Politics

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden’s administration is scaling back his federal student loan cancellation program to protect against legal challenges, including two suits filed this week — with new guidelines now excluding at least hundreds of thousands of borrowers initially told they qualified for the forgiveness.

On Thursday, the Department of Education quietly updated its instructions on who qualifies for the debt forgiveness program of up to $20,000 for some Americans. (NPR first reported the change.)

The new guidance excludes people who took out federal loans that, while they were guaranteed by the government, were technically handled by private banks. As of Thursday, those borrowers — with Perkins loans and Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL) — can no longer qualify for the forgiveness program.

That change was made the same day as a lawsuit was filed by six Republican-led states targeting that very part of the program. The complaint argued that the debt cancellation would decrease revenue from interest payments for the private banks who manage those loans.

While about 4 million Americans in total have FFEL or Perkins loans, an administration official told ABC News that only about 770,000 of those borrowers will be affected by the change in the debt cancellation policy.

Forty-three million people are expected to qualify overall for the loan forgiveness, according to the Biden administration.

In a statement responding to the change, the Department of Education said it intended to provide relief “to as many eligible borrowers as quickly and easily as possible” — indicating the shift in their guidance was intended to protect as much of the entire program as possible amid the legal challenges.

The Department of Education said it was continuing to “explore additional legally-available options to provide relief to borrowers with privately owned FFEL loans and Perkins loans, including whether FFEL borrowers could receive one-time debt relief without needing to consolidate.”

There will still be FFEL and Perkins borrowers who do qualify for the relief, however, because anyone who had consolidated their education debt into federal direct loans before Thursday will still be eligible for the program — a nuance that is expected to be litigated in court.

Two lawsuits have so far been filed against the federal student loan forgiveness program.

The first, announced Tuesday in Indiana by the California-based Pacific Legal Foundation, is being argued on behalf of Frank Garrison, an Indiana resident and Pacific Legal Foundation attorney who says that his loans being forgiven would force him to pay state taxes on the canceled amount that he otherwise wouldn’t have to pay.

While the merits of the complaint have yet to be decided – and as Garrison seeks a temporary restraining order to halt the forgiveness program — the case’s mere existence shows conservatives believe they have found specific plaintiffs who can allege injury under the forgiveness program and so have standing to sue.

In statements this week, Pacific Legal Foundation said its suit was in response to the White House’s “flagrantly illegal” decision, which the firm cast as a violation of Congress’ authority.

In response, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre argued on Tuesday that no one has to get their debt relieved and that the plaintiff could “choose to opt out” rather than be stuck with a tax bill.

“We want to be really clear here: Opponents of the Biden-Harris administration student loan plan are trying to stop it because they know it will provide much needed, again, relief for working families. Anyone who does not want to get that debt relief can choose to opt out,” she said.

On Thursday, in an escalation of the GOP’s emerging legal fight with the administration on student loan forgiveness, six Republican-led states filed suit against Biden in a bid to block his plan.

Governors for the six states — Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Carolina — claimed Biden is unfairly citing a national emergency, the COVID-19 pandemic, even as the president has said the pandemic is “over.”

“President Biden’s student loan forgiveness scheme is fundamentally unfair and would harm the American families forced to pay for it. Additionally, the Executive branch does not have unilateral authority to impose a sweeping student loan cancellation plan,” Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts said in a statement.

The White House, for its part, has accused the Republicans of “standing with special interests” versus a program that an administration spokesman said will boost working- and middle-class families.

ABC News’ Luke Barr and Sarah Kolinovsky contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — With Hurricane Ian making landfall in Florida on Wednesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D- Mass., and Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., pressed the Biden administration for details about a much-delayed housing program that they said was intended to be up-and-running by this hurricane season to help low-income people displaced by disasters, a letter obtained exclusively by ABC News shows.

The Disaster Assistance and Supportive Housing program, or DASH, was supposed to launch by March 2022 with the goal of subsidizing housing for people who lose their homes to hurricanes, wildfires or other disasters, and giving longer-term assistance in finding new housing in the aftermath.

But the program has yet to launch, Warren and Espaillat wrote in a letter to agency leaders, requesting an update.

“We are concerned that despite [Federal Emergency Management Agency] and [the Department of Housing and Urban Development]’s intention of making the program available for the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season, which is expected to produce above-normal storm activity, program implementation appears to have stalled,” Warren and Espaillat wrote.

