Tag Archives: Congress

Congress requests new map showing where damaging earthquakes are most likely to occur

new-usgs-map

Important Takeaways:

  • Nearly 75% of the U.S. could experience damaging earthquake shaking, according to a recent U.S. Geological Survey-led team of more than 50 scientists and engineers.
  • This was one of several key findings from the latest USGS National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM). The model was used to create a color-coded map that pinpoints where damaging earthquakes are most likely to occur based on insights from seismic studies, historical geologic data, and the latest data-collection technologies.
  • The congressionally requested NSHM update was created as an essential tool to help engineers and others mitigate how earthquakes affect the most vulnerable communities by showing likely earthquake locations and how much shaking they might produce. New tools and technology identified nearly 500 additional faults that could produce a damaging quake, showcasing the evolving landscape of earthquake research.
  • Key findings from the updated seismic hazard model include:
    • Risk to people: Nearly 75% of the U.S. could experience potentially damaging earthquakes and intense ground shaking, putting hundreds of millions of people at risk.
    • Widespread hazard: 37 U.S. states have experienced earthquakes exceeding magnitude 5 during the last 200 years, highlighting a long history of seismic activity across this country.
    • Structural implications: The updated model will inform the future of building and structural design, offering critical insights for architects, engineers, and policymakers on how structures are planned and constructed across the U.S.
    • Unified approach: This marks the first National Seismic Hazard Model to encompass all 50 states simultaneously, reflecting a massive collaborative effort with federal, state, and local partners.
    • Not a prediction: No one can predict earthquakes. However, by investigating faults and past quakes, scientists can better assess the likelihood of future earthquakes and how intense their shaking might be

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White House pressures Congress saying ‘out of money and nearly out of time’ to aid Ukraine

Ukraine-Soldier-in-Tank

Important Takeaways:

  • White House warns it is ‘out of money and nearly out of time’ to aid Ukraine
  • The warning, issued on Monday in a letter to congressional leaders, laid out how the government had already gone through about $111bn appropriated for Ukraine military aid.
  • “I want to be clear: without congressional action, by the end of the year we will run out of resources to procure more weapons and equipment for Ukraine and to provide equipment from US military stocks,” Shalanda Young, director of the office of management and budget, wrote in the letter, parts of which were published by the Hill.
  • The latest plea for money comes after the White House asked Congress to act on a $100bn supplemental funding request in October, arguing that it “advances our national security and supports our allies and partners”.
  • The request identified border security, allies in the Indo-Pacific, Israel and Ukraine. About $61bn covered money for Ukraine, which included $30bn to restock defense department equipment sent to support the country after Russia invaded in February 2022.

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Biden suggests he has a path around Congress to get more aid to Ukraine

Zelensky-Biden-Oval-Office

Important Takeaways:

  • Facing a likely roadblock from House Republicans on aid for Ukraine, President Joe Biden said Wednesday he’s planning to give a major speech on the issue and suggested there may be “another means” to provide support for Kyiv if Congress continues to balk.
  • “There is another means by which we may be able to find funding, but I’m not going to get into that right now,” he said.
  • Last week’s deal to keep the government open through mid-November excluded the $13 billion in supplemental aid that the Biden administration sought last month, raising questions about just how long the U.S. could continue to send money to Ukraine.

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White House, Congress to hammer out short-term funding measure to avoid Oct. 1 shutdown

US Capitol Building

Important Takeaways:

  • Current funding for most government programs expires on Sept. 30. If no action is taken before the next fiscal year begins on Oct. 1, large swaths of government functions would shut down.
  • The need for a stop-gap spending bill — one that might extend through late November or early December — has been a foregone conclusion for months
  • Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday told a business group in Kentucky: “I think we’re going to end up with a short-term congressional resolution, probably into December as we struggle to figure out exactly what the government’s spending level is going to be.”
  • Such a measure is expected to be attached to new emergency money to pay for natural disasters throughout the United States and to bolster Ukraine’s battle against Russia.

