Wisconsin Act 20, a 2023 law that made major changes to literacy education in the state, requires school districts to provide short literacy screenings to students as a way of identifying “at-risk” students. A girl reads a book in a school library. (Getty Images)

The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) released data on the first year of annual literacy screenings this week, finding about 36% of 4K through third-grade students fell below the 25th percentile for reading.

Wisconsin Act 20, a 2023 law that made major changes to literacy education in the state, requires school districts to provide short literacy screenings to students as a way of identifying “at-risk” students. Students who scored below the 25th percentile on the reading screener are required under the law to receive a personal reading plan and additional support. Schools must report data on the screenings to the DPI, which is required to compile a report. 

The first annual report covers screenings done in the 2024-25 school year. 

The response rate to the reporting requirement was 98% with 428 out of 437 local education agencies submitting data.

State Superintendent Jill Underly said in a statement that the rate represents a strong commitment to the state’s literacy efforts, and that the report overall provides the state with a baseline.

“These data are critical in helping schools guide instruction and intervention — not to define a student’s potential,” Underly said. “School districts have already demonstrated their strong commitment to this effort, and I am encouraged by how fully they embraced the work from day one.” 

According to the report, 36.8% of Wisconsin students in 4K through the third grade — or 97,414 students — scored below the 25th percentile on their assessment of fundamental skills on universal screening assessments. 

The report also provides information on the number of students who have started receiving interventions. 

For students in 5K through third grade, a total of 86,228 students — or 40% of the total enrollment — began receiving interventions. Students in 4k are not required to have a personal reading plan.

The implementation of the law has been drawn out over the last couple of years. According to DPI, schools have also started receiving funding from the $50 million that was initially set aside in the 2023-25 state budget to help with professional development and training requirements as well as curriculum costs, but wasn’t released until the budget approved this year due to disagreements between lawmakers and Gov. Tony Evers.

“With time and a sustained investment in strengthened classroom instruction and, as needed, additional reading support, we can move steadily toward our goal of making sure every Wisconsin child excels at reading by the end of third grade,” Underly said.

Sen. John Jagler (R-Watertown), who assisted with leading the law through the Legislature, said in the statement that the results show the depth of the issues that Wisconsin students are facing.

“This shows why this law was needed in the first place. Hopefully, education leaders will focus on getting these students the interventions they need,” Jagler said.

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U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, right, looks on as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting of his Cabinet in the Cabinet Room of the White House on Dec. 2, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Tuesday he did not witness a controversial — and potentially illegal — second strike in early September that killed two survivors clinging to a burning alleged drug-running boat off the Venezuelan coast.

The secretary’s exact order in the Sept. 2 strike has been under scrutiny after The Washington Post reported Friday that Hegseth gave a verbal directive to “kill everybody” that in turn led the commanding admiral to order a follow-on strike to kill two alleged drug smugglers who survived an initial attack.

Hegseth’s comments responded to a reporter’s question at the end of President Donald Trump’s livestreamed two-hour Cabinet meeting. 

“I watched that first strike live. As you can imagine, at the Department of War we got a lot of things to do, so … I moved on to my next meeting,” Hegseth told reporters. 

The secretary said he learned a “couple of hours later” that Adm. Frank M. “Mitch” Bradley “made the correct decision to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat.”

When pressed by the reporter if he saw any survivors after the initial strike, Hegseth said “I did not personally see survivors … the thing was on fire.”

“This is called the fog of war. This is what you in the press don’t understand,” he replied.

Hegseth said he didn’t know the exact amount of time between the first and second strikes. He declined to answer follow-up questions.

Bipartisan lawmakers on the Senate and House Armed Services committees announced probes over the weekend into the follow-on strike that killed the survivors. Numerous military law experts argue killing survivors of a shipwreck is in clear violation of the Pentagon’s laws of war.

Hegseth authorized strike

Hegseth initially called The Washington Post investigative report “fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory,” in a post on social media Friday.

On Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters during the daily briefing that Hegseth had “authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes.”

“Admiral Bradley worked well within his authority and the law directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated,” Leavitt said at the briefing.

On social media Monday night, Hegseth wrote: “Admiral Mitch Bradley is an American hero, a true professional, and has my 100% support. I stand by him and the combat decisions he has made — on the September 2 mission and all others since.”

A New York Times article Monday, citing five U.S. officials who spoke separately on the condition of anonymity, reported that Hegseth gave an initial written order for an operation to kill the alleged drug smugglers on the boat and destroy the entire vessel. 

The officials said Hegseth did not address additional steps if the first missile did not accomplish both goals, and that he did not give Bradley additional orders in response to video surveillance of the boat, according to the Times, which wrote that Bradley ordered “several” follow-on shots.

The strike in question was the first of nearly two dozen U.S. attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea, which the administration alleges are smuggling narcotics. The operations, over several months, have killed 83 individuals, according to a CNN timeline.

‘I rely on Pete’

Trump defended Hegseth at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, saying “Pete’s done an amazing job.”

Regarding the attack, Trump downplayed the importance of a follow-on strike.

“I still haven’t gotten a lot of information, because I rely on Pete, but to me, it was an attack. It wasn’t one strike, two strikes, three strikes,” he said.

“Pete didn’t know about a second attack having to do with two people. And I guess Pete would have to speak to it. I can say this, I want those boats taken out, and if we have to, we’ll attack on land also, just like we attack on sea,” Trump said.

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday that he “wouldn’t have wanted that,” referring to the killing of two men clinging to the wreckage. 

“Pete said he did not order the death of those two men,” Trump continued.

Trump posted Sept. 2 on his Truth Social platform a 29-second edited video of the attack.

On Sept. 3, Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” played the video from Trump’s post on repeat while interviewing Hegseth, who told the hosts that 11 alleged “narco-terrorists” were killed in the attack.

“I watched it live. We knew exactly what they were doing and we knew exactly who they represented,” Hegseth said on the network’s talk show, which he hosted on weekends prior to being appointed and confirmed as secretary of Defense.

The Intercept first reported on Sept. 10 that survivors of the initial Sept. 2 strike were killed in follow-up blasts.

Congressional inquiries

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are now inquiring to learn if what happened on Sept. 2 amounts to a war crime. 

U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., issued a statement Tuesday, criticizing Hegseth and calling on Trump to fire him if he violated the laws of war.

“At the Pentagon, the buck stops with the Secretary of Defense, period,” Slotkin said.

The first-term Democrat and former CIA official recently participated in a video, now targeted by a Pentagon investigation, reminding service members that they have a right to refuse “illegal orders.”  

“True leaders own the calls they make and take responsibility for their actions. Secretary Hegseth should release the full video of the strike and lay out publicly what happened, without throwing the uniformed military under the bus,” Slotkin said.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune defended the administration Tuesday when asked by reporters about the Sept. 2 event and Hegseth’s other controversies, including discussing real-time bombing of targets in Yemen in March on the publicly available app Signal.

“I think the Trump administration and the peace-through-strength policies that they are employing around the world are making our country safer, and so Secretary Hegseth is a part of that,” the South Dakota Republican said.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks to reporters while walking to his office on Nov. 10, 2025 on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Tom Brenner/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — Republicans and Democrats in the Senate agree that health care costs are rising too quickly and expect to vote next week on legislation that could help Americans. 

The only catch is that party leaders hadn’t decided as of Tuesday what to include in the bills. 

Senators also seemed to accept that neither proposal will garner the bipartisan support needed to advance, leaving the tens of millions of Americans who purchase their health insurance from the Affordable Care Act marketplace with complicated decisions to make before open enrollment ends Dec. 15. 

ACA marketplace plans are expected to increase by 26% on average next year, though a failure by Congress to extend enhanced tax credits would lead monthly payments for subsidized enrollees to increase by 114% on average, according to analysis from the nonpartisan health organization KFF. 

“I don’t think at this point we have a clear path forward,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said. “I don’t think the Democrats have a clear path forward.”

Vote on Democratic bill expected

Thune guaranteed a small group of Democratic senators a floor vote on a health care proposal of their choosing in exchange for their votes on the spending package that ended the government shutdown. 

Democrats are widely expected to put forward a bill to extend enhanced tax credits for people who buy their health insurance from the Affordable Care Act Marketplace. Those subsidies are set to expire at the end of the year without congressional action. 

But it isn’t clear if the Democratic bill would extend the credits for one year or a longer period. 

GOP leaders are trying to rally support around a health care proposal of their own, while acknowledging it won’t get the 60 votes needed to advance under the Senate’s legislative filibuster rules. 

Thune said Republican senators had a “robust discussion” about health care issues during their closed-door lunch, where Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo of Idaho and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy of Louisiana presented some ideas. But no final agreements were reached. 

Thune, R-S.D., said conversations will continue ahead of the vote next week and likely afterward.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Democrats “have a plan” but declined to say exactly what it entails.

“Stay tuned,” Schumer said. “We had a great discussion and I will tell you this: We will be focused like a laser on lowering people’s costs.”

Looking for a solution

West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said Republican talks on health care have been “vigorous” but that they hadn’t yet “decided on the clear path.” 

Capito said her “expectation” is that GOP senators will put a bill on the floor next week to bring down the costs of health insurance premiums and health care as quickly as possible, though that hadn’t been finalized.  

“I like the idea of people having control of the money as opposed to insurance companies, where they take a 20% profit,” Capito said, echoing comments by President Donald Trump. “I think that has merit.”

Capito said senators didn’t discuss during their lunch whether to extend open enrollment past Dec. 15 or possibly reopen it next year, should Congress pass a health care bill that addresses the ACA marketplace tax credits in some way.

New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said there is no indication there will be bipartisan agreement to extend the enhanced ACA subsidies or any other health care proposal by next week’s vote, though bipartisan conversations continue.  

As for Democrats’ plan, Shaheen said it wasn’t “clear” what legislation party leaders will put on the floor for a vote or when they’d make that announcement. 

‘Mindful of the timeline’

North Dakota Republican Sen. John Hoeven said there is “strong support” among GOP lawmakers for making changes to how the enhanced ACA tax credits work before extending them for any length of time. 

But he said those negotiations will take more time. 

“In my opinion, if we have (the vote) next week, we probably won’t be at a point where we can get a big bipartisan agreement,” Hoeven said. “It’s more likely they’ll put something up that fails. We put something up that fails. And we keep working towards, hopefully, something that can work and that is bipartisan.”

There is a “good chance,” he said, that will happen in December or January, a timeline that would likely put a solution after open enrollment closes. 

Hoeven declined to say if a deal would extend open enrollment or include a second window for Americans to select insurance, but said Republicans are aware of the deadlines. 

“We’re very mindful of the timeline,” Hoeven said. “So all the things we’re talking about recognize that it needs to be able to take effect next year or this year.”

Student protesters shout during a “Hands Off Our Schools” rally in front of the U.S. Department of Education building in Washington, D.C., in April. The same group held a virtual press conference Tuesday to protest President Donald Trump’s efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. (Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — A pair of Democratic lawmakers joined student leaders Tuesday in blasting President Donald Trump’s ongoing efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. 

U.S. Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood of Illinois, alongside college and high school students from across the United States, rebuked the Trump administration’s plans to shift several of the Education Department’s responsibilities to other Cabinet-level agencies as part of a larger effort to abolish the 46-year-old Education Department. 

Markey said Trump’s and Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s “dismantling of the department will have immediate negative consequences for students, for families, for local schools nationwide,” during a virtual press conference organized by “Hands Off Our Schools,” a coalition encompassing student government leaders from Washington, D.C.

“When a parent or superintendent needs support or technical assistance, there will be no one to pick up the phone,” he said. 

McMahon defended the move at a Nov. 20 White House press briefing, saying “these interagency agreements to cut our own bureaucratic bloat are a key step in our efforts to shift educational authority from Washington, D.C., to your state education agency, your local superintendent, your local school board — entities that are accountable to you.” 

