Category: Politics

(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris acknowledged disappointment around her election loss during her remarks on Tuesday, urging voters to “stay in the fight.”

The speech marks the vice president’s most extensive comments since her concession speech following her loss to President-elect Donald Trump in November.

“Over the past several weeks, since the election, I have received tens of thousands of letters from people across our nation, many of them young leaders, Americans from every walk of life, people of every age, race, faith and political party,” Harris said in Prince George’s County, Maryland,. “These letters share a common theme. Yes, there is disappointment, but there is also resolve for the future.”

“As we then approach the end of this year, many people have come up to me telling me they feel tired … maybe even resigned … that they’re not sure whether they have the strength, much less the desire, to stay in the fight. Let me be very clear: No one can walk away. No one can walk away,” she said. “We must stay in the fight, every one of us, including the fight for an economy that works, not just for those at the very top but for working people — for all Americans. To fight to make sure everyone has a fair shot to pursue their ambitions. The fight for our ideals, including the equality among us, the freedoms to which we are entitled, the dignity that we possess and is possessed by every one of us.

“So we must stay in the fight because that is the responsibility, in my opinion, that comes with the privilege of being an American,” she added.

Harris thanked the audience of “young leaders,” including high school and college students, recent graduates and apprentices who have been active in their local communities, in her remarks at Prince George’s Community College. She was joined by Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller and Sen.-elect Angela Alsobrooks, all Democrats.

“Everyone, please, get some rest over the holidays and spend time with the people you love,” she concluded. “And then I urge you … I challenge you to come back ready, ready to chart our path into the future, chin up, shoulders back and forever impatient for change … and be ready to get back to work fighting for opportunity and freedom, fighting for fairness and dignity, back to work fighting for this country we love and the future we share.”

The speech followed remarks the vice president gave Sunday with President Joe Biden at the Democratic National Committee’s holiday reception and came amid questions about Harris’ political future after she leaves office on Jan. 20.

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(WASHINGTON) — Several House Republicans stormed out of Tuesday morning’s conference meeting furious over Speaker Mike Johnson’s handling of the government funding bill – which still isn’t ready and puts the federal government on the brink of a shutdown at the end of the week.

Republicans had initially promised to release bill text over the weekend with the aim of holding a vote early in the week, but outspoken criticism from within their ranks has continually delayed negotiators from finalizing the legislation.

Johnson denied that the evolving package amounts to a so-called “Christmas tree omnibus,” but confirmed that the measure is not a clean continuing resolution and will include a disaster relief package — reported to be more than $100 billion — as well as $10 billion for the agricultural community.

Missouri Republican Rep. Eric Burlison called the speaker’s funding plan presented at the conference meeting a “total dumpster fire.”

“I think it’s garbage,” Burlison said, adding that he has conveyed his frustrations to Johnson, who is seeking to retain the speaker’s gavel in the new year.

“I’m disappointed,” Burlison said when asked about Johnson’s future. “I think that he can do better. He can communicate better. The fact that we haven’t seen the language today and we’re supposed to vote on it this week is unacceptable.”

South Carolina Republican Rep. Ralph Norman said he is frustrated with the funding plan as well.

“I’m not voting for the CR [continuing resolution],” he said.

Texas GOP Rep. Chip Roy, a frequent critic of the leadership’s spending bills, said, “This is not the way to do business right.”

“We’re just fundamentally unserious about spending. And as long as you got a blank check, you can’t shrink the government. If you can’t shrink the government, you can’t live free,” Roy said.

The Texas congressman did not respond when asked if he’ll support the speaker in January.

Georgia Republican Rep. Rich McCormick said as he left the meeting, “I’m frustrated with the whole approach to this, because I think, once again, we’re just adding to the deficit without having any clear plan forward,”

After relying on Democrats for bipartisan support to pass the past five continuing resolutions, Johnson brushed off the criticism bubbling up within his ranks, stressing that the bill has not been released.

“I got a couple of friends who will just say that about any end of year funding measure,” Johnson said. “This is not an omnibus, OK? This is a small CR that we’ve had to add things to that were out of our control. These are not manmade disasters. These are things that the federal government has an appropriate role to do.”

