(NEW YORK) — A 10-year-old boy from the United States was reportedly attacked by a shark at a resort in the Bahamas, police said.
The incident occurred shortly before 4 p.m. local time Monday on Paradise Island, the Royal Bahamas Police Force said in a news release.
“Preliminary reports indicate that the boy was bitten on the right leg by a shark while participating in an expedition in a Shark Tank at a local resort on Paradise Island,” the release said.
The boy — who was visiting from Maryland — was transported to a hospital and was in stable condition, police said Monday night.
“Investigations are ongoing into the incident,” police said.
Authorities did not release the name of the resort.
In December, a 44-year-old woman from Massachusetts was killed by a shark while paddleboarding in the Bahamas, according to the Royal Bahamas Police Force.
Five people were killed worldwide in unprovoked shark attacks in 2022 — one in the U.S., two in Egypt and two in South Africa — according to the most recent data available from the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at his caucus night event at the Iowa Events Center, Jan. 15, 2024 in Des Moines, Iowa. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump is on trial this week in New York City to determine whether he will have to pay former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll additional damages for defaming her in 2019 when he denied her allegations of sexual assault.
Last year, in a separate trial, a jury determined that Trump was liable for sexually assaulting Carroll in the dressing room of a Manhattan department store in the 1990s, and that he defamed her in a 2022 social media post by calling her allegations “a Hoax and a lie” and saying “This woman is not my type!”
Trump has denied all wrongdoing and has said he doesn’t know who Carroll is.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jan 16, 8:30 PM
Trump expected to attend trial Wednesday, sources say
Former President Trump, who was campaigning in New Hampshire Tuesday evening, is expected to return to New York to attend the second day of his defamation trial on Wednesday, sources tell ABC News.
Trump is then scheduled to return to New Hampshire later Wednesday.
Jan 16, 6:02 PM
Trial is ‘straight out of banana republic,’ says Trump attorney
Donald Trump’s legal counsel Boris Epshteyn briefly spoke to reporters outside court at the conclusion of Tuesday’s proceedings, calling the trial “straight out of [a] banana republic.”
“Manhattan is 90-95% Democrat,” Epshteyn said, despite voter registration records showing the borough is about 70% Democratic. “Does anybody think the President will get a fair trial here? Absolutely not,” he said.
Despite a jury last year finding Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll, Epshteyn alleged that Carroll is making “false accusations.”
“President Trump has consistently stated that he did not commit the allegation and did not commit the acts that the plaintiff alleges. He has been steadfast in that. And it is right to defend himself from false accusations,” Epshteyn said.
Epshteyn declined to comment on whether Trump plans to attend court tomorrow.
Carroll did not speak to reporters when she left court.
Jan 16, 4:52 PM
Carroll seeking a ‘windfall’ over ‘mean Tweets,’ Trump attorney says
E. Jean Carroll is looking for a “windfall” over a series of “mean Tweets from Twitter trolls,” Trump attorney Alina Habba said during the defense’s opening statement, in which Habba sought to cast doubt on the severity of the alleged harm Carroll said she endured.
Habba told the jury they do not have to believe Carroll’s account of how she has suffered as a result of Trump’s defamatory statements.
“Her career has prospered and she has been thrust back into the limelight like she has always wanted,” Habba said, accusing Carroll of using her story “to obtain as much fame and notoriety as possible.”
The defense framed Carroll’s lawsuit as nothing more than an attempt to shake down Trump for money over scores of critical Tweets that have nothing to do with the defamatory statements by Trump that are at issue in the trial.
“She expects you as the jury to give her an award for every negative comment that was thrown her way,” Habba said. “She is looking for you to give her a windfall because some people on social media said mean things about her.”
Habba showed a photo of Carroll in the company of Trump critic Kathy Griffin and said Carroll is close with another critic of the former president, his niece Mary Trump.
“This is someone who craves fame and seeks fame wherever she can get it,” Habba said. “She got what she wanted.”
