Senate to hold test vote on Pete Hegseth as a key Republican announces opposition
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(WASHINGTON) — Pete Hegseth, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon, faces a key procedural hurdle in the Senate on Thursday on advancing his nomination.
The vote will occur after lawmakers consider the nomination of John Ratcliffe for CIA director. Ratcliffe is poised to be Trump’s second confirmed Cabinet official.
Hegseth’s test vote could come down to the wire, as he can only afford to lose three Senate Republicans assuming all Democrats oppose him.
If he loses three Republicans, Vice President JD Vance, in his role as president of the Senate, could be called on to cast a tie-breaking vote.
Moments before the showdown, a key Senate Republican had announced her opposition to Hegseth.
“After thorough evaluation, I must conclude that I cannot in good conscience support his nomination for Secretary of Defense,” Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski said in a post on X. “I did not make this decision lightly; I take my constitutional responsibility to provide advice and consent with the utmost seriousness.”
Murkowski said she was not confident Hegseth was sufficiently prepared to lead the Pentagon, which is the largest government agency, and took issue with his past statements concerning women in the military.
The Alaska Republican also referenced allegations of sexual misconduct and excessive drinking. Hegseth has largely denied the accusations against him, and told lawmakers he’s a “changed man.”
“The past behaviors Mr. Hegseth has admitted to, including infidelity on multiple occasions, demonstrate a lack of judgment that is unbecoming of someone who would lead our armed forces,” she said. “These behaviors starkly contrast the values and discipline expected of servicemembers.”
All eyes will be on GOP Sens. Susan Collins and Mitch McConnell, who have also expressed varying levels of skepticism about Hegseth’s nomination.
In a floor speech on Thursday, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker gave an endorsement of Hegseth, calling him the “right man for the job.”
The committee earlier this week narrowly advanced Hegseth’s nomination in a 14-13 vote along party lines.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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(WASHINGTON) — New legislation in Congress aims to tackle a financial burden weighing on millions of households — rent that is “too damn high,” as one New York City housing activist famously claimed.
The bill, introduced by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and co-sponsored by eight other Senate Democrats, targets companies that collect data on rental markets from landlords and then use the data for an algorithm to help broadly determine rents.
In an exclusive interview with ABC News, Klobuchar called it a “high-tech” version of collusion, saying companies that use these models are widely sourcing rents from competitors and colluding to drive up costs for consumers. The landlords plug in their nonpublic information related to rents into the RealPage software and then are able to receive pricing recommendations, circumventing normal competitive strategies for setting rents. The bill, she said, wouldn’t prevent landlords from using algorithms — but it would stop companies from illegally working together to set higher rents.
“It’s just textbook collusion,” Klobuchar said. “It’s clearly illegal for these landlords who compete with each other to get together for dinner one night and go, ‘Hey, let’s all set our rents high and then we won’t compete with each other.’
“Well, this is just a high-tech, sophisticated way of doing it, and our laws need to be as sophisticated,” she said.
Last year, the Justice Department sued real estate software company RealPage, which is the most-used company providing algorithmic pricing. The lawsuit alleged RealPage engaged in a collusion scheme with landlords that resulted in higher rent across the country.
“We constantly interact with algorithms, whether shopping online, paying rent, booking a flight, hailing a ride, buying insurance. I mean, that happens,” Klobuchar said. “But we’ve got to draw the line when they’re actually being used to fix prices, to hurt consumers, and that is exactly what I believe, and the Justice Department believes, has been going on.”
A report by the Biden administration’s Council of Economic Advisers found that algorithms like the one used by RealPage added over $90 a month to average rents in Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Diego, Tampa and Washington, D.C. — and added over $130 a month to rents in Dallas, Denver and Atlanta.
In 2023, the algorithmic pricing added a total of $3.8 billion to the price of rentals nationwide, according to the report.
The report also found that RealPage is used to determine rent for nearly 1 in 4 multifamily properties.
In a statement in December, RealPage defended its software, saying it was built to be legally compliant and enhances competition for customers in rental housing.
“We remain unwavering in our belief that RealPage’s revenue management software benefits both housing providers and residents,” it said.
“Housing is still the largest monthly expense for most households, and that includes rent,” Klobuchar said. “We have clear documentation from economists that this price-fixing by algorithms increased the rents by nearly $4 billion in 2023 — we know this is happening, and it’s so hard for people to get by now anyway.”
Rents have been one of the most stubborn drivers of high, post-pandemic inflation — up 4.3% over the past year, according to the government’s latest consumer price index report. That outpaces the overall annual inflation rate, which stands at 2.9%.
The legislation introduced by Klobuchar, called the “Preventing Algorithmic Collusion Act,” would require rental companies to disclose if they are using algorithms to set rents. And it would direct the Federal Trade Commission to study how these algorithms are affecting competition.
It will need bipartisan support in the Republican-controlled Senate and House to have a future. Klobuchar said she is optimistic the bill can garner support from Republicans.
While former President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice was aggressive on antitrust enforcement, aided by then-FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan, the Trump administration also has interest in propelling the issue. Antitrust cases against Google and Meta were initiated under Trump’s first term, and Vice President J.D. Vance was vocal about taking on powerful monopolies while in the Senate. One of his former aides, Gail Slater, will now take a leading attorney role at the DOJ.
In announcing Slater’s position, President Donald Trump said Big Tech companies have “run wild for years.”
