White House press shop adjusts to proliferation of AI deep fakes

When an image showing what looked to be a bombing at the Pentagon started to spread online last week, the stock market dipped momentarily. Kayla Tausche, who covers the White House for CNBC, quickly started fact checking. Popping into Lower Press — the cluster of desks and offices behind the briefing room where many press aides work — she found principal deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton and asked about the reports.

“There was initially confusion about where it was coming from (I said ‘RT-style unconfirmed viral accounts’) and then exasperation,” Tausche told West Wing Playbook.

Dalton moved quickly, connecting with the Pentagon and National Security Council before telling Tausche there did not appear to have been a bombing. Once additional tweets suggested the phony image had been generated by artificial intelligence, Tausche followed up with Dalton to apologize for the diversion.

“She said, with visible frustration, that she is dealing with these types of inquiries on a daily basis, with greater and greater frequency,” Tausche added.

The White House press shop has found itself on one of the many front lines of the AI battles. Aides there, who collectively handle hundreds of media inquiries a day, have already been briefed by experts on the potential national security risks posed by images and videos that have been altered using AI, according to an administration official.

Outside the press shop, the White House has scaled up its efforts to assess and manage AI’s risks, impressing on AI companies during meetings on campus that it’s their responsibility to ensure their products are safe. It updated the strategic plan for AI research and development for the first time in four years and last week launched a process to work toward developing an AI bill of rights.

“Everyone is trying very hard to be sensitive, to issue these warnings but without predicting what could happen, and that's because they don't know,” said Kara Swisher, a prominent tech-focused journalist. “Most people, if they're being honest, would tell you they don't know what's going to happen.”

The administration’s knockdown of reports of the Pentagon bombing — backed by a tweet from Arlington, Va., first responders — was part of a swift debunking that helped the market recover after the S&P fell 0.3 percent, a momentary loss of some $500 billion in value.

But days later, another AI-generated deep fake popped up in the form of a video showing a purported Microsoft Teams call between anti-Russia activist Bill Browder and former Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko arguing for the easing of sanctions against Russian oligarchs. Both fakes were easy enough to spot for those familiar with AI. But as the technology develops and improves, AI-generated text, audio and video could quickly become indistinguishable from that produced by human beings.

On Tuesday, prominent industry officials, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, issued a succinct but jarring statement aimed at seizing the attention of global leaders: “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war,” the statement said.

When asked about the statement, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre wouldn’t say if the president shares the belief that AI, if mismanaged, could lead to extinction. She only acknowledged that AI is “one of the most powerful technologies that we see currently in our time” and that the administration takes risk mitigation seriously.

There are various proposals floating for regulating AI — and Big Tech more broadly — on Capitol Hill, including legislation released earlier this month by Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) to create a new federal agency to oversee the technology.

“We remain concerned about an uptick in deepfake videos and manipulated images spreading on social media platforms,” said White House assistant press secretary Robyn Patterson. “As the technology for creating fake videos and images improves, it’s important for the media and the public to be aware of this trend, which we expect to grow, if not exponentially.”

While there are huge potential upsides with AI that are already triggering a global arms race to harness and capitalize on the technology, the unanticipated bumps could be severe, especially amid the coming presidential election.

“It’s not that one piece of content is going to be devastating; it’s the collective, scaled approach to inauthenticity that’s the problem. People can do this at scale now,” said Sarah Kreps, a professor at Cornell University’s Brooks School Tech Policy Institute and one of three AI researchers invited to speak to Biden’s new working group on the matter within the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. “It can look like massive numbers of citizens are supporting a particular issue when they’re not.”

In a country where sectarian partisanship has already given rise to misinformation and the spread of conspiracy theories, AI may only deepen the public’s growing mistrust of facts. “It just creates this ecosystem of distrust in a democracy where trust is such a foundational pillar,” said Kreps.

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Fox News, backed by Trump White House lawyer, fights subpoena in leak lawsuit

A former Fox News reporter is fighting in court to scuttle a subpoena demanding that she reveal the source behind a series of stories that aired confidential details of a counterintelligence probe into a Chinese American scientist.

That scientist, Yanping Chen, is suing the FBI for damages, claiming that the leaked information was part of a campaign to damage her after federal prosecutors ended their six-year investigation of her without bringing charges. Chen, who operated a graduate education program based in Arlington, Virginia, also subpoenaed Fox and Catherine Herridge, now of CBS — to force her to disclose the source of several 2017 stories.

Notably, Fox News and Herridge are being represented by Patrick Philbin, a former top lawyer from Donald Trump’s White House. Philbin, who decried media leaks during Trump’s first impeachment trial, appeared in court Tuesday to help Herridge fend off the effort to expose her source.

The FBI initially suspected that Chen had lied on immigration forms about her work on the Chinese space program, and she was the subject of two search warrants and seizures of her devices. But she was informed in 2016 that she would not be charged with any wrongdoing.

Within a year, Herridge was reporting on key aspects of the probe, as well as on the divisions within the government about the decision not to charge Chen. Chen says the reports were followed by a sharp drop in enrollment and funding for her graduate program.

Herridge’s reporting included “snippets of her immigration forms, a summary of an FBI interview with her daughter, and personal photographs of her and her husband,” according to U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper.

Chen sued the FBI, DOJ, Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security in 2018 seeking damages, an admission of wrongdoing from the government and prosecutions of any violations of the Privacy Act that may apply to her case. But after dozens of depositions failed to unmask the potential leaker, Chen turned her sights to Fox News and Herridge, which Chen’s attorneys say is a last resort.