Asked about the program’s delays and a timeline for the rollout, FEMA spokesperson Jaclyn Rothenberg said the agency was “reviewing the letter.”

Warren and Espaillat called for an update from FEMA and HUD by mid-October.

“Year after year we are devastated by hurricanes, floods, and other natural disasters and year after year we are ill-prepared to meet the needs of the affected communities,” Warren said in a statement to ABC News.

“As we begin the 2022 hurricane season, I am urging FEMA and HUD to act quickly to implement the DASH program so that no families, no matter their income, fall through service gaps in existing disaster relief programs.”

Warren and Espaillat said the new housing program has been deemed “essential” by housing advocates who say FEMA’s existing programs have ” left low-income survivors vulnerable.”

Just last week, Hurricane Fiona left the entire island of Puerto Rico without power and killed at least four people, with more potentially killed by indirect effects of the storm. The devastation showed the remaining need for hurricane relief leftover from Hurricane Maria, which hit the island five years ago.

“We are living in a time where our communities are under-prepared when natural disasters strike as we recently witnessed with Hurricane Fiona—and this is completely unacceptable,” Espaillat said in a statement to ABC News.

Warren and Espaillat also argued in the letter that other communities of color would become victims of more climate change-related natural disasters in the future, and that government assistance could alleviate the effects.

“Given that climate change is resulting in a rapidly increasing number of natural disasters, which disproportionately impact low-income communities of color, we are concerned that the delay in activating DASH will result in more harm and slower recoveries for marginalized communities,” they wrote.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Thursday visited FEMA headquarters in Washington as search and rescue efforts were underway in Florida in the wake of Hurricane Ian.

Upon his arrival, Biden turned to FEMA personnel in the room and thanked them for their work during the historic storm.

Early assessments offer a devastating picture of the damage wreaked by the hurricane. Severe flooding and storm surges left people trapped in their homes, knocked out power to millions and destroyed at least two bridges in southwest Florida.

“This could be the deadliest hurricane in Florida’s history,” Biden said. “Numbers are still unclear, but we’re hearing early reports of what may be substantial loss of life.”

The president said he’ll go to Florida once weather conditions allow to survey damage. He also said he intends to go to Puerto Rico, which was ravaged by Hurricane Fiona earlier this month.

“We’re continuing to see deadly rainfall, catastrophic storm surges, roads and homes flooded,” Biden said. “We’re seeing millions of people without power and thousands hunker down in schools and community centers. They’re wondering what’s going to be left, what’s gonna be left when they get to go home.”

Before his visit to FEMA, Biden approved a major disaster declaration for the state, making federal funding available to impacted individuals in nine counties: Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Hardee, Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, Pinellas and Sarasota.

Biden said the declaration means the federal government will pay for “100% of the cost” to clear debris and to save lives. The government will also cover a majority of the cost to rebuild public buildings ruined by the storm.

The president spoke with GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis again on Thursday morning, telling DeSantis that FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell will travel to Florida on Friday to check in on response efforts.

DeSantis has thanked the administration for the resources provided so far, but said Thursday the state expects more disaster declarations as the storm continues to move across the state.

“I just spoke with the president this morning and he offered support. I told them that thanks for this but because the storm has moved inland and caused a lot of potential damage in the center part of our state, that we are going to be asking for those counties to be expanded and included there,” DeSantis said at a press conference at 9 a.m. Thursday.

The White House said Biden and DeSantis, often political opponents, are “committed to continued close coordination.”

Accompanying the president to FEMA on Thursday were Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and leaders from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Weather Service, the U.S. Coast Guard and other officials.

Biden said search and rescue was critical, noting the Coast Guard’s deployed 16 rescue helicopters, six fixed-wing aircraft and 18 rescue boats and crews.

“These are dangerous missions, and I’m grateful for the brave women and men in federal, state and local governments working as one team, risking their lives to save others,” the president said.

Biden urged Floridians to continue to heed warnings from officials, and not to go outside unless they “absolutely have to.”

“My message to people of Florida, to the country is at times like this, America comes together,” Biden said. “We’re gonna pull together as one team, as one America.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, appeared in person at the House Jan. 6 committee’s offices on Thursday morning for a closed-door interview.

