similar countersuit brought by MyPillow and its CEO, Mike Lindell, against Dominion and voting machine supplier Smartmatic. Last year, Nichols also rejected requests by Powell, Lindell and Rudolph Giuliani to dismiss the defamation suits against them.

Dominion’s lawsuit stems from allegedly defamatory statements the Trump-allied defendants made about the voting machine company as they helped lead the former president’s failed effort to thwart U.S. democracy by giving Trump a second White House term despite losing the 2020 election.

Updated at 12:42 p.m.

Source: TEST FEED1

US embassy in Russia tells Americans to leave the country

The U.S. embassy in Russia is urging any Americans in the country to leave and for U.S. citizens to not travel to Russia as Russian President Vladimir Putin orders a call up of 300,000 reservists to aid depleted forces in Ukraine. 

The embassy said in a statement that Russia may prevent U.S. citizens from leaving the country and conscript dual nationals into military service. 

This developing report will be updated.

Source: TEST FEED1

The Hill's Morning Report — Hurricane Ian roars into Florida

​​🌀 Hurricane Ian is poised to strike Florida’s Gulf Coast with winds that could initially measure 140 mph as it makes landfall across a broad swath of the state this afternoon with severe conditions lasting into Thursday, followed by tropical storm conditions on Friday, according to forecasts of the Category 4 monster approaching slowly this morning at about 10 mph. 

After leaving Cuba in the dark after lashing the island on Tuesday, what could be a history-making and destructive direct hit encouraged Floridians to board up, fill sandbags, locate shelters and heed official warnings to relocate out of the storm’s path.

“Ian is forecast to approach the west coast of Florida as an extremely dangerous major hurricane,” the National Hurricane Center said.

The Hurricane Center’s 5 a.m. ET forecast noted the storm’s forward motion is expected to slow today after landfall, “followed by a turn toward the north on Thursday. On the forecast track, the center of Ian is expected to approach the west coast of Florida within the hurricane warning area this morning and move onshore later today. The center of Ian is forecast to move over central Florida tonight and Thursday morning and emerge over the western Atlantic by late Thursday.”

The storm shifted its direction slightly and was reported at 5 a.m. to be about 75 miles west-southwest of Naples. The cities and towns up and down the state’s heavily populated white sandy coastline have been preparing for what could be as much as 15 feet of storm surge and flooding. Between the wind and water, the National Hurricane Center warned that “locations may be uninhabitable for weeks or months” (The Washington Post).

The hurricane has rearranged airline and cruise schedules, closed Disney World and supermarkets, disrupted businesses and placed hospital personnel on high alert. It is not expected to affect gasoline supplies or gas prices (CNN).

▪ The Hill: Why Hurricane Ian poses a unique threat to Tampa Bay.

▪ The Hill: Florida prepares for Hurricane Ian’s wrath.

President Biden and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida on Tuesday admonished residents to heed official directions to evacuate or voluntarily take shelter inland, instructions affecting millions of people. The two men spoke on Tuesday night and pledged “continued close cooperation,” the White House said on Twitter.

The president described federal prepositioning of emergency response teams and supplies in coordination with the governor, local officials and law enforcement throughout the Sunshine State.

“Citizens in the potential impact area should obey the instructions of local officials. Evacuate when ordered,” Biden said after speaking by phone with the mayors of Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater in the state. “Safety is more important than anything.”

As previous presidents and governors learned, major hurricanes challenge emergency management and coordination, can cause tragic loss of life and property, and render political verdicts among elected leaders from the White House on down. 

DeSantis on Tuesday delivered regular televised updates to the public about everything from suspension of highway tolls to the number of shelters accepting pets (WFLA News Channel 8). He said 5,000 National Guard were activated from Florida plus 2,000 from neighboring states. Search and rescue teams and helicopter evacuation crews were activated, if needed, he added.

Hurricane Andrew in Florida in 1992, Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and Texas in 2005, and Hurricane Sandy along northeastern coastal states in 2012 are reminders that rapid and effective emergency response — and greater clarity about who is in charge — has evolved in law and practice as deadly and increasingly costly weather events occur with greater frequency. 

Related Articles

▪ The Hill’s Niall Stanage: DeSantis faces a make-or-break moment with hurricane response.

▪ Vanity Fair: DeSantis: The making and remaking (and remaking) of a MAGA heir.

▪ CNN: How former President Trump and DeSantis are already splitting the conservative movement.  

▪ Time: How Democrats gave DeSantis a pass.

LEADING THE DAY

➤ CONGRESS  

As the public’s focus zeroes in on Florida, the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attacks postponed a public hearing scheduled this afternoon. A new date was not announced (The Hill).

“In light of Hurricane Ian bearing down on parts of Florida, we have decided to postpone tomorrow’s proceedings,” committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Vice Chairwoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said in a Tuesday statement. The Select Committee’s investigation goes forward and we will soon announce a date for the postponed proceedings.”

Members of the panel remain tight-lipped about what they were planning on discussing during Wednesday’s hearing, but many acknowledged the difficulties of compiling the sheer amount of information the committee has gathered (The Hill).

The New York Times: House Jan. 6 panel faces key decisions as it wraps up work.

Meanwhile, senators overwhelmingly voted to advance Majority Leader Charles Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) comprehensive stopgap spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. The shell of the bill, which passed a test vote 72-23, will proceed through both chambers ahead of the Friday funding deadline (The Hill). 

The vote comes after Schumer announced the removal of Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) permitting reform language from the bill (The Hill). Manchin’s bill, which faced criticism from both sides of the aisle, looked to jeopardize the whole spending package.

“It is unfortunate that members of the United States Senate are allowing politics to put the energy security of our nation at risk,” Manchin said in a Tuesday statement. “The last several months, we have seen firsthand the destruction that is possible as Vladimir Putin continues to weaponize energy. A failed vote on something as critical as comprehensive permitting reform only serves to embolden leaders like Putin who wish to see America fail.”

As The Hill’s Alexander Bolton writes, Senate Republicans worked to defeat Manchin’s permitting reform bill “in a show of political payback” after he supported the Democrats’ tax and climate legislation earlier this summer. Some see the move as proof that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is looking ahead to 2024, when Manchin will be up for reelection, and did not want to give the West Virginia Democrat a big win in his Republican-leaning state.

▪ Politico: Manchin folds on his energy plan amid GOP stonewall.

