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WASHINGTON – On one side of the Capitol, two senators led the debate on government investment from partisan conflicts, paving the way for spending to pass with bipartisan momentum.
On the House side, things could not be more different.
House Republicans, seeking to win from the party’s far-right wing, have bolstered their government investment systems with spending cuts and conservative policy priorities. Democrats responded angrily, calling their Republican counterparts excessive and bigoted, and withdrew their support for the legislation.
The opposing approaches are not in such struggles in Congress. But this time the differences are marked, creating a hole between the rooms that can prove difficult to bridge. This dynamic threatens to plunge the U. S. into some other damaging government shutdown, potentially no later than September, when last year’s investment expires.
Leaders in both chambers are seeking to allocate their forces as they begin negotiations that will determine the fate of billions of dollars in government programs, military aid to Ukraine and emergency crisis recovery funds.
The Senate strategy is led by the first duo to hold top leadership positions on the Senate Supply Committee: Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash. , and Susan Collins, R-Maine.
The two men worked for months to accomplish a feat not noticed in Congress in five years: crafting 12 separate investment expenditures through what’s known as the Regular Order process, which involves crafting legislation in open committee hearings. An end result lawmakers from both parties hate: being forced to fund the government by the end of the year with a vast and almost invisible overarching agenda after it emerged from closed-door negotiations.
“I heard from a lot of members who won last year, Republicans and Democrats, that they didn’t need this dysfunction,” Murray said. “They want the original bill not to be a big conglomerate at the end of the year that knows what’s going on. “
When Murray took over as committee chair earlier this year, she and Collins began building their decades-old relationship. Murray also met with the most sensible Democrats and Republicans on each subcommittee and suggested they take the “poison pill” investment law out. policies that would expel members of one party or the other.
First, his efforts were met with skepticism, Murray said. As the Senate prepares to vote on its investment bills, it has earned applause from leaders of both parties.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N. Y. , called the appropriations charts “a shining example of how things work in Washington. “Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was also in favor, saying Murray and Collins “have taken us in the right direction. “”.
Collins said she suggested to her Republican colleagues, who are in the minority, to “understand that if they’re really in due process, we want to move forward with those expenditures and start the amendment process, shut down the spending and send it to Congress. “”Home. “
So far, spending from Senate sources has left the committee following bipartisan votes, and last week the Senate took a step toward a final vote on the first package of 3 spending expenditures with a vote of 91 to 7.
Thanks to systematic obstructionism that imposes a 60-vote threshold for maximum bills passing, the Senate still has no option to work on a bipartisan basis when it comes to maximum legislation. However, the House is not immune to a political tightrope. Few Republican senators allied with House conservatives are running to halt Senate work on appropriations bills. This delay may give the House more time to move forward with its own hardline approach.
Senate coordination only intensifies pressure on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as he tries to win from the conservative wing of his own conference. He abandoned his plan to pass a defense investment bill, one of the original 12 bills and usually one of the least debatable. – last week after members of the House Freedom Caucus refused to accept it before it was voted on in the House.
To win the presidential deck, McCarthy pledged to normalize the credit procedure. He reiterated that technique last week, saying, “The American public wins: it sees the bills. “
But with a narrow majority and a fragile leadership position, McCarthy has allowed House Republicans to craft measures inferior to the deal he reached in May with President Joe Biden to raise the country’s debt limit.
McCarthy has deepened the political divide in the House by leading an impeachment inquiry against Biden, a move demanded by the right wing of his conference.
Republican claimants have used their investment spending to engage in charged partisan fights, cutting systems that benefit LGBTQ people, investing in the Defense Department’s policy of making it easier for military personnel to travel for abortions, and cutting investments for offices and positions. than liberal Republicans.
“House Republicans have made clear that they are determined to shut down the government and try to impose their far-right ideology on the American people,” said House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York.
Committee hearings have become tense over the summer, with Democrats accusing Republicans of betraying long-term generations by cutting budgets for environmental coverage and weather programs. Republicans have criticized existing spending levels, calling them betrayal of their children and grandchildren because they jeopardize the long term. Social Security and Medicare.
Fern Lorraine Browne, a concerned wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, daughter, sister and friend, passed away after a long war with dementia on September 17, 2023, at the age of 88.
Benefits: Visit Wednesday, September 20 from 9:30 a. m. to 11:15 a. m. at John L. Ziegenhein Gravois. Burial without delay later in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations to the Shriners Hospital.
passed away on September 16, 2023. He is survived by his beloved wife, Rochelle (Sheinbein) Enger; young Rabbi Cindy Enger, Marc (Jenny) Enger and Dr. Kevin (Nancy) Enger. Beloved grandfather of Jack and Elijah Enger and Amanda, Ashley and Anna Enger. Brother of Joyce Fauser and Carol (Bruce) Canis. Brother-in-law of Sharon Kirsch (Ed Rosen) and Gary (Karen) Sheinbein. Dear uncle, cousin, friend and instructor among many others.