Despite the growing tensions, Johnson expressed optimism that his speakership will overcome the challenges to buy the conference time until Republicans have unified control over Washington next year.

“I’m not worried about the speaker’s vote. We’re governing. Everybody knows we have difficult circumstances. We’re doing the very best we can under those circumstances,” Johnson said. “These are the hard choices that lawmakers have to make, but we will get the job done, as we always do. We will. We will keep moving forward, and in January, we have a new lease on all this.”

With government funding set to lapse at the end of the week, Johnson was steadfast that the House must abide by a 72-hour rule, where the clock starts to tee up a vote once bill text is released.

“I believe in the 72-hour roll rule,” Johnson said. “We’re committed to all of that. We’re going to take care of these obligations and get this done, and then we’re going to go to work in unified government in the 119th Congress. It begins in January.”

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(NEW YORK) — In a final lame-duck push, the Senate will attempt to pass legislation aimed at providing full Social Security benefits to millions of Americans this week.

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in floor remarks Monday he’d push for a vote on the Social Security Fairness Act before the week is out.

“We will vote and every Senator will choose. Where are you? Do you stand on the side of public retirees who deserve their benefits, or bungle this golden opportunity by blocking this bill?” Schumer said in a floor speech.

The closely-watched legislation repeals provisions that limit the ability of some retirees who also collect pensions from claiming social security benefits. Among those impacted are retirees who at one time worked as firefighters, teachers, postal worker, a police officer, or in other public sector jobs. A provision that limits the benefits allotted to those workers’ surviving spouses would also be eliminated.

The legislation already passed the House with overwhelming bipartisan support in November, but Congress would need to act this week to avoid having to restart the process of passing the legislation in the new year.

The bipartisan bill has 62 Senate cosponsors, all but ensuring that it would have the necessary 60 votes it needs to overcome the Senate filibuster and pass.

It has strong advocates on both sides of the aisle.

“It is unfair to penalize Americans who have taught our children, protected our streets, and ran into burning buildings,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, the top Republican on the Senate’s Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee, said in a post on X earlier this month.

But there is some concern among Republicans about the cost of the bill and the increased strain it could put on the already underfunded Social Security trust fund.

The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has estimated that the bill would increase the deficit by $196 billion and increase the rate at which the Social Security trust fund becomes insolvent.

As a result, there could be challenges on the floor that limit the ability to expedite passage of this bill. And there’s certainly a time crunch to consider.

The Senate isn’t short on things to accomplish during this last week of the lame-duck session. It is currently working to process the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act. Senators must also approve a government funding bill before the end of the week if they wish to avert a shutdown.

If the Social Security Fairness Act is challenged in a way that slows the process of its passage, the Senate may run short on time to get this done.

It is not yet known when the Senate will vote on this legislation.

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(WASHINGTON) — In a sweeping change that could American save consumers time and money — the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Tuesday finalized a rule that would ban surprise “junk fees” for live event tickets, hotels and vacation rentals.

The rule would require businesses to disclose total prices upfront, rather than tacking on extra costs like “convenience fees” or “resort fees” when consumers check out online.

“Whatever price you see is the price that you are paying at the end, no more mystery surprise fees at the very end of the process, which really cheat consumers and also punish honest businesses,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said in an exclusive interview with ABC News.

The FTC said the final rule, which takes effect around April of next year, could save consumers 53 million hours in wasted time searching for the total price of live event tickets or short-term lodging — equal to about $11 billion in savings over a decade.

The rule would not stop businesses from charging fees. But they would be required to list prices clearly from the onset and to display the total cost more prominently on a website than any other price.

“This should really provide the American people with just some more clarity and confidence so they don’t feel like they’re getting cheated or having to be bait and switched by all of these deceptive pricing tactics,” Khan said. “This is really about saving people money and saving people time.”

The change is part of a broader push from the administration of President Joe Biden to lower costs as households have been plagued by stubborn inflation. Last week the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced a final rule to curb bank overdraft fees.

