(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.1 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 771,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
Just 59.1% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the new is developing. All times Eastern:
Nov 22, 10:01 am
TSA vaccine mandate won’t impact holiday travel
About 93% of TSA employees are in compliance with Monday’s deadline for the federal employee vaccine mandate, TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein said.
“In compliance” means employees have had at least one shot or have filed for a medical or religious exemption.
Holiday travel won’t be impacted by the mandate, Farbstein said.
(BRUNSWICK, Ga.) — A jury is expected to begin deliberating the fates of three white Georgia men charged in the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery after first hearing final arguments on Monday that the 25-year-old Black man was either “hunted down” and murdered or was killed in self-defense when he resisted a citizens’ arrest.
The radically different theories based on the same evidence are expected to be laid out in closing arguments set to commence Monday morning in Glynn County Superior Court in Brunswick, Georgia. The closing arguments are expected to take all day as the prosecutor and attorneys for the three defendants are each expected to speak to the jury.
The jury is expected to begin deliberations on Tuesday morning.
Travis McMichael, the 35-year-old U.S. Coast Guard veteran; his father, Gregory McMichael, 65, a retired Glynn County police officer, and their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, 53, each face maximum sentences of life in prison if convicted on all the charges.
The defendants have pleaded not guilty to a nine-count state indictment that includes malice murder, multiple charges of felony murder, false imprisonment, aggravated assault with a 12-gauge shotgun and aggravated assault with their pickup trucks.
The McMichaels and Bryan were also indicted on federal hate crime charges in April and have all pleaded not guilty.
The charges stem from a Feb. 23, 2020, confrontation in the Stella Shores neighborhood near Brunswick, Georgia. Lead prosecutor Linda Dunikoski alleged in her opening statement that a series of wrong “assumptions and driveway decisions” led the men to surmise that the Black man she said was just jogging through their neighborhood on a balmy Sunday afternoon was a burglar they needed to detain at gunpoint.
Travis McMichael was the only defendant to testify during the nationally-televised trial.
He described a “life-or-death” encounter with Arbery and claimed he had no choice but to shoot the man with his Remington pump-action shotgun. He also conceded under cross-examination that Arbery never verbally threatened him or his co-defendants nor did he brandished a weapon during the five minutes Dunikoski said Arbery was running for his life.
During the trial, prosecutors relied heavily on a cellphone video recorded by Bryan. The video repeatedly played for the jury showed the unarmed Arbery trapped between Bryan’s pickup and Travis McMichael’s truck and partly captured a struggle that ended with Travis Michael shooting Arbery.
The trial, which began on Nov. 5, began with controversy when a jury of 11 white members and one Black member was seated to hear the case after a nearly three-week jury selection process.
(BRUNSWICK, Ga.) — A jury is expected to begin deliberating the fates of three white Georgia men charged in the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery after first hearing final arguments on Monday that the 25-year-old Black man was either “hunted down” and murdered or was killed in self-defense when he resisted a citizens’ arrest.
The radically different theories based on the same evidence are expected to be laid out in closing arguments set to commence Monday morning in Glynn County Superior Court in Brunswick, Georgia. The closing arguments are expected to take all day as the prosecutor and attorneys for the three defendants are each expected to speak to the jury.
The jury is expected to begin deliberations on Tuesday morning.
Travis McMichael, the 35-year-old U.S. Coast Guard veteran; his father, Gregory McMichael, 65, a retired Glynn County police officer, and their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, 53, each face maximum sentences of life in prison if convicted on all the charges.
The defendants have pleaded not guilty to a nine-count state indictment that includes malice murder, multiple charges of felony murder, false imprisonment, aggravated assault with a 12-gauge shotgun and aggravated assault with their pickup trucks.
The McMichaels and Bryan were also indicted on federal hate crime charges in April and have all pleaded not guilty.
Here’s how the news developed. All times Eastern:
Nov 22, 10:17 am
Prosecutor says defendants attacked Arbery because he was Black
Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski began her closing argument by telling the jury that the three defendants chased and killed Arbery based on “assumptions and decisions” made in their driveways based on rumor and neighborhood gossip.
