#US federal government shutdown 2019

[quaranmine]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/09/22/us-braces-calamitous-costly-government-shutdown-eight-days/

Hey, just a heads up--

A (US) government shutdown is pretty imminent right now. They have until September 30 to pass any sort of budget to keep funding the government, but congress has been unable to come to any decisions or compromises. Typically what happens each year on Sept 30 is Congress will pass a continuing resolution (a temporary budget) to buy a month or two to keep arguing about it. This year, they haven't been able to pass even that. McCarthy has sent the House members home for the weekend already, which means they will have even less time next week to figure something out.

So, what happens during a government shutdown? Some parts of the government--deemed essential--will keep operating. Please be nice to these employees, because they will be working without pay. Fortunately a bill passed in 2019 means they are guaranteed to be paid at the end of the shutdown, but still. Thousands of other federal employees will be furloughed and not allowed to work. For hundreds of thousands of employees, they will struggle to pay bills.

What about everybody else, the public being served? Broadly speaking, tons of grants and projects and research and environmental reviews and loans and services will be halted and delayed. Most significantly though:

SSA will continue to issue retirement and disability checks, as well as Medicaid/Medicare benefits. There might be delays, especially in new signups.

FEMA will continue to offer disaster relief and aid, but may run out of funds if the shutdown continues.

Thousands of low income parents will lose access to Head Start programs and childcare programs.

FDA food safety inspections, as well as other safety inspections (including worker safety), may be delayed

Mail delivery continues, as the US Postal Service is independently funded.

Food stamps, housing vouchers, and college financial aid may lapse if the shutdown lasts beyond October. The longest shutdown in US history was in 2018, for 35 days. This one is probably unlikely to be that long, but if it is, people may lose access to these programs.

WIC will only be able to operate for a few days after the shutdown, leaving millions of pregnant people, infants, and children at risk of going hungry.

Weather forcasting, air traffic control, TSA, etc will continue (though the employees won't be paid)

Hopefully a shutdown will be averted, but it's far more likely this year than other years. If you are in a position to be affected by a lapse in government services, I would recommend keeping up with the news so that it doesn't hit you as a surprise. Ultimately I can make no real predictions for how it will turn out or which things will be affected, but I hope this helps.

[lboogie1906]

Shalanda Delores Young (August 29, 1971) is a US policy advisor who is the first African American woman to serve as Director of the US Office of Management and Budget. She served as Deputy Director from March 24, 2021 - March 17, 2022, and before that as chief of staff of the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee. The Senate confirmed her to this Cabinet position with bipartisan support in March 2022. Her confirmation makes her the fifth African American woman appointed to President Biden’s Cabinet.

She, a native of Baton Rouge, grew up in Clinton, Louisiana. She earned a BA from Loyola University New Orleans and an MΑ of Health Administration from Tulane University. She moved to DC, where she worked as a Presidential Management Fellow at the National Institutes of Health. She was the first African American woman to serve as chief of staff on the House Appropriations Committee and received bipartisan praise for her work in that role. She served on the committee for more than 14 years and took over as chief of staff in 2017.

She was involved in drafting proposals related to the 2018-2019 federal government shutdown and the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She was responsible for $1.3 trillion in annual appropriations legislation, disaster relief, and “important aspects of COVID-19 spending,” according to the White House.

She promotes two principles that guide the way OMB and the Biden Administration approach Federal spending. The first is to ensure that the federal government is making the right investments. As a new mother, who gave birth to her daughter in October 2021, she is interested in child care and supporting families. The second issue, she said, is fiscal responsibility. She pointed out that the Biden administration has proposed ways to fund its new spending proposals and said this is the “right fiscal and economic” approach. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #alphakappaalpha

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Americans are nine days away from experiencing yet another government shutdown. Former President Donald Trump, who led a 35-day shutdown in 2019, is suggesting Republicans should let it happen again.

On Wednesday night, Trump took to his social media site Truth Social to offer advice to Republican lawmakers. If Congress does reach an agreement on funding before September 30, the federal government will shut down — and with that deadline just nine days away, the GOP has yet to find a viable solution to keep the government funded.

Trump, who was responsible for the longest government shutdown in US history, urged Republicans to make the most of the "very important deadline" to keep the government funded.

"Republicans in Congress can and must defund all aspects of Crooked Joe Biden's weaponized Government that refuses to close the Border, and treats half the Country as Enemies of the State," Trump posted on his site. "This is also the last chance to defund these political prosecutions against me and other Patriots. They failed on the debt limit, but they must not fail now. Use the power of the purse and defend the Country!"

With regards to the debt limit, Trump is referring to the concessions Republicans had to make with Democrats in order to raise the limit and ensure the government could continue covering its spending obligations. They did not get the spending cuts they had hoped to achieve within that bill, which is why Trump is urging them to hold the line on government funding.

However, Republicans cannot agree amongst themselves on what those spending cuts should look like. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday had to pull a vote on a group of conservative lawmakers' continuing resolution that would keep the government funded through October 31 because not enough members of his party supported the legislation.

After failing to corral his party around the conservatives' resolution, McCarthy is reportedly seeking to pass a funding bill that would include deeper spending cuts alongside an immigration package that Democrats are likely to vote against — meaning he would need conservative holdouts to hop on board. If they don't, McCarthy would have to appease some Democratic lawmakers to avoid a government shutdown — and GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz said that could cost McCarthy his title as Speaker.

"If Speaker McCarthy relies on Democrats to pass a continuing resolution, I would call the Capitol moving truck to his office pretty soon because my expectation would be he'd be out of the speaker's office quite promptly," Gaetz told CNN.

These party squabbles are having lawmakers on both sides of the aisle frustrated. "It's yet another reminder that in both houses, a small group of hard-right Republicans are dead set to grind the gears of government to a halt," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.

