Wednesday morning news: September 20, 2023

UN General Assembly » At UN headquarters in New York:

AUDIO: On behalf of the General Assembly, I have the honor to welcome his excellency, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

President Zelenskyy of Ukraine told world leaders that Russia is “weaponizing” food, energy, and even children abducted from Ukraine in its war against his homeland.

ZELENSKYY: Those children in Russia are taught to hate Ukraine, and all ties with their families are broken. And this is clearly a genocide.

And he warned world leaders that the same could happen to them, adding that, “When hatred is weaponized against one nation, it never stops there."

Hours earlier, President Joe Biden told the General Assembly that Russia alone stands in the way of peace.

BIDEN: Because Russia’s price for peace is Ukraine’s capitulation, Ukraine’s territory, and Ukraine’s children.

Zelenskyy is set to meet with President Biden in the Oval Office and then with top lawmakers on Capitol Hill tomorrow.

Austin on Ukraine » Meantime, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke out on the war in Ukraine from Ramstein Air Base in Germany. He told allies that air defense systems are saving lives in Ukraine.

LLOYD: So I urge this group to continue to dig deep on ground-based air defense for Ukraine, and we must continue to provide Ukraine with the air defense systems and interceptors that it needs.

Lloyd heard there at a meeting of Ukraine Defense Contact Group. That’s a group of more than 50 countries supporting Ukraine’s defense.

And America’s top general, Mark Milley said helping Ukraine in the coming months comes down to three top priorities: air defense, artillery and mechanized armor, such as tanks, that can move over frozen ground.

Kirby on Iran » Iran is now locking out all UN inspectors from its nuclear facilities.

Tehran made the shift almost immediately after completing a prisoner exchange with the United States this week.

U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby:

KIRBY: We urge Iran to let these inspectors in, to meet their international commitments and work in good faith towards deescalating the tensions.

The UN’s nuclear chief Rafael Grossi recently warned that Iran has been piling up more highly enriched uranium, bringing the rogue country closer to a nuclear weapon.

House defense bill fails » House Republicans tried to advance a defense spending bill on Tuesday, but …

AUDIO: On this vote, the yeas are 212, they nays are 214. The resolution is not adopted.

The failed vote shines as a spotlight on a rift between Speaker Kevin McCarthy and a group of staunch conservatives.

And it makes it even tougher to see how the speaker can corral enough GOP members to pass a government funding bill before a September 30th deadline.

MCCARTHY: I don’t think anybody wins a shutdown. Think for one moment what a shutdown does. It stops paying our troops. How do you have more leverage in that situation? I’ve watched shutdown after shutdown. Everybody loses.

But some House conservatives say Republicans can’t agree to continue Washington’s massive overspending and piling onto a $33 trillion-dollar debt.

First impeachment inquiry hearing » House Republicans will hold their first hearing in the impeachment inquiry against President Biden one week from tomorrow.

The House Oversight Committee will handle the hearing.

Majority Whip Tom Emmer says launching the inquiry does not necessarily mean that Republicans will move to impeach the president.

EMMER: If they uncover evidence of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors, then and only then will the next steps toward impeachment proceedings be considered.

GOP leaders allege that President Biden was improperly involved in his son Hunter’s business dealings.

Migrant encounters » Border Patrol agents are seeing a surge in migrants illegally crossing the southern border this month.

Agents reported nearly 10,000 migrant encounters on Monday alone. That means border traffic is once again approaching record levels set back in May.

Republican Congressman Tony Gonzalez of Texas says the border crisis is draining resources across the country.

GONZALEZ: Whether it’s in Eagle Pass, whether it’s in El Paso, whether it’s in New York City, Chicago, LA, it does not matter — small towns, big cities.

New York City says it’s now spending $10 million dollars a day to house migrants.

I'm Kent Covington.

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