WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a stopgap spending bill that will keep the government running through the fall, sending it to the Senate where lawmakers expect to rework the measure.

Congress must pass a government funding bill before the recent fiscal year begins on Oct. 1 to avoid a shutdown in the weeks before the November midterm elections.

The 220-205 the largely party-line vote represents House Republicans’ opening salvo in the negotiations, though without Democratic support it will be unable to advance in the Senate.

House Speaker Tom Cole, R-Okla., said during floor debate that GOP leaders are hopeful the resolution will pass draft law on fleeting expenditure a few months before the start of the next tax year will allow you to avoid another downtime.

(*1*) Cole said. “It contains no poison pills or partisan horsemen. It prevents harmful disruptions to our national security and the key programs our voters rely on.”

Connecticut Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the committee’s ranking member, opposed the fleeting pause, saying it would “allow Secretary of Homeland (Markwayne) Mullin to transfer billions of dollars to the Border Patrol.”

Republicans, she said, “refused” to change that aspect of the bill after Democrats “divided the language to fix it.”

“We cannot in good conscience allow billions of dollars to flow into these agencies without serious reforms that would protect our constituents from further violence,” DeLauro said.

Democrats do not want to suspend government activity, but they also do not want to “speed up” this process and ignore the list of anomalies just sent by the White House, she added.

These tweaks to funding levels are typically added to stopgap spending bills, but were not included in House Republicans’ order because they were written before the White House sent a list of requested irregularities to lawmakers on Monday.

“The agencies list over 50 programs that require some action to be protected during the ongoing recovery process,” DeLauro said, using the technical term for the short-term funding bill.

The changes would support firefighting efforts, housing assistance for tens of thousands of people, and programs that support residents of rural communities afford to pay utilities.

“Rushing this bill through the House without carefully considering the various needs that need to be met is not the way to govern,” DeLauro said. “And it is irresponsible.”

The Senate anticipates changes

Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, said earlier in the day that she was working with the committee’s top Democrat, Washington Sen. Patty Murray, on drafting her own resolution.

“It appears that the Democratic side is making a good faith effort to pass the CR resolution and avoid a government shutdown, which always ends in disaster,” Collins said.

Murray said the House-passed stop-gap spending bill has “problems” that need to be resolved to pass the Senate.

“We discovered some anomalies last night and we’re both trying to figure out the best way to put it together,” Murray said.

Status of funds

Lawmakers must rely on the stopgap spending bill because they will once again fail to complete work on more than a dozen annual government funding bills before the deadline.

The Chamber passed three budget bills. The Senate passed none, in part because the committee did not introduce a single bill. The two chambers will have to enter into negotiations at some point to determine the total spending levels for the 12 bills and how to divide the roughly $1.9 trillion among thousands of federal agencies and programs.

That means the full-year government spending bills will become law at the earliest during the lame-duck session, which is expected to last about five weeks between the election and the start of the recent Congress in January.

Lawmakers could also pass a series of stopgap funding bills, rather than completing negotiations on yearlong appropriations bills.

WASHINGTON – A U.S. House of Representatives panel on Wednesday advanced a major legislative package that would implement President Donald Trump’s push to significantly reduce the responsibilities of the U.S. Department of Education.

The U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee approved — almost along party lines — each of them the package contains 10 bills which would result in the eternal transfer of several Education functions to other departments.

This measure, largely reflecting many of the interagency agreements, or IAA, which education has signed with other agencies, represents a broad effort by Republicans in Congress to advance the Trump administration’s plan to eliminate the 46-year-old department as part of the president’s push to bring education “back to the states.”

This trend continues, although much of the oversight and funding of schools now takes place at the state and local levels.

But the legislation faces an uncertain fate. Even if it is approved in its entirety by the entire U.S. House of Representatives, it will have a long chance in the narrowly GOP-controlled Senate.

For the bill to pass the filibuster, the upper house needs at least 60 senators, and Republicans have just 53 seats.

Rep. Tim Walberg, chairman of the House panel, praised the package during his panel’s discussion as “a first step toward ending the Department of Education’s reign over our nation’s education system.”

The Michigan Republican added that the legislation supports Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s “vision for an education system that empowers families, students, workers and local communities.”

McMahon said “today marks an important step by congressional leaders toward cementing the Trump administration’s historic reforms to properly define the federal role in education” in a statement released after the committee introduced the package.

Other departments to take over

Under many bills, the Department of Labor would administer primary and secondary education programs; post-secondary education; and vocational, technical and adult education – modeled on the earlier IAAs.

In another piece of legislation, the Treasury Department would administer federal student education aid functions, a nod to this issue March agreement Education has signed an agreement with the Treasury to assume responsibility for collecting unpaid federal student loan debt.

The agreement was the first step in a multi-phase process for the Treasury Department to assume the entire approximately $1.7 trillion federal student loan portfolio.

Under other bills in the package, the Department of State would administer international education and foreign language programs, as well as reporting on foreign gifts and contracts – also mirroring previous agreements.

Given the additional IAA, the Department of Health and Human Services will administer Education accreditation for overseas medical schools; child care access features for low-income parents in postsecondary institutions; and family engagement programs in primary and secondary schools.