The proceedings were dismissed for the day after both sides concluded their opening statements. The trial will resume Wednesday with the first witness in the case.
Jan 16, 4:00 PM
Trump ‘unleashed his followers,’ Carroll’s attorney says
Donald Trump’s lies about E. Jean Carroll “unleashed his followers to go after her,” and as Trump campaigns for president he “continues to lie about Ms. Carroll,” Carroll’s attorney said in her opening statement.
“How much money will it take to make him stop?” Carroll’s attorney, Shawn Crowley, said. “He kept up those very same lies even after a federal jury sat in this courtroom and unanimously found that he sexually assaulted her and defamed her.”
Crowley reminded the jury that Trump “was president when he made those statements and he used the world’s biggest microphone to humiliate her” — the result of which was that he “wrecked” Carroll’s reputation in a matter of days, Crowley said.
“Donald Trump’s response was swift and brutal,” Crowley said. “Donald Trump did not just deny the assault. He went much, much further.”
She quoted Trump’s statements from June 22, 2019: “‘People should pay dearly for making up accusations” about him.
Crowley also quoted Trump saying “she’s not my type” on that day in 2019. “In other words, she was too ugly to assault. She must have been lying because she was too unattractive for Mr. Trump to sexually assault,” Crowley said.
Carroll, who is now 80, sat at the plaintiff’s table as her attorney showed the jury messages Trump’s followers posted calling her ugly and urging her to kill herself.
“When Donald Trump called Ms. Carroll a fraud and a liar, they listened and they believed and they decided to go after her,” Crowley said. “Donald Trump knew exactly what he was unleashing.”
Jan 16, 3:40 PM
‘This is not a do-over,’ judge instructs jury
Judge Lewis Kaplan told the nine jurors that they must accept as true that Trump forcibly sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll and defamed her when he denied it.
“Ms. Carroll did not make up her claim of forcible sexual abuse,” Judge Kaplan told the panel. “His false statements tended to disparage Ms. Carroll or tended to expose her to hatred or to induce an unsavory opinion of her.”
The judge made it clear the jury was only determining damages related to two defamatory statements Trump made in June 2019 when he denied Carroll’s rape allegation. He said the trial was not an opportunity to re-litigate the prior trial, in which a jury found Trump liable for defamation and sexual assault.
“This trial is not a do-over of the previous trial which determined those facts,” Kaplan said.
Jan 16, 3:18 PM
Trump departs before opening statements
Former President Trump has departed Manhattan federal court prior to the delivery of opening statements in his defamation damages trial.
Trump voluntarily showed up to court for jury selection this morning, and did not return after the lunch break. He has a campaign event scheduled later today in New Hampshire.
His attorney suggested Trump would return to court for at least part of tomorrow’s proceedings, when E. Jean Carroll is expected to be the first witness.
The jury has been sworn in, with opening statements to begin following instructions from the judge.
Jan 16, 2:08 PM
2 election deniers don’t make cut as jury is seated
A jury of nine has been selected to hear the evidence in the case.
One juror is a married father of two grown children who works in the subway system. and said he is an avid local news viewer. Another juror is a German native who emigrated to the United States and said she does not watch the news.
The jury also includes a newlywed who works in property management and gets his news from social media, a woman with a master’s degree who works as a publicist for a tech firm, and a single man who works in television.
Two people who said they believed that the election was stolen from Donald Trump by President Joe Biden did not make the jury. Nor did a man who said he believed Trump was being treated unfairly by the United States court system.
Opening arguments will begin follow the lunch break. As they exited the courtroom, Trump and Carroll came within feet of each other but appeared to ignore one another.
Jan 16, 12:11 PM
Prospective jurors questioned about political leanings
Former President Trump has been twisting and turning in his seat at the defense table as prospective jurors answer the judge’s questions about their political affiliations, voting habits, campaign donations, and any experience with sexual assault — and whether they ever watched The Apprentice or read E. Jean Carroll’s advice column in Elle magazine.
