*By J.D. Durkin*
On the day of the overwhelming 402-11 House vote in favor of permanently extending the September 11th Victim's Compensation Fund, New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told Cheddar she feels good about the bill — H.R. 1327 — and its chances to pass the Senate.
More or less.
The House is one thing. But as John Feal, one of the 9/11 first responders synonymous with the reauthorization effort recently told Cheddar, "The Senate is where bills go to die." Working with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is still the last hurdle to make permanent protections a reality. But Rep. Ocasio-Cortez says there's reason to adopt a trust-but-verify approach.
"I'm actually cautiously optimistic," AOC told Cheddar. "I spoke with some of our survivors, our first responders. And they said they've been actively whipping \[McConnell\]'s support." Several first responders, including Feal, recently sat down with McConnell in his Capitol Hill office to present the Kentucky Republican with Detective Luis Alvarez's NYPD badge.
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, who met with 9/11 responders and advocates following the House vote Friday, did note the hazards of the bill's next step. "I would hope that \[McConnell\] doesn't use it as a bargaining chip for anything else," she said.
Friday featured a press conference helmed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the main supporters of the bill: Rep.'s Jerry Nadler (D), Carolyn Maloney (D), and Peter King (R), all of New York.
Former "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart set an ambitious goal at Friday's press conference: a desired signing ceremony for the bill's passage on Friday, August 2nd. "As far as I'm concerned, that's our deadline," he told Cheddar.
A Texas judge has ruled that Infowars host Alex Jones cannot use bankruptcy protection to avoid paying more than $1.1 billion to families who sued over his conspiracy theories that the Sandy Hook school massacre was a hoax.
Former President Donald Trump was fined $5,000 on Friday after a disparaging social media post about a key court staffer in his New York civil fraud case was allowed to linger on his campaign website after the judge ordered it deleted.
Lawyer Kenneth Chesebro pleaded guilty to a felony on Friday just as jury selection was getting underway in his trial on charges accusing him of participating in efforts to overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election in Georgia.
Republicans dropped Rep. Jim Jordan on Friday as their nominee for House speaker, making the decision during a closed-door session after the hard-edged ally of Donald Trump failed badly on a third ballot for the gavel.
An Army private who fled to North Korea before being returned home to the United States last month has been detained by the U.S. military, two officials said Thursday night, and is facing charges including desertion and possessing sexual images of a child.
Israel bombarded Gaza early Friday, hitting areas in the south where Palestinians had been told to seek safety, and it began evacuating a sizable Israeli town in the north near the Lebanese border, the latest sign of a potential ground invasion of Gaza that could trigger regional turmoil.
The Justice Department has secured a $9 million settlement with Ameris Bank over allegations that it avoided underwriting mortgages in predominately Black and Latino communities in Jacksonville, Florida, and discouraged people there from getting home loans.
