Guardian US live blog is taking a pause for the evening
As Congress remains unresolved and a government shutdown looms, the Guardian’s liveblog will be taking a pause. We will update this space as soon as we see some movement at the Capitol.
Updated
During a visit to southern California, Donald Trump gave an address to Republicans that honed in on fears that California cities are becoming a crime-addled wasteland. He went as far as to suggest that under a second Trump presidency people caught shoplifting “should fully expect to be shot” as they leave the stores they stole from, the Associated Press reports.
We will reverse the decline of America and we will end the desecration of your once great state, California. This is not a great state anymore. This is a dumping ground. You’re a dumping ground. The world is being dumped into California. Prisoners. Terrorists. Mental patients.”
Trump’s statements comes days after his Republican competitors took the stage for the second debate of the 2024 primary. Trump was absent from the debate.
It’s not the first time Trump has suggested shooting people. In 2019 the then president suggested shooting migrants who crossed the border illegally.
Read more of the AP’s reporting from Trump’s southern California event here.
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It’s 7pm in Washington. Here’s where things stand:
The US stands just days from a full government shutdown amid political deadlock over demands from rightwing congressional Republicans for deep public spending cuts. Fuelled by bitter ideological divisions among the Republican majority in the House, funding for federal agencies will run out at midnight on 30 September unless Congress votes to pass a stopgap measure to extend government funding. Here’s what you should know about the impending shutdown.
The House Republican speaker, Kevin McCarthy, suffered another embarrassing defeat, after hard-right lawmakers tanked his stopgap funding bill that would have averted a federal shutdown. McCarthy’s proposed stopgap measure, which would have funded the government for another month while enacting severe spending cuts on most federal agencies, failed in a vote of 198 to 232.
The Senate is scheduled to take another procedural vote at 1pm on Saturday to advance its stopgap bill to avert a government shutdown. Senate Republicans are reportedly discussing a short-term funding bill that would not include any significant money for Ukraine or disaster relief as part of a last-ditch effort to avoid a shutdown.
Dianne Feinstein, the oldest serving member of the US Senate who blazed a trail for women in American politics, has died aged 90. Joe Biden led tributes, calling Feinstein a “pioneering American” and “true trailblazer”. For Democrats, her death has significant political implications.
The United Auto Workers (UAW) union escalated its strike against the big three US automakers as the industrial action entered its third week. UAW president Shawn Fain said another 7,000 workers would be joining the action. About 25,000 workers are now on strike.
US district judge Tanya Chutkan has scheduled a 16 October hearing on federal prosecutors’ request for a limited gag order in the case charging Donald Trump with scheming to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Special counsel Jack Smith had requested a gag order barring Trump from making inflammatory and intimidating public statements about potential witnesses, lawyers and other people involved in the case.
Scott Hall, an Atlanta-area bail bondsman, pleaded guilty to multiple criminal charges in the Georgia election interference case, becoming the first defendant in the Fulton county case to take a plea deal. Hall was charged in relation to the alleged breach of voting machine equipment in the wake of the 2020 election in Coffee county.
Jeffrey Clark, the former justice department lawyer who schemed with Donald Trump and others to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia and other states, was denied in his attempt to move his case from state court to federal court.
A federal judge has denied requests made by three fake Trump electors seeking to transfer their criminal cases for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia to federal court. US district judge Steve Jones, in three separate rulings, rejected arguments made by David Shafer, Shawn Still and Cathy Latham that they had acted as federal officials at the time they voted for Donald Trump as electors for the Republican party in Georgia in December 2020.
Robert F Kennedy Jr is reported to be ending his challenge to Joe Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination and run instead as an independent candidate, in a move that could upset the 2024 race for the White House.
Updated
Senate Republicans are discussing a short-term funding bill that would not include any significant money for Ukraine or disaster relief as part of a last-ditch effort to avoid a government shutdown, according to reports.
Senate Republicans debated proposing a two-week continuing resolution (CR) to buy more time for themselves to draft a border security amendment, the Hill reported.
The report cited Republican senator Rand Paul as saying:
I think the most important thing is the CR with the Ukraine funding won’t pass the House. Everybody needs to know that. That’s what they’ve said in the House.
Funding for Ukraine remains popular among most Republicans in the Senate, and an hours-long meeting on Friday lacked consensus, the Washington Post reported.
“There’s interest, but no unanimity in any way,” Senator Mike Braun said.
Judge denies requests by three Georgia fake electors to move cases to federal court
A federal judge has denied requests made by three fake Trump electors seeking to transfer their criminal cases for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia to federal court.
US district judge Steve Jones, in three separate rulings, rejected arguments made by the three defendants that they had acted as federal officials at the time they voted for Donald Trump as electors for the Republican party in Georgia in December 2020.
He wrote in all three orders:
The Court first determines that presidential electors are not federal officers.
The ruling means that the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, can move forward with her prosecution in state court.
Donald Trump mocked the former speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, during a speech at the California Republican party’s fall convention.
“How’s her husband doing, anybody know?” Trump asked. A few members of the crowd could be heard laughing in response.
Paul Pelosi underwent surgery last year after he was attacked at the couple’s home in California with a hammer.