The lawsuit has steadily advanced for five years despite generating little attention. Yet it represents the collision of a wide range of Washington interests and issues, carrying implications for how journalists’ First Amendment protections are balanced against the need to prevent leaks of sensitive government information that implicates privacy rights. Cooper noted in court Tuesday that while Congress passed the Privacy Act almost five decades ago, lawmakers have “not seen fit to pass a reporters’ shield law.”

“For better or worse,” the judge added.

Philbin, who works in the Washington office of the firm helmed by former White House counsel Pat Cipollone, sought to conduct Tuesday’s proceedings under seal, a nod to the voluminous details about the case that have been redacted from public view and the potential implications for the FBI’s counterintelligence operations. But Cooper declined, at first, to close the hearing to the public, instead urging Philbin to make broader legal arguments without delving into the sensitive details of the case. Cooper later sealed the hearing to permit the parties to delve into the sensitive details of the case.

During the public portion of the hearing, Philbin contended that Chen had failed to pursue all possible leads about the source of the leak before turning to a subpoena for Herridge. Chen’s inquiry centers around the existence of a PowerPoint document that contained details of the FBI’s probe that later wound up on Fox. Philbin said that while Chen narrowed down potential sources of the leak who “possessed” the PowerPoint to a handful of officials, she omitted a much larger number of people who had “access” to the file. That includes a counterintelligence “squad” of eight to 12 people who worked in an office where the PowerPoint was stored on a CD, he said.

Philbin’s comments prompted Justice Department senior litigation counsel Carol Federighi to interject, warning that he appeared to be veering into subjects meant to be kept from public view. Federighi intervened a second time when Philbin began to describe some binders that included pictures similar to information contained in the PowerPoint.

While journalists have won considerable protection in state courts and enjoy near-immunity from subpoenas by prosecutors in federal criminal cases due to DOJ regulations adopted by Attorney General Merrick Garland, Privacy Act lawsuits remain treacherous for members of the press.

In 2008, a judge handling a Privacy Act lawsuit brought by former government scientist Steven Hatfill ordered former USA Today reporter Toni Locy to pay escalating fines of up to $5,000 a day and attorneys’ fees for defying an order to identify her sources for stories about a federal investigation into Hatfill’s potential ties to deadly anthrax attacks in 2001.

Locy said she could not recall which sources provided specific information about Hatfill, but a judge rejected that.

While Locy’s appeal of that contempt order was pending, the U.S. government settled with Hatfill for $5.8 million, mooting the contempt fight.

Shortly after the settlement, the Justice Department informed Hatfill’s attorneys that investigators had ultimately concluded that Hatfill was not involved in the anthrax mailings.

Chen’s effort to seek damages comes just three months after the Biden administration shut down a China-focused anti-espionage program, known as the China Initiative, claiming it had created a false perception about Chinese Americans and U.S. residents from China.

Philbin has been a figure of intense interest in recent years for his presence in the White House during the crucial chaotic weeks at the end of Trump’s term, when Trump attempted to subvert the 2020 election and rebuffed calls to calm his supporters for hours as violence raged at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Philbin has interviewed twice with prosecutors now working for special counsel Jack Smith. But he’s also been seen entering the federal courthouse for various civil matters that he and his firm are involved in.

Philbin had a harsh assessment about media leaks during Trump’s 2020 impeachment trial on charges that he abused his power and obstructed Congress over allegations that he pressured Ukraine’s president to launch a criminal probe of Joe Biden. At the time, Philbin assailed congressional Democrats for what he said was animus toward Trump, exemplified by leaks from closed-door depositions.

“The testimony that took place was selectively leaked to a compliant media to establish a false narrative about the president. If that sort of conduct had occurred in a real grand jury, that would have been a criminal violation.”

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NATO deploys more troops to Kosovo amid violence

NATO on Tuesday deployed additional forces to Kosovo, a day after peacekeeping troops were injured in clashes with Serb protesters in the country.

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Minnesota wanted to curb health spending. Mayo Clinic had other ideas.

Mayo Clinic issued an ultimatum to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Democratic lawmakers earlier this month: Kill a proposed health affordability bill, or say goodbye to $4 billion in new hospital investments.

Minnesota lawmakers responded quickly — by watering down an ambitious proposal in the final days of the legislative session, which ended last week.

The threat from the world-renowned health system is the latest salvo against attempts to rein in rapidly growing health spending — and demonstrates how those efforts sometimes founder against industry heavyweights.

“We don’t want to hurt our hospitals. We want them to thrive — especially Mayo Clinic, with their reputation of being an international health care provider. But we also care about working families and their ability to get health care,” said former Minnesota state Rep. Jennifer Schultz, a Democrat who introduced the bill last year.

Following Mayo’s threat, Minnesota lawmakers scaled back their proposal to establish a health care affordability board that would have had the power to fine hospitals, doctors and insurers for out-of-control cost growth.

Hospitals have similarly, if more quietly, pushed back on proposals in other states. In Connecticut and Oregon, they have opposed giving the state more power to limit the growth in health care costs. And in Massachusetts, hospitals are pushing the state to “reimagine” their spending targets, including accounting for unpredictable hospital costs like travel nurses and rapid inflation.

“People are so afraid to touch this because [hospitals] are the economic engines,” said Massachusetts state Sen. Cindy Friedman, a Democrat who chairs the legislature’s Joint Committee on Health Care Financing. “It’s a business, and people are making huge amounts of money. … That’s what you’re up against.”

Nationally, health care spending has tripled since 2000 — totaling $4.3 trillion in 2021 — and the U.S. spends nearly twice as much on health per person as comparable countries, according to the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker. Nearly a third of that spending is on hospitals, 20 percent on physicians and clinics, and 9 percent on prescription drugs.

