Politics

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden, a pro-union president, on Labor Day kicks off the the unofficial start of the fall campaign season ahead of the midterm elections with two cross-country stops in battleground states.

Biden, the White House says, will deliver remarks “celebrating Labor Day and the dignity of American workers,” in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, after a string of legislative victories and a slight bump in approval ratings.

In both swing states, Democrats are facing high-stakes, heavily-funded midterm races.

Biden travels first to Milwaukee to speak about 1:00 p.m. at the city’s Laborfest, with Democratic Gov. Tony Evers — up for reelection in November against Republican Tim Michels — expected to make an appearance.

It was unclear whether Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes — a Democratic Senate hopeful embattled in a tight race against incumbent GOP Sen. Ron Johnson — would also accompany Biden.

Ahead of his visit, Republican National Committee and the Wisconsin Republican Party hosted a Zoom call, slamming the president’s Thursday primetime speech in Philadelphia and his recent moves to cancel up to $20,000 in student loan debt.

Johnson was on the Zoom, calling the president “no moderate” and that he has become a “divider-in-chief.” Johnson noted that his Democratic opponent has been “in hiding” and that Barnes has not been doing any recent press conferences. One of Barnes’ most recent events was a meet and greet with seniors on Aug. 29 on the subject of Social Security and Medicare, in response to recent Johnson comments on potentially cutting those programs.

From Milwaukee, Biden travels to Pittsburgh where he is scheduled to make more Labor Day remarks at 5:30 p.m at United Steelworkers of America Local Union 2227 — the third time the president has visited the commonwealth in one week.

Pennsylvania’s Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman is in a contentious battle for retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey’s Senate seat against Trump-endorsed Dr. Mehmet Oz.

In a tweet, Fetterman’s director of communications said that the candidate will also be marching with Biden — the first time the candidate has joined the president during his weeklong span of the state — with plans to discuss marijuana decriminalization.

“John will be marching in the Labor Day parade in Pittsburgh next week, and he looks forward to talking to the President there about the need to finally decriminalize marijuana,” wrote Joe Calvello.

Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro is also facing a tight race against Trump-endorsed Republican Doug Mastriano for governor. Shapiro will also march with Biden on Monday, following his appearance with the president at Wilkes University on Tuesday.

In Pittsburgh, Shapiro will be “marching with the hardworking men and women of labor on Monday,” Manual Bonder, a spokesperson for Shapiro, said in a statement. “As always, we welcome President Biden back to his home state of Pennsylvania.”

On Thursday in Philadelphia, Biden, in a fiery speech, warned about what he called threats to American democracy, presenting himself and Democrats ahead of the midterms as a clear contrast to Trump and MAGA Republicans.

He pummeled Republicans who participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection, and those who refuse to accept the 2020 election results and want to strip away abortion rights.

“Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal,” he said. “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking at the Greater Boston Labor Council Annual Breakfast on Monday, echoed Biden’s remarks Thursday in Philadelphia, criticizing “extremist, so-called leaders” for their attempts to “turn back the clock …To a time before workers had the freedom to organize. To a time before women had the freedom to make decisions about their own bodies. To a time before all Americans had the freedom to vote.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Nearly one month since the FBI’s search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, cited the privileges given to Trump as a former president as justification for taking 15 boxes of classified documents out of the White House.

“You know, I have lived in the classified world most of my professional career, I personally wouldn’t do that. But I’m not the president of the United States. But he has a different set of rules that apply to him,” McCaul told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz, who asked if he saw any reason that Trump took the highly classified materials.

“I know they were taken out of the White House while he was president and whether or not he declassified those documents remains to be seen. He says he did. I don’t have all the facts there,” said McCaul, who has been pushing for more information about the search to be released alongside some fellow GOP lawmakers.

Martha pushed back, saying that Trump’s attorney general Bill Barr found the idea of Trump standing over documents and declassifying them to be absurd.

Raddatz also brought up Joe Biden’s “soul of the nation” speech in Philadelphia on Thursday, in which he was highly critical of MAGA Republicans. Immediately after the president’s remarks, McCaul took to Twitter, writing that “attacking half of America will only further divide our country.”

