By BEN FINLEY, ERIC TUCKER, KEVIN FREKING and JOSHUA GOODMAN

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s “blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers off Venezuela’s coast is raising new questions about the legality of his military campaign in Latin America, while fueling concerns that the U.S. could be edging closer to war.

The Trump administration says its blockade is narrowly tailored and not targeting civilians, which would be an illegal act of war. But some experts say seizing sanctioned oil tied to leader Nicolás Maduro could provoke a military response from Venezuela, engaging American forces in a new level of conflict that goes beyond their attacks on alleged drug boats.

“My biggest fear is this is exactly how wars start and how conflicts escalate out of control,” said Rep. Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. “And there are no adults in the room with this administration, nor is there consultation with Congress. So I’m very worried.”

Claire Finkelstein, a professor of national security law at the University of Pennsylvania, said the use of such an aggressive tactic without congressional authority stretches the bounds of international law and increasingly looks like a veiled attempt to trigger a Venezuelan response.

“The concern is that we are bootstrapping our way into armed conflict,” Finkelstein said. “We’re upping the ante in order to try to get them to engage in an act of aggression that would then justify an act of self-defense on our part.”

Republicans largely are OK with the campaign

Trump has used the word “blockade” to describe his latest tactic in an escalating pressure campaign against Maduro, who has been charged with narcoterrorism in the U.S. and now has been accused of using oil profits to fund drug trafficking. While Trump said it only applies to vessels facing U.S. economic penalties, the move has sparked outrage among Democrats and mostly shrugs, if not cheers, from Republicans.

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said Trump going after sanctioned oil tankers linked to Venezuela is no different from targeting Iranian oil.

“Just like with the Iranian shadow tankers, I have no problem with that,” McCaul said. “They’re circumventing sanctions.”

The president has declared the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with drug cartels in an effort to reduce the flow of drugs to American communities. U.S. forces have attacked 26 alleged drug-smuggling boats and killed least 99 people since early September. Trump has repeatedly promised that land strikes are next, while linking Maduro to the cartels.

The campaign has drawn scrutiny in Congress, particularly after it was revealed that U.S. forces killed two survivors of a boat attack with a follow-up strike. But Republicans so far have repeatedly declined to require congressional authorization for further military action in the region, blocking Democrats’ war powers resolutions.

Sen. Roger Wicker, Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Service Committee, has essentially ended his panel’s investigation into the Sept. 2 strike, saying Thursday that the entire campaign is being conducted “on sound legal advice.”

Venezuela pushes back

Trump announced the blockade Tuesday, about a week after U.S. forces seized a sanctioned oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast. The South American country has the world’s largest proven oil reserves and relies heavily on the revenue to support its economy.

The U.S. has been imposing sanctions on Venezuela since 2005 over concerns about corruption as well as criminal and anti-democratic activities. The first Trump administration expanded the penalties to oil, prompting Maduro’s government to rely on a shadow fleet of falsely flagged tankers to smuggle crude into global supply chains.

The state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., or PDVSA, has been largely locked out of global oil markets by U.S. sanctions. It sells most of its exports at a steep discount on the black market in China.

Nicolás Maduro Guerra, Maduro’s son and a lawmaker, on Thursday decried Trump’s latest tactic and vowed to work with the private sector to limit any impact on the country’s oil-dependent economy. He acknowledged that it won’t be an easy task.

“We value peace and dialogue, but the reality right now is that we are being threatened by the most powerful army in the world, and that’s not something to be taken lightly,” Maduro Guerra said.

Pentagon prefers the term ‘quarantine’

It wasn’t immediately clear how the U.S. planned to enact Trump’s order. But the Navy has 11 ships in the region and a wide complement of aircraft that can monitor marine traffic coming in and out of Venezuela.

Trump may be using the term “blockade,” but the Pentagon says officials prefer “quarantine.”

A defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to outline internal reasoning about the policy, said a blockade, under international law, constitutes an act of war requiring formal declaration and enforcement against all incoming and outgoing traffic. A quarantine, however, is a selective, preventive security measure that targets specific, illegal activity.

Rep. Adam Smith, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said he was unsure of the legality of Trump’s blockade.

“They’re blockading apparently the oil industry, not the entire country,” said Smith, who represents parts of western Washington state. “How does that change things? I got to talk to some lawyers, but in general, a blockade is an act of war.”

The U.S. has a long history of leveraging naval sieges to pressure lesser powers, especially in the 19th century era of “gunboat diplomacy,” sometimes provoking them into taking action that triggers an even greater American response.

But in recent decades, as the architecture of international law has developed, successive U.S. administrations have been careful not to use such maritime shows of force because they are seen as punishing civilians — an illegal act of aggression outside of wartime.

During the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, President John F. Kennedy famously called his naval cordon to counter a real threat — weapons shipments from the Soviet Union — a “quarantine” not a blockade.

Mark Nevitt, an Emory University law professor and former Navy judge advocate general, said there is a legal basis for the U.S. to board and seize an already-sanctioned ship that is deemed to be stateless or is claiming two states.

But a blockade, he said, is a “wartime naval operation and maneuver” designed to block the access of vessels and aircraft of an enemy state.

“I think the blockade is predicated on a false legal pretense that we are at war with narcoterrorists,” he said.

Nevitt added: “This seems to be almost like a junior varsity blockade, where they’re trying to assert a wartime legal tool, a blockade, but only doing it selectively.”

Geoffrey Corn, a Texas Tech law professor who previously served as the Army’s senior adviser for law-of-war issues and has been critical of the Trump administration’s boat strikes, said he was not convinced the blockade was intended to ratchet up the conflict with Venezuela.

Instead, he suggested it could be aimed at escalating the pressure on Maduro to give up power or encouraging his supporters to back away from him.

“You can look at it through the lens of, is this an administration trying to create a pretext for a broader conflict?” Corn said. “Or you can look at it as part of an overall campaign of pressuring the Maduro regime to step aside.”

Goodman reported from Miami. Associated Press reporters Stephen Groves and Konstantin Toropin in Washington and Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.

By CLAIRE SAVAGE

The head of the U.S. agency for enforcing workplace civil rights posted a social media call-out urging white men to come forward if they have experienced race or sex discrimination at work.

“Are you a white male who has experienced discrimination at work based on your race or sex? You may have a claim to recover money under federal civil rights laws,” U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chair Andrea Lucas, a vocal critic of DEI, wrote on X Wednesday evening. The post urged eligible workers to reach out to the agency “as soon as possible” and referred users to the agency’s fact sheet on “DEI-related discrimination” for more information.

Lucas’ post, viewed millions of times, was shared about two hours after Vice President JD Vance posted an article he said “describes the evil of DEI and its consequences,” which also received millions of views. Lucas responded to Vance’s post saying: “Absolutely right @JDVance. And precisely because this widespread, systemic, unlawful discrimination primarily harmed white men, elites didn’t just turn a blind eye; they celebrated it. Absolutely unacceptable; unlawful; immoral.”

She added that the EEOC “won’t rest until this discrimination is eliminated.” Neither the agency nor Vance responded immediately to requests for additional comment.

Since being named acting chair of the EEOC in January, Lucas has been shifting the agency’s focus to prioritize “rooting out unlawful DEI-motivated race and sex discrimination,” aligning with President Donald Trump’s own anti-DEI executive orders. Trump named Lucas as the agency’s chair in November.

Earlier this year, the EEOC along with the Department of Justice issued two “technical assistance” documents attempting to clarify what might constitute “DEI-related Discrimination at Work” and providing guidance on how workers can file complaints over such concerns. The documents took broad aim at practices such as training, employee resource groups and fellowship programs, warning such programs — depending on how they’re constructed — could run afoul of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race and gender.

Those documents have been criticized by former agency commissioners as misleading for portraying DEI initiatives as legally fraught.

David Glasgow, executive director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging at the NYU School of Law, said Lucas’s latest social media posts demonstrate a “fundamental misunderstanding of what DEI is.”

“It’s really much more about creating a culture in which you get the most out of everyone who you’re bringing on board, where everyone experiences fairness and equal opportunity, including white men and members of other groups,” Glasgow said.

The Meltzer Center tracks lawsuits that are likely to affect workplace DEI practices, including 57 cases of workplace discrimination. Although there are instances in which it occurs on a case-by-case basis, Glasgow said he has not seen “any kind of systematic evidence that white men are being discriminated against.”

He pointed out that Fortune 500 CEOs are overwhelmingly white men, and that relative to their share of the population, the demographic is overrepresented in corporate senior leadership, Congress, and beyond.

“If DEI has been this engine of discrimination against white men, I have to say it hasn’t really been doing a very good job at achieving that,” Glasgow said.

