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(WASHINGTON) — Just 10 days into his congressional career, Michigan Rep. Peter Meijer broke with his party and voted with nine other Republicans and every Democrat in the House to impeach President Donald Trump over the Capitol riot.

Now, just days before his primary, Meijer is under pressure from a major Democratic group, which is spending $500,000 to spotlight John Gibbs, his pro-Trump, election-denying opponent.

Airing in Western Michigan this week, the 30-second ad from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), House Democrats’ campaign wing, describes Gibbs, who worked in the Trump administration, as “too conservative” for the region and Trump’s “hand-picked” candidate.

While the DCCC’s messaging is negative, the ad pulls focus from Meijer and underscores Gibbs’ conservative credentials shortly before voters have their say.

At a time when Democrats are warning voters that election-denying Republicans pose an existential threat to democracy, the party’s role in a messy GOP primary has left multiple Democratic lawmakers angry and frustrated.

“There’s always a danger of unintended consequences, and I certainly would have taken a different approach,” Colorado Rep. Jason Crow told ABC News on Wednesday. “We should play our game on our terms, and I don’t think approaches like that are usually productive.”

“I thought it was a strange choice, and I called [the DCCC] and let them know,” Michigan Rep. Elisa Slotkin told ABC News.

Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., a retiring moderate who also voted to impeach Trump, called the Democratic strategy “outrageous” and pointed to Meijer’s votes across party lines on impeachment and to protect same-sex marriage rights.

“Peter’s been a strong independent voice, and he’s put the country first on a number of issues,” Upton told ABC News. “He’s not a rubber stamp.”

New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, the chairman of the DCCC, defended the party’s efforts on Wednesday. He argued that the ad was “telling the truth about John Gibbs being a dangerous extremist” and that Democratic candidate Hillary Scholten — who will face either Gibbs or Meijer — would “put people over politics” if elected to serve in the House.

In a brief interview in Washington on Wednesday, Meijer accused Democrats of putting “party interest” first.

“Everything they’re saying in the Jan. 6 committee, everything about how my party is a threat to democracy — and they are investing a half-million dollars to elevate and boost exactly the same thing that they’re railing against?” he said.

“It’s pretty galling in the hypocrisy of it all. And just shameless given their high-minded rhetoric about how they are the party of democracy. Spare me that bull—,” Meijer said.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., a retiring member of the House Jan. 6 committee, called the strategy “disgusting” in an interview with CNN, warning that it would help “election deniers win.”

Gibbs, who served in the Department of Housing and Urban Development under Trump, was unsuccessfully nominated to lead the Office of Personnel Management but faced criticism in the Senate over past comments and tweets, including speaking dismissively of Islam and promoting a conspiracy theory involving Democrats. (Gibbs said at the time that “I don’t really see anything to apologize for. I was a commentator.” At his confirmation hearing, he insisted, “In my service in the government … I’ve always treated people fairly.”)

Democrats aren’t just focusing on the right-wing candidate in Meijer’s race. The party has tried to influence GOP primaries across the country — where nominating more conservative options could create more favorable matchups in November and maintain their slim House and Senate majorities.

In California, an outside political group affiliated with House Democratic leaders tried spotlighting a pro-Trump Republican running against Rep. David Valadao, another one of the 10 GOP members who voted to impeach Trump. (Valadao survived his primary two weeks ago and advanced to the general election through California’s top-two system.)

In Colorado, the Democratic leadership-aligned Senate Majority PAC spent millions ahead of the primary last month to portray Joe O’Dea, a Republican seeking to unseat Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet, as a moderate compared to the more conservative Ron Hanks — which was ultimately unsuccessful. O’Dea said Democrats were “propping up Ron Hanks in a desperate attempt to save” Bennet in November.

And Democrats in Pennsylvania, ahead of the state’s GOP primary in early June, elevated Doug Mastriano, who was linked to Trump’s effort to challenge the 2020 election and the Capitol attack. (Mastriano was at the Capitol that day but insists he left because of the violence.) He will face Democratic state Attorney General Josh Shapiro in November.

Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., tweeted this week that he was “disgusted” that the DCCC has been using its funds — including membership dues paid by lawmakers — to “boost Trump-endorsed candidates, particularly the far-right opponent of one of the most honorable Republicans in Congress.”

Helen Kalla, a spokesperson for the DCCC, told ABC News the group was “laser focused on holding the House majority, which we will accomplish by fighting for every competitive seat.”

