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Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
House GOP Leaders Are Ready To Vote On Trump's Sweeping Policy Package
WASHINGTON — House Republican leaders are moving forward with trying to pass President Donald Trump's ambitious policy package, with a final vote as soon as the wee hours of Thursday. Republicans released their final amendments to the massive tax cut proposal on Wednesday night, just ahead of the House Rules Committee wrapping up a nearly 22-hour hearing to hash out the final contours of the bill. Dozens of Democrats appeared before the committee to present hundreds of amendments of their own, dragging out the hearing's process by hours. The GOP-led panel rejected all of their amendments. Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), the chair of the committee, said after the hearing that she expected the House to vote late Wednesday on the rule for the GOP's tax package and that 'there is a chance we'll do the bill tonight.' House Republican leaders later alerted lawmakers to their schedule for the coming hours: begin debate on the bill around 2:15 a.m. Thursday, vote on final passage between 4:30 and 5:30 a.m., and plan to walk off the floor by 6 a.m. Democrats were already thwarting the plan by 11:15 p.m. Wednesday, though. As soon as Republicans tried to begin House debate on the rule, Democrats forced a vote on adjourning the chamber, an effort to drag out the clock. There isn't a final version of the bill, which is titled, 'One Big Beautiful Bill.' The rules committee still has to roll the GOP's 11th-hour amendments into the previous 1,100-page legislation that's been circulated. It's also not clear what all of the GOP's last-minute changes are, or if the final proposal even has the votes to pass. Part of the strategy by Republican leaders is to use the vote itself to pressure holdouts into caving and supporting the bill. The GOP can only afford to lose a handful of votes, and so far, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) has said he'll vote no, and some others, like Rep. Dave Schweikert (R-Ariz.), said as recently as Wednesday evening they weren't on board with it. The legislation is consequential: It includes roughly $4 trillion in tax cuts for wealthy people and offsets some of those cuts by slashing federal health and nutrition programs by more than $1 trillion. Some of the GOP's last-minute additions to the bill started getting attention late Wednesday. During the rules committee hearing, Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.) howled about a 'magical amendment' now being tied to the bill that would make it easier for people to buy gun silencers. Specifically, this provision eliminates a $200 firearm registration fee for silencers and also removes a requirement that people have to register their silencers at all. The addition was a demand from Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus who had been waffling on whether to back the bill. Scanlon called it 'a brazen attempt to make it easier to commit violent crime.' House Republicans' final package also will no longer include mandates to sell potentially hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands. Some other public land provisions, like advancing a mining road in Alaska, were also stripped from the bill. This appears to be a win for Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), who opposed these mandates. The Sierra Club celebrated this change to the bill, which it said is otherwise awful. 'The American people have spoken loud and clear – our public lands should not be for sale,' Athan Manuel, director of the Sierra Club's Lands Protection Program, said in a statement. 'Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle were right to throw this proposal in the trash can, but a bad bill is still a bad bill.' The Center for Western Priorities specifically thanked Zinke for helping to get this provision out of the final bill. 'Clearly, selling off public lands is still a third rail for members of Congress on both sides of the aisle,' said the group's deputy director, Aaron Weiss. 'I'm grateful to our champions on both sides of the aisle, especially Representative Ryan Zinke, who fought against this misguided attack on our public lands.'
E&E News
21-05-2025
- Business
- E&E News
House Republicans near release of latest megabill text
House Republicans appear ready to release new text of their tax cut, energy and border security megabill on Wednesday morning, but it's unclear when exactly that will happen. Among the points of contention are the fate of clean energy tax credits from the Democrats' 2022 climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act and the sale of public lands. Language on pipelines may also be in play after comments from President Donald Trump. In lauding the legislative effort early Wednesday, Rules Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) called it 'a serious course correction from the last four years.' Advertisement But ranking member Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said, 'You could have invested in housing, in child care, in clean energy, in community health. Instead you chose to side with those at the top.'
Epoch Times
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
House Passes Bill Restricting CCP Influence in Higher Education
The House of Representatives on May 7 passed a bill that would ban the Department of Homeland Security from providing grants to colleges and universities that partner with the entities of China's ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). By a vote of 266–153, the chamber passed HR 881, 'DHS Restrictions on Confucius Institutes and Chinese Entities of Concern.' Every Republican present voted for the bipartisan legislation, along with 55 Democrats. Confucius Institutes are Beijing-backed Chinese language centers that run in universities in the United States and other countries. Critics U.S. schools that host Confucius Institutes are already prohibited from receiving Department of Defense funding. 'The [CCP] exploited the open and collaborative nature of American academia to conduct widespread industrial military espionage inside the United States,' Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said during the House Rules Committee's discussion of the bill on May 5. The bill also prohibits colleges and universities from contracting with China's Thousand Talents program, or any entity connected to that nation's military, police, or intelligence agencies, or its Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Related Stories 3/20/2025 4/25/2025 'The institute of higher education may regain eligibility for these funds upon termination of the relationship,' the resolution reads. The University of Michigan, the University of California-Berkeley, and the Georgia Institute of Technology recently severed their ties and hosting of CCP-linked entities. This proposal has been debated for years. The House passed a version of it last year, but Democrats and then-President Joe Biden said that the measure was overly broad and should not disqualify any schools from receiving federal disaster aid, which Homeland Security administers. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who co-wrote the bill, said the new version of the bill includes providing technical assistance to help schools comply with the regulations, and a waiver where higher education institutions could participate with Chinese entities in limited circumstances if cooperation 'is of national interest.' The vote comes 10 days after the Department of Education announced that the University of California–Berkeley, is under investigation for allegedly not reporting hundreds of millions of dollars in donations from a China-linked entity dating back to 2023 and allegedly sharing information about an 'important technology.' Foxx said that while only a handful of universities are currently partnering with the CCP's Confucius Institutes, 43 out of 74 schools that were involved with the program in the past are still maintaining relationships with the Chinese peers they met. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.) said protecting U.S. higher education from foreign influence 'is a largely settled issue,' and that Republicans are wasting time on this legislation instead of dealing with more pressing issues. 'But if my colleagues want to beat a dead horse to get in some talking points because there's no legislation of consequence on the floor this week, enjoy yourselves.' Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) said additional Congressional actions like this bill are needed to protect the United States from espionage and stop China from stealing U.S. trade secrets and intellectual property. 'The Chinese Communist Party does not share our interests or our values,' he said during a May 6 discussion on the measure. 'The Chinese Communist Party is no longer an economic adversary. They are an enemy.' Last month, President Donald Trump, in an executive order, emphasized existing federal regulations that require colleges and universities to report foreign donations of $250,000 or more twice a year. Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon accused Biden of 'turning a blind eye to universities' legal obligations.' The Department of Education also
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
House Rules Committee advances GOP's stopgap ahead of shutdown deadline
The House Rules Committee voted Monday night to advance the GOP's bill to avert a government shutdown, dispatching the measure to the full chamber for consideration ahead of Friday's deadline. The panel voted 9-3 to adopt the rule, which governs debate on the legislation. The successful vote sends the measure to the House floor for debate and a final vote. 'This legislation helps avoid the government shutting down and allows us to continue our work in service to the American people,' House Rules Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said in her opening remarks of the hearing. 'The House must act to avoid a needless shutdown that serves no purpose — by doing so, this body can put its focus and attention on the next appropriations process.' The continuing resolution, unveiled by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) over the weekend, would keep the government funded through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, while boosting defense funding and imposing cuts for some nondefense programs. The House is expected to vote on the legislation on Monday. It remains unclear, however, if it has the votes to pass since Democrats are expected to oppose it in droves — their leadership is voting 'no' — and a handful of Republicans are withholding support from the measure. If all Democrats vote 'no' and there is full attendance, Johnson can only afford to lose one vote and still get the measure over the finish line. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) announced on Monday that he will vote against the legislation; Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) is a 'lean no,' according to his office; and Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said he was a no as of Monday evening. Reps. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) and Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), meanwhile, have said they are undecided, and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) has not yet said if he will support the measure. Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) said he plans to make a 'game-time decision.' In a positive sign for Johnson, however, the House Freedom Caucus adopted an official position in support of the stopgap Monday night, giving the legislation a helpful boost in the final stretch to Tuesday's vote. 'The House Freedom Caucus supports the FY 2025 Continuing Resolution,' the group wrote in a statement. 'Contrary to Congress' longtime abuse of this legislative tool, this CR is a paradigm shift.' Democrats, meanwhile, have been hammering away at the continuing resolution since it was unveiled over the weekend. On Monday, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) accused the bill of seeking to cut health care, nutritional assistance for children and veterans benefits. 'The House Republican so-called spending bill does nothing to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Quite the opposite. The Republican bill dramatically cuts health care, nutritional assistance for children and families and veterans benefits,' Jeffries said. 'It is not something we could ever support. House Democrats will not be complicit in the Republican effort to hurt the American people.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
11-03-2025
- Business
- The Hill
House Rules Committee advances GOP's stopgap ahead of shutdown deadline
The House Rules Committee voted Monday night to advance the GOP's bill to avert a government shutdown, dispatching the measure to the full chamber for consideration ahead of Friday's deadline. The panel voted 9-3 to adopt the rule, which governs debate on the legislation. The successful vote sends the measure to the House floor for debate and a final vote. 'This legislation helps avoid the government shutting down and allows us to continue our work in service to the American people,' House Rules Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said in her opening remarks of the hearing. 'The House must act to avoid a needless shutdown that serves no purpose — by doing so, this body can put its focus and attention on the next appropriations process.' The continuing resolution, unveiled by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) over the weekend, would keep the government funded through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, while boosting defense funding and imposing cuts for some nondefense programs. The House is expected to vote on the legislation on Monday. It remains unclear, however, if it has the votes to pass since Democrats are expected to oppose it in droves — their leadership is voting 'no' — and a handful of Republicans are withholding support from the measure. If all Democrats vote 'no' and there is full attendance, Johnson can only afford to lose one vote and still get the measure over the finish line. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) announced on Monday that he will vote against the legislation; Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) is a 'lean no,' according to his office; and Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said he was a no as of Monday evening. Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) has said he is undecided, and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) has not yet said if he will support the measure. In a positive sign for Johnson, however, the House Freedom Caucus adopted an official position in support of the stopgap Monday night, giving the legislation a helpful boost in the final stretch to Tuesday's vote. 'The House Freedom Caucus supports the FY 2025 Continuing Resolution,' the group wrote in a statement. 'Contrary to Congress' longtime abuse of this legislative tool, this CR is a paradigm shift.' Democrats, meanwhile, have been hammering away at the continuing resolution since it was unveiled over the weekend. On Monday, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) accused the bill of seeking to cut health care, nutritional assistance for children and veterans benefits. 'The House Republican so-called spending bill does nothing to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Quite the opposite. The Republican bill dramatically cuts health care, nutritional assistance for children and families and veterans benefits,' Jeffries said. 'It is not something we could ever support. House Democrats will not be complicit in the Republican effort to hurt the American people.'
