(LONDON) -- A Russian missile strike killed one person and wounded nine others early on Friday morning, Ukrainian officials said, an attack that U.S. Ambassador Bridget A. Brink described as "brutal."
"Early this morning Russia launched a ballistic missile attack against the capital, killing a civilian and resulting in debris and fires around the city," Brink said in a statement on social media.
Brink added that the United States and its partners were "surging security assistance and energy support" to the country "in response to these brutal attacks."
First responders were battling fires in the streets, and several high-rise buildings were damaged. Debris had fallen in at least four districts in the city, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app.
More than 600 buildings, including more than a dozen medical sites, were without heat after the strike damaged a heating main in the city's southwestern Holosiivskyi District, he said. Seventeen schools and 13 kindergartens also were without heat early Friday.
Russia last month launched several aerial assaults that targeted energy infrastructure throughout Ukraine.
"Ukraine needs more air defense systems," Ukraine's Defense Ministry said on Friday. "Russian terror must be stopped."
Nine people were injured, including four who were hospitalized, in the strike on Kyiv, the mayor said, revising the number of injured from the previous seven.
ABC News' Helena Skinner contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) -- President Joe Biden's administration will announce on Friday another $4.28 billion dollars in student loan relief for nearly 55,000 public service workers.
The announcement will bring the total loan forgiveness by the Biden administration to "approximately $180 billion for nearly 5 million Americans," according to a fact sheet from the Department of Education.
The forgiveness will be delivered to individuals enrolled in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program (PSLF), which allows for debt forgiveness for people in jobs like firefighting, nursing and teaching after 10 years of continuous payment.
The Biden administration has made fixes to this program that had failed to deliver student loan relief to many due to poor implementations and errors in the program, officials said.
"The public servants approved for debt cancellation today include teachers, nurses, service members, law enforcement officials, and other public service workers who have dedicated their lives to giving back to their communities and who are finally earning the relief they are entitled to under the law," Biden said in a statement.
Of the nearly 5 million borrowers who have had more than $180 billion in debt relieved by the administration, more than 1 million were through the PSLF. The relief for those PSLF borrowers totals about $78 billion, the administration said.
"From Day One of my Administration, I promised to make sure that higher education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity," Biden said in the statement.
He added, "Because of our actions, millions of people across the country now have the breathing room to start businesses, save for retirement, and pursue life plans they had to put on hold because of the burden of student loan debt."
(WASHINGTON) -- Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson, whose "shaken baby syndrome” murder conviction in the death of his 2-year-old daughter has come under scrutiny, has been ordered to appear before the Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee on Friday over the state’s so-called “junk science” law.
The legislation, passed in 2013, creates a pathway for people to challenge their convictions if new scientific evidence or developments would have impacted the outcome of their case. However, some legislators say they are concerned that the state law may not adequately address these issues and it is now being investigated by the House committee.
“Robert is eager to testify and grateful for the chance to be heard,” said Gretchen Sween, Roberson’s attorney. “We will do all we can to cooperate, and I profoundly hope that his ability to appear is not obstructed by those who, for whatever reason, do not want the lawmakers and the public to hear from him directly about his experience trying to communicate his innocence.”
Roberson was set to become the first person in the U.S. executed for a shaken baby syndrome diagnosis murder conviction on Oct. 17 before the court intervened and a state House committee issued a subpoena for Roberson to testify on the law on Oct. 21, halting the execution. However, Roberson did not testify that day.
A new execution date has not yet been scheduled, according to Roberson's legal representatives. In November, the Supreme Court of Texas noted that a subpoena could not block a scheduled execution.
Roberson was found guilty of the 2002 murder of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki, in part based on the testimony of a pediatrician who described swelling and hemorrhages in her brain to support a shaken baby syndrome diagnosis. He was tried and convicted of capital murder in 2003 and sentenced to death.
Roberson's legal team argued that evidence not presented at the trial found that Nikki had pneumonia and had been prescribed respiratory-suppressing drugs by doctors in the days leading up to her death, leading to a case of severe viral and bacterial pneumonia that progressed to sepsis and then septic shock.