A government shutdown would mean thousands of government employees furloughed, which could lead to processing delays for programs Americans rely on like Social Security and SNAP. The clock is ticking to see if Congress can avoid that outcome — and things aren't looking good.

[voskhozhdeniye]

The Biden administration urged the swift passage of the bill, which will fund the remainder of the government, including the Department of Defense, through the end of the fiscal year.

None of the funds made available by the bill can be spent to fly or display flags other than the American flag and other eligible flags at U.S. State Department facilities, a rule that will last for the length of the funding bill, which expires on Sept. 30.

Eligible flags include the POW/MIA flag, flags of Indian tribal governments, sovereign flags of other countries, flags of “a State, insular area, or the District of Columbia at domestic locations,” flags of official U.S. agencies, the Foreign Service flag and the Hostage and Wrongful Detainee flag, according to the bill.

The bill provision also prohibits Confederate flags from being flown at American embassies.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., touted the provision as a conservative win, according to Bloomberg.

The $1.2 trillion spending bill would help the government avoid a partial shutdown this weekend if it’s passed. The bill includes about $866 billion for the Defense Department that, among other provisions, will provide servicemembers with a 5.2% pay raise.

The bill also expands access to affordable child care and allocates $1 billion for Head Start, a federal program that promotes the school readiness of children from low-income families.

The flying of pride flags at U.S. embassies has become a sociopolitical tug of war between Democrats and Republicans, the latter of whom have argued “no other flag or symbol can portray our American values'' better than the American flag. Pride flags were first flown at U.S. embassies during former President Barack Obama’s administration, and were later banned by former President Donald Trump in 2019. The ability to fly the flag was reinstituted by the Biden administration two years later. The pride flag has not been allowed to be flown at the Pentagon or military bases following a policy put in place during Trump’s term.

[reasoningdaily]

Failure to raise the debt limit would be an entirely different kind of crisis.

Unable to continue borrowing, the federal government would have to rely only on incoming revenue to pay its bills — and there isn’t nearly enough money on most days. That means Social Security payments most likely would get delayed, a day or two at first and then longer if the standoff drags on.

The problem would be repeated with other government payments, sending a cascade of delays rippling across the economy.

“You’re dealing with the potential for an order of magnitude of greater economic consequences that are felt throughout the country,” Shai Akabas, director of economic policy at the centrist Bipartisan Policy Center think tank, said of the difference between a debt limit crisis and a shutdown.

Unlike with a government shutdown, the damage from a first-ever debt limit breach — which could happen as soon as June 1 — could be more severe and long lasting, experts said.

Just getting dangerously close to one in 2011 led Standard & Poor’s to downgrade the US government’s top-level AAA credit rating for the first time, causing higher government borrowing costs. Coming close again, or even failing outright to pay some government bills, could lead to downgrades from the other two credit ratings companies, Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investor Services, that could sharply raise US government borrowing costs for years.

“A shutdown is an economic problem, but it’s not an existential problem,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, an economics research and consulting firm that is separate from the credit rating company. “A debt limit breach is existential.”

There have been 20 government shutdowns since 1977 in which some or all Congressional appropriations expired. Most shutdowns have lasted just a few days and caused little economic damage. But longer ones, such as the 35-day partial shutdown from late 2018 to early 2019, had more serious consequences.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated the 2018-19 partial shutdown (some appropriation bills had already been approved) led to 300,000 government workers being furloughed and reduced the nation’s economic output by about $11 billion. Much of that output was made up after the government reopened, but about $3 billion of it was permanently lost, the CBO said.

Still, that wasn’t nearly enough to push the economy into a recession.

A debt limit breach that lasts for even just a few days would be much different because it would shake business and consumer confidence and rattle financial markets, Zandi said.

“We’re right on the precipice of a recession anyway,” he said. “This is going to throw us over the ledge.”

Moody’s Analytics estimated in March that a standoff that lasts a few weeks would cause economic damage similar to what occurred during the 2008 global financial crisis, including the loss of more than 7 million jobs, a nearly 20 percent decline in stock prices and mortgage rates and other borrowing costs spiking.

A report released Wednesday by the White House Council of Economic Advisors was similarly bleak, warning that “a protracted default would likely lead to severe damage to the economy, with job growth swinging from its current pace of robust gains to losses numbering in the millions.”

House Republicans say they want to avoid that economic damage and the solution is legislation they approved on April 26. The bill, which Senate Democratic leaders declared dead on arrival, would increase the nation’s $31.4 trillion debt limit by $1.5 trillion or suspend it until March 31 (whichever comes first) in exchange for reducing the deficit by about $4.8 trillion over the next decade.

President Biden and most Democrats argue those cuts are too severe and they shouldn’t be paired with an increase in the debt limit, which is required to pay for funding Congress already has authorized. Biden has invited congressional leaders of both partiesto the White House Tuesday, but the sides are nowhere close to a deal.

The nation technically hit the debt ceiling in January, but the Treasury Department has been conducting what it calls “extraordinary measures” that allow the government to stay within the limit while still paying all the nation’s bills on time. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned congressional leaders last week that the latest estimate based on incoming revenue after April’s annual tax filings show the federal government might not be able to pay all its bills as soon as June 1.

Republicans have argued the Treasury could use incoming money to prioritize payments to government bondholders to avoid defaulting on US debt. And some lawmakers have proposed requiring Treasury also prioritize Social Security and Medicare payments, as well as military pay and veterans programs.

Treasury officials have rejected prioritizing payments, as well as other, less conventional ideas to avoid a default, such as minting a $1 trillion coin. Yellen told lawmakers that Treasury’s system — which made more than 1.4 billion payments in 2022 — is designed to pay all bills on time and that failure to pay any of them still would constitute a default.

