Yearly Archives: 2023

The Arizona Legislature filed an emergency application to the Supreme Court over COVID-19 vaccine mandates on the federal level.

The goal of wanting an injunction brought back is to stop federal contractors from being required to take the vaccine, as the Biden administration executive order from September 2021 is pending litigation.

"We will not allow President Biden to blatantly undermine the will of the Arizona State Legislature in the protections we've provided for our citizens to prevent a COVID-19 vaccine mandate from dictating employment opportunities," Republican Senate President Warren Petersen said in a statement Wednesday.

"The Biden Administration has made it clear that they are against any Americans who push back against this vaccine and will abuse their powers in order to force compliance as a stipulation of doing business with the federal government. Arizona will not tolerate this gross government overreach and intrusion of individual liberties. The Legislature's intervention in this lawsuit against President Biden is critical in protecting the sovereignty of our state and the rights of all Arizonans," Petersen continued.

An injunction was originally in place by the U.S. District Court of Arizona since Feb. 2022, but it was scrapped by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals this month.

"Procedurally, this application challenges the Ninth Circuit's sua sponte order staying the district court's injunction against enforcement of the Contractor Mandate in Arizona, which otherwise would have remained in effect pending issuance of the mandate," the application states. "Because the Federal Respondents did not request a stay below, the Ninth Circuit overreached when it disturbed the status quo and stayed the district court's injunction sua sponte."

Although COVID-19 is no longer considered a national emergency, the decision of whether or not employers should require their employees to get the vaccine remains a contentious topic. Biden also tried to mandate the vaccine for federal workers, but that is currently blocked by an appeals court, according to NBC News.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s Republican members of Congress want answers about two separate years-old lab leaks reported at UW-Madison.

Congressman Mike Gallagher, along with U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, and other Republicans this week sent a letter the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes for Health, and the Centers for Disease Control asking for details about reported exposures to a genetically modified form of the H5N1 virus.

“One of the many impacts the COVID-19 pandemic has had is an increasing awareness of gain-of-function research – and specifically the Department of Health and Human Services’ role in funding this research. A recent article has brought to light possible exposure incidents involving gain-of-function research which appears to have been funded by HHS at a University of Wisconsin-Madison,” Gallagher wrote in the letter. “We write to request information on biosafety incidents at HHS-funded research institutions such as UW-Madison.”

An article published in the USA Today earlier this month detailed the exposures.

One happened back in 2013, when a researcher accidentally jabbed a needle through their protective gear. The other happened in 2019 when a research assistant was in the lab, but their protective suit wasn’t sealed.

Gallagher and the others say it appears the Department of Health and Human Services played a role in funding gain-of-function research on the virus, and therefore needs to be open and honest about the safety of that research.

The report of these two researchers’ potential exposure to a genetically engineered virus and alleged failures to adequately address said exposures raises questions about HHS’s oversight of biosafety incidents,” Gallagher added.

The USA Today story says despite the possible exposures at the UW-Madison lab, full reports weren’t passed along immediately. In one case it took two months for all of the reports to be filed.

Gallagher and the rest of Wisconsin’s Republican members of Congress want complete list of all biosafety incidents reported to HHS from 2013 to present, a copy of any reports submitted to HHS regarding the two biosafety incidents, as well as information and safety policy reports for any research institution receiving HHS funds.

Gallagher and the rest are also asking for answers about whether HHS requires institutions to notify local and/or state health officials when an actual or potential exposure occurs, whether HHS provides guidance on what qualifies as an exposure, potential exposure, or non-exposure in the event of a biosafety incident, and how often HHS conducts inspections or audits of research facilities working with infectious agents.

The Congressmen have given HHS a deadline of May 19 to respond.

(The Center Square) – Top Republicans at the Wisconsin Capitol say they are working on a plan to send more state money to local governments across the state, but the city of Milwaukee this week added a bit of urgency to that work.

On Monday, Milwaukee’s Steering and Rules Committee proposed cutting the city’s entire sixth police district to find the money to pay Milwaukee’s skyrocketing pension payment.

"The gloomiest days are ahead of us when really we should be building for the future," Alderwoman Marina Dimitrijevic said.

Milwaukee is also looking at deep cuts to its fire department, as well as other city services like libraries.

The threatened cuts come as Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says he will release a new shared revenue plan on Thursday.

“Hopefully we are on the cusp of an agreement, but the devil is in the details,” Vos told reporters on Tuesday. “I am optimistic that, hopefully, by Thursday we will have a bipartisan plan. But if not, Assembly Republicans are going to lay out their ideas…with the goal of bringing a bill to the floor in the May floor period.”

Gov. Tony Evers has said increasing the amount of money local governments get from the state is one of his top priorities this year.

Vos didn’t offer many specifics as to just what a shared revenue package might include, though he did talk about a new ‘innovation fund’ that would encourage local governments to spend less.

“It would say to municipalities that want to be able to coordinate their services, the state would incentivize that,” Vos added. “And help them be able to offer the same or better services without caring about what the color of the squad car is or the uniform that somebody wears when they respond to a call.”

The leaders of the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee, which actually writes the new state budget, on Thursday also said they are planning to increase shared revenue i the new state spending plan.

