Top lawmakers reach agreement on spending as deadline nears

FILE - In this Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019, file photo, the U.S. Capitol is seen as the sun sets in Washington. Negotiations on a package of spending bills to fund the federal government have produced a key breakthrough, though considerably more work is needed to wrap up the long-delayed measures. Top lawmakers of the House and Senate Appropriations committees on Saturday, Nov. 23, confirmed agreement on allocations for each of the 12 spending bills. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Negotiations on a package of spending bills to fund the federal government have produced a key breakthrough, though considerably more work is needed to wrap up the long-delayed measures.

Top lawmakers of the House and Senate Appropriations committees on Saturday confirmed agreement on allocations for each of the 12 spending bills, a step that allows negotiations on the $1.4 trillion budget bundle to begin in earnest to try to pass the measures by a Dec. 20 deadline.

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., announced the agreement on Saturday through aides.

The measures would fill in the details on this summer’s hard-won budget and debt deal. The pact is sought by a broad spectrum of GOP defense hawks, Democrats pressing to maintain recent gains in domestic programs, and a dwindling cadre of Washington pragmatists eager to demonstrate that they can make divided government work in an increasingly toxic atmosphere.

The talks come as the Democratic-controlled House is driving toward impeaching President Donald Trump, whose demands for billions of dollars more for additional wall construction along the U.S.-Mexico border have slowed the process.

Trump has little interest in the often-arcane appropriations process, other than to obtain wall funding and to boast about record Pentagon funding. The annual spending bills are, however, a top priority for top lawmakers like Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who have wrestled over appropriations for decades.

Trump has been limited in success in winning wall funding from Congress, where there is relatively little enthusiasm for the project among his GOP allies and strong opposition from most Democrats. Congress provided just $1.4 billion in wall funding last year.

But Trump has won considerably more money through transfers from Pentagon accounts by exploiting budget rules. He is seeking $8.6 billion, including $5 billion for the Department of Homeland Security, but would win far less under the tentative accord.

Lawmakers passed a stopgap measure this week to fund the government through Dec. 20. Saturday’s pact opens the door to a final agreement by that date, though the spending bundling is probably more likely to spill over into next year.

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California AG's anti-Trump lawsuits are political, have cost taxpayers $21M

More than 60 lawsuits filed by California against the Trump administration in less than three years have cost the state's taxpayers $21 million, according to reports.
Since Trump took office in 2017, California’s Attorney General Xavier Becerra has sued the administration over issues including Trump's travel ban, protecting DACA and sanctuary cities, fighting family separations at the U.S.-Mexico border and plans to construct the border wall, according to FOX 40 of Sacramento.
Earlier this year, California challenged Trump’s declaration of an emergency at the southern border and most recently, Becerra sued the administration over the rollback of the Endangered Species Act.
Republican strategist Tim Rosales says Becerra’s lawsuits are more about politics than policy, FOX 40 reported.
“This is politics,” he told the station. “It’s politics by Becerra. He wants to make a national name for himself. He wants to get himself on the evening news and this is how you do it if you're the attorney general of California.”

"It’s politics by Becerra. He wants to make a national name for himself. He wants to get himself on the evening news and this is how you do it if you're the attorney general of California.”
— Tim Rosales, GOP strategist

He added that the Trump campaign is fundraising off California’s lawsuits in every other state.
“He’s gaining support in dozens of other states that look at California and they say, ‘Hey, look what California is doing,’” Rosales said. “And California is kind of leading the way in terms of the progressive left and the far left, and that’s where we’re at right now.”
Becerra’s office claims the state's lawsuits have never added up to more than 1 percent of the state Department of Justice’s budget.
"He’s protecting our values,” Democratic political consultant Ed Emerson told FOX 40. “Separating children from their families, detaining them for unlimited amounts of time and keeping them in cages. This is not who we are and California has to step in.”
He said that while the Trump campaign may be fundraising off California’s lawsuits, “so are we.”
In a statement to FOX 40, Becerra said, “The fact is, I don’t wake up in the morning planning to pick a fight with the administration. We file lawsuits to stop the Trump administration from breaking the law and taking actions which would hurt Californians.”
As of last May, California has gotten favorable rulings in at least 25 of the cases, The Mercury News of San Jose reported.
California's lawsuits against the Trump administration surpass the 48 lawsuits that Texas filed against the Obama administration, according to FOX 40.