Raddatz questioned McCaul on his social media statement, asking, “When you look at those polls showing 60 to 70% of Republicans believe Joe Biden is not the legitimate president, what is Biden supposed to do when the country cannot even decide what democracy means?”

McCaul said that while “democracy is messy,” it is “better than all the other forms of government,” and also argued that if Biden’s intention with the speech was to unify the American people, it “had just the opposite effect.”

“And, you know, saying that Republicans are a threat to democracy is really a slap in the face … you know my vote on certification and my position on that. I took an oath to the Constitution but having said that, you don’t come out to unify the nation,” McCaul said, adding that it “was not a presidential address.”

Raddatz asked for McCaul’s — who was a former federal prosecutor — reaction to Trump’s remarks in a speech Saturday where Trump referred to the FBI and the Department of Justice as “vicious monsters.”

“I think the perception is what a lot of Republicans I know see on the heels of the Russian investigation, the Steele dossier,” McCaul said. “There’s a certain distrust but verify attitude — when it comes to the Department of Justice and the FBI, and it, frankly, saddens me because as a alumni of DOJ, I hate to see people’s faith in our institutions be weakened.”

Asked by Raddatz about how much Donald Trump should be blamed for the division in the country, McCaul blamed both political parties for the recent heightened rhetoric. He made a reference to Abraham Lincoln who, rather than condemning the opposing party during that time, brought them into the conversation in the spirit of unity, he said.

That is the mission that Biden should embark on but failed to do in his speech Thursday, according to McCaul. “It was a campaign speech before the midterm elections, and that’s basically how I see it,” he told Raddatz.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WILKES-BARRE, Penn.) — In his first rally since the FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago home last month, former President Donald Trump took the stage in Pennsylvania for nearly two hours during which he responded to the raid on his home last month and President Joe Biden’s remarks earlier this week.

“The shameful raid and break-in of my home Mar-a-Lago was a travesty of justice,” Trump said of the search. “The FBI and the Justice Department have become vicious monsters.”

Trump was in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania on Saturday campaigning in support of Doug Mastriano, who is running for governor against Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, and Dr. Mehmet Oz, who is taking on Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in the U.S. Senate race.

Trump praised both candidates while emphasizing the importance of taking back the House and Senate this November.

“Two months from now the people of Pennsylvania are going to fire the radical left democrats and you are going to elect Doug Mastriano as your next governor, and you are going to send my friend Oz, he is a great guy, to the US Senate,” Trump said. “You’re going to elect an amazing slate of true America first Republicans to Congress.”

And though Saturday’s rally was in support of his Pennsylvania candidates, Trump spent the vast majority of his speech focused on his own issues– mainly with the FBI, the Department of Justice, fellow Republicans and Joe Biden.

“Joe Biden came to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to give the most vicious, hateful and divisive speech ever delivered by an American president…..He’s an enemy of the state,” Trump said in response to Biden’s remarks earlier this week.

Amid these high stakes, Trump’s rally also comes as fallout continues from the Aug. 8 FBI search at his Mar-a-Lago estate, where agents recovered classified documents as part of an investigation into his handling of presidential records after leaving office.

On Friday, Judge Cannon unsealed a detailed inventory showing what the FBI seized during the search. The list states some documents bearing classification markings ranging from confidential to top secret were found intermingled with newspaper clippings, photographs and other documents.

Trump almost immediately launched into a response to the raid of his Mar-a-Lago home Saturday, framing it as persecution of a political enemy. He attacked law enforcement without offering any substantive response to the allegations against him regarding his handling of classified documents.

“There could be no more vivid example of the very real threats of American freedom than just a few weeks ago you saw when we witnessed one of the most shocking abuses of power by any administration in American history. The shameful raid and breaking of my home Mar a Lago was a travesty of justice,” Trump said.

Those in line to hear him speak on Saturday expressed beliefs that Trump was unfairly targeted.

“I don’t feel he did anything wrong. I think that will come out in the end, but they just want to turn people against Trump,” said Barbara, a voter from Mountain Top, Pennsylvania.

Trump’s appearance in Pennsylvania comes just days after President Joe Biden’s back-to-back visits in the battleground state, during which he condemned Trump and his fellow “MAGA Republicans” as a dominant force in today’s GOP and a threat to American democracy.

“Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal,” Biden said in a prime-time speech from Independence Hall in Philadelphia on Thursday. “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.”

Biden’s ramped up rhetoric comes as he seeks to recast the November elections as a choice between those who want to save the “soul of the nation” or those who he says are a danger to democracy.

“Joe Biden came to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to give the most vicious, hateful and divisive speech ever delivered by an American president,” Trump said “You’re all enemies of the state? He’s an enemy of the state. You want to know the truth.”

Trump supporters waiting in line to see the former president give remarks criticized Biden’s rhetoric and said it has only energized them even more ahead of the midterms. Evy Mecjes, and Debbie Latsha called Biden’s speech “very divisive.”

“We’re now the bad guys. We are the terrorists of the United States of America,” Mecjes said.

Latsha said Biden’s speech showed how “afraid” Democrats were of the power Trump still has over the Republican Party.

“They’re a little afraid of all the people that are rising up and whose eyes are being opened, who are waking up to what’s truly happening in our government,” Latsha said. “So let’s see if we can smash them down a little bit more and divide people a little bit more. I mean, there was nothing unifying about that.”

They defended Trump supporters pointing to school closures during the pandemic and inflation as examples of how they felt Democrats have hurt Americans.

“People are rising up because we’re pissed off about how our government is treating us and you know, President Biden does not speak for the people,” Mecjes remarked.

Biden will be back in Pennsylvania again on Sunday, spending part of his Labor Day weekend in Pittsburgh.

While Republicans have generally been favored to win back control of both chambers of Congress this midterm cycle, recent legislative victories for Democrats and some positive economic news has bolstered Democrats’ chances to keep their majorities.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms defended President Joe Biden’s prime-time address on Thursday, warning of the threat “MAGA” Republicans pose to American democracy on “This Week,” saying Biden spoke “optimistically” about the country, but also said that the nation needs to “call out hatred.”

“This ‘MAGA’ Republican agenda, this hate-filled agenda … we saw incite violence on our nation’s Capitol, has no place in a democracy. And if we are not … calling it out, which is what the president did, then our country, everything that our country is built upon is in danger,” Bottoms, now a senior adviser for public engagement for the White House told co-anchor Martha Raddatz Sunday morning.

In his remarks, Biden used some of his harshest language to date to criticize former President Donald Trump, and his supporters, saying they “represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic” — a notable shift for Biden, who ran on a message of uniting the country after Trump’s four years in office.

The speech, delivered just months before the midterm elections, was seen by many as an effort to help frame the November elections as a referendum on Trump, and was heavily criticized by Republicans as divisive, saying it disparaged the 70-plus million Americans who voted for Trump in 2020.

A new analysis from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, which tracks hate speech, said after the Biden speech, there was a surge online in conversations that said Biden’s remarks singling “MAGA” Republicans were interpreted as a declaration of war against conservatives and Trump voters.

Bottoms stressed that Biden was not speaking about all Republicans, but those who supported the efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

“The president has not called out all Republicans. He’s been very specific about this ‘MAGA’ agenda,” she said. “I’ll just remind you of the words of Martin Luther King Jr. when he said that, ‘it’s not the words of our enemies that we will remember. It’s the silence of our friends’ and what the president has said, is that mainstream Republicans, Independents, Democrats, can all come together, we’ve seen us come together, to do what’s right on behalf of the American people,” Bottoms said to Raddatz.

While Biden criticized “MAGA” Republicans for supporting candidates who deny the outcome of the 2020 election, there has also been criticism of Democrat groups who have been accused of bolstering far-right Republican candidates in races, in hopes of increasing Democratic odds in November.

Raddatz asked Bottoms about those claims and whether Biden should address them.

“I think what the president will continue to do is encourage people to go out and vote their conscience, whatever their conscience may be, and what the president will continue to do, which what we saw him do just this week, is to remind people who we are as a country, who we are as a nation,” Bottoms said.

“So does he support that? Does he support supporting those extreme candidates?” Raddatz pressed.

“I cannot speak to what the president supports. I can speak to what he has said publicly and what he has said publicly is that we are a nation that values the rule of law, that we are a nation of peace, that we are a nation that values that peaceful transition of power, and this MAGA agenda has no place in our democracy,” Bottoms said.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WILKES-BARRE, Pa.) — Former President Donald Trump is campaigning for Republicans in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on Saturday in what will be his first rally since federal agents searched his Florida home last month.

