Congress Busy Ahead of 6 Week Summer Vacation

Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Ash Carter and the Joint Chief’s Chairman Martin Dempsey testify today before the Senate Armed Services Committee. They’re continuing the White House sales job on the Iran nuke deal to a skeptical Congress.

Convicted spy Jonathan Pollard will be paroled in November after spending nearly 30 years in prison for spying for Israel against the United States. The White House says it’s not a concession to Israel for a deal they oppose with Iran.

We’re watching several other hearings today on the Hill including on IRS political targeting, the TSA, the EPA and ISIS. We’ll monitor for news. There’s also a Speaker Boehner news conference where he’s likely to get questions on a leadership fight that could threaten his job. Nancy Pelosi also holds a news conference today.

Chris Christie holds several events today including one during our hours in New Hampshire. We’ll monitor for news.

There’s some good newspaper articles out today on the struggling campaigns of Rubio, Paul and Huckabee. Might be worth asking our political guests about.

We’ve also learned Jeb Bush is having a very good run of fundraising. More than 100 million dollars has been raised for Bush in the first six months of the year for just one SuperPac.

Turkey air strikes continue against Kurdish forces near their border. Turkey now fighting ISIS terrorists and Kurdish forces who want independence from Turkey.

Russia will likely veto a UN resolution to prosecute the Russian separatists likely to blame for shooting down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine.. killing 298 people.

Congress set to pass a short term 8 billion dollar transportation funding patch that would keep construction going for the next three months. Congress is about to take a six week Summer break. (must be nice)

200 people evacuated in California’s Napa Valley as a wildfire jumped a containment line, but firefighters have been able to establish a new 2nd containment line.  Severe drought is making for an especially scary wildfire season.

A 6.3 earthquake hit southern Alaska near an active volcano. We’ll get an update.

A 23 year old man in Key West has been charged with attempting to use  a weapon of mass destruction. Harlem Suarez is suspected of plotting to detonate a nail-filled bomb on a Florida beach. The FBI says he is an ISIS sympathizer and suspected terrorist.

Keep an eye on Wall Street where earnings reports come down today from Facebook, Goodyear, Kraft Heinz and other big companies. Microsoft’s new operating system out today. We’re awaiting word from the Federal Reserve about raising interest rates for the first time in nine years. Chinese stocks up for the first time in two days overnight. Dow futures are higher. The Greek stock market will have a limited opening tomorrow for the first time in more than a month.

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