Go to Source: Morning Joe
Senate working on additional Israel aid, says Foreign Relations Committee member
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Deaths top 1,600 in Israel-Hamas War
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Israel-Hamas war upends political calculus for Biden, GOP
The brutal attacks against Israeli civilians outside the Gaza Strip is quickly shifting the political calculus on defense funding and aid to Ukraine, say congressional aides.
Senate defense hawks say the bloody turn of events in Israel will put pressure on isolationists within the GOP to approve an emergency defense spending package before Thanksgiving, predicting it will include money for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.
They also predict it will put pressure on the Republican-controlled House to pass the defense authorization and appropriations bills before the end of the year.
The attacks by Hamas militants and the devastating retaliatory strikes by Israeli defense forces come at an awkward moment for Congress, when the Senate is in recess and the House is in the midst of a race to elect the next Speaker.
A group of Democratic and Republican senators in leadership and on the Senate Foreign Relations, Intelligence, Armed Services and Appropriations committees received an unclassified phone briefing from administration officials Sunday evening, but rank-and-file senators are still waiting for information about when they will be briefed by the State and Defense departments.
Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who lost his gavel last week, failed on two separate occasions to pass a Defense spending bill because of opposition from Democrats and a few hard-line Republicans. It will be harder, in the wake of what happened in Israel, to justify holding up such legislation, congressional aides predicted.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who has emerged as Congress’s leading advocate to fund the war in Ukraine, wasted little time in pointing out what he sees as the new political dynamic underlying the defense debate in Washington.
“Congress has the opportunity this fall to provide emergency appropriations to the Defense Department so that it can assist partners like Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, as well as invest in our own military capabilities,” the GOP leader wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Monday afternoon.
He said an emergency Defense spending package should “include significant replenishment funding” to “expand and modernize our own weapons inventories.”
He called for funding to expand the production of “critical munitions,” long-range weapons and other “essential defenses technologies here in America.”
Congressional aides say that Israel has the defense resources it needs to wage a counterattack into Gaza over the next few weeks and can tap into more than $5 billion in Pentagon drawdown authority. But they also say Israel will need an infusion of money from Congress later this fall.
“Republicans are now talking tough on national security and standing with Israel, and a lot of Republicans still support Ukraine, and this gives them political cover to vote for Ukraine aid and support for Israel,” one GOP aide said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who is traveling this week to China, South Korea and Japan, announced after the Sunday briefing that the Biden administration is “surging support to Israel,” but congressional aides say more will be done in the weeks ahead.
One Senate aide said “there’s nothing immediately necessary because the Israelis keep pretty good stocks” of armaments.
“My guess they are going to roll” money for Israel’s defense into a national security funding package for Ukraine and Taiwan, the aide said, adding that the rapidly escalating violence in and around Gaza will “accelerate” the debate.
A congressional aide says the Pentagon still has $5.5 billion in drawdown authority to fund the war in Ukraine but some of that will likely now go to Israel to fulfill its national security needs as it tries to eliminate Hamas militants in Gaza and recover Israeli hostages.
The aide said the most likely path forward is to combine funding for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan into one major national security package.
The aide added that Israel will need more interceptors for its Iron Dome air defense network as well as artillery and long-range precision guided munitions.
Most of the strikes the Israel Defense Forces are waging on Gaza are being carried out by Joint Direct Attack Munitions and small-diameter bombs, two weapons also in high demand in Ukraine.
There’s strong momentum among Senate Republicans to include enough funding for Ukraine to cover its military needs through the 2024 U.S. election, which is projected to cost more than $60 billion.
President Biden’s request for $24 billion in new money for Ukraine — which the administration delivered to Congress in August — was to cover only the final three months of this year.
Some Republicans in Congress, however, are calling on diverting military funding for Ukraine to Israel instead.
“Israel is facing existential threat. Any funding for Ukraine should be redirected to Israel immediately,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) argued Monday that aid for Israel will be easier to approve because Congress passed legislation in December 2020 authorizing a minimum of $3.3 billion in aid to Israel through 2028.
But McConnell sought Monday to frame the terror attacks in Israel and the war in Ukraine as related and vital national security interests.
“The world has once again seen the face of evil. Those blessed to live in the democratic West must understand that this barbarism, like that we have witnessed in Russia’s war against Ukraine, threatens all of us. And the civilized world must offer Israel more than rhetorical solidarity,” he wrote in The Journal.
Aides and experts say the attacks on Israel will complicate the Biden administration’s diplomatic strategy toward Iran, especially efforts to revive elements of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreement that former President Obama signed with Iran and former President Trump later scrapped.
