Bragg then sued Jordan and the Judiciary panel, seeking a court order preventing the House from enforcing the subpoena.
While the Judiciary committee has contended that it wants to study the potential effects that the threat of a future prosecution could have on a president while he is in office, Bragg argued that the House had no legitimate legislative purpose in issuing the subpoena and instead intends to examine the district attorney’s internal deliberations regarding the Trump indictment.
On Wednesday, a federal judge in Manhattan declined to block the subpoena to Pomerantz. “The subpoena was issued with a ‘valid legislative purpose’ in connection with the ‘broad’ and ‘indispensable’ congressional power to ‘conduct investigations,’” U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil wrote.
Bragg’s legal team appealed immediately to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, which ordered that Pomerantz’s deposition be put on hold. Jordan and the committee must file briefing to the appeals court by Friday, with Bragg’s response due Saturday.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
The legislation would also bar the Biden administration from moving forward with a new income-driven repayment plan that cuts monthly payments for most borrowers and shortens the timeline to loan forgiveness for some borrowers.
In addition, the GOP plan would permanently prohibit the Education Department from issuing any significant regulation or executive action that would increase the long-term cost to the government of operating the federal student loan programs.
Such a sweeping prohibition would imperil efforts by the administration to provide additional relief or benefits to student loan borrowers. That would include any backup option for canceling large amounts of student debt if the Supreme Court rejects Biden’s student debt relief plan in the coming months.
Key context: The provisions are among dozens of policy changes and spending caps that House Republicans included in their 320-page legislation to raise the debt limit by $1.5 trillion or until March of next year, whichever comes first.
Republicans have argued that they want concessions from the administration that lower the federal deficit and reduce spending in exchange for their votes to raise the nation’s borrowing limit.
McCarthy said he hopes to pass it in the House next week. But the proposal stands no chance of passing the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Biden swiftly dismissed McCarthy’s proposal as a nonstarter. “That’s the MAGA economic agenda: spending cuts for working and middle class folks,” Biden said of the plan on Wednesday. “It’s not about fiscal discipline, it’s about cutting benefits for folks that they don’t seem to care much about.”
The district attorney’s office planned to ask an appeals court to intervene quickly and stop the deposition, a spokesperson for the office said.
The ruling came in response to a lawsuit from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg against Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and the Judiciary panel, which he chairs. Bragg sought a court order preventing the House from enforcing the subpoena, arguing that the House had no legitimate legislative purpose in issuing the subpoena and that it intends to examine the district attorney’s internal deliberations regarding the criminal case it brought against Trump last month.
But Vyskocil, who was appointed by Trump, found that Jordan and the committee “have identified several valid legislative purposes underlying the subpoena,” including the committee’s interest in investigating federal forfeiture funds used in connection with the investigation of Trump, as well as possible legislative reforms to “insulate current and former presidents from state prosecutions.”
The Judiciary committee also has contended that its purpose in issuing the subpoena is to study the potential effects that the threat of a future prosecution could have on a president while he is in office.
And though Bragg argued that the true purpose of Jordan’s inquiry was to “undermine and obstruct” the case against Trump, the judge said the motivations of the committee were “irrelevant.”
At a hearing in Manhattan federal court earlier Wednesday, the judge challenged lawyers for both sides aggressively and focused extensively, as she did in her written ruling, on a book Pomerantz wrote about his experience investigating Trump at the district attorney’s office.
At the hearing, Vyskocil questioned whether Pomerantz had already disclosed privileged information in his writings and in related television interviews, at one point holding up a copy of the book, “People vs. Donald Trump: An Inside Account,” which had been heavily bookmarked with colorful flags.
And she questioned whether the district attorney’s office had taken steps to prevent or address Pomerantz’s disclosures. Leslie Dubeck, Bragg’s general counsel, said that after publication, the office had alerted the New York City Department of Investigation to potential misdemeanor violations by Pomerantz in disclosing certain information.
“Does it preserve your confidences?” the judge asked Dubeck of Pomerantz’s book. After a pause, Dubeck replied, “no.”
In her written decision, Vyskocil found that the district attorney’s office had taken no action either before or after the publication of Pomerantz’s book to protect privileged information. “This repeated inaction constitutes acquiescence to the disclosure of any otherwise privileged information,” she wrote.
Though Pomerantz has argued that if he is deposed he will be caught between either violating privilege rules or potentially being held in contempt of court, Vyskocil offered no sympathy.
“Pomerantz is in this situation,” she wrote, “because he decided to inject himself into the public debate by authoring a book that he has described as ‘appropriate and in the public interest.’”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
The border bill and Mayorkas impeachment already faced heavy skepticism from a coalition of GOP centrists that’s showing no signs of fading. Centrists have raised fears that the immigration plan goes too far in limiting asylum claims, while also blanching at conservative demands to take the historic step of impeaching a Cabinet official.
Though neither House GOP effort has a chance at success in the Democratic-controlled Senate, a failure to get border security measures through the one chamber of Congress they control would mark a significant stumble for Republicans on an issue highly important to their base.