After saying he’ll “stand up to crazy Nancy Pelosi” at the Republican Convention in California, Donald Trump says, “How’s her husband doing, by the way? Anybody know?” pic.twitter.com/TL8Tsa4IXU
— The Recount (@therecount) September 29, 2023
House majority leader Steve Scalise told Republican members that a two-week recess planned next month has been cancelled, NBC reported, citing sources.
Instead, the House will spend the two weeks working on individual appropriations bills, according to the sources.
House Republicans are privately admitting that a government shutdown could last for at least two weeks, the Washington Post reported, citing sources.
The report added that pressure is building for the government to reopen before military service members are set to receive their next paychecks in mid-October.
Joe Biden, speaking during a ceremony this afternoon honoring the outgoing chair of the joint chiefs of staff, Mark Milley, said the longer a shutdown lasts, the harder it becomes for military families to pay their bills. “It’s a disgrace,” the president said.
You can’t be playing politics when our troops stand in the breach. It’s an absolute dereliction of duty.
Senate to vote on stopgap bill tomorrow 1pm
The Senate is scheduled to take another procedural vote at 1pm on Saturday to advance its stopgap bill to avert a government shutdown.
Vote scheduled: Under the regular order, at 1:00pm, on Saturday, September 30th, the Senate will proceed to a roll call vote on the motion to invoke cloture on substitute amendment #1292 to Cal. #211, H.R.3935, legislative vehicle for the Continuing Resolution (November 17th).
— Senate Cloakroom (@SenateCloakroom) September 29, 2023
Trump to attend New York civil fraud trial in person – court filing
Donald Trump plans to attend at least the first week of his $250m civil fraud trial brought by the New York attorney general Letitia James, according to court documents.
James sued Trump and his adult sons last year, alleging widespread fraud connected to the Trump Organization and seeking $250m and professional sanctions. The trial is scheduled to start on 2 October.
Trump’s plan to attend the trial was revealed in court filings in a separate lawsuit Trump filed against his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, according to a Politico report.
The former president had been scheduled to undergo a deposition in the case on Tuesday in Florida, but the documents show that Trump’s attorneys “requested to reschedule his deposition so that he could attend his previously-scheduled New York trial in person”.
The filings state:
Through counsel, Plaintiff represented that he would be attending his New York trial in person—at least for each day of the first week of trial. He also stated that, because of the trial, he would be unavailable on any business day between October 2, 2023 and the end of his trial.
Updated
Judge sets hearing on Trump gag order in January 6 case
US district judge Tanya Chutkan has scheduled a 16 October hearing on federal prosecutors’ request for a limited gag order in the case charging Donald Trump with scheming to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Special counsel Jack Smith had requested a gag order barring Trump from making inflammatory and intimidating public statements about potential witnesses, lawyers and other people involved in the case.
Smith’s proposed order would bar “statements regarding the identity, testimony, or credibility of prospective witnesses” and “statements about any party, witness, attorney, court personnel, or potential jurors that are disparaging and inflammatory, or intimidating.”
Trump’s lawyers earlier this week denounced the gag order request as a “desperate attempt at censorship”.
Updated
National parks across the US will close to visitors as soon as Sunday if Congress is unable to avert a government shutdown, the Department of Interior has announced.
“Gates will be locked, visitor centers will be closed, and thousands of park rangers will be furloughed,” the interior department wrote in a news release on Friday.
Accordingly, the public will be encouraged not to visit sites during the period of lapse in appropriations out of consideration for protection of natural and cultural resources, as well as visitor safety.
The plan, outlined in an updated National Parks Service (NPS) contingency plan, emphasizes the need to protect park resources and ensure visitor health and safety.
The decision marks a notable departure from how the national park system was handled under the Trump administration during the last government shutdown. During a funding stalemate that stretched for 35 days through the end of 2018 into 2019, officials ordered parks to remain accessible to the public while they were without key staff, resources and services.
That decision culminated in destruction and chaos at some of the country’s most cherished landmarks such as Joshua Tree national park, with high levels of vandalism, accumulation of human waste and trash and significant risks to ecosystems and unsupervised visitors.
What does a US shutdown mean? Seven things you should know
The US stands just days from a full government shutdown amid political deadlock over demands from rightwing congressional Republicans for deep public spending cuts.
Fuelled by bitter ideological divisions among the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, funding for federal agencies will run out at midnight on 30 September unless – against widespread expectation – Congress votes to pass a stopgap measure to extend government funding.
It is an event with the potential to inflict disruption to a range of public services, cause delays in salaries, and wreak significant damage on the national economy if it becomes prolonged.
At the heart of the looming upheaval is the uncertain status of the Republican House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, who is under fire from members of his own party for agreeing spending limits with Joe Biden, that members of the GOP’s far-right “Freedom Caucus” say are too generous and want to urgently prune.
Here are seven things you should know about the looming shutdown.
As part of his plea deal, Atlanta-area bail bondsman Scott Hall pleaded guilty to five counts of “conspiracy to commit intentional interference with performance of election duties”, a misdemeanor.
He will serve five years of probation as part of the sentencing agreement, Judge Scott McAfee said during a hearing in Fulton county superior court.
He also agreed to a $5,000 fine, 200 hours of community service and a ban on polling and election administration-related activities, the judge said.
First defendant in Trump Georgia election case pleads guilty
Scott Hall, an Atlanta-area bail bondsman, pleaded guilty to multiple criminal charges in the Georgia election interference case, becoming the first defendant in the Fulton county case to take a plea deal.
