Emergency aid bill challenges Pelosi’s grip on Democrats

A $4.5 million House bill aimed at providing more funding to migrant families detained at the U.S.-Mexico border is posing a challenge to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s grip on her party, as its liberal faction argue that the bill doesn’t go far enough while moderates worry that pushing for perfection will result in inaction at the border.
Calls for more funding at the border come amid reports that children detained entering the U.S. from Mexico are being held under harsh conditions. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told Fox News on Monday that the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border is dire. Azar said HHS shelters are at capacity and the budget is not there to increase it unless Congress acts.
Customs and Border Protection Chief Operating Officer John Sanders told The Associated Press that Border Patrol stations are holding 15,000 people – more than three times their maximum capacity.
A $4.5 trillion House bill aimed at alleviating circumstances like these is up for a vote Tuesday, but liberal Democrats are calling for provisions to strengthen protections for migrant children, and challenge the Trump administration’s border policies. Democrats met on Capitol Hill with Pelosi late Monday to try and reach a compromise. The meeting reportedly eased some Democratic complaints.
Asked before the meeting about her concerns that Democrats’ push for perfection might result in inaction at the border, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., called it “a delicate situation.” Afterward, she appeared to have left the door open saying: “My main goal is to keep kids from dying,” before calling the humanitarian bill a “short-term” measure.”
But others weren’t swayed. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said after the meeting: “We cannot continue to throw money at a dysfunctional system. We are not just asking for simple changes to be made into this bill, but to go back to the drawing board and really address this from a humanitarian issue.”
The White House accused lawmakers in a letter earlier Monday of trying to undermine its efforts at the border, arguing that the House package does provide enough money to toughen border security or funds for Trump’s proposed border wall.
Congress plans to leave Washington in a few days for a weeklong July 4 recess. While lawmakers don’t want to depart without acting on the legislation for fear of being accused of not responding to humanitarian problems at the border, it seems unlikely that Congress would have time to send a House-Senate compromise to Trump by week’s end.
Fox News' Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Hannity: Democrat 2020 presidential candidates looking to be the 'most radical'

Fox News host Sean Hannity previewed this week's Democratic primary debate,  calling the Democratic Party "unhinged" and "extreme."
"2020 Democrats are ramping up their radicalism. They want to be the most radical. Let me be clear, what we're witnessing from this new extreme socialist Democratic Party, this is beyond socialism even, it is unhinged," Hannity said on his television show Monday. "It is beyond impractical. It is divisive and destructive to the country."
Hannity played a multitude of clips highlighting what he felt were the more extreme elements the Democratic presidential candidates were promising and he went after South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg who has been criticized over his handling of a police officer shooting a African-American man, highlighting racial tensions in the city.
"Buttigieg has been a total absentee mayor and a failure," Hannity said. "He's hardly ever in South Bend."
Hannity  warned his viewers the that Democrats have moved even further left and want to take the country in a direction beyond even what the Obama administration had wanted to.
"Instead of sticking to any principles real agenda real policy that will help the forgotten men and women that got destroyed under the Biden-Obama economy, the extreme left now has gone further out to the fringe pandering to every corner of the Democratic Party," Hannity said.
The host blasted candidates like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., for supporting reparations for gay Americans and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., for saying he would meet with controversial Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
"Of course specifics aren't a priority for the new radical Democrats and they're not going to tell us how to pay for anything they'll say and do anything to try and get elected, to take away every person's fear with false promises and lies that really are about their power," Hannity said,

Iran says latest US sanctions ends ‘channel of diplomacy forever’

A spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a tweet Tuesday that the new U.S. sanctions that target Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other Iranian officials permanently end any chance of diplomacy between countries.
The comment was followed by Iranian President Rouhani, who mocked the White House and said it is "afflicted by mental retardation." Rouhani spoke live in a televised address on Tuesday.
The U.S. and Iran have seen tensions increase exponentially in the past few weeks after an initial U.S. sanctions squeeze that Washington said led to the attacks on two oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. The situation became increasingly dire last week after Tehran admitted to downing a $100 million U.S. Navy drone.
Abbas Mousavi took to Twitter to call out President Trump’s latest decision to impose additional sanctions and said the sanctions means “closing channel of diplomacy forever,” according to Reuters.
“Trump’s desperate administration is destroying the established international mechanisms for maintaining world peace and security,” the tweet read.
John Bolton, Trump's national security adviser, later said the U.S. is open to negotiations, all Iran needs to do is "walk through that open door." It was unclear if his response was in connection to Mousavi's tweet.
Trump, for his part, has been largely credited for his show of prudence while dealing with a hostile country. Trump appears hesitant to enter another hot war in the region but said Monday that his “restraint” is not limitless.
Trump said the sanctions “will deny the supreme leader and the supreme leader's office and those closely affiliated with him and the office access to key financial resources and support.” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the sanctions “lock up literally billions of dollars more of assets.”
Fox News has confirmed that the U.S. military also carried out a cyberattack against Iran last Thursday even as the president nixed plans for airstrikes in response to the downing of an American drone.
Sources said U.S. Cyber Command launched the cyberattack targeting the Iranian intelligence and radar installations used to down the U.S. Navy drone last week.
Fox News' Alex Pappas and the Associated Press contributed to this report

Jon Stewart Cartoons (Sometimes they wake up and get it right.)

