Author: PolitCens

U.S. Senate leaders reached an agreement Thursday to extend the government’s borrowing authority through early December to avert what could have been the country’s first-ever default on its debts in less than two weeks.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced the pact on the Senate floor after negotiations with Republican leader Mitch McConnell. He proposed to Democrats on Wednesday an extension of the country’s current long-term $28.4 trillion debt total by an unspecified amount to cover government spending into December, by which time the issue would again have to be addressed.

Schumer said he hoped to win congressional approval for the debt ceiling extension later Thursday, but he gave no details on the debt level lawmakers had agreed to or any other conditions of the agreement. News outlets reported that the new borrowing authority would extend to December 3 and permit the government to borrow another $480 billion.

Congressional rancor over increasing the debt limit intensified in recent days, with the time counting down to October 18, the date Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says the government would run out of enough money to pay all its bills because it chronically spends more than it collects in taxes.

Monthly pension payments to older Americans, paychecks to government workers and payments to government contractors could have been delayed. But the biggest fear was that a default would roil the U.S. economy, the world’s largest, and send shockwaves throughout the global economy. 

Republicans said they would not cast their votes to help Democrats raise the debt ceiling, in part to express their opposition to calls by President Joe Biden for more than $2 trillion in new spending to greatly expand the government’s social safety net programs. Democrats say the new spending would be fully paid for with higher taxes on corporations and wealthy individuals, which Republicans also oppose.

Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, welcomed McConnell’s move Wednesday to alleviate the debt ceiling stalemate. 

The Republicans “have finally done the right thing and at least we now have another couple months in order to get a permanent solution,” Sanders said.

McConnell had said Democrats, who control the Senate, should use the reconciliation process to address the debt limit.  

Reconciliation is a parliamentary maneuver that allows certain budget-related legislation to pass with a simple majority, not 60 votes, in the Senate. Under reconciliation, the Democrats would not need any Republican votes.

“This will moot Democrats’ excuses about the time crunch they created and give the unified Democratic government more than enough time to pass standalone debt limit legislation through reconciliation,” McConnell said. “Alternatively, if Democrats abandon their efforts to ram through another historically reckless taxing and spending spree that will hurt families and help China, a more traditional bipartisan governing conversation could be possible.”  

Schumer has called reconciliation a “drawn-out, convoluted and risky process.”  

Republicans have been saying since July they would not vote to raise the debt limit.  

Biden met Wednesday with some of America’s top business leaders and banking executives to make the case that Congress must increase the government’s borrowing authority.  

A default would risk millions of jobs and throw the United States into recession, “causing lasting harm to America’s economic strength by threatening the dollar’s status as the currency the world relies on and downgrading the U.S.’s credit rating,” the White House said.  

Biden said raising the debt limit “is paying our old debts” and is not linked to his administration’s proposals for spending on infrastructure and social programs.

Democrats are hoping to suspend the debt limit into December 2022, a month after congressional elections when the current Democratic edge in both the Senate and House is at stake.

The U.S. is virtually alone among world governments in imposing a government borrowing limit, which it has increased numerous times over recent decades, either to a specific amount or suspended it for a year or two.
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What do U.S. senators do when they want to delay a vote? They fillibuster. VOA explains how this delay tactic works.
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U.S. President Joe Biden is meeting Wednesday with some of America’s top business leaders to make the case that Congress must increase the government’s borrowing authority before October 18, when the U.S. expects to run out of money to pay its bills.

The White House said before the meeting that the executives “understand firsthand that a default would be economically devastating” for the United States — which has never defaulted on its financial obligations — and the world economy. 

A default would risk millions of jobs and throw the U.S. into recession, “causing lasting harm to America’s economic strength by threatening the dollar’s status as the currency the world relies on and downgrading the U.S.’s credit rating,” the White House said. 

Among those expected to meet with Biden, some in person and some virtually, are banking chief executives Jane Fraser of Citi, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase and Brian Moynihan of Bank of America. Others at the meeting include Greg Hayes, the CEO of Raytheon Technologies, Adena Friedman, president and chief executive of the Nasdaq stock exchange, and Pat Gelsinger, chief executive of the Intel technology company. 

The White House is locked in a political stalemate with opposition Senate Republicans over how to increase the government’s borrowing authority beyond its current $28.4 trillion level to a specific amount or to suspend any limit until December 2022, a month past next year’s pivotal congressional elections. 

With Republicans and Democrats each holding 50 seats in the 100-member Senate, Republicans so far have refused to abandon their ability to filibuster against the debt limit increase. It would require Democrats to secure 10 Republican votes to overcome a filibuster and bring the issue to a vote. 

But Biden told reporters at the White House on Tuesday there was “a real possibility” that Democrats could abandon the long-standing filibuster tradition in the Senate for a vote on increasing the debt limit, while maintaining the filibuster for regular legislation. 

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned Congress that the government will likely reach its borrowing limit by October 18. 

The White House said that at the meeting with business leaders, Biden “will detail the Republican obstruction that has led us to this point.” He accused Republican party of “refusing to do the right thing by fulfilling its bipartisan responsibility to address the debt limit—even after adding $8 trillion” to the total under the administration of former President Donald Trump. 

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell says that Democrats should increase the debt ceiling without any Republican support through a legislative procedure called reconciliation, which Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have rejected as cumbersome and time-consuming. 

“They have the time to do it,” McConnell told reporters Tuesday. “And the sooner they get about it, the better.” 