Jenny Yang, a former EEOC chair and now a partner at law firm Outten & Golden, said it is “unusual” and “problematic” for the head of the agency to single out a particular demographic group for civil rights enforcement.

“It suggests some sort of priority treatment,” Yang said. “That’s not something that sounds to me like equal opportunity for all.”

On the other hand, the agency has done the opposite for transgender workers, whose discrimination complaints have been deprioritized or dropped completely, Yang said. The EEOC has limited resources, and must accordingly prioritize which cases to pursue. But treating charges differently based on workers’ identities goes against the mission of the agency, she said.

“It worries me that a message is being sent that the EEOC only cares about some workers and not others,” Yang said.

The Associated Press’ women in the workforce and state government coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH and JOSHUA GOODMAN

A Kansas tribe said it has walked away from a nearly $30 million federal contract to come up with preliminary designs for immigrant detention centers after facing a wave of online criticism.

The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation ‘s announcement Wednesday night came just over a week after the economic development leaders who brokered the deal with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were fired.

With some Native Americans swept up and detained in recent ICE raids, the deal was derided online as “disgusting” and “cruel.” Many in Indian Country also questioned how a tribe whose own ancestors were uprooted two centuries ago from the Great Lakes region and corralled on a reservation south of Topeka could participate in the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts.

Tribal Chairman Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick nodded to the historic issues last week in a video address that called reservations “the government’s first attempts at detention centers.” In an update Wednesday, he announced that he was “happy to share that our Nation has successfully exited all third-party related interests affiliated with ICE.”

The Prairie Band Potawatomi has a range of businesses that provide health care management staffing, general contracting and even interior design. And Rupnick said in his latest address that tribal officials plan to meet in January about how to ensure “economic interests do not come into conflict with our values in the future.”

A tribal offshoot hired by ICE — KPB Services LLC — was established in April in Holton, Kansas, by Ernest C. Woodward Jr., a former naval officer who markets himself as a “go-to” adviser for tribes and affiliated companies seeking to land federal contracts.

The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation said in 2017 that Woodward’s firm advised it on its acquisition of another government contractor, Mill Creek LLC, which specializes in outfitting federal buildings and the military with office furniture and medical equipment.

Woodward also is listed as the chief operating officer of the Florida branch of Prairie Band Construction Inc., which was registered in September.

Attempts to locate Woodward were unsuccessful. A spokesperson for KPB said Woodward is no longer with the LLC but she declined to say whether he was terminated. Woodward did not respond to an email sent to another consulting firm he’s affiliated with, Virginia-based Chinkapin Partners LLC.

A spokesperson for the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation said the tribe divested from KPB. While that company still has the contract, “Prairie Band no longer has a stake,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said Woodward is no longer with the tribe’s limited liability corporation, but she declined to say whether he was terminated.

The ICE contract initially was awarded in October for $19 million for unspecified “due diligence and concept designs” for processing centers and detention centers throughout the U.S., according to a one-sentence description of the work on the federal government’s real-time contracting database. It was modified a month later to increase the payout ceiling to $29.9 million.

Sole-source contracts above $30 million require additional justification under federal contracting rules.

Tribal leaders and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security haven’t responded to detailed questions about why the firm was selected for such a big contract without having to compete for the work as federal contracting normally requires. It’s also unclear what the Tribal Council knew about the contract.

“That process of internal auditing is really just beginning,” the tribal spokesperson said.

Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas, and Goodman from Miami.

By SCOTT BAUER

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department sued three states and the District of Columbia on Thursday for not turning over requested voter information to the Trump administration.

The latest lawsuits were filed against Wisconsin, Illinois, Georgia and the District of Columbia. The Justice Department has now filed 22 lawsuits seeking voter information as part of its effort to collect detailed voting data and other election information across the country.

“We shared our nation-leading list maintenance practices and public voter roll data with the DOJ December 8 at their request, and we look forward to working together to eliminate the federal barriers that prevent even cleaner voter rolls,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said in a statement. “Hardworking Georgians can rest easy knowing this data was shared strictly in accordance with state law that protect voters’ privacy.”

The latest round comes one week after the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission voted against the Justice Department’s request for the data. Both Republican and Democratic commissioners voiced concerns about the request last week, saying it would be illegal under Wisconsin law to provide the voter roll information that includes the full names, dates of birth, residential addresses and driver’s license numbers of voters.

Spokespeople for the Wisconsin Elections Commission and the state Department of Justice, which would defend the commission, did not immediately return messages. The Illinois State Board of Elections declined to comment.

An Associated Press tally found that the Justice Department has asked at least 26 states for voter registration rolls in recent months, and in many cases asked states for information on how they maintain their voter rolls. Other states being sued by the Justice Department include California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

Last week, the Justice Department sued Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Nevada.

The Justice Department said 10 states are either in full compliance or working toward it.

The Trump administration has characterized the lawsuits as part of an effort to ensure the security of elections, and the Justice Department says the states are violating federal law by refusing to provide the voter lists and information about ineligible voters.

The lawsuits have raised concerns among some Democratic officials and others who question exactly how the data will be used, and whether the department will follow privacy laws to protect the information. Some of the data sought includes names, dates of birth, residential addresses, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.

“The law is clear: states need to give us this information, so we can do our duty to protect American citizens from vote dilution,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a statement. “Today’s filings show that regardless of which party is in charge of a particular state, the Department of Justice will firmly stand on the side of election integrity and transparency.”

Associated Press writers Kate Brumback in Atlanta and John O’Connor in Springfield, Illinois, contributed to this report.

By GEOFF MULVIHILL

Nebraska will become the first state to implement new work requirements for some people with Medicaid health insurance under a law President Donald Trump signed last year.

Gov. Jim Pillen, a Republican, announced Wednesday that the requirement would take effect in the state May 1 and could impact about 30,000 people who have slightly higher incomes than traditional Medicaid beneficiaries.

“We’re not here to take everybody to the curb,” he said. Instead, he said, the aim is “making sure we get every able-bodied Nebraskan to be part of our community.”

The sweeping tax and policy law Trump signed in July requires states to make sure many recipients are working by 2027 but gave them the option to do it sooner.

Beneficiaries will have more reporting duties

The law mandates that people ages 19 to 64 who have Medicaid coverage work or perform community service at least 80 hours a month or be enrolled in school at least half-time to receive and keep coverage.

It applies only to people who receive Medicaid coverage through an expansion that covers a population with a slightly higher income limit. Forty states and the District of Columbia have opted to expand the coverage income guidelines under former President Barrack Obama’s 2010 health insurance overhaul.

Of 346,000 Nebraska residents enrolled in Medicaid as of May, about 72,000 were in the higher income expansion group.

Some people will be exempted, including disabled veterans, pregnant women, parents and guardians of dependent children under 14 or disabled individuals, people who were recently released from incarceration, those who are homeless and people getting addiction treatment. States can also offer short-term hardships for others if they choose.

All Medicaid beneficiaries who are eligible because of the expansion will be required to submit paperwork at least every six months showing they meet the mandate.

Those who don’t would lose their coverage.

The reporting requirement is twice as frequent as it is for most people covered by Medicaid now. That change means more work for the state agencies — and for some of them, extensive and likely expensive computer program updates.

Pillen said he does not expect the state government to increase staffing to make the changes.

When and how to implement the change is likely to be on the agenda for governors and state lawmakers across the country as legislative sessions start — most of them in January.

The policy is expected to lead to lost coverage

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the requirement will reduce Medicaid costs by $326 billion over a decade — and that it will result in 4.5 million people becoming uninsured each year starting in 2027. Currently, about 77 million Americans are covered by Medicaid.

Because most people covered by Medicaid who are able to work already do, it’s not expected to increase employment rates.

Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services, joined Pillen’s announcement via a video feed and said the administration believes there are jobs available across the country, and the challenge is connecting people with them.

“Most people who are able-bodied on Medicaid actually want to get a job,” Oz said.

Georgia implemented similar requirements in 2023. Far fewer people are covered than projected, in part because of the work and reporting requirements.

Arkansas tried another variation of Medicaid work requirements — later blocked by a judge — that saw 18,000 people kicked off coverage in the first seven months after it took effect in 2018.

By GARY FIELDS

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that the National Guard deployment in the nation’s capital can continue for now, staying a lower-court ruling that had ordered an end to the troops’ presence.

The three-judge panel for U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that Donald Trump may prevail in his argument that the president “possesses a unique power” to mobilize the Guard in Washington, which is a federal district.

The ruling stops the implementation of U.S. District Court Judge Jia Cobb’s Nov. 20 opinion and order, and reaffirms that residents and visitors to Washington will routinely see Guard members well into 2026.

Cobb had ruled that the deployment illegally intrudes on local officials’ authority to direct law enforcement in the District of Columbia.