“We’ll certainly look to make investments in local communities through the shared revenue program, for the first time in a long time,” Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, said. “As far as new money? Obviously there’s a lot of state money in it already, but we want to put new money into it because we recognize that in these inflationary times [local governments] have important roles to play, and need some help too.”

Wisconsin’s shared revenue program is worth about $1 billion. The proposed ‘innovation fund’ would be worth about $100 million.

(The Center Square) – Another package of reforms from Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin is likely doomed.

Assembly Republicans on Tuesday turned their focus to unemployment reforms they say are designed to help people get back to work.

“We have a workforce problem,” Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told reporters before Tuesday’s votes. “There are only so many strategies that the state can employ, but the one that’s the most obvious - which is why we are here today - is to make sure that every single able-bodied person is able to be in the workforce and they’re not sitting on the sidelines because they are able to either game the system or utility programs that are meant to be a safety net.”

Among the legislation the Assembly Republicans support are to tie unemployment benefits to Wisconsin’s unemployment rate, which would limit the amount of time people can collect unemployment when the jobless rate is low. As well as plans to require anyone on unemployment to look for work and show-up if they’re offered a job, as well as a proposal that would force people to prove they are still eligible for BadgerCare.

“Eighty percent-or-so of the state said that able-bodied, childless adults should be in the workforce, and that’s what this package of bills [does],” Assembly Majority Leader Tyler August, R-Lake Geneva said.

Wisconsin voters overwhelmingly supported a non-binding referendum on a work requirement for public benefits in the state. Republican lawmakers say they are simply following through.

Democrats in the Assembly said instead of requiring more from people on unemployment, the legislature should be expanding benefits like BadgerCare and state-supported child care payments.

“We could have talked about other supports that are needed for our workers to get to work and stay working. Like access to transit, and affordable housing,” Rep. Katrina Shankland, D-Stevens Point, said. “But unfortunately the bills brought forward today…are going to do the opposite of solve the workforce crisis. They will exacerbate it.”

Tuesday’s vote in the Assembly is likely just perfunctory. Gov. Tony Evers vetoed some of the same plans last year and is expected to do so again this year.

Speaker Vos said he shouldn’t.

“I heard Gov. Evers say in his inauguration that ‘the will of the people should be the law of the land,’ so here’s a prime example,” Vos said Tuesday. “Hopefully Gov. Evers looks at the results of what happened around the state [with the April referendum], realizes that he should have signed them before.”

(The Center Square) – Supporters of a flat tax in Wisconsin know it won’t happen this year, but that’s not stopping them.

Dozens of Republican lawmakers, advocates, and business owners from across the state crowded a Senate hearing Tuesday to talk about the plan that would move Wisconsin from its current progressive income tax to a flat 3.25% income tax in three years.

“This will make Wisconsin more competitive, more affordable and stronger,” Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu told lawmakers at the hearing.

But his proposal has already been declared dead by Gov. Tony Evers. The governor called a flat tax a “tax cut for millionaires.”

Evers' sentiment was echoed by Milwaukee Democratic state Senator Chris Larson.

“Legislative Republicans will bend over backward to cater to the needs of the super-rich and corporations, but when it comes to those who actually need help, they want to force them to jump through flaming hoops like a circus animal in exchange for any hope of assistance,” Larson, D-Milwaukee, said on Twitter Tuesday.

Chris Reader, executive vice president at the Institute for Reforming Government, said tax reformers understand the reality at the Capitol. But he told The Center Square that doesn’t mean they are giving up.

"Our advice to the governor and the legislature, and what we'll work toward in the next couple of months, is to move on the boldest plan that they will accept,” Reader said. "Whatever happens this year, and we think we will get there, that the tax bill the governor signs will be a step toward significantly flattening and eventually eliminating the income tax."

Megan Novak, director for Americans for Prosperity in Wisconsin, said a flat tax would move many thousands of small businesses in the state from a 7.65% income tax to a 3.25% income tax, enough to allow Wisconsin to compete for jobs and new families.

“Our individual tax rates are uncompetitive at best, and hostile at worst. In fact, only nine states in this country have an income tax rate higher than our 7.65% top rate that so many small businesses pay right now,” Novak told lawmakers. “The Legislature has the opportunity to transform Wisconsin for the better with [the flat tax] for generations to come.”

House Republicans voted Thursday to pass the "Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act," the latest salvo in the ongoing battle over transgender athletes.

The legislation would ban schools that receive federal funding, which is nearly all schools, from allowing biological males to compete in sports designated for women and girls.

"This is a great day for America and a great day for girls and women and for fairness in sports..." House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said at a news conference outside the Capitol after the vote.

The issue has been thrust into the forefront after a string of biological males who transitioned went from mediocrity in men's sports to dominating and breaking records in women's sports. There have also been several women injured by transgender athletes.

President Joe Biden has threatened to veto the bill if it passes, but it is unclear if the bill could even get a vote in the Senate.

"The left's lunacy is robbing women and girls of equal opportunities in the name of inclusion," Republican Whip Tom Emmer said at the news conference.