“The state’s position is all three of these defendants made assumptions, made assumptions about what was going on that day and they made their decision to attack Ahmaud Arbery in their driveways because he was a Black man running down the street,” Dunikoski said.
She stressed that the “bottom line” is that the defendants assumed Arbery had committed a crime “because he was running real fast down the street.”
“They did not call 911. They wanted to stop him and ‘question’ him before they called 911,” she said. “How do we know that? Because that is what they told the police that night.”
She asked the jury to closely consider the evidence she said shows beyond reasonable doubt that the men committed murder.
“This is your search for the truth,” Dunikoski told the jury. “You are Glynn County.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden announced Monday he will nominate Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to a second four-year term.
“While there’s still more to be done, we’ve made remarkable progress over the last 10 months in getting Americans back to work and getting our economy moving again. That success is a testament to the economic agenda I’ve pursued and to the decisive action that the Federal Reserve has taken under Chair Powell and Dr. Brainard (as vice-chair) to help steer us through the worst downturn in modern American history and put us on the path to recovery,” Biden said in a statement.
“Fundamentally, if we want to continue to build on the economic success of this year we need stability and independence at the Federal Reserve — and I have full confidence after their trial by fire over the last 20 months that Chair Powell and Dr. Brainard will provide the strong leadership our country needs,” he added.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — Prices on household essentials like groceries and gas are climbing at a rapid clip, causing new financial distress for Americans right as they plan their first holiday gatherings since the rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine.
After hibernating out of sight for a generation, inflation has made an insidious and unwelcome return to the U.S. economy — fueled by supply chain snags, a shortage of workers in the service industry and pandemic-era economic policies that aimed to alleviate the financial suffering wrought by the public health crisis.
When the unemployment rate hit double-digits last March, lawmakers rallied to send stimulus money to American households and businesses shuttered for months. The Federal Reserve pulled out all the stops to keep financial markets healthy, flushing them with liquidity and easing interest rates. As the economy reopens, Americans now have a pent-up demand to consume on all the things they couldn’t for the past year — and having spent most of the year at home, many have pandemic savings to do so.
Issues with the global supply chain, coupled with struggles of major companies to find staff, however, means production is unable to keep up with the surging demand. Simplistically, this ongoing supply-demand imbalance is why economists say we are seeing prices rise right now.
Navigating inflation can cause headaches for those buying gifts for or hosting loved ones this holiday season, and can inflict further pain for households with less means to absorb higher prices on essentials.
Here is a look at where consumers are feeling the price pinch as the holidays approach, and what they can do about inflation.
Where are prices rising?
In short, prices are rising across the board, but the biggest jumps are being seen in the cost of energy, gas and used cars. Moreover, online shoppers this year likely won’t see the big holiday discounts they are used to in traditional gift items such as electronics and apparel.
Consumer prices surged at their fastest rate in more than three decades, the Labor Department said last week, reporting a 6.2% jump over the last 12 months in its consumer price index. This was the largest one-year increase since November 1990 for the index, which tracks price stickers on a market basket of everyday goods and services.
Breaking the government’s data down further indicates that the overall price hikes were driven by large increases over the past year in the energy index (a 30% jump) and used cars and trucks index (a 26.4% spike). The gasoline index soared 49.6% over the past 12 months, and the energy services (electricity and gas) index ticked up 11.2%.
While it can be hard for some to wrap their heads around what this data on rising prices means, “It’s a big deal,” Matt Schulz, a personal finance expert and chief industry analyst at LendingTree, an online lending company, told ABC News.
“Most people’s financial margin for error is pretty tiny anyway, then when you factor in inflation, an already dicey situation gets to be even more so,” Schulz said. “When you’re making that budget for your holiday spending, it’s important that you don’t just take your budget from last year and move it forward.”
Americans will likely “see a lot of inflation in things that are really close to home,” Connel Fullenkamp, a professor and director of undergraduate studies at Duke University’s Department of Economics, told ABC News.
“We’ve already seen a lot of inflation at the gas pump,” he said. And as the weather chills, he predicted, “We’re definitely going to see it in the price of heating this winter.”
The inflation we’re seeing now is especially sneaky and unpredictable, Fullenkamp added, because of all the issues contributing to it this year from many different angles.