In a statement to ABC News, Biden said: “Today’s announcement builds on work across my Administration to ban junk fees and lower costs — saving many families hundreds of dollars each year.”

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has opposed the rule, calling it “nothing more than an attempt to micromanage businesses’ pricing structures, often undermining businesses’ ability to give consumers options at different price points.”

The business lobbying group has already sued the FTC over other regulations, including a rule to ban noncompete agreements for millions of workers.

Asked about the likelihood the junk fee rule would face challenges in court, Khan told ABC News the FTC is on “firm legal grounds.”

“We’ve also seen bipartisan proposals in Congress to take on these junk fees in these in these industries,” Khan said. “I can’t predict the future, but I’d be very surprised if something that’s just common sense was going to be stripped away.”

At the helm of the FTC, Khan has been credited with ushering in a new era of anti-trust regulation, challenging the business models of major corporations in industries ranging from Big Tech to pharmaceuticals. Her aggressive approach quickly made her a prominent target among conservatives and Wall Street investors.

President-elect Trump announced last week he nominated Andrew Ferguson, a current Republican FTC commissioner, to replace Khan.

“These junk fees have really proliferated across the economy, and I would want to make sure that future enforcers and future policy makers were taking on these junk fees across the economy,” Khan told ABC News.

As for her political future, Khan said she’s still laser-focused on her current role.

“I’m just focused on doing my job in the in the days and weeks we have left,” she said. “I’ve just been really thrilled to see the enormous support across the country for a strong and vigorous FTC.”

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(NEW YORK) — President-elect Donald Trump said Monday that the Biden administration knows more about the drones that have raised alarms over parts of the country than it’s sharing with the public.

“They know where it came from and where it went. And for some reason, they don’t want to comment. And I think they’d be better off saying what it is. Our military knows and our president knows. And for some reason, they want to keep people in suspense,” Trump said.

Trump took questions for more than an hour on a number of subjects. He started his remarks with an announcement that SoftBank will make a $100 billion investment in the U.S. that will create 100,000 jobs focused on artificial intelligence and emerging technologies. SoftBank plans to complete the work before Trump leaves office in 2029, according to a person familiar with the matter.

TikTok and election results

Asked about a potential ban on TikTok unless it finds new ownership, Trump said he has “a warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” because of its effect on his winning a larger share of the youth vote than he did in 2016.

A federal appeals court last week rejected TikTok’s attempt to stop the pending ban and pause the Jan. 19 deadline for a sale.

“TikTok had an impact,” Trump said. “And, so we’re taking a look at it. I don’t know why, but we ended up finishing, we were, there was one poll that showed us down about 30. We were 35 or 36 points up with young people. So I have a little bit of a warm spot in my heart.”

Considering a pardon for Eric Adams

Trump also said he would “take a look” at a pardon for New York Mayor Eric Adams, who was indicted in September on bribery charges.

“I think that he was treated pretty unfairly,” Trump said, and suggested the charges were retribution for Adams speaking out against migrants flooding into the country.

“It’s very interesting when he essentially went against what was happening with the migrants coming in,” Trump said. “And, you know, he made some pretty strong statements like ‘This is not sustainable.’ I said, ‘You know what? He’ll be indicted soon.’ And I said it. That is a prediction, a little bit lightheartedly, but I said it. I said, ‘He’s going to be indicted.’ And a few months later he got indicted. So I would certainly look at it.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and vaccines

Following reports last week that the personal attorney for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, had previously lobbied the Food and Drug Administration to revoke its approval of the polio vaccine, the president-elect said he had no plans to ban the vaccine.

“You’re not gonna lose the polio vaccine. That’s not gonna happen,” he said. “I saw what happened with the polio. I have friends that were very much affected by that. I have friends from many years ago, and they have obviously, they they’re still in not such good shape because of it.”

Trump’s selection of Kennedy, known an anti-vaccine crusader, to lead HHS has raised concerns about what effects his activism might have on the agency’s mission. Trump said Monday those concerns are unfounded.

“I think you’re going to find that Bobby is much — he’s a very rational guy. I found him to be very rational,” Trump said.