McConnell called Monday for the West to reimpose “extensive multilateral sanctions on Tehran” and deny Iranian planes overflight rights. He also called on Western allies to impound shipping vessels used by Iran to circumvent sanctions and to close banks with access to the West.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), an outspoken defense hawk, said the Biden administration “should cease all engagement with Iran.”
Danielle Pletka, a senior fellow in foreign and defense policy at the American Enterprise Institute, said the Biden administration will continue to negotiate with Iran but that getting anything approved by Congress will be virtually impossible.
“I think the Biden administration has made a covert understanding with Iran for the singular purpose of preserving some portion of the deal it thinks is important,” she said of the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration, which the Trump administration withdrew from.
She predicted the Biden administration will continue to pursue diplomacy with Iran to advance what it views as U.S. national security interests in the region.
She said the administration already knew that there was no chance of getting a revised Iran nuclear deal through Congress even before the attacks outside Gaza.
Pletka also said the attacks will likely impact the Biden administration’s efforts to negotiate a security agreement with Saudi Arabia in return for Saudi Arabia normalizing relations with Israel.
“I might have said this wouldn’t have changed things had the Saudis not acted as they had. The Saudis wanted to party like it was 1967 again, apparently,” she said, referring to the Six-Day War in 1967 when a coalition of Arab countries fought Israel.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia said in a statement Saturday that it had warned Israel of “the dangers of the explosion of the situation as a result of the continued occupation and deprivation of the Palestinian people of their legitimate rights.”
Go to Source: Administration News | The Hill
Biden ran on steady leadership. The world doesn’t always comply.
The White House is scrambling to react to a combination of crises that, like few times before, are testing President Joe Biden’s ability to project the steadiness he pledged to bring to the office.
The outbreak of violence in Israel, with fears that it could erupt into a larger war, represents the latest — and potentially most difficult. The ongoing war in Ukraine, meanwhile, shows little sign of resolution, with Republicans souring on Biden’s requests for further military assistance. A looming government shutdown threatens critical programs. Republicans ousted their speaker, producing historic chaos in the House. The surging number of migrants at the border has left the administration searching for answers. And the persistent United Auto Workers strike could soon have tangible economic ripple effects.
Democrats fear that the stress tests on the administration are piling up — and that the West Wing may be overburdened. Republicans, and (in private) even some White House allies, argue that the president isn’t doing enough publicly to show support for Israel or to underscore that the administration recognizes the severity of the tragedy.
West Wing aides and Democrats close to the White House described an administration keenly aware that its handling of the next several days and weeks could fundamentally define Biden’s legacy — and shift the trajectory of his reelection bid. They continue to argue that Biden’s resume shows that he has a steady hand at a time of turmoil, even as he remains underwater in the polls.
But for the second straight day, Biden also stayed entirely out of the public eye, confirming the deaths of 11 Americans in the attacks in Israel — and the likelihood that Americans were among the hostages still being held captive — through a written statement. Biden’s sole address to the nation in the wake of the attacks came hours after it, though it was announced that he would make public remarks on the crisis Tuesday. Since Saturday, he had stayed behind closed doors as cable news and social media were filled with gruesome images of the Hamas attacks and Israel’s swift, punishing counterattack.
White House aides downplayed the president’s lack of public presence by stressing the work he’s doing behind the scenes.
Top Biden officials have publicly vowed full support for Israel’s counteroffensive, while working behind the scenes to head off the potential for a widening war. Biden and his top advisers spent the weekend dialing dozens of foreign leaders and allies around the region, constructing a strategy on the fly to manage the aftermath and evaluate the fresh aid requests that Israel will make for a war that it has already predicted will be “long and difficult.” It was all being done as the president himself sat down for interviews with the special counsel team investigating his handling of classified documents from his time as vice president.
On Monday evening, the U.S. and four European allies jointly pledged to provide “steadfast and united support” to Israel.
“We further emphasize that this is not a moment for any party hostile to Israel to exploit these attacks to seek advantage,” said the joint statement, which was signed by the U.S., France, Germany, Italy and the U.K.
But that hasn’t quieted the critics, who note that presidents often use the bully pulpit to project a sense of calm during a crisis, or as a means of showing support or empathy toward the affected communities.
“Presidents have a responsibility to demonstrate U.S. resolve and leadership at moments like this,” said Rory Cooper, former House Republican leadership aide and partner at Purple Strategies. Biden could go to a “synagogue and pray with the Jewish community, or if you were to go to the embassy and sign a condolence book, which is frankly almost boilerplate for a U.S. president at moments like this.”
The culminating crises that Biden faces will provide one of the sharpest tests to date of his team’s theory that the public will recognize and ultimately reward a steady, not flashy, hand at the helm. Biden won the presidency largely by portraying himself as seasoned, a traditionalist and an antidote to the chaos that often surrounded his predecessor, Donald Trump.
