Latest news with #governmentfunding
Fox News
2 days ago
- Business
- Fox News
Schumer, Democrats try to save face, blame GOP for possible government shutdown
Congressional Democrats are trying to get on the same page and display a unified front after threatening to derail the government funding process. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., met behind closed doors Tuesday night, along with the top Democrats in the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, to plot a course forward in the forthcoming government funding fight. The meeting came after Democrats in the upper chamber overwhelmingly supported the first government funding bill to hit the Senate floor, one that would fund military construction and Veterans Affairs. Ahead of the vote, Senate Democrats had signaled they may vote against the bill and further obstruct the appropriations process because of highly partisan legislation rammed through the upper chamber by Senate Republicans. "We all want to pursue a bipartisan, bicameral appropriations process," Schumer said. "That's how it's always been done, successfully, and we believe that, however, the Republicans are making it extremely difficult to do that." The meeting just off the Senate floor was meant to get congressional Democrats on board with a messaging plan over the next weeks and months ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline to fund the government. It was also likely designed to prevent a repeat of the Democratic debacle in March, when Schumer broke with Jeffries and threatened to shutter the government before ultimately caving and providing Republicans the votes necessary to advance yet another government funding extension, known as a continuing resolution. Republicans are quick to point out that when Schumer led the upper chamber, none of the House GOP's spending bills made it to the floor — in Congress, the spending process begins in the lower chamber. Since taking over earlier this year, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has committed to returning to regular order, or passing each of the dozen spending bills to fund the government, and trying to get the appropriations process back to normal. However, it's a feat that hasn't been successfully done in Washington since the late 1990s. "Frankly, I think a lot of us around here think [this] is long overdue," Thune said. However, Democrats contend that their trust in Republicans is wearing thin after two major partisan bills, one being President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill," and the other the president's $9 billion clawback package, were pushed through the chamber without any Democratic input. Thune argued that Senate Democrats were using the rescissions package to shut down the appropriations process and effectively shut down the government. In the Senate, most bills that come to the floor require at least 60 votes to smash through the filibuster, meaning that most legislation requires bipartisan support to some extent. Earlier this year, the House GOP produced a partisan government funding extension that was a tough pill for Senate Democrats to swallow, but they still ultimately opted to vote for it. This time around, they're demanding more involvement in the process. Jeffries said that congressional Democrats would play ball if the process was "bipartisan and bicameral in nature" and put the onus of a partial government shutdown at the feet of congressional Republicans. "House Republicans are, in fact, marching us toward a possible government shutdown that will hurt the American people," he said. However, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., threw the responsibility on Democrats over whether the government would shutter or stay open come the end of September. "They're gaming out how they can shut the government down," Johnson told Bloomberg Government.
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Eager Ministers line up for their spending money as Coalition announces National Development Plan
'Here's your envelope of money now for next year. That's all you're getting. So don't go spending it all on the one developer!' Picture the scene: Government Ministers lined up before the Taoiseach after a final Cabinet meeting to definitively nail down the lack-of-detail in the rebooted National Development Plan (NDP). Micheál Martin sits at a table with Tánaiste Simon Harris beside him. When he greets each nervous-looking Minister by name, Simon rummages through a box, finds a corresponding envelope and hands it to Micheál, who hands it on to a silent Cabinet member. READ MORE 'One for you ... one for you ... one for you ...' Ministers back out the door, scuttle off to quiet corners and, with trembling hands, rip open their envelopes. Anxious advisers hover nearby. Colleagues lean in, all ears. 'Two point two billun,' announces Patrick O'Donovan, the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport. 'Arragh, 'tis all right, I suppose.' 'I got nine point two billion. Whoop! Whoop!' carols Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, the Minister for Health. 'Twenty-two point three billion. Not bad Patrick, wha? I'm off now to New York to address the UN,' chortles Darragh O'Brien, Minister for Transport. 'Well. Oh. I've got seven hundred and ninety-five million,' says Norma Foley, the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, voice trailing off. And so on. An ashen-faced James Browne, the Minister for Housing, is last one out. He carefully opens his envelope. 