“But we’re going to look into finding why is the autism rate so much higher than it was 20, 25, 30 years ago,” he said. “I mean, it’s like it’s 100 times higher. There’s something wrong. And we’re going to try finding that.”

Ending the war in Ukraine

Asked if Ukraine should cede territory to Russia to end the war, Trump didn’t give a straight answer, instead saying cities there are a “demolition site” and there’s “nothing there” for Ukrainians.

“But, a lot of that territory, when you look at what’s happened to those, I mean, there are cities that there’s not a building standing. It’s a demolition site. There’s not a building standing. So people can’t go back to those cities. There’s nothing there. It’s just rubble,” Trump said, hinting that there isn’t a reason for Ukraine to keep the land.

Auctioning off the border wall

While calling the transition from the Biden administration to his incoming one “friendly,” Trump called for a policy change on the border wall, claiming the White House was attempting to auction off border wall material.

“That has nothing to do with a smooth transition, that has to do with people really trying to stop our nation, and all it means really is that we’re going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars more, not even talking about the time,” he said.

“It’s almost a criminal act,” Trump claimed as he lamented that border wall materials are being sold for “5 cents on the dollar.”

A deadline of Israeli hostages

In recounting his discussion on a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump repeated his threat that Israeli hostages held by Hamas and others in the Middle East should be released by Inauguration Day.

“We discussed what is going to happen and I’ll be very available on January 20th,” he said. “And we’ll see. I, as you know, I gave warning that if these hostages aren’t back home by that date, all hell is going to break out and very strong.”

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(NEW YORK) — President-elect Donald Trump announced Monday that SoftBank will make a $100 billion investment in the U.S. that will create 100,000 jobs focused on artificial intelligence and emerging technologies. SoftBank plans to complete the work before Trump leaves office in 2029, according to a person familiar with the matter.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(WASHINGTON) — David Hogg, gun control activist, March for our Lives co-founder and Parkland school shooting survivor, is running for vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, ABC News has learned.

“I think this role is a great way of, for one, bringing newer voices into the Democratic Party,” Hogg told ABC News. “I just want to be one of several of those voices to help represent young people and also, more than anything, make sure that we’re standing up to the consulting class that increasingly the Democratic Party is representing instead of the working class.”

The DNC offers four opportunities to serve in a vice chair capacity — three general vice chairperson roles and one vice chairperson for civic engagement and voter participation.At 24, Hogg is considerably younger than the declared candidates for DNC chair, notable after Vice President Kamala Harris’ pitched herself as a “new generation of leadership” during her presidential bid.

In the days leading up to the initial March for Our Lives, the student-run nonprofit March for Our Lives was formed to combat gun violence.

During his gap year before attending Harvard University, Hogg campaigned for many Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections, and last year launched the progressive PAC Leaders We Deserve to elect younger lawmakers. Hogg was also a vocal supporter of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s vice presidential bid.

Hogg believes that Democrats did a poor job of communicating their message in the last election in a way that truly resonated with voters, among several other missteps. He also wants to see the party take more direct accountability — and says he finds the shrugged-off complacency from others in his party that they “did their best” is “unacceptable.”

“We need to realize that we are increasingly the party of sycophants,” he said. “We are just surrounding ourselves with people who tell us what we want to hear instead of what instead of what we need to hear, we’re increasingly surrounding ourselves with paid political consultants that no that are letting what donors say to them guide their talking points.”

Hogg suggested that an outside group briefs the committee on the pitfalls of their election strategy. But he also wants to be solution-oriented, and part of his pitch is his ability to uniquely communicate in spaces where Democrats have struggled to transform momentum into actual votes: online.

More than half of young men under 30 voted for President-elect Donald Trump in November, a major increase from 2020. Hogg, himself a member of Gen Z, wants to meet these men where they are and cites Harris not doing Joe Rogan’s podcast prior to the election as a major missed opportunity.

While these young men shifted away from Harris in unanticipated margins, Hogg says Democrats’ losses this election are bigger than just one voting bloc — and hopes that extreme candor and commitments to those groups will not only rebuild but expand the party.

