Vox Sentences - Funding till February

Congress narrowly avoids a shutdown deadline; US officials had their phones hacked using NSO Group's spyware.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Ellen Ioanes.

Congress will fund the government through February 18

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

• On Thursday night, both chambers of the US Congress voted to fund the US government through February 18. The continuing resolution, or CR, comes just hours before the government would have run out of money to operate and would have to shut down. [CNN / Clare Foran, Manu Raju, Ted Barrett, and Ali Zaslav]
• The CR maintains government agencies’ current funding levels, as well as $7 billion to fund programs for Afghan refugees, but doesn’t address the dozen or so funding bills that are part of a larger appropriations package to fund the government through the 2022 fiscal year. Even though the government averted shutdown this time, Congress will still need to debate the larger funding bill come February. [Washington Post / Tony Romm and Mike DeBonis]
• “The legislation before us makes minimal changes, negotiated by both sides of the aisle, to address the most urgent needs during the period of the Continuing Resolution. It is my strong belief that, by limiting the number of funding and policy changes, we are putting ourselves in a better position to reach a negotiated, full-year agreement on government funding,” House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) announced Thursday. [US House of Representatives]
• The CR faced a number of obstacles before it passed, including disagreements about the aforementioned funding levels for government agencies. The CR as passed continues the funding priorities of the Trump administration, preventing the Biden administration from enacting its funding priorities, at least until February. [NYT / Emily Cochrane]
• Another major roadblock was a group of Republican lawmakers in the House Freedom Caucus. Set on removing funding for mandatory Covid-19 vaccination and testing, they threatened to shut down the government unless that provision was removed from the CR. [Guardian / Maanvi Singh and Adam Gabbatt]
• The Senate still voted on a separate bill, put forth by Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Roger Marshall (R-KS), which would defund the vaccine and testing mandates, but that bill failed, with only 48 votes in favor. [Politico / Caitlin Emma, Jennifer Scholtes, and Sarah Ferris]
• Although the government is solvent for the time being, Congress still has a lot to accomplish before the holiday break. Next up: lifting the debt ceiling and passing the National Defense Authorization Act. [NBC / Sahil Kapur]

State Department phones were hacked with NSO Group spyware

• At least nine US State Department employees working in Uganda or on issues related to the country had their phones hacked by an unknown group using spyware made by the Israeli firm NSO group. The attacks took place over the past several months. [Reuters / Christopher Bing and Joseph Menn]
• NSO Group has said that its spyware, Pegasus, can’t be used against US phone numbers; however, the State Department iPhones hacked could have had foreign numbers. The firm says its products are sold only to government agencies that have been approved by Israel’s government. [The Verge / Mitchell Clark]
• NSO Group said it had terminated the contract of the entity in question, but also that the company didn’t have any reason to believe its tools were used in the attack. The company has said it will conduct its own investigation into the incident and has promised to comply with government investigations. [The Hill / Maggie Miller]
• NSO group has long maintained that its software is only used for surveillance of criminals and terrorists, but reporting this summer revealed that the spyware had been used against journalists and activists. [Washington Post / Craig Timberg, Drew Harwell, and Ellen Nakashima]

Help keep Sentences Free

The Vatican will take in 12 refugees and asylum seekers currently in Greece and Cyprus. [Washington Post / Claire Giangravé]

• A man in Italy tried to use a fake arm to avoid getting the Covid-19 vaccine. [NYT / Emma Bubola]
• The parents of accused Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley are missing after being charged with involuntary manslaughter in this week’s shooting at Oxford High School. Lawyers for the Crumbleys said they had left the area for their own safety and would return for arraignment. [CNN / Jay Croft, Aya Elamroussi and Steve Almasy]
• Barbados is now the world’s newest republic, after formally removing Queen Elizabeth as its head of state. [Smithsonian Magazine / Nora McGreevy]

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