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Tag: government budgets

  • Japan accelerates missile deployment amid rising regional tensions

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    TOKYO — Japan plans to deploy its domestically developed long-range missiles a year earlier than planned, the Defense Ministry announced Friday, as the country steps up efforts to strengthen its strike-back capability in response to rising challenges in the region.

    Under the new schedule, a first batch of the domestically developed Type-12 anti-ship missiles will be installed at its army’s Camp Kengun in Japan’s southwestern prefecture of Kmuamoto by March 2026, the ministry said. The Type-12 missile has a range of about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles).

    Japan is seeking to create a more self-sufficient military as a deterrence against China’s increasingly assertive naval activity in regional seas. Japan in June spotted two Chinese aircraft carriers almost simultaneously operating near southern Japanese islands for the first time.

    Japan also has concerns about the rising tensions caused by North Korea and Russia.

    These efforts mark a historic shift. Japan, under its post-World War II pacifist constitution, used to limit the use of force for self-defense only. But it made a major break from that policy in 2022 when it adopted a five-year security strateg y that names China as its biggest strategic challenge and calls for a closer Japan-U.S. alliance and more offensive roles for Japan’s Self-Defense Forces.

    The country is boosting military spending to 2% of GDP by 2027 from an earlier level of about 1% under the buildup plan, while facing pressure from the United States, a treaty ally, to do more.

    The announcement of the accelerated missile schedule coincides with a ministry request for a record 8.8 trillion yen ($59.9 billion) in the fiscal 2026 budget to focus on long-range missiles and drones to counter threats from China, North Korea, and Russia.

    With domestically produced missiles still under development, Japan plan to deploy U.S.-developed Tomahawks later this year.

    The ministry is also seeking to deploy unmanned air, sea-surface and underwater drones for surveillance to defend Japanese coastlines, as a country with an aging and declining population struggles with an understaffed military.

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  • Q&A: Can Trump hold a census in the middle of a decade and exclude immigrants in the US illegally?

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    President Donald Trump on Thursday instructed the Commerce Department to have the Census Bureau start work on a new census that would exclude immigrants who are in the United States illegally from the head count which determines political power and federal spending.

    The census will be based on “modern day facts and figures and, importantly, using the results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024,” the Republican president said on his social media platform.

    Experts said it was unclear what exactly Trump was calling for, whether it was changes to the 2030 census or a mid-decade census, and, if so, whether it would be used for a mid-decade apportionment, which is the process of divvying up congressional seats among the states based on the population count.

    Here’s some answers to questions Thursday’s post raises:

    Can Trump do this?

    It would be extremely difficult to conduct a mid-decade census, if not impossible, according to experts.

    Any changes in conducting a U.S. census would require alterations to the Census Act and approval from Congress, which has oversight responsibilities, and there likely would be a fierce fight.

    The federal law governing the census permits a mid-decade head count for things like distributing federal funding, but it can’t be used for apportionment or redistricting and must be done in a year ending in 5. Additionally, the 14th Amendment says that “the whole number of persons in each state” are to be counted for the numbers used for apportionment, and the Census Bureau has interpreted that to mean anybody residing in the United States regardless of legal status. Federal courts have repeatedly supported that interpretation, though the Supreme Court has blocked recent efforts to change that on procedural rather than legal grounds.

    “He cannot unilaterally order a new census. The census is governed by law, not to mention the Constitution,” said Terri Ann Lowenthal, a former congressional staffer who consults on census issues.

    Then there is the question of logistics. The once-a-decade census is the biggest non-military undertaking by the federal government, utilizing a temporary workforce of hundreds of thousands of census takers. It can take as much as 10 years of planning.

    “This isn’t something that you can do overnight,” said New York Law professor Jeffrey Wice, a census and redistricting expert. “To get all the pieces put together, it would be such a tremendous challenge, if not impossible.”

    Has this ever been done before?

    A mid-decade census has never been conducted before.

    In the 1970s, there was interest in developing data from the middle of the decade for more accurate and continuous information about American life, and a mid-decade census was considered. But the funding from Congress never came through, said Margo Anderson, a professor emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who has written extensively on the history of the census.

    Decades later, those wishes for continuous data would develop into the American Community Survey, the annual survey of American life based on responses from 3.5 million households.

    In his first term, President Donald Trump, a Republican, unsuccessfully tried to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census form and signed orders which would have excluded people in the U.S. illegally from the apportionment figures and mandate the collection of citizenship data through administrative records.

    The attempt was blocked by the Supreme Court, and both orders were rescinded when Democratic President Joe Biden arrived at the White House in January 2021, before the 2020 census figures were released by Census Bureau.

    Any attempt at a repeat would guarantee legal challenges.

    “The census isn’t just a head count. It is meant to reflect America as it is – not as some would prefer it to be — and determines how critical resources are allocated,” ACLU Voting Rights project director Sophia Lin Lakin said in a statement. “Nobody should be erased from it. We won’t hesitate to go back to court to protect representation for all communities.”

    What is a census used for?

    Besides being used to divvy up congressional seats among the states and redraw political districts, the numbers derived from the once-a-decade census are used to guide the distribution of $2.8 trillion in annual government spending.

    The federal funding is distributed to state and local governments, nonprofits, businesses and households, paying for health care, education, school lunch programs, child care, food assistance programs and highway construction, among other things.

    Why is Trump doing this?

    A Republican redistricting expert had written that using citizen voting-age population instead of the total population for the purpose of redrawing congressional and legislative districts could be advantageous to Republicans and non-Hispanic whites.

    Critics believe the writings of Republican redistricting expert Tom Hofeller inspired the first Trump administration’s attempt at restricting the apportionment count and guided legislation introduced this year by Republican lawmakers to add a citizenship question to the 2030 census questionnaire. Trump has been open about his intent to increase the number of Republican seats in Congress and maintain the GOP majority in next year’s midterm elections.

    Even though redistricting typically occurs once every 10 years following the census, Trump is pressuring Republicans in Texas to redistrict again, claiming they are “entitled” to five additional Republican seats. Trump’s team is also engaged in similar redistricting discussions in other GOP-controlled states, including Missouri and Indiana.

    Some critics see the effort as part of Trump’s wider effort to control the federal statistical system, which has been considered the world’s gold standard.

    Last Friday, Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Erika McEntarfer, after standard revisions to the monthly jobs report showed that employers added 258,000 fewer jobs than previously reported in May and June. The revisions suggested that hiring has severely weakened under Trump, undermining his claims of an economic boom.

    “Trump is basically destroying the federal statistical system,” Anderson said. “He wants numbers that support his political accomplishments, such as he sees them.”

    ___

    Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform Bluesky: @mikeysid.bsky.social

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  • UK Treasury chief admits business tax rise could lead to lower than anticipated wages

    UK Treasury chief admits business tax rise could lead to lower than anticipated wages

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    LONDON — U.K. Treasury chief Rachel Reeves conceded Thursday that wages may rise by less than previously thought as a direct result of her budget decision to increase a tax that businesses pay for their employees.

    On Wednesday, Reeves raised taxes by around 40 billion pounds ($52 billion) and announced more government borrowing to plug a hole she claims to have identified in the public finances, fund cash-starved public services and invest in an array of infrastructure projects, in a budget that could set the political tone for years to come.

    The biggest single measure — worth some 25 billion pounds in five years — was an increase in the national insurance contributions employers pay in addition to the salaries of their workers. The levy, which was originally designed to pay for benefits and help fund the state-owned National Health Service but which is really absorbed into the overall tax take, will also be paid from a lower salary level.

    Reeves admitted that the changes may prompt employers to pass on the additional financial burden by weighing down on wages.

    “I recognize there will be consequences,” Reeves told the BBC. “It will mean that businesses will have to absorb some of this through profit and it is likely to mean that wage increases might be slightly less than they otherwise would have been.”

    Her admission came as a widely respected British economic think tank warned that lower than anticipated wages may mean the tax raises more than thought, adding that Reeves may have to raise taxes again in coming years in order to support public services.

    In its traditional day-after assessment of the budget, the Institute for Fiscal Studies said some of the projections looked “unrealistic,” particularly on public spending.

    The IFS said the government will potentially need to raise up to another 9 billion pounds the year after next to avoid cutting spending in some departments.

    Although day-to-day spending is set to rise rapidly after Wednesday’s Budget, increasing by 4.3% this year and 2.6% next year, it then slows down to just 1.3% per year from 2026.

    IFS director Paul Johnson said keeping to a 1.3% increase will be “extremely challenging, to put it mildly.”

    There were some visible concerns in the markets that the budget sums don’t add up, and that growth will remain relatively low. On Thursday, the interest rates charged on U.K. bonds increased, while the pound was down against most other currencies, including the U.S. dollar.

    “The quiet optimism that appeared to be spreading during Rachel Reeves’ speech has evaporated and a higher risk premium has returned for U.K. debt,” said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at stockbrokers Hargreaves Lansdown. “Bond yields are set to stay volatile, as institutions financing government borrowing keep a more suspicious eye trained on what the swollen investment budget will be spent on.”

