Biden and Democrats push for budget deal
President Joe Biden and Democratic congressional leaders Monday raced to strike a compromise on a domestic policy and climate package, pushing for a vote within days even as critical disagreements remained over health benefits, paid leave, environmental provisions and how to pay for the plan. Negotiators were closing in on an agreement that could spend around $1.75 trillion over 10 years. They have coalesced around a plan extending monthly payments to families with children, establish tax incentives for clean energy use and provide federal support for child care, elder care and universal prekindergarten. Tax increases would pay for the initiatives.
Sudan’s military takes power in coup
Sudan’s military seized power Monday, dissolving the transitional government hours after troops arrested the prime minister, and thousands flooded the streets to protest the coup that threatened the country’s shaky progress toward democracy. Security forces opened fire on some of them, and three protesters were killed, according to the Sudan Doctors’ Committee, which also said 80 people were wounded. The takeover, which drew condemnation from the United Nations, the United States and the European Union, comes more than two years after protesters forced the ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir and just weeks before the military was supposed to hand the leadership of the council that runs the country over to civilians.
House passes measure awarding Congressional Gold Medal to fallen service members
The U.S. House passed bipartisan legislation by voice vote Monday evening that would posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to the 13 American service members killed in the August suicide bomb attack in Kabul, Afghanistan. The measure, introduced by Republican freshman Rep. Lisa McClain of Michigan. Bruce Township, has 323 co-sponsors in the House. McClain said she hopes the measure quickly passes the Senate on a unanimous basis and that President Joe Biden will sign it. Her bill notes that Aug. 26 was the highest single-day death toll of the war in Afghanistan for the U.S. in more than a decade. In total, the attack by the Islamic State affiliate ISIS-K at the gates of Hamid Karzai International Airport killed as many as 200 people and wounded hundreds of others, including 14 American troops.
Some will be exempted from new travel rules
Children under 18 and unvaccinated against the coronavirus, and a limited category of foreigners arriving from countries with low vaccination rates, are among the travelers exempted from forthcoming requirements determining who can enter the United States, the Biden administration said Monday. The administration said it would lift travel restrictions Nov. 8 and reopen to fully vaccinated international travelers barred for a year and a half from entering the country. The new system comes with stringent requirements and will seal the United States off from most foreigners who have not yet received a vaccine cleared by the World Health Organization.
Border Patrol gave agents light punishments
After it was revealed in 2019 that scores of border officials belonged to a Facebook group containing racist and otherwise offensive posts, investigations resulted in minimal discipline, according to a House Oversight and Reform Committee report. Where a board recommended two dozen firings, instead suspensions and letters of reprimand were issued and just two lost their jobs. A Border Patrol agent who posted some of the most offensive images was allowed to retire with disability and benefits. The report comes at a time when the behavior of Border Patrol agents is under scrutiny again, this time after agents on horseback corralled Black migrants in a Texas border town last month.
Police: 2 dead, 4 injured in Idaho mall shooting
A suspect is in custody after two people were killed and four injured — including a police officer — in a shooting at a shopping mall Monday in Boise, Idaho, police said. At a news conference, authorities said officers exchanged gunfire with the suspect. The majority of the mall has been cleared, but police were still looking for any additional victims. Police didn’t release any other information about the victims or the suspect, saying the investigation was ongoing.
By wire sources