U.S. Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks to members of the press at the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 20, 2024 in Washington, D.C.  (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — Congress finally approved a stopgap spending bill early Saturday that will keep the government open for a few more months, after a raucous 48 hours that served as a preview of what President-elect Donald Trump’s second term in office might look like.

The short-term spending package, the third version of a bill to be released this week, will give lawmakers until mid-March to negotiate agreement on the dozen full-year government funding measures and provide about $100 billion in natural disaster assistance. 

Although it technically was passed by the Senate after the midnight deadline for a shutdown, deputy White House press secretary Emilie Simons said on X that agencies would continue normal operations. 

The House passed the bill Friday evening following a 366-34 vote with one Democrat voting “present.” The Senate voted 85-11 shortly after midnight Saturday. President Joe Biden signed the bill Saturday morning. 

The legislation did not include any language either raising or suspending the debt limit, rejecting a demand by Trump that it be addressed. Congress and Trump will have to deal with that next year when they control the House, Senate and the White House.

The 118-page bill will extend programs in the five-year farm bill through September, giving the House and Senate more time to broker a deal, even though they are already more than a year late.

The package would not block members of Congress from their first cost-of-living salary adjustment since January 2009, boosting lawmakers’ pay next year from $174,000 to a maximum of $180,600.

It does not include a provision considered earlier this week that would have allowed the year-round sale of E15 blended gasoline nationwide in what would have been a win for corn growers and biofuels.

The White House announced during the House vote that Biden supports the legislation.

“While it does not include everything we sought, it includes disaster relief that the President requested for the communities recovering from the storm, eliminates the accelerated pathway to a tax cut for billionaires, and would ensure that the government can continue to operate at full capacity,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre wrote. “President Biden supports moving this legislation forward and ensuring that the vital services the government provides for hardworking Americans – from issuing Social Security checks to processing benefits for veterans — can continue as well as to grant assistance for communities that were impacted by devastating hurricanes.”

Appropriators at odds

House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., urged support for the bill during floor debate, saying it would avoid a partial government shutdown, provide disaster aid and send economic assistance to farmers.

“Governing by continuing resolution is never ideal, but Congress has a responsibility to keep the government open and operating for the American people,” Cole said. “The alternative, a government shutdown, would be devastating to our national defense and for our constituents and would be a grave mistake.”

Connecticut Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro, ranking member on the Appropriations Committee, spoke against the bill and criticized GOP negotiators from walking away from the original, bipartisan version released Tuesday.

She rejected billionaire Elon Musk, a close Trump ally, seemingly calling the shots as if he were an elected lawmaker, though she ultimately voted for passage. 

“The United States Congress has been thrown into pandemonium,” DeLauro said. “It leads you to the question of who is in charge?”

Trump, Musk objections

Democrats and Republicans reached an agreement earlier this week to fund the government, provide disaster aid, extend the agriculture and nutrition programs in the farm bill, extend various health care programs and complete dozens of other items. But Trump intervened, preventing House GOP leaders from putting that bill on the floor for an up-or-down vote. 

Trump and Musk were unsupportive of some of the extraneous provisions in the original bill and Trump began pressing for lawmakers to address the debt limit now rather than during his second term.

House Republicans tried to pass their first GOP-only stopgap bill on Thursday night, but failed following a 174-235 vote, with 38 GOP lawmakers voting against the bill. That bill included a two-year debt limit suspension, but that was dropped from the version passed Friday. 

Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said Friday before the vote that the GOP was united on its plan forward.

“We have a unified Republican Conference. There is a unanimous agreement in the room that we need to move forward,” Johnson said following a 90-minute closed-door meeting. “I expect that we will be proceeding forward. We will not have a government shutdown. And we will meet our obligations for our farmers, for the disaster victims all over the country, and for marking sure the military and essential services and everyone who relies on the federal government for a paycheck is paid over the holidays.”

A total of 34 House Republicans voted against the bill. No House Democrats voted against passage.

No shutdown, for now

The House and Senate not agreeing on some sort of stopgap spending bill before the Friday midnight deadline would have led to a funding lapse that would likely have led to a partial government shutdown just as the holidays begin.

During a shutdown, essential government functions that cover the protection of life and property continue, though no federal workers would have received their paychecks until after the shutdown ends. That loss of income would have extended to U.S. troops as well.

“If there is going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now, under the Biden Administration, not after January 20th, under “TRUMP,” the president-elect posted on social media Friday morning. “This is a Biden problem to solve, but if Republicans can help solve it, they will!”

In a separate post that went up just after 1 a.m. Eastern, Trump doubled down on his insistence that any short-term spending bill suspend the debt limit for another four years or eliminate the borrowing ceiling entirely.

“Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling,” Trump wrote. “Without this, we should never make a deal. Remember, the pressure is on whoever is President.”

Ford and South Korean battery manufacturer SK On are getting a huge $9.63 billion loan from the U.S. Department of Energy to build three battery manufacturing plants in Tennessee and Kentucky for electric vehicles.

In June 2023, it was initially revealed Ford and SK On would be getting a $9.2 billion loan to help with the construction of three factories. It’s unclear why the loan amount has increased, but it is the largest loan provided by the US government’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program. This program aims to help American firms catch up with industry-leading Chinese battery makers.

Read: Rivian’s Georgia Plant Gets A $6.6 Billion Lifeline Thanks To Taxpayers

The money will be provided to Blue Oval SK, a joint venture operated by the two companies. They’ve already invested over $11 billion in the construction of the three plants. Production at the first of the two plants in Kentucky is scheduled to start in early 2025, while the Tennessee site will be ready to start manufacturing in late 2025.

When all three sites are up and running, they’ll be capable of producing 120 GWh of EV batteries annually.

Speaking with Reuters, Blue Oval SK said it took 18 months for the Department of Energy to complete the loan process due to the time needed to conduct due diligence, including market, credit, financial, legal, and regulatory reviews.

This isn’t the only significant EV loan announced in recent weeks; just before Donald Trump returns to the presidency, the DOE announced a conditional commitment to loan $7.54 billion to the joint venture operated by FCA US and Samsung SDI to establish two lithium-ion battery cell and module manufacturing plants in Kokomo, Indiana. Rivian also recently received approval for a $6.57 billion loan from the DOE, although that loan has come under the microscope of Vivek Ramaswamy, who will lead the new Department of Government Efficiency alongside Elon Musk.

President Joe Biden on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024, commuted the sentences of roughly 1,500 people and granted pardons for 39 individuals with convictions for nonviolent crimes. (Photo by Caspar Benson/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden Thursday commuted the sentences of roughly 1,500 people who were placed in home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic, and granted pardons for 39 individuals with convictions for nonviolent crimes.

“America was built on the promise of possibility and second chances,” Biden said in a statement. He noted many of the 1,500 were serving long sentences that would be shorter under current laws, policies and practices.

As the Biden administration winds down, it’s the largest single-day grant of clemency in modern day history.

The president added that his administration will continue to review clemency petitions before his term ends on Jan. 20. There are more than 9,400 petitions for clemency that were submitted to the White House, according to recent Department of Justice clemency statistics. 

“As President, I have the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and taking steps to remove sentencing disparities for non-violent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offenses,” Biden said.

Those 39 people who received pardons included 67-year-old Michael Gary Pelletier of Augusta, Maine, who pleaded guilty to a nonviolent offense, according to the White House, which provided brief biographies of the pardoned individuals.

After his conviction, Pelletier worked for 20 years at a water treatment facility and volunteered for the HAZMAT team, assisting in hazardous spills and natural disasters. He now grows vegetables for a local soup kitchen and volunteers to support wounded veterans.

Another pardon was granted to Nina Simona Allen of Harvest, Alabama.

Allen, 49, was convicted of a nonviolent offense in her 20s, the White House said. After her conviction, she earned a post-baccalaureate degree and two master’s degrees and now works in the field of education. Additionally, she volunteers at a local soup kitchen and nursing home.

Hunter Biden pardon

The clemency action came after the president gave a full pardon for his son, Hunter Biden, on gun and tax charges and any other offenses, from 2014 until December. The president previously stated he would not pardon his son, but changed his mind because he said his son was constantly targeted by Republicans.

Other clemency actions Biden has taken include commuting sentences of those serving sentences for simple possession and use of marijuana under federal and District of Columbia law and a pardon of former U.S. service members who were convicted under military law of having consensual sex with same-sex partners — a law that is now repealed.  