“I am confident leadership will not bring anything to the floor that does not have the votes to pass. … However long that takes, that’s what you want,” said Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), a vocal critic of the Judiciary Committee’s bill.
Criticism from purple-district Republicans amounts to a political tee-ball pitch for Democrats, who are all too happy to cite their GOP colleagues in making their case against the immigration legislation.
“This bill has no chance of being enacted into law, and most of its provisions cannot even pass on the House floor because of opposition from Republicans,” said Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), his party’s top member on the Judiciary panel.
In a nod toward Gonzales, Nadler added that Republicans “should heed the advice of one of their own.”
While the intra-GOP fight has blasted to the forefront, given the Judiciary Committee’s advancement of the border security bill Wednesday, Gonzales remains locked in a monthslong public spat with Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), who has vocally pushed more conservative immigration measures.
Though Roy’s bill isn’t in the Judiciary package, pieces of the committee’s proposed changes to asylum laws closely reflect sections of the Texas Republican’s plan.
Many Republicans defended the Judiciary Committee bill, arguing it was needed to push back against more than two years of Biden administration policies and, Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) added, “to restore the successful Trump policy.” Republicans argue the border influx was much more manageable under the former president, when the Trump administration placed drastic limits on migrants’ ability to claim asylum.
Meanwhile, Democrats aren’t making it easy for Republicans to pass the legislation, offering a slew of potential changes that could appeal to skeptical centrists.
The first Democratic amendment would have stripped out so-called e-verify requirements, which require that certain businesses check the citizenship status of their employees — a bid to turn agriculture-minded Republicans like Reps. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) and Don Bacon (R-Neb.) against the broader bill.
That failed in the Judiciary Committee along party lines. A second amendment from Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) that would have delayed the implementation of the e-verify mandate also failed.
“I’m surprised that this bill is in here, frankly. … It’s never been able to pass on the House floor,” Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said.
The immigration package is likely to clear the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday without getting tangled in GOP infighting, in part because the panel is stocked with conservatives. But what can clear that panel, Republicans acknowledge, isn’t automatically reflective of what could get 218 votes on the House floor.
And Republicans have set an ambitious goal to clear legislation through the chamber by the middle of next month.
In the meantime, the House Homeland Security Committee will hold a vote on its own border bill next week. The Rules Committee is then expected to merge the two proposals, allowing Republicans to make more changes before a final product gets to the floor.
The Homeland Security panel had initially been expected to hold a vote on its proposal this week, but that was delayed by Mayorkas’ scheduled testimony. And Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), the panel’s chair, reportedly told donors this month that he believed his committee was making the case for Mayorkas’ impeachment — a move that would require near-total House GOP unity to succeed.
Republicans have so far rolled out two impeachment resolutions against Mayorkas, and neither has won over even close to a majority of the House GOP conference.
One, from Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas), currently has 42 cosponsors, while a separate resolution from Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) has 32. Democrats, and some GOP lawmakers, have warned that their colleagues are equating a policy disagreement — namely, that Mayorkas isn’t appropriately handling increased migration levels — to a high crime or misdemeanor.
“I was dismayed to see that, speaking to a group of campaign contributors last week about today’s hearing, the chairman said, and I quote, ‘Get the popcorn, it’s going to be fun.’ I think that tells Americans all they need to know,” said Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Green zeroed in on the GOP’s argument for impeachment, telling Mayorkas that “you have not secured our borders, and I believe you’ve done so intentionally.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
“The president and the White House have failed this city,” he said, adding that a less-than-punctual state budget is only adding to the stresses.
He indicated he wants the federal government to grant Temporary Protected Status to asylum seekers so they can receive work permits because the city is currently experiencing a “black market” of workers without them.
“A substantial number of them, I believe, are being exploited, are being mistreated,” he said.
In a statement, the White House said it hopes to work with the city on its needs: “FEMA is also providing assistance to support the city as it receives migrants and will announce additional funding for receiving cities like New York City in the coming weeks, but we need Congress to provide the funds and resources we’ve requested to fix our long-broken immigration system.”
The White House also called on Congress to “reform and modernize” immigration laws so asylum seekers can get work permits, saying it has tried various administrative measures to help them.
At City Hall, it was quite the political split screen: A couple hundred feet away members of the Progressive Caucus chastised the mayor’s proposed budget cuts (which he has insisted be referred to as “efficiencies”). In the most recent round a few weeks ago, his administration asked most city agencies to cut their staffs for the upcoming fiscal year by 4 percent.
The caucus, which butts heads with the mayor routinely — even more so than the typically critical City Council — is calling for $4 billion in affordable housing funding and $350 million toward “right to counsel” services for those who cannot afford an attorney. They demanded more dollars to be earmarked to shore up mental health and education services, too.
“He is defunding everything we need to keep us safe,” said Council Member Alexa Avilés, who has defined his administration’s priorities largely through a public safety lens. The caucus lost more than a dozen of its members earlier this year amid an internal brawl over whether to defund the NYPD.
