Lauren williamson

In a blow to Speaker Kevin McCarthy , five House Republicans have indicated they will vote against the debt ceiling deal he negotiated with President Biden and a number of other GOP representatives have been extremely critical of the bipartisan agreement.

If passed by Congress , the budget deal will raise the U.S. debt limit from $31.5 trillion for two years, avoiding an American default in early June, in exchange for some cuts to federal spending.

Biden and McCarthy announced a deal had been provisionally agreed on Saturday, with the final version approved on Sunday . To become law it will have to pass the Democrat-majority Senate and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, where it looks set to face opposition from a number of McCarthy’s GOP colleagues who wanted much deeper cuts in government spending.

The agreement specifies that spending, with the exception of funds for defense and veterans, must remain “roughly flat” during 2024 , and can only rise by one percent in the following year. Extra funding to hire more Inland Revenue Service agents will be scrapped, with money set aside for coronavirus relief, and to develop future Covid-19 vaccines rescinded. Those receiving food assistance programs will also face more strenuous work requirements.

In a joint statement, McCarthy and other House Republican leaders welcomed the agreement which they described as “a historic series of wins” that will stop “out-of-control inflationary spending.”

Newsweek has compiled a list of Republican Representatives who have vowed to vote against the deal and those who have been highly critical but haven’t yet said they will seek to block it in the House.

GOP Representatives Voting Against the Deal

Colorado Republican Lauren Boebert , who opposed McCarthy’s successful bid to become House Speaker in January, has said she will vote against the agreement .

She tweeted: “Our base didn’t volunteer, door knock and fight so hard to get us the majority for this kind of compromise deal with Joe Biden .

“Our voters deserve better than this. We work for them. You can count me as a NO on this deal. We can do better.”

Ralph Norman, who represents South Carolina’s 5 ^th congressional district, branded the deal “insanity,” and said he will not “vote to bankrupt our country.”

Montana Republican Matt Rosendale said he would be “voting AGAINST” what he branded “the Fiscal Irresponsibility Act”, claiming it “fails to cut spending and continues to fund the Democrats ‘ and Biden Administration’s radical agenda.”

Virginia Republican Bob Good indicated he is planning to vote against the agreement on Sunday, tweeting: “I am hearing the ‘deal’ is for a $4 trillion increase in the debt limit. IF that is true, I don’t need to hear anything else. No one claiming to be a conservative could justify a YES vote.”

Ken Buck, who represents Colorado’s 4 ^th district, said the deal “must be rejected” on Sunday, claiming it would give Democrats “a free pass on defending their reckless spending.”

He also shared a meme that showed McCarthy using his deal as a Trojan horse to smuggle “+$4 trillion in debt” past House Republicans.

GOP Representatives Highly Critical of Deal

Whilst not explicitly saying he will vote against the deal, Representative Andrew Clyde came very close on Saturday when preliminary details first emerged. He tweeted: “A $4 trillion debt ceiling increase?

“With virtually none of the key fiscally responsible policies passed in the Limit, Save, Grow Act kept intact? Hard pass. Hold the line.”

North Carolina Republican Dan Bishop also hit out at the deal on Sunday, commenting: “McCarthy called the deal a ‘big win,’ claiming Democrats didn’t get ‘one thing’ that they wanted out of the negotiations.”

… except increasing debt another $4 trillion …

… and to bear no responsibility for it in the 2024 election season. Except for those little things.”

Congressman Chris Roy, who represents Texas’s 21 ^st district, described McCarthy’s deal as a “turd-sandwich,” adding: “+ $4 trillion. No.”

The latest celebrity to join Prince William and Kate Middleton “fan club” is none  other than Lauren Sanchez,  billionaire Jeff Bezos’ fiancée.

Sánchez has joined the list of a handful of celebrities who follow the future king and his wife on social media.

Shakira Gwyneth Paltrow, Gennifer Garner and a couple of other celebrities are the followers of the royal couple.

Most of high profile celebrities in Hollywood avoid following the royal family members on social media and discussing their affairs publicly for reasons unknown.

Sánchez is also known to have friendly relations with Kardashians and was recently seen engaging with Kris Jenner on Instagram.

Jeff Bezos got engaged to Lauren Sánchez earlier this month, four years after they started dating.