    The center-left Labour party won a landslide election victory July 4 after promising to end years of turmoil and scandal under successive Conservative governments, get Britain’s economy growing and restore frayed public services. But the scale of the measures announced on Wednesday by Reeves exceeded Labour’s cautious general election campaign.

    During the election, Labour said it would not raise taxes on “working people” — a loose term whose definition has been hotly debated in the media for weeks. Though Reeves did not increase taxes on income or sales, the Conservatives said hiking taxes on employers was a breach of Labour’s election promise and would lead to lower wages.

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  • The Latest: New analysis says both Trump and Harris’ plans would increase the deficit

    The Latest: New analysis says both Trump and Harris’ plans would increase the deficit

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    No one is likely to be happy with the projected higher deficits laid out in a new analysis of Kamala Harris’ and Donald Trump’s economic plans.

    The analysis released Monday by the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget suggests a Harris presidency could increase the national debt over 10 years by $3.5 trillion. The same analysis says former President Trump’s ideas could heap another $7.5 trillion onto the debt and possibly as much as $15.2 trillion.

    Follow the AP’s Election 2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

    Here’s the latest:

    President Joe Biden has spoken with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to discuss preparations in Florida for the approaching Hurricane Milton and ongoing recovery efforts from the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene.

    The White House confirmed the president’s call with the governor after Vice President Kamala Harris earlier on Monday accused DeSantis of “playing political games” and engaging in “political gamesmanship” over the federal response to Helene.

    Biden, according to the White House, asked DeSantis “to call him directly if there is anything that can be done to further support the response and recovery efforts.”

    Harris’ office suggested earlier that DeSantis was dodging Harris, saying she reached out to the governor last week but the two never spoke.

    DeSantis said that he “didn’t know that she had called” and “they didn’t call me.”

    Biden also spoke on Monday with Tampa Mayor Jane Castor and received a detailed briefing from National Weather Service Director Ken Graham on the expected impact Milton will cause.

    Graham stressed during the briefing that people in the storm’s path should evacuate now while there’s time to do so.

    Vice President Kamala Harris says she owns a Glock pistol and that she has fired it at a shooting range.

    “I’ve had it for quite some time,” said Harris, during an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” aired on Monday evening.

    Harris last month at a campaign event with Oprah Winfrey noted that she was a gun owner. She caused a stir when she told Winfrey, “If somebody breaks into my house, they’re getting shot.”

    Harris has advocated for stricter gun safety laws, while also underscoring that she and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are gun owners.

    Harris laughed when asked by “60 Minutes” journalist Bill Whitaker if she had ever shot her weapon.

    “Of course I have,” Harris said. “At a shooting range.”

    Vice President Kamala Harris criticized Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, suggesting the Republican is “playing political games” and engaging in “political gamesmanship” over the federal response to Hurricane Helene’s destruction.

    Harris’ office said the vice president reached out to DeSantis last week in the storm’s aftermath but that the pair never spoke.

    DeSantis said Monday that he “didn’t know that she had called” and “they didn’t call me.”

    The governor added, “It wasn’t anything anybody in my office did in saying that it was political.”

    A short time later, as she was boarding Air Force Two to fly to New York, Harris was asked about DeSantis and responded, “People are in desperate need of support right now and playing political games at this moment in these crisis situations … is utterly irresponsible.”

    “It is selfish and it is about political gamesmanship instead of doing the job that you took an oath to do, which is to put the people first,” Harris said without naming DeSantis.

    Vice President Kamala Harris is criticizing her opponent, former President Donald Trump, for spreading falsehoods about the federal response in the wake of Hurricane Helene.

    “There’s a lot of mis- and disinformation being pushed out there by the former president about what is available, particularly to the survivors of Helene,” Harris told reporters before boarding Air Force Two to fly to New York. “It’s extraordinarily irresponsible. It’s about him. It’s not about you.”

    Trump has falsely claimed that the federal government is intentionally withholding aid to Republican disaster victims, and far-right extremist groups have warned without evidence that officials plan to bulldoze affected communities and seize the land from residents.

    The vice president said, “The reality is that FEMA has so many resources that are available to folks who desperately need them now and resources that are about helping people get back on their feet and rebuild and have places to go.”

    “People are entitled to these resources, and it is critically important that people apply for the help that is there to support,” Harris added. “All those resources were created for just these types of moments, in an emergency situation, knowing that folks are entitled to have the relief that they so rightly need.”

    It might seem curious that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump appeared on Polish TV, as he did Monday.

    Trump gave Poland’s Republika TV a 10-minute interview, during which he praised the country’s President Andrzej Duda, a conservative whom Trump hosted for dinner in New York in April, a “very good man.”

    But considering states with some of the highest percentages of Americans of Polish ancestry — Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — it makes more sense. The three states are among the most competitive on the 2024 campaign map and account for a combined 44 Electoral College votes. The states rank in the top 5 nationally in Americans of Polish ancestry, along with Illinois and New York.

    “There is no president that’s been better to the Polish people,” Trump said during the interview.

    Trump touted his administration’s decision to sell military equipment to Poland and to oppose Russia’s gas pipeline to Germany that would have increased Europe’s dependence on Russian energy.

    Poland has concerns for its own security in the face of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, which borders Poland to the east. Poland supports Ukraine in the conflict.

    Trump has promised to end the war, should he win the Nov. 5 election, before even taking office in November.

    But Democratic nominee Kamala Harris has also upped her outreach to Polish Americans, notably by capitalizing on their animosity toward Russia and Trump’s hesitancy to back Ukraine publicly, such as during the debate with Harris last month.

    There are an estimated 784,000 Americans of Polish descent in Michigan, 758,000 in Pennsylvania and 481,000 in Wisconsin, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

    Vice President Kamala Harris’ transition team has reached an agreement with the Biden administration on rules for accessing government offices and records should she win the November presidential election.

    Former President Donald Trump’s team has yet to reach a similar agreement, according to an administration official speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss transition planning.

    Congress called for the agreements to be reached by Oct. 1 of a presidential election year to enable all major party nominees to be prepared to assume the presidency on Inauguration Day.

    It’s the latest transition planning milestone that Trump is behind on. The former president has also yet to reach an agreement to utilize General Services Administration support and official space, like the Harris team has, which Congress in the Presidential Transition Act, had wanted met by Sept. 1.

    — By Zeke Miller

    Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance headlined a 1,500-strong rally Monday to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

    “This terrible assault on the Jewish people must never be allowed to happen again,” Vance, an Ohio senator, told the crowds gathered near the Washington Monument. “Every single American of common sense and principle must reject it.”

    The event took place under a massive security deployment due to both Vance’s presence and fear of attack.

    Tall fencing draped with black fabric ringed a vast swath of lawn across the street from the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Multiple law enforcement agencies, including Secret Service and Park Police, on horseback, locked down the area.

    Attendees said they came to send a message of solidarity with Israel.

    “I think that Jews in America often feel like they have to apologize or feel bashful about their identity,” said Miriam Regev, who came from New York City to attend.

    Regev said she wasn’t a Republican but was impressed by Vance’s words. She holds “serious concerns” about former president and Republican nominee Donald Trump, but added “there’s no doubt in my mind that a Trump-Vance administration would be much more strongly pro-Israel.”

    Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz visited an exhibition dedicated to some of the victims of the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel, according to the Harris-Walz campaign.

    Walz, the running mate of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, attended the exhibition in Culver City, California, that was dedicated to the victims who were maimed, killed or kidnapped from the Nova music festival on that date.

    Survivor Noa Beer and event producer Virginia Fout led Walz on a tour that featured original artifacts from the festival and displays that depicted the gruesomeness of the attack. Walz spent time at a Memorial Wall dedicated to those who were murdered.

    Around 3,000 people were dancing in a field in Israel just miles from Gaza when heavily armed Palestinian militants rampaged through the festival, killing at least 364 people and taking more than 40 hostage. At least some are still held in Gaza.

    North Carolina’s bipartisan state elections board unanimously approved an emergency resolution making several changes to how voters in 13 western North Carolina counties can cast their ballots by Election Day.

    The resolution comes less than two weeks after deadly Helene destroyed large swaths of western North Carolina, displacing residents, damaging homes and washing away roads.

    In a critical presidential election that may hinge on which way the battleground state swings, that widespread disruption also presents major problems for how residents can cast their votes.

    “I’m generally very hesitant to make changes to the normal running our election,” said Stacy Eggers IV, a Republican board member from Boone in western North Carolina. “But these have been tailored to give flexibility to the county boards to meet those specific needs.”

    One of the biggest changes allows affected voters to turn an absentee ballot in on Election Day by 7:30 p.m. to polling places operated by their county elections board.

    Displaced voters may also turn in ballots to another county’s elections board by the same deadline.

    The resolution also expands opportunities to pick up an absentee ballot in-person from a county elections office until the day before the election.

    Trump claimed in a radio interview on Monday morning that he polls so well in Israel that he could run for office.

    “I could run for prime minister, although Bibi’s doing a lot better right now,” he said, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    Speaking on WABC radio, the former president said that in the U.S., “very conservative Jews, very, very conservative, they’re all for Trump, every, 100% because I’ve done things that are — they understand it.”