Hall was charged in relation to the alleged breach of voting machine equipment in the wake of the 2020 election in Coffee county.
Hall pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor counts as part of a negotiated deal. He appeared before Judge Scott McAfee on Friday afternoon after reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Addressing Hall, the judge asked:
You understand that you’re pleading guilty today because you believe there exists a factual basis that supports the plea, and you are pleading guilty because you are, in fact, guilty?
Hall replied:
Yes sir.
Breaking: Fulton County 2020 election conspiracy case co-defendant Scott Hall pleads GUILTY — the first to have done so in this criminal case that also involves Trump.
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) September 29, 2023
Updated
Back at the government shutdown, as it were, the National Organization for Women, or Now, has called for leaders in Washington to get their act together.
In a statement, Christian F Nunes, Now’s national president, gets slightly ahead of events, presuming no solution will be found before midnight tomorrow, the final funding deadline.
It’s a powerful statement, all the same:
Congress has failed in its most basic function. The extremists who control the House of Representatives have shut down the government – out of incompetence, ignorance, and cruelty.
“This is not just about politics – far from it. When you’re living day to day, paycheck to paycheck, wondering how you’ll cope with a shutdown is chilling to the core.
“Real people will be harmed because of this inexcusable partisan gamesmanship. For weeks, they’ve been dreading this day – not knowing if they’ll be able to pay the rent, afford childcare, or feed their families.
“Those who are responsible for today’s shutdown are causing fear and uncertainty to be felt not only by government workers and their families, but by millions more who are impacted by this crisis – starting with the 7 million women and children who rely on vital nutrition assistance, but will be turned away when the funds dry up just days from now.”
The shutdown is being driven by hard-right House Republicans, opposing Kevin McCarthy, a speaker from their own party, and refusing to compromise on policy priorities including reducing funding for Ukraine in its war with Russia and advancing various “culture war” proposals also unacceptable to Democrats who control the Senate and the White House.
Nunes continued:
It couldn’t be clearer – these extremists are willing to cause such disruption, pain, and uncertainty because they’d rather tear down the government than make it work.
“And now they’re holding every function of government hostage until their extremist demands are met—including more restrictions on abortion, cutting access to Social Security and Medicare, allowing discrimination against LGBTQ+ people, and slashing funding for cancer research, safe and clean drinking water and making our elections less safe, and making it harder to vote.
“Now members are calling on their representatives to shut off the shutdown. Not in months or weeks, but days or hours. They may not feel the pain they cause, but we know people who do.”
Updated
Robert F Kennedy Jr to reportedly run as an independent for presidential nomination
Robert F Kennedy Jr is reportedly set to end his challenge to Joe Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination and run as an independent instead.
According to Mediaite, Kennedy, 69 and a scion of a famous political dynasty – a son of the former US attorney general and New York senator Robert F Kennedy, a nephew of President John F Kennedy – will announce his run in Pennsylvania on 9 October.
“Bobby feels that the Democratic National Committee is changing the rules to exclude his candidacy so an independent run is the only way to go,” the website quoted a “Kennedy campaign insider” as saying.
Kennedy is an attorney who made his name as an environmental campaigner before achieving notoriety as a prominent vaccine skeptic, particularly over Covid-19.
He has often flirted with controversy, not least in a podcast interview released this week in which he repeated a conspiracy theory about the 9/11 attacks on New York.
Polling has shown Kennedy performing relatively well against Biden, the incumbent president, in the Democratic primary, but not close to posing a serious threat.
However, Biden aides are reportedly nervous about the possible impact of third-party candidates in a likely presidential election match-up with Donald Trump.
Polling shows widespread belief that at 80, Biden is too old to serve an effective second term in the White House. Trump is only three years younger – and faces 91 criminal charges, including for election subversion, and assorted civil threats – but polls show less concern among the public that he could be unfit to return to office.
Whether Kennedy, the Green Party pick, Cornel West, or a notional nominee backed by No Labels, a supposedly centrist group, a third-party candidate is widely seen to be likely to peel more support from Biden than Trump, thereby potentially handing the presidency to the Republican.
Rightwing figures (prominent among them Steve Bannon, formerly Trump’s White House strategist) have encouraged Kennedy to run against Biden or as an independent.
As cited by Mediate, in July the Fox News host Greg Gutfeld said: “I think he should run as a third-party candidate because I do think he should, he would win … because his party’s radical elements, what we call the woke, have embraced this fascist clampdown on language.”
On Friday, as observers digested news of Kennedy’s imminent change of course, the author Michael Weiss referred to infamous electoral sabotage carried out by Roger Stone and other Republican operatives when he said: “The ratfuckery was self-evident from day one.”
But not everyone thought Kennedy’s move would be bad for Biden.
Joe Conason, editor of the National Memo, said: “Go Bobby! Running ‘independent’ means you’ll draw more voters from the candidate you resemble most in political ideology, personal conduct, and narcissistic mentality. (That’s Trump, not Biden.)”
More:
Updated
Retiring as chair of the joint chiefs of staff, the army general Mark Milley directed a parting shot at Donald Trump, the president he served but who he seemed to call a “wannabe dictator”.