But Markey and Underwood said the administration’s moves would have deeply negative impacts.

“The Trump agenda to destroy the Department of Education is not about cutting red tape — it is about enacting cruelty and intentionally breaking the programs that ensure the promise of education is delivered to every single student,” Markey said. 

Underwood said “this administration’s attacks on our Department of Education are part of a much larger assault on the very foundations of our constitutional rights and our democracy.”

She added that “by tearing down the Department of Education, this administration has made an explicit choice to abandon students and families.” 

Underwood — who is a registered nurse — also took aim at the department’s proposal stemming from congressional Republicans’ “big, beautiful” law that would place stricter loan limits on students pursuing graduate nursing programs because they would not fall under the “professional” degree classification. 

She said the effort is “devastating for our already overburdened nursing workforce, and it’s a disaster for our health care system, especially in rural communities.” 

‘Brainless decision’ 

Students from California, Texas, Virginia and Washington, D.C., also slammed the department’s plans to transfer responsibilities to other agencies and potential impacts on marginalized students. 

“This brainless decision to shift programs out of the (Education Department) is targeting the most vulnerable among us,” Darius Wagner, a student at Georgetown University, said, describing the move as “unnecessarily cruel.” 

“Other federal departments that now (bear) this responsibility do not have the resources, staff or expertise to manage these programs and will inevitably mismanage resources that will leave our most vulnerable children behind,” Wagner added.

Ayaan Moledina, a high school student in Austin, Texas, said “dismantling and destroying the department will lead to major consequences on the success of marginalized students.” 

Moledina, who serves as federal policy director of the advocacy group Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT), said that “without a federal department, there will be no federal oversight of institutions to guarantee the basic and fundamental rights of students.” 

He added: “There will be no federal assistance for institutions to implement federally mandated programs, putting more of a burden on schools that already have their plates full.” 

Six interagency agreements 

The agreements to transfer several of the Education Department’s responsibilities to four other departments drew swift condemnation from Democratic officials, labor unions and advocacy groups, who questioned the legality of the effort and voiced concerns about the harm that would be imposed on students, families and schools as a result. 

The Education Department clarified that it would “maintain all statutory responsibilities and will continue its oversight of these programs” regarding its six agreements signed with Labor, Interior, Health and Human Services and State.

Prior to the six announced interagency agreements, the agency had already undergone a slew of changes that the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily greenlit in July, including mass layoffs that gutted more than 1,300 employees and a plan to dramatically downsize the department ordered earlier this year. 

Members of the U.S. Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies respond to the shooting of two members of the West Virginia National Guard near the White House on Nov. 26, 2025. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — The man accused in the shooting of two West Virginia National Guard members in the District of Columbia pleaded not guilty in his Tuesday arraignment hearing, during which he appeared virtually from a hospital bed.

U.S. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died as a result of her injuries, and U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains in the hospital with severe wounds. 

D.C. Superior Court Magistrate Judge Renee Raymond denied bond for 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who officials allege drove across the United States to the district from his residence in Washington state. The guard members were attacked while on duty in a downtown neighborhood blocks from the White House.

“He came across the country 3,000 miles, armed with a specific purpose in mind,” Judge Raymond said in her reasoning for denying him bond. “The government’s case is exceedingly strong.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office filed charges Tuesday for first-degree murder while armed; possession of a firearm; and assault with the intent to kill. 

Lakanwal’s next court date is Jan. 14.

“The nature and circumstances of the instant offense, the strength of the government’s case, and the sheer terror that resulted, that continues to animate because of his actions, leads me to conclude that no conditions or combination of conditions, will reasonably ensure the safety of the community,” Raymond said.

West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey wrote on social media Tuesday that Wolfe “remains in critical condition but is stable.”

“Doctors and the family are optimistic about his current progress and note that he has responded to some basic requests such as a thumbs up sign and wiggling his toes,” Morrisey said.

Troops in the district

The West Virginia National Guard members shot last week are among the 2,000 troops stationed in the district since August, after President Donald Trump declared a “crime emergency.” 

Republican governors have offered to send their states’ reserves of National Guard members to the nation’s capital. A federal judge last month found the president’s deployment of troops to the district illegal. 

Lakanwal was granted asylum this year after he came to the United States through a special humanitarian program for Afghanistan allies who served along American forces and had to flee the country after the Taliban took it over following the chaotic U.S. withdrawal in 2021. 

The shooting that took place on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday has resulted in Trump expanding his immigration crackdown to include a halt to asylum applications, as well as increased scrutiny on visa applications from Afghan nationals. 

“In the wake of last week’s atrocity, it is more important than ever to finish carrying out the president’s mass deportation operation,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at Monday’s press briefing. “They must go back to their home countries.”

Translator appears for Lakanwal

During Tuesday’s arraignment, Lakanwal seemed to thrash around in pain in his hospital bed. A translator also appeared virtually for Lakanwal. 

Lakanwal’s lawyer raised concerns about U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro, a former Fox News host, holding future press conferences, warning that could harm a “free and fair trial” for Lakanwal. Pirro held a press conference on Thanksgiving morning to discuss the shooting.

“The government at their own peril … continue to taint a potential jury pool against Mr. Lakanwal as a result of their press conferences,” he said.

Department of Defense press secretary Kingsley Wilson said during a Tuesday briefing at the Pentagon that all National Guard members in the district would be armed. 

Following last week’s shooting, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he would request an additional 500 National Guard members be deployed in the district. 

It’s unclear if that directive would violate a federal judge’s order that found the August deployment unlawful. The federal judge stayed her Nov. 20 order for three weeks to give the administration time to either appeal or remove the troops. The Trump administration filed an emergency appeal after the shooting in the district.

Ashley Murray contributed to this report.

A store displays a sign accepting Electronic Benefits Transfer, or EBT, cards for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program purchases for groceries on Oct. 30, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will begin next week to block nutrition assistance funding for states led by Democrats that have not provided data on fraud in the program, Secretary Brooke Rollins told President Donald Trump at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday.

USDA sought data from states earlier this year related to their administration of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits, Rollins said Tuesday. She added the data was needed to address fraud that she called “rampant” in the program that helps 42 million people afford groceries.

Most states complied with the request, but 21, mostly run by Democrats, refused, she said. A USDA spokesperson later implied the department was missing data from 22 states.

“As of next week, we have begun and will begin to stop moving federal funds into those states until they comply, and they tell us and allow us to partner with them to root out this fraud and to protect the American taxpayer,” Rollins said.

A USDA spokesperson in an email listed 28 states, plus one territory, from which they said the department has received data.

That would leave the following 22 states, all led by Democratic governors, that have not provided data: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin. 

The spokesperson provided some additional details of the initiative, including that the department was targeting administrative funds, and that the next step would be a formal warning.

Blue states sought to protect bad actors, including criminals and immigrants in the country without legal status, “over the American taxpayer,” the statement said.

“We have sent Democrat States yet another request for data, and if they fail to comply, they will be provided with formal warning that USDA will pull their administrative funds,” the spokesperson said.

Court records show the department sent the states a new request for data on Nov. 28, and asked for a response within seven days, which would be Friday. 

The letter was reproduced as part of a suit the 22 states have brought against the administration over the request for SNAP recipients’ data.

Leading Dem calls threat illegal

It’s unclear what authority Rollins would have to block funding, which Congress has appropriated.

The federal government pays for all benefits for SNAP, which was formerly known as food stamps. It splits the administrative costs with states.

The USDA spokesperson did not answer a direct question about the legal authority for withholding funds.

Democrats on the U.S. House Agriculture Committee said any effort to block SNAP funding would be illegal.

“Yet again, Trump and Rollins are illegally threatening to withhold federal dollars,” a social media post from an official account of committee Democrats read. “SNAP has one of the lowest fraud rates of any government program, but Trump continues to weaponize hunger.”

The committee’s lead Democrat, Angie Craig of Minnesota, issued her own statement that also accused the administration of “weaponizing hunger” and said Rollins “continues to spew propaganda.”

“Her disregard for the law and willingness to lie through her teeth comes from the very top – the Trump administration is as corrupt as it is lawless, and I will not sit silently as she carries out the president’s campaign against Americans struggling to afford food in part because of this president’s tariffs and disastrous economic policies.”  

SNAP fraud

The data USDA has sought from states includes verification of SNAP recipients’ eligibility, along with a host of personal information such as Social Security numbers.

An early USDA review of data provided by the 28 states and Guam “indicates an estimated average of $24 million dollars per day of federal funds is lost to fraud and errors undetected by States in their administration of SNAP,” the department said in the Nov. 28 letter.

Preventing those losses could save up to $9 billion per year, the letter added.

But the types of fraud cited in some of the public statements from Rollins and the department are rare, existing data show.

A 2023 USDA report showed about 26,000 applications, roughly 0.1% of the households enrolled in SNAP, were referred for an administrative or criminal review.

People in the country illegally have never been authorized to receive SNAP benefits.

“The long-standing data sources indicate that intentional fraud by participants is rare,” Katie Bergh, a senior food assistance policy analyst for the left-leaning think tank Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, said in a November interview.

Trump administration target

SNAP has been a consistent target for cuts during Trump’s second presidency.

The issue was a focal point during the six-week government shutdown, during which the administration reversed itself often but generally resisted calls — from states, advocates, lawmakers and federal judges — to fund food assistance.

Shortly after the government reopened, Rollins in television interviews said she would force all recipients to reapply for benefits, a proposal seen as logistically challenging by program experts.

And the Republican taxes and spending law passed by Congress and signed by Trump earlier this year included new work requirements and other restrictions on SNAP eligibility that advocates say will lead to major drops in benefits. 

The law will also make states pay for some share of benefits and increase the share of administrative costs that states are responsible for, potentially leading some states to cut benefits.

The Bottles and Breastfeeding Equipment Screening Enhancement Act became law on Nov. 25, 2025. The bipartisan legislation aims to strengthen protocols for Transportation Security Administration employees handling breast milk, formula and related items. (Getty Images) 

After years of advocacy efforts, a bipartisan measure became law last week to make travel easier for parents who encounter problems going through airport security with breast milk and formula.

Congress passed a law in 2016 that deemed breast milk, formula and toddler drinks “medically necessary liquids” that can go on planes and in carry-ons in quantities larger than 3.4 ounces, along with ice and gel packs and other related accessories. But airport security officers are not always trained on the policy, and parents continue to face issues nearly a decade later, States Newsroom reported, sometimes experiencing flight delays or being forced to dump milk handled unhygienically. 

Three years ago, after a bad experience in an airport, engineer and science TV host Emily Calandrelli called on Congress to make the Transportation Security Administration enforce its own breast milk policy. She’s championed the legislation alongside lobbying groups like Chamber of Mothers, founded by working moms in 2021. 

The group’s cofounder and CEO Erin Erenberg said in a statement that the measure’s passage was “a victory for every parent who has been mistreated or dismissed while simply caring for their baby.”

The Bottles and Breastfeeding Equipment Screening Enhancement Act was approved unanimously in both chambers of Congress this year. It ensures that TSA streamlines standards and requires officers to follow protocol when screening passengers who are breastfeeding and carrying milk, formula or juice on planes for their babies. Within 90 days of the bill being signed by President Donald Trump on Nov. 25 — and then every five years after that — the agency must issue or update guidance to minimize the risk of contamination.

“I’m thrilled to say that the BABES Act is officially the law of the land,” said Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California in a statement Monday. “As a husband and father, I know how challenging it can be to fly with a newborn. … This is about dignity, peace of mind, and protecting families at one of the most vulnerable moments of parenthood.”

“This bill guarantees clear rules, proper training, and full transparency so parents can travel knowing their baby food will be protected, not mishandled or thrown away,” said Republican Florida Rep. Maria Salazar in a statement. 