“I think people are going to be surprised occasionally by big price hikes in certain types of items, especially ones that have been affected by the supply chain issues that a lot of companies are having,” Fullenkamp said. “And those are frankly pretty hard to predict, because for some companies it’s parts that they can’t get, and for some companies, it’s just the cost of shipping, so it’s really going to be difficult to predict, but it is definitely going to cause some sticker shock among holiday shoppers.”
How will inflation impact Thanksgiving plans?
As for how inflation is expected to affect Thanksgiving celebrations, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said that Americans should expect Turkey Day staples to be up 5% in price compared to last year.
Overall, this means the cost of “large” turkeys “will only cost $1 dollar more than last year,” Vilsack said in a statement Wednesday.
This is in line with DOL’s data, which indicates the price of food at home rose 5.4% over the past 12 months — with the index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs spiking 11.9%, the beef index soaring 20.1% and the pork index climbing 14.1%.
Consumers should keep these figures in mind as they plan their Thanksgiving menus and celebrations. And with gas prices rising at among the fastest rates, people should also factor that into their travel plans.
“If you’re planning on doing a road trip during the holiday season, gas is probably going to be a good bit more expensive than it was last year and that’s a big deal, especially if you’re traveling a good distance to get to grandma’s house,” Schulz said.
What about online deals on Black Friday or Cyber Monday?
Data compiled by Adobe Digital indicates that holiday shoppers likely won’t see the Black Friday or Cyber Monday deals they are used to in the past while shopping online for gifts this year.
“Consumers are now seeing a double hit to their pocketbooks, with everyday expenses like rent and gas rising, while the big holiday shopping season is going to get more expensive,” Vivek Pandya, the lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, said in a statement Thursday. “After 17 consecutive months of online inflation, we are entering a new normal in the digital economy.”
Online prices were up 1.9% year-over-year in October, according to Adobe’s Digital Price Index released Thursday. For comparison, prices in October 2019 were down 6.6% year-over-year going into the holiday season. In early November, discount levels for electronics were at 8.7%, the Adobe data indicates, well below the 13.2% discount level at the same point last year.
In categories like tools and home improvements — popular gift items — prices are up 1.2% compared to being discounted 6.8% at the same time last year. Apparel is up 9.81% year-over-year in October, compared to usually being down 1.08%. Fresh flowers and related gifts are also up 14.14%, the data shows, compared to usually being down by a fraction of a percentage point.
The Adobe Digital Price Index reveals that in all the 18 categories tracked, all but one (books) saw higher prices online this year when compared to the historical averages. Persistent supply chain challenges may be partly to blame, the Adobe researchers say, as consumers saw over 2 billion “out-of-stock” messages while online shopping in October.
All of this is important to keep in mind so Americans aren’t surprised by their credit card bills at the end of the month, experts say.
What can Americans do to protect themselves from inflation this holiday season?
As Americans look forward to celebrating the holidays with their families and friends again this year, experts say it is more crucial than ever to budget, plan and be as thoughtful as possible with purchases. While small increases in everyday items can seem manageable or ignorable, this is one of the biggest dangers of inflation that economists urge Americans to keep their eyes on.
Many Americans now are too young to remember the pain and uncertainty inflation wreaked on the economy in the 1970s, when it snowballed out of control, eating away at the value of savings before a painful correction that led to double-digit unemployment rates in the early 1980s. While policymakers are better-equipped to respond to inflation now and prices are rising under very different circumstances than before, many consumers a generation later are having trouble grasping inflation’s risks.
“I’m in my upper 40s and I don’t ever remember inflation. I was tiny during the gas shortages of the late ’70s and all that,” Schulz told ABC News. “It’s just important to understand that you’re not going to be able to necessarily predict what individual things get more expensive or by how much.”
“The best thing that you can do is just create your budget and assume a certain amount of increase, and just assume that everything that you buy is going to be a little bit more expensive,” he said. “If you end up overshooting, then that’s great, maybe you’ll end up having extra money at the end of the month.”
“But the danger in a time of inflation is when people think that it’s not going to affect them as much as it does, and they find themselves short at the end of the month more before that paycheck comes in,” Schulz added.