As another columnist was known to say, “Only in New York, kids.”
One prospective juror, number 68, affirmed that he donated to Trump’s campaign, followed him on social media, and believed that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump by President Joe Biden.
Prospective juror 63 was excused after he said that his knowledge of Trump’s criminal indictments — of which there are four that the former president is currently facing — would impact his ability to be fair and impartial.
The majority of prospective jurors signaled they were registered to vote, prompting the judge to ask if they had voted in 2016 and 2020. Trump turned to look at those who answered in the affirmative.
Three prospective jurors said they had donated to Trump’s campaign. Eleven said they donated to either the Obama, Clinton or Biden campaigns. At least ten watched The Apprentice.
Jan 16, 11:32 AM
Judge explains case to prospective jurors
Judge Kaplan explained the case to prospective jurors, saying, “Ms. Carroll sued Mr. Trump for defamation for certain statements he made” shortly after she publicly accused him of raping her.
“This trial is limited to the issue of the money damages, if any, that Ms. Carroll should receive for those publications. The reason that’s so is that the court determined in a previous decision that Mr. Trump is liable,” Kaplan said. “It has been determined already that Mr. Trump did sexually assault Ms. Carroll.”
To whittle down the jury pool, Kaplan began with this question: “Having heard what you have heard about this case so far, would you be unable to give both sides a fair trial and to decide this case solely on the basis of the evidence you hear during this trial and the instructions I give you?”
Three prospective jurors were immediately excused for signaling they could not be fair.
One woman said she worked for Ivanka Trump’s company from 2017 to 2018. “Would that experience have any effect on your ability to be fair and impartial to both sides in this case?” Judge Kaplan asked regarding her connection to Trump’s eldest daughter. “No,” the woman replied.
After the judge asked if anyone else had worked for Trump or his family, a man indicated he was an officer in the U.S. Navy while Trump was commander in chief. The man said it would have no impact on his ability to be fair.
Jan 16, 11:23 AM
Prospective jurors enter courtroom to begin selection process
As prospective jurors filed into the courtroom for jury selection, Donald Trump surveyed the group. One woman appeared to smile upon recognizing Trump. A man leaned forward and appeared to stare for several seconds.
“You’ve been summoned for possible service in a civil case,” Judge Kaplan said before introducing the plaintiff and defendant. “This case is between a writer, advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, and former President Donald Trump,” he said.
Jurors were told the case is expected to last three to five days and that they would sit through Thursday and, if necessary, return on Monday. They were also told they will be anonymous.
“That means neither your names nor the names of the jurors who are ultimately selected will be made public,” Judge Kaplan said. He had earlier cited Trump’s rhetoric as among the reasons for the anonymous jury.
Jurors will assemble daily at an off-site location and be driven to court under guard, the judge said.
“This is for your own protection. As you may understand, this case has attracted media attention and that’s likely to continue,” Kaplan said.
Jan 16, 10:40 AM
Layout of courtroom has Trump sitting 2 tables behind Carroll
Unlike courtrooms where the counsel tables are arranged side by side, the counsel tables in the courtroom this morning are arranged behind one another, with Trump and his attorneys seated two tables behind Carroll and her counsel.
Trump appeared to take note of that arrangement when he entered the courtroom.
He appeared to point at Carroll, then he and his team asked a man seated at the table between them to slide over — possibly to block Trump’s view of Carroll, or to provide a better view of the proceedings.
Jan 16, 10:27 AM
Judge again declines to delay trial
On Friday, Judge Kaplan denied a request from Trump’s attorneys to postpone the trial for a week so Trump could attend Thursday’s funeral of Amalija Knavs, the mother of former first lady Melania Trump, who died last Tuesday after a long health battle.
In court this morning, Trump attorney Alina Habba repeated her request for an adjournment so Trump can attend Knavs’ funeral.