Trump will speak at the Mohegan Sun Arena in support of Doug Mastriano, who is running for governor against Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Schapiro, and Dr. Mehmet Oz, who is taking on Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in the U.S. Senate race.

Supporters were lined up in the parking lot hours before Trump is due on stage.

Trump’s appearance in Pennsylvania comes just days after President Joe Biden’s back-to-back visits in the battleground state, during which he condemned Trump and his fellow “MAGA Republicans” as a dominant force in today’s GOP and a threat to American democracy.

“Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal,” Biden said in a prime-time speech from Independence Hall in Philadelphia on Thursday. “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.”

Biden’s ramped up rhetoric comes as he seeks to recast the November elections as a choice between those who want to save the “soul of the nation” or those who he says are a danger to democracy.

Trump supporters waiting in line to see the former president give remarks criticized Biden’s rhetoric and said it has only energized them even more ahead of the midterms. Evy Mecjes, and Debbie Latsha called Biden’s speech “very divisive.”

“We’re now the bad guys. We are the terrorists of the United States of America,” Mecjes said.

Latsha said Biden’s speech showed how “afraid” Democrats were of the power Trump still has over the Republican Party.

“They’re a little afraid of all the people that are rising up and whose eyes are being opened, who are waking up to what’s truly happening in our government,” Latsha said. “So let’s see if we can smash them down a little bit more and divide people a little bit more. I mean, there was nothing unifying about that.”

They defended Trump supporters pointing to school closures during the pandemic and inflation as examples of how Democrats have hurt Americans.

“People are rising up because we’re pissed off about how our government is treating us and you know, President Biden does not speak for the people,” Mecjes remarked.

Biden will be back in Pennsylvania again on Sunday, spending part of his Labor Day weekend in Pittsburgh.

While Republicans have generally been favored to win back control of both chambers of Congress this midterm cycle, recent legislative victories for Democrats and some positive economic news has bolstered Democrats’ chances to keep their majorities.

Amid these high stakes, Trump’s rally also comes as fallout continues from the Aug. 8 FBI search at his Mar-a-Lago estate, where agents recovered classified documents as part of an investigation into his handling of presidential records after leaving office.

Lawyers for the Justice Department and for Trump faced off in court Thursday over whether there should be a judge-ordered independent review of the Mar-a-Lago documents by a special master. The judge, Aileen Cannon, has yet to make a ruling on the matter.

On Friday, Judge Cannon unsealed a detailed inventory showing what the FBI seized during the search. The list states some documents bearing classification markings ranging from confidential to top secret were found intermingled with newspaper clippings, photographs and other documents.

The inventory also revealed the government seized dozens of folders that were empty but either had “CLASSIFIED” banners on them or were labeled “Return to Staff Secretary/Military Aide.”

Trump has denied wrongdoing as he publicly fights back against the search.

Those in line to hear him speak on Saturday expressed beliefs that Trump was unfairly targeted.

“I don’t feel he did anything wrong. I think that will come out in the end, but they just want to turn people against Trump,” said Barbara, a voter from Mountain Top, Pennsylvania.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — The battle over a Senate seat is hot in swing state Ohio. Democratic nominee Rep. Tim Ryan is locked in a competitive race with Republican opponent J.D. Vance, who picked up $28M in airtime funding from a PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

ABC News hit the campaign trail, asking young voters in Columbus and at Ohio State University, about the issues that matter most to them in the midterm elections.

This year’s midterms are slated to be the most consequential yet as the fate of abortion laws are now in the hands of the states after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Abortion, cost of living

“A lot of women don’t even know they’re pregnant until after six weeks. I think that is odd, cruel and it’s clearly laws made by people that have never had babies,” said Ashley McCoy of Columbus, referring to the state’s six-week abortion ban, which makes the procedure illegal after fetal cardiac activity is detected, with no exceptions for rape or incest.

“I understand pro-life and I’m all for that if that’s what you believe in, but you cannot force it upon the masses. It’s not right,” added McCoy.

Rising costs of living and unemployment rates are also prime sources of concern for voters like Kristyn Schweitzer, an Ohio native.

