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The Biden administration and leftist congressional allies have perpetuated a tired charade of prioritizing human rights over other security-focused considerations with regard to relations with several key partners, including Egypt. One of the loudest Democratic voices in opposition to continued security assistance for Egypt is Sen. Christopher MurphyChristopher (Chris) Scott MurphyTell our troops: 'Your sacrifice wasn't in vain' Sunday shows preview: Bombing in Kabul delivers blow to evacuation effort; US orders strikes on ISIS-K White House seeks to regain control on Afghanistan MORE (Conn.), who questions a number of established partnerships supporting U.S. objectives across the Middle East.

In the past weeks, much has been revealed by our appalling abandonment of U.S. citizens and allies in Afghanistan. If promoting human rights was a primary consideration, the Biden administration would not support the Taliban a designated terrorist organization under the United Nations and U.S. Treasury Department which, this past week, blamed the U.S. for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

With this new reality, it is worth circling back to the administrations dangerous approach to the U.S.-Egypt relationship, where some hard questions must be asked of Democrats advocating a halt to critical security assistance.

Egypt faces multiple security challenges and requires urgent assistance in order to continue providing leadership on regional security matters. The nation and its president, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, are critical bulwarks against the Muslim Brotherhood and other radical islamist groups. It is clear that if security assistance is not provided by the United States, Egypt will seek it elsewhere, likely with Russia or other strategic rivals.

The House passed a 2022 foreign aid bill that proposes withholding $150 million from Egypt a larger amount than in previous years and that does not include the standard national security waiver for a portion of that withheld assistance. Due to long-standing fiscal problems, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, Cairo is financially strapped and now risks losing U.S. financial assistance, which constitutes a big chunk of its annual military budget. Meanwhile, as its budget is expected to remain in a deficit through 2025, pressure is building in Egypt for more austerity measures. With citizens under 30 representing more than half the total population, the trajectory is unsustainable.

Our interests are harmed without Egypt as a key partner. Egypt has fought a Sinai insurgency, which at times, has spilled over into other parts of the country. The ISIS affiliate in Egypt has claimed responsibility for most attacks and the country has been under a state of emergency since April 2018, when two ISIS-claimed suicide bombings at churches in Alexandria and Tanta killed at least 45 people.

Next to the Sinai Peninsula, Sisi helped to broker peace at least for now in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. Although Egypt has historically played an important role in Israeli-Palestinian relations, many were caught off-guard by this development. It is a fragile peace, but this Egyptian-negotiated ceasefire highlights the critical regional leadership Cairo can and should provide.

Egypt faces a strategic challenge on its western border from the multi-year civil war in Libya and significant related security threats. Cairo is concerned that Turkish-sponsored Syrian mercenaries, combined with Erdogans support for the Muslim Brotherhood, could create an Islamic-oriented government in Tripoli. While a ceasefire was signed in 2020, Libya remains volatile and insecure.

Building on U.S. strategic security relations with Egypt, Central Command is currently engaged in a massive regional military exercise called Bright Star. In its statement on the exercise, the U.S. Embassy in Cairo states that the U.S.-Egypt security partnership plays "a leading role in regional security and efforts to combat the spread of extremism." To illustrate the size and scope of this exercise, other countries participating include: the United Kingdom, France, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Bahrain, Sudan, Morocco, Kuwait, the UAE, Tunisia, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania as well as Cyprus, Italy, Spain, Greece and Pakistan. This exercise is in addition to the counterterrorism training that took place earlier in the year.

Cairos security is also challenged from the south, as the Nile River flows through Sudan and into Ethiopia. Egypt depends on the Nile River to meet 95 percent of its water needs. Ethiopia, which also relies on the Nile for water, built and filled the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam despite objections from both Egypt and Sudan. Both countries say that once filled, this dam will increase water instability; a particularly serious problem for Egypt as its major cities are growing exponentially. Searching for sustainable solutions to this emerging water crisis, Egypt has requested assistance from U.N. and African Union friends and allies to reach a rapprochement with Ethiopia and hopefully avoid a military confrontation.

Egypt is facing massive security challenges both internally and externally. The United States needs Egypt to continue as a key regional leader in maintaining peace and stability, which are both in our long-term interest. Congressional Democrats must abandon their anti-Egypt rhetoric and focus on providing necessary security assistance in order to ensure U.S. national security interests are aggressively protected.

Cairo has taken a leadership role in addressing a number of important regional security challenges and should be encouraged and supported, not punished.

Simone Ledeen is a visiting fellow at the George Mason University Antonin Scalia School of Law's National Security Institute. She previously served as deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Middle East Policy. Twitter: @SimoneLedeen

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Democrats are abandoning US allies: Is Egypt next? | TheHill - The Hill

Joe Biden and top Democrats are scrambling for a strategy to counter Republican restrictions on womens reproductive rights amid the fallout from a Texas statute that has banned abortions in the state from as early as six weeks into pregnancy but the options available to the administration are thin.