Under the measure, TSA agents must maintain hygiene standards when handling breast milk, formula and related items — ice packs or other cooling devices, for example — to lessen the chance of contamination. The law also directs the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General to audit TSA compliance with the law and submit a report to Congress within one year of enactment.

Salazar cosponsored the bill in the House alongside GOP Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna and Democratic Reps. Swalwell and Brittany Pettersen of Colorado. 

“Like so many moms, I’ve experienced the frustration of having to throw out milk or pumping supplies, despite them being TSA-approved. Outdated regulations or lack of training shouldn’t add to an already stressful situation,” Pettersen said in a statement. 

The Senate passed the bill with unanimous approval in May. GOP Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Steve Daines of Montana carried the bill in the upper chamber along with Democratic Sens. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois. 

“Our bipartisan legislation will ensure the TSA keeps its employees up to speed on their own policies and updates those policies as necessary. It’s the least we can do to help parents travel through airports with the dignity and respect they deserve,” Duckworth said in a statement. 

This year is the first time the bill advanced in both chambers despite being introduced several times in previous sessions. 

During his testimony before the bill’s passage in the House on Nov. 17, Swalwell thanked Calandrelli for speaking out about her experience of being forced to check her ice packs and being questioned for needing breastfeeding supplies while traveling without an infant. 

“It is a success story for anybody who believes that they can write to their legislator and see a change in the laws that govern us,” Swalwell said.

Calendrelli said the same thing to her followers on Facebook.

“But now, 3.5 years later — we turned a terrible experience into a Bill that will become a law. That humiliation to legislation pipeline, amirite?”

AB 615 would require schools to implement three numeracy-based tests per year for students starting in kindergarten through eighth grade. (Getty Images)

At a hearing on a Republican bill to improve math education, Wisconsin lawmakers were suddenly faced with a pop quiz.

“Let’s say I went to St. Vinnie’s [thrift store], got a bat, and a ball. Okay, $1.10 for both of them. The bat costs a dollar more than the ball,” said Mitchell Nathan, a math learning sciences professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, at a November public hearing before the Assembly Education Committee. “How much was each item?”

Nathan pushed them for responses. Some lawmakers murmured it would be $1 for the bat. One added that that’s only if there is no tax included. Others didn’t respond. It was Rep. Lindee Brill (R-Sheboygan Falls) who provided the correct answer of $1.05.

Nathan told the Wisconsin Examiner in an interview that he wanted lawmakers to think more concretely about math education as they consider ways to improve it.

“[Brill] got it right because she actually did the math,” Nathan told the Wisconsin Examiner in an interview. “She actually sat down and carefully thought it through, instead of just reacting and applying quick numeracy… It felt like a good opportunity to just have people experience what they were talking about, so it wasn’t just all abstract. I thought it was important for me as a learning scientist to clarify that what we might know and what we might take away from legislation on the science of reading doesn’t immediately map over to mathematics.”

Lawmakers are seeking to mirror the work that they did on reading education in 2023 under Act 20, which sought to ensure schools focus on teaching the “science of reading.” The new reading law used $50 million in funding to help with costs related to curriculum and literacy coaches and established an Office of Literacy within DPI. 

Lawmakers’ proposal to improve math education is more modest than the literacy efforts.

Coauthored by Rep. Karen Hurd (R-Withee) and Sen. Rob Hutton (R-Brookfield), AB 615 would require schools to implement three numeracy-based tests per year for students starting in kindergarten through eighth grade. 

“The goal of this legislation is to identify students who are falling behind in math and to implement corrective measures to ensure these students stay on pace with their peers,” the lawmakers wrote in a cosponsorship memo. 

The bill comes as Wisconsin, like much of the country, has not recovered to pre-pandemic performance levels on math assessments.

Lawmakers expressed concern that Wisconsin students’ performance in math on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a congressionally mandated assessment, has declined. 

In 2019, 45% of Wisconsin fourth grade students scored a proficient level on the NAEP, and in 2024, 42% scored proficient. In 2019, 41% of eighth-grade students were proficient, and in 2024, 37% were considered proficient. 

Wisconsin also has one of the largest achievement gaps in the nation between Black and white students. In 2024, 5% of Black fourth-grade students in Wisconsin scored at or above the proficient level in math on the NAEP as compared to 51% for their white peers.

Under lawmakers’ proposal, screenings would need to be “valid, reliable, research-based, and predictive of future mathematics achievement” and be designed to identify students who are at risk of not meeting grade-level standards. An amendment to the bill would require DPI to maintain a list of recommended numeracy screening assessments on its website. 

Schools would also need to implement personal mathematics plans for each student identified as at-risk on two consecutive tests. The plan would need to include “quality math tutoring.”

Math teachers and education experts and the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), however, have expressed concerns that the bill would not have the intended effect of boosting achievement.

“Numeracy” testing to measure proficiency 

Republican lawmakers and the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL), a conservative nonprofit legal organization which recently published a paper on reforming math education in Wisconsin, are focusing on “numeracy” — just as they focused on “the science of reading,” as a way to boost achievement. 

In lieu of action from lawmakers, WILL has been encouraging local school districts to adopt a model policy that seeks to “foster numeracy across all schools in the District in an effort to increase mathematical proficiency in all students.” The organization has also worked with ExcelinEd, an national education reform nonprofit group founded by Republican Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, on the effort.

In the paper, WILL defines “numeracy” as “the ability to understand and work with numbers, including place value, arithmetic operations, and their real-world relevance.”

“When students are numerate, they are able to use math in everyday life, not just in the classroom,” a WILL memo states.

Eric Kuennen, a mathematics professor at UW-Oshkosh who spends time teaching future math teachers, said WILL is using a good definition of “numeracy.” He said it touches on ensuring students can “comprehend mathematical concepts, operations and relations” and are able to do “procedures flexibly and appropriately” as well as building “logical thought, reflection, explanation, critical thinking and problem solving” skills.

Kuennen said, however, he is concerned about whether everyone has the same interpretation of numeracy and cautioned against making comparisons between “numeracy” and the “science of reading.”

“With a more narrow focus, [numeracy] can be more concerned [with] just knowing about facts — knowing your addition tables… or being able to do a procedure,” Kuennen said. He also said that “mathematical reasoning and reading literacy are very different things, and our math education experts are aware of that.”

“What may work well for reading and literacy is not what is necessarily going to work well for mathematical literacy or numeracy,” he said.

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction identified a similar concern in opposing the bill. 

“We do not believe the answer to improving math outcomes lies in creating state laws in a construct that is like 2023 Wisconsin Act 20. The body of research around improving math, and existing state actions around math improvement, are not the same as state-led efforts to improve reading,” the agency stated.

The current DPI math standards were adopted in 2021 with the input of teachers and other stakeholders to provide a teaching framework centered on reasoning, procedural fluency and conceptual understanding, according to the agency.

The bill would require elementary and middle school students through the eighth grade to take three additional tests a year including one before day 30 of the school term, one in the middle of the term and one no later than 45 days before the last day of school. Those tests would need to focus on numeracy. 

Kuennen said testing is a “double-edged sword” that is needed to assess learning but can get in the way of learning as students and teachers may feel more pressure to train for performance on tests rather than focus on learning.

Nathan of UW-Madison said the approach in the bill is worrying to him because a legal emphasis on numeracy could hinder students’ math education. He said there needs to be a balance. 

“I think we would be in terrible error as a state if we said we’re not going to let kids study other more advanced ideas until they achieve some mastery level numeracy,” Nathan said, adding that the state should not act as a “gatekeeper” of other math like trigonometry and calculus.

Nathan, who noted his comments are his personal views based on his research and experience and not the positions of UW-Madison, told the Examiner that numeracy is a “core building block” of math education and that Wisconsin schools are “absolutely” already teaching it.

“We are doing numeracy, and we do a pretty good job with numeracy,” Nathan said. “Why we have not recovered to pre-pandemic levels is not a simple thing to answer, and it’s almost certainly not going to go away or turn around the other direction just because we do more assessing.”

Funding pressures

Several math education experts and teachers expressed gratitude that lawmakers are discussing the issue, but said they are concerned that lawmakers are just giving schools an unfunded mandate that will do little to advance math education. 

Kuennen said he was surprised by the content of the bill. Having read WILL’s paper, he said the organization presented “great information” and “really good recommendations,” but the proposed bill leaves a big gap between the two.

In addition to early screening, WILL has recommended that schools implement more targeted teacher training, flexible coaching models to support math instruction and regular reporting of math achievement.

“There’s nothing in [the bill] about supporting teacher professional development. There’s nothing in there about funding teacher professional development, or funding having math coaches in elementary school,” Kuennen said. “This bill seems like it’s just an unfunded mandate for schools to implement additional testing. The irony is that the motivation for this bill is that our students are testing poorly, so our recommendation is to do more student testing. We already know the problems and we know the solutions, but I think the real issue is the solutions that work costs money.”

Republican lawmakers and supporters of the bill have cited successes in other states as they urge Wisconsin to take action, including by advancing the bill. At least seven states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Virginia and West Virginia, have implemented new laws related to numeracy and math education.

Alabama has seen the most growth in the nation for math scores in recent years. Its growth comes after years of low NAEP results, including a ranking of 52 — at the bottom of U.S. states and territories — in fourth-grade math in 2019. The state passed a law in 2022 that overhauled its math education. In recent years it has jumped up rankings to 32nd, with students nearing national averages. Alabama is the only state whose math scores have reached its pre-pandemic levels.

Wisconsin’s fourth-grade students were above the national average for math proficiency and its eighth-grade students ranked third on the NAEP in 2024.

Nathan said the legislators’ use of the Alabama/Wisconsin comparison was a great example of the need to dive deeper into the math concepts they are considering.

“If you’re really low to start, you have a lot of room to move up, and if you’re scoring quite high, you don’t have a lot of room to move up, so those are important contexts in which to interpret these numbers” Nathan said. He added that “what Alabama is doing — which is seemingly helping Alabama a great deal — is backed by a lot of money.”

Alabama’s Numeracy Act adopted in 2022 was expansive — replacing the state standards, establishing an Office of Mathematics Improvement, providing new instructional materials, implementing professional development for teachers and hiring elementary math coaches as well as monitoring student progress and offering summer school to struggling students. As of 2025, Alabama’s increased its investment in its initiative by $27 million, bringing its overall investment to $95 million.

Unlike the literacy overhaul, the current math proposal from Wisconsin lawmakers doesn’t include any funding.

A Department of Public Instruction fiscal estimate warned the bill would create ongoing fiscal pressures for local school districts and the state agency. 

“Because the bill lacks dedicated funding or reimbursement mechanisms, implementation would rely on existing budgets to be absorbed within existing resources,” the estimate stated. “While the precise financial effect is indeterminate, the bill’s long-range fiscal implications include sustained cost growth, resource diversion and possible equity challenges across districts.”

Local school districts would incur costs related to screening administration, data management, tutoring provision and plan development, and those districts with lower proficiency rates would face added costs for creating math achievement plans.

DPI would have to handle recurring costs to develop, update and maintain the tutoring provider database, public reporting systems, and model achievement plan as well as to provide professional development and technical assistance.

Republican lawmakers and Will Flanders, WILL’s education research director, have acknowledged that the bill would not be as expansive as the literacy law.

“Folks are questioning whether this is sufficient enough intervention,” Flanders said at the public hearing. “There is wisdom in starting with a little bit of a lighter hand because we’re not quite as bad in math as we are in reading.”

However, math education stakeholders are skeptical that implementing more testing will do much for teachers and students.

“If this is the first step, I don’t think it’s the right first step. It’s telling us things we already know,” Kuennen said. “I think a good first step would be to ask the DPI, what’s really needed, and ask the teachers and schools in Wisconsin what’s needed.”

