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5 things to know for August 8: Senate vote, Air travel, Immigration, Uvalde, Gaza

Senator reacts to passage of landmark Inflation Reduction Act

Here’s what you need to know to Get Up to Speed ​​and On with Your Day.

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1. Senate vote

The Senate on Sunday afternoon passed Democrats’ $750 billion health care, tax and climate bill, in a significant victory for President Joe Biden and his party. The final, party-line vote was 51-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the tie. The Democrat-controlled House, which is expected to take up the legislation on Friday, must approve the bill before Biden can sign it into law. The measure includes a handful of important but narrow provisions to lower prescription drug prices and extend enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies for three years. The bill would also be the biggest climate investment in US history, slashing US greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office said. To increase revenue, the legislation would impose a 15% minimum tax on the income large corporations report to shareholders, raising $258 billion over a decade. While the deal is far smaller than the slimmed-down $1.75 trillion version the House passed in October, Democrats and the White House say the bill could still have a massive impact on many Americans.

2.Air Travel

Another wave of airline cancellations and delays was felt across the US over the weekend. More than 7,700 flights were delayed and 950 flights were canceled across the country on Sunday, according to the flight tracking website, FlightAware. This comes as global travelers are returning to the skies in droves after a pandemic-enforced pause. However, airlines and airports across the world are grappling to meet the demand. Some flight attendants say the lack of staffing, along with unpredictable schedules, is wreaking havoc on their mental and physical well-being. Plus, with fewer pilots available, some aviation experts predict these disruptions could persist for a decade as reductions in schedules and routes cause prices to rise.

3. Immigration

At least 68 migrants arrived in New York City over the weekend on buses sent by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. According to New York Mayor Eric Adams, some of the migrants are being “forced” on buses from Texas. However, Abbott’s office says migrants are volunteering to be bused out of his state. Abbott has designated New York as a “drop-off location for the busing strategy as part of (his) response to the Biden administration’s open border policies overwhelming Texas communities,” the governor’s office said in a statement on Friday. A fierce critic of the Biden administration’s immigration policies, Abbott began sending hundreds of migrants on buses to Washington, DC, earlier this year. More than 5,100 migrants have since arrived in Washington from Texas on more than 135 buses.

4. Uvalde

The school district in Uvalde, Texas, the site of a school massacre in May, is looking for an interim police chief as Pete Arredondo awaits his termination hearing, according to a report. Arredondo was placed on unpaid leave following his highly-criticized handling of the shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24, in which 19 children and two teachers were killed. Officials have said Arredondo was the on-scene commander during the shooting, but the chief has disputed that, saying he did not believe he was in charge. Separately, the community’s school board president confirmed the district has zeroed in on a property to replace Robb Elementary. The community’s superintendent also reaffirmed students will not return to the campus because many are still traumatized by the violence.

5. Strip

A ceasefire between Israel and the Islamic Jihad militant group in Gaza is holding today after a weekend of violence left dozens of Palestinians dead. The truth, announced on Sunday evening by both sides, came about 50 hours after the escalation began, when Israel launched what it called preemptive strikes on Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza. At least 44 Palestinians, including 15 children, were killed in the violence, according to Palestinian officials. Israel maintains most of those killed in its air strikes were militants. The escalation was the most serious in nearly 15 months, when the Israeli military and Hamas fought an 11-day war in May 2021.

BREAKFAST BROWSE

Jewelry heist caught on security camera

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Photographer retakes model portraits decades later

Like fine wine, these models got even better with time. Check out the stunning before and after photos taken years apart.

IN MEMORY

Actor Roger E Mosley, best known for his role as the helicopter pilot Theodore “TC” Calvin on the 1980s hit show “Magnum, PI,” died Sunday, his daughter announced. He was 83. Mosley was injured in a car crash last week that had left him paralyzed from the shoulders down and in critical condition. Mosley starred in more than 150 episodes of “Magnum, PI” alongside Tom Selleck in the crime-adventure series, which aired for eight seasons from 1980 until 1988.

TODAY’S NUMBER

9,320 thousand

That’s the length of Google Equiano, an underwater internet cable designed to deliver high-speed broadband along the west coast of Africa. Running for thousands of miles along the bottom of the sea from Portugal to South Africa, sources say the cable could increase internet speeds more than fivefold in some countries beginning in early 2023. The project, financed by Google, intends to help close the digital divide across the continent where internet access remains highly uneven.

TODAY’S QUOTE

“She’s lucky to be alive. She has severe burns and has a long recovery ahead.”

— A source close to Anne Heche, telling CNN on Saturday that the actress is recovering after the car she was driving crashed into a Los Angeles home on Friday and became engulfed in flames. A representative for Heche said her Sunday she is in stable condition. She first rose to fame for her role as Ella in the soap opera “Another World.” She was also thrust into the media spotlight for her romantic relationship with Ellen DeGeneres in the late ’90s.

TODAY’S WEATHER

Check your local forecast here>>>

AND FINALLY

Happy International Cat Day

In honor of the feline holiday, watch these cats take part in an extreme cup challenge. And remember, your day is only as pawsitive as you make it. Have a great one! (Click here to view)

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US

Senate passes Inflation Reduction Act, Democrats’ climate, health and tax bill, delivering win for Biden

Senate passes Democrats' sweeping climate, health and tax bill, delivering win for Biden

Washington— The Senate on Sunday passed Democrats’ sweeping economy package designed to combat climate change, address health care costs and raise taxes on large corporations, marking a crucial achievement for President Biden and his party as they look to maintain their hold on Congress in the November midterm elections.