The Department of the Interior would also administer tribal education and job training programs as part of the package.

Notably, the 10-bill package does not include any effort to transfer Education’s responsibilities for special education programs and civil rights enforcement to other agencies.

In perhaps the Trump administration’s most far-reaching attempt to dismantle the Department of Education in June, the agency said that HHS would administer programs under the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services, while civil rights enforcement under the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) would be transferred to the Department of Justice.

Rep. Bobby Scott, the top Democrat on the panel, said the committee’s decision not to consider either of the two actions in the package was likely because “even my colleagues realize how politically distasteful such transfers would be.”

“Pain and Suffering”

Meanwhile, the legislative package faced fierce opposition from congressional Democrats on the committee, who proposed a slew of bill amendments in an attempt to block the dismantling.

Scott, a Democrat from Virginia, said: “It is difficult to express how impractical these proposals are, let alone the pain and suffering they will cause students, teachers and their communities if they become law.”

He pointed to the GOP’s goal of eliminating the department as part of its intention to “return education to the states,” stating that the proposals “will actually contribute to miles of bureaucratic red tape, inconsistent education policy and law enforcement across the federal government, and a significant waste of taxpayer dollars.”

Rep. Suzanne Bonamici said the bills under consideration “show that Republicans in Congress know that the Department of Education does not have the authority to transfer offices and programs to other federal agencies without action from Congress, and now they are trying to cover up illegal actions they have already taken.”

The Oregon Democrat who introduced impeachment resolution v. McMahon in June, she added that the secretary “has said her mission is to shut down the Department of Education, which she has no authority to do, but that’s exactly what she’s doing, under the guise of a series of interagency agreements.”

In early June, top Trump administration officials traveled to Ohio to highlight investigations into people suspected of defrauding the state’s Medicaid program of tens of millions of dollars.

They did not mention the corporations that have huge contracts with the state’s Medicaid system – even after several of them were sued and two were accused of overloading the system with a quarter of a billion dollars in one year.

“President Trump and Vice President Vance’s war on fraud has arrived in the great state of Ohio.” Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said from a stage in Whitehall, with other administration officials and Ohio Republicans standing behind him.

“And this is a war we will win. The team behind me, federal and state partners, have come together to fight the fraud crisis in this country. It has hampered our tax programs and robbed America’s purse for too long.”

Blanche focused on suspected fraudsters, such as two Ohio state employees and two others accused of taxing the state’s Medicaid system $30 million for undelivered behavioral health services.

“Some criminals were so bold and daring that they defrauded the government of tens of millions of dollars…” – Blanche, who previously worked as Trump’s criminal defense attorneyhe said. “This should shock your conscience.”

Blanche represented Trump when Trump was convicted 34 offenses related to falsifying business records.

The acting attorney general dismissed allegations that Ohioans defrauded the pandemic-era Paycheck Protection Program and other alleged scams, praising Trump’s Fraud Elimination Task Force. The group is led by Vice President J.D. Vance of Ohio.

In total, the alleged frauds described by Blanche and others amounted to approximately $100 million.

“These numbers are astonishing, but they are just the tip of the iceberg,” Blanche said.

He later added: “Americans deserve to know that if someone lies, cheats or steals to achieve success, they will be punished and deserve a government that will never be exploited by fraudsters.”

It never came to lightweight that giant health care conglomerates had huge contracts with the state’s Medicaid program.

In Ohio, for exampleGreat Healthcare provides health plans funded by Ohio Medicaid. Similarly, CVS Health offers Medicaid managed care programs through its insurance company, Aetna.

The regulator is accusing drug brokers of skyrocketing prices, possibly diverting business to themselves

These cooperatives rank third and fifth in revenue, respectively, in the United States. They also own a “vertically integrated” range of companies, including health insurers, medical practices and pharmacies. They do business with each other and with competitors.

They also own two of the country’s three dominant pharmacy intermediaries – known as “pharmacy benefit managers.” They have been accused of abusing their dominance in many aspects of health care make huge profits and enhance costs.

In 2017, CVS and UnitedHealth’s pharmacy benefit managers served all Medicaid managed care companies under the Ohio Medicaid contract.

A newspaper investigation a year later uncovered evidence suggesting that middlemen may have been charging taxpayers much more for prescription drugs than they reimbursed the pharmacies that bought and dispensed them.

When the Department of Medicaid obtained all 2017 reimbursement data and hired a firm to analyze it, Ohioans learned that they had paid $224 million more on Medicaid prescriptions this year than pharmacies that are already struggling.

The conglomerates deny they have done anything wrong and continue to insist they save money for consumers.

Details uncovered in the same investigation led then-Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost to sue Centene, the nation’s largest Medicaid managed care provider.

Yost accused them of using unnecessary pharmaceutical middlemen to inflate bills for the state.

Centene agrees to settle Ohio, Mississippi Medicaid claims for $143 million

Within months, Centene settled with Ohio for $88 million and announced that it was he has set aside more than $1 billion settle with other states that didn’t even sue him.

Centene has never admitted wrongdoing and it is not known how much it made from the disputed agreement with the pharmacies.