Additionally, Roberson's team says his autism affects how he expresses emotion; investigators noted Roberson's lack of emotion during his arrest.
Roberson’s fight for clemency has been backed by a bipartisan group of more than 80 state lawmakers, as well as medical, scientific and criminal justice advocates who have questioned the legitimacy of the use of the shaken baby syndrome diagnosis in his case based on newer scientific evidence. The lead detective on Roberson's case at the time, Brian Wharton, also now argues that missing evidence hindered the case.
However, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and other state officials have argued that "Roberson was lawfully sentenced to death" and that he has "exhausted every legally available appellate avenue" -- noting that the case was heard once more by a trial court in 2021 in a dayslong evidentiary hearing after his execution was first halted, and earlier this year, Roberson's team requested that a district court reopen his case.
Paxton also argued that the jury did not convict Roberson solely based on the controversial shaken baby syndrome diagnosis, though Roberson's attorneys said that "shaken baby" was referred to by prosecutors and witnesses throughout the jury trial.
AUSTIN (AP) — Texas’ attorney general sought again on Thursday to stop a man on death row from testifying to lawmakers who have raised doubts about his guilt and successfully paused his execution at the last minute in October. Robert Roberson was convicted in 2003 of killing his 2-year-old daughter. His execution had been set to be the first in the U.S. over a conviction tied to shaken baby syndrome, a diagnosis some medical experts have questioned. A Texas House panel had again subpoenaed Roberson to appear before lawmakers Friday, which would require a transport from his prison outside Houston.
Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said his office asked a court for an order blocking the subpoena, which he said automatically prevents Roberson from appearing while the legal challenge is pending. A spokesperson for Democratic Rep. Joe Moody, chair of the Texas House committee that subpoenaed Roberson, did not immediately respond to a text message seeking comment Thursday. Continue reading Death row inmate’s testimony challenged again
TYLER – Our news partner KETK is reporting that a proposed child abuse prevention law is on its way to the White House for review by President Biden. The Jenna Quinn Bill has been in the works for the past six years, named after abuse survivor, Jenna Quinn, the proposed bill will allow federal grants to fund training educators on sexual abuse recognition and prevention. Rep. Nathaniel Moran said 90% of the time abusers are typically somebody within family or close friendship, relationship, making this bill vital to train educators and adults that work with children. Already making an impact, data shows educators are reporting abuse four times more after being trained than without.
The East Texas congressman spoke in support of the bill before it passed with full bipartisan support on Dec. 17.
“We need to provide more opportunities for grant moneys that already exists to be used in a space that can save these kids from further abuse, stop the abuse and get them help as quickly as possible,” Moran said. Continue reading Rep. Moran supports new child abuse prevention bill
TYLER — According to our news partner KETK, a second state representative from East Texas is under intense pressure to switch his support as Texas House Republicans fight over who will be the next speaker. Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield, won the endorsement from the House GOP caucus, but Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, claims to have a bipartisan majority. This battle, as Burrows seeks democratic support, has led Republicans who support Burrows to walk a fine line.
In recent days, the GOP has threatened to campaign against anyone who supports Burrows, such as Rep. Cole Hefner, R-Mount Pleasant, who has already faced backlash over his choice. Yet Hefner remains adamant in backing Burrows for the seat.
KAUFMAN COUNTY – According to our news partner KETK, Kaufman County officials serving a warrant at a property discovered animals in wire cages, living without shelter and limited access to clean water. The SPCA team said the dogs and roosters were found in individual pens throughout the property with the area thick in mud and standing water. Officials also found evidence that the animals may have been used for fighting leading to the start of an investigation. Their owner relinquished custody of the animals at the scene, and the SPCA has since taken ownership, who are now working with the animals for possible rehabilitation.
“That resulted in the SPCA of Texas taking custody of 50 roosters, 43 hens, 34 adult dogs, and 10 puppies,” SPCA of Texas Vice President for Marketing and Communications, Maura Davies said.
More than 15 years ago, when I first started what we now call You Tell Me Texas, I decided to establish an annual tradition — something to share with you on our last visit of the year. That tradition is thanks to Harry Reasoner, one of the best wordsmiths ever to work in broadcasting. Harry was one of the founding anchors of CBS’s “60 Minutes” and he also anchored for ABC during the 1970s.