Reducing health care costs remains a top concern for voters, coming in just behind the economy in a Pew Research Center poll earlier this year.

“When we talk about health care costs and health care costs being out of control in the United States, the flip side of that is one person’s cost is another person’s income,” said Cynthia Cox, vice president at KFF and director for the program on the Affordable Care Act. “And so this is a tough political battle for state policymakers, for that reason.”

And as Minnesota lawmakers learned this session, grappling with politically powerful hospital systems — which are often among the largest private employers in the state — is often a one-sided fight.

The proposal Minnesota lawmakers passed last week was a shadow of the original. Instead of a board empowered to levy fines, the bill requires state health officials to review health care cost growth but gives them no authority to set targets. Lawmakers also gutted a separate nurse staffing proposal in the final hours of the legislative session over Mayo’s and other hospitals’ concerns.

Mayo Clinic, in a statement, thanked lawmakers and the governor for working with them.

While the health system’s threats are the most overt attempts to kill efforts to control health spending, the Mayo Clinic is not alone in pushing back against state efforts to bring down costs.

Take Massachusetts, which pioneered a health care cost growth benchmark program in 2012. The heralded program sought to tie health spending to the state’s economy and fine providers who failed to limit cost growth.

While lawmakers say the Bay State has made strides over the past decade — such as driving increases in health care spending to below the national average — cost growth has still exceeded the state’s target in five of the nine years it has reported data.

In recommendations to the state legislature, the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission, which oversees the program, has only once sought corrective action from a payer or provider for excessive cost growth. It is asking the legislature to give it more authority to do so and to impose greater fines.

“This is all about greed and money,” Friedman said. “I have no problem with people making a profit. I really don’t. But there’s profit, and then there’s obscenity.”

The Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association, in a statement, said it remains “strongly committed to cost benchmarking” and the Health Policy Commission’s mission. But the organization has expressed concerns that the benchmark has not kept up with inflation and does not take into account unpredictable expenses hospitals are facing today, like the costs of traveling nurses, cybersecurity measures and infrastructure improvements.

State programs in other parts of the country, such as Connecticut and Rhode Island, rely on health systems and insurers to voluntarily control costs. Health officials in those states argue that the lack of enforcement power doesn’t mean the programs aren’t working. They say there is value in the reporting and analysis that comes with these programs.

In Rhode Island, for instance, officials tout their program as a partnership between government and industry. The state’s Cost Trends Project Steering Committee, which developed the state’s cost growth target, is co-chaired by the state health insurance commissioner and one representative each from the insurers and providers.

Health officials in Oregon said their payers and providers have been on board with their program, even though it includes financial penalties for noncompliance. Sarah Bartelmann, cost growth target and health care market oversight program manager for the Oregon Health Authority, said the industry saw the policy as the “lesser of two evils” — the other proposal on the table at the time was hospital price controls.

But industry concern has grown as the state ramps up implementation, she said.

“There’s been some pressure there and some interest in making sure that there are outs or off ramps before anyone is penalized,” Bartelmann said. “I’d say as the program gets more and more real, there’s been more and more concern.”

Still, a bill advancing through the Oregon legislature this year that is supported by the state hospital association proposes carving out frontline workforce costs from the state’s benchmark, blocking the state from holding payers or providers accountable for growth in those areas.

California, meanwhile, is setting up what could be the strongest benchmark program in the nation. If payers and providers fail to meet the cost growth target, which has yet to be set, they will be required to testify at public meetings and work with the state to come into compliance. If they fail to do so, the state, like Massachusetts, can impose corrective action plans and, unlike Massachusetts, escalate financial penalties.

“It is not the first tool in the toolbox. It’s the last one. But it is an important one to make sure that we’re having effective, earnest conversations on how to address spending growth that, speaking on behalf of nearly 40 million Californians, we think is unacceptably high,” said California Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly. “Hopefully we never have to use it.”

Conservative think tanks argue that benchmarking programs create perverse incentives for payers and providers to cut costs, regardless of financial penalties. They also say that companies’ desire to avoid being dragged before a public review board to explain their finances could result in cost-cutting that might harm patient care.

“No one wants to be called out and shamed for being the high-cost provider. No one’s going to want to have their books opened up by this board,” said Peter Nelson, a Minnesota-based senior policy fellow at the Center of the American Experiment and a senior advisor at CMS under the Trump administration. “The naming and shaming issue is a real issue that will drive behavior, and the concern is that this behavior is not going to be focused on what’s best for the patient.”

Proponents of containing cost growth, including lawmakers in Minnesota, say that while they may not have gotten everything they wanted, especially regarding enforcement powers, more authority may come with time.

“I don’t intend to have this be the last legislation on accountability that comes forward,” said Minnesota state Rep. Liz Reyer, a Democrat who sponsored the health care affordability board bill. “I’m very convinced actually that as a result of research that is done by this legislation, we will have a much stronger case to say, ‘And now we shall move forward, because we can see the need.’ If it gives me more substance to use to advocate, that’s what I’ll be doing. I’m not letting this go.”

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9 injured in shooting near beach in Florida

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Nine people were injured Monday evening when gunfire erupted along a beach boardwalk in Hollywood, Florida, sending people frantically running for cover along the crowded beach on Memorial Day.

Several of the victims were taken to a children’s hospital, police spokesperson Deanna Bettineschi said. However, authorities have not yet released the ages of the victims or provided details about their conditions.

A preliminary investigation shows that an altercation between two groups resulted in gunfire, police said. One person has been detained and another suspect is being still being sought.