A Treasury Inspector General’s report after the 2011 debt limit standoff said officials determined “the least harmful option” in the case of a breach was to suspend payments for a given day until there was enough money to pay them all. In such a scenario, delays “would have quickly worsened each day the debt limit remained at its limit,” the report said.

Treasury and Federal Reserve officials also developed a plan in 2011 to prioritize payment of principal and interest on US debt, according to Fed meeting transcripts released five years later. That is possible because debt payments are made using a separate Fed system. But it’s unclear if that prioritization plan would have worked, said William English, a professor at the Yale School of Management who was a Fed staffer at the time.

“The amount of manual intervention into various very complicated payment systems to make that happen is huge,” said English, who attended the 2011 Fed meeting where the plan was discussed. “And so you can decide to do that and still not successfully do that.”

And even if such a plan were feasible, it might not be enough to avoid a downgrade of the US credit rating.

“Prioritising debt payments to avoid an immediate default, if this were possible, might not be consistent with a ‘AAA’ rating,” London-based Fitch Ratings warned in a statement last month.

All this highlights the tremendous stakes, and unpredictability, of a debt limit breach.

“It’s really hard to foresee a world where the United States is not paying all of its bills because the whole economic system is based on the fact that we do,” said Akbas, an expert on the debt limit. “And once the card at the bottom of that tower is taken out, we don’t know where everything lands.”

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

USA today,by Rex Huppke.

Hello, I am a House Republican. As America hurtles toward a government shutdown, I and my fellow GOP colleagues would like to say that, in our defense, we really didn’t know “governing” would be one of our job requirements.

It sounds like an un-fun activity and, as we’ve made abundantly clear via myriad tweets and Fox News appearances, we think government is bad and we want nothing do with it, except for the parts where we get to yell into TV cameras and share devastating Hunter Biden memes. Those parts are great!

On Thursday, we made it impossible for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy – who we voted into power but also hate and now want to remove – to advance a military funding bill that usually passes with bipartisan support. It’s the second time in a row we did that! Why? Mainly for the lulz, but also because we kind of want the government to shut down so former President Donald Trump will like us and so we can look tougher when we’re yelling into the TV cameras.

We're Republicans, of course we want to shut the government down

McCarthy responded to our unwillingness to behave like a sane governing body and engage even remotely with the opposing party by saying: “This is a whole new concept of individuals that just want to burn the whole place down.”

A new concept?!? Has he been asleep for the last few years?

When will Congress care?

We are ALL about burning the whole place down. We’re pretty sure Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Andy Biggs of Arizona recently got matching “BURN THE WHOLE PLACE DOWN” tattoos on their necks.

Hang on, we just got a sick new Hunter Biden meme we have to post. It says, “Who’s your daddy? Oh, never mind, he’s out to lunch!” Classic. This is why the people elected us.

Anyhoo, we used to be pretty pro-military and stuff – and we’ll still say we are if there’s a TV camera around – but the truth is we aren’t doing jack on the military funding or any other funding until the DEMONcrats agree to cut all the spending we don’t like, defund the FBI and the DOJ, stop all Trump investigations and give us everything we want.

And what is it we want? Hah! Nice try. Answering that question sounds a lot like governing, and we didn’t get into this business to dirty our hands with that kind of nonsense.

McCarthy responded to our patriotic recalcitrance Thursday by sending us home for the weekend rather than keeping us around to do dumb things like “work toward a feasible agreement to prevent the U.S. government from shutting down,” “search for compromise and put forth policy proposals that might improve the average American’s life” or “act like adults and not a collection of feral cats fighting over an empty tuna can.”

Time is running out – and a government shutdown seems inevitable

We have until the end of next week to pretend we’re going to do something before eventually failing in the most clownish and embarrassing way possible, and we feel certain we’re up to the task.

Will hundreds of thousands of federal workers be sent home without paychecks? Sure! Did the last government shutdown in 2019 cost the country $3 billion in economic activity? Heck yeah! Could national parks shut down and research at the National Institutes of Health come to a halt? You betcha!

And do we care one iota about any of that? Nah. As long as Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida can go on “Hannity” and flex his forehead muscles while yelling something that doesn’t mean anything, we’re right where we want to be – in government, but not governing.

Enjoy the shutdown, suckers. We’ve got memes to post.”

[makoheadrush]

So, there may be a bit more political posting here than usual; I’ll usually tag things like that with “US politics” or “venting” if it’s a personal vent - for those who might want to avoid that sort of thing. I get it - no hard feelings either - frankly I’m sick of politics myself.

But right now - once again - we’re looking at yet another fucking government shutdown, because Congress can’t get their shit together. (Although for real, the ones holding this up are the right wing “Freedom Caucus” aka Trump’s little lunatic group of foot soldiers).

A shutdown means for me and my colleagues - because we’re “excepted service” aka “essential” - we don’t get furloughed and sent home. We are required to report to work and NOT GET PAID until a spending bill is passed. This isn’t my first shutdown. And it used to be a rarity, that shutdowns would happen. Now, because our elected officials are childish little ass clowns, it seems this is now an annual shitshow.

I work hard at my job. I’m proud of the work I do. I’m regarded as a subject matter expert in my field by now, and I’m the primary trainer for new hires in my region. Our longest shutdown was in 2018-2019, for 35 days.

35 days without pay. I still had to pay to get to work every day (gas and parking fees), still had to put in the time every day for 35 days without getting a paycheck. Employees are always helpfully advised to “take out an emergency loan” during shutdowns. Here’s the thing - we shouldn’t fucking HAVE to do that. You know who still gets paid during a shutdown? Congress. The anti-federal employee group - and let’s be honest, it’s basically right wing Republicans who would love nothing more than to fire all of us - have no trouble collecting their own paychecks, while 2.2 million workers get nothing but waiting and wondering “when will I get paid?”

