House Republicans set to blow budget deadline ADVERTISING House Republicans set to blow budget deadline WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are about to blow through a statutory deadline to pass an annual budget, a major embarrassment for Speaker Paul Ryan
House Republicans set to blow budget deadline
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are about to blow through a statutory deadline to pass an annual budget, a major embarrassment for Speaker Paul Ryan that raises questions about his stewardship of the House despite his high profile on the national stage.
A day after rampant speculation forced him to call a news conference to deny he wants to run for president this year, Ryan insisted Wednesday that he hadn’t given up on the House’s obligation to pass its annual spending blueprint, even though the Friday deadline looks impossible to meet.
“You know me, I want to pass a budget,” said the Wisconsin Republican, his party’s 2012 vice presidential nominee. “I think we should pass a budget and we’re still talking with our members on how we can get that done.”
Yet success looks unlikely as the same tea party lawmakers who ousted Ryan’s predecessor, John Boehner, rebel against a bipartisan spending deal Boehner cut with President Barack Obama last fall before leaving office. “It’s better to do no budget this year than a bad budget,” Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint said in an interview, echoing the sentiments of many conservatives in the House. Boehner himself, despite his troubles with the hard-liners in his caucus, met the budget deadline each of the five years of his speakership.
The situation has left numerous House Republicans deeply frustrated. Yet Ryan himself has managed to remain popular, as all sides continue to profess admiration for his communication skills and his patient attempts to involve lawmakers in his deliberations.
Olympic officials: Rio won’t be scarred by politics, graft
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The Rio de Janeiro Olympics won’t be scarred by the impeachment proceedings against Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, a $3 billon corruption scandal touching scores of powerful politicians and businessmen, and the country’s deepest recession in decades.
That was the message Wednesday from Rio organizers and International Olympic Committee inspectors, who completed their final official tour of Rio’s preparations with South America’s first games opening in under four months.
“Despite the hardships and hard economic conditions, they are on target,” said inspection team member Patrick Hickey of Ireland.
But Hickey also suggested lowering expectations, saying the games won’t be like those in London four years ago or Beijing in 2008.
Nawal El Moutawakel, the head of the inspection team, said turmoil in the country wasn’t having an impact on preparations but that much remained to be done.
Home in NY, Trump aims for a rout but faces questions
NEW YORK (AP) — After several difficult weeks that have called into question his front-runner standing, Donald Trump has arrived in friendlier territory: his home state of New York.
Polls show Trump with a commanding lead in a state that is likely to play a major role in determining whether the billionaire businessman can clinch the Republican presidential nomination before this summer’s national convention. And his team has been touting a campaign reboot, including a new laser focus on racking up delegates.
On Wednesday, they announced that campaign veteran Rick Wiley would be joining the team as national political director. And Trump appeared to take a step toward thawing the chilly standoff with Fox News Channel’s Megyn Kelly, meeting with her Trump Tower.
But Trump is also facing a strong challenge from rivals who are working strategically to deny Trump delegates anywhere they can. And he does not appear to be doing all he can, despite the high stakes of the contest.
New York uses a complicated electoral system in which a candidate must win an overall majority of votes statewide as well as in each of the state’s congressional districts to walk away with all of its 95 delegates. That means that votes in GOP deserts like Brooklyn and the Bronx are arguably even more valuable than in Republican-rich counties like Nassau and Suffolk.
Obama to visit CIA as US weighs next steps on Islamic State
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will pay a rare visit to CIA headquarters Wednesday as the United States weighs sending more forces to Iraq to fight the Islamic State group.
In a meeting with top national security advisers, Obama planned to get an update on the U.S.-led campaign in Syria and Iraq as well as rocky diplomatic efforts to resolve Syria’s civil war. The meeting comes the week before Obama travels to Saudi Arabia for a summit with Persian Gulf leaders focused largely on the threat from the Islamic State.
Wednesday’s visit is the third time in recent months that Obama has taken a field trip to meet with national security officials who routinely come to the White House. He also visited the State Department and the Pentagon for similar sessions aimed at showing the public that all elements of the U.S. government are fully engaged in the fight.
Though the U.S. has claimed progress in wresting back territory from the extremist group — especially in Iraq — Defense Secretary Ash Carter has said the Pentagon is seeking ways to increase military support for the fight, including a likely increase in U.S. forces, along with the possible use of Apache helicopters for Iraqi-led combat missions.
“There continues to be a steady effort to ramp up the pressure against ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
Cosby asks court to reseal testimony about affairs, drugs
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Bill Cosby’s lawyers urged an appeals court Wednesday to reseal the comedian’s lurid, decade-old testimony about his womanizing, but the panel of judges seemed to think the request was pointless, since the deposition has already made headlines around the world.
Members of the three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit of Appeals reeled off a list of “the toothpaste’s out of the tube”-type metaphors to suggest that any damage to Cosby’s reputation from the release of the testimony has already been done.
Cosby’s attorneys hope a ruling in their favor could help them keep the documents from being used in the criminal case against him in Pennsylvania and in the many lawsuits filed around the country by women who accuse him of sexual assault or defamation.
But the judges questioned that strategy, too.
The other courts “don’t have to necessarily follow us. We can’t control them,” Circuit Judge Thomas L. Ambro said.
