Monday morning news: January 29, 2024

U.S. troops killed by Iran-backed groups » President Biden is vowing to strike back after a deadly attack in the Middle East that killed at least three American troops and wounded dozens. Iran-backed militants reportedly carried out the drone strike on an outpost in northeast Jordan.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General C.Q. Brown says the Pentagon is providing President Biden with military options.

BROWN: As I provide advice and we think about the approach we take, we want to ensure that we take away capability while we protect our forces — at the same time, not have this broaden into a much wider conflict.

But retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, a former national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence says the United States has pulled its punches for too long.

KELLOGG: I do not believe that they have got any option but to go into Iran and attack Iranian targets. All of these attacks on American forces in the Middle East, they’re Iranian-backed.

Biden said the United States “will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner (of) our choosing.”

Militants have carried out roughly 150 attacks against US forces in the Middle East since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

Texas razor wire / Texas-Biden admin feud latest » In south Texas a standoff between state officials and the Biden administration continues at the border.

Federal authorities have been cutting razor wire that the state placed along the border to deter illegal crossings from Mexico.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick:

PATRICK: What we’re doing in Texas works. For the Biden administration to come in and cut the wire when we’re having success makes no sense to anyone, even the rank-and-file Border Patrol on the border that we work very well with.

Razor wire is still up in a park in Eagle Pass, Texas, that once served as an entry point for waves of migrants.

State officials have blocked the Border Patrol from the park and refused the Biden administration’s requests for access.

Senate border/Ukraine deal latest » Sen. Chris Murphy, a key negotiator working on a bipartisan bill to tackle the border crisis told CNN on Sunday,

MURPHY: We do have a bipartisan deal. We’re finishing the text right now.

He said a bill could come to the Senate floor in the days ahead.

President Biden says he would be willing to close the border, if Congress would act first.

BIDEN: It would also give me, as president, the emergency authority to shut down the border until it can get back under control. If that bill were the law today, I’d shut down the border right now and fix it quickly.

Republican lawmakers say Biden needs to act now. Senator Rick Scott of Florida told Fox News Sunday:

SCOTT: There’s laws now. Trump secured the border. Biden decided to opened the border under the exact same laws. We don’t need a new bill, we something to enforce, to force Biden to comply with the law.

A compromise Senate bill could face an uphill battle in the GOP-controlled House.

Both parties have agreed to tie border security together with funding for aid to Ukraine. A Senate bill would fund additional aid.

Stoltenberg / Ukraine on Russia crash claims » And the war in Ukraine will be a key focus this week when NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg arrives in Washington. The secretary general will meet with lawmakers and stress the urgency of beating back Russia’s invasion.

STOLTENBERG: It is important that Putin doesn’t get his way in Ukraine, because that will embolden other authoritarian powers. Today it’s Ukraine — tomorrow it may be Taiwan.

He said the war is getting difficult for Russia, and the West cannot let up now.

Trump, Haley campaigning » America’s role in Ukraine and elsewhere will be a big topic of debate on the campaign trail in the months ahead. Donald Trump campaigned in Las Vegas over the weekend.

TRUMP: 2024 is our final battle. With you at my side, we will demolish the deep state. We will expel the warmongers. We will expel them.

He added, “we’re going to drive out the globalists.”

Trump has applied that label to his only remaining GOP rival … his former ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley.

HALEY: I was proud to serve America in his administration. The problem is, chaos follows him.

Campaigning in her home state of South Carolina, Haley said “We can’t be a country in disarray in a world on fire.”

Avian flu impact in California » An outbreak of the bird flu is ravaging poultry farms in California.

Mike Weber is co-owner of Sunrise Farms just north of San Francisco.

WEBER: Unbelievable what’s just happened. The town that we live in, Petaluma, is known as the egg basket of the world. It’s devastating to see that egg basket go up in flames.

When Weber got word last month that his chickens tested positive for avian flu, his farm had to slaughter its entire flock of more than a half-million egg-laying hens. The government requires that to stop the virus from spreading.

Experts say bird flu is spread to chickens by droppings from ducks, geese and other migratory birds.

A growing outbreak could push poultry product prices higher.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: the high court hears a case questioning fees landowners must pay the government for developing their own property. That’s ahead on Legal Docket.

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