By David Shepardson

(Reuters) -Ford Motor said Monday it has paused work on a $3.5 billion battery plant in Michigan, citing concerns about its ability to competitively operate the plant.

The announcement comes as Ford has repeatedly upped its offer to the United Auto Workers union in contract talks. President Joe Biden on Tuesday is set to visit Michigan to join a UAW picket line in support of striking workers at the Detroit Three automakers.

Republicans in Congress have been probing Ford’s battery plant plan in Marshall, Michigan, using technology from CATL, the world’s largest battery maker.

“We are pausing work and limiting spending on construction on the Marshall project until we’re confident about our ability to competitively operate the plant,” Ford said Monday declining to say what specific reason triggered the decision. “We haven’t made any final decision about the planned investment there.”

Ford in July forecast a full-year loss of $4.5 billion on its electric vehicle unit – 50% higher than projected earlier this year – and said it was slowing its EV production ramp up.

The auto industry is watching how new rules around future EV tax credits will be implemented as they make investment decisions on producing batteries for their transition to EVs.

In 2022, Congress passed the $430 billion Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) which will bar future $7,500 consumer EV tax credits if any battery components are manufactured or assembled by a “foreign entity of concern.”

Ford has been awaiting guidance to determine if batteries operated by the Marshall plant would run afoul of the requirements.

(Reporting by David ShepardsonEditing by Nick Zieminski)

(Reuters) -U.S. government services would be disrupted and hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed without pay if Congress fails to provide funding for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. Workers deemed “essential” would remain on the job, but without pay.

Many government agencies have not updated shutdown plans they have prepared in the past. Here is a guide to what would stay open and what would shut down:

MILITARY

The 2 million U.S. military personnel would remain at their posts, but roughly half of the Pentagon’s 800,000 civilian employees would be furloughed.

Contracts awarded before the shutdown would continue, and the Pentagon could place new orders for supplies or services needed to protect national security. Other new contracts, including renewals or extensions, would not be awarded. Payments to defense contractors such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin and RTX, formerly known as Raytheon, could be delayed.

The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration would continue maintaining nuclear weapons.

LAW ENFORCEMENT

According to the Justice Department’s 2021 contingency plan, agents at the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and other federal law enforcement agencies would remain on the job, and prison staffers would continue to work.

Criminal prosecutions, including the two federal cases against former President Donald Trump, would continue. Most civil litigation would be postponed. It is unclear whether the government’s landmark Google antitrust lawsuit would be disrupted, though other antitrust cases have continued through past shutdowns.

Aid to local police departments and other grants could be delayed.

Border Patrol and immigration enforcement agents would continue to work, as would customs officers, according to the Department of Homeland Security’s 2022 plan. The Secret Service and the Coast Guard would also continue operations.

Most of the Federal Trade Commission’s consumer-protection workers would be furloughed, as would half of its antitrust employees.

FEDERAL COURTS

Federal courts have enough money to stay open until at least Oct. 13. Activities might be scaled back after that point. The Supreme Court would stay open as well.

CONGRESS

Lawmakers continue to collect paychecks, even as other federal workers do not. Staffers do not get paid, though those deemed essential would be required to work.

TRANSPORTATION

Airport security screeners and air-traffic control workers would be required to work, according to recent contingency plans, though absenteeism could be a problem. Some airports had to suspend operations during a shutdown in 2019 when traffic controllers called in sick.

Training for new air traffic controllers would stop, which Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has warned could worsen a shortage of qualified workers.

Some major infrastructure projects could face delays as environmental reviews and permitting would be disrupted, according to the White House.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

U.S. embassies and consulates would remain open under the State Department’s 2022 shutdown plan. Passport and visa processing would continue as long as there were sufficient fees to cover operations. Nonessential official travel, speeches and other events would be curtailed.

Some foreign aid programs could run out of money as well.

