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[4] I'm Daily Wire, editor -in -chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe.
[5] It's Thursday, February 29th, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
[6] President Joe Biden and former President Trump visited different towns along the southern border today.
[7] Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce breaks down the dueling visits.
[8] The visits come as both campaigns ramp up efforts over what may be the biggest election issue, immigration.
[9] This is only Biden's second trip to the border since he took office.
[10] His first took place over a year ago in January 2023.
[11] Biden delivered remarks from Brownsville, Texas, a city that's been described by many as a mixed bag of immigration.
[12] In his remarks, Biden urged Republicans to pass more border security funding.
[13] Former President Trump visited Eagle Pass, Texas, a hotspot for illegal crossings during Biden's presidency.
[14] Trump and many Republicans have continued to say that the president doesn't need Congress to take action on the border.
[15] They say the president could drastically change the situation with a few executive orders.
[16] A wildfire engulfing much of Texas's panhandle became the largest in state history as of today, even as a bit of snow fell over the scorched area.
[17] Daily Wire reporter Amanda Presta Giacomo has more.
[18] The landscape in the Smokhouse Creek area has been described as blackened prairies with dead cattle, and several nearby communities have been destroyed.
[19] At one point, the blaze grew to nearly 1 ,700 square miles over vast rural areas that are full of scrub brush, rocky canyons, and a few oil rigs.
[20] Even as snow fell and temperatures dropped, the fire has remained threatening, and according to the Texas A &M Forest Service is only 3 % contained.
[21] It's now crossed into part of Oklahoma.
[22] Emergency management officials say it's important to remain vigilant with these fires, even with the snowfall.
[23] I don't want the community there to feel a false sense of security that all of these fires will not grow anymore.
[24] This is still a very dynamic situation.
[25] The House passed a short -term funding bill today to avert a shutdown this weekend, giving Congress more time to fund the government.
[26] Speaker Mike Johnson has faced some criticism from House House of House of the weekend, giving Congress more time to fund the government.
[27] GOP members who say they were kept largely in the dark about this deal, which includes six of the 12 spending bills that fund federal agencies.
[28] Johnson, however, defended his decision regarding the bipartisan agreement in a weekly news conference.
[29] Democracy is ugly.
[30] This is the way it works every year, always has, except that we've instituted some new innovations.
[31] We broke the omnibus fever, right?
[32] That's how Washington has been run for years.
[33] We're trying to turn the aircraft carrier back to real budgeting and spending reform.
[34] This was an important thing.
[35] thing, to break it up into smaller pieces.
[36] We've been working on separate individual appropriations bills, 12 appropriations bills.
[37] The short -term bill now heads to the Senate where it must pass before Friday night in order to prevent a shutdown.
[38] It will require the support of all 100 senators to vote quickly.
[39] The continuing resolution will extend the funding deadline for half of the dozen must -pass spending bills by one week to March 8th.
[40] The funding deadline for the remaining six bills would be pushed back by two weeks to March 22nd.
[41] The White House has endorsed.
[42] the bipartisan deal.
[43] This episode is brought to you by Shopify.
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[45] That's Shopify .com slash morning wire.
[46] Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin faced intense questioning from a House committee today.
[47] The committee pressed him on his days -long hospital stay and his failure to notify the president.
[48] Austin expressed confidence that the Pentagon, quote, will not experience the same issues in the future after implementing some new procedures to prevent lapses in notification.
[49] But GOP members of the House committee like Congresswoman Nancy Mace say there needs to be accountability for Austin's actions and equate his disappearance to a soldier going AWOL.
[50] What happens when they go AWOL?
[51] What is the punishment?
[52] Well, I wouldn't equate my going to the hospital and receiving treatment.
[53] Being incapacitated as a secretary here, yes, is going AWOL.
[54] So you don't equate disappearing, being incapacitated with being AWOL.
[55] I didn't disappear.
[56] I was in a military medical facility in Washington, D .C. You just testified.
[57] You didn't tell your staff.
[58] Did you not?
[59] You just testified.
[60] What happens when a soldier goes AWOL?
[61] I have 20 seconds.
[62] What happens when a soldier goes AWOL.
[63] We have to realize that, you know, I have a large, a fairly large are they honorably discharged?
[64] Are they put into the break?
[65] Are they, what happens?
[66] Seriously, you're not even answering the questions.
[67] Another state has declared former President Donald Trump ineligible for the ballot.
[68] Illinois became the third state to attempt to boot the former president from the ballot.
[69] Chicago -based judge Tracy Porter ruled that Trump was not qualified for the presidency under an interpretation of the provision of the 14th Amendment.
[70] But she put the decision on hold until Friday, leaving Trump on the March 19th primary ballot to allow for an appeal in the case in state court.
[71] The Supreme Court heard arguments earlier this month on a Colorado ruling that deemed Trump ineligible, and if they rule against Colorado, the ruling would stand for all 50 states.
[72] Russian President Vladimir Putin is threatening nuclear war in the event that NATO or the West try to gain a deeper involvement in Ukraine.
[73] Putin's blunt warning came in a state of the nation address ahead of next month's election.
[74] He's all but certain to win.
[75] Putin was likely responding to a statement from French President Emmanuel Macron, who said that future deployment of Western ground troops to Ukraine should not be ruled out.
[76] Putin said that action would lead to tragic consequences for countries who do that.
[77] Those of your drive home updates this afternoon.
[78] To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire .com.
[79] And for more in -depth discussion of the biggest stories of the day, listen to the latest full episode of Morning Wire every morning.