The Number That Cleared the House
216 to 212: the NDAA cleared the House with Section 219, which funds the Iran war and merges supply chains with Israel. Beneath the flag there is always a priced interest; here the price is $1.15 trillion. Massie called the section 'a betrayal of sovereignty,' Schumer called the whole bill a 'permission slip' for war.[1]
In yesterday's column, 'The Cargo That Turns to Suez, the Bill in the Senate,' I wrote that the real reckoning would come on the legislative floor; now the House number is fixed at $1.15 trillion and the bill has moved to the Senate. The appropriations calendar is a leash: whoever authorises the money holds the war's duration. With Democrats already blocking debate, the real bargaining will run through cost.[1], [3]
The Tariff That Backfired
In Brazil, the 25 percent US tariff strengthened not the right it aimed at but Lula: a Quaest poll shows him ahead 45 to 37 in a runoff. An embargo is not a wall but a detour; here the detour is political. The Pix payment system, ethanol and deforestation were cited as grounds, but the bill was converted into a sovereignty pitch.[2]
The forecast: if Washington keeps pressing, Brazil's turn toward BRICS and alternative payment rails — with Pix at the centre of that very dispute — will accelerate. A tariff built to punish may enlarge the non-dollar plumbing instead. The first question about any sanctions package is not 'who was hit' but 'through which port will the cargo re-route' — and this time the port is the ballot box.[2]