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(SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla.) — Former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg, the one-time associate of Rep. Matt Gaetz who in May pled guilty to multiple charges including sex trafficking a minor, has reached a verbal agreement to pay back the county over $1.8 million in restitution, according to the Seminole County attorney.
County Attorney Bryant Applegate told Seminole County commissioners on Tuesday that he had reached a “verbal” deal for Greenberg — Gaetz’s self-described one-time wingman — to pay back nearly $1.9 million in restitution related to his time in office, a source familiar with the situation confirmed to ABC News.
If Greenberg fails to pay the restitution, the county will move to go after other entities, the source said.
Greenberg’s lawyer, Fritz Schiller, confirmed the verbal agreement to ABC News.
Greenberg, who reached a plea deal earlier this year and has been cooperating in the ongoing federal investigation into potential sex trafficking allegations against Gaetz and others, was initially charged with over 30 counts last year, including defrauding the Seminole County Tax Office out of hundreds of thousands of dollars through schemes ranging from buying sports memorabilia and cryptocurrency to paying women he met on a self-described “sugar daddy” website using the office credit card.
Gaetz has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with any crime.
“When I became aware of some of Greenberg’s misdeeds, I deeply regretted my friendship with him,” Gaetz told Pensacola ABC affiliate WEAR in October. “I do believe that it’s fair for the people of Northwest Florida to judge me based on the associations that I’ve had, and I deeply regret my association with Joel Greenberg, politically, socially and otherwise.”
Greenberg is scheduled to be sentenced in March after his sentencing was delayed twice over the summer.
(WASHINGTON) — The Senate narrowly averted financial calamity Tuesday by passing legislation to raise the federal borrowing limit by $2.5 trillion dollars.
All Democrats voted to raise the debt limit. No Republicans joined them.
The legislation heads to the House next, where it is expected to pass. Once signed by President Joe Biden, the congressional action will have prevented a U.S. default that could have halted Social Security and veterans’ payments, hiked interest on mortgages and loans and disrupted the global economy.
The Treasury Department predicted that the U.S. would be unable to pay its bills come Wednesday.
Congressional action was the last step in a months-long process aimed at raising the federal borrowing limit.
In October, Republican and Democratic leadership locked horns over the spending cap. Though both parties acknowledged the necessity of raising the debt limit, Republicans argued that Democrats ought to raise the limit on their own — wrongly claiming they needed to offset the cost of Biden’s yet-to-be passed $1.75 trillion social spending bill.
Democrats, who helped raise the debt limit multiple times under the Trump administration, insisted it be a bipartisan effort since the debt limit had to be raised to cover past spending.
The October dispute ended in the GOP blinking, with Republicans giving Democrats the votes necessary for a short-term raise to the debt limit, but vowing they’d be less cooperative in the winter.
Last week, however, party leaders announced an agreement on a two-step process to raise the debt limit. Republicans ultimately provided 10 votes to permit a one-time rule change altering the number of votes necessary to pass the debt-limit hike, and clearing a path for Democrats to pass the legislation without a single GOP backer.
The reached agreement required Democrats to name a specific amount they want to raise the debt limit by. They settled on $2.5 trillion — enough to prevent the government from defaulting through early 2023, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday.
(WASHINGTON) — The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack on Monday recommended the full chamber hold Mark Meadows, former President Donald Trump’s last White House chief of staff, in contempt of Congress for refusing to appear for a deposition under subpoena.
After the unanimous committee vote, the full House could hold Meadows in contempt as early as Tuesday.
In the brief session Monday night, the committee blasted Meadows for refusing to appear for a deposition to field questions about some of the more than 9,000 pages of emails and text messages he had previously turned over to the committee.
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the vice chair of the panel, quoted extensively from text messages sent to Meadows during the riot from Fox News hosts, GOP lawmakers and Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s eldest son.
Cheney said the messages left “no doubt” the White House “knew exactly what was happening” at the Capitol during the riot.
“He’s got to condemn [the riot] ASAP,” Trump Jr. told Meadows in a text message, according to Cheney, saying that Trump’s tweet about Capitol Police “is not enough.”