Christiana Kiefer, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, a group that has represented young girls in lawsuits on this issue, heralded the bill's passage. She pointed out the bill affirms Title IX protections for girls, though the Biden administration has tried to reinterpret the wording of that statute, an issue that will likely be decided in the courts.

“Girls shouldn’t be spectators in their own sports," she said. "The 'Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act' reaffirms the vital protections for women’s sports guaranteed by Title IX, ensuring that women and girls truly have equal athletic opportunities. Women fought long and hard to remedy inequality in athletics, and allowing males to compete in girls’ sports reverses 50 years of advances secured for women under Title IX."

A decorated supervisory IRS agent has reported to the Justice Department's top watchdog that federal prosecutors appointed by President Joe Biden have engaged in "preferential treatment and politics" to block criminal tax charges against presidential son Hunter Biden, providing evidence as a whistleblower that conflicts with Attorney General Merrick Garland's recent testimony to Congress that the decision to bring charges against Biden was being left to the Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney for Delaware.

According to a letter from the whistleblower's attorney Mark Lytle to Congress obtained by Just the News, the IRS agent revealed he is seeking to provide detailed disclosures about a high-profile, sensitive case to the tax-writing committees in Congress, which have special authority under federal tax privacy laws to receive such information. That could pave the way to share the details with other committees in coming weeks.

The letter does not state that the whistleblower disclosures are related to Hunter Biden. However, Just the News has independently confirmed the agent's allegations involve the Hunter Biden probe being led by Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a Trump holdover, according to multiple interviews with people directly familiar with the matter.

In a letter Wednesday to Republicans and Democrats overseeing multiple oversight committees in Congress, Lytle wrote: "The protected disclosures: (l) contradict sworn testimony to Congress by a senior political appointee, (2) involve failure to mitigate clear conflicts of interest in the ultimate disposition of the case, and (3) detail examples of preferential treatment and politics improperly infecting decisions and protocols that would normally be followed by career law enforcement professionals in similar circumstances if the subject were not politically connected."

You can read the full letter here.

Hunter Biden has acknowledged since December 2020 that he has been under criminal investigation for tax matters, and his representative disclosed last year he paid overdue tax bills totaling $2 million. He has expressed confidence he will be cleared of criminal wrongdoing.

The IRS agent has a sterling record investigating tax crimes across the globe, including work on high-profile Swiss Bank prosecutions, and has won several merit awards. The whistleblower originally approached the IRS' internal watchdog and Congress late last year with the help of prominent Democrat lawyer Mark Zaid, who previously represented clients whose allegations about a call with the Ukrainian president led to Donald Trump's first impeachment in 2019.

The agent subsequently hired Lytle, a former federal prosecutor with significant experience in prosecuting complex tax matters with the Justice Department's Tax Division. Lytle also represented former Twitter head of Trust and Safety Yoel Roth in his recent congressional testimony and is currently defending a former FBI supervisor named Timothy Thibault who has been accused of pro-Biden political bias in anonymous whistleblower disclosures to the offices of Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson, and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan.

Lytle told lawmakers in his letter that the IRS agent has also disclosed his concerns to both the Treasury Department Inspector General for Tax Administration and Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, the same watchdog who unmasked FBI abuses during the Russia collusion case.

People directly familiar with the case have described the disclosures to Just the News as focused primarily on improper politicization of the case at the Justice Department and FBI headquarters rather than at the IRS or Treasury Department.

Specifically, the agent has provided evidence that at least two Biden DOJ political appointees in U.S. attorneys' offices have declined to seek a tax indictment against Hunter Biden despite career investigators' recommendations to do so and the blessing of career prosecutors in the DOJ tax division.

He also alleges that Weiss told agents on the case that the Delaware U.S. Attorney asked to be named a special counsel to have more independent authority in the probe but was turned down, according to interviews.

The agent also alleged that specific DOJ employees placed strictures on questions, witnesses and tactics investigators may be allowed to pursue that could impact President Biden, according to the interviews.

The sources said the agent's decision to blow the whistle was prompted by sworn testimony from Garland that Delaware U.S. Attorney Weiss had full authority, free from political pressure, to pursue a case against Hunter Biden in any part of the country, according to interviews.

In an interview with Just the News, Lytle said he could not yet identify the specific case his client had raised concerns about or the specific political appointees whose actions or testimony raised concerns because of tax confidentiality laws. But he confirmed that one senior DOJ official's recent testimony played a role in the agent coming forward to blow the whistle.

"I can say that he's been working diligently on a high-profile case," the lawyer said during an interview on the John Solomon Reports podcast, explaining that his client "was concerned about some statements by a senior political appointee from the Department of Justice that contradicted what he knew to be the facts of the case."

Lytle said his client is a career law enforcement official who hasn't made any political donations and doesn't even use social media. "He is just a guy who likes his job as a law enforcement officer, as an investigator, and he takes it seriously, and he's dedicated," he said. "And when he sees something that is not routine and doesn't follow the rules, or ... something maybe is affected by politics – that's what made him come forward."

The agent wants both Democrats and Republicans to hear his account and be able to question him, Lytle said.

