Spending deal bars US funds to UN agency for Palestinians

Congressional leaders have rolled out a $1.2tn spending package that would fund large swaths of the government for the rest of the fiscal year 2024, the product of a deal between President Joe Biden, House speaker Mike Johnson and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer.

The package combines funding for half of the 12 annual government spending bills, including for the departments of defense, labor, homeland security, health and human services, education and state; the internal revenue service; and general government foreign operations.

The package includes over $490m in funding to hire 22,000 border patrol agents, which Republicans are touting as the “highest level ever funded”, the Hill reports.

Negotiators have been highlighting funding boosts for border security technology, increases to Border Patrol overtime pay that had been green-lit in the annual defense authorization bill last year, and funding for 41,500 detention beds. Democrats have also seized on a lack of border wall funding after a partisan fight over DHS spending.

The package includes more than $10.5bn for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which is $1.2bn above fiscal year 2023 levels.

Republicans secured a 12-month prohibition on federal funding for the UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.

The package also includes $6bn for the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief, as well as $1.65bn for the Global Fund.

Congress is in the midst of passing a consensus budget that will avert a government shutdown set to begin over the weekend. But, as it does every year, the conservative Republican Study Committee (RSC) yesterday released a budget proposal that would enact a number of rightwing policies on everything from immigration to abortion to taxation.

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The RSC is the largest caucus among House Republicans, and its budget is meant to show where lawmakers stand on various issues. It’s also fodder for Democrats, as they seek to convince voters that Republican intend to enact extreme policies. Here’s what Joe Biden has to say about it, in a statement:

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My dad had an expression, “Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.” The Republican Study Committee budget shows what Republicans value. This extreme budget will cut Medicare, Social Security, and the Affordable Care Act. It endorses a national abortion ban. The Republican budget will raise housing costs and prescription drugs costs for families. And it will shower giveaways on the wealthy and biggest corporations. Let me be clear: I will stop them.

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A summary of the RSC’s budget can be found here.

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Three top-ranking Republicans in the House, speaker Mike Johnson, majority leader Steve Scalise and foreign affairs committee chair Michael McCaul, have called on Hamas to release the remaining hostages taken in the 7 October attack, and on Qatar and Egypt to use their leverage to get the group to accept a deal:

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It is despicable that Hamas continues to hold over 130 innocent civilians hostage, including American citizens, nearly half a year later. As negotiations to secure their release resume, we urge Qatar and Egypt to use all of their leverage to immediately secure the release of the hostages on reasonable terms. There must be tangible, severe consequences for delaying or impeding negotiations, and Hamas should understand that delays or further harm to these civilians will come at a cost. Lives are at stake and time is of the essence. Continued negotiations should carry a vital sense of urgency.

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The US has drafted a new UN security council resolution calling for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza, amid mounting pressure on Israel to halt its military campaign and allow the delivery of substantial amounts of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory.

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Details of the resolution, which calls for “an immediate ceasefire tied to the release of hostages” in Gaza, were disclosed by the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, as he toured the Middle East.

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The US has vetoed previous UN security council votes on the nearly six-month-long war, objecting as recently as in February to the use of the term “immediate” in a draft submitted by Algeria, and the new draft marks a significant step in its approach to the conflict.

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Details of the new draft resolution were revealed as the UN released an analysis of satellite imagery showing that 35% of buildings in Gaza had been damaged or destroyed during Israel’s offensive, which has claimed almost 32,000 Palestinian lives.

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The House speaker, Mike Johnson, has said he plans to invite Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to address Congress, amid rising tensions between Democrats and the Israeli leader over the war in Gaza.

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“We will certainly extend that invitation,” Johnson said in an interview on CNBC this morning.

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The speaker told reporters on Wednesday that he held a “lengthy” conversation with Netanyahu, and that he was considering inviting the Israeli leader to speak with lawmakers.