NATIONAL PARKS AND NATURAL RESOURCES

It’s not clear how national parks, national monuments and other sites would be affected. Many remained open during a 2018-2019 shutdown, through restrooms and information desks were closed and waste disposal was halted. They were closed during a 2013 shutdown.

Wildfire fighting efforts would continue, according to the Agriculture Department’s 2020 contingency plan, though timber sales on national forest lands would be curtailed and fewer recreation permits would be issued.

MUSEUMS

The Smithsonian museums that line the National Mall would close, as would the National Zoo. That would bring a premature end to the Zoo’s farewell celebration for its three giant pandas, which are due to return to China.

SCIENCE

Scientific research would be disrupted as agencies like the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) would furlough most of their workers, according to recent contingency plans.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) would continue to support the International Space Station and track satellites, but 17,000 of its 18,300 employees would be furloughed.

Weather forecasts and fisheries regulation would continue, as would patent and trademark reviews. Tests of new drugs and medical devices would continue.

HEALTH

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would continue to monitor disease outbreaks, though other public health activities could suffer as more than half of the agency’s workers would be furloughed.

The National Institutes of Health would furlough most of its staff and delay new clinical trials for medical treatments.

Healthcare services for veterans and Native Americans would continue.

Most inspections of hazardous waste sites and drinking water and chemical facilities would stop.

Food-safety inspections by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could be delayed.

FINANCIAL REGULATION

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would furlough roughly 90% of its 4,600 employees and suspend most activities, leaving only a skeleton staff to respond to emergencies.

Likewise, the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) would furlough almost all of its employees and cease oversight, enforcement and regulation, according to its 2021 plan.

The Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency would continue as normal, as they are funded by industry fees rather than congressional appropriations.

ECONOMIC DATA

The publication of major U.S. economic data, including employment and inflation reports of critical importance to policymakers and investors, would be suspended, according to the Biden administration.

SOCIAL SECURITY, MEDICARE AND OTHER BENEFITS

The Social Security Administration would continue to issue retirement and disability benefits, and payments would continue under the Medicare and Medicaid health programs.

Military veterans’ benefits would also continue, according to a 2021 contingency plan.

Nutrition benefits provided to 7 million mothers through the Women, Infants and Children program would be cut within days, according to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

Food aid through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program would go out as normal for October but could be affected after that, he said.

TAX COLLECTION

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) would operate as normal, and all 83,000 employees would continue to be paid because the agency’s funding would not expire.

DISASTER RESPONSE

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would risk running out of funds for disaster relief and long-term recovery projects.

EDUCATION

Pell Grants and student loans would continue to be paid, but could be disrupted as most Education Department employees would be furloughed, according to the agency’s 2021 plan.

A protracted shutdown could “severely curtail” aid to schools, universities and other educational institutions, the department says. It also could delay funds that are due to be awarded later in the year.

WATERWAYS

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would continue to operate locks, dams and flood control facilities. Most employees would not be furloughed.

CHILD CARE

According to the White House, 10,000 children from low-income families would lose access to the Head Start preschool program.

SMALL BUSINESS SUPPORT

The Small Business Administration would not be able to issue any new loans, though loans for businesses hurt by natural disasters would continue.

AGRICULTURE

Meat and egg inspections would continue but some lab services would be disrupted, making it harder to fight animal diseases. Crop insurance would not be affected, but some loan programs would be. Research, conservation and rural development programs would be shut down.

LABOR

Workplace safety inspections would be limited and investigations into unfair pay practices would be suspended, according to the White House.

The ability of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to mediate labor disputes would be curtailed because almost all of its 1,200 employees would be furloughed, according to a 2022 plan.

WHITE HOUSE

In the 2018-2019 shutdown, the White House furloughed 1,100 of 1,800 staff in the Executive Office of the President. Some offices, such as the National Security Council, continued at full strength, while others like the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) were scaled back sharply.

White House furloughs could make it harder to comply with the impeachment investigation of President Joe Biden, a Democrat, by Republicans in the House of Representatives.

