As House control is about to switch, it's serving as a reminder about Democrats: They like government. And governing.
While tea party Republicans swept to power to stop things -- repeal Obamacare, roll back environmental regulations and decrease the size and scope of government -- Democrats are marching into the majority to build it back up. And after spending eight downcast years in the minority, they can't wait to get started.
Democrats say the goal is not necessarily a return to big government — or to quickly start impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump — but to reassert Congress' ability to govern, which they say diminished under Republicans.
Says Rep. Peter DeFazio, who's waited 32 years to chair the Transportation committee says, "We've got a lot of corked-up energy."
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken removed Cuba Wednesday from the State Department's short list of countries that it deems less than fully cooperative against violent groups.
In a statement, the State Department said Blinken had found that Cuban and U.S. law enforcement were again working together on counterterrorism and other efforts.
The State Department had cited Cuba as a “not fully cooperating country” in 2022, saying that Cuba had refused to engage with Colombia in the extradition of members of the National Liberation Army group.
Colombia later dropped its arrest warrants for those members, however. “Moreover, the United States and Cuba resumed law enforcement cooperation in 2023, including on counterterrorism," Wednesday's statement said.
The State Department, in compliance with U.S. laws on arms exports, maintains a list of countries perceived as not cooperating fully on counterterrorism.
The U.S. kept North Korea, Syria, Iran and Venezuela on the list in Wednesday's rulings.
Cuban foreign minister Bruno Rodríguez acknowledged the decision, but he said that Washington could do more.
“The U.S. has just admitted what is known to everyone: that #Cuba fully collaborates with the efforts against terrorism,” Rodríguez said on X, formerly Twitter.
But he added that “all political manipulation of the issue should cease and our arbitrary and unjust inclusion on the list of countries sponsoring terrorism should end.”
Associated Press writer Andrea Rodríguez reported from Havana.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends a joint press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister following their talks in Kyiv on Wednesday, May 15, 2024. (Brendan Smialowski, Pool Photo via AP)