The plan, called the Inflation Reduction Act, cleared the upper chamber by a vote of 51 to 50 along party lines, with Vice President Kamala Harris providing the tie-breaking vote in the evenly divided Senate. Democrats used a fast-track legislative process known as reconciliation to pass the measure in the face of unanimous opposition from Republicans.

“It’s been a long, tough and winding road but at last, at last, we have arrived,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in remarks on the Senate floor as members prepared to vote for final passage. “Today, after more than a year of hard work, the Senate is making history. I am confident the Inflation Reduction Act will endure as one of the defining legislative feats of the 21st century.”

The vote came after a marathon session that lasted through the night and into Sunday afternoon, with Democrats breaking into applause as members cast their final votes. In a process known as a “vote-a-rama,” Republicans offered a slew of amendments that Democrats successfully swatted down over nearly 16 hours of debate.

GOP senators did manage to block a provision that would have capped the price of insulin at $35 a month for those covered under private health care plans. Democrats needed 60 votes to waive reconciliation rules and keep that part of the bill, but it failed 57 to 43, with seven Republicans joining Democrats in support of the measure.

House Democratic leaders announced last week the lower chamber will return from its month-long recess on Friday to take up the legislation, which is expected to pass.

Mr. Biden praised Senate Democrats for passing the plan and acknowledged it required “many compromises.” He urged the House to swiftly approve the bill.

“Today, Senate Democrats sided with American families over special interests, voting to lower the cost of prescription drugs, health insurance, and everyday energy costs and reduce the deficit, while making the wealthiest corporations finally pay their fair share,” the president said in to statement. “I ran for president promising to make government work for working families again, and that is what this bill does — period.”

The package is the culmination of months of negotiations over Mr. Biden’s domestic policy agenda, which at times appeared to be on life support but was revived late last month with the surprise announcement of an agreement between Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat from West Virginia.

WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 6: Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) chats wit
Sen. Joe Manchin chats with his staffers on Capitol Hill in Washington on Aug. 6, 2022.

Shuran Huang for The Washington Post via Getty Images


While the legislation is much more narrow than the sprawling $3.5 trillion proposal put forth by Mr. Biden last year, the tailored package had the backing of Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat from Arizona whose support was crucial.

Still, Democrats praise the plan as their answer to addressing rising consumer prices and for its nearly $400 billion investment in fighting climate change, the largest ever. The package allows Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices, a key Democratic priority that is expected to save hundreds of billions of dollars over the next 10 years. It also extends enhanced health insurance subsidies that were set to expire at the end of the year, and imposes a 15% minimum tax on most corporations that make more than $1 billion each year.

The corporate tax provision emerged as a point of contention as senators neared a final vote on Sunday. Seven Democratic senators — Sinema, Jon Ossoff, Raphael Warnock, Catherine Cortez Masto, Maggie Hassan, Mark Kelly and Jacky Rosen — joined Republicans in backing an amendment put forward by GOP Sen. John Thune of South Dakota exempts some firms with private equity backing from the 15% minimum corporate tax rate. That amendment passed 57 to 43.

To boost clean energy, the measure includes tax credits for buying electric vehicles and manufacturing solar panels and wind turbines. It also provides rebates for consumers who buy energy efficient appliances and provides $4 billion for drought relief.

Schumer lauded the bill as the “boldest climate package” in US history, and called it a “game-changer” and “turning point.”

“It’s been a long time coming,” he said.

One piece of Democrats’ drug-pricing plan — imposing penalties on drug manufacturers that raised prices beyond inflation on private insurers — was removed after it was reviewed by Senate parliamentarian Elizbeth MacDonough. Her approval of the rest of the package, however, cleared the way for the upper chamber to move forward with its consideration of the bill.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the legislation will cut the deficit by $102 billion over the next 10 years. Republicans, though, argued the plan will have little impact on inflation and instead raise taxes while leading to job losses.

in an interview with “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Sen. Rick Scott, a Republican from Florida, claimed Democrats’ drug pricing plan will harm seniors, while the tax component will increase taxes on Americans.

“Why would you be increasing the cost of government? We’re increasing taxes,” he said.

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Senate Republicans block $35 cap on price of insulin from Inflation Reduction Act

Senate Republicans block $35 cap on price of insulin from Inflation Reduction Act

Washington— Senate Republicans on Sunday blocked a $35 monthly cap on the cost of insulin in the private market from being included in Democrats’ economic tax and spending package, voting down an amendment to the measure during a marathon session leading up to what Democrats hope will be final passage of the bill.

The Senate on Saturday night began consideration of more than 30 amendments to the Inflation Reduction Act, Democrats’ $700 billion legislation that aims to combat climate change, raise taxes on large corporations and address rising health care costs.

Amid the proposed changes to the plan was to set the $35 per month cap on insulin, the price medication needed to treat diabetes. Seven Republican senators voted with all 50 Democrats to keep the price ceiling in the legislation: Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Cindy Hyde Smith of Mississippi, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Dan Sullivan of Alaska.

Still, with a vote of 57 to 43, the provision failed to garner the 60 votes needed to waive special budgetary rules and include it in the bill. The House passed a similar cap on the price of insulin in April.