Now it is more important than ever to keep close track of how much money is coming in and going out of your household each month, Schulz said, and practice financial planning and building up a rainy day fund to protect as much as possible from unexpected price increases.
Duke’s Fullenkamp added that the new generation of Americans “just don’t have a good feel for how relentless and kind of sneaky inflation is.”
“I think people who haven’t experienced it don’t really have a good feel for how much it can really drive prices up if you let it go long enough,” Fullenkamp said. “That’s the thing that is most threatening to the individual budgets and spending, you take your eye off that ball for very long and then you’ll always be surprised, and in a really bad way, because prices keep going up.”
“One of the things that is most dangerous about inflation is it’s just so darn insidious,” he added. “Once it gets into the system — it does really, eventually, percolate through to everything.”
This is why planning ahead of time and sticking to a budget can help protect Americans from financial pain down the line as inflation sets in.
“Any holiday shopping season, impulse buying is what gets you in trouble,” Schulz said. “If you can take the time to make that list and check it twice, and shop around to look for the best deal that you can get on things, it’s as important this year as ever since we’ve seen prices increase.”
Schulz said it might also be worth looking into things like credit card reward offers if you know you are going to spend a lot this season, adding, “Obviously, you have to use the card wisely, and not just see it as a reason to go crazy spending.”
Fullenkamp noted that the more you can gather information ahead of time and comparison shop, the better. He also recommends keeping an eye on online subscription services that many Americans flocked to during the e-commerce boom of the pandemic, saying, “A lot of people aren’t paying a lot of attention before they buy stuff, and they’re getting shocked after the fact.”
Looking beyond consumerism this holiday season, families who are going to be hit hardest by inflation overall are those living paycheck-to-paycheck or without the extra funds to absorb even slightly higher prices on household essentials. But even for those with savings stashed away, the value of cash will start to erode as a result of inflation, so storing investments in things like high-interest savings accounts, money market mutual funds and inflation-protected bonds could help provide some protection.
Meanwhile, while the stock market historically has responded negatively to inflation — in large part due to uncertainty among investors and other macroeconomic factors — experts say it has also been a good vehicle for long-term investing for those who don’t need to touch their money for a few decades or until retirement.
Finally, as inflation lingers and drives up the prices of some items faster than others, Fullenkamp said consumers should not assume that the cheapest stores during times of low-inflation will still be offering the best prices.
“We might see a return to the to the good old days of more comparison shopping,” Fullenkamp said. “That’s really the best thing to do — is to make sure make sure you’re familiar with what the prices are going to be before you go out and buy.”
(WASHINGTON) — Every vaccinated person should “get boosted” depending on how long it’s been since their initial shots, but those with their original vaccination protection are still considered “fully vaccinated” despite indications that immunity can wane, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday.
The White House chief medical adviser appeared on ABC’s This Week on Sunday to discuss the recent announcement made by the CDC on Friday to officially recommend booster shots for all adults ages 18 years and older. This move comes after many states were already allowing all adults to get a booster against COVID-19.
“Now that you look at the data as it’s evolved in the United States, it’s very clear,” Fauci told This Week co-anchor Martha Raddatz. “They wanted to make sure that the safety signals were right, and once that became very clear, right now I’m very pleased that we’re in a situation where there’s no confusion, there’s no lack of clarity.”
Following recent statements from governors of Connecticut and New Mexico — who have said they do not consider an individual fully vaccinated unless they have received a booster due to the drop one can see in immunity — Raddatz pressed Fauci on why the White House has not adopted that standard.
By definition, Fauci said, fully vaccinated right now means someone has received two doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
“We’ll continue to follow the data, because right now when we’re boosting people, what we’re doing is following them,” Fauci said. “We’re going to see what the durability of that protection is, and as we always do, you just follow and let the data guide your policy and let the data guide your recommendations.”
As of Friday, 59% of the U.S. population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said last week there’s a high chance that boosters will be needed annually, but when asked by Raddatz what he thought, Fauci did not necessarily agree.
“We would hope — and this is something that we’re looking at very carefully — that third shot with the mRNA not only boosts you way up but increases the durability so that you will not necessarily need it every six months or a year,” Fauci said. “If it doesn’t, and the data show we do need it more often, then we’ll do it, but you want to make sure you get the population optimally protected and you do whatever you need to do to make sure you do that.”