Harry was a definite cut above most of the people in network news today. Like many of his peers, Harry learned his craft as a newspaperman in an era of longer attention spans. His technology was a manual typewriter and his daily pursuit was the well-turned phrase.
As I think about Christmas 2024, coming as it does following a contentious election year and even as war and suffering continues as a blight on the very birthplace of Jesus, I come back to a transcript that I have hung on to for decades. It was written by Reasoner and delivered on at least two occasions, once on “60 Minutes” and once when he was an anchor at ABC. He said that it got him more mail than anything he had ever done.
So, continuing an annual You Tell Me tradition, here again is what Harry Reasoner said:
“The basis for this tremendous annual burst of gift buying and parties and near hysteria is a quiet event that Christians believe actually happened a long time ago. You can say that in all societies there has always been a midwinter festival and that many of the trappings of our Christmas are almost violently pagan. But you come back to the central fact of the day and quietness of Christmas morning – the birth of God on earth.
It leaves you only three ways of accepting Christmas.
One is cynically, as a time to make money or endorse the making of it.
One is graciously, the appropriate attitude for non-Christians, who wish their fellow citizens all the joys to which their beliefs entitle them.
And the third, of course, is reverently. If this is the anniversary of the appearance of the Lord of the universe in the form of a helpless babe, then it is a very important day.
It’s a startling idea, of course. My guess is that the whole story that a virgin was selected by God to bear His Son as a way of showing His love and concern for man is not an idea that has been popular with theologians. It’s a somewhat illogical idea, and theologians like logic almost as much as they like God. It’s so revolutionary a thought that it probably could only come from a God that is beyond logic, and beyond theology.
It has a magnificent appeal. Almost nobody has seen God, and almost nobody has any real idea of what He is like. And the truth is that among men the idea of seeing God suddenly and standing in a very bright light is not necessarily a completely comforting and appealing idea.
But everyone has seen babies, and most people like them. If God wanted to be loved as well as feared he moved correctly here. If He wanted to know His people as well as rule them, He moved correctly here, for a baby growing up learns all about people. If God wanted to be intimately a part of man, He moved correctly, for the experiences of birth and familyhood are our most intimate and precious experiences.
So, it goes beyond logic. It is either all falsehood or it is the truest thing in the world. It’s the story of the great innocence of God the baby – God in the form of man – and has such a dramatic shock toward the heart that if it is not true, for Christians, nothing is true.
So, if a Christian is touched only once a year, the touching is still worth it, and maybe on some given Christmas, some final quiet morning, the touch will take.”
Thank you, Harry.
And this post fix, also now a You Tell Me tradition. If the Christmas Spirit is, again, not coming easily to you, consider the words of another of my favorite wordsmiths. His name was Charles Dickens and in his literary opus, “A Christmas Carol,” he said,
…for it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child himself.”
So it is, Mr. Dickens. And God bless us, every one.
NACOGDOCHES– The Nacogdoches County Sheriff’s Office is searching for a man who violated his parole and is considered ‘armed and dangerous.’
According to our news partner, KETK, Ray Allen Drgac, 68, was out on parole for an aggravated kidnapping from 1994. The Nacogdoches sheriff’s office said he’s violated his parole. Officials said that Drgac is around 5 foot and 7 inches tall and that they consider him to be armed and dangerous.
Anyone with information on his location is asked to call Nacogdoches County dispatch at 936-559-2607. To see a picture of Ray Allen Drgac, go to the original article at our news partner KETK.
HALLSVILLE —SWEPCO (Southwestern Electric Power Company) has announced the development of new power generation projects in the ArkLaTex.
Brett Mattison, SWEPCO’s President and Chief Operating Officer, said that the future growth of new technologies and continued service to SWEPCO customers are priorities that will require a diverse generation portfolio. “Today’s announcement helps deliver on our commitment to delivering reliable, affordable, and dispatchable power whenever and wherever it is needed,” said Mattison. Continue reading SWEPCO announces new power generation projects in Texas
WASHINGTON (AP) — With a resounding no, the House rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s new plan Thursday to fund federal operations and suspend the debt ceiling a day before a government shutdown, as Democrats and dozens of Republicans refused to accommodate his sudden demands.