[leviathangourmet]

For decades, advances in healthcare and safety steadily drove down death rates among American children. In an alarming reversal, rates have now risen to the highest level in nearly 15 years, particularly driven by homicides, drug overdoses, car accidents and suicides. The uptick among younger Americans accelerated in 2020. Though Covid-19 itself wasn’t a major cause of death for young people, researchers say social disruption caused by the pandemic exacerbated public-health problems, including worsening anxiety and depression. Greater access to firearms, dangerous driving and more lethal narcotics also helped push up death rates. Between 2019 and 2020, the overall mortality rate for ages 1 to 19 rose by 10.7%, and increased by an additional 8.3% the following year, according to an analysis of federal death statistics led by Steven Woolf, director emeritus of the Center on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University, published in JAMA in March. That’s the highest increase for two consecutive years in the half-century that the government has publicly tracked such figures, according to Woolf’s analysis.

The increases in suicides and homicides among young people went largely unnoticed at first because overall child and adolescent mortality rates still declined most years.  Penicillin and other antibiotics drove down deaths from bacterial infections in the years following World War II, and vaccines controlled lethal viruses such as polio and influenza. Safer automobiles, seat belts and car seats made driving less deadly. Bicycle helmets, smoke detectors and swimming lessons reduced fatal accidents and drownings. Medical advancements that save premature babies and treat leukemia and other cancers helped more children survive once-lethal diagnoses. “All of those gains are now being offset by essentially four causes of death,” Woolf said.  When the pandemic started, deaths of young people due to suicide and homicide climbed higher. Deaths caused by drug overdoses and transportation fatalities—mainly motor-vehicle accidents—rose significantly, too. Covid, which surged to America’s No. 3 cause of death during the pandemic, accounted for just one-tenth of the rise in mortality among young people in 2020, and one-fifth of it in 2021, according to the research led by Woolf, which uses data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Joshua Gillihan was 11 years old when the pandemic closed his suburban Houston middle school in March 2020. He’d grown up confident with lots of friends, and played baseball and rode his dirt bike in their upper-middle-class neighborhood in Cypress, Texas, said his mother, Kim Gillihan. The shutdowns turned a temporary break from organized sports into an indefinite hiatus. Kim Gillihan watched as Joshua’s typical adolescent hangups about having to wear glasses and his appearance gave way to more worrisome levels of anxiety.  “When the Covid hit, our child that was never depressed became depressed,” she said. 

[bllsbailey]

House Fails To Pass Six-Month Government Funding Bill

People walk along the east front plaza of the US Capitol as night falls on December 17, 2019 in Washington, DC.

The House of Representatives has failed to pass a stopgap government funding bill that would have kept funding at current levels until March 28th, 2025.

The bill also included a provision requiring proof of citizenship nationwide for U.S. voter registration.

The spending bill failed in a 220-202 vote. 206 Democrats and 14 Republicans opposed the measure, while 199 Republicans and three Democrats voted in favor of it.

Republican Representatives Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) voted present.

Congress has until September 30th to pass a spending bill in order to avoid a partial federal government shutdown.

This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.

Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts

[beauila-blog]

Speaker Johnson Threatens Government Shutdown to Advance Trump's Election Lies

As Congress reconvened this week in Washington, House Speaker Mike Johnson has made headlines with a controversial strategy that appears more focused on supporting Donald Trump than addressing the needs of the American people. Johnson, who represents Louisiana, has introduced a proposal that threatens to shut down the government in a bid to advance one of Trump’s most persistent falsehoods: that Democrats are using noncitizens to influence federal elections.

The proposal, which aims to extend government funding until March, includes a provision for the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE). This bill requires proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, a move many see as a thinly veiled attempt at voter suppression. The SAVE Act, while positioned as an election security measure, faces significant opposition and is unlikely to pass in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Johnson's tactics have drawn criticism from both sides of the aisle. His plan is seen as a "poison pill" designed to fuel Trump's baseless claims about voter fraud, rather than focusing on substantive legislative work. The suggestion that Democrats rely on noncitizen votes is unsupported by facts and has been debunked repeatedly. Since the 1920s, it has been illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, a fact reinforced by legislation signed by Bill Clinton in 1996.

Johnson’s actions have not only alienated some of his own Republican colleagues but have also raised concerns about a potential government shutdown. A shutdown could have serious economic repercussions, as evidenced by the last shutdown from December 2018 to January 2019, which cost the U.S. economy $11 billion.

Rep. Cory Mills, a Republican who co-sponsored the SAVE Act, has called Johnson’s maneuver a "farce," highlighting the impracticality of implementing the law before the upcoming election. Reports suggest that Johnson could only afford to lose a few Republicans on this issue, but dissent within his party is growing.

In response to the broader issue of congressional accountability, Rep. Angie Craig has reintroduced legislation that would withhold pay from members of Congress during a government shutdown. This proposal aims to address the lack of financial consequences that lawmakers face when they fail to perform their duties.

Despite the potential fallout, Johnson remains steadfast in his commitment to support Trump’s narrative. His recent statements reflect a disregard for the negative impacts a shutdown could have on federal employees and the economy. Johnson’s focus appears to be solely on fulfilling Trump’s demands, even as his approach jeopardizes the functioning of the government and the welfare of its employees.

As the September 30 deadline approaches, the stakes are high, and the political landscape remains fraught with tension. Johnson’s efforts to tie government funding to the SAVE Act underscore a broader struggle between partisan interests and effective governance.