Schumer accused Republicans of manufacturing a crisis as he announced a Wednesday vote on a bill to raise the debt limit already passed by the House of Representatives. Senate Republicans have already twice blocked Democratic attempts to extend the debt ceiling on their own by reserving their right to filibuster the legislative action. 

“If Republicans want to vote ‘no’ [on Wednesday], if they really want to be the party of default, that’s their choice,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. 

The U.S., virtually alone among world governments, imposes a debt ceiling, and has periodically increased it or suspended it for a year or two. It is tantamount to a credit card limit that consumers might face, a curb on how much they can increase their debt and a requirement to pay off debts already incurred. 

But Republicans object to joining Democrats in increasing it now because they are opposed to Biden’s plans to spend $2 trillion or more to greatly expand the country’s social safety net to provide more government aid for families, students and health care benefits for older Americans. 

Democrats say they would fully pay for the extra spending with higher taxes on corporations and the wealthiest individuals, not add to the country’s long-term debt total. 

Coming too close to the borrowing limit has its perils. A debt ceiling dispute in 2011 that Congress resolved two days before the borrowing limit was reached caused stock prices to fall and the first-ever credit downgrade for U.S. debt.
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U.S. President Joe Biden indicated Tuesday senators from his Democratic Party could bypass a supermajority voting rule in order to increase the nation’s debt limit without Republican votes. 

“It’s a real possibility,” Biden told reporters outside the White House. 

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said the government will likely reach its borrowing limit by October 18 unless Congress acts. 

Coming too close to the borrowing limit has its perils. A debt ceiling dispute in 2011 that Congress resolved two days before the borrowing limit was reached caused stock prices to fall and the first-ever credit downgrade for U.S. debt. 

Under Senate rules, 60 votes are needed to advance the legislation instead of a simple majority vote. The chamber is evenly divided between the Democratic and Republican caucuses, and Republicans already blocked two efforts to raise the debt limit last week. 

Making an exception to the supermajority rule, also known as the filibuster, would allow Senate Democrats to bypass Republican opposition, if all 50 are in unison.

Republican Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, wants Democrats to raise the debt ceiling without Republican votes and using a more convoluted process known as reconciliation, that Democratic leaders have said will be time consuming and raise uncertainty as the deadline nears. 

“They have the time to do it. And the sooner they get about it, the better,” McConnell said at a news conference Tuesday. 

Democrat Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, accused Republicans of manufacturing a crisis as he announced a Wednesday vote on a bill to raise the debt limit already passed by the House of Representatives. 

“If Republicans want to vote ‘no’ tomorrow, if they really want to be the party of default, that’s their choice,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. 

The national government’s debt now stands at $28.4 trillion.  

The United States has for decades imposed limits on its borrowing, but Congress has always raised the debt ceiling or lifted it entirely for a period of time to prevent the United States from defaulting on its debts, averting a worldwide financial crisis spawned by the biggest global economy. 

Even a close call would likely be damaging. A 2011 debt ceiling dispute, which Congress resolved two days before the borrowing limit was due to have been reached, caused stocks to tumble and prompted a first-ever credit downgrade for U.S. debt. 

Some information for this report came from the Associated Press and Reuters. 
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President Joe Biden traveled to Michigan on Tuesday to promote his legislative priorities on infrastructure and social spending. The two bills face a stalemate in Congress as members of Biden’s own Democratic Party wrangle over the size and scope of the package.

Investing in infrastructure and expanding social welfare programs are two key issues Biden campaigned on.

With his legislative agenda stalled in Congress, he visited a worker training facility Tuesday in Howell, Michigan, to promote his plans. 

“It isn’t enough just to invest in our physical infrastructure,” Biden said. “If we’re going to lead the world like we used to, if we’re going to do that, we have to also invest in our people like you do right here in this training facility.”

Biden pushed key legislative agendas — the $1.2 trillion infrastructure package that has bipartisan support, and the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better plan. 

The latter is championed by progressives to fund what they call “human infrastructure,” including education and climate change mitigation. 

“They don’t increase the debt because they’re paid for by asking the very wealthy to begin to pay their fair share,” Biden said. “As a matter of fact, a significant portion of this plan cuts taxes for working people. And best of all, the cost of these bills in terms of adding to the deficit is zero.”

The plans are stuck as lawmakers in Biden’s own party disagree on their size and scope.

Democratic centrist Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona say the $3.5 trillion package is too expensive and they want it trimmed.

Meanwhile, progressives in the House of Representatives threaten to withdraw support for the $1.2 trillion infrastructure proposal unless the larger bill passes. Since the Senate is split 50-50, Democrats cannot afford to lose a single vote.

“If those two things fail, the administration is going to have not a whole lot to show for its first year,” according to Jason Grumet, president of the Bipartisan Policy Center. 

“And it also really calls into question the kind of core premise of the Biden presidency, which is focused, pragmatic, calm, legislative expert who can get things done. If all of a sudden the Democratic Party spins out of control under his leadership, it really calls that kind of fundamental idea into question.” 

Biden visited lawmakers in Congress last week but failed to get them to agree, despite popular support for some of the bills’ components.

Not only would the legislation address the nation’s crumbling infrastructure, but the bills would also provide for universal prekindergarten, lower-cost child care and paid family leave. 

“The pandemic revealed a lot of the frailties in the U.S. economy, and the legislation is now addressing some of those,” said Grumet. “There’s also been a significant focus on climate change in both of these pieces of legislation, which obviously matters a lot to the global community.” 

Biden’s Michigan visit reflects the importance of securing moderates’ support by the October 31 vote deadline. 