'They've given me thirty-five point nine billion. Oh God.' It's a lot of responsibility. For all of them. Between now and the actual budget in October, the various Ministers have been ordered by their Government masters to come up with the best and most feasible ways to spend their money. 'Each individual Minister has now received an envelope,' the Taoiseach told the Tuesday launch. 'They have huge, significant envelopes.' The next step is that they must identify priority projects, cost them and get cracking. In an ideal world, they should have no money left over at the end of the financial year and concrete results to show for their work. No pie-in-the-sky promises to keep constituents sweet and voters in high hopes. No woolly lists of works pending and possible completions. Just real deals, shovel-ready schemes and projects in the pipeline. This is not the same as the last plan, which was launched four years ago by then taoiseach Micheál Martin in Cork and which promised 'a huge pipeline of projects'. It was produced in the aftermath of the Covid crisis and called the 'renewed NDP'. The new model is called the 'revised NDP'. The difference between them? Over €100 billion. Back then, the word being bandied about was 'gigantic' when it came to describing the depth of capital investment in the plan. 'It's on a scale the like of which we've never seen before,' said Michael McGrath, who was minister for public expenditure at the time and has since become Ireland's EU Commissioner. That's peanuts now. At the time, Micheál had to deny claims that the Government merely came up with a 'wish list' of things to do rather than a 'to-do list' of things that would most likely be done. The 2021 version was roundly criticised for having too much detail. The 2025 edition is being roundly criticised for having very little detail. 'It was too long. The last NDP was too big a document, to be quite frank,' shrugged Micheál at the launch of this shrinkflation declaration. It's a very slim volume – nearly a quarter of the size of what went before. If the last one ran to almost 200 pages, the revised NDP runs to 46 pages, 11 of which are devoted to the names of chapters. Jack Chambers of Commerce, the Minister for Public Expenditure, gets a full page for his foreword and the 'three leaders' get another page for their foreword. The 'three leaders', as they were described at the beginning of the briefing, being the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and Seán Canney, who is a Minister of State and leader of the Coalition Supporters' Club. The CSC is bravely battling for the right not to be known as the Lowry Independents. The rejigged NDP 'is unprecedented in scale and scope', said the Tánaiste. 'But now, our watchword must be delivery.' 'The scale and scope of this review of the National Development Plan is unprecedented,' said Seán, speaking on behalf of 'the Independent Ministers who I represent on the podium here today'. He omitted to say that their watchword is delivery too. Indeed, it was unkindly suggested at the event in Government Buildings press centre that the main reason for such a lack of detail – apart from announcing how many billions are being lashed out on infrastructure and in what quantities and what general areas – was that the Government doesn't want the Opposition to know how much has been allocated for the pet projects championed by members of the Coalition Supporters' Club. Despite repeated questioning, the three leaders were unable to give specific detail of how all this money will be spent, apart from a few 'mega-projects' such as the long-awaited Dublin's MetroLink, which is now on a par with draining the Shannon. [ Ireland's latest investment plan: A sceptic's guide Opens in new window ] It was a pity the Minister for Transport couldn't be present to supply more information, but he was in New York making a statement on behalf of Ireland at the UN High-level Political Forum. Probably the best place for him to be. 'There's more chance of world peace than a Dublin metro,' remarked one veteran of promises past. It was an upbeat performance by Martin, Harris and Canney. With a fair wind and calm economic conditions, this NDP will work wonders, they promised. The framework is in place, the money is allocated and all that needs to be done is for the Ministers to get to work. Or, as Micheál put it: 'The bottom line is that a major infrastructure plan is now agreed ... and Ministers will deal with the sectoral manifestations of that in the next number of weeks.' Simple. Or is it? Next up were the two money men: Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe and Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers. They were not as optimistic about the future, but they tried their best as they talked about the NDP and their just-released Summer Economic Statement (SES). This could turn out to be a Short-lived Economic Statement. It transpired that their figures are based on no tariff increases, whereas Ireland and the EU are waiting on tenterhooks to see if Donald Trump carries through on his threat to impose huge tariffs on goods exported to the US from August. Jack's hope is that, whatever happens, there is 'headroom to deliver additionality'. 'We are going to take a flexible approach,' said Paschal. It's all about 'certainty', they agreed. And what is certain is that they will tweak things depending on what happens in the run-up to the budget. If there is a serious economic deterioration, 'we will revisit it', said Jack. So really, this was more a Provisional Economic Statement (PES) than a summer economic statement. Taking the PES with this SES, is what the Opposition will probably say in the Dáil. Oh, wait. There is no Dáil until September. Brilliant timing.