“I’m pushing it hard,” Meadows replied. “I agree.”
“We need an Oval address,” Trump Jr. said in a follow up message. “He has to lead now. It has gone too far and gotten out of hand.”
“Please get him on tv,” Fox News host Brian Kilmeade wrote to Meadows. “Destroying everything you have accomplished.”
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., read aloud from text messages Meadows received from unnamed GOP lawmakers before and after the riot.
“Yesterday was a terrible day,” one wrote. “We tried everything we could in our objection to the 6 states. I’m sorry nothing worked.”
“A day after a failed attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power, an elected lawmaker tells the White House chief of staff, ‘I’m sorry nothing worked.’ That is chilling,” Schiff said. “We would like to ask Mr. Meadows what he thought about that.”
After initially signaling cooperation with the committee, Meadows reversed course and said he would respect Trump’s assertion of privilege even though the Biden White House declined to invoke executive privilege over his testimony.
In a 51-page report released Sunday night, the committee argued that Meadows is “uniquely situated to provide critical information” to its inquiry, given his proximity to Trump before, during and after the presidential election and Jan. 6 Capitol attack, as well as his own extensive involvement in efforts to contest the results.
Meadows, the committee said, played a central role in those challenges, communicating with GOP lawmakers, activists, Trump allies and campaign officials from the west wing, often using a personal email account and a nongovernment cell phone.
Meadows had initially agreed to cooperate with the inquiry, turning over more than 9,000 pages of records to investigators, including text messages with GOP lawmakers and a member of the president’s family during the riot, as well as emails with Justice Department officials encouraging them to investigate claims of voter fraud.
But he changed course before he was scheduled to appear for an in-person deposition on Capitol Hill last month, arguing instead that he would respect Trump’s assertion of privilege even though the Biden White House declined to do so over his testimony.
“To be clear, Mr. Meadows’s failure to comply, and this contempt recommendation, are not based on good-faith disagreements over privilege assertions. Rather, Mr. Meadows has failed to comply and warrants contempt findings because he has wholly refused to appear to provide any testimony and refused to answer questions regarding even clearly non-privileged information—information that he himself has identified as non-privileged through his own document production,” the panel wrote in its report.
In a Monday letter to the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack, George Terwilliger, an attorney for Mark Meadows, urged the panel and House not to hold Meadows in contempt for refusing to cooperate with a subpoena, saying it would be “unjust.”
“It would ill-serve the country to rush to judgment on the matter,” Terwilliger wrote.
“We recognize and do not dispute that the violence and interference with the processes of our democratic institutions as occurred on January 6, 2021, were deplorable and unjustifiable events,” he wrote. “But the real strength of our democratic institutions comes from the principles that undergird them, and no singular event can justify overrunning centuries-old safeguards of the republic.”
In addition to the records already turned over to investigators, the panel argued that Meadows’s claims were undercut by the fact that he recounted his experience on Jan. 6 in his just-released memoir, The Chief’s Chief.
“He can’t decline to tell the story to Congress and on the very same day publish part of that story in a book to line his pockets,” Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., a member of the committee, said Monday.
“It’s hard to reconcile how he can talk about Jan. 6 and his conversations about it and others for a book but not to Congress,” Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a member of the commitee, previously told ABC News.
If the Justice Department decides to charge Meadows, he could face up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine for refusing to appear before the panel.
Already, the Biden Justice Department has charged Trump adviser Steve Bannon with two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the committee’s subpoena for records and testimony. His trial is set to begin in July, a federal judge announced last week.
Should the House vote go through, Meadows would become the first former lawmaker to be held in criminal contempt by his former chamber.
In 1832, former Rep. Sam Houston was detained and reprimanded by the House speaker for assaulting a former colleague, under the House’s “inherent contempt” powers.
“Whatever legacy he thought he left in the House, this is his legacy now,” Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said of Meadows. “His former colleagues singling him out for criminal prosecution because he wouldn’t answer questions about what he knows about a brutal attack on our democracy.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden is facing significant skepticism from the American public, with his job approval rating lagging across a range of major issues, including new lows for his handling of crime, gun violence and the economic recovery, a new ABC/Ipsos poll finds.