“You asked me for a week’s adjournment and I denied it,” Judge Kaplan said. “The repetition is not accomplishing anything.”
The judge said Friday that he would grant a continuance so the trial, which was initially scheduled to conclude this week, would be extended so Trump could testify on Monday, Jan. 22.
Jan 16, 10:12 AM
Defense lodges several objections as court gets underway
“The court has made a number of rulings precluding evidence and argument,” said Judge Lewis Kaplan as court got underway, asking each side’s lead attorney to affirm that the parties understood the rules.
The defense objected, arguing that the court lacked jurisdiction. Kaplan quickly dispensed with the objection, saying, “Overruled.” Kaplan, who has a reputation as a no-nonsense judge, also overruled several other defense objections.
“I do think these are issues that will become an issue on appeal. We still don’t know what witnesses are coming in and which aren’t,” Trump attorney Alina Habba said, before Kaplan interrupted, saying, “Ms. Habba you have had a witness list for months.”
Habba pressed on, with Kaplan noting her objections.
“I have heard you, I have considered what you have to say and I have ruled,” Judge Kaplan said.
Jan 16, 9:56 AM
Trump seated in courtroom
Donald Trump has taken a seat in court, where jury selection in his defamation trial is scheduled to get underway this morning.
His decision to attend this trial is a clear shift for the former president, whose lawyers portrayed his absence from last year’s defamation and battery trial as a service to New York City, saying the city would not have to suffer the “logistical and financial burdens” of Trump’s attendance.
Carroll’s attorneys, however, pounced on Trump’s absence.
“He didn’t even bother to show up here in person,” attorney Roberta Kaplan told the jury.
Writing on social media last month, Trump blamed his absence at the trial on “not good advice” from his then-lawyer Joe Tacopina.
“I was asked by my lawyer not to attend–‘It was beneath me, and they have no case.’ That was not good advice,” Trump wrote.
Trump attorney Alina Habba is serving as Trump’s lead defense attorney for this week’s trial.
Jan 16, 9:21 AM
Carroll arrives for trial
E. Jean Carroll has arrived at the courthouse for the first day of the trial.
She smiled to reporters as she entered court.
Jan 16, 9:03 AM
Trump arrives at courthouse
Following his victory in Iowa, former President Trump landed at 3:30 a.m. in New York and just arrived at his civil defamation trial in lower Manhattan.
Trump is not required to attend the trial, though his decision not to attend last year’s defamation and battery trial by the same plaintiff, writer E. Jean Carroll, was mocked by Carroll’s attorney.
Trump’s motorcade pulled up to the courthouse this morning at at 8:50 a.m. ET.
Jan 16, 8:51 AM
On heels of Iowa victory, Trump is back on trial
When Donald Trump’s federal defamation trial gets underway in lower Manhattan this morning, it will be only about 11 hours since the former president claimed victory in the Iowa caucuses.
The trial is expected to take about a week, which could take Trump right to the doorstep of the New Hampshire Primary, scheduled for next Tuesday.
Trump has said that he plans to attend the trial at some point during the week, but has not indicted when.
The former president did not attend last year’s trial, held at the same courthouse, where a New York jury found him liable for sexually assaulting E. Jean Carroll and defaming her when he denied her accusation in a 2022 social media post.
(NEW YORK) — Several major retailers are re-evaluating self-checkout for customers after analysts have seen inventory loss.
“Retailers are really starting to use technology in order to look at the shrink problem,” Hitha Herzog, chief research officer of H Squared Research, told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “The technology that is powering self-checkout is also layering in other technology like AI that’s monitoring the customer, that’s checking out the products.”
One industry survey found that self-check-out represented 30% of transactions in 2021, and that 96% of food retailers surveyed offered it at their stores.
With cashier-less technology, however, also comes complaints of glitches while scanning items and paying.
