Above the Fold

“NEED FOR SPEED” IMPEACHMENT: “House Democratic leaders are eyeing a fast-paced investigation into the possible impeachment of President Donald Trump, instructing the committees handling the probe to wrap up their findings within weeks in hopes of concluding before the holiday season,” The Washington Post reports. “Multiple Democratic lawmakers and congressional aides said there is no formal timeline for the inquiry, but the ‘need for speed,’ as one aide put it, comes as Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is under pressure from vulnerable freshmen to keep the investigation narrowly focused and disciplined.” One Democrat who has been exceedingly undisciplined thus far is House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff, who The Daily Wire explains “made up imaginary quotes during a congressional hearing on Thursday from the transcript of President Donald Trump’s phone call with Ukraine.”

Tucker Carlson & Neil Patel write: “What’s driving all this insanity? Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, has been more honest about it than most. Green admitted it straight up: ‘I’m concerned that if we don’t impeach this president, he will get reelected.’” David Limbaugh adds, “Democratic excessiveness is part of what led to Trump’s rise in the first place, and there’s good reason to believe it will aid in his reelection.”

To open a very serious hearing, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) delivers a completely made-up account of President Trump’s conversation with the Ukrainian President.

Very normal and professional. pic.twitter.com/NnNXvylya0

— BlazeTV (@BlazeTV) September 26, 2019

SPENDING BILL PASSES: “The Senate on Thursday cleared a spending bill that will fund the government through Nov. 21, giving lawmakers and the White House more time to reach agreement on the annual appropriations process. The vote was 82-15, with all of the ‘no’ votes coming from Republicans. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the continuing resolution, holding off another partial government shutdown for at least 51 more days. But this could be the first of several stopgap bills amid tense debates about abortion policy and the border wall.” (Roll Call)

Trump Cabinet

SCALIA CONFIRMED: “The Republican-led Senate on Thursday confirmed lawyer Eugene Scalia, a son of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, as President Donald Trump’s new labor secretary. The Senate voted along party lines, 53-44, to approve Scalia’s nomination.” (Fox News)

MCCARTHY CONFIRMED: “The Senate has confirmed President Trump’s choice to be the top civilian leading the Army. In a Thursday afternoon voice vote, the Senate confirmed Ryan McCarthy as Army secretary. McCarthy, who has served as Army under secretary since 2017, will fill the role formerly held by Mark Esper until he became Defense secretary in July.” (The Hill)

ATF HOLDUP: “Chuck Canterbury, President Trump’s nominee to serve as head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, is likely to see his nomination withdrawn due to stringent opposition from Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. … Canterbury, who served as the president of the national Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), was expected to receive a vote out of committee Thursday morning. But his nomination was blocked by conservative Republicans who voiced concerns about his stances on gun control.” (The Washington Free Beacon)

National Security

REFUGEE ADMISSIONS LOWERED: “The Trump administration is proposing to resettle 18,000 refugees in the United States in the new fiscal year, reducing last year’s record-low refugee admission ceiling by a further 40 percent. … The final ceiling will be decided after consultation with Congress — as required by the Immigration and Nationality Act — but the Departments of State, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services, in a report on Congress, are proposing an 18,000 limit. That’s by far the lowest since the modern U.S. refugee resettlement program began in 1980, when the Refugee Act was enacted.” (CNSNews.com)

IRANIANS BANNED: “The Trump administration on Thursday banned all members of the Iranian regime and their family members from entering the United States, a move aimed at stopping regime figures from sending their children to America for schooling and other opportunities. … Iranian regime figures have long taken advantage of America’s educational institutions, with many sending their children to the United States for college. This will immediately end, according to the Trump administration.” (The Washington Free Beacon)

SYRIAN CHEMICAL-WEAPONS ATTACK: “Syrian government forces carried out a chlorine attack in May, the first confirmed violation of the international accord banning chemical weapons since President Trump authorized a U.S. military strike on Syria in 2018 over its alleged use of poison gas, a new U.S. intelligence assessment says. The episode took place on May 19 near the village of Kabana as President Bashar al-Assad’s forces sought to subdue resistance in Latakia province, a senior U.S. official said.” (The Wall Street Journal)

Business & Economy

GDP SLUGGISH: “The U.S. economy grew more slowly in the second quarter, updated figures confirm, and slow growth is expected to persist through the end of the year largely because of the festering trade fight with China. Gross domestic product, the official score card for the economy, grew at a 2% annual pace from April to June, the government said Thursday. That was unchanged from the previous estimate.” (MarketWatch)

RECORD FOREIGN-BORN RESIDENTS: “The percentage of foreign-born U.S. residents has reached its highest level in more than a century, according to estimates from the 2018 American Community Survey released [yesterday]. A record 44.7 million people are foreign-born, or about 13.7% of the U.S. population. That’s the highest rate since 1910 and comes amid a highly-charged political debate over whether the decennial Census survey should include a citizenship question. A subset of the foreign-born figure — the number of people in the U.S. but ‘not a U.S. citizen’ held at around 22 million in 2018.” (Bloomberg)

Closing Arguments

POLICY: The Treasury’s housing plan would pave the way for another financial crisis (National Review)

POLICY: Cleaning up vacant lots can curb urban crime (Manhattan Institute)

HUMOR: The fact that Trump even spoke to the Ukrainian president is an impeachable offense (NPC Daily)

For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit In Our Sights.

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