#HouseRepublicans urged Schumer to "schedule a trial on the matter expeditiously."
#Schumer & his staff have promised to start the process of swearing senators in as jurors the day after the articles are received in the chamber. Washington Senator Patty Murray, the #Senate President Pro Tempore, will preside over the #Mayorkas#impeachment trial.
Moscow has found better ways to conceal #influence ops, by using harder-to-trace tech, to amplify arguments for #isolationism before #UnitedStates elections, acc/to disinfo experts & #intelligence.
The result is that much of the original speech is First Amendment-protected — say a member of #Congress [#HouseRepublicans] declaring that resources being sent to #Ukraine should instead be used to patrol the southern border of the #UnitedStates. But the amplification is engineered in #Russia or by #RussianInfluencers.
#Shutdown deadline passes as #Senate votes on spending bill
The #House already passed the $1.2T bill. Funding for parts of the #FederalGovernment expired at 12:01AM Sat — but the Senate was working its way through a series of amendments to fund agencies for the next 6 months, which means the lapse in funding could end before fed #workers come in Mon.
#TSA screeners would remain on the job #withoutPay, many of whom called in sick as a #protest after a previous #shutdown dragged on for wks, sparking nationwide #travel delays.
It would also leave #Congress w/few alternate paths to fund the govt. A likely last resort would have been another #stopgap resolution to preserve existing #funding, potentially triggering #cuts to #defense spending.
The budget proposal from the #farRight#MAGA-affiliated group of about 170 #HouseRepublicans would effectively create a national #abortionBan and ban on in-vitro fertilization procedures (#IVF) by creating legal protections for human embryos starting at “the moment of fertilization.” It mentions the word “#abortion” 77 times.
The bipartisan bill emerged one day before the federal funding deadline, & it was not clear whether Congress could complete it in time to avoid a partial #shutdown after midnight on Friday.
Watch the entire #HouseOversight & Accountability Cmte hearing held today including testimony by #LevParnas who testified that the allegations against Biden were ‘spread by the Kremlin’:
#LevParnas is just the latest addition to an unusual slate of witnesses after #HunterBiden declined to appear for the #HouseOversight & Accountability Cmte hearing titled “Influence Peddling: Examining Joe Biden’s Abuse of Public Office.” (so much #projection)
#IsabellaDeLuca’s other experience included congressional internships w/ Rep #PaulGosar of #Arizona & fmr Rep #LeeZeldin of #NewYork, both #Republicans…. A spox for Zeldin said that DeLuca had briefly been an unpaid volunteer working w/a staff member in the congressman’s #LongIsland district & that neither Zeldin or members of his staff had been aware that she was at the #Jan6 Capitol during the riot [#insurrection].
Congressional Leaders Strike Deal on Final Spending Bill Ahead of #GovernmentShutdown
Lawmakers resolved disputes over #DHS funding, paving the way for an agreement. But they may still be unable to meet a Friday deadline to avert a brief partial #shutdown.
Still, the delay in striking the deal could pave the way for a brief lapse in #government funding over the weekend. It will take #congress staff time to draw up text of the bill, which wraps six spending measures into a sizable piece of legislation.
#HouseRepublicans have demanded that #MikeJohnson abide by an internal rule that allows lawmakers 72 hrs to consider the text of a bill before they vote on it, though previous #House leaders have at times abandoned that guidance.
Earlier this month, lawmakers were able to negotiate & pass a 6-bill $460B spending package that just barely met the 1st deadline on Mar 8, & are now repeating the process — this time haggling over funding for more politically fraught agencies — before the 2nd deadline at the end of this week.
#HouseRepublicans’ majority is their smallest in decades, & shrinking
#Republicans are entering a months-long stretch of legislating with their smallest #House majority in decades. And the margin is about to tighten even more.
“Attorney General #Garland did not interfere w/my efforts, & I was able to conduct a fair, thorough & independent investigation,” #Hur said. #Neguse was attempting to draw a distinction between how Garland acted in regard to the Hur investigation & how AG #BillBarr acted when special counsel Robert #Mueller completed his investigation & report examining #Trump & #ForeignInterference in the 2016 #election results.
#Barr wrote a 4-pg memo to #Congress describing the principal conclusions of the investigation into #Trump that #Mueller later complained “did not fully capture the context, nature, & substance” of the special counsel team’s work.
“Very different approach as you said from the way in which the Department of #Justice, unfortunately, tragically functioned under [Trump],” #Neguse said.
#Hur, the special counsel, who is appearing …at the request of… #JimJordan, has arranged to resign from the #DOJ …one day before he is scheduled to appear….
#Burck is a fmr federal prosecutor who served …as an Asst US Atty in SDNY. But he left the dept in 2005 for a position in the White House, where he served as a Dpy Counsel to then-president George W #Bush, then later as a Special Counsel to Bush & a dpy WH Staff Secy.
Though he has been in private practice since Bush left office in 2009, Burck has retained ties …& remains well-connected in #Republican#political circles.
The #Senate was expected to take up & pass the bill easily, sending it to President #Biden in time for it to become #law before a midnight deadline on Fri.
The measure would package together 6 spending bills, extending funding through Sept 30 for dozens of federal programs covering #agriculture, #energy & the #environment, #transportation, #housing, the #DOJ & #veterans. Top lawmakers were still negotiating spending bills for the other half of the #government over the same period, including for the #Pentagon, which #Congress must pass by March 22 to avert a lapse in #funding.
A Russian #missile strike appeared to target #Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wed, landing near his motorcade in the #BlackSea port city of Odessa, where the president was meeting w/ #Greece PM Kyriakos #Mitsotakis.
Zelensky & members of the Greek delegation were not harmed, despite the missile landing some 500 feet away.
#Congress plans to use 2 packages of #legislation to fund the entire govt. The #House must vote on the first package this week, then move it to the #Senate for a vote. Legislative action must be complete before the Mar 8 funding deadline that was set late last week to avoid a partial #GovernmentShutdown.