▪ Bloomberg News: Manchin pulls energy permitting plan from government funding bill.

▪ Roll Call: Manchin relents, asks Schumer to drop permitting language.

▪ Vox: The unlikely allies who sank Manchin’s energy deal.

▪ The Hill: White House hits GOP over removal of Manchin permitting reform.

McConnell on Tuesday also announced his support of the Senate’s Electoral Count Reform Act, which aims to protect future elections by making changes to the 1887 Electoral Count Act. The bill, introduced by Manchin and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), would make it more difficult to challenge the outcome of a presidential election (The Hill).

“I strongly support the Collins legislation as introduced, and assuming that we make no changes here today, or at the most technical changes, I’ll be proud to vote for it and to help advance it,” McConnell said in a floor speech.

In supporting the bill, McConnell breaks ties with former President Trump, who has pressed Republicans to vote against it. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) opposed the version of the legislation that his chamber approved last week (The Washington Post).

House Democrats on Tuesday introduced a long-awaited bill that would bar members of Congress, federal judges, Supreme Court justices, the president and others from trading stocks and attempt to crack down on conflicts of interest throughout the government.

The bill — introduced by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) — follows a growing push to ban lawmakers from trading stocks, “amid reports that members have violated laws meant to prevent conflicts of interests involving financial transactions” (The Hill).

The New York Times: Despite their influence and extensive access to information, members of Congress can buy and sell stocks with few restrictions.

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

➤ POLITICS & INVESTIGATIONS

North Carolina Democrats believe their state’s hotly contested Senate race offers the party one of its best shots at flipping a GOP-held seat in November, The Hill’s Max Greenwood reports, and are asking outside groups for more funds. Polling averages show Rep. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) and former state Supreme Court Justice Cheri Beasley (D) deadlocked in the race to succeed retiring Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.). 

Strategists and operatives lament that the race has largely flown under the radar for national Democrats and warn against missing an opportunity to flip a seat in a state that’s been competitive for the party in recent years.

▪ NBC News: Democratic super PAC launches new ad in the North Carolina Senate race. 

▪ Roll Call: The fight for the Senate: Fundamentals, polling and opposition research. 

▪ The New York Times: Will North Carolina’s Senate race break Democratic hearts again?

▪ Reuters: Eight Senate races to watch in November’s midterm elections.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has gone around the world in 80 days — figuratively speaking. As The Hill’s Mike Lillis reports, Pelosi has spent much of the year hopping around the globe, visiting war zones and political hotspots, and bringing new attention to old conflicts and simmering diplomatic history. In the process, Pelosi has made some history, invited some controversy — and raised plenty of questions about whether her world tour is pure diplomacy, power politics or the swan song performance of a historic Speaker who may be readying an exit from Capitol Hill.

“It’s a combination of all three,” said Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), a 24-year veteran and former member of Pelosi’s leadership team. 

▪ Roll Call: Midterm elections could set another turnout record this year.

▪ FiveThirtyEight: How Black Americans reshaped politics In Georgia.

▪ The Washington Post: How McCarthy’s political machine worked to sway the GOP field.

OPINION

■ Florida’s grid, as Hurricane Ian arrives, should benefit from lessons of the past, by Theodore J. Kury, opinion contributor, The Hill. https://bit.ly/3dVc2dU

■  Is Nord Stream the latest victim of Putin’s pettiness? by Jessica Karl, editor, Bloomberg Opinion. https://bloom.bg/3fp5m8z

WHERE AND WHEN

The House meets at noon.

The Senate convenes at 10 a.m. to resume deliberations about a continuing resolution to fund the government before the fiscal year ends on Friday. … Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) will speak at 1 p.m. at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.

The president receives the President’s Daily Briefing at 8 a.m. Biden at 10 a.m. will address a White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health gathered in downtown Washington with a goal of ending hunger and reducing diet-related diseases in the United States by 2030. The administration previewed an action plan intended to address U.S. food, hunger, nutrition and health challenges (The Washington Post). The president and first lady Jill Biden will speak at 11 a.m. about the benefits of the Americans with Disabilities Act and help mark Disability Pride Month. Biden will receive a briefing from his economic team in the Roosevelt Room at 1:15 p.m. The president will attend a reception in Washington for the Democratic Governors Association at 7 p.m. and return to the White House.

Vice President Harris today is in Tokyo. She will host a discussion with Japanese semiconductor business executives at 10:15 a.m. JST. Harris will travel to the Yokosuka Naval Base to board the USS Howard for a tour and briefing at 2:45 p.m. JST, then meetings with service members aboard the ship. The vice president will give a speech at 3:45 p.m. JST on the ship and then depart the base for Hardy Barracks. Harris is scheduled on Thursday to travel to the demilitarized zone between North Korea and South Korea, according to the White House.  

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera at the State Department at 10 a.m. He will speak at 11:15 a.m. at a signing with the Millennium Challenge Corporation of a memorandum of understanding along with Chakwera, Malawian Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Sosten Gwengwe and corporation CEO Alice Albright. At noon, the secretary will participate in a working lunch during a meeting of U.S. leaders and those from Pacific Island countries.

The first lady at noon will address the 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) at a conference in Alexandria, Va., part of the White House’s Joining Forces initiative.

The White House daily press briefing is scheduled at 12:30 p.m.

🖥 Hill.TV’s “Rising” program features news and interviews at http://thehill.com/hilltv, on YouTube and on Facebook at 10:30 a.m. ET. Also, check out the “Rising” podcast here.

ELSEWHERE

➤ ECONOMY

U.S. consumers during August and September grew more optimistic about the U.S. economy (CNN), yet 71 percent of workers in a separate survey say their wages and compensation are not keeping up with inflation (CNN).

As Americans gauge the risks of a U.S. recession ahead, there’s been a stampede this week of predictions that a global recession is brewing. 

The Federal Reserve argues it has a path to tame inflation through a series of aggressive interest rate hikes this year while achieving a “soft landing,” or avoidance of a U.S. recession including high unemployment, even while projecting future “pain.” Economists and markets are dubious about the soft landing scenario, and even central bankers acknowledge risks. The New York Times explains some of the reasons the central bank describes a rosier picture, leading with a strong U.S. jobs market.

But because the Fed insists its target inflation rate remains 2 percent compared with a current annualized inflation rate above 8 percent, some economists believe a deep recession would be needed to achieve that central bank target, based on models drawn from past recessions. 

