(TUE 9/27/22)
1/6 HEARING DELAYED -- The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol has delayed its ninth, and potentially last, public hearing originally scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday, because of Hurricane Ian brewing off the Florida coast, NPR reports. The make-up date and time is to be announced later.
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Continuing Resolution Update – The White House has asked for a continuing resolution extending the fiscal year past Friday with $47 billion in short-term spending, including $13.7 billion for additional aid to Ukraine, Government Executive reports (govexec.com). The CR also would include $22.4 billion in short-term COVID needs, $4.5 billion for monkeypox vaccinations, testing and treatments, and $6.5 billion to help tribes and territories deal with natural disasters and extreme weather events.
Bipartisan support: The additional aid to Ukraine has sufficient bipartisan support in the Senate, NPR’s Morning Edition says, where 60 votes are needed for passage. That’s at least 10 Republicans as well as all the Democrats, of course. We’ll be watching to see which MAGA-leaning Republican senators support the vote.
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Cost of College Debt Forgiveness – President Biden’s plan to cancel student debt will cost $420 billion, of which $20 billion is the extension of a pause on student loan payments, according to the Congressional Budget Office, per The Washington Post. The number is roughly equal to the cost of the $1,400 stimulus checks mailed to Americans for pandemic relief at the beginning of the Biden administration.
Upshot: Cancelling student debt always was going to be a major issue for the midterm elections, with Republican candidates objecting to shifting the student loan payments from former students and their families to taxpayers.
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Jury Selection for Oath Keepers Trial – A federal trial for the far-right Oath Keepers for allegedly helping organize the January 6 Capitol insurrection begins Tuesday, NPR reports. Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and his co-defendants are accused of spending months recruiting, training and conspiring to use force to prevent the transfer of power from Donald J. Trump to Joe Biden, according to Morning Edition. The alleged plot included storing guns in Washington, D.C., for a quick reaction force to rush into the city on January 6, if necessary.
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Fake Disinformation Accounts for War in Ukraine – Facebook and Instagram owner Meta was used for hundreds of fake social media accounts and sham news websites that attempted to advance Russia’s cause in its invasion of Ukraine, the Associated Press reports. The scheme involved more than 60 websites designed to mimic legitimate news outlets, including the United Kingdom’s Guardian and Germany’s Der Spiegel that spread Kremlin talking points about President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Meta said Tuesday.
Note: The Guardian is among news outlets aggregated by our daily coverage. We always go directly to theguardian.com, not via social media.
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On Italy’s Right-Turn – Italy’s new coalition government, led by far-right Brothers of Italy candidate Giorgia Meloni, who becomes the prime minister replacing technocrat Mario Draghi, “threatens to fragment the European Union when unity is more urgent than ever,” Nicholas Lokker and Jason C. Moyer write for The Wilson Center (wilsoncenter.org). While Meloni’s new coalition government has been described as Italy’s most conservative since World War II, the new prime minister has repeatedly expressed support for Ukraine to maintain its democracy in its fight against Russian aggression.
--Edited by Todd Lassa
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What's Up This Week (MON 9/26/22)
Hearing IX – Potentially the last public hearing of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol is scheduled for this Wednesday beginning 1 p.m. Eastern time.
“It is possible that it’s the last,” committee member Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) told NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday. “But as we continue to work, we wouldn’t rule out the possibility of an additional public hearing.”
The 1/6 panel may be running out of time as the GOP probably retakes the House of Representatives in the November 8 midterms.
Meanwhile, the committee also will interview conservative activist and Supreme Court justice-spouse Virginia Thomas, who exchanged emails with John Eastman, the attorney seen as instrumental in planning alleged Trump White House attempts to reverse the election results.
“Eastman is the architect of the scheme that one federal judge has described as criminal, and we’d like to learn more about it,” Lofgren said.
Left-column preview: Be sure to read pundit Ken Zino’s Hearing IX “Curtain Raiser” in the left column.
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Senate and House Schedules – Both chambers are off Monday, with the Senate returning Tuesday, as Rosh Hashana concludes, through Friday. The House is in session Wednesday through Friday.
Critical CR: Both the House and Senate must pass a continuing resolution this week to avoid partial shutdown of the federal government. The fiscal year ends Friday.
--Edited by Todd Lassa
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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news