Another legislative deadline for Biden is October 18, by which date Congress must vote to increase the debt ceiling to avoid potential global economic turbulence caused by the U.S. defaulting on its debts. 
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U.S. President Joe Biden assailed opposition Republican lawmakers Monday for obstructing Democrats from increasing the country’s borrowing authority to avert a potentially catastrophic default on October 18, when the U.S. government expects to run out of cash to pay its bills. 

Biden said he could not guarantee the United States would not default for the first time, contending it is up to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell to allow Senate Democrats on their own to increase the debt limit past its current $28.4 trillion level without the threat of a Republican filibuster to block quick action. 

The U.S. leader said if the government defaults on its debts, Republicans would be responsible. Economists predict a default could have dire consequences for U.S. stock indexes and the world economy, and possibly force the government to delay pension payments to older Americans or make timely payments to government contractors. 

Biden said: “I can’t believe (a default) will be the end result, because the consequences would be so dire. … But can I guarantee it? If I could, I would. But I can’t.”

He depicted a default as akin to a “meteor headed to crash into our economy,” warning of higher interest rates and declining stock valuations affecting the investments of millions of Americans. 

McConnell sent a letter Monday to the White House reiterating that Republicans would not help Democrats to resolve the debt ceiling impasse. 

Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says Democrats, with 50 seats in the 100-member Senate and the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris, are willing to lift the debt ceiling on their own without Republican support on a simple majority vote. 

But McConnell has refused to yield the right of Republicans to filibuster the issue, which would force the Democrats to reach a 60-vote threshold with the support of at least 10 Republicans. He says Democrats should approve the debt ceiling increase through a legislative tactic called reconciliation that cannot be filibustered, a procedure Democrats say would be time-consuming and cumbersome. 

“Since mid-July, Republicans have clearly stated that Democrats will need to raise the debt limit on their own,” McConnell wrote in the letter. “We have simply warned that since your party wishes to govern alone, it must handle the debt limit alone as well.” 

Biden urged McConnell to simply allow Democrats to vote on the debt ceiling hike by not filibustering it, an option that would not require any Republican votes, but would allow Democrats to proceed without obstruction. 

“They need to stop playing Russian roulette with the U.S. economy,” Biden said. “Not only are Republicans refusing to do their job but threatening to use their power to prevent us from doing our job — saving the economy from a catastrophic event — I think, quite frankly, is hypocritical, dangerous, and disgraceful. Their obstruction and irresponsibility knows absolutely no bounds.” 

The country’s long-term debt is tantamount to personal credit card debt for consumers, requiring payments for debts already incurred. But in the latest standoff, McConnell and some Republican lawmakers are contending that lifting the debt ceiling would allow congressional Democrats to greatly expand government spending for the biggest expansion of social safety net programs since the 1960s that Republicans uniformly oppose.

The U.S., virtually alone among world governments, imposes a debt ceiling, which Congress has had to increase on numerous occasions in recent decades because the U.S. chronically spends more on government programs than it collects in revenue from corporations and individual taxpayers. 

Sometimes, the debt ceiling has been increased to a specific amount, but other times it has been suspended for a year or two. 

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said last week that Congress ought to simply do away with the debt ceiling altogether, although that appears unlikely since lawmakers in both U.S. political parties relish blaming the other for what they perceive as excessive spending when the other party’s favored spending plans are adopted. 

Schumer said in a letter to colleagues Monday that lawmakers must act quickly to increase the debt ceiling to avoid financial ramifications. 

“Let me be clear about the task ahead of us: we must get a bill to the president’s desk dealing with the debt limit by the end of the week. Period,” Schumer wrote. 

 
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Key U.S. Democratic lawmakers remained at odds Sunday on how to approve both infrastructure improvements in the country and the biggest social safety net expansion in five decades, but the leading progressive signaled there was room for compromise. 

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has for months pushed for a $3.5 trillion plan calling for climate control measures, universal pre-kindergarten classes, expanded health care for older Americans and more. Sanders is an Independent who caucuses with Democrats. 

He told ABC’s “This Week” show, “I accept that there’s going to have to be give and take.” 

He declined to put a price tag on how much spending he would settle for, the same stance taken by another leading advocate for the social safety net legislation, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal of the western state of Washington, in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” show.

“There’s no number on the table yet that… everyone has agreed to,” Jayapal said, but said that $1.5 trillion proposed by centrist Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia is “too small to get our priorities in.” 

President Joe Biden, in a rare visit to the Capitol on Friday to meet with Democratic members of the House of Representatives, suggested the eventual cost could be trimmed to between $1.9 trillion and $2.3 trillion for the social safety net measure, in addition to the trillion-dollar infrastructure legislation to repair the country’s deteriorating roads and bridges and expand broadband internet service throughout the United States. 

The U.S. leader has continued to advocate for passage of both pieces of legislation in tandem with each other. 

Sanders said, “Poll after poll shows that what we are doing is exactly what the American people want. It is not what the big money interests want, it is not what the lobbyists want. It’s what the American people want, and we’ve got to do it.” 

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, leader of the Democratic-controlled House, twice last week postponed a vote on the roads and bridges infrastructure measure. The move followed a threat from several dozen progressive lawmakers to vote against it until they had won assurances that Senate Democrats would also approve the social safety net spending. Pelosi has now set an October 31 deadline for completing passage of the two measures. 

In the politically divided Senate, with 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats, two moderate Democrats, Manchin and Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, have balked at the $3.5 trillion price tag for the social safety net expansion that would be the biggest in the U.S. since the 1960s. 