Wednesday’s unanimous 32-page ruling went on to say that other factors also favored the Republican administration, including the “disruption to the lives of thousands of service members,” as well as what it said was the president’s interest “in the protection of federal governmental functions and property within the Nation’s capital.”

The judges found that the district “has not identified any ongoing injury to its statutory interests.”

The ruling acknowledged that the administration has a strong case for its appeal.

The deployment began in August after Trump issued an executive order declaring a crime emergency in Washington. Within a month, more than 2,300 National Guard troops from eight states and the district were patrolling the city under the command of the Army secretary. Trump also deployed hundreds of federal agents to assist.

The city’s attorney general, Brian Schwalb, sued to challenge the Guard deployments. He asked that the White House be barred from deploying Guard troops without the mayor’s consent while the lawsuit played out. Dozens of states took sides in Schwalb’s lawsuit, with their support falling along party lines.

A spokesperson with Schwalb’s office said the stay was a “preliminary ruling that does not resolve the merits. We look forward to continuing our case in both the district and appellate courts.”

Cobb had found that while the president did have authority to protect federal functions and property, he could not unilaterally deploy the D.C. National Guard to help with crime control as he saw fit or call in troops from other states. She called for the troops to be sent home after her ruling but put her order on hold for 21 days to allow the appeal by the administration.

The appeals court issued an administrative stay of Cobb’s ruling Dec. 4. Wednesday’s action lifts that order.

The court action comes three weeks after two members of the West Virginia National Guard, Spc. Sarah Beckstrom and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe were ambushed as they patrolled a subway station three blocks from the White House. Beckstrom died Nov. 27 from her injuries. Wolfe continues to recover. Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national, has been charged with murder. He has pleaded not guilty.

The administration has called for an additional 500 National Guard members to be deployed to Washington as a result of the shooting.

The appeals court panel said its decision was “limited in several respects.” For example, it did not address questions such as whether the Guard units were engaged in “law enforcement” activities in violation of federal law.

By STEPHEN GROVES

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate gave final passage on Wednesday to an annual military policy bill that will authorize $901 billion in defense programs while pressuring Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to provide lawmakers with video of strikes on alleged drug boats in international water near Venezuela.

The annual National Defense Authorization Act, which raises troop pay by 3.8%, gained bipartisan backing as it moved through Congress. It passed the Senate on a 77-20 vote before lawmakers planned to leave Washington for a holiday break. Two Republicans — Sens. Rand Paul and Mike Lee — and 18 Democrats voted against the bill.

The White House has indicated that it is in line with President Donald Trump’s national security priorities. However, the legislation, which ran over 3,000 pages, revealed some points of friction between Congress and the Pentagon as the Trump administration reorients its focus away from security in Europe and toward Central and South America.

The bill pushes back on recent moves by the Pentagon. It demands more information on boat strikes in the Caribbean, requires that the U.S. keep its troop levels in Europe at current levels and sends some military aid to Ukraine.

But overall, the bill represents a compromise between the parties. It implements many of Trump’s executive orders and proposals on eliminating diversity and inclusion efforts in the military and grants emergency military powers at the U.S. border with Mexico. It also enhances congressional oversight of the Department of Defense, repeals several years-old war authorizations and seeks to overhaul how the Pentagon purchases weapons as the U.S. tries to outpace China in developing the next generation of military technology.

“We’re about to pass, and the president will enthusiastically sign, the most sweeping upgrades to DOD’s business practices in 60 years,” said Sen. Roger Wicker, the Republican chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Still, the sprawling bill faced objections from both Democratic and Republican leadership on the Senate Commerce Committee. That’s because the legislation allows military aircraft to obtain a waiver to operate without broadcasting their precise location, as an Army helicopter had done before a midair collision with an airliner in Washington, D.C. in January that killed 67 people.

“The special carve-out was exactly what caused the January 29th crash that claimed 67 lives,” Sen. Ted Cruz, the Republican chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, said at a news conference this week.

Cruz said he was seeking a vote on bipartisan legislation in the next month that would require military aircraft to use a precise location sharing tool and improve coordination between commercial and military aircraft in busy areas.

Boat strike videos

Republicans and Democrats agreed to language in the defense bill that threatened to withhold a quarter of Hegseth’s travel budget until he provided unedited video of the strikes, as well as the orders authorizing them, to the House and Senate Committees on Armed Services.

Hegseth was on Capitol Hill Tuesday ahead of the bill’s passage to brief lawmakers on the U.S. military campaign in international water near Venezuela. The briefing elicited contrasting responses from many lawmakers, with Republicans largely backing the campaign and Democrats expressing concern about it and saying they had not received enough information.

The committees are investigating a Sept. 2 strike — the first of the campaign — that killed two people who had survived an initial attack on their boat. The Navy admiral who ordered the “double-tap” strike, Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, also appeared before the committees shortly before the vote Wednesday in a classified briefing that also included video of the strike in question.

Several Republican senators emerged from the meeting backing Hegseth and his decision not to release the video publicly, but other GOP lawmakers stayed silent on their opinion of the strike.

Democrats are calling for part of the video to be released publicly and for every member of Congress to have access to the full footage.

“The American people absolutely need to see this video,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat. “I think they would be shocked.”

Congressional oversight

Lawmakers have been caught by surprise by the Trump administration several times in the last year, including by a move to pause intelligence sharing with Ukraine and a decision to reduce U.S. troop presence in NATO countries in eastern Europe. The defense legislation requires that Congress be kept in the loop on decisions like that going forward, as well as when top military brass are removed.

The Pentagon is also required, under the legislation, to keep at least 76,000 troops and major equipment stationed in Europe unless NATO allies are consulted and there is a determination that such a withdrawal is in U.S. interests. Around 80,000 to 100,000 U.S. troops are usually present on European soil. A similar requirement also keeps the number of U.S. troops stationed in South Korea at 28,500.

Lawmakers are also pushing back on some Pentagon decisions by authorizing $400 million for each of the next two years to manufacture weapons to be sent to Ukraine.

Cuts to diversity and climate initiatives

Trump and Hegseth have made it a priority to purge the military of material and programs that address diversity, anti-racism or gender issues, and the defense bill would codify many of those changes. It will repeal diversity, equity and inclusion offices and trainings, including the position of chief diversity officer. Those cuts would save the Pentagon about $40 million, according to the Republican-controlled House Armed Services Committee.

The U.S. military has long found that climate change is a threat to how it provides national security because weather-related disasters can destroy military bases and equipment. But the bill makes $1.6 billion in cuts by eliminating climate-change related programs at the Pentagon.

Repeal of war authorizations and Syria sanctions

Congress is writing a closing chapter to the war in Iraq by repealing the authorization for the 2003 invasion. Now that Iraq is a strategic partner of the U.S., lawmakers in support of the provision say the repeal is crucial to prevent future abuses. The bill also repeals the 1991 authorization that sanctioned the U.S.-led Gulf War.

The rare, bipartisan moves to repeal the legal justifications for the conflicts signaled a potential appetite among lawmakers to reclaim some of Congress’s war powers.

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI and MATT SEDENSKY, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic senators on Wednesday hammered the Federal Communications Commission’s leader for pressuring broadcasters to take ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel off the air, suggesting that Brendan Carr was politicizing an independent agency and trampling the First Amendment.

The FCC chairman was peppered with questions by Democrats on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee over his criticism of Kimmel for comments about the slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

“You are weaponizing the public interest standard,” said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who told Carr that he should resign.

Carr refused to disown his comments about Kimmel, and the chairman said he has simply enforced laws that hold networks to stricter scrutiny than cable and other forms of media.

“The FCC has walked away from enforcing the public interest standard and I don’t think that’s a good thing,” Carr said.

Republican senators appeared intent on bringing up broadcast spectrum auctions, undersea cable infrastructure, algorithm-driven content, robocalls and just about anything other than Carr’s statements about Kimmel.

The committee chairman, Sen. Ted Cruz, had previously equated Carr’s comments to those of a mobster and called them “dangerous as hell.” But at the hearing, Cruz, R-Texas, took a far softer stance. He dismissed Kimmel as “tasteless” and “unfunny,” and shifted to criticizing Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration, a tack that Carr parroted throughout the hearing.

“Joe Biden is no longer president,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., shot back at one point.

The hearing was also included the two other commissioners, Olivia Trusty and Anna M. Gomez. Each gave opening statements, with Gomez, a Biden appointee, saying that the FCC has “undermined its reputation as a stable, independent and expert-driven regulatory body.”

“Nowhere is that departure more concerning,” Gomez said, “than its actions to intimidate government critics, pressure media companies and challenge the boundaries of the First Amendment.”

