Politics
US Senate advances bill to end federal shutdown
- Bill includes three appropriations measures.
- Democrats had resisted funding measure without healthcare fixes.
- Trump pushes for direct payments over ACA subsidies.
WASHINGTON: The US Senate on Sunday moved forward on a measure aimed at reopening the federal government and ending a 40-day shutdown that has sidelined federal workers, delayed food aid and snarled air travel.
In a procedural vote, senators advanced a House-passed bill that will be amended to fund the government until January 30 and include a package of three full-year appropriations bills. If the Senate eventually passes the amended bill, the package still must be approved by the House of Representatives and sent to President Donald Trump for his signature, a process that could take several days.
Under a deal struck with a group of Democrats, Republicans agreed to a vote in December on extending subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, according to a person familiar with negotiations over the bill. The subsidies have been a Democratic priority during the funding battle.
The resolution would also reverse at least some of the Trump administration’s mass layoffs of federal workers during the shutdown and fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme benefits for a year.
“All federal employees, including members of our military and Coast Guard, the Capitol police officers, Border Patrol agents, TSA screeners, air-traffic controllers, will receive their back wages” under the deal, Republican Senator Susan Collins, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said of the measure.
The deal was brokered by two New Hampshire Democrats, Senators Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen, and Angus King, an independent from Maine, the person said. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the chamber’s top Democrat, voted against the measure.
Sunday marked the 40th day of the shutdown, which has sidelined federal workers and affected food aid, parks and travel, while air traffic control staffing shortages threaten to derail travel during the busy Thanksgiving holiday season late this month.
Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, said the mounting effects of the shutdown have pushed the chamber toward an agreement.
“Temperatures cool, the atmospheric pressure increases outside and all of a sudden it looks like things will come together,” Tillis told reporters.
Should the government remain closed for much longer, economic growth could turn negative in the fourth quarter, especially if air travel does not return to normal levels by Thanksgiving, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett warned on the CBS “Face the Nation” show. Thanksgiving falls on November 27 this year.
Trump takes aim at healthcare subsidies
The wrangling on Capitol Hill came as Trump on Sunday again pushed to replace subsidies for the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplaces with direct payments to individuals.
The subsidies, which helped double ACA enrollment to 24 million since they were put in place in 2021, are at the heart of the shutdown. Republicans have maintained they are open to addressing the issue only after government funding is restored.
Trump took to his Truth Social platform on Sunday to blast the subsidies as a “windfall for Health Insurance Companies, and a DISASTER for the American people,” while demanding the funds be sent directly to individuals to buy coverage on their own. “I stand ready to work with both Parties to solve this problem once the Government is open,” Trump wrote.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch Trump ally, said in separate TV interviews that Trump’s healthcare idea would not be introduced before lawmakers pass a federal funding measure.
“We’re not proposing it to the Senate right now,” Bessent said in an interview with ABC‘s “This Week” programme. “We are not going to negotiate with the Democrats until they reopen the government.”
Americans shopping for 2026 Obamacare health insurance plans are facing a more than doubling of monthly premiums on average, health experts estimate, with the pandemic-era subsidies due to expire at the end of the year.
Republicans rejected a proposal on Friday by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, to vote to reopen the government in exchange for a one-year extension of tax credits that lower costs for plans under the Affordable Care Act, often referred to as Obamacare.
Democratic Senator Adam Schiff said on Sunday he believed Trump’s healthcare proposal was aimed at gutting the ACA and allowing insurance companies to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.
“So the same insurance companies he’s railing against in those tweets, he is saying: ‘I’m going to give you more power to cancel people’s policies and not cover them if they have a pre-existing condition,'” Schiff said on ABC‘s “This Week” programme.
NEW YORK: Two men were charged Monday with “terrorist” offences for throwing a nail bomb near a weekend protest, after which the pair told police they were aligned with terrorist group Daesh, charging documents showed.
The two men, both US citizens, are in custody after allegedly being involved in tossing the bomb packed with explosives.
This is being investigated as an act of Daesh-inspired terrorism, said NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
She said it was not thought to be linked to the ongoing conflict in Iran. No one was hurt during the incident.
Two suspicious devices were thrown by a man identified by police as Emir Balat near the protest Saturday, led by a far-right influencer.
According to the charging document, the men “referred to Daesh in recorded post-arrest statements… More specifically, Balat wrote on a piece of paper that he pledge(d) allegience (sic) to the Daesh.”
The men were charged with five counts including attempted support of a “foreign terrorist organisation” and “use of a weapon of mass destruction.”
On Sunday, the police bomb squad inspected a car connected to the men near the scene. Tisch said a suspicious device found in the vehicle tested negative for explosives.