In a hastily convened evening vote punctuated by angry outbursts over the self-made crisis, the lawmakers failed to reach the two-thirds threshold needed for passage — but House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared determined to regroup, before Friday’s midnight deadline.
“We’re going to do the right thing here,” Johnson said ahead of the vote. But he didn’t even get a majority, with the bill failing 174-235.
The outcome proved a massive setback for Trump and his billionaire ally, Elon Musk, who rampaged against Johnson’s bipartisan compromise, which Republicans and Democrats had reached earlier to prevent a Christmastime government shutdown.
It provides an preview of the turbulence ahead when Trump returns to the White House with Republican control of the House and Senate. During his first term, Trump led Republicans into the longest government shutdown in history during the 2018 Christmas season, and interrupted the holidays in 2020 by tanking a bipartisan COVID-relief bill and forcing a do-over.
Hours earlier Thursday, Trump announced “SUCCESS in Washington!” in coming up with the new package which would keep government running for three more months, add $100.4 billion in disaster assistance including for hurricane-hit states, and allow more borrowing through Jan. 30, 2027.
“Speaker Mike Johnson and the House have come to a very good Deal,” Trump posted.
But Republicans, who had spent 24 hours largely negotiating with themselves to cut out the extras conservatives opposed and come up with the new plan, ran into a wall of resistance from Democrats, who were in no hurry to appease demands from Trump — or Musk.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats were sticking with the original deal with Johnson and called the new one “laughable.”
“It’s not a serious proposal,” Jeffries said as he walked to Democrats’ own closed-door caucus meeting. Inside, Democrats were chanting, “Hell, no!”
All day, Johnson had been fighting to figure out how to meet Trump’s almost impossible demands — and keep his own job — while federal offices are being told to prepare to shutter operations.
The new proposal whittled the 1,500-page bill to 116 pages and dropped a number of add-ons — notably the first pay raise for lawmakers in more than a decade, which could have allowed as much as a 3.8% bump. That drew particular scorn as Musk turned his social media army against the bill.
Trump said early Thursday that Johnson will “easily remain speaker” for the next Congress if he “acts decisively and tough” in coming up with a new plan to also raise the debt limit, a stunning request just before the Christmas holidays that has put the beleaguered speaker in a bind.
And if not, the president-elect warned of trouble ahead for Johnson and Republicans in Congress.
“Anybody that supports a bill that doesn’t take care of the Democrat quicksand known as the debt ceiling should be primaried and disposed of as quickly as possible,” Trump told Fox News Digital.
The tumultuous turn of events, coming as lawmakers were preparing to head home for the holidays, sparks a familiar reminder of what it’s like in Trump-run Washington.
For Johnson, who faces his own problems ahead of a Jan. 3 House vote to remain speaker, Trump’s demands left him severely weakened, forced to abandon his word with Democrats and work into the night to broker the new approach.
Trump’s allies even floated the far-fetched idea of giving Musk the speaker’s gavel, since the speaker is not required to be a member of the Congress. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., posted she was “open” to the idea.
Democrats were beside themselves, seeing this as a fitting coda after one of the most unproductive congressional sessions in modern times.
“Here we are once again in chaos,” said House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, who detailed the harm a government shutdown would cause Americans. “And what for? Because Elon Musk, an unelected man, said, ‘We’re not doing this deal, and Donald Trump followed along.’”
As he left the Capitol, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said, “Now it’s time to go back to the bipartisan agreement.”
The debate in the House chamber grew heated as lawmakers blamed each other for the mess.
At one point, Rep. Marc Molinaro, who was presiding, slammed the speaker’s gavel with such force that it broke.
The stakes couldn’t be higher. Trump was publicly turning on those who opposed him.
One hardline Republican, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, drew Trump’s ire for refusing to along with the plan. Roy in turn told his own GOP colleagues they had no self-respect for piling onto the nation’s debt.
“It’s shameful!” Roy thundered, standing on the Democratic side of the aisle and pointing at his fellow Republicans.