Cameras caught Thomas walking to the conference room around 9:30 a.m.

The select committee investigating the U.S. Capitol attack has sought to question Thomas over her efforts to push state officials to reject the outcome of the 2020 election. Thomas was also communicating with members of the White House, including former chief of staff Mark Meadows, about efforts to overturn the election.

Thomas’s political activism has been under scrutiny given her close proximity to the U.S. Supreme Court. Records obtained by ABC News earlier this year showed Thomas emailed Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers and Arizona State Rep. Shawnna Bolick asking them to “fight back against fraud” in the days after the November 2020 election.

Sources had previously said that it was unlikely the Thomas interview would be played during the committee hearing originally scheduled for Wednesday, but since that is is expected to be rescheduled for a later date, it’s possible clips from this interview could be played.

The committee hasn’t formally announced a new date for the hearing, but the Chair Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., told reporters that he “doubts” it would be scheduled for next week. He said members would meet to discuss a new date this week.

Thomas’ attorney, Mark Paoletta, had confirmed last week she would be sitting down with the committee.

“As she has said from the outset, Mrs. Thomas is eager to answer the Committee’s questions to clear up any misconceptions about her work relating to the 2020 election. She looks forward to that opportunity,” Paoletta said in a statement on Sept. 21.

The committee sent a letter to her requesting an interview in June, after revelations about emails sources said she exchanged with right-wing lawyer John Eastman, who the committee’s described as a leader of the legal scheme to fraudulently overturn Donald Trump’s election loss.

Committee vice-char Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., told CNN at the time the committee was prepared to consider subpoenaing Thomas for an interview. Thomas voluntarily agreed to the sit-down, her attorney said later.

The Jan. 6 committee is expected to release a final report of its findings and recommendations later this year.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration said Wednesday it had granted approval of a limited exemption in federal regulations on cabotage — or the transport of goods — in order to allow a foreign ship to bring 300,000 barrels of diesel to Puerto Rico days after Hurricane Fiona battered the U.S. territory.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement on Wednesday that the approval for the Jones Act waiver for Puerto Rico was “in response to urgent and immediate needs of” the island as it recovers from Fiona, which officials have said killed multiple people there.

“I have approved a temporary and targeted Jones Act waiver to ensure that the people of Puerto Rico have sufficient diesel to run generators needed for electricity and the functioning critical facilities as they recover from Hurricane Fiona,” Mayorkas said. “The decision to approve the waiver was made in consultation with the Departments of Transportation, Energy, and Defense to assess the justification for the waiver request and based on input from the Governor of Puerto Rico and others on the ground supporting recovery efforts.”

On Tuesday, Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi requested in a letter to President Joe Biden that the Jones Act be waived amid the emergency on the island after Fiona. Pierluisi warned that a shortage of fuel would have an impact on government operations, security and public health.

“Diesel supplies continue to decrease at a higher rate than previously anticipated, and shortages have been reported around the island,” he wrote.

The Jones Act has been waived during previous hurricanes, such as Maria in 2017. This new waiver comes more than a week after Fiona made landfall in Puerto Rico. (A separate hurricane, Ian, made landfall in Florida on Wednesday.)

The Merchant Marine Act of 1920, best known as the Jones Act, requires that all goods transported to Puerto Rico and other American ports be aboard a ship built in the U.S., owned and crewed by Americans and flying the U.S. flag.

The Marshall Islands-flagged ship that is bringing Puerto Rico diesel was hired by British Petroleum. BP had applied for a Jones Act exemption since Sept. 20.

“When U.S. flagged vessels are not available to meet national defense requirements, the Department of Homeland Security may grant a waiver to the Jones Act if the proposed shipments are in the interest of national defense and after careful evaluation of the issue,” according to DHS.

In his statement, Mayorkas noted that, despite waivers during emergencies, the Jones Act is vital to maintaining the strength of America’s shipbuilding and maritime industries.

The Biden administration previously committed its resources to assisting Puerto Rico during and after Fiona.

The island has still been recovering from the effects of Hurricane Maria almost exactly five years ago — a disaster that led to intense scrutiny of the federal government’s response under then-President Donald Trump.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department is asking a federal judge to approve a psychologist for a new round of exams on migrant parents whose children were separated from them by the Trump administration.