Fox News
2 days ago
- Business
- Fox News
Senate weathers Dem opposition, advances first government funding bill
NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! Senate Republicans and Democrats advanced the first set of spending bills through the upper chamber, despite signals from Democrats that they may block the government funding process. In the days and weeks leading up to the vote, Senate Democrats warned that Republicans' passage of highly partisan bills, like President Donald Trump's $9 billion clawback package, had eaten away at the trust that girds the appropriations process. DEMS SEEK RETALIATION OVER GOP CUTS AS THUNE CALLS FOR 'COOPERATION' ON FUNDING VOTE Still, after meeting behind closed-doors Tuesday afternoon, Democrats ultimately provided enough votes to advance the bill, which would fund military construction and the VA. The vote allows for lawmakers to make amendments and debate the bill. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said after the meeting that Democrats were still gunning for a bipartisan spending deal, effectively opening the door for his conference to back the spending bill package for now. "We're working together to get one," Schumer said. "But the bottom line is, Republicans are making it much harder. Rescissions, impoundment, pocket rescissions directly undoes this." The bill advanced on a 90 to 8 vote, with Schumer and the majority of Senate Democrats joining every Republican to open debate on the bill. Democrats were largely frustrated with the passage of Trump's rescissions package last week, which slashed funding from foreign aid and public broadcasting, arguing that doing so dissolved trust between the parties when it came to crafting spending bills. CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS FACE BRUISING BATTLE TO AVOID GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN They argued that reaching an agreement on a funding bill, only to see their priorities later stripped out through rescissions, shattered confidence in their Republican colleagues to stick to their word. "There's no doubt," Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., a high-ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told Fox News Digital. "I mean, someone does one thing one day and undoes it the next day, that obviously creates issues with trust." Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., opted to call his counterparts' bluff, and put the bill on the floor. Failure to advance the the legislation could have signaled a rocky road ahead for funding the government and beating the Sept. 30 deadline to avert a partial government shutdown. "Democrats have indicated that they're so upset over a rescissions bill last week, which, by the way, cut one tenth of 1% of all federal spending, that somehow they could use that to shut down the appropriations process and therefore shut down the government," Thune said. "We think that would be a big mistake, and hopefully they will think better of it and work with us, and we're trying to give them what they've been asking for, [which] is a bipartisan appropriations process," he continued. Prior to the vote, Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, urged passage of the bill through the procedural hurdle, and noted that when she and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the panel, took the helm of the committee, they "committed to working together" on spending bills. She noted that when Democrats controlled the chamber, lawmakers didn't get the same opportunity to consider spending bills, but acknowledged that it was still a "challenging legislative environment." "This is a fundamental responsibility of Congress, and I want to express my gratitude to Senate Majority Leader, Sen. Thune, for giving us the opportunity to bring the first of the fiscal year 2026 appropriations bills to the Senate floor," she said. 'ALL THE OPTIONS': GOP EYES CUTTING AUGUST RECESS TO MOVE DOZENS OF TRUMP NOMINEES STALLED BY DEMS But, passage of the first bill, and the ensuing amendment process leading to a final vote, does not guarantee that the appropriations process will go smoothly before the deadline hits in the next couple of months. Congress has not passed spending bills through a process called regular order since the late 1990s and has typically relied on short government funding extensions, known as continuing resolutions, and year-end, colossal spending packages, known as omnibuses, to keep the lights on in Washington. Disagreements over funding levels between the Senate and House, coupled with lingering questions about whether Schumer will continue to play ball with Republicans, could tee up another showdown around the September deadline. Schumer said that he would have a confab with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and the top Democrats on the House and Senate Appropriations committees, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Murray, "to discuss the appropriations process in both the House and the Senate in the weeks ahead." "With so much hard work ahead, the government funding deadline only less than 25 legislative days away, Republicans should be focused on working with us to deliver for American families," he said. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Sen. John Fetterman, who earlier this year voted with Republicans and a handful of his Democratic colleagues to thwart a partial government shutdown, had a stern message for Senate Democrats that may want to obstruct the government funding process. "I will never, ever vote to shut our government down," the Pennsylvania Democrat told Fox News Digital. "That's a core responsibility. And now we may not like a lot of these changes to things, and I don't, but I'm saying that's the way that democracy works." "And now shutting the government down, how could you do that and plunge our country into chaos," he continued.