New York Democrat sought $100G in state funding for nonexistent ‘think tank’

The New York state lawmaker elected to replace a politician busted for stealing Superstorm Sandy money has herself raised ethics questions — after trying to score $100,000 for a group that doesn’t exist, The Post has learned.
Assemblywoman Mathylde Frontus (D-Brooklyn) tried to land the cash for the Southern Brooklyn Community Think Tank, which she promised to set up days after her November 2018 election to “change the face of politics” in the area.
Frontus said she couldn’t understand all the fuss over her failed political-pork request. “It’s not an entity, it’s just a name,” said Frontus, who previously founded two Coney Island-based social services nonprofits. “It’s not something real.”
Assembly spokesman Mike Whyland insisted Frontus didn’t break any laws because the think tank is merely an “idea.”
But she never filed paperwork with state or federal authorities to establish the group — despite asking Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie for the funding, which he refused.
“How do you ask for $100,000 in funding for a group that doesn’t exist and think it’s OK?” said one Brooklyn legislator. “This request reeks of corruption and raises many legal and ethical questions.”

“How do you ask for $100,000 in funding for a group that doesn’t exist and think it’s OK? This request reeks of corruption and raises many legal and ethical questions.”
— Brooklyn legislator

Frontus vowed to create the think tank days after winning the election to replace disgraced ex-Assemblywoman Pam Harris, who was convicted of misusing Superstorm Sandy repair funds.Government watchdogs slammed Frontus’ request, saying just asking for the money raises red flags.
“Elected officials should not [try to] direct public money to groups they are affiliated with because it creates an appearance of favoritism,” said Alex Camarda, senior policy advisor for the good government group Reinvent Albany.
Heastie, he believes, “rightly turned down” Frontus’ request. State law says lawmakers cannot “participate in any state contracting decision” that results in payment to themselves, family or an entity in which they have more than a $1,000 stake. Violators face fines of up to $40,000.
Frontus wrote in her application to Heastie that the think tank would “promote civic engagement in southern Brooklyn” and operate under the auspices of the Jewish Community Council of Greater Coney Island, according to the funding request obtained by The Post.
She said the group would hold regular “meetings to retrieve community input regarding key social problems.” The $100,000, she wrote, would pay for a full-time coordinator, equipment and supplies.
However, Frontus admitted to The Post she never filed any paperwork to establish the think tank. Nor, did she bother to set up social-media accounts for it.
The only online postings reporters could find for the nonprofit were made by the assemblywoman’s work Facebook page.
Albany legislators have a long history of skirting the law at the expense of nonprofits they founded.
Disgraced ex-state Sen. Pedro Espada Jr. was found guilty in 2012 of looting more than $500,000. Former state Sen. Shirley Huntley was convicted stealing from a charity to go on shopping sprees.
The JCC did not return messages.