Carr was nominated to the FCC by both Trump and Biden and unanimously confirmed by the Senate three times. But he has more recently shown more overtly right-wing views, writing a section on the FCC for “Project 2025,” the sweeping blueprint for gutting the federal workforce and dismantling agencies in Trump’s second term.

Since becoming chairman this year, Carr has launched separate investigations of all three major broadcast networks. After Kimmel’s comments on the September killing of Kirk, who was a Trump ally leading voice of the right, Carr said: “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

Cruz was unflinchingly critical at the time, saying “I think it is unbelievably dangerous for government to put itself in the position of saying we’re going to decide what speech we like and what we don’t, and we’re going to threaten to take you off air if we don’t like what you’re saying.”

While Cruz did not repeat those words Wednesday, they were repeatedly invoked by Democrats.

Carr seemed to surprise some on the committee with his statement that the FCC “is not an independent agency.” Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., asked Carr whether he considered Trump to be his boss and whether he had taken orders from the president or his inner circle.

“I don’t get into the specifics of conversations I’ve had,” Carr said.

Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., noted that the FCC’s website described it as an “independent U.S. government agency overseen by Congress.” Soon after, the website changed, removing “independent” from a section describing its mission.

Sedensky reported from New York.

By JOSH BOAK, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump intends to preview his agenda for next year and beyond in a live speech from the White House on Wednesday night. His remarks are coming at a crucial time as he tries to rebuild his steadily eroding popularity.

The White House offered few details about what the Republican president intends to emphasize in the 9 p.m. EST speech. Public polling shows most U.S. adults are frustrated with his handling of the economy as inflation picked up after his tariffs raised prices and hiring slowed.

Trump’s mass deportations of immigrants have also proved unpopular even as he is viewed favorably for halting crossings along the U.S. border with Mexico. The public has generally been nonplussed by his income tax cuts and globe-trotting efforts to end conflicts, attack suspected drug boats near Venezuela and attract investment dollars into the United States.

In 2026, Trump and his party face a referendum on their leadership as the nation heads into the midterm elections that will decide control of the House and the Senate.

Trump has said that he thinks more Americans would back him if they simply heard him describe his track record. Administration officials say investment commitments for new factories will reverse the recent decline in manufacturing jobs and that consumer activity will improve dramatically as people receive increased tax refunds next year.

“It has been a great year for our Country, and THE BEST IS YET TO COME!” Trump said in a Tuesday social media post announcing the speech.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump would discuss his achievements this year and his plans for the remainder of his second term.

Trump has been omnipresent on social media and television this year with his impromptu news conferences and speeches. But addresses to the nation often can be relatively sober affairs, as was Trump’s June address describing the U.S. bombing of nuclear facilities in Iran.

The president has eschewed the messaging discipline that’s common among most politicians, an authenticity that appeals to some voters and repels others.

In a speech in Pennsylvania last week, he said his tariffs might mean that American children should have fewer dolls and pencils, while confirming a previously denied story from his first term in 2018 that he did not want immigrants from “shithole” countries.

On Monday, Trump on his social media site blamed Rob Reiner’s vocal objections to the president for the killing of the actor-director and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner.

A report released on Tuesday showed a jobs market that looks increasingly fragile, even if the overall economy still appears to be stable.

Employers were adding on average 122,750 jobs a month during the first four months of this year. But since Trump announced his broad tariffs in April, monthly job gains have averaged a paltry 17,000 as the unemployment rate has climbed from 4% in January to 4.6%.

Trump’s team has blamed Democratic lawmakers for shutting down the government for the job losses reported Tuesday during October. The president continues to blame his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, for any challenges the nation might face over inflation or ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Follow the AP’s coverage of President Donald Trump at https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump.

By JOSH FUNK and MARK VANCLEAVE, Associated Press

RANDOLPH, Minn. (AP) — When Donald Trump promised new tariffs while running for president, Gene Stehly worried that trade disputes would jeopardize his international sales of corn, soybeans and wheat.

A little more than a year later, Stehly said his fears have become a reality, and Trump’s latest promise of federal assistance is insufficient to cover farmers’ losses.

“Maybe this will all come out to be better at the end, but I can tell you right now, it certainly isn’t the case at the moment,” Stehly said.

Trump announced Monday that his Republican administration would distribute $12 billion in one-time payments to farmers, who have suffered from persistently low commodity prices, rising costs and declining sales after China cut off all agricultural purchases from America during the trade war.

While rural areas remain conservative bastions, farmers’ patience with Washington is wearing thin. Several of them described the government bailout, an echo of similar policies during Trump’s first term, as a welcome stopgap but one that won’t solve the agricultural industry’s problems.

“It’s a bridge. It’s not the ultimate solution we’re looking for,” said Charlie Radman, a fourth-generation farmer who grows corn and soybeans on the land his family has owned near Randolph, Minnesota, since 1899. “What we really want to have is a little more certainty and not have to rely on these ad hoc payments.”

Farmers caught up in trade war

American soybean and sorghum farmers typically export at least half of their crops. They were hit the hardest by Trump’s trade dispute with China, the world’s largest buyer of soybeans that has increasingly relied on harvests from Brazil and other South American nations.

Trump and his Cabinet have boasted about the deal he struck with Chinese President Xi Jinping in October. But Liu Pengyu, the spokesperson for the Chinese embassy, said this week that “agriculture trade cooperation between China and the United States is proceeding in an orderly manner” without giving specifics.

So far, China has bought only about a quarter of the 12 million metric tons of soybeans that U.S. officials said would be purchased before the end of February, raising doubts on whether Beijing would follow through on that pledge or commitments to buy 25 million metric tons annually in the next three years. China hasn’t confirmed those numbers.

“In general, I don’t trust their motives and integrity of their promises,” said Bryant Kagay, who farms in northwest Missouri.

Even if China does buy the agreed amount of American soybeans, that would only bring U.S. farmers near to the amount they were selling every year before Trump took office.

That’s a big part of why Minnesota farmer Glen Groth said he’d “like to see the administration focus more on opening up markets outside of China.” In addition to finding other international buyers, agriculture groups are pushing to expand domestic uses like biodiesel, ethanol, aviation fuel and animal feed.

Dan Keitzer, a soybean and corn farmer in southeast Iowa, said recent bumper crops and technological advancements that produce bigger harvests means that the industry needs more customers.

“I think most farmers would tell you that they don’t want to go to the mailbox and get a check from the government. That’s not why we farm,” he said. “We need more demand for our product.”

Aid is considered a Band-Aid

Trump has placated farmers with money before. During his first term, he provided $22 billion in 2019 to help cushion them from trade disputes with China. There was $46 billion in 2020, an expanded number that reflected financial challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The $12 billion that he announced this week won’t quell farmers’ fears about the future. They’re already ordering supplies for next year’s crops and meeting with their bankers to discuss the loans they will need. But they’re trying to stay optimistic that crop prices will improve if they find more buyers.

The aid payments will be capped at $155,000 per farmer or entity, and only farms that make less than $900,000 in adjusted gross income will be eligible. But during the first Trump administration a number of large farms found ways around the payment limits and collected millions.

Farmers would like to see Trump aggressively tackle concerns about higher costs that are eating into their bottom line.

Trump signed an executive order over the weekend directing the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission to investigate anti-competitive practices anywhere in the food supply chain, starting with the fertilizer, seed and equipment that farmers rely on and continuing to deal with meat packing companies and grocers who help determine what price consumers pay.

Tregg Cronin, who farms and ranches with his family in central South Dakota, said he’s grateful for the president’s acknowledgment that farmers are “caught in the middle” of the trade war.

But he said that any checks that farmers receive from the government will likely “get turned around and sent right out the door.”

Funk reported from Omaha, Neb. Associated Press writers Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, Sarah Raza in Sioux Falls, S.D., and Didi Tang in Washington contributed to this report.

By DAVID KLEPPER, BEN FINLEY and STEPHEN GROVES, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators for the first time are questioning military leaders over President Donald Trump’s use of the National Guard in American cities, an extraordinary move by the White House that has led to legal challenges as well as questions about states’ rights and the use of the military on U.S. soil.

Thursday’s hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee was expected to feature tough questioning of Pentagon officials over the legality of the deployments, which in some places were done over the objections of mayors and governors, and a robust defense of the policy by Trump’s Republican allies.

It was the highest level of scrutiny, outside a courtroom, of Trump’s use of the National Guard since the deployments began and came one day after the president faced another legal setback over his use of troops to support federal law enforcement, protect federal facilities and combat crime.

For Republicans, the hearing was a chance to defend Trump’s move to take on crime that they say Democratic mayors and governors have done too little to address.

“In recent years, violent crime, rioting, drug trafficking and heinous gang activity have steadily escalated,” said Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, the committee chairman. The deployments, he said, are “not only appropriate, but essential.”