Speaking at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, this morning, Milley said of the US armed forces: “We don’t take an oath to a country. We don’t take an oath to a tribe. We don’t take an oath to a religion.
“We don’t take an oath to a king, or queen, or tyrant or a dictator, and we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator.
“We don’t take an oath to an individual. We take an oath to the constitution, and we take an oath to the idea that is America, and we’re willing to die to protect it.”
Trump, who nominated Milley in 2019, did not immediately comment. But Milley’s struggles to contain Trump, particularly in 2020, the tumultuous final year of his presidency, have been long and widely reported.
Such struggles concerned foreign policy, as Milley and other officials sought to stop the erratic president provoking confrontations with foes including China and Iran.
But Milley and others also had to keep the US military out of domestic affairs, as Trump chafed against nationwide protests for racial justice, openly yearning to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 and thereby call in the army.
Last week saw publication of an in-depth profile by the Atlantic, in which Milley again expressed his regret over an infamous appearance with Trump in June 2020, when the president marched from the White House to a historic church, slightly damaged amid the protests, in an attempt to project a strongman image.
The Atlantic profile prompted Trump to rail at Milley again, calling a widely reported conversation in which the general sought to reassure his Chinese counterpart that Trump would not order an attack “an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!”
Milley has said he has taken “adequate safety precautions” against potential threats from Trump supporters perhaps also encouraged by the words of Paul Gosar, an Arizona Republican congressman who told supporters Milley should be hanged.
Full story:
Updated
House Republicans announce votes expected on Saturday
The House GOP leadership have made the following changes to the House floor schedule:
Members are advised that votes are now expected in the House tomorrow, Saturday 30 September 2023.
This is a change from the House GOP leadership’s previously announced schedule.
Updated
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries called on Republicans to work with Democrats to avert a shutdown by putting a bipartisan stopgap funding bill on the House floor for a vote when the measure arrives from the Senate, according to a Washington Post report.
“Republicans face a clear choice: put the bipartisan continuing resolution on the floor of the House for an up-or-down vote and we can avoid the extreme Maga Republican shutdown and end this nightmare,” Jeffries said.
Or fail to put the bipartisan continuing resolution sent over from the Senate on the floor of the House for an up-or-down vote because your objective, apparently, as extreme Maga Republicans is to shut the government down.
Updated
The top three House Democrats held a last-minute press conference after the vote on a stopgap funding measure failed.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters that House Democrats met this morning and are “unified in the position that we support” the Senate’s bipartisan continuing resolution.
From the Hill’s Mychael Schnell:
The top three House Democrats are holding a last-minute press conference after conservatives tanked the GOP’s stopgap bill.
— Mychael Schnell (@mychaelschnell) September 29, 2023
“Once again, extreme MAGA Republicans in the House have demonstrated their complete and utter inability to govern,” Jeffries says. pic.twitter.com/qMGA6rplzY
JEFFRIES says House Dems, Senate Dems & Senate GOP are aligned with spending caps in the debt limit deal.
— Mychael Schnell (@mychaelschnell) September 29, 2023
"Extrema MAGA Republicans are the only ones on an island right now & they can't even get their act together amongst themselves because they're in the middle of a Civil War."
House Republicans to meet at 4pm ET after failed vote
The House GOP conference will meet at 4pm ET after a measure on a stopgap funding bill that would have averted a federal shutdown failed.
Updated
Judge denies request from Trump official Jeffrey Clark to move Georgia case to federal court
Jeffrey Clark, the former justice department lawyer who schemed with Donald Trump and others to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia and other states, has been denied in his attempt to move his case from state court to federal court.
Breaking: Federal judge DENIES request from ex-Trump DOJ official Jeffrey Clark to remove his Fulton County 2020 election conspiracy case to federal court. https://t.co/zCDRjKeNoV
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) September 29, 2023
Updated
With less than 48 hours left before government funding lapses, Kevin McCarthy appeared to be out of options to prevent a shutdown.
Speaking to reporters before the vote, the speaker of the House tried to pitch the stopgap proposal as a means of buying time to continue negotiations over longer-term spending bills.
We actually need a stopgap measure to allow the House to continue to finish its work – to make sure our military gets paid, to make sure our border agents get paid as we finish the job.
But that argument failed to sway the hard-right members of McCarthy’s conference, who have insisted for weeks that they would not back any short-term spending bill, known as a continuing resolution.
With such a narrow House majority, McCarthy could only afford to lose a handful of votes within his conference to pass the continuing resolution without any Democratic support. The bill cleared a key procedural hurdle on Friday afternoon, but the proposal could not garner enough support for final passage.
McCarthy says he's 'got other ideas' after House rejects stopgap funding bill
A government shutdown appears almost certain after hardline House GOP members rejected a bill proposed by Speaker Kevin McCarthy that would have funded the government for 30 days while talks continue.
Speaking to reporters after the defeat on a bill he had backed, McCarthy said:
It’s not the end yet, I’ve got other ideas.
If he is not successful, the government will shut down for the first time in nearly five years, furloughing federal employees and stalling many crucial programs. Past shutdowns prove the widespread upheaval caused by lapses in government funding.
232-198: The House votes down a bill, crafted and endorsed by Speaker Kevin McCarthy, to keep the federal government open for several weeks.