Kuennen said the math education crisis is not new in the U.S. and that the state “shouldn’t panic and do something just to do something” and that Wisconsin has an active community of mathematicians, educators and professional organizations, all who are concerned with math education in the state.

From his perspective, the state needs a “balanced, measured approach that listens to all the experts we have in our state and the needs of the teachers — talk to the teachers, talk to the districts, see what they need and then work to change the priorities, the funding priorities of the state.” Specifically, Kuennen said schools need more time and more money. 

“We need it to be a higher paying job so we can recruit and retain more high-quality teachers. They need time to plan during the school day. They need time to meet with their fellow teachers to collaborate. They need time to meet with students one on one. They need more time to have dedicated to math lessons,” Kuennen said. “The real solutions are more time and more money.” 

Jennifer Lawler, coordinator of secondary mathematics and science for Kenosha Unified School District and president-elect of Wisconsin Mathematics Council, noted in written testimony that 71% of school districts lost state funding in the 2025-26 school year and the requirements in the bill would further stretch budgets and time constraints.

“While some students require additional time and support to achieve at grade level, the provisions for ‘quality math tutoring’ are vague and appear to be an effort to funnel taxpayer money into private, unregulated tutoring companies and/or unproven Al tutoring programs which school districts can ill afford,” Lawler wrote. “The additional testing requirements and the required time for tutoring would also further reduce students’ opportunity to learn science and social studies, as well as engage in fine arts and physical education.”

Nathan said there are many reasons why performance has not rebounded to what it was before the pandemic. One key concern he identified is the turnover of teachers during and after the pandemic. 

“We’ve lost a lot of teachers who had a lot of experience,” Nathan said. “As a state, we have made it less appealing to be a public education teacher than used to be the case. We’ve taken away a lot of rights and benefits and also just publicly come out, blaming teachers for a lot of problems.”

Kuennen said there will not be a “quick fix” to the state’s math education troubles. He pointed to the efforts of Winskill Elementary School, which saw over 80% of students who were advanced or meeting expectations in math in 2025 after bringing in math coaches and taking other steps to help improve math education. Along with local districts that are taking their own step, DPI has said it is working to improve math education in the state.

DPI has said it is working on a statewide plan to provide guidance to school districts on math that will include recommendations for elevating number sense and operation sense, implementing high quality math instructional materials, providing interventions and more learning opportunities, implementing systems to track student progress and building math identities for students and elementary educators. 

“You can’t just do one thing. You can’t just say, ‘OK, what’s missing is this numeracy screening or what’s missing is this particular book or anything,” Kuennen said. “It’s really a cultural shift in how elementary school teaching is structured.”

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Former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes in his launch video for his 2026 gubernatorial campaign. | Photo courtesy Mandela Barnes for Wisconsin campaign

Former Lt. Gov. and Senate candidate Mandela Barnes launched his campaign for governor on Tuesday — pledging to stand up to the Trump administration and work to make Wisconsin more affordable.

The 2026 gubernatorial election is the first open race for governor since 2010 and Barnes joins a crowded field of Democratic hopefuls. Some of those candidates include Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, state Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison), state Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison), Milwaukee County Exec. David Crowley and former Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation CEO Missy Hughes.

There are about 10 months until the August primary. 

In his announcement video, Barnes accuses President Donald Trump and the federal government of looking the other way as working people struggle to keep up with costs. He says the state needs to reject the “Washington Way” and get things done the “Wisconsin Way.”

The video kicks off with Barnes highlighting his family ties to unions, grabbing a jacket with the insignia of UAW, Local 1866, which is the Oak Creek chapter of the United Auto Workers union. He says it belongs to his dad who “wore it everywhere because being part of a union wasn’t just a job.” In the video, construction workers walk behind Barnes while he speaks. 

“It meant you looked out for each other. It meant you had each other’s backs,” Barnes continues, adding that union jobs helped people afford a home, support their families and save for retirement. “That’s not the case anymore. Seems like the harder you work, the more Washington looks the other way. Lower taxes for billionaires, higher prices for working people.” 

“Under Trump, the name of the game has been distraction and chaos to avoid accountability,” Barnes says.  “It’s not about the real world. It’s a show. Outrage. Performances. Everybody trying to go viral. Meanwhile, families doing everything right are still falling behind.” 

Barnes also announced Tuesday that he plans to kick off his campaign with a tour across the state, with stops in Madison, Milwaukee and Green Bay this week. He said he plans to meet voters to hear about their concerns about rising costs and to share his vision to improve affordability. According to a press release from his campaign, Barnes as governor would seek to expand BadgerCare — Wisconsin’s Medicaid program — and “close tax loopholes for the ultra-rich so we can cut taxes for middle-class families.” 

“It isn’t about left or right. It’s not about who can yell the loudest,” Barnes says in his ad. “It’s about whether people can afford to live in the state they call home. A state where you can afford your health care, where your kids can learn a skill and stay close to home, where a good day’s work earns a good day’s pay and where families can not only get by, but thrive.”

Barnes will need to overcome concerns about his prior statewide loss to U.S. Senator Ron Johnson as he campaigns to win the Democratic nomination.

In the 2022 Senate race, Barnes won the Democratic nomination after the crowded field thinned and when some high-profile Democrats dropped out in the weeks before the primary date. He lost his general election challenge to Johnson, who had been considered one of the most beatable Republican incumbents in the country for Democrats, by a narrow margin. 

Before launching his campaign, Barnes had already faced pushback to his run for governor due to that 2022 loss.

The New York Times reported in October that some Wisconsin Democrats were uneasy about Barnes running statewide in 2026. A few days later the Milwaukee Courier, the city’s longest-running Black-owned newspaper, published an opinion piece urging Barnes not to run, saying the state couldn’t risk another loss. The Courier noted that Barnes ran 50,000 votes behind Gov. Tony Evers in 2022, with Evers winning a second term that year. Barnes lost the Senate race by a little over 26,000 votes.

“We need a candidate who can unite this state — and win. Mandela Barnes already showed us he can’t,” the Milwaukee Courier oped stated.

Barnes is pushing back on that narrative. In his campaign ad, he says he knows how to “bring people together” and “how to get things done.” 

“I’m running for governor because this jacket wasn’t just something my dad wore. It was a promise,” Barnes says. “We show up. We look out for each other.”

Barnes served in the Wisconsin State Assembly for two terms from 2013 to 2017 before he was elected as the state’s first Black lieutenant governor. He won the lieutenant governor nomination in 2018 in a two-person race, going on to win on the same ticket as Evers.

Since losing the Senate race in 2022, Barnes has served as president of Power to the Polls Wisconsin, a community-based organizing project focused on getting people out to vote. According to his campaign, he led a team that helped knock on over a million doors to engage infrequent voters and improve turnout and get people out to vote for Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz and Justice Susan Crawford in their successive winning campaigns. 

The primary election is scheduled for Aug. 11, 2026. The Republican field is less crowded with U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, considered the front runner, and Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann the only announced candidates.

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A Delray Beach, Fla., police officer speaks with a driver in 2019. The Trump administration wants access to state driver’s license data through a computer network used by law enforcement to share records across state lines. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Four Republican states have agreed to help the Trump administration gain access to state driver’s license data through a nationwide law enforcement computer network as part of the administration’s hunt for alleged noncitizen voters.

The Trump administration said as recently as October that federal officials wanted to obtain driver’s license records through the network.

The commitment from officials in Florida, Indiana, Iowa and Ohio comes as part of a settlement agreement filed on Friday in a federal lawsuit. The lawsuit was originally brought by the states last year alleging the Biden administration wasn’t doing enough to help states verify voter eligibility.

The settlement, between the states and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, requires the federal department to continue its development of a powerful citizenship verification program known as SAVE. Earlier this year, federal officials repurposed SAVE into a program capable of scanning millions of state voter records for instances of noncitizen registered voters.

In return, the states have agreed to support Homeland Security’s efforts to access the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, an obscure computer network that typically allows law enforcement agencies to search driver’s license records across state lines. Nlets — as the system is known — lets police officers easily look up the driving records of out-of-state motorists.

The Trump administration and some Republican election officials have promoted the changes to SAVE as a useful tool to identify potential noncitizen voters, and Indiana had already agreed to provide voter records. Critics, including some Democrats, say the Trump administration is building a massive database of U.S. residents that President Donald Trump or a future president could use for spying or targeting political enemies.

Stateline reported last week, before the settlement agreement was filed in court, that Homeland Security publicly confirmed it wants to connect Nlets to SAVE.

A notice published Oct. 31 in the Federal Register said driver’s licenses are the most widely used form of identification, and that by working with states and national agencies, including Nlets, “SAVE will use driver’s license and state identification card numbers to check and confirm identity information.”

A federal official also previously told a virtual meeting of state election officials in May that Homeland Security was seeking “to avoid having to connect to 50 state databases” and wanted a “simpler solution,” such as Nlets, according to government records published by the transparency group American Oversight.

The new settlement lays out the timeline for how the Trump administration could acquire the four states’ records.

Within 90 days of the execution of the agreement, the four states may provide Homeland Security with 1,000 randomly selected driver’s license records from their state for verification as part of a quality improvement process for SAVE.

According to the agreement, the states that provide the records will “make best efforts to support and encourage DHS’s efforts to receive and have full use of state driver’s license records from the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System” and state driver’s license agencies.

The language in the agreement is open-ended and doesn’t make clear whether the pledge to help Homeland Security obtain access to Nlets is limited to drivers from those four states or is intended to require the states to help the agency acquire the records of drivers nationwide.

An agreement to help

The agreement could pave the way for Republican officials in other states to provide access to license data.

Nlets is a nonprofit organization that facilitates data sharing among law enforcement agencies across state lines. States decide what information to make available through Nlets, and which agencies can access it. That means the four states could try to influence peers to share Nlets data with the Trump administration.

“They’re not just talking about driver’s license numbers, they’re talking about the driver’s records. What possible reason would DHS have in an election or voting context — or any context whatsoever — for obtaining the ‘full use of state driver’s license records,’” said David Becker, executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research.

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, a Republican, said in a statement to Stateline that the settlement agreement provides another layer of election integrity and protection as officials seek to ensure only eligible voters are registered. He didn’t directly address questions about Nlets access.

“The SAVE program provides us with critical information, but we must also continue to utilize information from other state and federal partners to maintain clean and accurate lists,” Pate said in the statement.

Two weeks before the Nov. 5, 2024, election, Pate issued guidance to Iowa county auditors to challenge the ballots of 2,176 registered voters who were identified by the secretary of state’s office as potential noncitizens. The voters had reported to the state Department of Transportation or another government entity that they were not U.S. citizens in the past 12 years and went on to register to vote, according to the guidance.

In March, Pate said his office gained access to the SAVE database and found 277 of those people were confirmed to not have U.S. citizenship — just under 12% of the individuals identified as potential noncitizens.

Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Justice didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.

Matthew Tragesser, a spokesperson for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services — the agency under Homeland Security that oversees SAVE — told Stateline last week that USCIS was committed to “eliminating barriers to securing the nation’s electoral process.”

“By allowing states to efficiently verify voter eligibility, we are reinforcing the principle that America’s elections are reserved exclusively for American citizens,” Tragesser said in a statement.

The SAVE program — Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements — was originally intended to help state and local officials verify the immigration status of individual noncitizens seeking government benefits. In the past, SAVE could search only one name at a time. Now it can conduct bulk searches; federal officials in May also connected the program to Social Security data.

“It’s a potentially dangerous mix to put driver’s license and Social Security number and date of birth information out there … where we really don’t know yet how and when and where it’s going to be used,” Minnesota Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon said in an interview on Monday.

Democratic states object

As the Trump administration has encouraged states to use SAVE, the Justice Department has also demanded states provide the department with unredacted copies of their voter rolls. The Trump administration has previously confirmed the Justice Department is sharing voter information with Homeland Security.

