Controversial Fed nominee Shelton stalls in test vote
WASHINGTON — The nomination of Judy Shelton, President Donald Trump’s controversial pick for the Federal Reserve, is stalled in the Senate after Vice President-elect Kamala Harris returned to the chamber to cast a key vote in a tally Tuesday.
Two key Republicans were absent because of concerns related to COVID-19. The 47-50 vote came as the Republican-controlled Senate continues to focus its energies in the post-election lame-duck session on confirming Trump’s appointees.
Shelton is an unusually caustic critic of the Fed and was opposed Tuesday by GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Mitt Romney of Utah. Harris has been focused on the transition to the Biden administration but returned to the chamber for her first vote since winning the vice presidency.
Senator-elect MarkKelly, D-Ariz., is likely to join the Senate when the chamber returns from its Thanksgiving break. That could leave Shelton short of support for confirmation even if Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., seeks a revote nextmonth.
Another Republican opponent, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, missed Tuesday’s vote, and his return could cement Shelton’s fate, even after Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Charles Grassley, RIowa, return to the chamber after quarantining because of exposure to the coronavirus. Grassley, 87, said he tested positive Tuesday.
Still
leader: Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California easily won reelection as House Republican
GOP House
leader Tuesday, a stunning turnaround as the entire GOP leadership team was rewarded by their colleagues for reducing the Democrats’ House advantage in the November election.
McCarthy faced no opposition to return as minority leader during the closeddoor gathering under COVID-19 protocols. After a quick vote, he won a standing ovation, according to an aide who spoke on condition of anonymity.
U.S.
Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller said Tuesday that the U.S. will reduce troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan by midJanuary, asserting that the decision fulfills President Donald Trump’s pledge to bring forces home from America’s long wars even as Republicans and U.S. allies warn of the dangers of withdrawing before conditions are right.
The plan will accelerate troop withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan in Trump’s final days in office, despite arguments from senior military officials in favor of a slower, more methodical pullout to preserve hard-fought gains. Trump has refused to concede his election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, who takes office Jan. 20, just five days after the troop withdrawals are to finish.
troop
interceptor: In a first for the Pentagon’s push to develop defenses against intercontinental-range ballistic missiles capable of striking the United States, a missile interceptor launched from a U.S. Navy ship at sea hit and destroyed a mock ICBM in flight
Missile reductions:
Tuesday, officials said.
Previous tests against ICBM targets had used interceptors launched from underground silos in the United States. If further, more challenging tests prove successful, the shipbased approach could add to the credibility and reliability of the Pentagon’s existing missile defense system.
Mardi Gras: The raucous Mardi Gras parades where riders on elaborate floats toss trinkets to adoring throngs have been canceled in New Orleans because the close-packed crowds could spread the coronavirus.
City spokesman Beau Tidwell said Tuesday that no parades will roll during the weeks leading up to and including Fat Tuesday because they can't meet restrictions meant to slow the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19.
The cancellation is based largely on a 250-person cap on outdoor crowds, Tidwell said.
Dam demolition: An agreement announced Tuesday paves the way for the largest dam demolition in U.S. history, a project that promises to reopen hundreds of miles of waterway along the Oregon-California border to salmon that are critical to tribes but have dwindled to almost nothing in recent years.
If it goes forward, the deal would revive plans to remove four hydroelectric dams on the lower Klamath River, emptying giant reservoirs and reopening potential fish habitat that’s been blocked for more than a century. The massive project would be at the vanguard of a trend toward dam demolitions in the U.S. as the structures age and become less economically viable amid growing environmental concerns about the health of native fish.
Previous efforts to address problems in the Klamath Basin have fallen apart amid years of legal sparring that generated distrust among tribes, fishing groups, farmers and environmentalists. Opponents of dam removal worry about their property values and the loss of a water source for fighting wildfires.
‘Final and crucial’: Ethiopia’s prime minister on Tuesday declared “the final and crucial” military operation will launch in the coming days against the government of the country’s rebellious Tigray region, while the United Nations warned of a “full-scale humanitarian crisis” with refugees fleeing and people in Tigray starting to go hungry.
In a warning to Americans still in the Tigray region, the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia said those who can’t leave safely “are advised to shelter in place.” More than 1,000 citizens of various foreign countries are estimated to be trapped.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said a three-day deadline given to the Tigray region’s leaders and special forces “has expired today.”
Now, “we are marching to Mekele to capture those criminal elements,” Ethiopia’s minister in charge of democratization, Zadig Abraha, said in a phone interview with The Associated Press.
Jewel heist: More than 1,500 police carried out a series of searches in Berlin and arrested three people in a massive operation connected to the spectacular theft of 18th-century jewels from a unique collection last November, authorities said Tuesday.
The operation was coordinated by police and prosecutors in Dresden investigating the Nov. 25, 2019, theft of a large diamond brooch, a diamond epaulet and other treasures from the Saxony city’s Green Vault Museum.
Their target was “art treasures and possible evidence such as computer storage media, clothing and tools,” Dresden police and prosecutors said.