US Policy
- US Policy
- US Policy
Ukraine, Israel Aid Are Center Stage in DC
For weeks, Republicans insisted that any Supplemental Spending Bill with aid for Ukraine and Israel had to have border/immigration provisions. Suddenly with encouragement from former President Trump, the signals changed, and the border/immigration compromise was dropped. The Senate then returned to a “clean” supplemental that just contains foreign military and...
- US Policy
Busy week with money for Israel, Ukraine, and border focus
A busy weekend in DC with the Senate bipartisan negotiators releasing their long-discussed plan to deal with the Supplemental Spending plan to give funds to Ukraine and Israel and having a major overhaul on border/immigration policy. Additionally, House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that the House Republican leadership was changing strategy...
- US Policy
Fed day and Congress deals with spending, border and taxes
Wednesday is Fed day, the first Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) meeting of 2024. As is custom, the Fed will release a statement by the FOMC at 2:00pm, and then at 2:30 Chair Powell will have a press conference. Both the statement and the Chair’s carefully prepared comments are designed...
- US Policy
Trump, Border, and Budgets Dominate DC
The victory of former President Trump in New Hampshire has solidified his position as the presumptive Republican nominee. While former Governor and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley got over 40% of the vote, most of her support came from independent voters and moderate Republicans. Exit polls showed that over 70% of...
- US Policy
NH votes tomorrow, DeSantis out, Congress has new budget deadline
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dropped a political bombshell when he suspended his race for the Republican Presidential nomination on the eve of the New Hampshire primary. DeSantis saw the handwriting on the wall with polls showing him at single digits in NH, and no sense that any of the Super...
- US Policy
Key House special election and Senate takes up foreign aid
OLD SANTOS SEAT Tomorrow there will be an interesting special election in the 3rd Congressional district of New York for the seat of disgraced Representative George Santos. With a closely divided House each seat can have an impact on the narrow Republican Majority. Last week witnessed one of the consequences...
- US Policy
Iowa and Budget Deadline Next Week
The week ends with D.C. seemingly stymied on how to avoid a government shutdown next Friday, and all political eyes on Iowa, where on Monday the first votes will be counted for the 2024 Presidential race. Next Friday, January 19, is the deadline under Speaker Johnson’s “laddered” funding schedule, when...
- US Policy
Congress returns, attention turns to border
House Republicans: With the departure of former Speaker McCarthy and the ouster of Rep. Santos the House Republicans were down to only 220 Members. This number was further reduced when on Friday House Majority Leader Steve Scalise announced that he would stay in Louisiana for stem cell treatment as he...
- US Policy
Congress Returns on Monday
After a three-week break for the holidays, Congress returns to DC next week with the first of two government shutdown dates quickly approaching – January 18. The first date is for some of the smaller departments such as the VA, Housing, Transportation, etc. The big departments such as the Departments...
- US Policy
Congress Returns – Much to Do
Congress returns next week with a full agenda. Coming up quickly are the deadlines of January 19 and February 2, where action is needed to avoid a government shutdown. The Congress also needs to deal with the President’s Supplemental Spending Bill requesting for money to support US allies in Ukraine...