"He's insisted that when he comes forward, this is not to talk to just one party or the other party," the lawyer said. "He wants to make sure that when he tells his story, both sides are there, so that he can present it, and they can sort it out. He doesn't want to be accused of picking a side, even if that might happen anyway. But he has information, it's credible, and it's supported by emails and documents."

Lytle added that if his client is cleared to talk to Congress he also will be able to identify contemporaneous witnesses to corroborate his claims of political interference.

"I believe he'll be able to talk about these meetings that he attended, that were with both agents and prosecutors," he explained, "and how he summarized those meetings and put it in writing and distributed those to folks within the IRS and sometimes to other agents as well. And so those are all in writing, contemporaneous. And then there's emails too, so those are important documents that will ... I think, end up corroborating his credibility."

Horowitz's team has conducted an extensive debriefing of the IRS agent, reviewed documents purporting to corroborate his claims, and is purportedly in the process of seeking out other law enforcement witnesses from the IRS and FBI who can back up parts of his story, according to interviews.

One of the issues key to the whistleblower's concerns involves which U.S. attorney's office has the authority to bring criminal tax charges and where. The whistleblower alleged that Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney David Weiss could not legally bring charges in Delaware. Because of where Hunter Biden lived at the time his tax returns were filed, Weiss needed the permission of Biden-appointed U.S. attorneys in other districts to bring charges outside of Delaware. The agent alleges two such U.S. attorneys appointed by Biden declined his requests, according to interviews.

In testimony as recently as last month, Garland told Iowa GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley that Weiss had full authority to bring charges in any district he needed. "If it's in another district, he would have to bring the case in another district," Garland said. "But as I said, I promise to ensure that he's able to carry out his investigation and that he'd be able to run it. And if he needs to bring it in another jurisdiction, he will have full authority to do that."

The IG has obtained contemporaneous government emails and memos in DOJ files documenting to IRS leadership what the agent believed was evidence of political interference and biased behavior by DOJ employees. The agent is willing to make the same evidence available to Congress, according to Lytle's letter.

The DOJ IG has deemed the agent's allegations to be credible and serious enough to gather and preserve the corroborating documents and seek witnesses, according to the interviews. IRS cases involving uncharged defendants are covered by extraordinary privacy protections under the law even when a person has acknowledged he is under tax investigation.

However, the tax secrecy laws explicitly authorize disclosures to the committees in Congress with jurisdiction over tax laws, such as the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees. Both committees received the letter from the whistleblower's counsel seeking an invitation to testify to both sides of the political aisle about the controversy.

Inspectors general for the IRS and the Justice Department were copied on the letter from the whistleblowing agent's lawyer to Capitol Hill, which offers to provide a more detailed description of the testimony with the proper legal protections afforded by tax secrecy and whistleblower protection laws.

The committees with special authority to receive the tax whistleblower allegations will likely have to decide whether and how the details could be forwarded to the panels overseeing the FBI and DOJ, including the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, officials said.

David Weiss, the Justice Department and Hunter Biden's attorney Chris Clark have not responded for comment.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s governor will determine whether he supports a new carjacking law approved by the State Assembly on Tuesday.

The bill aims to add felony carjacking to the list of Wisconsin’s laws.

Rep. John Sppiros, R-Marshfield, said current state laws already make carjacking a crime, but there isn’t a carjacking law.

“Carjacking is not defined by state statute,” Spiros explained. “It could be burglary to a vehicle, robbery, burglary, things like that.”

The new proposal also makes carjacking a Class B Felony if someone uses a weapon.

“Typically a carjacking is a vehicle that is occupied," Spiros explained. “It is occupied by a person, and somebody is forcefully taking it.”

Much of the debate over the new plan centered on Milwaukee, with some Republicans criticizing the city as unsafe.

“I don’t think you could pay me to go down there now,” Rep. Paul Tittl, R-Manitowoc, said of Milwaukee during Tuesday’s debate.

The new proposal would make carjacking punishable by up to 60 years in prison.

Democratic state Rep. Ryan Clancy, D-Milwaukee, said 60 years in prison is more prison time than someone would get for other violent crimes.

“What we are doing when we take one arbitrary charge, and we highlight that above all of these others as Class C and B felonies,” Clancy said. “We [are suggesting] that carjacking, with even the hint of a weapon being involved, is more heinous than any of these.”

The proposal passed the Assembly on a 80-18 vote that saw both Republicans and some Democrats vote in favor of the new charge. The State Senate passed the same legislation along a similar 23-8, bipartisan vote.

The plan now heads to Gov. Evers’ desk. The governor’s office says he supports the new proposal.

(The Center Square) – If the Milwaukee Brewers are going to get state money to help maintain their ballpark, the city of Milwaukee is going to have to kick-in.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos on Tuesday said there is growing support to see a buy-in from Milwaukee and Milwaukee County.

“I think it’s fair to say that most people around the state would expect that they have some kind of a participatory role,” Vos said at a news conference. “Has that been defined? No. Has a number been arrived at? No. But the idea of saying that the state is going to bear all of the responsibility for a local project is probably not realistic either.”

The Brewers need between $300 million and $500 million for ongoing maintenance at American Family Field over the next 20 years.