    “I heard I’m doing very well with New York, Jewish people from New York, I hear I’m doing well,” Trump said.

    Trump appeared on the same radio program in July with host Sid Rosenberg and claimed Vice President Kamala Harris, who is married to a Jewish man, “doesn’t like Jewish people.”

    He repeated his claims that the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas never would have happened if he were still president.

    Soon, the ballots will be cast, the polls will close and a campaign marked by assassination attempts, animosity and anxiety will come to an end. But for U.S. adversaries, the work to meddle with American democracy may be entering its most critical phase.

    Despite all the attention on efforts to spread disinformation in the months before the Nov. 5 election, the hours and days immediately after voting ends could offer foreign adversaries like Russia, Iran and China or domestic extremist groups the best chance to mess with America’s decision.

    That’s when Americans will go online to see the latest results or share their opinions as the votes are tabulated. And that’s when a fuzzy photo or AI-generated video of supposed vote tampering could do its most damage, potentially transforming online outrage into real-world action before authorities have time to investigate the facts.

    It’s a threat taken seriously by intelligence analysts, elected officials and tech executives, who say that while there’s already been a steady buildup of disinformation and influence operations, the worst may be yet to come.

    Turning Point’s representatives have made two things clear in meetings with state and local Republican leaders — Donald Trump has blessed their conservative organization to help lead his get-out-the-vote effort, and local party officials ought to use the group’s new voter mobilization app.

    Both prospects terrify fellow Republicans.

    Soaring to prominence after Trump’s unexpected 2016 win, Turning Point earned a reputation for hosting glitzy events, cultivating hard-right influencers and raising prodigious sums of money while enriching the group’s leaders. They’ve had far less success helping Republicans win, especially in their adopted home state of Arizona.

    Now the organization has leveraged its ties to Trump to expand its influence in a way that could be potentially lucrative. Turning Point has sought to lead an effort to remake the GOP’s get-out-the-vote effort based on the theory that there are thousands of Trump supporters who rarely vote but could be persuaded to in this year’s election. And they are pitching their new mobile app as vital to this effort’s success.

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  • California Gov. Gavin Newsom signs budget to close $46.8B budget deficit

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom signs budget to close $46.8B budget deficit

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    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday signed California’s budget to close an estimated $46.8 billion deficit through $16 billion in spending cuts and temporarily raising taxes on some businesses.

    Lawmakers passed the budget Wednesday following an agreement between Newsom and legislative leaders in which both sides made concessions and also had wins as they were forced, for the second year in a row, to pare back or delay some progressive policies that had been fueled by record-breaking surpluses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    “This is a responsible budget that prepares for the future while investing in foundational programs that benefit millions of Californians every day,” Newsom said in a statement. “Thanks to careful stewardship of the budget over the past few years, we’re able to meet this moment while protecting our progress on housing, homelessness, education, health care and other priorities that matter deeply to Californians.”

    The deficit was about $32 billion in 2023 before growing even bigger this year, with more deficits projected for the future in the nation’s most populous state. Saturday’s signing came just two years after Newsom and Democratic lawmakers were boasting about surpluses that totaled more than $100 billion, the product of hundreds of billions of dollars of federal COVID-19 aid and a progressive tax code that produced a windfall of revenue from the state’s wealthiest residents.

    But those revenue spikes did not last as inflation slowed the economy, contributing to rising unemployment and a slowdown in the tech industry that has driven much of the state’s growth. The Newsom administration then badly miscalculated how much money California would have last year after a seven-month delay in the tax filing deadline.

    California has historically been prone to large budget swings, given its reliance on its wealthiest taxpayers. But these deficits have come at a bad time for Newsom, who has been building his national profile ahead of a potential future run for president and has been tapped as a top surrogate for President Joe Biden’s campaign.

    The budget includes an agreement that Newsom and lawmakers will try to change the state constitution to let California put more money in reserve for future shortfalls.

    Republicans, however, said they were left out of negotiations. They criticized the tax increase on businesses, which applies to companies with at least $1 million in revenue and will last for three years, bringing in more than $5 billion extra for the state next year. And they criticized Democrats for some cuts to social safety net programs.

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  • California Legislature approves budget that slashes spending to address $46.8 billion deficit

    California Legislature approves budget that slashes spending to address $46.8 billion deficit

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    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California lawmakers approved a budget on Wednesday that slashes spending and temporarily raises taxes on some businesses to close an estimated $46.8 billion budget deficit.

    It’s the second year in a row the nation’s most populous state has been forced to pare back or delay some of its progressive policies that had been fueled by record-breaking surpluses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    It was just two years ago that Gov. Gavin Newsom and his fellow Democrats in the state Legislature were boasting about surpluses that totaled more than $100 billion, the product of hundreds of billions of dollars of federal COVID-19 aid and a progressive tax code that produced a windfall of revenue from the state’s wealthiest residents.

    Those revenue spikes did not last as inflation slowed the state’s economy, contributing to a rising unemployment rate and a slowdown in the tech industry that has driven much of the state’s growth. The Newsom administration then badly miscalculated how much money the state would have last year after a seven-month delay in the tax filing deadline.

    Last year’s deficit was about $32 billion. This year’s deficit swelled to $46.8 billion — with more deficits projected for the future.

    California’s budget has historically been prone to large swings in revenue, given the state’s reliance on its wealthiest taxpayers. But these deficits have come at a bad time for Newsom, who has been building his national profile ahead of a potential run for president one day and has been tapped as one of the top surrogates for President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign.

    The budget includes an agreement that Newsom and lawmakers will try to change the state constitution in the coming years to allow California to put more money in reserve to prepare for future shortfalls.

    “California needs to have fiscal reform to prevent these wild swings in revenue that causes us to make really difficult decisions,” Democratic Assemblymember David Alvarez said.

    Newsom’s plan to balance the budget includes a nearly 10% cut for nearly all state departments, including eliminating thousands of vacant state worker positions.

    Many previous promises have been paused or delayed. Two years ago, lawmakers pledged to help pay child care expenses for an additional 200,000 families by 2026. This budget delays that promise to 2028, with the caveat it will only happen if there is money available for it.

    A promise to increase the pay for workers who help people with developmental disabilities find jobs has been delayed by six months — which advocates say will cost them roughly $500 million in lost revenue. And a promise to change foster care rates has been pushed back one year.

    A promise made last year to increase the minimum wage for health care workers this summer has been delayed until January at the latest.

    Other major expansions have been protected, including making all low-income adults eligible for government-funded health insurance regardless of their immigration status and making school lunches free for all students.

    “In California, you don’t have to be profligate to be progressive,” Newsom said of the budget during his State of the State address on Tuesday. “We understand how to balance budgets while protecting working families, children and the most vulnerable people in this state.”

    Republicans said they were left out of budget negotiations. They criticized the tax increase on businesses, which applies to companies with at least $1 million in revenue and will last for three years, bringing in more than $5 billion in extra revenue for the state next year. And they criticized Democrats for some cuts to some social safety net programs.

    “We are seeing what I can only characterize as heartless cuts for those that are hurting the most. We can do a whole lot better than this,” Republican Assemblymember Jim Patterson said.

    The budget represents an agreement between Newsom and legislative leaders in which both sides had victories and concessions. The Legislature agreed to loan Pacific Gas & Electric $400 million as part of a plan to extend the life of the state’s only remaining nuclear power plant. And Newsom agreed to abandon some of his most controversial cuts to social services programs, including agreeing to pay for people to care for some disabled immigrants who are on Medicaid.

    The budget spends $136 billion on public education next year, or about $24,000 per student. Lawmakers agreed to reduce spending on public schools by about $8 billion but pulled an equal amount from reserves to protect schools from those spending cuts. The complex maneuver ensures districts will have more money in future years, rejecting one of Newsom’s earlier proposals.

    “Since the beginning of this year we have been committed to a budget that protects classroom funding and invests in our greatest resources, our children,” Democratic Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel said.

    Newsom is expected to sign the budget into law in the coming days.

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  • Hong Kong court convicts 14 pro-democracy activists in the city’s biggest national security case

    Hong Kong court convicts 14 pro-democracy activists in the city’s biggest national security case

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    HONG KONG — A Hong Kong court Thursday convicted 14 pro-democracy activists in the city’s biggest national security case under a law imposed by Beijing that has all but wiped out public dissent.

    Those found guilty included former lawmakers Leung Kwok-hung, Lam Cheuk-ting, Helena Wong and Raymond Chan. But the three judges approved by the government to oversee the case acquitted former district councilors Lee Yue-shun and Lawrence Lau. Those convicted could face up to life in prison.

    They were among 47 democracy advocates who were prosecuted in 2021 for their involvement in an unofficial primary election. Prosecutors had accused them of attempting to paralyze Hong Kong’s government and topple the city’s leader by securing the legislative majority necessary to indiscriminately veto budgets.

    In a summary of the verdict distributed to media, the court said the election participants had declared that they would “either actively use or use the power conferred on the (Legislative Council) by the (Basic Law) to veto the budgets.”