Harvard Kennedy School economic policy professor Jason Furman, previously a White House adviser to former Presidents Clinton and Obama, told Bloomberg TV on Tuesday, “It’s possible the Fed chooses to stop before 2 percent. I actually think that would be a worthwhile thing to consider. If there’s an opportunity to lock in a credible 3 percent inflation rate, I think that would be terrific.” 

Charles Evans, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, told CNBC Europe on Tuesday that the Fed’s perspective offers “a path for employment stabilizing at something that still is not a recession. But there could be shocks.” 

Global recession worries in many cases are outside U.S. control, including the projections tied to the United Kingdom’s budget and tax cuts and unknowable winter temperatures in Europe, which could drive up high-priced energy demand.

“Any time you are trying to … go between buildings on the high wire, you’re worried about a big gust of wind coming up,” St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said on Tuesday at an economic forum in London, referring to the path the Fed is trying to walk between controlling U.S. inflation without triggering a serious downturn. “Talk about the recession story should be more on a global basis than a U.S. basis,” he said, with the possibility of Europe and China pulling the rest of the world into a downturn (Reuters).

U.S. officials late on Tuesday spoke with Danish counterparts about reports of explosions and “apparent sabotage” as the cause of dramatic leaks of natural gas from pipelines beneath the Baltic Sea near Denmark (The Hill). Blinken earlier on Tuesday said sabotage was unconfirmed and he predicted the leaking gas would not undermine European energy security (Bloomberg News and CNN). Neither of the Nord Stream pipelines was pumping gas to Europe at the time the leaks began. The CIA in June issued a vague warning to European allies that the pipelines could be targeted for attack (The New York Times).

The incidents raised new doubts that Europe could receive natural gas before winter via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which links Russian gas with Germany’s market.

Reuters: European Union believes sabotage likely in leaking Russian gas pipelines.

▪ The Hill: Medicare Part B premiums will drop by 3 percent in 2023 for the first time in a decade, the Biden administration said on Tuesday.

▪ The Hill: Who is helped and hurt by the surging U.S. dollar?

▪ Bloomberg News: Gun violence costs the United States $557 billion a year, according to a new study. Losses in revenue and productivity cost employers $535 million a year — on top of added insurance spending.

➤ PANDEMIC & HEALTH 

Rising COVID-19 case numbers in the United Kingdom could be a warning sign that the U.S. is headed for a similar fall wave, experts say. Cases across the pond don’t seem to be driven by a new subvariant, although several — including BA.5 and BF.7 — are gaining strength on both sides of the Atlantic (CNN).

“Generally, what happens in the U.K. is reflected about a month later in the US. I think this is what I’ve sort of been seeing,” Tim Spector, a professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, told CNN.

▪ CNN: Study links COVID-19 vaccination to small, temporary change in menstrual cycle. 

▪ ProPublica: The COVID-19 booster’s public relations problem.

Total U.S. coronavirus deaths reported as of this morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (trackers all vary slightly): 1,057,273. Current average U.S. COVID-19 daily deaths are 353, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

➤ INTERNATIONAL

The U.S. and its allies are mobilizing the international community to reject Russian attempts to annex territory in Ukraine, in a move that Kyiv hopes will spur greater military support to deliver Moscow a decisive battlefield defeat (The Hill). The United States, Europe and NATO should now increase delivery of heavy artillery, tanks and war planes to Kyiv, argue some of Ukraine’s hawkish advocates.

The Washington Post: Russia is on the cusp of land seizures with Tuesday’s staged referendums in four partially occupied regions in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Experts say the administration’s posture of vowing unspecified U.S. consequences if Russia uses nuclear weapons in the war with Ukraine is correct, especially given the uncertainty around Russian President Vladimir Putin’s thinking. The U.S. version of strategic ambiguity is an effort to avoid escalation (The Hill).

▪ The Hill: Ukraine warned this week of “massive” Russian cyberattacks against critical infrastructure. 

▪ Bloomberg News: Russia declares victory in sham Ukraine ‘referendums.’

Since Biden said this month that American forces would defend Taiwan against an invasion by China, he’s been pushing the boundary on the U.S. stance on Taiwan, write The Hill’s Alex Gangitano and Laura Kelly. Despite efforts by senior advisers — including Blinken — to soften Biden’s message, experts and analysts say the president’s rhetoric reflects a keen use of language that walks right up to the line of America’s capabilities.

👉 Don’t miss the work of photojournalists working inside Ukraine’s battle zones to capture images of the war’s impacts. The New York Times published a wide-ranging slideshow on Tuesday (one of the photos is below) as well as additional images by award-winning photographer Tyler Hicks, who illustrated some of the Times’ report on Monday from the Donbas region. 

The New York Times: Iran’s foreign minister denied his country sent weapons to Russia to fight Ukraine.

THE CLOSER

And finally … 🍁🍃🍂 Autumn lovers, rejoice. The official start of fall means leaf peeping season is upon us, and foliage becomes a sea of red, orange and yellow for a few short weeks. 

Want to make the most of the leafy season? National Geographic has rounded up the 10 best national parks to visit to witness one of the Northern Hemisphere’s most colorful seasonal phenomena. 

As for why the leaves change color, it’s about chlorophyll, which is responsible for a green pigment during the warmer months. As temperatures drop and the sun’s angle changes, chlorophyll breaks down, leaving behind whatever pigment is present in the leaf — and giving the canopy those vivid autumnal hues (NewsNation).

Stay Engaged

We want to hear from you! Email: Alexis Simendinger and Kristina Karisch. Follow us on Twitter (@asimendinger and @kristinakarisch) and suggest this newsletter to friends!

Source: TEST FEED1

The Memo: DeSantis faces make-or-break moment as Hurricane Ian bears down on Florida

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is facing a make-or-break test as Hurricane Ian bears down on his state.

The immediate concern is for the Floridians in harm’s way from the mammoth storm, which is expected to make landfall late Wednesday.  

Hurricane Ian has already lashed western Cuba and is gaining strength in the Gulf. Storm surge warnings are in effect for large swathes of Florida’s western coast. More than 2 million people have been subject to evacuation orders.

For DeSantis, the immediate concern is blunting the short-term impact of the storm. Shelters have been set up, states of emergency declared in all the state’s counties and tolls lifted from many roads.