The shooting happened about 6:30 p.m. on the broadwalk near a convenience store, a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream store and a Subway sandwich shop.

Alvie Carlton Scott III said he was on the beach when all of a sudden he hear numerous gun shots go off. He said he hid behind a tree and then fled the area after a police officer told people to run.

Jamie Ward, who was also on the broadwalk, said several young men were fighting in front of the stores when one pulled a gun and started shooting.

Videos posted on Twitter on Monday evening showed emergency medical crews responding and providing aid to multiple injured people.

Police said there would be a heavy presence of officers as the investigation continues. Officials were also setting up an area for family members to reunite.

“Thank you to the Good Samaritans, paramedics, police and emergency room doctors and nurses for their immediate response to aid the victims of today’s shooting,” Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy said in a statement.

Hollywood Beach is a popular beach destination about 11 miles south of Fort Lauderdale and 20 miles north of Miami. The beach was expected to see more visitors than usual with the Memorial Day holiday.

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Silence speaks volumes as Switzerland still reels from bank meltdown

The Alpine nation is trying to process exactly what went wrong with Credit Suisse — and what to do about the bankers who took it over the edge.

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McCarthy rallies support for debt deal amid hints of mutiny

Speaker Kevin McCarthy hunkered down in a mostly desolate Capitol building on Monday to build support for his debt limit compromise, dogged by claims of promises he made to become speaker.

For days, the California Republican has said he could “get to yes” on House passage of a cross-party agreement to prevent the nation from defaulting on its $31.4 trillion in debt. Already, the task is appearing stickier than simply rounding up enough floor votes to pass the deal he struck over the weekend with President Joe Biden.

With a passage vote set for Wednesday, a few Republicans have suggested using the Rules Committee to block the 99-page package from making it to the floor. And Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) further hinted at that strategy Monday afternoon.

The Texas Republican said on Twitter that an “explicit” agreement was made during private negotiations in January to elect McCarthy to the speakership: No bill could get to the floor without “unanimous” Republican support on the Rules Committee, on which Roy serves.

Any holdups like a delay in teeing up House floor debate would cost leaders precious time in clearing the bill through both chambers before the expected deadline for maxing out the nation’s borrowing authority. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s latest forecast pegs that X-date as June 5, now just a week away.

Republicans working to rally support for the bill are already casting doubt on Roy’s claim of a secret promise.

“If those conversations took place, the rest of the conference was unaware of them. And frankly, I doubt that,” Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) told reporters at the Capitol on Monday.

“I'm a rules guy. When somebody tells me something has to happen a certain way, the first thing I do is get out the rule book,” Johnson said. “And when I checked, there wasn't a rule that something has to come out of the Rules Committee unanimously.”

While McCarthy spent Memorial Day working to build consensus from his Capitol suite, Biden administration leaders tried at the same time to rally support for the deal among Democrats. In a series of virtual meetings Monday afternoon, top White House officials briefed lawmakers on pieces of the package that have drawn the most ire among their own, including changes to energy policy, spending limits and increased work requirements for antipoverty programs.

White House budget director Shalanda Young has been reminding lawmakers that the ultimate goal in negotiations was to avoid a debt default and that striking a bipartisan compromise makes it easier to fund the government for the fiscal year that kicks off in October.

Besides waiving the debt limit beyond the 2024 presidential election, the legislation would essentially freeze non-defense funding for the upcoming fiscal year while increasing defense funding by about 3.5 percent. “That’s about on par with previous budget agreements,” Young said on NBC's "The Today Show," noting her experience in negotiating prior bipartisan spending deals in her decades as a top House appropriators aide.

"This deal was compromise," Young said. "Neither side gets everything they want."

The White House scored some good news over the weekend after the leadership team for the New Democratic Coalition — a 98-member voting bloc of centrists who are among the most likely to back the bill — released a statement announcing the group’s support for the bipartisan agreement. The Congressional Black Caucus was also doing its own whip Monday afternoon, according to a Democratic aide who asked to remain anonymous to speak freely about the discussions.

Meanwhile House progressives, who have expressed frustration over the new work requirements in two government assistance programs — TANF and SNAP — are still mostly nos, according to the aide, who described it as the typical push and pull from members. All things considered, the aide said, there was optimism about the deal passing the House this week.

Even though the debt limit package would lock in spending limits for the fiscal year that starts in October, Republican lawmakers are already talking about negotiating further cuts in the coming months.

“This is the beginning,” Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.) told reporters on Monday. “We've certainly wanted to see additional cuts in spending. Whether we can get that across the finish line through the appropriations process, it remains to be seen.”

The Congressional Budget Office gave Republicans an initial estimate Monday of the debt limit package’s potential effect on federal spending, predicting that it would cut about $2.1 trillion if funding caps are followed for six years, according to lawmakers.

Myah Ward contributed to this report.

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Spy agency warns Canadian MP that she’s on Beijing's ‘evergreen’ target list

OTTAWA — A Hong Kong-born lawmaker says Canada’s top spy agency warned her that Beijing has her marked as an “evergreen” political target due to her activism.

New Democrat MP Jenny Kwan told reporters Monday the Canadian Security Intelligence Service told her last week during a classified briefing that she’s a target for foreign interference by the Chinese government “and will continue to be a target.”

Kwan’s disclosure is the latest development in a thorny foreign interference controversy that’s been fueled by months of intelligence leaks.

The leaks have launched a third-party investigation, revealing “serious shortcomings” in how security agencies and government handle sensitive intelligence. The Vancouver MP declined to provide additional details about the nature of the threat, citing national security concerns.