Additionally, advocates and Democrats have pressed Biden to exert his clemency powers on behalf of the 40 men on federal death row before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House. Democrats have pushed for this because Trump expedited 13 executions of people on federal death row in the last six months of his first term.

The co-executive directors of Popular Democracy in Action, a progressive advocacy group, Analilia Mejia and DaMareo Cooper, said in a joint statement that Biden should “not stop now.” 

“Thousands more of our people who have been wronged by an unjust system are still waiting for freedom and compassion,” they said.

Those with nonviolent offenses who were pardoned by the president, according to the White House:

Alabama

Nina Simona Allen

California

Gregory S. Ekman

Colorado

Johnnie Earl Williams

Connecticut

Sherranda Janell Harris

Delaware

Patrice Chante Sellers 

District of Columbia

Norman O’Neal Brown

Florida

Jose Antonio Rodriguez

Illinois

Diana Bazan Villanueva 

Indiana

Emily Good Nelson

Kentucky

Edwin Allen Jones

Louisiana

Trynitha Fulton

Maine

Michael Gary Pelletier

Maryland

Arthur Lawrence Byrd

Minnesota

Kelsie Lynn Becklin

Sarah Jean Carlson

Lashawn Marrvinia Walker 

Nevada

Lora Nicole Wood 

New Mexico

Paul John Garcia

New York

Kimberly Jo Warner 

Ohio

Duran Arthur Brown

Kim Douglas Haman

Jamal Lee King

James Russell Stidd

Oklahoma

Shannan Rae Faulkner

Oregon

Gary Michael Robinson

South Carolina

Denita Nicole Parker

Shawnte Dorothea Williams

Tennessee

James Edgar Yarbrough

Texas

Nathaniel David Reed III 

Mireya Aimee Walmsley

Lashundra Tenneal Wilson

Utah

Stevoni Wells Doyle

Virginia

Brandon Sergio Castroflay

Washington

Rosetta Jean Davis

Terence Anthony Jackson

Russell Thomas Portner

Wisconsin

Jerry Donald Manning

Audrey Diane Simone

Wyoming

Honi Lori Moore

The electrification of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) fleet is in the crosshairs as Donald Trump prepares to return to the Oval Office next month. Reports suggest the incoming administration may be eyeing the cancellation of multi-billion-dollar EV contracts, potentially derailing years of progress toward modernizing and decarbonizing the USPS’s aging delivery trucks.

According to a Reuters report citing unnamed sources, Trump’s transition team is exploring ways to rollback key postal EV initiatives, including contracts with Ford and Oshkosh. A plan could be announced shortly after Trump becomes President, and if he does try to end the roll-out of electric delivery trucks, it could be one of many moves made to unwind decarbonization efforts initiated by the current Biden administration.

Read: Ford, GM, Stellantis, Toyota Beg Trump Not To Axe EV Tax Credits

In early 2021, Oshkosh secured a contract to supply USPS with its next-generation delivery vehicles, with initial targets of assembling between 50,000 to 165,000 EVs over the course of 10 years. In 2023, Congress provided USPS with $3 billion to go towards the purchase of 66,000 EVs, approximately 45,000 of which are now expected to come from Oshkosh, while the others will come from established brands, including Ford.

Unwinding EV Investments Won’t Be Easy

Reuters notes that severing the contracts USPS has signed with Oshkosh and Ford could be challenging, as it’s an autonomous federal agency with a governing body. In a statement, Oshkosh said it’s “fully committed to our strong partnership with the USPS and looks forward to continuing to provide our postal carriers with reliable, safe, and sustainable modern delivery vehicles, even as USPS’ needs continue to evolve.”

Analysts from investment banking firm Jefferies believe that the Trump administration won’t completely cancel the contracts, but could push for fewer EVs and more ICE-powered vehicles to be included. “Given the need for the replacement of aging equipment, we are confident that the USPS will be receiving new vehicles in 2025. The mix of that order could potentially change to appease an administration that is more hostile to (EVs),” the analysts wrote.

The USPS electrification plan isn’t just about trucks as it also involves deploying 14,000 EV chargers across the country. These chargers, sourced from Siemens, Rexel/ChargePoint, and Blink, are intended to support the broader fleet transition. Whether the Trump administration will interfere with this infrastructure rollout remains unclear, but any disruptions could further complicate the USPS’s EV ambitions.

President Joe Biden is given a blanket by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland during the 2024 White House Tribal Nations Summit at the Interior Department on Dec. 9, 2024, in Washington, D.C.  (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden created the Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School National Monument in Pennsylvania on Monday to underscore the oppression Indigenous people faced there and across the broader Native American boarding school system, as well as the lasting impacts of the abuse that occurred at these schools.

The proclamation came as Biden — who hosted his fourth and final White House Tribal Nations Summit on Monday — announced several efforts his administration is taking to support tribal communities.

The administration continues to acknowledge and apologize for the federal government’s role in the Native American boarding school system, which had devastating repercussions for Indigenous communities across the United States. Children at these institutions were subjected to physical, emotional and sexual abuse throughout the 19th and mid-20th centuries.

At least 973 Native children died while attending the boarding schools, according to an investigative report from the Department of the Interior.

“Making the Carlisle Indian School a national monument, we make clear what great nations do: We don’t erase history — we acknowledge it, we learn from it and we remember so we never repeat it again,” Biden said at the summit at the Department of the Interior. “We remember so we can heal. That’s the purpose of memory.”

Carlisle was the first off-reservation federal boarding school for Native children, and took in thousands of children from more than 140 tribes who were stolen from their families.

Carlisle school officials “forced children to cut their hair, prohibited them from speaking their Native languages, and subjected them to harsh labor,” per a White House fact sheet.

Native communities, businesses, hospitals

Vice President Kamala Harris, who spoke at the summit earlier in the day, said “for far too long, the federal government has underinvested in Native communities, underinvested in Native entrepreneurs and small businesses, and underinvested in Native hospitals, schools and infrastructure.”

Harris said that because of these underinvestments, the administration has “made it a central priority — and it will remain a central priority — to address these historic inequities and to create opportunity in every Native community.”

She pointed to the administration’s efforts in helping Native entrepreneurs gain access to capital and investing over $1 billion in Native community banks.

“We know that one of the biggest hurdles to Native entrepreneurs is having access to capital — it’s one of the biggest challenges,” she said, adding that “it’s not for lack of a good idea, for serious work ethic, for a plan that actually would benefit the community and meet a demand, but it’s access to capital.”

Loss of Native languages

Meanwhile, the administration announced a host of additional actions Monday to support tribal communities, such as debuting a decade-long revitalization plan to address the government’s role in the loss of Native languages throughout the country.

“It’s a vision that works with tribes to support teachers, schools, communities, organizations, in order to save Native language from disappearing,” Biden said.

“This matters. It’s part of our heritage. It’s part of who we are as a nation. It’s how we got to be who we are.” 

Donald Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as people try to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Brent Stirton/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump wants to jail former and current members of Congress who investigated his incitement of the violent Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and he plans to pardon the rioters immediately upon taking office, he told NBC News Sunday.

On the network’s “Meet the Press with Kristen Welker,” Trump said leaders of the special congressional panel that probed the Capitol riot “lied” and “should go to jail.”

Trump singled out committee Chair Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat and a senior Black member of Congress, and former high-ranking House Republican Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who co-chaired the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.

“Cheney did something that’s inexcusable, along with Thompson and the people on the un-select committee of political thugs and, you know, creeps,” Trump told NBC host Welker. 

Jason Miller, an adviser to Trump, walked back the president-elect’s comments Monday. Miller told CNN that Trump’s remarks about jailing Jan. 6 committee members were taken out of context and that he just wants his administration to “apply the law equally” to everybody.

President Joe Biden is reportedly mulling preemptive pardons for Cheney and former Democratic Congressman and incoming Sen. Adam Schiff of California, who also sat on the panel, along with others who could be targeted by the new Trump administration, according to media reports citing anonymous White House sources.

Trump takes office Jan. 20.

Cheney: ‘Here is the truth’

In a statement Sunday, Cheney described Trump’s actions on Jan. 6 as “the worst breach of our Constitution by any president in our nation’s history.”

“Here is the truth: Donald Trump attempted to overturn the 2020 presidential election and seize power,” Cheney said. “He mobilized an angry mob and sent them to the United States Capitol, where they attacked police officers, invaded the building and halted the official counting of electoral votes. Trump watched on television as police officers were brutally beaten, and the Capitol was assaulted, refusing for hours to tell the mob to leave.”