[sa7abnews]

Tim Walz has ties to Muslim cleric with antisemitic views, gave state funding to his group: report

New Post has been published on https://sa7ab.info/2024/08/09/tim-walz-has-ties-to-muslim-cleric-with-antisemitic-views-gave-state-funding-to-his-group-report/

Tim Walz has ties to Muslim cleric with antisemitic views, gave state funding to his group: report

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has reported ties to a Muslim cleric who praised Adolf Hitler online and commended the Islamic terrorist group Hamas for the attacks against innocent Israelis on Oct. 7. In the last few years, Imam Asad Zaman has used his Facebook page to share official Hamas press releases, blog posts from antisemitic sites and a 2015 link to a pro-Hitler film, “The Greatest Story Never Told.” Released in 2013, the propaganda film is antisemitic and popular among fringe groups, according to the Anti-Defamation League.Walz’s administration has also donated over $100,000 to Zaman’s group, Muslim American Society of Minnesota, according to state records reviewed by the Washington Examiner. Federal prosecutors have described the Muslim American Society as “founded as the overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in the U.S.,” according to court records, the outlet first reported. ISRAEL ISSUES MESSAGE TO LEBANESE CITIZENS AMID REPORTS OF POTENTIAL PREEMPTIVE STRIKE ON HEZBOLLAHDesignated a terrorist group by the United Arab Emirates in 2014, the Muslim group faced criticism in 2019 when a video emerged of children at a Philadelphia chapter event calling for Jews to be killed.In reaction to Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., condemning the Oct. 7 attack a day later, Zaman asked if she would “reaffirm the right of Palestinians to defend themselves.” Zaman’s Muslim group in a statement on Oct. 7 declared it “reaffirms its unwavering support for the Palestinian people in their struggle against the Israeli occupation.”In May 2023, Zaman attended a mosque security meeting with Walz’s gubernatorial office. EXPECT IRAN’S RESPONSE TO EXTEND BEYOND THE MIDDLE EAST: ROBERT GREENWAYSocial media posts reviewed by the Examiner also indicate Zaman participated in a Ramadan event hosted by Walz in May 2019. A recent Washington Free Beacon report also reported Walz’s appearance at a 2019 event with an antisemitic scholar who supports terrorism against Israel.VANCE FIRES BACK AT ‘DISGUSTING’ CNN ANCHOR SUGGESTING HIS MILITARY SERVICE WAS EMBELLISHED AMID WALZ DISPUTEZaman, originally from Bangladesh, expressed solidarity with Palestinians for the Hamas-initiated Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israelis. He also shared a Palestinian flag image on Facebook in support of a post criticizing the Biden-Harris administration for its stance on Israel.The imam reportedly participated in a May 2020 event with Walz to advocate for peaceful protests during the Black Lives Matter riots in Minnesota following George Floyd’s death. Previously, in April 2019, Zaman delivered an invocation at Walz’s state address and had called for an end to a government shutdown alongside Walz in January 2019, the Washington Examiner first reported.The Harris-Walz campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment by press deadline.

[tritonmarketresearchamey]

Industrial Air Purifier Market: Global Analysis

In recent years, environmental pollution levels soared immensely on account of industrial expansion. While pollution has varied forms, air pollution contributes to around 6.7 million deaths globally each year. Estimates indicate China and India witnessed the highest number of deaths in 2019, reaching about 1.8 million and 1.7 million, respectively. The alarming surge in air pollution is thus expected to boost the global industrial air purifier market.

Besides, industrial workers, especially in developing regions, face occupational risks of COPD and lung cancer due to a lack of safety standards and high PM 2.5 concentrations. As per WHO, occupational risks like airborne particles result in around 13% of COPD cases. Our estimates indicate that the global industrial air purifier market will advance with a CAGR of 7.06% over the forecast period 2022-2028.

Air Purification Stimulates Industrial Expansion

While air pollution severely impacts human health, it has a heavy economic impact, equating to approximately 3.3% of the world’s GDP. As per industry sources, in 2018, disability due to chronic diseases resulted in an economic loss of around $200 billion globally. Global air pollution concerns have influenced end-user sectors to deploy molecular and particulate filters to curb emissions:

The Food & Beverage category is expected to witness the fastest growth in the end-user segment. This is mainly attributed to the need for extremely hygienic conditions to prevent contamination in processing plants. Molecular filters are widely employed to collect volatile chemicals, fumes, and gases using activated carbon beds in F&B processing plants. Since these cleaners are specially designed to prevent contamination, companies like Camfil AB have introduced CC 6000 ProSafe air purifiers, especially for F&B and life science industries.

The Power category dominates within the end-user segment, garnering the highest shares. The surged energy requirements in developed and developing regions have soared filtration systems’ demand to maintain airflow. Air compressors, in this scenario, are critical for the processing units to remain operational for prolonged periods without shutdowns. This has elevated the demand for new filter technologies to enhance performance. For instance, a coal mining company in China’s Shanxi Province adopted Anguil’s new air filter to capture ventilation air methane and convert it into electricity.

The Metal Processing industry generates high-level contaminants from metal grinding and cutting, leading to a prevalence of respiratory diseases among workers. Compact air purifier emerges as a major segment, contributing around 37.08% in 2021. Since these purifiers offer air extraction and cleaning of large volumes of space, their demand has advanced immensely in the industry. Estimates suggest that around 100 million metalworking fluids are generated annually in the US, affecting over one million employees. These factors have increased air cleaners’ demand, thereby driving the North America industrial air purifier market.

Government Measures Widen Market Scope

Several government bodies have enforced regulatory measures to maintain the industrial air quality in order to protect employees from adverse working conditions. These measures have thus fueled the adoption of air filters, majorly driving the market in the Asia-Pacific, Europe, and North America.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommended guidelines to maintain the indoor air quality in the US and Canada.

Canada’s government introduced the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy 2019 to 2022, which outlines sustainability actions in collaboration with partners to tackle air pollution.

In India, the Department of Science & Technology launched the Indigenous Photonic System for Real Time Remote Monitoring of Air Quality project to develop deployable air quality monitoring photonic system.