“[Minority Leader] Kevin McCarthy is an anti-choice insurrectionist coddler and conspiracy enabler, and we will do what it takes to keep the speaker’s gavel out of his hands,” Kalla said.

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(WASHINGTON) — Following a surprise announcement Wednesday that he and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin struck a deal on a major spending package — reviving Democrats’ hopes of addressing health care and climate — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer met with his caucus behind closed doors on Thursday morning.

Schumer urged fellow Democrats to stay united to get the Inflation Reduction Act across the finish line via reconciliation before the chamber breaks next week for their August recess. The proposal would expand health care subsidies; allow Medicare to negotiate on prescription drugs; spend nearly $400 billion on climate and energy policies and raise taxes on corporations and the wealthy.

“It will require us to stick together and work long days and nights for the next 10 days,” Schumer said, according to a Democrat in the room. “We will need to be disciplined in our messaging and focus. It will be hard. But I believe we can get this done.”

Democrats’ proposed climate, tax and health care bill had been in limbo after Manchin, one of the most conservative Democrats in the 50-50 Senate, said earlier this month that he was opposed to additional spending on climate policies or tax changes as the country faces historically high inflation.

But in an apparent reversal, Manchin said Wednesday that he and Schumer had reached an agreement after “months of negotiation.”

President Joe Biden applauded their “historic agreement” in remarks delivered at the White House on Thursday, despite the fact that it doesn’t include everything he’s called for in such a package. (At several trillion dollars, Biden’s original American Families Plan was a far more sweeping social spending proposal.)

Biden said Manchin and Schumer’s agreement was also major.

“Simply put, the bill will lower health care costs for millions of Americans and it will be the most important investment — not a hyperbole — the most important investment that we’ve ever made in our energy security,” he said.

If passed, the spending package would be a notable victory for Biden and Democrats heading into the fall midterm elections.

But Manchin said Thursday that Biden had little to do with the deal, telling a local radio show that it was only hammered out between him and Schumer.

“President Biden was not involved,” Manchin said. “I was not going to bring the president in. I didn’t think it was fair to bring him in. And this thing could very well could not have happened at all. It could have absolutely gone sideways.”

Biden on Thursday thanked Schumer and Manchin specifically for the “extraordinary effort that it took to reach this result.”

What’s in the bill?

The 725-page bill, as currently written, would invest approximately $300 billion in deficit reduction and $369.75 billion in energy security and climate change programs over the next decade.

According to Schumer and Manchin, the bill “lowers energy costs, increases cleaner production, and reduces carbon emissions by roughly 40 percent by 2030.”

There are incentives for Americans to invest in clean energy, with tax incentives for energy efficiency improvements for their homes. There are also tax credits for individuals who buy electric vehicles.

The bill would continue pandemic-era expansions to Affordable Care Act subsidies through 2025 and allow Medicare to negotiate with drug companies to lower drug costs, which has long been a Democratic goal. Under the bill, drug manufacturers would be penalized for raising prices faster than inflation.

Medicare drug negotiation would begin in 2026 with 10 of the most expensive drugs eligible for negotiation. That number would increase to 15 drugs in 2027 and to 20 drugs by 2029.

The Inflation Reduction Act would be paid for implementing a 15% corporate minimum tax as well as collecting more through IRS tax enforcement, Democrats said. The legislation includes billions of dollars for taxpayer services, enforcement and modernization of the agency.

Manchin on how the deal came together

Manchin was pressed by West Virginia radio host Hoppy Kercheval on Thursday on why he changed course to go through with this bill, including the climate provisions, and despite a lengthy explanation and defense that the legislation will not be inflationary, he couldn’t explain the seeming about-face.

Manchin said Schumer was “mad” when he first paused the deal a few weeks ago, but he insisted he never “walked away” from negotiations.

After originally saying this month that he wanted to wait until the next set of economic data was released in August before moving forward on any legislation, Manchin said in his radio appearance Thursday that he directed his staff to scrub the bill down so there “can’t be one thing that you can say caused inflation.”

Still, he said he’s anticipating being criticized by Republicans over the 15% minimum corporate tax.

“Why is anybody or any corporation upset by not paying 15? So yes, I’m anxious to find out who they are,” he said. “Come forward.”

Some Republicans were also quick to criticize Manchin’s changing position, which they said left them in the lurch — having supported a separate computer chips bill when they thought the Democratic spending plan was dead.

What happens next

Democrats hope to use a fast-track process known as reconciliation that will allow the legislation to pass by a simple majority vote.

