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Friday, May 5, 2023

White House Considers Short-Term Debt Ceiling Extension

Hill: The White House is not taking the possibility of a short-term debt ceiling extension off the table as it weighs options to avoid the country defaulting on its debts as President Biden prepares to meet Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on the matter next week. On Thursday, Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young told reporters at the White House that extending the debt ceiling was an option (Hill). RNC Research: Biden Budget Director Shalanda Young can’t say whether Biden was joking or not when he riffed he was “all for” limiting spending (Twitter). Just the News: Her comments come ahead of a Tuesday meeting between Biden and congressional leaders to discuss a resolution to the budgetary standoff. The nation hit its $31.38 trillion debt limit in January of this year, prompting Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to resort to “extraordinary measures” to keep the government afloat. She has, however, warned that the situation will become untenable by June 1 and urged lawmakers to resolve the issue. While Democrats have advocated for a clean increase to the nation’s spending limit, Republicans have sought to pair any increase with provisions to limit spending and address the national debt. The Republican-dominated House in April passed a plan to extend the debt limit for one year while capping the growth of federal spending. President Joe Biden has indicated he will veto the plan should it ever reach his desk (Just the News).

Seattle’s New Law Does Not Allow Police Officers to Pursue Criminals

KOMO News: As of Wednesday, no Seattle Police Department (SPD) officer is allowed to engage in a pursuit unless the officer has been trained in an emergency vehicle operator course (EVOC) or Pursuit Intervention Technique (PIT) while employed by SPD, according to a source within the SPD. Any pursuit must also meet all current requirements listed in the department’s policy, according to a source within the SPD. Under the new state law, police no longer need probable cause to initiate a pursuit. Instead, reasonable suspicion that a person inside a vehicle has committed or is committing a crime would be enough to give chase (KOMO News). Radio host Jason Rantz: Unless you’re SWAT, the way the bill is written, most officers cannot pursue suspects based on the new law. Again: this applies to all circumstances, including a suspect that a cop sees commit murder before fleeing. SPD officers do not have this kind of training (Twitter).

Chicago Police Stations Housing Migrants Taken to City

Why call yourself a sanctuary city if you have no plan to take care of migrants sent your way? Julio Rosas: Police stations in Chicago are now having to become homeless shelters for processed and released migrants who made it to the city due to the lack of space as a result of the growing number of people coming from the U.S.-Mexico border. Pictures on Twitter shows the lobbies of the police stations full of people sleeping on the ground (Townhall). 16^th and 17^th District Police Scanner: This is the 24th district Chicago Police station lobby located near Clark and Devon. This is inhumane. This is a lack of planning. This is a result of failure. It’s easy to declare sanctuary status but much harder to actually be a sanctuary (Twitter).

NYC Councilman Introduces Bill to Make Wealthy Individuals Pay More for City Fines and Tickets Issued

National Review: A New York City councilman introduced a bill last week that would see wealthy residents pay higher fines for civil violations like double parking and littering. Justin Brannan, chair of the Council’s finance committee, wants a sliding-scale program to be instituted that would see fines charged in proportion to an individual’s income. Fines for civil violations tend to vary from around $50 to a few hundred. Brannan’s proposal is a pilot program and the exact details would be decided by city officials if it ends up being instituted. Versions of day-fine programs have been instituted in other countries and other parts of the U.S. but they generally focus on felonies or misdemeanors, not civil offenses (National Review). NBC: Brannan says so-called “day-fines” would help the city recoup heavy losses, including some of the $2 billion it is currently owed. A recent independent budgeting report found most of that haul is tied to unpaid parking and speed-camera enforcement tickets (NBC).

Sen. Dianne Feinstein Responds to Critics Saying She Should Retire

Washington Examiner: Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) released a statement Thursday pushing back on suggestions that her absence has stalled President Joe Biden’s judicial nominations and made no mention of when she might return to the Senate. The 89-year-old senator, who has been absent from the Senate since March when she was hospitalized with shingles, said in a statement “there has been no slowdown” on judicial confirmations with her gone. Feinstein sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is tasked with vetting the president’s judicial nominees before they go to the Senate floor for full confirmation. The statement points out that the committee has advanced eight district and circuit court nominees in her absence. But, without Feinstein present, the committee is evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, and with nominees needing a majority to make it out of the committee and onto the Senate floor for full confirmation, those who would garner no Republican support currently sit in limbo (Washington Examiner). Daily Mail: Meanwhile New York progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Monday that it was time for 89-year-old Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein to retire, amid a lengthy absence from Congress due to ill health which has disrupted Democrats’ efforts to confirm liberal judges. AOC is the latest member of Feinstein’s own party to call for her to go, and she shrugged off complaints that such messages were sexist (Daily Mail).

