White House advances idea of military parade
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House pushed ahead Wednesday with plans to throw a grand military parade through the streets of Washington, brushing aside criticism that such a display could be an unnecessary show of raw military power.
In a briefing to reporters, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the parade plan reflects Trump’s respect for the armed forces.
“We all know the president of the United States’ affection for the military,” Mattis said. He said the Pentagon has been “putting together some options” for the parade to send to the White House.
The Washington Post, which was first to report the plan Tuesday, said Trump wants an elaborate parade this year with soldiers marching and tanks rolling, but no date has been selected.
Massive military parades of the kind that are common in authoritarian countries like China and North Korea are not quintessentially American. The U.S. traditionally has not embraced such showy displays of military might, such as North Korea’s parading of ballistic missiles as a claim of international prestige and influence.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told CNN that such a parade risks being “kind of cheesy and a sign of weakness” if it’s all about showing off military hardware.
“My hope is this parade will not focus on military hardware, but on military service, sacrifice, and saying ‘Thank You” to those who protect our nation,” Graham said on Twitter.
Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin said a parade would be a “fantastic waste of money.” But White House legislative director Marc Short shot back on MSNBC: “I’m not sure honoring the military is a waste of money.”
Short said it was too early to know how much the parade would cost.
It has long been conventional wisdom that the U.S. does not need to boast of its military strength because it already is recognized as the leader of the NATO alliance and a model of military professionalism that countries across the globe seek to emulate.
Last September, at a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump announced his idea of staging a grand parade of the armed forces in Washington on July 4.
Trump reminisced about watching France’s Bastille Day military parade when he visited Paris in July. He said the two-hour parade was a “tremendous thing for France and for the spirit of France,” and said he wanted one on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington that would be grander than the one he saw in Paris.

