US narrowly avoids government shutdown

Published

1 year ago

October 1, 2023

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The US has narrowly avoided a government shutdown – with just three hours to spare before current funding expired.

A rushed package means agencies will be able to continue operating as normal for the next 45 days, ending turmoil in Washington.

However, this temporary solution has dropped aid to Ukraine – an issue that will need to be revisited with a growing number of Republican lawmakers.

Had a deal not been reached, four million government employees would have been left unpaid – with national parks and financial regulators forced to shut their doors.

Active-duty soldiers would have had to work without pay, with nutrition aid to seven million poor mothers suspended.

There could also have been knock-on effects with airport security and border control, delaying passengers.

Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said: “The American people can breathe a sigh of relief – there will be no government shutdown … today, MAGA extremism has failed and bipartisanship has prevailed.”

A shutdown had looked all but inevitable earlier in the week, with right-wing Republicans calling for government agencies to slash their budgets by up to 30% – a move that the White House and the Democrats rejected as too extreme.

That plan collapsed on Friday, with Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy abandoning those demands.

He instead relied on Democrats to pass the bill – putting his own job at risk – paving the way for the Senate to pass the measure 88-9.

Mr McCarthy later struck a defiant tone and dismissed concerns he could be ousted as leader, telling reporters: “I want to be the adult in the room, go ahead and try.

“And you know what? If I have to risk my job for standing up for the American public, I will do that.”

Analysis: A sticking plaster, but lots unresolved

It was brinkmanship, about as close to the brink as it gets.

US networks had been running “countdown clocks” to government shutdown and they showed less than nine hours when the breakthrough vote happened in the House.

It was the magic key to avoiding a shutdown and everything that would have entailed – the closures, the workers unpaid, the multibillion-dollar hit to the economy and the rest.

It came down to last-minute political gymnastics. Kevin McCarthy, Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, had spent weeks trying, and failing, to corral right-wing members of his party behind a preferred funding plan.

Their objections stood in his way and they didn’t budge. It was a measure of the influence wielded by the likes of Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor-Greene, once on the faraway fringe, but now key players in the party.

At the last-minute, McCarthy’s 45-day stopgap proposal to avoid a shutdown was carried forward only when Democrats weighed in behind it.

It may yet come back to bite Mr McCarthy, one of America’s most prominent political figures.

His right-wing party critics had threatened to oust him if he counted on Democrat votes.

It’s one loose end among many – not least the issue of funding for Ukraine.

The bill that has averted the shutdown doesn’t include $6bn (£4.9bn) in Ukrainian aid – a concession demanded by many Republicans in the House of Representatives.

How that squares with a US government commitment to aiding the war effort will be central to the discussions in the 45 days that this bill buys.

Democrats who nodded it through saw the danger in being seen to deprioritise US domestic interests amidst the immediate threat of a shutdown.

Having pulled back from the brink, they will wrestle with the danger they see in deprioritising Ukraine and its war effort.

President Joe Biden has welcomed the deal, and says it prevents “an unnecessary crisis that would have inflicted needless pain on millions of hard-working Americans”.

He added: “I want to be clear – we should never have been in this position in the first place. Just a few months ago, Speaker McCarthy and I reached a budget agreement to avoid precisely this type of manufactured crisis.

“For weeks, extreme House Republicans tried to walk away from that deal by demanding drastic cuts that would have been devastating for millions of Americans. They failed.”

Mr Biden went on to warn that US support for Ukraine cannot be interrupted when the country is at a “critical moment”.

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Day 34: Why Trump really flipped the script on Ukraine

Published

1 day ago

February 23, 2025

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Day 34: Why Trump really flipped the script on Ukraine

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As President Trump claims he is “close” to signing a mining deal with Ukraine, and his secretary of state Marco Rubio talks about a lack of “gratitude” from President Zelenskyy for US military assistance, our US correspondents Mark Stone, Martha Kelner and James Matthews discuss if this is the real reason Trump’s administration appears to have turned its back on Ukraine.

And, why Canada is taking its feud with Donald Trump on to the ice.

You can email James, Mark and Martha on trump100@sky.uk

US

Trump fires top US military officers – including America’s most senior commander

Published

1 day ago

February 23, 2025

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Trump fires top US military officers - including America's most senior commander

Donald Trump has purged top military figures in the Pentagon, including firing America’s most senior commander.