The government’s request, filed last week, is part of an ongoing lawsuit in Arizona federal court on behalf of five mothers who were separated from their kids under then-President Donald Trump’s “zero-tolerance” policy which mandated prosecutions for all illegal border crossings. The mothers are now seeking compensation from the U.S. government for the emotional and mental damages they say they endured after their children were taken from them.

A lawyer representing the families said the women have already undergone psychological evaluations by experts they provided. But the Justice Department, in its court filing, said they would like their own expert, Dr. Ricardo Winkel, to make an assessment.

“Plaintiffs intend to support their claims of injury through expert testimony and have each submitted to multiple mental health evaluations by their own expert. It is standard practice for plaintiffs alleging severe emotional injury to be examined by the opposing party’s expert,” the Justice Department’s filing states.

President Joe Biden condemned and campaigned against Trump’s family separation policy, which Trump initially paused under intense backlash before a judge put an end to the program in June 2018.

Biden previously said he was in favor of compensating families separated at the border.

“If, in fact, because of the outrageous behavior of the last administration, you coming across the border, whether it was legally or illegally, and you lost your child — you lost your child — it’s gone. You deserve compensation no matter what the circumstance,” Biden said in November. “What that will be, I have no idea. I have no idea.”

Around the same time, however, settlement discussions between some of the migrant families and the federal government broke down shortly after Biden dismissed reports that his administration was considering payments of up to $450,000 for families, according to sources familiar with the situation.

“That’s not going to happen,” Biden said in November of that amount.

Government lawyers said in court filings that they hope the additional exams will “develop findings on each Adult Plaintiff’s current psychological condition and prognosis, as well as on the cause or causes of each Adult Plaintiff’s presentation, all of which are central issues in this litigation and matters on which Plaintiffs themselves intend to introduce expert testimony.”

American Civil Liberties Union attorney Lee Gelernt — who is working with some other migrant families who were separated under Trump — said he fears that subjecting them to more evaluations could be re-traumatizing. (The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment on its latest filing.)

“The American Academy of Pediatrics called it child abuse. Reliving the events is triggering all that trauma, and the government knows that these families suffered severe trauma,” Gelernt told ABC News. Gelernt is the lead counsel in several cases dealing with family separation, including Ms. L v. ICE which led to a court ordering the Trump administration to halt the practice and reunite families.

“This administration should not be hiring doctors to try to downplay the harm suffered by separated families under the Trump administration’s cruel policies,” Gelernt contended in a statement, “especially given that President Biden called those policies criminal and a moral stain on the nation.”

The Justice Department proposed in its filing last week that its expert, Dr. Winkel, would conduct the additional examinations at a time and place “that is agreeable to all interested parties” and would consist of up to four hours for a clinical interview and four hours of testing. Parents would undergo personality and emotional functioning tests as well as trauma-specific exams.

The ACLU has been working with the Biden administration’s Family Reunification Task Force to address the fallout from Trump’s separation policy, but the ACLU says they’re still searching for 151 families who are without their children.

Gelernt said it was clear that the reunited families continue to be traumatized by their experience, adding that some of his clients start crying when they talk about what they went through.

“There is such unbelievable guilt feeling like — could they have stopped the separation? Of course they couldn’t, but [what’s] heartbreaking is to see their little children blame them for not doing more to stop the separation,” Gelernt said. “In some cases, a child will say, ‘Daddy, why didn’t you stop them? Didn’t you love me enough?'”

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday asked about the whereabouts of an Indiana congresswoman who was killed in a car crash earlier this year, prompting reporters to ask the White House to explain why he appeared confused and not be satisfied with the answer.

The misstep happened as Biden spoke at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, where his administration pledged $8 billion in an effort to end hunger and decrease diet-related diseases by 2030.

As he often does at such events, Biden was thanking the lawmakers involved in the issue when he mentioned late Rep. Jackie Walorski, who represented Indiana’s 2nd Congressional District as a Republican for nine years. Walorski and two of her aides were killed in a car crash on Aug. 3.

“I want to thank all of you here,” Biden said, “including bipartisan, elected officials like representative of government Sen. Braun, Sen. Booker, Representative Jackie, are you here? Where’s Jackie? I think — she was gonna be here — to help make this a reality.”