But if the humanitarian concerns are huge, so too are the political stakes.

DeSantis is facing reelection in six weeks. He is one of two leading contenders — along with former President Trump — for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. He has been one of President Biden’s fiercest foes, an ardent courter of controversy and a hate figure for many Democrats.

Natural or environmental disasters can have a huge impact on a politician’s standing. 

Former President George W. Bush never recovered from the botched response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Former President Obama suffered through an uncertain time in the immediate wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, though suffered little lasting damage. 

In Florida’s recent history, former Govs. Jeb Bush (R) and Rick Scott (R) are generally perceived to have burnished their reputations by their responses to several hurricanes during each of their tenures.

The hostile relationship between DeSantis and Biden is front and center in the current crisis.

Early Tuesday afternoon, the White House defended Biden’s decision not to speak directly with DeSantis up until that point about the approaching hurricane, even as the president called the mayors of Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater.

During a press briefing Tuesday, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell noted that Biden had delegated her to “contact the governor early on.” 

Criswell insisted that the lack of direct Biden-DeSantis contact would have no negative impact. She noted that Biden had signed DeSantis’s request for a declaration of emergency on Saturday. She also promised that the “federal family” was standing ready to respond to any needs DeSantis identifies.

Later Tuesday, however, Biden and DeSantis did talk, according to a tweet from White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

Jean-Pierre said that the two had spoken “this evening…to discuss the steps the Federal government is taking to help Florida prepare for Hurricane Ian.” She added that both men were “committed to continue close coordination.”

Such coordination would require Biden and DeSantis to get over much bad blood between them. In March, for example, DeSantis called Biden “a doddering, quasi-senile president.”

The governor struck a far different tone on Tuesday, saying at a news conference that “we don’t have time for pettiness.”

“We gotta work together to make sure we’re doing the best job for them, so my phone line is open,” DeSantis added.

For all that, it may still suit each man to keep the other at arm’s length, even in an emergency. 

DeSantis is vying with Trump for support among the MAGA wing of the GOP, which is vehemently opposed to Biden in every respect. 

Back in late 2012, another Republican governor — Chris Christie of New Jersey — worked closely with Obama as Superstorm Sandy hit. The move was praised by pundits but proved toxic for Christie’s White House ambitions. More than three years later, Christie was still denying on the presidential campaign trail that he had ever hugged Obama.

Given the red-hot scorn DeSantis has poured on the president on previous occasions, “I think it is a little much to ask Biden to yuck it up with him on the phone,” said John “Mac” Stipanovich, a longtime GOP operative in Florida. “And as for DeSantis, it is probably better for him, too, because his bread and-butter is vilifying Biden.”

However, there are other concerns as well.

First, DeSantis has to show a basic level of competence in responding to the storm. At all costs, he needs to avoid the kind of haunting soundbite George W. Bush delivered when he told the FEMA head at the time of Katrina, Michael Brown, “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.”

The competence test is one that DeSantis is expected to pass. In his appearances at news conferences as the storm barrels toward his state, the governor has sounded sober-minded, with none of the bizarre tangents that characterized Trump’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But there is a large question mark looming over DeSantis’s ability to show compassion for those who will, inevitably, suffer grave effects from the hurricane. Just as the governor’s detractors don’t question his intelligence, even his biggest fans don’t hold him out as a natural empath.

“Any politician in this type of emergency situation has to show that he or she cares about the people of their state, can empathize and can understand the problems that [they] are facing or are about to face,” said Tobe Berkovitz, a Boston University professor emeritus who specializes in political communications.

“It’s very, very important,” he added. “I think probably DeSantis wants to show firmness and confidence, but you also have to show compassion and a human-ness.”

There is, of course, a political opportunity for DeSantis in the coming days — even if it would sound macabre for him or his backers to say it.

Unlike Trump, he still holds levers of power. If he can pull them to manage his way through a historic storm, he could become an even more formidable political figure.

“Everybody is looking at this as an important moment for DeSantis,” said Susan MacManus, a professor emerita at the University of South Florida and a well-known commentator on the state’s politics.

“This gives him the chance to show he is a manager — and an empathizer to people who are hurting.”

Right now, the question of whether he can meet the moment hangs in the balance.

The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage.

Source: TEST FEED1

How US is using strategic ambiguity to counter Putin’s nuclear threats

Biden administration officials have tiptoed around offering specifics in response to the specter of Russia using nuclear weapons, deploying a form of strategic ambiguity in an attempt to avoid escalating the conflict.U.S. officials have in recent days repeatedly warned of severe consequences should Moscow deploy nuclear weapons in its war in Ukraine, though they have not outlined what those consequences would involve. And they have repeatedly said they are taking talk of nuclear weapons seriously, but have not publicly shifted the country’s nuclear posture in response. 

Experts say the U.S. approach is the right one, especially given the uncertainty around how serious Russian President Vladimir Putin is with his threat.  

“There’s no need to tell Putin what exactly we would do. This is where strategic ambiguity makes sense,” said David Kramer, who spent three years as deputy assistant secretary of State for European and Eurasian affairs during the George W. Bush administration. 

“We should be mindful when a nuclear power threatens use of nuclear weapons, but we also should not be deterred from what we need to do,” Kramer added, arguing the U.S. and allies should not let Putin’s rhetoric undercut support for Kyiv. 

President Biden largely set the tone for the White House in a “60 Minutes” interview that aired earlier this month when he was asked what the consequences would be if Russia used nuclear or chemical weapons in its war in Ukraine. 

“You think I would tell you if I knew exactly what it would be? Of course I’m not going to tell you. It’ll be consequential,” Biden said. “They’ll become more of a pariah in the world than they ever have been. And depending on the extent of what they do will determine what response would occur.” 

Since Biden’s interview, Putin has raised the prospect of a nuclear response if the Russian homeland was attacked or if its opposition used nuclear weapons. He has also pressed ahead with a plan to officially annex major portions of Ukraine, potentially laying the groundwork to claim attacks on so-called new Russian territory as provocation for a nuclear strike. 

“This is not a bluff,” Putin warned in the nationally televised speech. “And those who try to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the weathervane can turn and point towards them.” 

White House officials have taken a uniformly vague approach in recent days when asked about a potential response to nuclear aggression by Russia. 