Democrats are hoping to clear their overall legislative package on Sunday, setting the House up to briefly return to Washington this week to approve it. Its passage would notch President Biden and congressional Democrats a key win before the midterm elections, when they are working to maintain control of Congress.

The legislation is the culmination of months of negotiations over Mr. Biden’s domestic policy plan, which at times appeared dead but was revived late last month with the surprise announcement of an agreement between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat from West Virginia.

Democrats praise the plan as their answer to addressing inflation and its nearly $400 billion investment in fighting climate change. The package allows Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices, extends enhanced health insurance subsidies that were set to expire at the end of the year and imposes a 15% minimum tax on corporations that make more than $1 billion each year.

To boost clean energy, the measure includes tax credits for buying electric vehicles and manufacturing solar panels and wind turbines. It also provides rebates for consumers who buy energy efficient appliances and provides $4 billion for drought relief.

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FBI Director Christopher Wray is guiding the agency the wrong way, fast

FBI Director Christopher Wray is guiding the agency the wrong way, fast

Christopher Wray’s disingenuous testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday, before he left early on the FBI’s private Gulfstream 550 jet, speaks volumes about the need to defund the FBI — or at least dump its unctuous director.

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley and his team of Republicans expected to have the chance to ask a second round of questions.

Grassley pleaded for just an extra 21 minutes.

But Wray took an early mark, dismissing the committee’s constitutional obligation to ensure he answers questions under oath to ensure the FBI complies with the law and is accountable to the American people.

What was so urgent that he had to leave after just three and a half hours?

Was he taking a long weekend in the Adirondacks where his family has a summer home?

It’s worth examining the exchange with Grassley in detail.

“We just heard a half hour ago about you having to leave at 1:30,” Grassley grizzled. “We were going to have seven minutes [each] for first round [questions and] three-minute second rounds. I’ve got seven people on my side of the aisle want their additional three minutes. Is there any reason we couldn’t accommodate them for 21 minutes?”

FBI Director Christopher Wray shakes hands with Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Sen. Chuck Grassley
Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Sen. Chuck Grassley Grassley pointed out that Wray has a private jet and can leave any time.
AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta

Wray replied smoothly: “Senator, I had a flight that I’m supposed to be high-tailing it to outta here, and I had understood that we were going to be done at 1:30, so that’s how we ended up where we are.”

Grassley pointed out that the FBI director has a private jet at his disposal and can leave any time he likes.

“If it’s your business trip you’ve got your own plane. Can’t it wait a while?” I have asked
Wray replied, “To be honest, I tried to make my break as fast I could to get right back out here.”

Grassley, “You took more than five minutes.”

Wray laughed and the silence that followed only emphasized the disrespect to all senators, but especially to Grassley, the president pro tempore emeritus of the Senate.

Democratic chairman Dick Durbin came to Wray’s rescue, expressing his appreciation that it was Wray’s “third appearance in two years before this committee.”

And every appearance a waste of time, that simply showcased that Wray is a master of evasion. On some of the most serious questions of national security and the politicization of the FBI, Wray had nothing to say. Like Mister Magoo, he sees nothing.

no answers

Unlike most things on Capitol Hill these days, the politicization and repeated failures of the FBI are a bipartisan concern.

Director Christopher Wray
Wray refused to classify the flood of illegal migration at the southern border as a “national security threat.”
Getty Images/Alex Wong

In the short time they had with Wray, senators from both sides had urgent questions. Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein and Republicans Marsha Blackburn and Grassley were concerned about the FBI’s botching of the Larry Nassar case. Why, when Nassar was convicted in 2016 of sexually abusing US gymnasts, did Wray wait until 2021 to fire one of the agents involved in slow-walking the case?

Grassley complained about a lack of transparency over why the Department of Justice had decided a jury wouldn’t convict FBI agents for their handling of the investigation.
Other Democrats were concerned about the FBI not investigating complaints about Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his Supreme Court confirmation hearing.

Wray had no answer, nor to questions about Afghan evacuees considered significant security threats after being brought to the US in last year’s bungled withdrawal from Kabul.
“I can’t sit here right now and tell you we know where all of them are located at any given time,” he said.

Wray refused to classify the flood of illegal migration at the southern border as a “national security threat.”

When asked what the FBI was doing to track down 56 suspected terrorists that have crossed the border this year he waffled about “sharing watchlist information” and “investigating any number of individuals.”

Hunter Biden
Wray also refused to agree with one senator’s assertion that Hunter Biden’s laptop was not “Russian disinformation.”
The Washington Post via Getty Images

He refused to admit that the Russia collusion hoax — in which the FBI treated seriously palpably false allegations that then-candidate Donald Trump was a Russian agent — was in fact a “hoax”.

He refused to agree with Sen. Blackburn that Hunter Biden’s laptop was not “Russian disinformation,” and didn’t respond to whistleblower allegations of an FBI coverup of derogatory information related to the Bidens in October 2020.

He refused to explain to Sen. Ted Cruz why the FBI had blacklisted patriotic historical American symbols such as the Betsy Ross flag, the Gadsden Flag and the Gonzales battle flag as “militia violent extremism” in training documents.

When Sen. Josh Hawley asked why the FBI was “snooping around the concealed carry permit records” of Missourians, he had nothing.

When Sen. Tom Cotton asked why no FBI agent had thought to enforce the law broken by abortion activists parading outside the homes of Supreme Court justices, Wray was impatient: “Our agents are up to their necks enforcing all sorts of laws.”