The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday that COVID-19 deaths in 2021 surpassed the number of COVID-19 deaths in 2020, with the total number of deaths now reaching more than 770,000. Raddatz pressed Fauci to explain how deaths increased, and he cited the delta variant — “which is very, very different from the original variants that we were dealing with before.”
“This is a virus that is highly transmissible,” he said. “The more people that get infected, the more people are going to get hospitalized. The more people they get hospitalized, the more people are going to die.”
Fauci noted that another difference between this year and last year is the availability of vaccines, and he stressed the importance of getting vaccinated.
“We now have vaccines that are highly effective and clearly very safe, particularly now with the recent data showing that we can vaccinate children from 5 through 11,” Fauci said. “There are 28 million children within that age category. If we started vaccinating them now, they’ll be fully protected by Christmas.”
With the holidays coming up, Raddatz also asked Fauci to explain what safety precautions families can take this holiday season.
“If you’re vaccinated — and hopefully, you’ll be boosted, too — and your family is, you can enjoy a typical Thanksgiving meal or Thanksgiving holiday with your family,” Fauci said. “The thing we are concerned about is the people who are not vaccinated, because what they’re doing is, they’re the major source of the dynamics of the infection in the community. And the higher the level of dynamics of infection, the more everyone is at risk.”
(NEW YORK) — Two of the Christian missionaries who were kidnapped in Haiti last month have been released, according to the ministry.
Nineteen people — including 17 missionaries, five of them children — were kidnapped by a Haitian gang on Oct. 16 during an airport run, a source at the U.S. embassy told ABC News last month.
The Ohio-based ministry the missionaries are affiliated with, Christian Aid Ministries, announced in a statement Sunday that two of the hostages have been released and “are safe, in good spirits, and being cared for.”
“We welcome reports that two individuals held hostage in Haiti have been released. We do not have further comment at this time,” a White House official told ABC News.
The Haitian National Police also confirmed the release of the two hostages to ABC News.
The ministry could not provide the names of those released, the reasons for their release or their current location, according to the statement. Further details about the remaining hostages were not provided.
“We encourage you to continue to pray for the full resolution of this situation,” the statement read. “While we rejoice at this release, our hearts are with the fifteen people who are still being held. Continue to lift up the remaining hostages before the Lord.”
The Haitian government suspects the gang known as 400 Mawozo to be responsible for the abductions, the source at the U.S. embassy said last month. The FBI made contact with the 400 Mawozoa on Oct. 18 and was assisting in negotiations, the agency told ABC News.
The group, which included 16 Americans and one Canadian, was abducted while on a trip to an orphanage, according to the ministry.
The country is experiencing a rise in gang-related kidnappings, many demanding ransom, which stalled after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse on July 7 and a 7.2-magnitude earthquake on Aug. 14 that killed more than 2,200 people.
The U.S. State Department issued a warning in August about the risk of kidnapping for ransom in Haiti.
ABC News’ Joshua Hoyos contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — While Thanksgiving will be a time to gather again this year for many people, thanks to COVID-19 vaccines, it may for other people be the start of a difficult holiday season.
Some people may be home alone on Thanksgiving by choice, following safety guidelines, while other families will be missing loved ones at the Thanksgiving table who are hospitalized with COVID-19 or who have passed away from the virus over the past nearly two years.
Still others may be coping with a non-COVID related illness that is keeping their family separated or coping with a deployment or a divorce, separation or estrangement that unfolded during the pandemic.
“What many people are going to experience this year, for a variety of reasons, is that their holiday table is not going to be as full as it normally is,” said Kory Floyd, Ph.D., an author and professor of interpersonal communication at the University of Arizona. “Many American households are going to experience a sense of deprivation this year.”
“Especially on a holiday, when it’s a time to celebrate and be around loved ones, that accentuates a sense of loneliness,” he said.
Here are five tips to make Thanksgiving a joy-filled day regardless of who you are, or are not, spending it with.
1. Make a plan:
Planning ahead the fun things you’ll do on Thanksgiving, or the new traditions you’ll start, can both help ease the stress and uncertainty of the day and help you from obsessing over what could have been, according to Floyd.
