In the first debate for the presidency of the United States, President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden swapped verbal punches over American manufacturing jobs.
"They said it would take a miracle to bring back manufacturing,” Trump said last night. “I brought back 700,000 jobs. They brought back nothing. They gave up on manufacturing." However, Biden claimed "manufacturing went into a hole" before the coronavirus pandemic.
Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) says the manufacturing slowdown is actually a matter of finding qualified workers. Manufacturing companies would say, according to the congressman, “We would be building a new facility, we’d be doing more but we just can’t find enough workers.”
Of last night’s debate, Gallagher called it “more just an all-out verbal brawl.”
“I’m not sure it changed anybody’s minds,” the congressman told Cheddar. “It probably forced a lot of people to change the channel.”
Still Rep. Gallagher stressed the importance of presidential debates. He said they allow for important policy disagreements to be discussed openly, like policing in America. “I think there’s a meaningful disagreement between both candidates on the issue of law and order, how we can support our police,” Gallagher told Cheddar.
Gallagher serves his state’s 8th district, an area in northeast Wisconsin which includes Green Bay. It’s just north of Kenosha, which has recently been at the center of the conversation over systematic racism in America’s police force. In August, police shot Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black man, seven times in front of his children in broad daylight. The state saw widespread protests in the wake of his shooting.
Gallagher said he believes there are dangers to the “demonization” of police officers after incidents like Blake’s. “Our cops are not all evil racists that wake up every day trying to hurt people because of the color of their skin,” the congressman said. “They want to keep the community safe and we've got to keep those relationships healthy.”
President Donald Trump says he will allow Nvidia to sell its H200 computer chip used in the development of artificial intelligence to “approved customers” in China. Trump said Monday on his social media site that he had informed China’s leader Xi Jinping and “President Xi responded positively!” There had been concerns about allowing advanced computer chips into China as it could help them to compete against the U.S. in building out AI capabilities. But there has also been a desire to develop the AI ecosystem with American companies such as chipmaker Nvidia.
House Republicans in key battleground districts are working to contain the political fallout expected when thousands of their constituents face higher bills for health insurance coverage obtained through the Affordable Care Act. For a critical sliver of the GOP majority, the impending expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits after Dec. 31 could be a major political liability as they potentially face midterm headwinds in a 2026 election critical to President Donald Trump’s agenda. For Democrats, the party’s strategy for capturing the House majority revolves around pinning higher bills for groceries, health insurance and utilities on Republicans.
President Donald Trump says a deal struck by Netflix last week to buy Warner Bros. Discovery “could be a problem” because of the size of the combined market share. The Republican president says he will be involved in the decision about whether federal regulators should approve the deal. Trump commented Sunday when he was asked about the deal as he walked the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors. The $72 billion deal would bring together two of the biggest players in television and film and potentially reshape the entertainment industry.
The two-sentence footnote raised serious concerns about accuracy and credibility.
Real estate software company RealPage has agreed to stop sharing nonpublic information between landlords as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice.
A legislative package to end the government shutdown appears on track. A handful of Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to advance the bill after what's become a deepening disruption of federal programs and services. But hurdles remain. Senators are hopeful they can pass the package as soon as Monday and send it to the House. What’s in and out of the bipartisan deal has drawn criticism and leaves few senators fully satisfied. The legislation includes funding for SNAP food aid and other programs while ensuring backpay for furloughed federal workers. But it fails to fund expiring health care subsidies Democrats have been fighting for, pushing that debate off for a vote next month.
