A 'substantial loss of life' |
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As Florida begins take stock of the staggering wreckage – homes flattened, roads swamped and roads buckled – left in Hurricane Ian's wake, the system, which has since veered off into the Atlantic and begun temping down to a tropical storm, is expected to wallop the east coast once more as it returns to make landfall in South Carolina as a hurricane on Friday. The full scale of loss is still coming to light, but President Joe Biden said during an address on Thursday from the FEMA headquarters that it may already be the worst such storm in the history of the Sunshine State, noting that federal officials have been receiving "early reports" of what he said may be "substantial loss of life". |
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For the better part of two years, Senator Joe Manchin has ruled Washington. Ever since Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock won their special elections in Georgia in January of last year, they gave Democrats the slightest of majorities by having a 50-50 Senate with Vice President Kamala Harris in the role of tiebreaker.
But before anything could ever come for Ms Harris to break the tie, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer needed to clear it with Mr Manchin, the most conservative Democrat in his caucus. This meant passing the bipartisan infrastructure bill without passing Build Back Better and after Mr Manchin killed Build Back Better, directly negotiating with Mr Manchin and dubbing the new legislation The Inflation Reduction Act.
That last effort finally seems to have cost him. As part of his deal with Mr Schumer, they also agreed to pass legislation that would streamline the permitting process for new energy projects, including the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which would move natural gas through Mr Manchin's native West Virginia and Virginia.
Initially, he wanted to include it in the continuing resolution that the Senate needed to pass this week to keep the government open.
But as we've reported, Republicans were none too willing to help with this, especially since some are still angry that Mr Manchin negotiated the IRA with Mr Schumer, behind their backs.
Meanwhile, many on his side of the aisle did not like the idea of including permitting reform in the continuing resolution. Unsurprisingly, Senator Bernie Sanders opposed it. But so did Senator Ed Markey and even moderate Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, who opposed the provision for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, saying, "I was not consulted as a deal was struck to approve it and thus not given an opportunity to share my constituents' deep concerns."
Finally, this week, Mr Manchin waved the white flag and told Mr Schumer to take it out of the continuing resolution, which passed the Senate on Thursday.
After almost two years of getting whatever he wanted, Mr Manchin faced a big loss. But in truth, Mr Manchin's power is likely to be severely diminished come the next Congress. Republicans are largely favored to win the majority in the House of Representatives, meaning they would get to dictate terms of legislation that goes to the Senate.
In addition, Democrats are largely expected to gain Senate seats, thereby neutering his opposition to some pieces of legislation. Mr Manchin seems to understand this, telling friend of the newsletter Burgess Everett at Politico that he expects the final breakdown of the Senate to be 51-49, adding that Ohio–where Representative Tim Ryan is running against Republican JD Vance–is likely a better chance for Democrats than Pennsylvania–where John Fetterman is running in a tight race against television doctor Mehmet Oz. Mr Manchin added that "I just hope it's not 50-50, that's all."
Similarly, he told CNN's Manu Raju in an interview that he hasn't made a decision about whether he runs for re-election.
"This is not the best job in the world. I can assure you I've had better jobs," he said. But he also seemed sanguine about potentially losing in 2024.
"If they defeat me, I get to go home," he said. |
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What else you need to know today |
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In a hearing on the far-reaching consequences of anti-abortion laws, US Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez described how denying abortion access to millions of Americans is a "profound economic issue". "It certainly is a way to keep a workforce, basically, conscripted," said the New York lawmaker at the House Oversight committee on Thursday where abortion providers and advocates shared heartfelt testimonies about the repercussions of state-level anti-abortion laws that have advanced in the weeks after the overturning of Roe v Wade. "Will you sit in judgement of people who are pregnant without knowing them or their circumstances, or will you listen to me and us and be the compassion that our country so desperately needs now?" said Kelsey Leigh, who terminated her "very wanted" pregnancy at the 20th week after learning that her unborn son had a fatal diagnosis. Ms Ocasio-Cortez also used Thursday's hearing to call out a Republican colleague after he asked a physician on the witness panel a series of transphobic questions. As Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida this week, Donald Trump did what Donald Trump does best: capitalized on it. First, the former president hunkered down in his Mar-a-Lago resort and effectively avoided questioning for a fraud lawsuit that he was meant to be deposed on Friday. Letters filed with a court showed lawyers had told a judge they could not meet that deadline, because the one-term president would not move the meeting from his Florida mansion despite the Category 4 storm bearing down on the state. Next, the former president used the natural disaster walloping Florida's coast as an opportunity for increasing his wealth, as he took to social media in the hours after the storm made landfall to plead for donations to his political campaign. "We have a major fundraising deadline coming up and there's never been a time like this," he said in a video address from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach.
Calls for US transparency into the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a native of Saudi Arabia who reported for The Washington Post and was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018, reportedly reached the doors of President Joe Biden weeks before he made a controversial trip to the Kingdom this past summer. At the time, the Public Interest Declassification Board advised that Mr Biden should declassify the entirety of the US intelligence report on the murder, which claimed that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman – who was frequently criticized by Khashoggi – approved the operation to capture or kill the journalist.
Attorneys who are representing a group of Venezuelan migrants who were allegedly lured onto planes earlier this month and scooped up from the southern border and dropped in Martha's Vineyard have warned the companies purportedly responsible for transporting the people to keep any relevant documents – or else face the repercussions of potential federal court sanctions. Lawyers for Civil Rights filed a class action on 20 September and alleged that Florida Gov Ron DeSantis had directed a "fraudulent and discriminatory scheme" to transport a group of roughly 50 people as part of a political stunt. Aviation firm Vertol Systems Company Inc – who was reportedly paid $1.5m in the scheme – and Ultimate JetCharters, who provided the jets, have been given instructions to preserve evidence – including flight logs, passenger lists, communications with any of the defendants, and contracts with the state.
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Though it's more often her 2020 running mate who has been known for making headline-earning gaffes, on Thursday it was vice-president Kamala Harris's turn to take the limelight over a misstep. While on a high-profile trip to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the vice-president slipped up by mistakenly praising the US alliance "with the Republic of North Korea", mixing up South Korea's name, the Republic of Korea. Perhaps quickly recognizing this mix-up, Ms Harris then recalibrated and reminded listeners of American support for the defense of South Korea against its hostile neighbor to the north – this time using the correct name. "I cannot state enough that the commitment of the United States to the defense of the Republic of Korea is iron-clad." |
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