While such a formula hasn’t always translated while he’s been in office, Biden has deployed it time and again, including over the past few days.
“The biggest challenge for the White House is bandwidth. We’re dealing with border issues, a government shutdown crisis, a bunch of radicals in the House, then on top of all of that, Ukraine, now Israel,” said Pete Giangreco, a Democratic consultant who’s worked on multiple presidential campaigns. “But from a messaging standpoint, that’s all an opportunity because you can’t help but say, ‘at least this guy knows what he’s doing on the world stage.’ People don’t normally vote on foreign policy, but it goes to ‘can he do the job,’ which is a central contrast for us.”
Complicating matters for the White House has been the uncertainty in Congress. The House of Representatives currently has no speaker, placing confusion around what type of legislative response the government could even muster.
Administration officials briefed Congressional leaders in bipartisan calls Sunday that one lawmaker described as “an American family conversation” despite confusion over whether former Speaker Kevin McCarthy could participate.
Those officials also informed lawmakers Sunday evening that there is no need for action from Congress in the immediate term, but that a supplemental bill would be necessary. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said he’s not aware of any request for additional war powers “at this time.”
While Ukraine and Israel need different military support, addressing both conflicts stretched defense suppliers thin.
“This war is going to be lengthy,” warned Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee. “It’s going to require some munitions and armaments which quite frankly our current military industrial supply base is stretched in producing as it is. So we’re going to need to really think this through, and I think that the chaos in the other caucus is not helping matters.”
The White House is already struggling to marshal support for another round of aid to Ukraine amid objections from Republicans that Biden has not laid out a clear vision for continued U.S. involvement in the war. The likely need for the U.S. to now provide some level of aid to Israel threatens to further complicate the dynamics on Capitol Hill, and the effort to sell the public on long-term involvement in two foreign conflicts.
“I do think President Biden needs to make the case for why Americans should care [about Ukraine],” said Michael McFaul, who served as U.S. ambassador to Russia during the Obama era. “You’ve got to explain it. You can’t just assume people understand.”
Alternatively, some aides on Capitol Hill have speculated that the combination of a larger supplemental to address both conflicts may be easier to approve.
Biden had planned to deliver a high-profile speech on Ukraine as soon as this week aimed at more emphatically framing support for Kyiv as critical to America’s own national security interests, people familiar with the planning said. But it’s now unclear whether the conflict in the Middle East will affect the timing and content of those remarks.
The spasm of violence also could upend the United States’ work to lend a hand in normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. A senior administration official said the White House aimed to move forward with the plan.
Biden was also set to call regional allies to coordinate warnings to “anyone who might seek to take advantage in this situation,” namely Iran. Biden in the meantime has set aside his recent disagreements with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — most notably over the prime minister’s efforts to reshape the Israeli judiciary — by pledging direct support and security assistance for Tel Aviv.
That backdrop to the cascading foreign policy challenges is tumult on the domestic front.
In-fighting among House Republicans brought the federal government to the brink of a shutdown not even two weeks ago. The short-term solution, a continuing resolution, has created another looming funding deadline but also cost McCarthy his job.
Congress only has until Nov. 17 to avert another shutdown — a steep challenge that will now require the White House and Republicans to determine a path forward on Israel, as well as bridge existing standoffs over Ukraine aid, the border and a GOP blockade on the confirmation of top U.S. military promotions.
“It’s not only unprecedented,” said former Rep. Steve Israel, who now leads the Cornell University Institute of Politics and Global Affairs, “it is perilous.”
Elena Schneider contributed to this report.
Go to Source: Politico
Hamas attack challenges Biden’s goals in Middle East
The unprecedented attack by Hamas against Israel has upended the Biden administration’s goals for peace in the region.
President Biden, who has affirmed rock-solid support for Israel, will be challenged to hold the line in giving Jerusalem the space it requests to retaliate against Hamas in the besieged Gaza Strip, pushing back against expected calls for Israel to exercise restraint or enter into a cease-fire with the Iranian-backed terror group.
A tweet from Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday night calling for a “ceasefire” was deleted.
“Nobody wants to see anybody, an innocent civilian or family wrecked by violence, of course not,” White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on a call with reporters Monday night.
“We share values with Israel when it comes to law of war and, and respect for life. And … I won’t speak to whatever the Israeli Defense Forces are planning to do in their operations, I think I’ll just leave it there.”
The president is also faced with securing the release of any American hostages who may have been taken by Hamas from communities in Israel, and exacting justice for U.S. citizens killed in the assault, with people gunned down in their homes and on the street or killed by rocket fire on population centers.