One frustrated shopper, Dave Dolphin, told GMA “there’s always, like, one item that doesn’t scan and then all of a sudden — that light goes from green to yellow above you.”
The DIY system also has created an impersonal experience for customers, which many shoppers say they dislike.
“A lot of us want a human being. We want to have that conversation. We want to be able to voice our concerns or ask a question about a product,” Julie Domina, another shopper, told GMA.
Self-checkout is meant to keep things moving, but many times there are unavoidable long lines at self-checkout stations, packed with customers who have varying numbers of products to purchase.
Target stores are currently testing a 10-item limit for self-checkout lanes, as CNN first reported, to help reduce wait times.
Though consumers who spoke with ABC News agreed that self-checkout is convenient for one or two items, they also said they really enjoy having that personal interaction with a cashier.
Dollar General says it plans to ramp up its employee presence at the front of the stores. While it notes the convenience of self-checkout for some customers, a representative for the discount store told GMA that it “does not reduce the importance of a friendly, helpful employee who is there to greet customers and assist while the checkout process is happening.”
“People want that interaction,” said Heather Frye who works at a small grocer, Rivertown IGA, outside of Cincinnati, Ohio.
She told GMA that her store has “two self -checkout stations, but say they pride themselves on their personal ‘check-ins’ from their cashiers.”
“Our self-checkouts [are] just an option,” Frye added. “If you don’t want to use it, please go see the regular cashiers because they’re going to know your family, know what you usually shop for. They’re going to talk about the town gossip. They are friends.”
(NEW YORK) — A woman has fallen 100 feet to her death while exploring inside a cave in Virginia, according to authorities.
The fall happened on Friday at approximately 4:13 p.m. when authorities at the Giles County Sheriff’s Office 911 Dispatch Center received a call that a “female individual had fell approximately 100 feet within a cave in the Staffordsville Community outside of Pearisburg,” according to a statement released by Giles County Emergency Services.
The circumstances surrounding what led up to the woman falling 100 feet to her death have not yet been released by officials, but authorities did confirm that the unnamed victim was found deceased upon their arrival at the scene of the accident.
“Giles County Sheriff’s Office Deputies, Pearisburg Fire Department, and Giles Rescue Squad were dispatched, responded, and quickly identified the need for additional specialized resources,” authorities said. “Celco Emergency Response team along with Blacksburg Rescue Squad’s Technical Rescue Cave team were both requested, responded, and assisted with the rescue efforts.”
Once the woman was located and she was pronounced dead, her body was extricated from the cave by rescue personnel working the incident.
The investigation into what led up to the accident is ongoing and remains an open investigation by the Giles County Sheriff’s office.
(NEW YORK) — A federal judge has denied former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro’s request for a new trial after he was convicted of ignoring a subpoena from the House Jan. 6 committee.
Navarro argued that the jury that found him guilty of contempt of Congress may have been influenced by protesters outside the courthouse when the jurors exited the building for a break before returning a verdict.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta said that while there were demonstrators outside the courthouse, they did not have direct contact with the jurors.
“The evidence establishes that the jurors only interacted with each other and [Court Security Officer] Torres in John Marshall Park,” Mehta wrote in his ruling. “No one directed any words or displayed any signs at them.”
“Defendant not only fails to demonstrate prejudice, he has not shown that any juror was actually exposed to any improper external influence,” Mehta ruled.
Navarro was found guilty of contempt of Congress last September, for defying a subpoena issued in February 2022 by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
The former Trump adviser was convicted on one count over his refusal to appear for a deposition in front of the committee, and on a second count for refusing to produce documents.
(WASHINGTON) — ABC News has obtained a copy of the 911 call requesting an ambulance for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who was transported from his Virginia home to Walter Reed Hospital after suffering complications from a surgery to treat prostate cancer.
In the call, placed on Jan. 1 and obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, a federal employee working for Austin asks the operator for the ambulance to be discreet.