Kwan, instead, doubled down on her advocacy, saying she will not be intimidated or silenced about Hong Kong. She is the second Canadian lawmaker to go public about being targeted by China.

“To see the situation unravel as it has, and continues to, breaks my heart,” she said, adding she feels relief knowing she doesn’t have family members living in Hong Kong or China.

The security threat isn’t immediate.

“While I cannot share classified information from my briefing with CSIS, it is clear that there is no indication of any physical threat against me or my family,” she told POLITICO in an email.

Kwan pushed for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to call a national inquiry into foreign meddling by the Chinese government, despite an independent investigator’s recent advice that one would not be possible given the sensitivity of tradecraft.

Parliamentarians returned to Parliament Hill this week for one last four-week stretch before the House and Senate adjourn for summer.

Political fireworks are expected as opposition parties continue to cast the independent investigation, led by former governor general David Johnston, as evidence of cronyism given his ties with the Trudeau family.

New Democrat Leader Jagmeet Singh said he plans to introduce a non-binding motion Tuesday to urge Johnston to resign from his role as government-appointed investigator into foreign interference.

“The appearance of bias is so high that it erodes the work that the special rapporteur can do,” he said, promoting a public airing of secrets as one way to “reinstill confidence in our electoral system.”

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What Turkey's Erdoğan does next

A vital NATO power, with an economy in trouble, just gave its strongman president five more years.

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Wrinkles and curveballs in the debt ceiling bill

The newly released legislative text enshrining the debt-limit compromise largely matches the deal that the White House and Speaker Kevin McCarthy had announced a day earlier: a proposal that would lift the $31.4 trillion ceiling through 2024 and place new limits on federal spending.

But the bill also includes its share of surprises and curveballs — including provisions that neither party had previewed in their attempts to drum up support for the deal, or which clashed with some of the pre-release spin. In other cases, the text makes even more clear what kinds of trade-offs President Joe Biden and McCarthy had to accept in ways that are already angering members of the parties’ bases.

These are a few of the details that could draw new attention in the coming days, as Congress takes up the bill just days before the deadline to avert a first-ever default on the national debt:

A greenlight for Joe Manchin’s favorite gas pipeline

In one unexpected development, the bill would approve all the remaining permits to complete the stalled Mountain Valley Pipeline, an Appalachian natural gas project that has been a top priority of West Virginia Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito.

Manchin had tried last year to secure approval of the permit in return for providing the decisive support for Biden’s climate bill — only to see GOP opposition sink his permitting overhaul legislation.

On Sunday night, Manchin hailed the language in the debt bill that would greenlight the project, saying finishing the pipeline would lower energy costs for the United States and West Virginia. Neither side in the debt bill’s negotiations had disclosed Mountain Valley’s inclusion until the release of the legislative text Sunday night.

"I am proud to have fought for this critical project and to have secured the bipartisan support necessary to get it across the finish line," Manchin said in a statement.

The Biden administration has also supported the project, arguing it is needed for U.S. energy security.

But the move is sure to set off bitter complaints from the environmental groups that have fought its construction for years and have turned the pipeline into a symbol of their struggle against fossil fuels. Protesters objecting to Mountain Valley disrupted an appearance by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm at POLITICO’s Energy Summit earlier this month.

“President Biden made a colossal error in negotiating a deal that sacrifices the climate and working families,” said Jean Su, the energy justice program director of an environmental group called the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement Sunday night.

But energy permitting rules would get only modest changes

As POLITICO had reported before the bill’s release, the text makes only modest updates to environmental permitting rules governing both fossil fuel and clean energy projects. This means that the major changes that members of both parties had sought will be left for Congress to hash out for some future legislation.

The deal would set one- or two-year time limits for certain kinds of environmental reviews of new projects, and would allow developers to go to court if agencies miss the deadlines.

Among other provisions, the bill also calls for designating a lead federal agency to conduct reviews for any particular project, an idea that has previously won favor among administrations of both parties. It would allow companies to assume a greater role in preparing their own environmental reviews, while leaving the ultimate responsibility to the government.

However, the bill doesn’t include major changes Republicans had sought, such as restrictions on the ability of project opponents to sue.

“It’s minimal, but statutory limits of one and two-year … isn’t nothing,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), a former utility regulator who is active on permitting issues, told POLITICO in a text message. “Of course there is also hope of continuing the effort with momentum.”

Such a “shot clock,” or deadline, has been on the oil industry’s wish list for years.A White House report from 2020 found that the average review took more than four years to complete as of 2018, though it can be much longer for some projects.

Renewable energy trade groups, meanwhile, also broadly support changes that would place “reasonable” timelines on environmental assessments. Wind and solar projects are both experiencing breakneck growth, but permitting reviews can mire them in delay.

Both Republicans and the White House claimed victory. The Biden administration touted its ability to avoid a gutting of last year’s climate law — though the legislation was never considered seriously threatened.

IRS' cuts steeper than some had expected

Biden agreed to trim $21.4 billion from one of his signature achievements — an $80 billion boost in Internal Revenue Service funding that Democrats had pushed through last year.

That's a bigger cut than many earlier news reports describing the deal had envisioned.

While the debt legislation calls for only a $1.4 billion rescission immediately, the administration says it has agreed to take another $10 billion this fall to shore up other non-defense discretionary spending in annual appropriations bills.

And it says it will repeat that next year when lawmakers tackle fiscal year 2025 funding — swiping another $10 billion from that $80 billion and using it for other domestic programs.

