- The House voted down an alternative plan to fund the government with just more than 24 hours until a government shutdown begins.
- A Georgia appeals court has disqualified Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from her election-related criminal case against President-elect Donald Trump, although the indictment still stands.
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported more illegal immigrants in fiscal year 2024 than it has in almost a decade.
- Underwater drone operators have reportedly found drag marks in the Baltic seabed that overlap with the path of a Chinese vesselthat transited the waterway when two undersea telecommunications cables were damaged last month.
- The family whose history was retold in “The Sound of Music” run an Austrian-inspired lodge in Vermont. Story after the news.
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The U.S. Capitol building in Washington on Dec. 19, 2024. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)
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The House voted down a pared-down, Trump-backed plan to fund the government with just more than 24 hours until a government shutdown begins.
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- In a 235–174 vote on Thursday, lawmakers rejected the proposal. The group voting against the bill included all but two Democrats and a slate of conservative Republicans. The bill, which advanced to the floor via a method known as suspension, needed a two-thirds majority to pass.
- In addition to extending the deadline for government funding through March 14, the 116-page Trump-endorsed proposal included about $30.1 billion for emergency hurricane relief, a one-year extension of the farm bill, and a suspension of the debt ceiling until Jan. 30, 2027.
- The pared-down proposal replaced a previous 1,547-page government funding plan that faced strong pushback from President-elect Donald Trump and many congressional Republicans.
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Democrats, who have historically backed government funding measures, objected to the withdrawal of the original proposal that emerged from weeks of bicameral negotiations. Several Republicans objected to the inclusion of a provision to raise the debt ceiling as well as new spending in the bill.
The bill’s failure leaves the next steps unclear. The government is set to go into a shutdown at 12:01 a.m. ET on Dec. 21.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) may now bring the bill to the Rules Committee, which would mean a simple majority vote on the floor if the panel clears it. However, it is not clear whether the Rules Committee will advance the bill, given that Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), both members of the panel, have indicated their opposition. (More)
More Politics
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- President-elect Trump said that Congress should abolish the debt ceiling. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) agreed.
- Tariff hikes proposed by President-elect Trump could significantly reduce the federal deficit over the next decade and would do so at modest cost to inflation and economic output, according to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office.
- Veteran Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto is set to depart the network after a 28-year career.
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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported more illegal immigrants in fiscal year 2024 than it has in almost a decade.
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- The agency removed 271,484 immigrants to 192 countries from Oct. 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2024, ICE’s annual report released on Dec. 19 showed.
- That’s the highest annual number of illegal immigrants removed since President Joe Biden took office in 2021 and eclipses the annual totals of illegal immigrants removed in each of the four years under President-elect Donald Trump.
- During Trump’s first term, ICE deportations peaked at 267,258 during the 2019 fiscal year, according to a previous ICE report.
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An estimated 11 million illegal immigrants arrived in the country under the Biden administration’s open border policy.
Trump and his incoming border czar, Tom Homan, have promised to launch a mass deportation campaign to remove millions of illegal immigrants, starting with criminals or those with deportation orders.
Illegal immigration became one of the top issues during the 2024 presidential race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
According to the 2024 report, of the 271,484 removals, 237 were known or suspected terrorists, 3,706 were known or suspected gang members, and 88,763 had criminal histories.
The countries with the highest number of deportations from the United States were Mexico, 87,298; Guatemala, 66,435; Honduras, 45,923; and El Salvador, 15,284. (More)
More U.S. News
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- The International Brotherhood of Teamsters labor union began a strike against Amazon—just days before Christmas and Hanukkah—after negotiations for new employee contracts fell through.
- The Federal Aviation Administration issued a temporary ban on drone operations in multiple areas across New Jersey until next month unless operators are given special permission, amid heightened concerns over recent sightings.
- The man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, will face federal murder and stalking charges in addition to those he is currently contesting in New York and Pennsylvania.
- A New York City man has admitted to acting as an illegal Chinese agent by operating a secret police station for Beijing in Manhattan.
- Discount retail store chain Big Lots announced Thursday that it will initiate going-out-of-business sales at all its remaining locations after it was unable to reach an agreement with an investment firm.
- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, in an attempt to deter last-minute illegal immigration into the state, has announced an advertising campaign warning migrants attempting the dangerous journey to the southern border that they face arrest and deportation.
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Underwater drone operators have reportedly found drag marks in the Baltic seabed that overlap with the path of a Chinese vessel that transited the waterway when two undersea telecommunications cables were damaged last month.
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- Blueye Robotics, which partnered with Denmark’s TV2 and Sweden’s TV4 news stations, sent underwater drones into the Kattegat Strait to search for signs of sabotage after cables running between Finland and Germany and between Sweden and Lithuania were damaged.
- The search focused on the path of the Yi Peng 3, a Chinese cargo vessel that had operated in the area when the cables were damaged.
- The robotics firm said its search had uncovered “unusual seabed activity where the vessel Yi Peng 3 crossed key power and telecom cables in Kattegat.”
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Danish defense official Jens Wenzel Kristoffersen identified the drag marks along the Chinese ship’s course as the potential imprint of an anchor, TV2 reported.
Swedish and Danish coast guard and naval forces closed in on the Chinese vessel after underwater cables were damaged on Nov. 17 and Nov. 18. (More)
More World News:
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- Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was ready for compromises over Ukraine in possible talks with President-elect Donald Trump but said Russian forces were in a strong position.
- Denmark, a NATO member that provides security for Greenland, has warned that “aggressive” Russian behavior has increased the risk of a military confrontation with Moscow in the Arctic.
- The number of U.S. troops deployed to Syria is around 2,000, according to the Pentagon, which is twice as many than previously acknowledged.
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🎤Interview: Sebastian Gorka: How the Trump Admin Will Tackle Terrorism and National Security Threats (Watch on EpochTV)
🍿 Documentary: A Woman Named Jackie chronicles the extraordinary life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, from her role as the first lady to her legacy as a cultural and fashion icon. (Watch freeon Ganjing World)
✍️ Opinion: CCP’s Cultural Genocide Aimed at Falun Gong, Shen Yun: Part 1 by Stu Cvrk
🍵 Health: Used for centuries and referred to as a ‘medicine chest’ by Hippocrates, elderberry can reduce cold and flu duration and may help with chronic disease.
💛 Inspiration: Christmas often feels more like an exhausting marathon of shopping, parties, and to-do lists, leaving little room for a sense of wonder and joy. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
📷 Photo of the Day: A woman plays an accordion while guarded by her dog wearing reindeer horns, as they collect donations at the Mariahilfer street in the Austrian capital of Vienna, on Dec. 19, 2024. 👇
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Joe Klamar/AFP via Getty Images
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Our photography editors comb through the best images in the world every day. See their picks for today here ➞
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The Trapp Family Singers in 1941. (Courtesy of Trapp Family Lodge)
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The holiday season brings an intangible warm and fuzzy feeling. In German, they actually have a word for it: “gemütlichkeit.”
This “gemütlichkeit” is especially palpable in “The Sound of Music,” one of the most successful movie musicals of all time.
The 1965 film is based on the memoir of Baroness Maria von Trapp, iconically portrayed by Julie Andrews.
“Gemütlichkeit” is also a philosophy that Maria von Trapp’s grandchildren Sam von Trapp and Kristina von Trapp Frame use as guideposts in managing the family’s Austrian-inspired Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont.
“It means warm, cozy, professional, but not pretentious hospitality,” Kristina said in a recent interview. “So that’s really the goal of us inviting people to come here to enjoy it.”
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A family participates in caroling during the Christmas Tree Lighting Celebration at Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vt. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)
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“Singing is also always a big part of the holiday,” said Sam. “For our family, having been professional singers, on Christmas Eve, when we sing with our guests, that’s just a really pure, fun evening for everyone.”
The siblings also explained that the family’s story portrayed in “The Sound of Music” is mostly correct, though many of the details are not accurate.
“We often joked that the personalities of our grandfather and grandmother in the movie could have been switched,” Sam said, drawing a laugh from his sister.
“She was the tough one and he was a bit more of the teddy bear in real life.”
Read the full story by our colleague Cary Dunst here.
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