The City Council released its official response to the mayor’s budget a few weeks ago, claiming the city would make billions more this fiscal year and the next than it had originally projected.
Adams called those projections “false reporting” and said the inability of local officials to get on the same page has contributed to the federal government’s feet-dragging.
“Running your mouth is not running a city,” Adams said of his critics.
The mayor, who is in negotiations with the Council, must release his next budget proposal by April 26 — though uncertainty in Albany could muddy that timeline, too. New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who also echoed Adams’ calls to expand temporary protected status, said a commitment in the state budget to pay a third of the costs promised by Gov. Kathy Hochul “has yet to materialize.”
Asked Wednesday about the state helping the city with the cost of the asylum seekers, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said it would be a priority in ongoing budget talks.
“I know that members of my conference are very, very interested in making sure that we are helpful in this process,” she told reporters. “It’s not something that we’re spending a lot of time talking about, but there is a consensus that we do have to be helpful.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
“Earlier this month, the president spoke to them by phone after they were subjugated to expulsion votes in the Tennessee Statehouse for peacefully protesting in support of stronger gun safety laws following the shooting at Covenant School in Nashville. During that call, the president thanked them for their leadership in seeking to ban assault weapons and standing up for the democratic values,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday.
“And the three lawmakers thanked the president for his leadership on gun safety and for spotlighting the undemocratic and unprecedented attacks on them in a Tennessee Statehouse.”
She added: “The president looks forward to continuing that discussion when they all meet with him on Monday.”
The three lawmakers captured national attention in the wake of the March 27 Nashville mass shooting, as the nation watched Tennessee Republicans’ unprecedented use of political power to expel two of the Democrats. National Democrats have rallied around the events, and the White House has seized on the opportunity to do the same — repeatedly weighing in on the events.
Vice President Kamala Harris visited Nashville almost two weeks ago, where she met privately with the three representatives and later spoke to a packed room full of students, less than 24 hours after Tennessee Republicans booted the two Black lawmakers from office.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Harsh words were expected at the hearing. For months, Republicans have vocally criticized Mayorkas for his handling of the border and have called for his removal. DHS’ bill would allow the agency to hire another 1,400 personnel to secure the border and earmark over $800 million for new technology to protect the border and fight fentanyl trafficking.
At the center of much of the debate was Mayorkas’ previous comments to Congress that the border is secure. Republicans have charged that he lied under oath when he said that to Congress, though Mayorkas said he interprets “operational control” in a different way.
If it’s seen as preventing all unlawful entries into the United States, as the Secure Fence Act states, then “no administration has ever had operational control,” Mayorkas said during a Senate hearing in late March.
Ranking Member Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said during the hearing that Republicans have acknowledged in the past that the “operational control” definition is “unreachable” or “impossible” to achieve, citing comments made by former committee chairs Peter King and Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas).
“Republicans are criticizing you for not achieving something that no secretary has ever achieved. It seems like their standard changes dependent on the administration,” Thompson said.
Mayorkas, who has visited the border 16 times since taking the post, emphasized during the hearing that the border situation has been an issue for decades and a bipartisan approach is needed to fix the current crisis.
“If our budget were reduced … it would seriously, gravely harm our ability to apprehend individuals who are attempting to cross our border illegally,” as well as the ability to disrupt drug trafficking, Mayorkas said, adding “this is a challenge that we all have to work together to address. We’re dealing with a broken system and we need reform.”
A DHS spokesperson added in a statement to POLITICO that “instead of pointing fingers and pursuing baseless attacks, Congress should work with the Department and pass legislation to fix our broken immigration system, which has not been updated in over 40 years.”
Democrats attempted to quell the flames by praising Mayorkas for his efforts despite the difficult situation, which several members blamed on the Trump administration.
The Biden administration inherited a DHS that had been “beleaguered by four years of political polarization and mismanagement,” Thompson said. “Among Secretary Mayorkas’ predecessors were so-called leaders, often unqualified and sometimes unlawfully appointed, who did the former president’s bidding.”
Later in the hearing, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) was blocked from participating further after she called Mayorkas a “liar” while questioning him.
“While you live in denial and sit over there with this attitude that you’re doing everything right … you are killing Americans with your policies,” she said.
Thompson then interrupted her questioning, asking for her words to be “taken down.”
“We can disagree, but just the fact that we have people watching, you don’t have to call a witness a liar,” he said.
When asked by McCaul if she would modify or withdraw her remarks, Greene stood firm “because the facts show the proof.”
Green, the chair, then interjected: “It’s pretty clear that the rules state you can’t impune someone’s character. Identifying or calling someone a liar is unacceptable on this committee, and I make the ruling that we strike those words.”
The members then clarified the motion, barring Greene from speaking further.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Srinagar: A residential house was damaged in a fire mishap in Bemina area in central Kashmir’s Srinagar district on Wednesday afternoon, officials said.
They said that a fire broke out in a single-storey residential house at Firdous Colony Bemina Srinagar, damaging its attic and roof.
“The timely response from the F&ES official prevented the fire from spreading further”, he added. (GNS)
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