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By Helen Reid LONDON U.S. retailer Target's decision to remove some LGBTQ-themed merchandise after customer backlash in its

The US government took one step back from self-inflicted economic disaster on Tuesday.

As Elizabeth Holmes reported to prison on Tuesday, Amanda Seyfried shared her thoughts on the disgraced Theranos founder's sentence.

The bipartisan agreement to raise the debt limit cleared a key hurdle on Tuesday evening despite vehement criticism from many House Republicans. The House Rules Committee voted 7-6 to advance the legislation that codifies the bipartisan agreement struck between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s team and negotiators from President Joe Biden’s administration. The rule will now go to the full House floor before the agreement comes to a full House vote. The rule passed after an hours-long deliberation in the committee that included multiple amendment proposals. The vote comes as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that the United States will be unable to satisfy its debt obligations come 5 June. The House of Representatives is set to vote But many House Republicans raised objections, including members of the House Freedom Caucus who had previously opposed Mr McCarthy’s bid for speaker in January. Rep Andy Biggs (R - AZ) told The Independent that Mr McCarthy’s deal with the White House was a repeat of his past behaviour. “When he was been in leadership for 13 years, it was not uncommon for him to be the point man to go negotiate a spending cap deal with the Democrats,” he said. Many Republicans criticised the fact that the legislation keeps in place Mr Biden’s student loan forgiveness, only claws back a small sliver of money meant to increase funding for the Internal Revenue Service and raises the debt limit until January 2025, after the 2024 presidential election. Rep Bob Good (R - VA) told The Independent that the bill symbolised a surrender from House Republican leadership. “We have literally come together and our leadership and their leadership and agreed on a Democrat bill,” Mr Good told The Independent. But many allies of Mr McCarthy also opposed the legislation. Rep Nancy Mace (R - SC), who voted for Mr McCarthy for speaker in January, announced her opposition to the bill. “Washington is, was and always will be lousy at responsibly spending your tax dollars,” she tweeted. “That won’t change unless we demand change.” Rep Chip Roy (R - TX) refuted the idea that conservatives would want the United States to default on its debt obligations. “The only person who would default in this town is Joe Biden unless Republicans default on the American dream by voting for this bad bill,” he said at a press conference. “That is why this group will oppose it, we will continue to fight it, today, tomorrow, and no matter what happens, there’s going to be a reckoning about what just occurred.” Mr Roy had tweeted on Monday that during the negotiations for the speakership, Republican leaders pledged that nothing would pass the Rules Committee without at least seven Republican votes and the committee would not allow for reporting out rules without unanimous Republican votes. During the negotiations, Mr Roy tried to stress his opposition and said why Republicans should oppose the bill. “We're not going to reduce spending through this deal. Unless we actually stand up and reduce spending it'll be on us to choose to,” he said during the hearing. “But this deal isn't going to reduce spending even though everybody's going around saying it will.” But some Republicans stressed that the agreement was the only one that could pass the House and Senate and end up on the president’s desk. “We only control one-half of one-third of government,” Rep Erin Houchin (R - IN) said. “There’s no better deal to be had.” Mr McCarthy expressed confidence in a press conference that he would have enough votes to raise the debt limit. “I’m not sure what in the bill people are concerned about,” he told reporters, saying it is the largest savings in congressional history. “We’re pulling money back for the hard-working taxpayers that are going to China. Are they opposed to work requirements for welfare?” On the Senate side, both Republican and Democratic leaders praised the agreement. “Congress will vote on legislation that locks in that important progress,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R - KY) said in remarks on the Senate floor. “Republicans have a tremendous opportunity to take on an existential challenge facing our economy and future generations of Americans. We have a chance to start bringing Washington Democrats’ reckless spending to heel.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the bill was a reasonable compromise. “Of course, nobody is getting everything they want – there is give on both sides – but this agreement is the responsible, prudent and very necessary way forward,” he said on the Senate floor. Mr Schumer said he would bring the bill up as quickly as possible for consideration before the default deadline on 5 June. Read More Biden ‘optimistic’ about McCarthy negotiations as AOC slams ‘dysfunctional’ debt ceiling system Debt ceiling deal reached between Biden and McCarthy Conservatives bark after the debt limit deal. Will they actually bite McCarthy? GOP chairman moves to hold FBI director Wray in contempt over Biden doc Utah Republican Chris Stewart planning to resign from Congress, AP source says Debt limit deal is in place, but budget deficit is still a multi-decade challenge for US government

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is laying the foundation for a 2024 presidential run after allies established

REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 30, 2023--

President Vladimir Putin pledged to boost air defense around Moscow after the Kremlin blamed Kyiv for the biggest

The debt-limit agreement forged by President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy heads into a crucial final

President Joe Biden says he “feels good” about the debt ceiling and budget deal negotiated with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy

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It’s a deal no one in Washington claims to really like. But after weeks of negotiations, President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have struck an agreement to raise the debt ceiling and avert a potentially devastating government default. The stakes are high for both men — and now each will have to persuade lawmakers in their parties to vote for it. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said last week that the United States could run out of cash to pay the bills and default on its obligations if the debt ceiling is not raised by June 5. The ultimate agreement, hammered out by Biden, McCarthy and a small group of their deputies, is a two-year budget deal that would essentially hold spending flat for 2024, while boosting it for defense and veterans, and capping increases at 1% for 2025. It would suspend the debt limit until January 2025, after the next presidential election. Republicans had insisted on reducing spending and had passed their own bill with much larger cuts last month. The package would also make policy tweaks, including by adding work requirements for some food aid recipients and streamlining an environmental law that Republicans say has made it harder to build energy projects. Takeaways from the deal, and from the negotiations that led up to it: McCARTHY’S DELICATE BALANCING ACT Ever since McCarthy won the House speakership on the 15th ballot in January, it was clear that the debt ceiling negotiations would be his first and perhaps biggest test. Known more for strategy than policy, McCarthy has had a challenge that seemed almost insurmountable, with a narrow majority and a sizable group of hard-right conservatives certain to oppose anything he negotiated with Biden. And he could still find himself in the middle of a crisis if too many in his caucus revolt when the House votes on the package this week. Through it all, the Californian has exhibited his typical laid-back vibe, projecting confidence about the bill and its success. He said Sunday that he will win a majority of Republicans on the bill and some Democrats. In a conference call on Saturday night, McCarthy said, more than 95 percent of the members in his conference “were overwhelmingly excited about what they see.” But some House Republicans were publicly slamming the deal, arguing it did too little to cut the deficit. Rep. Dan Bishop of North Carolina tweeted a vomit emoji, complaining that some Republicans on the call were praising the speaker for getting what he said is “almost zippo in exchange” for the debt-ceiling hike. BIDEN’S RELUCTANT COMPROMISE For months, Biden and his aides had a mantra: There would be no negotiation on the debt limit. But then he negotiated anyway. It’s not where Biden, a veteran of the nasty 2011 debt-limit battle that saw the nation’s credit rating downgraded for the first time in history, wanted to be. But it was a likely scenario — with a Republican-controlled House that had made it clear from the start that it would not raise the borrowing authority under a Democratic president without extracting spending curbs or other policy concessions. There was no way Biden, who is running for re-election next year, would want a historic default on his watch. Biden has continued to insist that he was negotiating on the budget, not the debt ceiling. But pushed by a reporter Sunday evening who noted that was precisely what Republicans were seeking in exchange for lifting the debt limit, the president seemed to break from his talking point. “Sure, yeah,” Biden said, chuckling slightly. “Can you think of an alternative?” Now he will have to sell it to House Democrats, who must vote for it in big enough numbers to make up for defecting Republicans. Many progressive members in the House have appeared skeptical of the deal, but they remained mostly quiet over the weekend as they waited for more details. But the deal won early praise from another key Democratic group. The New Democrat Coalition, which has roughly 100 members, praised Biden as having negotiated “a viable, bipartisan solution to end this crisis.” LONG-SOUGHT GOP POLICY Republicans were able to win some policy changes they have sought for years, however modest, including on food aid. The bill would raise the age limit for existing work requirements in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps. It would also create a new agency to develop and streamline environmental reviews that Republicans have complained about for decades. The new work requirements for able-bodied SNAP recipients without dependents would phase in by 2025 and expire by 2030. And a provision pushed by Biden would take some vulnerable recipients — like veterans and the homeless — off work requirements entirely. But Republicans made clear that pushing more people to work in exchange for government benefits was a major victory for them, even if mostly symbolic. The bill also would amend the National Environmental Policy Act and designate “a single lead agency” to develop environmental reviews, in hopes of streamlining the process. Republicans had hoped for a much broader permitting package that would make it easier to build and develop energy projects. But Louisiana Rep. Garret Graves, a McCarthy ally who was one of the negotiators, said the bill brings “transformational changes into the permitting and environmental review process” for the first time in four decades. SENATE QUIET, WAITING TO CLOSE McCarthy has said the House will vote on the package Wednesday. If passed, it will then head to the Democratic-led Senate where leaders will have to get agreement from all 100 members to speed up the process and avert a default by next Monday. The White House briefed Democratic senators Sunday and McCarthy briefed Republicans. But most senators remained quiet on the deal as they waited for the full text and to see if McCarthy can navigate it through the House. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky cut themselves out of the negotiating process early on, saying it should be a negotiation between the White House and McCarthy. McConnell issued a statement supporting the legislation on Sunday but some in his caucus have criticized it. The two leaders will have to navigate any potential objections over the coming week as they seek to win full support to move quickly on the deal. “With Republicans like these, who needs Democrats?” tweeted Utah Sen. Mike Lee on Saturday, aligning himself with the House Republicans who say the deal is not conservative enough. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Trump's welcome of Scott into 2024 race shows his calculus: The more GOP rivals, the better for him Stock market today: Asian markets mostly higher after Biden-McCarthy deal on US debt What’s in the cliffhanger deal struck by Biden and McCarthy to raise the debt limit?

This week’s new entertainment releases include an album from Foo Fighters and some lost songs by the late Kenny Rogers, a new gritty HBO series from “Euphoria” creator Sam Levinson called “The Idol” starring Lily-Rose Depp and The Weeknd