“Pay-as-you-go” limits on executive actions — unless the administration waives them

The bill text applies Congress’ “pay as you go” rule — which requires new spending to be offset by savings elsewhere — to executive actions. That would mean presidential actions like student loan forgiveness could require a huge offset. Such restrictions, one Democrat warned before the text’s release, “could be disastrous.”

But the text says the White House Office of Management and Budget could waive the requirements if "necessary for the delivery of essential services" or "necessary for effective program delivery." And it would protect OMB’s handling of the provision from legal challenges, saying: “No determination, finding, action, or omission under this title shall be subject to judicial review.”

The provision would expire at the end of 2024.

New SNAP restrictions' impact on low-income people become clearer

While not exactly a surprise, the legislative text makes clear what both sides had disclosed late Saturday: The bill would tighten restrictions for the country's leading anti-hunger program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, by expanding the number of people who would have to work to receive the food aid.

Under existing law, adults up to 49 years old who do not have children must meet work requirements to continue to receive SNAP aid after a certain time period. The new agreement would gradually raise that age limit to 54, though the expanded limits would sunset in 2030.

An estimated 275,000 low-income Americans are at risk of losing their SNAP benefits due to the changes, the Congressional Budget Office estimated in April.

And that’s unacceptable, progressives said Sunday — despite the White House’s assurance that it had won new exemptions waiving the work requirements for all homeless people and veterans for the first time.

The White House argues that as a result of those new exemptions, the total number of people covered by SNAP is unlikely to change under the deal.

Even so, the policy will “increase hunger and poverty among [hundreds of thousands of older, low-income Americans], runs contrary to our nation’s values, and should be rejected,” the liberal-aligned Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said Sunday. The think tank added that “improvements for some don’t justify expanding to others a failed policy that will increase and deepen poverty.”

Biden brushed off the criticism Sunday night. Asked about the concerns of some Hill Democrats that the deal would lead low-income Americans to go hungry, the president responded that it was a “ridiculous assertion.”

Biden must resume collecting student loans, charging interest

The deal would force the administration to resume collecting federal student loan payments and interest for millions of Americans after Aug. 30, ending a payment pause that had originated as a response to the pandemic.

The Biden administration has repeatedly announced an end to the pause, only to extend it again, to the frustration of Republicans. But that path would be off the table under the debt ceiling deal.

But the bill does not specify how or when precisely the Education Department must resume collecting payments. That means the administration could proceed with its plan to offer borrowers some type of grace period or extra flexibility with payments as collections restart.

White House officials see the deal as codifying into law what the administration had already been planning to do, which was resume collecting payments in September.

“Despite Republicans’ efforts to end targeted student debt relief and move up our planned end to the payment pause, we will ensure a smooth return to repayment process,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said on Twitter on Sunday.

Cardona added that the “deal also protects our ability to pause student loan payments should that be necessary in future emergencies.” Republicans had pushed to permanently curtail the Education Department’s power to cancel or modify student loans.

McCarthy hailed the elimination of the student loan pause as a “victory.” In an interview with Fox News, he noted that the pause costs the government roughly $5 billion each month in forgone revenue.

But the deal would not affect Biden’s separate plan to forgive as much as $20,000 in student debt per borrower — something many Republicans had sought to repeal as part of the debt ceiling negotiations. That plan remains in limbo at the Supreme Court, which is expected to rule in the coming weeks on whether it can proceed.

Josh Siegel, Brian Faler, Michael Stratford and Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

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Ukraine tennis player booed for not shaking hands with Belarusian opponent

The crowd jeered at Marta Kostyuk as she snubbed her rival Aryna Sabalenka.

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Debt ceiling deal includes surprise approval of natural gas pipeline championed by Manchin

The text of the debt ceiling bill released on Sunday would approve all the remaining permits to complete the stalled Mountain Valley Pipeline, delivering a big win for West Virginia Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito.

But the backing of the pipeline that would deliver gas from West Virginia into the Southeast is sure to set off bitter complaints from the environmental groups that have fought its construction for years and turned the project into a symbol of their struggle against fossil fuels.

Manchin hailed the bill's language, saying finishing the pipeline would lower energy costs for the United State and West Virginia.

"I am proud to have fought for this critical project and to have secured the bipartisan support necessary to get it across the finish line," he said in a statement.

The bill agreed by the White House and House Republicans must still be approved by both chambers of Congress, which is expected to happen in the coming week.

“After working with Speaker McCarthy and reiterating what completing the Mountain Valley Pipeline would mean for American jobs and domestic energy production, I am thrilled it is included in the debt ceiling package that avoids default,” Capito, a Republican, said in a statement. “Despite delay after delay, we continued to fight to get this critical natural gas pipeline up and running, and its inclusion in this deal is a significant victory for the future of West Virginia.”

The project has won support from the White House, which argues the controversial project is needed for U.S. energy security. Its approval comes after the approval of the Willow oil project in Alaska, which activists have said undercuts the Biden administration’s climate promises.

Including the project in the debt bill came as a surprise that wasn’t revealed by either negotiating side until the release of the bill text Sunday night.

The bill approves all outstanding permits for the pipeline, which has suffered court setbacks.

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Biden touts bipartisan debt ceiling agreement, but says neither side got everything it wanted

President Joe Biden on Sunday hailed the bipartisan deal he struck with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on the debt ceiling, saying it’s ready to move forward for congressional approval, but he also pushed back against criticism that he made too many concessions in the process.

Speaking from the White House Roosevelt Room, Biden acknowledged that neither side got everything it wanted out of the deal, but he insisted “I did not negotiate on the debt ceiling” with Republicans.

“You want to try to make it look like I made some compromise on the debt ceiling — I didn’t. I made a compromise on the budget,” he told reporters.