“To get rid of this regime [Hamas], we need the backup of the Americans because it’s not going to be one day, it will be a very bloody conflict,” said Neomi Neumann, who served as head of research at Israel’s domestic security agency, the Shin Bet, until 2021 and is now a visiting fellow with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
“A lot of people will die, but we cannot let ourselves leave this regime that are radical fanatics.”
The scale of the devastation has been staggering over three days since Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, launched a highly sophisticated and coordinated attack from its Gaza Strip base over the border into Israel, with an estimated 900 people killed — including civilians, soldiers and police — more than 2,000 injured and more than 100 believed to have been kidnapped and taken hostage.
At least 11 Americans are known killed, Biden said in a statement Monday, and that Americans are likely among those taken hostage by Hamas.
Israeli officials and their advocates are warning the world that they will be carrying out military operations with the goal of exacting a heavy price from Hamas.
Neumann added that Israel’s military operations are likely to be carried out over a period of months and will be challenged by what is likely to be a high Palestinian death toll that will increase pressure from the international community on Israel to relent.
“The U.S. and moderate Arab countries will have to think about the solution for the Gaza Strip the day after the war and how we manage to make this area stable with good life for its people,” she said.
The Gaza Ministry of Health on Monday said the Palestinian death toll stands at 560 people and 2,900 people injured, but did not release figures on civilians versus Hamas fighters.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israeli forces are working to expel Hamas fighters who infiltrated communities in the south, even as the Israel Defense Forces are undertaking “a massive attack against Hamas with an unprecedented intensity.”
Netanyahu thanked Biden for his support and the dispatch of a U.S. carrier strike group to the Mediterranean Sea, which has been interpreted as a major show of force to deter Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon, a Tehran-backed military proxy, from opening a separate military front.
“An American aircraft carrier, one of the largest in the world, is on its way to our region. Our common enemies understand very well the significance of this step,” Netanyahu said.
Neumann said U.S. support to deter Iran and Hezbollah is meaningful.
“We need to avoid the infiltration of other players to this campaign; we need to focus on the Gaza Strip right now,” she said.
And while Israel’s military operations are zeroing in on the Gaza Strip, the diplomatic battle for influence is global.
The U.S. on Monday issued a joint statement with the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom backing Israel’s right to defend itself and making a distinction between the depravity of Hamas and support for the aspirations of the Palestinian people.
“Hamas does not represent those aspirations, and it offers nothing for the Palestinian people other than more terror and bloodshed,” the statement read.
A key priority for the Biden administration is countering Russian and Chinese efforts to exploit the situation, either to assert their own influence or weaken the position of the U.S.
“We’re in a pitched fight for great power influence in the Middle East. It’s the U.S. versus China, and Russia as well,” said Laura Blumenfeld, a senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies and who served as a senior policy adviser on Israeli-Palestinian negotiations during the Obama administration.
“From an interest point of view, the U.S. needs to shove out Russia and China — and Iran is certainly part of that Russia-China axis.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is battling Russian forces that are supplied militarily by Iran and shielded diplomatically by China, warned that Moscow is interested in inciting war in the Middle East to “erode global unity and exacerbate cleavages and controversies, helping Russia in destroying freedom in Europe.”
And Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who was in Beijing on Monday, pushed Chinese President Xi Jinping to issue a stronger statement on the attacks against Israel that condemned violence against civilians, going beyond the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s initial remarks that called for calm, exercise of restraint and a cessation of hostilities.
The scale of brutality of Hamas’s assault is drawing comparisons to the worst atrocities of the Islamic State (ISIS) and allegations of war crimes for the targeted killing of civilians; the kidnapping of women, children, the elderly and infirm; and unconfirmed reports of sexual assault.
“We’ve been in contact with our contacts across the [Middle East] region to urge them to acknowledge the horrific terrorism that took place,” said Ted Deutch, a former Democratic congressman from Florida who serves as the CEO of the American Jewish Community, an organization that is focused on deepening relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors as part of its global advocacy for the Jewish people.
“The conversations about integrating Israel fully into not just the Middle East but the world stand in stark contrast to everything Hamas is and wants. Hamas’s goal is to draw Hezbollah and other terror groups into war with Israel because their goal is to destroy Israel,” he added.
The Biden administration had been cultivating for months, if not years, negotiations to open ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia that supporters hoped would deliver a new era of stability in the region and present opportunities to advance rights for Palestinians.
Those talks are likely on ice, said Michael Koplow, chief policy adviser at Israel Policy Forum, a nonprofit education and analysis group based in Washington.