Gov. Tony Evers dropped a proposal back in February that would have used $290 million from Wisconsin’s budget surplus to pay for the work.

Vos has said that’s not going to happen. Vos also said the governor’s announcement has made it much more difficult to find support at the Capitol for a Brewers ballpark deal.

Vos continues to say he wants to model any deal for the Brewers after the deal then-Gov. Scott Walker helped negotiate for the Bucks and Fiserv Forum.

“We saw the way that deal was structured under Gov. Walker for Fiserv Forum, where we know that the municipalities that got the biggest investment of not just the team and the energy that was there, but the revenues that were produced from it, were Milwaukee and Milwaukee County,” Vos explained.

Vos has said in the past that he wants a stand-alone deal for the Brewers so that Milwaukee and Milwaukee County Democratic lawmakers cannot vote against the funding deal, then reap all of the benefits.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Tuesday reported that most Milwaukee and county leaders are not commenting on Vos’ thoughts.

Only Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson’s office responded.

"The topic has been raised in discussions with elected leaders in Madison. We are at the earliest stages of those talks," the mayor’s director of communications Jeff Fleming told the paper. "The city currently has no money available to consider additional expenditures."

Vos is not saying just when he expects to have a final proposal for the Brewers’ ballpark, or when a vote may come.

(The Center Square) – There is a new push to get more teachers certified for some Wisconsin classrooms, including certifications for just a $9,000 price tag.

School Choice Wisconsin and Concordia University in West Allis on Monday announced the new Concordia Teaching and Learning Academy. It is a year-and-a-half long program designed to help people who already have bachelor's degrees become teachers at private schools.

“[Concordia’s] partnership with School Choice Wisconsin is a unique opportunity to support our private and parochial schools in training teachers in an immersion and mentorship model," Adam Paape, assistant dean of the School of Education at Concordia University, said. "The CTLA will provide new teachers the knowledge and support that they need to be successful and continue in the profession while allowing them to pursue licensure and a degree down the road. We look forward to this vibrant partnership to growing and flourishing."

Prospective teachers will take classes and conduct one-on-one mentorships with current teachers to learn what it takes to become an educator.

School Choice Wisconsin’s Nicholas Kelly says it’s a win-win for both new teachers, and the choice schools across the state who need teachers.

"This is an exciting opportunity, not only for our member schools, but also for mid-career professionals interested in giving back to the community by bringing their real-world experience into the classroom," Kelly said. "CTLA graduates will help private choice schools across Wisconsin continue to be competitive in a highly competitive market to hire experienced professionals to deliver their curriculum and maintain the high standards they have set in their schools while remaining fiscally responsible due to inadequate state funding.”

Wisconsin has struggled with a teacher shortage for years.

School leaders, lawmakers, and teachers unions in the state have suggested several solutions, but there continues to be a need.

A January report from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction said the loss of young teachers is particularly glaring.

“The state is steadily losing teachers in their first five years of employment and that certain areas of licensure are particularly hard to fill for employers,” the report states.

It goes on to say that “Teacher retention rates are 67% after their first five years,” and “Out of a possible 5,391 new public school teachers who completed a program, the state only added 3,618 teachers.”

The report says the Foundations of Reading Test for prospective teachers is one roadblock, as is enrollment in educator preparation programs, which is still below 2008-2009 levels.

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said Monday Republicans will vote to cut federal spending when it agrees to raise the debt ceiling, setting the stage for a pending political struggle over growing federal debt and what to do about it.

“OK, so here’s our plan,” McCarthy said at the New York Stock Exchange Institute Monday. “In the coming weeks, the House will vote on a bill to lift the debt ceiling into the next year, save taxpayers trillions of dollars, make us less dependant on China, curve our high inflation, all without touching Social Security and Medicare.”

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned lawmakers that they face a looming deadline: raise the debt limit or face defaulting on U.S.’ debt obligations, an unprecedented failure that would have major consequences for the global and U.S. economy.

McCarthy did not release all the details of the plan, which is likely to be tweaked in Republican discussions over the coming weeks, but did emphasize cutting spending.

“First we’ll limit federal spending,” McCarthy said. “Our legislation accomplishes the same goal by returning the federal government to 2022 levels, and then limit the growth to spending over the next 10 years to 1% of annual growth.”

McCarthy also called for examining federal waste and overreach before borrowing more money and becoming more competitive with China.

McCarthy expressed confidence in passing a debt limit increase, but so far there has been little evidence of Biden and Republicans coming to an agreement to move forward. McCarthy recently met with Biden at the White House, but a deal has not been reached.

Experts have also expressed concerns about the growth of federal debt. The U.S. Congressional Budget Office, the official budget analysis group for Congress, said in February that debt is growing faster than expected.

As The Center Square previously reported, CBO projects the deficit will nearly double in the next decade, reaching $2.9 trillion by 2033. The annual deficit for the next decade will average $2 trillion.

According to the analysis, federal debt held by the public will rise “from $24.3 trillion at the end of 2022 to $46.4 trillion at the end of 2033.”

“As a percentage of GDP, that debt is projected to stand at 118 percent at the end of 2033 – about 21 percentage points higher than it was at the end of 2022 and about two and a half times its average over the past 50 years,” CBO said.

