Students who survived one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history are returning to school Wednesday, as federal and state lawmakers continue to debate how to prevent young people from losing their lives in what they all agree should be the safe confines of the nation’s schools.

There have been no classes at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Florida since a gunman killed 17 people there earlier this month. The massacre has reignited the the long-running debate over gun laws.

House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters Tuesday a “gap” in the nation’s background check system for gun buyers must be filled and called for the implementation of “sweeping mental health reform.”

“These are the kinds of things that we are going to be discussing with our members, with the Senate, and with the president,” Ryan said.

What Ryan and other Republican lawmakers have not called for, however, is a ban on guns, including a ban on semi-automatic AR-15 assault rifles like the one that was used in the Florida school attack.

“We shouldn’t be banning guns for law abiding citizens, we should be focusing on making sure that citizens who should not get guns in the first place don’t get those guns, said Ryan.

The National Rifle Association and other gun rights groups are strongly opposed to preventing Americans from owning certain types of weapons. As such, Republican leaders in Congress are unlikely to support U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposals to raise the minimum age for buying semi-automatic rifles, banning “bump stocks” that enable semi-automatic rifles to fire hundreds of rounds per minute, and to have more stringent background checks.

Trump, who has also called for teachers to be allowed to carry firearms in the classroom, said after meeting with the nation’s governor’s on Monday that, “half of you are so afraid of the NRA. “If [the NRA] is not with you, we have to fight them every once in a while.”

For years Democrats have pressed for a universal background check system, including investigations into online and gun show purchases.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday if Congress can pass only a bi-partisan bill to strengthen the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, known as “Fix NICS” legislation, “it would be an abject failure and a dereliction of duty.”

Many House Democratic members want to reinstate an assault weapons ban that expired more than a decade ago, but House Republican leaders maintain the Senate has the responsibility to take the next steps.

The mass shooting has prompted the Florida state legislature to debate a school safety bill. On Tuesday, House Republicans rebuffed Democratic amendments that would ban assault weapons, delete language that would allow some teachers to be armed with guns in schools and require mental health examinations for potential gun buyers.

 
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The walkway leading onto the campus of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is lined with flowers and photographs, memorials to the 17 students and teachers killed in a Valentine’s Day massacre that forever altered their lives and thrust them into the center of the nation’s gun debate.

Alexis Grogan, a 15-year-old sophomore, planned to wear a Stoneman Douglas color — maroon — on the first day back to class Wednesday, plus sneakers that say “MSD Strong, be positive, be passionate, be proud to be an eagle” and “2/14/18” in honor of those who died.

She feels nervous, like it might be too soon to go on as usual without slain friends like Luke Hoyer, who sat two seats behind her in Spanish. Still, the support from her fellow students, and their fight to strengthen gun control laws have buoyed her spirits.

“I am so proud of how the kids at my school have been fighting because we all want change to happen and, as we see the progression, it really shows us that people do care and they do hear what we have to say,” Grogan said in a text message.

​Keeping the pressure on

The Douglas students return to school after a whirlwind of political activism that has reignited the nation’s gun and school-safety debate. Douglas sophomore Charlotte Dixon said some of her friends are having a hard time returning to classes. But like Grogan, they are encouraged by the attention to gun laws their actions have brought.

“I’m so glad that people are stepping forward and talking about it keeping it relevant … because it shouldn’t happen to anyone ever again,” Dixon said.

On Tuesday, relatives of the Stoneman Douglas victims kept up the pressure in Florida’s capital with emotional testimony during a legislative hearing to discuss passing a bill that would, among other things, raise the age limit to buy long guns from 18 to 21. The bill also would create a program that allows teachers who receive law-enforcement training and are deputized by the local sheriff’s office to carry concealed weapons in the classroom, if also approved by the school district. The school’s superintendent has spoken out firmly against that measure.

The House Appropriations Committee’s 23-6 vote in favor of the bill Tuesday followed more than four hours of emotional discussion with the parents of some of the 17 killed, and nearly two weeks of activism by students on social media and in televised debates.