In Trump impeachment trial, Senate Republicans could turn tables on Dems

House Democrats are entering what may be the final phase of their impeachment inquiry, after wrapping up a spree of hearings where witnesses tied top officials -- including President Trump -- to efforts to pressure Ukraine on political investigations while military aid was being withheld.
But the tables could turn, should the House approve impeachment articles and trigger a trial in the Republican-controlled Senate. There, Trump’s allies are already indicating they will look more closely at allegations involving Democrats.
"Frankly, I want a trial," Trump declared Friday on “Fox & Friends.”
There’s a reason for that.
Democrats have controlled everything during marathon proceedings in the House, frustrating GOP attempts to call witnesses pertaining to the matters Trump wanted Ukraine to investigate -- specifically, the Bidens’ business dealings in that country and Kiev’s alleged interference in the 2016 election.
But that changes on the Senate side, where Republicans have the majority and Trump allies chair key committees. Already, they’ve signaled their interest in exploring issues that House Democrats glossed over during their hearings.
On Thursday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., penned a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo requesting the release of any documents related to contacts between former Vice President Joe Biden and former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, and to a meeting between son Hunter Biden’s business partner and former Secretary of State John Kerry.
This pertains to questions surrounding the elder Biden’s role in pressing for the ouster of a Ukrainian prosecutor who had been investigating the natural gas firm Burisma, where Hunter Biden served on the board. Biden denies any wrongdoing, but Republicans have pressed for details throughout the impeachment process, in a bid to show that even though Trump’s pressure campaign on Kiev triggered the impeachment inquiry, his concern was legitimate.
On the House side, Republicans likewise encountered challenges digging into allegations of Ukraine interference in the 2016 election. While Trump has sought to press an unsupported theory that Ukraine was tied to Democratic National Committee hacking, GOP lawmakers have sought details on other issues that are more grounded in published reports -- like whether former DNC consultant Alexandra Chalupa was improperly digging up dirt on Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and others with Ukraine’s help at the time.
Democrats did not grant GOP requests to call Biden's son Hunter, Chalupa and others on the House side.
But while it’s unclear if Senate Republicans will at least attempt to call these and other witnesses, high-ranking members are showing their early interest in exploring the issues.
Aside from the Graham letter, Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., and Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, have penned a letter to the head of the National Archives and Records Administration to request records of multiple White House meetings that took place in 2016 involving Obama administration officials, Ukrainian government representatives and Democratic National Committee officials.
Johnson and Grassley wrote that during a meeting in 2016, officials “brought up investigations relating to Burisma Holdings.” The senators added that a Ukrainian political officer working in the Ukraine Embassy in Washington said U.S. officials in that meeting asked that "Kiev drop the Burisma probe and allow the FBI to take it over.”
They added that White House records revealed that Chalupa had attended “numerous meetings at the White House, including one event with President Obama.”
The new requests from Senate Republicans come as the House ended its series of scheduled hearings on Thursday. The Intelligence Committee could announce additional hearings and depositions, but at this time, nothing has been scheduled.
The committee may now write and transmit its report to the House Judiciary Committee, which could begin writing articles of impeachment ahead of a floor vote.
“What the House ends up passing will drive a lot of what we end up doing over here,” a senior Republican aide familiar with the ongoing discussions told Fox News Friday.
The aide told Fox News that the White House made a “positive” and “significant” development this week, as officials indicated “what they want” for the trial.
In the Senate trial, three separate parties have input to how it will play out: Senate Republicans, Senate Democrats and the White House.
“It is impossible for us to come up with contours for impeachment without input from the White House,” the aide said. “Their input is a very positive step so we can try to control this as much as possible.”
The White House, on Thursday, signaled that they would like a Senate trial to last no longer than two weeks. The impeachment of former President Bill Clinton lasted for six weeks.
“We all want speedy,” the aide said. “This is the first indication the White House has given and that’s a positive — before it was radio silence from them, and now they’re starting to indicate what they want this thing to look like.”
The aide explained that the Senate, once they receive articles of impeachment, will begin working on two resolutions — one that governs the timeline of the trial, and the other that sets up witnesses for closed-door depositions, as well as which witness will be required to testify on the stand.
The aide explained that the resolutions are “significant,” noting that they will “be the main avenue that evidence is admitted.”
The aide suggested that Republican senators like Graham, Grassley and Johnson could be attempting to help “shape” the witness list and the trial.
A senior administration official, though, claimed Friday there’s “ample reasons” for the Senate to simply dismiss the case – though GOP senators have indicated that’s unlikely to happen.
Yet the official still maintained it’s “100 percent to our advantage to have [a] full trial” in the Senate.
Meanwhile, Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, said sending articles of impeachment to the Senate was "good news."
“Everyone knows what they’re going to do next. They’re going to impeach the president and send it onto the Senate, but that is the good news. That’s good news,” Stewart said. “In the U.S. Senate, there won’t be any secret testimony or dishonest leadership … or to deny a defense.”
He added: “So we’ll finally be able to get to the truth.”
Stewart went on to list several witnesses he hoped the Senate would call to testify, including the whistleblower, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, Hunter Biden, Burisma board member Devon Archer, Chalupa, and Fusion GPS researcher Nellie Ohr.
And the president, himself, seems to be welcoming the trial as well.
“There’s nothing there,” Trump said Friday during an interview with “Fox & Friends,” saying “there should never be an impeachment,” and echoing GOP requests for the whistleblower, Schiff and Hunter Biden to appear as witnesses.
At the center of the impeachment inquiry, which began in September, is Trump’s July 25 phone call with Kiev. That call prompted the whistleblower complaint to the intelligence community inspector general, and in turn, the impeachment inquiry in the House. Trump challenged the accuracy of the complaint, though the transcript released by the White House did support the core allegations that he pressed for politically related investigations.
The president’s request came after millions in U.S. military aid to Ukraine had been frozen, which Democrats and witnesses have claimed shows a "quid pro quo" arrangement. Trump denies any wrongdoing.