George Soros-Backed Prosecutor Resigns Amid Bipartisan Effort

Fox News: An embattled George Soros-bankrolled prosecutor in St. Louis resigned Thursday amid a legal effort by Missouri’s attorney general to fire her for allegedly neglecting her duties. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner, the city’s top prosecutor, is stepping down following repeated, bipartisan calls for her resignation from officials across Missouri. Gardner’s office tweeted Gardner’s resignation letter, which was addressed to the people of St. Louis. Gardner is one of the first progressive prosecutors whom Soros, a liberal billionaire and Democrat mega-donor, bankrolled in 2016 and again for her re-election in 2020. She announced last month that she’ll seek a third term. Her resignation is effective June 1 (Fox News). Associated Press: Criticism of Gardner escalated earlier this year after 17-year-old Janae Edmondson, a volleyball standout from Tennessee, was struck by a speeding car after a tournament game in downtown St. Louis. She lost both legs. The driver, 21-year-old Daniel Riley, was out on bond on a robbery charge despite nearly 100 bond violations that included letting his GPS monitor die and breaking the terms of his house arrest, according to court records (Associated Press).

Montana Governor Signs Five Pro-Life Bills into Law

LifeNews: Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte has signed a set of five pro-life bills to protect babies from abortions. The Montana governor signed five pro-life bills into law and celebrated five additional pro-life measures that are on their way to his desk. Among the newly passed legislation are measures to strengthen Montana’s law to prevent taxpayer funded abortions, require abortion providers to report women harmed by abortion pills, protect the lives of abortion survivors, require the licensing of abortion facilities, and create an adoption tax credit and a child tax credit for children under the age of six (LifeNews). Townhall: Before signing the five bills into law, Gianforte announced two pro-life policies in his Budget for Montana Families. The budget includes a $1,200 refundable child tax credit for children under six years old and an adoption tax credit for up to $7,500 (Townhall).

California Reparations Committee Proposes a $1.2 Million Payment to Each Descendant of Slavery

Hill: The California Reparations Task Force will vote on a series of proposals this weekend that could see descendants of slavery living in the state each receive up to $1.2 million. In a series of documents published Monday, the task force indicated it will vote Saturday to recommend the state of California officially apologize for racism and slavery and offer “down payments” of varying amounts to eligible Black residents (Hill). Why would California have to apologize for slavery? California was never a slave state. HotAir: I’ll say this for the proposal. It makes California’s high speed rail plan look cheap by comparison. That project is up to a mere $113 billion. We could build at least seven bullet train systems for the cost of reparations. The next big step for this plan will happen Saturday. That’s when the task force will decide to approve the final report. From there it goes into the hands of California’s state legislature. There doesn’t seem to be any doubt that this will come to a vote at some point. Maybe then Democrats will explain to the rest of us where they plan to come up with 2 1/2 times the state’s annual budget? There’s a whole chapter in the proposed report about how to educate the public about the need for these payments. Naturally it involves a new curriculum for California schools (HotAir).

Senators Sinema, Tillis Prepare Title 42 Alternative Ahead of the Rule Expiring

Politico: A Trump-era policy is set to expire next week, sparking warnings of an increase of migrants along the southern border. And now, a bipartisan pair of senators is trying to buy the Biden administration more time. Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) are working on legislation that would grant a temporary two-year authority to expel migrants from the United States similar to what is currently allowed under Title 42, a law that permits the U.S. to deny asylum and migration claims for public health reasons. A key distinction is that the extension being proposed by Tillis and Sinema does not rely on a public health order, making it functionally different from the Trump-era program that Biden kept in place (Politico). National Review: The Sinema-Tillis bill would require 60 votes to pass. It is doubtful it would be instituted in time for Title 42’s expiration on May 11 (National Review). RNC Research: MSNBC: Migrant shelters are already at capacity as officials soon expect a surge of over 10,000 illegal immigrants per day (Twitter).

10.

GOP Demands Why Navy Used a Drag Queen on a Banned Social Media Platform for Recruitment

Daily Mail: A group of 14 Republican senators wrote a letter Wednesday to Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro asking why the Navy enlisted a ‘TikTok drag queen’ to beef up recruitment numbers. Sens. Ted Cruz, Rick Scott, Marco Rubio and others told Del Toro that ‘we are concerned about both the promotion of a banned app and behavior that many deem inappropriate in a professional workplace.’ Their letter follows media coverage this week of how Yeoman 2nd Class Joshua Kelley had been named a ‘Digital Ambassador’ for the Navy as part of a pilot program that started in November and ran through March (Daily Mail). New York Post: Last fiscal year, the Navy barely achieved its 33,400 recruitment target for new sailors, according to the Navy Times, but came up short of its 2,507 target for active duty officer promotions and missed its goal of 1,360 reserve officers by almost 400, per the report. At the moment, the Navy is seeking to grow its size from 341,736 in fiscal year 2023 to 347,000 members in 2024 (New York Post). Spencer Brown: As the lawmakers rightly remind the Secretary of the Navy, “our nation’s military is facing a recruiting crisis” making it “important as ever to reach broader swaths of the eligible population—but not at the cost of privacy, security, or professionalism” (Townhall).