Sheldon preceded death through his beloved parents, Harry and Ruth Enger.
Services: Funeral on Tuesday, September 19 at 1:30 p. m. at Congregation B’nai Amoona, 324 S. Mason Road, followed until burial at Chesed Shel Emhe Cemetery, 650 White Road, Chesterfield. Donations can be made to Jake and Edith. Sheinbein Torah Care Fund of Congregation B’nai Amoona or Harvey Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry. Visit www. bergermemorialchapel. com for more information.
PASTOR’S MEMORIAL SERVICE
was born October 6, 1935, in Zanesville, Ohio, of Forest L. and Georgiana (Archer) Stiers. Se was on September 14, 2023. He was 87.
She married Patrick “Pat” Nicholas Fox on May 23, 1959 and he survives. He survived through five of his 6 children, 16 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren. She predeceased her through a son, Mark Fox.
A funeral will be held for the family on November 4 in Columbia, MO.
13 September 2023, 91. Visit, Thursday 21/09, funeral homes for newcomers, San Pedro, 17. 00 h. at 8 p. m. Service at First United Methodist, St. Charles, MO, at 10 a. m. m. on Friday 22 September. See newcomerstlouis com
UNITED NATIONS — The 193 member countries of the United Nations followed a statement Monday to reaffirm their commitment to the stalled Sustainable Development Goals.
U. N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sought on Monday, as world leaders gather in New York, to unleash movements to achieve the 17 goals followed by world leaders in 2015, which emerging countries in particular are considering closing the widening hole in inequality between the world’s rich and poor.
These commitments were broad and ambitious. Among them: ending excessive poverty and hunger. Ensure that each and every child on the planet receives a quality secondary education. Achieve gender equality. Make significant progress in the fight against climate change. Create “universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. “And achieve all this by 2030.
Halfway to this goal, progress is lagging far behind and, in some cases, lagging behind.
Guterres told leaders in the packed hall of the General Assembly that they had made “a promise to build a globality of health, progress and opportunity for all, a promise to leave no one and a promise to pay for it. “
The 10-page political declaration was issued unanimously on Monday, a day before the start of the United Nations General Assembly’s general debate, at which world leaders will deliver speeches.
A Russian-led organization of states threatened to block the declaration but ultimately failed to follow through on its threat.
Guterres said Monday’s declaration could be “a turning point to accelerate progress on the SDGs. “
“The SDGs require a rescue plan,” he said. He called the summit “a time for governments to come to the table with concrete plans and proposals to drive progress. “
It’s not just governments that want to step up their efforts, Guterres said. He suggested that activists, as well as the business community, scientists, academics, innovators, women and youth, join efforts to achieve these goals.
The declaration includes a commitment to finance emerging countries in a transparent manner for a stimulus package worth at least $500 billion a year.
However, the coronavirus pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the debt crisis in poor countries have pushed back those goals.
According to the UN, if things continue like this, 575 million people will continue to live in extreme poverty and more than six hundred million will go hungry by 2030.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for more efforts to achieve those goals.
“We see that the progress we were looking for for the global whole has slowed down in the fight against poverty and for greater coexistence, and that we have not achieved as many innovations as we sought,” he said. “But that’s one explanation for why we need to pay even more attention to achieving this progress. “
Faced with the festival with China and Russia for the so-called Global South, many Western industrialized countries have recently shown their willingness to make far-reaching concessions.
General Assembly President Dennis Francis told the assembled leaders that “our pledge cannot mean the end of our plan” to “banish poverty from our societies, protect and sustain our planet, and ensure prosperity for all. ” “Bold and transformative actions will have to be prioritized. “
Guterres said at Monday’s opening consultation that he was “deeply encouraging” through the political declaration, “particularly through his commitment to improving the access of countries close to the fuel needed to advance the SDGs: financing. “
The UN leader said it also included a call to reform the dysfunctional foreign currency formula and replace the trade style to make it more multilateral; Development banks, such as the World Bank, “can mobilize large amounts of personal financing at affordable rates to take advantage of emerging countries. “
Heads of state and government from at least 145 countries are expected to tackle the 78th summit. Among them are Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, U. S. President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, all expected on the first day. Zelensky’s first in-person appearance at the United Nations since Russia’s invasion of his country: In 2022, the General Assembly voted to grant him a special dispensation for delivering a pre-recorded speech.
