The Catchup: 5 major political stories this week, from chaos in Congress to Biden's border wall

Jon Ward is a Yahoo News senior correspondent who has covered national politics for over 15 years.

You’re shifting gears to head into the weekend, so here are the top five political stories worth remembering this week.

The week of Oct. 2, 2023, began with the surprising news that a government shutdown had been averted over the weekend at the last moment. That development was quickly overshadowed by the fight among House Republicans over whether to depose their leader for working with Democrats to avoid a shutdown.

Next week will be dominated by the Republicans continuing to fight among themselves over who their new leader will be, while the nation’s challenges remain unaddressed by Congress until they sort it out.

Here’s what I think stood out from this past week.

Republicans get rid of their leader in the House of Representatives

It was a seismic week in Congress. Republicans sacked their leader in the House, now former Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California.

A House Speaker had never been removed in this way, but it is only the latest of several milestones over the past decade or so that mark the steady degradation of Congress and an ongoing slide of the American political system into dysfunction.

Why it matters

• McCarthy was targeted by Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican, and seven other House Republicans because he passed a bill last weekend to avoid a government shutdown with votes from both Republicans and Democrats.

• Gaetz and his fellow rebels — who were joined in ousting McCarthy by 208 House Democrats — were angry that McCarthy solved the problem. They had wanted him to pass a funding bill with only Republican votes through the House, even though they knew such a proposal did not have support in the Senate and would lead to a shutdown.

• The leadership vacuum puts government funding and U.S. assistance to Ukraine at risk. The government is funded through mid-November and so a shutdown is again on the table just a few weeks from now.

• Bigger picture, it signals to the American people that the Republican Party is increasingly unable to govern and chaotic.

• The race among House Republicans to replace McCarthy is going to be fractious and unpredictable. The two top candidates are Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.

Good reads on this

• Yahoo News: Why Kevin McCarthy’s demise was a long time coming

• Yahoo News: Why Matt Gaetz moved to oust Kevin McCarthy

• Yahoo News: McCarthy ousted as speaker. What happened and what’s next?

• The Washington Post: McCarthy thought he could harness forces of disruption. Instead they devoured him.

U.S. assistance to Ukraine is in limbo

One of the sticking points during the negotiations to avoid a government shutdown over the past few weeks was the Biden administration’s proposed $24 billion in aid to Ukraine, to continue fighting against Russia’s war of aggression.

The Senate proposed $6 billion in funding, but House Republicans objected to even that, and ultimately the short-term government funding bill passed last weekend left any aid for Ukraine out.

Why it matters

• Russia invaded Ukraine nearly two years ago, and as the war is grinding on, Ukraine is running low on key supplies such as artillery shells, ammunition for guns and air defense missiles.

• “If we don’t get the aid, we will lose the war.” That was what Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the message was to U.S. politicians recently from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Good reads on this

• The Associated Press: Biden says there’s ‘not much time’ to keep aid flowing to Ukraine and Congress must ‘stop the games’

• USA Today: Biden says alternate Ukraine funding possible

Trump is losing control of his New York real estate holdings

Former President Donald Trump attended the first three days of a civil trial in New York brought against him by the state’s attorney general, Letitia James, on charges of fraudulently exaggerating his wealth to obtain lower rates on loans and insurance payments.

Trump, in fact, has already been found liable for defrauding banks and insurers by the judge in the nonjury civil trial, which does not involve criminal charges but will determine whether Trump is fined up to $250 million. New York Judge Arthur Engoron ruled last week that Trump had vastly overstated the value of his real estate holdings and his net worth, by an estimated $2.2 billion.

Why it matters

• If Engoron’s ruling last week is upheld on appeal, it will strip Trump’s New York real estate holdings from his control.

• The trial that began this week in Manhattan is to determine the degree of culpability Trump and those around him have in the fraud, and whether the judge will grant James’s request that Trump be fined $250 million.

• This is the second civil trial Trump has faced. He was found liable by a New York jury in May of sexually abusing former magazine writer E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s and of defaming her. Trump was ordered to pay Carroll $5 million.

• On March 4, 2024, Trump will stand trial in federal court in D.C. to face four criminal charges related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results. And on March 25 of next year, another trial in Manhattan is scheduled to begin over whether Trump falsified business records to hide hush money payments to a porn star during the 2016 campaign.

Good reads on this

• The Associated Press: Accountant’s testimony sprawls into a 4th day at Trump business fraud trial in New York

• The Associated Press: Judge rules Donald Trump defrauded banks, insurers while building real estate empire

• The Week: Why did Trump bother showing up at his New York fraud trial?

Biden administration constructs wall on portion of U.S.-Mexico border

The Biden administration waived two dozen federal laws to expedite the building of a wall along a portion of the border between the U.S. and Mexico in Texas, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Thursday.

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas stated in a notice announcing the move that there is “an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States in the project areas.”

President Biden had previously promised to not continue building the wall.

Why it matters

• The roughly 20 miles of fencing will be constructed in parts of south Texas in Starr County, an area where government data says that 245,000 illegal entries have been recorded this year.

• Even as DHS made the announcement, Biden expressed displeasure with the move but said that the government’s hands were tied because Congress designated that certain money be spent on a wall.

• A surge in illegal border crossings this year — symbolized by crowds of migrants in Eagle Pass, Texas, last month — has made immigration a top issue in the Republican presidential primary, and another sticking point in the congressional negotiations over funding the government.

• “It sounds to me ... that there’s a direct correlation between 245,000 entrants at the Rio Grande valley and the announcement of a wall,” said MSNBC anchor José Díaz-Balart on Thursday. White House spokesman Andrew Bates replied that “Congress is forcing us to do this under a 2019 law.”

Good reads on this

• NBC News: Biden administration waives federal laws to allow border wall construction in Texas

• The Associated Press: Biden says he had to use Trump-era funds for the border wall. Asked if barriers work, he says ‘No’

Newest U.S. senator is sworn in and faces questions about whether she’ll seek to stay

Laphonza Butler, a Democratic activist and fundraiser, was sworn in as California’s second U.S. senator on Tuesday, filling the seat left vacant by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who died at 90 years old a week ago.

Butler was appointed to fill out the rest of Feinstein’s term, which ends in January 2025, by California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Why it matters

• Butler immediately faced questions about whether she will campaign in the fall election next year to seek a full six-year term.

• Three Democrats in the House had already announced that they were running to replace Feinstein. Reps. Adam Schiff, Barbara Lee and Katie Porter are all popular with progressives.

• Schiff responded to the news of Butler’s appointment by announcing that he raised over $6 million in the third quarter of this year, bringing his total campaign war chest to $32 million.

• The filing deadline in California is on Dec. 8, giving Butler two months to decide.

Good reads on this

• The Associated Press: Butler sworn in as 3rd Black female senator in U.S. history, replaces late California Sen. Feinstein

• The Sacramento Bee: Who is Newsom appointee Laphonza Butler? A powerful Democrat with a complicated labor legacy