“The statement that the Saudis issued in the aftermath of this was, to my mind, extremely disappointing … I think that’s a sign of how difficult it’s going to be for the Saudis to keep on moving forward with this, with what we all expect to be coming, which is an Israeli ground invasion of Gaza, which is going to result in many, many Palestinian casualties,” he said in a briefing with reporters.
While Israel is shoring up its defense, the country is also grappling with the fallout of how the security establishment was blindsided by such an attack.
“The U.S. is doing what I think we expect the U.S. to do, which is really give Israel all the backing it needs and particularly at a time when there’s this outside perception that Israel is in chaos,” said Koplow.
“It’s good to see the United States stepping up and doing what it can to try and back down this notion that Israel is easily overrun or that Israel stands alone, in terms of what it means for a wider regional war.”
Go to Source: Administration News | The Hill
Five questions for Washington amid bloodshed in Israel and Gaza
The world is reeling as it watches events in Israel and Gaza.
As of Monday afternoon, around 800 Israelis had been confirmed dead as a result of Hamas’s surprise attack. Around 700 Palestinians had been killed in response.
The crisis has no immediate end in sight. On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged that “though Israel didn’t start this war, Israel will finish it.”
Netanyahu also contended, in relation to Hamas, that Israel “will exact a price that will be remembered by them and Israel’s other enemies for decades to come.”
For its part, Hamas said that it would execute hostages — and broadcast the executions — in response to future bombings of civilian housing by Israel.
The grim situation has big implications for American politics, too.
Beyond the devastating human toll in the Middle East, here are some of the biggest questions confronting Washington.
Was Iran behind the attack?
This is one of the biggest questions. It has not yet been answered in a definitive way.
Iran is a key supporter of Hamas, and of several other Palestinian armed groups.
But backing for the overall cause does not necessarily translate into knowledge of the specifics of the plan to invade Israel.
The most concrete report of Iranian involvement so far came in a Wall Street Journal story on Sunday.
The Journal’s reporters wrote that Iranian security officials had given “the green light” for the attack at a recent meeting in Beirut.
The story also included the claim that “officers of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps had worked with Hamas since August” to conceive the invasion.
The Journal’s most dramatic claims were sourced to unnamed “senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah.” But it also included denials, both from a Hamas official and from a spokesperson for the Iranian mission to the United Nations, that there had been coordination.
Notably, neither the American government nor the Israeli government has stated definitively that Iran was involved.
A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Force (IDF) told Politico on Monday that “we have no evidence or proof” Iran was behind the attack, though he added that Israel was certain “the Iranians were not surprised.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, “We have not yet seen evidence that Iran directed or was behind this particular attack, but there is certainly a long relationship.”
The question of Iranian involvement is so vital because, were it to be proven, both Israel and the United States would be obligated to take some kind of action against Tehran — which in turn could enlarge the conflict.
How big are the political dangers for President Biden?
Republican presidential candidates have been lining up to bash President Biden for what they contend is his weakness on the international stage.
In particular, they’ve been condemning the deal reached in August that unfroze $6 billion in Iranian funds in return for the release of five Americans.
Former President Trump said Biden had whittled away at Middle East peace “at a far more rapid pace than anyone thought possible.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wrote on social media that “Iran has helped fund this war against Israel and Joe Biden’s policies that have gone easy on Iran have helped fill their coffers.”
And former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that Blinken’s claim that the $6 billion could not have been used in the attack — since it is restricted to humanitarian purposes — was “irresponsible.”
On one level, the attack on Israel plays into the Republican attack line that Democrats in general, and Biden in particular, are too soft with American adversaries.
Versions of this argument have been used in relation to China, as well as Iran, throughout the Biden presidency.
Still, there is no certainty that voters will blame Biden for events on the other side of the world that even Israel’s vaunted security apparatus failed to see coming.
In addition, Biden’s experience can appeal to voters in moments of international crisis.
His response to Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and the way he assembled a coalition to resist it, won plaudits in the months afterward.
Could the conflict affect aid to Ukraine?
Events in Israel and Gaza could have an effect on the war in Ukraine in at least two ways.
In big-picture terms, there are questions about whether any increased American commitments to Israel could sap American public will for aid to Ukraine.
Public support for Ukraine’s effort to repel the Russian invasion has dipped over time. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week, only a narrow plurality of adults — 41 percent to 35 percent — supported America continuing to arm Ukraine. In May, a poll from the same organizations found Americans favored arming Ukraine by a wider, 17-point margin.
It seems plausible that requests for additional aid to Israel could make Americans even less willing to countenance heavy spending for Ukraine.
However, in terms of the congressional process, there is already some talk about putting both aid to Israel and to Ukraine into any new spending deal.
