WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate on Friday unanimously approved a one-week extension of federal funding to avoid a government shutdown this weekend and to provide more time for separate negotiations on COVID-19 relief and an overarching spending bill.
With the Senate’s vote the measure now goes to President Donald Trump for signing into law.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan and David Morgan)
By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Israel and Morocco agreed on Thursday to normalize relations in a deal brokered with the help of the United States, making Morocco the fourth Arab country to set aside hostilities with Israel in the past four months.
As part of the agreement, U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over the Western Sahara, where there has been a decades-old territorial dispute with Morocco pitted against the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, a breakaway movement that seeks to establish an independent state in the territory.
Trump sealed the agreement in a phone call on Thursday with Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, the senior U.S. official said.
Morocco is the fourth country since August to strike a deal aimed at normalizing relations with Israel. The others were the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan.
Under the agreement, Morocco will establish full diplomatic relations and resume official contacts with Israel, grant overflights and also direct flights to and from Israel for all Israelis.
“They are going to reopen their liaison offices in Rabat and Tel Aviv immediately with the intention to open embassies. And they are going to promote economic cooperation between Israeli and Moroccan companies,” White House senior adviser Jared Kushner told Reuters.
“Today the administration has achieved another historic milestone. President Trump has brokered a peace agreement between Morocco and Israel – the fourth such agreement between Israel and an Arab/Muslim nation in four months.
“Through this historic step, Morocco is building on its longstanding bond with the Moroccan Jewish community living in Morocco and throughout the world, including in Israel. This is a significant step forward for the people of Israel and Morocco.
“It further enhances Israel’s security, while creating opportunities for Morocco and Israel to deepen their economic ties and improve the lives of their people.”
A White House statement on the phone call between Trump and the king of Morocco said Trump “reaffirmed his support for Morocco’s serious, credible, and realistic autonomy proposal as the only basis for a just and lasting solution to the dispute over the Western Sahara territory.”
“And as such the president recognized Moroccan sovereignty over the entire Western Sahara territory,” the statement said.
Palestinians have been critical of the normalization deals, saying Arab countries have set back the cause of peace by abandoning a longstanding demand that Israel give up land for a Palestinian state before it can receive recognition.
Much of the momentum behind the deal-making has been to present a united front against Iran and roll back its regional influence.
The Trump White House has tried to get Saudi Arabia to sign on to a normalization deal with Israel, believing if the Saudis agreed other Arab nations would follow, but the Saudis have signaled they are not ready.
One more Middle East breakthrough is possible. Last week Kushner and his team traveled to Saudi Arabia and Qatar seeking an end to a three-year rift between Doha and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
A tentative deal has been reached on this front but it was far from clear whether a final agreement to end a blockade of Qatar will be sealed. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt have maintained a diplomatic, trade and travel embargo on Qatar since mid-2017.
(Reporting by Steve Holland, Editing by Howard Goller)
By Ted Hesson and Mimi Dwyer
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration finalized a regulation on Thursday that greatly restricts access to asylum in the United States, part of an immigration crackdown.
The final rule cuts off asylum access for most migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border through a series of changes to eligibility criteria, according to experts and advocates. In addition, it directs immigration judges and asylum officers to deny broad types of asylum claims, such as those based on domestic abuse and gang violence, with some exceptions.
The new policy will almost certainly face legal challenges, which have sidelined other immigration initiatives put in place by President Donald Trump.
The latest restrictions are set to take effect on Jan. 11.
The asylum restrictions are part of a broader push to implement tougher immigration rules, a central focus of his years in office.
The new rule instructs asylum officers and judges to weigh negatively applications from migrants who crossed into the United States illegally, used fraudulent documents, or passed through other countries without seeking refuge elsewhere first.
(Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington and Mimi Dwyer in Los Angeles; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Wednesday that President Donald Trump would rather send $600 checks to Americans as part of a new coronavirus aid package than supplemental unemployment benefits, arguing that it would put more people back to work more quickly.
Mnuchin, speaking to reporters on a videoconference, said the $916 billion plan he proposed on Tuesday evening would use $40 billion to extend base unemployment benefits and spend $140 billion on direct payments.
A $908 billion bipartisan plan under negotiations by congressional leaders had called for $180 billion for unemployment benefits, including a supplemental payment of $300 a week for idled workers for 16 weeks. The $600 checks would go to both unemployed workers and those with jobs, and families would also get $600 per child, Mnuchin said.
“We obviously want to get people back to work. By sending out checks, we’re putting money into the economy for people. This will have the impact of creating demand, which will have the impact of creating jobs,” Mnuchin said.
“There are a lot of people who like checks, including the President, and there’s a lot of support both among Republicans and Democrats,” he added.
He said he was “cautiously hopeful” that the two parties could reach agreement on aid to support the economy until COVID-19 vaccines are widely available.
Haggling over aid proposals continued on Wednesday as the House of Representatives passed a one-week government funding measure to buy more time on a broader spending package and coronavirus relief
Mnuchin said that aside from the debate over unemployment benefits, the two major sticking points were disagreements over new funds for state and local governments and demands to shield businesses, school districts and non-profit groups from coronavirus-related lawsuits.
