Biden seeks to turn voters against Republicans by casting them as spendthrifts – live

Nikki Haley officially kicked off her presidential campaign with a South Carolina speech in which she quipped about imposing “mental competency tests” for elderly politicians (think Donald Trump and Joe Biden) and won a few interesting endorsements. Kamala Harris was meanwhile heading to Germany for a meeting with some of Washington’s top allies, while downplaying the impact of the spy balloon saga on the relationship with China. In the afternoon, Congress’s budget analysts were out with sober new reports that estimated when the US government will run out of cash, and warning that the country is on track to hit a level of debt never seen before.

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Here’s what else happened today:

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• The justice department will not charge rightwing congressman Matt Gaetz following his investigation over sex-trafficking allegations.

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• Biden is considering a national address about the three still-mysterious UFOs shot down over North America in recent days, and the Chinese spy balloon.

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• Democrats were doing all they can to make sure the public doesn’t forget Haley’s ties to Trump, whom she served as United Nations ambassador.

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• Despite all the lies, George Santos may run for re-election in 2024.

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• House Republicans have issued a new wave of subpoenas, this time targeting America’s biggest tech companies.

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Congress’s budget analysts estimate the United States will exhaust its bank accounts and could default on its obligations for the first time in history sometime between July and September, unless lawmakers agree to increase the debt limit.

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In a just-released report, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) notes that “the projected exhaustion date is uncertain because the timing and amount of revenue collections and outlays over the intervening months could differ from CBO’s projection.” They point to the amount of tax revenue brought in by the April filing deadline as particularly important in determining when the US government will exhaust its cash on hand.

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The United States is one of the few countries with a legal limit on how much debt the government can accrue, and that ceiling was hit last month. The Treasury then began taking “extraordinary measures” to allow the government to pay its bills without issuing new debt. The CBO report warns that if tax revenue ends up being less than expected, “the extraordinary measures could be exhausted sooner, and the Treasury could run out of funds before July.”

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“If the debt limit is not raised or suspended before the extraordinary measures are exhausted, the government would be unable to pay its obligations fully. As a result, the government would have to delay making payments for some activities, default on its debt obligations, or both,” the CBO wrote.

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The estimate is further out than one given by the Treasury last month, when it announced the debt limit had been reached and the government’s cash could be exhausted in June.

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In separate forecasts released today, the CBO estimates that economic growth will weaken this year but rebound beginning in 2024, hitting a peak of 2.7% in 2025 before averaging 1.8% from 2028 to 2033. However it warns America is on a trajectory for the national debt to hit more than $46.4tn by 2033, equivalent to 118 percent of GDP and the highest level ever recorded.

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Nikki Haley officially kicked off her presidential campaign with a South Carolina speech in which she quipped about imposing “mental competency tests” for elderly politicians (think Donald Trump and Joe Biden) and won a few interesting endorsements. Kamala Harris was meanwhile heading to Germany for a meeting with some of Washington’s top allies, while downplaying the impact of the spy balloon saga on the relationship with China. Later this afternoon, Biden will launch a counterattack against the GOP and their demands for spending cuts with a speech intended to convince voters that Republicans are the real money wasters.

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Here’s what else has happened today so far:

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• The justice department will not charge rightwing congressman Matt Gaetz following his investigation over sex-trafficking allegations.

n

• Biden is considering a national address about the three still-mysterious UFOs shot down over North America in recent days, and the Chinese spy balloon.

n

• Democrats were doing all they can to make sure the public doesn’t forget Haley’s ties to Trump, whom she served as United Nations ambassador.

n

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The justice department will not charge rightwing congressman Matt Gaetz after investigating him on sex trafficking allegations, CNN reports:

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BREAKING: DOJ formally decides not to charge Congressman Matt Gaetz in sex-trafficking probe. Prosecutors have been informing witnesses today of final decision by DOJ leadership after investigators recommended not moving forward back in the fall. More to come on @CNN

— Paula Reid (@PaulaReidCNN) February 15, 2023

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Federal agents had been looking into whether the Republican representing part of northwestern Florida in the House of Representatives paid a 17-year-old girl for sex. In December, an ex-tax collector and friend of Gaetz whose arrest sparked the investigation of the congressman was sentenced to 11 years in jail for offenses including the sex trafficking of a minor.