Such a deal will need to be agreed upon by Nov. 17, otherwise the government will shut down.
Putting aid for both nations into a must-pass package could be one way for advocates of such aid to overcome resistance.
How will it impact Congress and the race for Speaker?
It is a bad look, by any reasonable standard, for the House to be without a Speaker in the middle of an international crisis.
Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) holds tightly circumscribed powers, limited mainly to facilitating the election of a proper replacement for Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who was toppled as Speaker last week.
In essence, the situation leaves the House frozen.
The immediate effects are more symbolic than substantive — for example, it makes it more cumbersome for the House to pass a resolution condemning Hamas.
If the House were to spend prolonged time without a Speaker, it would hamper the fulfillment of any Israeli request for supplemental help, beyond the $3 billion-plus of aid the U.S. already provides.
The lack of a Speaker is also one more example of the dysfunction that has caused the nation’s politics to seize up in recent years.
The net effect could nudge House Republicans to select a Speaker more quickly than they otherwise would do this week.
A vote could come as soon as Wednesday, with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) as the only two declared candidates.
McCarthy has become a bit of a wild card, however.
Twice on Monday — during an interview on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show and at a Capitol Hill press conference — he held the door ajar to a possible return to the Speakership, even while stopping well short of announcing a candidacy.
Could the Jewish American vote shift anytime soon?
Republican attacks on Biden play well with GOP primary voters, but it’s a lot less clear whether they will bring about any major shift in the Jewish vote.
Jewish Americans have traditionally been a strong pillar of Democratic support. There is little evidence that increased GOP efforts to win Jewish voters have had a major impact.
A Pew Research Center survey published in 2021 found that 71 percent of American Jews identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party, while 26 percent favor Republicans.
Jewish voters chose Biden over Trump by almost 40 points in 2020 — 69 percent to 30 percent — according to a voter analysis commissioned by The Associated Press and Fox News. The 69 percent Biden won was exactly the same figure as that won by then-President Obama in his 2012 reelection win over GOP nominee Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah).
It’s possible, of course, that the seismic shock of the Hamas attack could force some kind of realignment, especially if new details emerge that are damning of the Biden administration.
Still, Jewish support for Democrats has proven resilient for decades.
Go to Source: Administration News | The Hill
Biden’s depletion of emergency oil stocks comes back into focus amid Israel-Hamas war, price surge
President Biden’s decision to drain the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to its lowest level in decades is back in the spotlight amid the war between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which has caused oil prices to surge.
On Monday, the Brent crude index, the worldwide oil benchmark, and the U.S. WTI index both surged more than 4% and inched closer to $90 a barrel as a result of volatility created by the Middle East crisis. According to analysts, the conflict — triggered over the weekend after a series of unprovoked attacks by Palestinian militants on Israelis — may lead to large amounts of global oil supplies being withheld.
“If the conflict envelopes Iran… up to 3% of global oil supply is at risk. And if a wider conflict eventuates that ends up impacting transit through the Strait of Hormuz, around 20% of global oil supply could be held hostage,” energy analyst Saul Kavonic said in an interview with Reuters.
“Timing is everything and the attacks almost certainly postpone any Saudi-Israeli rapprochement, along with any high probability expectation of Saudi Arabia reducing or eliminating its extra 1 million [barrel per day] cut if prices resume their recent fall,” analysts with Citibank added in a note.
BIDEN ADMIN SLOW-WALKING GAS PIPELINE SUPPORTED BY LABOR UNIONS THAT WOULD EXPAND ENERGY ACCESS
However, the Biden administration has depleted the SPR, which contains an emergency oil supply and was established for emergency scenarios, to its lowest level in four decades. The SPR currently contains 351.3 million barrels of oil, 44% lower than it was in January 2021 when Biden took office and a level last recorded in September 1983 prior to this year.
Since taking office, Biden has ordered the Department of Energy to release a total of about 260 million barrels of oil stored in the SPR to combat high fuel prices that hit consumers in late 2021 and mid 2022. While the administration has recently initiated the process of refilling the emergency reserve, Republican lawmakers and energy experts have warned its actions make the U.S. vulnerable to short-term supply shocks.
WHITE HOUSE PROHIBITING OFFICIAL TRAVEL TO FOSSIL FUEL CONFERENCES, INTERNAL MEMO SHOWS
“There are a lot of reasons why the Biden administration should not have used the SPR to try to bring down prices — one of which is that the SPR then isn’t available if something serious happens. We’re facing that right now,” Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told Fox News Digital in an interview. “The point was for the nation to have an emergency oil supply.”
“And it’s especially foolish given the backdrop of this administration’s hostility to domestic oil production,” he added.