The German government aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by around 55% by 2030 under the Climate Action Programme and the Climate Action Act. It states annual reduction targets for individual industries.

Future Prospects of Air Purification Tech

As per Greenpeace Southeast Asia and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, air pollution accounts for about $2.9 trillion in economic cost globally. This factor and its detrimental impact on health have created possibilities for technological advancements in air purification systems. For instance, IoT-connected air filtration systems and growth in the portable cleaners market are making great strides, from polar ionization to the use of nanofibers.

Furthermore, filterless magnetic air purification deploys a tri-stage micro-trapping method combining polarization, impingement, and accumulation for a ‘trap and kill’ outcome to eliminate secondary pollutants’ activation in enclosed industrial spaces. Therefore, the development and deployment of smart and cost-effective filtration technology will be a major driving factor for the global industrial air purifier market over the forecast period.

FAQs:

Q1) What is the total value of the industrial air purifier market?

In 2021, the industrial air purifier market acquired $2711.30 million. It is expected to obtain revenue worth $4306.88 million by 2028. Q2) What are the types of industrial air purifiers?

Molecular and particulate are the two major industrial air filtration systems, with molecular accounting for the highest market share.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

TOPLINE The White House endorsed a $1.2 trillion spending deal introduced Thursday that includes a provision only allowing the American flag and other official flags to fly at U.S. embassies and other State Department facilities, reversing the State Department’s 2021 authorization allowing pride flags to be flown at the government buildings.

KEY FACTS • The Biden administration urged the swift passage of the bill, which will fund the remainder of the government, including the Department of Defense, through the end of the fiscal year.

• None of the funds made available by the bill can be spent to fly or display flags other than the American flag and other eligible flags at U.S. State Department facilities, a rule that will last for the length of the funding bill, which expires on Sept. 30.

• Eligible flags include the POW/MIA flag, flags of Indian tribal governments, sovereign flags of other countries, flags of “a State, insular area, or the District of Columbia at domestic locations,” flags of official U.S. agencies, the Foreign Service flag and the Hostage and Wrongful Detainee flag, according to the bill.

• The bill provision also prohibits Confederate flags from being flown at American embassies.

• House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., touted the provision as a conservative win, according to Bloomberg.

TANGENT The $1.2 trillion spending bill would help the government avoid a partial shutdown this weekend if it’s passed. The bill includes about $866 billion for the Defense Department that, among other provisions, will provide servicemembers with a 5.2% pay raise. The bill also expands access to affordable child care and allocates $1 billion for Head Start, a federal program that promotes the school readiness of children from low-income families.

KEY BACKGROUND The flying of pride flags at U.S. embassies has become a sociopolitical tug of war between Democrats and Republicans, the latter of whom have argued “no other flag or symbol can portray our American values'' better than the American flag. Pride flags were first flown at U.S. embassies during former President Barack Obama’s administration, and were later banned by former President Donald Trump in 2019. The ability to fly the flag was reinstituted by the Biden administration two years later. The pride flag has not been allowed to be flown at the Pentagon or military bases following a policy put in place during Trump’s term.

FURTHER READING Congress unveils $1.2 trillion plan to avert federal shutdown and bring budget fight to a close (AP)

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Mark Randall Meadows (born July 28, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 29th White House chief of staff from 2020 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as the U.S. representative for North Carolina's 11th congressional district from 2013 to 2020. During his legislative tenure, Meadows chaired the Freedom Caucus from 2017 to 2019. He was considered one of Donald Trump's closest allies in Congress before his appointment as chief of staff.[1]

A Tea Party Republican, Meadows was a founding member of the Freedom Caucus. During his time in Congress, he was one of the most conservative Republican lawmakers and played an important part of the United States federal government shutdown of 2013. He also sought to remove John Boehner as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.

Meadows resigned from Congress on March 31, 2020, to become White House chief of staff. As chief of staff, he played an influential role in the Trump administration's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He pressured the Food and Drug Administration to adopt less strict guidelines for COVID-19 vaccine trials,[2] and admonished the White House's own infectious disease experts for not "staying on message" with Trump's rhetoric.[3] In October 2020, Meadows said it was futile to try "to control the pandemic", emphasizing instead a plan to contain it with vaccines and therapeutics. As the virus spread among White House staff in the fall of 2020, he reportedly sought to conceal the cases, including his own.[4][5] After Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, Meadows participated in Trump's failed effort to overturn the election results and remain in power.[6][7][8]

On December 14, 2021, Meadows was held in criminal contempt of Congress[9] for refusing to cooperate with the January 6 Select Committee. He is the first White House chief of staff since the Watergate scandal and first former member of Congress to have been held in contempt of Congress.[10][11] The contempt charge was referred to the Justice Department, which declined to prosecute him.[12]

On October 26, 2022, a South Carolina circuit judge ordered Meadows to testify before a Georgia grand jury investigating Republican efforts to reverse the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia. The grand jury was empaneled by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who said the inquiry is examining "the multistate, coordinated efforts to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere."[13] On August 14, 2023, he was indicted along with 18 other people in the prosecution related to the 2020 election in Georgia; Meadows is the second White House Chief of Staff to face criminal charges, after H. R. Haldeman.[14]

Early life and education Meadows's mother was from Sevierville, Tennessee, and his father from Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He was born at a United States Army hospital in Verdun, France, where his father was serving in the Army and his mother worked as a civilian nurse.[citation needed]

Meadows grew up in Brandon, Florida, and described his upbringing as "poor".[15] He has said he was a "fat nerd" who went on a diet after a classmate rejected him for a date.[15] Meadows attended Florida State University for one year in 1977–78.[15] It was reported that Meadows held a Bachelor of Arts from the University of South Florida for many years in his official biography maintained by the Office of the Historian of the U.S. House of Representatives. In actuality, he graduated from the University of South Florida with an Associate of Arts.[15]