As the White House confronts rising and widespread concern about inflation, Americans are especially negative on how the Biden administration is managing this issue.
More than two-thirds of Americans (69%) disapprove of how Biden is handling inflation (only 28% approve) while more than half (57%) disapprove of his handling of the economic recovery. Partisan splits for inflation show expected negativity in Republican views (94% disapproving), but the survey also reveals weaknesses from Biden’s own party with only a slim majority of Democrats (54%) approving. Biden’s orbit is also hemorrhaging independent voters, with 71% disapproving of his handling of inflation.
The ABC/Ipsos poll, which was conducted by Ipsos in partnership with ABC News using Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel, reveals these rocky ratings for Biden at a time when the bulk of Americans name inflation and paying everyday bills as a top concern. Concern about inflation has eclipsed worry about the coronavirus pandemic, according to recent polls from Monmouth and AP-NORC, as Republicans continuously spotlight rising prices at the gas pump and the grocery store as a key issue for the upcoming midterm elections — likely to be a referendum on Biden’s performance.
These low job assessments in areas of high public concern have led to a new low in Biden’s overall approval rating, measured by FiveThirtyEight at 43%.
The findings show Biden slightly above water in one sector: his handling of COVID-19. A slim majority (53%) of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of the pandemic. Even so, Biden’s COVID approval rating is now numerically at its lowest point in ABC/Ipsos polling since he took office, another warning sign for what might be a tough battle to maintain majorities in the U.S. House and Senate.
The White House has expanded federal COVID-19 mitigation efforts as the delta and omicron variants spur stricter vaccination and mask requirements across the country.
Biden has stood by his politically controversial decision to require vaccinations for federal employees and all contractors, a move affecting millions of workers in the public and private sectors. The decision, challenged by state GOP lawmakers, was recently blocked by a U.S. District Court. That said, a bare majority of Americans (51%) are on Biden’s side regarding vaccine mandates, and 7 in 10 Americans believe that mask mandates should remain the same or be more strict.
Biden also sees lagging support for his handling of rising rates of violence in many places across the county. As the national murder rates see historic jumps, only a little more than 1 in 3 Americans (36%) approve of Biden’s handling of crime, down from 43% in an ABC News/Ipsos poll in late October. Similarly, approval of Biden’s handling of gun violence is 32%, down from 39% in the October poll. That figure shrinks among nonpartisans with only 1 in 4 independents approving of Biden’s work on gun violence.
A slim majority of Americans (51%) disapprove of Biden’s handling of climate change. But a large majority of Democrats (81%) approve on this issue, despite some grumbling from progressives that the administration has not done enough. Soon after assuming office, Biden issued a series of executive orders in an attempt to reduce greenhouse emissions and pause new oil and gas leasing on federal property.
Biden’s recent two-hour video call with Russian President Vladimir Putin did not appear to have impressed the American public. This poll finds that most Americans (55%) disapprove of how Biden is handling relations with Russia. Further, only 38% of Americans trust Biden to negotiate on America’s behalf with Putin, which is down from 49% in an ABC News/Ipsos poll in June.
This ABC News/Ipsos poll was conducted using Ipsos Public Affairs’ KnowledgePanel® Dec. 10-11, 2021, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 524 adults. Results have a margin of sampling error of 5.0 points, including the design effect. Partisan divisions are 29-25-36%, Democrats-Republicans-independents. See the poll’s topline results and details on the methodology here.
ABC News’ Dan Merkle and Ken Goldstein contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Donald Trump’s public flirtation with the 2024 presidential race is complicating early stage campaigning for other Republicans who are criss-crossing the country to get an edge on their potential competition and pick up voters from Trump’s loyal and expansive base.
While a bulk of the political focus has been on the upcoming midterm elections, a group of GOP lawmakers have begun to position themselves as viable picks to lead the party.
Several key favorites, such as Florida Gov. Rick DeSantis; former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley; Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla; and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem have already appeared at highly publicized conferences in Nevada and Iowa. Just this week, former Vice President Mike Pence made the rounds in New Hampshire, site of the nation’s first primary, fresh off an appearance in Washington, D.C.