The conservative-dominated supreme court in a night-time ruling refused an emergency request to block the Texas law from taking effect, in a decision that amounted to a crushing defeat for reproductive rights and threatened major ramifications in other states nationwide.

Even as the US president on Thursday accused the court of carrying out an assault on vital constitutional rights and ordered the federal government to ensure women in Texas retained access to abortions, the future of reproductive rights remains in the balance.

The challenges facing Biden and Democrats reflect the deep polarization of Congress, and the difficulty in trying to force bipartisan consensus on perhaps the most controversial of issues in American politics.

Now, top Democrats in Congress have developed a multi-part strategy to roll back restrictions pushed by Republican-led states that rests on attempting to codify abortion rights protections into federal law and potentially to reform the supreme court.

The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, announced on Thursday that Democrats would vote within weeks to pass the Womens Health Protection Act, a bill that would ensure the right to access an abortion and for medical providers to perform abortions.

Upon our return, the House will bring up congresswoman Judy Chus Womens Health Protection Act to enshrine into law reproductive healthcare for all women across America, Pelosi said in a statement that also admonished the courts decision.

Separately, liberal Democrats led by progressives including the New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are urging Biden to strike down other restrictions on access to abortions and the Hyde amendment, a measure that prohibits federal funding for most abortions.

Seizing on the Texas decision, liberal Democrats have also called anew for an expansion of the supreme court from nine to 13 seats, which would enable Biden to appoint four liberal-leaning justices to shift the politics on the bench.

The legislative response is aimed at reversing more than 500 restrictions introduced by Republican state legislatures in recent months and trigger laws that would automatically outlaw abortions if the supreme court overturned its ruling in the landmark Roe v Wade case that was supposed to cement abortion rights in the US.

But while such protections are almost certain to be straightforwardly approved by the Democratic-controlled House, all of the proposals face a steep uphill climb in the face of sustained Republican opposition and a filibuster in the 50-50 Senate.

The Senate filibuster rule a procedural tactic that requires a supermajority to pass most bills was in part why the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, focused on stacking the supreme court with conservative justices rather than pursue legislation to enact abortion restrictions at a federal level.

Forty-eight Democrats currently sponsor the Womens Health Protection Act in the Senate. Two Republicans Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski have previously indicated support for abortion rights, but the numbers fall far short of the 60-vote threshold required to avoid a filibuster.

Against that backdrop, a majority of Senate Democrats have called for eliminating the filibuster entirely. But reforming the filibuster requires the support of all Democrats in the Senate, and conservative Democratic senators including West Virginias Joe Manchin and Arizonas Kyrsten Sinema are outspoken supporters of the rule.

The broad concern demonstrates how urgent the issue has become for Democrats, and with the Texas law in effect after the failure of the emergency stay, many reproductive rights advocates worry that Democrats will be unable to meet the moment with meaningful action.

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Democrats rush to find strategy to counter Texas abortion law - The Guardian

What benefits are being stripped?

The tens of millions who lost their jobs benefited from these new programs:

President Biden has not spoken much about the benefits during a busy weekend, but for a long time it was unknown whether they would continue past the deadline or not. Even two weeks ago, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the decision to extend them had not been made.

But for now they won't be extended. However, the President and his team have been making overtures to states about alternate paths to given out extra unemployment benefits.

Using released federal covid-19 funding, the door has been left slightly open for states to use this money to continue payments.

"There are some states where it may make sense for unemployed workers to continue receiving additional assistance for a longer period of time, allowing residents of those states more time to find a job in areas where unemployment remains high," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Labor Secretary Martin Walsh told congressional leaders in a letter.

As of publication, this has been refused by every state in the US.

While nothing has yet been said about the benefits in regard to the jobs report, more bad news in future months could lead to a return in extra unemployment support. In the meantime, there are still some schemes people can use if they need support.

The 96-strong progressive caucus is split about whether to push for an extension of the unemployment benefits in the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation. However, with the extremely narrow majorities in Congress and the House, deviation from the mainline Democrat course could imperil huge Democrat legislation.

The slim majorities mean smaller groups, like the right of the Democratic Party, hold much more power than they otherwise would. Senators Joe Manchin and Kristen Sinema made sure that their wishes were acknowledged when it came to introducing a $15 minimum wage, and progressives moves against their wishes would stop any laws in their tracks.

"What we have right now is that the Biden administration has indicated they have almost no willingness to extend the pandemic unemployment assistance program," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told Insider. "We have a Senate that doesn't want to do it, a White House that doesn't want to do it it's going to take a very committed House."

Ilhan Omar, Democrat Congresswoman from Minnesota, said it was "necessary" to extend the benefits.

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What are Democrats saying about the expiration of the pandemic relief plans? - AS English

Texas Democrats say the states legislative districts cant be redrawn in 2021 and theyre asking a federal court to redraw them before the 2022 election.

The state has already begun work on redrawing its maps, but a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday argues the state can't legally do so until after the 2022 election. The suit also argues the state's maps violate federal election protections.

In light of that, state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt of Austin and state Sen. Roland Gutierrez of San Antonio asked a federal court Wednesday to redraw Texas' House and Senate districts.

