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Senators gear up for chaotic post-recess return to Washington

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Senators gear up for chaotic post-recess return to Washington


Lawmakers and party leadership will be forced to grapple with the debt ceiling’s ticking time bomb and a host of shifting political dynamics when the Senate returns from its May recess on Tuesday.

Top of mind for the Senate is the bill that House negotiators brokered with the White House to end the debt limit impasse. That legislation is expected to head for a vote in the lower chamber on Wednesday, putting pressure on the upper chamber to consider it in short order.

WHAT 2024 GOP CANDIDATES HAVE SAID ON TAX POLICY

Debt ceiling frenzy

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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has told his members to prepare for a vote Friday. That’s three days before the so-called “X-date” in which Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has projected the government will run out of cash to meet all of its obligations on time.

However, some Republican members are already souring on the measure. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) threatened to “use every procedural tool at my disposal to impede a debt-ceiling deal that doesn’t contain substantial spending and budgetary reforms.”

The text of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 dropped late Sunday evening, meaning many members are likely parsing through it. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has urged his members to back the bipartisan deal, but opponents could deploy legislative tools to bog down the process.

Looming over the debt ceiling deal is Yellen’s June 5 deadline. Should the Senate fumble the debt limit deal, it could be detrimental to the economy, given the risks of a default.

Nevertheless, with a melange of rank-and-file members as well as top leaders such as McConnell on board, there is optimism the deal will squeak by.

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Permitting reform

Throughout the first two years of President Joe Biden’s administration, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) often served as the linchpin vote with the power to scuttle big-ticket priorities for his party. But one objective he had was permitting reform.

Last year, after Manchin signed on to the Inflation Reduction Act, a move he later expressed regret over, his team claimed that he secured “commitment from Leader Schumer, Speaker Pelosi, and President Biden to pass this comprehensive permitting reform package.”

Many progressives dissented over the reform, and Congress did not pass the full scope of what he sought. But now, Manchin appears to be getting some of what he wanted on that front in the debt ceiling deal. Notably, the deal also includes a provision to expedite the completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, something that Manchin has also advocated.

McCarthy revealed Sunday that Republicans are seeking to hash out further reforms to the permitting process in the future.

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Dianne Feinstein

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) made her return to the upper chamber earlier this month after taking medical leave following a case of shingles. It was later revealed that infection caused complications such as encephalitis, an inflation of the brain that can trigger paralysis on part of her face, per the New York Times.

Feinstein’s prolonged absence hampered Democratic efforts to ram controversial judicial picks through the Senate Judiciary Committee. At 89 years old, Feinstein is the oldest member of either chamber in Congress.

Whispers of consternation about her age grew louder during her time away from the Senate. But recently, they were further fueled by reports that she became deeply confused at times, including once when Vice President Kamala Harris presided over a tiebreaker vote.

Recently, she raised eyebrows when she denied a reporter’s assertion that she was absent from the Senate for roughly three months.

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Feinstein is expected to return to the Senate in the shadow of some of those recent revelations.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Tim Scott

Senators are famous for looking in the mirror and seeing a president. In contrast with past presidential election cycles, only one, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), is running for the White House thus far.

Scott announced his bid last week, further tying 2024 presidential politics to the upper chamber.

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Gas prices increase slightly – Washington Examiner

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Gas prices increase slightly – Washington Examiner


Gas prices slightly increased from Monday. It’s the first such increase after several consecutive days of prices dropping.

According to AAA, the current national average price for regular gas is $3.598 per gallon. On Monday, it was $3.59 per gallon. 

One week ago, regular gas was $3.612 per gallon. A month ago, it was $3.673 per gallon. 

Despite the recent downward trend in prices, the price of regular gas remains higher today than at this time last year. One year ago, the average cost of regular gasoline was $3.539 per gallon, according to AAA. 

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California remains the state with the highest gas prices in the country, with an average price for regular-grade gas of $5.188 per gallon. Mississippi is the state with the least expensive gas, at $3.057 per gallon. To view the price of gas in each state, click here.

Here is how gas prices in different states and areas in the mid-Atlantic region compare. 

Washington, D.C.

The average price for a gallon of regular-grade gas in the nation’s capital is $3.719. This is slightly cheaper than yesterday’s price of $3.721. One week ago, the price was $3.732.

Maryland

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In Maryland, a gallon of regular-grade gas is $3.555. This is an increase from Monday’s price of $3.544 per gallon. However, both prices are cheaper than the average price from a week ago, which was $3.571 per gallon.

Virginia

The average price for a gallon of regular-grade gas in Virginia on Tuesday is $3.436. This is an increase from Monday’s average of $3.398 per gallon. Last week, the average price for a gallon of regular-grade gas was $3.438, according to AAA.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Pennsylvania

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Gas prices in the Keystone State were higher than the national average. The average price of regular-grade gas in Pennsylvania on Tuesday is $3.758 per gallon. This is slightly higher than Monday’s average of $3.741. One week ago, the average price of regular-grade gas was $3.764. 

Delaware

The average price for regular-grade gas in Delaware is $3.449 per gallon, less expensive than the national average. On Monday, the average price was $3.453 per gallon, and last week, it was $3.489 per gallon. 



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The annual Run for the Wall continues their journey to Washington DC by passing through Meridian

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The annual Run for the Wall continues their journey to Washington DC by passing through Meridian


MERIDIAN, Miss. (WTOK) -The annual Run for the Wall happens around mid-May every year.