It seemed like Biden perhaps realized mid-sentence, when he said, “I think — she was gonna be here.”

Walorski served as co-chair of the House Hunger Caucus, and worked with Sens. Cory Booker, Mike Braun and Jim McGovern to pass the bill to convene the White House conference on hunger — the first in 50 years.

After her passing in August, Biden released a statement commending Walorski’s work on food insecurity.

“We may have represented different parties and disagreed on many issues, but she was respected by members of both parties … My team and I appreciated her partnership as we plan for a historic White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health this fall that will be marked by her deep care for the needs of rural America,” Biden said.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was hit with repeated questions on Biden’s mistake during Wednesday’s briefing.

“What happened in the hunger event today?” ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega asked. “The president appeared to look around the room for an audience member, a member of Congress who passed away last month. He seemed to indicate she may be in the room.”

Jean-Pierre responded by saying Walorski was “top of mind” for Biden as he mentioned those in Congress who championed the effort to convene the second-ever hunger conference, and because Walorski’s family will be at the White House on Friday to celebrate the bill signing in her honor.

“So, of course, she was on his mind,” Jean-Pierre said, adding Biden looks “forward to discussing her remarkable legacy of public service with them when he sees her family this coming Friday.”

“But he said Jackie, are you here?” Vega pressed. “Where’s Jackie? She must not be here.”

“I totally understand. I just explained, she was on top of mind,” Jean-Pierre responded.

Several other reporters in the room also pressed Jean-Pierre on the error, with one reporter asking if the late congresswoman were “top of mind,” why Biden appeared to think she may have been in the room. Jean-Pierre stuck to her answer that Walorski was top of Biden’s mind. The apparent gaffe comes as some Republicans question Biden’s mental acuity.

ABC News’ Ben Gittleson contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — The White House said this week that large leaks in undersea gas pipelines running from Russia to Germany were the result of “apparent sabotage.”

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday night that he had spoken with his Danish counterpart about the leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines, which he labeled “apparent sabotage.”

“I spoke to my counterpart Jean-Charles Ellermann-Kingombe of Denmark about the apparent sabotage of Nord Stream pipelines,” Sullivan tweeted. “The U.S. is supporting efforts to investigate and we will continue our work to safeguard Europe’s energy security.”

On Wednesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also said the leaks of the pipelines were the result of “apparent sabotage.”

The pipelines, which run under the Baltic Sea, were not actually supplying gas to Europe at the time, although both did still contain gas.

“We have been in touch with our European partners there about the apparent sabotage of the pipelines,” she told reporters. “We are supporting European efforts to investigate this. The investigation is still underway, and it could take some time.”

Asked whether the United States would consider the leaks an attack on a NATO ally worthy of retaliation, Jean-Pierre said she wouldn’t “get ahead of the investigation.”

“We have to see who is behind this at this time,” she said.

Some European leaders have gone further than U.S. officials have.

Denmark’s prime minister said Tuesday that “it is the authorities’ clear assessment that these are deliberate actions — not accidents,” although she added that “there is no information indicating who could be behind it,” according to the Associated Press.

The Kremlin said accusations that Russia could be behind the leaks were “absurd,” according to the Russian news agency Interfax.

“It is quite predictable and predictably ridiculous and absurd to make up such theories,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wednesday, noting “this gas costs a fortune but it is now siphoning off into the air.”

Poland’s prime minister called the development “an act of sabotage,” and Sweden’s acting prime minister said “it is probably a case of sabotage,” the Associated Press reported.

Experts told ABC News that only one country — Russia — stood to benefit from the pipeline leaks, although officials have yet to offer evidence Russia was behind them.

“No one aside from Russia stands to gain from sabotaging these pipelines,” said Ben Cahill, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

An act of sabotage on this scale fits neatly into Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts “to sow confusion and panic in Europe and weaken European solidarity,” Cahill said, but also carries tremendous risk for Moscow.

“If it is true that Russia is culpable, this is Putin cutting off his nose to spite his face,” said Matthew Schmidt, director of the International Affairs program at the University of New Haven.

​​Also Wednesday, the United States announced $1.1 billion in new security assistance for Ukraine, including long-range missile systems, armored vehicles, radars and more.

ABC News’ Matthew Seyler contributed reporting to this article.