Military leaders highlighted the duties that National Guard units have carried out. The personnel are trained in community policing, they said, and are prohibited from using force unless in self-defense. Since the deployments began, only one civilian has been detained by National Guard personnel, according to Gen. Gregory Guillot, commander of the U.S. Northern Command.

“They can very quickly be trained to conduct any mission that we task of them,” Guillot said.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., said Wednesday she had threatened to hold up the annual defense bill if the Republican leadership continued to block the hearing, which she said was long overdue.

“Donald Trump is illegally deploying our nation’s service members under misleading if not false pretexts,” Duckworth told The Associated Press.

Duckworth, a combat veteran who served in the Illinois National Guard, said domestic deployments traditionally have involved responding to major floods and tornadoes, not assisting immigration agents who are detaining people in aggressive raids.

Duckworth said she had questions for the military about how Trump’s deployments are affecting readiness, training and costs. She also wanted to know whether Guard members would have legal protections if an immigration agent wrongfully harmed a civilian.

The hearing comes two weeks after two West Virginia National Guard members deployed to Washington were shot just blocks from the White House in what the city’s mayor described as a targeted attack. Spc. Sarah Beckstrom died a day after the Nov. 26 shooting, and her funeral took place Tuesday. Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe is hospitalized in Washington.

Meanwhile, a federal judge in California on Wednesday ruled that the administration must stop deploying the California National Guard in Los Angeles and return control of the troops to the state.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer granted a preliminary injunction sought by California officials, but also put the decision on hold until Monday. The White House said it plans to appeal.

Trump called up more than 4,000 California National Guard troops in June without Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s approval to further the administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.

The move was the first time in decades that a state’s National Guard was activated without a request from its governor and marked a significant escalation in the administration’s efforts to carry out its mass deportation policy. The troops were stationed outside a federal detention center in downtown Los Angeles where protesters gathered and were later sent on the streets to protect immigration officers as they made arrests.

The number had dropped to several hundred by late October. The 100 or so California troops that remain in Los Angeles are guarding federal buildings or staying at a nearby base and are not on the streets with immigration enforcement officers, according to U.S. Northern Command.

Trump also had announced National Guard members would be sent to Illinois, Oregon, Louisiana and Tennessee. Other judges have blocked or limited the deployment of troops to Portland, Oregon, and Chicago, while Guard members have not yet been sent to New Orleans.

Associated Press writer Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report.

By GISELA SALOMON, Associated Press

MIAMI (AP) — President Donald Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policy split more than 5,000 children from their families at the Mexico border during his first term.

Border crossings sit at a record low nearly a year into his second administration and a new wave of immigration enforcement is dividing families inside the U.S.

Federal officials and their local law enforcement partners are detaining tens of thousands of asylum-seekers and migrants. Detainees are moved repeatedly, then deported, or held in poor conditions for weeks or months before asking to go home.

The federal government was holding an average of more than 66,000 people in November, the highest on record.

During the first Trump administration, families were forcibly separated at the border and authorities struggled to find children in a vast shelter system because government computer systems weren’t linked. Now parents inside the United States are being arrested by immigration authorities and separated from their families during prolonged detention. Or, they choose to have their children remain in the U.S. after an adult is deported, many after years or decades here.

The Trump administration and its anti-immigration backers see “unprecedented success” and Trump’s top border adviser Tom Homan told reporters in April that “we’re going to keep doing it, full speed ahead.”

Three families separated by migration enforcement in recent months told The Associated Press that their dreams of better, freer lives had clashed with Washington’s new immigration policy and their existence is anguished without knowing if they will see their loved ones again.

For them, migration marked the possible start of permanent separation between parents and children, the source of deep pain and uncertainty.

A family divided between Florida and Venezuela

Antonio Laverde left Venezuela for the U.S. in 2022 and crossed the border illegally, then requested asylum.

He got a work permit and a driver’s license and worked as an Uber driver in Miami, sharing homes with other immigrants so he could send money to relatives in Venezuela and Florida.

Laverde’s wife Jakelin Pasedo and their sons followed him from Venezuela to Miami in December 2024. Pasedo focused on caring for her sons while her husband earned enough to support the family. Pasedo and the kids got refugee status but Laverde, 39, never obtained it and as he left for work one early June morning, he was arrested by federal agents.

Pasedo says it was a case of mistaken identity by agents hunting for a suspect in their shared housing. In the end, she and her children, then 3 and 5, remember the agents cuffing Laverde at gunpoint.

“They got sick with fever, crying for their father, asking for him,” Pasedo said.

Laverde was held at Broward Transitional Center, a detention facility in Pompano Beach, Florida. In September, after three months detention, he asked to return to Venezuela.

Pasedo, 39, however, has no plans to go back. She fears she could be arrested or kidnapped for criticizing the socialist government and belonging to the political opposition.

She works cleaning offices and, despite all the obstacles, hopes to reunify with her husband someday in the U.S.

They followed the law

Yaoska’s husband was a political activist in Nicaragua, a country tight in the grasp of autocratic married co-presidents Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.

She remembers her husband getting death threats and being beaten by police when he refused to participate in a pro-government march. Yaoska spoke on condition of anonymity and requested the same for her husband to protect him from the Nicaraguan government.

The couple fled Nicaragua for the U.S. with their 10-year-old son in 2022, crossing the border and getting immigration parole. Settling down in Miami, they applied for asylum and had a second son, who has U.S. citizenship. Yaoska is now five months pregnant with their third child.

In late August, Yaoska, 32, went to an appointment at the South Florida office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Her family accompanied her. Her husband, 35, was detained and failed his credible fear interview, according to a court document.

Yaoska was released under 24-hour supervision by a GPS watch that she cannot remove. Her husband was deported to Nicaragua after three months at the Krome Detention Center, the United States’ oldest immigration detention facility and one with a long history of abuse.

Yaoska now shares family news with her husband by phone. The children are struggling without their father, she said.

“It’s so hard to see my children like this. They arrested him right in front of them,” Yaoska said, her voice trembling.

They don’t want to eat and are often sick. The youngest wakes up at night asking for him.

“I’m afraid in Nicaragua,” she said. “But I’m scared here too.”

Yaoska said her work authorization is valid until 2028 but the future is frightening and uncertain.

“I’ve applied to several job agencies, but nobody calls me back,” she said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to me.”

He was detained by local police, then deported

Edgar left Guatemala more than two decades ago. Working construction, he started a family in South Florida with Amavilia, a fellow undocumented Guatemalan migrant.

The arrival of their son brought them joy.

“He was so happy with the baby — he loved him,” said Amavilia, 31. “He told me he was going to see him grow up and walk.”

But within a few days, Edgar was detained on a 2016 warrant for driving without a license in Homestead, the small agricultural city where he lived in South Florida.

She and her husband declined to provide their last names because they are worried about repercussion from U.S. immigration officials.

Amavilia expected his release within 48 hours. Instead, Edgar, who declined to be interviewed, was turned over to immigration officials and moved to Krome.

“I fell into despair. I didn’t know what to do,” Amavilia said. “I can’t go.”

Edgar, 45, was deported to Guatemala on June 8.

After Edgar’s detention, Amavilia couldn’t pay the $950 rent for the two-bedroom apartment she shares with another immigrant. For the first three months, she received donations from immigration advocates.

Today, breastfeeding and caring for two children, she wakes up at 3 a.m. to cook lunches she sells for $10 each.

She walks with her son in a stroller to take her daughter to school, then spends afternoons selling homemade ice cream and chocolate-covered bananas door to door with her two children.

Amavilia crossed the border in September 2023 and did not seek asylum or any type of legal status. She said her daughter grows anxious around police. She urges her to stay calm, smile and walk with confidence.

“I’m afraid to go out, but I always go out entrusting myself to God,” she said. “Every time I return home, I feel happy and grateful.”

By REBECCA SANTANA, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Foreigners who are allowed to come to the United States without a visa could soon be required to submit information about their social media, email accounts and extensive family history to the Department of Homeland Security before being approved for travel.

The notice published Wednesday in the Federal Register said Customs and Border Protection is proposing collecting five years worth of social media information from travelers from select countries who do not have to get visas to come to the U.S. The Trump administration has been stepping up monitoring of international travelers and immigrants.

The announcement refers to travelers from more than three dozen countries who take part in the Visa Waiver Program and submit their information to the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, which automatically screens them and then approves them for travel to the U.S. Unlike visa applicants, they generally do not have to go into an embassy or consulate for an interview.

DHS administers the program, which currently allows citizens of roughly 40 mostly European and Asian countries to travel to the U.S. for tourism or business for three months without visas.

The announcement also said that CBP would start requesting a list of other information, including telephone numbers the person has used over the past five years or email addresses used over the past decade. Also sought would be metadata from electronically submitted photos, as well as extensive information from the applicant’s family members, including their places of birth and their telephone numbers.

