House passes antisemitism bill despite free speech concerns

Table Of Content

• How the House Voted on Foreign Aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan
• Missouri House backs legal shield for weedkiller maker facing thousands of cancer-related lawsuits
• Political party strength
• House passes antisemitism bill despite free speech concerns
• New Listings in Missouri
• Missouri House ethics panel drops probe of Dean Plocher after blocking push to release evidence

The House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to pass a bill aimed at curbing antisemitism amid a rash of demonstrations on college campuses nationwide protesting Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza. “We should be funding to build up our weapons and ammunition, not to send it over to foreign countries,” she said before her proposal to zero out the money for Kyiv failed on a vote of 351 to 71. But after the Senate passed its own $95 billion emergency aid legislation for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan without any immigration measures, Mr. Johnson began — first privately, then loudly — telling allies that he would ensure the U.S. would send aid to Kyiv. The Missouri legislation says that federally approved pesticide labeling “shall be sufficient to satisfy any requirement for a warning label regarding cancer” — effectively thwarting failure-to-warn allegations in future lawsuits. But early on, Plocher retained control of several aspects of the committee’s work, including which House members or staff would be compelled to testify via subpoena. He denied delaying the investigation by his early refusal to step aside from those decisions.

How the House Voted on Foreign Aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan

Representative Sean Pouche - Missouri House of Representatives

Representative Sean Pouche.

Posted: Tue, 05 Mar 2024 04:50:23 GMT [source]

It was introduced earlier this month by a bipartisan group of House and Senate lawmakers. And it raised questions about whether the political turmoil that has roiled the United States had effectively destroyed what has long been a strong bipartisan consensus in favor of projecting American values around the world. The last time the Congress approved a major tranche of funding to Ukraine was in 2022, before Republicans took control of the House. In four back-to-back votes, overwhelming bipartisan coalitions of lawmakers approved fresh rounds of funding for the three U.S. allies, as well as another bill meant to sweeten the deal for conservatives that could result in a nationwide ban of TikTok. After months of delay at the hands of a bloc of ultraconservative Republicans, the package drew overwhelming bipartisan support, reflecting broad consensus. “This bill isn’t about cancer, it’s really about the process of what’s taken place within the courts,” said Republican state Rep. Mike Haffner, chair of the House Agriculture Policy Committee.

Missouri House backs legal shield for weedkiller maker facing thousands of cancer-related lawsuits

In the end, even in the face of an ouster threat from ultraconservative members, he circumvented the hard-line contingent of lawmakers that once was his political home and relied on Democrats to push the measure through. It was a remarkable turnabout for a right-wing lawmaker who voted repeatedly against aid to Ukraine as a rank-and-file member, and as recently as a couple of months ago declared he would never allow the matter to come to a vote until his party’s border demands were met. Thirty-seven liberal Democrats opposed the $26 billion aid package for Israel because the legislation placed no conditions on how Israel could use American funding, as the death toll in Gaza has reached more than 33,000 and the threat of famine looms.

Political party strength

In a nod to right-wing demands, Mr. Johnson allowed a vote just before the foreign aid bills on a stringent border enforcement measure, but it was defeated after failing to reach the two-thirds majority needed for passage. And the speaker refused to link the immigration bill to the foreign aid package, knowing that would effectively kill the spending plan. With an “America First” sentiment gripping the party’s voter base, led by Mr. Trump, Republicans dug in last year against another aid package for Kyiv, saying the matter should not even be considered unless Mr. Biden agreed to stringent anti-immigration measures. When Senate Democrats agreed earlier this year to legislation that paired the aid with stiffer border enforcement provisions, Mr. Trump denounced it and Republicans rejected it out of hand.

House passes antisemitism bill despite free speech concerns

As the committee met, Plocher’s wife, Rebecca, and their two children sat in the audience in the front row, along with several Republican members who later stood behind the speaker at his news conference. “We now know that it’s the bureaucrats in the House that attempted a coup by trying to target the speaker’s office, hoping to displace and overthrow duly elected officials and giving great influence to lobbyists and special interests,” Plocher said. Hard-right Republican opposition to the legislation — both on the House floor and in the critical Rules panel — forced Mr. Johnson to rely on Democrats to push the legislation across the finish line. Mr. Johnson structured the measures, which were sent to the Senate as one bill, to capture different coalitions of support without allowing opposition to any one element to defeat the whole thing. Supporters said it was important to protect Bayer, whose North American crop science division is based in the St. Louis area, from lawsuits that could jeopardized the availability of Roundup. They cited concerns that Bayer eventually could pull Roundup from the U.S. market, leaving farmers dependent on alternative chemicals from China.

Kelly declined to comment after the hearing, but as it concluded, she was choked up and had difficulty getting out words defending the investigation she led. House Speaker Dean Plocher at a news conference Monday claiming victory over an "attempted coup" in the form of a House Ethics Committee investigation. At his side, right, are his wife, Rebecca Plocher, and his daughter (Rudi Keller/Missouri Independent). Since 2003, the Republican Party has held this chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. The Missouri House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Missouri General Assembly.

House Approves $95 Billion Aid Bill for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan

Supporters of the bill say it will help to combat the scourge of anti-Jewish hatred, but opponents expressed concerns about free speech. Option 1 costs $49, which covers the cost of the ticket and fees, admission to the meet-and-greet, plus a signed hardcover copy of "Roctogenarians." Option 2, which has limited availability, costs $35, includes a ticket, fees and admission to the meet-and-greet. At this crucial time, the White House is encouraging providers to take steps to keep their consumers connected by offering low-cost or no-cost plans or providing discounts. Much of the funding for Ukraine is earmarked to replenish U.S. stockpiles after shipping supplies to Kyiv. “I’m going to allow an opportunity for every single member of the House to vote their conscience and their will,” he had said.