He also pushed out five other admirals and generals in an unprecedented shake-up of US military leadership.

The Pentagon had been bracing for mass firings of civilian staff as well as a dramatic overhaul of its budget and a shift in military deployments.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General Charles ‘CQ’ Brown – America’s highest-ranking general and only the second black general to serve as chairman – was fired with immediate effect.

The president will also replace the head of the US Navy, a position held by Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead a military service, and the Air Force vice chief of staff, the Pentagon said.

He is also removing the judge advocates general for the Army, Navy and Air Force, critical positions that ensure enforcement of military justice.

The campaign to rid the military of leaders who support diversity and equity in the ranks has been condemned by Democrats.

There is nothing apolitical about Trump

By David Blevins, Sky News correspondent

The purge of America’s top military officials, carried out by President Trump and his Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, is unprecedented, writes Sky News correspondent David Blevins, in Washington.

Their dismissal late on Friday sent shockwaves through the defence establishment and raised concerns about the direction of military leadership.

General Charles Q Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was abruptly removed two years into his four-year term.

America’s most senior military officer comes into office two years into a presidential term, meaning they serve under two presidents.

The role is intended to be apolitical but there is no such thing as non-partisan politics in the Trump playbook.

Brown’s tenure had been marked by a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, putting him at odds with the administration.

Prior to his appointment as defence secretary, Hegseth questioned Brown’s promotion, hinting that it had been influenced by race.

In his book, The War on Warriors, Hegseth wrote: “The military standards, once the hallmark for competency, professionalism, and ‘mission first’ outcomes, have officially been subsumed by woke priorities.”

Supporters of the administration argue the changes are necessary to refocus military priorities in line with the president’s objectives.

But critics contend that such a sweeping overhaul of leadership undermines the apolitical nature of the military and unsettles the rank and file.

Rhode Island’s senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said: “Firing uniformed officers as a type of political loyalty test… erodes the trust and professionalism that our servicemembers require to achieve their missions.”

Representative Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat, said the firings were “un-American, unpatriotic, and dangerous for our troops and our national security.”

“This is the definition of politicising our military,” he said.

Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said: “Firing uniformed leaders as a type of political loyalty test, or for reasons relating to diversity and gender that have nothing to do with performance, erodes the trust and professionalism that our servicemembers require to achieve their missions.”

During the election, Mr Trump spoke of firing “woke” generals and those he saw as responsible for the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Defence secretary and former Fox News personality Pete Hegseth has questioned whether General Brown would have got the job if he were not black.

There is no indication his appointment was not based on merit.

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On Friday, Mr Trump said: “I want to thank General Charles ‘CQ’ Brown for his over 40 years of service to our country, including as our current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“He is a fine gentleman and an outstanding leader, and I wish a great future for him and his family.”

It’s unclear who Mr Trump will choose to replace the judge advocates. Mr Hegseth previously criticised military lawyers, saying most “spend more time prosecuting our troops than putting away bad guys”.

US

Dozens turn out in support of Luigi Mangione over killing of US healthcare boss Brian Thompson

Published

1 day ago

February 23, 2025

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Dozens turn out in support of Luigi Mangione over killing of US healthcare boss Brian Thompson

Dozens of supporters were outside court as the man accused of fatally shooting the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare made his first appearance.

Luigi Mangione has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of murder following the 4 December killing of Brian Thompson, 50, outside a midtown Manhattan hotel.

The 26-year-old is accused of ambushing and shooting the executive as he walked to an investor conference.

Dozens of people who showed up in court to support the suspect including former army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning who was jailed for stealing classified diplomatic cables.

Dozens more queued in the hallway.

Mangione is also facing federal charges that could carry the possibility of the death penalty.

The judge set a deadline of 9 April to submit pre-trial motions.

In addition to the New York cases, Mr Mangione also faces charges of forgery, carrying firearms without a licence, and other counts in Pennsylvania, where authorities arrested him at a McDonald’s.

Police say he was in possession of a gun, bullets, multiple fake IDs and a handwritten document that expressed “ill will” towards corporate America.

He is being held in a Brooklyn jail alongside several other high-profile defendants, including music mogul and rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, and disgraced crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried.

The killing prompted some to voice their resentment at US health insurers, with Mangione attracting a cult following.

A poll taken in the wake of the shooting showed most Americans believe health insurance profits and coverage denials were partly to blame for the incident.