Government shutdown is averted just after deadline as Congress rejects Trump’s debt limit demands

WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing a government shutdown deadline, the Senate rushed through final passage early Saturday of a bipartisan plan that would temporarily fund federal operations and disaster aid, dropping President-elect Donald Trump’s demands for a debt limit increase into the new year. House Speaker Mike Johnson had insisted Congress would “meet our obligations” and not allow federal operations to shutter ahead of the Christmas holiday season. But the day’s outcome was uncertain after Trump doubled down on his insistence that a debt ceiling increase be included in any deal…

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House VA Committee leader demands ‘airtight case’ for VA IT employees getting pay boost

A top Republican on the House VA Committee is scrutinizing the number of the employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs who are receiving a pay raise meant for hard-to-keep IT and cyber experts. The VA implemented a Special Salary Rate last summer, giving more than 7,000 employees in its Office of Information Technology (OIT) a substantial boost in pay. The SSR resulted in a 17% average pay increase for VA tech and cyber workers in 2210-classified positions. VA OIT has over 7,500 employees in these positions, and they account…

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Sen. Schmitt Demands Answers From State Department-Funded Censorship Org

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., demanded Thursday that the Global Disinformation Index provide specifics on its efforts to blacklist conservative news sites, in a letter exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. GDI, a nonprofit based in the United Kingdom, compiles lists of sites—such as conservative media outlets—that it deems as spreading “disinformation” and shares these lists with advertising firms to demonetize the outlets, the Washington Examiner first reported. Despite describing itself as “nonpolitical,” the Global Disinformation Index consistently assigns higher ratings of disinformation risk to conservative media while rating liberal…

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Spanberger demands VA clean up its act when awarding financial incentives

The Department of Veterans Affairs paid out $ 11 million in bonuses to career executives not eligible to receive them. Now a bipartisan group of lawmakers is seeking answers. House lawmakers are asking VA how long it will take to claw back those bonuses and what steps it will take to hold department leaders accountable. The lawmakers also want to know what steps VA will take to ensure future financial incentives are awarded responsibly. (Spanberger demands answers, accountability from VA over nearly $ 11 million misspent on executive bonuses –…

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Columbia Law Review Demands School Cancel Tests for Students Traumatized by NYPD

The Columbia University anti-Israel encampment has been cleared out, but the New York school continues to beclown itself. According to a report by the Washington Free Beacon’s Aaron Sibarium, the student editors of the Columbia Law Review issued a statement on Wednesday, calling on Columbia Law School to cancel final exams. They wrote that it had to be done because the “violence” students had witnessed on campus left them “irrevocably shaken” and “unable to focus.” NEW: The student editors of the Columbia Law Review have issued a statement urging the…

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