America's Senate plans big changes for the House's spending bill
WHIPPING VOTES is a hard job in Congress, especially with as narrow a majority as the one overseen by Mike Johnson, the House speaker. But even the most masterful legislators can't account for everything. Andrew Garbarino, a New York Republican, fell asleep early on May 22nd as his colleagues considered H.R.1, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. He missed the vote. 'I'm going to just strangle him,' Mr Johnson joked to reporters. The bill passed, but that was the easy part. The Senate will now negotiate its own version of the most consequential legislation of Donald Trump's second term.
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Belfast Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Belfast Telegraph
Donald Trump style culture-war debate erupts during NI council meeting amid ‘trojan horse' concerns
A Donald Trump style culture-war debate erupted over the word 'gender' during a discussion about proposed equality and disability programmes within an NI council district. Ards and North Down Borough Council voted to amend its proposed equality and disability action plans after the DUP lambasted strategies which act as a 'trojan horse' and display 'divisive virtue signalling'. Alderman Stephen McIlveen successfully proposed an amendment getting rid of the use of 'gender' as an affected group in the official document which is ready to go out for consultation as well as removing a whole section on promoting inclusive workplaces. 'I am aware these strategies end up as trojan horses. They drift into political or ideological territory, pushing agendas that don't reflect the views of the community,' he said. 'It is our job as a council to deliver services fairly, for everyone, but we shouldn't get tied up in language policing or box ticking exercises that cost money and create division. The public wants to see us delivering services, not getting caught up in divisive virtue signalling. 'We already have to consider equality in every policy, in every decision, and we do. There is no suggestion we are not meeting our responsibilities, and I see no point in adding yet another layer of policy for the sake of appearances.' The council also removed a stipulation that it would remove 'display assets not in keeping with promoting a good and harmonious work environment' following a fractious debate at the local authority's full monthly meeting at Bangor Castle last week. The fallout echoed something of the culture wars prevalent in the United States, with the Alliance Party accusing the DUP of 'politicising' equality drives and condemning the use of the acronym 'DEI' being used in the debate. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion refers to organizational frameworks that seek to promote the fair treatment and full participation of all people in the US – the policy has been singled out by Donald Trump, the MAGA movement and the modern Republican party for particular ire. Mr McIlveen proposed an amendment to the draft Equality and Disability Action Plans 2025-29. 'I propose that we accept the Equality and Disability Action Plans, except in relation to the Section 75 Category Affected column, to remove the word 'gender,' and use wording reflective of what is contained in the legislation. (I propose we) remove Section 6.2 in totality, and remove the wording 'All public access areas and employee workplace areas are free from display assets not in keeping with promoting a good and harmonious work environment' from Section 6.4,' he said. Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act aims to change the practices of government and public authorities so that equality of opportunity and good relations are central to policy making and service delivery. The alderman's successful amendment withdrew the word 'gender' from all of the groups affected by each council commitment listed in the document. Section 6.2, now withdrawn, referred to 'promoting an inclusive workplace' and vowed to 'increase efforts to identify and amplify diverse voices and representation within the council to ensure inclusivity and visibility for all members'. It also aimed for staff to 'attend and actively participate in LGSC's Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Ambassadors training and events' and 'conduct an anonymous survey to assess employee values and priorities regarding Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion, providing insights to enhance workplace culture.' Section 6.4 of the document refers to 'circulation and workplace areas to be shared spaces for all users'. The removal of the commitment to take away 'display assets not in keeping with promoting a good and harmonious work environment' partly refers to concerns about potential bids to remove the image of King Charles from the council's new premises. 'I fully support treating everyone fairly and with respect, and I say this as someone who has worked in human rights practice in this country and overseas, as well as having served as the Equalities Commissioner for two terms,' Mr McIlveen said. 'Equality of opportunity is hugely important to me, however I have real concerns with the suggestion in this document that we are essentially agreeing in principle for this council to adopt an equality, diversity and inclusion strategy, something that has been afforded no debate in this chamber. 'While other parties seem content to press ahead with this, I and my party are not. We already have strong equality laws in NI, I believe they merit some improvement in some areas, but we also have Section 45 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, that puts a legal duty on public bodies like this council to promote equality of opportunity and good relations. 'So the law is clear. The requirement to have such a strategy isn't anywhere in legislation, this is something being pushed by the Staff Commission, not by anyone else I am aware of.' Mr McIlveen continued: 'I would also point out the Section 75 obligations relate to sex, not gender. The use of the word 'gender' in the document is ambiguous, and open to misinterpretation. Section 75 is very clear, as it refers to men and women, in Subsection 1B. 'Similarly I will not be supporting any aim that neutralises the identity of this borough and its people. We have a council that quite rightly granted the Freedom of the Borough to organisations who have served and defended Northern Ireland, and we display the gifts that have been provided to us. 'We proudly wave our Union Flag. Our council chambers have the picture of our monarch. I will not be supporting the creation of a policy that may undermine this council celebrating this council's history, culture and identity.' Alliance Alderman Martin McRandal said: 'On the first point around gender, and the terminology that is used within the legislation, if that is so, I would have no issue in correcting that to reflect the legislation. 'The second point I do have an issue with. The council is required to comply with equality legislation. This draft document has been prepared by officers with the aim of enabling us to meet our duties under equality legislation. We don't get to pick and choose on that. 'So it is highly inappropriate to politicise the content of the action plan. We agree on an action plan which reflects our duties on the legislation.' Alliance Councillor Hannah Irwin said: 'I think it is quite ironic to hear about how we should not be politicising policies like this, when that is exactly what the proposal before us sets out to do. Using language such as DEI, in the way in which it has been used, is probably just feeding into a political discourse we are seeing at the minute which isn't, I would imagine, the most healthy.' The proposal by the DUP passed after a recorded poll. There were 22 votes in favour, from the DUP, UUP, and Unionist Independents, and 14 votes against, from Alliance, the Greens, the SDLP, and one Independent.
