US president urges congressional Republicans to use budget reconciliation procedure to enact his priorities

Donald Trump has demanded that congressional Republicans get to work on a party line measure that would ensure defense spending reaches its highest level in decades and also make a likely fruitless attempt to impose a host of new restrictions on voters nationwide.

In a post on Truth Social Wednesday, the president said he was “calling on Republicans in Congress to IMMEDIATELY advance and pass the forthcoming $350 Billion Reconciliation Bill”, which would also include the Save America Act, a rightwing makeover of elections that his allies in Congress have sought to pass for months, without success.

Democrats say they will block renewal of Fisa over naming of Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence

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The US House of Representatives will attempt on Thursday to pass a short-term extension of a powerful surveillance law amid controversy surrounding Donald Trump’s decision to install an inexperienced loyalist as the country’s top intelligence official.

Democrats have said they will block the move to renew the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa) in protest of Trump’s appointment of Bill Pulte, a major Republican donor, as acting director of national intelligence.