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the White House had made the consequences of such action clear, but that it would not engage in a “rhetorical tit-for-tat.” 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Biden administration has a plan in the event Russia resorts to nuclear weapons, but he would not elaborate. 

And the Pentagon on Tuesday maintained that the government keeps “a whole host of capabilities and proven processes to address any potential threats of that kind,” according to press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder. 

“Our focus continues to remain on supporting Ukraine in their fight and working closely with our allies and partners in terms of Russian force posture,” Ryder said, adding that defense officials have not seen any major change or movement by Russia to ready its nuclear forces in any way. 

Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor said this message is a smart one, adding that U.S. officials are likely preparing the responses to several different scenarios, if they haven’t already.  

“There are a lot of contingencies and a lot of different things that could be done,” said Taylor, who is now with the U.S. Institute of Peace. “We need to be firm, we need to prepare, we need to have a response if the Russians do something terrible. … Those plans presumably are there.” 

On Tuesday, key Putin ally Dmitry Medvedev doubled down on the message, warning that the Russian leader’s recent threat was exactly as stated and “definitely not a bluff,” according to a statement posted to Telegram.  

Medvedev, who took over as Russian president when Putin briefly ceded power in 2008, also laid out a scenario of a nuclear strike on Ukraine, claiming that NATO would be too concerned with “nuclear apocalypse” to directly respond to the attack.  

“Russia has the right to use nuclear weapons … if aggression with the use of conventional weapons threatens the very existence of our state,” said Medvedev, who now serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council. “Without asking anyone’s permission, without long consultations. And it’s definitely not a bluff.” 

The comments, which are the bluntest official warning thus far and seem to raise the specter of a Russian nuclear strike, have not had any outward effect on U.S. officials. 

Ryder on Tuesday maintained that Washington continues to “take these threats seriously,” but has “not seen anything that would cause us to adjust our own nuclear posture at this time.” 

While the U.S. seeks to avoid a back-and-forth that could elevate the risk of nuclear war, some believe it remains unlikely that Putin would take such drastic measures anytime soon. 

Kramer, the former State Department official, expressed skepticism that Russian generals would be willing to carry out such an order and instead would view it as an act of desperation with significant consequences. 

He also noted that thus far, Putin has made multiple threats but has only really followed through on his pledge to cut off energy access for other countries. 

“None of this strikes me as a man confident in the hand that he’s playing,” Kramer said. 

And Taylor said it’s important that the U.S. “not be spooked” by Russia’s warnings.”

“We have to take it seriously, there’s no doubt about that,” he said. But “we certainly don’t want to be making compromises with ourselves. … And we can’t be deterred by comments that the Russians make in desperation.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Pelosi flexes power with world tour that could be swan song

Call it Nancy Pelosi’s legacy tour.

The House Speaker has spent much of this year — which many expect to be her last atop the Democratic Party — traveling the globe, visiting war zones and other political hot spots on a circuit that’s brought new attention to old conflicts, simmering diplomatic disputes and human rights atrocities, past and present.

In the process, Pelosi (D-Calif.) has made some history, invited some controversy and raised plenty of questions about whether her world tour is pure diplomacy, power politics or the swan song of a historic Speaker who may be readying an exit from Capitol Hill.

“It’s a combination of all three,” said Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), a 24-year veteran and former member of Pelosi’s leadership team.

Larson praised Pelosi’s aggressive foray onto the international stage, saying it’s both a clear affirmation of Congress’s authority to influence U.S. foreign policy — a function typically left to the executive branch — and a testament to the powerful role women can play in world affairs.

“She has asserted herself as the Speaker of the House, and I think that’s a good thing, always. And I do think that part of it is her legacy,” Larson said.

“And part of it is for the rest of the world to see a woman of her age, stature, maturity and what she’s been able to achieve,” he continued. “She is a great representative of the possibility for women in democracies all over the world.”

Pelosi is no stranger to overseas travel. As the leader of the Democrats for almost two decades, she frequently leads congressional lawmakers on official trips designed to advance international relations and guide U.S. foreign policy.

But this year, Pelosi has gone out of her way to visit some particularly volatile spots: Ukraine, amid a shooting war with Russia; Taiwan, in the face of retaliatory threats from China; and most recently Armenia, where she took clear sides in a long-standing conflict with Azerbaijan that the Biden administration has approached much more delicately.

The high-profile trips are part of a much longer arc for Pelosi, 82, whose congressional career has featured a record of confronting authoritarianism, particularly in China. Indeed, her visit to Tiananmen Square in 1991, just two years after Beijing’s deadly crackdown on pro-democracy advocates, churned international headlines and infuriated diplomats at home — dynamics that have also accompanied some of her travels this year.

Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), who has worked as both an official in the State Department and an advocate for the nonprofit Human Rights Watch, which monitors global conflicts, said that given Pelosi’s history, her recent travels to disputed regions should surprise no one.

“The first time I was aware of her taking a stand on an issue was when she went to China in the 1990s after Tiananmen Square. And when I worked for Human Rights Watch, I frequently engaged with her and her office on international human rights issues, particularly with respect to China,” Malinowski said.

“As Speaker of the House, she obviously — like all of us — has to focus first on America,” he added. “But this has always been a passion of hers.”

Julian Zelizer, a congressional historian at Princeton University, said Pelosi’s choice of destinations also represents an effort to shift U.S. foreign policy away from the abrasive and unconventional approach adopted by President Biden’s predecessor, former President Trump. With an ally now in the White House — and with Democrats in control of both the House and Senate — the window has opened for such an opportunity.

“As she reaches the last phase of her congressional career, I do think there is part of Pelosi that wants to move forward on initiatives, both at home and abroad, that have been important to her over the decades,” Zelizer said in an email. 

“The last presidency was a disastrous period for Democrats,” he added. “There is part of the Speaker that feels the party needs to move forward on all fronts during this moment of power, particularly with the uncertainty of what happens after November.”

Pelosi may have an ally in Biden, but her recent excursions have not always been a welcome development in the eyes of the administration.

When the news broke that the Speaker was planning an August visit to Taiwan, for instance, Biden revealed that the Pentagon was opposed to the idea, concerned about the potential blowback from Beijing. Yet the president never voiced his own criticism, and when Pelosi stepped off the plane in Taipei on Aug. 2, she became the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the disputed territory in 25 years.