But the departure of the speakers will be marked by some key absences: while all send representatives, the leaders of the other permanent members of the UN Security Council (France, the United Kingdom, China and Russia) will not make the trip. The presence of Vladimir Putin would have been really surprising, but Emmanuel Macron is a normal man and this would have been the first opportunity for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to face the General Assembly. Macron cited the imminent arrival of King Charles III; Sunak, a busy schedule.
DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Five Americans detained for years in Iran stepped off a plane and were released Monday, arm-in-arm, in a politically risky deal in which President Joe Biden agreed to release nearly $6 billion in frozen Iranian money. . assets owed through a third country, South Korea.
The successful negotiations for the freedom of Americans have earned Biden many thanks from their families, but also the warmth of his Republican presidential rivals and other parties in conflict over the monetary agreement with one of the main adversaries of the United States.
“Today, five innocent Americans imprisoned in Iran, despite everything, are returning home,” Biden said in a statement as the plane carrying the organization from Tehran landed in Doha, Qatar. A plane carrying Americans to the United States was scheduled to land Monday. night.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who is participating in the United Nations General Assembly in New York, suggested Monday’s exchange could simply be “a step toward humanitarian action between us and the United States. “
“In fact, it can build trust,” Raisi told reporters.
However, tensions will almost certainly remain high between the United States and Iran, which are embroiled in disputes over Tehran’s nuclear program and other issues. Iran says the program is peaceful, but is now enriching uranium closer to weapons grade than ever before. Levels.
The handover of the prisoners came amid a major U. S. military buildup in the Persian Gulf, with the option for U. S. troops to embark and guard advertising ships in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of all oil shipments pass.
After the plane slowed to a stop in Doha, three of the prisoners walked downstairs and hugged U. S. Ambassador to Qatar Timmy Davis and others.
The three (Siamak Namazi, Emad Sharghi and Morad Tahbaz) threw their arms around their shoulders and went to the airport building.
In a broadcast on his behalf, Namazi said, “I wouldn’t be free today if they hadn’t allowed the world to forget me. “
“Thank you for being my voice when I couldn’t speak for myself and for making sure I was heard when I mustered the strength to scream against the impenetrable walls of Evin prison,” she said.
The U. S. did not identify the other two released Americans, all of whom were released in exchange for five Iranians held through the U. S. and a deal on frozen Iranian assets. The Biden administration has said the five released Iranians pose no risk to U. S. national security.
Also aboard the plane were two relatives of the imprisoned Americans, Effie Namazi and Vida Tahbaz, who had been banned from traveling to Iran. The women also hugged and kissed on the Qatar track.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said two of the Iranian prisoners would remain in the United States. Meanwhile, Nour News, a person believed to be close to Iran’s security apparatus, said two of the Iranian prisoners were in Doha for the exchange.
Nour News called the two Iranians released in Doha as Mehrdad Ansari, an Iranian sentenced by the United States to 63 months in criminal prison in 2021 for obtaining material that could be used in missiles, electronic warfare weapons, nuclear weapons and other military apparatus, and Reza Sarhangpour. Kafrani, an Iranian accused in 2021 of allegedly illegally exporting laboratory equipment to Iran.
The $5. 9 billion in coins paid to Iran represent the currencies South Korea owed Iran (which it had still paid) for oil purchased before the United States imposed sanctions on such transactions in 2019.
The United States maintains that once in Qatar, the cash will be held in limited accounts and will be used to purchase humanitarian goods, such as medicine and food. These transactions are allowed lately under U. S. sanctions against the Islamic Republic over its complex nuclear program.
The planned exchange comes ahead of world leaders convening the United Nations General Assembly this week in New York, where Raisi will speak.
The deal has already exposed Biden to fresh complaints from Republicans and others who say the administration is helping boost Iran’s economy at a time when Iran poses a growing threat to U. S. troops and its Middle Eastern allies. This could have implications for his re-election campaign.
Former President Donald Trump, lately the leading Republican opponent in polls opposing Biden’s 2024 re-election bid, called the deal “absolutely ridiculous” on the social network Truth Social. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell accused Biden of “rewarding and encouraging Tehran’s bad behavior. “”
Biden had what the White House described as an emotional phone call with the families of Americans released after their release.
In his statement, Biden suggested Americans not travel to Iran and demanded more information about what happened to Bob Levinson, an American who disappeared years ago. Biden’s leadership also announced new sanctions against former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran’s Intelligence Ministry.
The U. S. government, prisoners’ families and activists have denounced the charges against the Americans as baseless.
In a statement, Sharghi’s sister, Neda, said she “looks forward to hugging my brother and letting him go. “
“This is my brother, not a summary policy,” he added. “We are talking about human lives. There is nothing partisan about saving the lives of innocent Americans and making today a moment of American unity as we welcome them home. “
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — For decades, preventing dengue in Honduras has meant training others to care about mosquitoes and avoid mosquito bites. Today, Hondurans are being sensitized to a potentially more effective way to fight the disease, and opposed to everything they have. Learned.