In the evenly divided Senate, Democrats need their entire caucus — including Vermont independent Bernie Sanders, who has vocally criticized Manchin, and Arizona Democrat Kyrsten Sinema, who like Manchin has bucked other party priorities — to back the bill with Vice President Kamala Harris then breaking a tie.

The party also needs their members to stay healthy enough to vote in-person before the recess. There is no proxy voting in the chamber, as there is in the House.

Manchin is currently recovering from COVID-19 and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin announced Thursday, hours after the spending deal was released, that he too had tested positive for the virus and will isolate following federal guidelines.

Schumer told Senate Democrats on Thursday that they have the opportunity to get the legislation passed before the August recess — just days away.

“When we were in the minority for many years before this Congress, we talked often as a caucus about what we would do if we got the majority back,” he said, according to a Democrat in the room.

“We have now been in the longest 50-50 Senate in history,” he said. “It has been a wild ride and there have been many ups and downs.”

– ABC News’ Justin Gomez contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — Naomi Biden, President Joe Biden’s eldest granddaughter, will have her fall wedding on the South Lawn of the White House — the first time the White House has hosted nuptials since 2013.

“Sooo not sure how best to update but was supposed to do so weeks ago…but we have finally figured out where the ceremony will be…and much to the relief of secret service and with the dogs’ endorsement…we’ll be getting married on the South Lawn! Couldn’t be more excited,” the 28 year-old Naomi Biden, an attorney, wrote on Twitter on Thursday.

Aides had previously announced that she and her 25-year-old fiancé, lawyer Peter Neal, would have a reception at the White House on Nov. 19.

“Peter and I are endlessly grateful to my Nana and Pop for the opportunity to celebrate our wedding at the White House. We can’t wait to make our commitment to one another official and for what lies ahead,” Naomi Biden, daughter of the president’s younger son, Hunter, tweeted in April.

The White House has said the Biden family will be covering the cost of the reception as is consistent with other private events hosted by the first family and in keeping with the tradition of wedding festivities under prior administrations.

Naomi Biden and Neal were introduced by friends some four years ago, first lady Jill Biden’s office previously told reporters. Neal proposed in September in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, not far from where he grew up “with a ring that includes the band of his grandmother’s engagement ring.”

Their families “were there to surprise them after,” the first lady’s office has said.

According to the White House Historical Association (WHHA), there have been 18 documented weddings at the White House and four documented receptions. The most recent ceremony was in 2013, under President Barack Obama, when his photographer Pete Souza wed Patti Lease.

The most recent reception was in 2008, for President George W. Bush’s daughter Jenna Bush ahead of her marriage to Henry Hager at the Bush family ranch in Texas.

While the WHHA notes there have been weddings held in the Rose Garden, they do not list any weddings that took place on the South Lawn.

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(NEW YORK) — With communities around the country suffering from extreme temperatures, just months after some of those same locations saw unbearable cold snaps, some state leaders are taking the initiative with proposals to help people navigate the consequences of climate change.

In California, state leaders have been pushing a legislative package that they say plans around the new normal of consistent 100-degree weather. Proposals like an extreme heat ranking system, similar to ones used in hurricanes, mandate cooling during high heat days and the creation of a chief heat officer are crucial for the wellbeing of residents, according to the bills’ supporters.

“We cannot wait for the federal government to do something,” state Assemblywoman Luz Rivas, who co-introduced the bills, told ABC News. “People are dying of extreme heat every day.”

Environmental experts agreed and said that more states and localities need to focus on extreme weather policies that are tailor made for their regions and do so soon.

“We don’t have any national adaption plan and as far as I know there is no talk about it,” Sarah Pralle, an associate professor of political science at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University who specializes in environmental policy, told ABC News. “That’s going to hurt us as more and more states experience these climate induced disasters.”

California legislators work to beat the heat

In May, the California state Assembly passed a series of bills that provide safeguards and protections for residents during high heatwaves, and are currently awaiting hearings in the state senate.

Under Rivas’ extreme heat ranking bill, the state’s Environmental Protection Agency would issue alerts with either a letter, number or color indicator that would warn a specific community about the heat threats to their area.

The assemblywoman noted that different parts of the state experience worse effects from heat waves, such as communities closer to the desert that are experiencing drought or neighborhoods that are higher risk for wildfires, and need different disaster preparations.

“The alert would provide recommendations to people with adequate time and how to compare and when it’s best to remain indoors,” Rivas said.