In his speech Monday, McCarthy called for restoring work requirements for government benefits to coax able-bodied adults without dependents back into the workforce.

“Right now there are more job openings than people looking for jobs,” McCarthy said. “You know why? It’s in part because the Biden administration weakened work requirements.”

McCarthy also put the delay in making a deal at the feet of Biden.

"Make no mistake,” McCarthy said. “The longer President Biden waits to be sensible, to find agreement, the more likely it becomes that his administration will bumble into the first default in our nation’s history."

Biden has said the debt ceiling is too serious to negotiate around and has called for simply raising it.

“But I will not let anyone use the full faith and credit of the United States as a bargaining chip," Biden said during a Virginia speech earlier this year.

The U.S. Supreme Court temporarily halted a lower court's ruling restricting an abortion pill until Wednesday night. The hold will give the Supreme Court time to review the controversial legal battle over mifespristone, the drug in question, and is the latest chapter in an ongoing battle on this issue since the high court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.

The Friday ruling came after the Biden administration requested the high court preserve access to the abortion pill, seen by many as a way for Americans to skirt state laws limiting abortion.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled in favor last week of more restrictions on mifespristone, an abortion-inducing pill, notably that it can no longer be distributed via mail.

That court found that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ignored alarming data about the safety of the pill and removed safeguards, possibly for political reasons, in the last year of the Obama administration.

“Imagine that an agency compiles studies about how cars perform when they have passive restraint systems, like automatic seatbelts,” the court said. “For nearly a decade, the agency collects those studies and continues studying how cars perform with passive safety measures. Then one day the agency changes its mind and eliminates passive safety measures based only on existing data of how cars perform with passive safety measures. That was obviously arbitrary and capricious in [an earlier 1983 case] State Farm. And so too here.”

The court also said that the FDA misrepresented data in a troubling way.

“Second, the 2016 Major REMS Changes eliminated the requirement that non-fatal adverse events must be reported to FDA. After eliminating that adverse-event reporting requirement, FDA turned around in 2021 and declared the absence of non-fatal adverse-event reports means mifepristone is ‘safe.’ This ostrich’s-head-in-the-sand approach is deeply troubling.”

The FDA took fire after the fifth circuit court’s ruling.

“The FDA put politics ahead of the health of women and girls when it failed to study how dangerous the chemical abortion drug regimen is and when it unlawfully removed every meaningful safeguard, even allowing for mail-order abortions,” Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Denise Harle said.

Democrats were quick to blast the ruling.

“This is a step toward a nationwide abortion ban,” Vice President Kamala Harris wrote on Twitter.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday that he “strongly disagrees” with the ruling, and the filing to the Supreme Court came in soon after.

“The course of this litigation has been troubling at every level,” that filling reads.

The litigation in question, Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, began in November of last year when a coalition of pro-life groups filed a lawsuit in Texas against the FDA over the abortion pill.

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, the battlefield has majorly shifted on this issue.

Given new latitude by the Supreme Court, states have been passing laws either clamping down or opening up abortion access, depending on their political leanings.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the “Heartbeat Protection Act” that banned abortions after a heartbeat is detectable, at about 6 weeks of life. Women who have experienced rape, incest, or human trafficking have longer, up to 15 weeks, to have an abortion. The law allows exceptions for when the life of the mother is at risk as well.

“Thank you [DeSantis] for having the courage to do the right thing,” said Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life. “You are setting the standard for GOP and they should follow your lead.”

These debates likely mean whichever party controls the next majority, and the White House, will have the ability to codify federal restrictions, or protections, for abortion pills and abortion access generally during that Congress, meaning Roe v. Wade’s overturning did not end the abortion fight but increased it.

In July, President Joe Biden decried the decision and doubled down, pledging to use the full force of his administration to increase abortion access as much as possible in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

“HHS will increase outreach and public education efforts regarding access to reproductive health care services – including abortion – to ensure that Americans have access to reliable and accurate information about their rights and access to care,” the White House said at the time.

Two Democrats in Congress from North Carolina are working to boost the number of women in law enforcement, which they predict will improve outcomes for crime victims.

Reps. Deborah Ross and Valerie Foushee unveiled their Supporting Women with Career Opportunities in Policing Services Act in Durham this week. Ross and Foushee were joined by police chiefs Patrice Andrews of Durham, Estella Patterson of Raleigh and Celisa Lehew of Chapel Hill among others.

“Across the country, women only make up 12% of full-time police officers, a statistic that has not changed in more than two decades,” Ross said. “Despite this, we know that when more women serve in law enforcement, law enforcement departments are more effective and better support their communities.”

The Supporting Women COPS Act aims to incentivize more women to join law enforcement by addressing hiring practices Ross and Fouschee say are biased, and by establishing standards for female officer retention and promotion. The bill would establish a task force on women in law enforcement to make recommendations on hiring standards that do not disadvantage based on sex, and female officer retention and advancement.

Other aspects of the legislation would offer a 5% funding increase as an incentive to hire more women.

