April 25, 2024 | NEWS | By Charlie Dobson
My name is Charlie, and I’m a sophomore majoring in political science. Stay tuned every week for a quick and easily digestible roundup on United States government and politics.
Last week was busy for the United States government, particularly in the House of Representatives. Here is a breakdown of what happened:
House Bills Passed
Last Friday, the House of Representatives passed four bills after a months-long standoff. Three of the bills were foreign aid packages to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, and the fourth dealt with various national security priorities, including a potential ban on the app TikTok. A fifth bill that failed to pass was a Republican border security bill.
These four bills passed with bipartisan support after months of political haggling. The foreign aid package of three bills totals $95 billion. The breakdown is: $61 billion to Ukraine (Passed 311-122), $26 billion to Israel (Passed 366-58), and $8 billion for the Indo-Pacific (Passed 385-34).
These bills proved to be very contentious. Mike Johnson (R-LA), the house speaker, opposed Ukraine aid just a few months ago. Opposition to Ukraine funding has been a recent Republican policy stance, arguing that aid to Ukraine is useless in a losing battle against Russia. Johnson changed his mind and decided to push for more funding, something other Republicans in the House are opposed to. This opposition, led by Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), attempts to remove Johnson as Speaker if he puts aid to Ukraine on the table. Johnson now hopes that Democrats will help bail him out and vote to keep him as Speaker since he has lost support in his own party. Democrats have shown that this could be a possibility to maintain order in the House.
Aid to Israel has also been contested. This time, Progressive Democrats were the main opposition. Of the $26 billion, certain funds are to be used to aid Gaza. 37 Democrats and 21 Republicans opposed the measure.
The TikTok bill was packaged with new sanctions targeting Russian oligarchs. The bill forces TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app to American owners within a year of passing legislation, or the app will face a ban. A few months ago, the last time the idea of a TikTok ban was floated in Congress, the timeline was proposed to be six months to sell the app. Lengthening the period to a year led many representatives to be more open to the measure.
Early this week, the Senate quickly passed all of these measures 79-18, a bipartisan effort that is becoming increasingly rare. On Wednesday, President Biden signed these bills into law. Legal challenges will mount for the TikTok ban. Critics of the law argue that it violates First Amendment rights. Proponents of the law say it protects U.S. data privacy. In recent weeks, the Chinese government has been lobbying members of Congress to oppose the ban.
This passage marks the conclusion of a months-long legislative battle on a divisive set of issues.
The Trump Trial
Last week, the trial for former President Donald Trump began in Manhattan. The President is on trial for allegedly altering his business records to hide hush money payments made to a mistress, Stormy Daniels, around the time of the 2016 election. He is facing 37 counts. Trump says there are connections between the prosecutor, the judge and the Biden campaign. Experts have dismissed these claims as false. The case hit several bumps in the road as there was trouble forming a full jury. After a few days, the judge had to impose tighter restrictions on the media around reporting the identity of the witnesses.
For the Trump Campaign, this means that Trump will be stuck in Manhattan for four days a week when he could be out campaigning. The strategy for the Trump legal team is to keep delaying this trial (and the other three that Trump is involved in) for as long as possible.
For the Biden Campaign, mum’s the word. The campaign’s strategy is to keep the Trump trial out of its messaging to avoid any appearance of conspiracy. This would play right into Trump’s rhetoric – the trial is a witch hunt. They feel the smart thing to do is stay out of it and let the prosecution sway voters.
Roundup
FISA
The Senate reauthorized section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) shortly after it expired at midnight last Friday. They renewed the section for two years. The section was added to FISA in 2008. It allows the government to surveil a foreign person who is located outside of the United States without a warrant. An extensive debate over Section 702 and a more general discussion of FISA was sparked but – in the end – all proposed amendments were shot down, and the section was renewed. Attorney General Merrick Garland, head of the Justice Department (of which the FBI is a part), called Section 702 “indispensable to the Justice Department’s work to protect the American people from terrorism, nation-state, cyber, and other threats.”
Iran
After Iran and Israel exchanged attacks last week, the US government is pondering new sanctions on Iran. The Biden administration and Jannet Yellen, the Secretary of the Treasury, are leading this effort. The Treasury Department has a significant role in the determination and execution of sanctions.
China
This week, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken visited China. The United States and China are seeking to normalize relations after a tumultuous past few years. He pressed China on its support for Russia in the war against Ukraine. This comes right after the United States granted more aid to Taiwan.