“Can I ask — that the ambulance not show up with lights and sirens? We’re trying to remain a little subtle,” the employee said.
According to local law, ambulances are required to run sirens and lights on primary roads but on secondary roads aren’t mandated to do so.
During the 911 call, made at 7:15 p.m. from Austin’s home, he was described as awake, alert and oriented. An ambulance arrived seven minutes later at 7:22 p.m.
Austin, who underwent elective surgery on Dec. 22, but was hospitalized New Year’s Day due to complications, was released from the hospital on Monday after a two-week stay.
The secretary and his department faced extensive criticism for their handling of his hospitalization — keeping the nation in the dark about it for several days. Austin also did not immediately disclose the hospitalization to President Joe Biden, whose Republican rivals have used the lapse in judgment as ammunition against the White House.
In a statement announcing Austin’s release from the hospital, the Department of Defense said “The Secretary continues to recover well and, on the advice of doctors, will recuperate and perform his duties remotely for a period of time before returning full-time to the Pentagon.”
“He has full access to required secure communications capabilities,” it continued.
Austin, in his own statement, said he will continue to “recuperate and perform my duties from home” and looked forward to returning to the Pentagon as quickly as possible.
ABC News’ Brittany Gaddy and Shannon K. Crawford contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department will issue a report on Thursday on its review of the law enforcement response to the Uvalde school shooting, a DOJ spokesperson confirmed.
The “Critical Incident Review” is not a criminal investigation into the May 2022 shooting at Robb Elementary School in which 19 children and two teachers were killed, the DOJ said. It is intended to provide the most independent and comprehensive account of how law enforcement responded to the shooting — examining things like officer training, command and control response, deployment of resources and the support provided to victims and their families.
The review was conducted by the DOJ’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), a team made up of federal staff and subject matter experts including former local, state and federal law enforcement officials.
Uvalde families and state officials have spoken out against the law enforcement response during the massacre, the second deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. It took 77 minutes for any of the nearly 400 law enforcement officers assembled that day to confront the killer, ABC News previously reported.
The siege ended with a counterassault led by a SWAT team from the U.S. Border Patrol. In the process, lone gunman Salvador Ramos was shot and killed.
A criminal investigation by the Texas Department of Public Safety into whether the public safety failures led to the deaths of the victims has yet to be released. In the months after the shooting, school district police chief Pete Arredondo was fired, the entire district police force was disbanded and several state troopers were dismissed.
(NEW YORK) — Tesla CEO Elon Musk is seeking greater voting control of the electric carmaker, threatening to otherwise pursue major projects such as artificial intelligence outside of the company, he said in a post on X.
The Tesla board, Musk said, should grant him 25% voting control, an amount that would nearly double the vote share currently afforded to Musk through his stake in the company.
The move would tie the company’s fate even more closely to its high-profile leader, ensuring Tesla will develop AI in-house at a time when the technology stands poised to shape the auto industry and a range of other sectors, proponents say.
Critics, however, caution of a risky precedent if the company’s board were to comply with the request, empowering Musk in any future dispute with shareholders little more than a year after he sold a large number of Tesla shares to help fund his acquisition of X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Musk is Tesla and Tesla is Musk and AI is a key to the future of Tesla,” Dan Ives, a managing director of equity research at the investment firm Wedbush, who is bullish on Tesla, said in a memo to investors on Tuesday.
Tesla did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
According to Ives, Musk currently owns roughly 13% of Tesla. Before selling shares in 2022 to fund the $44 billion acquisition of X, Musk owned about 22% of Tesla, Ives added.
Musk, who co-founded ChatGPT-maker OpenAI but left the organization in 2018, announced the formation of a new AI company in July.
The possible development of AI outside of Tesla would deliver a significant blow to the company’s prospects, Ives said, citing the critical role of the technology in projects like full self-driving capability.
“If Musk ultimately went down the path to create his own company separate from Tesla for his next generation AI projects this would clearly be a big negative for the Tesla story,” Ives added.
