Latest news with #GregMeeks
Time of India
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
‘This is not my job': Marco Rubio explodes at Rep. Meeks over USAID cuts & foreign policy
At a heated House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, Secretary of State Marco Rubio fiercely pushed back against Rep. Greg Meeks (D-NY), who accused him of betraying his ideals and undermining USAID and U.S. foreign policy. The exchange came during a review of the FY26 State Department Budget Request. Show more Show less
Reuters
14-04-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
US lawmakers look to boost Ukraine, sanction Russia, sources say
WASHINGTON, April 14 (Reuters) - Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced legislation on Monday to bolster Ukraine in its war with Russia, another effort to pressure the Trump administration to back the Kyiv government, sources familiar with the effort said. Representative Greg Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced the Ukraine Support Act, which would provide security and reconstruction funding for Ukraine and impose steep sanctions on Russia, according to a copy of the bill seen by Reuters. The bill, which has not yet been made public, was filed two weeks after Republicans and Democrats in the Senate introduced stiff sanctions that would be imposed on Russia if it refuses to engage in good-faith peace negotiations with Ukraine. The efforts in Congress reflect increasing concern among lawmakers from both parties about Ukraine's fate, as Republican President Donald Trump has taken a more conciliatory stance toward Moscow since starting his second term on January 20. Trump, who is trying to broker a peace agreement, has repeatedly blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for the three-year-old conflict even though it began with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He did so again on Monday, with a complaint about Kyiv asking for missiles. Congressional aides who helped write the House bill said their goal was to influence negotiations on any Ukraine-related legislation eventually passed by Congress. Parts of the bill were expected to appear in any final broad Ukraine package even if the measure itself cannot find a way forward in the Republican-majority House. "This bill obviously will be part of the legislative conversation," one said. The effort was given additional urgency on Sunday, when two Russian ballistic missiles hit the center of the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy as residents attended Palm Sunday church services. Kyiv said the attack killed 34 people and wounded 117, dozens of them civilians. Russia's defence ministry said it had targeted a gathering of Ukrainian commanding officers in the city. ADMINISTRATION AT ODDS? Trump administration officials have been increasingly at odds over how to settle the Ukraine-Russia conflict, Reuters has reported, with some suggesting Ukraine should cede territory to Russia and others favoring more direct support to Ukraine. The House bill is divided into three sections and would provide more support than the Ukraine legislation in the Senate. The first affirms support for Ukraine and NATO and includes measures to help Ukraine rebuild, including creating the position of a special coordinator for Ukraine reconstruction. The second provides security assistance for Kyiv, including direct loans and military financing, and the third would impose stiff sanctions and export controls on Russia, including on financial institutions, oil and mining and Russian officials. While many members of Congress from both parties have strongly supported Ukraine during the three-year conflict, many of Trump's closest Republican allies have grown cooler since his party took control of the House two years ago, and then the White House and Senate in January.
Axios
03-04-2025
- Business
- Axios
House Democrats plan to force vote on killing Trump tariffs
The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said Wednesday he plans to force a vote on blocking the across-the-board tariffs announced by President Trump. Why it matters: The vote would force Republicans to choose between their loyalty to Trump and rejecting a policy many of them fundamentally oppose. Republicans inserted language into last month's stopgap spending bill to block such a House vote on terminating the national emergency upon which Trump based his tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China. But Trump opened the door for a new vote by pegging his new baseline 10% tariff on U.S. imports to a fresh national emergency declaration. What they're saying: " Trump just hit Americans with the largest regressive tax hike in modern history—massive tariffs on all imports," Rep. Greg Meeks (D-N.Y.), the Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member, said in a post on X. "I'll soon introduce a privileged resolution to force a vote on ending the made up national emergency Trump is using to justify these taxes," Meeks said. "Republicans can't keep ducking this—it's time they show whether they support the economic pain Trump is inflicting on their constituents." Between the lines: Even Democrats who support tariffs in theory are lining up against the ones Trump announced Wednesday. Rep. Morgan McGarvey (D-Ky.) called the tariffs "overly broad" and "half-baked" and accused the president of lacking a comprehensive strategy. "I have always said that when used strategically, tariffs are a critical tool," said Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.). "However, the key word is 'strategically.' I'm concerned about the chaotic and immediate implementation of these wide-reaching tariffs." By the numbers: If all Democrats were to support Meeks' resolution, only a handful of Republicans would need to cross over for it to pass. But Republicans may try to once again snuff out any attempt to force a tariff vote by inserting kill-switch language into a broader bill. State of play: Senate Republicans are facing a similar squeeze right now ahead of a vote on a measure from Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) to terminate Trump's earlier national emergency. Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), both old-school, free trade-oriented Republicans, as well as libertarian Rep. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), have said they plan to vote for it.
New York Times
11-03-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Republicans Quietly Cede Power to Cancel Trump's Tariffs, Avoiding a Tough Vote
House Republican leaders on Tuesday quietly moved to shield their members from having to vote on whether to end President Trump's tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, tucking language into a procedural measure that effectively removed their chamber's ability to undo the levies. The maneuver was a tacit acknowledgment of how politically toxic the issue had become for their party, and another example of how the all-Republican Congress is ceding its power to the executive branch. In this case, Republican leaders did so using a particularly unusual contortion: They essentially declared the rest of the year one long day, nullifying a law that allows the House and Senate to jointly put an end to a disaster declared by the president. House Democrats had planned to force a vote on resolutions to end the tariffs on Mexico and Canada, a move allowed under the National Emergencies Act, which provides a mechanism for Congress to terminate an emergency like the one Mr. Trump declared when he imposed the tariffs on Feb. 1. That would have forced Republicans — many of whom are opposed to tariffs as a matter of principle — to go on the record on the issue at a time when Mr. Trump's commitment to tariffs has spooked the financial markets and spiked concerns of reigniting inflation. But Republican leaders on Tuesday slipped language into a procedural measure that would prevent any resolution to end the tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China from receiving a vote this year. It passed on party lines as part of a resolution that cleared the way for a vote later Tuesday on a government spending bill needed to prevent a shutdown at the end of the week. The national emergency law lays out a fast-track process for Congress to consider a resolution ending a presidential emergency, requiring committee consideration within 15 calendar days after one is introduced and a floor vote within three days after that. But the language House Republicans inserted in their measure on Tuesday declared that, 'Each day for the remainder of the 119th Congress shall not constitute a calendar day' for the purposes of the emergency that Mr. Trump declared on Feb. 1. Democrats jeered the maneuver. 'The speaker is petrified that members of this House will actually have to take a vote on lowering costs on the American people,' said Representative Greg Meeks, Democrat of New York, who introduced the privileged resolution. 'If Congress can't act to lower prices, protect retirement savings and hold the president accountable, what are we even doing here? Democrats in the Senate could still try to force a vote to end the tariffs, putting Republicans in that chamber in a tough spot. But in order to terminate the levies, a resolution would have to pass both chambers and be signed by Mr. Trump. Ana Swanson contributed reporting.
