Thursday morning news: December 19, 2024

Government funding » A 1,500-page spending bill that would fund the federal government into March and avert a partial shutdown may have just gone up in flames.

President-elect Trump came out against the bill Wednesday, with many Republicans already wary of it.

Vice president-elect JD Vance said Trump could support a continuing resolution — or CR for short — which would keep spending at current levels.

VANCE:  Well, what the president believes is we should support a clean CR so long as it contains a debt limit increase.

A clean CR would mean not adding any additional spending to the bill right now, beyond what the government’s already spending.

But the existing spending bill includes more money for pet projects at the local level and a pay raise for members of Congress.

GOP Congressman Chip Roy of Texas said yesterday:

ROY:  If we pass this bill, which we should not, then we will have passed at least three hundred and something like ten to thirty billion dollars of literal just increase in deficit spending, printing money. None of it paid for.

Democrats accused President-elect Trump and other Republicans of “last-minute grandstanding” that risks a partial government shutdown right before Christmas. The deadline to pass a new funding bill is Friday night.

Syria latest » One week after the fall of the Assad regime, the U.S. government continues to monitor rising tensions in Syria between Israel and Turkey.

State Dept. Spokesperson Vedant Patel says that the United States is focused on preventing the conflict from escalating.

PATEL: I think we are not alone when we say we want to see stability across the region. We want to make sure that nothing we see is consistent with escalation.

This comes as President Biden and President-elect Donald Trump continue efforts to broker a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Fed interest rate cut » The Federal Reserve is cutting its key interest rate by another quarter-point — its third cut this year. But Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the decision wasn't as easy this time as with those prior cuts.

POWELL: I would say today was a closer call, but we decided it was the right call.

That’s because consumer prices are still elevated and inflation is not moving toward the Fed’s 2 percent target as quickly as hoped.

And Powell said the Central Bank is trying to strike a balance.

POWELL: We see the risks as two-sided. Moving too slowly can needlessly undermine economic activity in the labor market, or move too quickly and needlessly undermine our progress on inflation.

He also signaled that the Fed now expects to reduce rates more slowly next year than it previously envisioned.

Trump FL would-be assassin » The state of Florida is charging Ryan Routh with felony attempted murder. He’s the man the FBI said hid in the bushes at Donald Trump’s south Florida golf resort in a failed attempt to assassinate him.

But the new charge is not directly tied to that alleged plot. Rather, it’s related to a car crash that authorities say was caused by Routh’s attempt to flee from law enforcement.

Florida  Attorney General Ashley Moody says the feds tried to impede the state’s ability to bring charges over the alleged assassination attempt itself.

MOODY:  We immediately were confronted with a lack of willingness to investigate. to allow us access to the crime scene.

The state even sued the Justice Department for not cooperating.

SCOTUS will take up TikTok case » The Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments next month over the constitutionality of a new law that could ban TikTok in the U.S. if its Chinese parent company doesn’t sell it.

The justices said Wednesday they will hear arguments Jan. 10th

The law, enacted in April, set a Jan. 19 deadline for TikTok to be sold or else face a ban in the United States. That was in response to security concerns related to the app.

Disney/Pixar cuts trans messaging from show » Something will be missing from a new animated Pixar series on Disney Plus, and many parents will be glad to hear it.

SOUND (Win or Lose clip):

The new series is called Win or Lose, which follows a co-ed middle school softball team and the off-the-field lives of its characters.

And Disney has removed a planned transgender storyline from the series.

In a statement, the company said it made the decision because—quote—“many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline.”

Disney and Pixar reportedly also intentionally steered away from a lesbian story arc in the summer release of Inside Out 2, which went on to become a record-setting blockbuster. That came after a string of Disney movies with LGBT messaging bombed at the box office.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: The aftermath of a deadly shooting at a Christian school in Wisconsin. Plus, unique Nativity scenes from around the world.

This is The World and Everything in It.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.