— The Recount (@therecount) September 29, 2023
21 Republicans joined all Democrats in voting “No.” pic.twitter.com/udcqteXY1v
Updated
House rejects stopgap bill as shutdown looms
The House rejected a short-term spending bill aimed at averting a government shutdown, dealing a blow to Speaker Kevin McCarthy and likely cementing the chances of a shutdown less than 48 hours away.
The bill, known as a continuing resolution, failed by a vote of 198 in favor to 232 opposed.
Twenty one Republicans joined Democrats in voting against the bill. Hard-right members of McCarthy’s conference refused to support the bill despite its steep spending cuts of nearly 30% to many agencies and severe border security provisions, calling it insufficient.
McCarthy is planning to meet with the GOP conference on Friday afternoon to discuss next steps. Ahead of the vote, he all but dared his hard-right colleagues to oppose the package. “Every member will have to go on record where they stand,” he said.
Despite McCarthy’s concessions, members of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus remained adamant on Friday that they would not support a continuing resolution.
Updated
House votes on stopgap bill
The House has started voting on a GOP-crafted short-term spending bill that would fund the government for 30 days.
With such a narrow House majority, Speaker Kevin McCarthy can only afford to lose a handful of votes within his conference to pass the continuing resolution with only Republican support.
Updated
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre warned the consequences of a shutdown would be “truly hard”.
House Republicans are putting the US economy and national security at risk, she said during a briefing with reporters.
What they’re doing is incredibly irresponsible and it is reckless.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said extreme House Republicans were “solely to blame for marching us toward a shutdown” during a briefing with reporters today.
She said House speaker Kevin McCarthy’s decision to go back on the deal he made with Joe Biden will “plunge the federal government into chaos”.
No one can explain what House Republicans are shutting down the government over. It’s a serious question and they don’t have a good answer for it.
Updated
At White House briefing. Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre: Senator Dianne Feinstein was a “trailblazer” who served the people of California and turned “passion into purpose”. pic.twitter.com/1SB4UpfLf1
— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) September 29, 2023
The New York governor, Kathy Hochul, has declared a state of emergency as intense rainfall continues across the city.
The declaration covers New York City, Long Island and the Hudson Valley.
I am declaring a State of Emergency across New York City, Long Island, and the Hudson Valley due to the extreme rainfall we’re seeing throughout the region.
— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) September 29, 2023
Please take steps to stay safe and remember to never attempt to travel on flooded roads.
For more live updates on the intense flooding in New York, do follow our live blog.
Barack Obama has paid tribute to Dianne Feinstein, who he described as “a trailblazer” and “fierce advocate for gun safety measures and civil rights”.
Dianne Feinstein will be rightly remembered as a trailblazer—the first woman to serve as mayor of San Francisco and the first woman elected to the Senate from California. But once she broke those barriers and walked through those doors, she got to work.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) September 29, 2023
I first got to know…
US autoworkers expand strikes against GM and Ford
The United Auto Workers union escalated its strike against the big three US automakers on Friday as the industrial action entered its third week.
In a livestream update on the strike on Friday, the UAW president, Shawn Fain, said another 7,000 workers would be joining the action. About 25,000 workers are now on strike.
Fain said bargaining with Ford and General Motors had not made meaningful progress in the past week, adding Ford’s Chicago assembly plant and a GM plant in Lansing, Michigan, to the strike. Action at Stellantis was not escalated this week due to progress made in talks.
The strike has become a hot-button issue in political circles with Joe Biden and Donald Trump visiting Michigan this week to address autoworkers.
“This strike is absolutely about the worker and listening to the worker,” Haley Stevens, a Democrat representing Michigan’s 11th congressional district, told the Guardian.
This strike has opened up new channels to hear from workers in ways that we haven’t seen in a very long time in the country.
Updated
House votes to begin debate on short-term spending bill as shutdown looms
The House voted to begin debate on a stopgap spending bill to avoid a government shutdown, marking a minor victory for Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
The chamber voted 218-210 along party lines to kick off debate on the continuing resolution and tee up a final vote expected this afternoon.
The successful procedural vote marks a small win for McCarthy, but the CR is still expected to fail as a number of extremist representatives of his own party appear to be gearing up to try to oust him as well as stop the government in its tracks.
Updated
Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker of the House, led a moment of silence for Dianne Feinstein on the House floor.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and the congressional delegation from California lead the House of Representatives in a moment of silence for the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). pic.twitter.com/ZJpAaLDiIM
— The Recount (@therecount) September 29, 2023
A bipartisan group of senators is calling for the immediate release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested in Russia on espionage charges at the end of March.
The resolution by Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate foreign relations committee calls for Russia to free Gershkovich and for the US to press for his immediate release.
In a statement, Senator Ben Cardin, the committee’s Democratic chairman, said Gershkovich has been detained “merely for doing his job: reporting facts and shedding light on President Putin’s bogus rationale for his illegal war against Ukraine.”
Gershkovich, 32, is the first American journalist to be held in Russia on spying charges since the end of the cold war. He was detained in the Urals city of Ekaterinburg while on a reporting trip at the end of March.
Russia’s FSB security service has claimed he was collecting state secrets about the country’s military-industrial complex. Gershkovich and the Wall Street Journal have denied the charges.
On Tuesday, a Moscow court declined to consider his latest appeal against his pre-trial detention.