Despite their early legwork, nearly all of major 2024 contenders have been unable to definitively declare their ambitions due to one major setback: Trump. A Quinnipiac University poll from October showed 78% of Republicans want Trump to run in 2024, which could easily disrupt a primary cycle full of his allies and former staff.
The former president’s continued political ambitions are clear, but what’s less certain is how those ambitions will manifest. Trump’s political travel has been limited to his own properties or the occasional arena-style rally, swapping out typical campaign trail cattle calls for phone calls to radio and television stations from the comfort of his home in Mar-a-Lago. In some of these interviews, Trump himself counted his allies out.
During a call with radio host Hugh Hewitt earlier this week, Trump declined to name a successor if in fact he doesn’t run for president, but said his base “will be very angry” if he decides to remain a private citizen. He told Hewitt he’d chime in with a potential successor — whether it be another Republican or himself — in about a year and quickly shifted the conversation to his high approval ratings and President Joe Biden’s poor performance. In another radio interview this week, Trump told local Florida host Brian Mudd that he’s confident DeSantis will not run if he does.
Trump’s position is a threat to many Republican hopefuls, and potentially recreates a dynamic many party candidates found themselves in during the crowded and chaotic 2015 GOP presidential primaries. Then, several candidates undercut Trump’s legitimacy, ultimately undercutting their own potential and leaving a clear runway for Trump to clinch the nomination, Republican strategist Sarah Isgur explained to ABC News.
“Each campaign thought at some point Trump will be out of the race and then it would really be down to them and fill in the Black Republican candidate,” said Isgur, a staff writer at the Dispatch and ABC News contributor. “If Republicans approach 2024 with the same attitude of wait and see without any sort of strategic vision, they’ll repeat the same mistakes as before and that will inure to Trump’s benefit.”
Isgur said the primary field is “Trump’s to decide” and he is likely a shoe-in if he runs.
“The only way that Trump doesn’t become the nominee is if Republican candidates can put their egos aside and circle around one alternative instead of divvying up the field,” Isgur said. “The problem is … is [anyone] willing to step aside and put their chips in with someone else? Maybe. But it’s hard to imagine.”
Several high-profile Republican lawmakers with rumored presidential ambitions have signaled their willingness to bend the knee on Trump’s behalf. DeSantis and Haley both stated they would make way for a Trump candidacy. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott said he would “of course” support Trump. A spokesperson for Noem’s office confirmed to ABC News in an emailed statement that she has “no intention of running for president” and “hopes that President Trump runs again and would gladly support him.”
Scott’s office pointed ABC News to the senator telling Politico he has no plans to run for president.
But others have remained far more coy, leaving a potentially nasty and personal political battle on the table.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a vocal critic of the former president’s handling of the 2020 election, told CNN’s Dana Bash that he’s unsure if he or Trump will run, “but in the end, in 2021, the idea of making predictions for 2024 is a folly. There’s no reason to create tumult in a party that already has a lot of tumult in it.”
Pence told Christian Broadcast Network’s David Brody that he’ll “let the future take care of itself” when asked about his plans in 2024 if Trump also decides to run. Then, later in the week, Pence continued to hold his cards close, telling CNN: “I can honestly tell you in 2023, my family and I will do what we have always done. We’ll reflect, we’ll pray and determine where we might best serve. And we’ll go where we’re called.”
There’s some precedent for love lost between the pair. Recent revelations from ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl show Trump exacerbating his split with his former vice president, defending chants from Jan. 6 insurrectionists to “hang Mike Pence.”
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who shares a curious personal history with Trump, said in January 2021 that he’s “certainly looking” at a 2024 bid. Before the two were at odds during the 2016 election, Cruz considered Trump a “friend.” Tides shifted quickly once the pair hit the debate stage with Trump dubbing him “Lyin’ Ted.” Cruz eventually endorsed Trump and praised his administration’s policies from his perch on Capitol Hill.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is yet another name on the running list of former Trump allies who have signaled openness to taking him on, telling Fox News host Sean Hannity he’s “always up for a good fight.”