The application that people are now required to fill out to take part in ESTA asks for a more limited set of questions such as parents’ names and current email address.

The public has 60 days to comment on the proposed changes before they go into effect, the notice said.

CBP officials did not immediately respond to questions about the new rules.

The announcement did not say what the administration was looking for in the social media accounts or why it was asking for more information.

But the agency said it was complying with an executive order that Republican President Donald Trump signed in January that called for more screening of people coming to the U.S. to prevent the entry of possible national security threats.

Travelers from countries that are not part of the Visa Waiver Program system are already required to submit their social media information, a policy that dates back to the first Trump administration. The policy remained during Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration.

But citizens from visa waiver countries were not obligated to do so.

Since January, the Trump administration has stepped up checks of immigrants and travelers, both those trying to enter the U.S. as well as those already in the country. Officials have tightened visa rules by requiring that applicants set all of their social media accounts to public so that they can be more easily scrutinized and checked for what authorities view as potential derogatory information. Refusing to set an account to public can be considered grounds for visa denial, according to guidelines provided by the State Department.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services now considers whether an applicant for benefits, such as a green card, “endorsed, promoted, supported, or otherwise espoused” anti-American, terrorist or antisemitic views.

The heightened interest in social media screening has drawn concern from immigration and free speech advocates about what the Trump administration is looking for and whether the measures target people critical of the administration in an infringement of free speech rights.

By MARK SHERMAN and KIM CHANDLER

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday struggled over how courts should decide borderline cases of whether convicted murderers are intellectually disabled and should be shielded from execution.

There was no clear outcome apparent after the justices heard two hours of arguments in an appeal from Alabama, which wants to put to death a man who lower federal courts found is intellectually disabled.

Joseph Clifton Smith, 55, has been on death row roughly half his life after his conviction for beating a man to death in 1997.

The Supreme Court prohibited execution of intellectually disabled people in a landmark ruling in 2002. The justices, in cases in 2014 and 2017, held that states should consider other evidence of disability in borderline cases because of the margin of error in IQ tests.

The issue in Smith’s case is what happens when a person has multiple IQ scores that are slightly above 70, which has been widely accepted as a marker of intellectual disability. Smith’s five IQ tests produced scores ranging from 72 to 78. Smith had been placed in learning-disabled classes and dropped out of school after seventh grade, his lawyers said. At the time of the crime, he performed math at a kindergarten level, spelled at a third-grade level and read at a fourth-grade level.

Seth Waxman, representing Smith, told the justices his client received a “diagnosis of mental retardation” — then the commonly accepted term for mental disability — in the seventh grade.

Alabama, 20 other states and the Trump administration all are asking the high court, which is more conservative than it was a decade ago, to cut back on those earlier decisions.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented in both cases, and Alito and Thomas sounded as if they would side with Alabama.

A ruling for Smith would lead to messy court fights for other death row inmates “where everything is up for grabs in every case,” Alito said.

Alabama lawyer Robert M. Overing said Smith’s case should be an easy win for the state because Smith never scored below 70 on any IQ test.

“There is no way that he can prove an IQ below 70,” Overing said.

Alabama appealed to the Supreme Court after lower courts ruled that Smith is intellectually disabled, looking beyond the test scores. The justices had previously sent his case back to the federal appeals court in Atlanta, where the judges affirmed that they had taken a “holistic” approach to Smith’s case, seemingly in line with high court decisions.

But the justices said in June they would take a new look at the case.

Waxman urged the justices to affirm the lower courts rather than issue a decision that would effectively rely exclusively on test scores and rule out additional evidence in cases with borderline IQ scores.

Justice Elena Kagan said courts have to consider the additional evidence, but “that’s not to say you have to accept it.”

Rights groups focused on disabilities wrote in a brief supporting Smith that “intellectual disability diagnoses based solely on IQ test scores are faulty and invalid.”

Smith was convicted and sentenced to death for the beating death of Durk Van Dam in Mobile County. Van Dam was found dead in his pickup truck. Prosecutors said he had been beaten to death with a hammer and robbed of $150, his boots and tools.

A federal judge in 2021 vacated Smith’s death sentence, though she acknowledged “this is a close case.”

Alabama law defines intellectual disability as an IQ of 70 or below, along with significant or substantial deficits in adaptive behavior and the onset of those issues before the age of 18.

A decision in Hamm v. Smith, 24-872, is expected by early summer.

Chandler reported from Montgomery, Ala.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI and THOMAS BEAUMONT, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Dallas congresswoman opened her Senate campaign by telling voters that she “has gone toe to toe with Donald Trump.” Her Democratic primary opponent insisted that Americans are tired of “politics as a blood sport.”

The divergent approach highlights how U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett and state Rep. James Talarico are navigating a race where Democrats hope to break a three-decade losing streak in Texas. It also reflects a broader divide within the party, with some candidates continuing to focus on Trump while others barely mention his name.

Figuring out the best approach will be critical for Democrats who are grasping for a path back to power in the 2026 midterm elections that will determine control of Congress and are already maneuvering for the 2028 presidential race.

Republicans, by contrast, have been crystal clear.

Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, said in a recent podcast interview that the Republican president will campaign aggressively next year and the party will “put him on the ballot.”

“He is the greatest vote energizer in the history of politics,” said Neil Newhouse, a veteran Republican pollster. “But the challenge is that he does it as much for Democrats as he does for Republicans.”

Crockett takes on Trump

In her campaign launch video, Crockett was silent as audio of Trump’s insults played, including multiple times that he has called her a “very low-IQ person.” At the end of the video, she breaks out into a smile.

On Monday, she addressed the president more directly.

“Trump, I know you’re watching, so let me tell you directly,” Crockett said. “You’re not entitled to a damn thing in Texas. You better get to work because I’m coming for you.”

Trump responded the next day, telling reporters aboard Air Force One that her candidacy is “a gift to Republicans” and “I can’t even believe she’s a politician, actually.”

For nearly a decade, Democrats have used their criticism of Trump to draw attention and fuel fundraising. Governors who are considered potential 2028 presidential contenders, including California’s Gavin Newsom and Illinois’ JB Pritzker, saw their profiles rise as they positioned themselves as staunch Trump opponents.

U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., recently participated in a video telling service members that they should not follow “illegal orders.” Trump responded by accusing him of “seditious behavior” that’s “punishable by death.”

Kelly started a national media tour and sent out a flurry of fundraising emails, both for himself and other Democrats. He said Trump has bullied everyone in his career, “but not now, because I won’t let it happen.”

When it comes to running for office, “Trump is the red meat that drives donors,” said John Anzalone, a longtime Democratic pollster.

“There are clearly some candidates that are playing towards the donor world that don’t actually make a great argument for winning races. But it’s great for clicks and making money. And money is the first primary that you need to win.”

Talarico charts a different course

Talarico has built a following with a less combative style. The former schoolteacher who is working toward a master’s degree in divinity at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary gained attention by posting viral social media content challenging Republicans’ claims to Christian values. He has focused less on Trump or other politicians.

“The biggest divide in our country is not left versus right. It’s top versus bottom,” Talarico said in the video launching his campaign.

There are echoes of other Democratic successes this year, such as when candidates for governor won in New Jersey and Virginia by focusing on affordability concerns.

Voters in those states were much likelier to say they were voting to oppose Trump than to support him, according to the AP Voter Poll. For example, 71% of voters for Democrat Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey said their decision in the governor’s race was motivated at least partially by opposition to Trump.

But Sherrill recently said that it is not enough for Democrats to rely solely on anti-Trump fervor.

“Trump makes a difference. He’s a forcing mechanism to coalesce the party,” Sherrill said. “But to really turn out the vote in a really strong manner, you have got to run a really sharp campaign.”

When Democrats talk about Trump, they have to connect his actions to voters’ everyday lives, she said.

“You can’t just say, oh, I’m so upset that Trump demolished the East Wing of the White House,” she said. “You have to say, look, there’s a tariff regime that is being run that is enriching the president to the tune of $3 billion, and you’re paying more for everything from your cup of coffee in the morning to the groceries that you’re buying to cook your family dinner at night.”

It is an approach that could have more staying power in the coming years.

“In the not-too-distant future, Trump will not be on the ballot and that will be a challenge for both parties,” said Austin Cook, a senior aide for Democrat Elissa Slotkin’s successful U.S. Senate campaign in Michigan last year. “He is a starting gun for Democratic enthusiasm. But soon we won’t have him as a foil.”

Republicans need Trump to turn out voters

Republicans have little choice but to enlist Trump’s help, considering his enduring support among voters who are less likely to turn out during the midterms.