The slimmed-down package does include federal funds to rebuild Baltimore’s collapsed Key Bridge, but dropped a separate land transfer that could have paved the way for a new Washington Commanders football stadium.
It abandons a long list of other bipartisan bills that had support as lawmakers in both parties try to wrap work for the year. It extends government funds through March 14.
Adding an increase in the debt ceiling to what had been a bipartisan package is a show-stopper for Republicans who want to slash government and routinely vote against more borrowing. Almost three dozen Republicans voted against it.
While Democrats have floated their own ideas in the past for lifting or even doing away with the debt limit caps — Sen. Elizabeth Warren had suggested as much — they appear to be in no bargaining mood to save Johnson from Trump — even before the president-elect is sworn into office.
The current debt limit expires Jan. 1, 2025, and Trump wants the problem off the table before he joins the White House.
Musk, in his new foray into politics, led the charge. The wealthiest man in the world used his social media platform X to amplify the unrest, and GOP lawmakers were besieged with phone calls to their offices telling them to oppose the plan.
Rep. Steve Womack, an Arkansas Republican and senior appropriator, said it’s a preview of the new year — “probably be a good trailer right now for the 119th Congress.”
The White House’s Office of Management and Budget had provided initial communication to agencies about possible shutdown planning last week, according to an official at the agency.
(WASHINGTON) -- Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday night that Republicans will "regroup" and "come up with another solution" after the government funding bill they negotiated with President-elect Donald Trump that would avert a government shutdown failed to pass.
The bill failed by a 174-235-1 vote with 38 Republicans voting against it.
Johnson blamed Democrats for the bill's failure.
“The only difference on this legislation was that we would push the debt ceiling to January of 2027,” Johnson claimed. “I want you all to remember that it was just last spring that the same Democrats berated Republicans and said that it was irresponsible to hold the debt limit, the debt ceiling, hostage. What changed?”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries celebrated the bill's defeat, saying in a statement that Republicans were “not serious” about helping working class Americans.
President-elect Donald Trump earlier Thursday endorsed the deal that House Republican reached to continue to fund the government through March and avoid a government shutdown at the end of the week.
"All Republicans, and even the Democrats, should do what is best for our Country, and vote “YES” for this Bill, TONIGHT!" Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
Trump said the "newly agreed to American Relief Act of 2024 will keep the Government open, fund our Great Farmers and others, and provide relief for those severely impacted by the devastating hurricanes."
He also said that the bill would push raising the debt ceiling to January 2027 from June of next year. Congress last raised the country's borrowing limit in June 2023 and had suspended it until June 2025.
"A VERY important piece, VITAL to the America First Agenda, was added as well - The date of the very unnecessary Debt Ceiling will be pushed out two years, to January 30, 2027. Now we can Make America Great Again, very quickly, which is what the People gave us a mandate to accomplish," Trump wrote.
GOP House leaders and Vice-President-elect JD Vance were hoping to appease both Trump's demands that any legislation to fund the government also deals with raising or eliminating the country's debt ceiling, as well as House Republicans on the right who are traditionally against any spending deal or debt limit increase.
Meanwhile, Democrats refused to budge from the deal they originally worked out with Republicans that Trump and Elon Musk demolished on Wednesday.
Jeffries called the latest proposal "laughable" as Democrats gathered to strategize their next move.
“The Musk-Johnson proposal is not serious. It’s laughable. Extreme MAGA Republicans are driving us to a government shutdown," he said.
Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin said it was unclear who Democrats were negotiating with -- Trump or Musk.
Asked about Republicans who say they have now done their part and that Democrats would own any shutdown, Raskin replied, "It's an intolerable way of proceeding... Democrats are going to try to figure out how to salvage the public good out of the wreckage just foist upon us."
That bipartisan deal called for extending government spending at current levels until March and added other provisions like relief for disaster victims and farmers and a pay raise for members of Congress.
Things changed Wednesday after Musk began a pressure campaign on X with multiple posts opposing the deal. Later that day Trump and Vance posted a statement calling on Congress to "pass a streamlined spending bill," with the president-elect echoing Musk's threats of primarying any GOP member who didn't comply.