Still, Klobuchar admitted that seeing the hefty showing of tech CEOs at Trump’s inauguration — the “broligarchs,” as she called them — gave her pause.
“But there are some good people that are going to keep doing this work within the bowels of the Department of Justice. So my hope is that there will be continued antitrust enforcement,” she said.
In the meantime, Klobuchar urged renters to do their own research, with the awareness that there are “forces out there” raising rents in most metropolitan areas.
“Why not ask when you’re going to rent: ‘Are you involved with RealPage or one of these companies that sets rents?'” she said.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Monday issued preemptive pardons to potential targets of the incoming Trump administration, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley and lawmakers who served on the House Jan. 6 Committee.
“Our nation relies on dedicated, selfless public servants every day. They are the lifeblood of our democracy,” Biden said in a statement just hours before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn into office.
“Yet alarmingly, public servants have been subjected to ongoing threats and intimidation for faithfully discharging their duties,” Biden added.
Trump in his 2024 campaign repeatedly vowed “retribution” on his political enemies, specifically singling out lawmakers like Liz Cheney who investigated the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump said Cheney and other committee members should be put in jail.
Milley, who retired as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2023, has long been a target of Republican attacks over the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been a lightning rod for criticism over the federal government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Milley put out a statement shortly after Biden’s announcement.
“My family and I are deeply grateful for the President’s action today,” he said. “After forty-three years of faithful service in uniform to our Nation, protecting and defending the Constitution, I do not wish to spend whatever remaining time the Lord grants me fighting those who unjustly might seek retribution for perceived slights. I do not want to put my family, my friends, and those with whom I served through the resulting distraction, expense, and anxiety.”
“It has been an honor and a privilege to serve our great country in uniform for over four decades, and I will continue to keep faith and loyalty to our nation and Constitution until my dying breath,” Milley added.
Fauci told ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl he accepted the pardon and is grateful for it.
“I really truly appreciate the action President Biden has taken today on my behalf,” Fauci said. “Let me be perfectly clear, Jon, I have committed no crime, you know that, and there are no possible grounds for any allegation or threat of criminal investigation or prosecution of me.”
But Fauci said the threats and possibility of prosecution “creates immeasurable and intolerable distress on me and my family.”
ABC News reported in early December that Biden was considering such an action, days after he issued a full pardon for his son, Hunter Biden. In an exit interview with USA Today earlier this month, Biden signaled he was still wrestling with the decision.
Some Democrats argued against preemptive pardons, including Sen. Adam Schiff, who served on the House Jan. 6 committee.
“The precedent of giving blanket pardons, preemptive blanket pardons on the way out of an administration, I think is a precedent we don’t want to set,” Schiff said on ABC’s “This Week” in December.
But Biden, in his statement on Monday, expressed concern about attempts to rewrite the violence that unfolded at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics,” Biden said. “But these are exceptional circumstances, and I cannot in good conscience do nothing. Baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted individuals and their families.”
“That is why I am exercising my authority under the Constitution to pardon General Mark A. Milley, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the Members of Congress and staff who served on the Select Committee, and the U.S. Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before the Select Committee,” he said. “The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense. Our nation owes these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless commitment to our country.”
Harry Dunn, a former Capitol Police officer, said he was “eternally grateful” to Biden for the action but also for his leadership.
“I wish this pardon weren’t necessary, but unfortunately, the political climate we are in now has made the need for one somewhat of a reality. I, like all of the other public servants, was just doing my job and upholding my oath, and I will always honor that,” Dunn said.
ABC News’ Matt Seyler and Pierre Thomas contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The House Judiciary Committee will see a changing of the guard in the 119th Congress with a new Democratic leader.
Rep. Jerry Nadler announced Wednesday that he would not run to be the top Democrat on the committee, which he has been for the last seven years.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D- Md., announced plans Monday to challenge Nadler for the leadership spot. Nadler, 77, endorsed Raskin, 61, in a letter to his colleagues.
“As our country faces the return of Donald Trump, and the renewed threats to our democracy and our way of life that he represents, I am very confident that Jamie would ably lead the Judiciary Committee as we confront this growing danger,” he wrote.
Raskin did not immediately comment on Nadler’s decision.
The Maryland congressman’s challenge came as Democrats worried that Nadler was not vigorous enough to match the Republican committee chair, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan.
Raskin is the former chair of the House Oversight Committee, a constitutional scholar and also sat on the Jan. 6th Committee. He was also the lead manager for Trump’s second impeachment over the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Raskin said in a letter to colleagues that the Judiciary Committee “will be the headquarters of Congressional opposition to authoritarianism and MAGA’s campaign to dismantle our Constitutional system and the rule of law as we know it.”
Raskin was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2010 and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in 2022 and underwent chemotherapy for both diagnoses and surgery for the former. Last year, Raskin said the cancer was in remission.
The congressman noted his cancer survival in his letter to colleagues.
“I hope to be at the center of this fight and — as someone who has battled cancer and chemotherapy — I can tell you that I will never, never surrender,” he wrote.
Nadler, who plans on staying on the committee, also praised Raskin.
“I am also proud that, under my leadership, some of our caucus’s most talented rising stars have been given a platform to demonstrate their leadership and their abilities,” he wrote. “That includes Jamie Raskin, who in just a few terms in Congress has already proven himself to be an exceptional leader and spokesperson for our party’s values.