“Women are underrepresented in law enforcement, and the Supporting Women COPS Act will ensure that our law enforcement agencies have officers that reflect the people and communities they serve,” Foushee said. “This pivotal bill will not only help advance the role of women in law enforcement, but it will also eliminate barriers they face due to biased and outdated hiring practices. As a former administrator for the Chapel Hill Police Department, I am proud to join Congresswoman Ross in this effort that will support women in law enforcement and make a lasting systemic change.”

“This legislation coupled with the 30x30 initiative are necessary steps towards increasing women in law enforcement,” said Andrews, of Durham Police.

The 30x30 Initiative is a coalition of police leaders, researchers, and professional organizations who are pushing to increase female representation in law enforcement to 30% by 2030.

The group’s website includes research that “has shown women officers are associated with more positive outcomes for communities.

The initiative reports, “Women officers use less force and less excessive force; are named in fewer complaints and lawsuits; are perceived by communities as being more honest and compassionate; see better outcomes for crime victims, especially in sexual assault cases; and make fewer discretionary arrests.”

With home prices declining for over six months, some U.S. housing market conditions have shifted to favor buyers. Still, other conditions stack up against homebuyers, particularly mortgage rates. As inflation began to surge, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates nine times in 12 months in an attempt to stem rising prices. The cumulative 475 basis points Fed rate hike sent mortgage rates soaring, forcing many homebuyers to reevaluate their budgets and consider exactly how much house they can afford.

Since September 2022, the average interest rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage has been above 6%, the highest it has been in nearly a decade and a half. With historically high borrowing costs, many homebuyers are seeking more affordable markets. And in some parts of the country, a relatively modest housing budget goes a lot further than in others.

According to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the median list price for a home in Wisconsin was about $195 per square foot as of March 2023. Based on price per square foot, a homebuyer with a $200,000 budget can afford a 1,026 square foot home, the 23rd largest of any state. A year earlier, the size of a $200,000 home in the state was 9.7% bigger than it is today.

Based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2021 American Community Survey, the typical home in Wisconsin is worth $230,700, compared to the national median home value of $281,400.

RankStateApprox. sq. ft. of a $200k home, March 2023Median home list price per sq. ft., March 2023 ($)Approx. 1 yr. change in size of a $200k home (%)Median home value ($)1West Virginia1,600125-13.6143,2002Mississippi1,515132-12.1145,6003Ohio1,493134-7.5180,2004Indiana1,351148-8.1182,4004Arkansas1,351148-15.5162,3006Louisiana1,316152-5.3192,8006North Dakota1,316152-10.5224,4008Kansas1,290155-18.7183,8009Kentucky1,282156-9.6173,30010Alabama1,274157-10.8172,80011Oklahoma1,250160-16.3168,50012Missouri1,235162-7.4198,30013Michigan1,220164-4.3199,10014Illinois1,163172-0.6231,50014Pennsylvania1,163172-2.3222,30016Nebraska1,143175-12.6204,90017Georgia1,111180-3.3249,70017Iowa1,111180-10.6174,40019Wyoming1,099182-12.1266,40020Texas1,081185-4.9237,40021New Mexico1,064188-12.2214,00022South Carolina1,058189-8.5213,50023Wisconsin1,026195-9.7230,70024South Dakota1,010198-9.6219,90025Minnesota980204-14.2285,40026North Carolina966207-2.9236,90027Virginia952210-4.3330,60028Maryland913219-4.1370,80028Tennessee913219-8.2235,20030Delaware893224-6.7300,50031Vermont855234-10.3271,50032Alaska851235-7.7304,90033Utah8032494.0421,70033Maine803249-12.9252,10035Nevada7872543.1373,00036Connecticut775258-3.9311,50037Arizona7632620.8336,30038Idaho7552659.4369,30039New Jersey746268-1.5389,80040Florida727275-1.8290,70041Colorado699286-1.4466,20041New Hampshire699286-10.8345,20043Oregon6623022.0422,70044Washington6313172.5485,70045Montana629318-7.2322,80046Rhode Island625320-7.8348,10047New York5243821.8368,80048Massachusetts498402-0.2480,60049California4614344.6648,10050Hawaii3006664.7722,500

(The Center Square) – Nearly every U.S. state recognized increased backlogs for new Social Security disability benefit applications since 2019, And the Great Lakes states were no different.

In fact, Wisconsin’s backlog more than doubled, ranking in fifth nationwide for increased backlogs. From 2019 to 2023, Wisconsin’s backlog grew 130%, with an increase of 11,500 backlogged applications. It has the fifth highest backlog increase in the nation.

Michigan’s backlog rose 21% (4,810 more), and Iowa’s increased 7% (315 more), and Minnesota’s rose 5% (327 more).

Nonpartisan civic data organization USAFacts found in its report that as of March, for the first time since 2008, more than 1 million initial applications are pending review.

The average wait time increased from 133 days in February 2020 to a record 222 days in March 2023, according to the report, which was last updated April 10.

USAFacts Data Visualization Engineer Amber Thomas said in a statement USAFacts wants Americans to have deeper, more accessible government data so they can make more informed decisions regarding policies.