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Netanyahu in front of US and Israeli flags.”,”caption”:”Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, Israel, on 18 October 2023.”,”credit”:”Photograph: Miriam Alster/Pool via Reuters”}},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

It comes after the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish politician in the US and a longtime advocate for Israel, blasted Netanyahu in a floor speech and called for Israel to hold new elections.

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The package includes over $490m in funding to hire 22,000 border patrol agents, which Republicans are touting as the “highest level ever funded”, the Hill reports.

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Negotiators have been highlighting funding boosts for border security technology, increases to Border Patrol overtime pay that had been green-lit in the annual defense authorization bill last year, and funding for 41,500 detention beds. Democrats have also seized on a lack of border wall funding after a partisan fight over DHS spending.

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The package includes more than $10.5bn for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which is $1.2bn above fiscal year 2023 levels.

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Republicans secured a 12-month prohibition on federal funding for the UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.

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The package also includes $6bn for the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief, as well as $1.65bn for the Global Fund.

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Good morning US politics readers. Congressional leaders on Tuesday formally announced a $1.2tn spending deal to fund the federal government, giving lawmakers less than two days to avert a partial government shutdown. The package is the most substantial bipartisan legislation that Mike Johnson has negotiated since he ascended to the speaker’s chair, and comes after disputes among House Republicans, Senate Democrats and the White House over border security funding.

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The Republican-controlled House will vote on the sprawling package on Friday, leaving the Democratic-majority Senate only hours to pass the package of six bills that covers about two-thirds of the $1.66tn in discretionary government spending for the fiscal year that began on 1 October.

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Here’s what else we’re watching:

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Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, is in Cairo to discuss the situation in Gaza. He will meet Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and foreign minister Sameh Shoukry as well the representatives from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and the Palestinian Authority.

9am ET. Kevin Hern, chair of the Republican study committee and other members of the RSC will unveil the FY2025 budget proposal.

10am. The House appropriations committee will hear from Shalanda Young, the director of the Office of Management and Budget.

11am. Mike Johnson, the House speaker, will host the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony honoring the Ghost Army of the second world war.

12.45pm. Joe Biden will headline a fundraiser in Houston, Texas.

3.45pm. Doug Emhoff, the second gentleman, will speak in Denver’s Argo Park about rebuilding communities divided by developments decades ago. He’ll be accompanied by Tom Perez, White House intergovernmental affairs director and a Biden senior adviser.

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Key events

Yesterday, at the conclusion of their latest hearing in their troubled impeachment investigation into Joe Biden, oversight committee chair James Comer proposed having the president himself testify. The White House’s reaction? “LOL”. Here’s more, from the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly:

A White House spokesperson poured cold water on Republicans’ stated intention to invite Joe Biden to testify in public in his own impeachment hearings, lamenting “a sad stunt” and telling the rightwing congressman steering the effort: “Call it a day, pal.”

James Comer of Kentucky, the Republican chair of the House oversight committee, has led attempts to impeach the president over alleged corruption involving the business dealings of his son Hunter Biden.

At the end of a long hearing on Wednesday, Comer said: “In the coming days I will invite President Biden to the oversight committee to provide his testimony and explain why his family received tens of millions of dollars … We need to hear from the president himself.”

Ian Sams, the White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations, responded swiftly and brutally.

“LOL,” Sams wrote, adding a face-palm emoji.

He added: “Comer knows 20-plus witnesses have testified that [Joe Biden] did nothing wrong. He knows that the hundreds of thousands of pages of records he’s received have refuted his false allegations. This is a sad stunt at the end of a dead impeachment. Call it a day, pal.”

On his Truth Social network, Donald Trump recently asked a question presidential candidates have posed to voters for more than 40 years: are you better off now than you were four years ago?