“Think now of things you’ll plan for that day that will be positive distractions,” he said. “The benefit of [planning ahead] is we’re ready and we’re prepared, and we’re prepared to enjoy and find meaning and find joyfulness in whatever we do with that time.”
Planning ahead can be as detailed as what time you’ll eat meals and do activities to a more general list of the movies you want to watch or the activities you can do outside in fresh air, experts say.
Floyd recommends planning something that feels indulgent on what is still a special day of the year.
“What feels indulgent to people will vary from person to person,” he said, giving examples of a bubble bath or a decadent dessert. “But make it something that goes beyond the ordinary and feels really special and allow yourself the freedom to enjoy it, to lean into it.”
2. Find ways to help other people:
Doing something good for someone else can take the focus off yourself and help ease feelings of loneliness or discontent, according to Nicole Beurkens, Ph.D., a holistic child psychologist and the founder and director of Horizons Developmental Resource Center in Caledonia, Michigan.
That could mean dropping items off at a nursing home, preparing boxed meals for neighbors or delivering books and needed items to women’s and children’s centers, recommends Beurkens.
“Sometimes the best way to soothe ourselves is to do something outside of ourselves,” she said.
3. Phone a friend or loved one:
Even if you can’t physically be with your loved ones on Thanksgiving, it’s important to find ways to stay in touch with people, recommend both Floyd and Beurkens.
Plan ahead to make sure you can call, Skype or Zoom with friends and relatives on Thanksgiving, whether it’s just talking to catch up or taking part in holiday traditions together via technology. If the technology is too much, spend the down time you may have that day writing letters to family and friends or simply thinking about who in your life you’re grateful for, according to the experts.
4. Think ahead to next year:
While it’s normally important to stay in the moment and not look ahead or behind, experts say this year it can be healthy to look ahead to a more hopeful time.
“It gives a sense of forward-looking motion that helps people not feel as heavy a sense of what is going on now,” said Floyd. “It reminds people that this is temporary and things will get better.”
Floyd said he is reminding his patients that no matter how bad this year feels, it is temporary, and it is okay to start thinking ahead to things like travel and gathering again in-person with family and friends.
His advice is to be specific when thinking about the future, picturing things like exactly where you want to travel to, who you will spend Thanksgiving with next year and what new traditions you may want to start.
5. Be okay with shedding some tears:
Both Floyd and Beurkens say it’s okay and perfectly normal to spend a few moments on Thanksgiving shedding tears or sitting for a bit with grief over what a strange holiday, and year, this has been.
“It’s not getting over the emotions, but getting through them,” said Floyd. “The last thing people should do is be ashamed of those emotions.”
“We can still generate joy even though there’s a sense of sadness or a sense of loss,” he said.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741. You can reach Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860 (U.S.) or 877-330-6366 (Canada) and The Trevor Project at 866-488-7386.
(WASHINGTON) — Millions of American workers have returned to the office, and most children are back to in-person learning at schools, but dozens of members of the U.S. House of Representatives are still literally phoning in their votes to Washington, citing an “ongoing public health emergency.”
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, House Democrats took the unprecedented step to establish rules allowing any lawmaker to vote by proxy if he or she could not attend proceedings in-person because of the pandemic.
As the virus recedes and most members of Congress are vaccinated, critics say some members of Congress are abusing a public health policy for personal convenience, politics or other family matters.
A total of 103 U.S. Representatives had active proxy letters filed with the House Clerk as of publication.
“We do want members to take seriously their responsibilities to participate in a legislative process, to cast votes on the floor of the House,” said Molly E. Reynolds, a Brookings Institution senior fellow and expert on how Congress functions. “Figuring out how to prevent abuse of the practice while also making it available for people who need it is a real challenge.”
Each time a proxy is used, a member of Congress must attest in writing to the House Clerk that they are “unable to physically attend proceedings” for health or safety reasons related to COVID-19. Enforcement is by the honor system.
“They don’t want to come in unless they are vaccinated and unless others are vaccinated,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi explained in March.
At least 343 representatives — Democrats and Republicans — have filed a notice to vote remotely at least once this year, according to data compiled by Reynolds. The U.S. Senate did not enact a proxy system during the pandemic.