The U.S. Constitution specifies that the president continues to get paid.

MAIL DELIVERY

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) would be unaffected as it does not depend on Congress for funding.

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan, Pete Schroeder, Howard Schneider, Moira Warburton, Nate Raymond, Makini Brice, Steve Holland, Julia Harte, Diane Bartz, Andrew Chung and Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Scott Malone, Jonathan Oatis and Aurora Ellis)

By Stephanie Kelly and Nicole Jao

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Oil prices settled nearly flat in choppy trade on Monday as Russia relaxed its fuel ban and investors eyed elevated interest rates that could curb demand.

Brent crude futures settled 2 cents higher at $93.29 a barrel.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude settled 35 cents lower at $89.68.

Crude prices fell last week after a hawkish Federal Reserve rattled global financial markets and raised concerns that interest rates could stay higher for longer, crimping oil demand. That snapped a three-week rally of more than 10% after Saudi Arabia and Russia constrained supply by extending production cuts to the end of the year.

“The market may be still wrestling with the Fed keeping interest rates higher for a longer period of time, which can impact the demand side of the equation,” said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates.

Russia approved changes to its fuel export ban, lifting restrictions for fuel used as bunkering for some vessels and diesel with high sulphur content, a government document showed on Monday.

The export ban on all types of gasoline and high-quality diesel, announced last Thursday, remained in place.

Last week, Moscow issued a temporary ban on gasoline and diesel exports to most countries to stabilise the domestic market, fanning concerns of low products supply as the Northern Hemisphere heads into winter.

Also weighing on oil prices, the U.S. dollar index strengthened to its highest since November 2022. A stronger greenback makes U.S. dollar-priced oil more expensive for holders of other currencies, curtailing demand.

“We seem to have risk-off sentiment because of strength in the dollar,” Price Futures Group analyst Phil Flynn said.

On the supply side, the number of operating oil rigs in the U.S. fell by eight to 507 last week – the lowest count since February 2022 – despite higher prices, a weekly report from Baker Hughes showed on Friday.

Compounding supply constraints, U.S. oil refiners are expected to have about 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd) of capacity offline for the week ending Sept. 29, decreasing available refining capacity by 324,000 bpd, research company IIR Energy said on Monday.

Offline capacity is expected to rise to 1.9 million bpd in the week ending Oct. 6, IIR added.

In Iran, an explosion was reported on Monday at Iran’s southern refinery of Bandar Abbas, according to the official IRNA news agency, following a gas leak.

Expectations of better economic data this week from China, the world’s largest crude importer, lifted sentiment. However, analysts flagged that oil prices face technical resistance at the November 2022 highs reached hit last week.

China’s manufacturing sector is expected to expand in September, with the purchasing manufacturing index forecast to rise above 50 for the first time since March, Goldman Sachs analysts said.

(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly and Nicole Jao in New York; additional reporting by Paul Carsten in London and Mohi Narayan and Florence TanEditing by Louise Heavens, David Goodman, Bernadette Baum, Paul Simao and David Gregorio)

(Reuters) -Grammy-winning artist Usher will headline the halftime show at the 2024 Super Bowl in Las Vegas, Nevada, the National Football League (NFL), Apple Music and label Roc Nation announced on Sunday.

The 58th Super Bowl is scheduled to take place at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium on Feb. 11, 2024.

“It’s an honor of a lifetime to finally check a Super Bowl performance off my bucket list,” Usher said in the statement. “I can’t wait to bring the world a show unlike anything else they’ve seen from me before.”

Since the release of his debut album in 1994, Usher Raymond IV has sold over 80 million records worldwide, climbing atop music charts and bringing home eight Grammy awards, considered by many to be the most prestigious awards in the music industry.

Billboard magazine crowned him the second most successful artist of the 2000s.

“U Got It Bad,” “OMG,” and “Yeah!” are among the 44-year-old singer’s chart-topping hits. Usher is currently performing in Las Vegas as part of his residency show “Usher: My Way.”