Gov. Rick Scott, who met with officials in Miami-Dade County on Tuesday, said at a news conference that he hopes a gun and school-safety bill is passed before Florida’s annual legislative session ends March 9. He had proposed measures that overlap with the Legislature’s plan but did not include arming teachers. However, he declined to say Tuesday whether he would veto the sweeping package if it included that provision.

The Senate’s version of the school-safety bill was approved by a second committee on a 13-7 vote Tuesday evening. Sen. Bill Galvano, who is designated to become the next Senate president and is ushering through the bill, said the earliest it will be considered by the full Senate is Friday.

Marion Hammer, a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association and Unified Sportsmen of Florida, told the House Appropriations Committee that she supports tightening school security and keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill, but not the House bill’s gun-ownership restrictions, which she later said would not have stopped the Parkland shooting.

“Part of what we need to do is make people understand that guns are not the problem,” she said after the hearing. “So passing more laws dealing with guns as a solution to a problem that exists within the enforcement of laws is just kind of silly.”

Max Schachter, father of 14-year-old victim Alex Schachter, said the bill the House committee eventually approved doesn’t go far enough, but could have saved his son.

“If we would have had these measures in place, I would not have had to bury my son next to his mother a week and a half ago. … I’m pleading for your help. I’m willing to compromise. Are you?” he asked.

​Personal memorials

Outside the school on Tuesday, people tied poems to the chain-link fence surrounding the school, and dropped off red, heart-shaped balloons. The building where the shooting occurred was cordoned off, and people signed photographs of the fallen.

Junior Sidney Fischer, 17, was in a Holocaust history class when the shooter aimed his gun at the window and shot into the room. Two students in his classroom died. He’s planning to wear swim goggles on his first day back Wednesday to honor his friend Nicholas Dworet, who was an accomplished swimmer.

“Obviously our school will never be the same, but I think once we get back into our normal routine people will shift back into a comfortable state,” Fischer said.

He’s planning to ride to school with a friend — just like they did before the shooting.

“I’m actually not too scared of going back tomorrow,” he said. “There is this sort of looming thought that someone will try to perform another shooting but I’m sure our school will be riddled with security.”
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Joined by several state attorneys general and the acting DEA administrator, U.S. attorney general Jeff Sessions announced a new task force to crack down on opioid manufacturers and distributors. He also announced the hiring of a federal prosecutor to lead anti-opioid efforts at the Department of Justice. From Washington, VOA’s Jill Craig has more.
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The White House announced Tuesday the U.S. is cutting aid to Cambodia because of “recent setbacks to democracy” in the southeast Asian country.

The statement said the setbacks caused the administration of President Donald Trump “deep concern” and prompted a review of U.S. aid, resulting in reductions in military and civilian aid.

The White House said the U.S. would continue to support health, agricultural, mine clearance and other programs “in support of the Cambodian people.”

The reduction in U.S. aid comes after Human Rights Watch reported in January the Cambodian government’s “broad political crackdown” last year “effectively extinguished” the country’s emerging democracy.

In its annual World Report, the rights group said the government, controlled by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party for more than three decades, disbanded the main opposition party, the Cambodia National Rescue Party, and arrested its leader on questionable treason charges. The dissolution came after a ruling the CNRP was involved in an attempt to overthrow Hun Sen’s regime.

The report said government authorities also abused the judicial system to prosecute political opponents and human rights activists and forced the closure of several independent media outlets, including radio stations that broadcast programming from Voice of America and Radio Free Asia. RFA’s Cambodian bureau was subsequently forced to close, and authorities charged two RFA journalists with spying in November for allegedly providing information to a foreign country.

“The last vestiges of democratic government in Cambodia disappeared in 2017,” said Human Rights Watch Asia director Brad Adams. “Hun Sen cemented his 33-year rule into dictatorship at the expense of the Cambodian people’s basic rights.”

The delegation to the European Union to Cambodia announced in December it was suspending funding for Cambodia’s National Election Commission after the dissolution of the CNRP and the arrest of its leader, Kem Sokha.

The EU said the party’s elimination meant the government could not organize a legitimate election in 2018 as planned. In November, the U.S. also decided to suspend funding for the NEC.

