Politics
How Each House Member Voted on the Bill to Avoid a Government Shutdown
The House on Thursday night failed to pass a spending measure that would have funded the federal government through mid-March, extended the farm bill for one year, suspended the debt ceiling for two years and provided new disaster aid.
Thursday’s government spending vote
Answer | Democrats | Republicans | Total | Bar chart of total votes |
---|---|---|---|---|
2 | 172 | 174 | ||
197 | 38 | 235 |
The bill was considered under a special procedure that suspends the regular rules of the House but requires a supermajority of two-thirds voting yes in order to pass. Nearly all Democrats voted against it, as did a number of hard-right lawmakers who oppose raising the debt limit without additional spending cuts. Congress must extend government funding before a Friday night deadline in order to avoid a shutdown.
Congressional leaders had scrambled to come up with a new plan after some Republicans, fueled by President-elect Donald. J. Trump and Elon Musk, rejected a separate spending deal struck between Speaker Mike Johnson and Democrats that included several additional policy measures but did not address the debt limit.
How Every Representative Voted
Politics
Rubio carries anti-immigration message to Latin America in first trip overseas as Trump's top diplomat
PANAMA CITY — President Trump’s top diplomat makes his first trip overseas this weekend, heading to Central America to drive home the message that the U.S. expects cooperation in its mass deportation of immigrants.
But newly confirmed Secretary of State Marco Rubio will need to be careful to avoid alienating long-standing U.S. allies who say they are already taking a robust role in curbing illegal immigration and accepting deportees.
Panama, Rubio’s first stop late Saturday, is an especially delicate case.
Trump further complicated the immigration question by declaring he wants to seize the Panama Canal, the 50-mile waterway that connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and is a key instrument in international shipping that Panama has controlled for a quarter-century.
“This matter is closed,” Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino said at a news conference this week. “The canal is Panama’s.”
Mulino refused to contemplate any “process of negotiation” on the canal, which the U.S. ceded to Panama in 1999, ending a long-standing sore spot of U.S. colonization in Latin America.
For many Panamanians, the canal represents income, employment and identity. Last year, operation of the canal by an independent Panamanian commission contributed $2.4 billion to state coffers.
The canal “is an existential asset” for Panama, said John Feeley, former U.S. ambassador to Panama.
The waterway was cleaved across the most narrow section of the Panamanian isthmus in the late 1800s and early 1900s, by French and then U.S. engineers. Thousands of mostly Caribbean workers died from disease and accidents. Then-President Carter in 1977 signed a treaty giving control of the canal to take full effect two decades later.
In terms of seeking Panama’s cooperation on immigration, the Trump administration would be “knocking on an open door,” Feeley said, given Mulino’s eagerness to assist on the issue. But the canal is a different matter.
“On America taking back the canal, that is not going to happen,” he said. “The only way … the United States will take back control of the canal is if there is another military invasion and occupation. And you show me, even among Trump voters, where the appetite for that is. I don’t think you can find it.”
But Trump claims Chinese influence over the canal now poses a threat to U.S. national security. Trump exaggerates that influence, experts say, but it is true that Chinese-controlled firms own part of a port and other assets. China throughout Latin America has made significant inroads in infrastructure and diplomacy, often taking advantage of U.S. inattention.
The canal is “no longer autonomous — they have to do whatever the [Chinese] government tells them,” Rubio said of the Panamanian administration of the canal during an interview with podcast host Megyn Kelly. “And if the government in China, in a conflict, tells them to shut down the Panama Canal, they will have to.”
He added: “So it’s a technicality, but in reality if China wanted to obstruct traffic in the Panama Canal, they could. … And I think the president’s been pretty clear he wants to administer the canal again.”
Rubio has to balance his boss’ demands with attempting to maintain good relations with countries that for the most part are loyal allies to the U.S., starting with Panama.
“Panama has been very helpful in dealing with its border,” Trump’s special envoy for Latin America, Mauricio Claver-Carone, said Friday in previewing Rubio’s trip.
Relations with Colombia have been more strained.
President Gustavo Petro for more than two years received hundreds of deportation flights from the U.S.
But Sunday he turned back two military flights in which migrants had been shackled. He said would continue to accept flights, but wanted “dignified conditions” for Colombian nationals.
Trump immediately threatened a 25% tariff on Colombian exports — mostly roses, coffee and oil — and prevented thousands of Colombians from obtaining visas to the United States.
The two leaders quickly overcame the row and flights resumed. The Trump administration defended its aggressive approach.
“It sends a message that … there will be consequences,” Claver-Carone said.
Rubio will also travel to El Salvador and Guatemala. In El Salvador, Trump administration officials have praised President Nayib Bukele’s mass incarceration of suspected gang members. It is a system Bukele enacted by suspending his country’s constitution, prompting criticism from human rights groups. Trump administration officials cited it as a potential model for dealing with criminal migrants in the United States.
For the first time in modern history, the State Department is top-heavy with Latin America experts, starting with Rubio.
But Trump has singled a more transactional approach. A policy that for decades focused on the fortifying of democratic institutions and human rights will be replaced with rewards for cooperation on immigration, experts say.
The traditional approach of demanding democracy in some ways gave an opening to China, which never made such demands. The U.S., in contrast to China, came with “a bunch of lessons and no goodie bags,” Ryan Berg, who heads the Americas program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington, said in an interview.