The Justice Department has sued six, mostly Democratic, states for refusing to turn over the data. Those lawsuits remain pending.

On Monday, 12 state secretaries of state submitted a 29-page public comment, in response to SAVE’s Federal Register notice, criticizing the overhaul. The secretaries wrote that while Homeland Security claims the changes make the program an effective tool for verifying voters, the modifications are “likely to degrade, not enhance” states’ efforts to ensure free, fair and secure elections.

“What the modified system will do … is allow the federal government to capture sensitive data on hundreds of millions of voters nationwide and distribute that information as it sees fit,” the secretaries wrote.

The secretaries of state of California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington signed on to the comment.

The settlement agreement purports to make this year’s changes to SAVE legally binding.

The agreement asks that a federal court retain jurisdiction over the case for 20 years for the purposes of enforcing it — a move that in theory could make it harder for a future Democratic president to reverse the changes to SAVE.

But Becker, of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, said he doesn’t expect the settlement agreement would make it more difficult for a future administration to undo the overhaul.

“Should a different administration come in that disagrees with this approach,” Becker said, “I would expect that they would almost certainly completely change how the system operates and how the states can access it and what data the federal government procures.”

Iowa Capital Dispatch reporter Robin Opsahl contributed to this report. Stateline reporter Jonathan Shorman can be reached at jshorman@stateline.org.

Arizona Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly speaks with reporters in the Mansfield Room of the U.S. Capitol on Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)   

WASHINGTON — Arizona Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly said Monday the threat of a court-martial for a video he and other senators released telling military members not to follow illegal orders is an effort to silence the president’s political opponents. 

Kelly, a retired Navy captain, was one of six Democratic lawmakers with backgrounds in the military or intelligence agencies who appeared in the video that was posted on social media in mid-November. 

President Donald Trump alleged the lawmakers had committed “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” for telling members of the military and intelligence communities that they “can” and “must refuse illegal orders.”

Kelly said during a press conference that he and his wife, former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, who survived being shot during a town hall in 2011, have experienced a sharp increase in threats in the weeks since Trump reacted negatively to the video. 

“My family knows the cost of political violence. My wife, Gabby, was shot in the head and nearly died while speaking with her constituents,” Kelly said. “The president should understand this too. He has been the target of political violence himself.”

Kelly then listed off other recent instances of political violence, including the killing of Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, the arson at the official home of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk during a rally at Utah Valley University. 

“Every other president we have ever had in the history of this nation would have tried to heal the country,” Kelly said. “But we all know Donald Trump, he uses every single opportunity to divide us, and that’s dangerous.”

The Defense Department has announced officials are looking into recalling Kelly to active duty for a potential court-martial. The FBI has also contacted the House and Senate Sergeant at Arms to request interviews with the six lawmakers in the video. 

Kelly said he and the other Democrats in the video would not be intimidated or silenced by Trump’s comments or the investigations.

“It’s a dangerous moment for the United States of America when the president and his loyalists use every lever of power to silence United States senators for speaking up,” Kelly said. “But we all know that this isn’t about me and it’s not about the others in that video.

“They’re trying to send a message to retired service members, to government employees, the members of the military, to elected officials and to all Americans who are thinking about speaking up — you better keep your mouth shut, or else.”

Video caused stir

The lawmakers’ video reminded servicemembers they’d sworn an oath to the Constitution, something Kelly said shouldn’t have been controversial. 

“No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution. We know this is hard and that it’s a difficult time to be a public servant,” the Democrats said in the video. “But whether you’re serving in the CIA, in the Army, or Navy, or the Air Force, your vigilance is critical.”

Kelly declined to say directly during the press conference if the video was a response to ongoing strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea that Trump and others in the administration have said are shipping illegal substances to the United States. 

“I think it’s good for people to get a reminder. And we wanted to show that we had their back and we understood the situation they were in,” Kelly said. “And we said something that is in the Uniform Code of Military Justice, according to the law of armed combat.”

Investigations opened

The House and Senate Armed Services Committees have each opened investigations into the strikes after The Washington Post reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a verbal order to make sure everyone died during a Sept. 2 strike on one of the boats. 

Kelly said that he has “tremendous confidence” in committee Chairman Roger Wicker of Mississippi and ranking member Jack Reed of Rhode Island. But he repeatedly criticized Hegseth as unqualified, saying he often “runs around on a stage like he’s a 12-year-old playing army.” 

“If there is anyone who needs to answer questions in public and under oath, it is Pete Hegseth,” Kelly said. 

The Armed Services Committee, he said, should have both a public hearing and one for senators in a classified setting to get more details on the strikes on boats off the coast of Venezuela, including whether the Trump administration has a strategy. 

Kelly said if Trump wants to remove Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, then he must make that clear so Congress can have a debate and Americans can have a say in a potential war.

“Regime change as a policy in the United States, generally, in our history, has not worked out well. Think of South Vietnam, think of the Bay of Pigs, Iraq and Afghanistan. It results in the deaths of U.S. service members without the intended outcome,” Kelly said. “And in this case, I don’t even think we know the intended outcome. The president needs to make a case to the American people when he is about to put thousands of American men and women in harm’s way.”

A makeshift memorial of flowers and American flags honoring the late West Virginia National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom stands outside the Farragut West Metro station on Dec. 1, 2025 in Washington, D.C.  (Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has accelerated his drive to curb legal immigration, after a native of Afghanistan who had been granted asylum was accused in a shooting in the nation’s capital that left one member of the West Virginia National Guard dead and another in critical condition.

“In the wake of last week’s atrocity, it is more important than ever to finish carrying out the president’s mass deportation operation,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during Monday’s press briefing. “They must go back to their home countries.”

The Trump administration at the beginning of the president’s second term launched an unprecedented crackdown on all forms of immigration. The deadly shooting on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday, in a commercial area of the District of Columbia just blocks from the White House, has intensified the push.

The Department of Homeland Security in a social media post after the Wednesday attack called for immigrants to “remigrate,” which is a far-right concept in Europe that calls for the ethnic removal of non-white minority populations through mass migration.

“There is more work to be done,” Leavitt said, “because President Trump believes that he has a sacred obligation to reverse the calamity of mass unchecked migration into our country.”

The suspect in the guard shooting is a 29-year-old Afghan national who entered the country during the Biden administration through a special immigrant visa program for Afghan allies after the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from the country in 2021. 

Authorities identified him as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who worked for a CIA counterterrorism operation in Afghanistan, according to the New York Times. He was granted asylum under the Trump administration earlier this year.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia plans to charge Lakanwal with first-degree murder after one of the National Guard soldiers, U.S. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died as a result of her injuries. 

Still hospitalized is U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24. Trump has indicated he intends to honor both Beckstrom and Wolfe at the White House.

District officials said the shooting of guard members was “targeted,” but the motive remains under investigation. 

Pauses on asylum

Leavitt said the Trump administration will continue “to limit migration, both illegal and legal,” after the shooting.

Separately on Wednesday, the administration ended Temporary Protected Status for more than 330,000 nationals from Haiti, opening them up for deportations by February. 

Within hours of Wednesday’s shooting, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services halted all immigration requests from Afghanistan nationals. On Thursday, USCIS head Joseph Edlow announced that by direction of Trump the agency would reexamine every green card application from “every country of concern,” which are the 19 countries on the president’s travel ban list.  

And by Friday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio directed all U.S. embassies to suspend all visa approvals for individuals with passports from Afghanistan. 

Over the weekend, Trump told reporters that those pauses on asylum could last “a long time,” although it’s unclear what authority the executive branch has to suspend a law created by Congress through the 1980 Refugee Act. 

This is not the first time Trump has tried to end asylum this year, as there is a legal challenge to the president barring asylum seekers from making asylum claims at U.S. ports of entry.

Venezuelan boat strikes

During Monday’s press conference, Leavitt also defended the Trump administration’s continued deadly strikes on boats off the coast of Venezuela allegedly containing drugs. The attacks have been occurring since September. 

The president and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have stated, without evidence, that the boats’ operators are narco-terrorists and that the strikes are legal, since they have taken place in international waters. Roughly 80 people have been killed in nearly two dozen attacks since September. 

Leavitt disputed any questions of wrongdoing by the administration during a Sept. 2 strike, when two survivors clinging to boat wreckage were allegedly killed by a follow-on strike, as first reported by The Washington Post Friday.

“President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have made it clear that presidentially designated narco-terrorist groups are subject to lethal targeting in accordance with the laws of war,” Leavitt said, adding that Hegseth authorized a military commander to conduct the operation.

However, the attacks have raised concern among members of Congress, and following the Post story, the U.S. Senate and House Armed Services committees moved to open bipartisan inquiries into the military strikes, with a focus on the alleged follow-on attack that killed two survivors. 

How the National Guard wound up in the district

Trump initially mobilized 800 National Guard troops to the nation’s capital in August after claiming a “crime emergency” in the district, despite a documented three-decade low in crime.

Many were instructed they would be carrying service weapons, The Wall Street Journal reported on Aug. 17. The White House effort was accompanied by a heightened U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence in the district.

The mobilization then became tied up in court for months.

A federal district judge in the District of Columbia found the administration’s deployment of more than 2,000 guard troops in the city illegal but stayed her Nov. 20 decision for three weeks to give the administration time to appeal and remove the guard members from the district’s streets.

The guard troops had been expected to remain in the district through the end of February.

The administration filed an emergency motion in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia for a stay to be issued on the order by Thursday. The administration filed the emergency motion the same day as the attack on the two National Guard members.

Trump ordered an additional 500 guard members to the district following the shooting.

The Joint Task Force District of Columbia has been overseeing guard operations in the district, including units from the district, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and West Virginia.

Sign for the Wisconsin Elections Comission. (Wisconsin Examiner photo)

The Wisconsin Elections Commission voted unanimously Monday to modify its order imposing a number of requirements on the Madison city clerk’s office due to the loss of nearly 200 absentee ballots in the 2024 election. 

In August, the commission ordered the city to make a number of changes to its election practices in an effort to prevent the loss of future ballots. 

The original order requires the city to develop an internal plan delineating which employee is responsible for statutorily required tasks, change the absentee ballot processing system so bags and envelopes aren’t lost, update instructional materials for poll workers and complete a full inspection of all materials before the scheduled board of canvassers meeting after an election. 

In a special meeting on Monday, the commission voted 6-0 to approve a request from newly appointed clerk Clerk Lydia McComas to modify a section of the order about the timing of printing and preparing poll books. 

Under the original order, Madison is required to print its poll books no earlier than the Tuesday before an election and must arrange to receive those books no later than the Friday before the election. 

McComas told the commission in a memo that the city had found a vendor that could print the poll books on the Friday before an election and deliver them by the Sunday before the election. This would allow the final printed poll books to include as many absentee ballots as possible, limiting the number of absentee ballots that are returned after the poll books are printed. 

In her memo, McComas wrote that the modification would allow the city to achieve its “shared goal” with the commission of reducing “the chance of human error.”

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U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testifies before the House Appropriations Committee's Defense Subcommittee on June 10, 2025.  (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate and House Armed Services committees will open bipartisan inquiries into U.S. military strikes on suspected drug-running boats in the Caribbean Sea, with a focus on an alleged follow-on attack that The Washington Post reported killed two survivors of the initial operation.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and ranking member Jack Reed, D-R.I., issued a joint statement Friday promising “vigorous oversight” of the killings.

“The Committee is aware of recent news reports — and the Department of Defense’s initial response — regarding alleged follow-on strikes on suspected narcotics vessels in the SOUTHCOM (Southern Command) area of responsibility. The Committee has directed inquiries to the Department, and we will be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to these circumstances,” Wicker and Reed said.

Similarly, House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers, R-Ala., and ranking member Adam Smith, D-Wash., said in a joint statement Saturday that the panel “is committed to providing rigorous oversight of the Department of Defense’s military operations in the Caribbean.”