Despite Buckeye Health Plan’s conduct, the managed care company owned by Centene continues to do business with Ohio. It came together over half a billion dollars in 2024.

Yost sued drug brokers owned by gigantic health care companies on other grounds. He accused them of, among other things, embezzlement of state pension funds.

In 2022, Yost announced he would do just that raised over $100 million from companies, the remaining cases are still pending.

But Yost made no mention of the hundreds of millions he accused gigantic corporations of improperly collecting from taxpayers when he took the podium at a June 4 news conference.

Speaking just before he was scheduled to resign, he instead focused on alleged fraud by smaller players and praise for Trump.

“Today means something different,” Yost said. “I have been in this fight since I was elected state auditor in 2011. In my eight years as state auditor and almost eight years as attorney general, I have been leading Medicaid investigations and prosecutions… I have never seen the level of interest and support from the federal government in any administration that you are witnessing here today.”

One of these less supportive administrations that Yost was talking about was the first Trump administration.

“It was a lonely fight at times,” Yost said. “It’s not a lonely fight anymore. What’s the difference? President Trump, Vice President Vance and this team you see here today.”

Antonio Ciaccia is a Columbus-based drug pricing expert who has worked with multiple state attorneys general to investigate government drug spending.

He said the focus should be on vendor fraud, as Trump’s team is doing. But, Ciaccia said, that’s not enough.

“There are billions of dollars flowing through the system. You have to look at it essentially as a spigot that people think they can get the most out of,” he said.

“In the era of managed care, preventing fraud, waste and abuse must go far beyond the provider level because providers can engage in fraud on a small scale. But now, with insurance companies and their vertically integrated subsidiaries standing between the provider and the bill-paying state, vertical integration has created conflicts of interest and opportunities for fraud, waste and abuse on a much larger scale.”

Blanche and other members of the Trump administration blamed former President Joe Biden’s negligence for Ohio’s Medicaid fraud. However, John Kulewicz, a Democrat running for state attorney general, pointed out that Republicans have run the Ohio Department of Medicaid since January 2011.

“I think we have a classic case of people who were either sleeping on the switch or looking the other way,” Kulewicz said in an interview.

“The people who gathered a few weeks ago for this press conference have had absolute control over the state government for the last 16 years. As a result, they have had an unimpeded ability to control and prosecute any such problems and nothing has been done.”

Ohio State Auditor Keith Faber is the Republican Party’s nominee for attorney general. During the June 4 press conference, he was on stage but did not say anything.

His campaign was asked whether he intended to investigate possible fraud by corporations that contract with the state and whether he intended to continue Yost’s efforts.

“Keith opposes fraud in any form and wherever it occurs. He looks forward to serving as Attorney General and working with the administration and the General Assembly to reduce fraud, waste and abuse,” Matt Dole, a Faber campaign adviser, said in an email.

“One of Keith’s first steps as attorney general will be to learn more about ongoing investigations and litigation. He will not commit to any outcome at this time, but rather encourages voters to look at his history and philosophy to understand the strong positions he will take to support law enforcement, protect consumers and defend the Ohio Constitution.”

Ohio is the state that has seen the largest decline in enrollment in health care plans under the Affordable Care Act, according to federal data which was first reported by the Associated Press.

The losses came after the Republican-controlled Congress last year allowed pandemic-era subsidies to expire for purchasing insurance on the ACA exchanges. This resulted in premiums doubling in most cases 25.2 million Americans who bought the insurance there.

As the AP reported, after the subsidy expired in February 2026, national school enrollment dropped by 2.6 million compared to February 2025. That’s about a 10% decline.

In Ohio, the losses were much deeper.

Enrollments have dropped from just under half a million in February 2025 to 336,000 four months ago. This means a loss of almost one third of the enrollees, 32.4%, or 161,385 people.

Oklahoma, the state with the next largest losses, saw a decline of 32.3%.

Among neighboring states, Michigan and Indiana also saw immense losses of more than 25%. Meanwhile, Kentucky and West Virginia lost 14.3% and 13.1%, respectively.

Pennsylvania lost just 1.2% of its enrollees.

Republicans in Congress – including Ohio’s senators – allowed the grants to expire months after voting for President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Act.

This legislation will ensure that Trump’s 2017 tax cuts will not expire. It is estimated that this reserve has been created windfall of $1 trillion over 10 years for the richest 1%. Americans while the law cut a similar amount from Medicaid and nutritional assistance.

During his first term, Trump he tried many times to repeal the ACA – i.e. Obamacare – but he failed. However, the provisions of Trump’s 2025 budget bill weakened the program signed by former President Barack Obama.

Just because people drop insurance purchased on the Obamacare exchanges doesn’t mean people didn’t get it elsewhere, but some people will likely become uninsured.

The subsidies helped reduce the number of uninsured Americans to approximately lowest level ever. Because they expire on Dec. 31 and because of the Medicaid cuts included in Trump’s bill, it’s reasonable to assume that the percentage of Ohioans without health insurance will raise significantly this year, said Natasha Murphy, director of health policy at the Center for American Progress.