Trump told ABC News' Jonathan Karl Thursday morning that there will be a government shutdown unless Congress eliminates the debt ceiling or extends the limit on government borrowing before he takes office.
"We're not going to fall into the debt ceiling quicksand," he said. "There won't be anything approved unless the debt ceiling is done with."
Under current law, the federal government would hit its borrowing limit sometime in the spring of 2025, during the first months of the second Trump presidency. Trump, however, said he wants it taken care of now, while Joe Biden is president.
"Shutdowns only inure to the person who's president," Trump said.
Some Senate Republicans, including John Kennedy and Mike Rounds, expressed displeasure with Johnson's bill and praised Trump for stepping in.
But Sen. Thom Tillis, whose home state was devastated by Hurricane Helene, said he'd do everything in his power to slow down the passage of any government funding bill that doesn't include disaster relief.
Congress faces a deadline of Friday night, when the current government funding extension expires, to pass a new one or non-essential agencies would shut down.
House Republicans of every stripe were seen rotating in and out of the speaker's office on Thursday -- including House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, Majority Whip Tom Emmer, Texas Rep. Chip Roy and Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris of Maryland.
Jeffries told reporters that raising the debt limit as part of the government funding bill is "premature at best."
"We are going to continue to maintain an open line of communication to see if we can resolve this issue on terms that are favorable to the everyday Americans," Jeffries said when asked if he was speaking to Johnson.
Behind closed doors during a caucus huddle Thursday morning, Jeffries delivered the same message to Democrats: Republicans backed out of a bipartisan deal and now have to figure out a way to get out.
"This kind of chaos and dysfunction has real-world impacts on hard-working people," Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., said.
Rep. Bill Keating, D-Mass., told ABC News that Jeffries quoted President John F. Kennedy to the caucus: "Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate."
"He said, look, we kept all our doors open during this negotiation. We made concessions. Most of us weren't happy with the outcome of this, but you have to do your basic job. He's saying that will continue. We're open to everything, but we're not open to the kind of bullying tactics that Elon Musk is doing," Keating said.
Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., quipped, "We had a deal. We negotiated a deal, and then Musk decided to change the deal. Do I call him 'President Musk?'"
Texas Rep. Greg Casar, the new chair of the progressive caucus was also critical of Musk.
"If Elon Musk is kind of cosplaying co-president here, I don't know why Trump doesn't just hand him the Oval Office, or Speaker Johnson should maybe just hand Elon Musk the gavel if they just want that billionaire to run the country," Casar said.
While many Democrats support eliminating the debt limit in principle, members left their closed-door meeting opposed to striking it now as part of a spending deal, stressing it should be a separate matter.
ABC News' Emily Chang, Ivan Pereira and Jay O'Brien contributed to this report.
HENDERSON COUNTY, Texas – Nichalos Allen Hunt was sentenced to 10 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for possession of a controlled substance and four years for bail jumping and failure to appear in court. Our news partners at KETK report that Hunt allegedly admitted the baggie and a glass pipe were his and it was later determined the baggie contained 2.22 grams of methamphetamine. A Henderson County deputy received information on an individual with an outstanding parole warrant located in a hotel room in Gun Barrel City. Deputies on the scene reported seeing plastic baggie containing a crystal like substance was reportedly sitting in plain sight on the nightstand next to Hunt.
President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday endorsed a spending deal that House Republican leadership said it had reached to continue to fund the government through March and avoid a government shutdown at the end of the week.
"All Republicans, and even the Democrats, should do what is best for our Country, and vote “YES” for this Bill, TONIGHT!" Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
The House began debating the new bill Thursday evening before a vote later tonight.
Earlier Thursday, House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole told reporters that House Republicans had reached an agreement among themselves. Asked if Trump is on board, Cole replied, “All I’ll tell you is we have an agreement.”
Cole refused to divulge any details of the deal, but he told ABC News that the text of the bill would be posted online shortly.
But in his post, Trump said the "newly agreed to American Relief Act of 2024 will keep the Government open, fund our Great Farmers and others, and provide relief for those severely impacted by the devastating hurricanes."
