Latest news with #Himes
New York Post
25-05-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Top Connecticut Dem admits GOP SALT increase would ‘be good' for his state
A key House Democrat on Sunday admitted there is 'one little portion' of the GOP's megabill that he likes — the raising of the state and local tax deduction (SALT) cap from $10,000 to $40,000. Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, voted against the proposed One Big Beautiful Bill Act alongside the rest of his party last week — but is acknowledging that his constituents would get a boost from its SALT change. 'That one little portion is going to be good for my constituents,' Himes told CBS' 'Face the Nation.' Republicans had capped the SALT deduction at $10,000 under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, disproportionately impacting blue states with high state and local taxes. The new bill would raise the SALT cap to $40,000 for households making $500,000 or less in annual income, amid fierce lobbying from blue-state Republicans. 3 Democratic Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut admitted Sunday that he likes the SALT component of the proposed One Big Beautiful Bill Act. CBS/Face the Nation 3 The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is intended to be President Trump's signature legislative achievement. SAMUEL CORUM/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock SALT Caucus reps like Mike Lawler (R-NY) and Nick LaLota (R-NY) had threatened to vote against the mammoth bill if GOP leadership didn't adequately address issue, something that alienated fiscal hawks. The President Trump-pushed bill still has to pass the GOP-controlled Senate, which one of its most outspoken critics, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, warned Sunday will be tough to do in its current form because of what it would add to the deficit. Democrats had attempted to raise the SALT cap in 2021 and 2022 when they also controlled the country's political trifecta — the White House, Senate and House — but ultimately abandoned the move. Himes on Sunday generally chastised the GOP megabill, which features sweeping tax cuts, bolstered border security, beefed-up defense, energy reforms and more than $1.5 trillion in spending cuts. 'Americans want the wealthiest to be aware of Americans who pay more taxes. And to give tax relief to the middle class. Number two, they want to address the deficit, which is now spiraling out of control,' he said. '[The GOP bill would be] cutting Medicaid and nutritional assistance food stamps to tens of millions of Americans.' The proposed One Big Beautiful Bill Act would slap work requirements on recipients of both Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The adjustments to Medicaid specifically could result in 7.7 million fewer people having insurance, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate. Other policy tweaks, including ones to the Affordable Care Act, could bring that figure up to 8.6 million by 2034, the office said. 3 House Speaker Mike Johnson has been taking a victory lap after wrangling the marquee legislation through his chamber. Getty Images House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who was a guest on 'Face the Nation' before Himes, insisted that with the bill, 'We have not cut Medicaid, and we have not cut SNAP. 'What we're doing … is working on fraud, waste and abuse,' Johnson said. 'If you are able to work and you refuse to do so, you are defrauding the system. 'There's a moral component to what we're doing. And when you make young men work, it's good for them, it's good for their dignity, it's good for their self-worth, and it's good for the community,' the speaker said. Johnson also shrugged off deficit concerns. The megabill could add $3.1 trillion to the deficit over a 10-year period, according to an assessment from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. 'No, it's not an economic gamble. It's a big investment,' the speaker argued. 'What this bill is going to do is be jet fuel to the US economy. It is going to foster a pro-growth economy.
Budapest Times
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Budapest Times
Black author committed to damning the black experience
Readers of this Books section should be well acquainted with Chester Bomar Himes, the black American writer (1909-1984) best known for his hard-boiled but wry Harlem Detectives series, all eight of which, and a couple of his others, we have featured as they were republished in the past four years. Now here are eight of his short stories, perhaps some of them written from prison, in a slim volume that is one of a whopping 90 new books selected from the Penguin Random House archive. The 90 are to celebrate the 90th anniversary of what is now the largest book publisher in the United Kingdom. It was in 1935 that Allen Lane (1902-1970) together with his brothers Richard and John founded Penguin Books to bring high-quality paperback fiction and non-fiction to the mass market. The simple idea was that quality literature shouldn't cost more than a packet of cigarettes. Publishers and booksellers were sceptical at first but within a year Penguin had caused a revolution in the industry, with three million sold. The Himes book is typical of the 90, it being a short 142-page selection and thus selling at a reduced UK price of £5.99 compared with a normal paperback for £9.99-16.99. The eight stories come from 'The Collected Stories of Chester Himes' that was originally published in 1990 and contained a fulsome 60 tales spanning some four decades of his writing. Like the other 89 archive titles, 'All God's Chillun Got Pride' has a simple but striking cover, which draws on Penguin's design heritage. The new series uses only one colour, and that colour is red foil, otherwise known as the colour of passion, the idea being that this is intended as a love letter from the publisher for the birthday. The red foil lettering is stamped onto naked white covers, showing the story, author and the year when the author was first published