Newsom faces tough choice to fill Feinstein’s Senate seat
After Kamala Harris left her seat as the junior US senator for California to Dianne Feinstein’s senior position, to become the first female vice-president of the US alongside President Joe Biden, Gavin Newsom faced pressure to replace the only Black woman in the US Senate with another Black woman.
Instead, heeding calls to bring California its first Latino senator, Newsom chose Alex Padilla, who served as the state’s secretary of state. Unlike today, there had not been an active race after Harris’s departure.
In 2021, after he faced backlash for appointing Padilla over another Black woman, Newsom promised that should Feinstein leave office before her term ended, he would appoint a Black woman.
That promise will undoubtedly come under further scrutiny in light of Feinstein’s sudden death. Earlier this month, Newsom told NBC’s Meet the Press that he would make an “interim appointment” to Feinstein’s seat but refused to chose an existing candidate in the 2024 race, noting:
It would be completely unfair to the Democrats that have worked their tail off. That primary is just a matter of months away. I don’t want to tip the balance of that.
Barbara Lee, the sole Black woman among leading candidates vying for Feinstein’s Senate seat, criticized Newsom’s caretaker plan. “Troubled” by his comments, Lee, who represents a district in the San Francisco Bay Area, pointed out that there had only been two Black women in the US Senate since 1789 and that the “perspective of Black women in the US Senate is sorely needed – and needed for more than a few months”.
The pressure is now on Newsom to make a decision – does he fulfill his promise? And at what cost, as the California governor is expected to make a presidential run in 2028 after his term in state office ends? The person he appoints will remain in office until January 2025 as California voters decide over the next year on a new senator who will aim establish a new legacy beyond Feinstein’s shadow.
California governor Gavin Newsom faces a tough choice to fill the monumental void left by Dianne Feinstein in the US Senate until the 2024 election.
As the longtime senator announced in recent months, amid failing health, that she would retire from Congress when her term ended in January 2025, a contentious race for her coveted seat commenced. The crowded field ranged from an unknown former Google executive to established Democrats already influential in Congress – the California representatives Katie Porter, Barbara Lee and Adam Schiff.
Newsom has long had to consider who would replace Feinstein, who in recent years has struggled with health issues along with a legal battle over her husband’s estate, leading to doubts about her mental acuity in office and eventually to members within her own party to call for her resignation.
He had openly dreaded the possibility, telling NBC’s Meet the Press: “I don’t want to make another appointment,” Newsom said. “I don’t think the people of California want me to make another appointment.” But now he will have to act.
Feinstein a 'political giant' who 'broke down glass ceilings, says Newsom
California governor Gavin Newsom paid tribute to Dianne Feinstein was a “powerful, trailblazing” senator who was a “political giant” who “broke down barriers and glass ceilings”.
In a statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, Newsom described the late California senator as “a dear friend, a lifelong mentor, and a role model” for “what a powerful, effective leader looks like”. He added:
There is simply nobody who possessed the strength, gravitas, and fierceness of Dianne Feinstein.
Dianne Feinstein was many things — a powerful, trailblazing U.S. Senator; an early voice for gun control; a leader in times of tragedy and chaos. But to me, she was a dear friend, a lifelong mentor, and a role model not only for me, but to my wife and daughters for what a…
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 29, 2023
Dianne Feinstein’s death at home in Washington on Thursday night brought down the curtain on a storied career that included gun control advocacy – she spearheaded the first federal assault weapons ban – and as the first woman to head the influential Senate intelligence committee, investigating CIA torture after 9/11.
“The CIA’s actions are a stain on our values and our history,” Feinstein said, defending the release of a report that revealed CIA use of “coercive interrogation techniques in some cases amounting to torture” on at least 119 detainees.
But she sometimes drew opprobrium from the left. During Republican George W Bush’s presidency she backed the 2002 Iraq war resolution, only to later express regret. Feinstein defended surveillance programmes exposed in 2013 by the National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, a leak she called “an act of treason”.
In 2020 she attracted considerable criticism for her work leading Democrats on the Senate judiciary committee, particularly in the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett, the third conservative forced onto the supreme court by Republicans under Donald Trump.
The flag outside the US Capitol has been lowered in tribute to Dianne Feinstein.
The Capitol’s flag has been lowered to mark the passing of @SenFeinstein pic.twitter.com/gRFzBpevyT
— Jackie (@JacquelineKalil) September 29, 2023
On the Senate floor, Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer said Dianne Feinstein was instrumental in getting more women elected to office:
"Today there are 25 women serving in this chamber, and every one of them would admit they stand on Dianne's shoulders."
— The Recount (@therecount) September 29, 2023
— Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on the passing of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) pic.twitter.com/lGH64Pse5T
A shot of her desk in the Senate chamber:
Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s desk in the Senate chamber: pic.twitter.com/4woZgr93ij
— The Recount (@therecount) September 29, 2023
McCarthy remembers collaboration with Feinstein, says she 'inspired women from both sides of the aisle'
Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy eulogized Dianne Feinstein this morning, remembering his collaboration with the Democratic lawmaker on legislation to expand water access in California:
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) remembers the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA):
— The Recount (@therecount) September 29, 2023
“I believe at the end of the day, the trailblazing of the first woman elected mayor, even coming from a different party, inspired women from both sides of the aisle to seek elected office.” pic.twitter.com/sobjnsdtdM
Biden calls Feinstein 'true trailblazer' and 'cherished friend'
Joe Biden is out with a statement remembering Dianne Feinstein, who he crossed paths with during his time in the Senate:
Senator Dianne Feinstein was a pioneering American. A true trailblazer. And for Jill and me, a cherished friend.