    Under the Basic Law, the chief executive would be compelled to dissolve the legislature and eventually step down if major bills such as the budget were vetoed.

    The court said that if the defendants had reached their aims, it would amount to “a serious interfering in, disrupting or undermining the performance of duties and functions in accordance with the law” by the Hong Kong government.

    The court was adjourned until later Thursday, and Judge Andrew Chan did not give further details on the court’s reasoning.

    Observers said the subversion case illustrates how the security law is being used to crush the political opposition following huge anti-government protests in 2019. But the Beijing and Hong Kong governments insist the law has helped bring back stability to the city and that judicial independence is being protected.

    When Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997, Beijing promised to retain the city’s Western-style civil liberties for 50 years. However, since the introduction of the 2020 law, Hong Kong authorities have severely limited free speech and assembly under the rubric of maintaining national security. Many activists were arrested, silenced or forced into self-exile. Dozens of civil society groups disbanded.

    The activists prosecuted in the main case included legal scholar Benny Tai, former student leader Joshua Wong and a dozen former lawmakers including Leung Kwok-hung and Claudia Mo.

    Thirty-one of them, including Tai, Wong and Mo, pleaded guilty to the charge of conspiracy to commit subversion. They have a better chance at shorter jail terms and will be sentenced at a later date.

    Sixteen others, including Leung, pleaded not guilty and underwent a non-jury trial. After Thursday’s verdicts, mitigation hearings will be scheduled to determine the sentences of those convicted.

    Dozens of residents had lined up outside the police-guarded court building before 6 a.m. Thursday to secure a seat in the public gallery for the verdicts. Some supporters who were among the first in the line came as early as Wednesday evening.

    Social worker Stanley Chang, a friend of one of the 16 defendants, said he arrived the site at 4 a.m. because he feared he could not get a seat. Chang said there were very few things supporters could do for them and that attending the hearing is a kind of company.

    “I want to give some support for my friend and the faces I saw in news reports,” he said, who is in his 30s.

    SL Chiu, who only gave his initials due to fear of government retribution, said the hearing marked a historic moment. To show his support, he said he had collected messages for the 47 activists from others in a sketchbook and planned to mail them if possible.

    “Hong Kongers are still here. We haven’t given up. We are still with you all,” he said.

    On Wednesday night, Lee Yue-shun, one of the accused, said on Facebook that Thursday was like a special graduation ceremony for him, though graduation is usually about sharing happiness with families and friends,

    “This perhaps best reflects the common helplessness of our generation,” he said.

    The July 2020 primary was meant to shortlist pro-democracy candidates who would then run in the official election. It drew an unexpectedly high turnout of 610,000 voters, representing over 13% of the city’s registered electorate.

    The pro-democracy camp at that time hoped they could secure a legislative majority, which would allow them to press for the 2019 protest demands, including greater police accountability and democratic elections for the city leader.

    But the government postponed the legislative election that would have followed the primary, citing public health risks during the coronavirus pandemic. The electoral laws were later overhauled, drastically reducing the public’s ability to vote and increasing the number of pro-Beijing lawmakers making decisions for the city in the legislature.

    Beijing also had criticized the vote as a challenge to the security law, which criminalizes secession, subversion and collusion with foreign forces to intervene in the city’s affairs as well as terrorism.

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  • Lawmakers criticize a big pay raise for themselves before passing a big spending bill

    Lawmakers criticize a big pay raise for themselves before passing a big spending bill

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    TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas legislators approved on Friday another year’s worth of funding for most state agencies and services after a few lawmakers staged a last-minute public protest over a 93% pay increase for themselves coming next year.

    The Republican-controlled Senate approved, 26-12, a bill with about $19 billion in spending for the state’s 2025 budget year, which begins July 1. It covers most of the spending outside of aid to the state’s public schools, which is in a separate measure that has stalled.

    The Senate’s action came hours after the GOP-controlled House approved the bill, 78-44, so the measure goes next to Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. She’s likely to sign the bill, but the state constitution allows her to veto individual spending items, which she has done regularly in the past.

    The bill would provide a 5% pay increase for all state government workers, plus larger increases for public safety workers and workers whose pay has lagged behind their counterparts in the private sector. But those increases are far short of the pay raise for lawmakers taking effect at the start of 2025 under a law enacted last year that didn’t require them to vote on the increase.

    Critics of the pay raise managed to get the Senate to include in its version of the next state budget a provision delaying the pay raise at least another year. House and Senate negotiators didn’t include it in the final version of Friday’s spending bill, prompting opponents to complain about the gap between the 93% raise for lawmakers and the 5% raise for most state workers.

    “People don’t trust politicians,” said Sen. Rob Olson, a Kansas City-area Republican. “This is why.”

    Legislators planned to adjourn by early Saturday morning for a spring break and return April 25 for a final five days in session.

    For three years, Kansas has been flush with revenues, and under the spending approved Friday, the state still would have more than $3.7 billion in excess funds at the end of June 2025.

    Kelly and lawmakers want to cut taxes, but a compromise plan from her and GOP leaders failed Thursday. House and Senate negotiators drafted a new plan Friday evening to cut income, sales and property taxes by more than $1.5 billion over three years, but Kelly’s chief of staff, Will Lawrence, said it “far exceeds” what she deems affordable.

    Legislators also haven’t approved a bill with $6 billion in spending for the K-12 public school system. The state’s 286 districts will see an increase in aid between $240 million and $320 million, or between 4.9% and 6.5%. However, disagreements over special education policies led the Senate to reject one bill Thursday, 12-26, forcing lawmakers to try to draft a new version.

    The bill funding other parts of the budget included provisions from GOP senators aimed at forcing Kelly to provide help to Texas in its border security fight with the Biden administration and restrict diversity programs on college campuses.

    House and Senate negotiators decided not to delay the legislative pay raise.

    A bipartisan commission of mostly former legislators concluded last year that lawmakers are underpaid and that low pay keeps younger and less wealthy people and people of color out of the Legislature. The law creating the commission allowed the raise to take effect unless both chambers rejected it by early February, which they didn’t.

    The increase will be nearly $28,000 a year for rank-and-file legislators, boosting their total compensation from $30,000 to nearly $58,000, including daily expense reimbursements in session. Legislative leaders get additional payments because of their duties, and the House speaker and Senate president will make more than $85,000 a year, up from $44,000.

    During the House’s debate, Republican Rep. Chuck Smith, of southeastern Kansas, backed the pay raise by praising the work of the chairs of the House budget committee and a committee on K-12 spending.

    “We ought to be thanking these people for what they do,” Smith said. “It’s unbelievable, the quality of people we have in here.”

    The tone was far different in the Senate. Facing a barrage of questions from Olson and Sen. Dennis Pyle, a northeastern Kansas Republican, Billinger acknowledged that he doesn’t think the big pay raise is appropriate.

    “Something’s very, very wrong,” Pyle said. “It’s a sad day for Kansas.”

    Pay for lawmakers varies widely by state, according to National Conference of State Legislatures data. New Hampshire’s salary is $100 a year — the same as in 1889 — while New Mexico pays $202 to cover lawmakers’ expenses in session but no salary.

    Alaska lawmakers’ salaries rose by 67% from $50,400 to $84,000 at the start of their annual session this year, and New Jersey legislators will see their pay increase in 2026, also by 67%, from $49,000 to $82,000. New York lawmakers received a 29% raise at the start of 2023, making their pay the highest in the nation at $142,000 a year.

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  • New Mexico legislators back slower, sustained growth in government programs with budget plan

    New Mexico legislators back slower, sustained growth in government programs with budget plan

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    SANTA FE, N.M. — Leading New Mexico lawmakers on Friday recommended a 5.9% increase in general fund spending for the coming fiscal year amid a windfall in oil-related income, while also sounding a cautionary note on the future of the state’s petroleum bonanza and setting aside more money in savings and investment accounts.

    The proposal from a lead budget writing committee to the Democratic-led Legislature would increase general fund spending by $566 million to $10.1 billion for the fiscal year running from July 2024 to June 2025. The increased general spending represents a fraction of an anticipated $3.5 billion surplus of state income in excess of current tax obligations.

    The budget blueprint would bolster efforts to improve student achievement in public education, buttresses health care for people in poverty or on the cusp as federal support for Medicaid recedes in the aftermath of the pandemic, and provide pay raises averaging 4% to state employees along with compensation boosts at public school and colleges.

    Support for childhood wellbeing also figures prominently, including a recommendation to increased spending from an early childhood education trust to expand prekindergarten and home visits from nurses for parents of infants and toddlers. The early childhood education trust was established in 2020 amid an extraordinary surge in oil-related income and already contains roughly $6 billion.

    State Sen. George Muñoz of Gallup warned that the state budget is more reliant than ever on income from oil and natural gas — a commodity subject to volatile swings in pricing and production.

    “That’s a very dangerous situation in the end,” said Muñoz, chairman of two lead budget-writing committees. “I think this is a very sound budget. … It keeps the state of New Mexico able to grow over the next couple years without having massive cuts” later on.

    The legislature convenes Jan. 16 for a rapid-fire, 30-day legislative session centered on budget negotiations. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham can veto any and all budget provisions approved by legislators.

    Republican state Sen. Pat Woods of Grady said he’s urging colleagues in the Democratic majority to be reasonable and slow the pace of recent budget increases.

    “Do we even know what we’re funding is working?” said Woods, one of 14 GOP senators who are outnumbered nearly 2-1 by Democrats in the chamber. “Do we need to maybe hold off from any more big expenditures to get a general idea of where the funding is working.”

    Spending on public schools would increase increase by $243 million, or 5.8%, to $4.42 billion under the proposal from legislators.

    The plan also would significantly increase spending on the state courts system, local prosecutors and public defenders amid heightened concerns about crime and gun violence in Albuquerque.

    State Rep. Derrick Lente of Sandia Pueblo said the budget plan leaves room for $200 million in tax reductions and incentives.

    Lujan Grisham last year used her veto powers to scale back a tax relief package based on concerns it could undermine future spending on public education, heath care and law enforcement. Vetoed items included reduced tax rates on personal income, sales and business transactions. Credits toward the purchase of electric vehicles and related charging equipment also were vetoed — but are back on the negotiating table this year.

    “We’re taking a much more conservative approach for our tax proposal this year,” said Lente, chairman of lead House committee on taxation.

    A rival budget proposal from Lujan Grisham would increase general fund spending more dramatically by about $950 million, or nearly 10%, to $10.5 billion, with major initiatives to shore up homeownership and affordable housing opportunities.

    Both budget proposals signal a likely end to three straight years of bulk state money transfers to New Mexico households. The most recent rebates in 2023 exceeded $600 million in individual payments of $500.

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  • Greek parliament passes government's 2024 budget

    Greek parliament passes government's 2024 budget

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    ATHENS, Greece — The Greek parliament on Sunday evening approved the government’s 2024 budget, the first in 14 years with Greek debt listed at investment grade.

    The budget passed on a 158-142 vote in the 300-member body, with only lawmakers from the governing conservative New Democracy party voting for it. In a separate vote, the defense budget was approved 249-51, an unusually wide margin.

    A relatively low-key debate over the budget lasted five days.

    The budget forecasts 2.9% growth in the economy for 2024, up from a projected 2.4% in 2023, which is four times faster than the Eurozone average. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he hoped the economy could grow at least 3%, based on strong investment spending, forecast to rise 15.1%.

    Greece’s gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, was predicted to top 200 billion euros ($218 billion) for the first time since 2010, when Greece had to be rescued after defaulting on its debt.

    Inflation was forecast to average 2.8%, slightly higher than initial estimates, mainly because of persistently high food prices. The government expects to spend about 2.5 billion euros in subsidies to prop up lower incomes hit by inflation, including high electricity prices.

    Answering opposition critics who argued the economy is mostly creating low-paying precarious jobs, Mitsotakis said the minimum wage is set to rise for the fourth time in three years in April. He also said 660,000 civil servants will see real pay hikes for the first time in 14 years in January.

    But Mitsotakis also conceded problems persist, including many structural weaknesses in the economy and the way the government operates that helped bring on the financial crisis in the 2010s. The answer, he said, is bolder and deeper reforms.

    As is customary, the parliament recessed for the end-of-year holidays after the budget vote.

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  • Germany's Scholz confident of resolving budget crisis, says no dismantling of the welfare state

    Germany's Scholz confident of resolving budget crisis, says no dismantling of the welfare state

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    BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Saturday he is confident that his troubled government will find a good solution to a budget crisis triggered by a court ruling last month, and promised his center-left party there will be no dismantling of the country’s welfare state.

    Leaders of Scholz’s three-party coalition have been wrangling over money since Germany’s highest court annulled a decision to repurpose 60 billion euros ($65 billion) originally meant to cushion the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic for measures to help combat climate change and modernize the country.

    The immediate challenge is to plug a 17 billion-euro hole in next year’s budget. Scholz, Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck and Finance Minister Christian Lindner have met repeatedly to seek to resolve the impasse, but have run out of time to get the budget through parliament before the new year starts.

    The issue has added to tensions in the 2-year-old coalition, which has become notorious for infighting and has seen its poll ratings slump. The alliance brings together Scholz’s Social Democrats and Habeck’s environmentalist Greens, who also traditionally lean to the left, with Lindner’s pro-business Free Democrats.

    Lindner and his party have portrayed themselves as guarantors of solid finances and adherence to Germany’s strict self-imposed limits on running up debt — the rules at the center of last month’s court ruling — and have advocated spending cuts.

    Some members, along with the conservative opposition, have questioned a roughly 12% increase in unemployment benefits that is due to take effect in January. Germany’s inflation rate has now declined to 3.2% from much higher levels earlier this year.

    “I want to impart confidence here that we will succeed” in finding a solution, “and that we will succeed in a way that is important for the future of this country,” Scholz told a regular convention of the Social Democrats in Berlin Saturday. “We’re not facing an insoluble task; we just all have to agree.”

    “But for me it is very clear that there will be no dismantling of the welfare state in Germany in such a situation,” he told delegates, to applause.

    He said it “belongs to the DNA of our country” and is “the basis of prosperity in our country that you’re not given up on without hope, but again and again get an opportunity to manage and fight for your own prospects.”

    The discussion about the unemployment benefit hike is “very odd,” given that the preceding increase was small and the next one probably will be too, Scholz said. “I think we have to resist,” he added, noting that parliament had approved it with opposition support.

    Recent polls have shown support for the Social Democrats languishing at just 14-16%, far behind the 25.7% with which they narrowly won Germany’s 2021 election. They trail both the conservative opposition Union bloc and the far-right Alternative for Germany.

    Scholz noted that governments in Germany’s neighbors also have squabbled lately — “that doesn’t make it better … but one must say that it can’t be a coincidence.”

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  • DeSantis wants to cut 1,000 jobs, but asks for $1 million to sue over Florida State's football snub

    DeSantis wants to cut 1,000 jobs, but asks for $1 million to sue over Florida State's football snub

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    Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is recommending Florida eliminate more than 1,000 state jobs in a spending proposal that cuts the current budget by more $4.6 billion

    ByThe Associated Press

    December 5, 2023, 4:55 PM

    FILE – Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during the Family Leader’s Thanksgiving Family Forum, Friday, Nov. 17, 2023, in Des Moines, Iowa. DeSantis on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023, recommended Florida eliminate more than 1,000 state jobs in a spending proposal released Tuesday that cuts the current budget by more $4.6 billion while maintaining popular sales tax holidays. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

    The Associated Press

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis recommended Florida eliminate more than 1,000 state jobs in a spending proposal released Tuesday that cuts the current budget by more $4.6 billion while maintaining popular sales tax holidays.

    DeSantis is calling for a $114.4 billion budget. Unlike most years, the presidential candidate announced his budget far from the state Capitol in a news conference held at a charter school on Marco Island in southwest Florida.

    Instead of detailing what jobs he wants cut, DeSantis spent more time highlighting past achievements and lamenting the decision to exclude the undefeated Florida State University Seminoles from the college football championship playoff.

    DeSantis said he is asking for $1 million to let FSU sue the College Football Playoff committee even though the championship will be decided months before a budget is approved.

    “My first-grader, my fifth-grader and my preschooler … they are all ‘noles and they are big-time fans and they do the tomahawk chop and they were not happy,” DeSantis said. “We are going to set aside $1 million and let the chips fall where they may.”

    DeSantis is also recommending more than $1 billion in tax cuts, including a repeat of sales tax holidays for school and hurricane supplies and for recreation activities.

    DeSantis’ recommendation is simply a suggestion to the Legislature, which will begin its annual session next month. Once the Legislature agrees on a spending plan, DeSantis will have power to veto individual items.

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  • Germany is having a budget crisis while the economy struggles

    Germany is having a budget crisis while the economy struggles

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    FRANKFURT, Germany — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed Tuesday that his government will work “as fast as possible” to solve a budget crisis, but he offered few details on how he would achieve his goals of promoting clean energy and modernizing the struggling economy after a court decision struck down billions in planned spending.

    Scholz and his quarrelsome governing coalition must decide what to cut next year after Germany’s top court ruled that 60 billion euros ($65 billion) in funding for renewable energy projects and relief for consumers and businesses from high energy prices caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine violated debt limits set out in the constitution.

    Cuts that need to be made next year could further slow down what is already the world’s worst-performing major economy.

    Germans “need clarity in unsettled times,” Scholz said in a speech to parliament. He promised that the government would not abandon its goals of sharply reducing carbon emissions from fossil fuels and protecting social spending.

    Speaking over outbursts of derisive laughter from opposition members, Scholz said it would be “a serious, an unforgivable mistake … to neglect the modernization of our country.”

    In terms of where to reduce spending, he said a cap on consumers’ utility bills is no longer needed because energy prices have fallen, although the government would act if they rose again. “You’ll never walk alone,” Scholz said, quoting the song title in English.

    The now-banned spending was aimed at some of the long-term problems plaguing growth in Europe’s largest economy, such as the need to invest in new sources of affordable renewable energy like wind, solar and hydrogen and to support battery and computer chip production.

    That has led to calls from some to loosen the debt limits because they restrict the government’s response to new challenges.

    But Scholz’s coalition of Social Democrats, Greens and pro-business Free Democrats doesn’t have the two-thirds majority to do that without the conservative opposition, the Christian Democrats, who brought the legal challenge in the first place.

    Opposition leader Friedrich Merz criticized Scholz as a “know-it-all” who wasn’t willing to change course and “lacked any idea of how the country should develop in the coming years.” He vowed to uphold the debt limits.

    There was a lack of details from Scholz on what could be cut next year. On top of that, a long-term solution could take years, possibly until after the next national elections scheduled for 2025.

    Economists say spending cuts will only add to the challenges facing Germany after Russia cut off the cheap natural gas that fueled its factories, squeezing businesses and raising the cost of living for households paying more for energy.

    The constitution limits deficits to 0.35% of economic output, though the government can go beyond that if there’s an emergency it didn’t create, such as the pandemic.

    Germany’s constitutional court said the government could not shift unused emergency funding meant for COVID-19 relief to boost wind and solar projects, help with energy bills and encourage investment in computer chip production.

    Some of the banned spending has already been used. To comply with the ruling, the government is changing the 2023 budget by declaring an emergency, citing Russia’s natural gas cutoff.

    The question now is next year’s budget. The government would have to scramble to cover shortfalls of roughly 30 billion to 40 billion euros — plus 20 billion to 30 billion euros for 2025 — compared with earlier plans, according to Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg bank.

    Some spending can be moved to public-private partnerships or taken over by the country’s development bank. But those fudges will only go so far.

    Ultimately, spending may be reduced by as much as 0.5% of annual economic output for the next two budget years, Schmieding said.

    The debt limits were enacted in 2009 after the government piled up debt paying to rebuild former East Germany after Germany reunified at the end of the Cold War and when tax revenue dropped during the 2007-2009 global financial crisis and Great Recession.

    For years afterward, Germany balanced its budget or even ran small surpluses as the economy lived large on cheap Russian natural gas and booming exports of luxury cars and industrial machinery, with rapidly growing China serving as a major market. Economists say the government skimped on investment in infrastructure, renewable energy and digitalization — gaps it is now trying to make up.

    The fallout has left Germany projected to be the worst-performing major economy this year, shrinking by 0.5%, according to the International Monetary Fund.

    Prospects for next year are only a little better. Industry is struggling with energy prices and a lack of skilled labor, while Chinese automakers are challenging Germany’s Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz and have plans to expand sales across Europe.

    The budget debate is ironic because Germany has the smallest long-term debt pile of any of the Group of Seven advanced democracies, with debt of 66% of gross domestic product. That compares to 102% in Britain, 121% in the U.S., 144% in Italy and 260% in Japan.

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  • Germany slides deeper into budget crisis. Here’s what you need to know

    Germany slides deeper into budget crisis. Here’s what you need to know

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    German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (C), Finance Minister Christian Lindner (R) and Economy Minister Robert Habeck give statements to the media following the weekly government cabinet meeting on November 15, 2023 in Berlin, Germany.

    Sean Gallup | Getty Images News | Getty Images

    Germany’s budget is in trouble.

    Last week, the constitutional court ruled that it was unlawful to re-allocate unused debt originally designated for emergency Covid-19 pandemic funding to current spending plans.

    This week, the finance ministry froze spending across all ministries.

    But that could be just the tip of the iceberg as financial woes could lead to political ones, and even potentially endanger the future of Berlin’s coalition government.

    Germany didn’t get to this point overnight, however — in ways, the roots of the current crisis even predate the pandemic. And that is because of Germany’s so-called debt brake.

    A long time in the making

    Enacted in 2009, the debt brake limits how much debt the government can take on, and dictates the maximum size of the federal government’s structural budget deficit. The rules say it can be no bigger than 0.35 percent of Germany’s annual GDP.

    Since the global financial crisis, the debt brake has been the cornerstone of German fiscal policy.

    But then, the Covid-19 pandemic happened. The government took on emergency debt to try to stem the impact the pandemic had on its budget through a temporary debt brake suspension.

    As it turned out, the extra funding wasn’t actually needed. And so, the current coalition government decided to re-allocate it to finance policies aimed at climate change and a greener, more sustainable economy.

    Constitutional or not?

    Germany’s opposition was not happy about the re-allocation and eventually took the matter to Germany’s constitutional court. Last week, the verdict came in and, in a blow to the government, the court confirmed that the emergency funding was not allowed to be used for policy plans unrelated to the pandemic.

    The government appeared somewhat unprepared for this verdict and was left fumbling for answers when questioned by colleagues and the press.

    Some observers (and several Green party members), have suggested that the climate crisis is as much of an emergency as the pandemic. But the court’s ruling stands, and Germany’s budget now has a 60-billion-euro ($65 billion) hole.

    The government has since scrambled to figure out its financial plans, and earlier this week German media reported that the finance ministry had more or less shut down the possibility of any additional spending that hasn’t already been scheduled for 2023.

    A divided coalition

    A major factor in the government’s dilemma is the range of political positions the three coalition partners hold.

    There’s the Greens, who were the key instigators behind the climate policy plans that are now at risk and are therefore heavily attached to its success. Then the SPD, the social democrats, who would be content with making the debt brake more lenient or increase taxes. And the FDP, the Free Democratic Party, who control the finance ministry and don’t want higher taxes or higher debt.

    Germany, EU heavily impacted by trade tensions: Baker McKenzie

    But a full break up of the government is unlikely, according to a research note published by Eurasia Group directors Jan Techau, Mujtaba Rahman and Jens Larsen.

    “Government stability is not in question, and the coalition is still likely to complete its full term,” they said.

    “All three parties would face devastating losses in the (unlikely) case of snap elections, diminishing their appetite for breaking out of the current arrangement. No obvious new majority is possible in the current parliament,” they said.

    Any solutions?

    Solutions are still few and far between, especially ones that can be applied in the immediate term, and the government is still working on plans to readjust spending and funding that coalition partners can agree on.

    And in the long term?

    “An obvious way out would be to change the constitution,” Berenberg Bank’s Chief Economist Holger Schmieding said in a note. This would require a new consensus with at least some of the opposition politicians needed to reach the required two-thirds majority, he explained, which would mean political deals and sacrifices on divisive topics such as asylum rules.

    “For now, such a deal seems unlikely. But after the next election in September 2025, a (new) government that would once again need to include parts of the centre-right and centre-left may perhaps strike such a deal,” Schmieding said.

    Reforming the debt brake after the next General Election is also one of the paths ahead that Citi economists Christian Schulz, Giada Giani and Benjamin Nabarro foresee. They also note that long-term changes to the way the German government is funded could be ahead.

    “We expect the ruling to drive the government to build actual cash reserves in normal times as well as during emergencies, which would allow it to address long-term consequences of crises without breaching the debt break,” they wrote in a research note.

    And finally, the bar for what constitutes an “emergency” (and therefore allows for a suspension of the debt brake) could be lowered — and eventually perhaps even include the climate crisis.

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  • Albania’s opposition disrupts a budget vote with flares and piled-up chairs in Parliament

    Albania’s opposition disrupts a budget vote with flares and piled-up chairs in Parliament

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    TIRANA, Albania — Albanian opposition lawmakers disrupted the Parliament’s session again on Monday to protest what they say is increasingly authoritarian rule by the governing Socialists.

    Democratic lawmakers lit flares and piled chairs on top of each other in the middle of the hall the minute Prime Minister Edi Rama took his seat to vote on next year’s budget. A cordon of bodyguards stopped opposition lawmakers from getting near the seats of the Cabinet.

    The left-wing Socialists, who hold 73 seats in the 140-seat Parliament, made a quick vote in principle and closed the session in 5 minutes. A debate on each budget item is expected later this week.

    One of the flares sparked a small fire that was extinguished by opposition lawmakers.

    The opposition wants to create parliamentary investigative commissions to probe alleged cases of corruption involving Rama and other top government officials.

    The Socialists say the opposition’s requests are not in line with constitutional requirements.

    Gazmend Bardhi, one of the opposition lawmakers, said they would not allow the Parliament to carry out its normal work.

    “Our battle is to show to each citizen that this is not the Parliament representing them,” he said.

    But Bledi Cuci, head of the Socialists’ parliamentary grouping, urged Albanians to note that the Parliament was approving the largest budget ever, and twice the size of 2013 when the Socialists came to power.

    “In democracy, the opposition speaks with alternatives and not with flares,” he added.

    The disturbances first started last month, two days before prosecutors accused Sali Berisha, former prime minister and president for the Democratic Party, of corruption over of a land-buying scheme that’s now under legal investigation in the capital, Tirana.

    The prosecutors allege the 79-year-old Berisha granted financial favors to his son-in-law, who was arrested. Berisha has said that they are both innocent, and claims the case is politically motivated and that his opponent, Rama, is behind it.

    Bardhi said the opposition would radicalize its protests but did not elaborate.

    The opposition has been divided into at least three groupings since 2021 when Berisha and his family members were barred by the United States from entering the country, and later also the United Kingdom, because of alleged involvement in corruption. Berisha is the fourth top Albanian official to be barred from entering the U.S. on grounds of corruption.

    Post-communist Albania has struggled to fight corruption, which has impeded its democratic, economic and social development.

    ___

    Follow Llazar Semini at https://twitter.com/lsemini

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  • A health official in Michigan is taking her county to court over $4 million resignation offer

    A health official in Michigan is taking her county to court over $4 million resignation offer

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    LANSING, Mich. — The top health official in one of Michigan’s largest counties is asking a judge to uphold a $4 million settlement in exchange for her resignation, coming after months of conflict with local conservative leaders who were elected in response to COVID-19 restrictions.

    Ottawa County leaders had attempted to fire Adeline Hambley in January after they took majority control of the county’s board of commissioners. Finding themselves unable to, the board opted to offer her $4 million — equivalent to a quarter of the health department’s 2024 budget — in return for her resignation. She also would have had to drop her lawsuit against the county.

    The board backed off the offer, saying it was only a “tentative settlement agreement.” David Kallman, the county’s legal counsel, told The Associated Press that “there has never been an agreement by the board to accept the $4 million. There were discussions.”

    But Hambley’s lawyer filed a motion Thursday to enforce the settlement, and it’s scheduled to go in front of a judge on Nov. 27.

    “The parties agreed to settle this matter on Nov. 6, 2023. Now, defendants have remorse and want out of the deal,” Hambley’s lawyer, Sarah Riley-Howard, wrote in the filing.

    Public health officials and local health departments across the country became political targets during the pandemic due to lockdowns and restrictions.

    Ottawa County’s health department serves 300,000 residents in the western part of the state. Earlier this year, county commissioners voted to cut the department’s upcoming budget by nearly $4 million. The board had threatened deeper cuts, and Hambley took to social media to protest.

    The county’s 11-member board of commissioners was transformed last year when eight incumbents were defeated by a slate of challengers tied closely to a group known as Ottawa Impact, which was formed in 2021 partly in response to mask mandates in the county.

    Kyle Terpstra, a Republican commissioner, resigned from his position on the board Thursday, just hours after the Hambley lawsuit was filed. He said “significant changes in my personal and professional life” led to the resignation.

    Hambley sued the commissioners earlier this year for “termination in violation of public policy.” In October, the state’s appeals court ruled Hambley could be fired only for “just cause.”

    But following a nearly eight-hour closed session at a Nov. 6 meeting, commissioners voted to “accept counsel’s recommendation regarding litigation and settlement activities” regarding Hambley. The settlement was later revealed to be $4 million, in return for Hambley’s resignation.

    Hambley would work until at least Nov. 30 but no later than Dec. 15 under the agreement.

    Nathaniel Kelly, a safety manager at an HVAC company and who has no public health experience, is in line to take over the county health department.

    The county requested approval from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services for Kelly to serve as acting health officer, but the state told the county it couldn’t appoint a health officer until a vacancy exists, according to a spokesperson with the department.

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  • House Republicans look to pass two-step package to avoid partial government shutdown

    House Republicans look to pass two-step package to avoid partial government shutdown

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    WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled his proposal on Saturday to avoid a partial government shutdown by extending government funding for some agencies and programs until Jan. 19 and continuing funding for others until Feb. 2.

    The approach is unusual for a stopgap spending bill. Usually, lawmakers extend funding until a certain date for all programs. Johnson decided to go with the combination approach, addressing concerns from GOP lawmakers seeking to avoid being presented with a massive spending bill just before the holidays.

    “This two-step continuing resolution is a necessary bill to place House Republicans in the best position to fight for conservative victories,” Johnson said in a statement after speaking with GOP lawmakers in an afternoon conference call. “The bill will stop the absurd holiday-season omnibus tradition of massive, loaded up spending bills introduced right before the Christmas recess.”

    The bill excludes funding requested by President Joe Biden for Israel, Ukraine and the U.S. border with Mexico. Johnson said separating Biden’s request for an emergency supplemental bill from the temporary, stopgap measure “places our conference in the best position to fight for fiscal responsibility, oversight over Ukraine aid, and meaningful policy changes at our Southern border.”

    Hardline conservatives, usually loathe to support temporary spending measures of any sort, had indicated they would give Johnson some leeway to pass legislation, known as a continuing resolution, or CR, to give Congress more time to negotiate a long-term agreement.

    But some were critical in their reactions following the conference call.

    “My opposition to the clean CR just announced by the Speaker to the @HouseGOP cannot be overstated,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, tweeted on X. “Funding Pelosi level spending & policies for 75 days – for future ‘promises.’”

    The White House, meanwhile, panned the plan as “unserious,” unworkable and a threat to national security and domestic programs.

    “This proposal is just a recipe for more Republican chaos and more shutdowns—full stop,” said press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, pointing to opposition from members of both parties. “House Republicans need to stop wasting time on their own political divisions, do their jobs, and work in a bipartisan way to prevent a shutdown.”

    The federal government is operating under funding levels approved last year by a Democratic-led House and Senate. Facing a government shutdown when the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, Congress passed a 47-day continuing resolution, but the fallout was severe. Kevin McCarthy was booted from the speakership days later, and the House was effectively paralyzed for most of the month while Republicans tried to elect a replacement.

    Republicans eventually were unanimous in electing Johnson speaker, but his elevation has hardly eased the dynamic that led to McCarthy’s removal — a conference torn on policy as well as how much to spend on federal programs. This past week, Republicans had to pull two spending bills from the floor — one to fund transportation and housing programs and the other to fund the Treasury Department, Small Business Administration and other agencies — because they didn’t have the votes in their own party to push them through the House.

    A document explaining Johnson’s proposal to House Republicans, obtained by The Associated Press, said funding for four spending bills would be extended until Jan. 19. Veterans programs, and bills dealing with transportation, housing, agriculture and energy, would be part of that extension.

    Funding for the eight other spending bills, which include defense, the State Department, Homeland Security and other government agencies would be extended until Feb. 2.

    The document sent to GOP lawmakers and key staff states that Johnson inherited a budget mess. He took office less than three weeks ago and immediately began considering appropriations bills through regular order. Still, with just days remaining before a shutdown, a continuing resolution is now required.

    Underscoring the concerns about the possibility of a shutdown, the credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service lowered its outlook on the U.S. government’s debt on Friday to “negative” from “stable,” citing the cost of rising interest rates and political polarization in Congress.

    House Republicans pointed to the national debt, now exceeding $33 trillion, for Moody’s decision. Analysts have warned that with interest rates heading higher, interest costs on the national debt will eat up a rising share of tax revenue.

    Johnson said in reaction to the Moody’s announcement that House Republicans are committed to working in a bipartisan fashion for fiscal restraint, beginning with the introduction of a debt commission.

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  • House GOP targets IRS in bill to provide emergency aid to Israel

    House GOP targets IRS in bill to provide emergency aid to Israel

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    WASHINGTON — House Republicans went after the IRS — long a GOP whipping child — when they decided that emergency aid for Israel should be coupled with cuts elsewhere in the budget.

    The aid bill that passed the House on Thursday — unlikely to be approved by the Democratic-controlled Senate — would cut $14 billion from the nation’s tax collector in exchange for providing assistance to Israel. President Joe Biden has said he would veto the bill if it reaches his desk.

    The IRS cutback would cost taxpayers billions of dollars, not save money, according to independent budget analysts.

    A Congressional Budget Office analysis released this week states that the move would decrease revenues by $26.8 billion over the 2024 to 2033 period, resulting in a net increase in the deficit of $12.5 billion.

    That’s because it would take away money that the agency dedicated to auditing the wealthy, which brings in far more than it costs.

    “All of those funds go to increased scrutiny on tax evasion going on at the highest wealth — that is millionaires, billionaires, large corporations and large complex partnerships,” said IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel.

    “When you reduce those audits, you reduce the amount of money that we can collect and return to the Treasury for other priorities.”

    The agency was in line for an $80 billion infusion of funds under the Inflation Reduction Act approved in 2022, but that money has been subject to cutbacks.

    In June, legislation to raise the statutory debt limit also rescinded $1.4 billion given to the federal tax collector through the IRA. The debt deal also included a separate agreement to take $20 billion from the IRS over the next two years and divert that money to other nondefense programs, the White House said.

    Werfel said the initial loss of $14 billion in the latest bill would amount to an overall $90 billion in lost revenue over the next 10 years, based on an IRS model that calculates a 6 to 1 ratio of money spent to revenue collected.

    Maya MacGuineas, president of the private Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said paying for the Israel aid by taking money from tax enforcement “is worse than not paying for it at all.”

    “Instead of avoiding new borrowing, this plan doubles down on it,” she said.

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  • North Dakota lawmakers are preparing to fix a budget mess. What’s on their plate?

    North Dakota lawmakers are preparing to fix a budget mess. What’s on their plate?

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    BISMARCK, N.D. — North Dakota lawmakers are scheduled to be back in Bismarck on Monday to begin a special session to fix a budget mess after the state Supreme Court struck down a major funding bill last month.

    Here is a preview of the issues involved in the special session and what awaits Republican Gov. Doug Burgum and the Republican-controlled Legislature.

    Last month, the North Dakota Supreme Court struck down a major budget bill as unconstitutional. The bill was mainly intended to fund the state Office of Management and Budget but has typically been used in the past as a catchall or cleanup bill passed at the end of the biennial legislative session.

    By embracing too many different topics, the court ruled the measure violated the state constitution’s single-subject requirement for bills.

    The surprising decision came as a result of a lawsuit brought by the board overseeing the state’s government retirement plans. The board targeted a change in the bill that increased the number of lawmakers serving on the panel from two to four and argued it is unconstitutional for legislators to sit on the panel.

    Burgum called the special session days after the court refused to delay its decision to give extra time requested by the Legislature to deal with the situation.

    The court’s ruling blew a giant hole in state government operations, requiring lawmakers to return to Bismarck to essentially resurrect the voided legislation with 14 bill drafts advanced Friday by a top legislative panel.

    Burgum has expressed confidence in the Legislature righting the situation by Nov. 1, the next payroll date for state employees. The Office of Management and Budget cannot pay employees until a budget is passed, gubernatorial spokesperson Mike Nowatzki said.

    Legal questions also remain about whether certain salary raises could continue to be applied across the state government, Nowatzki said.

    The voided bill also included transfers from state government funds, K-12 education aid, a special criminal penalty for supplying drugs resulting in overdose deaths and injuries and details for transitioning the state’s public employee pension plan to a 401(k)-style plan for new hires.

    Burgum’s executive order for the special session says the Legislature should complete its business by Friday.

    The panel allowed lawmakers on Tuesday to submit bill proposals for the special session, with more than 25 emerging for consideration, including bills providing tax cuts, maintaining the wild horses in Theodore Roosevelt National Park and allowing raw milk products for sale.

    Only one proposal advanced, a resolution in support of Israel during the ongoing war with Hamas.

    Most lawmakers have preferred to focus only on the voided budget bill’s items and any emergent issues that can’t wait until the Legislature regularly convenes in 2025, Republican House Majority Leader Mike Lefor told reporters.

    Republican Senate Majority Leader David Hogue has said lawmakers had to manage scheduling conflicts with crop harvests, weddings, overseas vacations and scheduled surgeries in preparing for the special session.

    Burgum, who is running for president, will be in Bismarck all week except for Wednesday when he is scheduled to deliver a welcome address at an event in Watford City, Nowatzki said.

    The governor is preparing to detail his priorities for the special session in a State of the State speech Monday.

    Republican legislative majority leaders had negotiated with Burgum for the special session, agreeing to listen to him on subjects concerning energy, tax cuts and infrastructure, but they didn’t agree to advance any specific proposals from Burgum, Lefor said Tuesday.

    The governor’s executive order included “strategic investments” in tax relief and infrastructure among the purposes for the special session, but no proposals along those lines advanced Friday.

    The Legislature could have reconvened using the five days remaining from its 80-day limit every two years to meet, but any legislation passed would not take effect for 90 days without an emergency clause for immediate effectiveness upon the governor’s signature. Otherwise, bills passed in a special session become effective on the date determined in the legislation.

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  • Americans’ faith in institutions has been sliding for years. The chaos in Congress isn’t helping

    Americans’ faith in institutions has been sliding for years. The chaos in Congress isn’t helping

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    WASHINGTON — For many Americans, the Republican dysfunction that has ground business in the U.S. House to a halt as two wars rage abroad and a budget crisis looms at home is feeding into a longer-term pessimism about the country’s core institutions.

    The lack of faith extends beyond Congress, with recent polling conducted both before and after the leadership meltdown finding a mistrust in everything from the courts to organized religion. The GOP internal bickering that for nearly three weeks has left open the speaker’s position — second in line to the presidency — is widely seen as the latest indication of deep problems with the nation’s bedrock institutions.

    “They’re holding up the people’s business because they’re so dysfunctional,” said Christopher Lauff, 57, of Fargo, North Dakota.

    Part of that business, he said, is approving money for Ukraine to continue its fight against Russia’s invasion, something he says ultimately helps the U.S. — a point President Joe Biden stressed Thursday during an Oval Office address.

    “We’re usually the knight in shining armor, but we can’t be that now,” said Lauff, a Democrat.

    The disdain for Congress is just one area where Americans say they are losing faith. Various polls say the negative feelings include a loss of confidence or interest in institutions such as organized religion, policing, the Supreme Court, even banking.

    “Trust in institutions has deteriorated substantially,” said Kay Schlozman, professor of political science at Boston College. Schlozman said she believes in government and the things it provides, such as national defense and access to health care, but “I also can very much understand why the American people can be cynical about government.”

    The turmoil in the House and the federal case against Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, who is facing charges for bribery, show that both major parties are contributing to the dour outlook.

    The House has been without a permanent leader since early October after a small cadre of right-wing Republicans pushed out a member of their own party, then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Subsequent attempts to replace him have failed.

    “That is an example of exactly the kind of thing that I would say can’t foster trust of government among the American people — the multiple votes, the fractiousness within parties, of people being personally ambitious and not being willing to compromise” Schlozman said.

    About half of adults (53%) say they have “hardly any confidence at all” in the people running Congress, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research that was conducted in October. That’s in line with 49% who said that in March. Just 3% have a great deal of confidence in Congress, virtually unchanged from March.

    About 4 in 10 adults (39%) have hardly any confidence in the executive branch of the federal government, compared with 44% in March. Most Republicans (56%) have low levels of confidence in the executive branch — which is overseen by a member of the opposing party, Democrat Joe Biden — compared with just 20% of Democrats.

    About a third of adults (36%) say they have hardly any confidence in the conservative-majority Supreme Court, a figure that has remained steady in recent months. The polling reinforces that Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say their confidence in the Supreme Court is low. Black Americans are more likely than Americans overall, as well as more likely than white or Hispanic adults, to have hardly any confidence in the nation’s highest court.

    One-third of U.S. adults (33%) continue to have low levels of confidence in the Justice Department, with Republicans having less confidence than Democrats. This comes as former President Donald Trump rails against the department after being charged with mishandling classified documents and attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.

    Rick Cartelli, 63, a health care worker in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, who identifies as an independent, said he is happy with his local and state government but the current environment, especially the chaos on Capitol Hill, has wiped out what little confidence he had in that institution.

    “What is happening now is not good for the country at all,” he said.

    Cartelli also said he has little confidence in the executive branch, citing what he says are “mental lapses” by Biden that “are only probably going to become more and more pronounced.”

    Multiple AP-NORC polls from earlier this year find that the dearth of confidence is pervasive, spreading to organized religion, the government’s intelligence gathering and diplomatic agencies, as well as financial institutions. Slightly fewer than half (45%) in a study from AP-NORC and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights said they have little or no confidence that the news media is reporting news fully, accurately and fairly.

    Views on the military were best, with just 17% saying they have hardly any confidence in it.

    Kathleen Kersey, a 32-year-old health care worker in Brunswick, Georgia, who is a Republican, said she has little confidence in any of the federal entities, including Congress, but has more for the institutions closer to home. She also is a fan of Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, who she said is a moral man.

    “There’s only so much one person can do, and just with all the evil, it’s hard to have confidence in anything really, even the churches because everything works together as one,” she said.

    Confidence in the country’s foundational institutions has ebbed and flowed historically, though there’s been a long-term downward trend since at least the 1970s. Trust in government waned in the era of Watergate and the Pentagon Papers before making a slight recovery during Ronald Reagan’s presidency in the 1980s — despite Reagan’s famous declaration that the nine most terrifying words in the English language were: “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”

    David Bateman, an associate professor of government at Cornell University, said the tea party movement during former President Barack Obama’s term was the beginning of a steadier decline in confidence, as noted in polling from Gallup. But Bateman believes the most acute problem in recent years has been Trump’s lies about the 2020 election, despite dozens of courts rejecting his claims and multiple audits and reviews in the swing states where he disputed his loss.

    “The biggest threat to trust in institutions was the Trump campaign’s refusal to concede the election and insistence that they had won,” along with a large segment of the Republicans in Congress going along with the claim in the certification process, Bateman said.

    “That validated the idea that the whole institutional system is rigged, which it isn’t,” he said.

    He said an example of the fallout is the Republican attack on the Justice Department, including the FBI. The “weaponization” of the FBI has been a battle cry for Republicans who maintain it has targeted conservatives and who are incensed at the various investigations of Trump. Candidates vying against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination have said they would fire FBI Director Chris Wray.

    Distrust of the FBI had long been the purview of Democrats, especially those aware of civil rights-era monitoring.

    “If you told me in 2000 that Republicans are going to be saying you can’t trust the FBI, I would have been shocked,” Bateman said. “Going after the FBI has been a real ratcheting up of distrust.”

    ___

    The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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