Closing summary
Talks are ongoing over reaching a debt ceiling deal, amid reports that negotiators for Joe Biden and Kevin McCarthy are nearing an agreement that would cut some government spending while preserving many of the White House’s priorities. Meanwhile, the GOP-led push to tighten abortion access was dealt a setback in South Carolina, where a judge temporarily halted a newly passed ban on procedures past the sixth week of pregnancy until the state supreme court can review it.
Here is what else happened today:
Officials in Ron DeSantis’s administration have asked lobbyists for contributions to his newly announced presidential campaign, raising ethical and potentially legal questions.
Texas lawmakers could as soon as today oust the state’s attorney general over an array of misconduct.
In Iowa, Republican governor Kim Reynolds signed a bill curtailing children’s access to information about gender and sexuality in schools.
No matter how the debt limit standoff is resolved, the United States is on a worrying financial path, a government report concludes.
North Dakota’s governor Doug Burgum is poised to jump into the presidential race.
The Republican presidential field will gain a new entrant early next month, when North Dakota governor Doug Burgum announces his campaign for president, the Washington Post reports.
Burgum does not have much of a national profile, and it’s unclear how he will differentiate himself from the race’s frontrunner Donald Trump and his strongest challenger, Florida governor Ron DeSantis. Burgum has signed a law banning almost all abortions in the reliably-Republican state, and another cracking down on transgender rights.
Despite his pursuit of rightwing policies typical of Republican governors nationwide, Burgum complained to the editorial board of North Dakota newspaper the Forum that many Americans feel alienated from the political process. “There’s definitely a yearning for some alternatives right now,” he said.