“My husband and I had to scale our lives back after COVID because of layoffs,” said Schweitzer. “I think it says a lot that inflation and interest rates have gone up because it’s hard to get a foothold. We’re surviving but it’s not comfortable.”

Law enforcement issues, student debt

Law enforcement’s treatment particularly of Black men is another issue that concerns some Ohioans, as the Columbus Police Department is now under fire for the fatal shooting of Donovan Lewis — a Black man fatally shot by police Tuesday, released police body camera footage showed.

Andrew Pierce, a senior and the student body president at Ohio State University, says it is time to have a conversation about what policing looks like going forward.

“How do we move with the police but also how do we just create a safe society for everybody?” said Pierce.

And President Joe Biden’s plan to cancel up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt was also on the minds of students, who applauded the plan, but some said they also believe more could be done to alleviate the burden.

“I feel like right now $10,000 is a lot of money, but also it’s still nowhere near the amount that students here regularly accumulate,” said Zoe Lawler, a senior at Ohio State University who is majoring in genetics. “Ten thousand dollars. It’s like a drop in the bucket,” Lawler said.

Herb Asher, political science professor at Ohio State University, told ABC News that the issues Ohio’s voters cited, are no surprise.

“I think the economy has always been at the top of lists that Ohioans are concerned about, in part Ohio is a state that has lost so many well-paying manufacturing jobs,” he said.

Asher also said the issue of abortion may be a “liability” for Republicans, in part because of what various state legislatures are doing now that they have the power to determine access to the procedure, which may turn off some voters.

“Once the Supreme Court said Roe v. Wade is overturned, that didn’t ban abortion,” said Asher. “That just sent the issue back to the states. And a lot of the states are doing some really, very restrictive, very conservative and in some cases, very extreme things.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden said Friday that he does not consider all supporters of his predecessor, Donald Trump, to be a threat to the United States.

“I don’t consider any Trump supporter to be a threat to the country,” Biden said in response to a reporter’s question.

The night before, Biden had said during a major, prime-time speech in Philadelphia that “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.”

“There’s no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven, and intimidated by Donald Trump and the ‘MAGA Republicans,’ and that is a threat to this country,” he said, using the acronym for Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.

Biden has repeatedly explained he is not condemning all Republicans, but rather those loyal to Trump.

He said Friday he thought people who call for violence or fail to condemn it, refuse “to acknowledge when an election has been won” and insist on changing the way votes are counted – “that is a threat to democracy.”

Biden said those who voted for Trump in 2020 “and support him now, they weren’t voting for attacking the Capitol, they weren’t voting for overruling an election.”

“They were voting for the philosophy he put forward,” Biden said.

“So, I am not talking about anything other than, it is inappropriate — and it’s not only happened here, but other parts of the world — where there’s a failure to recognize and condemn violence whenever it’s used for political purposes,” he said. “Failure to condemn the attempt to manipulate electoral outcomes. Failure to acknowledge when an election has been won or lost.”

The culmination of weeks of ramped-up rhetorical attacks on Republicans loyal to Trump, his Thursday night speech was highly political in nature, although the White House had taken pains to paint it as an “official” event.

Two Marines stood behind the president as he spoke at Independence Hall, prompting criticism the White House was using them as political props.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday “the presence of the Marines at the speech was intended to demonstrate the deep and abiding respect the president has for these services–service members, to these ideals, and the unique role our independent military plays in defending our democracy, no matter which party is in power.”

She noted previous presidents had spoken while standing in front of members of the military.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Gina McCarthy — President Joe Biden’s top climate adviser — will step down from her post on Sept. 16, the White House announced on Friday.

The National Climate Advisor role will then be filled by McCarthy’s deputy, Ali Zaidi, just weeks after the president signed historic climate legislation.

Longtime Democrat John Podesta, who served as President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff, was a senior adviser to President Barack Obama, and managed Hillary Clinton’s 2016 White House bid, will oversee the implementation of the climate and energy provisions of Democrats’ recently passed Inflation Reduction Act while also chairing the President’s National Climate Task Force, according to the White House.

“Under Gina McCarthy and Ali Zaidi’s leadership, my administration has taken the most aggressive action ever, from historic legislation to bold executive actions, to confront the climate crisis head-on,” Biden said in a statement announcing the administrative moves.

