
Schumer strong-arms negotiators on infrastructure and budget deal by setting test vote for next week
CNN
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer set a key deadline next week to force his caucus to agree on a $3.5 trillion budget package and to pressure a bipartisan group of negotiators to finalize an infrastructure deal, a high-stakes gambit that has huge implications for President Joe Biden's agenda.
Schumer announced Thursday that he plans to set up the first procedural vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill for next Wednesday. At the same time, Schumer also set next Wednesday as a deadline for the entire Senate Democratic caucus to agree to move forward on their separate, partisan multi-trillion budget resolution aimed at many key aspects of Biden's legislative priorities. "Today I'm announcing that I intend to file cloture on the vehicle for a bipartisan infrastructure bill on Monday of next week," Schumer said in floor remarks, explaining that on Monday he would take procedural steps to set up the Wednesday vote, where 60 votes would be needed to open debate on the bipartisan bill.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.

Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.

Authorities in Colombia are dealing with increasingly sophisticated criminals, who use advanced tech to produce and conceal the drugs they hope to export around the world. But police and the military are fighting back, using AI to flag suspicious passengers, cargo and mail - alongside more conventional air and sea patrols. CNN’s Isa Soares gets an inside look at Bogotá’s war on drugs.

As lawmakers demand answers over reports that the US military carried out a follow-up strike that killed survivors during an attacked on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, a career Navy SEAL who has spent most of his 30 years of military experience in special operations will be responsible for providing them.