“While it is still too early to quantify the full increase in the uninsured population in 2026, the direction is becoming clearer,” Murphy said in an email. “Early enrollment data already shows declining coverage, and the combination of the loss of improved premium tax credits and other recent changes in federal policy is making it increasingly difficult to afford health insurance, leaving many families without a realistic alternative.”

Cuts to Medicaid are also leading some insurers to leave states that have expanded eligibility to cover Americans earning 138% or less of the federal poverty guidelines. On Monday, for example, an Arkansas spokesman said Centene – the largest provider of Medicaid managed care in the United States – leaving that state’s Medicaid program.

Ohio Republicans are assessing whether they have enough votes to override Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto of a bill requiring photo ID for absentee voting.

After two weeks of protests, sending emails and leaving voicemails on the governor’s official hotline, voting rights advocates like Jen Miller say they feel heard by their Republican governor.

“I trusted DeWine to do the right thing here,” said Miller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio. “Vetoing this bill was simply common sense.”

Late Wednesday night, the governor vetoed House Bill 472, a controversial bill that would have required voters to show photo ID to cast an absentee ballot.

“This is a victory for all Ohioans who prefer to vote by mail, and that includes seniors, people with disabilities, college students and other Ohioans who simply like to be able to vote from the comfort of their own home,” Miller said.

In his veto, DeWine said the bill was “unnecessary” and did not advance the GOP goal of “election integrity,” stating that it would “fail to discourage fraud, provide no real security, and create an additional and significant burden on Ohioans voting by mail.”

“HB 472 is all burden and so little benefit,” DeWine said.

He noted that the bill contains technical errors and does not provide election officials with any funding to create a novel online portal to submit photo IDs.

CLICK HERE to read the governor’s full veto message.

“It’s very, very unfortunate that it was vetoed,” said Rep. David Thomas (R-Jefferson).

Thomas is one of about a dozen Republicans we spoke with who are pushing for the veto to be overridden.

“I don’t think this policy will go away anytime soon,” he added. AND

Since the bill wasn’t scheduled to go into effect until November 2027, he said the problems DeWine mentioned could have been resolved.

“There’s a reason this hasn’t been introduced for 2026 – it gives people time to really look at the phase of the legislation,” Thomas said. “There are always improvements to be made, there are always changes to be made within legislation, so this is certainly not a reason to veto.”

He denied that the legislation would only harm vulnerable Ohioans and only bad actors.

To be clear, audits by Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose found there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

“We are disappointed with the governor’s veto of House Bill 472, despite 60 of Ohio’s 65 Republican members of the House of Representatives and growing public demand for stronger election protections, including voter identity protections,” Olivia Wile, spokeswoman for House Speaker Matt Huffman, said in a statement. “We will review Governor DeWine’s concerns and evaluate next steps. The overwhelming majority of Republicans in the Ohio House of Representatives remain committed to protecting the integrity of Ohio’s election system.”

He said state Rep. Ron Ferguson (Wintersville) would vote “no” if the resolution were repealed.

“Let’s get this right rather than rushing through a bill that has a lot of holes,” said Ferguson, who was absent during the primary vote.

It takes sixty votes to overturn the governor, but at least four Republicans who voted for HB 472 told me they would not agree to replacing DeWine at this stage.

Miller knows there will likely be more changes to election laws under a GOP majority, but he hopes they will be better written and won’t disenfranchise voters.

“Making sure our elections run well and that everyone has access to their voice and is heard is more important than any single party,” Miller said.

Lawmakers are not scheduled to return from their summer recess until after the November elections.

Other reactions

knot. LaRose

“I have long been a supporter of both a stringent photo ID requirement and an online absentee ballot application system, and I told the governor that we could successfully implement this bill if he signed it. He has chosen a different path. Regardless, it is clear that we must continue to plan and move forward. I am confident that Ohioans will overwhelmingly approve the constitutional photo ID amendment this fall and that the General Assembly will reconsider this legislation.”

“My team will continue to prepare an implementation strategy for the next Secretary of State that takes into account the technology, security, testing and resources required for a reliable online absentee ballot application system. A project of this scale requires careful planning and flawless execution. My goal is to help develop lasting, defensible policy that will withstand inevitable legal challenges from groups seeking to make our elections less secure. Ohio is the nation’s gold standard for elections and will remain so.”

Republican Sec. state candidate Robert Sprague

“I support photo ID for all forms of voting, and it’s disappointing that the Governor vetoed HB 472. Photo ID is common sense, a common requirement in everyday life, and the most trustworthy way to ensure that a person is who they say they are. The legislation would provide a significant deterrent to mail-in voting fraud and make Ohio’s elections more secure, which is exactly what it’s about.”

“The bill was not a panacea, but it was a reasonable attempt to apply photo ID security equally to all voting methods. The hysteria on the photo ID left is fueled by extremists who lie about photo ID and are uncomfortable with illegal aliens voting in our elections.”

“My priority as Secretary of State is to conduct the most secure elections in Ohio’s history, and to that end, as Secretary, I will work with the Legislature and the Governor… to ensure the security of all forms of voting, prevent fraud, and catch and prosecute fraudsters.”