‘Flames and smoke’
Police had said Saturday that the devices were jars wrapped in tape and containing nuts, bolts and screws. Also arrested was Ibrahim Kayumi.
The events unfolded after the far-right influencer, Jake Lang, staged a demonstration outside Gracie Mansion, the official residence of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
His protest drew around 20 people, while a counter-protest drew about 125. Mamdani was not home during the incident.
Lang returned to the scene of the incident Monday and was outside Mamdani’s official residence.
AFP correspondents at the scene on Saturday saw a man wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and beige cargo pants — later identified as Balat —being handed a device wrapped in tape and billowing smoke by another man, named by police as Kayumi.
Balat dropped the device near a line of police before vaulting a barrier.
“Witnesses reported seeing flames and smoke as it travelled through the air before it struck a barrier a few feet from police officers,” Tisch said Saturday.
Crude oil prices have soared past $100 a barrel amid a large-scale and unprovoked US-Israeli war on Iran.
The international benchmark of Brent crude jumped more than 20 percent on Sunday, and at one point hit $115 as concerns increased over prolonged disruptions to global energy supplies.
The benchmark was being traded at around $107.50 as of 0230 GMT on Monday following a slight moderation. The uptick marked the first time oil prices climbed over $100 per barrel since the onset of Russia’s operations in Ukraine in 2022.
US President Donald Trump, who campaigned heavily on cost-of-living concerns in the 2024 vote, sought to downplay the rise in prices.
“Short term oil prices, which will drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over, is a very small price to pay for the USA, and World, Safety and Peace,” Trump asserted in a post on Truth Social.
US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright also tried to brush off the prospect of soaring energy prices earlier on Sunday.
He told CBS News’ Face the Nation program that any increase in prices at the petrol pump would be “temporary.”Crude oil prices have spiked by about 50 percent since the US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran on February 28.
Iran, in retaliation, has effectively brought shipping in the Strait of Hormuz to halt.
Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait — three of the major producers in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) — have slashed production amid an accumulating backlog of barrels with no destination to go due to the effective closure of the strategic waterway.
Meanwhile, stocks in Asia tumbled drastically on Monday morning, as investors prepared for the fallout of soaring energy prices.
Japan’s 225 index fell more than 7 percent in early trading, while South Korea’s KOSPI plunged more than 8 percent.The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong also fell by nearly 3 percent.
US stocks futures, which are regularly traded outside of usual market hours, also experienced significant losses.
Futures tied to Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 fell by 1.7 percent, while those for the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped by 1.90 percent.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted that energy sustained 10 percent rise in oil prices brings about a 0.5 rise in inflation and a 0.15 percent reduction in global economic growth.
Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei has been elected the new Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Iran’s Assembly of Experts, a body of 88 clerics, on Sunday night officially appointed Mojtaba Khamenei, 56 years old, as the new Leader of the Islamic Revolution and the third Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Mojtaba Khamenei is the son of martyred Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
“By a decisive vote, the Assembly of Experts appointed Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei as the third Leader of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the assembly said in a statement.
The announcement, issued by the Secretariat of the Assembly of Experts, begins with invocations in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, and extends heartfelt condolences to the noble and free nation of Islamic Iran.
It honors the martyrdom of Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, whose heavenly ascension marks the end of an era of wise and steadfast leadership. Ayatollah Khamenei was martyred on February 28 in a terrorist US and Israeli strike.
The statement also pays tribute to other exalted martyrs, including high-ranking commanders of the armed forces and the innocent students of the Shajra Tayyiba School in Minab City, all victims of the barbaric assaults by criminal America and the Zionist regime.
The statement reveres the exalted institution of Wilayat al-Faqih (Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist) during the occultation of the Imam of the Age (may Allah hasten his reappearance), emphasizing its pivotal role in the Islamic Republic’s system.
It celebrates the 47 years of exemplary governance by the Imams of the Revolution, rooted in dignity, independence, and divine authority.
Following meticulous studies and a decisive vote by the respected representatives, guided by religious duty and accountability before God Almighty, Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei (may Allah protect him) was introduced as the new Leader.
The statement expresses gratitude to the members of the provisional council under Article 111 for their interim service and calls upon the entire noble nation of Iran –especially the elites, intellectuals, scholars of the seminaries, and university communities — to pledge unwavering allegiance to the new leadership.
It urges unity around the axis of Wilayat al-Faqih, a bulwark against the plots of arrogant powers.
In closing, the Assembly of Experts statement invokes Almighty God’s continued grace and mercy upon Iran and its resilient people, affirming that the Islamic Revolution remains an indomitable force for justice and independence.
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