Through it all, Pelosi has made no apologies, using the international stage to draw attention to China’s long history of human rights abuses, including Beijing’s treatment of the Uyghurs, a Muslim minority in China’s far northwest. Pelosi has called it a genocide.

“I have said it again and again: If we do not speak out for human rights in China because of commercial interests, we lose all moral authority to speak out about human rights any place in the world,” Pelosi said last month in Tokyo, just after the Taiwan visit.

Controversy also surrounded Pelosi’s visit this month to Armenia, where a decades-old feud with neighboring Azerbaijan has flared violently in recent weeks, prompting a fragile intervention from top State Department officials urging a cease-fire.

Pelosi, the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Armenia since it broke away from the Soviet Union 30 years ago, was more terse, placing the blame squarely on Azerbaijan.

“This was initiated by the Azeris,” she told reporters during the visit. “There has to be recognition of that.”

Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), a close Pelosi ally who joined her on that trip, welcomed the Speaker’s decision to defend Armenia, even if it clashed with the administration’s more diplomatic approach. 

“She’s using her power in a way that I think is very effective,” Speier said. “Armenia — most people wouldn’t know where to find it on a map. They wouldn’t have been able to find Ukraine on a map. So I think it elevates Armenia, its issues and its legitimacy to retain a democracy in a bad neighborhood.”

Malinowski, a former diplomat, also downplayed any tensions between Pelosi and the Biden administration related to her recent travels, suggesting there are political advantages to those public disagreements.

“Sometimes the executive branch is OK with the tension — behind the scenes — because it helps them for Congress to play the bad cop,” he said. “That then enables them to play the good cop and say, ‘Wouldn’t you rather deal with us than with these people in Congress who are liable to do anything?’ ”

Source: TEST FEED1

How low could stocks go? Much further, say Wall Street analysts

In the midst of a bear market and with the Federal Reserve expected to hike interest rates even further, leading Wall Street analysts are eyeing one question with increasing concern: Just how much further could stocks fall? The precise answer is impossible to predict, but experts told The Hill they expect investors to see more pain before growth in the economy resumes. 

“Based on our client discussions, a majority of equity investors have adopted the view that a hard landing scenario is inevitable and their focus is on the timing, magnitude, and duration of a potential recession and investment strategies for that outlook,” Goldman Sachs analysts David Kostin and Ben Snider wrote in a note to investors last week. 

Major stock indices have now entered a bear market, indicating a drop of 20 percent from recent highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average of major U.S. companies fell more than 300 points Monday to close at 29,260, down 20.5 percent from a January high of 36,800. 

The S&P 500 is down almost 24 percent on the year from nearly 4,800 in January. The technology-heavy Nasdaq index has lost more than 30 percent of its value over the same period, hurting from the higher debt levels its companies hold that make them particularly vulnerable to interest rate hikes.

Most of those losses have come since the Federal Reserve started raising interest rates in March from around zero percent to between 3 and 3.25 percent now. The central bank will raise rates as high as 4.6 percent next year, according to its median forecast released last week. 

In sketching out possible scenarios for the S&P 500, the Goldman Sachs analysts modeled a “soft landing” option for the index bottoming out around 3,600 at the end of 2022 before climbing back to around 4,000 at the end of 2023. The “hard landing” scenario has the index dipping closer to 3,100 in mid-2023 before closing out next year around 3,750.

The analysts also predicted that Treasury yields have further to climb, projecting higher returns for the 10-year through this year and into next.

“The hawkish Fed pivot has pushed real 10-year U.S. Treasury yields up by 240 [basis points, year-to-date] and risks are tilted towards higher rates. The real 10-year U.S. Treasury yield has surged from [negative] 1.1 percent at the start of the year to 1.3 percent, the highest level since 2011,” they wrote. 

Other big Wall Street investors are expressing similar thoughts about the inevitability of equity markets falling still further.

“The era of cheap financing is coming to an end, at least for the time being, at least until the Fed pushes the economy into a meaningful recession, at which point long-term rates will start to recede,” Dan Alpert, managing partner of Westwood Capital, said in an interview with The Hill. “The market is reacting to that because the impact on businesses, especially businesses that are interest rate-sensitive, is going to be negative, and businesses are going to have a difficult time expanding to the extent that they depend on borrowed funds.”

Alpert said the temptation to move away from investing in stocks and toward more stable government bonds with yields that have been rising steadily for the past two months is another force driving equity markets down. The yield on a 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose above 3.9 percent on Monday before settling around 3.85 percent.

“Folks who can go out now and get a risk-free return on a nominal basis of 3.7 percent on a 10-year Treasury are starting to rethink what they want to pay for equities,” Alpert said.

“The equity market has been at extraordinarily high historic rates for a long time now during this very striking recovery from the pandemic. And so those high multiples are not just a reflection on people’s thinking about the rate of recovery in the economy, but they’re a characteristic of the environment that preceded this where interest rates were incredibly low,” he added.

Market analysts for Deutsche Bank noted that recent dips in stocks are being complemented by falling commodity prices, an indication of slowing demand that may signal further retreat in equity markets.

“This global risk-off move was evident across asset classes, as the S&P 500 fell for a [fifth] consecutive session to close at its lowest level so far this year. That takes it beneath the June lows to levels not seen since late 2020, and leaves the index down by over 23 percent on a [year-to-date] basis,” Deutsche Bank analyst Jim Reid wrote in a Tuesday morning note. “This widespread selloff was seen amongst commodities, with Brent crude oil prices closing beneath $85 [per barrel] for the first time since January, and even the classic safe haven of gold slumped to a 2-year low.”

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) revised its forecast for the global economy downward on Monday, driven by persistently high inflation affecting many countries as well as widespread monetary policies of rising interest rates. 

Compared to December 2021 forecasts, “global GDP is now projected to be at least $2.8 trillion lower in 2023,” the group of advanced economies announced Monday. 

“A key factor slowing global growth is the generalised tightening of monetary policy, driven by the greater-than-expected overshoot of inflation targets. Strict lockdowns associated with China’s zero COVID-19 policy have also impacted the Chinese and global economy. Shutdowns and property market weakness are slowing China’s growth to just 3.2 percent in 2022,” the OECD said in a report released Monday. 

But some voices within the Federal Reserve system are trying to keep a more optimistic outlook. In her first public speech as president of the Boston Federal Reserve, Susan M. Collins said Monday that the Fed’s desired soft landing is still a possibility.