“They need to energize Republican voters and the only real way to energize Republican voters and get them out to vote is by enlisting Trump in the campaign,” said Newhouse, who is advising some of the party’s U.S. Senate candidates.

He warned that Trump’s popularity does not necessarily transfer to candidates he supports, “but there isn’t an alternative.”

“What they are trying to do here is basically wrap themselves up in him, hope that his approval and the economic numbers improve and get their voters out to the polls to match the Democrats’ intensity,” Newhouse said.

The White House has said that Trump will be on the road more in the coming months. He hosted his first rally in a while in Pennsylvania on Tuesday evening, where he blamed Democrats for inflation.

“They gave you high prices,” he said, adding that “we’re bringing those prices down rapidly.”

Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa. Associated Press writer Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix and AP Polling Editor Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux contributed to this report.

By MATTHEW LEE, AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered diplomatic correspondence to stop using the Calibri font and return to the more traditional Times New Roman effective Wednesday, reversing a Biden administration shift to the less formal typeface that he called wasteful, confusing and unbefitting the dignity of U.S. government documents.

“Typography shapes how official documents are perceived in terms of cohesion, professionalism and formality,” Rubio said in a cable sent to all U.S. embassies and consulates abroad Tuesday.

In it, he said the 2023 shift to the sans serif Calibri font emerged from misguided diversity, equity and inclusion policies pursued by his predecessor, Antony Blinken. Rubio ordered an immediate return to Times New Roman, which had been among the standard fonts mandated by previous administrations.

“The switch was promised to mitigate accessibility issues for individuals with disabilities,” the cable said, asserting that it did not achieve that goal and had cost the department $145,000 but did not offer any evidence.

Since taking over the State Department in January, Rubio has systematically dismantled DEI programs in line with President Donald Trump’s broader instructions to all federal agencies. The Trump administration says the goal is to return to purely merit-based standards.

Rubio has abolished offices and initiatives that had been created to promote and foster diversity and inclusion, including in Washington and at overseas embassies and consulates, and also ended foreign assistance funding for DEI projects abroad.

“Although switching to Calibri was not among the department’s most illegal, immoral, radical or wasteful instances of DEI it was nonetheless cosmetic,” according to Rubio’s cable obtained by The Associated Press and first reported by The New York Times.

“Switching to Calibri achieved nothing except the degradation of the department’s correspondence,” he said, adding that it also clashed with the typeface in the State Department letterhead.

According to a separate memo sent to department employees, the return to Times New Roman takes effect Wednesday and all templates for official documents are to be updated to remove the offending Calibri font.

The only exceptions are documents prepared for international treaties and for presidential appointments, which are required to use Courier New 12-point font, the memo said.

By Amy Maxmen, KFF Health News

The United States is poised to lose its measles-free status next year. If that happens, the country will enter an era in which outbreaks are common again.

More children would be hospitalized because of this preventable disease. Some would lose their hearing. Some would die. Measles is also expensive. A new study— not yet published in a scientific journal — estimates that the public health response to outbreaks with only a couple of cases costs about $244,000. When a patient requires hospital care, costs average $58,600 per case. The study’s estimates suggest that an outbreak the size of the one in West Texas earlier this year, with 762 cases and 99 hospitalizations, costs about $12.6 million.

America’s status hinges on whether the country’s main outbreaks this year stemmed from the big one in West Texas that officially began Jan. 20. If these outbreaks are linked, and go on through Jan. 20 of next year, the U.S. will no longer be among nations that have banished the disease.

“A lot of people worked very hard for a very long time to achieve elimination — years of figuring out how to make vaccines available, get good vaccine coverage, and have a rapid response to outbreaks to limit their spread,” said Paul Rota, a microbiologist who recently retired from a nearly 40-year career at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Instead of acting fast to prevent a measles comeback, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a lawyer who founded an anti-vaccine organization before taking the helm at the Department of Health and Human Services, has undermined the ability of public health officials to prevent and contain outbreaks by eroding trust in vaccines. The measles vaccine is safe and effective: Only 4% of more than 1,800 confirmed U.S. cases of measles this year have been in people who had received two doses.

Kennedy has fired experts on the vaccine advisory committee to the CDC and has said, without evidence, that vaccines may cause autism, brain swelling, and death. On Nov. 19, scientific information on a CDC webpage about vaccines and autism was replaced with false claims. Kennedy told The New York Times that he ordered the change.

“Do we want to go back into a prevaccine era where 500 kids die of measles each year?” asked Demetre Daskalakis, a former director of the CDC’s national immunization center, who resigned in protest of Kennedy’s actions in August. He and other scientists said the Trump administration appears to be occupied more with downplaying the resurgence of measles than with curbing the disease.

HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in a statement that vaccination remains the most effective tool for preventing measles and that the “CDC and state and local health agencies continue to work together to assess transmission patterns and ensure an effective public health response.”

Looking for Links

CDC scientists are indeed tracking measles, alongside researchers at health departments and universities. To learn whether outbreaks are linked, they’re looking at the genomes of measles viruses, which contain all their genetic information. Genomic analyses could help reveal the origin of outbreaks and their true size, and alert officials to undetected spread.

Scientists have conducted genomic analyses of HIV, the flu, and COVID for years, but it’s new for measles because the virus hasn’t been much of a problem in the U.S. for decades, said Samuel Scarpino, a public health specialist at Northeastern University in Boston. “It’s important to get a surveillance network into place so that we could scale up rapidly if and when we need it,” he said.

“We are working with the CDC and other states to determine whether what we’re seeing is one large outbreak with continued spread from state to state,” said Kelly Oakeson, a genomics researcher at the Utah Department of Health and Human Services.

At first glance, the ongoing outbreak in Utah and Arizona, with 258 cases as of Dec. 1, seems linked to the one in Texas because they’re caused by the same strain of measles, D8-9171. But this strain is also spreading throughout Canada and Mexico, which means the outbreaks could have been sparked separately from people infected abroad. If that happened, this technicality could spare the U.S. from losing its status, Rota said. Being measles-free means the virus isn’t circulating in a country continuously year-round.

Canada lost its measles-elimination status in November because authorities couldn’t prove that various outbreaks from the D8-9171 strain were unrelated, said Daniel Salas, executive manager of the comprehensive immunization program at the Pan American Health Organization. The group, which works with the World Health Organization, includes health officials from countries in North, South, and Central America, and the Caribbean. It makes a call on measles elimination based on reports from scientists in the countries it represents.

Early next year, PAHO will hear from U.S. scientists. If their analyses suggest that measles has spread continuously for a year within the U.S., the organization’s director may revoke the country’s status as measles-free.

“We expect countries to be transparent about the information they have,” Salas said. “We will ask questions, like, ‘How did you determine your findings, and did you consider other angles?’”

In anticipation of PAHO’s assessment, Oakeson and other researchers are studying how closely the D8-9171 strains in Utah match others. Instead of looking at only a short snippet of genes that mark the strain, they’re analyzing the entire genome of the measles virus, about 16,000 genetic letters long. Genetic mutations occur naturally over time, and the accumulation of small changes can act like a clock, revealing how much time has ticked by between outbreaks. “This tells us the evolutionary history of samples,” Oakeson said.

For example, if one child directly infects another, the kids will have matching measles viruses. But measles viruses infecting people at the start of a large outbreak would be slightly different than those infecting people months later.

Although the Texas and Utah outbreaks are caused by the same strain, Oakeson said, “more fine-grained details are leading us to believe they aren’t super closely related.” To learn just how different they are from each other, scientists are comparing them with measles virus genomes from other states and countries.

Ideally scientists could pair genetic studies with shoe-leather investigations into how each outbreak started. However, many investigations have come up dry because the first people infected haven’t sought care or contacted health departments. As in West Texas, the outbreak in Utah and Arizona is concentrated in close-knit, undervaccinated communities that are leery of government authorities and mainstream medicine.

Researchers are also trying to learn how many measles cases have gone undetected. “Confirmed cases require testing, and in some communities, there’s a cost to going to the hospital to get tested: a tank of gas, finding a babysitter, missing work,” Andrew Pavia, an infectious disease doctor at the University of Utah, said. “If your kid has a measles rash but isn’t very sick, why would you bother?”

Subtle Surveillance

Pavia is part of a nationwide outbreak surveillance network led by the CDC. A straightforward way to figure out how large an outbreak is would be through surveys, but that’s complicated when communities don’t trust public health workers.

“In a collaborative setting, we could administer questionnaires asking if anyone in a household had a rash and other measles symptoms,” Pavia said, “but the same issues that make it difficult to get people to quarantine and vaccinate make this hard.”

Instead, Pavia and other researchers are analyzing genomes. A lot of variation suggests an outbreak spread for weeks or months before it was detected, infecting many more people than known.