On Saturday, Sinema assailed the Democratic congressional leadership for delaying the infrastructure vote last week, calling the decision “inexcusable” and “deeply disappointing.” 

“Democratic leaders have made conflicting promises that could not all be kept — and have, at times, pretended that differences of opinion within our party did not exist, even when those disagreements were repeatedly made clear directly and publicly,” Sinema said. 

She and Manchin have both held several negotiating sessions with Biden and Democratic congressional leaders to try to iron out differences on the legislation but have yet to reach agreement. Both have said they do not support the $3.5 trillion in spending Biden originally proposed and progressive Democrats supported in the face of unified Republican opposition. 

“I’m listening to Sen. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema every day to see where we can get across the finish line,” Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois told CNN. 

Sanders remained optimistic about the eventual passage of both pieces of legislation.

“We’re going to win this,” he told ABC. 
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to Paris, his first trip to France following an enhanced trilateral security partnership known as AUKUS (Australia, U.K., and the U.S.) that heightened tensions between the transatlantic allies.

Experts said they expect Blinken, who has strong personal ties to France, to use the upcoming trip to try to improve U.S.-France relations.

The top U.S. diplomat will chair the Ministerial Council Meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that is scheduled to take place Oct. 5-6, and commemorate the organization’s 60th anniversary.

Blinken will have a bilateral meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in Paris.France is set to hold the presidency of Council of the European Union from Jan. 1-June 30, 2022.

“Secretary Blinken will also meet with French counterparts to continue discussions on further strengthening the vital U.S.-France relationship on a range of issues including security in the Indo-Pacific region, the climate crisis, economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the transatlantic relationship, and working with our allies and partners to address global challenges and opportunities,” said the State Department in a statement Friday.

Tensions over AUKUS deal

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration announced Sept. 15 a new security pact with Australia and the U.K. Under the deal, Australia will get at least eight nuclear-powered submarines to be built domestically using American technology. The agreement came after Australia pulled out of an earlier deal with France for diesel-electric submarines, angering Paris.

France recalled its ambassadors to the U.S. and to Australia within two days following the announcement. Le Drian declared there is a “crisis of trust” in the United States.

After a phone call between President Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron on Sept. 22 which sought to ease tensions over the submarine deal, both leaders decided to “open a process of in-depth consultations” to ensure “confidence.” Macron also decided that French Ambassador Philippe Etienne would return to Washington the following week.

On Thursday, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Etienne at the White House to “continue advancing shared agenda,” in advance of Biden’s meeting with Macron in Europe at the end of October. Both are scheduled to attend the Group of 20 summit in Rome at that time.

“We need to make sure trust is there,” said Karen Donfried, the newly confirmed assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, in a phone briefing on Friday.

While the U.S.-France relationship remains an important one for both sides, James Goldgeier, who is a senior visiting fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, said the Biden administration “seems to have been a bit taken aback by the angry French reaction” to the AUKUS deal.

“It’s good that the two presidents are looking for ways to move forward. There is no question that the Biden administration sees the Indo-Pacific as its main focus. U.S. policy toward regions like Europe are seen through that lens,” Goldgeier told VOA.

The State Department said in a statement that the U.S. delegation to OECD’s October ministerial also includes Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry and the U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai.

OECD & China

The OECD gathering will discuss the climate crisis, promoting the transition to net-zero emissions, as well as market-economy principles while continuing its commitment on shared values such as democracy, rule of law, and human rights.

A senior State Department official said another focus during the upcoming OECD meeting is the Blue Dot Network, a mechanism to certify infrastructure projects that meet robust international quality standards.

The United States, Japan and Australia launched the Blue Dot Network in 2019. Named for the view of Earth from space as a mere “blue dot,” it encourages development by certifying public-private investments in global infrastructure that are market-driven, transparent, and environmentally sustainable.

“The administration is very interested in engaging like-minded partners and allies to talk about the behaviors of non-market economies, including China,” said Matt Murray, a senior official from the State Department’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, during a phone briefing on Friday.

Murray told VOA that China will participate in the upcoming OECD meeting as an observer.

“Separate from the ministerial council meeting, and more generally, the U.S. government has undertaken a comprehensive review of the U.S.-China trade relationship because the United States welcomes healthy, fair competition with our trading partners. And economic competition with the PRC should be fair,” added Murray.

Blinken heads to Mexico

Blinken’s weeklong trip also includes a stop at Stanford University, as well as meetings in Mexico City from Oct. 7-8 for the U.S.-Mexico High Level Security Dialogue.

The top U.S. diplomat will join U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to discuss security issues, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said this week.

The high-level meeting comes amid a recent migration crisis as tens of thousands of Haitian migrants gathered at the U.S.-Mexico border last month.

The Biden administration confirmed on Sept. 24 that a makeshift camp where 15,000 Haitian migrants braved desperate conditions along the U.S.-Mexico border was now vacant.

In late September, Mexico also began flying Haitian migrants back to their homeland.
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The future of abortion rights is in the hands of a conservative Supreme Court that is beginning a new term Monday that also includes major cases on gun rights and religion. 

The court’s credibility with the public also could be on the line, especially if a divided court were to overrule the landmark Roe v. Wade decision from 1973 that established a woman’s right to an abortion nationwide. 

The justices are returning to the courtroom after an 18-month absence caused by the coronavirus pandemic, and the possible retirement of liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, 83, also looms. 