“Usher is an icon whose music has left an indelible mark on the cultural landscape throughout his career,” NFL Head of Music Seth Dudowsky said in the news release announcing the decision.

Last year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show, headlined by R&B star Rihanna, was the most-watched halftime performance of all time, organizers said.

Iconic artists including the Rolling Stones, Beyonce, Stevie Wonder, Prince and Bruce Springsteen have taken the Super Bowl stage over the years.

(Reporting by Maria Caspani, Editing by Bill Berkrot)

By Robert Harvey and Natalie Grover

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil prices may be near $100 a barrel, but a range of factors could prevent a sustained rally above that level, analysts say.

They include a projected rise in non-OPEC production, in addition to Russia’s need to boost supply to increase revenue and the potential for oil demand to slow given already-high interest rates in major Western economies.

Brent peaked at nearly $96 a barrel last week and U.S. West Texas Intermediate hit $91 a barrel for the first time in 2023.

A growing number of analysts forecast Brent will surpass $100 a barrel this year as demand rises, supply is constrained, and stocks of fuel and crude are relatively low.

Retail fuel prices in the U.S. and Europe have risen to multi-month highs as crude prices have rallied.

“If energy prices increase and stay high, that’ll have an effect on spending, and it may have an effect on consumer expectations for inflation, things like that. That’s just things that we have to monitor,” U.S. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said last week.

Morgan Stanley analysts echoed the sentiment, that although central bankers may be wary of rising oil prices, a rally “must be sustained for some time to have a greater, more durable effect on core prices”.

A long run above $100 could increase inflationary concerns for governments that have hiked interest rates to combat rising prices as their economies emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Non-OPEC+ output growth could calm any rally. Goldman Sachs sees non-OPEC+ supply rising by 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) by next year, while the International Energy Agency has forecast growth of 1.3 million bpd.

Brazil, Guyana and the United States are among the countries expected to increase output.

The return to investment in and growth from offshore production also make a long-term rally less likely, Goldman analysts said, adding “most of the rally is behind us”.

High interest rates are already curbing demand across Western economies, including for oil.

Geopolitical considerations may also complicate decisions around how long OPEC+ can sustain voluntary cuts.

Supply curbs implemented by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+), in particular a combined 1.3 million bpd voluntary cut from Russia and Saudi Arabia until the end of 2023, have played a leading role in pushing futures prices to 10-month highs.

But Russia may be unable to curb exports for a protracted period given the toll of the war in Ukraine on its finances, PVM’s Tamas Varga said.

For OPEC’s de facto leader Saudi Arabia, the perennial issue of achieving prices high enough to reward producers without pushing the market to a level that destroys demand and tips the economy into recession is likely to resurface in policy considerations, analysts said.

“I’m not sure there’s much economic sense in tipping the global economy into recession if OPEC+ persevered with these cuts, which makes me question how high the price will go and how sustainable it will be,” OANDA analyst Craig Erlam said.

RATES AND RALLY

After months of aggressive rate hikes to tackle stubborn inflation, policymakers in the U.S. and Europe have signalled hikes are at or near their peak.

The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday pressed pause on interest rates, but did not rule out one more hike this year.

Governments may look at fiscal measures such as cutting fuel duties as a more direct way of limiting the impact of high pump prices, HSBC analyst Ajay Parmar told Reuters.

Gasoline prices breached the psychologically significant $4 a gallon mark for the first time since last October earlier this month, as retail diesel prices hit their highest since December, according to Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates.

The fuel price rise is a sensitive issue in the run-up to the U.S. presidential election.

President Joe Biden has already promised to cut prices, though has not said how, and in the short term the impact of autumn refinery maintenance on supplies could keep prices high.

Restrictions on fuel exports and increasing refinery utilisation are potential options. The U.S. government already drew on crude reserves last year to add supply to the market.