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Still no documents turned over to Congress from the FBI, but Director Wray has confirmed they exist

Ecclesiastes 5:8 If you see the extortion[a] of the poor, or the perversion[b] of justice and fairness in the government, [c] do not be astonished by the matter. For the high official is watched by a higher official, [d] and there are higher ones over them! [e]

Important Takeaways:

  • FBI Director Confirms Existence of Document Alleging Biden Engaged in Bribery: House GOP
  • The FBI has still failed to hand over the document to the Oversight Committee, prompting further threats of contempt of Congress charges
  • FBI Director Christopher Wray has confirmed the existence of a document alleging that President Joe Biden engaged in a criminal bribery scheme with a foreign national according to Republicans on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee.
  • In a Twitter post, the panel announced that Wray had told them the document was real and offered to let them review it, but has failed to produce the document for the Oversight Committee as a whole.
  • If true, the acknowledgment is the latest in an escalating showdown between House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Wray over the document.
  • In a May 3 letter, Comer and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) revealed that they received “highly credible unclassified whistleblower disclosures” that the FBI possessed an unclassified record that “describes an alleged criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Joe Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions.”
  • Comer gave Wray a May 30 deadline to produce the document or face charges for contempt of Congress—a deadline Wray missed. The threat got a boost after it won the support of Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who agreed to hold Wray in contempt if the deadline wasn’t met.
  • On May 31, Wray met with Comer and others, when he allegedly revealed the truth of the document’s existence.
  • But he’s failed to turn it over to the panel, prompting Republicans to again warn that they’ll move forward with contempt charges.
  • “If the FBI fails to hand over the FD-1023 form as required by the subpoena, [Comer] will begin contempt of Congress proceedings,” the Oversight panel wrote on Twitter.

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$3 Billion accounting error means Defense Department can send more weapons without asking Congress

Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.

Important Takeaways:

  • The Pentagon has overestimated the value of the weapons it has sent to Ukraine by at least $3 billion
  • An accounting error that could be a boon for the war effort because it will allow the Defense Department to send more weapons now without asking Congress for more money
  • The acknowledgment Thursday comes at a time when Pentagon is under increased pressure by Congress to show accountability for the billions of dollars it has sent in weapons, ammunition and equipment to Ukraine and as some lawmakers question whether that level of support should continue.
  • To date the U.S. has provided Ukraine nearly $37 billion in military aid since Russia invaded in February 2022.
  • Members of Congress have repeatedly pressed Defense Department leaders on how closely the U.S. is tracking its aid to Ukraine to ensure that it is not subject to fraud or ending up in the wrong hands.

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U.S. Transportation Department says 3,700 employees furloughed

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Transportation Department said Friday that 3,700 employees had been temporarily furloughed after Congress failed to reauthorize surface transportation programs before a deadline that expired early Friday.

A department spokesperson said the agency is “taking every step we can to mitigate the impacts of this temporary lapse in authorization.” Safety critical employees are exempt from the furloughs. Aides said U.S. lawmakers are considering a 30-day surface transportation extension as negotiations continue over a pair of infrastructure and spending bills.

(Reporting by David Shepardson)

White House asks Congress for funding on Afghanistan and hurricanes

By Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden’s aides on Tuesday asked Congress for billions in new funds to deal with hurricanes and other natural disasters as well as the evacuation of tens of thousands of people from Afghanistan.

The White House said in a blog post at least $24 billion in new money will be needed for disasters, including Hurricane Ida, and $6.4 billion will be needed for the Afghan evacuation and refugee resettlement.

The request for Congress to pass a short-term funding bill known as a continuing resolution underscored the financial strain posed by two crises that have occupied Biden in recent days.

It also set up a coming showdown with Congress over whether it will fund the full set of Biden’s policy priorities or even ongoing government functions by raising what is known as the debt ceiling.

About 124,000 people were evacuated last month from Kabul in a U.S.-led airlift of U.S. and other foreign citizens as well as vulnerable Afghans as the Taliban took control of the country during the chaotic American withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The evacuation was one of the largest airlifts in history but thousands of at-risk Afghans and about 100 U.S. citizens have remained behind.

Meanwhile, Biden was traveling in flood-damaged New Jersey on Tuesday, one of several states suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida. The president has sought to highlight the financial toll of stronger storms whipped up by climate change.

Biden’s acting director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Shalanda Young, said in a blog post that some of the temporary funding would go to still-unmet needs from prior hurricanes and wildfires even as the government responds to Hurricane Ida.

She also said most of the funds directed toward the Afghan effort would be for sites to process refugees from the country recently overtaken by the Taliban as well as public health screenings and resettlement resources.