“We take seriously the reports of follow-on strikes on boats alleged to be ferrying narcotics in the SOUTHCOM region and are taking bipartisan action to gather a full accounting of the operation in question,” according to the statement.

The inquiries mark a rare bipartisan check on President Donald Trump’s administration since his second term began in January. With the exception of voting to release the federal case files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which Trump eventually endorsed, Republicans have largely left Trump’s decisions and policies unchallenged.

Follow-on attack reported

Lawmakers’ attention was retrained on the already legally questionable U.S. operations targeting alleged narcotics boats after an investigative report published Friday by The Washington Post revealed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth gave verbal orders to kill everyone during a Sept. 2 operation —  the first of several U.S. boat strikes in the Caribbean Sea that have killed roughly 80.

According to the report, two survivors clung to burning wreckage after an initial hit. Adm. Frank M. “Mitch” Bradley, who was commanding the attack from Fort Bragg in North Carolina, ordered a second, or follow-on, strike to fulfill Hegseth’s order and kill the remaining survivors. States Newsroom has not independently confirmed the details.

Hegseth called the report “fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory,” in a post on social media Friday.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., told CBS News’ “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday the follow-on strike could rise “to the level of a war crime if it’s true.”

“If that reporting is true, it’s a clear violation of the DoD’s own laws of war, as well as international laws about the way you treat people who are in that circumstance,” Kaine said.

A working group of former military lawyers issued a statement Friday urging Congress to investigate the Sept. 2 strike.

“Since orders to kill survivors of an attack at sea are ‘patently illegal,’ anyone who issues or follows such orders can and should be prosecuted for war crimes, murder, or both,” according to the statement published by Just Security, a journal focused on national security published by the New York University School of Law Reiss Center on Law and Security.

A bipartisan effort, led by Kaine, to stop Trump’s deadly strikes in the Caribbean narrowly failed in the Senate in early November.

White House confirms second strike

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was met with numerous questions about the Post report at Monday’s press briefing.

A reporter asked Leavitt, “Does the administration deny that that second strike happened, or did it happen and the administration denies that Secretary Hegseth gave the order?”

“The latter is true, and I have a statement to read for you here,” Leavitt said, adding that Trump and Hegseth have authority to conduct lethal attacks on designated narco-terrorist groups.

“With respect to the strikes in question on Sept. 2, Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes,” she said. “Admiral Bradley worked well within his authority and the law directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated.”

Leavitt’s statement was not entirely consistent with Hegseth’s denial on Friday, in which he called the reporting “fabricated.”

Trump echoes Hegseth denial

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday he “wouldn’t have wanted that” when asked about the alleged follow-on strike that killed the two survivors.

“The first strike was very lethal. It was fine, and if there were two people around — but Pete (Hegseth) said that didn’t happen,” Trump told reporters. 

“Pete said he did not order the death of those two men,” Trump continued in a back-and-forth with the press.

Trump also said Saturday he was closing the airspace above Venezuela, but told a reporter who asked Sunday if the move previewed a U.S. airstrike of the country not to “read anything into it.”

“To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY,” he wrote on his own social media platform just before 8 a.m. Eastern Saturday.

Trump confirmed reports he spoke to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro late last month but would not reveal details of the conversation.

The U.S. has been amassing Navy vessels and troops off the coast of Venezuela for months, including the recent addition in mid-November of the Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford.

The shore of Lake Superior near Ashland. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner)

A rule to protect Wisconsin’s cleanest waterways from being harmed was finalized last week over the objections of Republican legislators and allied lobbying groups. 

The rule highlights the ongoing dispute between the Legislature and the administration of Gov. Tony Evers over the level of oversight legislators are allowed to have over the administrative rulemaking process. Earlier this year, the state Supreme Court issued a ruling that curtailed the ability of the Legislature to kill administrative rules. 

The new rule, which was published in the state’s administrative register Nov. 24 and is set to go into effect July 1, is the result of a decade of wrangling. 

In 2015, the U.S. EPA updated the Clean Water Act’s antidegradation regulations — which guide how states are required to protect high quality lakes and rivers from pollution. 

Dozens of creeks, rivers and lakes are classified as outstanding resource waters and exceptional resource waters under Wisconsin’s administrative code and will be protected as “high quality waters” under the new rule. Additionally, a body of water can be considered a high quality water if it has contaminant levels that are better than an established statewide standard. 

“This means that a waterbody can be high quality for one or more parameters, even if it is impaired for a different parameter,” Laura Dietrich, manager of the Department of Natural Resources’ water evaluation section, said in an email. “For example, a waterbody may be impaired for phosphorus, but chloride levels are better than the chloride water quality criterion. The waterbody would be considered high quality for the purposes of considering new or increased discharges of chloride, but would not be high quality for phosphorus.” 

Under the new rule, the DNR will be required to conduct a review before regulated entities are allowed to discharge new or increased levels of contaminants into the water body. Discharges may be allowed if found to be necessary through a “social or economic analysis.”

The rule’s finalization is the end of a process that began in 2023 and has included multiple public hearings and the input of several legislative committees. 

Last month, the Assembly committee on the environment voted 4-2 to request modifications to the rule, but the DNR and the Evers administration moved forward with finalizing the rule anyway. 

That action has angered Republicans who want more say in the process. 

“Representative government has been taken away and we now have rule by king,” Rep. Joy Goeben (R-Hobart) said in a statement. “We don’t want a king and the current path forward is dangerous.”

Lobbying groups have also complained about the rule’s finalization. 

Scott Manley, a lobbyist for Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state’s largest business group, told Wisconsin Public Radio that the rule going into effect is “terrible from a representative government standpoint.” 

Erik Kanter, government relations director with Clean Wisconsin, told the Wisconsin Examiner that he thinks the rule represents the DNR finding a solid compromise between environmental and business concerns and that WMC was involved in the entire process through an advisory committee. 

“DNR engaged the stakeholder group regularly over the 30-month process it took to put the rule together at the DNR, and so WMC, along the way, had all the opportunity, and certainly took the opportunity, to make their thoughts [known] on how to put this rule together,” Kanter said. “It almost feels like it was never going to be enough for WMC.” 

Kanter also said that because the rule aligns the state with the EPA regulations, the state doesn’t have a choice if it wants to retain regulatory authority over its own water. 

“Wisconsin has to do this. We have to update our own rules to comply with federal changes to the Clean Water Act,” he said. “There’s no two ways about it if we want to maintain our delegation authority and have state regulators in charge of administering the Clean Water Act. It’s something we have to do.”

The alternative would be for the federal EPA to administer the act in Wisconsin, he said. 

“I think a lot of folks in the business community wouldn’t want EPA and the federal government breathing down their neck,” Kanter said. “And so this delegated authority situation is, I think, better for everybody.”

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Boxes of the diabetes drug Ozempic rest on a pharmacy counter in Los Angeles. Drugs like Ozempic have grown in popularity to treat obesity, prompting more than a dozen states to pay for them. But with major budget pressures, several state Medicaid agencies are either stopping coverage altogether or restricting who can get access to the therapy. (Photo illustration by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Some states are rethinking their coverage of GLP-1 drugs for weight loss as budgets tighten and Medicaid programs brace for the cuts included in President Donald Trump’s broad tax and spending law.

As of Oct. 1, 16 state Medicaid programs covered GLP-1s for obesity treatment, up from 13 last year, according to a survey of Medicaid directors by KFF, a health policy research group. But some states have announced they will discontinue coverage or restrict who can qualify for it.

Many doctors and patient advocates say the drugs will save money in the long run by reducing obesity-related diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. Many states, however, have concluded they just can’t afford them.

North Carolina Medicaid ended coverage of GLP-1s for obesity last month, citing shortfalls in state funding. California, New Hampshire and South Carolina have said they will end coverage on Jan. 1. Starting next year, Michigan Medicaid will limit coverage to people who are “morbidly obese.” Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin also are considering new restrictions.

In last year’s KFF survey, about half the states said they were interested in covering GLP-1s for weight loss, according to Elizabeth Williams, a senior policy manager at KFF who focuses on Medicaid. This year, most states are moving in the opposite direction.

“This likely reflects recent state budget challenges and the significant, significant costs associated with coverage,” Williams said. “After a number of years of robust revenue growth right after the pandemic, states are starting to see slowing revenues, increasing spending demands and a lot of fiscal uncertainty due in part to recent federal actions.”

In April, the Trump administration scrapped a Biden-era proposal that would have required state Medicaid programs to pay for some GLP-1s for obesity treatment. Earlier this month, Trump announced that his administration had reached agreements with the manufacturers of Wegovy and Zepbound to reduce the prices of the drugs for Medicaid, Medicare and consumers buying the drugs directly, But it’s unclear whether the deals will reduce costs for states.

Health plans for state workers also are reassessing their coverage of the drugs for obesity. North Carolina, for example, ended GLP-1 obesity coverage for state workers last year, and West Virginia canceled a 1,000-person pilot program.

GLP-1 medications, which balance blood sugar levels, have long been prescribed to patients with Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular conditions. All state Medicaid programs, which are funded jointly by the states and the federal government, cover GLP-1s for those uses.

But the drugs also curb hunger signals and can help people lose significant amounts of weight. Medications such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound have become wildly popular for that purpose.

Between 2019 and 2023, the number of outpatient Medicaid prescriptions for select GLP-1s to treat diabetes and obesity grew from 755,300 to 3.8 million, according to KFF. During the same period, Medicaid spending on those drugs increased from $597.3 million to $3.9 billion.

A study published last year in The BMJ, the journal of the British Medical Association, found that the number of patients without diabetes who started GLP-1 treatment in the United States increased from roughly 21,000 in 2019 to 174,000 in 2023, or more than 700%.

More than 2 in 5 U.S. adults have obesity, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC defines obesity as having a body mass index — a calculated measure of body weight relative to height — of 30 or higher. Obesity costs the U.S. health care system almost $173 billion per year, according to the agency.

Recently, the manufacturers of some GLP-1s have lowered their prices, selling them directly to consumers for $500 or less per month. But many patients cannot afford to pay that much out of pocket.

States in a tough financial position

In North Carolina, Dr. Jennifer McCauley, a weight management physician at UNC Health, said Medicaid coverage of GLP-1s was “incredibly helpful for our patients.”

“Now they’ve stopped coverage, so those people are now going back, regaining some of the weight, because they’re unable to obtain these medications, and also are suffering the health consequences of obesity,” McCauley told Stateline.

Some critics of expansive GLP-1 coverage say it isn’t cost effective, because many patients gain back the weight they lost when they stop treatment. But McCauley said the “downstream effects of obesity are even higher.”

“There are definitely vulnerable populations that probably would not be able to obtain weight loss without these medications.”

James Werner, a spokesperson at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, blamed the coverage change on the state legislature’s failure to budget enough money for Medicaid.

In an email to Stateline, Werner said coverage of GLP1s for weight loss “would be reconsidered if Medicaid is fully funded.”

Some states are trying to maintain at least some coverage of the expensive drugs by tightening the eligibility requirements for a prescription, according to Colleen Becker, a project manager at the National Conference of State Legislatures, a policy research group.

“States are really looking at how to balance access and provide that access to patients, but they’re stewards of their budgets, and they need to be good stewards of it,” Becker said.

Michigan and Pennsylvania are among the states considering such options. Meanwhile, Connecticut has decided to maintain coverage of weight-loss drugs for state employees, but to require beneficiaries to try online weight-loss counseling before they can get a prescription.

Some future possibilities

One state, North Dakota, has taken a different approach to GLP-1 coverage after legislation that would have required the state’s Medicaid program to cover the drug failed. Instead, North Dakota this year became the first state to mandate that insurers on the state’s Affordable Care Act marketplace cover the drugs for weight loss.