It’s the first full term with the court in its current alignment.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the last of former President Donald Trump’s three high-court appointees, is part of a six-justice conservative majority. Barrett was nominated and confirmed last year amid the pandemic, little more than a month after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Trump and Republicans who controlled the Senate moved quickly to fill the seat shortly before the 2020 presidential election, bringing about a dramatic change in the court’s lineup that has set the stage for a potentially law-changing term on several high-profile issues. 

With abortion, guns and religion already on the agenda, and a challenge to affirmative action waiting in the wings, the court will answer a key question over the next year, said University of Chicago law professor David Strauss. “Is this the term in which the culture wars return to the Supreme Court in a big way?” Strauss said. 

Mississippi abortion case

No issue is bigger than abortion.

The justices will hear arguments December 1 in Mississippi’s bid to enforce a ban on most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Lower courts blocked the law because it is inconsistent with high-court rulings that allow states to regulate but not prohibit abortion before viability, the point around 24 weeks of pregnancy when a fetus can survive outside the womb. 

Mississippi is taking what conservative commentator Carrie Severino called a “rip-the-Band-Aid-off” approach to the case by asking the court to abandon its support of abortion rights that was laid out in Roe and the 1992 case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey. 

Mississippi is among 12 states with so-called trigger laws that would take effect if Roe is overturned and ban abortion entirely. 

By a 5-4 vote in early September, the court already has allowed a ban on most abortions to take effect in Texas, though no court has yet ruled on the substance of the law. 

But that vote and the Mississippi case highlight the potential risk to the court’s reputation, said David Cole, the American Civil Liberties Union’s legal director. The arguments advanced by Mississippi were considered and rejected by the Supreme Court in 1992, Cole said. 

“The only difference between then and now is the identity of the justices,” he said. 

Jeff Wall, a top Justice Department lawyer under Trump, said the court could sharply expand gun rights and end the use of race in college admissions, but only abortion is likely to move public perception of the court. “I still don’t think that’s going to create some groundswell in the public, unless it’s accompanied by some kind of watershed ruling on abortion,” Wall said.

Challenge to New York law

In early November, the court will take up a challenge to New York restrictions on carrying a gun in public, a case that offers the court the chance to expand gun rights under the Second Amendment. Before Barrett joined the court, the justices turned away similar cases, over the dissents of some conservative members of the court. 

Until Barrett came along, some justices who favor gun rights questioned whether Chief Justice John Roberts would provide a fifth, majority-making vote “for a more expansive reading of the Second Amendment,” said George Washington University law professor Robert Cottrol, who said he hoped the court would now broaden gun rights. 

More than 40 states already make it easy to be armed in public, but New York and California, two of the nation’s most populous states, are among the few with tighter regulations. 

The case has gun control advocates worried.

“An expansive Second Amendment ruling by the Supreme Court could restrict or prohibit the sensible solutions that have been shown can end gun violence,” said Jonathan Lowy, vice president and chief counsel at the gun violence prevention group Brady. Lowy included state laws requiring a justification to carry a gun as examples of such “sensible solutions.” 

A case from Maine gives the court another opportunity to weigh religious rights in the area of education. The state excludes religious schools from a tuition program for families who live in towns that don’t have public schools. 

Since even before Ginsburg’s death, the court has favored religion-based discrimination claims and the expectation among legal experts is that parents in Maine who sued to be able to use taxpayer money at religious schools will prevail, though it’s not clear how broadly the court might rule. 

Affirmative action is not yet on the court’s agenda, but it could still get there this term in a lawsuit over Harvard’s use of race in college admissions. Lower courts upheld the school’s policy, but this is another case in which the change in the composition of the court could prove decisive. The court upheld race-conscious admission policies as recently as five years ago but that was before Trump’s three appointments accentuated the court’s conservative tilt. 

Federal death penalty

Among other notable cases, the justices will consider reinstating the death sentence for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The Biden administration is pushing for the capital sentence, even as it has suspended federal executions and President Joe Biden has called for an end to the federal death penalty. 

The court will also weigh two cases involving “state secrets,” the idea that the government can block the release of information it claims would harm national security if disclosed. One case involves a Guantanamo Bay detainee who a lower court said was tortured in CIA custody. The other involves a group of Muslim residents of California who allege the FBI targeted them for surveillance because of their religion. 

Decisions in most of the big cases won’t come before spring because the justices typically spend months drafting and revising majority opinions and dissents. 

Around then, Breyer might signal whether he is planning to retire from a job he has held since 1994. Retirement announcements often come in the spring, to give the president and the Senate enough time to choose and confirm a nominee before the court returns from its summer break and begins hearing cases again in October.

The consequences of Ginsburg’s decision to remain on the court through Barack Obama’s presidency and her death while Trump was in the White House can’t be lost on Breyer, said Tom Goldstein, the founder of the Scotusblog website and a frequent advocate before the court. 

“It’s overwhelmingly likely he’ll retire this term,” Goldstein said. 

The courthouse still is closed to the public, but live audio of the court’s arguments will be available and reporters who regularly cover the court will be in attendance. The tradition-bound court first provided live audio in May 2020, when the court began hearing arguments by telephone during the pandemic. 

Justice Brett Kavanaugh will participate remotely from his home next week during oral arguments after testing positive for COVID-19 despite being vaccinated. The court said Friday that the 54-year-old justice has no symptoms. 
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U.S. President Joe Biden faces opposition from within his own party in Congress to pass his signature Build Back Better legislation. The $3.5 trillion package would dramatically expand child care, health care and clean energy in America. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson reports.
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President Joe Biden was scheduled to meet Friday with his fellow Democrats in Congress, progressives and moderates in his party remained divided over two massive spending bills that account for much of his domestic agenda. 