Fashion United
2 hours ago
- Fashion United
French Senate addresses the challenge of curbing the rise of ‘fast fashion'
Paris - After considerable time in Parliament, a bill to curb 'fast fashion' was reviewed in the French Senate. The Senate aimed to legislate against this 'short-lived' or 'disposable' fashion shipped at discounted prices from China, with giants Shein and Temu in its sights. Inexpensive, of poor quality, easy to order, often highly polluting and constantly renewed, these garments, which saturate the market and compete with established players in the textile industry, faced potential regulation of their influx into France. This was the subject of the text reviewed in the evening at the upper house. Championed by Horizons MP Anne-Cécile Violland, the bill to 'reduce the environmental impact of the textile industry' had languished for over a year on the Senate's desk, following its adoption in March 2024 by the National Assembly. The phenomenon itself did not stop: between 2010 and 2023, the number of garments placed on the market in France increased from 2.3 billion to 3.2 billion; more than 48 garments per inhabitant were placed on the market each year in France and 35 were discarded every second in the country, according to Ademe, the French Environment and Energy Management Agency. 'Today, these giants of ultra fast fashion are invading the market without any control. We must establish rules, hit them as best as possible and as hard as possible,' Sylvie Valente Le Hir, the Les Républicains senator in charge of reporting the text to the Senate, told AFP. Targeting 'ultra' fast fashion Among the key measures was the establishment in law of a definition of 'fast fashion', with criteria based on the volumes manufactured, the speed of collection renewal, the limited 'lifespan' of products and the 'low incentive' to repair them. The targeted companies would then have obligations such as raising consumer awareness of the 'environmental impact' of their clothing. The bill also provided for enhanced sanctions for these platforms through a revised 'bonus-malus' system taking into account the 'environmental costs' of excessive production. On this mechanism, a divergence seemed to appear between the National Assembly and the Senate. The MPs wished to link these penalties to the 'environmental labelling' of products, a recent rating method. But the Senate, in agreement with the government, removed this reference in committee, preferring criteria related to 'sustainability' and 'commercial practices' specific to these platforms. A new draft aimed to target more specifically the 'ultra fast fashion' of Asian companies Shein and Temu, while preserving other European or French companies that could have been affected by the text voted on in the Assembly. 'The idea is to target outrageous models,' the Ministry of Ecological Transition acknowledged. 'This is the case with ultra fast fashion because the number of references is out of all proportion to what we might call simply fast fashion.' Advertising This refocusing of the text worried the Stop Fast Fashion coalition, which brought together 14 environmental and human rights associations, including Emmaus, France Nature Environnement, Friends of the Earth and Zero Waste. For them, the initiative could therefore 'become nothing more than an empty shell, with no dissuasive effect'. Another sign that the debate would be closely scrutinised was that two associations – Friends of the Earth and the Multinationals Observatory – increased the pressure on Shein in recent days by asking the High Authority for Transparency in Public Life (HATVP) to 'exercise its right of control' over the company's lobbying activities, accusing the giant, founded in China but based in Singapore, of 'irregularities'. 'I hope that my colleagues will have the capacity to push back against the lobbies,' said Socialist senator Nicole Bonnefoy, alarmed by a 'current trend in Parliament which gives pride of place to environmental regressions'. Discussions in the chamber also revolved around the banning of advertising for 'fast fashion' companies. The Senate majority, a right-centrist alliance, opposed it on the grounds that it would restrict the 'freedom to do business'. But the government was in favour and attempted to reinstate this ban, supported by the left. This article was translated to English using an AI tool. FashionUnited uses AI language tools to speed up translating (news) articles and proofread the translations to improve the end result. This saves our human journalists time they can spend doing research and writing original articles. Articles translated with the help of AI are checked and edited by a human desk editor prior to going online. If you have questions or comments about this process email us at info@
NBC News
3 hours ago
- NBC News
Trump administration live updates: Congress returns to Republican agenda bill
What to know today Congress returns to Washington today from the weeklong Memorial Day recess to continue work on a House-passed bill to advance the GOP domestic policy agenda. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., defended proposed Medicaid cuts contained in the bill in an interview on NBC News' "Meet the Press," arguing the bill would impose "commonsense" work requirements for some recipients that were not "too cumbersome." The Supreme Court starts its monthlong ruling season, with emergency cases related to Trump administration actions vying for the justices' attention alongside other contentious cases this term.