During Friday’s major vote on Democrats’ sweeping $1.75 trillion Build Back Better plan, 98 lawmakers who voted didn’t show up in person, a review of voting records found.
“Graph the number of proxies, and look at how they increase exponentially on Fridays,” said Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc., one of the most outspoken critics of proxy voting. “It’s incentivizing the worst behavior among members, which is to say prioritizing fundraising and deprioritizing legislating.”
Nearly all House Republicans opposed proxy voting when it began last year, but some have since taken advantage of the flexibility. In one of the most prominent examples, 13 Republicans voted remotely in February while attending the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) conference in Orlando.
Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., who was among the CPAC attendees, voted by proxy more than a dozen times this year, despite strong public opposition to the policy and criticizing Democrats who used it as “cowards” for not showing up.
Cawthorn declined comment to ABC News when approached on Capitol Hill. His office also did not respond to an email from ABC.
“I think it’s a bad thing; personally, I don’t think we need to be doing it at this point,” said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., who has criticized proxy voting but also used it. “It’s in the rules. You can use it.”
Rule or not, Republican Party leaders have argued in court that proxy voting is outright unconstitutional. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has even appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to strike it down.
“I think people should be here to work to have to be paid when you don’t. When you proxy vote, you’re not here to debate the bill. You’re not in committee [hearings]. It’s wrong,” McCarthy told ABC News in an interview.
McCarthy would not comment on why so many fellow Republicans have disregarded his admonishment and voted by proxy.
Democrats have voted by proxy more often than Republicans, according to data tabulated by Reynolds at the Brookings Institution. Sometimes for reasons clearly related to COVID-19, but sometimes for reasons that are less clear, she told ABC News.
Democratic Congressman Ron Kind, of Wisconsin, for example, voted remotely on seven bills in June while President Joe Biden was visiting his state. When approached by ABC News, he said that some of his recent proxy votes came after a positive COVID diagnosis for a member of his staff.
“It’s a good thing when you have legitimate reasons to be away,” said Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass. “I have two young girls… I used [proxy voting] when my daughter was born, for example, and I’ve used it when my daughter was sick just the week before last.”
Members of both parties have used remote voting while caring for a sick or dying parent, or when flight delays have kept them stranded far from Washington. Each time, however, they officially attested to the Clerk that the “ongoing public health emergency” kept them from being unable to attend.
“My wife had our first child 16 months ago, I missed votes. But that’s how it was,” Gallagher said. “You missed votes for legitimate reasons, but proxy voting gets us closer to a nonessential Congress, or a Congress that’s just, you know, zooming in to work every day.”
Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., who regularly casts votes for absent Democratic colleagues, told ABC News it’s about time everyone gets back to debating and voting in person in Congress.
“The original purpose was just for people who either, where it just wasn’t safe to fly or they had some preexisting condition, including being too old,” Beyer said. “Now, when people start going to conferences or something, that’s a little different.”
Florida Democrats Charlie Crist and Darren Soto voted by proxy last year the same day as attending a planned SpaceX rocket launch in their home state, but told the House Clerk they couldn’t vote in person because of the pandemic.
Several Republicans and Democrats have used the proxy system while attending political events outside Washington.
“That’s something voters should be worried about,” Reynolds said, “but I don’t think they should automatically assume that just because their member has been voting by proxy, their member hasn’t been working.”
On Nov. 12, Pelosi announced an extension of proxy voting through the end of the year.
“While some have misused proxy-voting for non-pandemic reasons, it remains a vital protection for the health of Members who may be immunocompromised or be particularly at risk for life threatening complications from COVID,” a House leadership aide told ABC News in a statement.
“All across the country, people are getting back to work or schools are opening up again. Congress ought to be working again,” said Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La. Asked why so many of his GOP peers are still voting remotely, he replied: “Obviously every member has got to make their own choices while it’s there as an option.”
The option to participate in Congress remotely remains controversial and unprecedented. And as growing numbers of Americans return to in-person work, many may expect their elected representatives to do the same.
“Figuring out how to protect the process for people who genuinely need it, and while also preventing abuse is going to be a real challenge for an extremely polarized and partisan House of Representatives going forward,” Reynolds said.
