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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 18 april 2023
GOP leader McConnell returns to Senate after head injury

By MARY CLARE JALONICK even simple votes like nom-
Associated Press inations more difficult.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen- One immediate question
ate Republican leader for McConnell upon his
Mitch McConnell is back at return is whether to help
work in the U.S. Capitol on Democrats temporarily re-
Monday, almost six weeks place Feinstein on the Sen-
after a fall at a Washington- ate Judiciary Committee
area hotel and extended as she continues to recover
treatment for a concussion. in California from a case of
The longtime Kentucky the shingles.
senator, 81, has been re- Democrats have become
covering at home since he increasingly frustrated as
was released from a reha- the Democrat’s more than
bilitation facility March 25. six-week absence on the
He fell after attending an panel has stalled confir-
event earlier that month, mation of some of Biden’s
injuring his head and frac- nominees, and Feinstein
turing a rib. has asked for a short-term
McConnell arrived at the substitute on the commit-
Capitol early Monday and tee.
is expected to work a full Democrats can’t do that,
schedule in the Senate Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., returns to the chamber almost six weeks after a though, without help from
this week. In brief remarks fall that left him with a rib fracture and concussion, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, April Republicans, since approv-
on the Senate floor as the 17, 2023. Associated Press al of the process would
chamber came back into take 60 votes on the Sen-
session after a two-week re- that being hard-headed reasons, raising questions first few months of the year. ate floor. Two GOP mem-
cess, McConnell criticized has served me very well.” about how much the Sen- Unlike the last two years, bers of the Judiciary panel,
President Joe Biden for not McConnell returns to the ate will be able to achieve in which Senate Major- Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkan-
doing enough to negotiate Senate ahead of a busy in the coming months with ity Leader Chuck Schumer sas and Marsha Blackburn
on the nation’s debt ceiling stretch in which Congress a 51-49 split between the was able to push through of Tennessee, have already
and thanked his colleagues will have to find a way to parties. key elements of President said they don’t believe that
for their well-wishes. raise the debt ceiling and Already, the GOP leader’s Joe Biden’s agenda with Republicans should help
“I’m very happy to be negotiate additional aid absence, along with those the help of a Democratic- Democrats replace Fein-
back,” McConnell said. for the Ukraine war, among of Democratic Sens. Di- led House, the Senate has stein.
“There’s important business other policy matters. anne Feinstein and John been significantly slowed It is unclear when Feinstein,
for Congress to tackle.” And he comes back as Fetterman, among others, with Republicans now in 89, will return to Washing-
And he joked, “Suffice it to several other senators have added to the Sen- charge in the House. And ton. Her office has so far
say, this wasn’t the first time have been out for medical ate’s lethargic pace in the absences have made declined to say. q

U.S., Japan plant White House cherry tree to mark friendship

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE She is spending part of the was planted near the East South Korea at a time of creasingly complicated.
Associated Press week in Washington to pro- Wing. The White House has shared concerns about a In March, South Korea an-
WASHINGTON (AP) — Step- mote friendship between 23 other cherry trees across restive North Korea and a nounced a plan to com-
ping gingerly over the lawn the U.S. and Japan, as well the 18 acres. more powerful China. He pensate Koreans who per-
in their spiky heels, first lady as cultural exchanges, the The meeting between has sought opportunities formed forced labor during
Jill Biden and Yuko Kishida, Japanese government Biden and Kishida was re- to help the historic rivals Tokyo’s colonial rule that
the wife of Japan’s prime said. scheduled from January improve their long, fraught doesn’t require Japanese
minister, planted a cherry Biden took Kishida to the when Prime Minister Fumio relationship as the Indo- companies to contribute to
tree at the White House on Oval Office to see President Kishida and President Biden Pacific region becomes in- the reparations.q
Monday to honor decades Joe Biden, the White House met in the Oval Office.
of friendship between their said, and hosted her for Kishida’s wife accompa-
countries. lunch. Among those invited nied him on the trip. But Jill
“This is how you always to the women-only meal Biden was unable to host
plant a tree,” Biden said, were Rep. Doris Matsui, D- Yuko Kishida at the time
laughing about their shoes Calif.; Maki Onuki, principal because the first lady was
as she and Kishida shoveled dancer at the Washington recovering from a surgical
soil around the base of a Ballet; and Akiko Iwasaki, procedure performed two
Yoshino cherry tree sapling immunology professor at days earlier to remove sev-
on the south grounds. Yale University School of eral cancerous lesions from
Kishida is on a rare solo visit Medicine, according to the her skin.
to the United States. It’s first lady’s office. It also comes before next
the first time the spouse of The new sapling is a Yo- week’s state visit by South
the prime minister has trav- shino cherry tree that was Korean President Yoon
eled alone to the United propagated from a cut- Suk Yeol and first lady, Kim
States, and Kishida visited ting from a cherry tree Keon Hee. First lady Jill Biden, right, and Yuko Kishida, spouse of Japan’s
at Biden’s invitation, ac- that was planted on the President Biden has looked Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, third from left, walk on the South
cording to the Japanese south grounds in July 2017, to build closer security co- Grounds of the White House in Washington to plant a Yoshino
embassy in Washington. the White House said. It operation with Japan and cherry tree, Monday, April 17, 2023.
Associated Press