If passed, the warning system would make California the first state in the nation to have an extreme heat alert system, according to the assemblywoman.

Rivas said her heat related bill would create a chief heat officer, an extreme heat advisory council and interagency heat task force under the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research. That officer and agencies would be tasked with preparing local governments with short- and long-term efforts to safeguard people from the heat and would provide grants for projects such as cooling centers in rural areas.

Rivas noted that several cities around the world, such as Athens and Miami, have recently created chief heat officer roles to streamline the process for getting mitigation efforts done and to have a dedicated staff focused on the high heat.

“In California we have multiple programs that can be spread over many agencies, but the idea of having this centralized position and office is crucial,” the assemblywoman said. “I think our local governments need the support from a statewide officer.”

Other approved heat related bills that are making their way through the state include assembly bill 2243 that would get a “ultraheat heat standard” for people working outdoors and require access to cool water and frequent rest periods, and assembly bill 2597 which would change building codes to require “safe maximum indoor air temperature” in newly constructed and existing dwelling units.

A good start that others can follow

Environmental experts tell ABC News that California’s bills could inspire other states and even the federal government to adopt similar measures.

Pralle said that the bill to create an extreme heat office will be beneficial, if approved, because it would keep the momentum for solutions to heat related problems consistent.

“The problem with disaster policy is there is a lot of attention during and after the disaster, we move onto different things,” she said. “The bad news about climate change is that these disasters keep happening so the conversations about policy have to keep going. So having an office whose job is to stay focused on this problem is a good thing.”

Daniel Kammen, a professor of energy at the University of California, Berkeley, who has advised lawmakers in state legislators across the country on policies, told ABC News that it is difficult to gauge the success of environmental policies because of the rapidly worsening climate change effects.

“All of these adaption strategies are hard to do, because you’re spending money today and you’re not getting credit or results until years later,” he told ABC News. “Even climate scientists don’t understand the number of disruptions that are coming and how much we have to adapt.”

But when one state comes up with successful programs, Kammen said others are quick to follow suit. He cited California’s 2018 adoption of the zero carbon emissions as an example.

The executive order mandated state agencies to meet a goal of 100% carbon free electricity by 2045 and called on various state agencies to work on proposals to achieve the goal.

As of today, 20 other states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have adapted similar zero carbon goals, according to the Clean Energy States Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of state energy organizations.

“State actions are invariably the way we test drive policies,” Kammen said.

Kammen said the latest California heat policies would be beneficial to other parts of the region, even those with completely different environments. He emphasized that the bills aimed at identifying which populations are most vulnerable to extreme heat is a topic that every state is dealing with.

“We need to be able to protect the most vulnerable. Those local and state efforts that invest in cooling are critical,” he said.

Kammen said other states have considered similar bills in the past for requiring workplace and housing safety during high heat and extreme cold weather, including New York. Policy makers will be keeping tabs on the progress of California’s bill and take any successful components that will apply to their states’ vulnerable neighborhoods, he predicted.

Kammen added that even states that haven’t made past investments or policies in combatting extreme weather are now facing the reality of climate change and taking legislative action.

He noted that Texas’s energy company began rolling out funding and proposals to improve its energy efficiency with new energy storage units which can provide clean fuel during outages after the stage was rocked by the cold winter storms in 2021.

“Texas to this day actually has the most energy storage that is now scheduled to be built. There are more energy storage projects in the build queue than the rest of the country combined,” Kammen said.

More work needed

Pralle said the California bills and other state initiatives are a good start to mitigating extreme temperatures but emphasized that those actions alone won’t be enough to help people.

She said many of the proposals issued by states call for more studies and aren’t changing the laws fast enough to deal with the problem.

“There are lot of good ideas out there, but my concern is that they’re not regulatory enough,” she said.

Pralle also emphasized that while hyperlocal environmental policies help to remedy communities specific extreme heat problems, they also come with hinderances. For example, state environmental policies may conflict with ones issued at the national level and lead to confusion among local officials.

“Having some innovation and ideas and having people do different things isn’t a bad thing,” she said. “However there comes a time when you have a patchwork of programs and that can be confusing.”

Pralle said that the best outcome for a state specific climate policy would be one that is successful enough to prompt the federal government to copy and implement nationally.

She contended that it’s going to take the entire country has to band together and move quickly, and any small step from local governments works.

“A national approach is better, but it’s been difficult to get that done. States do need to step in,” she said.

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