Isgur said she finds it difficult to see a sustainable path to the presidency for any of Trump’s allies if he’s in the mix as a candidate. Christie could dominate the anti-Trump lane, she said, but struggles to see any other current contender embracing that lane.
“That doesn’t mean that Trump can’t do something to turn voters off,” said Isgur. “[Trump voters] are open to another candidate, but does that candidate really exist when they get to know him? I hear a lot of voters talk about Ron DeSantis, but they haven’t seen him tested. They haven’t seen him up against Trump. In the end, if Trump runs, really throws his hat in the ring, what’s the upside to this? Having body blows from Trump may just not be worth it.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden has weighed in on the Department of Labor report out Friday that shows the consumer price index, which measures the prices consumers pay for a market basket of everyday goods and services, climbed at its fastest rate in nearly 40 years.
“It matters to people when you’re paying more for gas, although in some states we’ve got the price down below three bucks a gallon. But the point is, it’s not gone down quickly enough, but I think it will,” Biden said at the end of his remarks closing out the Summit for Democracy.
The White House — trying to walk a fine line — acknowledged that Americans’ wallets are taking a hit but that the increased prices will not last forever. The Biden administration also used the new numbers as an opportunity to tout the “Build Back Better” social spending plan, which it says will ease the financial squeeze many are facing despite good signs from other economic indicators.
“Every other aspect of the economy is racing ahead. It’s doing incredibly well. We’ve never had this kind of growth in 60 years,” Biden said.
The president pointed to his social spending agenda as a way bring down the costs of child care and other expenses addressed in the bill.
“Economists think is going to, in fact, diminish the impact on inflation… because it’s reducing costs for ordinary people,” Biden said, noting that the plan does not have bipartisan support.
Asked how he planned to get holdout Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., on board given his concerns over inflation, Biden said he would be speaking with the senator early next week, but once again stressed his plan would help combat rising prices, not add to it.
“The reason for the inflation is that we have a supply chain problem that is really severe, and it’s causing a significant increase in prices and things that, in fact, are hard to get access to. Because at the bottom, the bottom of it all, is COVID. COVID has had a serious impact on the ability to produce a whole lot of necessary products, particularly those imported from the Pacific and other places,” he said.
While Biden painted an optimistic view that inflation will soon be waning, White House press secretary Jen Psaki clarified that the White House is still deferring to the Federal Reserve about official predictions.
The new inflation numbers came the same day The Congressional Budget Office released a modified estimate of the cost of Biden’s “Build Back Better” bill that finds that if all proposed programs were made permanent rather than temporary, the bill would add $3 trillion to the deficit over 10 years.
That, however, is not what Democrats are proposing in the bill. The House-passed version of the “Build Back Better” bill, which is expected to be modified by the Senate, sunsets many programs well before the 10-year period. The Child Tax Credit, for example, would only be extended for one additional year. As currently drafted, the CBO found the House-passed version of the bill adds $0.2 trillion to the deficit.
This modified score comes in response to a request from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo.
Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer dismissed the new estimate in a statement, slamming Republicans for “requesting fake scores based on mistruths”.
“Republican-requested fake CBO score does not take into account the fact that President Biden and Democrats have committed that any extensions of the Build Back Better Act in the future will be fully offset, therefore ensuring BBBA will not increase the deficit,” Schumer said. “The GOP’s fake CBO score request is nothing more than a partisan attempt to mislead the public.”
Still, the modified score could prove a huge hurdle for Senate Democrats working to win over Manchin.
Graham said in a press conference that Manchin was “stunned” when the two discussed the new report this morning.
“I talked to him this morning, he was stunned,” Graham said. “I think he felt vindicated in that his concerns were legitimate.”
For its part, The White House brushed off concerns over the new score. Still, Psaki acknowledged there was still work to be done to earn the support of Manchin, whose vote is pivotal to passing the bill. She added that the president would make his case to the senator that now is the time to act.