Christopher Wray
Wray is required to reimburse the cost of a coach class airline fare for personal trips.
Getty Images/Alex Wong

When the hearing ended at 1:30, Wray ambled over to Grassley to shake his hand. The microphones picked up some of the exchange.

Grassley, a courtly row-crop farmer from Butler County, Iowa, who has a shrewd Columbo-esque tendency to ask “just one more thing,” leaned forward: “I assume you’ve got other business.”

“Yeah,” Wray said.

And off he sauntered, minions in tow.

Grassley’s staff did not know where Wray was going after the hearing and FBI public affairs did not respond to an email Sunday by press time.

But the luxury FBI Gulfstream Wray uses was recorded on Flightradar24 making the one hour and 12 minute flight later that afternoon to bucolic Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks, which happens to be a favorite summer destination since his childhood, when he used to hike the High Peaks and fish for trout, according to the Adirondack Daily Enterprise.

Wray, 55, who attended the Buckley School on the Upper East Side and the private Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., graduated from Yale University, the alma mater of his father, Cecil Wray, who was Adirondack Park Agency Commissioner for 14 years.

The FBI’s Gulfstream made another trip to Saranac Lake on Thursday, June 2, returning to Washington, DC on Sunday, June 5.

turbulence

While there has been controversy over the FBI director commandeering a plane originally intended for counterterrorism use, Wray’s predecessor James Comey used it as his private conveyance as well.

The director is required to reimburse the cost of a coach class airline fare for personal trips, a significant discount on the several thousand dollars an hour it costs to operate the Gulfstream, which is considerably more convenient than Delta.

Wray ensured his testimony was useless, but if he did cut short his testimony to go on vacation at a time when his agency is under fire from all sides, then that is an act of disrespect and insubordination which requires a firm rebuke, or what is the point of Senate oversight?

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CPAC proves Trump will lead conservative movement until he ‘takes his last breath,’ Matt Schlapp says

CPAC attendees reveal whether they want Trump or DeSantis as the 2024 GOP nominee

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DALLAS — Former President Trump’s place atop the conservative movement was reiterated over the weekend at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, Texas, and the event’s organizers believe it will stay that way until he “takes his last breath.”

Trump convincingly won the 2024 GOP presidential nomination straw poll taken at CPAC, and the former president also prevailed when Fox News Digital asked attendees in the hallways of the event. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis came in second on the 2024 presidential nomination question, at 24%, and is widely considered the clear next-in-line among many die-hard Trump supporters. Others simply prefer DeSantis these days.

American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp, who didn’t want to “vote in a primary” so far away from the 2024 election when asked who he prefers, believes many conservatives treat Trump like an incumbent president and his popularity is unrivaled.

“He comes into this race as the incumbent, so in most situations when you’re the incumbent you’re going to have the lion’s share of support from everyone,” Schlapp told Fox News Digital backstage at CPAC Texas.

2024 WATCH: CPAC ATTENDEES CHOOSE FAVORITE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE AS TRUMP, DESANTIS REMAIN POPULAR

Matt Schlapp reveals CPAC straw poll at the 2022 CPAC in Dallas, Texas.

Matt Schlapp reveals CPAC straw poll at the 2022 CPAC in Dallas, Texas.
(Fox News Photo/Joshua Comins)

“There is this other piece which Donald Trump shares uniquely in American politics on the conservative side, and that is because he was so authentic about what he said he would do and then what he did do… this bond formed between the conservative movement and Donald Trump where he didn’t just say he was going to move the embassy, ​​he moved it,” Schlapp continued. “He didn’t just say he was going to pick the next generation of Clarence Thomas, he picked three of them. He just went right down the line and did what he said he was going to do.”

TRUMP EASILY WINS TEXAS CPAC 2024 GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION STRAW POLL; DESANTIS SECOND

Many CPAC attendees wore Trump merchandise, and the event’s vendors offered just about anything a MAGA enthusiast could ever hope for. There were occasional “Make America Florida” hats and shirts in honor of DeSantis, but it was a far cry from the years-ago CPAC events when attendees wore gear to support their favorite Republican with a large variety of choices. These days it’s almost all about Trump.

Schlapp cited the border, willingness to “take on” China and the economy as other key conservative reasons still largely adore Trump. In addition, Schlapp also believes that minority voters will support Trump if he decides to run again because their bank accounts are suffering under President Biden.

“He rekindled this idea that the Republican Party is the place of opportunity for people of color, and because of that it’s an unshakable bond,” he said. “How many CPACs in a row where straw polls that we had demonstrate that? But, yet… it’s almost like people are confused. They ask the question, ‘Is he the leader in support from these folks?’ It’s like, yes! And I think he will be until he takes his last breath because of everything he did.”

Trump, who’s repeatedly teased making another presidential run in 2024 to try and return to the White House, captured 69% of ballots cast in the anonymous online straw poll, according to results announced by CPAC on Saturday. Mercedes Schlapp, Matt’s wife who plays a key role at CPAC and served as White House senior communications director, added that she believes most Republican presidential hopefuls are waiting to see what Trump decides.

“Even DeSantis, they’re watching to see what Donald Trump is going to do, I think that’s a very important factor to consider,” she said.

Donald Trump speaks to CPAC crowd, Aug. 6, 2022, in Dallas, Texas.