The funding measure would give lawmakers additional time to negotiate over Biden’s proposals to spend trillions on new social safety net programs, infrastructure and other priorities he wants to fund with tax hikes on corporations and wealthy individuals.

Biden in May proposed a $6 trillion budget plan for the fiscal year that starts on Oct. 1, reflecting a sharp increase including measures for climate resilience. Lawmakers are also tangling over separate, Biden-backed legislation that would spent $1 trillion on infrastructure and $3.5 trillion on social safety net spending.

Young said the short-term spending bill “will allow movement toward bipartisan agreement on smart, full-year appropriations bills that reinvest in core priorities, meet the needs of American families, businesses and communities, and lay a strong foundation for the future.”

Congressional debate is expected to heat up in the coming weeks over whether lawmakers will raise the debt ceiling, the government’s ability to borrow to pay for programs it has already authorized. The Treasury is due to run out of money sometime in October.

Biden’s Democratic Party controls the House of Representatives and Senate by only narrow margins, with the balance of power at stake in elections next year.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Chris Reese and Alistair Bell)

Amtrak restores long-distance routes after funding from Congress

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. passenger railroad Amtrak said it had restored daily service on Monday for long-distance routes that serve the East Coast and the Gulf Coast after receiving new emergency funding from Congress.

Amtrak, which received about $2 billion from Congress in the year before the coronavirus pandemic, has been awarded $3.7 billion in emergency funding since March 2020. The routes include New York to New Orleans, Savannah and Miami.

The $1.7 billion awarded in March required Amtrak to restore daily service to 12 long distance routes that were reduced in October to three times per week due to the pandemic, and for the railroad to recall more than 1,200 furloughed employees. Other West Coast routes have already been restored.

On Friday, Amtrak said it was restored traditional dining service starting in late June on some long-distance routes.

Amtrak says ridership is rising and said around the Memorial Day holiday, ridership exceeded 50% of pre-pandemic levels.

In its last budget year that ended Sept. 30, Amtrak said operating revenue fell 32% to $2.3 billion over 2019 levels.

In April, Amtrak asked Congress for $5.4 billion in the budget year starting Oct. 1.

U.S. President Joe Biden has called for $80 billion in new spending on high-speed rail projects.

Amtrak asked for $3.88 billion for “base needs” and to address the impact of COVID-19 and $1.55 billion in additional U.S. funding needed to address Northeast Corridor infrastructure projects and begin advancing new corridor routes across the country.

The Biden administration’s April 9 budget called for $2.7 billion for Amtrak, a 35% jump over pre-COVID levels.

Amtrak wants to expand across the United States and by 2035 add up to 39 new corridor routes and up to 166 cities. It hopes to serve 20 million additional people annually.

Mass transit systems also suffered as Americans took billions of fewer trips last year, but ridership is increasing. Congress in March awarded mass transit systems another $30.5 billion in emergency assistance after giving them $39 billion previously.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Marguerita Choy)

U.S. spike in domestic terrorism ‘keeps me up at night,’ attorney general says

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland asked Congress on Tuesday to provide more funding for investigating and prosecuting domestic terrorism, saying it poses an “accelerating” threat that keeps him up at night.

Garland, who had served as a federal appellate judge and federal prosecutor before President Joe Biden nominated him to lead the Justice Department, was testifying about the department’s budget request for the 2022 fiscal year.

“We have a growing fear of domestic violent extremism and domestic terrorism,” Garland told a U.S. House of Representatives budgeting subcommittee. “Both of those keep me up at night.”

He did not name specific violent groups, but members of the far-right Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are among the more than 400 people arrested for the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by former President Donald Trump’s supporters.

The hearing marked Garland’s first appearance before Congress since being confirmed as the nation’s top law enforcement officer in March.

He told the House panel that the lethality of weapons available to both foreign and domestic terrorists has increased, and that the Justice Department is “putting its resources into defending the country with respect to both”.

“We have an emerging and accelerating threat,” Garland said.

He highlighted in his opening remarks that the Justice Department is requesting $85 million in additional funding from Congress to bolster its efforts to combat domestic terrorism.

Garland said the department is also seeking a “historic investment” of $1 billion in its Office of Violence Against Women, and that the budget proposal includes a $232 million increase in funding to help combat gun violence.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Scott Malone and Mark Heinrich)