McCarthy delays vote on Biden’s Build Back Better Act during marathon speech

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McCarthy delays vote on Biden’s Build Back Better Act during marathon speech
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-California, has commandeered the House floor well into Friday morning – prompting Democrats to postpone the vote on President Biden’s spending bill until at least later Friday morning.

McCarthy's speech lasted over eight hours and he rattled off stories about the time he won $5,000 in the lotto as a younger man and the problems that the country faces, including inflation, migration at the southern border, and the lack of bipartisanship at the Capitol.

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At one point the minority leader asked how President Biden can be trusted with $5 trillion after the debacle in Afghanistan.

Rep. Steny Hoyer, the Democrat majority leader, issued a statement early Friday that said members were "advised that there are no further votes in the House tonight." The House will reconvene at 8 a.m. ET and will likely vote on the bill.

Most Democrats abandoned the chamber after midnight with McCarthy still talking, the Associated Press reported.

House approval was still expected on a near party-line vote. That would send the measure to a Senate where cost-cutting demands by moderate Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and that chamber’s strict rules seemed certain to force significant changes. That will prompt fresh disputes between party centrists and moderates that will likely take weeks to resolve. CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON OUR TOP STORY. 

In other developments:
- AOC allegedly interrupts McCarthy to say she voted for Biden to be a new FDR
- CBO: Biden spending bill will add $367B to deficit, not counting IRS tax enforcement plan
- Biden touted CBO as 'gold standard' – now his White House is trying to undermine it
- Biden's socialist Build Back Better overhaul is proof he's 'used to signing back of check, not front': Meadows

India’s Modi repeals controversial farm laws that sparked deadly protests
After a year of fierce protests, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Friday the country was repealing three farm laws that had sparked a backlash among farmers, according to reports. 

"Today I have come to tell you, the whole country, that we have decided to withdraw all three agricultural laws,'' the prime minister said in an address, according to Reuters. 

He said the laws had been put in place to "empower small farmers."

The laws, introduced a little more than a year ago, had allowed farmers to directly sell their produce, bypassing the government-regulated wholesale market, according to India's Business Standard newspaper. 

"Our government is committed to farmers' welfare, especially small farmers. We are committed to serve them fully. We brought in farm laws with good intentions," Modi said, asking the protesters to return to their homes, the newspaper reported. 

The farmers had argued the laws would devastate their earnings by ending guaranteed pricing and force them to sell their crops to corporations at cheaper prices. CLICK HERE FOR MORE.

In other developments:
- US Embassy in Pakistan repeatedly hangs up on veteran pleading for help
- US warns pilots in Africa of weapon fire due to Ethiopia's war
- Chinese coast guard sprays Philippine boat with water cannon at disputed region
- Imprisoned Georgia opposition leader Saakashvili faints in prison amid hunger strike
- Mexico to deploy national guard to Cancun following shootings in tourist area
- Israeli cleaner who worked at defense minister’s house arrested on spying allegations

Kamala Harris bombs in ABC interview on White House tensions, and that's hard to do: Jesse Watters
Fox News host Jesse Watters panned Vice President Kamala Harris' interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos and suggested it was an epic fail on Thursday's "The Five."

During the ABC interview, Harris appeared to chuckle when asked whether she felt "misused or under-used" in the Biden administration. 

"That should have been an easy interview for her. I mean, Stephanopoulos – he's a hardcore Democrat. That's where you go to clean things up, and she couldn't even do that," Watters said.

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Watters noted the vice president was "forced to do her own damage control after a brutal report on dysfunction in her office and allegations that there is a nasty feud going on between her staff and Joe Biden's White House."

CNN reported "entrenched dysfunction and lack of focus" in Harris' wing of the White House. The relationships between the Biden-Harris offices are reportedly strained, despite the cordial relationship between the vice president and President Biden. 

Harris polled at 28% approval, 10 points worse than Biden. Amid the low poll numbers and stories of dysfunction, the vice president's communications director, Ashley Etienne resigned Thursday. CLICK HERE FOR MORE.

In other developments:
- MSNBC's Joy Reid dismisses that inflation is affecting the economy, accuses GOP of seizing on the issue
- Kamala Harris' comms director resigns amid growing criticism of the VP
- Fox News Poll: Biden’s ratings down, as voters say he’s focused on wrong things
- Steve Hilton weighs in on Bill Maher slamming the Democratic Party for having 'no common sense'
- Biden administration aims to reverse Trump-era policy on Alaska’s Tongass National Forest: report
- Biden administration is what real danger looks like: Ingraham

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- Man charged in Ahmaud Arbery's murder makes big admission as defense rests
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SOME PARTING WORDS

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Fox News' Steve Hilton on Thursday weighed in on Bill Maher slamming the Democratic Party for having 'no common sense' on "Fox News Primetime"

Democrats have "gone racing off and left Bill Maher there as the sensible one," argued "The Next Revolution" host. "But what's interesting to me is the fact that he's speaking out against it. I suspect most of them know how lunatic the whole agenda is, but they haven't got the courage to say so. And they're all kind of in thrall to the Squad."

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