North Dakota Deputy Insurance Commissioner John Arnold said the insurance department calculated that the mandate wouldn’t cause insurance premiums to rise significantly.

“It’s not that anybody can walk into the doctor’s office and say, ‘Hey, I want to have this covered,’” Arnold said. “It is really for those who have a medical need for the drugs, then it would be covered.”

The insurance department had to ask the legislature for permission to make the change, according to North Dakota Republican House Speaker Robin Weisz. He said insurance carriers were concerned that it was going to be “open season for everybody who could lose 20 or 30 pounds.”

He said it will take time to see whether the policy raises insurance premiums.

“If the carriers can come in a couple years and say, ‘Wow, here’s what we’ve spent on these … we’ll take a hard look at it,” Weisz said. “But, it’s way too early to tell at this point.”

Arnold says other states may have the flexibility to consider mandating ACA insurers to cover the drugs.

“Our biggest concern was reducing those comorbidities and the long-term impact that that has on the cost of insurance in general, because more comorbidities means more claims,” Arnold said, referring to diseases and conditions associated with obesity.

Stateline reporter Shalina Chatlani can be reached at schatlani@stateline.org.

Children are pictured at an Autism Speaks Light it Up Blue Autism Awareness Celebration at Chicago Children's Museum in April 2017. State Medicaid agencies are struggling to pay for applied behavior analysis, an intensive therapy for children with autism. (Photo by Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for Autism Speaks)

State Medicaid agencies are struggling to pay for an intensive therapy for children with autism — and looming federal Medicaid cuts are likely to make the problem worse.

Parents of children and young adults who receive applied behavior analysis, or ABA, worry states’ cost-saving measures will make it harder for them to get vital services. About 5% of children ages 3 to 17 on public insurance have autism spectrum disorder, compared with 2% who have private insurance, according to a CDC survey.

Many families and autism therapists say ABA can help improve communication and social skills, sharpen memory and focus, and replace challenging behaviors with positive ones. ABA therapy can range from 10 to 40 hours per week in different settings, including home and school. That makes it expensive.

In 2014, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services mandated that all state Medicaid programs cover comprehensive autism services for children. It did not explicitly require coverage of ABA, but by 2022, every state Medicaid program covered ABA.

In addition, more kids are getting diagnosed with autism as screenings increase. As a result, state spending on the service has skyrocketed. In Indiana, for example, Medicaid spending on ABA therapy grew from $21 million in 2017 to $611 million in 2023. The sharp increase has prompted Indiana, and other states, to take steps to control costs.

Meanwhile, federal auditors have begun examining states’ coverage of ABA services to ferret out fraud and abuse.

Mariel Fernandez, vice president of government affairs at the Council of Autism Service Providers, a nonprofit trade association, acknowledged that states are facing difficult choices.

“For such a costly and intensive service, the states need to explore how to best reimburse this benefit so that it’s sustainable and promotes quality,” said Fernandez, who is also a board-certified behavioral analyst. “Is [the rate] going to bankrupt Medicaid? Is it going to ensure that people are actually receiving the service?”

The Medicaid changes included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that President Donald Trump signed in July will increase the pressure: The law includes more than $900 billion in federal spending cuts over the next decade. Medicaid is funded jointly by the federal government and the states.

Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has described autism as a rapidly growing “epidemic” in the U.S. and has made it a major focus of his tenure. Kennedy has promoted the debunked theory that there’s a link between childhood vaccines and autism.

Curbing costs

Several states this year have considered curbing ABA costs by capping therapy hours, tightening provider enrollment rules, reducing reimbursement rates or changing patient eligibility rules. A bill in New York, for example, would establish a 680-hour annual cap on ABA services.

But nowhere has the issue been more prominent than in Indiana, where Medicaid has covered ABA therapy since 2016.

Governor’s group recommends ABA usage cap, rate changes as Medicaid costs rise

Historically, Indiana Medicaid has reimbursed ABA providers for most services at a rate of 40%, regardless of what they charged.

That “created some very strange incentives for a small portion of the provider network,” said Jason McManus, president of Indiana Providers of Effective Autism Treatment (InPEAT), which represents smaller ABA providers in Indiana and larger providers that operate in Indiana and elsewhere. “You had folks who were charging exorbitant amounts for the service.”

Beginning in 2024, Indiana lowered its reimbursement rate to about $68 per hour — and received plenty of pushback.

“That did have an impact on the provider community,” McManus said. “You had a lot of folks, smaller shops, who ended up closing their doors or consolidating with other organizations. So that was disruptive.”

And that year, the HHS inspector general issued a report which found that Indiana’s Medicaid program made at least $56 million in “improper” payments to ABA therapy providers in 2019 and 2020.

The state’s rapidly rising ABA costs and the federal audit prompted Republican Gov. Mike Braun to issue an executive order earlier this year creating a working group to examine ways to cut costs without compromising quality.

The group crafted recommendations to correct the problems identified in the federal audit and put ABA coverage on a financially sustainable path. Without changes in the state’s reimbursement policies, the group concluded, Indiana’s Medicaid spending on ABA therapy would reach a projected $825 million by 2029.

This month, Braun unveiled the group’s recommendations, which include the creation of a new ABA office to increase oversight and lower reimbursement rates, which the state has not yet detailed.

ABA allows people with autism “to obtain the highest level of independence that’s possible for them,” said McManus, who served on the working group.

“But from a state perspective, I can see how, if you’re purely just looking at the cost, you would say, ‘Wow, this is a cost that has grown over time, and if absent all other contexts, this is something we need to pay attention to, because it’s unsustainable.’”

Nebraska rate cut

In Nebraska, state officials also have been looking for ways to control spiraling ABA costs: Last year, Nebraska Medicaid paid out more than $85 million for ABA therapy, a surge from $4.6 million in 2020.

In July, the state announced that it would cut its Medicaid reimbursement rates for ABA, including a 48% cut to reimbursement for direct therapy provided by a behavior technician. That brought the rate to $74.80 per hour, down from about $144 per hour. Rates for therapy by physicians or other board-certified professionals also were reduced by about 37%.

Many providers saw the cuts coming, as the state has had the highest hourly reimbursement rate in the nation.

“It would be fiscally irresponsible of the state to maintain that,” said Leila Allen, vice president of external affairs at Lighthouse Autism Center, which has ABA therapy centers in Nebraska as well as in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and North Carolina.

Sam Wallach, president of Attain, an ABA therapy provider that operates in Nebraska and a dozen other states and Washington, D.C., said the service is “life-changing for children and families.” He views the ABA reduction as a “correction” that will make it feasible for Nebraska Medicaid to continue to cover it.

“The previous rates were well above what most Medicaid programs pay nationally, and while that created short-term benefits, it wasn’t realistic or sustainable,” Wallach said.

But some providers are taking issue with the way Nebraska went about those cuts.

For example, the state provided only 30 days’ notice before making the change. “There were providers that within 30 days had to tell their staff, ‘We’re so sorry. We have to cut your salary by ‘x’ percent in 30 days,’” Allen said.

Nebraska also didn’t examine how much it costs to provide ABA in the state, she said. The new rate is closer to what neighboring states, such as Iowa, pay. But therapists are few and far between in sparsely populated Nebraska, and families there often have to travel long distances to reach ABA providers.

“There was no cost survey to determine what the cost should be,” said Allen. “They didn’t take into account that you do have to pay people a little bit more to be able to work as behavior analysts in Nebraska.”

Finding ABA therapists in Nebraska is particularly difficult for families with older kids. Angela Gleason, executive secretary on the board of autism advocacy organization Arc of Nebraska, has a 13-year-old son with autism. She said many companies only serve very young children, up to age 6.

“So for families like mine, it’s then hard to even find a company that will serve his age and will provide that kind of support,” she said. To be able to afford therapy, her son Teddy has Medicaid coverage as his secondary insurance. ABA therapy helps him with socializing and speaking with his speech delay.

“He needs a lot more help throughout his day than a normal 13-year-old without autism might need,” Gleason said.

North Carolina court case

In North Carolina, the cost of covering autism services, including ABA, will total an estimated $639 million in fiscal 2026, up 425% from 2022, according to the state’s Medicaid agency. About five autism providers made up roughly 41% of the state’s increase in spending in fiscal year 2023-2024, according to the state.

Effective on Oct. 1, North Carolina Medicaid cut reimbursement rates for all kinds of health care services, arguing that state legislators had not budgeted enough money to keep up with rising costs. The reductions, which ranged from 3% to 10%, included a 10% cut to the reimbursement rate for autism services, including ABA therapy.

But the families of 21 children immediately sued the state Department of Health and Human Services to halt the move, arguing that it was discriminatory because it targeted children with disabilities.

Earlier this month, the families won a preliminary injunction temporarily halting the rate cut.

But families across the state are on edge as children with autism often see multiple providers — psychologists and speech language pathologists, for example — whose rate cuts were not paused, according to Allen, of Lighthouse Autism Center.

David Laxton, director of communications for the Autism Society of North Carolina, which is also a provider, said many providers won’t be able to absorb the rate reductions and continue operating.

“At some point, the math is not going to math,” Laxton said.

“It’s very stressful for families, because right now, there’s not an end in sight,” Laxton said. “There’s agreement that this [service] is very important, but there’s not been action to bring an end to the cuts.”

Stateline reporter Nada Hassanein can be reached at nhassanein@stateline.org.

In early November, the South Carolina Department of Public Health opened a pop-up mobile vaccine clinic in a library parking lot in Boiling Springs. Dozens of people in South Carolina’s Upstate region have been diagnosed with measles this fall. (Photo by Lauren Sausser/KFF Health News)

This article first appeared on KFF Health News.

BOILING SPRINGS, S.C. — Near the back corner of the local library’s parking lot, largely out of view from the main road, the South Carolina Department of Public Health opened a pop-up clinic in early November, offering free measles vaccines to adults and children.

Spartanburg County, in South Carolina’s Upstate region, has been fighting a measles outbreak since early October, with more than 50 cases identified. Health officials have encouraged people who are unvaccinated to get a shot by visiting its mobile vaccine clinic at any of its several stops throughout the county.

But on a Monday afternoon in Boiling Springs, only one person showed up.

“It’s progress. That progress is slow,” Linda Bell, the state epidemiologist with the Department of Public Health, said during a recent press briefing. “We had hoped to see a more robust uptake than that in our mobile health units.”

As South Carolina tries to contain its measles outbreak, public health officials across the nation are concerned that the highly contagious virus is making a major comeback. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has tallied more than 1,700 measles cases and 45 outbreaks in 2025. The largest started in Texas, where hundreds of people were infected and two children died.

For the first time in more than two decades, the United States is poised to lose its measles elimination status, a designation indicating that outbreaks are rare and rapidly contained.

South Carolina’s measles outbreak isn’t yet as large as those in other states, such as New Mexico, Arizona and Kansas. But it shows how a confluence of larger national trends — including historically low vaccination rates, skepticism fueled by the pandemic, misinformation and “health freedom” ideologies promoted by conservative politicians — have put some communities at risk for the reemergence of a preventable, potentially deadly virus.

“Everyone talks about it being the canary in the coal mine because it’s the most contagious infectious disease out there,” said Josh Michaud, associate director for global and public health policy at KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News. “The logic is indisputable that we’re likely to see more outbreaks.”

Schools and ‘small brush fires’

Spartanburg’s vaccination rate is among the lowest of South Carolina’s 46 counties. And that was true “even before COVID,” said Chris Lombardozzi, a senior vice president with the Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System.

Nearly 6,000 children in Spartanburg County schools last year — 10% of the total enrollment — either received an exemption allowing them to forgo required vaccinations or did not meet vaccine requirements, according to data published by the state.

Lombardozzi said the county’s low vaccination rate is tied to misinformation not only published on social media but also spread by “a variety of nonmedical leaders over the years.”

