[...]
Johnson told Republicans Tuesday morning that combining the bills into one package would force the Senate to consider everything the House passes, Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., said.

"So you can't cherry-pick it, and say, `Yee-haw, there goes Ukraine,' and the rest of them get the usual sentence of death from the Senate leadership," Amodei, a senior appropriator, said.  

The process of merging separate bills into one package after each measure has passed the House separately is known in procedural parlance as a "MIRV" rule. Normally, that's an acronym for multiple independently targetable re[-]entry vehicle, or a ballistic missile that carries multiple warheads.

The effect is similar on the Senate; after House passage of each bill, the rule, if adopted, provides that they all be attached to the same underlying vehicle before being transmitted to the Senate. House leaders have employed this tool at least 14 times since the mid-1990s, such as one notable attempt in 2000 to attach a small-business tax cut measure to legislation that would increase the minimum wage....

[...]
Appropriators released three separate bills for Ukraine, Israel, Indo-Pacific allies, and the domestic submarine industrial [TikTok ?] base totaling $95.3 billion.

"Johnson, R-La., in a text message Wednesday morning to GOP conference members, said a fourth bill would be posted later in the day. It would include measures to seize frozen Russian assets, force the divestiture of the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok, and impose sanctions on Russia, China and Iran, among other things."

The contents are similar to the Senate-passed version, with $60.8 billion for the Ukraine war effort, and nearly $26.4 billion [!] in military aid to Israel and humanitarian assistance for Gaza. A third bill, totaling $8.1 billion, would provide nearly $4 billion in security assistance to Taiwan and other regional allies along with money to replenish depleted U.S. stocks, $3.3 billion for submarine infrastructure and more. But there's a key difference: roughly $9.5 billion in economic aid to Ukraine would be structured as a loan, with repayment terms set by the president.

"in a new twist, Johnson also said he would move an additional bill, handled under a separate rule, to toughen security measures at the southern U.S. border. He said the bill would contain the 'core components' of HR 2, which passed the House last year over solid Democratic opposition."

The repayment requirement could be waived on an installment plan, with up to 50 percent of the loans forgiven shortly after the November elections, and the remainder starting in 2026. But Congress would get a shot to override any presidential waiver with a resolution of disapproval that's subject to expedited procedures, with debate limited to 10 hours in the Senate and no amendments.
[...]

[...]
Anadolu Agency: The US vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution demanding Palestine's full membership at the UN. Twelve member states including China voted in favor but the resolution couldn't be passed because of US veto. What's China's comment about the US veto and the outcome of the vote? 

Lin Jian: China's Permanent Representative to the United Nations has fully stated our position in his explanation of vote. An independent State of Palestine has been a long-cherished dream for generations of Palestinians. Full UN membership for Palestine is a crucial step in this historic process. Palestine first submitted a membership application as early as 2011. It was US opposition then that the Council's action was put on hold. Thirteen years later, It was again US veto that denied Palestine full UN membership and shattered the decades-long dream of the Palestinian people. History and people of the world will not forget this unconscionable act. 
[...]
China Daily: We noted that recently the US has kept hyping up the issue of China's "overcapacity". Do you have any further comment on the issue of "overcapacity"?

Lin Jian: Blaming China for "overcapacity" is not new. Years ago, the US accused China of "overcapacity" for exporting many high-quality, low-cost products. Now it is sticking the label of "overcapacity" to China's export of new energy products. The US exports 80 percent of its chips, especially advanced chips and is a large exporter of pork and agricultural products. Is that "overcapacity" according to US logic? In fact, the ratio of export to production for Chinese new energy vehicle is far lower than that of Germany, Japan and the ROK. This is certainly not "dumping extra products into the global market". "overcapacity" may look like an economic issue, but truth is, the US is using it to hit Chinese industries and give the US itself an unfair advantage in market competition. It's another example of US economic coercion and bullying.
[...]

The $95.3 billion supplemental spending measure passed under an unusual procedure in which lawmakers voted on four separate bills that were then put together into one vehicle, replacing the text of a similar Senate-passed bill that came over from that chamber two months ago.

Lastly, the House voted 360-58 to pass a "sidecar" package consisting of some measures related to the foreign aid bills, such as authorizing the seizure of about $5 billion in frozen Russian assets for distribution to Ukraine and toughening sanctions on Russia, Iran and China.

H.R.8038, 21st Century Peace through Strength Act [ROLL CALL 360-58]

That measure would also force the divestiture [sic] of Chinese-owned TikTok or the social media app would be banned in the U.S., and ban data brokers from selling Americans' personal information to countries such as China, Russia, Iran and North Korea or organizations controlled by those governments.

Here's what the bill would do:
• Place sanctions on ports and refineries that receive and process Iranian oil.
• Place sanctions on anyone involved in activity covered under the UN missile embargo on Iran that lapsed last year or in the supply or sale of Iran's missiles and drones.
• Further restrict the export of goods and technology of US origin to Iran.
• Empower the executive branch to seize and transfer frozen Russian assets held in the US to Ukraine.
• Give TikTok's Chinese parent, ByteDance, nine months to sell the social media company or it would be banned from US app stores.