In San Francisco, she showed enormous poise and courage in the wake of tragedy, and became a powerful voice for American values. Serving in the Senate together for more than 15 years, I had a front row seat to what Dianne was able to accomplish. It’s why I recruited her to serve on the Judiciary Committee when I was Chairman – I knew what she was made of, and I wanted her on our team. There’s no better example of her skillful legislating and sheer force of will than when she turned passion into purpose, and led the fight to ban assault weapons. Dianne made her mark on everything from national security to the environment to protecting civil liberties. She’s made history in so many ways, and our country will benefit from her legacy for generations.
Often the only woman in the room, Dianne was a role model for so many Americans – a job she took seriously by mentoring countless public servants, many of whom now serve in my Administration. She had an immense impact on younger female leaders for whom she generously opened doors. Dianne was tough, sharp, always prepared, and never pulled a punch, but she was also a kind and loyal friend, and that’s what Jill and I will miss the most.
The full statement is here.
White House threatens to veto short-term government funding measure backed by House Republicans
The White House is threatening to veto a bill backed by House Republicans that would extend federal government funding through October and make deep cuts to departments’ budgets while boosting border security.
The House GOP has proposed the Spending Reduction and Border Security Act as their solution to the looming government shutdown, which will begin on Sunday unless Congress approves more funding. While votes on the act are expected in the House later today, the White House Office of Management and Budget has said Joe Biden will veto the legislation if it comes to his desk.
Here’s more from their statement:
The Administration strongly opposes House passage of H.R. 5525, making continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2024, and for other purposes. Hours before a Government shutdown, House Republicans are playing partisan games instead of working in a bipartisan manner to fund the Government and address emergency needs.
In a blatant violation of the funding agreement the Speaker and the President reached just a few months ago, the bill endangers the vital programs Americans rely on by making reckless cuts to programs, regardless of the consequences for critical services from education to food safety to law enforcement to housing to public health. It also fails to address key emergency funding needs where lives are at stake, ignoring the Administration’s request for resources to combat the fentanyl crisis and effectively manage the border, support the people of Ukraine as they defend their homeland from Russia’s illegal war, and stand with communities across America as they recover from natural disasters. In addition, H.R. 5525 fails to provide the resources needed to avoid severe disruptions to Government services—risking unnecessary delays for travelers by underfunding the Federal Aviation Administration; loss of access to nutritious food for pregnant and postpartum women and children by underfunding the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children; and deterioration in service for the over 71 million Americans who rely on the income support Social Security programs provide.…
If the President were presented with H.R. 5525, he would veto it.
That said, it’s unclear if the measure has enough Republican support to pass the House, where Democrats are unlikely to vote for it. And even if it does pass, the Democratic-led Senate is unlikely to consider it.
Fellow San Franciscan Nancy Pelosi remembers Feinstein's 'indomitable, indefatigable leadership'
Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker of the House who represents San Francisco, the city where Dianne Feinstein served as mayor, called the late senator a “a pillar of public service in California”.
From Pelosi:
Paul, my daughter Nancy Corinne and I were heartbroken to learn of the passing of our dear friend Dianne Feinstein. For decades, Senator Feinstein was a pillar of public service in California: from San Francisco’s City Hall to the United States Capitol. Her indomitable, indefatigable leadership made a magnificent difference for our national security and personal safety, the health of our people and our planet, and the strength of our Democracy.
Dianne was a pioneering woman leader, who served as San Francisco’s first female Mayor with unmatched courage, poise and grace. Standing strong amid horror and heartbreak – from the brutal murders of Harvey Milk and George Moscone to the deadly HIV/AIDs epidemic – she offered our City a beacon of strength and hope.
You can read Pelosi’s full statement here.
Dianne Feinstein's office confirms senator's death
Dianne Feinstein’s office has confirmed that the senator died yesterday at the age of 90.
Here’s their full statement:
From the office of Senator Dianne Feinstein: pic.twitter.com/rvcAmVk8O0
— Senator Dianne Feinstein (@SenFeinstein) September 29, 2023
Senators on both sides of the aisle are remarking on the passing of California’s Dianne Feinstein:
Republican Tim Scott of South Carolina, also a presidential candidate:
Saddened to learn of Senator Feinstein’s passing. A true trailblazer, she leaves behind a lasting legacy of service in the Senate. My prayers are with her family during this time of loss.
— Tim Scott (@SenatorTimScott) September 29, 2023
Independent Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona:
Senator Dianne Feinstein was a trailblazing titan in the U.S. Senate and in our nation’s history. Throughout her storied career, she paved the way for countless women and girls to stand up and make a difference. We’ll always cherish her life and legacy, and we'll miss her dearly.