Fox News
3 days ago
- Business
- Fox News
Dems seek retaliation over GOP cuts as Thune calls for 'cooperation' on funding vote
Senators are set to take a key vote on Tuesday that could determine the outcome of government funding in the coming months and whether a partial government shutdown is on the horizon. But the vote on appropriations bills – normally a collegial process – is turning acrimonious, as some Democrats feel burned by how Republicans worked to pass spending cuts. Lawmakers in the upper chamber will vote on their first tranche of appropriations bills for this fiscal year, but whether the typically popular and bipartisan measures pass remains unclear as Senate Democrats seem prepared to derail the process in protest of recent partisan moves by Republicans – moves they say have eaten away at the trust that binds the appropriations process. Senate Republicans last week passed President Donald Trump's $9 billion clawback package that slashes funding from foreign aid programs and public broadcasting, including NPR and PBS. That came after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., warned that advancing the bill could have consequences for the typically bipartisan government funding process in the upper chamber. Meanwhile, Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought said that more rescissions would be on the way. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., noted that any consideration of spending bills would require "cooperation" from Democrats, and that the forthcoming vote would give Republicans a glimpse of where their colleagues stood on funding the government ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline. "It was deeply disappointing to hear the Democrat leader threaten to shut down the government if Republicans dared to pass legislation to trim just one-tenth of 1% of the federal budget," Thune said. Schumer scoffed at Thune calling for more bipartisanship in appropriations and accused Thune of "talking out of both sides of his mouth." "We will see how the floor process evolves here on the floor given Republicans' recent actions undermining bipartisan appropriations," he said. "Nothing is guaranteed." Among the bills that could be considered are spending bills that fund military construction and the VA, agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration, and the legislative branch. The bills will need at least 60 votes to blow through the first procedural hurdle in the Senate. Senate Democrats are set to meet Tuesday afternoon ahead of the vote to determine whether they'll support the expected bill package. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said that he and his colleagues had yet to receive guidance from Democratic leadership, but noted that the threat of Democratic resistance was a problem of the GOP's own making. He said that the GOP had "an obligation to give Democrats answers to how…they can guarantee that our votes mean anything." "I think Republicans have created a crisis, and they need to figure out how to solve it," the Connecticut Democrat said. "We can't do appropriations bills with this escalating promise from the administration to cancel all Democratic spending as soon as we vote for it." Sen. Mike Rounds, also a member of the spending panel, hoped that lawmakers could make the appropriations process work this year, but acknowledged that Democratic resistance could lead Congress to once again turn to another government funding extension, known as a continuing resolution. He contended that if Democrats were willing to give up on a bipartisan process it would only be to the advantage of the Trump administration. "So, part of it is, do we actually want an appropriations process," he said.