...Secretary of Stalking Antony Blinken's trip to Beijing this coming week will spotlight how this strategy is holding firm almost five months later, despite unresolved issues and global conflicts threatening to break the relationship apart at any moment.

"We believe that intense competition requires intense diplomacy on a range of issues, and in-depth, face-to-face diplomacy is particularly important to managing tensions," a senior administration official told reporters in a call Friday, previewing Blinken's trip.

"The Secretary will make clear that the United States intends to responsibly manage our competition with the PRC [People's Republic of China]." ...

Tesla is to cut the price of some of its cars in an effort to combat declining sales and growing competition. Prices will be reduced in Germany—Tesla's biggest European market—and elsewhere in Europe as well as the Middle East and Africa, the company has revealed. In Germany, the cost of the Model 3 rear wheel drive will fall from  €42,990 to €40,990 [$45,770-$43,641].
[...]

The news comes after the world's largest EV maker [not TSLA] cut around a third off the price of its "Full Self Driving" system—which is not a self-drive [FKA "autonomous vehicle"] which means drivers must remain alert and be ready to intervene—to $8,000 (€7,505) from $12,000 (€11,258).
[...]
Tesla also took $2,000 off the prices of three of its five models in the United States, the Model Y, a small SUV which is Tesla's most popular model and the top-selling electric vehicle in the US, and also of the Models X and S, its older and more expensive models.
[...]
The company has been struggling with falling sales and an increasing biennial price war cuts in the market for EVs, especially against Chinese competitors [in China]. There are reports that CEO Elon Musk's personal reputation $56B value pricing also plays a role in how the company is perceived.

Below is the number of initial filings for unemployment insurance.

How is this statistically possible?

Five of the last six weeks, the exact same number.

Effectively the same number in the last 11 weeks, except for the holiday weeks (President's Day and Easter).
---
Consider... pic.twitter.com/vZbWWC7DRr

— Jim Bianco (@biancoresearch) April 18, 2024

Secretary Antony Blinken will travel to Saudi Arabia April 29-30 to meet with regional partners. The Secretary will discuss ongoing efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza that secures the release of hostages and how it is Hamas that is standing between the Palestinian people and a ceasefire.
[...]

GCC (FTA 1981): AE, BH, KW, OM, QA, SA

The Secretary will participate in a Ministerial meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council [GCC] to advance coordination on regional security.  At the World Economic Forum's [WEF] special meeting on Global Collaboration, Growth, and Energy for Development, the Secretary will coordinate with our partners to ensure continued progress on climate change mitigation and the global energy transition.

thehill | Blinken to travel to Saudi Arabia to discuss cease-fire efforts, 27 Apr

...Apart from discussions about a cease-fire in Gaza, Blinken will talk about the increased delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza and the "importance" of it being "sustained."...

defense.gov | U.S. Begins Construction on Temporary Pier to Deliver Humanitarian Aid to Gaza, 25 Apr

Construction of the pier is expected to be completed in early May. Once completed, it will initially facilitate the delivery of an estimated 90 truckloads of international aid into Gaza and scale to up to 150 truckloads once fully operational. The beginning of construction marks a significant milestone following President Joe Biden's call for the military to conduct the emergency operation during his State of the Union Address last month.

Soldiers from the Army's 7th Transportation Brigade at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, and sailors from Naval Beach Group 1 at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, California, were tapped to deploy the Defense Department's Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore capability, or JLOTS.
[...]

Reps. Michelle Steel, R-Calif., and Joseph D. Morelle, D-N.Y., plan to introduce legislation that would leave in place a more generous deduction aimed at encouraging companies to keep intellectual property such as patents and trademarks in the U.S., rather than abroad. A draft of the measure was shared with CQ Roll Call ahead of the formal introduction.

The provision has caught the interest of some heavy hitters in the private sector, including aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co.; defense contractor RTX Corp., formerly known as Raytheon Technologies; biotech company Genentech Inc.; and Google Client Services LLC.

Absent congressional action, the deduction for foreign-derived intangible income—known as FDII, pronounced "fih-dee" in tax circles—would shrink at the end of 2025, but not fully expire. President Joe Biden proposed eliminating the deduction, which effectively lowers the tax rate for foreign-derived income, as part of his fiscal 2025 budget proposal.

DICTION CORNER foreign-derived intangible income
proceeds (money) from the sales of products related to intellectual property (IP)
reference
Journal of Accountancy, "Understanding the FDII deduction" (01.02.19)

In the spirit of increasing the U.S. tax system's competitiveness, Congress added Sec. 250 to the Internal Revenue Code and with it the FDII deduction, which provides an incentive to domestic corporations in the form of a lower tax rate on income derived from tangible and intangible products and services in foreign markets. As a result, a corporation can claim a 37.5% deduction, which results in a permanent tax benefit and 13.125% effective tax rate, as compared with a 21% corporate rate, for tax years beginning after Dec. 31, 2017, and before Jan. 1, 2026, after which the deduction is reduced to 21.875%, resulting in an effective tax rate of 16.406%.

The FDII deduction is available to domestic enTITIes across a broad range of industries that are taxed as C corporations. This includes U.S.-based companies and non-U.S. companies doing business in the United States.