“What really bothers me is, we say to people all the time, ‘Who’s to blame for this election?’ It’s young people, it’s X minority group… but really, who’s to blame for this? It’s us. It’s us. Ultimately, we failed to communicate, and we failed to have a broader strategy within the party to make sure that we were telling the president what he needed to hear, rather than what he wanted to hear, which was that he needed to drop out.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. arrives on Capitol Hill on Monday to kickstart several days of private meetings with more than two dozen senators and their staff in a bid to become the nation’s next health secretary.

Among the senators on Kennedy’s list is Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the GOP’s pick to become the next Senate majority leader.

Kennedy’s chances of getting confirmed by the Senate aren’t clear. His past comments questioning vaccine science and the food industry could lose — and gain — votes on either side of the aisle depending on how he talks about his plans for the incoming administration.

Here are three questions surrounding his nomination:

Would he try to limit access to certain vaccines like the polio shot or encourage schools to drop vaccine mandates?

Kennedy has said he’s not opposed to all vaccines. He says he’s fully vaccinated, with the exception of the COVID-19 shot, and that he has vaccinated his children.

Kennedy also has falsely claimed that childhood vaccines cause autism, even though the study claiming that link has been retracted and numerous other high-quality studies have found no evidence that vaccines are tied to autism.

Kennedy also has questioned the safety of the polio vaccine and enlisted the help of a longtime adviser and anti-vaccine advocate, Aaron Siri, to vet potential job candidates for the incoming administration.

Siri petitioned the Food and Drug Administration in 2022 to revoke its approval of the polio vaccine on behalf of an anti-vaccination advocacy group.

Dr. Richard Besser, a former head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and an ABC News contributor, said senators should ask Kennedy if he would consider using his new post to discourage local school districts from requiring vaccinations.

While state — not federal — laws establish vaccination requirements for local schools, they rely heavily on the recommendations by the CDC and FDA, which Kennedy would oversee as health secretary, if confirmed. Currently, all 50 states and Washington, D.C. have laws requiring vaccines to attend schools, although some offer exemptions.

“What will you do to make sure that parents can feel comfortable sending their children to school protected from measles, whooping cough and other vaccine-preventable diseases if vaccines are no longer required?” Besser said senators should be asking Kennedy.

Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader in history and a polio survivor, said last week that anyone seeking Senate confirmation would “do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts.”

Will Kennedy use ‘confirmation bias’ to review government data

Confirmation bias is the idea that people often seek out information that supports their own deeply held beliefs, rather than be open to accepting new information that might challenge their ideas.

When it comes to the polio vaccination, Kennedy has said he’s willing to say that he’s wrong but that he has yet to see information that would convince him.

“If you show me a scientific study that shows that I’m wrong… I’m going to put that on my Twitter and I’m going to say I was wrong,” he said in a podcast last year with Lex Fridman.

It’s likely several senators will ask Kennedy whether he’d be willing to change his mind on vaccines based on data, or if he’s already convinced that the data is wrong or manipulated.

Critics say Kennedy is willfully ignoring the information that’s out there already. In a letter obtained by The New York Times, more than 75 Nobel Prize winners urged U.S. senators to block his nomination, citing the his “lack of credentials or relative experience” in matters of medicine, science and public health.

“In view of his record, placing Mr. Kennedy in charge of [the Department of Health and Human Services] would put the public’s health in jeopardy and undermine America’s global leadership in the health sciences, in both the public and commercial sectors,” the laureates wrote.

How would he try to change what Americans eat?

Kennedy finds the most political consensus when he talks about America’s obesity crisis and blames the high levels of sugar, sodium and fat in ultra-processed foods. A longtime environmental advocate, he’s also taken aim at the use of additives pushed by food companies — earning him kudos from some Democrats.

“We’re prioritizing corporations feeding us unhealthy products instead of family farmers growing fresh, healthy foods – and we let too many dangerous chemicals flood our food system,” said Sen. Cory Booker last month after Kennedy’s nomination was announced.

“We all must come together to build a system that works for all,” he added.