Donald Trump speaks to CPAC crowd, Aug. 6, 2022, in Dallas, Texas.
(Fox News Photo/Joshua Comins)

TRUMP SAYS CNN HAS ‘GOTTEN WORSE’ UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP: ‘THEY LOST TREMENDOUS CREDIBILITY’

While the Schlapps clearly believe Trump is the leader of the modern conservative movement, they don’t think the bar is particularly high when it comes to what it would take to defeat President Biden in a general election.

“It was the media that told us Joe Biden was up to the job, they were clearly covering for him. He doesn’t really do the job, and now the assumption he’s going to be the nominee. I think the chances of Joe Biden being alive, or really even being able to do anything to kind of act like he’s the president are almost zero,” Matt Schlapp said, noting that the Democratic Party doesn’t exactly have a deep bench.

“Then their real question is, do they pick Kamala Harris who has poll numbers more toxic than cancer, or do they get Nancy Pelosi, which I don’t think is going to work out so well,” he continued. “They are vacant of a lot of talent, so excuse me, I’ll probably be a little optimistic on our chances in 2024.”

‘THE VIEW’: CPAC ATTENDEES SLAM ABC NEWS FOR NAMING ANTI-TRUMP PUNDITS AS ‘CONSERVATIVE’ CO-HOSTS

Mercedes and Matt Schlapp listen to Donald Trump's remarks at the 2022 CPAC conference in Dallas, Texas.

Mercedes and Matt Schlapp listen to Donald Trump’s remarks at the 2022 CPAC conference in Dallas, Texas.
(Fox News Photo/Joshua Comins)

Mercedes joked that her husband isn’t always an optimistic guy but “the mere fact that the Democrats don’t have a deep bench” offers a clear reason to be hopeful as many prominent Democrats haven’t committed to supporting Biden in 2024.

“I think it shows a massive divide within the Democratic Party,” Mercedes said. “I think the Republican Party is probably even more united right now than it’s ever been because the goal is to defeat Joe Biden, defeat Nancy Pelosi, knowing that there is an urgency right now to save this country.”

Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

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Brian Flood is a media reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @briansflood.

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GOP Cites Shaky Senate Procedure Argument for Killing $35 Insulin Cap

GOP Cites Shaky Senate Procedure Argument for Killing $35 Insulin Cap

  • The GOP removed a $35 monthly cap on insulin prices from a landmark bill that passed the Senate.
  • Senate Republicans who did so cited procedural arguments about how the measure was proposed.
  • That masked the fact that Republicans could have got round that problem if they wanted.

GOP senators sought to blame Senate procedure for their move to kill a proposed monthly cap of $35 for insulin.

The response came after 43 Republicans voted against the measure, causing it to drop out of the huge spending bill that passed the chamber on Sunday.

Few of the 43 Republicans commented on why they removed the measure.

Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin was one — writing that he objected to the measure as a “gotcha” vote, instigated by Democrats to trap Republicans in a politically unpopular vote.

“Lying Dems and their friends in corporate media are at it again, distorting a Democrat “gotcha” vote,” he tweeted.

“In reality, the Dems wanted to break Senate rules to pass insulin pricing cap instead of going through regular order. They put this in a bill it wasn’t allowed in, all for show.”

Instead he suggested an alternative Republican price-capping measure that Democrats had rejected as too modest.

Similarly, Senate Minority Whip John Thune told reporters ahead of the vote that Democrats “wanted to tempt us to, I guess, vote against it.”

The rule Johnson referred to was a decision by the Senate parliamentarian that the insulin cap, proposed by Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, was not eligible to be considered under the same rules as the rest of the package.

The procedure in question is known as budget reconciliation, and allows certain financial measures to pass with 50 votes instead of 60. In this case most of the Democratic proposals bar the insulin one were allowed to proceed like that.

While they were correct that the measure was deemed ineligible under the 50-vote rules, neither Johnson nor Thune acknowledge that the measure could have been kept anyway had 10 Republicans wanted to support it.

Warnock preemptively laid the blame for the measure not passing with Republicans.

“The only way it doesn’t pass is if folks on the other side of the aisle decide to block it,” Warnock told The Washington Post.

Democrats had rejected an alternative price-capping measure proposed by Republicans as too modest.

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Arkansas judge found dead at bottom of lake after disappearing from family trip

Arkansas judge found dead at bottom of lake after disappearing from family trip

The body of an Arkansas judge was pulled from a lake over the weekend after he ventured off alone during a recreational outing with family and disappeared.

Jeremiah T. Bueker, 48, the Arkansas County Northern District Judge, was spending time with several family members and friends in Jefferson County when he went off on his own, last seen near Mud Lake, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said in a release.

When he didn’t return, his family called police 911 and before midnight Sunday several agencies responded including sheriff’s deputies, the sheriff’s office marine patrol and the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission.

Extensive ground and water searches were launched, with boats deployed. The searches were suspended due to low visibility early Sunday and picked back up after sunrise.

At 9:16 am Sunday, boats equipped with side-scan sonar, which provides a “birds-eye view of the water,” detected a body at the bottom of Mud Lake.

“Deputies utilized subsurface body recovery drag/rescue hooks to recover Bueker’s body. Upon recovery of the body, deputies and investigators with the assistance of family positively identified the body as that of Bueker,” the sheriff’s office said.

Bueker’s death is being investigated as an accidental drowning and his body will be sent to the State Medical Examiner, authorities said.