A less intrusive mode of surveillance is through wastewater. This year, the CDC and state health departments have launched efforts to test sewage from households and buildings for measles viruses that infected people shed. A study in Texas found that this could function as an early warning system, alerting public health authorities to an outbreak before people show up in hospitals.

The quiet research of CDC scientists stands in stark contrast to its dearth of public-facing actions. The CDC hasn’t held a single press briefing on measles since President Donald Trump took office, and its last publication on measles in the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report was in April.

Rather than act fast to limit the size of the Texas outbreak, the Trump administration impeded the CDC’s ability to communicate quickly with Texas officials and slowed the release of federal emergency funds, according to investigations by KFF Health News. Meanwhile Kennedy broadcast mixed messages on vaccines and touted unproven treatments.

Daskalakis said that as the outbreak in Texas worsened, his CDC team was met by silence when they asked to brief Kennedy and other HHS officials.

“Objectively they weren’t helping with the Texas outbreak, so if we lose elimination, maybe they’ll say, ‘Who cares,’” Daskalakis said.

Nixon, the HHS spokesperson, said Kennedy responded strongly to the Texas outbreak by directing the CDC to help provide measles vaccines and medications to communities, expediting measles testing, and advising doctors and health officials. The U.S. retains its elimination status because there’s no evidence of continuous transmission for 12 months, he added.

“Preliminary genomic analysis suggests the Utah and Arizona cases are not directly linked to Texas,” the CDC’s acting director, Deputy HHS Secretary Jim O’Neill, wrote on the social platform X.

Given Kennedy’s distortions of data on vitamin A, Tylenol, and autism, Daskalakis said the Trump administration may insist that outbreaks aren’t linked or that PAHO is wrong.

“It will be quite a stain on the Kennedy regime if he is the health secretary in the year we lose elimination status,” he said. “I think they will do everything they can to cast doubt on the scientific findings, even if it means throwing scientists under the bus.”

©2025 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By JEFF AMY and KATE BRUMBACK

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s State Election Board on Wednesday rejected a proposal defining when hand-marked paper ballots could be used in place of the state’s touchscreen voting machines.

Opponents said the rule would have overstepped the board’s legal authority and could have created an escape hatch for widespread use of paper ballots when state lawmakers mandated the use of the ballot-marking devices.

Janice Johnston, the board’s vice chair, seemed to agree, saying, “This really is the duty and the job of the legislators.”

The proposed rule failed on a 2-2 vote after a debate in which proponents contended that use of the current machines at least sometimes violates the law because voters can’t read their ballots’ QR code to ensure it matches the paper ballot, and because machines don’t afford enough privacy to voters.

“You have both the duty and the responsibility for the conduct of legal elections in Georgia,” said Jeanne Dufort, a county Democratic official and a co-author of the bipartisan proposal.

Hand-marked paper ballots are Georgia’s backup when the machines can’t be used because of an “emergency.” The proposed rule would have listed qualifying circumstances that define when the use of machines is “impossible or impracticable.”

Struggle over Georgia voting machines

Proponents of the change included longtime opponents of Georgia’s voting machines, as well as those who rallied to the cause after the 2020 election, when wild conspiracy theories about the machines proliferated as President Donald Trump’s allies alleged they were used to steal victory from him.

Georgia’s election system was implemented statewide ahead of the 2020 primary elections. Manufactured by Dominion Voting Systems, which was bought earlier this year by Liberty Vote, it includes touchscreen voting machines that print paper ballots featuring a human-readable list of voters’ selections and a QR code that a scanner reads to count votes.

Even before 2020, some election integrity activists had argued voters can’t be sure their votes are accurately recorded because they can’t read the QR code and that the voting machines’ large, upright screens violate the right to ballot secrecy. They also assert that the system has major security flaws that the state hasn’t addressed.

The secretary of state’s office maintains that the system is secure and Georgia’s election results are accurate and reliable.

Salleigh Grubbs, first vice chair of the Georgia Republican Party was the other co-author of the rule. She argued that although lawmakers passed a law to eliminate use of QR codes from ballots after July 1, 2026, the board needs to act because lawmakers and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger have not yet moved ahead with plans to remove the codes.

“We are already voting on an illegal system,” Grubbs said, a sentiment that Johnston said she agreed with despite voting against the rule.

Dufort argued legal reasons for not using the machines are much broader than just operational emergencies like power outages at polling place.

“There are variety of reasons why the primary method of marking your ballot isn’t usable” Dufort said.

Limits of the board’s power

But critics, including key legislators and the state attorney general’s office, opposed the measure. They said the board was in danger of again trying to usurp the power of legislators. A Georgia Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that said the State Election Board can pass rules to “implement and enforce” election laws, but cannot “go beyond, change or contradict” the laws. That ruling stemmed from a challenge to board’s adoption of a number of new rules before last year’s election.

“We are putting ourselves at risk of getting swatted back under the very precedent that was created to constrain and orient this board,” said Sara Tindall Ghazal, the lone Democrat and only lawyer on the board. She voted against the rule.

State Rep. Victor Anderson, vice chair of a special study committee on elections, told The Associated Press earlier that legislators are working to address concerns about the voting machines.

“I feel like the proposed rule is trying to get ahead of that before we handle it through the proper sources,” he said.

Some opponents of the rule worried it could have forced a switch to hand-marked paper ballots in an end-run around the state’s requirement that in-person voters use touchscreen voting machines. Many Republican activists have been demanding such a move since 2020.

“These definitions appear to be a backdoor attempt to move Georgia to the routine use of hand-marked paper ballots,” said Janet Green, a DeKalb County poll worker who commented Wednesday.

State Election Board members said they would instead lobby lawmakers to adopt a version of the rule into law.

“We will be in communication with the General Assembly to address the problem they created,” Johnston said.

By JEFF AMY

ATLANTA (AP) — Democrat Eric Gisler claimed an upset victory Tuesday in a special election in a historically Republican Georgia state House district.

Gisler said he was the winner of the contest, in which he was leading Republican Mack “Dutch” Guest by about 200 votes out of more than 11,000 in final unofficial returns.

Robert Sinners, a spokesperson with the secretary of state’s office, said there could be a few provisional ballots left before the tally is finalized.

“I think we had the right message for the time,” Gisler told The Associated Press in a phone interview. He credited his win to Democratic enthusiasm but also said some Republicans were looking for a change.

“A lot of what I would call traditional conservatives held their nose and voted Republican last year on the promise of low prices and whatever else they were selling,” Gisler said. “But they hadn’t received that.”

Guest did not immediately respond to a text message seeking comment late Tuesday.

Democrats have seen a number of electoral successes in 2025 as the party’s voters have been eager to express dissatisfaction with Republican President Donald Trump.

In Georgia in November, they romped to two blowouts in statewide special elections for the Public Service Commission, unseating two incumbent Republicans in campaigns driven by discontent over rising electricity costs.

Nationwide, Democrats won governor’s races by broad margins in Virginia and New Jersey. On Tuesday a Democrat defeated a Trump-endorsed Republican in the officially nonpartisan race for Miami mayor, becoming the first from his party to win the post in nearly 30 years.

Democrats have also performed strongly in some races they lost, such as a Tennessee U.S. House race last week and a Georgia state Senate race in September.

Republicans remain firmly in control of the Georgia House, but their majority is likely fall to 99-81 when lawmakers return in January. Also Tuesday, voters in a second, heavily Republican district in Atlanta’s northwest suburbs sent Republican Bill Fincher and Democrat Scott Sanders to a Jan. 6 runoff to fill a vacancy created when Rep. Mandi Ballinger died.

The GOP majority is down from 119 Republicans in 2015. It would be the first time the GOP holds fewer than 100 seats in the lower chamber since 2005, when they won control for the first time since Reconstruction.

The race between Gisler and Guest in House District 121 in the Athens area northeast of Atlanta was held to replace Republican Marcus Wiedower, who was in the seat since 2018 but resigned in the middle of this term to focus on business interests.

Most of the district is in Oconee County, a Republican suburb of Athens, reaching into heavily Democratic Athens-Clarke County. Republicans gerrymandered Athens-Clarke to include one strongly Democratic district, parceling out the rest of the county into three seats intended to be Republican.

Gisler ran against Wiedower in 2024, losing 61% to 39%. This year was Guest’s first time running for office.

A Democrat briefly won control of the district in a 2017 special election but lost to Wiedower in 2018.

Gisler, a 49-year-old Watkinsville resident, works for an insurance technology company and owns a gourmet olive oil store. He campaigned on improving health care, increasing affordability and reinvesting Georgia’s surplus funds

Guest is the president of a trucking company and touted his community ties, promising to improve public safety and cut taxes. He was endorsed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, an Athens native, and raised far more in campaign contributions than Gisler.