Senate Dems and GOP in government shutdown standoff – National & International News – WED 12Mar2025

Dems and GOP in government shutdown standoff.

Kremlin silent on call for 30-day Ukraine ceasefire.

Former Philippines President arrested on ICC warrant over death squad killings.

 

 

NATIONAL NEWS

Dems and GOP in government shutdown standoff

Earlier this week, the republican-controlled House passed a 6-month continuing resolution to keep the government funded through the end of September. The bill passed on a party line vote with only one Democrat voting in favor and one Republican voting against. If the bill does not pass by Friday, it will lead to a partial federal government shutdown. 

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) held a caucus meeting today. Afterwards, he announced that Senate Democrats would not back the bill. Because Republicans have only a narrow majority in the Senate, they need at least 7 Democratic votes to clear procedural hurdles. 

Democrats are not keen on a shutdown, which could be extraordinarily damaging given the current economic upheaval. They have called for a 30-day stop gap bill to enable negotiation to take place between Democrats and Republicans. Republicans seem to have no appetite for such a stopgap bill and are gambling that Democrats will not risk a government shutdown. 

What’s in the bill? 

House leadership has called the bill a “clean” continuing resolution, which would mean maintaining current funding levels. However, that is not the case.

The bill increases funding for:

• Military spending
• Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
• Pay rises for junior enlisted troops and federal wildland fire fighters
• Funding for air traffic control systems
• Nutritional support for mothers and infants through WIC

The bill cuts funding for:  

• National Institutes of Health
• The IRS
• Disaster mitigation programs through the Army Corps of Engineers
• Community broadband programs
• Some rent voucher programs.
• The budget for the District of Columbia, including steep education cuts

Why do Democrats oppose the bill?

The bill provides no additional funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The agency is already stretched thin, supporting victims of previous disasters, like the Palisades fire and hurricane damage in Tennessee in North Carolina. Without additional funding, the agency will struggle to deal with any emergencies arising in the upcoming tornado, hurricane, and wildfire seasons.

Democrats also say that a lack of specificity in the bill regarding agency funding could make it more difficult to mount legal challenges to Trump’s cuts in funding and personnel to key agencies and programs.  The bill also contains language that neuters Congress’ ability to override Trump’s tariff program. Republicans are keen to avoid having to vote on this because the tariffs have proven unpopular but they don’t want to anger Trump.

Apart from the cuts, Democrat lawmakers are unhappy that they were not allowed any input into the bill’s content. Because of the tight timelines involved, budget-related bills are typically an opportunity for the minority party to demand concessions. 

Democratic leadership fears that if they allow this bill to pass unchallenged, it will weaken their hand in bargaining on any future Republican bills. This includes Trump’s massive budget bill, which is projected to include $4 trillion in tax cuts which will disproportionately benefit the wealthiest Americans while cutting key services that millions of middle- and low-income Americans rely on.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Kremlin silent on call for 30-day Ukraine ceasefire

Following talks in Saudi Arabia, American and Ukrainian negotiators have agreed on an immediate 30-day ceasefire. The US also announced that, as a result of this agreement, its current limits on military and intelligence support for Ukraine would be lifted. 

This is a swift turnaround from just a few days ago when US and Ukrainian leadership appeared to be at loggerheads. The Trump administration was pushing Ukraine to accept a temporary ceasefire, and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky seemed unwilling to entertain such a proposal. 

In the days since, Ukraine’s European allies have pledged support to continue Ukraine’s war effort, or to ensure its security in the event of a ceasefire. Europe’s ceasefire proposal hinges on a controversial plan to have thousands of European “peacekeepers” in Ukraine to maintain the ceasefire. Up to 30,000 peacekeepers from 6 countries would permanently secure Ukraine’s ports and other infrastructure.

Possible pitfalls

The Kremlin so far has not commented on the current ceasefire proposal. On Monday, as US-Ukraine talks in were underway in Saudi Arabia, Ukraine launched a massive drone attack on Moscow. This followed days of heavy bombardment in Ukraine by Russia.

Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and other officials have also made clear they will not accept any plan for foreign peacekeepers in Ukraine. Moscow argues that the foreign presence in Ukraine is more likely to escalate the situation than to maintain the peace. 

President Trump has hinted at using economic pressure to push Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to the truce. Trump’s special diplomatic envoy is headed to Moscow for his second face-to-face meeting with Putin.

However, international sanctions and other economic pressures have done little to hamper Russia’s war effort. In fact, they are continuing to make gains both in Ukrainian territory and in recapturing parts of Russia’s Kursk region, which Ukrainian troops seized and occupied in the summer of last year.

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Former Philippines President Duterte arrested on ICC warrant 

A plane carrying former Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte has arrived in the Hague. Duterte was detained in Manila on Monday after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest. Duterte, who was President from 2016-2020, is accused of murder as a crime against humanity in connection with his deadly anti-drug crackdown. During his presidency and his prior tenure as mayor of a major southern city, Duterte is accused of employing private death squads targeting small-time drug dealers, users and others. It is believed that over 6,000 people were extrajudicially killed.

Duterte’s successor, Ferdinand “Bong Bong” Marcos, Jr., came into power in 2022 with Duterte’s daughter as his Vice President. Marcos initially declined to cooperate with the ICC in seeking Duterte’s extradition. However, Marcos’ ties with the Duterte family have since soured, and he recently decided to cooperate with the ICC. His government also sent troops to maintain order at the airport where Duterte was detained to maintain order against a public backlash.

Despite Duterte’s brutal reputation, he remains the Philippines’ most popular president since the restoration of democracy in 1986. This is in part due to his reputation on security in a country with high rates of violent crime. Many Filipinos also appreciate Duterte’s populist style of politics as well as his investments in the country’s infrastructure.

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