Early career In 1987, Meadows started "Aunt D's", a small restaurant in Highlands, North Carolina. He later sold it and used the proceeds to start a real estate development company in the Tampa, Florida, area.[16]

While living in Highlands, Meadows served as chairman of the Republican Party in Macon County, and was a delegate to several state and national Republican conventions.[17] Meadows was on North Carolina's Board for Economic Development in Western North Carolina.[18]

In 2011, he moved to Glenville, North Carolina. In 2016, he sold his house and moved into an apartment in Biltmore Park, a mixed-use community in Asheville, North Carolina, while deciding where to buy next in either Henderson or Buncombe counties.[19] He is the owner of Highlands Properties, which specializes in construction and land development.[20] In 2014, Meadows sold 134 acres (54 hectares) of land in Dinosaur, Colorado, to a young earth creationist group. He appeared in the controversial creationist film Raising the Allosaur: The True Story of a Rare Dinosaur and the Home Schoolers Who Found It (2002), which was debunked by experts.[21]

U.S. House of Representatives In Congress, Meadows had an ultraconservative voting record.[6] He signed the Contract from America, a set of ten policies assembled by the Tea Party movement.[22][23] Meadows was a founding member of the Freedom Caucus.[24]

Meadows voted against disaster relief spending for October 2012's Hurricane Sandy, which struck the Northeastern United States and caused severe damage.[25] He was one of several Republicans who claimed the funding bill contained pork-barrel spending that had nothing to do with hurricane relief, a claim the bill's supporters denied.[25][26] Meadows's opposition to Sandy relief was recalled in 2017 news accounts after he and many Republicans who had opposed it voted in favor of disaster aid following Hurricane Harvey, which caused massive damage in Louisiana and Texas that August.[25][26] Critics alleged that Republicans were hypocritically opposing spending in states with Democratic majorities while supporting it in Republican states.[27] Republicans, including Meadows, claimed the situations were different because the Harvey spending bill contained no "pork".[27] A Congressional Research Service review determined that the Sandy spending bill's funds were almost all devoted to recovery from Sandy.[28]

Meadows served as chair of the Subcommittee on Government Operations up until June 20, 2015, when fellow Republican congressman Jason Chaffetz removed him from the position. A member of the House Republican leadership, Chaffetz removed Meadows due to Meadows's vote against a procedural motion the Republican leadership presented.[29] Meadows was one of 34 Republicans who voted against the motion, which allowed for consideration of President Barack Obama's request for fast-track authority on trade agreements. Speaker John Boehner supported the measure, but many Republicans felt it gave too much power to Democrats and Obama specifically.[30] Chaffetz's action was seen as controversial, with many prominent Republican politicians, including Texas senator Ted Cruz, speaking out against the punishment.

Meadows served as ranking member of the House Oversight Committee for 18 days, until he assumed the office of White House Chief of Staff.[31]

Meadows was a member of these committees:

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Sunday, October 1, 2023

Congress Passes Stopgap Measure to Avert a Shutdown (NYT) Congress narrowly averted a government shutdown on Saturday with just hours to spare as the House, in a stunning turnabout, approved a stopgap plan to keep the federal government open into mid-November and the Senate then cleared it and sent it to the White House. “We will have avoided a shutdown,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader. Its passage capped off a dramatic day on Capitol Hill that started with the government appearing headed for a near-certain shutdown. Instead, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who had for weeks brushed off demands to work with Democrats on a spending solution, brought forward a temporary patch that could pass only with substantial Democratic help. The bill passed the House on a vote of 335 to 91, with more Democrats than Republicans supporting it.

The mosquitoes are winning (NYT) The mosquito kills more people every year than any other creature does, and the toll is rising. Malaria deaths rose about 8 percent between 2019 and 2021, the first increases in decades. he toll is rising for two main reasons. First, mosquitoes have evolved to elude strategies that were once working against them. The increasing use of bed nets has led to a decline in the population of mosquitoes that tend to live indoors—but mosquitoes that thrive outdoors have increased in number, and bed nets can’t fight them so easily. Mosquitoes have also evolved to become more resistant to current insecticides. Second, climate change has expanded the areas where the weather is warm enough for the most dangerous species of mosquitoes—those that carry deadly diseases—to thrive. Dengue, which used to be a purely tropical disease, has moved into Florida and France. This past summer, a small number of malaria cases spread in Texas, Florida and Maryland, the first local transmissions of the disease in the U.S. in 20 years. “It seems as though the mosquitoes are winning,” Eric Ochomo, a mosquito-fighting scientist in Kenya, said.

New York Is Rebounding for the Rich. Nearly Everyone Else Is Struggling. (NYT) As New York City inches closer to recovering all the jobs it lost during the pandemic, Manhattan—the city’s economic engine—marked a far less encouraging milestone. It now has the biggest income gap of any large county in the country. Even in a city notorious for tableaus of luxury living beside crushing poverty, the widening gap is striking. The wealthiest fifth of Manhattanites earned an average household income of $545,549, or more than 53 times as much as the bottom 20 percent, who earned an average of $10,259, according to 2022 census data, released earlier this month. “It’s amazingly unequal,” said Andrew Beveridge, the president of demographic data firm Social Explorer. “It’s a larger gap than in many developing countries,” and the widest gulf in the United States since 2006, when the data was first reported.