Pompeo confirms Trump sent Kim Jong Un letter

Mike Pompeo, the U.S. secretary of state, on Sunday confirmed reports that President Trump sent North Korea’s Kim Jong Un a letter that was described by Kim in foreign reports as “excellent.”
The White House has maintained that it continuing dialog with Pyongyang. Kim has sent Trump a birthday letter earlier this month.
Last February, Trump and Kim met in Vietnam for a summit that was largely viewed as a failure. Trump abruptly walked out at the time and said he was unwilling to agree to Kim’s terms of lifting all sanctions without securing a meaningful commitment to denuclearization.
Trump has used sanctions as a major tool in his international diplomacy and not just limited to North Korea. He just announced “major” new sanctions for Iran after Tehran’s provocative attack on an unmanned naval drone and alleged attacks on two oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
“I can confirm the letter was sent,” Pompeo said. He did not elaborate what was in the note, but North Korea’s state-run news agency reported that Kim is “seriously” contemplating its contents.
Analysts told the AP that the gesture of sending letters is part of North Korean efforts to present Kim as a legitimate international statesman who is reasonable and capable of negotiating solutions and making deals. Because of the weight of formality they provide, Kim might see personal letters as an important way to communicate with leaders of countries the North never had close ties with, they say.
The Associated Press contributed to this report

McConnell agrees to meet with 9/11 first responders after Jon Stewart’s urging: report

Sen. Mitch McConnell has plans to meet with 9/11 first responders on Tuesday in wake of the recent public tussle with Jon Stewart that culminated last Monday on Fox News when the Kentucky senator asked why Stewart was “bent out of shape.”
The of the FeelGood Foundation confirmed the meeting with The New York Post. John Feal said McConnell will meet with a few team leaders and said they “come in peace” but said he’s prepared for anything.
Stewart appeared on Capitol Hill and blasted Congress for its inaction on a permanent fix for the 9/11 victims fund, which is set to expire next year.
Stewart accused McConnell of slow-walking the legislation and using it as a political pawn to get other things done.
"If you're busy I get it," Stewart said. "Just understand that the next time we have war, or you're being robbed, or your house is on fire and you make that desperate call for help, don't get bent out of shape if they show up at the last minute with fewer people than you thought would pay attention and don't actually put it out. Just leave it there smoldering for another five years."
More than 40,000 people have applied to the fund, which covers illnesses potentially related to rescue work at the World Trade Center site, the Pentagon or Shanksville, Pennsylvania. More than $5 billion in benefits have been awarded out of the $7.4 billion fund, with about 21,000 claims pending.
Asked again about it on Tuesday, McConnell said, "I don't know how many times I can say, we've never left the 9/11 victims behind and we won't again."
Fox News' Edmund DeMarche and the Associated Press contributed to this report

Iranian official warns more US spy drones can be blown out of the sky

Photo released by the U.S. Air Force, an RQ-4 Global Hawk is seen on the tarmac of Al-Dhafra Air Base near Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Airman 1st Class D. Blake Browning/U.S. Air Force via AP)

An Iranian military official said Monday that Tehran is capable of shooting down more American spy drones as tensions between the two countries continue to simmer, according to a report out of the country.
Rear. Adm. Hossein Khanzadi, Iran's naval chief, said Iran can deliver another “crushing response … and the enemy knows it," according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
Trump called off military strikes against Tehran after Iranians shot down a U.S. surveillance drone, which was valued at over $100 million.
Iran claimed that the drone was flying over its airspace at the time of the shooting. Washington insisted that the drone was over international waters.
In an interview on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Trump said that he did not think the potential loss of life in Iran was “proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone.”
Instead of a military strike, the president noted that his administration plans to ratchet up the already hefty sanctions on Iran. Trump is prepared to announce new sanctions on the country on Monday.
Trump expressed his willingness to open talks with Iranian officials without any preconditions – saying that he doesn’t want a war with the Islamic Republic, but if it comes down to an armed conflict it will be “obliteration like you've never seen before.”
The Associated Press and Fox News’ Andrew O’Reilly contributed to this report.

Sanders to propose eliminating all $1.6T of student debt in US: report

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., pauses while speaking during a forum on Friday, June 21, 2019, in Miami. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Bernie Sanders, the 2020 hopeful, is set to announce on Monday a policy proposal that would eliminate all $1.6 trillion of American student debt, according to a report.
The Democratic presidential candidate’s new proposal calls for the federal government to wipe clean the student debt held by 45 million Americans, including all private and graduate school debt, The Washington Post reported. The proposal package also includes making public universities, community colleges and trade schools tuition-free.
Sanders reportedly plans to pay for the lofty proposal with a tax on Wall Street, which his campaign says will generate more than $2 trillion over 10 years. The tax would focus on financial transactions, the report said, such as a 0.5 percent tax on stock transactions and a 0.1 percent tax on bonds.
Sanders on Monday will join Rep. Ilhan Omar, who will introduce legislation in the House to eliminate all student debt in the United States. They will be joined by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
“This is truly a revolutionary proposal,” said Sanders said in a statement, according to the Post. “In a generation hard hit by the Wall Street crash of 2008, it forgives all student debt and ends the absurdity of sentencing an entire generation to a lifetime of debt for the ‘crime’ of getting a college education.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, another 2020 hopeful, announced in April a plan to cancel existing student loan debt for millions of Americans. Under Warren’s plan, each person’s student debt would get a relief of $50,000 if household income is up to $100,000. Higher incomes would also be entitled to massive debt reductions, while only those households with earnings of over $250,000 would get no student debt reduction.
“For example, a person with household income of $130,000 gets $40,000 in cancellation [of student debt], while a person with household income of $160,000 gets $30,000 in cancellation,” Warren in a blog post at the time.