The Justice Department charged just over 1,560 people for taking part in the attack. Among those, 210 were found guilty at trial, and 979 pleaded guilty to charges that included assaulting police officers, trespassing and bringing deadly weapons to the Capitol, according to the most recent department data. That means it’s possible more than 1,000 individuals could be pardoned, depending on Trump’s decisions.

“As proven in Court, the weapons used and carried on Capitol grounds include firearms; OC spray; tasers; edged weapons, including a sword, axes, hatchets, and knives; and makeshift weapons, such as destroyed office furniture, fencing, bike racks, stolen riot shields, baseball bats, hockey sticks, flagpoles, PVC piping, and reinforced knuckle gloves,” according to the Justice Department.

Thompson said Monday the committee members “are simply not afraid of his most recent threats.”

“Our committee was fully authorized by the House, all rules were properly followed, and our work product stands on its own. In fact, in the two years since we have completed our work, no court or legal body has refuted it,” Thompson said in a statement provided Monday to States Newsroom.

“Donald Trump and his minions can make all the assertions they want – but no election, no conspiracy theory, no pardon, and no threat of vengeful prosecution can rewrite history or wipe away his responsibility for the deadly violence on that horrific day. We stood up to him before, and we will continue to do so,” said Thompson, who has served as the top Democrat on the House Committee on Homeland Security for the past two years.

Pardons on day one

Trump told Welker that he intends to pardon the Jan. 6 rioters on his first day in office. He said they violently attacked police officers because “they had no choice” and that their lives have been “destroyed” after facing charges for their actions.

During the wide-ranging interview Trump also blamed former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the attack and repeated debunked claims that “antifa” activists were part of a conspiracy to bait his supporters into attacking.

Video from Trump’s speech that day show him rallying his supporters to march to the Capitol and urge Congress to “do the right thing” by refusing to certify Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory.

Trump also falsely told Welker that the Jan. 6 committee destroyed its investigative material and evidence.

In fact, hundreds of witness interview transcripts, videos and online exhibits are publicly available. The committee’s work culminated in a nearly 900-page final report that remains available online, and can be easily found with a simple internet search.

Kinzinger: ‘We did nothing wrong’

Former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger, the only other Republican who sat on the Jan. 6 committee, said Sunday in a statement that Trump’s threat is “nothing more than the desperate howl of a man who knows history will regard him with shame.

“Let me be clear: we did nothing wrong. The January 6 Committee’s work was driven by facts, the Constitution, and the pursuit of accountability — principles that seem foreign to Trump,” Kinzinger, of Illinois, published on Substack.

Trump did not specifically name Kinzinger during his interview.

The White House did not immediately respond to States Newsroom’s request for comment on Biden’s reported consideration of preemptive pardons.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ur M. Jaddou speaks at a U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on Dec. 4, 2024. Republican members of the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement sharply questioned Jaddou on her agency's handling of immigration benefits, applications and petitions. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — Republican members of a U.S. House Judiciary Committee panel scrutinized the head of the Department of Homeland Security agency tasked with processing legal pathways to immigration during a contentious hearing Wednesday about the Biden administration’s parole program that grants temporary protections for nationals from some countries.

That program temporarily grants work permits and allows nationals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to remain in the country if they are sponsored by someone in the United States.

Rep. Tom McClintock of California, the chair of the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, accused U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services of creating “unlawful” pathways to legal immigration through humanitarian parole programs – an authority presidents have used since the 1950s.

The chair of the full Judiciary Committee, Jim Jordan of Ohio, also grilled USCIS Director Ur Jaddou about if parole programs “of this magnitude” had been used before.

Since President Joe Biden launched the program in 2022, more than 500,000 people have been paroled through that authority.

Jaddou said that historically, presidents have used some kind of parole authority.

The top Democrat on the panel, Pramila Jayapal of Washington state, criticized Republicans for wanting to curtail legal pathways to immigration and argued that the U.S. workforce is reliant on immigrants.

“The truth is that we benefit from the contributions of immigrants and their families in every single field of work,” she said.

Funding structure blamed

USCIS is a roughly $5 billion agency that is primarily funded by filing fees from immigrants – about 96% – not through congressional appropriations, which make up the remaining 4% of its budget.

Jayapal defended the agency, arguing that Jaddou had to rebuild USCIS after the first Trump administration and a budget deficit from the COVID-19 pandemic that closed offices and led to fees plummeting.

The agency handles applications for naturalization, green card applications, family visas, some work visas, humanitarian programs and adoptions of children from non-U.S. countries, among other things.

Jaddou said one of the biggest challenges is that because USCIS operates on fees, if there is a funding crisis it can cause funding to freeze and puts limitations on hiring and overall efficiency.  

“We do not have effective legal immigration systems to meet the needs of the nation,” she said.

Jaddou said, for example, funding constraints limit the number of asylum officers hired.

“It limits us in our humanitarian work,” she said.

Questions about fraud

Arizona Republican Rep. Andy Biggs questioned Jaddou about fraud in the parole program, which caused a temporary pause in applications over the summer to investigate some of the U.S-based sponsors.

“The program was paused for five weeks because of fraud,” Biggs said.

McClintock asked Jaddou if she knew how many parolees had changed in their immigration status and how many paroles have been renewed since the program began in 2022.

Jaddou said she didn’t have those numbers, which frustrated McClintock.

“This is outrageous.” he said. “You were asked these questions in September, you were told in advance of this hearing that they would be asked again, and you were advised to have answers for us. These are basic questions of data.”

California Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren asked what improvements USCIS has made in light of the investigations into U.S.-based sponsors.

Jaddou answered that the agency added biometric requirements such as fingerprints and photos and allowed for automated systems to cross-check Social Security numbers. She said that employees were also re-trained and given guidance to monitor for potential fraud.

“We saw some issues, we took action,” Jaddou said.

New Jersey Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew said he was frustrated with the agency’s backlogs and that it takes years to process green cards.

“I think you’re doing a bad job,” he said to Jaddou. “You’ve hurt legal Americans and legal immigrants and helped some folks who shouldn’t be in this country.”

Van Drew asked if USCIS has diverted its resources from processing other legal pathway applications by focusing on parole applicants.  

Jaddou said the agency hasn’t.

“Well I disagree with you,” he said. 

 

President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the results of the 2024 election in the Rose Garden at the White House on Nov. 7, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son from federal gun and tax crimes —and any other offenses over a nearly 11-year period — has drawn outrage from Republicans, while only a few Democrats have criticized the outgoing president for establishing a potential precedent for the incoming GOP administration.

In a lengthy Sunday night statement, Biden laid out his reasoning for reversing his long-stated position that he would not give his son a pardon. He argued that Hunter Biden was unfairly targeted by Republicans and noted that investigations began in December 2020, shortly after Biden won the presidential election.

The pardon would cover offenses which Hunter Biden “has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024,” the executive grant of clemency signed by Biden said.

“No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son — and that is wrong,” Biden said.

Trump and Jan. 6

President-elect Donald Trump took to his social media site, TruthSocial, where he called the move  “an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!”

Trump questioned whether Biden’s pardon would include the 29 inmates held in the District of Columbia jail for offenses related to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Of those, 27 are charged with assaulting law enforcement after Trump riled up his supporters to overturn the presidential election he lost.

“Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years?” Trump wrote.

With the move, Biden joined Trump and former President Bill Clinton in pardoning family members.

Biden has one of the lowest clemency rates compared to prior presidents. There are currently more than 10,500 petitions for clemency that were submitted to the White House, according to recent Department of Justice clemency statistics.  

Trump granted 143 pardons during his first term and so far Biden has granted 26 pardons, including his son’s. Former President Barack Obama granted 212 pardons.

Advocates and Democrats have pressed Biden to exert his clemency powers on behalf of the 40 men on federal death row before his term expires in January. The push comes as Trump is set to return to the White House. The former president expedited 13 executions of people on federal death row in the last six months of his first term.  

The co-executive directors of Popular Democracy in Action, a progressive advocacy group, Analilia Mejia and DaMareo Cooper, said in a joint statement that Biden should “provide the same compassion he gave his son and pardon the 10,000 clemency petitions on his desk.”

“The President has the power to provide clemency to thousands of people who have been wronged by the laws governing the judicial system and the political considerations that engendered them,” they said.

