LIZ CHENEY: PELOSI ‘COMMANDEERED’ THE HOUSE ON THE DACA ISSUE SHE’S NOW VOTING AGAINST

The third-ranking House Republican, Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday for opposing proposals she recently supported as a way to resist negotiating with President Donald Trump.

“It’s very difficult to understand when you’ve got the president’s proposal that obviously includes money for the border wall, also includes an extension for the DACA folks, also includes an extension for TPS. Those are issues, DACA in particular, that Speaker Pelosi, she commandeered the floor of the House of Representatives for eight hours less than a year ago on particularly this issue of helping to ensure that people that are here, the so-called dreamers, are not deported,” Cheney told Chuck Todd while on “Meet the Press.”

“For [Pelosi] now to simply reject out of hand when the president actually has said, ‘Okay, let’s look at ways we can come closer,’ it shows you they’re just not interested in negotiating,” Cheney continued.

The Republican-led House passed a stopgap funding bill Dec. 20 that included appropriations to construct a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. However, with a 51-seat majority, Senate Republicans fell short of the necessary 60 votes needed to send it to Trump’s desk for signature.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed to kill any legislation in the Senate that includes border wall funding, and consequently, a partial government shutdown has been in effect since Dec. 22. (RELATED: Liz Cheney Condemns Freshman Democrat For Using Impeachment As A Political Tool)

Both sides of the aisle have been locked in a political stalemate over an appropriations bill, and as a way to come to the negotiating table, Trump introduced a plan Saturday that included a three-year extension of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and those in Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Democrats have been avid proponents of both issues.

Pelosi rejected Trump’s proposal before it was even formally announced, calling it a “non-starter.”

“Speaker Pelosi has said she will be a champion of the dreamers,” Cheney said. “When she’s willing to play games, when she’s willing to pull political stunts, but she’s not actually willing to come up with solutions, it makes it very difficult to come to an agreement here.”

https://dailycaller.com/2019/01/20/liz-cheney-pelosi-daca-trump-tps/

US Demands Russia Destroy Noncompliant Missile Systems

The United States called on Russia on Jan. 21 to destroy all missile systems that violate the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty and accused Moscow of destabilizing global security. Ambassador Robert Wood, Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament and U.S. Special Representative for Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) Issues, said that the SSC-8 missile system is a “potent and direct threat to Europe and Asia.” Washington has accused Moscow of deploying the system in violation of the treaty since the mid-2000s.

“Unfortunately, the United States increasingly finds that Russia cannot be trusted to comply with its arms control obligations and that its coercive and malign actions around the globe have increased tensions,” Wood said at the U.N.-sponsored Conference on Disarmament. “Russia must verifiably destroy all SSC-8 missiles, launchers and associated equipment in order to come back into compliance with the INF Treaty.”

The Russian delegation at the conference did not immediately issue a response. President Vladimir Putin previously said that Russia would build more of the banned missile systems if the United States withdraws from the treaty.

The demand by Wood is a sign that efforts by U.S. allies in Europe to persuade Russia to return to compliance have not borne fruit. On Dec. 4, 2018, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave Russia 60 days to destroy the missile systems, setting the stage to serve Moscow with an official withdrawal notice in early February. Pompeo said at the time that European allies lobbied for the 60-day window in order to mount a diplomatic campaign to attempt to resolve the impasse with the Kremlin.

President Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw from the INF in October last year.

Under the treaty, signed in 1987, the two nations agreed to ban the production, possession, and testing of short- and mid-range ground-launched missile systems and related equipment. The United States and Russia are the only two nations bound by the treaty. Both have concerns about China, which has developed a formidable arsenal of mid-range missile systems that neither Moscow nor Washington can deploy under the INF.

Washington has repeatedly accused Moscow of violating the treaty. Russian officials have ignored the accusations for years until 2017 when the United States revealed the internal Russian codename for the missile system: SSC-8/9M729. Moscow has changed its tune since then, saying that the system is compliant with the treaty and that Washington has not provided enough proof.

Washington’s withdrawal notice, if delivered in February, will be effective in six months from the date of service.

Wood also decried Russian support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and it’s providing Iran with “advanced weaponry such as the S-300 missile defense system.”

The nerve agent used in an attempt to assassinate former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, Britain last March showed Russia’s “reckless behavior” and failure to meet its obligations under a treaty banning the use of chemical weapons, he said.

Britain said Russian GRU military intelligence agents poisoned the Skripals with Novichok. Moscow denies involvement in the poisoning, which the pair survived.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/us-demands-russia-destroy-noncompliant-missile-systems_2773430.html