On X, Joe Biden’s campaign seized on the post to remind Americans that the last ten months of Trump’s presidency were catastrophic, as Covid-19 devastated the economy upended daily life, and killed hundreds of thousands of people:

Donald, I’m glad you asked. pic.twitter.com/janV4f4L3p

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) March 21, 2024

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The White House said it “strongly supports” passage of the bill to fund the remaining federal departments that have not yet had spending authorized for the 2024 fiscal year, calling it “a compromise between Republicans and Democrats” that would invest “in key priorities for the American people”.

But in their statement, the Office of Management and Budget has one quibble. It notes that the Biden administration “fought for and secured additional resources in H.R. 2882 so that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) can maintain its current capacity to manage the border”, which is seeing a surge in migrant arrivals, but that funding won’t be sufficient:

However, DHS funding levels are still inadequate and the Administration reiterates its call to the Congress to take up and pass the bipartisan border security agreement, which would provide DHS with policy changes and resources it needs to better secure our border and protect the homeland.

The bipartisan border security agreement they are referring to appears to be dead, killed by Republicans who felt it did not go far enough – even though their lawmakers were involved in negotiating it.

Biden hits out at conservative budget proposal, warning of cuts to social security, abortion ban

My dad had an expression, “Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.” The Republican Study Committee budget shows what Republicans value. This extreme budget will cut Medicare, Social Security, and the Affordable Care Act. It endorses a national abortion ban. The Republican budget will raise housing costs and prescription drugs costs for families. And it will shower giveaways on the wealthy and biggest corporations. Let me be clear: I will stop them.

A summary of the RSC’s budget can be found here.

The Biden administration’s plans to at the United Nations call for a ceasefire in Gaza may mark a significant shift in its policy towards Israel, the Guardian’s Julian Borger and Peter Beaumont report:

The US has drafted a new UN security council resolution calling for an “immediate ceasefire” and hostage deal in Gaza, amid mounting pressure on Israel to halt its military campaign and allow the delivery of substantial amounts of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory.

The secretary of state, Antony Blinken, presented the resolution as calling for “an immediate ceasefire tied to the release of hostages”.

The US has consistently argued that the route to a ceasefire has to be through a hostage deal, but the new draft resolution presented on Thursday, seen by the Guardian, is more ambiguous about the linkage.

The draft says the UN security council “determines the imperative of an immediate and sustained ceasefire to protect civilians on all sides, allow for the delivery of essential humanitarian assistance, and alleviate humanitarian suffering, and towards that end unequivocally supports ongoing international diplomatic efforts to secure such a ceasefire in connection with the release of all remaining hostages”.

A European diplomat at the UN said the stress on an “immediate” ceasefire and the phrase “towards that end” showed significant movement in the US position. “I think it is a shift in saying that a ceasefire is not contingent on a specific deal,” the diplomat said.

Top House Republicans call on Hamas to release remaining hostages taken on 7 October

It is despicable that Hamas continues to hold over 130 innocent civilians hostage, including American citizens, nearly half a year later. As negotiations to secure their release resume, we urge Qatar and Egypt to use all of their leverage to immediately secure the release of the hostages on reasonable terms. There must be tangible, severe consequences for delaying or impeding negotiations, and Hamas should understand that delays or further harm to these civilians will come at a cost. Lives are at stake and time is of the essence. Continued negotiations should carry a vital sense of urgency.

Donald Trump’s campaign and his Save America Pac reported raising a combined $15.9m in February and ended the month with more than $37m on hand, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission last night.

That is up from January, when the committees raised only $13.8m, but it is still lagging behind Joe Biden’s campaign, which said he and the Democratic National Committee raised $53m last month and ended February with $155 on hand.

In a statement, Trump’s campaign communications director, Steven Cheung, said:

Americans know that they were better off with President Trump four years ago than with Crooked Joe Biden and his disastrous policies. We need a return to America First policies that successfully kept our country safe and supercharged the economy for all Americans.

“If Donald Trump put up these kinds of numbers on The Apprentice, he’d fire himself,” Biden’s campaign communications director, Michael Tyler, said in a statement.

Nick Robins-Early

The US government on Thursday filed a sprawling antitrust case against Apple, alleging that the tech giant has illegally prevented competition by restricting access to its software and hardware.