Hunter Biden’s federal charges stem from a 2018 gun purchase. He lied on a form by checking a box that affirmed he was not using illegal drugs, but he did then use drugs while owning the firearm.

A federal jury convicted him in June and the gun charges carried a possible prison sentence.

Hunter Biden also pleaded guilty to separate federal tax charges in California.

Target for Republicans

Over the course of Biden’s presidency, House Republicans have held hearings and inquiries into the finances of the Biden family, focusing on Hunter Biden in an attempt to broadly stick corruption charges to the president. No evidence has shown any wrongdoing by the president.

But the pardon gave fresh ammunition to Biden critics, who noted it contradicted what the president had long promised.

House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chair James Comer, Republican of Kentucky, in a statement said Sunday that Biden “has lied from start to finish about his family’s corrupt influence peddling activities.”

“The charges Hunter faced were just the tip of the iceberg in the blatant corruption that President Biden and the Biden Crime Family have lied about to the American people,” Comer said. “It’s unfortunate that, rather than come clean about their decades of wrongdoing, President Biden and his family continue to do everything they can to avoid accountability.”

Many Republicans criticized Biden for reversing his long-standing stance that he would not pardon his son.

“President Biden insisted many times he would never pardon his own son for his serious crimes,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, said on social media. “But last night he suddenly granted a ‘Full and Unconditional Pardon’ for any and all offenses that Hunter committed for more than a decade! Trust in our justice system has been almost irreparably damaged by the Bidens and their use and abuse of it.”

Selective Democrats object

Democrats in Congress have largely remained silent about the pardon, but some, including Ohio’s Greg Landsman and Arizona’s Greg Stanton, criticized the move.

“As a father, I get it,” Landsman wrote on social media. “But as someone who wants people to believe in public service again, it’s a setback.”

Stanton in a social media post wrote that while he respected Biden, “I think he got this one wrong.”

“This wasn’t a politically-motivated prosecution,” he said. “Hunter committed felonies, and was convicted by a jury of his peers.”

Colorado U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet wrote on social media that “President Biden’s decision put personal interest ahead of duty and further erodes Americans’ faith that the justice system is fair and equal for all.”

Michigan U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, chair of the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee, wrote on social media that the president’s decision to pardon his son was wrong. 

“A president’s family and allies shouldn’t get special treatment,” Peters said. “This was an improper use of power, it erodes trust in our government, and it emboldens others to bend justice to suit their interests.”

On CNN, Maryland U.S. Rep. Glenn Ivey said that he had “mixed views” about the pardoning.

“I know that there was a real strong sentiment in, you know, wanting to protect Hunter Biden from unfair prosecution,” he said. “But this is going to be used against us when we’re fighting the misuses that are coming from the Trump administration.”

Trump pardons

Trump himself granted controversial pardons, including of Paul Manafort, a former campaign official who was convicted of tax and bank fraud amid alleged interference by Russia in the 2016 presidential election.

He also pardoned Roger Stone, who was convicted on charges of lying to Congress about his knowledge of Russian efforts to discredit former first lady and 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential race.

Trump also pardoned his son-in-law’s father, Charles Kushner, who was charged with tax evasion and retaliating against a federal witness, who was the elder Kushner’s brother-in-law. Trump on Saturday announced his intent to appoint Kushner as the next U.S. ambassador to France. 

 

President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden talks to reporters outside the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 13, 2023. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden Sunday night announced he has pardoned his son Hunter, a reversal in his long-standing pledge that he would not exert his executive authority to clear his son of gun-related charges and tax crimes.

“I believe in the justice system,” Biden said in a statement. “But as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice — and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.”

Hunter, who is Biden’s only living son, was a frequent target of Republicans, who, through various investigations, sought to link broad corruption charges to the president and his son. No evidence has shown any wrongdoing by the president.

“No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son — and that is wrong,” Biden said. “There has been an effort to break Hunter — who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution.”

Hunter Biden’s gun conviction before a federal jury in June stemmed from lying on a gun purchase in 2018. He checked a box that affirmed he was not using illegal drugs, but he did then use drugs while owning the firearm. The gun charges carried a possible prison sentence.

Separately, Hunter Biden also pleaded guilty to federal tax charges in California.

The decision came at the end of a holiday weekend and as Biden is winding down his presidency and President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office in January.

U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, blasted the move by the president, saying he has “lied from start to finish about his family’s corrupt influence peddling activities.”

Tech insiders say Biden is leaving a strong foundation for high-tech industry, boosting broadband access, setting a foundation for AI regulation, and encouraging chip manufacturing. (Rebecca Noble | Getty Images)

As he’s poised to leave office in two months, President Joe Biden will leave a legacy of “proactive,” “nuanced” and “effective” tech policy strategy behind him, technologists across different sectors told States Newsroom.

Biden’s term was bookended by major issues in the tech world. When he took office in early 2021, he was faced with an economy and workforce that was struggling to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, and longstanding issues with a digital divide across the country. As he prepares to exit the White House, federal agencies are working to incorporate the principles from the 2023 AI Bill of Rights, on evolving technologies that will undoubtedly continue changing American life.

Though he was unable to get federal regulations on AI passed through Congress, Biden’s goal was to bring tech access to all Americans, while safeguarding against potential harms, the technologists said.

“I think everything that he does is foundational,” said Suriel Arellano, a longtime consultant and author on digital transformation who’s based in Los Angeles. “So it definitely sets the stage for long term innovation and regulation.”

The digital divide 

For Arellano, Biden’s attempt to bring internet access to all families stands out as a lasting piece of the president’s legacy. Broadband internet for work, healthcare and education was a part of Biden’s 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal, especially targeting people in rural areas.

Biden earmarked $65 billion toward the project, which was dolled out to states and federal departments to establish or improve the physical infrastructure to support internet access. As of September, more than 2.4 million previously unserved homes and businesses have been connected to the internet, and $50 billion has been given to grant programs that support these goals across the states.

Arellano said he thinks there’s still work to do with the physical broadband infrastructure before that promise is realized — “I think that should have come first,” he said.

“But I think as a legacy, I think breaching the digital divide is actually one of the strong — maybe not the strongest, but I would say it’s definitely a strong legacy that he leaves,” Arellano said.

Shaping the U.S. conversation about AI

During Biden’s presidency, practical and responsible application of artificial intelligence became a major part of the tech conversation. The 2023 AI Bill of Rights created the White House AI Council, the creation of a framework for federal agencies to follow relating to privacy protection and a list of guidelines for securing AI workers, for navigating the effects on the labor market and for ensuring equity in AI use, among others.

The guidelines put forth by the administration are subtle, and “not likely to be felt by the average consumer,” said Austin-based Alex Shahrestani, an attorney and managing partner at Promise Legal, which specializes in tech and regulatory policy.

“It was something that’s very light touch and essentially sets up the groundwork to introduce a regulatory framework for AI providers without it being something that they’re really going to push back on,” Shahrestani said.

In recent months, some federal agencies have released their guidelines called for by the AI Bill of Rights, including the Department of Labor, and The Office of Management and Budget, which outlines how the government will go about “responsible acquisition” of AI. It may not seem like these guidelines would affect the average consumer, Shahrestani said, but government contractors are likely to be larger companies that already have a significant commercial footprint.

“It sets up these companies to then follow these procedures in other contexts, so whether that’s B2B or direct-to-consumer applications, that’s like more of a trickle down sort of approach,” he said.

Sheena Franklin, D.C.-based founder of K’ept Health and previously a lobbyist, said Biden emphasized the ethical use and development of AI, and set a tone of fostering public trust and preventing harm with the AI Bill of Rights.

Franklin and Shahrestani agreed it’s possible that President-elect Donald Trump could repeal some of Biden’s executive orders on AI, but they see the Bill of Rights as a fairly light approach to regulating it.

“It was a really nuanced and effective approach,” Shahrestani said. “There’s some inertia building, right? Like a snowball rolling down the hill. We’re early days for the snowball, but it just got started and it will only grow to be a bigger one.”

The CHIPS act

Biden’s CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which aimed to strengthen domestic semiconductor manufacturing, supply chains and the innovation economy with a $53 billion investment, is a major piece of his legacy, Franklin said. The bill centered on worker and community investments, and prioritized small businesses and underrepresented communities, with a goal of economic growth in the U.S., and especially in communities that needed support.