Jefferson County Sheriff Lafayette Woods said, “I truly pray that the successful recovery of Judge Bueker’s body by our deputies and Arkansas Game & Fish Wildlife Officers brings some sense of closure to the Bueker Family and those who knew him best.”

“The scour of emotions they must feel right now is devastating,” he added.

Marlene Lenthang is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.

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New Book Chronicles Trump’s Fraught Relationship With Top Military Officials

New Book Chronicles Trump's Fraught Relationship With Top Military Officials

WASHINGTON — Former President Donald J. Trump told his top White House aid that he wished he had generals like the ones who had reported to Adolf Hitler, saying they were “totally loyal” to the leader of the Nazi regime, according to a forthcoming book about the 45th president.

“Why can’t you be like the German generals?” Mr. Trump told John Kelly, his chief of staff, preceding the question with an obscenity, according to an excerpt from “The Divider: Trump in the White House,” by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser, published online by The New Yorker on Monday morning. (Mr. Baker is the chief White House correspondent for The New York Times; Ms. Glasser is a staff writer for The New Yorker.)

The excerpt depicts Mr. Trump as deeply frustrated by his top military officials, whom he saw as insufficiently loyal or obedient to him. In the conversation with Mr. Kelly, which took place years before the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the authors write, the chief of staff told Mr. Trump that Germany’s generals had “tried to kill Hitler three times and almost pulled it off.”

Mr. Trump was dismissive, according to the excerpt, apparently unaware of the World War II history that Mr. Kelly, a retired four-star general, knew all too well.

“’No, no, no, they were totally loyal to him,’ the president replied,” according to the book’s authors. “In his version of his history, the generals of the Third Reich had been completely subservient to Hitler; this was the model he wanted for his military. Kelly told Trump that there were no such American generals, but the president was determined to test the proposition.”

Much of the excerpt focuses on Gen. Mark A. Milley, who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the country’s top military official, under Mr. Trump. When the president offered him the job, General Milley told him, “I’ll do whatever you ask me to do.” But he quickly soured on the president.

General Milley’s frustration with the president peaked on June 1, 2020, when Black Lives Matter protesters filled Lafayette Square, near the White House. Mr. Trump demanded to send in the military to clear the protesters, but General Milley and other top aides refused. In response, Mr. Trump shouted, “You are all losers!” according to the excerpt. “Turning to Milley, Trump said, ‘Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?’” the authors write.

After the square was cleared by the National Guard and police, General Milley briefly joined the president and other aides in walking through the empty park so Mr. Trump could be photographed in front of a church on the other side. The authors said General Milley later considered his decision to join the president to be a “misjudgment that would haunt him forever, a ‘road-to-Damascus moment,’ as he would later put it.”

A week after that incident, General Milley wrote — but never delivered — a scathing resignation letter, accusing the president he served of politicizing the military, “ruining the international order,” failing to value diversity, and embracing the tyranny, dictatorship and extremism that members of the military had sworn to fight against.

“It is my belief that you were doing great and irreparable harm to my country,” the general wrote in the letter, which has not been revealed before and was published in its entirety by The New Yorker. General Milley wrote that Mr. Trump did not honor those who had fought against fascism and the Nazis during World War II.

“It’s now obvious to me that you don’t understand that world order,” General Milley wrote. “You don’t understand what the war was all about. In fact, you subscribe to many of the principles that we fought against. And I cannot be a party to that.”

Yet General Milley eventually decided to remain in office so he could ensure that the military could serve as a bulwark against an increasingly out-of-control president, according to the authors of the book.

“’I’ll just fight him,’” General Milley told his staff, according to the New Yorker excerpt. “The challenge, as he saw it, was to stop Trump from doing any more damage, while also acting in a way that was consistent with his obligation to carry out the orders of his commander in chief. ‘If they want to court-martial me, or put me in prison, have at it.’”

In addition to the revelations about General Milley, the book excerpt reveals new details about Mr. Trump’s interactions with his top military and national security officials, and documents dramatic efforts by the former president’s most senior aides to prevent a domestic or international crisis in the weeks after Mr. Trump lost his re-election bid.

In the summer of 2017, the book excerpt reveals, Mr. Trump returned from viewing the Bastille Day parade in Paris and told Mr. Kelly that he wanted one of his own. But the president told Mr. Kelly: “Look, I don’t want any wounded guys in the parade. This doesn’t look good for me,” the authors write.

“Kelly could not believe what he was hearing,” the excerpt continues. “’Those are the heroes,’ I told Trump. ‘In our society, there’s only one group of people who are more heroic than they are — and they are buried over in Arlington.’” Mr. Trump answered: “I don’t want them. It doesn’t look good for me,” according to the authors.

The excerpt underscores how many of the president’s senior aides have been trying to burnish their reputations in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack. Like General Milley, who largely refrained from criticizing Mr. Trump publicly, they are now eager to make their disagreements with him clear by cooperating with book authors and other journalists.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who never publicly disputed Mr. Trump’s wild election claims and has rarely criticized him since, was privately dismissive of the assertions of fraud that Mr. Trump and his advisers embraced.

On the evening of Nov. 9, 2020, after the news media called the race for Joseph R. Biden Jr., Mr. Pompeo called General Milley and asked to see him, according to the excerpt. During a conversation at General Milley’s kitchen table, Mr. Pompeo was blunt about what he thought of the people around the president.