Diesel and gasoline pump prices in the Euro zone and Britain have also hit multi-month highs, prompting the latest round of government action.

France this week lifted a decades-old ban on retailers selling road fuel below cost to combat inflation.

Energy major TotalEnergies has also agreed to extend its 1.99 euros per litre cap on fuel to the end of 2023.

And in Britain, which is expected to see a general election next year, politicians are likely to hesitate to withdraw a five pence per litre fuel duty cut in place since March last year, executive director of the Petrol Retailers Association Gordon Balmer said.

(Reporting by Natalie Grover, Robert Harvey and Mark John in London; additional reporting by Balazs Koranyi in Frankfurt and Dan Burns in New York; Editing by Simon Webb and Barbara Lewis)

(Reuters) – OpenAI’s ChatGPT is getting a major update that will enable the viral chatbot to have voice conversations with users and interact using images, moving it closer to popular artificial intelligence (AI) assistants like Apple’s Siri.

The voice feature “opens doors to many creative and accessibility-focused applications”, OpenAI said in a blog post on Monday.

Similar AI services like Siri, Google voice assistant and Amazon.com’s Alexa are integrated with the devices they run on and are often used to set alarms and reminders, and deliver information off the internet.

Since its debut last year, ChatGPT has been adopted by companies for a wide range of tasks from summarizing documents to writing computer code, setting off a race amongst Big Tech companies to launch their own offerings based on generative AI.

ChatGPT’s new voice feature can also narrate bedtime stories, settle debates at the dinner table, and speak out loud text input from users.

The technology behind it is being used by Spotify for the platform’s podcasters to translate their content in different languages, OpenAI said.

With images support, users can take pictures of things around them and ask the chatbot to “troubleshoot why your grill won’t start, explore the contents of your fridge to plan a meal, or analyze a complex graph for work-related data”.

Alphabet’s Google Lens is currently the popular choice to gain information on images.

The new ChatGPT features will be released for subscribers of its Plus and Enterprise plans over the next two weeks.

(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala and Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)

(Reuters) -The moment investors have been waiting for seems to finally have arrived, as major central banks have indicated they are nearing the end of their string of interest-rate rises.

The week ahead brings more evidence of how much progress is left for developed-economy policymakers, while in the emerging world, India is set to enter the bond-market big time and a raft of central banks wrestle with a dilemma.

Here’s your week ahead in markets from Vidya Ranganathan in Singapore, Lewis Krauskopf in New York and Naomi Rovnick, Karin Strohecker and Amanda Cooper in London.

1PRICE POINTS

    The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge lands on Sept. 29, right after the central bank signalled it plans to keep interest rates higher for longer to tame price pressures.

    The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index rose 3.3% in the 12 months through July. The Fed tracks the PCE price indexes for its 2% inflation target.

    In its latest decision on Wednesday, the Fed kept interest rates steady, but projected monetary policy will remain significantly tighter through 2024 than previously expected.

    Investors will also be watching events in Washington, where U.S. lawmakers are haggling over a spending bill with a Sept. 30 deadline to avert a potential government shutdown that could rattle markets.

2PAUSE AND EFFECT

The European Central Bank has not called time on its battle against inflation, but markets are laser-focused on when it might. That means euro zone consumer prices data on Sept. 29 has the potential to move markets significantly.

Headline inflation in the euro area remains far above the ECB’s 2% target but has been moving in the right direction.

Consumer prices increased by 5.2% year on year in August, extending a downward trend that started last autumn.

The ECB raised its deposit rate to a record 4% this month and revised up its inflation forecast for next year.

But with the currency bloc’s economy weakening, the central bank also hinted a pause, at least, was coming. A further decline in inflation will undoubtedly spur intense speculation about the timing of its first rate cut.

3NO BARREL OF LAUGHS

After what has felt like a relentless period of cost-of-living crisis and rising interest rates, central banks are finally wrestling inflation into submission. Or so they thought.