The Treasury proposal roughly mirrors the bipartisan proposal in other areas, including $160 billion for state and local governments, $320 billion for small businesses, and $82 billion for schools, with other funds for transportation, the postal service, child care and Community Development Financial Institutions to help under-served communities.
(Reporting by David Lawder. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
By Jan Wolfe and Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to let him join a lawsuit by Texas seeking to throw out the voting results in four states, litigation that also drew support from 17 other states.
In a separate brief, lawyers for 17 states led by Missouri’s Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt also urged the nine justices to hear the Texas lawsuit.
Trump on Wednesday vowed to intervene in the lawsuit though he did not provide details on the nature of the intervention including whether it would be by presidential campaign or the U.S. Justice Department.
Writing on Twitter, Trump said, “We will be INTERVENING in the Texas (plus many other states) case. This is the big one. Our Country needs a victory!”
The lawsuit, announced on Tuesday by the attorney general of Texas, Ken Paxton, targeted four states.
In addition to Missouri, the states joining Texas were: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and West Virginia.
The lawsuit was filed directly with the Supreme Court rather than with a lower court, as is permitted for certain litigation between states.
The Texas suit argued that changes made by the four states to voting procedures amid the coronavirus pandemic to expand mail-in voting were unlawful. Texas asked the Supreme Court to immediately block the four states from using the voting results to appoint presidential electors to the Electoral College.
Texas also asked the Supreme Court to delay the Dec. 14 date for Electoral College votes to be formally cast, a date set by law in 1887.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Jan Wolfe; Editing by Tim Ahmann and Will Dunham)
By Susan Cornwell
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday that lawmakers were still striving for agreement on COVID-19 aid, as a bipartisan group released details of their proposal and the U.S. House of Representatives prepared to vote on a one-week funding bill to provide more time for a deal.
With agreement elusive, the House was poised to vote on Wednesday afternoon on a measure to prevent federal programs from running out of money on Friday at midnight (0500 GMT on Saturday) by extending current funding levels until Dec. 18.
The move gives Congress seven more days to enact a broader, $1.4 trillion “omnibus” spending measure, to which congressional leaders hope to attach the long-awaited COVID-19 relief package – if they can reach a deal on both fronts.
The bipartisan group of lawmakers from the House and Senate released a summary of their $908 billion plan aimed at breaking the months-long stalemate between the parties over more coronavirus relief.
The proposal would extend for 16 weeks pandemic-related unemployment insurance programs due to expire at the end of the month. The measure would also provide an extra $300 a week in supplemental unemployment benefits for 16 weeks, from the end of December into April.
“We are literally on the five-yard line now,” said Democratic Representative Josh Gottheimer, a member of the bipartisan group. “We have no choice but to get this done.”
The summary said there was agreement in principle on two thorny issues: liability protections for businesses desired by Republicans and $160 billion in aid to state and local governments sought by Democrats. Lawmakers said they were still working on details.
On Tuesday evening, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin weighed in for the first time since before the November election, saying he had presented a $916 billion relief proposal to Pelosi that includes money for state and local governments and liability protections for businesses.
But Pelosi and Schumer said they viewed the bipartisan negotiations as the best hope for COVID-19 relief.
Other Democrats also reacted cautiously to Mnuchin’s proposal, asking why it lacked supplementary benefits for the unemployed while including direct checks of $600 for all individuals.
“How can anybody say that I’m gonna send another check to people that already have a paycheck and job, and not send anything to the unemployed? It doesn’t make any sense to me at all,” said Senator Joe Manchin, a member of the bipartisan group, told reporters.
After the vote Wednesday on the stopgap funding measure in the Democratic-run House, the Republican-led Senate is expected to follow by the end of the week, then send the measure to President Donald Trump to sign into law.
Congress approved $3 trillion in aid in the spring to mitigate the effects of shutdowns to curb the spread of the coronavirus, but legislators have not been able to agree on any additional help since.
The pandemic has roared back to levels surpassing those seen early in the crisis, with more than 200,000 new infections reported each day and fresh shutdowns in some areas. More than 287,000 Americans have died of COVID-19 so far, and millions have been thrown out of work.
(Reporting by Susan Cornwell, David Morgan and Richard Cowan; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall, Peter Cooney, Jonathan Oatis and Cynthia Osterman)
(Reuters) – The Supreme Court of Nevada rejected an appeal late Tuesday from President Donald Trump’s campaign to overturn the election results in the state.
Last week, a district court in Nevada ruled that the Trump campaign had not proven a claim that there had been a malfunction in voting devices and the contest between Trump and Biden had been manipulated.
“We also are not convinced that the district court erred in applying a burden of proof by clear and convincing evidence, as supported by the cases cited in the district court’s order,” Nevada’s Supreme Court said in its judgement.
Nevada’s Republican Party said it was “extremely disappointed” by the decision.
“We were not afforded an opportunity to write our brief or argue the case in front of the Court,” Nevada’s GOP said in a statement. “Full denial of legitimate due process and appellate rights is truly unprecedented, shocking and extraordinary.”