Britain’s full-frontal nude dating show sparks U.S. debate (Washington Post) The premise of “Naked Attraction” is simple: Contestants on the dating show should start relationships “where a good date often ends. ... Naked.” But the debate over the series is growing increasingly heated as it becomes a surprising transatlantic export from the more traditionally buttoned-up Brits. All six seasons of the show—which first aired on Britain’s Channel 4 in 2016 and is dominated by close-ups of full-frontal nudity under bright stage lighting—made their way on to the streaming service Max, formerly known as HBO Max, last week. As it surged to become the top-streamed show this week, it has generated discussion on American morning shows (one host called it “fascinating”) and among viewers. Some said the close-up look at contestants in all shapes and sizes encourages body positivity and is breaking down barriers around squeamish topics. Others called it objectifying; one family values advocacy group called it “pornographic.” One thing is clear: Americans are not looking away. The distribution company responsible for the show tweeted that “U.S. audiences are loving” the program. “The U.S. has just discovered Naked Attraction and appears to be going absolutely wild over Brits’ wobbly bits,” one online commentator said.

France races to stamp out bedbug 'scourge' before Olympics (Reuters) With the Paris Olympics less than a year away, French authorities want to make sure the bedbugs don't bite during the games and have started a drive to exterminate the pests. Social media users have been publishing footage of the insects crawling around in high-speed trains and the Paris metro, alongside a rash of online articles about bedbugs in cinemas and even Charles de Gaulle airport. At the Paris Gare de Lyon train station, travellers said they doubted whether authorities would be able to get on top of the problem. "I'm worried about it. I'll keep my luggage closed to stop (bedbugs) getting into my home. Once I get home, I'll have to wash all my clothes," Laura Mmadi, a sales worker heading to the south of France said. In a report published in July, health agency Anses said that between 2017 and 2022, bedbugs had infested more than one in ten French households.

Need a Visa to Go to Europe? Get in (a Very Long) Line. (NYT) For most travelers from the United States, going to Europe is a relatively smooth experience, without the need to apply for visas or pay steep fees for short visits. But for people like Duygu Yildirim, that isn’t the case. Ms. Yildirim, 36, holds a Turkish passport and lives in Knoxville, Tenn. Within Europe’s Schengen Area, a border-free zone allowing free movement among 27 European countries, citizens of Turkey and dozens of other countries, including India, South Africa and China, must apply for visas for stays of fewer than 90 days. The application process is expensive, anxiety-inducing and time-consuming. For every visit to Europe, the visa costs 80 euros (about $85) and requires an in-person appointment as well as hard copies of various legal documents. These appointments, usually outsourced to for-profit companies, have been scarce in recent months. Travelers say that it’s also taking longer than the typical three-week period—in some cases, several months—to get a visa in hand. Applicants have failed to receive visas in time for their trips, or receive visas for the full duration of their travel. Some have even been denied visas altogether. Those caught up in these visa woes have been forced to change plans or forgo travel to Europe altogether. The bureaucratic red tape has not only caused planning headaches, but also spotlighted an uncomfortable reality: that these fees and inconveniences target a specific group of people—the billions of people around the world who have had systematic unequal opportunities and access to travel, largely those living in the Global South.

Young people in China call themselves ‘special forces’ of budget travel (Washington Post) A steady stream of young Chinese tourists stops by a seaside cafe in Hong Kong’s Kennedy Town to take pictures of the harbor—but only for a moment. Many are on a city walk recommended on the short video app Xiaohongshu, China’s answer to Instagram, as a way to rush between picture-ready—and free—destinations among the soaring skyscrapers and lush mountainsides of the otherwise pricey Asian financial hub. The young people who are trying to get as much bang for their buck while on holiday during these difficult economic times have come to be known as “special forces” travelers because they push themselves to the limit with packed itineraries and extreme cost-cutting. Budget-conscious travel is all the rage for Chinese tourists taking advantage of the long holiday that begins on Friday with the Mid-Autumn Festival and runs into National Day commemorations. Nine months after Beijing suddenly abandoned its strict “zero covid” policies, Chinese tourists are gradually returning. But lingering concerns about a slowing economy mean they are more likely to spend less and pick destinations closer to home, analysts said.

Marcos says Philippines is not looking for trouble but will defend waters against Chinese aggression (AP) The Philippine president said Friday that his country does not want a confrontation but will staunchly defend its waters after its coast guard dismantled a floating barrier placed by China at a disputed shoal in the South China Sea. It was the first time President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has spoken publicly against China’s installation of the 300-meter (980-foot) -long barrier at the entrance to Scarborough Shoal which was dismantled at his order. “We’re not looking for trouble, but what we’ll do is to continue defending the maritime territory of the Philippines and the rights of our fishermen, who have been fishing in those areas for hundreds of years,” Marcos said in response to a question at a news briefing in southern Surigao del Norte province. The latest flare-up between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea, one of the world’s busiest trade routes, comes after Marcos decided earlier this year to allow an expansion of the U.S. military presence in the Philippines under a 2014 defense pact.

How a Prayer Meeting Split Israeli Jews on Their Holiest Day (NYT) Yom Kippur, the most solemn and sacred date on the Jewish calendar, is usually a day of unity for Jewish Israelis. Highways empty, shops close and transport networks shut down, as nonobservant Jews show respect to the devout by avoiding work and driving. But that social cohesion collapsed this year. Confrontations broke out on the streets of Tel Aviv as religious Jews tried to organize Yom Kippur prayers in which men and women were encouraged to pray separately—angering residents of the mainly secular city. The clashes shocked Israelis of all backgrounds, and the fallout is still reverberating, leaving many braced for similar standoffs in the coming days, with more Jewish holidays falling this weekend and next. On Thursday, the Tel Aviv City Council canceled permission for another outdoor religious event this weekend, citing the possibility of public disorder. The far right security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, said he would hold his own segregated prayer meeting on the same spot on Thursday evening, before backing down. Critics of Mr. Ben-Gvir went ahead with a mixed prayer service nearby, in what had been intended as a counterprotest. Yair Lapid, the opposition leader and a secular Tel Aviv resident, said the religious activists had “decided to bring war to us.” And President Isaac Herzog warned that the social divisions posed “a real danger to Israeli society and the security of the State of Israel.”