3 Things To Know Today

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Photo: Science Photo Library RF

1 Senate Passes Six Funding Bills And Avoids Partial Government Shutdown

The Senate avoided a partial shutdown of the federal government by just hours on Friday night. Funding was set to expire at midnight Friday for the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Energy, Interior, Veterans Affairs, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, the Food and Drug Administration, and other federal programs, but the Senate passed the funding bill for those agencies with a 75-22 vote. Republicans had proposed several amendments to the bill, but all were defeated and the bill was sent to President Biden’s desk before midnight. The drama isn’t over, though. Congress has two weeks until the next funding deadline, this time for the six remaining funding bills that cover the military, homeland security, healthcare, and other services. Those bills will most likely face a tougher road to passage; no deal has been struck on a compromise for those bills, and nothing has been considered on the Senate floor.

2 Senate Intelligence Committee Doubles Down On Perceived Threat From TikTok

Members of Congress from both parties continued to beat the drum against TikTok over the weekend. Democratic Sen. Mark Warner and Republican Sen. Marco Rubio appeared on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” yesterday to discuss a wide range of topics, but when the questions from Margaret Brennan turned to TikTok they presented a united front. “We might have slightly different ways on how we go at this, but we think this is a national security issue,” Warner told Brennan. Warner noted that a large percentage of young Americans use TikTok as a news source, which he said means that the Chinese Communist Party could use it as “the most powerful propaganda tool ever.” The “Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” introduced last week, would make it illegal to distribute apps developed by ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, unless the company sells the app within 180 days of the bill becoming law. The bill is up for a floor vote in the House this week, and President Biden said Friday that he would sign the legislation if it passes the House and Senate. Biden’s reelection campaign recently joined TikTok, which Warner said “sends a pretty darn mixed message.” Former President Donald Trump, who tried to ban TikTok in 2020, but now says that if TikTok is banned, Meta will do more business, and Trump said he doesn’t want Facebook “doing better.”

3 US Military Evacuates Some US Embassy Personnel Out Of Haiti

Things are deteriorating in Haiti. US military crews went into the country over the weekend and airlifted nonessential personnel from the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince. A state of emergency is in effect in Haiti as fighting continues between armed gangs and the Haitian National Police. A full-scale rebellion broke out last week in the country, with Haiti’s most powerful gangs joining forces and launching a series of attacks against government institutions on Friday. Ariel Henry, the acting prime minister of Haiti, was out of the country when the attacks began and has been unable to return to the country.


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