But one big question many senators will likely ask is how Kennedy plans to turn around America’s eating habits in a way that doesn’t hurt U.S. farmers or heavily regulate agricultural businesses that are key political supporters of President-elect Donald Trump. During Trump’s first administration, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue rolled back Obama-era rules that sought to limit sodium and sugar in children’s school lunches that accept federal subsidies.

FDA Administrator Robert Califf, who will step down when Trump takes office in January, testified recently before a Senate committee that there’s a lot we still don’t know about food science and safety. When the FDA does move ahead with regulation, he said the rule is often challenged in court.

“What sounds simple, given the current state of judicial affairs, First Amendment rights, [is] the fact that corporations have the same rights as individuals — every little thing we do, unless specifically in detail instructed by Congress — it’s not just that we lose in court, but we lose years,” he said.

ABC’s Olivia Rubin contributed to this report.

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Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said Sunday that he has no concerns about President-elect Donald Trump’s selection of former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard to serve as director of national intelligence.

Gabbard, a vocal non-interventionist, has seen her credentials come under scrutiny, particularly in light of a regime change in Syria and her covert meeting with former strongman Bashar Assad in 2017, which occurred after he had used chemical weapons on protesters. She later said Assad was “not the enemy of the United States.”

“I know Tulsi Gabbard. She’s a patriot. She served our country honorably. She, I think, fits the reform agenda. President Trump ran on disrupting permanent Washington and having people who are going to view things differently,” Schmitt told “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos. “There’s a lot of reform, George, that needs to happen in those agencies. Tulsi Gabbard is somebody who I think can execute on that.”

“I don’t think it’s unusual for members of Congress to visit foreign countries and talk to foreign leaders,” he said of the former Democratic congresswoman. “President Trump, I think, believes in engaging in diplomacy, solving these things.”

Gabbard has begun meeting with senators on Capitol Hill to try to get the votes she’ll need from them for confirmation, though her chances have coincided with a wider debate over the U.S. role in Syria.

Trump has said the U.S. should stay out of events there, although there are 900 U.S. troops in the country to fight remaining ISIS pockets. Trump has not definitively said what he plans to do with those troops.

“I think that’s a longer discussion, and a discussion that President Trump had in his first term,” Schmitt said. “I do think we’re entering a new phase, though, of realism in this country. President Trump would be less interventionist, and we get back to our core national interests, principally defending the homeland, the Indo-Pacific and China.”

“Understanding what terrorism means around the world is important, but having these trip wires in other regions that pull us into wars, I think the American people have had enough of that,” he added when pressed on the risks of an ISIS resurgence if U.S. troops leave Syria.

Gabbard is just one of many Trump picks who will need to win confirmation.

Stephanopoulos also pressed Schmitt on Kash Patel, the president-elect’s choice to lead the FBI.

Patel is a top Trump loyalist who has railed against the “deep state” and pushed to eliminate the FBI’s intelligence gathering capabilities, leading some critics to say that he’d politicize the bureau in Trump’s favor.

Asked about Patel’s book “Government Gangsters,” in which he included a 60-person “enemies list,” Schmitt dismissed that as a “footnote” in the book and insisted that Patel does not have an “enemies list.” Schmitt said Patel would bring change to an agency that many Republicans have grown to distrust.

“That agency is in desperate need of reform. Kash Patel is very qualified, and I think he’s going to get the support in the Senate,” Schmitt said.

On Trump’s promise to pardon Jan. 6 rioters, Schmitt said the president-elect would look at pardons on an individual basis and decipher between violent and non-violent offenders, which he said is the “exact right approach.”

“I think you do separate violent acts from non-violent acts, but I think he’s been pretty clear he’s going to view these individually,” Schmitt said.

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(NEW YORK) — Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the federal government is taking action to address the aerial drones that have prompted concern among New Jersey residents.

“There’s no question that people are seeing drones,” he told “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos in an exclusive interview on Sunday. “I want to assure the American public that we in the federal government have deployed additional resources, personnel, technology to assist the New Jersey State Police in addressing the drone sightings.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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