“You know, you saw every single Republican in the house vote against Build Back Better. What were they voting against? Yes they were voting against the president’s agenda. They were also voting against lowering costs. They were voting against lowering costs for child care, lowering costs for elder care, lowering costs for health care,” Psaki said.
“I think the case he will make is that this is exactly the time to pass this bill and move it forward so that we can lower costs for the American people on all of those topics, including insulin in areas that really pinch — force American families to pinch pennies,” she added.
ABC News’ Catherine Thronbecke contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Former Sen. Bob Dole — decorated World War II veteran, longtime lawmaker and former presidential candidate — was honored Friday at Washington National Cathedral before being brought back to his home state of Kansas and eventually laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.
Dole died Sunday in his sleep at the age of 98.
President Joe Biden delivered a eulogy at the funeral service, which aired on ABC News and ABC News Live, as well as on video screens at the World War II Memorial on the National Mall in Washington for public viewing.
He spoke of how Dole was gravely wounded in Anzio in Italy when hit by enemy fire in World War II, at the age of 21.
“Nearly eight decades on, we’ve gathered here in a world far different from the mountainous battlefield in 1945. But there’s something that connects that past and present, wartime and peace, then and now,” Biden said. “The courage, the grit, the goodness, and the grace of a 2nd lieutenant named Bob Dole, who became congressman Dole, senator Dole, statesman, husband, father, friend, colleague, and a word that’s often overused but not here, a genuine hero.”
Biden also addressed partisan divisions and infighting in the United States — and how Dole sought to bridge that divide.
“In his final days, Bob made it clear that he’s deeply concerned about the threat to American democracy,” he said. “Not from foreign nations but from the division tearing us apart from within. And this soldier reminded us, and I quote, ‘too many of us have sacrificed too much in defending freedom from foreign adversaries to allow our democracy to crumble under a state of infighting that goes more unacceptable day by day.'”
“We’re bidding this great American farewell. But we know that as long as we keep his spirit alive, as long as we see each other not as enemies but as neighbors and colleagues, as long as we remember that we’re here not to tear down but to build up; as long as we remember that, then taps will never sound for Bob Dole. For Bob will be with us always; cracking a joke, moving a bill, finding common ground,” he said.
Biden, who served with Dole in the Senate for 25 years and has praised the late Kansas lawmaker for wit that crossed party lines, gave formal remarks on Dole’s service to the nation on Thursday at a Capitol ceremony as Dole lay in state — an honor reserved for the most revered American officials.
“My fellow Americans, America has lost one of our greatest patriots,” Biden said, looking to Dole’s wife of 46 years, Elizabeth, who also served in the Senate, and his daughter, Robin, who was expected to speak Friday. “We may follow his wisdom, I hope, and his timeless truth — that the truth of the matter is, as divided as we are, the only way forward for democracy is unity, consensus. The only way.”
Also delivering remarks were former Sen. Pat Roberts, a fellow Kansas Republican, and former Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota, whose time serving as the Democratic leader overlapped with Dole’s leadership role.
After the funeral, Dole’s motorcade is scheduled to pause at the World War II Memorial for a ceremony paying tribute to his military service. There, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley and actor Tom Hanks are expected to speak about Dole’s life.
His casket will then be flown to Kansas where Dole will be honored at funeral services in his hometown of Russell and at the Capitol in Topeka, where he served in the state legislature for two years before beginning a 36-year career in Congress.
Dole, who nearly died in WWII and was later awarded two Purple Hearts, served as the Senate Republican leader for more than a decade and was instrumental in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. He sought the presidency three times, winning the Republican nomination in 1996 before losing to incumbent President Bill Clinton, who later awarded Dole the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Dole announced in February that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and was starting treatment.
In a USA Today op-ed Dole finished on pen and paper less than two weeks before his death, he pushed lawmakers to find common ground in difficult times, writing, “Those who suggest that compromise is a sign of weakness misunderstand the fundamental strength of our democracy.”
(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Friday allowed Texas’ near-total ban on abortions to stay in effect more than three months after a majority of justices allowed the law, SB8, to be implemented, denying women across the nation’s second most populous state a constitutionally-protected right.
But the court said abortion providers could continue with their challenge to the law.