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Palace lobbied Downing Street for £50m Royal yacht replacement
Buckingham Palace lobbied Sir John Major's government for a £50m replacement of the Royal Yacht Britannia, newly released files suggest. Cabinet Office papers released by the National Archives reveal apparent backhanded manoeuvring by palace officials as ministers agonised over whether to order a replacement for the vessel. The files show how courtiers invited civil servants to a 'splendid lunch' on the yacht and tried to influence a speech by Sir John, then prime minister, as part of a thinly veiled campaign to replace the ship. By 1993 it was apparent that, after 39 years, Britannia was reaching the end of its life, but Sir John's Conservative government had yet to decide whether to invest in a new one. It was widely thought Queen Elizabeth II strongly favoured the commissioning of a new yacht but the Royal family could not afford to be seen to be trying to influence political decision-making. However, files released by the Archives at Kew, west London, show that senior courtiers privately approached No 10 to see if the prime minister would make a Commons statement stressing Britannia's ' inestimable value ' to the nation. The plan, which appears to be a show of support for a new yacht, was rejected by the Cabinet Office, which warned that any such comments would be highly 'prejudicial'. One senior official noted caustically that a claim by the Palace that the Queen was 'indifferent' as to the outcome of a review of the yacht's future 'hardly rings true'. The issue of a new yacht came at an extremely difficult time for both the government and the Palace, with support for the royals at a low ebb. There had been an angry public backlash the previous year when ministers announced the taxpayer would pick up the bill, which eventually ran to £36m, for the restoration of Windsor Castle following a catastrophic fire. In the aftermath of her 'annus horribilis', which also saw the separation of Charles and Diana, the Queen agreed that she would for the first time pay taxes. 'Of inestimable value to the UK' With Sir John due to announce the historic move in a statement to parliament, Sir Robert Fellows, the Queen's private secretary, saw an opportunity to secure what would amount to a show of support for a new yacht. He asked Alex Allan, the prime minister's principal private secretary, whether Sir John would insert a passage referring to the importance of Britannia as well as the Queen's flight and the royal train. He suggested the prime minister should tell MPs that it was not just a question of cost 'but also the style in which we wish our head of state and members of the royal family to represent us ' in their public duties. 'It is always difficult to put a price on prestige but I have no doubt that over the years these items have been of inestimable value to this country.' Sir Robert's proposed addition to Sir John's statement went on: 'I would also like to make clear that there is not, and never has been, any pressure from the Queen to build a replacement for HMY Britannia. 'Should the government decide it is in the national interest for the yacht to be replaced that would be of course another matter.' However, Nicolas Bevan, the official heading the working group set up to consider the future of the yacht, warned that the proposed remarks could be 'prejudicial' to any future decisions. 'For example to say that the royal yacht has been of inestimable value to this country will not be a helpful remark if ministers in due course decide not to replace Britannia,' Mr Bevan said. 'Equally it hardly rings true to suggest that it is a matter of complete indifference to the Queen as to whether Britannia is replaced or not.' 'No kind of rearguard action on the yacht' Despite the palace's protestations of neutrality, the files suggest courtiers were involved in what amounted to some none-too-subtle lobbying in favour of a new yacht. On May 13 1993, senior government officials, led by Sir Robin Butler, the cabinet secretary, were invited to a 'splendid lunch' on board Britannia where they were regaled by Sir High Bidwell, the former lord mayor of London, and the Earl of Limerick, a senior banker, on the value of the yacht to UK business. Expressing his thanks afterwards to Major General Sir Simon Cooper, the master of the Queen's household, Sir Robin noted that the setting had 'brought home the issues to those involved in a unique way'. However, when news of the meeting leaked out, government press officers were instructed to impress upon journalists that the Queen and royal family were 'not fighting any kind of rearguard action on the yacht'. Despite misgivings over the costs, the Major government finally announced in January 1997 that they would build a replacement yacht if they were returned to power in the general election later that year. The move was however widely interpreted as a desperate attempt to shore up support among wavering Tory voters, and when Labour was swept to power in a landslide they promptly reversed the decision. When Britannia was finally decommissioned, after returning the Chris Patten, the last governor of Hong Kong, following the handover to China, the Queen was seen to shed a tear. In its 43 years of service, the yacht sailed over one million nautical miles on 968 state visits with the Royal family where they entertained prime ministers and presidents. The yacht is now retired and is berthed in Leith, Edinburgh, where it is open to visitors.
