President Trump at the Pennsylvania Defense & Innovation Summit at the US Army College in Carlisle, last week.
US Takes Casualties – At least three US military have been killed in the war – or ceased ceasefire – with Iran since Friday, The New York Times reports, and a fourth soldier is missing and feared dead.
The US attacked Iranian military sites overnight for the ninth consecutive day, while Iran has fired on Kuwait and Bahrain, both home to US forces, according to the report. Iranian authorities say at least 50 Iranians have been killed.
Meanwhile, another blockade … Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels on Monday conducted an armored blockade on Saudi ships in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait between Yemen and Africa, the NYT says.
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Reconcile This – Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has to the end of the week, when the House takes its summer recess, to pass additional defense spending to support the war on Iran as well as the President Trump’s pet SAVE America Act along with a stock trading ban for lawmakers, NPR’s Morning Edition notes Monday. With just a two-vote GOP margin in the House, the SAVE Act and defense spending increase – Trump requested $67 billion but the bill provides just $60 billion of that, according to Breaking Defense – might not be easy in a week.
Meanwhile, in the Senate, Trump allies want to attach the SAVE Act to its reconciliation bill that would extend the federal budget past the fiscal year ending September 30. If and when Democrats impose the filibuster (which Trump wants killed), Senate Republicans can blame them for a government shutdown one month before the midterm elections.
“However we could pass it,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), who is now in line to become Budget Committee chairman, replacing the late Lindsey Graham, said of SAVE, “I’d be in favor of. Exactly how we do that, we’ll see.”
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Trump Endorsed Graham – Speaking of the late Lindsey Graham, President Trump has endorsed his sister, Sen. Darline Graham, for the full Senate term that would end in January 2033. South Carolina’s Republican Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Darline Graham to fill Sen. Graham’s seat for the remainder of his term ending January 3, 2027, after Lindsey Graham's sudden death from an aortic tear earlier this month, CQ Roll Call reports.
“I hope Darline does this, in that there would be nobody better to honor the legacy of her beloved brother,” Trump Truth Socialed. “RUN, DARLINE, RUN!”
Semafor reported last Friday that she was considering a run for the full term.
If Sen. Graham so chooses, she would have to win a special Republican primary scheduled for August 11 before facing Democratic candidate Annie Andrews in November.
Meanwhile, in Maine … Progressive candidate Troy Jackson, Maine’s State Senate president from 2018 to 2024, a logger and son of a logger from rural Aroostook County in the northern part of the state has emerged as the lead candidate for Democratic nominee to challenge Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins this November, according to Politico.
Maine Democrats were frustrated with the makeshift nomination process to replace the scandal-plagued Graham Platner, who dropped out of the race over sexual assault allegations, according to the report. But Jackson’s delegate count was so overwhelming that Jackson’s four top challengers dropped out of the race by Sunday evening, Politico reports.
State election law gives the Democratic Party to Monday, July 27, to name Platner’s replacement.
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Four Bucks at the Pump – National average of unleaded regular hit $4.003 per gallon Monday, according to AAA, up 2.2 cents over last Thursday, and $1.201 over the end of Week 0 of the US-Israeli war on Iran, February 27. Diesel is $5.108, up a dime from last Thursday and +$1.384 over late February. Adding to the diesel price pressure is Russia’s ban on exports of some refined products, Marketplace reports, and its need to import oil after Ukraine’s targeted drone hits on many of its refineries. – Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa