Following the historic vote to remove House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Reps. Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan announced bids to replace him. Scalise is the House majority leader, while Jordan chairs the powerful House Judiciary Committee. Scott MacFarlane has more.
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Eastern Ukraine — Russia launched a fresh wave of drone attacks against Ukraine overnight. The Ukrainian Air Force said Tuesday that it downed all but two of the 31 exploding aircraft, but the latest assault highlighted the extent to which the war sparked by Russia’s full-scale invasion more than a year and a half ago is increasingly a drone war.
Ukraine’s military gave CBS News rare access to one of its new drone units, called the “Army of Drones,” which has been successfully attacking Russian forces behind the front line. We watched as soldiers from the unit, part of Ukraine’s 24th Mechanized Brigade, practiced commanding fleets of the small aircraft to target and destroy enemy hardware and personnel.
One pilot, codenamed “Sunset,” was flying a state-of-the-art R18 octocopter — a drone designed entirely in Ukraine. Each one costs more than $100,000, but even with that price tag, the R18s have proven cost effective, and devastatingly successful.
A Ukrainian soldier with a drone unit from the 24th Mechanized Brigade flies a Ukrainian-designed R18 octocopter UAV during a training exercise in eastern Ukraine, in early October 2023.
CBS News
Sunset told us the unit had already used them to destroy 10 Russian tanks since it started operating in May.
Equipped with thermal imaging cameras, the R18 turns deadliest after dark. The Ukrainian troops showed CBS News video from one of the devices as it illuminated a Russian Howitzer artillery piece hundreds of feet below, and then blew it up.
The 24th Mechanized Brigade’s commander, codenamed “Hasan,” said his forces had “destroyed $40 million worth of Russian hardware in the past month.”
He said the unit was set to grow in manpower from about 60 to 100 troops, and they will need even more drones.
According to one estimate, Ukraine is using and losing 10,000 drones every month. With the war dragging on, Hasan acknowledged that ensuring a supply of the lethal weapons is an issue.
Ukrainian soldiers with a drone unit from the 24th Mechanized Brigade prepare a Ukrainian-designed R18 octocopter UAV during a training exercise in eastern Ukraine, in early October 2023.
CBS News
Most of the drones used by his forces come from China, he said. But Beijing officially banned its drone makers from exporting to Ukraine — and Russia — at the beginning of September. They still manage to get them through middlemen and third countries, but it’s slower.
Boxes from China sat on a shelf in a concealed workshop, where another Ukrainian commander, “Taras,” watched over his men working to adapt the drones they could get ahold of to kill, and repairing damaged ones to save money. That kind of warfare thrift is all the more important with new U.S. aid for Ukraine now suspended.
Since it was founded in May, the drone unit we met has struck communications towers, infantry hideouts and Russian soldiers, and Sunset had a message for Americans, including the politicians in Washington who will decide whether to continue increasing military support for his country:
“Thank you,” he said. “We are not wasting your money. Drones save our lives.”
As Congress works to fund the government long-term, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy continues to face pressure from his own party. Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz has even said he will try to strip McCarthy of his leadership role. Scott MacFarlane reports.
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The House on Friday rejected a stopgap bill to fund the government, with a group of hard-right Republicans handing Speaker Kevin McCarthy yet another defeat in his efforts to avoid a shutdown. The 165-page bill, known as a continuing resolution, failed by a vote of 198 to 232. Twenty-one Republicans joined all Democrats in voting against the legislation. CBS News congressional correspondent Scott MacFarlane has more.
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President Biden issued several stark warnings about threats to American democracy Thursday in Arizona. CBS News election law expert and political contributor David Becker discusses what stood out from the president’s speech.
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The Republican chairmen of the House Oversight, Judiciary and Ways and Means Committees outlined their view of the factual and legal basis for an impeachment inquiry into President Biden in a 30-page memo, which was obtained by CBS News. It was sent to all committee members late Wednesday.
According to the memo, the committees will look into whether Mr. Biden “abused his federal office to enrich his family and conceal his and/or his family’s misconduct.”
The alleged misconduct centers around the president’s son, Hunter Biden, and his overseas business dealings.
“The purpose of this inquiry — and at this stage, it is just that, an inquiry — is to determine whether sufficient grounds exist for the Committees to draft articles of impeachment against President Biden for consideration by the full House,” the chairmen wrote.
The memo says the impeachment inquiry “will span the time of Joe Biden’s Vice Presidency to the present, including his time out of office.”
GOP-led House committees have been investigating the president and his son for months. So far, no evidence has been produced to show the president broke the law, benefited financially or used his office to help his son.
A president can be impeached for treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors, according to the Constitution. “The decision to begin this inquiry does not mean that the Committees have reached a conclusion on this question,” the memo says.
“It’s hard to grasp the complete derangement of this moment,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. “Three days before they’re set to shut down the United States government, Republicans launch a baseless impeachment drive against President Biden.”
The full House traditionally votes to launch an impeachment inquiry, but it has not done so yet. It voted to initiate an inquiry in President Trump’s 2019 impeachment, but not initially in 2021, when he was impeached a second time in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
On Thursday, the House Oversight Committee will hold its first impeachment inquiry hearing featuring three conservative legal analysts. Witnesses for Thursday’s hearing are Bruce Dubinsky, a forensic accountant; Eileen O’Connor, former assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice Tax Division; and Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University Law School. They will be testifying in general terms about impeachments, business dealings and financial crimes.
The minority has called Michael J. Gerhardt, a law professor at the University of North Carolina.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy directed House committees to launch an impeachment inquiry into the president earlier this month, as a result of mounting pressure from the most conservative members of his conference.
The White House has said Thursday’s hearing is a baseless stunt.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Jim Comer has claimed communications records, financial records, and interviews show Mr. Biden “allowed his family to sell him as ‘the brand’ around the world to enrich the Biden family.”
The White House issued a 15-page memo Tuesday aiming to debunk Republicans’ specific claims.
Last month, Abbe Lowell, an attorney for Hunter Biden, was asked on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” if it’s his position that the president was completely walled off from Hunter Biden’s business affairs.
“I understand and my opinion doesn’t matter,” Lowell told “Face the Nation” moderator and chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan. “What matters is the facts and the evidence. And the facts and the evidence that have been pursued by however many members of Congress and their staffs and media, looking for any possible connection has shown time and time again, it doesn’t exist.”
How to watch Republicans’ impeachment inquiry hearing
What: House Republicans hold impeachment inquiry hearing
Date: Thursday, Sept. 28
Time: 10 a.m. ET
Location: Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.
Online stream: Live on CBS News in the player above and on your mobile or streaming device.
Washington — House Republicans voted to advance four conservative spending bills on Tuesday in a long-sought display of unity that nonetheless doesn’t move Congress any closer to preventing a government shutdown.
The relatively routine vote to bring the bills to the House floor for debate gave Speaker Kevin McCarthy a win after days of Republican infighting between moderates and a contingent of hardline House conservatives over how to fund the government.
But the move will likely do little to change the dynamics underlying the fight over government spending, with just days to go before government funding expires.
Even if the House were to pass all four bills to fund the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, State and Agriculture for another year, they contain spending cuts that make them dead on arrival in the Senate, where Democrats are working on their own solution to avoid a shutdown.
A contingent of hard-right Republicans in the House are opposed to a short-term funding extension and want deeper spending cuts. They twice defeated McCarthy’s efforts to advance the defense spending bill last week, and have vowed to oppose what’s known as a “continuing resolution,” which would extend government funding at current levels as broader talks unfold.
Lawmakers face a hard deadline of Saturday night to approve funding and keep the government open. Without an extension, hundreds of thousands of federal employees would go without pay until new funding is approved for their agencies, and dozens of government services could be affected.
Essential workers — like active-duty military members, many federal law enforcement officers and air traffic controllers — would stay on the job, but wouldn’t be paid until after the shutdown. Employees in nonessential positions would be furloughed without a paycheck until the government is funded again. Government contractors aren’t guaranteed backpay.
Senate Democrats make their move
Making matters more complicated for McCarthy, the Senate on Tuesday took the first steps toward passing their own version of a funding extension by advancing a House-passed bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will use that legislation as a vehicle for a short-term funding extension.
If the Senate passes its own bipartisan measure to keep the government open, it puts pressure on McCarthy to lean on Democrats in his own chamber to avert a shutdown. But doing so would put his speakership in jeopardy — conservatives have threatened to oust him if he goes that route. McCarthy’s slim majority of just four seats leaves him little room to maneuver.
House Republicans have been unable to rally around a short-term option. The conservative faction opposes any short-term funding extension and wants Congress to negotiate all 12 annual spending bills individually.
“All last week, Speaker McCarthy, instead of focusing on bipartisanship, catered to the hard right and has nothing — nothing — to show for it,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “And now the speaker will put on the floor hard-right appropriations bills that have nothing to do with avoiding a shutdown.”
The New York Democrat said a bipartisan group of senators “worked in good faith” over the weekend to reach an agreement on a temporary spending bill that would allow government operations to continue after September.
The Senate bill would continue to fund the government at current levels through Nov. 17 and includes about $6 billion in aid for Ukraine as well as nearly $6 billion in disaster relief.
The White House endorsed the Senate bill and called on House Republicans to “stop playing political games with peoples’ lives.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, also endorsed passing a temporary funding bill, calling it “the clearest path forward” and rebuking House conservatives’ tactics.
“Delaying action on short-term government funding doesn’t advance the ball on any meaningful policy priorities,” McConnell said in a floor speech. “Shutting the government down over a domestic budget dispute doesn’t strengthen anyone’s political position. It just puts important progress on ice and it leaves millions of Americans on edge.”
On Tuesday, McCarthy was noncommittal on bringing up a Senate-passed bill for a vote, but said he would put a short-term spending bill that includes funds for border security on the floor by Saturday, when current government funding expires.
“I think that’s the appropriate way to be able to keep government funding, secure our border, while we continue to keep the government open to work on the rest of the appropriations process,” McCarthy told reporters.
McCarthy said the measure would last 30 to 45 days and he didn’t want it to include aid for Ukraine — another sticking point for the far right.
Republican Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana accused far-right members of giving the upper hand to Democrats in negotiations by blocking efforts to advance GOP spending bills in the House.
“We would have been in a much better leverage position to get conservative wins,” Graves said last Saturday. “Every day you wait you end up handing the reins over to Chuck Schumer.”
Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York have indicted New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez on federal bribery charges. CBS News congressional correspondent Scott MacFarlane has the latest.
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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy went from meeting to meeting in Washington, D.C. on Thursday trying to gather support for more aid from the United States. He met with President Biden as well as senior defense officials and lawmakers as the U.S. Congress considers the White House’s request to add more than $20 billion in aid to the $113 billion the U.S. has already committed to Ukraine.
“60 Minutes” has been attempting to track where the billions of dollars in U.S. cash and weaponry provided to Ukraine has gone since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February of 2022. On assignment for this week’s “60 Minutes,” CBS News senior foreign correspondent Holly Williams went to Ukraine to see how all the American tax dollars are being spent — and to find out if the weapons and money already provided have gone where they were supposed to go.
Watch Williams’ full report this Sunday, Sept. 24, on “60 Minutes” from 7 p.m. Eastern. A preview is available at the top of this article.
Oleksandra Ustinova, an anti-corruption activist who became a member of the Ukrainian Parliament, chairs a government commission that tracks all of the military aid coming to Ukraine.
She shot video for “60 Minutes” inside what she called a top-secret warehouse storing American-made and supplied Javelin anti-tank missiles.
Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksandra Ustinova stands inside a storage facility in her country housing U.S.-supplied Javelin anti-tank missiles.
CBS News
“We have online databases with the serial numbers of every American piece of weapon that your embassy has access to. They can come, type in, let’s say, a Javelin or a HIMARS, and see in which brigade it is, and then go check it if they don’t believe.”
She said the Ukrainian government welcomes U.S. officials to go right to the front lines in the war to verify how American-supplied weaponry is being used.
It’s one way, Ustinova said, that her country is trying to combat “this cancer, which is corruption, because otherwise, we’re not gonna survive.”
As Russia ramps up its own production and sourcing of shells and ammunition, Zelenskyy’s government knows that convincing his partners in Washington of his own government’s trustworthiness may indeed be an existential challenge.
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Parts of the U.S. federal government are at risk of shutting down if lawmakers can’t strike a deal by midnight on September 30. CBS News congressional correspondent Scott MacFarlane reports on the looming shutdown and its impact on Congress and the Biden White House.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly to unite against Russia’s aggression. He warned Moscow is “pushing the world to the final war” and urged action to restrain the Kremlin’s nuclear abilities. Luke Coffey, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, joins CBS News to break down Zelenskyy’s address.
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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has found a new political opponent in Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, after the speaker said DeSantis is “not on the same level” as former President Donald Trump.
The back-and-forth between the two Republicans comes as McCarthy is locked in a battle to rally his caucus behind a bill, known as a “continuing resolution,” to extend funding for the government through October 31. Government operations are currently only funded until the end of September, when the fiscal year ends, and if Congress doesn’t act, the government will partially shutdown on October 1.
Meanwhile, DeSantis has been trying to make a dent in Trump’s persistent double-digit lead in the polls, by taking aim at government spending during Trump’s White House tenure and at his stance on abortion.
The discord between DeSantis and McCarthy stems from the governor’s relationships with and recent conversations with conservative House Republicans who opposed McCarthy’s proposed government spending deal.
Last week, DeSantis spoke over the phone with Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Bob Good of Virginia and encouraged them to “keep fighting,” according to Politico. Since then, Roy helped craft the stopgap bill, and on Tuesday called for House Republicans to “unite” around passing it. Good has said he still opposes the continuing resolution.
After DeSantis’ conversation with these House Republicans came up during an interview Sunday with Fox News, McCarthy predicted Trump would win the 2024 GOP presidential nomination and criticized DeSantis’ campaign. McCarthy has not endorsed any 2024 presidential candidate yet.
“President Trump is beating Biden right now in the polls. He is stronger than he has ever been in this process, and, look, I served with Ron DeSantis – he’s not at the same level as President Trump by any shape or form. He would not have gotten elected without President Trump’s endorsement,” McCarthy said, in reference to DeSantis’ first bid for Florida governor in 2018.
DeSantis served in Congress from 2013 to 2018, where he was a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, a far-right group that mostly opposes McCarthy on the stopgap spending bill.
DeSantis has mostly been attacking McCarthy at the same time he brings up Trump. In a Fox Business interview Tuesday, DeSantis was asked for a response to McCarthy’s comments. He responded that both Trump and the speaker have “added trillions and trillions of dollars to the debt — even when we had a unified Republican government.”
During a press conference in Jacksonville, Florida, Monday, DeSantis disparaged McCarthy as a “D.C. establishment” figure and cast doubt on whether McCarthy would have won the speakership without Trump’s assistance. He also repeatedly mentioned that the 2022 Republican congressional wins in Florida were “instrumental” in securing the House majority for Republicans.
“I’m not somebody who’s ever going to be the favorite of the D.C. establishment, and you know what? I wear that as a badge of honor,” DeSantis said Monday.
His campaign shared his comments widely, postingvideos critical of federal spending and sending an email Tuesday claiming DeSantis “is different from the establishment Republicans and Democrats who have spent irresponsibly to create today’s inflation.”
A representative for McCarthy has not responded to a request for comment.
DeSantis supporters think his fight with McCarthy, a Trump ally, is a good one to have.
Justin Sayfie, a veteran GOP strategist who is fundraising for DeSantis, said the disagreements with McCarthy will help DeSantis identify with the grassroots base of the Republican Party against more federal spending, and “implicitly challenge President Trump to do the same.”
Steve Deace, an influential Iowa talk-show host who endorsed DeSantis agrees. “Anytime DeSantis can clash with the GOP establishment it can only help,” he said.
“The truth is McCarthy is only speaker because of Trump, who, while claiming to be an outsider, has backed every existing meaningful GOP establishment figure at some point. DeSantis should more directly link the two,” he added.
Trump has led DeSantis by big numbers in national and early state presidential primary polls – an August CBS News national poll has Trump up by 46 points, while an early September Emerson College poll of Iowa voters has DeSantis up 35 points.
Former White House aide Gabe Amo came out on top in a crowded Democratic primary for Rhode Island’s 1st Congressional District special election Tuesday, beating out a slew of fellow candidates to move on to the November general election in the heavily Democratic state.
Amo hopes to succeed former Democratic Rep. David Cicilline, who stepped down earlier this summer to become the president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation.
Amo, who grew up in Pawtucket the son of Ghanaian and Liberian immigrants, would be the first Black candidate to be elected to the U.S. House from Rhode Island. No person of color has represented the state in Congress.
Gerry Leonard, a U.S. Marine veteran and political newcomer, defeated fellow Republican candidate Terri Flynn, a former town council member, to win the GOP primary Tuesday.
“We’re excited here,” Leonard told The Associated Press after winning.
“I’m looking forward with great anticipation of getting out and continuing to move around District 1 and meet Rhode Islanders. Tell them my message. Tell them my story and tell them what I intend to do for the state,” he said. “We need to start sending leaders to Washington, D.C. that put principles before politics and service before self. That message will resonate.”
Gabe Amo attends Voto Latino’s 2022 Our Voices Celebration on April 29, 2022, in Washington, D.C.
Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Voto Latino
Rhode Island Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos, who had hoped to become the first Latina elected to Congress from the state, congratulated Amo.
“While I was hoping for a different outcome, tonight’s results show that Rhode Islanders are ready for more diverse representation in Congress for the first time. We can all celebrate and take pride in this historic milestone for our state,” she said in a statement.
If elected, Amo said he would fight to ban assault-style weapons, support funding for research into gun violence prevention at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and implement universal background checks.
Amo also said he would fight against what he described as extremist Republican attempts to slash funding for Social Security and Medicare, work to codify Roe v. Wade into federal law, and fight for more legislation at the federal level to combat climate change.
Amo also won the endorsement of former Democratic Rep. Patrick Kennedy, who represented the district from 1995 to 2011.
The prospect of an open seat in Congress initially drew the attention of dozens of possible candidates, particularly among Democrats.
Other Democrats on the ballot included former secretary of state candidate Stephanie Beaute, former U.S. Navy intelligence officer Walter Berbrick, Pawtucket state Sen. Sandra Cano, state Rep. Stephen Casey, and Spencer Dickinson.
The Democratic field of candidates also included Providence City Council member John Goncalves, state Democratic state senator Ana Quezada, former two-term state Rep. Aaron Regunberg, and Allen Waters, who challenged Ciciline in the general election as a Republican last year.
Regunberg had tried to position himself as the most progressive of the front-runners, winning the backing of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and actress Jane Fonda.
Leonard has said he believes that Americans know how to live their lives better than government bureaucrats and professional politicians do.
The Republican has criticized “Bidenomics,” saying Democratic President Biden’s economic plan hasn’t helped ordinary citizens. He also said he favors a more limited government and supports U.S. efforts to aid Ukraine in its war against Russia, but said the U.S. also needs clear goals and an exit strategy.
Leonard also said he believes abortion should remain a state issue.
Leonard is a resident of Jamestown and a graduate of the Naval War College. He served for three decades in the Marines.
He faces a significant challenge in the general election in a state that has traditionally favored Democratic candidates. He said he is a strong proponent of term limits.
If elected, Leonard would become the first Republican to represent the 1st Congressional District since former Congressman Ron Machtley, who served from 1989 to 1995.
Amo will square off against Leonard in the Nov. 7 general election.
“If somebody’s getting all squeamish about the border wall, I mean, frankly my response is: Kiss my a**,” Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas told CBS News, as he made another long drive between events in Texas, four weeks before a looming federal government shutdown.
Twenty-six days before the deadline to avert an impasse that threatens government operations and a jolt to the U.S. economy, an expanded southern border wall appears to be a towering obstacle. Even before it is built.
House members will return to Washington next week, facing the daunting task of passing nearly a dozen yearly spending bills through a polarized and contentious chamber of Congress.
The first order of business appears to be a $62 billion plan to fund the Department of Homeland Security, a debate that is scheduled to begin in the House Rules Committee one day after the nation holds services to mourn the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The House bill includes a number of contentious items, ranging from reductions in funding for government diversity programs to reductions in humanitarian and climate programs. But perhaps the biggest and most paralyzing source of contention is a multi-billion dollar investment in expanding a wall at the southern border.
The U.S. Capitol Building on August 01, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images
House Republicans have championed expansion of the border wall for several years, echoing a campaign pillar of former President Donald Trump. The House Republican bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which could reach the House floor by mid-September, would allocate $2.104 billion to build and expand a southern border barrier.
Roy, whose district includes a large swath of Texas north of San Antonio, has a seat on the House Rules Committee, which has scheduled the Sept. 12 hearing to debate about whether to advance the spending bill to the House floor.
Speaking with CBS News, Roy said, “It’s massively important. We need to do it. We paid for it. There are parts (of the wall) that are rusting.”
Roy said the Biden administration has been “trying to sell it off. We’ve been paying people not to build it. It’s completely absurd. You do need a border infrastructure.”
“A wall is a sixth century solution. It’s just a horrible, horrible bill,” said Democratic Rep. David Trone of Maryland, a member of the House Appropriations subcommittee on Homeland Security. “Republicans are villainizing immigrants with their bigotry by saying they’re bringing fentanyl over the border.”
In a report accompanying the legislation, Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee said previous attempts to fund expansion of the border wall have been scuttled by the Biden Administration. The House Republicans’ report said that the Biden administration “has at every turn taken steps to frustrate the clear and unambiguous intent of Congress in providing this funding.”
“Instead of building border wall system as the law requires, this Administration has canceled contracts, allowed materials to waste away in the elements, and left unfinished sections of barrier that create funnels for illegal migration and make more difficult the job of Border Patrol Agents,” the report continued.
House Democrats have blasted the proposal and countered the criticisms from Republicans about the wall, with top Democrats on the House Appropriations writing a report to accompany the spending bill.
“This bill continues to waste billions of dollars on an ineffective border wall,” the Democrats’ bill said. “We know from history that walls do not work. As a result, this bill fails to adequately resource areas where we know there are significant threats, like our ports of entry and interior Border Patrol checkpoints.”
This summer, the House has struggled through a sluggish process to pass the annual appropriations bills needed to avert a government shutdown ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline. With a distinctively narrow majority, and only four GOP votes to spare on any contentious, party-line legislation, House Republicans have bulked up some of their spending bills with controversial language that all-but-guarantees universal Democratic opposition.
Among the controversial proposals in the Homeland Security spending bill is a new provision prohibiting gender-affirming medication and surgeries for immigration detainees. The legislation also reduces funding for climate change initiatives and diversity efforts in the government’s homeland security agencies.
Trone, who is also seeking his party’s nomination in a 2024 Senate race, said the Democrats are strongly opposed to the proposals.
“Congress is dictating that we go backwards, not forward where everybody else wants to go,” Trone told CBS News.
Some of the larger components of the bill have broader support, including funding to expand the hiring of thousands of border patrol agents and investments in new Coast Guard cutters.
Even if House Republicans manage to secure sufficient votes to pass the homeland security spending bill, including the new investment in a border wall, the legislation is poised to die in the Democratic-controlled Senate. In a letter to colleagues last week, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer wrote, “When the Senate returns next week, our focus will be on funding the government and preventing House Republican extremists from forcing a government shutdown.”
The Senate returns Tuesday, facing the likelihood of a high-stakes, deadline-fueled standoff and negotiation with the House to prevent a shutdown.
The White House is asking Congress to pass a short-term spending bill — known as a continuing resolution — to keep the government funded and avoid a partial shutdown on Oct. 1.
The government is currently funded through the end of September, and the Office of Management and Budget recognizes Congress needs more time to reach “bipartisan, bicameral” agreement on the individual annual appropriations bills for the government programs and agencies for the 2024 fiscal year.
“Although the crucial work continues to reach a bipartisan, bicameral agreement on fiscal year 2024 appropriations bills, it is clear that a short-term continuing resolution (CR) will be needed next month,” an OMB spokesperson said, adding that OMB would provide Congress with technical assistance to avoid “severe disruptions to government services in the first quarter of the fiscal year.”
The funding deadline comes as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy faces increasing pressure from the most conservative members of his party to move forward with an impeachment inquiry into President Biden. Last month, McCarthy said House Republicans’ investigations into Mr. Biden are “rising to the level of impeachment inquiry.”
Both the House and the Senate are trying to pass individual appropriation bills, rather than a massive omnibus measure, like the one passed last December for fiscal year 2023 government funding. But reaching consensus on anything of substance has proven difficult — although not impossible — for this Congress. Republicans hold only a narrow majority in the House, making McCarthy’s position within his own conference tenuous at times.
Senator Mitch McConnell appeared to freeze up during an appearance in front of reporters Wednesday. The incident came just weeks after the same thing happened to the top Republican in the Senate. Scott MacFarlane has the latest.
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Some of former President Donald Trump’s allies in Congress are jockeying to find a way to strip funding from special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecutions.
In a series of new proposals, House Republicans are attempting to prohibit the use of federal money to pay for Smith’s investigation and criminal cases against Trump.
At least three different efforts are already underway, according to a CBS News review. Though they are unlikely to generate any large number of supporters and are being criticized as political posturing, the proposals could eventually derail fragile negotiations to avoid a government shutdown or emergency funding for natural disaster relief in Hawaii and Vermont. And they could be a wedge issue inside the Republican party on Capitol Hill.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, and Rep. Andy Ogles, Republican of Tennessee, have introduced similar but separate pieces of legislation to deny federal funding for the special counsel. Gaetz’s bill, which was introduced two days after Trump announced he’d received a target letter from the special counsel, would prohibit Smith from expending federal funds.
In a statement to CBS News, Ogles said, “It’s well past time that Congress uses its power of the purse to tell Jack Smith ‘you’re fired.’”
The proposals have generated just a handful of co-sponsors so far, but Ogles’ bill has gained the support of West Virginia Rep. Alex Mooney, a House Republican who is seeking his party’s nomination — and Trump’s endorsement — for a West Virginia U.S. Senate seat in 2024. Mooney told CBS News, “I support withholding funding to Jack Smith until the (Justice) Department ceases pushing its blatantly partisan two-tiered system of justice. These disgusting abuses of power will fail, and Donald Trump will be elected again in 2024.”
A third proposal has surfaced, which could disrupt ongoing negotiations to prevent a government shutdown. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, in a social media post earlier this summer, said she would add language to defund Smith’s prosecution to must-pass spending bills. A series of appropriations bills, or a short-term continuing resolution, must pass in both the House and Senate by Sept. 30 to avoid a government shutdown.
Greene’s proposal, which seems certain to be opposed by Democrats, could force a divisive vote or threaten passage of bills in the House, where Republicans hold a very narrow majority. In her social media post, Greene wrote, “I will not vote for ANY appropriations bill to fund the weaponization of government. I hope every one of my Republican colleagues will join me.”
In a podcast recorded in late July, Gaetz urged colleagues not to wait until House consideration of spending bills in September to strip Smith of funds for the prosecution.
“We do not need to wait for the appropriations process,” Gaetz said. He urged colleagues to pass his standalone bill to defund Smith’s office: “The power of the purse is not some intermittent thing… It’s something we have to wield day in and day out to achieve victory.”
Gaetz acknowledged President Biden wouldn’t sign such a bill into law, nor would Senate Democrats take up the legislation in the upper chamber of Congress, but Gaetz said the legislation would be a marker for where Republicans stand on the prosecution of Trump.
Democrats are denouncing the proposals and criticizing the Republicans sponsors of seeking to cozy up to Trump as the former President pursues the party’s nomination for the White House.
Rep. Mark Pocan, Democrat of Wisconsin, told CBS News, “Republicans are no longer a political party, but a cult following Donald Trump’s orders. Holding government funding hostage in order to protect the four-time indicted former president is irresponsible at best, and dangerous at worst.”
Rep. Eric Swalwell, Democrat of California, said Republicans supporting the measures are “seeking to obstruct Justice by utilizing cheap publicity stunts masquerading as policy. It won’t work.”
California Rep. Norma Torres, a Democrat, told CBS News, “Extremist House Republicans want to hijack our government’s annual funding process to defund the special counsel’s office investigating the former president for potential crimes.”
Negotiations over the federal appropriations bills are already in a precarious stage. With a Sept. 30 deadline looming, the House has yet to pass the bulk of its spending bills and must navigate a minefield of controversial amendments and proposals that risk passage of the legislation.
In addition to possible amendments or language to squeeze Smith’s investigations, the House appropriations proposals include language to more tightly restrict access to abortion services, reduce funding for programs that serve the LGBTQ community and restrict spending for diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in the federal workforce. Those proposals would dramatically limit prospects of Democratic support in the House and any serious consideration by the Democratic-controlled Senate, which has already moved to approve its own version of the spending bills.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer suggested to reporters Tuesday that a short-term continuing resolution to keep the government running might be needed to extend time for negotiations and avert a government shutdown. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy also raised the prospect of a short-term resolution during a Monday call with his Republican members, according to the Associated Press.
The White House has also requested tens of billions of dollars in emergency funding to support the Ukraine war effort and to help respond to the natural disasters that have struck this summer.
Smith’s two Trump prosecutions are in their early stages in federal courts in Fort Pierce, Florida, and Washington, D.C. Judge Aileen Cannon has set a May 20, 2024, trial date for Trump and two co-defendants in the special counsel’s classified records case against Trump, in which the former president is accused of conspiracy, obstruction and the mishandling of classified records.
Smith has requested a Jan. 2, 2024, trial date in the 2020 election conspiracy case against Trump in Washington, in which Trump is charged with conspiracy and the obstruction of the Jan. 6, 2021, electoral vote certification by Congress. A hearing to determine the trial date is scheduled for Aug. 28.
He survived the Parkland school shooting that claimed 17 lives in 2018. Five years later, former student-turned-activist David Hogg says he wants to use his advocacy to get more young people into political office.
“Obviously, what happened in Parkland to me and my classmates is a huge motivator for why I’m doing this work,” Hogg told CBS News. “That’s what got me involved in politics.”
Activist David Hogg appears in a social media video announcing the launch of the “Leaders We Deserve” organization.
YouTube/Leaders We Deserve
Hogg founded the group with Kevin Lata, who served as campaign manager for Rep. Maxwell Frost, of Florida, the first Gen Z member of Congress.
“There is a pathway for winning as a young person,” Lata said. “We’ve done it, and we are trying to export that and elect a new generation of young people to office.”
According to the group, Gen Z and millennials make up 45% of the electorate, but only hold 21% of state legislature seats. The Leaders We Deserve PAC and SuperPAC will work with 15-30 candidates under the age of 30 in key states such as Florida, Texas and Georgia.
“Whether it’s abortion bans, whether it’s weakening gun laws, it’s not coming from the federal government. It’s coming from Tallahassee. It’s coming from Austin. It’s coming from state capitals around the country,” Hogg told CBS News. “This is not just an outside game. You’re not just pushing politicians to hold them accountable to their promises and make them better but we also need to have the inside game.”
The group, which counts “Tennessee Three” state representative Justin Jones among its board members, eventually hopes to build a pipeline of young leaders to run for higher state or federal office. It will work with prospective candidates on campaign strategies — everything from fundraising to endorsements.
“When you’re first starting out when you’re running for office, part of the challenge is you don’t really have as much fundraising connections, political connections, just the know-how of the basics of running a campaign,” Lata said.
Lata and Hogg worked together on Frost’s 2022 congressional campaign. Hogg previously co-founded March for Our Lives, a youth-driven movement that organized one of the largest anti-gun violence protests in Washington following the Parkland massacre.
“There’s so many charismatic, brilliant young people that have come from March For Our Lives and have now started running for office, like Maxwell, and there’s so many more that I think can come,” Hogg said. “That’s why I’m doing this, it’s to help build that pathway.”
They live a mile apart in Columbus, Ohio. And they shop in the same produce aisle at the same grocery store. U.S. Reps. Mike Carey, a Republican, and Joyce Beatty, a Democrat, often bump into each other at the airport and see each other around the neighborhood. Over glasses of orange juice and ice water in May, they even talked about the importance of being seen together at work, talking and planning.
The two Ohio natives are trying to patch up a different community 400 miles away.
In the heat of one of the most political, toxic and uncivil moments in memory in the U.S. Congress, the pair is trying to keep the House of Representatives from slipping deeper into a bad-mannered, boorish body of government.
Carey, a second-term Republican endorsed by former President Donald Trump, and Beatty, a fifth-term congresswoman who once chaired the Congressional Black Caucus, have formed a congressional Civility Caucus, seeking to inspire a more civil discourse between the two parties.
But relations between Democrats and Republicans — and even within the GOP — have been deteriorating. This congressional session has seen a number of coarse and vulgar exchanges, misogynistic name calling, heckling, formal censure resolutions and one lawmaker putting another in a physical restraint during a 15-round vote for House speaker in January.
Rep. Richard Hudson, left, pulls Rep. Mike Rogers back as they talk with Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and others during the 14th round of voting for speaker on Jan. 6, 2023.
Andrew Harnik / AP
“We can disagree, but you don’t have to be disagreeable,” said Carey, as he stood side-by-side with Beatty to speak with CBS News in the Cannon House Office Building.
Beatty said, “It’s treating people well or how you would like to be treated. It’s calling people out, if necessary, but doing it with civility.”
The two have launched their effort with a series of joint speeches and meetings with business groups and political organizations. In May, in breakfast remarks before an audience of political staffers and policy wonks on Capitol Hill, Beatty and Carey described their efforts to meet and talk, in plain view, on the House floor during proceedings. Beatty said she’ll walk to the Republican side of the aisle to speak with Carey, with Carey making the same overture for meetings with her on the Democratic side. They do so openly and noticeably, she said, “which unfortunately, in today’s time might seem kind of rare. But we have decided to go with it and be visible with it.”
Carey told CBS News the pair helped bridge gaps, and smooth friction, during the particularly divisive fight over raising the nation’s debt ceiling in May. He said, “Joyce obviously was working with her (Democratic) members. And I worked on my side. Then we, as (an Ohio) delegation came together and every single one of our members voted for it on the House side.”
The caucus has early commitments from at least 20 House members to join and participate. But members are only permitted to join as bipartisan pairs. Each person needs to find a partner from the opposite party.
The push for civility comes six months into a rancorous and uncivil first session of the 118th Congress. In June, Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene, Republican of Georgia, declined to answer CBS News questions about an incident in which she reportedly called colleague Rep. Lauren Boebert, Republican of Colorado, a “little b****” in a House floor dispute over dueling efforts to seek impeachments of figures in the administration of President Biden.
In response to a question from CBS News about the tenor of House floor proceedings, Speaker Kevin McCarthy accused Democratic colleagues of a lack of civility during a June party-line vote to censure Rep. Adam Schiff, Democrat of California. Democrats shouted “disgrace,” “shame” and “McCarthyism” during the censure proceedings, proceedings which Democrats themselves argued lacked in civility and decorum.
The marathon 15-round vote in which McCarthy was voted to be speaker in January featured a string of heckles, screams, name-calling and — during one seminal moment — a Republican House member physically restraining a Republican colleague back from confronting another House member on the floor.
A recent survey of congressional staffers by the non-partisan Congressional Management Foundation showed both parties are eager for an end to the discourteousness that plagues some of the politics and hearings in Congress. The group’s survey reported 87% of congressional staff agreed with the statement, “Congressional leadership should enforce the rules and norms of civility and decorum in Congress.”
“The research is clear — civility and bipartisanship are absolutely necessary for a functioning Congress,” said Brad Fitch, president of the Congressional Management Foundation, which helps provide training and services to congressional offices.
Carey and Beatty told CBS News they share meals and are planning dinners and nonwork get-togethers with colleagues to foster and create some of the relationships needed to transcend and break the fever of a divided and volatile politics in the 118th Congress.
When pressed by CBS News for examples of their olive branches or approaches to civility, Beatty and Carey mention their joint speaking tour, ranging from business groups in their home city of Columbus and at Washington, D.C., political organizations, and they say they hope to speak with student groups, too, about the importance of civility.
Carey thinks his colleagues will still see an incentive in using coarse and fiery rhetoric, because uncivil words on the House floor can draw media coverage, donations and coveted attention from a party’s supporters. As Carey told an audience during a speaking engagement with Beatty this past spring, “The people on the extremes seem to dominate the airwaves.”
The structure of the Civility Caucus is similar to another bipartisan effort in the U.S. House, the Problem Solvers Caucus, an equally balanced bipartisan group formed in 2017 and led by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, Republican of Pennsylvania, and Rep. Josh Gottheimer, Democrat of New Jersey. The group is credited with helping negotiate and strengthen some of the larger bipartisan agreements during the past few Congresses, including the debt ceiling compromise, which averted a U.S. default on its debt.
Carey believes civility can be modeled, even by colleagues who oppose each on other on a vote or legislation. He told CBS News, “We’re going come to different issues in different ways. We will see different pieces of legislation differently. But that doesn’t mean we don’t like each other. We can be respectful of that. And so that’s what we’re trying to do.”