Two years after the bill was signed, the federal government, in partnership with American companies, has provided funding for semiconductor manufacturing projects that created more than 100,000 jobs and workforce development programs. The U.S. is on track to produce 30% of the world’s semiconductor chips in 2032, up from 10% today.

“He was really trying to position the U.S. as a global leader when it came to technology, because that industry is going to continue to grow,” Franklin said.

It’s hard to quantify what the lasting impact of the CHIPS act will be, but one immediate factor is computing, Shahrestani said. The AI models being developed right now have infinite abilities, he said, but the computing power had previously held the industry back.

“Being able to provide more compute through better chips, and more sophisticated hardware is going to be a big part of what provides, and what is behind the best AI technologies,” Shahrestani said.

Accountability for Big Tech

Many in the Big Tech community see Biden’s AI Bill of Rights, and its data privacy inclusions, as well as the Justice Department’s monopoly lawsuits against tech giants like Apple and Google, as hampering innovation.

Arellano is optimistic about the technological advances and innovation that the U.S. may see under a less regulation-focused Trump presidency, but he cautions that some regulations may be needed for privacy protections.

“My concern is always on the public side, you know, putting the dog on a leash, and making sure that our regulations are there in place to protect the people,” he said.

Franklin predicts that if Biden attempts any last-minute tech policy before he leaves office, it will probably be to pursue further antitrust cases. It would align with his goal of fostering competition between startups and small businesses and reinforce his legacy of safeguarding consumer interests, she said.

When she considered how to describe Biden’s tech legacy, Franklin said she nearly used the word “strength,” though she said he ultimately could have done a little bit more for tech regulation. But she landed on two words: “thoughtful and proactive.”

“Meaning, he’s thinking about everybody’s concerns,” Franklin said. “Not just thinking about the Big Tech and not just thinking about the consumers, right? Like there has to be a balance there.”

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South Carolina Democratic Rep. James Clyburn urges President Joe Biden to recommit sentences of federal death row inmates during a Wednesday press conference outside the U.S. Capitol. (Photo by Ariana Figueroa/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON — House Democrats and anti-death penalty advocates pressed Wednesday for President Joe Biden to save the lives of federal death row inmates before his term expires in January.

The push comes as President-elect Donald Trump is set to return to the White House. The former president expedited 13 executions of people on federal death row in the last six months of his first term, which advocates said increased the urgency for Biden to spare prisoners now facing death sentences.

“I joined the abolition movement during the federal killing spree under the first Trump administration,” said Brandi Slaughter, a board member of the death penalty abolition group, Death Penalty Action. “We know what the next president plans to do if any prisoners are left under a sentence of death at the end of the Biden administration. We’ve been there.”

There are currently 40 people on federal death row, all men. There have been no federal executions under the Biden administration. 

On the campaign trail, Trump often called for the death penalty, including for migrants who kill U.S. citizens and human traffickers.

Outside the U.S. Capitol Wednesday, Democratic Reps. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, James Clyburn of South Carolina, Mary Scanlon of Pennsylvania and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota pressed for Biden to exercise his clemency authority before Trump comes into office on Jan. 20 next year.

“The mass incarceration crisis is one of our country’s greatest failures,” Pressley said. “It is a policy failure, and it is a moral failure. The shameful crisis that has ravaged our communities, destabilized our families and inflicted generational struggle for far too long.”

Pressley’s father was incarcerated during her early life.

“The system only offered him criminalization and incarceration for his substance use disorder, and as a child, I was forced to also carry that burden, that stigma, that shame,” she said.

Calls for clemency

Pressley said Democrats sent Biden a letter asking him to use his clemency, and proposed types of convicts who should be prioritized. The letter was signed by 64 House Democrats.

Pressley said examples of those deserving leniency included prisoners who are elderly, chronically ill, subjected to sentencing disparities between crack and powder cocaine and women who were “punished for defending themselves against their abusers or were coerced into criminal activity as part of an abusive relationship.” 

“Those on death row who are at risk of barbaric and inhumane murder at the hands of the Trump administration can have their death sentence commuted and be resentenced to a prison term,” she said.

“We’re here today to ask him to take another step in that direction and to demonstrate, once again, a very positive consequence of his having been elected our 46th president, and to carry out his clemency powers in a very positive way,” Clyburn said.

Omar said that “clemency represents a critical opportunity to correct long-standing injustices, recognize human potential for redemption and acknowledge that our legal system has often been more punitive than restorative.”

In addition to advocating for death-row clemency, Scanlon said that Biden should consider pardoning people for simple marijuana possession and former LGBTQ service members who were convicted under military law because of their sexual orientation.

The Biden administration earlier this year did move to pardon military vets who were charged under military law for same-sex relationships.

Last year, Biden granted clemency to nearly a dozen people for nonviolent drug offenses. In 2022, he granted clemency to nearly 80 people charged with nonviolent crimes.  

President Joe Biden meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House on Nov. 13, 2024 in Washington, D.C. Biden continued the tradition of inviting the newly elected president to meet at the White House after Trump won the presidential election on Nov. 5. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden welcomed President-elect Donald Trump to the White House Wednesday, a tradition between incoming and outgoing American leaders, though the courtesy was not extended to Biden after he won the 2020 election.

The pair met behind closed doors in the Oval Office for most of the meeting that lasted just under two hours. Biden’s Chief of Staff Jeff Zients and Trump’s incoming counterpart, Susie Wiles, joined the president and president-elect.

Biden had been seeking reelection against Trump until late July, when Biden dropped his bid. Vice President Kamala Harris lost the race to Trump after just over 100 days of campaigning as the Democratic nominee.

Harris did not attend the meeting, according to the White House.

In brief remarks before cameras, Biden congratulated his predecessor who will again take the oath of office in January as the nation’s 47th president.

“Well, Mr. President-elect, former president, Donald, congratulations,” Biden said, as Trump interjected with “Thank you very much, Joe.”

“And looking forward to having a, like I said, smooth transition, do everything we can to make sure you’re accommodated, what you need,” Biden continued. “And we’re gonna get a chance to talk about some of that today.”

Trump again thanked Biden and responded “And politics is tough. And it’s, many cases, not a very nice world, but it is a nice world today. And I appreciate it very much, a transition that’s so smooth, it’ll be as smooth as it can get. I very much appreciate that, Joe,” Trump said.

A ‘substantive’ conversation

First lady Jill Biden joined the president in greeting Trump and presented a handwritten letter of congratulations and offer for transition assistance addressed to incoming first lady Melania Trump, according to the White House.

The meeting got underway just after 11 a.m. Eastern, and the press was ushered out after the brief welcoming remarks and photo opportunity. Biden and Trump finished their private discussion at roughly 1 p.m. Eastern.

Neither addressed a large gathering of reporters and photographers outside afterward.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden and Trump had “a very good back and forth.”

“(Biden) wants you all to know that the president-elect was gracious, came with a detailed set of questions, it was, again, substantive” Jean-Pierre said at the daily press briefing.

Jean-Pierre declined to provide the meeting’s specifics but said “the length of the meeting tells you they had an in-depth conversation on an array of issues.”

Trump did not invite Biden to the White House following his 2020 presidential election win, nor did he attend his successor’s inauguration that occurred just 14 days after a mob of his supporters violently tried to stop Congress’ certification of Biden’s victory.

The president-elect’s transition team did not immediately respond to States Newsroom’s inquiries on why Trump did not invite Biden to the White House in 2020.

Musk, Ramaswamy to head new initiative

The president-elect continues to announce numerous Cabinet and staff positions, stacking his administration with staunch loyalists.

Late Tuesday, Trump announced he named billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy to what he describes as a new “Department of Government Efficiency,” or shortened to “DOGE,” also the name for a popular internet dog meme and cryptocurrency in the last decade.

Trump said the new entity would function outside of government.

“To drive this kind of drastic change, the Department of Government Efficiency will provide advice and guidance from outside of Government, and will partner with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before,” Trump said in a statement.

Musk was also present, sitting in the front row during Trump’s visit with House Republicans earlier Wednesday.

Also on Tuesday night, Trump announced Fox News host Pete Hegseth as his pick for secretary of Defense, a position that requires managing hundreds of billions in Pentagon spending.

Trump endorses Johnson

Trump joined House Republicans Wednesday morning before his meeting with Biden at the White House. At a hotel near the U.S. Capitol, Trump received a standing ovation from GOP lawmakers, according to congressional pool reports.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, introduced Trump, calling him a “singular figure in American history,” according to congressional pool reports. 