The couple went public with their relationship after Bezos announced his divorce from wife of 25 years, MacKenzie.

They have been making headlines since it was reported that they intend to get married soon.

Bezos and Sanchez were are at the Cannes Film Festival in the South of France.

Writing about the couple, PEOPLE recently said, “They’re particularly focused on their acts of philanthropy as a couple. “You can see and hear their excitement when they meet with partners on the climate, education, and homelessness work.

The publication said Sánchez  seems to share Bezos’ interest in space. It said she spoke about plans to launch into orbit in 2023. She explained that she won’t blast off with Bezos but will instead join a crew of women.

Ananish Chaudhuri is a professor of experimental economics at the University of Auckland Business School.

OPINION: India is now the world’s most populous country with a burgeoning middle class. Estimates suggest that by 2025, 40% of India’s population will reach middle-class status. This amounts to about 200 million people.

There are tremendous benefits to New Zealand from forming stronger trade ties with India. Everyone realises that, but no one, least of all our government , really knows what to do about this.

Before any free-trade agreement can be realised, New Zealand would need to establish a beachhead in India.

READ MORE: What will it take to break the relationship rut New Zealand and India are in? Death of a free trade agreement: New approach urged on India New Zealand relations Why New Zealand businesses should look to India for new opportunities

In 2005, the French multinational food company Danone collaborated with Muhammad Yunus, the Bangladeshi founder of Grameen Bank, to set up social enterprise Grameen Danone.

Grameen Danone makes Shakti Doi (strong yoghurt), fortified with micronutrients for sale in rural areas of Bangladesh, a country that, along with large parts of the subcontinent, suffers from malnutrition and calcium deficiency.

While selling yoghurt to the poor at no profit may not seem like a winning strategy, Danone has learned some valuable lessons from this undertaking in terms of product development, factory design and how to make inroads into new markets.

One significant problem facing New Zealand in trying to break into India is that our comparative advantage lies in making and selling primary products, particularly agricultural products. This market is not easy to crack due to extensive barriers, subsidies and differences in methods of production.

However, there is another sector that we can and should target. Education.

With the passing of the National Education Policy in 2020, India has recently opened its education sector to foreign universities.

The numbers are staggering.

India’s higher education landscape consists of 1043 universities, 42,343 colleges, and 11,779 stand-alone institutions making it one of the largest higher education sectors in the world.

The number of institutions has expanded by more than 400% since 2001, with much of the growth taking place in the private education sector, according to NAFSA, the Association of International Educators.

One important difference between India and China is in demographics. India’s median age is around 29 years while China’s is 38 years. More than half of India’s population is less than 30 years old.

This implies that capacity needs to grow rapidly to serve India’s large youth population and burgeoning college-aged cohort.

At around 27%, India’s ratio of enrolment in higher education as a percentage of the eligible school-aged population lags far behind China’s 51% and much of Europe and North America, where 80% or more of young people enrol in higher education.

While India does have some high-quality higher education institutions, none of them do that well in global rankings. According to the Times Higher Education 2022 World University Rankings , India’s highest-ranked institution, the Indian Institute of Science, was in the 301-350 range among institutions worldwide. China, by contrast, has 16 institutions in the top 350, including six ranked in the top 100 and two in the top 20.

There is another big difference between China and India. English is the lingua franca of India including academic instruction. This works to our advantage since we speak the language.

As with many other things, the Australians already have the jump on us.

Deakin University has already set up a campus in Gujarat , and other players like Melbourne and Monash are in the process of strengthening their ties.

Monash has significant experience setting up international campuses and I wouldn’t be surprised if they establish a foothold in India soon.

If an institution like Deakin, which is not part of the Group of Eight in Australia, can do this, there is no reason why New Zealand universities cannot.

There is another advantage to doing this.

We suffer from perennial skills shortages in many areas but often refuse to accept educational credentials from other countries.

However, the credentials of someone educated at a New Zealand university campus located in India should be easily transferable and accepted by New Zealand employers.

This would require vision, planning and the willingness to make amendments to current labour and immigration laws — if you want to sell things to India, you will need to buy some things in return and that may well be Indian labour.

Danone used French former football player Zinedine Zidane as the face of Shakti Doi to launch their product.

Again, we have an advantage; people like Kane Williamson (not to mention Stephen Fleming or Brendan McCullum) are household names in India.