Democrats have struggled to coalesce around those two bills. Progressives have vowed to block a $1 trillion infrastructure bill without an agreement to advance a larger social spending and climate change bill. Moderates say that bill’s current $3.5 trillion price tag is too high. 

After a two-hour party meeting, Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives did not appear to have a clear plan. Representative James Clyburn, the chamber’s No. 3 Democrat, said he had “no idea” whether there would be a vote. 

But Representative Hakeem Jeffries, who is among Democratic leaders in the chamber, said he expected the House to vote Friday on the infrastructure bill, one day later than planned. “I expect a vote today, and I expect that bill will pass today,” he said. 

House Democrats are waiting for an “iron clad” agreement from the Senate as to what its members could agree to, he said. “We are working on trying to get to a place where everybody is comfortable,” No. 2 House Democrat Steny Hoyer told reporters. 

The White House said Biden would travel to Capitol Hill to speak with Democrats later in the day. 

With a narrow majority in the House, Biden’s party cannot afford to lose too many votes on the infrastructure legislation, which would double spending on roads, pipes and other infrastructure. The bill has already passed the Senate with bipartisan support. 

Democrats said they also planned a vote to ensure that transportation funding, which expired on Thursday, is not disrupted while they continue to negotiate. 

Ahead of the meeting, Representative Pramila Jayapal, the influential chair of the 95-member House Progressive Caucus, said the smaller bill could not pass without agreement on the larger, multitrillion-dollar one. 

“I kept telling her that we didn’t have the votes, and I knew she knew that,” Jayapal said of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Progressives are angry that two Senate moderates — Democrats Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema — oppose the size of Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan to boost social spending and fight climate change. The Senate is split 50-50 with Republicans, all of whom oppose the multitrillion-dollar bill, so every Democratic vote is needed for passage with Vice President Kamala Harris the tie breaker. 

Manchin has proposed a spending package of about $1.5 trillion. Sinema declined to say Thursday whether she agreed with Manchin’s proposal. She has met with Biden multiple times to discuss the bill. She was home in Arizona on Friday but remained in touch with the White House, a spokesman said.

Democratic Representative Dean Phillips, a moderate, said he wanted to see a vote on the infrastructure bill, even if it was not certain that it would pass. 

House Republicans are unlikely to help pass the infrastructure bill, eager to deny Biden a policy victory ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, when history favors their chances to recapture majorities. 

Debt-ceiling threat

Congress, which averted a politically damaging government shutdown on Thursday, has little time to focus on the infrastructure fight due to another fast-approaching deadline: the debt ceiling. 

A historic U.S. debt default could occur around October 18, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has estimated, if Congress fails to give the government additional borrowing authority beyond the current statutory limit of $28.4 trillion. 

Republicans want no part of the debt limit increase, saying it is Democrats’ problem since they control Congress and the White House. Democrats note that about $5 trillion of the nation’s debt is the result of tax cuts and spending passed during Republican Donald Trump’s presidency. 

The House approved a bill late Wednesday suspending the debt limit through December 2022. The Senate could vote on it “as early as next week,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said, but Republicans are expected to block it again as they have twice before. 

 
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Democratic leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives delayed a planned vote on a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that had been set for Thursday, bowing to party progressives who had demanded action on a larger social policy bill first.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Joe Biden have been scrambling to patch up differences between progressive lawmakers, who want a $3.5 trillion social spending package to go along with the infrastructure plan, and moderates wanting a smaller bill.

The move gave Biden and Democratic leaders more time to try to assemble the votes to gain support for a key part of his agenda.

“A great deal of progress has been made this week, and we are closer to an agreement than ever,” said White House spokesperson Jen Psaki. “But we are not there yet, and so, we will need some additional time to finish the work, starting tomorrow morning first thing.”

Some progressive Democrats have vowed to vote against the bill to invest in the nation’s roads, bridges and other infrastructure, angry that Democrats have not yet reached agreement on a multitrillion-dollar companion bill with funding for social services and to address climate change.

Faced with increasingly stiff odds of passing their $3.5 trillion social spending proposal, Biden and his aides are trying to find out what narrower proposal could unite an ideologically fractured Democratic caucus of lawmakers, according to people familiar with the matter.

Lawmakers on the party’s left flank have said they will not vote for the infrastructure bill unless they feel certain their priorities will be reflected in the social spending bill.

Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar, a leader of House progressives, told reporters: “Nothing has changed with our caucus members. We don’t have the votes to pass infrastructure.”

Moderate Democratic Senator Manchin has proposed a spending package of about $1.5 trillion. Another Democratic moderate, Senator Kyrsten Sinema, declined to say whether she agreed with Manchin’s proposal. She has met with Biden multiple times to discuss the bill.

With razor-thin majorities in Congress, Democrats cannot afford to lose many votes if they want to pass their agenda.

They are unlikely to win much support from House Republicans eager to take back the majority in the 2022 congressional elections.

Debt-ceiling threat

In yet another high-stakes battle, congressional Democrats and Republicans continued brawling over giving the Treasury Department additional borrowing authority beyond the current statutory limit of $28.4 trillion. A historic U.S. debt default could occur around Oct. 18, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has estimated, if Congress fails to act.

Republicans want no part of the debt limit increase, saying it is Democrats’ problem since they control Congress and the White House. Democrats note that about $5 trillion of the nation’s debt is the result of tax cuts and spending passed during Republican Donald Trump’s presidency.