State Candidate Allison Russo’s Democratic Section

“I fully support Governor DeWine’s decision to veto HB472, which would create unnecessary barriers to absentee voting for eligible voters and a lack of funding for both our county boards of elections and the Secretary of State’s office. Ohio’s existing absentee voting process is secure and has worked very well for thousands of Ohioans every election cycle. As I noted during my speech opposing this legislation, the bill was rushed, half-baked, and did absolutely nothing nothing to secure Ohio’s elections.”

Follow WEWS House of Representatives reporter Morgan Trau X AND Facebook.

This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and are published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication on other news outlets because it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.

A half-dozen Republican governors are pushing alternative names for June, which is widely recognized as Pride Month in the United States.

Without explicitly tying their efforts to replacing Pride Month — which celebrates the LGBTQ+ community — GOP governors in states including Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Nebraska, Tennessee and Utah have given June a conservative-friendly moniker that celebrates one type of family unit: a man and a woman who are married and have children.

The proclamations do not carry the weight of law, but are public statements about the kinds of families these states’ leaders want to promote.

IN TennesseeGOP state legislators passed a resolution signed by Republican Governor Bill Lee, designating June as “Nuclear Family Month.” The resolution defines the “nuclear family” as “one husband, one wife and all biological, adopted or foster children” and calls it “God’s design for family structure.”

IndianaRepublican Governor Mike Braun also declared June “Nuclear Family Month” in: proclamation with wording similar to Tennessee. Braun told reporters the proclamation was not intended to send a message to other types of families, Indiana Capital Chronicle reported.

IN AlabamaRepublican Gov. Kay Ivey declared June “Strong Families Month.” Her clerk announcement nominations emphasized the role of fathers as the “head of the home”.

IN NebraskaRepublican Gov. Jim Pillen has designated June as “Marriage and Family Month,” proclaiming that “God’s design” is for marriage to be a family with one husband, one wife and children.

Pills called it is “the most important proclamation I have ever had the honor to sign.”

Republican governors Arkansas AND Utah declared June “the month of faithfulness”, definition fidelity as devotion to faith, family and homeland. The proclamations do not directly describe the composition of these families. The idea of ​​a “Month of Fidelity” was first proposed. promoted a few years ago by a conservative Christian lawyer.

Republican Governor of Arkansas Sarah Huckabee Sanders sent about its declaration on X by sharing a link to an article calling such efforts “counterprogramming” for Pride Month.

But June’s rebranding marks a departure for Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, who declared June Pride Month during his first three years in office and previously he expressed remorse for his attitude towards gays.

Pride Month celebrates LGBTQ+ history and culture and serves as a platform to boost the visibility of queer communities who continue to fight for civil rights and equality. In every state, ceremonial parades, concerts and festivals are held there.

LGBTQ+ advocates have called the rebranding efforts “disappointing” and a deliberate attempt to erase communities that are already vulnerable.

“Pride Month is a celebration that uplifts marginalized people and provides them with the resources they need to survive and spaces in which they can thrive,” Utah-based Project Rainbow wrote in an article statement regarding Cox’s decision to designate June as Faithfulness Month.

Supporters say the month is not only about celebration, but also provides critical opportunities to support queer people. In 2023, the last year for which data is available, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that more than 3 in 5 LGBTQ+ high school students experienced “persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness” in the previous year. One in five LGBTQ+ participants in the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Study said they had attempted suicide.

While Republican governors did mainly while some elected officials refrained from directly mentioning Pride Month or tying their efforts to name the months to its removal, some elected officials were more blunt.

Tennessee Republican Andy Ogles posted the following on his official X account: “Homosexuality has no place in America. Happy Nuclear Family Month” on June 1, but later deleted This.

Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, a Republican, shared an illustrated version of the proclamation on social media titled “Take Back the Rainbow!” and depicting a heterosexual white couple with children.

Stateline reporter Anna Claire Vollers can be reached at: avollers@stateline.org

Georgia Republicans abruptly changed course on redistricting on Wednesday, backing down on their plans to redraw the boundaries between Congress and state districts ahead of the 2028 elections less than an hour before lawmakers bowed out of the special session.

At a joint news conference Wednesday, House Speaker Jon Burns, a Republican from Newington, and Senate President Pro Tem Larry Walker III, a Republican from Perry, told a raucous crowd that they plan to focus on securing property tax relief and ratifying last month’s gas tax suspension, not on changing borders. Lawmakers must also address the July 1 deadline QR codes to be removed from Georgia ballots.

“As we gather today, Georgia House Republicans are focused on Georgia’s future and the issues that truly matter to our neighbors across the state, not partisan gains,” Burns said.

Both lawmakers added that they are waiting for developments in ongoing court cases.

“We believe it would be prudent to allow the litigation process to continue to develop in other states and evaluate how courts rule on newly adopted district maps in other states,” Walker said. “With this guidance, we have confidence that Georgia’s new districts will ultimately withstand legal scrutiny.”