The oil price – a major inflation variable that lies beyond the control of any policymaker – has risen above $90 a barrel to 10-month highs, serving an unpleasant reminder that what goes down can also easily go up again. The key driver has been Saudi Arabia and Russia, which account for over 20% of global output, agreeing to extend production cuts through year-end, to align supply with demand.

Most analysts agree the oil price would, in theory, have to remain higher for longer to really push up headline inflation. But the predictions of $100 oil are becoming louder. Central banks may not yet be able to declare the war on inflation over.

4WELCOME TO THE CLUB

India finally got the nod from JPMorgan to join its benchmark GBI-EM emerging market domestic bond index, which is followed by $236 billion of funds. The decision will draw billions of dollars into domestic fixed-income markets of the world’s fifth largest economy, with official inclusion due in increments from July 2024 until India reaches the 10% mark.

India began talks on including its debt in global indexes in 2019, but that ambition had been delayed by a number of factors, including its stance on capital gains taxes and local settlement.

Its government bond markets – in which foreigners currently hold less than 2% of outstanding paper – could get another boost when fellow index provider FTSE Russell decides on Sept. 28 whether to add India to its emerging bonds benchmark.

5ASIA’S CURRENCY CONUNDRUM

Asian central banks have a dilemma: how to handle weakening economic growth and peaking inflation, while arresting the slide in currencies to maintain stability in their financial systems.

The Bank of Indonesia kept rates steady for an eighth month on Thursday. Benign inflation might have argued for a cut, but Governor Perry Warjiyo emphasised currency stability was a deciding factor. The rupiah is at six-month lows and its yield premium over U.S. dollars has shrunk.

The same day, the Philippine central bank prioritised support for the peso over economic growth running at its slowest in nearly 12 years in the second quarter, with a hawkish pause.

The Bank of Thailand meets on Sept. 27 and is likely to stay hawkish, forced by the beleaguered baht, despite wide twin deficits and a struggling economy.

Heavy currency-market intervention has been one tactic. But much may rest on decisions of other central banks further afield, namely the Federal Reserve.

(Compiled by Amanda Cooper; Editing by Toby Chopra)

By Sinéad Carew

(Reuters) – Shares in real estate companies fell on Friday, adding to a massive sell-off the previous day, when bond yields jumped to their highest levels in 16 years after the Federal Reserve signaled that U.S. interest rates would stay high for longer.

The S&P 500 real estate index lost 0.7% on Friday after falling 3.5% on Thursday, which was its biggest daily decline since March when the banking sector was in crisis.

The U.S. Treasury 10-year yield, fell slightly on Friday, after rising on Thursday to around 4.5%, its highest since 2007. This provided tempting returns for fixed-income assets, making the relatively high dividend payouts of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) a little less tempting.

REITs also tend to borrow heavily so the prospect of higher rates for longer puts pressure on their profit outlook. While the Fed decided not to hike interest rates after its meeting on Wednesday, it indicated that rates could stay at elevated levels for longer than investors had expected.

“Not only are REIT’s bond substitutes but they also rely on borrowing so that just makes them doubly interest-rate-sensitive,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer of Cresset Capital who says that even though the sector seems cheap by some measures, he is not ready to step in right now.

The S&P 500 real estate index is the second weakest performer among the benchmark S&P 500’s 11 major sectors with a decline 6.5% so far this year, second only to utilities’ 10.3% drop. This compares with year-to-date a gain of about 15% for the benchmark index.

But Gina Szymanksi, portfolio manager for REITs at AEW Capital Management, said she expects Treasury yields will peak around current levels, which will help REIT stocks that have “already baked in” 10-year Treasury yields in this range.

“The knee-jerk reaction is, as interest rates rise, you sell REITs. It’s not totally unrealistic. They are capital intensive businesses that require financing,” said Szymanski, adding that if 10-year yields rise sharply from here it would add pressure to REIT stocks.