The pandemic made things worse. Michaud said that fear and misinformation surrounding COVID-19 vaccines “threw gasoline on the fire of people’s vaccine skepticism.” In some cases, that skepticism transferred to childhood vaccines, which historically have been less controversial, he said.

This made communities like Spartanburg County with low vaccination rates more vulnerable. “Which is why we’re seeing constant, small brush fires of measles outbreaks,” Michaud said.

In Spartanburg, the overall percentage of students with required immunizations fell from 95.1% to 90% between the 2020-21 and 2024-25 academic years. Public health officials say a minimum of 95% is required to prevent significant spread of measles.

Children who attend public and private schools in South Carolina are required to show that they’ve received some vaccinations, including the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, but religious exemptions are relatively easy to obtain. The exemption form must be notarized, but it does not require a doctor’s note or any disclosure about the family’s religious beliefs.

The number of students in South Carolina who have been granted religious exemptions has increased dramatically over the past decade. That’s particularly true in the Upstate region, where religious exemptions have increased sixfold from a decade ago. During the 2013-14 school year, 2,044 students in the Upstate were granted a religious exemption to the vaccine requirements, according to data published by The Post and Courier. By fall 2024, that number had jumped to more than 13,000.

Some schools are more exposed than others. The beginning of the South Carolina outbreak was largely linked to one public charter school, Global Academy of South Carolina, where only 17% of the 605 students enrolled during the 2024-25 school year provided documentation showing they had received their required vaccinations, according to data published by the Department of Public Health.

No one from Global Academy responded to interview requests.

‘Health freedom’

In April, after visiting a Texas family whose daughter had died from measles, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote on social media that the “most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine.” He made a similar statement during an interview on “Dr. Phil” later that month.

But these endorsements stand at odds with other statements Kennedy has made that cast doubt on vaccine safety and have falsely linked vaccines with autism. The CDC, under his authority, now claims such links “have been ignored by health authorities.”

“What would I do if I could go back in time and I could avoid giving my children the vaccines that I gave them?” he said on a podcast in 2020. “I would do anything for that. I would pay anything to be able to do that.”

Throughout 2025, he has made other misleading or unsupported statements. During a congressional hearing in September, Kennedy defended his past claims that he was not anti-vaccine but affirmed his stated position that no vaccines are safe or effective.

Emily Hilliard, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, told KFF Health News that Kennedy is “pro-safety, pro-transparency and pro-accountability.” Hilliard said HHS is working with “state and local partners in South Carolina” and in other states to provide support during the measles outbreaks.

Meanwhile, Kennedy has frequently championed the idea of health freedom, or freedom of choice, regarding vaccines, a talking point that has taken root among Republicans.

That has had a “chilling effect all the way down through state and local lawmakers,” Michaud said, making some leaders hesitant to talk about the threat that the ongoing measles outbreaks poses or the effectiveness and safety of the MMR vaccine.

Brandon Charochak, a spokesperson for South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, said the governor was not available to be interviewed for this article but referenced McMaster’s comment from October that measles “is a dangerous disease, but in terms of diseases, it’s not one that we should panic about.”

On a separate occasion that month, the Republican governor said he does not support vaccine mandates. “We’re not going to have mandates,” he said, “and I think we are responding properly.”

Even though the South Carolina Department of Public Health has repeatedly encouraged measles vaccines, the push has been notably quieter than the agency’s COVID-19 vaccine outreach efforts.

In 2021, for example, the agency partnered with breweries throughout the state for a campaign called “Shot and a Chaser,” which rewarded people who got a COVID-19 vaccine with a free beer or soda. By contrast, the pop-up measles vaccine clinic at the Boiling Springs Library featured no flashy signage, no freebies, and wasn’t visible from the library’s main entrance.

Edward Simmer, interim director of the Department of Public Health, would not speak to KFF Health News about the measles outbreak. During a legislative hearing in April, Republican state lawmakers voted against his permanent confirmation because of his past support for COVID-19 vaccines and masking. One lawmaker specifically criticized the agency during that hearing for the Shot and a Chaser campaign.

Public health officials in other states also have been blocked from new roles because of their COVID-19 response. In Missouri, where MMR vaccine rates have declined among kindergartners since 2020 and measles cases have been reported this year, Republican lawmakers rejected a public health director in 2022 after vaccine opponents protested his appointment.

In South Carolina, Simmer, lacking lawmakers’ confirmation, leads the public health agency in an interim capacity.

South Carolina Sen. Tom Davis of Beaufort was the only Republican on the Senate Medical Affairs Committee who voted to confirm Simmer in April. He told KFF Health News that his Republican colleagues raised valid questions about Simmer’s past support for COVID-19 vaccines.

But, Davis said, it would be “tremendously unfortunate and not beneficial from a public health perspective” if the Republican Party just took a stance against vaccines “as a matter of policy.”

The Department of Public Health had administered 44 doses of the MMR vaccine through its mobile health unit from October to mid-November. The last mobile vaccine clinic was scheduled for Nov. 24. But health officials are encouraged that patients are seeking vaccines elsewhere. The agency’s tracking system shows that providers across Spartanburg County administered more than twice as many measles vaccines in October as they did a year ago.

As of mid-November, more than 130 people remained in quarantine, most of them students at local elementary and middle schools. Cases have also been linked to a church and Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport.

“We’re reminding people that travel for the upcoming holidays increases the risk of exposures greatly,” said Bell, the state epidemiologist. “Due to that risk, we’re encouraging people to consider getting vaccinated now.”

KFF Health News correspondent Amy Maxmen contributed to this report. KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — an independent source of health policy research, polling and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

President Donald Trump speaks during an executive order signing in the Oval Office on Feb. 11, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

President Donald Trump said Friday he will try to reverse any law, pardon or still-in-effect executive order that former President Joe Biden signed with an autopen, though it wasn’t immediately clear how that would work or whether it would be legal. 

Trump declared in a social media post that any documents Biden signed with the autopen are “hereby terminated, and of no further force or effect.”

“I am hereby cancelling all Executive Orders, and anything else that was not directly signed by Crooked Joe Biden, because the people who operated the Autopen did so illegally,” Trump alleged. “Joe Biden was not involved in the Autopen process and, if he says he was, he will be brought up on charges of perjury. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

The White House press office didn’t immediately respond to a request for the list of documents Trump believes he has the ability to rescind based on the manner they were signed.

States Newsroom also asked the Trump administration if officials believe the president would need to sign an executive order in order to implement his social media post. 

Experts dismissed earlier autopen challenge 

The post was similar to one Trump published in March when he claimed any pardons Biden signed with the autopen were void, something legal experts said at the time was “absurd” and a “red herring.”

Trump brought up his frustration with autopen use again in June when he ordered the White House legal counsel and U.S. attorney general to investigate when and why Biden administration staff used an autopen. 

Trump said during an Oval Office appearance at the time he hadn’t found any evidence Biden aides violated the law.

“No, but I’ve uncovered the human mind,” Trump said. “I was in a debate with the human mind and I didn’t think he knew what the hell he was doing. So it’s one of those things, one of those problems. We can’t ever allow that to happen to our country.”

Biden and spokespeople working for him have repeatedly said he knew what official documents were being signed in his name and rejected claims that White House staff used the autopen without his authorization or knowledge. 

Biden released a statement in June following the Trump memorandum, saying the investigation “is nothing more than a distraction by Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans who are working to push disastrous legislation that would cut essential programs like Medicaid and raise costs on American families, all to pay for tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and big corporations.”

“Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations,” Biden wrote at the time. “Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.”

While presidents have regularly rescinded their predecessors executive orders, usually within their first few days or weeks in office, Congress would very likely need to act in order to alter or eliminate any laws that Biden signed with an autopen. Trump seeking to overturn a law, or part of a law, unilaterally would likely lead to a lawsuit over whether he holds that power. 

Trump doesn’t cite legal authority

It also wasn’t immediately clear what legal authority Trump believes he has as president to undo pardons if Biden used an autopen to sign the documents. 

David Super, a constitutional and administrative law professor at Georgetown University, told States Newsroom in March that “the Constitution does not require signatures for pardons. It simply says the president has the power to pardon.”

“So if President Biden wanted to simply verbally tell someone they’re pardoned, he could do that. It wouldn’t have to be in writing at all,” he said. “Administratively, of course, we want things in writing. It makes things a lot simpler, but there’s no constitutional requirement.”

Ashley Murray contributed to this report. 

A small memorial of flowers and an American flag outside the Farragut West Metro station in Washington, D.C., near where two members of the West Virginia National Guard were shot on Nov. 26. (Photo by Andrew Leyden/Getty Images)

The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia announced Friday it has charged the man who allegedly shot two National Guard members earlier this week with first-degree murder after one of the soldiers died as a result of her injuries. 

Other charges include three counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence and two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed. 

The attack shocked the country and has led to a renewed discussion about immigration policy as well as the war in Afghanistan and how the country withdrew during the Biden administration. 

President Donald Trump announced late Thursday night he intends to “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries,” though he didn’t specify which countries would be included or exactly how such an order would be implemented. 

Trump wrote on social media he plans to “remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States, or is incapable of loving our Country, end all Federal benefits and subsidies to noncitizens of our Country, denaturalize migrants who undermine domestic tranquility, and deport any Foreign National who is a public charge, security risk, or non-compatible with Western Civilization.”

The post came just hours after U.S. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from injuries she sustained during a Wednesday shooting a couple of blocks from the White House. The other victim, U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, remained hospitalized in critical condition. Both were West Virginia National Guard members.

The alleged shooter, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, an Afghan national who worked with United States forces, entered the country on Sept. 8, 2021, as part of Operation Allies Welcome, according to a statement from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

No details of immigration proposals

The White House press office declined to say Friday which countries would have their residents barred from entering the United States under the new order, referring back to the president’s social media posts, which did not include a list.

“Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation,” Trump wrote. “Other than that, HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL, except those that hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that America stands for — You won’t be here for long!”

Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a Thursday afternoon statement the administration would pause immigration applications for Afghan nationals.

“Effective immediately, processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals is stopped indefinitely pending further review of security and vetting protocols,” she wrote. 

The Trump administration will also review “all asylum cases approved under the Biden Administration,” McLaughlin said, saying those cases required more vetting. 

Biden Afghanistan policy blamed

In a separate post, Trump blamed former President Joe Biden for allowing the alleged shooter into the country. 

McLaughlin echoed that sentiment.

Lakanwal “was paroled in by the Biden Administration. After that, Biden signed into law that parole program, and then entered into the 2023 Ahmed Court Settlement, which bound (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) to adjudicate his asylum claim on an expedited basis. Regardless if his asylum was granted or not, this monster would not have been removed because of his parole.” 

The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, following two decades of war that began as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, has been widely criticized.

Many of the Afghan nationals who aided the United States and allied countries were left behind as the Taliban quickly regained control. 

The nonprofit #AfghanEvac, formed in August 2021 to help resettle Afghan refugees, criticized the administration’s proposal to indefinitely halt the processing of immigration requests from Afghans.  

“Our allies are under attack today because of the actions of one deranged man. Those actions should not be ascribed to an entire community,” the organization posted on social media late Thursday.

In a lengthier statement issued Wednesday following the shooting of two National Guard members, the organization’s president, Shawn VanDiver, said #AfghanEvac “expects and fully supports the perpetrator facing full accountability and prosecution under the law.”

VanDiver continued: “AfghanEvac rejects any attempt to leverage this tragedy as a political ploy to isolate or harm Afghans who have resettled in the United States.”

Motive unknown

Lakanwal had been residing in Washington state and drove across the country before the shooting, according to Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

Officials investigating the shooting have yet to release a possible motive.

Lakanwal was granted asylum in the U.S. in April, according to reporting by many media outlets, including NPR.

The Department of Homeland Security did not confirm for States Newsroom the date Lakanwal was granted asylum.