MNI POLITICAL RISK - Biden To Deliver Speech On Israel Today

Executive summary:

• 13:00 ET 18:00 BST: President Biden will deliver a speech at the White House today on the terrorist attacks in Israel.
• With Congress paralysed by the absence of a speaker of the House of Representatives, there are questions over how the White House can receive authorisation for a package of security assistance for Israel.
• There are also persistent questions over the powers which speaker pro tempore Patrick McHenry (R-NC) has to preside over the House. The prevailing view is that McHenry can act in a largely ceremonial fashion to oversee the transition to a new speaker but this reading may be counterintuitive to the post-9/11 mechanism via which he was installed as interim speaker.
• Rep Jim Jordan (R-OH) and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) will formally petition their candidacy for speaker at a GOP conference meeting today at 17:00 ET 22:00 BST.
• Observers will be monitoring the eight Republicans who voted to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). If the crisis in Israel compels a swift speaker vote, McCarthy could find himself in a position to be returned to the chair.
• With Ukraine funding pending, Biden administration officials, and Republicans in the Senate, are considering combining aid to Kyiv with border security and a broader supplemental package for Israel.
• Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) discussed economic fairness, trade barriers, stolen intellectual property, and fentanyl with Chinese President Xi Jinping yesterday.
• Poll of the Day: An RFK Jr. independent presidential run could benefit Biden.

Please find the full article attached below:

MNIPOLRISKUSDaily101023.pdf