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Senate Delays Recess to Continue Border, Foreign Aid Talks


Thursday, 14 December 2023 03:40 PM EST

Read more at https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/senate-recess-delayed/2023/12/14/id/1145978/

The U.S. Senate is expected to delay the start of its holiday break as bipartisan talks on border security and providing more aid to Ukraine and Israel continue, multiple senators said on Thursday.

“We’re making progress and the White House is engaged, which is good. Everything’s encouraging,” Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, told reporters, cautioning that “right now, they’re still talking concepts.”

Lawmakers said the Senate would return on Monday, delaying the start of its holiday break.

President Joe Biden has been urging lawmakers to pass a supplemental aid package to provide $50 billion in new security to Ukraine as it fights off Russian invasion, as well as $14 billion for Israel as it wages war against Hamas in Gaza.

Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, as well as Republicans in the Democrat-majority Senate, have repeatedly said they will only vote for that aid if it is paired with new controls for the U.S.-Mexico border.

Any deal reached in the Senate, which Democrats control by a 51-49 majority, would also need to win the approval of the House, which Republicans control 221-213, before passing into law.

House lawmakers left Washington as scheduled on Thursday to begin their holiday recess.

“There is too much on the line for Ukraine, for America, for Western democracy to throw in the towel right now. We must keep talking, we must keep working,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, said in a floor speech on Thursday morning.

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McConnell: ‘Everybody Needs to Relax’ About Default


By Sandy Fitzgerald    |   Tuesday, 23 May 2023 03:27 PM EDT

Read more at https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/mcconnell-debt-ceiling-talks/2023/05/23/id/1120923/

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday said “everybody needs to relax” about the possibility of a debt default, insisting that the United States will not default on its payments. 

“The last 10 times we raised the debt ceiling, there were things attached to it,” the Kentucky Republican told reporters in his home state, reported The Hill. “This is not that unusual. It is almost entirely required when you have a divided government.”

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that the country could go into default on its debts by June 1, but McConnell insisted that President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will reach an agreement.

“Regardless of what may be said about the talks … the president and the speaker will reach an agreement,” said McConnell. “It will ultimately pass on a bipartisan vote in both the House and the Senate. The country will not default.”

McConnell, who has strongly supported McCarthy, R-Calif., through the negotiations, has said repeatedly that Biden must reach a deal with McCarthy. 

McConnell had been expected to play a role in the talks but instead has maintained a supporting role, saying that any deal must come between the White House and the House Republicans. As a result, the Democrat-controlled Senate has not played a large role in the discussions. 

McConnell has joined McCarthy at the White House for some of the talks, but most of the discussions are now between teams; Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., and Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., lead the GOP; while Democrats are headed by White House counselor Steve Ricchetti, Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young, and White House Director of Legislative Affairs Louisa Terrell. 

Republican negotiators Tuesday said the White House is showing little urgency in the discussions, considering that the House 72-hour rule means a deal much be reached by later this week so a bill can be passed before Yellen’s June 1 deadline.

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McCarthy: Too ‘Far Apart’ for Debt Deal by Weekend


By Eric Mack    |   Monday, 15 May 2023 02:37 PM EDT

Read more at https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/debt-ceiling-talks-house/2023/05/15/id/1119869/

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., blasted President Joe Biden for being disingenuous and failing to negotiate on the House-passed debt ceiling package, saying time is running out and Biden wants debt default more than a deal.

“I still think it’s far apart,” McCarthy told a reporter Monday while walking through the Capitol Building. “It doesn’t seem to me yet they want a deal. It just seems like they want to look like they are in a meeting, but they aren’t talking anything serious.”

McCarthy cited the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office report released recently that was forced to raise the debt estimates from the February report.

“In the meantime, we just watched the CBO come out and say we’re $100 billion further in debt,” McCarthy said. “It seems more like they want a default than a deal to me.”

Time is running out to reach a deal before the June warning of surpassing the debt limit and sending the U.S. into debt default for the first time.

“I think we’ve got to have a deal done by this weekend to have a timeline to be able to pass it in both houses,” McCarthy said.

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