Legal dispute over current political maps of Georgia is still in progress. A federal judge ordered lawmakers to draw novel maps in 2023 to create an additional majority-Black congressional district in western metro Atlanta and seven additional majority-Black legislative districts.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who added redistricting to the agenda when he called the special session, said he believed a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that weakened a key provision of the Voting Rights Act made Georgia’s current maps unconstitutional. But Kemp, who is term-limited and who is in his final year in office, acknowledged he does not have the authority to force lawmakers to draw novel maps.

“I don’t think there is any reason to delay the repartition process, especially since the Legislature has already convened,” Kemp said in a statement. “However, legislative districts are the responsibility of the General Assembly and may, at its discretion, defer this matter to a later date.”

Earlier this year, Kemp broke with many other Republican-led Southern states by declaring this state wouldn’t strive redistricting before the 2026 general election. States like Alabama and Tennessee have this willing to break up black-majority districts since the Supreme Court ruling. In neighboring South Carolina, lawmakers considered redistricting, but he finally chose don’t strive for it.

Some Republicans, including Sen. Greg Dolezal of Cumming, who is the GOP candidate for lieutenant governor, expressed disapproval of legislative leaders’ decision to halt the redistricting process.

“I’ve always been of the opinion that we should do it as soon as possible,” Dolezal said. “So, if the legal mechanisms put us in a position where we couldn’t do it, I understand that. But in my opinion, it’s as fast as possible.”

Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones, an Augusta Democrat, argued that widespread opposition from Georgia residents ultimately led Republican lawmakers to abandon redistricting plans.

“Make no mistake, it was the citizens of Georgia who put pressure on the General Assembly and let them know they did not appreciate the attempt to steal this election,” Jones said.

“Throughout this process, people have really been galvanized and galvanized into action, so those who actually wanted to limit the voting power of African Americans saw that and today decided that it was not in their best interest to take any further action.”

State Rep. Jasmine Clark, a Democrat from Lilburn and the Democratic candidate for the 13th Congressional District, echoed Jones’ sentiments. The district, which includes Rockdale County and parts of Clayton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Henry and Newton counties, is majority-black and was among those where supporters feared they could be targeted by Republicans during the redistricting process.

“This was a huge victory for the people who organized and protested the maps because they knew what was at stake,” Clark said in a statement. “This fight is not over, but I am glad that the people of Georgia’s 13th Congressional District will continue to have the right to elect their representatives.”

While Democrats celebrated the move, they also urged Georgians to remain vigilant against future border change efforts. Former Democratic state Sen. Jason Esteves said unforeseen events could still happen and that Georgians need to keep showing up at the Capitol to “make sure lawmakers see that we hold them accountable.”

Rep. Michelle Au, a Democrat from Johns Creek, urged voters to show up for the redistricting conference town hall Thursday despite news warning that GOP leaders may return after the November election for another special session on redistricting.

“Don’t get comfortable,” she said he said.

Activists put pressure on legislators

Before Georgia Republicans publicly backed away from their redistricting plans, demonstrators filled the Capitol to express opposition to the plan to redraw district lines. About 200 people took part in a Wednesday morning march through downtown Atlanta, with protesters calling on lawmakers to preserve the voting power of Black voters rather than limit it.

At a pre-march meeting at Big Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Atlanta, voting rights advocates and religious leaders hailed the redistricting push as a revival of decades-long efforts to suppress black voting power in the South.

“These maneuvers to make it more difficult for ordinary people to participate in the democratic process are not original, they are not innovative and they are not creative,” said Michael L. Mitchell, who is bishop of the 6th District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. “They are tired rehashes of an outdated and desperate playbook written in the 1950s and 1960s.”

The timing of the event may also have favored voting rights activists: Atlanta did hosting eight FIFA World Cup matches in June and July, allowing protesters to attract international attention.

During the event, activists urged attendees to stay engaged and support turn out as many voters as possible in the midterms.

“Democracy was never supposed to be something that happened to us,” said Jackie Killings, president of the League of Women Voters of Georgia. “Democracy is what we do. It works on ordinary people, like each of you here today, who decide that we will not sit down, we will not be silent, and we will not wait to be seen and we will not wait to be heard.”

A holiday headache for legislators

Lawmakers are gathering for a special session ahead of the weekend when Black Georgians will observe Juneteenth, a federal holiday commemorating the emancipation of the last enslaved Black Americans.

Even though Republicans chose not to be in session on Friday, the official June 16 holiday, Democratic state Rep. David Wilkerson of Powder Springs noted that many people in Cobb County celebrate June 11 on Saturday.

Republicans scheduled session days only through Monday, although lawmakers could meet later. That prompted Democratic state Rep. Doreen Carter to press House Majority Leader Chuck Efstration on “the importance of not coming on Tuesday versus coming on Saturday.”

“It is extremely disrespectful to the Black community and Father’s Day weekend that you all have us here,” Carter said.

Efstration said it was “very difficult to strike a balance” where lawmakers had to take into account prior commitments such as funerals and vacations, holidays and “the desire of many members to try to get the work done as quickly as possible.”

Georgia Recorder intern Ellie Fivas contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON – U.S. senators from both political parties said Tuesday that they had not yet seen the text of the agreement that Trump administration officials reached over the weekend to end the war in Iran, although several indicated that any final agreement would require their approval.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said administration officials have indicated they expect to share the text of the memorandum of understanding with lawmakers, although he did not know when.