“’The crazies have taken over,’” Mr. Pompeo told General Milley, according to the authors. Behind the scenes, they write, Mr. Pompeo had quickly accepted that the election was over and refused to promote overturning it.

“’He was totally against it,’ a senior State Department official recalled. Pompeo cynically justified this jarring contrast between what he said in public and in private. ‘It was important for him not to get fired at the end, too, to be there to the bitter end,’ the senior official said,” according to the excerpt.

The authors detail what they call an “extraordinary arrangement” in the weeks after the election between Mr. Pompeo and General Milley to hold daily morning phone calls with Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, in an effort to make sure the president did do not take dangerous actions.

“Pompeo and Milley soon took to calling them the ‘land the plane’ phone calls,” the authors write. “’Our job is to land this plane safely and to do a peaceful transfer of power the 20th of January,’ Milley told his staff. ‘This is our obligation to this nation.’ There was a problem, however. ‘Both engines are out, the landing gear is stuck. We’re in an emergency situation.’”

The Jan. 6 hearings on Capitol Hill have revealed that a number of the former president’s top aides pushed back privately against Mr. Trump’s election denials, even as some declined to do so publicly. Several, including Pat A. Cipollone, the former White House counsel, testified that they had attempted — without success — to convince the president that there was no evidence of substantial fraud.

In the excerpt, the authors say that General Milley concluded that Mr. Cipollone was “a force for ‘trying to keep guardrails around the president.’” The general also believed that Mr. Pompeo was “genuinely trying to achieve a peaceful handover of power ,” the authors write. But they write that General Milley was “was never sure what to make of Meadows. Was the chief of staff trying to land the plane or to hijack it?”

Gen. Milley is not the only top official who considered resignation, the authors write, in response to the president’s actions.

The excerpt details private conversations among the president’s national security team as they discussed what to do in the event the president attempted to take actions they felt they could not abide. The authors report that General Milley consulted with Robert Gates, a former secretary of defense and former head of the CIA

The advice from Mr. Gates was blunt, the authors write: “’Keep the chiefs on board with you and make it clear to the White House that if you go, they all go, so that the White House knows this isn’t just about firing Mark Milley. This is about the entire Joint Chiefs of Staff quitting in response.’”

The excerpt makes clear that Mr. Trump did not always get the yes-men that he wanted. During one Oval Office exchange, Mr. Trump asked Gen. Paul Selva, an Air Force officer and the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, what he thought about the president’s desire for a military parade through the nation’s capital on the Fourth of July .

General Selva’s response, which has not been reported before, was blunt, and not what the president wanted to hear, according to the book’s authors.

“’I didn’t grow up in the United States, I actually grew up in Portugal,’ General Selva said. “’Portugal was a dictatorship — and parades were about showing the people who had the guns. And in this country, we don’t do that.’ I added, ‘It’s not who we are.’”

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CPAC proves Trump will lead conservative movement until he ‘takes his last breath,’ Matt Schlapp says

CPAC attendees reveal whether they want Trump or DeSantis as the 2024 GOP nominee

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DALLAS — Former President Trump’s place atop the conservative movement was reiterated over the weekend at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, Texas and the event’s organizers believe it will stay that way until he “takes his last breath.”

Trump convincingly won the 2024 GOP presidential nomination straw poll taken at CPAC, and the former president also prevailed when Fox News Digital asked attendees in the hallways of the event. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis came in second on the 2024 presidential nomination question, at 24%, and is widely considered the clear next-in-line among many die-hard Trump supporters. Others simply prefer DeSantis these days.

American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp, who didn’t want to “vote in a primary” so far away from the 2024 election when asked who he prefers, believes many conservatives treat Trump like an incumbent president and his popularity is unrivaled.

“He comes into this race as the incumbent, so in most situations when you’re the incumbent you’re going to have the lion’s share of support from everyone,” Schlapp told Fox News Digital backstage at CPAC Texas.

2024 WATCH: CPAC ATTENDEES CHOOSE FAVORITE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE AS TRUMP, DESANTIS REMAIN POPULAR

Matt Schlapp reveals CPAC straw poll at the 2022 CPAC in Dallas, Texas.

Matt Schlapp reveals CPAC straw poll at the 2022 CPAC in Dallas, Texas.
(Fox News Photo/Joshua Comins)

“There is this other piece which Donald Trump shares uniquely in American politics on the conservative side, and that is because he was so authentic about what he said he would do and then what he did do… this bond formed between the conservative movement and Donald Trump where he didn’t just say he was going to move the embassy, ​​he moved it,” Schlapp continued. “He didn’t just say he was going to pick the next generation of Clarence Thomas, he picked three of them. He just went right down the line and did what he said he was going to do.”

TRUMP EASILY WINS TEXAS CPAC 2024 GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION STRAW POLL; DESANTIS SECOND

Many CPAC attendees wore Trump merchandise, and the event’s vendors offered just about anything a MAGA enthusiast could ever hope for. There were occasional “Make America Florida” hats and shirts in honor of DeSantis, but it was a far cry from the years-ago CPAC events when attendees wore gear to support their favorite Republican with a large variety of choices. These days it’s almost all about Trump.

Schlapp cited the border, willingness to “take on” China and the economy as other key conservative reasons still largely adore Trump. In addition, Schlapp also believes that minority voters will support Trump if he decides to run again because their bank accounts are suffering under President Biden.