— Kyrsten Sinema (@SenatorSinema) September 29, 2023
Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa:
Sen Feinstein did an outstanding job representing the ppl of California. I worked closely w her as a member of the drug caucus& judiciary cmte. During the time I was chair& she was ranking Democrat we had a wonderful working relationship She’s a true public servant I’ll miss her
— Chuck Grassley (@ChuckGrassley) September 29, 2023
Colorado Democrat Michael Bennet said:
Sen. Feinstein was a trailblazer in American politics. She passionately defended civil rights, was an ally to the LGBTQ community, and was a tireless champion for America’s children. I was grateful to work with her on comprehensive immigration reform and learn from her on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Susan and I are thinking of the Feinstein family during this difficult time.
Dianne Feinstein was on the Senate floor yesterday, voting on legislation to prevent a government shutdown:
Here is @SenFeinstein voting on the Senate floor yesterday.
— Kellie Meyer (@KellieMeyerNews) September 29, 2023
What is now her final vote of her career.
The longest serving female senator in US history. @NewsNation coverage LIVE all day now. pic.twitter.com/42a3NWBJh9
As the Wall Street Journal reports, she missed two votes taken later in the day:
Dianne Feinstein’s last Senate vote was cast yesterday morning at 11:45 on a bill aimed at preventing a government shutdown. She missed two later votes. pic.twitter.com/7ofHHmmKjf
— Katy Stech Ferek (@KatyStech) September 29, 2023
Over in the House, the Republican-led rules committee, which is considering a short-term funding bill to prevent a government shutdown, observed a moment of silence in honor of Dianne Feinstein:
Sen. Dianne Feinstein had passed away at the age of 90.
— Kellie Meyer (@KellieMeyerNews) September 29, 2023
Reaction is pouring in from both sides of the aisle.
House Rules Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-OK) asked for a moment of silence in a meeting this morning.
Her passing brought a beautiful moment of bipartisanship. pic.twitter.com/XwZgisKQxQ
Here’s the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly with more on Dianne Feinstein’s legacy:
The California Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein, who blazed a trail for women in US politics, has died. She was 90.
For Democrats, news of the death of the first woman to represent California in the US Senate, who was also the longest-serving female senator in US history, has appropriately weighty political implications.
Faced with growing questions about her age and fitness, Feinstein was due to retire at the end of her term.
The race to succeed her in a safe Democratic seat has attracted high-profile candidates, Adam Schiff, a former House intelligence chair, squaring off against fellow members of Congress Katie Porter and Barbara Lee.
The Democratic governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has promised to install a Black woman in any vacant seat.
Before entering national politics, Feinstein was the first woman to be mayor of San Francisco. She ran for the position twice before in 1978 the assassination of Mayor George Moscone and Harvey Milk, like Feinstein a member of the board of supervisors, saw her step into the top job.
Leaving office in 1988, Feinstein ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1990 before winning her Senate seat in 1992. She did so alongside Barbara Boxer, making California the first state to send two women to the Senate. Feinstein became the first woman to be a California senator because she was sworn in first, to complete an unfinished term. Feinstein was also the first Jewish female senator.
California senator Feinstein dies aged 90 – report
Dianna Feinstein, California’s long-serving Democratic senator who pushed to reveal CIA torture overseas and ban assault weapons at home, has died aged 90, according to media reports.
CBS News reports that Feinstein died overnight, citing sources.
In office since 1992, Feinstein was chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee during a period when it compiled a report into the Central Intelligence Agency’s torture of suspects detained in the “war on terror”, a portion of which was made public in 2014. She also introduced the federal assault weapons ban, which was enacted by Congress in 1994 but expired in 2004.
Feinstein’s death is unlikely to change the balance of power in the Senate, where Democrats have a two-seat edge over the GOP. Feinstein, who has suffered health issues that kept her away from the chamber for months earlier this year, had announced she would not seek re-election in 2024, and several House Democrats have already announced campaigns for her seat.
California’s Democratic governor Gavin Newsom previously said he would appoint a Black woman to replace her if she leaves office early.
Updated
Congress scrambles to avert shutdown while far-right reportedly plots to remove McCarthy
Good morning, US politics blog readers. It’s coming down to the wire in Congress, where the House and Senate must find agreement in less than 48 hours on a government spending measure if a shutdown is to be avoided. And thus far, there’s no sign that a deal is at hand. While both chambers are expected to today vote on bills that will keep the government funded for a few weeks, it does not appear that the Republican-controlled House of Representative’s measure would be acceptable to Democrats in the Senate – or vice versa. Thus, chances are that when you tune into this blog next week, the federal government will be shut down. But miracles are possible and negotiations will continue all through today and probably into tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post got an important scoop yesterday: months after they embarrassed Kevin McCarthy by delaying what is normally a procedural vote to appoint him speaker of the House, rightwing lawmakers are plotting to attempt to remove him as the chamber’s leader as soon as next week. But for all their bluster, remember that these are a small group of GOP insurgents, who would likely need the help of Democrats to succeed. There’s no saying if that will happen, so all we know for sure is that the House will remain a place of high drama for the foreseeable future.
Here’s what else is going on today:
House Republicans held the first hearing of their impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden yesterday and it didn’t go so well. Expect to hear more about this today.
The president will at 10.30am give a farewell speech for the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Mark Milley, amid an ongoing blockade of military promotions by the Republican senator Tommy Tuberville over Pentagon policies meant to help service members access abortions.
Donald Trump, who is way ahead in presidential polls and shunning debates against fellow GOP contenders, will address the California Republican party at 3pm.