Missouri House ethics panel drops probe of Dean Plocher after blocking push to release evidence

Farmers overwhelmingly rely on Roundup, which was introduced 50 years ago as a more efficient way to control weeds and reduce tilling and soil erosion. For crops including corn, soybeans and cotton, it’s designed to work with genetically modified seeds that resist Roundup’s deadly effect. Bayer disputes claims that Roundup’s key ingredient, glyphosate, causes a cancer called non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. But it has set aside $16 billion and already paid about $10 billion of that amount to resolve some of the tens of thousands of legal claims against it.

Missouri Real Estate

The Missouri House of Representatives meets annually beginning on the Wednesday after the first Monday in January.[5] A part-time legislature, it concludes session business by May 30. To serve in the chamber, an individual must have attained the age of 24 and have resided in their district for a period of one year preceding the election. The Speaker of the House is the most powerful individual in the chamber, elected by all members of the House. Representatives are term-limited to a maximum of four terms, or eight years, in the chamber. That bill, known as the Bipartisan Countering Antisemitism Act, would establish a National Coordinator to Counter Antisemitism within the White House in charge of coordinating federal efforts to counter anti-Jewish hate and serve as the president’s principal adviser on the issue.

Over the course of the ethics committee’s inquiry, Plocher refused to speak to the private attorney hired to gather evidence and on three occasions over March and April refused to sign off on subpoena requests by the committee. That vote came after the committee stripped the dismissal motion of language that blamed the result on “the inability of the committee to finish the investigation as a direct result of obstruction of the process and the intimidation of witnesses by” Plocher. In 1992 Missouri voters approved a constitutional amendment placing term limits on the Missouri House of Representatives. Since Russia’s invasion in 2022, Congress has appropriated $113 billion in funding to support Ukraine’s war effort. $75 billion was directly allocated to the country for humanitarian, financial and military support, and another $38 billion in security assistance-related funding was spent largely in the United States, according to the Institute for Study of War, a Washington-based research group. For months, it had been uncertain whether Congress would approve new funding for Ukraine, even as momentum shifted in Moscow’s favor.

His decision to advance the package infuriated the ultraconservatives in his conference who accused Mr. Johnson of reneging on his promise not to allow a vote on foreign aid without first securing sweeping policy concessions on the southern border. It prompted two Republicans, Representatives Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Paul Gosar of Arizona to join a bid by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia to oust Mr. Johnson from the top job. Against the recommendation of state Rep. Hannah Kelly, a Mountain Grove Republican appointed chair of the ethics committee last year by Plocher, the committee dismissed the complaint against Plocher on a 7-2 vote.

It would direct the president to seek repayment from the Ukrainian government of $10 billion in economic assistance, a concept supported by former President Donald J. Trump, who had pushed for any aid to Kyiv to be in the form of a loan. An investigation into accusations of misconduct by Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher was dismissed Monday at the end of a tense hearing where members of the ethics committee blocked the chair from reading an email about how Plocher’s office had allegedly intimidated possible witnesses. These are the yearly recurring committees that hold hearings on legislation filed by Representatives. Once filed, legislation is assigned to one of the following committees by the Missouri Speaker of the House. Legislation is typically assigned to the committee whose province envelopes the subject matter of the bill.

The scene on the House floor reflected both the broad support in Congress for continuing to help the Ukrainian military beat back Russia, and the extraordinary political risk taken by Mr. Johnson to defy the anti-interventionist wing of his party who had sought to thwart the measure. Minutes before the vote on assistance for Kyiv, Democrats began to wave small Ukrainian flags on the House floor, as hard-right Republicans jeered. The House voted resoundingly on Saturday to approve $95 billion in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as Speaker Mike Johnson put his job on the line to advance the long-stalled aid package by marshaling support from mainstream Republicans and Democrats. During the month of May, as funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program runs out, millions of households will receive only a partial subsidy on their internet bills and some will receive no discount at all if their provider opts out of the partial benefit. Losing the monthly Affordable Connectivity Program benefit will have drastic, meaningful impacts on American households, according to survey data collected by the Federal Communications Commission. More than three-quarters of surveyed ACP households say losing their ACP benefit would disrupt their service by making them change their plan or drop internet service entirely.

More than two thirds of households had inconsistent internet service or no internet service at all prior to ACP, and this number is even higher for surveyed households residing in rural areas. These respondents also reported that ACP has enabled them to schedule or attend healthcare appoints, apply for jobs, complete work, and do schoolwork. JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The manufacturer of a popular weedkiller won support Wednesday from the Missouri House for a proposal that could shield it from costly lawsuits alleging it failed to warn customers its product could cause cancer.

In it, Hughes detailed events over several months that she said were designed to intimidate her and other nonpartisan legislative employees. The nature of the project remained intact and its technical requirements had led us to the discovery of a new project matter. The partisan makeup of each committee is intended to reflect as closely as possible the partisan makeup of the entire House. Each Party caucus selects which of its members will serve on the Standing Committees, and the chair of each committee is chosen by the Speaker of the House. Twenty-one Republicans, including far-right Reps. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., joined 70 Democrats in opposing the bill.