Photo: Science Photo Library RF
1 Two House Republicans Say They Might Work With Democrats To Prevent Shutdown
After members of the House of Representatives were told yesterday that they were free to go home for the weekend after no progress was made toward avoiding a government shutdown next week, at least two Republicans told the press they’re open to cooperating with Democrats. Reps. Mike Molinaro and Mike Lawler, two New York Republicans, said they’re willing to consider a “discharge petition” to force votes on a short-term funding bill called a continuing resolution. “If there is not going to be a CR coming out of the House Republican caucus, then I will move forward with a discharge petition,” Rep. Lawler told reporters. A discharge petition is rarely used and allows legislators to force a vote on legislation even if the House speaker doesn’t want to bring it up for a vote. It takes signatures from a majority of the House, which means at least five Republicans would have to sign off on a discharge petition for it to succeed. The deadline to pass some kind of funding bill is next Saturday, with October 1st the start of a federal government shutdown if no bill is passed.
2 Tropical Storm Warnings Again This Weekend For East Coast
Last weekend it was Lee, and this weekend another tropical system is causing tropical storm warnings to be issued for parts of the east coast. While it was still only a tropical depression last night, the system is expected to become tropical storm Ophelia today as it moves toward the eastern seaboard. As of the 11 pm Eastern Time update last night, Ophelia was forecast to make landfall as a tropical storm on the North Carolina coast tomorrow morning with maximum sustained winds of around 60 mph. The National Hurricane Center says that around three inches of rain is possible in coastal areas from North Carolina to New Jersey, with up to six inches possible in eastern North Carolina and Virginia. The tropical storm warning covers Wilmington, North Carolina, Norfolk, Virginia, and Ocean City, Maryland.
3 More Progress Made But No Deal Yet In WGA Strike
Four Hollywood CEOs returned to the bargaining table for a second day yesterday to try to work out a deal with the striking Writers Guild of America. Bob Iger of Disney, David Zaslav of Warner Bros Discovery, Donna Langley of NBCUniversal, and Ted Sarandos of Netflix met with representatives from the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and offered new moves in the discussions they hope will help bring the strike to an end. Among the offers were a success-based residual, a bonus for streaming shows that reach audience thresholds set by the AMPTP, while the WGA has proposed a viewership-based residual. The two groups reportedly spent a portion of their time this week discussing artificial intelligence, one of the main sticking points for both writers and the striking SAG-AFTRA members. No deal was reached yesterday, and the WGA suggested on Twitter that the claims on Wednesday that a deal would be closed yesterday were gamesmanship by the studios to make the WGA look unreasonable if they reject the latest offer. WGA went on strike on May 2nd, while SAG-AFTRA has been on the picket lines since July 14th.