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Teamsters say ‘momentum continues’ as Christmastime strike against Amazon enters 2nd day

(NEW YORK) -- As the Teamsters' cross-country Christmastime strike against Amazon entered its second day on Friday, the union said that "momentum continues to mount" as workers seek "fair treatment" from the online retailer.

"The Amazon Teamsters movement grows bigger and stronger every day and will not be stopped," the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said in a statement posted on social media late Thursday.

Workers affiliated with the Teamsters began striking at Amazon facilities across the country early Thursday. The union said thousands of workers were walking off their jobs at facilities in New York City, Atlanta, Southern California, San Francisco and Illinois, but did not provide specific numbers.

Teamsters President Sean M. O’Brien is expected to join a picket line in California's City of Industry on Friday, the union said.

Amazon said the strike was not expected to impact operations and claimed the strikes were being attended by outside organizers. Kelly Nantel, director of Global Corporate Issues and Media Relations at Amazon, said the company had not seen an impact on deliveries.

"Thankfully, the vast majority of our employees and the drivers who deliver on our behalf came to work today to do what they do every day," Nantel said on Thursday. "They're doing a great job of working for their customers and their communities and as a result of their hard work."

The strike, which the Teamsters referred to as the largest strike in history, arrived during the busiest shopping season of the year, less than a week before Christmas.

In addition, the Teamsters said local unions were also picketing "hundreds" of Amazon Fulfillment Centers nationwide.

Overall, nearly 9,000 Amazon workers, across 20 bargaining units, have affiliated with the powerful Teamsters union, according to the union. The striking workers represent less than 1% of the company's 1.5 million employees worldwide, including 800,000 in the United States.

The National Labor Relations Board officially certified the union representing workers, but Amazon has appealed that ruling. The union said Amazon ignored a Sunday deadline for contract negotiations to begin.

"If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon's insatiable greed," O'Brien said in a statement Thursday announcing the strike. "We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it."

In a statement to ABC News, an Amazon spokesperson said the Teamsters illegally coerced workers to join the union. The company in a statement described the people walking the picket lines as "almost entirely outsiders—not Amazon employees or partners."

"The truth is that [the Teamsters] were unable to get enough support from our employees and partners and have brought in outsiders to come and harass and intimidate our team, which is inappropriate and dangerous," Amazon said. "We appreciate all our team’s great work to serve their customers and communities, and are continuing to focus on getting customers their holiday orders.”

Amazon's market cap is $2.35 trillion. Shares of the retailer ticked up $2.77 on Thursday, climbing about 1.26%. The stock was down about 2 in premarket trading on Friday.

ABC News' Taylor Dunn and Soo Youn contributed to this report.

1 dead in ‘brutal’ Russian missile attack on Kyiv, US ambassador says

(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.

Biden to announce $4.28 billion in student loan relief for 55,000 borrowers

(Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)

(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."

Starbucks workers union announces pre-Christmas strike in Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle

(LOS ANGELES) -- The workers union representing Starbucks baristas across the country announced members in Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle will go on strike in the days leading up to Christmas.

Workers United, which has unionized more than 525 U.S. Starbucks locations, said in a press release Thursday that unfair labor practices and stalled negotiations with the company are the catalyst behind the holiday season strike.

The union says five days of escalating strikes will begin Friday and continue until Dec. 24 in "three of the company's priority markets" during what it called the company's busiest days of the year.

During the strike period, the walkouts "are expected to spread each day and ultimately reach hundreds of stores from coast to coast by Christmas Eve" unless the company honors a February commitment made with the union.

In February 2024, Workers United and Starbucks announced they would work on a "foundational framework" to reach a collective bargaining agreement for stores, something the union says has not come to fruition.

In a statement on Thursday following the strike announcement Starbucks said Workers United delegates "prematurely ended" its bargaining session with the coffee giant this week.

Starbucks added that the company is "focused on enhancing" employee experiences by offering an average wage of $18 per hour and benefits including health care, free college tuition, paid family leave and company stock grants.

"We are ready to continue negotiations to reach agreements," Starbucks said, adding, "We need the union to return to the table."

Workers United, however, said despite "repeatedly pledging publicly" that it intends to reach contracts by the end of the year, Starbucks has not yet presented workers with a "serious economic proposal."

"Nobody wants to strike. It's a last resort, but Starbucks has broken its promise to thousands of baristas and left us with no choice," Fatemeh Alhadjaboodi, a five-year Starbucks barista and bargaining delegate, said in the release.

"In a year when Starbucks invested so many millions in top executive talent, it has failed to present the baristas who make its company run with a viable economic proposal. This is just the beginning. We will do whatever it takes to get the company to honor the commitment it made to us in February," Alhadjaboodi added.

"The holiday season should be magical at Starbucks, but for too many of us, there's a darker side to the peppermint mochas and gingerbread lattes," Arloa Fluhr, a bargaining delegate who has worked off and on at Starbucks for 18 years said in the release.

"I'm a mom of three, including my daughter who is diabetic. I know what it's like to panic because my hours were slashed and I won't be able to pay my bills and could lose access to healthcare, including my daughter's insulin. That's why we're steadfast in our demands for Starbucks to invest in baristas like me," Fluhr added.

ABC News' Zunaira Zaki contributed to this report.

Death row inmate Robert Roberson expected to speak before state House committee

(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.

