“The truth is found when men are free to pursue it.” ― Franklin Delano Roosevelt
THE DAY AHEAD:
Good morning, patriots. Let's start today's brief by breaking down the latest Biden-backed $1.5 trillion spending bill. The House of Representatives passed it last night with the intent of quickly sending the bill to the Senate.
With government spending set to expire on Friday, Congress is seeking to pass a spending bill by the end of this week to avert a government shutdown.
According to CNBC,
To give the Senate enough time to vote on it, the House plans to pass a second bill to extend current funding through Tuesday.
The urgency of the bill required Republican and Democrat lawmakers to compromise on certain issues, for instance, over $15 billion in Covid-19 relief was scrapped. Despite deductions, the bill remains excessive.
Most topical is the nearly $14 billion allotted for aid to Ukraine. As the Russia-Ukraine war is intensifying militarily and economically, the need for humanitarian assistance is also growing. This allotment will also go toward equipment for the Ukraine military and the deployment of US troops in surrounding countries. Also with regard to the war, the bill includes provisions for sanctions enforcement.
On the same trend, the bill includes nearly $800 billion in defense spending.
However, the rushed bill wasn't published until early Wednesday morning, leaving little time for lawmakers to study the nearly 3,000 pages.
In other news, Democrats are continuing to underplay the impacts of the Russia-Ukraine War. At a recent conference, John Kerry, the presidential envoy for climate, warned that the upcoming “climate refugees” will be a bigger concern than those from Ukraine.
Kerry has previously drawn parallels between war and climate change. Before Russia's invasion, he said, “You have a war, and obviously you're going to have massive emissions consequences to the war. But equally importantly, you're going to lose people's focus, you're going to lose certainly big country attention because they will be diverted, and I think it could have a damaging impact.”
Meanwhile, amid Biden's oil ban and decade-high prices, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm is suggesting companies increase output. While at the same conference as Kerry, she said,
I hope your investors are saying these words to you as well: In this moment of crisis, we need more supply … right now, we need oil and gas production to rise to meet current demand.
She went on to suggest increasing output will not setback the Biden Administration's “clean-energy goals.”
However, Biden is blaming the high prices on Russia, dubbing it “Putin's price hike.” As expected, the administration is dodging the fact that prices were increasing prior to Russia's invasion.
Speaking of clean energy, Putin is threatening nuclear war. While Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy is calling bluff, others are more concerned.
Zelenskyy said,
I think that the threat of nuclear war is a bluff. It's one thing to be a murderer. It's another to commit suicide. Every use of nuclear weapons means the end for all sides, not just for the person using them.
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump's response to Putin's threat was,
You should be scared because we have incompetent people heading up our country, who frankly got there through a fraudulent election.
… I hate hearing Biden say ‘no, we don't want anything to do with Russia, they're a nuclear power.' But so are we. And we're a bigger nuclear power
ALN will continue reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war as it continues.
Last But Not Least:
The Republican National Committee filed a lawsuit against the January 6 Committee in an attempt to prevent one of its vendors from turning over records. The investigation is requesting records related to the GOP's fundraising and donor efforts.
According to the Wall Street Journal,
The RNC lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, alleges that the subpoena violates the committee's constitutional rights and is overly broad. The RNC further argues that the committee itself was invalidly formed and lacks the authority to demand such records.
The RNC's lawsuit also named House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as a defendant along with the Jan. 6 committee and all its individual members.
Over a year after the Capitol demonstrations, House members are continuing to pursue their investigation and protestors are still being charged.
In brighter news, as Covid-19 policies continue to ease, companies are reversing vaccine mandates. Most recently, United Airlines decided to allow unvaccinated employees to come back to work. Similar moves are expected in the coming months, especially as more Americans stand up for their civil liberties by suing employers.
Thank you for reading today's briefing!
Any Republican, House or Senate Republican that votes for this should be primaried in 2022 or 2024. When will some same people in our government step up and stop this nonsense. Changing the rules in the middle of the game, passing new rules in the dead of the night and sending an outlandish bill for vote that no one had had time to read let alone debate and offer amendments is plain and simple bulls***! Wake up America it is time to take to the streets. If BLM and ANTIFA can do so can we!
John Kerry needs to shut his piehole and disappear like Fauchi, hopefully to never reappear.