With Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan failing on his third attempt to become the next U.S. House speaker on Friday, the race is wide open and Southwest Florida Rep. Byron Donalds has become a confirmed candidate for the position.
At least three members of the Florida GOP congressional delegation say that they are backing him for speaker.
“I supported @Jim Jordan as our next Speaker,” wrote Central Florida Republican Cory Mills on X. “Unfortunately my votes for him on the floor and in conference to remain Speaker designate was not enough. I now support @ByronDonalds for the next Speaker of the House.”
South Florida Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart — who had voted for former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in protest this week — also says that he is now with Team Donalds.
“@ByronDonalds is an honorable leader and respected by the entire conference,” he wrote on X. “That is why it is a privilege to endorse Byron for speaker.”
And Sarasota County’s Vern Buchanan voted for Donalds on both the second and third ballots on Thursday and Friday.
“I’ve served with Byron, he’s a conservative champion, and I hope my colleagues will consider his name as we look for a way forward,” Buchanan said on Thursday. “It’s about time Florida had a seat at the table.”
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Bidenomics: U.S. Budget Deficit Explodes 23% Higher to $1.7 Trillion
The U.S. budget deficit increased 23 percent to $1.7 trillion, an increase of $320 billion, in the year after the Biden administration pushed through the Inflation Reduction Act which it claimed would close the government’s funding gap.
The explosive growth in the deficit came as revenue fell $457 billion from a year ago and expenses decreased by just $137 billion. Total spending for the year came in at $6.134 trillion.
Spending would have been higher if the Supreme Court had not declared Biden’s student loan forgiveness program illegal.
The deficit adds to the U.S. debt total, which the government said earlier this week had reached $33.6 trillion. That is more than $250,000 per household and more than $99,000 per person in the U.S. The Pete G. Peterson Foundation has calculated that if every household in the U.S. contributed $1,000 a month to debt reduction, it would take 21 years to pay down the debt.
Bidenflation Busted the Budget
Much of the increase in the deficit can be chalked up to the runaway inflation sparked by super-sized spending programs—including the Inflation Reduction Act’s $500 billion in new expenditures and tax breaks, the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, and $1 trillion of infrastructure outlays—pushed for by Biden administration.
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Biden’s border crisis worsens: CBP records all-time high 269,735 migrant encounters at southern border in September, as fiscal year finishes with record 2.48M interceptions
Enforcement encounters with migrants jumped to an all-time high at the US southern border last month, according to new data released Saturday by US Customs and Border Protection.
CBP’s total encounters along the border in September were 269,735, including 218,763 Border Patrol arrests at illegal crossing points, and another 50,972 expulsions at ports of entry.
The record monthly figure brought the total number of migrant encounters for the recently concluded 2023 fiscal year to 2.48 million, up from 2.38 million in 2022, and the highest of any year on record.
The surge in migrants attempting to enter the US underscores the scale of the humanitarian crisis at the border, and the political challenge it presents for President Joe Biden as he seeks re-election in 2024.
‘In response to high rates of encounters across the southwest border in September, CBP surged resources and personnel,’ said Troy A. Miller, the acting CBP commissioner, in a statement.
‘CBP will continue to remain vigilant, making operational adjustments as necessary and enforcing consequences under US immigration law,’ he added.
Miller called the scale of migration ‘historic’ and said CBP was working with domestic and foreign partners to address the issue and step up enforcement, including by ‘preparing for direct repatriations to Venezuela’.
The new data show Venezuelans became the largest nationality arrested for illegally crossing the US border last month, replacing Mexicans for the first time on record.
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