With US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s latest funding plan in ruins and lawmakers were leaving town for the weekend, there was no endgame in sight on Thursday as some Republicans pushed an agenda that might lead to a federal shutdown.
The White House yesterday was to tell federal agencies to prepare for a shutdown, said an official from the US Office of Management and Budget, who insisted on anonymity to discuss the upcoming instructions.
That is standard seven days out from a federal disruption.
Photo: AFP
McCarthy has tried to agree to spending cuts to keep government open, but a handful of Republicans blocked a defense bill from advancing — the second time this week it was set back.
Even a stopgap bill to keep government funding past the deadline on Saturday next week, called a continuing resolution (CR), is a non-starter for some.
“This is a whole new concept of individuals who just want to burn the whole place down,” McCarthy said after Thursday’s vote. “It doesn’t work.”
Former US president Donald Trump urged the representatives to hold the line against the higher funding levels, linking the situation to criminal indictments he faces.
“This is also the last chance to defund these political prosecutions against me and other Patriots,” Trump wrote on social media. “They failed on the debt limit, but they must not fail now. Use the power of the purse and defend the Country!”
The White House and Democrats, along with some Republicans, warn that a shutdown would be devastating for people who rely on the government for everyday services and would undermine the US’ standing in the world.
“We need the extreme MAGA Republicans to get their act together,” said House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, referring to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
“End the civil war,” Jeffries said. “Get your act together.”
However, US Representative Matt Gaetz said that House Republicans now have almost no choices left but to spend the time it takes to pass each of the 12 spending bills needed to fund the government, even if it means going into a shutdown.
Gaetz said that he and several others would not vote for a continuing resolution that fails to slash spending.
“I’m giving a eulogy for the CR right now,” Gaetz told reporters at the Capitol. “I represent Florida’s first congressional district, where during the shutdown tens of thousands of people will go without a paycheck, and so I know the impact of a shutdown.”
“So it may get worse before it gets better, and I have little to offer but blood, sweat, toil and tears, but that may be what it takes,” he said.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
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