House Republicans are also planning to have their leadership elections late Wednesday, but it’s expected that Johnson will be selected to continue the role, although an official vote for the speaker’s gavel will take place in January.

At the meeting, Trump threw his support behind Johnson to continue in his role as House speaker, according to NBC News.

During the meeting, Trump touted GOP wins in keeping control of the lower chamber. Although Republicans are on track to hold their slim majority, The Associated Press, the news organization that States Newsroom relies upon for race calls based on decades of experience, has not called the House for Republicans though it might happen soon.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Republicans have 216 seats, just two short of the 218 seats needed for control. Democrats have 207 seats, with 12 races still to be called.

Trump also joked about wanting to run for another term in office — something that the U.S. Constitution prohibits, as presidents are limited to only serving two terms. 

“I suspect I won’t be running again unless you do something,” Trump told members, who laughed, according to pool reports.

Democrats ready to push back

Chair of the House Democratic Caucus Pete Aguilar said Wednesday that Democrats are ready to work with the incoming administration in a bipartisan manner, but are also prepared to push back on efforts to further restrict reproductive rights, such as a national abortion ban, and any changes to the Affordable Care Act.

“We’re clear-eyed about the challenge ahead of us,” Aguilar, Democrat of California, said.

He acknowledged the failure of Democrats to regain control of the House.

“I think it’s appropriate for the current caucus to reflect on what happened, to listen to listen to our constituents, to listen to American people, to listen to our members, to gather data, and then to chart a path forward,” he said.

Aguilar added that Democrats plan to look at voter data to understand the issues important to their voting bloc.

“I don’t want to have broad generalizations of any group or geographic or otherwise, without that data in front of me,” he said. “I think it’s very clear to us that for people with two jobs, the economy is, gas and groceries and rent. We’ll need to speak to those issues if we’re going to be the party that speaks to our community members and people working, everyday Americans, then we need to speak to those issues, and … that’s on us to communicate.”

People demonstrate and call out words of encouragement to detainees held inside the Metropolitan Detention Center after marching to decry Trump administration immigration and refugee policies on June 30, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — A federal judge late Thursday struck down a White House policy that created a pathway to citizenship for people in the country lacking permanent status who were married to a U.S. citizen.

Eastern District of Texas Judge J. Campbell Barker ruled that the Biden administration overstepped its authority and the program “stretches legal interpretation past its breaking point” of U.S. immigration law. The suit was brought by Texas and other Republican-led states.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s program, called “Keeping Families Together,” would have shielded at least 550,000 immigrant spouses and their children from deportation.

With less than three months before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn into office, it’s unlikely the incoming administration will defend the program, and Trump has vowed to carry out mass deportations.

In a Thursday interview with NBC News, Trump said “there is no price tag” when it comes to mass deportations and that his administration will have “no choice” but to carry them out.

“We obviously have to make the border strong and powerful and, and we have to — at the same time, we want people to come into our country,” he said to NBC. “And you know, I’m not somebody that says, ‘No, you can’t come in.’ We want people to come in.”

Enacting mass deportations would be a costly undertaking that would require congressional approval, which could be easier if Trump is granted GOP control of Congress. Republicans are inching towards control of both chambers.  

As the former president is set to enter a second term in January, he has vowed to immediately begin carrying out mass deportations and ending programs that have granted temporary protections for immigrants such as humanitarian parole.

Trump has criticized the Biden policy that was struck down Thursday as a “mass amnesty” program.

“Mass amnesty” is a legal term that is considered an official pardon, but the program had certain requirements. The individuals considered for citizenship had to have been married to a U.S. citizen for at least a decade and undergo an extreme vetting procedure by DHS.

“This is unsustainable and can’t be allowed to continue!” Trump wrote of the program when it was announced in June. “On day one, we will SHUT DOWN THE BORDER and start deporting millions of Biden’s Illegal Criminals.”

The Texas judge, Barker, was appointed during Trump’s first term. The program was already put on hold in August when Texas GOP Attorney General Ken Paxton led a suit against it.

The states that joined the suit are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wyoming.

Those states argued that the Biden administration overreached its authority in creating the program and that it would financially harm states if the people qualifying for citizenship were allowed to remain in the country.

The states were represented by America First Legal, an organization established by Trump adviser Stephen Miller — the architect of Trump’s hard-line immigration policies during his first term.

Ashley DeAzevedo, the President of American Families United, which represents U.S. citizens married to people without permanent status, in a statement urged the Biden administration to appeal the case.  

“District Court Judge J. Campbell Barker did not just dismantle the Keeping Families Together program, he shattered the hopes of hundreds of thousands of American families,” she said. “Families like ours deserve better than this blatant attempt to stop a legal program, and we will not stop until the courts rectify this injustice.”

It’s estimated that roughly 500,000 spouses without legal status and their children would have been eligible to apply for a lawful permanent residence — a green card — under certain requirements. About 50,000 children who do not have legal status and have an immigrant parent married to a U.S. citizen would have also been included in that benefit.

The Department of Justice did not respond to States Newsroom’s request for comment. 

President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the results of the 2024 election in the Rose Garden at the White House on Nov. 7, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday reassured the nation that democracy won despite his party’s resounding election losses, and promised his accomplishments will live on, in brief remarks from the White House.

“I know for some people, it’s a time for victory, to state the obvious. For others, it’s a time of loss. Campaigns are contests of competing visions. The country chooses one or the other. We accept the choice the country made,” Biden said in just over six minutes of remarks to his staff and administration officials gathered in the Rose Garden just after 11 a.m. Eastern.

Former Republican President Donald Trump, now president-elect, handily won the 2024 presidential contest Tuesday against Vice President Kamala Harris, earning victories in closely watched swing states, including Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Trump as of early Thursday afternoon had 295 Electoral College votes, to 226 for Harris, with 270 needed for victory. He also led in the popular vote.

The Republicans also secured a Senate majority, gaining at least 52 seats while Democrats have 45. Control of the U.S. House remained unclear, though a trend toward GOP victory was emerging as ballots were still being counted.

Biden ran against Trump for the majority of the 2024 presidential race but dropped his reelection bid weeks after a disastrous presidential debate performance sparked a pressure campaign for him to step aside.

Biden phoned Trump Wednesday to congratulate him and arranged an in-person meeting to discuss the White House transition — a step that Trump did not take following his loss to Biden in 2020.

“I assured him I’d direct my entire administration to work with his team to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition. That’s what the American people deserve,” Biden said.

Biden also talked about his phone call Wednesday with Democratic nominee Harris, whom he described as a “partner and public servant.”

“She ran an inspiring campaign, and everyone got to see something that I learned early on to respect so much: her character. She has a backbone like a ramrod,” Biden said.

The president said he told his team that “together, we’ve changed America for the better.”

“Much of the work we’ve done is already being felt by the American people, with the vast majority of it will not be felt, will be felt over the next 10 years,” Biden said, specifically citing the bipartisan infrastructure legislation he signed into law in November 2021.

Harris conceded the race Wednesday in a phone call to Trump.

In a speech to somber supporters at her alma mater Howard University in Washington, D.C., the same day, Harris told the crowd “I get it” when it comes to feeling a range of emotions following the outcome.

“But we must accept the results of this election. … A fundamental principle of American democracy is that when we lose an election we accept the results,” Harris said.

Following the 2020 presidential election, Trump and his allies challenged the results in dozens of ultimately unsuccessful lawsuits. Following his losses in court, Trump and a team of private lawyers continued to deny the election outcome and pressure state officials to manipulate slates of electors.

Trump’s repeated denials of his loss — including a speech on Jan. 6, 2021 where he told his supporters he would never concede — culminated in a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol as Congress met that day to certify the election results. 

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The average time the U.S. Senate takes to approve nominees to a president’s administration is more than six months.

The nonprofit Center for Presidential Transition reported that as of Nov. 11, 2024, the average number of days has more than doubled under presidents elected since the 1980s:

Joe Biden: 192

Donald Trump: 160.5

Barack Obama: 153.3

George W. Bush: 108.2

Bill Clinton: 100.3

George H.W. Bush: 64.7

Ronald Reagan: 69.4

The nominees include more than 1,000 leadership positions, including Cabinet posts such as attorney general.

One reason for the six-month average: Any senator can “hold” a nominee’s confirmation, sometimes to extract something in return. 