Rose Byrne, Meghann Fahy to star in ‘The Good Daughter’ limited series

The limited series adaptation of The Good Daughter has found its stars.

Based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Karin Slaughter, the upcoming Peacock series will star Rose Byrne and Meghann Fahy as sisters Samantha and Charlotte Quinn.

Byrne will also executive produce the show. Fahy takes over the role of Charlotte, which was originally attached to Jessica Biel before she exited the project in September.

The Good Daughter follows Charlotte and Samantha, who have spent 28 years trying to unpack what was fractured during a night of violence. After another attack hits their small town, lawyer Charlotte confronts her demons as she takes on the case.

The show was picked up straight-to-series by Peacock in March. Slaughter wrote all of the show's episodes, and she also serves as an executive producer. Steph Green will direct all the episodes and executive produce it, as well.

Delphi murders: Convicted killer Richard Allen sentenced to 130 years

(Delphi, Ind.) -- Convicted Delphi, Indiana, killer Richard Allen was sentenced on Friday to 130 years in prison for the 2017 murders of two teenage girls as the victims' families spoke out in court.

Allen was given 65 years for each murder, to run consecutively.

Allen, wearing an orange jumpsuit, a gray sweatshirt and ankle chains, looked over at the courtroom seats reserved for his family, which sat empty. None of his relatives attended the sentencing.

Allen showed no reaction to his sentence.

Last month, a jury found Allen guilty on all charges in the double homicide: felony murder for the killing of 13-year-old Abigail "Abby" Williams while attempting to commit kidnapping; felony murder for the killing of 14-year-old Liberty "Libby" German while attempting to commit kidnapping; murder for knowingly killing Abby; and murder for knowingly killing Libby.

A gag order prevented the families of Abby and Libby from commenting during or after Allen's trial.

Libby's grandmother, Becky Patty, broke her silence on Friday, saying at sentencing, "I can never change my choice to let Libby and Abby go to the trails that day."

"I hope he lives with the same fear he caused Abby and Libby in the last hour of their lives," she said.

Libby's mom, Carrie Timmons, said Allen's decisions created a "path of destruction."

"I was blind that such evil existed," she said.

Timmons said she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, guilt and anxiety.

She said Libby would be 22 years old now, but the family has stopped celebrating her birthday because it's too difficult.

"You could've taken accountability," Libby's grandfather, Mike Patty, said to Allen. "You need to stand up and not appeal."

Abby's grandmother, Diane Erskin, said, "This is a day of great sadness for our family. We won't be going home to celebrate with champagne."

Nearly eight years since her granddaughter's murder, Erskin said, "I've watched her friends graduate college and wonder how many great grandkids were murdered that day, too."

Erskin said Abby's last words in Libby's phone were "don't leave me up here," so the grieving grandmother didn't let herself leave the trial even during tough testimony.

The families, law enforcement and prosecutors are expected to address the public at a post-sentencing news conference on Friday.

Indiana State Police Lt. Jerry Holeman called the crime "brutal," telling the judge Abby and Libby were stalked, kidnapped, humiliated and "treated like animals."

"I can't imagine their fear," he said.

He called Allen "manipulative and persuasive" and said he has a "lack of remorse."

Judge Fran Gull said to Allen, "I've spent 27 years as a judge and you rank right up there with the most heinous crimes in the state of Indiana."

"You rank right up there in the extraordinary impact on family, including the generational impact," she said. "These families will deal with your carnage forever."

"You sit here and roll your eyes at me like you rolled your eyes at me through this trial," she said.

Abby and Libby were walking along a Delphi hiking trail when they were attacked on Feb. 13, 2017. Their throats were slit and their bodies were dumped in the nearby woods.

Moments before the murders, Libby posted a photo of Abby on Snapchat showing her on the Monon High Bridge. After crossing the bridge, the girls saw a man behind them -- who became known as "bridge guy" -- and Libby started a recording on her phone, according to prosecutors.

As police looked for the suspect, they released footage from Libby's phone to the public: a grainy image of "bridge guy" and an audio clip of him telling the girls to go "down the hill."

Allen, a husband and father who worked at the local CVS, was arrested in 2022.

"He developed photos with no remorse and he didn't blink," Becky Patty said in court on Friday.

Allen admitted to police he was on the trail that day, but he denied being involved in the crime.

The prosecution's key physical evidence was a .40-caliber unspent round discovered by the girls' bodies. Police analysis determined that unspent round was cycled through Allen's Sig Sauer Model P226, prosecutors said.

Another major focus of the trial was Allen's multiple confessions in jail and his mental health at the time. The defense argued Allen was in a psychotic state when he confessed numerous times to his psychologist, corrections officers and his wife.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Death row inmate’s testimony challenged again

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

Rep. Moran supports new child abuse prevention bill

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

East Texas representative faces backlash over speaker support

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.

The Texas GOP has also threatened to censure any Republican who does not vote for Cook and has sent text messages to lawmakers like East Texas Rep. Cody Harris threatening to campaign against them. Continue reading East Texas representative faces backlash over speaker support

SPCA assists in the removal of neglected animals

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.

According to officials, the owner of the animals could also face felony charges once the investigation is over. Continue reading SPCA assists in the removal of neglected animals

Keep Christmas well.

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.

Officials searching for man considered ‘armed and dangerous’

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.

SWEPCO announces new power generation projects in Texas

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

Vote fails. House rejects plan on government shutdown

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.