The mixed decision, written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, was at least a temporary victory for abortion providers and civil rights groups that had been challenging the law.
The court said, “the ultimate merits question — whether S.B. 8 is consistent with the Federal Constitution — is not before the Court. Nor is the wisdom of S.B. 8 as a matter of public policy.”
It dismissed a Biden administration request to stay enforcement of the Texas law.
During fast-tracked oral arguments heard earlier, many justices were openly skeptical about the Texas law’s unprecedented enforcement mechanism and what it could mean for other state attempts to limit constitutional rights.
SB8 bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy and delegates enforcement to everyday citizens — rather than state officials — who can file civil lawsuits against anyone who “aids or abets” an unlawful procedure. Its state sponsors deliberately intended to circumvent federal court review, knowing that such a ban on its face violates constitutionally-protected abortion rights.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — Former Sen. Bob Dole — decorated World War II veteran, longtime lawmaker and former presidential candidate — will be honored at Washington National Cathedral on Friday before being flown back to his home state of Kansas and laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.
Dole died Sunday in his sleep at the age of 98.
President Joe Biden will deliver the eulogy at the funeral service, which will air on ABC News and ABC News Live, as well as on video screens at the World War II Memorial on the National Mall in Washington for public viewing.
A handful of former presidents and other dignitaries are also likely to attend the invitation-only service.
Biden, who served with Dole in the Senate for 25 years and has praised the late Kansas lawmaker for wit that crossed party lines, gave formal remarks on Dole’s service to the nation on Thursday at a Capitol ceremony as Dole lay in state — an honor reserved for the most revered American officials.
“My fellow Americans, America has lost one of our greatest patriots,” Biden said, looking to Dole’s wife of 46 years, Elizabeth, who also served in the Senate, and his daughter, Robin, who is expected to speak Friday. “We may follow his wisdom, I hope, and his timeless truth — that the truth of the matter is, as divided as we are, the only way forward for democracy is unity, consensus. The only way.”
Remarks are also expected Friday from former Sen. Pat Roberts, a fellow Kansas Republican, and former Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota, whose time serving as the Democratic leader overlapped with Dole’s leadership role.
After the funeral, Dole’s motorcade is scheduled to pause at the World War II Memorial for a ceremony paying tribute to his military service. There, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley and actor Tom Hanks are expected to speak about Dole’s life.
His casket will then be flown to Kansas where Dole will be honored at funeral services in his hometown of Russell and at the Capitol in Topeka, where he served in the state legislature for two years before beginning a 36-year career in Congress.
Dole, who nearly died in WWII and was later awarded two Purple Hearts, served as the Senate Republican leader for more than a decade and was instrumental in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. He sought the presidency three times, winning the Republican nomination in 1996 before losing to incumbent President Bill Clinton, who later awarded Dole the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Dole announced in February that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and was starting treatment.
In a USA Today op-ed Dole finished on pen and paper less than two weeks before his death, he pushed lawmakers to find common ground in difficult times, writing, “Those who suggest that compromise is a sign of weakness misunderstand the fundamental strength of our democracy.”
(WASHINGTON) — On Thursday evening, the Senate passed a bill that will start the process of raising the debt limit with only Democrats’ votes.
Having gained the necessary support to clear the filibuster earlier Thursday afternoon, the Senate-passes legislation will permit a one-time change to Senate rules and allow Democrats to raise the federal borrowing limit by a simple majority.
Despite only requiring 51 votes, 10 Republicans voted with all Democrats to pass the rule, resulting in a 59-35 margin.
On Tuesday, congressional leaders announced a deal that would avert a default of the nation’s credit by allowing Democrats to raise the debt ceiling in the Senate without any Republican support, and the House approved the measure along party lines in a late-night 222-212 vote.
The bill will now head to President Joe Biden’s desk. Once Biden signs the rule change, Democrats in both chambers of Congress will need to pass a second piece of legislation that actually raises the debt limit. Biden must sign that second bill before Dec. 15 to avert catastrophic default, according to the Treasury Department.
ABC News’ Mariam Khan and Trish Turner contributed to this report.