The case is a direct challenge to the company’s core products and practices, including its iMessage service and how devices such as the iPhone and Apple Watch connect with one another.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New Jersey, alleges that Apple has monopoly power in the smartphone market and uses its control over the iPhone to “engage in a broad, sustained, and illegal course of conduct”, the Associated Press reported.

The US Department of Justice’s suit against Apple is a landmark case targeting the most valuable publicly traded company in the world and follows a raft of antitrust suits aimed at big tech. Amazon, Apple, Meta and Google have all faced investigations from regulators in recent years, both in the United States and Europe, over allegations that they have consolidated power while illegally stifling competition. All have market capitalizations above a trillion dollars.

US calls for immediate ceasefire in Gaza with draft UN resolution

The White House has announced it is waiving about $5.8bn in federal student loans for nearly 78,000 public sector workers.

Another 380,000 borrowers working in public service will also receive emails signed by Joe Biden to say that they are on track to have their debt cancelled within two years.

Under the public service loan forgiveness program, qualifying borrowers – including teachers, nurses, social workers, firefighters and other public servants – are eligible for student debt cancellation because they reached 10 years of payments while working in public service.

A statement from the president said:

These public service workers have dedicated their careers to serving their communities, but because of past administrative failures, never got the relief they were entitled to under the law.

BREAKING: The Biden-Harris Administration is announcing $5.8 billion in additional student loan debt relief for 77,700 borrowers – the result of fixes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.https://t.co/Bcg6EWoDEn pic.twitter.com/vMsv4pZg9t

— U.S. Department of Education (@usedgov) March 21, 2024

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Martin Pengelly

Hunter Biden, who has pleaded not guilty to federal tax and gun charges, has testified in private. So has James Biden, the president’s brother.

Wednesday’s hearing featured two Republican witnesses, both former associates of Hunter Biden. Tony Bobulinski appeared in person. Jason Galanis appeared by video link from prison in Alabama, where he is serving a near-16-year sentence for fraud.

Another key source for Republicans, Alexander Smirnov, was recently imprisoned in Nevada after being charged with lying to the FBI about supposed corruption involving the Biden family. Smirnov has also been linked to Russian intelligence.

On Wednesday, Bobulinski and Galanis claimed Joe Biden was involved in family business activities, though a meeting described by Bobulinski took place in 2017, after Biden left office as vice-president and years before he beat Donald Trump to become president.

Martin Pengelly

A White House spokesperson poured cold water on Republicans’ stated intention to invite Joe Biden to testify in public in his own impeachment hearings, lamenting “a sad stunt” and telling the rightwing congressman steering the effort: “Call it a day, pal.”

James Comer of Kentucky, the Republican chair of the House oversight committee, has led attempts to impeach the president over alleged corruption involving the business dealings of his son Hunter Biden. At the end of a long hearing on Wednesday, Comer said:

In the coming days I will invite President Biden to the oversight committee to provide his testimony and explain why his family received tens of millions of dollars … We need to hear from the president himself.

Ian Sams, the White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations, responded swiftly and brutally. “LOL,” Sams wrote, adding a face-palm emoji.

LOL ?‍♂️

Comer knows 20+ witnesses have testified that POTUS did nothing wrong. He knows that the hundreds of thousands of pages of records he’s received have refuted his false allegations.

This is a sad stunt at the end of a dead impeachment.

Call it a day, pal. https://t.co/XZpGEo8NOj

— Ian Sams (@IanSams46) March 20, 2024

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LOL ?‍♂️

Comer knows 20+ witnesses have testified that POTUS did nothing wrong. He knows that the hundreds of thousands of pages of records he’s received have refuted his false allegations.

This is a sad stunt at the end of a dead impeachment.

Call it a day, pal. https://t.co/XZpGEo8NOj

— Ian Sams (@IanSams46) March 20, 2024

Johnson says he will invite Netanyahu to address Congress

“We will certainly extend that invitation,” Johnson said in an interview on CNBC this morning.