as a Penguin. In Himes' case, he has been 'A Penguin since 1974'. Otherwise, no further details are given about the contents, which is a pity. It would have been nice to know when Himes wrote his eight stories and where they were first published, because he, of course, started writing at the Ohio State Penitentiary after committing armed robbery and being arrested while attempting to pawn the stolen jewellery in Chicago. It was 1929 and he was 19 years old. The court gave him the maximum 25 years in prison but he was released on parole in 1936. Biographers say that while incarcerated he bought a Remington typewriter and began tapping out stories. These were sent to magazines and the like, and his work was published in the Pittsburgh Courier, Bronzeman, Atlanta Daily World, Abbott's Monthly and Esquire. A victim of racism himself, Himes used his writing career to concern himself with black protagonists doomed by white racism and self-hate. This set of eight tales opens with 'Headwaiter', which we think was first published in Opportunity, Journal of Negro Life in 1937. The story explores the necessarily repressed feelings of a black headwaiter, Dick Small, who has held the postion at the Park Manor Hotel for 20 years and must defer to an exclusively white clientele while overseeing an equally exclusively black waiting staff. These waiters have a Negroid langour that bespeaks liberal tips. Small is reminded of the negro of Mark Twain legend who said he didn't want to make a dime 'cause he had a dime. One diner observes that 'all a nigger needs is something to eat and someplace to sleep'. The diner knows because he's got a plantation of them. A busboy, shouted at by a lady diner, 'jumped a full yard backward, his nostrils flaring like a winded horse's and his eyes white-rimmed in his black face'. 'Lunching at the Rtizmore' is a satirical story about a student bet that will supposedly disprove the existence of racism in Los Angeles. Consternation ensues as the city's down-and-outs tag along to see whether a negro will be allowed to eat in restaurants, ultimately at the Ritzmore, the swankiest of West Coast hotels. How is the bet resolved? It doesn't matter really. It's all rather tongue-in-cheek from Himes. What racism? The titular short story, 'All God's Chillun Got Pride', is a brilliantly powerful and relentless summation of the daily fear and humiliation that a 'black beast', a nigger, goes through in white America. The man, Keith Richards, known as 'Dick', keeps up a bold front but he's afraid that one day he will crack, and that will be his doom. 'So each day, of a necessity, in order to live and breathe, he did as many of these things of which he was scared to do as he could do short of self-destruction. He did them to prove he wasn't scared so the next day he would be able to get up and live and breathe and go down to the library and work as a research assistant with a group of white people.' 'Pork Chop Paradise' has writing almost as strong, in which an illiterate black man, a convicted rapist, comes to be called God by black and white men and women, duped into fake faith by his messianic messaging and because, for a while, he is able to assuage their hunger. Pavements turned into pork chops? Here is a denunciation of phoney religious cults. Finally, 'God' is brought to grief by falling to his own suppressed human desires, especially sex, losing his head with a blinding lust for Cleo, 'a high-yellah gal… from down Harlem way, and she sent him to the dogs. Sent him to the dogs'. The opening pages of 'Friends' are a bit difficult to follow – the alligators – until we reach a murder that is difficult to read, because the bloody and horrific account is so chillingly recounted. It is harrowing. The rapist accidentally cuts off his penis to free it from the corpse with a butcher knife. Phew. In 'His Last Day', cop killer 'Spats' Wilson is on Death Row and hours away from the big chair. He's determined not to give way to fear, to go to his destiny with a smile on his face, though mainly for the benefit of his fellow inmates and the newspaper coverage. Deep down he is desperate for a reprieve, which never comes, and he is scared. He rejects the preacher who wants him to make peace with God. He just about manages to carry off his final minutes with bravado, but take at look at his eyes and see his true feelings. (Written in prison and Himes' first published short story, in Abbott's Monthly in 1933.) In 'The Snake', the search for a rattlesnake that has invaded a woman's home leads to the discovery of her missing husband in a grave under the floorboards. (Esquire published this on October 1, 1959.) Black America needed, and probably still does – Black Lives Matter – the perspective of a person such as Himes. As he mentions here, didn't (Founding Father, United States President and slave owner) Thomas Jefferson write that 'All men are created equal'? Not in Himes' telling of the black experience. 'They don't hang Negoes in the north; they have other and more subtle ways of killing them,' he writes. But when you shear away the falseness of tradition and ideology, who can tell the black from the white? Let's hope that 'All God's Chillun Got Pride', which is in effect a sampler, generates enough interest to allow 'The Collected Stories of Chester Himes' to see the light again.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Democratic Rep praises Trump for doing 'pretty darn well' on Middle East tour
Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., offered rare praise for President Donald Trump Thursday, arguing he "played the Middle East pretty darn well." Trump has received acclaim from some unusual constituencies for his efforts to strengthen strategic partnerships in the Middle East for stability and economic prosperity. Trump, speaking in Doha, Qatar, on Thursday said he thinks the U.S. and Iran "are getting close" to a nuclear deal without any violence. Earlier this week, the president announced he would be lifting U.S. sanctions on Syria, before meeting the country's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, becoming the first U.S. president to meet with a Syrian president in 25 years. Himes, ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, spoke at Politico's Security Summit on Thursday where the Democrat gave rare credit to the Republican president. Former Biden Officials Offer Rare Praise For Trump's Bold Middle East Moves "I'm not in the habit of praising Donald Trump," he began, before describing how Trump exceeded his expectations in the Middle East the past week. Read On The Fox News App "I go into the week fearing that the prime minister of Israel is hell-bent on going to war with Iran. I go into the week worried that we're going to miss the thread of an opportunity in Syria for the new leadership there. And I got to tell you, I think the president has, in this last week or so, played the Middle East pretty darn well," Himes said. "My guess is that the prime minister of Israel is cooling his heels a little bit on planning for Iran. My guess is that he's probably thinking through a better situation than he otherwise might want for Gaza," he added. "And look, it appears we're going to give al-Sharaa a chance in Syria. That's pretty good stuff. Again, not in the habit of praising this president, but I got to give him some kudos there." Click Here For More Coverage Of Media And Culture Politico senior political columnist Jonathan Martin noted he would not hear any of those things from Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., who is regarded as a hawk on foreign policy. "The very reason that you're praising Donald Trump is because he is taking a much more dovish approach to the Middle East than the hawks in his party, which does reflect that oftentimes Trump's impulses are really, really less hawkish than the folks in his party would prefer, right?" Martin said. Himes argued that the very reason he is in office is because of the backlash to the Iraq War. "I'm cautious about broad statements — but the mistakes of foreign policy in my lifetime have been mistakes of being naive about military engagement or about, you know, covert stuff," he said. "Remaking the region," Martin suggested, appearing to refer to ambitions of regime change and nation building in the Middle East. "Vietnam. Remaking the region. Changing the world at the point of a spear," Himes said. "And so, you know, look, we'll see. We'll see." Himes is one of many unexpected sources who have praised Trump for his bold moves in the Middle East, as numerous ex-Biden officials have expressed admiration as article source: Democratic Rep praises Trump for doing 'pretty darn well' on Middle East tour
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Senior House Dem offers rare praise for Trump
President Donald Trump found a surprising new cheerleader for his foreign policy Thursday: Democratic Rep. Jim Himes. 'I'm not in the habit of praising Donald Trump, but I've got to tell you, in the last week or so in the Middle East, Ukraine, Russia it's a different story,' Himes, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said during an interview at POLITICO's Security Summit. To explain his position, the Connecticut lawmaker said he feared as recently as last week that Israel was 'hell bent on going to war with Iran' — implying Trump helped avert that. He also lauded Trump's decision to meet with Syria's new president during his trip to the Middle East. 'I've got to tell you, I think the president has, in this last week or so, played the Middle East pretty darn well,' he said. Himes nonetheless made clear he is far from backing Trump's foreign strategy writ large. His compliments for Trump's policies on Ukraine — where Himes said Trump appeared to be cozying up less to Russia in negotiations over how to end the war — were backhanded, suggesting that until recently, Russia had seen Trump as relatively friendly. Now, Himes said, 'I think the Kremlin is thinking like, 'Whoa, this president, the United States is not the unconditional ally that we might have thought he was.'' And, Himes said he remained 'horrified' by Trump's treatment of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office in February, when Trump and Vice President JD Vance tore into the Ukrainian leader for being insufficiently grateful for U.S. military support in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Politico
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Politico
Senior House Dem offers rare praise for Trump
President Donald Trump found a surprising new cheerleader for his foreign policy Thursday: Democratic Rep. Jim Himes. 'I'm not in the habit of praising Donald Trump, but I've got to tell you, in the last week or so in the Middle East, Ukraine, Russia it's a different story,' Himes, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said during an interview at POLITICO's Security Summit. To explain his position, the Connecticut lawmaker said he feared as recently as last week that Israel was 'hell bent on going to war with Iran' — implying Trump helped avert that. He also lauded Trump's decision to meet with Syria's new president during his trip to the Middle East. 'I've got to tell you, I think the president has, in this last week or so, played the Middle East pretty darn well,' he said. Himes nonetheless made clear he is far from backing Trump's foreign strategy writ large. His compliments for Trump's policies on Ukraine — where Himes said Trump appeared to be cozying up less to Russia in negotiations over how to end the war — were backhanded, suggesting that until recently, Russia had seen Trump as relatively friendly. Now, Himes said, 'I think the Kremlin is thinking like, 'Whoa, this president, the United States is not the unconditional ally that we might have thought he was.'' And, Himes said he remained 'horrified' by Trump's treatment of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office in February, when Trump and Vice President JD Vance tore into the Ukrainian leader for being insufficiently grateful for U.S. military support in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