The House approved a bill late on Wednesday suspending the debt limit through December 2022. The Senate could vote on it “as early as next week,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said, but Republicans are expected to block it again.

Yellen said on Thursday it would be a “catastrophe” if Congress does not raise the debt ceiling. The uncertainty is starting to filter into financial markets, although few believe the nation will ultimately default.

The looming debt crisis is rattling Americans on both sides of the political spectrum, according to an Ipsos national opinion poll conducted for Reuters on Tuesday and Wednesday.

It showed that 65% of adults, including eight in 10 Democrats and five in 10 Republicans, are “very” or “somewhat” concerned that Congress will fail to reach a debt deal in time. 

 
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U.S. President Joe Biden faces opposition from within his own party in Congress to pass his signature Build Back Better legislation. The $3.5 trillion package would dramatically expand child care, health care and clean energy in America. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson reports.
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The House and Senate voted Thursday afternoon in favor of stopgap legislation to keep the government funded until December 3, avoiding a midnight shutdown. 

The Senate vote was 65-35, which was followed by a House vote of 254-175. President Joe Biden signed the legislation into law Thursday night at the White House.

The legislation maintains current funding levels across government agencies. It also includes $28.6 billion for states suffering from hurricane and wildfire damage, and $6.3 billion to help relocate Afghan refugees moving to the United States after Washington ended its two-decade war in Afghanistan last month. 

Avoiding a shutdown was just one item on a busy congressional agenda. 

The House was also set Thursday to vote on a trillion-dollar infrastructure plan to repair the country’s aging roads and bridges and expand broadband internet service throughout the U.S.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi planned to go ahead with the vote, even though some progressive Democrats promised to vote against it unless they received assurances that political moderates in their party and two key centrist senators, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, would also support a separate $3.5 trillion measure to greatly expand the country’s social safety net programs.

“We’re on the path to winning the vote” on the infrastructure plan, Pelosi told reporters Thursday morning. The Senate has already approved the bipartisan legislation.

Senate Republicans earlier this week blocked passage of another measure to avert the possible partial government shutdown because it also included a provision to suspend the country’s long-term debt limit, which they are trying to force Democrats to adopt on their own without Republican support.

But Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Republicans would support a measure that deals only with the funding package to keep the government open into the new fiscal year that starts Friday.

There have been 21 partial U.S. government shutdowns since 1976, including three during the single four-year White House term of President Donald Trump.

By law, U.S. government agencies must have congressionally authorized funding to operate. Shutdowns have usually occurred when Congress and the White House cannot agree on funding levels for specific operations or whether the programs in question deserve to be funded at all.

Without funding during the shutdowns, many government operations have been halted, such as pension payments to older Americans, the processing of income tax refunds and accessibility to national parks. National security operations, however, have been deemed essential, and workers have stayed on the job even though their paychecks might be delayed.

Additionally, Pelosi told Democratic colleagues the House would vote soon on suspending the national government’s debt limit.

Even if the House passes the legislation, though, its fate in the politically divided Senate, with 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats, is uncertain.

Senate Republicans already twice this week have rejected efforts to suspend the debt limit, saying it is an effort by opposition Democrats to clear the path for the massive new spending plan to expand social safety net programs, the most since the 1960s.

Republicans uniformly oppose the Democratic proposals championed by Biden.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told congressional leaders on Tuesday that the government would likely run out of money to pay its bills by October 18 if Congress did not suspend the debt limit or raise it substantially beyond its current $28.4 trillion total.
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Protesters around the world marked International Safe Abortion Day this week as high-profile cases in the United States and Latin America once again focused attention on the debate over reproductive rights.VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson reports on the fight over a Texas abortion law that has reached Capitol Hill.

Producer: Bakhtiyar Zamanov
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The Democratic-controlled U.S. Congress appeared set Wednesday to approve a stopgap funding measure to avert a partial national government shutdown at midnight Thursday. 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the legislation would maintain current funding levels across government agencies through December 3. It would also include $6.3 billion to help relocate Afghan refugees moving to the U.S. after Washington ended its two-decade war in Afghanistan last month, and $28.6 billion to help eastern and southern states recover from devastating hurricanes and western states from raging wildfires. 

“We can approve this measure quickly and send it to the House so it can reach the president’s desk before funding expires midnight tomorrow,” Schumer said in remarks on the Senate floor. “With so many critical issues to address, the last thing the American people need right now is a government shutdown. This proposal will prevent one from happening.” 

Senate Republicans earlier this week blocked passage of another measure to avert the shutdown because it also included a provision to suspend the country’s long-term debt limit, which they are trying to force Democrats to adopt on their own without Republican support. 

But Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Republicans would support a “clean” funding package to keep the government open into the new fiscal year starting October 1, such as the legislation proposed by Schumer. 

If passed by the Senate, the stopgap funding bill would head to the House of Representatives, where House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters Tuesday that the chamber could also vote on it later Wednesday. 

Previous shutdowns

There have been 21 partial U.S. government shutdowns, all since 1976, and include three during former President Donald Trump’s one-term administration. The second shutdown during Trump’s term on February 9, 2018, was only a few hours and involved a filibuster by Republican Senator Rand Paul. 

By law, U.S. government agencies must have congressionally authorized funding in order to operate. Shutdowns have usually occurred when Congress and the White House cannot agree on funding levels for specific operations or whether the programs in question deserve to be funded at all. 

Without funding during the shutdowns, many government operations have been halted, such as pension payments to older Americans, the processing of income tax refunds and accessibility to national parks. But national security operations have been deemed essential and workers have stayed on the job, even as their paychecks might be delayed. 