“I hope it happens sooner rather than later,” he said. “But, you know, apparently it doesn’t look like they’re going to make it public until the end of the week. So we’ll see.”

Thune said he had heard that the agreement establishes a 60-day framework for negotiators to reach an agreement on more details, including on Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

“I think ultimately the goal is to make sure Iran ends its nuclear program, and any financial incentives available to it should depend on that,” he said. “But we’ll see when we know more.”

President Donald Trump, speaking at the G7 convention in Europe, said he might hold a news conference in “a few days” to release the text of the memorandum of understanding and appeared ready for a congressional vote.

“I would like to send this to Congress saying you should not approve this. And I will make sure it is approved. Whatever I say, they want to do the opposite,” he said. – They’re not doing very well, by the way.

North Dakota Republican Sen. John Hoeven said he thinks the plan is to vote to approve the Iran deal at some point.

“I think any time Congress ratifies something, it ensures longevity,” Hoeven said. “You can’t have the next president come in and change it with an executive order. So I think that’s a benefit. I think it helps strengthen it.”

Hoeven said he had not heard from administration officials why they did not share the text of the memorandum of understanding with senators, even in secret. But he said he was more focused on U.S. enforcement of the agreements on Iran’s nuclear program in the longer term.

“The real problem is that we have something that we can enforce, and that is difficult with Iran because they do not honor any agreement,” Hoeven said.

Is the agreement a treaty?

Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy said he believed the Iran deal would constitute a treaty and would be subject to Senate confirmation.

“It sounds like a treaty,” he said. “And if it’s a treaty, it certainly looks like it.”

This would require forceful bipartisanship because the Constitution establishes a two-thirds threshold for the Senate to approve a treaty.

Cassidy added that it appears the administration will need the Israeli government – which initiated the attack on Iran along with the United States – to end the war in Lebanon in order to reach a final agreement with Iran in the next two months.

“To make an agreement, you need two parties. In this case, maybe three, maybe four, because you have Hezbollah and Israel,” Cassidy said, referring to the powerful Lebanese political party and militant group opposed to Israel. “Hezbollah can just stir up trouble with impunity if it wants, under certain conditions. So tell me it takes two to dance, and now it takes four to dance. Can you do it in 60 days? I don’t know.”

North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis said the administration must be as lucid as possible about the content of the memorandum of understanding with Iran.

“There must be at least maximum transparency,” he said.

Tillis said Senate approval of the final deal “makes sense,” arguing that President Barack Obama made a mistake by not requiring lawmakers to ratify the deal his administration struck with Iran in 2015. The agreement was called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“I have said many times that Obama made a mistake by not making every effort to bring it to the level of a treaty, and I believe we should do so in this case,” he said. “Otherwise it will only last two and a half years.”

Tillis said he was not concerned that Congress had not yet received the text of the memorandum of understanding, but it was imperative that the administration release the documents.

“Trust, but verify,” he said.

“Basically a surrender”

Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy said he “doubts” the memorandum of understanding is actually real, but if it is, lawmakers should expect “side agreements” that the administration may not share.

“If what we report is true, these are Iran’s terms. I mean, it’s basically a surrender. But I think that’s the only game we can play at this point,” he said. “We have to end this war and stop wasting money, stop killing Americans and civilians and stop raising prices. It’s a bad deal, but he won’t get a better deal. So we just have to accept the humiliation. But I don’t even know if it’s true.”

West Virginia Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said lawmakers need to read the memorandum of understanding so she and others can “express our opinions.”

“But right now we can’t because it’s not fully available yet,” she said.

Senate Intelligence Committee ranking member Mark Warner, R-Va., said he had not seen the text of the memorandum or been briefed on it by administration officials. But he believes the administration must present it to lawmakers within five days, as required by the 2015 law.

“I’m afraid the details won’t be as good as the president is making it out to be,” Warner said.

Legal requirements

Congress approved legislation in 2015, which requires each presidential administration to present the text of an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program within five days. These documents do not have to be sent to every lawmaker, but should go to congressional leaders and the eight relevant committees.

This delegation establishes a 30-day review period for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee to conduct hearings and briefings.

The act allowed Congress to approve a joint resolution expressing disapproval of any nuclear deal with Iran. The House and Senate would likely need the support of at least two-thirds of members to override Trump’s likely veto.

Congress overriding the president’s veto of the disapproval resolution would prevent the Trump administration from lifting sanctions on Iran, although this seems an unlikely scenario given that both chambers are controlled by Republicans.

AND report of the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service says a joint resolution of disapproval that goes into effect “would not invalidate the agreement itself but would only affect the ability to ease presidential sanctions against Iran; nevertheless, preventing the President from granting such relief would almost certainly result in Iran terminating the agreement.”

The bill, officially titled the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, also clears the way for Congress to approve a joint resolution of approval.

The CRS report concluded that “once enacted, this would allow the President to waive sanctions, apparently even if the review period has not yet expired.”

Congress taking no action during the 30-day review period would allow the administration to begin easing sanctions immediately after that deadline.