Biden said Republicans wanted to pass a debt ceiling on condition of a budget “with all these cuts in it.”

“I said ‘I’m not going to do that. You pass the debt ceiling, period,’” he said, and then he’d negotiate separately on the budget.

The White House and Republican congressional leaders reached a tentative deal late Saturday evening, that was being finalized on Sunday, to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, narrowly averting a default just days before the projected June 5 deadline.

Asked whether he thought it was time to get rid of the debt ceiling, Biden said that doing so would “cause more controversy” but did not rule it out as a future option.

“I am exploring the idea that we would, at a later date — a year or two from now — decide whether or not the 14th Amendment, how that actually would impact whether or not you need to do the debt limit every year,” Biden said.

The agreement lifts the debt ceiling and holds spending flat through the 2024 presidential election, while allowing non-defense spending to increase by 1 percent in 2025. The deal also imposes new work requirements on TANF and SNAP assistance programs, clawbacks billions of dollars in unspent Covid relief funds, pairs down Biden’s plan to dramatically expand the IRS and codifies the administration’s plan to restart federal student loan payments at the end of the summer.

Negotiators worked through the night to finalize the legislative text of the deal and were expected to share it with lawmakers Sunday evening.

Although Biden and McCarthy projected confidence on Sunday that the bill would clear the House, the agreement is facing objections on both sides of the aisle. Conservatives were quick to criticize the agreement for not cutting spending more aggressively, while progressive Democrats have expressed some concerns about work requirements and other spending priorities.

Asked Sunday about criticism from Hill Democrats who said the deal would mean some low-income Americans could go hungry, Biden called that a “ridiculous assertion.” He also said he did not regret starting negotiations with Republicans sooner.

“It wouldn’t have made any difference,” he said.

Top White House aides spent much of Sunday calling Democratic lawmakers to shore up support for the bill. Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young, National Economic Council Deputy Director Aviva Aron-Dine and senior adviser on climate John Podesta virtually briefed House Democrats on the agreement on Sunday evening, while counselor to the president Steve Ricchetti, senior adviser and infrastructure coordinator Mitch Landrieu and National Economic Council director Lael Brainard also called lawmakers individually throughout the day.

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'My fellow Republicans wanted me to lie,' Liz Cheney says in commencement speech

Former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney on Sunday called on graduates to engage in politics and urged them not to waver from the truth, invoking her experience battling against former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The former Wyoming congresswoman lambasted her former GOP colleagues during a commencement speech at Colorado College, her alma mater.

“After the 2020 election and the attack of January 6th, my fellow Republicans wanted me to lie. They wanted me to say the 2020 election was stolen, the attack of January 6th wasn’t a big deal, and Donald Trump wasn’t dangerous,” Cheney said. “I had to choose between lying and losing my position in House leadership.”

“No party, no nation, no people can defend and perpetuate a constitutional republic if they accept leaders who have gone to war with the rule of law, with the democratic process, with the peaceful transfer of power, with the Constitution itself,” Cheney added.

The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, she was a member of House Republican leadership until her continued opposition to Trump's actions — and her vote to impeach him — led her colleagues to oust her from leadership. Cheney was the ranking Republican on the high-profile Jan. 6 committee investigating the riot at the Capitol, a position that in part cost her reelection in 2022.

Since her departure from Congress, Cheney has unabashedly called out the events surrounding Jan. 6 and been unrelenting in her criticism of the former president. Though she called Trump out by name Sunday, Cheney did not say anything of his 2024 campaign. But she did repeatedly attack her own party, and warned of efforts by some political operatives to suppress votes in upcoming elections.

“Cleta Mitchell, a political operative and an election denier, told a gathering of Republicans recently that it’s crucially important that they make sure that college students don’t vote,” Cheney said. “Those who are trying to unravel the foundations of our republic, who are threatening the rule of law and the sanctity of elections know they cannot succeed if you vote. So, Class of 2023, get out and vote.”

Cheney also urged the graduates — particularly the women — to consider running for office.

“This country needs more of you in office. You may have noticed that men are pretty much running things these days, and it’s not really going all that well,” she said. “You can change that.”

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Turkey votes again, with Erdoğan poised to extend his rule

After 20 years in power, Turkey's president is favorite to win again in Sunday's election second round.

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Pivotal presidential runoff held in Turkey

ANKARA, Turkey — Voters in Turkey returned to the polls Sunday to decide whether the country’s longtime leader stretches his increasingly authoritarian rule into a third decade, or is unseated by a challenger who has promised to restore a more democratic society.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been at Turkey’s helm for 20 years, is favored to win a new five-year term in the second-round runoff, after coming just short of an outright victory in the first round on May 14.

The divisive populist finished 4 percentage points ahead of Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the candidate of a six-party alliance and leader of Turkey’s center-left main opposition party. Erdogan’s performance came despite crippling inflation and the effects of a devastating earthquake three months ago.

Speaking to reporters after casting his vote at a school in Istanbul, Erdogan noted that it’s the first presidential runoff election in Turkey’s history. He also praised the high voter turnout in the first round and said he expected participation to be high again on Sunday.

“I pray to God, that it (the election) will be beneficial for our country and nation,” he said.

Kilicdaroglu, a 74-year-old former bureaucrat, has described the runoff as a referendum on the country’s future.

“This election took place under very difficult circumstances, there was all sorts of slander and defamation,” Kilcdaroglu told reporters after casting his ballot. “But I trust in the common sense of the people. Democracy will come, freedom will come, people will be able to wander the streets and freely criticize politicians.” He voted at the same time as Erdogan as local television showed the rivals casting ballots on split screens.