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Joe Biden may address the nation about the recent shootdowns of UFOs over North American airspace, as well as the Chinese spy balloon, Bloomberg News reports:

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President Biden is considering delivering a public address before leaving for Poland on the downing of an alleged Chinese spy balloon and other objects, people familiar with the planning tell @jendeben & me

— Jordan Fabian (@Jordanfabian) February 15, 2023

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A speech is not set in stone and the plans could change. If he does speak, POTUS is likely to say incident won't spark China conflict, US acted to protect national security & the public has nothing to fear about downed objects

NBC reported earlier on discussions about a speech

— Jordan Fabian (@Jordanfabian) February 15, 2023

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The navy has recovered part of the Chinese balloons shot down earlier this month off the east coast after traversing much of the United States. However, the Biden administration has said little about the three objects shot down in recent days over the United States and Canada.

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Good morning, US politics blog readers. America’s large national debt was accumulated under both Republican and Democratic presidents, but ever since they reclaimed the majority in the House of Representatives, the GOP has cast itself as guardians of fiscal prudence. Joe Biden will try to undercut that argument today in a speech where he will accuse the Republicans of wanting to hike the national debt by more than $3tn. The president is likely playing the long game here, since he’s in the midst of trying to convince the House GOP and its leader Kevin McCarthy to support increasing the US government’s borrowing limit before June, the point at which it could run out of money. The Republicans say they want spending cuts in exchange for their votes, while the White House’s stance can be summed up in two words: no negotiations. Expect to hear more about this at his speech set for 2.30pm ET.

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Here’s what else is happening today:

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• Nikki Haley, the former United Nations ambassador under Donald Trump, will today formally announce her campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, after scooping herself with a surprise video announcement yesterday.

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• Kamala Harris is heading to the annual Munich Security Conference, where she’ll meet with global leaders and likely discuss Ukraine, China and other matters of international concern to Washington.

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• The Senate will be in session, and consider more of Biden’s nominees to the federal courts.

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Nikki Haley officially kicked off her presidential campaign with a South Carolina speech in which she quipped about imposing “mental competency tests” for elderly politicians (think Donald Trump and Joe Biden) and won a few interesting endorsements. Kamala Harris was meanwhile heading to Germany for a meeting with some of Washington’s top allies, while downplaying the impact of the spy balloon saga on the relationship with China. In the afternoon, Congress’s budget analysts were out with sober new reports that estimated when the US government will run out of cash, and warning that the country is on track to hit a level of debt never seen before.

Here’s what else happened today:

• The justice department will not charge rightwing congressman Matt Gaetz following his investigation over sex-trafficking allegations.

• Biden is considering a national address about the three still-mysterious UFOs shot down over North America in recent days, and the Chinese spy balloon.

• Democrats were doing all they can to make sure the public doesn’t forget Haley’s ties to Trump, whom she served as United Nations ambassador.

• Despite all the lies, George Santos may run for re-election in 2024.

• House Republicans have issued a new wave of subpoenas, this time targeting America’s biggest tech companies.

California is hoping to enshrine the right to same-sex marriage in its constitution by repealing a proposition voters approved in 2008 that banned such unions, the Associated Press reports.

If the legislature repeals Proposition 8 with the required two-thirds majority vote, the issue will then go to voters, according to the AP. The effort is a response by the state’s Democrats, who dominate control the legislature and governor’s mansion, to conservative US supreme court justice Clarence Thomas’s suggestion last year that its decision allowing same-sex marriage nationwide should be revisited.

Thomas’s comment spurred Congress to in December approve the Respect for Marriage act, which protected same-sex and interracial marriage rights nationwide. The legislation doesn’t require states to allow same-sex unions, but instead prevents them from rejecting marriage licenses issued in other states. California’s lawmakers fear that if the supreme court decision is overturned while Proposition 8 remains part of its constitution, same-sex marriage could end up banned in the state.

Governor Gavin Newsom supports the effort, as does at least one Republican lawmaker, the AP reports.

In the latest move in its investigation campaign against the Biden administration, the House judiciary committee has subpoenaed the leaders of five of America’s biggest tech companies for “documents and communications relating to the federal government’s reported collusion with Big Tech to suppress free speech,” according to a statement.

“Congress has an important role in protecting and advancing fundamental free speech principles, including by examining how private actors coordinate with the government to … suppress First Amendment-protected speech. These subpoenas are the first step in holding Big Tech accountable,” said the statement from the committee’s Republican chair Jim Jordan.

Jordan noted that his office had attempted to get information from the tech firms last December, before he officially took over a