In addition, earlier this year, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee ranking member John Barrasso, R-Wyo., requested a Government Accountability Office investigation into how the administration’s SPR releases may indirectly threaten national security.
“DOE’s mismanagement of the SPR has undermined America’s energy security, leaving the nation more vulnerable to energy supply disruptions, and increasing the ability for OPEC and Russia to use energy as a geopolitical weapon,” the GOP leaders wrote.
The SPR has a total capacity of 714 million barrels of oil and consists of four storage facilities in Texas and Louisiana. The 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act, which established the reserve, prohibits the release of any SPR stocks unless there is a severe domestic supply shortage, an act of sabotage or natural disaster.
Prior to 2021, the most recent SPR emergency release took place during another Middle East conflict, the Libyan civil war in 2011, when then-President Barack Obama tapped the reserves as Middle Eastern oil supplies were cut off. Before that, it was tapped during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the first Gulf War in the early 1990s.
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Go to Source: Latest Political News on Fox News
Mystery solved as Iran-backed judge, who seeks Trump’s arrest, confirms invite to Washington, DC
EXCLUSIVE — Iraq’s top judge, Faiq Zidan, who seeks the arrest of former President Donald Trump, confirmed through his spokesperson to Fox News Digital that he has indeed been invited to Washington, D.C. Fox News Digital first broke the story that Zidan had been invited to Washington.
There had been confusion about the controversial judge’s visit to Washington, D.C., when it was revealed that he was to meet with officials at the Department of Justice. A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital last week, “The Supreme Judicial Council President Faiq Zidan is going to be hosted by the Department of Justice, so we defer to the DOJ to discuss their meetings. We engage with a wide range of counterparts in Iraq, and we value engaging the Iraqi judiciary. The DOJ meets regularly with foreign judicial leaders.”
Yet conflicting with the State Department spokesperson’s statement, a source familiar with the situation told Fox News Digital last Thursday that “Zidan will not be meeting with any DOJ officials.”
On Monday, Zidan’s spokesperson texted Fox News Digital on the WhatsApp messaging service, writing, “His visit to Washington was postponed due to the current war conditions. When he visits Washington, he will hold a meeting with you to clarify many matters that are not clear to American public opinion.”
MYSTERY SURROUNDS VISIT TO DC OF IRAN-BACKED IRAQI JUDGE WHO ISSUED WARRANT FOR TRUMP’S ARREST
Fox News Digital called Zidan’s spokesperson before publication of its first article on his planned visit. She declined to comment on the telephone or via WhatsApp. After Fox News Digital sent the Iraqi spokesperson its published story, she issued the statement that the war in Israel was preventing Zidan from traveling to Washington.
According to a source familiar with Zidan’s invitation to the DOJ, the judge told many U.S. officials that the DOJ invited him to Washington, D.C.
In January, Zidan said that Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council had filed an arrest warrant for Trump with regard to the U.S. targeted killing of Iranian Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, who reportedly oversaw the murders of more than 600 American military personnel in the Mideast.
IRAQ OPENS INVESTIGATION INTO KIDNAPPING OF ISRAELI-RUSSIAN CITIZEN WHO HAS BEEN MISSING FOR MONTHS
According to an article on the website of U.S.-sanctioned Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the Iraqi judge said during a meeting earlier this year with the Raisi, “One of the most important examples of judicial cooperation between the two neighboring and brotherly countries is the trial of all those who participated in the terrorist crime of martyring the commanders of fighting against terrorism.”
Zidan’s reported statement was said in a discussion on pursuing “justice for the martyrs Soleimani, al-Muhandis.”
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was the head of the pro-Iran Kata’ib Hezbollah militia in 2020. The U.S. military killed Soleimani and al-Muhandis with a lethal drone strike near Baghdad International Airport.
Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser for the Washington, D.C.-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital, “The Justice Department should be focused on protecting Americans targeted by IRGC assassinations and kidnapping plots, not hosting the IRGC’s man in Baghdad who wants to prosecute Americans for killing terrorists. Zidan should not be allowed in America.”
Michael Knights, a fellow of the Washington Institute who has written about Zidan, told Fox News Digital that “Zidan issued one order after another that has disadvantaged opponents of Iranian militias.”
Knights said that after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Soleimani and al-Muhandis “were the architects of moving Zidan up through the judicial system. He was running counterterrorism courts so that none of Iran’s friends got prosecuted under Iraqi law.”
The lack of modern judicial norms in Iraq was noted by Knights, who said Zidan “is a supreme court judge who can hire and fire other judges. Iraq has one supreme court judge. He is as powerful as the prime minister of Iraq. He is unelected, installed by Iran and has no term limit.”