After 2020 Census results were delayed, state lawmakers held off on redrawing maps. Gov. Greg Abbott signaled he will call a special legislative session to redraw the state's legislative boundaries, a process known as redistricting. The lawsuit argues Texas' constitution requires lawmakers meet in a regular session to redraw boundaries, not a special session. The next regular session isn't until 2023.

The governor is expected to call a special session in the next two weeks. The lawsuit wants a federal court to intervene before then and draw temporary maps for the state's 2022 elections. The suit would not affect the state's congressional redistricting process.

On top of that, now that Census numbers are out, Eckhardt and Gutierrez argue their now-overpopulated districts need to be redrawn to ensure their constituents have equal representation in the state's legislature ahead of the 2022 elections. The Tejano Democrats, a group representing Mexican-American voters and candidates, also joined the federal lawsuit in the hopes of ensuring minority voters statewide have equal representation as well.

Eckhardt says Article III of Texas' constitution and the state law that created Texas' redistricting board, which draws the new legislative maps, is "very specific" about the regular session requirement.

Because the next regular session of the Texas Legislature isn't until after the 2022 elections, Eckhardt told KUT that, in light of the state's growth, Texas' boundaries would violate the one-person-one-vote principle, which guarantees equal representation.

"That's a very basic tenet of the U.S. Constitution,that we have representative democracy," she said. "So, this is a basic issue that we must correct."

Texas' efforts to redraw its legislative boundaries have been tied up in courts every decade since the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The state's last fight over redistricting maps ended at the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court ruled that state lawmakers did not intentionally discriminate against minority voters when redrawing its legislative boundaries.

This round of redistricting is going to be a fight as well. Texas' population boomed over the last 10 years, a boom that was driven by Texas' Latino population and urban expansion in left-leaning cities. Democratic groups say the state's GOP-led redistricting process will likely seek to break up some districts to maintain Texas Republicans' decades-long control of state government.

Hearings on Texas' redistricting process began earlier this year, but the process will begin in earnest over the next two weeks. As of today, lawmakers have access to 2020 Census data and both the House and Senate committees on redistricting have hearings scheduled over the next two weeks.

The Texas Legislature's second special session this summer ends on Labor Day. It's expected Abbott will call lawmakers back to tackle redistricting soon after that.

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Democrats Sue Texas In Attempt To Get Federal Courts To Redraw Legislative Districts Before 2022 - KUT

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has called on Democrats to pause the effort to push through a $3.5 trillion budget. J. Scott Applewhite/AP hide caption

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has called on Democrats to pause the effort to push through a $3.5 trillion budget.

Sen. Joe Manchin has called on Democrats to take a "strategic pause" in advancing their historic $3.5 trillion budget plan, putting in peril President Biden's most ambitious effort to stabilize the U.S. economy and boost the middle class.

In an opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, the West Virginia senator criticized his party as being shortsighted and hypocritical in its pursuit of passing the multitrillion-dollar budget, which Democrats see as vital to tackling climate change, child care affordability and fair housing.

"The nation faces an unprecedented array of challenges and will inevitably encounter additional crises in the future," Manchin wrote. "Yet some in Congress have a strange belief there is an infinite supply of money to deal with any current or future crisis, and that spending trillions upon trillions will have no negative consequence for the future. I disagree."

Manchin wrote that because of the challenges posed by the nation's high inflation rate as well as the unpredictable nature of the pandemic particularly as it pertains to the rapidly emerging variants of the virus Democrats should not "rush" to use spending as a fix for the nation's current woes. Rather, lawmakers should take a longer-term view about how today's fiscal policy could impact future generations.

Democrats have said the budget will be paid for with tax increases on corporations and the wealthy as well as other proposals.

Under the reconciliation process, budget bills can pass the Senate with only a simple majority rather than a 60-vote supermajority. Republicans used the process in 2017 to pass then-President Donald Trump's tax bill, facing criticisms from Democrats for pushing through deeply partisan legislation.

"Respectfully, it was wrong when the Republicans did it, and it is wrong now," Manchin wrote.

If Manchin defects, as he has signaled before that he would, Democrats would have to sway at least one Republican to vote for the budget a tall order in the highly partisan chamber.

"If we want to invest in America, a goal I support, then let's take the time to get it right and determine what is absolutely necessary," Manchin wrote.

The West Virginia Democrat has often been at odds with more progressive members of his party, and he has emerged as a critical swing vote. Democrats control the 50-50 Senate, with the vice president working as a tie-breaker.

House Democrats, who also hold a slim but not quite as precarious majority, quickly decried Manchin's suggestion.

In a tweet, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez referenced the deadly Hurricane Ida that washed ashore in Louisiana before striking deadly blows across the Northeast and Manchin's coal interests.

Jamaal Bowman of New York also pointed to Hurricane Ida's destruction and the evidence that climate change is fueling more and deadlier natural disasters.

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Manchin Calls On Democrats To Hit Pause On The $3.5 Trillion Budget Package - NPR