“We encourage residents to look at current and proposed policies with the data and facts in mind to help guide their actions,” she said. “The best thing residents in these states as well as across the country is continue to spread the facts and data to others. Ensure whatever action you take and those around you is rooted in verifiable facts and data. It can start by sharing our report with family and friends who want to learn more about the topic but continue with seeking out more information to educate and inform you and your communities.”

She said residents should contact their political representatives and ask them to look into the issue.

Thomas said the analysis didn’t include socioeconomic factors, but the backlog data can be downloaded from the report or the SSA’s website.

“We encourage others to build upon our work to answer questions like this one,” she said.

Each year, about 8,000 applicants file for bankruptcy and about 10,000 die while waiting for a decision on their disability benefit application, and there’s no monetary assistance for applicants during the application process, according to the report. About 60% of applicants are denied benefits after that period. If they choose to appeal, that process, which has about a 50/50 chance of success, could take months or years. A 2020 Government Accountability Office study found that the median wait time for a final decision on claims filed in 2015 was about two years and three months.

The backlog has been at least this high since April 2022, the report found. The last time it was near this level was in August 2010, when there were 821,633 pending applications.

SSA officials asked Congress for an $800 million budget increase for the 2023 fiscal year to help reduce backlogs, as they said that without more funding for employees and IT updates, backlogs and wait times would increase and make the service deteriorate further, to unacceptable levels, the report said.

The SSA had the lowest staffing level in 25 years, and attrition rates in state DDS are more than 25%, SSA Deputy Commissioner for Operations Grace Kim testified in May 2022.

The SSA can’t compensate staff for overtime, the report said.

Florida had the greatest percentage increase (156%), the report found. The backlog also more than doubled in South Carolina, Texas, North Dakota, Kansas, Arizona, New Hampshire and Mississippi.

Seven states experienced a drop: Nevada, South Dakota, Rhode Island, Oklahoma, Washington, Vermont and Alaska. Alaska had the greatest decrease, 51%.

With over 50 countries involved, and fighting that spanned three continents, World War II was the most devastating and consequential conflict in human history. When the United States was drawn into the war in December 1941, two years after it began in Europe, the country put every resource it could spare into the effort. The American contribution to the victory over the Axis powers was not only in its industrial scale weapons and material production, but also in manpower.

Dubbed the great arsenal of democracy, the U.S. manufactured more than 96,000 bombers, 86,000 tanks, 2.4 million trucks, 6.5 million rifles, and billions of dollars' worth of supplies in the Second World War. The U.S. also mobilized more troops during the conflict than any other Allied power other than the Soviet Union. In the final year of the war, the number of active-duty American military personnel totaled 12.2 million, up from less than 500,000 in 1940.

Of the 16.3 million Americans who are estimated to have served in WWII, more than 400,000 were killed in action. Today, only 167,284 American veterans who returned home are still alive.

According to The National WWII Museum, there are still 3,700 World War II veterans living in Wisconsin, the 17th most of all states. WWII veterans comprise 1.2% of the state's total veteran population of 303,641. Nationwide, WWII vets account for 1.0% of the total veteran population.

Nearly 80 years have passed since the war's end, and currently, an average of 180 veterans of the conflict die each day in the United States. Over the next year, the number of WWII veterans is expected to fall by roughly half, and by 2034, a little more than 1,000 are likely to still be alive, according to projections from The National WWII Museum.

Data on the number of World War II veterans living in each state is from The National WWII Museum and is current as of 2022. Data on the total number of veterans in each state is from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2021 American Community Survey.

RankStateLiving WWII veterans, 2022All veterans, 2021Share of veterans who served in WWII (%)1California15,9461,342,3371.22Florida14,8231,356,8821.13Pennsylvania9,675641,5251.54New York9,635614,2891.65Texas8,2001,408,4640.66Ohio6,919621,8901.17Illinois6,114496,3521.28Michigan5,989474,6451.39North Carolina5,061615,4520.810Massachusetts5,006238,0392.111New Jersey4,712283,4851.712Indiana4,583335,2481.413Washington4,176490,7170.914Arizona3,986454,3750.915Virginia3,914641,1440.616Minnesota3,845265,9201.417Wisconsin3,700303,6411.218Missouri3,406355,4241.019Georgia3,299595,7430.620Maryland2,876332,5910.921Connecticut2,810140,6842.022Oregon2,769259,2071.123Colorado2,699348,4850.824Kentucky2,478237,5971.025Tennessee2,372394,6040.626Oklahoma2,301240,1461.027South Carolina2,142353,0560.628Nevada1,791193,3400.929Iowa1,767162,3581.130Louisiana1,600221,3160.731Kansas1,596147,7211.132Alabama1,576315,1420.533Mississippi1,259155,2720.834Utah1,230114,8031.135Maine1,18198,7031.236Arkansas1,144177,1760.637New Mexico1,131128,9240.938Nebraska1,086109,2251.039Rhode Island1,03349,2062.140West Virginia1,021107,2711.041New Hampshire1,00487,6041.142Idaho788122,3310.643Montana75880,9530.944Hawaii67287,3570.845Delaware64855,5161.246South Dakota46354,4030.947North Dakota30740,2500.848Wyoming13640,9100.349Vermont13331,9710.450Alaska9958,4310.2