These are a group of people who have come together to ride for those who can’t. They have one mission and four routes, as the run starts in Ontario, California, and ends in Washington, DC.

“My purpose for running for the wall in the beginning, I started in 2019 right here in Meridian. I was an F-N-G, so I started here. Once I got here and saw the comradely, what the mission was and what it stands for, it touched me. It was emotional, so I decided it was something I wanted to do from now on after the initial year in 2019, I talked to my wife and told her about the people I met on the run, and I talked to a couple of other friends out of Chattanooga Tennessee, and another friend out of Georgia and so far since 2019 I’ve got five people to join me, which I call my group now with the run for the wall, but this year I’m riding in honor of a friend I met seven years ago that died over in Iraq so that is why I ride in the run for the wall,” says Johnnie Ruddleston, Assistant Platoon leader, 3rd Platoon.

Everyone out here is riding for a purpose, as one individual says their reasons will have them riding for the rest of their lives.

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“I grew up an Air Force brat; I was 12 when my dad retired; my dad was a veteran of Korea and Vietnam; my dad is no longer with us, so this is for him,” says Michael Cooper, F-N-G of Run for the Wall.

As they make their way down the interstate, they will arrive in Washington, DC, on the Friday of Memorial weekend.

To learn more about Run for the Wall, you can visit their website: https://rftw.us.

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Adams slams Washington Post story on business leaders Gaza protest pressure as anti-Semitic

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Adams slams Washington Post story on business leaders Gaza protest pressure as anti-Semitic


In the wake of a published Washington Post report claiming business leaders privately pushed Mayor Adams to crack down on pro-Palestinian college protests, the mayor Monday called the story “antisemitic” while not explicitly denying he met with the powerful execs.

“I think that article was antisemitic in its core,” Adams said on Fox5’s Good Day New York of the report from last week. “That some article is saying some clandestine group came together to pressure us, it’s a lie. It did not happen.”

While objecting to the story, the mayor did not address whether he held a private Zoom meeting on April 26 with the prominent business leaders, who reportedly pressed him to send police to disperse the protests at Columbia University. The meeting was not listed on the mayor’s public schedule.

The Post reported that during the call, participants discussed political donations to Adams and continued pressure on Columbia to summon the NYPD. The paper said it reviewed thousands of WhatsApp chat messages and verified the information with some members of the group.

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“We meet with all groups throughout this city, of different breakdowns and ethnicities,” Adams said. “That is who I am, and I am going to continue to do so.”

Barry Williams for New York Daily News

NYPD officers stand post after other NYPD officers cleared pro-Palestinian protesters off the lawn of Columbia University Thursday April 18, 2024 in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams for New York Daily News)

The call purportedly was held after students at Columbia set up a new Gaza solidarity encampment after the NYPD dismantled the original tent city.

As the pro-Palestinian encampments spread at Columbia and other universities across the city, concerns about escalating antisemitic rhetoric and actions were growing. Columbia began offering online classes as some Jewish students felt unsafe going to campus, and Jewish campus leaders warned of a hostile environment.

On campus, college officials and student protesters advocating for divestment from Israel were in the midst of negotiations. The day after the call, Columbia President Minouche Shafik vowed not to call the NYPD again, claiming that police intervention would only inflame an already tense situation.

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But a few days later, the calculus changed when a group of mostly students at Columbia and its affiliate institutions, such as Barnard College and Union Theological Seminary, took over a storied academic building for campus protests, Hamilton Hall. On April 30, Columbia officials summoned the NYPD to reclaim the building and clear the new tent demonstration.

In response to a Daily News inquiry, a rep for the Post said the paper regularly covers people with power and wealth working to influence public opinion and policy. They pointed to several other examples, including how a Catholic group spent millions on app data that tracked gay priests and conservative doctors influenced abortion and transgender rights.

Adams’ comments echoed Deputy Mayor Fabien Levy’s statement in the original article that “the insinuation that Jewish donors secretly plotted to influence government operations is an all too familiar antisemitic trope.”

The prominent business leaders and financiers had been communicating in a WhatsApp chat since mid-October titled “Israel Current Events,” according to The Post. Some chat participants attended private briefings with top Israeli officials including former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and centrist war cabinet member Benny Gantz, while others helped screen footage of Hamas’ Oct. 7 atrocities in New York,  the report said.

Bill Ackman.

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Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman. (Getty)

The group had reached about 100 members — including more than a dozen who appear on Forbes’s annual list of billionaires and prominent executives such as hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, a prominent critic of colleges’ responses to the Israel-Hamas war, and Joshua Kushner, founder of Thrive Capital and brother to Jared Kushner, former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law.

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Members Kind snack company founder Daniel Lubetzky, hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb and billionaire Len Blavatnik reportedly participated in the April 26 call.

Daniel S. Loeb

Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

Hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)

Adams on Fox5 also reiterated that he only deployed NYPD on the Columbia and City College campuses after the schools’ leaders asked for police assistance. Since the raids, Adams and top NYPD brass have alleged the student protesters were goaded by “outside agitators” with no ties to the local colleges.

“We waited, as we were supposed to, to get calls from the college presidents to tell us when to come in,” he said.

Joshua Kushner.

Getty

Joshua Kushner, founder of Thrive Capital and brother to Jared Kushner. (Getty)

The Columbia chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, which helped organize many of the demonstrations on campus, said in a statement on social media that members of the group were “the real outside agitators,” who have no affiliation with Columbia but encouraged the NYPD be used on protesters.

With Chris Sommerfeldt

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