“It is no surprise that, as monetary policy moves to a restrictive stance to transition the economy to more sustainable labor market conditions, there is apprehension about the possibility of a significant downturn. I do believe the goal of a more modest slowdown, while challenging, is achievable,” she said. 

Source: TEST FEED1

Are Democrats squandering their chances in North Carolina Senate race?

North Carolina Democrats are pleading for outside groups to funnel more money into the state’s hotly contested Senate race, believing that it may offer the party one of its best shots at flipping a GOP-held seat in November. 

Polling averages in North Carolina show Rep. Ted Budd (R) and former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley (D) deadlocked in the race to succeed retiring Sen. Richard Burr (R). At the same time, Beasley has maintained a yawning cash advantage over Budd. 

Yet strategists and political operatives lament that the race has largely flown under the radar for national Democrats and are warning against squandering an opportunity in a state that has repeatedly proven competitive — yet ultimately elusive — for the party in recent years. 

“It’s a year where we have a great candidate, and I think the national Democrats are making a big mistake if they’re not paying attention to North Carolina,” said Bruce Thompson, a veteran Democratic consultant in the state.  

“What worries me is people who are fixated on states like Ohio, where Republicans have been winning most of the statewide races,” he added. “In North Carolina, we have a great track record of winning. If any state is purple, it’s North Carolina.” 

Of course, it’s not as if the race hasn’t gotten any attention from national Democratic groups.  

Women Vote, the independent expenditure arm of Democratic fundraising giant EMILY’s List, charged into the North Carolina Senate race earlier this month with a $2.7 million investment highlighting Beasley’s stance on abortion rights, an issue that has helped propel Democratic candidates up and down the ballot since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade over the summer. 

And on Tuesday, the Senate Majority PAC, a super PAC aligned with Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), announced a $2 million ad campaign in the state, adding to a previous seven-figure investment in North Carolina. 

Still, the spending from Democratic groups pales in comparison to the money that Republicans are pumping into the race. The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), has already reserved more than $27 million in ads to boost Budd through Election Day. 

Democrats are also bracing for a fresh wave of Republican spending from MAGA Inc., a new super PAC created by allies of Donald Trump that will back GOP candidates like Budd who were endorsed by the former president in their primaries.  

Thompson and other North Carolina Democrats acknowledged that the lack of national attention to the race stems, at least in part, from the fact that it’s been a tamer affair than some of the year’s other marquee Senate match-ups.  

Unlike higher-profile Republican Senate candidates like author and venture capitalist J.D. Vance, the party’s nominee in Ohio, or celebrity physician Mehmet Oz, the GOP nominee in Pennsylvania, Budd is a sitting member of Congress who is seen as a more disciplined campaigner.  

He stayed off the airwaves for months before returning with a series of ads targeting issues like inflation, government spending and President Biden’s sagging approval ratings. He also hasn’t suffered the same kind of gaffes and missteps that other top GOP Senate candidates have, allowing him to keep a relatively low media profile. 

“Those guys say the quiet part out loud, and Budd has been disciplined not to do that,” Thompson said, referring to other GOP Senate candidates like Vance and Blake Masters in Arizona. “Ted Budd is just plain vanilla. He seems like a nice guy when you talk to him, so therefore he hasn’t gotten in trouble with soundbites.” 

Still, Democrats say that while Budd may be relatively quiet, he’s no less controversial than other GOP Senate nominees. He voted against certifying the results of the 2020 election and has declined to say whether he would accept the results of this year’s election.  

He also signed on as a co-sponsor to a House bill introduced earlier this month that seeks to ban abortions nationwide after 15 weeks of pregnancy. 

And Budd isn’t avoiding Trump, despite concerns among some Republicans that the former president could be a drag on the party’s candidates this year. The two appeared alongside each other at a rally on Friday in Wilmington, N.C., where Budd pledged to “stop the Biden-Beasley agenda and make America great again.” 

Nevertheless, the Senate contest in North Carolina has become something of a sleeper race. 

“You have a traditional race in North Carolina where a member of Congress is running against a former state Supreme Court judge,” Doug Heye, a Republican strategist and veteran of several North Carolina political campaigns, said. “It’s not as attention-getting as Blake Masters saying all kinds of crazy things and running against an astronaut.” 

But, Heye added, “it’s always been competitive. If you look back at margins over past races, North Carolina doesn’t have blowouts.”  

Indeed, North Carolina routinely hosts some of the closest statewide races in the country. In 2020, Trump carried the state by little more than 1 percentage point, while Sen. Thom Tillis (R) beat Democrat Cal Cunningham by less than 2 points — and that was after a high-profile sex scandal hobbled Cunningham’s campaign. 

That same year, Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, won reelection by a 4.5-point margin. 

North Carolina has proven elusive for Democrats in some ways. The party hasn’t won a Senate race there since 2008 — the last time a Democratic presidential candidate carried the state.  

One Democratic strategist familiar with Senate races acknowledged that some national groups may be hesitant to go all-in on North Carolina this year, especially after Cunningham’s loss two years ago. But, the strategist added, there’s reason to believe that 2022 could be different. 

“People should spend more money on it. People should write more about the race,” the strategist said. “I think people feel disappointed about 2020 and what should have been a pickup for Democrats.” 

Recent polling shows Budd and Beasley in a statistical tie. A survey from Emerson College Polling, The Hill and CBS17 in Raleigh, N.C., released just last week found Budd leading Beasley by just 3 percentage points, within the poll’s credibility interval. Meanwhile, an internal poll from Beasley’s campaign shared publicly on Tuesday found the two candidates tied at 46 percent each. 

Democrats also say that Beasley is a different kind of candidate for the party. She has won statewide elections twice before, and only lost her 2020 state Supreme Court reelection bid by about 400 votes. On the campaign trail and in a swath of advertising, Beasley has played up her credentials as an independent-minded former judge. 

If she wins in November, she would become North Carolina’s first Black senator. 

“Cheri has been to all 100 counties and is meeting voters where they are to discuss how she will protect our constitutional rights and lower costs,” Kelci Hobson, a spokesperson for Beasley’s campaign, said. 

“Meanwhile, Congressman Budd is losing support and his campaign is flailing as voters learn more about his record as an election denier hell-bent on banning abortion without exceptions who is bought and paid for by corporate special interests.” 