Tuesday was marked as the so-called safe harbor deadline for states to resolve disputes arising from the election. Under U.S. law, Congress will consider a state’s election result to be “conclusive” if it is finalized by the safe harbor date.
(Reporting by Aakriti Bhalla in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Graff)
By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday overwhelmingly backed a $740 billion defense policy bill that President Donald Trump has pledged to veto, heading toward a confrontation with the president.
The vote was 335 to 78 in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, with strong support from both Democrats and Republicans, a margin that would be large enough to overcome Trump’s promised veto.
“Today the House sent a strong, bipartisan message to the American people: Our service members and our national security are more important than politics,” Democratic Representative Adam Smith, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement.
The Senate is expected to vote on the legislation this week. Backers hope Trump will reconsider his veto threat if it passes by a margin similar to the one in the House.
The NDAA sets policy for the Pentagon on everything from how many ships and rifles to buy to soldiers’ pay to how best to address geopolitical threats. Lawmakers note with pride its passage for 59 straight years, which they cite as evidence of support for a strong defense.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to veto this year’s measure, first because of a provision – approved by both the Democratic-led House and Republican-led Senate – to remove the names of Confederate generals from military bases.
More recently, he has objected because the NDAA does not repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects technology companies like Alphabet Inc’s Google, Twitter Inc and Facebook Inc from liability for what appears on their platforms.
Trump and many of his supporters insist the tech companies have an anti-conservative bias, which they deny.
“I hope House Republicans will vote against the very weak National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which I will VETO,” Trump said on Twitter.
“Must include a termination of Section 230 (for National Security purposes), preserve our National Monuments, & allow for 5G & troop reductions in foreign lands!” he said.
REPUBLICAN OBJECTIONS
His threats frustrated lawmakers, who said the tech measure has nothing to do with defense and does not belong in the NDAA. They also said Trump’s concerns about social media should not block a 4,500-page bill considered essential for the Pentagon.
“Our troops should not be punished because this bill does not fix everything that should be fixed,” said Representative Mac Thornberry, the top House Armed Services Committee Republican.
The White House issued its formal veto threat on Tuesday afternoon. Lawmakers and staff have been working on the NDAA for most of the past year.
Although most congressional Republicans strongly support Trump, a few said they would vote to override his veto, even if it means shortening their Christmas holiday break. The NDAA’s passage in the Senate would give Trump 10 days, minus Sundays, to issue a veto. Otherwise it would automatically become law.
A successful override would be the first of Trump’s four-year presidency.
The NDAA will expire if it is not enacted before the new Congress is seated on Jan 3..
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Chris Reese, Jonathan Oatis, David Gregorio and Sonya Hepinstall)
By Makini Brice
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The state of Texas, aiming to help President Donald Trump upend the results of the U.S. election, said on Tuesday it has filed suit against the states of Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin at the Supreme Court, calling changes they made to election procedures amid the coronavirus pandemic unlawful.
The lawsuit, announced by the Republican attorney general of Texas, Ken Paxton, was filed directly with the Supreme Court, as is permitted for certain litigation between states.
Republican-governed Texas in the lawsuit accused election officials in the four states of failing to protect mail-in voting from fraud, thus diminishing “the weight of votes cast in states that lawfully abide by the election structure set forth in the Constitution.”
State election officials have said they have found no evidence of such fraud that would change the results. There was a surge in voting by mail in the election due to the pandemic, as many Americans stayed away from polling places to avoid the spread of COVID-19.
Texas is asking the Supreme Court to block the Electoral College votes in the four states – a total of 62 votes – from being counted. Texas also is asking the Supreme Court to delay the Dec. 14 deadline for Electoral College votes to be cast.
Paul Smith, a professor at Georgetown University’s law school, said Texas did not have a legitimate basis to bring the suit. “There is no possible way that the state of Texas has standing to complain about how other states counted the votes and how they are about to cast their electoral votes,” Smith said.
The Supreme Court is not obligated to hear the case and has said in previous decisions that its “original jurisdiction” that allows litigation between states to be filed directly with the nine justices, should be invoked sparingly.
(Reporting by Makini Brice, Jan Wolfe and Lawrence Hurley in Washington; Additional reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Will Dunham and Noeleen Walder)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump has ordered the withdrawal of nearly all American troops from Somalia by Jan. 15, U.S. officials said on Friday, part of a global pullback that will also see him draw down forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The United States has about 700 troops in Somalia focused on helping local forces defeat the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab insurgency. The mission has received little attention in the United States, but is considered a cornerstone of the Pentagon’s global efforts to combat al Qaeda.
A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the U.S. troops remaining in Somalia would be located in the capital, Mogadishu.
“While a change in force posture, this action is not a change in U.S. policy,” the Pentagon said.
“The U.S. will retain the capability to conduct targeted counterterrorism operations in Somalia, and collect early warnings and indicators regarding threats to the homeland.”
The Pentagon statement, which was unsigned, said some forces could be reassigned outside of East Africa. An unspecified number would be repositioned into neighboring countries, allowing for cross-border operations, it said.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Steve Holland; Editing by Leslie Adler and Daniel Wallis)