An August research paper concluded it is doubtful that reducing the number of positions needing confirmation would speed up confirmations.

Trump has said he wants the Senate to allow “recess appointments,” which wouldn’t require Senate confirmation, for his next administration.

The issue was raised Nov. 21 by U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who called for streamlining confirmations. 

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

• Center for Presidential Transition: Senate Confirmations Slow to a Crawl
• Bipartisan Policy Center: What’s the Hold Up on Senate Nominees?
• University of Chicago Center for Effective Government: Democracy Reform Primer Series Reducing the Number of Senate-Confirmed Appointees
• New York Times: Could Trump Install Gaetz Without Senate Approval? A Recess Appointment Primer
• Cumulus News Talk: Donald Trump's Upcoming Confirmation Battles | The Vince Coglianese Show

Does it take six months on average for the US Senate to confirm a president’s nominees? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Automakers in the US have joined forces to ask Donald Trump not to scrap EV tax credits when he takes office next January. Volkswagen, GM, Toyota and other companies have invested tens of billions in developing electric vehicles and adapting plants to build them, and are worried they’ll be rendered uncompetitive if the incoming Republican government axes the sweetener.

Writing to Trump in a November 12 letter that has only recently come to light, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation argued that the incentives made available via President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act helped ensure America’s auto industry was “globally competitive” at a time when automakers are increasingly worried about the threat posed by their Chinese rivals.

Related: Is Time Running Out For $7,500 EV Tax Credits? Experts Advise Buyers To Hurry

But in the same letter the automakers also expressed their concern about “federal and state emissions regulations (particularly in California and affiliated states) that are out-of-step with current auto market realities and increase costs for consumers,” Reuters reports.

Biden’s team introduced tough tailpipe rules that get increasingly tighter the closer we get to 2035, the date California wants to ban the sale of combustion cars, a move that will be echoed in other states as well. But the automakers say this can only be achieved by selling more EVs, despite dealers finding that most customers would still rather have a combustion car or a hybrid.

Given Trump’s known stance on green matters – he previously rolled back President Obama’s emissions regulations, and his team has vowed to attack Biden’s rules – it seems entirely possible that automakers will be given more time to clean up their cars’ CO2 outputs. However, Politico reports that Trump probably won’t be able to claw back the $7.5 billion already earmarked for charging infrastructure projects because the funds have been committed.

The automakers also urged Trump to make legislative changes that would help speed up the development and rollout of self-driving cars. But when it came to automatic emergency braking, which the Democrats have insisted must be mandatory (and meet a tough universal standard) from 2029, the car companies asked for more time.

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Was the Biden administration’s revision of a jobs report fraud? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

The Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, gives her “closing argument” of the campaign in a speech on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 29, 2024. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

The fallout from a comedian’s racially charged joke at a rally for former President Donald Trump continued Wednesday as the campaign for the presidency raced toward its final weekend, with Democrats on the defensive about President Joe Biden’s reaction to the joke.

Republicans claimed Biden labeled Trump supporters as “garbage,” while Democrats insisted Biden was being misinterpreted, and a battle over the placement of an apostrophe in Biden’s comment spread from the White House briefing room to campaign stops.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Wednesday further clarified Biden’s comment, made on a Tuesday evening call to rally Latino voters. Biden brought up comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s remark at a Trump rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday that Puerto Rico was a “floating island of garbage.”

“They’re good, decent, honorable people,” Biden said Tuesday of Puerto Ricans who live in his home state of Delaware. “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s — his — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”

An initial White House transcript of the call placed an apostrophe after the word “supporters,” making its meaning about multiple Trump supporters. A later transcript placed the possessive inside the word, so it read as “supporter’s,” making it about a single supporter, Hinchcliffe.

Biden posted on X Tuesday evening that was his intent.

“Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage—which is the only word I can think of to describe it,” Biden’s post read. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, also told reporters early Wednesday that it was wrong to disparage people over political affiliation, while noting Biden clarified he referred only to Hinchcliffe. The flap over Biden’s comments came just as Harris was giving her “closing argument” speech on the Ellipse on Tuesday night before a crowd in the tens of thousands.

“Let me be clear,” she said. “I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for.”

Latino voters in general and Puerto Ricans in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania in particular are seen as a crucial voting bloc in the closing days of the campaign, and both campaigns are trying to get their support.

Jean-Pierre said from the White House briefing room Wednesday that Biden does not think Trump supporters are “garbage.”

“What I can say is that the president wanted to make sure that his words were not being taken out of context,” she said. “And so he wanted to clarify, and that’s what you heard from the president. He was very aware. And I would say I think it’s really important that you have a president that cares about clarifying what they said.”

Trump repeatedly has said the United States is the “garbage can of the world” as a result of Biden’s immigration policies.

Rubio: Harris camp should apologize

But Trump and other Republicans jumped on Biden’s remark, immediately comparing it to 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s comment that many Trump supporters comprised “a basket of deplorables.” That comment was seen as damaging to Clinton’s campaign against Trump.

At a Tuesday evening Trump rally in Pennsylvania, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida disclosed news of Biden’s statement.

“I hope their campaign is about to apologize for what Joe Biden just said,” Rubio said. “We are not garbage. We are patriots who love America.”

“Wow, that’s terrible,” Trump added. “Remember Hillary, she said deplorable, and then she said irredeemable, right? But she said deplorable. That didn’t work out. Garbage I think is worse, right?”

Harris brings closing argument in N.C.

At a Wednesday afternoon rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, Harris echoed some of the themes she sounded in the “closing argument” speech she gave Tuesday night.

She urged voters in the battleground state to “turn the page on a decade of Donald Trump, who has been trying to keep us divided and afraid of each other.”

She said Trump was focused on personal grievances and seeking revenge on political opponents, while she would work toward improving voters’ lives.

“There are many big differences between he and I,” she said. “But I would say a major contrast is this: If he is elected, on day one, Donald Trump will walk into that office with an enemies list. When I am elected, I will walk in with a to-do list.”

First on her list would be lowering the costs of health care, child care and other expenses for families, she said.

Harris appealed directly to disaffected Republicans, saying she would seek common ground with those she disagrees with. That approach, she said, was also in contrast to Trump, who used charged language to describe his opponents and pledged to retaliate against them.

“Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy,” she said. “He wants to put them in jail. I’ll give them a seat at the table. And I pledge to be a president for all Americans, and to always put country above party and self.”

Harris won another endorsement from a nationally known Republican Wednesday, with former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger saying he would vote for her despite policy disagreements.

Trump also campaigned in North Carolina on Wednesday, in Rocky Mount, a town in a more rural part of the state about 50 miles east of Raleigh.

He said his campaign was a welcoming one to all races and religions and said Harris was the one running “a campaign of hate” toward Trump and his supporters, while lobbing an insult at the vice president.

“Kamala, a low-IQ individual, is running a campaign of hate, anger and retribution,” he said, repeating a term he has used for her before.

Election integrity

The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee said Wednesday they won a court case in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, over early voting hours, RNC officials said on a call Wednesday afternoon.

A judge in the key swing county extended the deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot after some voters said that long lines forced them to miss the 5 p.m. Tuesday deadline.

On the press call, Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said a Trump supporter had been arrested after telling people in line near the deadline to remain in line.

Party officials, including Trump’s daughter-in-law, RNC Co-Chair Lara Trump, said the result bolstered their confidence in a free and fair election.

“We want to make people all across this country feel good about the process of voting in the United States of America,” Lara Trump said. “It is so foundational to who we are as a country that we trust our electoral process and this type of work allows exactly for that.”

Lara Trump said the party was “incredibly confident” in its staffers dedicated to ensuring the election is fair.

The issue has been a major priority for Republicans since Donald Trump and others claimed, without evidence, that election fraud caused his 2020 re-election loss.

That claim was rejected in scores of courts and a federal grand jury indicted Trump on four felony counts for using the election fraud lie to inspire the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Trump and allies have also speculated that his political opponents would seek to use illegal means, including voting by noncitizens, this year.

But in a departure from that rhetoric Wednesday, the RNC officials voiced confidence that the 2024 results would be trustworthy.

“I think it’s really important that we get the word spread loud and clear that we are taking this seriously, that you can trust American elections,” Lara Trump said. “In 2024, we want to re-establish any trust that may have been lost previously.”

Ashley Murray contributed to this report.