He also said that the bill would push raising the debt ceiling to January 2027 from June of next year. Congress last raised the country's borrowing limit in June 2023 and had suspended it until June 2025.
"A VERY important piece, VITAL to the America First Agenda, was added as well - The date of the very unnecessary Debt Ceiling will be pushed out two years, to January 30, 2027. Now we can Make America Great Again, very quickly, which is what the People gave us a mandate to accomplish," Trump wrote.
GOP House leaders and Vice-President-elect JD Vance were hoping to appease both Trump's demands that any legislation to fund the government also deals with raising or eliminating the country's debt ceiling, as well as House Republicans on the right who are traditionally against any spending deal or debt limit increase.
Meanwhile, Democrats have refused to budge from the deal they originally worked out with Republicans that Trump and Elon Musk demolished on Wednesday.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the latest proposal "laughable" as Democrats gathered to strategize their next move.
“The Musk-Johnson proposal is not serious. It’s laughable. Extreme MAGA Republicans are driving us to a government shutdown," he said.
Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin said it was unclear who Democrats are negotiating with -- Trump or Musk.
Asked about Republicans who say they have now done their part and that Democrats would own any shutdown, Raskin replied, "It's an intolerable way of proceeding... Democrats are going to try to figure out how to salvage the public good out of the wreckage just foist upon us."
That bipartisan deal called for extending government spending at current levels until March and added other provisions like relief for disaster victims and farmers and a pay raise for members of Congress.
Things changed Wednesday after Musk began a pressure campaign on X with multiple posts opposing the deal. Later that day Trump and Vance posted a statement calling on Congress to "pass a streamlined spending bill," with the president-elect echoing Musk's threats of primarying any GOP member who didn't comply.
Trump told ABC News' Jonathan Karl Thursday morning that there will be a government shutdown unless Congress eliminates the debt ceiling or extends the limit on government borrowing before he takes office.
"We're not going to fall into the debt ceiling quicksand," he said. "There won't be anything approved unless the debt ceiling is done with."
Under current law, the federal government would hit its borrowing limit sometime in the spring of 2025, during the first months of the second Trump presidency. Trump, however, said he wants it taken care of now, while Joe Biden is president.
"Shutdowns only inure to the person who's president," Trump said.
Some Senate Republicans, including John Kennedy and Mike Rounds, expressed displeasure with Johnson's bill and praised Trump for stepping in.
But Sen. Thom Tillis, whose home state was devastated by Hurricane Helene, said he'd do everything in his power to slow down the passage of any government funding bill that doesn't include disaster relief.
Congress faces a deadline of Friday night, when the current government funding extension expires, to pass a new one or non-essential agencies would shut down.
House Republicans of every stripe were seen rotating in and out of the speaker's office on Thursday -- including House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, Majority Whip Tom Emmer, Texas Rep. Chip Roy and Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris of Maryland.
Jeffries told reporters that raising the debt limit as part of the government funding bill is "premature at best."
"We are going to continue to maintain an open line of communication to see if we can resolve this issue on terms that are favorable to the everyday Americans," Jeffries said when asked if he was speaking to Johnson.
Behind closed doors during a caucus huddle Thursday morning, Jeffries delivered the same message to Democrats: Republicans backed out of a bipartisan deal and now have to figure out a way to get out.
"This kind of chaos and dysfunction has real-world impacts on hard-working people," Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., said.
Rep. Bill Keating, D-Mass., told ABC News that Jeffries quoted President John F. Kennedy to the caucus: "Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate."
"He said, look, we kept all our doors open during this negotiation. We made concessions. Most of us weren't happy with the outcome of this, but you have to do your basic job. He's saying that will continue. We're open to everything, but we're not open to the kind of bullying tactics that Elon Musk is doing," Keating said.
Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., quipped, "We had a deal. We negotiated a deal, and then Musk decided to change the deal. Do I call him 'President Musk?'"
Texas Rep. Greg Casar, the new chair of the progressive caucus was also critical of Musk.
"If Elon Musk is kind of cosplaying co-president here, I don't know why Trump doesn't just hand him the Oval Office, or Speaker Johnson should maybe just hand Elon Musk the gavel if they just want that billionaire to run the country," Casar said.
