House Considers Funding Package to End Government Shutdown Amidst Other National News
Washington – The House of Representatives began considering a revised funding package on Monday to end the partial government shutdown that began over the weekend, according to CBS News. The lower chamber is working to pass a five-bill package to fund the departments of Defense, State, Treasury, and others, as well as a two-week extension of funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The DHS funding has been at the center of the impasse, with Democrats demanding reforms to how immigration enforcement agencies like ICE conduct their operations. House Speaker Mike Johnson faces an uphill task in uniting the GOP conference to advance the plan. Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries reportedly told Johnson over the weekend that Democrats would not supply the votes needed to fast-track passage.
In other news, former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton agreed to testify in the House Oversight Committee's investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, ahead of expected votes in the House later this week on holding the pair in contempt of Congress. According to CBS News, the Clintons' legal team stated in an email to the committee on Monday that the former president and former secretary of state "accept the terms of your letter and will appear for depositions on mutually agreeable dates." The email also requested confirmation that the House would not move forward with contempt proceedings. Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, who chairs the oversight panel, said in a statement late Monday: "The Clintons' counsel has said they agree."
Meanwhile, NASA's Artemis II moon rocket fueling test was scrubbed on Tuesday due to hydrogen leaks. After working around an initial hydrogen leak, NASA proceeded with a "wet dress" rehearsal countdown of its Artemis II moon rocket on Monday, loading the rocket with more than 750,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and hydrogen fuel, only to be derailed by additional leakage early Tuesday, according to CBS News. The countdown stopped again at the T-minus 10-minute mark around 12:09 a.m. EST Tuesday due to a "liquid hydrogen leak at the interface of the tail service mast umbilical, which had experienced high concentrations of liquid hydrogen earlier in the countdown," NASA said on social media.
In Los Angeles, independent journalist Don Lemon said that about a dozen federal agents came to his hotel to arrest him last week even though his attorney had told authorities he would turn himself in to face federal civil rights charges over his coverage of an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church, according to CBS News. Lemon told ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel that sending the agents was a waste of resources because law enforcement wouldn't have had to dispatch agents to follow him if he'd been allowed to surrender to authorities. "I was walking up to the room and I pressed the elevator button and then all of a sudden I feel myself being jostled and people (were) trying to grab me and put me in handcuffs," Lemon said on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"
Finally, "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie's mother, Nancy Guthrie, is missing in Arizona in what police believe was an abduction from her home while she slept, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told CBS News on Monday. "I believe she was abducted, yes," Nanos said. "She didn't walk from there. She didn't go willingly." Nanos earlier Monday confirmed that her disappearance is being treated as a crime, and urged neighbors to review home video camera footage. "We saw some things at the home that were concerning to us," Nanos told reporters. "We believe now after we've processed that crime scene that we do in fact have a crime, and we're asking the community's help."
Discussion
AI Experts & Community
Be the first to comment