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LAVEEN, ARIZONA - OCTOBER 25: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks at Gila Crossing Community School on October 25, 2024 in Laveen, Arizona. Biden formally apologized for the trauma inflicted by the federal government's forced Native American boarding school policy. (Photo by Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

Standing solemnly in front of a crowd full of Indigenous people on the grassy field of a tribal elementary school near Phoenix, President Joe Biden issued a formal apology to Indigenous communities across the country for the role the United States government had in the Native American Boarding School system, a system that harmed Indigenous people for generations.

“After 150 years, the United States government eventually stopped the program, but the federal government has never formally apologized for what happened,” Biden said. “Until today — I formally apologize, as president of the United States of America, for what we did.”

Biden’s apology was met with loud cheers from the crowd. He is the first sitting president in the last 10 years to visit a Tribal Nation.

He told the community that it was long overdue and that it was only fitting that it was given at a tribal school within an Indigenous community deeply connected to culture and tradition.

“I have a solemn responsibility to be the first president to formally apologize to the Native peoples, Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, Native Alaskans and federal Indian boarding schools,” he said. “It’s long, long, long overdue. Quite frankly, there’s no excuse that this apology took (150) years to make.

Biden said the pain that the federal Indian boarding school policy has caused will always be a significant mark of shame for the United States.

“For those who went through this period, it was too painful to speak of,” he said. “For a nation, it was too shameful to acknowledge.”

“This formal apology is the culmination of decades of work by so many courageous people,” Biden said, acknowledging many who were sitting in the audience, including the boarding school survivors and descendants.

“I know no apology can or will make up for what was lost during the darkness of the federal boarding school policy,” Biden said. “But, today, we’re finally moving forward into the light.”

Biden’s apology, delivered Friday at the Gila River Crossing School on the Gila River Indian Community, comes three years after Interior Secretary Deb Haaland launched the first ever federal investigation into Native American Boarding Schools.

Haaland spoke before Biden, and was welcomed to the stage by Miss Gila River Susanna Osife as “Auntie Deb.” Haaland, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna, told the crowd that thinking about our ancestors today is important because they persevered, and their stories are everywhere.

“We tell those stories because Native American history is American history,” Haaland said.

The Department of Interior released the final boarding school report in July. It provided eight recommendations from the Department of Indian Affairs for the federal government that would support a path to healing for tribal communities.

At the top of that list was a call for the United States to acknowledge and apologize for its role in the federal Indian boarding school policies that have harmed — and continue to harm — Indigenous peoples across the country.

“Today is a day for remembering, but it’s also a day to celebrate our perseverance,” Haaland said. “In spite of everything that has happened, we are still here.”

While boarding schools are places where affluent families send their children for an exclusive education for most of the United States, Haaland noted how different the prospect was for Native Americans.

“For Indigenous peoples, they served as places of trauma and terror for more than 100 years,” she said. “Tens of thousands of Indigenous children as young as four years old were taken from their families and communities and forced into boarding schools run by U.S. government institutions.”

Haaland said that the federal Native American Boarding School system has impacted every Indigenous person she knows, and they all carry the trauma that those policies and schools inflicted.

“This is the first time in history that a United States cabinet secretary has shared the traumas of our past, and I acknowledge that this trauma was perpetrated by the agency that I now lead,” Haaland said. “For decades, this terrible chapter was hidden from our history books, but now our administration’s work will ensure that no one will ever forget.”

Haaland launched the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative in 2021 to shed light on the “horrific era of our nation’s history.”

The initiative compiled two reports and visited dozens of Indigenous communities, hearing from survivors and descendants so that their experiences are all documented because the goal of Native American Boarding Schools was to assimilate and eradicate Indigenous people.

Haaland said the investigation into these boarding schools are shared in those reports and it shows the “loud and unequivocal truth” that the federal government took deliberate and strategic actions through boarding school policies to isolate Indigenous children from their families and steal from them the languages, cultures, and traditions that are fundamental to Indigenous people.

“As we stand here together, my friends and relatives, we know that the federal government failed,” She said. “It failed to annihilate our languages, our traditions, our life ways. It failed to destroy us because we persevered.”

The Federal Boarding School Initiative’s report called on Congress and federal agencies to take action, and Haaland said that some of those recommendations are already being put into effect.

For instance, Haaland said the department is working alongside the departments of Education and Health and Human Services to invest in the preservation of Native languages.

“We are developing a 10-year national plan guided by tribal leaders and Native language teachers,” Haaland said, and more details about their efforts will be released later.

“The painful loss of our Indigenous languages has been a consistent topic as we have met with survivors across our nation,” she said.

Another effort Haaland highlighted is the department’s collaboration with the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition to create an oral collection of first-person narratives from boarding school survivors.

Haaland said this collaboration is a way to ensure that future generations are told the stories of the boarding school era and understand the impacts and intergenerational trauma caused by boarding school policies.

As the crowd listened to Biden give his speech, protesters with O’odham Solidarity made their voice heard as one walked toward the stage holding a sign calling for justice for Palestinians.

As Biden delivered his remarks, one protester yelled from the crowd: “No, what about the people in Gaza.”

The protest was met with shouts from the crowd as a man in the crowd yelled: “Get out of here.” But Biden said let her talk.

“Let her go,” Biden said as the protester was being removed. “There’s a lot of innocent people being killed and it has to stop.”

Even after the protestors voiced their concerns, the community’s attention went back to Biden as he continued his speech about the boarding school years as well as his investments to Indian Country.

‘It was long overdue’

Crystalyne Curley said she thought of her grandfathers as Biden delivered his apology, which brought back memories of the stories they would tell of their time at boarding schools and the trauma they experienced.

“It’s a bittersweet moment,” Curley said. “I think there is a lot of a mix of emotions, because each of our Navajo citizens has a tie to the trauma that has happened within our boarding schools.”

Curley serves as speaker of the Navajo Nation Council and has heard stories about the federal boarding school system from her community for generations.

“It was long overdue,” Curley said. “I really commend our president Biden for taking that step and being the first one to have that courage to say, ‘Yes, we done wrong.’”

Curley said that is something that many Indigenous people have been waiting to hear, including the Navajo people.

“Many of our children didn’t come home,” she said, and the policies’ lingering effects include the loss of language and culture.

The Department of the Interior investigated the federal Indian boarding school system across the United States, identifying more than 400 schools and over 70 burial sites.

Arizona was home to 47 of those schools, which were attended by Indigenous children who were taken away from their families and attempted to assimilate them through education — and, often, physical punishment.

The legacy of the federal Indian boarding school system is not new to Indigenous people. For centuries, Indigenous people across the country have experienced the loss of their culture, traditions, language and land.

Multiple federally operated boarding schools were established in the Navajo Nation in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, and many of them are still operational today, though under different policies than when they were constructed.

Curley said that there are still a lot of federally operated Bureau of Indian Education schools in operation on the Navajo Nation, but some families still hesitate to enroll their children in them because of the boarding school history.

She hopes that this apology will lead to the federal government investing in the education system within tribal nations.

“Start investing back into our children and our mental, spiritual, (and) psychological health that this has caused for many decades,” she added.

Curley said she hopes that the momentum of Biden’s apology will be carried on into the next administration by acknowledging the wrong done to Indigenous communities.

Now that an official apology has been given, Curley said that healing needs to take place and that comes in the form of investing in Indigenous communities, something she said is best done by funding public and mental health resources, as well as reinvesting in the culture and language revitalizations within their communities.

“For healing to take place, it takes at least two generations,” Curley said.

After Biden issued his apology, Native organizations and advocates from across Indian Country called for action.

Cheryl Crazy Bull, the president and CEO of the American Indian College Fund, said that the federal government and philanthropists need to make a significant investment in restorative and healing approaches as well as institutions to repair the harm done by the boarding school era.

“The Native people who we support, from our youngest children to our college students, deserve that investment,” she said.

Crystal Echo Hawk, the founder and CEO of IllumiNative, called Biden’s apology a significant step toward justice for Indian Country, but said it must not be the end of the government’s efforts.

“True accountability requires comprehensive action — beginning with full transparency about the extent of these abuses and the return of Native children’s remains to their families and communities,” she said.

“We must continue to demand further accountability of the harms done to Native peoples, especially the Native children who experienced neglect, inhumane conditions, physical and sexual abuse, and death under the guise of education,” Echo Hawk said. “The federal government must commit to supporting Native-led healing initiatives, language revitalization programs, and cultural preservation efforts to effectively begin repairing the damage of the past.”

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