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Hamas attack on Israel rocks 2024 presidential campaign, instantly altering the political conversation
In an instant, the conversation in the race for the White House was altered as Hamas militants, supported by Iran, on Saturday launched the deadliest attack on Israel in decades.
And the surprise assault on Israel during the early morning hours of a major Jewish holiday immediately elevated foreign policy – which was one of many leading issues in the presidential race – to the center of the campaign spotlight.
Longtime Republican strategist and communicator Ryan Williams, a veteran of multiple GOP presidential campaigns, emphasized that “the tragic events in Israel have shifted the political discussion in the United States to foreign policy.”
Former President Donald Trump, in a campaign appearance Monday in New Hampshire, took aim at his successor in the White House, arguing that “today we have an all-out war in Israel, and it’s going to spread very quickly. What a difference a president makes.”
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Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who served as ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump administration and is challenging the former president for the 2024 presidential nomination, told Fox News in an interview in Iowa that “our message to Hamas is, your days are numbered. Your days are numbered because we are not going to allow you to terrorize Israelis, Americans or anyone anymore. This terror is coming to an end.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, in a statement, emphasized that “we must not only stand with Israel, but we must support them as they hunt down and eradicate these barbarians.”
The presidential campaign for Sen. Tim Scott said that the South Carolina lawmaker will head to a well-known conservative think tank in the nation’s capital Tuesday to deliver a speech “about standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel, wiping Hamas off the map.”
CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS COVERAGE OF ISRAEL’S WAR WITH HAMAS
On Wednesday, GOP White House contender and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum will visit the same think tank – the Hudson Institute – to lay out what his advisers say is a “comprehensive foreign policy vision that will make America safer” in the wake of the attack on Israel.
President Biden, pointing to what he called an “appalling terrorist assault against Israel” that left over 900 Israelis dead and more than 2,000 injured, said in a statement Monday that “in this moment of heartbreak, the American people stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Israelis.”
The assault by Hamas, in which at least 11 Americans in Israel were also killed, ignited a massive counterattack, which has left around 700 Palestinians dead and nearly 3,000 injured in the Gaza Strip.
Biden reiterated that “the United States and the State of Israel are inseparable partners” and that Washington “will continue to make sure Israel has what it needs to defend itself and its people.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who’s had his differences in the past with Biden, emphasized on Monday that “I want to thank President Biden for his unequivocal support,” but his praise for Biden hasn’t stopped the Republican presidential candidates from blaming the president for the Hamas attack.
The criticism of the president comes from a recent $6 billion transfer to Iran, a complex prisoner swap deal announced by the Biden administration in September. Roughly $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets that were being held in South Korea were transferred to an account in Doha, Qatar, as part of the deal to free five Americans being held hostage in Iran.
The Biden administration has pushed back on GOP criticism by insisting that none of the funds transferred have been spent to date, but Republicans claim that the deal – and the funds – helped fuel the Hamas assault on Israel.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has emphasized that Tehran would spend the money “wherever we need it,” to which the Biden administration responded it could freeze the assets again if necessary.
DeSantis claimed that Hamas was “empowered by Joe Biden’s appeasement of Iran” while Scott alleged the attack was “the Biden $6 billion ransom payment at work.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence blamed Biden, arguing that the current administration “projects weakness on the world stage.”
And Trump, who’s the commanding frontrunner for the GOP nomination as he runs for the White House a third straight time, charged Monday in New Hampshire that “Joe Biden betrayed Israel.”
WATCH FOX NEWS LIVE COVERAGE OF THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
The Biden 2024 re-election campaign fired back at Trump.
“With each and every lie, Donald Trump further proves he is too dangerous to lead the United States on the world stage. The generals and other military leaders who served under Trump—those in a position to know—have repeatedly said he made our country less safe, not more,” Biden-Harris 2024 Campaign National Co-Chair and military veteran Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois said in a statement.
Williams, the Republican strategist, said that the elevation of foreign policy “works well for Trump” in the GOP nomination race.
Pointing to Trump’s four years in the White House, Williams said “he’s the only Republican candidate that’s had that level of foreign policy experience, and he has a record to point to, where he can say that the way he was doing it in office was better than Biden.”
Pence and Haley are also spotlighting their chops on the world stage.
Besides criticizing Biden, Pence took aim at his rivals this past weekend in stating that “voices of appeasement like Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis that I believe have run contrary to the tradition in our party that America is the leader of the free world.”
Williams emphasized that “if you have foreign policy experience, this issue helps you.”
But he also said, “I don’t think it necessarily sets Haley and Pence apart from Trump, because they were all in the same administration, but Trump gets to take credit for what he did in his administration.”
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