Ultimately, the board and Musk could reach a compensation agreement in as few as three months that leaves both sides satisfied, Ives said, adding that the move would ensure some viewed by many as a tech visionary would lead “the new era of AI technology coming to Tesla.”
Gary Black, managing partner at the Future Fund, who is also bullish on Tesla, echoed the sentiment in a post on X. “Still plenty of time for the [Tesla] Board and Elon to come up with a new comp plan that properly aligns incentives,” Black said.
However, an agreement that expands Musk’s stake in the company could embolden him to assert even greater control down the road.
Such a prospect is especially concerning at a time when Tesla has weathered multiple product recalls and declining profit margins, Gordon Johnson, CEO and founder of data firm GLJ Research, who is bearish on Tesla, told ABC News.
“Musk is holding the company hostage,” Johnson said.
“The prospects for Tesla are dismal,” Johnson added, saying the demand from Musk offers him a pretext for departing the company. “He sees the writing on the wall.”
In December, Tesla agreed to recall about 2 million cars over a safety issue tied to its autopilot system, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said. Earlier this month, the company recalled an additional 1.6 million vehicles exported to China, citing a problem with the car’s assisted steering system.
The request for greater voting control suggests that Musk anticipates a substantial clash with shareholders over the direction of the company, Craig Irwin, an analyst at Roth MKM, who is also bearish on the company, told ABC News.
“He’s obviously worried about something,” Irwin said.
Further, Irwin downplayed the role of AI in the company, disputing the key claim made by Musk about his need for greater voting control.
“Tesla has done a great job with self-driving but it’s mostly a misnomer and cake dressing,” Irwin said. “Is this an AI or robotics company? How much do they really have? In my view, not much.”
(WASHINGTON) — A new, bipartisan tax framework unveiled by lawmakers Tuesday would enhance the popular Child Tax Credit to benefit millions of American families.
The proposal, released by Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden and Republican Rep. Jason Smith, would boost the refundable portion of the credit people can claim, allow low-income families with multiple children to receive more of the benefit and adjust the credit for inflation.
“Fifteen million kids from low-income families will be better off as a result of this plan, and given today’s miserable political climate, it’s a big deal to have this opportunity to pass pro-family policy that helps so many kids get ahead,” Wyden, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement.
The tax package also includes new low-income housing tax credits, disaster tax relief and tax benefits for Taiwan.
Smith, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, called the proposal a “common-sense tax package that will strengthen Main Street businesses, rebuild communities, support American families, and boost our competitiveness with China.”
The legislation’s fate in Congress, however, is unclear.
Lawmakers are already struggling to coalesce on spending measures to keep the government open and operating before Friday’s partial shutdown deadline.
Also, notably absent from Tuesday’s announcement of the tax agreement was Mike Crapo, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, and Richard Neal, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee.
Wyden said it was his goal to pass the package before the start of tax season, which is Jan. 29.
Past impact of the expanded Child Tax Credit
The changes to the federal Child Tax Credit enacted in 2021 under the American Rescue Plan had a significant impact on families.
According to Census Bureau data, 3 million children were lifted out of poverty because of the expanded credit. The child poverty rate in 2021 dropped to a record low.
The policy significantly increased the dollar amount that families with children received from $2,000 to $3,600 per year for kids under the age of 6 and $3,000 per year for kids between 6 and 18 years old. Checks were sent out monthly instead of once a year, which helped many households meet day-to-day expenses.
The expanded credit expired at the end of 2021 amid opposition to its price tag from Republicans and notably Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia. The cost of the one-year expanded credit was estimated to be about $105 billion.
After it ended, the child poverty rate more than doubled in 2022.
Since then, Democrats have advocated for renewing the policy. President Joe Biden included an enhanced Child Tax Credit in his 2024 budget proposal, which was dead-on-arrival in Congress largely due to its tax increases on wealthy Americans and corporations.