Budd’s strategy, however, is clear: tie Beasley to Biden and hammer her on issues like inflation and crime — the very talking points that lie at the center of the GOP’s midterm strategy.  

“While she might avoid Biden personnel when they visit North Carolina, Cheri Beasley has embraced the Biden policies that created the inflation that is crushing family budgets across North Carolina,” said Jonathan Felts, a senior adviser to Budd’s campaign. “Beasley has also tried to run away from her soft-on-crime record, but every major law enforcement organization in NC has rejected Beasley and endorsed Ted Budd instead.” 

The race between Budd and Beasley could also be heading toward more open confrontation soon. The two candidates are set to meet next week for what could be their only debate.  

Source: TEST FEED1

Democrats introduce bill banning lawmakers, judges from trading stocks

House Democrats introduced a long-awaited bill on Tuesday that seeks to ban members of Congress, federal judges, Supreme Court justices, the president and others from trading stocks, in an attempt to crack down on conflicts of interest throughout the government.

The 26-page bill, titled the Combatting Financial Conflicts of Interest in Government Act, would ban a slew of government officials from trading or owning investments in securities, commodities, futures, cryptocurrency or other digital assets.

Those covered by the legislation include members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children, senior congressional staffers, the president, the vice president, political appointees, judicial officers — including Supreme Court justices and various judges — members of the Federal Reserve System’s Board of Governors and the president or vice president of a Federal Reserve bank.

Individuals subject to the ban would be required to divest their holdings or place them into a qualified blind trust.

The measure, however, does not pertain to investments in diversified mutual funds, U.S. Treasury bills, state or municipal government bills, notes or bonds and investment funds held as part of a federal, state or local government employee retirement plan, among other types of widely held, diversified and publicly traded investment funds.

The House Administration Committee released the text of the bill months after Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in February directed Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the House Administration Committee, to draft a bill.

The push to ban lawmakers from trading stocks has gained steam on Capitol Hill amid reports that members have violated laws meant to prevent conflicts of interests involving financial transactions.

In September, The New York Times published an extensive report that said 97 lawmakers or their family members traded financial assets in the past three years that could be conflicts of interest.

Pelosi — whose husband, Paul Pelosi, is a venture capitalist — was at first against the idea of a ban on lawmaker stock trading, but ultimately endorsed the push in February. A bipartisan group of House lawmakers put the topic back in the news earlier this month when it penned a letter to leadership asking for a vote on a bill reforming lawmaker stock trading.

Earlier this month, Pelosi said such a bill would likely come to the floor this month.

But time is running out.

The House reconvenes on Wednesday for the final three days of legislative business before the midterm elections. House lawmakers are scheduled to leave Washington on Friday, and are not slated to return until after November.

Even if there is enough time to bring the bill to the floor, it is unclear that it has the votes to pass.

Punchbowl News reported earlier on Tuesday that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), who sets the schedule in the lower chamber, has expressed opposition to the ban on lawmaker stock trading.

His spokesperson, however, told the outlet that the Marylan Democrat has “not seen final legislation, and will reserve his official decision until that time.”

A group of senators have been working on separate legislation to ban lawmaker stock trading.

The bill introduced on Tuesday also increases penalties for violating the provisions or the measure.

Covered individuals who violate trading or ownership restrictions would be subject to a $1,000 fine. If the violation continues for more than 30 days, they would be subject to an additional $1,000 fine plus “an amount equal to 10 percent of the value of the covered investment that is the subject of violation at the beginning of the additional 30-day period of a continuing violation.”

The same goes for those who fail to file their financial reports on time. Tardy individuals would face a $500 fee — up from $200 — and for every additional 30 days, they would have to pay another $500 fine plus 10 percent of the value of the transactions that should have been included in the report.

Additionally, the measure gives the attorney general authority to bring civil action against covered individuals who “knowingly and willfully” make transactions or holds a prohibited investment that is in violation of the bill.

Source: TEST FEED1

Senate advances stopgap funding bill minus Manchin language

The Senate on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to start debate on a stopgap government funding bill without Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) permitting reform language.

The stopgap bill, known as a continuing resolution, would keep the government’s lights on through Dec. 16, and include $12.4 billion in aid for Ukraine against Russia, $4.5 billion for natural disaster assistance, $1 billion to help with heating homes this coming winter and $20 million to deal with the water crisis in Jackson, Miss., among other things. 

The deadline to pass the measure and avert a government shutdown is Friday at midnight.

Passage of the bill 72-23 came after its biggest hurdle was removed less than an hour before the planned vote.

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced that he would heed Manchin’s wish to strip language that would have changed the approval process for energy infrastructure — and help greenlight the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline — from the bill.

The funding bill needed 60 votes to advance to debate and permitting reform had been opposed by Senate Republicans and House Democrats.

“Senate Republicans have made clear they will block legislation to fund the government if it includes bipartisan permitting reform, because they’ve chosen to obstruct instead of work in a bipartisan way to achieve something they’ve long claimed they want to do,” Schumer said in a floor speech, according to a transcript of his remarks. “Because American families should not be subjected to a Republican-manufactured government shutdown, Senator Manchin has requested, and I have agreed, to move forward and pass the recently-filed Continuing Resolution legislation without the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2022.”

Manchin, in his own statement, declined to criticize either party tanking his legislation. 

“It is unfortunate that members of the United States Senate are allowing politics to put the energy security of our nation at risk,” he said.

“A failed vote on something as critical as comprehensive permitting reform only serves to embolden leaders like Putin who wish to see America fail. For that reason and my firmly held belief that we should never come to the brink of a government shutdown over politics, I have asked Majority Leader Schumer to remove the permitting language from the Continuing Resolution we will vote on this evening,” he added.

Moments before his statement went out, Manchin told reporters that he expected at least 45 to 48 Senate Democrats to vote for the continuing resolution with the permitting reform language.  

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a leading opponent of the West Virginia centrist’s effort, told reporters during the vote that nixing the language marks “a good day for the climate and for the environment and a bad day for big oil and the fossil fuel industry.”

In addition to permitting reform, the package does not include money requested by Democrats to combat COVID-19 or Monkeypox. The effort to include COVID-19 funds was a tough climb that was all but closed off early last week after President Biden told “60 Minutes” that the pandemic is “over.” 

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters on Monday in New Mexico that the House will put the spending bill on the floor by Thursday.

Aris Folley contributed.

Source: TEST FEED1