Despite the suspensions, NEC officials said it would not affect the NEC’s ability to hold an election, as it had lined up funding from government and other donors, including China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.

The increasing tensions with the EU and the U.S. come as Cambodia is becoming close to Beijing, which is offering political and economic support to Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge officer.

After the U.S. November announcement it was suspending funding to the NEC for the vote scheduled for July 29, 2018, the pro-government Fresh News website reported that Hun Sen said in a speech to garment workers that he welcomed the cut in U.S. aid, and urged Washington to cut all assistance.

Although U.S. assistance to Cambodia for health, education, governance, economic development and clearing unexploded ordnance was worth more than $77.6 million in 2014, China is now Cambodia’s biggest donor and lender.

According to The Economist, Chinese firms sent nearly $5 billion to Cambodia in loans and investments between 2011 and 2015, which accounts for about 70 percent of total industrial development.

A Cambodian court, meanwhile, ordered the seizure Tuesday of CNRP’s headquarters because former party co-leader Sam Rainsy failed to pay a $1 million judgment against him for allegedly defaming him, as well as compensation to another ruling party leader. Rainsy owns the property that was seized.

 
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Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, pledging to “strike a balance” between the risk of an overheating economy and the need to keep growth on track, told U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday that the central bank would stick with gradual interest rate increases despite the added stimulus of tax cuts and government spending.

Fed policymakers anticipate three rate increases this year, and Powell gave no indication in prepared remarks to the House Financial Services Committee that the pace needs to quicken even as the “tailwinds” of government stimulus and a stronger world economy propel the U.S. recovery.

“The [Federal Open Market Committee] will continue to strike a balance between avoiding an overheating economy and bringing … price inflation to 2 percent on a sustained basis,” Powell said in prepared remarks for his first monetary policy testimony to Congress as Fed chief.

“Some of the headwinds the U.S. economy faced in previous years have turned into tailwinds,” Powell said, noting recent fiscal policy shifts and the global economic recovery. Still, “inflation remains below our 2 percent longer-run objective. In the (FOMC‘s) view, further gradual rate increases in the federal funds rate will best promote attainment of both of our objectives.”

The testimony sent Powell’s first signal as Fed chief that the massive tax overhaul and government spending plan launched by the Trump administration will not prompt any immediate shift to a faster pace of rate increases. “Gradual” has been the operative word since the Fed began raising rates under Powell’s predecessor, Janet Yellen, in late 2015.

The Fed is expected to approve its first rate increase of 2018 at the next policy meeting in March, when it will also provide fresh economic projections and Powell will hold his first press conference.

“This is a continuation of where this Fed was under Chair Yellen,” said Robert Albertson, principal and chief strategist at Sandler O‘Neill & Partners in New York.

“They are normalizing, they are not tightening … The surprises, if we are going to see them, are going to be after more data comes out in the next month or two,” and accounts for things like the tax cuts and whether business investment spending continues higher, he said.

Market reaction was muted. U.S. stocks were trading slightly lower while the dollar .DXY was stronger against a basket of currencies. Prices of U.S. Treasuries were mixed.

Valuation pressures

Powell’s appearance before the House panel is his first as Fed chief. He used his prepared remarks to strike notes likely to be welcomed by the Republican majority on the panel – including promises of “transparency” and a nod to the monetary policy rules some of them favor.

“I am committed to clearly explaining what we are doing and why we are doing it,” Powell said.

But in his remarks and in a monetary policy report issued to Congress by the Fed last week he also stuck close to a safe script, mentioning none of the new initiatives that some of his colleagues have pushed for, such as a review of the Fed’s system for managing inflation.

That report acknowledged “valuation pressures” in parts of the economy, and noted the recent return of volatility in stock markets.

Though rising long-term interest rates and recent equity market volatility have tightened financial conditions, Powell said, “we do not see these developments as weighing heavily on the outlook for economic activity, the labor market and inflation.”

Rather, “the robust job market should continue to support growth in household incomes and consumer spending, solid economic growth among our trading partners should lead to further gains in U.S. exports, and upbeat business sentiment and strong sales growth will likely continue to boost business investment,” he said.
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