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(WASHINGTON) — As Hurricane Ian began barreling across Florida, President Joe Biden detailed his administration’s efforts to prepare for the storm and warned residents to heed warnings from officials.

“It’s life-threatening,” Biden said of the Category 4 storm as he spoke at a White House conference on hunger and nutrition. “You should obey all warnings and directions from emergency officials. Don’t take anything for granted. Use their judgment, not yours.”

Hurricane Ian grew stronger overnight, nearing a Category 5, and was set to bring devastating floods, storm surges and winds to Florida as it made landfall on Wednesday afternoon.

Biden said he talked with GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis “for some time” on Tuesday evening, marking the first time the two leaders had spoken directly about the storm.

Biden said members of his team have been in constant contact with the governor “since the beginning.”

“Message has been absolutely clear, is that we are on the alert and in action,” Biden said Wednesday. “We’ve approved every request Florida has made for temporary assistance, emergency assistance and long-term assistance that I’ve received.”

Later Wednesday, after Hurricane Ian made landfall, the White House said Biden made calls to several local Florida officials and was able to reach Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson.

“They discussed Fort Myers’ ongoing needs including support for the elderly members of the community, families that live in mobile homes and other community members who are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of the storm,” the White House said.

The storm poses a major test for both Biden and DeSantis, often foes on numerous issues, just six weeks before the midterm elections.

When asked by ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega about the tone of the Tuesday conversation between Biden and DeSantis, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said it was about how the two can work as partners on the issue.

“There’s no politics in this when we talk about extreme weather,” Jean-Pierre responded.

Past presidents have faced political consequences over natural disasters. George W. Bush was widely criticized for his response to Hurricane Katrina, especially after he praised the Federal Emergency Management Agency for its work despite the agency being blamed for failing to act fast enough.

Biden said Wednesday the federal government will be “ready to help in every single way possible” during Hurricane Ian, noting he’s developed and deployed a search-and-rescue team that’s already on the ground, and to help Florida rebuild after the storm.

Biden also delivered a stern message to oil and gas companies, warning them not to raise prices amid the storm or else he’ll ask officials to investigate any potential price gouging.

“Do not, let me repeat, do not — do not use this as an excuse to raise gasoline prices or gouge the American people,” the president said, noting experts told his administration only 2% of U.S. daily oil production will be impacted in the short-term from Hurricane Ian.

Biden will be visiting FEMA headquarters in Washington on Thursday, Jean-Pierre announced at Wednesday’s press briefing.

Jean-Pierre also provided additional details on the administration’s response, telling reporters: “We have more than 1,300 federal response workers on the ground in Florida. There are 3.7 million meals and 3.5 million liters of water pre-positioned in Alabama [and] 110,000 gallons of fuel and 18,000 pounds of propane are pre-staged for immediate deployment. Three-hundred Army Corps personnel are on the ground to support power and fuel assessments. Three-hundred ambulances are supporting local officials, and multiple federal disaster medical assistance teams are deployed to Florida and Georgia.”

DeSantis, who’s up for reelection in November and is widely considered to be a Republican contender for the 2024 nomination, took a moment this week to thank the White House for their assistance.

“The effects of this are going to be broad and we appreciate the Biden administration’s consideration to the people of Florida during this time of need,” DeSantis said at a press conference on Wednesday.

DeSantis warned Wednesday that millions will be without power as the storm hits and highlighted the 200 shelters open in southwest Florida for those who need a place to stay during the storm.

“This is going to be something that is going to be there for days and weeks and months and unfortunately, in some circumstances, even years,” DeSantis said as he talked about the impacts of Hurricane Ian.

ABC News’ Justin Gomez and Molly Nagle contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — A broad bipartisan group of senators who worked for months on legislation to reform the nineteenth-century law governing the Electoral College process and counting of votes after presidential elections scored two major victories on Tuesday.

First, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky threw his influential support behind their bill and then every member of the Senate Rules Committee — except Texas’ Ted Cruz — voted to send it to the floor for consideration.

“I strongly support the modest changes that our colleagues in the working group have fleshed out after literally months of detailed discussions. I will proudly support the legislation, provided that nothing more than technical changes are made to its current form,” McConnell announced in a floor speech, repeatedly calling the changes to current law “common sense” and “modest.”