By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House’s top Democrat swung out against a bipartisan budget deal taking shape in the Senate on Wednesday, splashing cold water on a two-year plan packed with almost $400 billion worth of additional funding for the Pentagon, domestic programs and disaster aid. That raises anew the possibility of a government shutdown at midnight Thursday.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California announced she would oppose the budget measure unless the chamber’s GOP leaders promised a vote on legislation to protect “Dreamer” immigrants who face deportation after being brought to the U.S. illegally as children.
Pelosi took to the House floor, promising to speak for hours, and said she would oppose that almost-completed budget pact even though it would boost funding for many domestic priorities favored by Democrats. She declared the agreement “does not have my support, nor does it have the support of a large number of members of our caucus.”
She spoke as liberal activists protested that many Democrats were moving to leave Dreamer immigrants behind in grabbing the budget deal, a longstanding goal for the party.
Pelosi said the House should debate immigration legislation and noted that Senate Republicans have slated a debate on the politically freighted subject starting next week,
“Let Congress work its will,” Pelosi said. “What are you afraid of?”
A possible government shutdown is now in the picture again. The House on Tuesday passed legislation to keep the government running through March 23, marrying a stopgap spending measure with a $659 billion Pentagon spending plan, but that measure is likely to be rewritten in the Senate.
Chances of a repeat of last month’s shutdown had appeared to be fading as prospects of a budget pact grew, but Pelosi’s opposition could throw a monkey wrench into the plan. And the problem wasn’t just with Democrats.
On the right, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., leader of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus, also said he opposes the emerging bipartisan deal, which could be unveiled Wednesday.
“I’m afraid the numbers will get so high and the debt ceiling will be added and it will be a Christmas tree of spending — that a lot of votes will be bought,” he said on MSNBC. Meadows’ group backs big defense increases but opposes boosting domestic spending.
The deal had been picking up steam even as the president appeared to be readying for a standoff.
“I’d love to see a shutdown if we can’t get this stuff taken care of,” Trump declared Tuesday.
Trump’s comments were strikingly disconnected from the apparent progress on Capitol Hill, where the House passed a short-term spending measure Tuesday night and Senate leaders were closing in on the larger, long-term pact. The broader agreement would award whopping spending increases to both the Pentagon and domestic federal programs, as well as approve overdue disaster relief money and, perhaps, crucial legislation to increase the government’s borrowing limit and avoid possible default.
Senate Democratic leaders have dropped their strategy of using the funding fight to extract concessions on immigration, specifically on seeking extended protections for the “Dreamer” immigrants. Instead, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., prepared to cut a deal that would reap tens of billions of dollars for other priorities — including combatting opioids — while taking their chances on solving the immigration impasse later.
Tuesday night’s 245-182 House vote, mostly along party lines, set the machinery in motion.
Prospects for dealing with immigration, however, were fuzzy as ever. The Senate is slated next week to begin a debate to address the dilemma of immigrants left vulnerable after Trump cut off former President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA.
Weeks of bargaining have left the two parties divided over how to extend protections for such immigrants. Trump has given lawmakers until March 5 to extend DACA, though a court ruling is temporarily keeping the program running.
On the budget, GOP defense hawks were prevailing over the party’s depleted ranks of deficit hawks, championing major new spending on military programs. Democrats, meanwhile, leveraged their influence to increase spending for domestic priorities.
The result could be the return of trillion-dollar deficits for the first time since Obama’s first term.
The prospective longer-term budget agreement would give both the Pentagon and domestic agencies relief from a budget freeze that lawmakers say threatens military readiness and training as well as domestic priorities such as combating opioid abuse and repairing the troubled health care system for veterans.
The temporary funding measure would also reauthorize funding for community health centers, which enjoy widespread bipartisan support.
Aides in both parties said the budget measure may also contain a provision to raise the government’s $20.5 trillion borrowing limit. Legislation to increase the debt ceiling is always a headache, especially for House GOP leaders whose rank and file have used past votes to register objections to deficit spending.
Another likely addition is more than $80 billion in long-overdue hurricane relief for Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, a top priority of both parties.
It’s clear that Senate Democrats have no appetite for another government shutdown. Their unity splintered during last month’s three-day closure.
___
Associated Press writers Jill Colvin, Ken Thomas and Darlene Superville contributed to this report.
___
This story has been corrected in the 3rd paragraph to show that Meadows spoke on MSNBC.

ALIQUIPPA CITY COUNCIL HAS ADOPTED A RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF A CITIZENS COMMISSION. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO HAS DETAILS. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

MONACA’S BOROUGH MANAGER LAST NIGHT ISSUED A STATEMENT IN REGARDS TO A PROBLEM WITH BROWN WATER IN RESIDENTS’ HOMES. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIODANO HAS MORE. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

THE BEAVER COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE’S ANNUAL STATE OF THE COUNTY…REVEALED PLANS AND IDEAS TO MOVE THE COUNTY FORWARD. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO WAS THERE. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

WEATHER FORECAST FOR WEDNESDAY, FEB. 7TH, 2018

Winter Storm Warning for Beaver County

…WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM EST THIS EVENING… SOME AREAS MAY MIX WITH FREEZING RAIN AND SLEET AT TIMES. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 5 TO 8 INCHES. PLAN ON DIFFICULT TRAVEL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING DURING THE MORNING COMMUTE. BE PREPARED FOR SIGNIFICANT REDUCTIONS IN VISIBILITY AT TIMES. A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW, SLEET AND ICE WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR IMPOSSIBLE.

TODAY – SNOW THIS MORNING WILL TAPER OFF AS A FEW
SNOW SHOWERS THIS AFTERNOON. SOME SLEET
MAY MIX IN. SNOW ACCUMULATING 3 TO 5
INCHES. HIGH AROUND 30.

TONIGHT – CLOUDY SKIES. A FEW FLURRIES OR SNOW
SHOWERS POSSIBLE. LOW – 13.

THURSDAY – A FEW FLURRIES POSSIBLE IN THE MORNING.
OVERCAST. HIGH – 25.