Issues like inflation and affordability have dominated the 2026 midterm elections, but public corruption is joining them: The consensus view is bipartisan and overwhelming questionnaire released earlier this month by the Brennan Center for Justice.

Republicans, Democrats and independents recognized that corruption is a major problem permeating every government institution. Over 90% of respondents in each group said this was true – as did 92% of all respondents.

The survey was conducted among 2,000 registered voters between April 28 and May 6.

Perhaps the biggest surprise among the findings is that there is so much agreement in an era of partisan polarization. For example, 65% of Democrats, 66% of independents, and 56% of Republicans agreed that the main cause of corruption is corporate political contributions.

Perhaps less surprisingly, corruption comes to the fore because voters see it as linked to other major concerns.

Respondents were asked whether they agreed with the statement that “corruption is responsible for policies that benefit billionaires and large corporations at the expense of the American people.” 83% of Republicans, 90% of independents and 95% of Democrats agreed.

These and many other responses indicate that immense bipartisan majorities believe that many things that are completely legal in the United States are nonetheless corrupt.

“When it comes to what qualifies as corruption, voters across party lines disagree,” the Brennan Center said in a written statement. “They understand corruption broadly, focusing in part on the belief that the government acts primarily in favor of the ultra-wealthy and well-connected and does not prioritize the interests of the majority of voters. The poll shows that while 97% of voters say that a government official who uses his office for personal gain is corrupt, almost as many (89%) say the same about billionaires and large corporations who have an easier time being heard than the general public.”

The poll results may confirm the actual election.

In Festus, Missouri, in April, voters fired four incumbent city council members right after they voted to authorize the construction of a hyperscale data center. Residents and opposition candidates told Politico that the backlash was fueled by voters who felt they had no say in the project.

In Georgia, incumbent U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, is trying to turn corruption – and its links to economic hardship – into the centerpiece of his campaign as he seeks re-election.

“Voters link corruption directly to the kitchen issues and government problems they experience every day,” the Brennan Center said. “Eighty-eight percent blame corruption for the persistence of today’s biggest problems that the government has failed to address, and 83% say corruption is responsible for the failure of public services.”

Although respondents generally agreed that corruption is a huge problem and that it is rooted in the government’s indifference to voters, there were still some clear differences between the parties.

For example, 97% of Democrats and 76% of independents agreed that President Donald Trump is corrupt. Only 34% of Republicans did so.

But while such differences exist, huge, bipartisan majorities agree that much stricter rules on how campaigns are financed are needed to make voters’ voices heard.

“Overwhelming majorities of voters across party lines support campaign finance reforms,” the Brennan Center said. “These include legislation to end shadowy money, or funds from groups that do not disclose their donors (85% overall, with 88% support among Democrats, 84% support among independents, and 85% support among Republicans) and a constitutional amendment to overturn Supreme Court rulings that have narrow money limits in elections (79% overall, including 84% support among Democrats, 81% support among independents and 75% support among Republicans).

She added that support for these activities covers the entire country, cities and rural areas.

“Majorities in regions across the country support amending the constitution to restore campaign finance limits, with support from more than three-quarters of voters in the West (82%), the South (78%), the Northeast (81%), and the Midwest (76%),” it said. “The same applies to the division into urban (81%), suburban (79%), and rural (76%).”

Republican attorneys general from 14 states and 19 GOP members of Congress have asked U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin to classify and regulate the abortion drug mifepristone as a water pollutant.

Mifepristone is prescribed as part of a two-drug regimen to terminate a pregnancy. Studies have shown that medical abortion is unthreatening and effective.

In a letter last Friday, state officials argued that mifepristone poses a “growing threat to the nation’s waterways.” The letter was signed by the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas.

In parallel letterled by Republican Chris Smith of New Jersey, made similar claims and was signed by 18 other Republican members of Congress.

Experts in environmental health sciences to talk there is no evidence that mifepristone in sewage causes harm to the environment or people.

“There is no evidence that medication abortion affects U.S. water systems, including drinking water and wildlife.” – Center for Biological Diversity, which advocates for stronger environmental protections – we read on our website.

The Republican Party’s letters cite a 1996 statement from the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research that stated that “mifepristone’s adverse effects on the environment were not anticipated,” while acknowledging that the drug can enter the environment through excretion or disposal of pharmaceutical waste. But experts say traces of drugs in water are common, and state environmental agencies and scientists check for harmful contaminants in water as part of protocols and testing.

In 2025, state lawmakers in seven states introduced nine bills that included statements regarding medical abortion and its impact on the environment and water. State lawmakers have also introduced legislation calling for testing of mifepristone in water systems.

Last year, Republican members of Congress expressed similar concerns in: letter to the EPA.

United States Supreme Court I decided last month to preserve telehealth access to mifepristone pending a ruling by the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on the merits of the high-stakes federal lawsuit Louisiana v. Food and Drug Administration.

Medication abortion included almost two thirds of all abortions performed by clinicians in states without abortion bans in 2023, according to the latest data available from the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization focused on supporting reproductive rights.

Stateline reporter Nada Hassanein can be reached at: nhassanein@stateline.org.