The rules panel — meeting in a rare session on Tuesday to formally consider the proposed Electoral Count Reform Act (ECRA) authored by Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., along with 18 other senators — made a handful of changes to the bill that lawmakers hope will help ensure states, Congress and future vice presidents can never overturn presidential election results.

The legislation addresses a number of apparent loopholes and procedural vagueness in the Electoral Count Act of 1887, which prescribes how presidential electors are counted every four years.

The law was a major focus of then-President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 defeat by Joe Biden, the House’s Jan. 6 committee has said. Trump and his allies wanted his vice president, Mike Pence, to reject the electors for Biden and hijack what is historically a ceremonial role in overseeing the certifying of each state’s slate of electoral votes.

The ECRA specifies the vice president’s role in the certification is ceremonial.

The bill would dramatically raise the number of congressional objectors required to challenge a state’s election results — up from one lawmaker in each chamber to 20% of members in both the House and Senate.

The ECRA would also clarify that states may not select electors after Election Day, as Trump and his allies sought unsuccessfully to do, according to the Jan. 6 committee; and the legislation would dictate what happens if an alternate slate of electors is presented to Congress, which the Jan. 6 committee has said was another element of Trump’s push to reverse his loss.

“These are provisions … that will achieve a strong bipartisan consensus, and we should be very proud of this bill,” Senate Rules Committee Chair Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said alongside the panel’s top Republican, Roy Blunt, a former Missouri secretary of state. The pair worked together to craft some additional changes to the Collins-Manchin bill that was approved Tuesday.

The original ECRA proposal struck a provision of the 19th-century law that could be used by a state to declare a “failed election.” Instead, a state would have been permitted to modify the period of its elections only in the event of extraordinary and catastrophic circumstances. But Klobuchar and Blunt went further in their revisions.

The “failed election” provision would only be triggered by “force majeure events that are extraordinary and catastrophic,” according to the newly approved legislation. Klobuchar and Blunt said in a statement that this would “ensure that only unforeseen emergencies trigger extended elections and guard against bad faith exploitation of the extended election provision for political reasons. While the original bill is a significant improvement on the ‘failed election’ provision in the current Electoral Count Act, this clarification provides an important safeguard against political gamesmanship through attempts to manipulate these provisions while ensuring states have flexibility to respond to genuine emergencies.”

The Klobuchar-Blunt changes would also “prevent further delay in certification of elections by clarifying that each state governor must ‘immediately’ transmit a certificate of electors to Congress and the Archivist of the United States once the state’s election is certified,” according to the lawmakers’ statement.

Not everyone was in agreement Tuesday.

“This bill is a bad bill. It’s a bad bill, bad law and poses serious problems for democracy,” Sen. Cruz, a committee member and constitutional lawyer, said during Tuesday’s hearing. “It’s exceptionally bad policy … This bill is all about Donald J. Trump.”

Cruz argued the ECRA “enhanced the federalization of elections” and added, “I do not understand why Republicans support it.”

But the bipartisan backing shown Tuesday points to a likely high GOP vote count when the upper chamber deals with the legislation later this year.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who chairs the intelligence committee and was part of the election reform working group, said he hopes lawmakers will consider future changes that take into account cybersecurity events.

Both parties have, in recent decades, sought — largely through symbolic objections and speeches from lawmakers — to use the country’s arcane federal election law to partisan advantage in what is usually a simple, barely noticed ceremony at the heart of a peaceful transfer of power in the U.S.

The legislation approved in committee on Tuesday is designed to close the door on some of that.

The House voted out its own reform bill last week with nine Republicans supporting it, none of whom will be on the ballot in November after either choosing to retire or losing their primaries.

Of the seven Republican senators on the rules committee who voted for the bill Tuesday, only two — Blunt and Richard Shelby of Alabama — are retiring. Sen. Cindy Hyde Smith, who also backed the proposal in committee, was one of the GOP objectors to the certification of Biden’s victory on Jan. 6, 2021.

McConnell made clear Tuesday that the House bill would go nowhere in the Senate.

“It’s clear that only a bipartisan compromise originating in the Senate can become law,” he said at the committee meeting. “We have one shot to get this right.”

Lawmakers are expected to deal with the legislation when they return from the November midterm elections in a lame-duck session.

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