“He rekindled this idea that the Republican Party is the place of opportunity for people of color, and because of that it’s an unshakable bond,” he said. “How many CPACs in a row where straw polls that we had demonstrate that? But, yet… it’s almost like people are confused. They ask the question, ‘Is he the leader in support from these folks?’ It’s like, yes! And I think he will be until he takes his last breath because of everything he did.”

Trump, who’s repeatedly teased making another presidential run in 2024 to try and return to the White House, captured 69% of ballots cast in the anonymous online straw poll, according to results announced by CPAC on Saturday. Mercedes Schlapp, Matt’s wife who plays a key role at CPAC and served as White House senior communications director, added that she believes most Republican presidential hopefuls are waiting to see what Trump decides.

“Even DeSantis, they’re watching to see what Donald Trump is going to do, I think that’s a very important factor to consider,” she said.

Donald Trump speaks to CPAC crowd August 6, 2022 in Dallas, Texas.

Donald Trump speaks to CPAC crowd August 6, 2022 in Dallas, Texas.
(Fox News Photo/Joshua Comins)

TRUMP SAYS CNN HAS ‘GOTTEN WORSE’ UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP: ‘THEY LOST TREMENDOUS CREDIBILITY’

While the Schlapps clearly believe Trump is the leader of the modern conservative movement, they don’t think the bar is particularly high when it comes to what it would take to defeat President Biden in a general election.

“It was the media that told us Joe Biden was up to the job, they were clearly covering for him. He doesn’t really do the job, and now the assumption he’s going to be the nominee. I think the chances of Joe Biden being alive, or really even being able to do anything to kind of act like he’s the president are almost zero,” Matt Schlapp said, noting that the Democratic Party doesn’t exactly have a deep bench.

“Then their real question is, do they pick Kamala Harris who has poll numbers more toxic than cancer, or do they get Nancy Pelosi, which I don’t think is going to work out so well,” he continued. “They are vacant of a lot of talent, so excuse me, I’ll probably be a little optimistic on our chances in 2024.”

‘THE VIEW’: CPAC ATTENDEES SLAM ABC NEWS FOR NAMING ANTI-TRUMP PUNDITS AS ‘CONSERVATIVE’ CO-HOSTS

Mercedes and Matt Schlapp are seen listening to Donald Trump's remarks at the 2022 CPAC conference in Dallas, Texas.

Mercedes and Matt Schlapp are seen listening to Donald Trump’s remarks at the 2022 CPAC conference in Dallas, Texas.
(Fox News Photo/Joshua Comins)

Mercedes joked that her husband isn’t always an optimistic guy but “the mere fact that the Democrats don’t have a deep bench” offers a clear reason to be hopeful as many prominent Democrats haven’t committed to supporting Biden in 2024.

“I think it shows a massive divide within the Democratic Party,” Mercedes said. “I think the Republican Party is probably even more united right now than it’s ever been because the goal is to defeat Joe Biden, defeat Nancy Pelosi, knowing that there is an urgency right now to save this country.”

Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

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Brian Flood is a media reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @briansflood.

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North Carolina sheriff stocking schools with AR-15 rifles in wake of Uvalde shooting

North Carolina sheriff stocking schools with AR-15 rifles in wake of Uvalde shooting

MARSHALL, NC — When schools in one North Carolina county reopen later this month, new security measures will include stocking AR-15 rifles for school resource officers to use in the event of an active shooter.

Spurred by the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two teachers dead in May, school officials and Madison County Sheriff Buddy Harwood have placed one of the semiautomatic rifles in each of the county’s six schools. Each of the guns will be locked inside a safe, Harwood said.

The North Carolina school district and sheriff’s office are collaborating to enhance security after the Uvalde shooting revealed systemic failures and “egregiously poor decision-making,” resulting in more than an hour of chaos before the gunman was finally confronted and killed by law enforcement, according to to a report written by an investigative committee of the Texas House of Representatives.

“Those officers were in that building for so long, and that suspect was able to infiltrate that building and injure and kill so many kids,” Harwood told the Asheville Citizen Times. “I just want to make sure my deputies are prepared in the event that happens.”

The idea of ​​having AR-15s in schools does not sit well with Dorothy Espelage, a UNC Chapel Hill professor in the School of Education who has conducted decades of study and research on school safety and student well-being.

“What’s going to happen is we’re going to have accidents with these guns,” Espelage told WLOS-TV. Just the presence of an SRO increases violence in schools. There’s more arrests of kids. Why is it that they have to have these AR-15s? It doesn’t make any sense.”

Madison County Schools Superintendent Will Hoffman said school administrators have been meeting regularly with local law enforcement officials, including Harwood, to discuss the updated safety measures.

Harwood said the county’s school resource officers have been training with instructors from Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College.

Harwood said the safes where the AR-15s will be kept will also hold ammunition and breaching tools for barricaded doors.

“We’ll have those tools to be able to breach that door if needed. I do not want to have to run back out to the car to grab an AR, because that’s time wasted. Hopefully we’ll never need it, but I want my guys to be as prepared as prepared can be,” he said.

Schools are scheduled to reopen Aug. 22, according to the Madison County Schools website.

While the optics of school resource officers potentially handling AR-15s in schools may be discomforting to some, Harwood said he believes it is a necessary response.

“I hate that we’ve come to a place in our nation where I’ve got to put a safe in our schools, and lock that safe up for my deputies to be able to acquire an AR-15. But, we can shut it off and say it won’t happen in Madison County, but we never know,” Harwood said.