Trump approves new GOP funding bill; Dems don’t bite – National & International News – THU 19Dec2024

Trump approves new GOP funding bill; Dems don’t bite.

Court removes prosecutor from GA election case against Trump.

French husband and 50 co-defendants convicted in rape of wife.

NATIONAL NEWS

Trump approves new GOP funding bill; Dems don’t bite

Within 24 hours after a stopgap funding bill was shot down by Elon Musk and president elect Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and other members of the house GOP put together a substitute bill. The race is on to prevent a partial shutdown of the federal government at midnight on Friday. If anyone breathed a sigh of relief today believing that the shutdown would be avoided, it was short-lived. A vote to fast track the bill through Congress failed in the House today. Nearly all Democrats and more than 20 Republicans voted against it. This means that Speaker Johnson will have to allow a review by the House Rules Committee, in order to pass the bill with a simple majority. It’s uncertain whether the bill would pass in the Senate, which is currently controlled by Democrats, and the White House has also said Biden would not support the bill as is.

The new bill is considerably smaller (116 pages) than the previous bipartisan-negotiated bill (1500 pages). It removes some provisions contained in the other bill, such as funding to purchase a new football stadium, new rules for pharmacy benefit managers, and a pay raise for members of Congress. However, like the previous legislation, it does contain over $100 billion for those affected by natural disasters, as well as an extension of the Farm Bill.

It adds another provision that suspends the federal debt ceiling until 2027. Whenever the federal government approaches the debt ceiling – which limits how much the federal government can borrow to cover debt it has already accrued – it sparks a high stakes debate in Congress. These debates have frequently proved economically disruptive and prompted credit agencies to lower the United States’ credit rating. Politicians of both parties have previously argued in favor of abolishing the debt ceiling for that very reason. However, it is this provision that caused nearly all Democrats in the House to reject the bill in today’s vote.

Prominent Democrats have insinuated that Trump’s motivation for suspending the debt ceiling is to free him up to drastically cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans, such as Trump’s biggest billionaire supporter, Elon Musk. With the debt ceiling suspended, Trump would be free to cut taxes without cutting spending for his priorities. Even some Republicans, such as Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, voted against the measure today as he and other debt-conscious conservatives believe this is a recipe to add trillions more on to the already $36 trillion national debt. Roy’s objection is significant, as he is on the Rules Committee which would have to approve the bill to come to a floor vote.

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Court removes prosecutor from Georgia election case against Trump

An appeals court in Georgia has removed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from a sprawling racketeering and election interference case against President-elect Trump and over a dozen other defendants. It came to light earlier this year that Willis had engaged in an improper romantic relationship with one of the prosecutors in her office. The prosecutor in question was being paid as a contractor to aid in the prosecution. While a lower court found that there was no conflict of interest and allowed Willis to remain in charge of the case, today’s ruling found that the lower court’s ruling was in error.

This does not end the prosecution of the case. Rather, the state attorney general will have to appoint a special prosecutor to take the case over from Willis. It could cause further delays in the already two year-long case. It is unlikely that Trump will face prosecution in this case until he leaves office, but some of his co-defendants could be tried before then. Some co-defendants, including former Trump attorney Sidney Powell, have already pleaded guilty.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

French husband and 50 co-defendants convicted in rape of wife

Dominique Pelicot, 72, and 50 other men have been convicted and sentenced for repeatedly raping Gisele, Pelicot’s then-wife of nearly 50 years. Dominique was sentenced to 20 years, the maximum allowed, while each of his co-defendants were given sentences between 3 and 15 years. In addition to the repeated druggings and rapes of his wife, Dominique was also convicted of offenses against his adult daughter and his two daughters-in-law.

For nearly a decade, Dominique invited men from his own town and surrounding towns to rape his unconscious wife, who had been dosed with sedatives. His crimes were not uncovered until he was arrested for taking upskirt photos of women in public. When police seized his devices and hard drives, they discovered photographs and videos of 92 assaults on an unconscious Gisele by 72 different men. Police spent two years tracking down as many of the offenders as they could but were unable to identify 21 of them.

Gisele Pelicot was completely unaware of the abuse until her husband’s arrest. This was despite suffering physical ill effects, which her husband convinced her was exhaustion for caring for their grandkids. When the abuse was uncovered, Gisele was found to have contracted four sexually transmitted diseases.

Gisele courageously chose to have the trial of her husband and other rapists be held publicly, rather than taking advantage of the shield of anonymity offered to victims in such cases. Gisele said that she chose to do this to change the conversation and conceptions around rape in France. In this she has certainly succeeded. The case gained worldwide attention and sparked examination of the often dismissive attitude to rape and other forms of gendered violence in French society.

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