President Trump hosts heated vaping meeting, discusses dangers of outright flavor ban

President Donald Trump, center, flanked by Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, left, and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, right, speaks during a meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019, on youth vaping and the electronic cigarette epidemic. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

As the number of vaping-related deaths continues to climb, the White House is seeking to curb the emerging health crisis. President Trump held a meeting with stakeholders and industry experts on Friday to discuss potential solutions to the growing health risks of vaping and its influence on youth.
“66 percent of the kids addicted to these products are saying they didn’t even know it had nicotine in it, they thought it was just a candy type product,” stated Sen. Mitt Romney. “It’s the flavor that gets the kids in it, it’s a health emergency.”
Things got heated between vaping lobbyists and anti-tobacco activists.
Industry experts have claimed a widespread flavor ban would shutter thousands of businesses and make it harder for former smokers to stay off cigarettes. At the same time, activists remain steadfast in their calls for the government to enact stricter curbs on e-cigarette flavors.

Chart shows the trend in teen vaping and smoking since 2011;

“The flavors have fueled youth use of these products,” said ‘Tobacco Free Kids’ President Matthew Myers. “It led to a level of addiction that we have never seen, even with cigarettes, because these products deliver more nicotine more powerfully.”
President Trump has emphasized the importance of finding common ground on this legislation. His administration hopes to find a solution that will simultaneously limit youth vaping, support vaping industry jobs and preserve adult access to these products.
“There is a serious problem among our youth and their growing addiction to e-cigarettes,” stated Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere. “This meeting will allow the President and other administration officials an opportunity to hear from a large group, representing all sides, as we continue to develop responsible guidelines that protect the public health and the American people.”

The president has also expressed concern for an outright ban on flavored products, suggesting it could encourage the use of black market products.
“If you don’t give it to them, it’s going to come here illegally,” said President Trump. “Legitimate companies making something that’s safe, they’re going to be selling stuff on a street corner that could be horrible.”
By the end of the meeting, all collectively agreed on imposing a new age limit on vaping products, raising the minimum age to 21-years-old. The president stated his administration would work towards getting that enacted soon.
The meeting came after the CDC released its latest numbers for vaping-related deaths and injuries. On Thursday, they confirmed 47 deaths and 2,290 vaping-related illnesses from 25 different states. The CDC has cautioned the public against using e-cigarette products that contain THC or Vitamin E Acetate, which are both currently suspected to cause illness.

FILE – In this Friday, Oct. 4, 2019 file photo, a woman using an electronic cigarette exhales a puff of smoke in Mayfield Heights, Ohio. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

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President Trump signs temporary spending bill

Floodlights illuminate the U.S. Capitol dome in Washington, late Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Hours before the midnight deadline, President Trump signed a short term spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. The Senate passed the measure on Thursday, days after it cleared the House.

The continuing resolution will fund the government through December 20th, giving lawmakers more time to iron out the details of a full budget. Talks have stalled amid disagreements over several issues, including funding for the border wall.
Vice President Mike Pence said the president was “forced” to sign the short-term bill because Congress “failed to do its job.” He slammed Democrat lawmakers on Thursday, saying they are more concerned with impeachment than “the American people.”

Today’s Continuing Resolution proves that Democrats in Congress care more about their partisan impeachment inquiry than the American people. President @realDonaldTrump and I will never stop putting America FIRST because that is what the people of our Nation deserve.

— Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) November 21, 2019

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The Senate’s slow pace of passing legislation has been a major issue this year. Republican lawmakers are claiming the constant focus on impeaching the president has caused a stalemate in the Senate.
On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called on Democrats to pass legislation rather than focusing all their effort on the impeachment inquiry.
“There are things that we have to do that we’re are not making any progress on because of the impeachment obsession over in the House,” stated McConnell. “We have yet to reach a deal on spending — I thought we had an agreement this summer and they reneged on that.”

Washington Democrats in the House and the Senate cannot simply stop legislating because of one hearing in the House. The American people deserve progress: Funding for the national defense. Key legislation to support our armed forces. The USMCA and the new jobs it would create.

— Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) November 14, 2019