Writing in Foreign Policy, Berg said: “Taking the region for granted as a sphere of U.S. influence has come at a high cost, creating a strategic vacuum in which China and lesser great power rivals have advanced their geopolitical aims with minimal pushback.”
Panama’s role in the immigration puzzle has been primarily to repatriate citizens from other countries who end up stranded in the country as they attempt to move northward. These include people from China, Sudan and other far-flung locations.
The Trump administration’s recent temporary freeze of some foreign aid also hurt Latin America, advocates say, crippling lifesaving food and heath programs.
Politics
White House to impose tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China due to ‘invasion of illegal fentanyl’
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that President Donald Trump will execute tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China starting Saturday.
Trump’s economic plan during his campaign called for extending the 2017 tax cuts and imposing tariffs ranging from 10% to 20% on all imported goods. For countries like China, that number could go up to 60%.
TRUMP TREASURY PICK: EXTENDING TRUMP TAX CUTS ‘SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT ECONOMIC ISSUE’
These countries will face these tariffs because they have allowed an “unprecedented invasion of illegal fentanyl that is killing American citizens,” according to Leavitt.
“The president will be implementing tomorrow a 25% tariff on Mexico, 25% tariffs on Canada, and a 10% tariff on China for the illegal fentanyl they have sourced and allowed to distribute into our country, which has killed tens of millions of Americans,” Leavitt told reporters at a Friday White House press briefing. “These are promises made and promises kept.”
CANADA READIES TRUMP TARIFFS RESPONSE: ‘IN A TRADE WAR, THERE ARE NO WINNERS’
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday that Canada was prepared to respond to any tariffs executed, and warned there could be “disastrous consequences” for American workers and consumers.
“We’re ready with a response, a purposeful, forceful but reasonable, immediate response,” Trudeau said. “It’s not what we want, but if he moves forward, we will also act.”
Meanwhile, Leavitt said that the tariffs are not expected to spark a trade war with Canada and that Trump would respond to Trudeau in “due time.”
“The president is intent on doing this,” Leavitt said. “And I think Justin Trudeau would be wise to talk to President Trump directly before pushing outlandish comments like that to the media.”
When asked if Mexico, Canada or China could offer any concessions to remove these new tariffs, Leavitt said Trump would decide at a later date.
“If the president at any time decides to roll back those tariffs, I’ll leave it to him to make that decision,” Leavitt said. “The president is intent on ensuring that he effectively implements tariffs while cutting inflation costs for the American people.”
HOUSE DEMS THREATEN TO BLOCK TRUMP’S BIG TARIFF PLANS: ‘UNACCEPTABLE’
House Republicans moved to reintroduce the U.S. Reciprocal Trade Act on Jan. 24, a measure that would permit Trump to unilaterally impose trade taxes on both adversaries and allies.
Trump previously praised the measure in 2019, claiming it would “give our workers a fair and level playing field against other countries.”
Meanwhile, House Democrats Reps. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., and Don Beyer, D-Va., also introduced their own legislation in January that would block Trump from using emergency powers to implement tariffs, amid concerns that American consumers would end up footing the bill.
“The American people have clearly and consistently said that the high cost of living is one of their top concerns,” DelBene said in a statement on Jan. 15. “Not only would widespread tariffs drive up costs at home and likely send our economy into recession, but they would likely lead to significant retaliation, hurting American workers, farmers, and businesses.”
The Associated Press and Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
Politics
Former 'Meet the Press' moderator Chuck Todd exits NBC News
Chuck Todd, a staple of Washington coverage for NBC News since 2007, is leaving the network.
Todd, who moderated NBC’s “Meet the Press” from 2009 to 2024, told staffers Friday he is departing to pursue new projects on his own.
Todd joined NBC News in 2007 as political director after serving as editor of the Hotline, a newsletter aimed at Beltway insiders. He is among the first TV journalists to provide granular analysis of voting data, which are now a standard part of election coverage. He replaced David Gregory as “Meet the Press” moderator in 2014.
Todd’s departure is not a surprise. He was asked in 2023 to give up his “Meet the Press” role so the network could install Kristen Welker as host.
Todd’s time at the network also appeared to be limited when he criticized NBC News during a “Meet the Press” appearance in March over the decision to hire former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel.
He said NBC News was often subjected to “gaslighting” and character assassination when dealing with McDaniel during her term as RNC chair. He questioned how McDaniel could now be a credible source in a journalistic setting.
Todd’s remarks stirred an internal revolt that led to the network reversing its offer to McDaniel.
“Meet the Press” was frequently the most-watched Sunday roundtable program during Todd’s tenure as moderator. But he became a polarizing figure during the first Trump administration.
In addition to his Sunday duties, Todd hosted “Meet the Press Daily” for MSNBC. At a time when the cable network became more of a destination for politically progressive viewers, Todd was often attacked by the network’s loyal fans for his more straight-ahead approach to his interviews.
At the same time Todd was branded “fake news” by President Trump and his acolytes on the right.
In his note to staff, Todd acknowledged the fraught situation but understood it came with the territory.
“If you do this job seeking popularity or to simply be an activist, you are doing the job incorrectly,” Todd said in his farewell note.
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