Debt limit

Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Democratic colleagues the chamber would vote soon on suspending the national government’s debt limit. 

But even if the House passes the legislation, its fate in the politically divided Senate, with 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats, is uncertain. 

Senate Republicans already twice this week have rejected efforts to suspend the debt limit, saying it is an effort by opposition Democrats to clear the path for a massive new spending plan to expand social safety net programs the most since the 1960s. 

Republicans uniformly oppose the Democratic proposals championed by President Joe Biden. 

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told congressional leaders on Tuesday that the government is likely to run out of money to pay its bills by October 18 if Congress does not suspend the debt limit or raise it substantially beyond its current $28.4 trillion total. 

 
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If Congress fails to act, the U.S. government’s authority to continue spending money will expire at midnight on Thursday, forcing more than 1 million federal workers and an untold number of contractors to stop working. Thousands more will be expected to continue working without clarity about precisely when they will be paid. 

“The stakes are whether the United States government is able to answer the many challenges that we face as a country,” said Max Stier, president of the Partnership for Public Service, an advocacy group for improved federal government.

And once the government shuts down, Stier said, restarting it isn’t like flipping a switch. 

“This is a multitrillion-dollar, very complex entity,” he told VOA. “And so, turning it off and turning it back on actually takes a ton of energy and a bunch of time. So, it is highly costly — billions of dollars costly — when you have a shutdown, even if it’s not for a very long period of time.” 

History of shutdowns 

Since 1980, the federal government has shut down because of a lack of funding 21 different times. 

This would be the first government shutdown of President Joe Biden’s term in office. Going back to Jimmy Carter’s term in office from 1977 to 1981, every U.S. president except for George W. Bush has experienced at least one such funding crisis, though the majority have lasted only a few days and several have been for a few hours. 

The last time the government shut down was in 2018, when a dispute between then-President Donald Trump and congressional Democrats over his proposal to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico resulted in a record-setting 35-day partial closure that stretched into January 2019. 

Not a full shutdown 

The term “government shutdown” is something of a misnomer. Under existing rules, when the government runs out of funding, federal agencies are required to furlough all “nonessential” employees. Doctors and nurses at hospitals run by the Department of Veterans Affairs will still be allowed to go to work. So will Transportation Security Agency officers, active duty members of the military and most federal law enforcement officers. 

But employees deemed essential will still not be paid until the shutdown is resolved. 

In a sign of the degree to which government shutdowns have been normalized as just part of how Washington does business, Trump in 2019 signed the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act, which guarantees that federal workers, essential and nonessential, receive the back pay they missed during the duration of any future government shutdowns. 

However, Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said that a promise of getting paid eventually is cold comfort to a federal worker unable to pay their rent. 

“So many of our members live paycheck to paycheck,” Kelley told VOA. “Unless a creditor or landlord agrees to work with them, they’re going to be in a terrible situation.” 

If financial distress winds up affecting a furloughed employee’s credit rating, Kelley said, the damage can extend to their careers. “A lot of security clearances depend on your credit rating,” Kelley said, meaning that workers whose credit suffers could lose their jobs. 

What to expect 

In past shutdowns, the most publicly visible effects were the closure of national parks and the museums near the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Those would also likely happen this time around. But it’s beneath the surface where shutdowns cause real turmoil. 

About 60% of government employees would be barred from working during a shutdown, which means that any number of seemingly mundane procedures would stop happening. New passport applications wouldn’t be processed; small business loans wouldn’t be approved; requests for federal retirement benefits would stop moving through the system. 

Most Americans would not be immediately affected by stalled government activity. But those who are — a person waiting for a passport, a small-business owner waiting for funding, a retiree needing income — could face anything from inconvenience to significant economic injury. 

Employees of government contractors are particularly vulnerable. For example, Congress has contracts with private firms to supply the workers who provide food service on Capitol Hill and clean congressional offices. During a shutdown, those workers cannot work, and because they are paid an hourly wage rather than a salary, they rarely recover those lost wages. 

Economic damage is limited and localized 

The 35-day shutdown during the Trump administration was only partial, because before it began, Congress had passed funding measures for some agencies, most notably the Department of Defense.

Nevertheless, the Congressional Budget Office later estimated that the shutdown had “delayed approximately $18 billion in federal discretionary spending for compensation and purchases of goods and services, and suspended some federal services.”

The overall impact on GDP was minor, the CBO found. During the shutdown and immediately following it, economic activity slumped noticeably, but much of that “lost” productivity was recouped later in the year. On balance, the CBO said that the 35-day shutdown cut 2019 GDP in the U.S. by just 0.02% 

However, the CBO noted, the damage from the shutdown was not equally distributed.

“Underlying those effects on the overall economy are much more significant effects on individual businesses and workers,” the agency found. “Among those who experienced the largest and most direct negative effects are federal workers who faced delayed compensation and private-sector entities that lost business. Some of those private-sector entities will never recoup that lost income.” 

‘Completely irresponsible’ 

Kelley, of the American Federation of Government Employees, pointed out that it is unprecedented for the government to be shut down in the midst of a pandemic, calling it “completely irresponsible” to hobble agencies battling COVID-19 with staff shortages. 

“Shutting down the government at this critical juncture, in this fight against the dangerous delta variant (of the COVID-19 virus) is simply unthinkable,” he said. 

Stier, whose organization prepared detailed guidance for government agencies navigating shutdowns, said all that guidance had to be rewritten to reflect employees working remotely, and that new measures remain untested. 

 
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