(WAUKESHA, Wis.) — At least five people were killed and more than 40 others injured on Sunday when a car plowed into a Christmas parade in Wisconsin, according to authorities.
The incident occurred at around 4:39 p.m. local time in Waukesha, about 17 miles west of Milwaukee. The vehicle allegedly associated with the incident — a red SUV — has since been recovered and a person of interest was taken into custody, Waukesha Police Chief Dan Thompson said at a press conference Sunday evening.
Thompson said an officer, who has been with the Waukesha Police Department for over 6 years, discharged their weapon in order to stop the car, but no bystanders were hit.
The investigation into the event is ongoing, and it was unclear if there was any connection to terrorism.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers described the incident as a “senseless act.”
“I’m grateful for the first responders and folks who acted quickly,” Evers wrote on Twitter on Sunday evening.
A number of people from the scene, including at least 12 children, were taken to various local hospitals, according to Thompson, who at the time only confirmed “some fatalities.” A statement from the City of Waukesha later confirmed there were five people dead and over 40 injured.
“However, these numbers may change as we collect additional information,” the city noted in the statement late Sunday night. “Many people have self-transported to area hospitals.”
Authorities are working to identify the victims and notify their next of kin.
Several of the injured, including some in critical condition, were admitted to Children’s Wisconsin in Milwaukee and Aurora Medical Center in Summit, Wisconsin, about 15 miles west of Waukesha, according to separate statements from the hospitals.
A Catholic priest, multiple parishioners and Catholic schoolchildren were among the wounded, according to Sandra Peterson, communications director of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
“Please join us in prayer for all those involved, their families, and those who are traumatized from witnessing the horrible scene,” Peterson said in a statement on Sunday night.
Waukesha County Executive Paul Farrow said he and his wife had just finished participating in the Christmas parade when they heard police sirens.
“Shortly afterward, I learned that a vehicle drove through the parade route injuring many people,” Farrow wrote in a series of posts on Twitter on Sunday evening. “This is an unspeakable tragedy, affecting us all as we work to overcome an extremely challenging two years and resume our cherished holiday traditions. Keep the families affected in your thoughts as we work to offer whatever support we can.”
Waukesha Fire Department Chief Steven Howard told reporters that his department was marching in the parade when the incident happened. A dozen local fire departments assisted in the response, according to Howard.
The City of Waukesha urged members of the community “to come together during this time and to keep the families in your prayers.”
“Many people witnessed traumatic events this evening,” the city said in a statement on Sunday night.
The Waukesha Police Department issued a shelter-in-place order on Sunday evening for those within a half-mile radius of the downtown area. The scene was marked secure later that night, according to Thompson.
Still, roads in the area will be closed for at least the next 24 hours. Public schools in Waukesha will also be closed on Monday, Thompson said.
In a statement Sunday night, the Waukesha School District confirmed that Monday’s classes were cancelled for all students and that a decision regarding Tuesday’s classes “will be determined during the day on Monday.”
“Several of our administrative staff and principals met this evening following the tragic event that occurred at the City of Waukesha Christmas Parade,” the school district said. “”At this time, we are working with the police department to more fully comprehend all of the tragic details of this unfortunate event.”
The City of Waukesha said “the scene is still fluid” and that the street where the event took place will not reopen before mid-day on Monday.
“Businesses in this area should remain closed as entry and exit from Main Street will not be allowed,” the city added in its statement. “When the area is open, the City is requesting that any items for a temporary memorial be placed at Veterans Park.”
A spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Investigation told ABC News that the agency’s Milwaukee field office “is aware of the reporting of an incident in Waukesha.”
“The local and state authorities are leading the response,” the FBI spokesperson said.
U.S. President Joe Biden was briefed on the Waukesha incident on Sunday night, according to the White House.
A White House official told ABC News that they are “closely monitoring the situation in Waukesha.”
“Our hearts go out to everyone who has been impacted by this terrible incident,” the official added. “We have reached out to state and local officials to offer any support and assistance as needed.”
ABC News’ Jack Date, Matt Foster, Will Gretsky, Molly Nagle, Victor Ordonez and Darren Reynolds contributed to this report.