The White House said Tuesday Biden “remains committed to fighting for the full expanded Child Tax Credit” in their response to the proposed tax deal.
“We appreciate Chairman Wyden and Chairman Smith’s work toward increasing the Child Tax Credit for millions of families and supporting hundreds of thousands of additional affordable homes, and look forward to reviewing the full details of their agreement,” said White House spokesperson Michael Kikukawa.
What’s in the new proposal
While the proposal is not a return to the expanded Child Tax Credit implemented by Biden in 2021, lawmakers say it would make the program more generous — especially for low-income households.
According to the framework, the maximum refundable portion of Child Tax Credit would increase from the current level of $1,600 per child to $1,800 in tax year 2023, $1,900 in tax year 2024, and $2,000 in tax year 2025.
It would also change the way the credit is phased in to ensure benefits are “applied fairly to families with multiple children.”
Other changes include adjusting the credit for inflation starting in 2024, and allowing parents to use current or prior-year income to calculate their credit.
The nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, in a report released Tuesday, said the changes would allow a single parent with two children who earns $13,000 to see their credit double in the first year, or a married couple earning $32,000 to see a $975 gain.
The CBPP estimated overall the change could lift as many as 400,000 children above the poverty line in its first year, and 500,000 children or more when fully in effect.
ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden will host top lawmakers at the White House on Wednesday to discuss his national security supplemental funding request, which includes urgent aid for Ukraine and Israel.
The $106 billion request made by Biden in October has been stalled amid fierce debate on immigration policy, with Republicans demanding stricter protocols on asylum and parole.
“President Biden will host congressional leaders from the Senate and the House along with key committee leaders and ranking members at the White House to discuss the critical importance of his national security supplemental request,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed Tuesday afternoon.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell all received invitations to attend, sources told ABC News.
Biden’s supplemental aid request sets aside $14 billion for border enforcement, including the hiring of more than a 1,000 additional border patrol agents and asylum officers. It also includes $1.2 billion to combat the flow of fentanyl.
But Republicans are demanding more sweeping changes to U.S. immigration policy, pointing to the influx of migrants at the southwest border.
Jean-Pierre, speaking to reporters during Tuesday’s press briefing, said they believed ongoing border talks are “headed in the right direction” despite the inability for both sides to come to an agreement.
Negotiations have been going on for months, and were carried on throughout the holiday recess by a bipartisan group of senators, but so far to no avail.
House Speaker Johnson has grown more insistent that the House should not accept the Senate’s work, and should instead continue to insist upon H.R. 2, a House-Republican backed bill filled with border policies the Democratic-controlled Senate wouldn’t support and that the White House would likely veto.
“We’re gonna continue to say Congress should act, they should act quickly,” Jean-Pierre said. “You know, this is about securing our border. This is about our national security and the consequences of congressional inaction would be severe. So, the president is going to have this all-important conversation.”
The debate has resulted in continued delay in aid to Ukraine in it war against Russian invaders. It’s been over a year since Congress approved major funding for the Eastern European nation, and the administration has said it is quickly running out of funds to continue providing aid to Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a visit to Washington in mid-December to push for the aid, telling lawmakers he was fighting “our freedom and yours.”
Congress will spend this week working through a short-term funding bill aimed at buying lawmakers more time to keep the government open and avert a shutdown. But neither the short-term funding bill nor the longer-term appropriations bills lawmakers hope to complete by March are slated to include any funding for Ukraine or Israel.
The supplemental aid package would include $61 billion for Ukraine and $14.3 billion for Israel.
Schumer and McConnell, in remarks on the Senate floor on Tuesday, discussed the need to provide the aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
“At stake is the security of our country the security of our friends abroad including Ukraine and Israel and nothing less than the future of Western Democracy,” Schumer said. “We cannot afford to let these issues go unaddressed.”
McConnell called the package “our chance to expand our capacity to meet the national security challenges we face.”
ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.