The speaker told reporters on Wednesday that he held a “lengthy” conversation with Netanyahu, and that he was considering inviting the Israeli leader to speak with lawmakers.

Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, Israel, on 18 October 2023. Photograph: Miriam Alster/Pool via Reuters

Spending deal bars US funds to UN agency for Palestinians

The package includes over $490m in funding to hire 22,000 border patrol agents, which Republicans are touting as the “highest level ever funded”, the Hill reports.

Negotiators have been highlighting funding boosts for border security technology, increases to Border Patrol overtime pay that had been green-lit in the annual defense authorization bill last year, and funding for 41,500 detention beds. Democrats have also seized on a lack of border wall funding after a partisan fight over DHS spending.

The package includes more than $10.5bn for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which is $1.2bn above fiscal year 2023 levels.

Republicans secured a 12-month prohibition on federal funding for the UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.

The package also includes $6bn for the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief, as well as $1.65bn for the Global Fund.

Dan Milmo

Donald Trump’s wealth is set to increase by more than $3bn (£2.35bn) if a shareholder vote on Friday paves the way for the float of his Trump Media business.

The former president is preparing to list Trump Media & Technology Group, which operates the Truth Social tech platform, via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, or Spac.

The Spac, called Digital World Acquisition, has scheduled a vote on the merger with Trump Media for Friday. However, there are complications around the planned vote after Digital World sued sponsor ARC Global Investments, which is trying to delay the deal, to back the merger.

If the merger goes ahead and Trump Media goes public as soon as next week, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee would not be able to cash in immediately, however. Trump would need a waiver to circumvent a provision that blocks major shareholders from selling stock for six months.

Trump’s finances are under pressure as he prepares to contest the presidency with Joe Biden for a second time. Last month Trump was formally ordered by a New York judge to pay $454m following a civil fraud case, in which the former president was found to have manipulated the value of his properties to obtain advantageous loan and insurance rates.

Here’s the full text of the 1,012-page, six-bill spending package unveiled by congressional leaders early this morning.

If passed by Friday night, the package would take the threat of a government shutdown off the table until the beginning of the next fiscal year.

Mike Johnson, the House speaker, touted what he called a series of wins for Republicans in the spending package, from higher spending for defense and border security to a cutoff of US funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

In a statement released along with the text of the legislation, Johnson said:

This FY24 appropriations legislation is a serious commitment to strengthening our national defense by moving the Pentagon toward a focus on its core mission.

In a closed-door meeting with GOP lawmakers on Wednesday, Johnson noted the bill funds 8,000 additional detention beds for noncitizens awaiting their immigration proceedings or removal from the country.

“The homeland [security] piece was the most difficult to negotiate because the two parties have a wide chasm between them,” he said at the GOP leadership’s weekly press conference yesterday.

He added:

I think the final product is something that we were able to achieve a lot of key provisions in, and wins, and it moved in a direction that we want even with our tiny, historically small majority.

Congress unveils $1.2tn spending package ahead of shutdown

Here’s what else we’re watching:

Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, is in Cairo to discuss the situation in Gaza. He will meet Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and foreign minister Sameh Shoukry as well the representatives from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and the Palestinian Authority.
9am ET. Kevin Hern, chair of the Republican study committee and other members of the RSC will unveil the FY2025 budget proposal.
10am. The House appropriations committee will hear from Shalanda Young, the director of the Office of Management and Budget.
11am. Mike Johnson, the House speaker, will host the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony honoring the Ghost Army of the second world war.
12.45pm. Joe Biden will headline a fundraiser in Houston, Texas.
3.45pm. Doug Emhoff, the second gentleman, will speak in Denver’s Argo Park about rebuilding communities divided by developments decades ago. He’ll be accompanied by Tom Perez, White House intergovernmental affairs director and a Biden senior adviser.