While many Democrats support eliminating the debt limit in principle, members left their closed-door meeting opposed to striking it now as part of a spending deal, stressing it should be a separate matter.
ABC News' Emily Chang and Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.
UVALDE (AP) — A Texas judge on Thursday refused to throw out criminal charges accusing the former Uvalde schools police chief of putting children at risk during the slow response to the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting, while a lawyer for his co-defendant said they want to move the upcoming trial out of the small town where the massacre occurred.
At a court hearing in Uvalde, Judge Sid Harle rejected Pete Arredondo’s claim that was he improperly charged and that only the shooter was responsible for putting the victims in danger. Nineteen children and two teachers were killed in the shooting on May 24, 2022.
Harle also set an Oct. 20, 2025, trial date. An attorney for Arredondo’s co-defendant, former Uvalde schools police officer Adrian Gonzales, said he will ask for the trial to be moved out of Uvalde because his client cannot get a fair trial there. Uvalde County is mostly rural with fewer than 25,000 residents about 85 miles (140 kilometers) west of San Antonio.
“Everybody knows everybody,” in Uvalde, Gonzales attorney Nico LaHood said.
Both former officers attended the hearing.
Nearly 400 law enforcement agents rushed to the school but waited more than 70 minutes to confront and kill the gunman in a fourth-grade classroom. Arredondo and Gonzales are the only two officers facing charges — a fact that has raised complaints from some victims’ families.
Both men have pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of abandoning or endangering a child, each of which carry punishment of up to two years in jail. Gonzales has not asked the judge to dismiss his charges.
A federal investigation of the shooting identified Arredondo as the incident commander in charge, although he has argued that state police should have set up a command post outside the school and taken control. Gonzales was among the first officers to arrive on the scene. He was accused of abandoning his training and not confronting the shooter, even after hearing gunshots as he stood in a hallway.
Arredondo has said he was scapegoated for the halting police response. The indictment alleges he did not follow his active shooter training and made critical decisions that slowed the police response while the gunman was “hunting” his victims.
It alleges that instead of confronting the gunman immediately, Arredondo caused delays by telling officers to evacuate a hallway to wait for a SWAT team, evacuating students from other areas of the building first, and trying to negotiate with the shooter while victims inside the classroom were wounded and dying.
Arredondo’s attorneys say the danger that day was not caused by him, but by the shooter. They argued Arredondo was blamed for trying to save the lives of the other children in the building, and have warned that prosecuting him would open many future law enforcement actions to similar charges.
“Arredondo did nothing to put those children in the path of a gunman,” said Arredondo attorney Matthew Hefti.
Uvalde County prosecutors told the judge Arredondo acted recklessly.
“The state has alleged he is absolutely aware of the danger of the children,” said assistant district attorney Bill Turner.
Jesse Rizo, the uncle of 9-year-old Jacklyn Cazares who was killed in the shooting, was one of several family members of victims at the hearing.
“To me, it’s hurtful and painful to hear Arredondo’s attorneys try to persuade the judge to get the charges dismissed,” Rizo said.
He called the wait for a trial exhausting and questioned whether moving the trial would help the defense.
“The longer it takes, the longer the agony,” Rizo said. “I think what’s happened in Uvalde … you’ll probably get a better chance at conviction if it’s moved. To hold their own accountable is going to be very difficult.”
The massacre at Robb Elementary was one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history, and the law enforcement response has been widely condemned as a massive failure.
Nearly 150 U.S. Border Patrol agents, 91 state police officers, as well and school and city police rushed to the campus. While terrified students and teachers called 911 from inside classrooms, dozens of officers stood in the hallway trying to figure out what to do. More than an hour later, a team of officers breached the classroom and killed the gunman.
Within days of the shooting, the focus of the slow response turned on Arredondo, who was described by other responding agencies as the incident commander in charge.
Multiple federal and state investigations have laid bare cascading problems in law enforcement training, communication, leadership and technology, and questioned whether officers prioritized their own lives over those of children and teachers. Several victims or their families have filed multiple state and federal lawsuits.