More than 64 million people are eligible to cast ballots. The polls opened at 8 a.m.

Turkey does not have exit polls, but the preliminary results are expected to come within hours of the polls closing at 5 p.m.

The final decision could have implications far beyond Ankara, because Turkey stands at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, and it plays a key role in NATO.

Erdogan turned his country from a mostly inward-looking nation into a geopolitical player with a foothold in hotspots such as Syria and Libya.

His government vetoed Sweden’s bid to join NATO and purchased Russian missile-defense systems, which prompted the United States to oust Turkey from a U.S.-led fighter-jet project. But under Erdogan, Turkey also helped broker a crucial deal that allowed Ukrainian grain shipments and averted a global food crisis.

The May 14 election saw 87% turnout, and strong participation is expected again Sunday, reflecting voters’ devotion to elections in a country where freedom of expression and assembly have been suppressed.

In the mainly-Kurdish populated province of Diyarbakir — one of 11 regions that was hit by the Feb. 6 earthquake — 60-year-old retiree Mustafa Yesil said he voted for “change.”

“I’m not happy at all with the way this country is going. Let me be clear, if this current administration continues, I don’t see good things for the future,” he said. “I see that it will end badly — this administration has to change.”

But Mehmet Yurttas, an Erdogan supporter, disagreed.

“I believe that our homeland is at the peak, in a very good condition,” the 57-year-old shop owner said. “Our country’s trajectory is very good and it will continue being good.”

If he wins, Erdogan, 69, could remain in power until 2028. After three stints as prime minister and two as president, Erdogan is already Turkey’s longest-serving leader. A devout Muslim, he heads the conservative and religious Justice and Development Party, or AKP.

The first half of Erdogan’s tenure included reforms that allowed the country to begin talks to join the European Union, and economic growth that lifted many out of poverty. But he later moved to suppress freedoms and the media and concentrated more power in his hands, especially after a failed coup attempt that Turkey says was orchestrated by the U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen. The cleric denies involvement.

Erdogan transformed the presidency from a largely ceremonial role to a powerful office through a narrowly won 2017 referendum that scrapped Turkey’s parliamentary system of governance. He was the first directly elected president in 2014 and won the 2018 election that ushered in the executive presidency.

The May 14 election was the first that Erdogan did not win outright.

Critics blame Erdogan’s unconventional economic policies for skyrocketing inflation that has fueled a cost-of-living crisis. Many also faulted his government for the slow response to the earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people in Turkey.

Still, Erdogan has retained the backing of conservative voters who remain devoted to him for lifting Islam’s profile in the Turkey, which was founded on secular principles, and for raising the country’s influence in world politics.

In a bid to woo voters hit hard by inflation, he has increased wages and pensions and subsidized electricity and gas bills, while showcasing Turkey’s homegrown defense industry and infrastructure projects. He also centered his reelection campaign on a promise to rebuild quake-stricken areas, including constructing 319,000 homes within the year. Many see him as a source of stability.

Kilicdaroglu is a soft-mannered former civil servant who has led the pro-secular Republican People’s Party, or CHP, since 2010. He campaigned on promises to reverse Erdogan’s democratic backsliding, to restore the economy by reverting to more conventional policies, and to improve ties with the West.

In a frantic effort to reach out to nationalist voters in the runoff, Kilicdaroglu vowed to send back refugees and ruled out peace negotiations with Kurdish militants if he is elected.

Many in Turkey regard Syrian refugees who have been under Turkey’s temporary protection after fleeing the war in neighboring Syria as a burden on the country, and their repatriation became a key issue in the election.

Earlier in the week, Erdogan received the endorsement of the third-place candidate, nationalist politician Sinan Ogan, who garnered 5.2% of the votes and is no longer in the race. Meanwhile, a staunchly anti-migrant party that had supported Ogan’s candidacy, announced it would back Kilicdaroglu.

A defeat for Kilicdaroglu would add to a long list of electoral losses to Erdogan, and put pressure for him to step down as party chairman.

Erdogan’s AKP party and its allies retained a majority of seats in parliament following a legislative election that was also held on May 14. Parliamentary elections will not be repeated Sunday.

Erdogan’s party also dominated in the earthquake-hit region, winning 10 out of 11 provinces in an area that has traditionally supported the president. Erdogan came in ahead in the presidential race in eight of those provinces.

As in previous elections, Erdogan used state resources and his control of the media to reach voters.

Following the May 14 vote, international observers also pointed to the criminalization of dissemination of false information and online censorship as evidence that Erdogan had an “unjustified advantage.” They also said that strong turnout showed the resilience of Turkish democracy.

Erdogan and pro-government media portrayed Kilicdaroglu, who had received the backing of the country’s pro-Kurdish party, as colluding with “terrorists” and of supporting what they described as “deviant” LGBTQ rights.

Kilicdaroglu “receives his orders from Qandil,” Erdogan repeatedly said at recent campaign rallies, a reference to the mountains in Iraq where the leadership of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, is based.

“We receive our orders from God and the people,” he said.

The election was being held as the country marked the 100th anniversary of its establishment as a republic, following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

Sunday also marks the 10th anniversary of the start of mass anti-government protests that broke out over plans to uproot trees in Istanbul’s Gezi Park, and turned into one of the most serious challenges to Erdogan’s government.

Erdogan’s response to the protests was a harbinger of a crackdown on civil society and freedom of expression. Eight people, including philanthropist businessman Osman Kavala, architects, and a filmmaker, have been convicted over their alleged involvement in the protests.

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