Biden also nodded to his recruitment of Podesta, under the title, “Senior Advisor to the President for Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation.” While with the Obama administration, Podesta’s focus was on coordinating climate-related policy initiatives.

“His deep roots in climate and clean energy policy and his experience at senior levels of government mean we can truly hit the ground running to take advantage of the massive clean energy opportunity in front of us.”

After decades of federal inaction to curb climate change, the The Inflation Reduction Act includes $369 billion in investments in climate and clean energy programs– lauded by experts as one of the country’s most important steps to address the issue and potentially decrease energy costs for households nationwide.

“This is an absolute game-changer,” McCarthy said about the IRA’s climate provisions at a recent summit in Lake Tahoe.

McCarthy, 68, led the Environmental Protection Agency for four years during the Obama administration. During her nearly two-year tenure with President Biden, she played an outsized role promoting climate initiatives across federal agencies and moving climate legislation through Congress. Her office helped craft the IRA.

The Washington Post had reported in April that she was mulling the decision to step down from her position, however.

“Yes, she is stepping down,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at her Friday briefing. “She, as you know, has been a leader in what we have seen as one of the largest investment in dealing with climate change … She is a — not the first time that she’s been in an administration, and we are very sad to lose her.”

–ABC News’ Ben Gittleson contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — The White House is seeking $47 billion from Congress to secure COVID and monkeypox vaccines, to bolster Ukraine’s defenses and to respond to natural disasters at home.

“All of the requests in here meet urgent funding needs,” an administration official told reporters Friday. “It is our responsibility to tell Congress what we need in order to meet these critical needs. These have had bipartisan support in the past, and we fully expect Congress to work with us to reach a resolution on all of them.”

The funding would be tied to a constituting resolution to keep the government running past Sept. 30. Biden officials said the requests are for the first quarter of fiscal year 2023, which would span from October to December of this year.

But their request is likely to be met with resistance on Capitol Hill, where Republicans are generally opposed to any additional emergency and Democrats for months have pushed to no avail for supplemental COVID funding that they say is necessary to combatting the virus.

Most of the money would go toward combating the COVID pandemic, with the White House asking lawmakers for $22.4 billion for vaccines, treatments and personal protective equipment (PPE). That sum would also fund “next-generation” research, the administration said, and provide services like treatments for “long COVID.”

On Friday, the federal government’s free program for Americans to order at-home COVID tests was suspended due to a lack of funding. More than 600 millions tests have been sent to families free of charge since the program began in January.

To tackle the monkeypox crisis, the administration is requesting $4.5 billion to expand domestic manufacturing of vaccines, to develop rapid tests, support health activities and more.

The administration has faced criticism for its response to the monkeypox outbreak, with public experts saying the U.S. should have moved faster to distribute tests and vaccines. As of Sept. 1, there were 19,465 total confirmed monkeypox/orthopoxvirus cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“This funding will also help ensure the United States is at the front of the line for the best tools to fight any possible future outbreak,” the administration said.

Beyond the administration’s public health efforts, the second largest chunk of the money the White House is requesting would go toward Ukraine.

The administration is seeking $13.7 billion to provide Ukraine with military equipment and intelligence gathering, as well as direct budget assistance to the nation’s government. That funding also includes $2 million for energy-related issues stemming from the conflict.

“We have rallied the world to support the people of Ukraine as they defend their democracy and we cannot allow that support to Ukraine to run dry,” the administration said. “The people of Ukraine have inspired the world, and the Administration remains committed to supporting the Ukrainian people as they continue to stand resolute and display extraordinary courage in the face of Russia’s full-scale invasion.”

To combat natural disasters in the U.S., which faces record heat and devastating flooding, the White House is asking for $6.5 billion to go toward the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund; direct payments for farmers; to local governments to strengthen their eclectic grids and more.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge on Friday unsealed a more detailed inventory of what the FBI seized in the search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate last month.

The judge, who is considering the Trump legal team’s request to name a third party to review the materials, ordered the release in a court hearing in Florida Thursday.

Judge Aileen Cannon also ordered unsealed a status review of the records seized during the Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago.

She has not yet ruled on the question of a review by an independent “special master.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.