Which explains why a dozen people applauded last month when Hector Enriquez, a Tegucigalpa resident, held a glass jar filled with mosquitoes over his head and then released the buzzing insects into the air. Enriquez, a 52-year-old bricklayer, had volunteered to spread information about a plan to suppress dengue by releasing millions of special mosquitoes into Honduras’ capital.
The mosquitoes Enriquez released in his dengue-plagued community of El Manchén were bred by scientists to produce a bacterium called Wolbachia that disrupts transmission of the disease. When those mosquitoes reproduce, they transmit the bacteria to their offspring, cutting long distances. Run shoots.
This emerging strategy against dengue was introduced over the past decade through the nonprofit World Mosquito Program and is being tested in more than a dozen countries. With more than a portion of the world’s population threatened by dengue fever, the Global Health Fund organization is intensively monitoring mosquito releases in Honduras and elsewhere, and is in a position to announce this strategy globally.
In Honduras, where another 10,000 people are known to contract dengue each year, Doctors Without Borders is partnering with the mosquito program over the next six months to release around nine million mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia bacteria.
“There is a desperate need for new approaches,” said Scott O’Neill, founder of the mosquito repellent program.
Scientists have made wonderful advances in recent decades regarding the risk of mosquito-borne diseases, including malaria. But dengue is the exception: its infection rate continues to rise.
Models estimate that around 400 million people in about 130 countries suffer from dengue each year. Death rates from dengue are low (an estimated 40,000 people die from it each year), but epidemics can overwhelm health systems and force many others to miss work. or school.
“When you have a case of dengue, you feel like the worst case of flu you can imagine,” said Conor McMeniman, a mosquito researcher at Johns Hopkins University. It’s not for nothing that it’s commonly called “broken fever,” McMeniman said.
Traditional strategies to prevent mosquito-borne diseases are just as effective as dengue.
Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which spread dengue the most, are resistant to insecticides, which have short-lived effects, even in the most productive cases. And because the dengue virus comes in four other forms, it’s harder to control through vaccination.
Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are also a formidable enemy because they are most active during the day, that is, when they bite, so mosquito nets are not much help against them. Since those mosquitoes thrive in hot, humid environments, as well as dense cities, climate change and urbanization are expected to make dengue control even more difficult.
“We want better tools,” said Raman Velayudhan, a researcher with WHO’s Global Programme for the Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases. “Wobachia is a long-term sustainable solution. “
Velayudhan and other WHO experts plan to publish a tip earlier this month to announce new tests of the Wolbachia strategy in other parts of the world.
Wolbachia took decades to develop.
The bacterium exists naturally in about 60% of insect species, in addition to the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
“We’ve been working on this for years,” said O’Neill, 61, who, with the help of his Australian students, eventually figured out how to introduce fruit fly bacteria into microscopic glass needles from Aedes aegypti mosquito embryos.
Along the way, O’Neill’s team made an unexpected discovery: Wolbachia-carrying mosquitoes don’t transmit dengue or other similar diseases, besides yellow fever, Zika, and chikungunya.
And since inflamed women pass Wolbachia to their children, they will “replace” a local mosquito population with one that carries the virus-blocking bacteria.
The replacement strategy required a fundamental shift in thinking about mosquito control, said Oliver Brady, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Since O’Neill’s lab first tested the replacement strategy in Australia in 2011, the Global Mosquito Program has conducted trials involving 11 million people in 14 countries, including Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Fiji and Vietnam.
The effects are promising. In 2019, a large-scale box trial in Indonesia showed a 76% reduction in reported dengue cases after the death of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes.
However, questions remain about whether the replacement strategy will be effective — and cost-effective — globally, O’Neill said. The three-year Tegucigalpa trial will cost $900,000, or about $10 consistent with what Doctors Without Borders hopes to protect.
Many Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes around the world have been born in a warehouse in Medellin, Colombia, where the Global Mosquito Control Program runs a factory that breeds 30 million mosquitoes per week.
“We have the best conditions,” said plant coordinator Marlene Salazar.
A team from Doctors Without Borders in Honduras recently went door-to-door in a mountainous community in Tegucigalpa to ask citizens to incubate mosquito eggs bred at the Medellín factory.
Lourdes Betancourt, 63, a volunteer with the Doctors Without Borders team, was first suspicious of the new strategy. But Betancourt, who has been in poor health from dengue several times, is now encouraging her neighbors to let the “good mosquitoes” grow. in its gardens.
“I tell others not to be afraid, it doesn’t matter, to be confident,” Betancourt said. “They bite you, but you may not get dengue. “
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