But if the economy weakens, REITs often outperform.

“When the Fed tries to slow the economy, it’s usually successful. That usually results in declining earnings for companies in general and when that happens it’s the time for REITs to shine,” says Szymanksi who estimates a roughly 20% total return for real estate stocks in the next two years.

On Friday the biggest real estate loser was American Tower, which finished down 1.8% while the biggest gainer was Extra Space Storage, up 1.2%.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities fell 1.6% on Friday, after losing 8% on Thursday and hitting its lowest level since 2016.

(Reporting By Sinéad Carew, editing by Lance Tupper and David Gregorio)

By Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden on Friday pledged to fight for gun safety laws in the United States while unveiling a new White House office of gun violence prevention.

THE TAKE

Vice President Kamala Harris will oversee the office, taking on an issue that is critical to her and Biden’s political base. The president’s 2024 re-election campaign is expected to focus heavily on efforts to reduce gun violence.

KEY QUOTE

“After every mass shooting, we hear a simple message… do something, do something,” Biden said. “My administration has been working relentlessly to do something.”

Before the event, Congresswoman Lucy McBath described to reporters the day her teenage son was shot, saying “nobody wants to experience what I have. But my experience has become far too common.”

CONTEXT

Gun violence kills tens of thousands of people a year in the United States, or more than 100 people a day, according to advocates. A majority of Americans would like to see stricter gun laws, according to the Pew Research Center.

The White House announced the new office on Thursday and said it would implement existing laws and work with local authorities to pass gun safety legislation at the state level.

Democrats largely favor stricter gun laws as a way to reduce deaths from gun violence at schools and in cities across the country.

Republicans, with the support of the National Rifle Association, a gun rights group, largely oppose stricter laws, citing the right to bear arms established in the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; additional reporting by Kanishka Singh; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)

By Makini Brice and Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday turned to a new strategy in a long-shot bid to prevent the fourth government shutdown in a decade, as time runs short ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline.

Republicans have so far failed to advance legislation that would keep the government running when the new fiscal year starts on Oct. 1.

Instead, they are preparing four separate spending bills, most of which reflect the deep cuts sought by the party’s right flank. They are certain to be rejected by the Democratic-controlled Senate, as they are far below spending levels outlined in a deal with Democratic President Joe Biden earlier this year.

The White House said Biden would veto two of those bills.

The House could vote on those bills on Tuesday, Speaker Kevin McCarthy said. Passage of the spending bills could give Republicans some leverage in negotiations with the Senate.

McCarthy said he hopes that would give him leeway to advance a stop-gap funding bill to keep the government running through Oct. 31. Some hard-right Republicans have balked at that idea.

“I still believe if you shut down, we are in a weaker position. You need the time to fund the government while you pass all the appropriations bills,” he said, adding that he thought the main focus of the overall spending fight should be new immigration controls on the border.

If Congress does not agree on spending levels, many government activities, from financial oversight to civil litigation, would be curtailed.

The House Rules Committee met on Friday afternoon to consider the four bills, which would fund the military, homeland security, agriculture programs, the State Department and other foreign operations for the full fiscal year.

Republicans hold a narrow 221-212 majority in the House and can afford very few defections.

On Thursday, the House blocked a procedural vote on an $886 billion defense spending bill, as five Republicans joined Democrats to capsize it. It was the third time the Republicans had failed to advance that legislation, which typically gets broad support from the party.

Former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election, has cheered on a shutdown. During Trump’s four-year presidency, the government shuttered three times.

A shutdown is not a foregone conclusion. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, has scheduled a procedural vote on Tuesday evening to advance a stopgap funding bill.

If it passes, McCarthy would have to decide whether he would bring it up for a vote in the House, knowing it could enrage his far-right Republicans.

That could spark a move to remove McCarthy from his speakership, leading to further chaos in the House.

(Reporting by Makini Brice and Richard Cowan; editing by Andy Sullivan and Alistair Bell)