(WASHINGTON) -- In an unanimous 99-0 vote, the Senate on Wednesday advanced a resolution to withhold pay from senators during a government shutdown.

Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts did not vote on the resolution, which was introduced by Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana.

The vote was a procedural one. The legislation now moves toward final passage, and is expected to pass with resounding support. 

The legislation, which would take effect after the November 2026 election, would instruct the secretary of the Senate to place senators’ paychecks on hold during the duration of any future federal government shutdowns. Those payments would be released to lawmakers only after the government reopens. 

While multiple similar House bills have been introduced, it’s unclear if legislation in the lower chamber will pass.

"Take your brain with you, because this is about shared sacrifice. This is about putting our money where our mouth is,” Sen. Kennedy said on the Senate floor ahead of Wednesday's vote.

Kennedy’s resolution comes after federal workers faced a historic 43-day government shutdown late last year caused by a deadlock between parties over Affordable Care Act subsidies.

During that time, approximately 670,000 federal workers were furloughed, 60,000 workers outside the federal government lost their jobs and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients lost out on benefits all while members of Congress continued to get paid -- highlighting the disparity of financial pain endured by members of Congress and the people they serve. 

Calls for withholding pay from members of Congress continued to grow this year during the record 75-day partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. Transportation Security Administration agents, Coast Guard members and other department employees went without pay as a stalemate played out on Capitol Hill over immigration enforcement funding and oversight reforms.

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(WASHINGTON) -- ABC News has obtained a one-page breakdown of how the White House says it intends to spend the $1 billion that some Republicans want to approve for President Donald Trump's East Wing renovation to the White House, which includes the construction of Trump's massive ballroom.

The document -- which was provided without elaboration -- was presented by U.S. Secret Service Director Sean Curran to Senate Republicans during a luncheon on Tuesday.

The price breakdown for each target area of the project area is:

$220 million for White House hardening
$180 million for White House visitor security screening facility
$175 million for Secret Service training
$175 million for enhancements for Secret Service protectees
$150 million for evolving threats and technology
$100 million for events of national significance

Axios was first to report the news.

While the White House has insisted the funding is necessary in the wake of the assassination attempt against Trump at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, Senate Republicans still appeared skeptical of the $1 billion request following Curran's briefing.

"He gave us a list that breaks down the spending in a little more detail, but ... there are still a lot of questions," said Republican Sen. John Kennedy. "It's not the only concern, but one of the biggest concerns on our side is adding to the deficit."

While Senate Majority Leader John Thune remains adamant that the request could be tucked into the ongoing reconciliation process, it faces an uphill battle earning 50 Republican votes.

It's also not clear whether the provision will make it through the Senate's rigorous review process. Democrats are expected to argue before the Senate's parliamentarian that the spending is extraneous and therefore should not be allowed to be included in a reconciliation bill. 
Since news of Republicans' intention to include funding for the ballroom became public last week, Democrats have repeatedly hammered the proposal. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized the administration for focusing on the ballroom instead of lowering consumer costs during a speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday morning.

"At a time when 77% -- that's 77% -- of Americans say that Donald Trump's policies have increased their cost of living, Trump and the Senate GOP try to force through a bill that would spend a billion taxpayer dollars on a gilded ballroom and not one penny on bringing down costs," Schumer said, referencing a CNN poll out earlier this week that found 77% say that Trump’s policies have increased the cost of living in their own community.

"Trump may be trying to build a ballroom but clearly he is living in the theater of the absurd," Schumer added.

The $1 billion request is in addition to the annual USSS budget, $3.2 billion in FY 2025.

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(BEIJING, China) -- President Donald Trump arrived on Wednesday in Beijing for a multi-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, during which he said he'd seek to deepen diplomatic and economic ties between the world's two largest economic powers.

After his arrival at Beijing Capital International Airport on Wednesday evening, Trump's itinerary included a welcome ceremony, a bilateral meeting with Xi at the Great Hall of the People later in the day and a state banquet that night, according to the White House.

"We have a lot of things to discuss," Trump said on Tuesday as he departed the White House, where he fielded questions about what would be on the table during the high-stakes summit. The summit begins as the effects of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran continue to ripple around the globe and the U.S. economy remains a pressing issue at home.

The president was asked whether the pair would discuss diplomatic ways to end the war with Iran, which is in its third month. China is a key buyer of Iranian oil, which could give it considerable diplomatic leverage over Tehran, experts told ABC News. Trump said the U.S. had Iran "very much under control," adding that it would be among the topics discussed.

"We're either going to make a deal or they're going to be decimated, one way or the other. We win," Trump said. "We're going to be talking about, we're going to be talking with President Xi."

Trump traveled on Air Force One with a more than a dozen U.S. executives, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Apple CEO Tim Cook. Trump said on social media on Tuesday that he planned to ask Xi to "open up" the Chinese economy.

Asked to respond on Wednesday, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Guo Jiakun, said that the scheduled diplomatic meetings were expected to play "an irreplaceable role in providing strategic guidance for China-U.S. relations."

"During the visit, the two heads of state will have an in-depth exchange of views on major issues concerning China-U.S. relations and world peace and development," Guo added, according to a transcript published by the ministry. "China stands ready to work with the U.S. to expand cooperation and manage differences in the spirit of equality, respect and mutual benefit, and provide more stability and certainty for a transforming and volatile world."

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(WASHINGTON) -- The Army is grappling with a sudden budget crunch and scrambling to slash training costs across broad swaths of the force, according to internal documents reviewed by ABC News and multiple U.S. officials.

The move is to make up for a shortfall of some $4 billion to $6 billion, according to one of the officials, as the service has drastically expanded its operational footprint at home and abroad.

The cuts, which range from elite schools to unit-level training, have triggered a wave of abrupt cancellations and unusually aggressive spending scrutiny months before the fiscal year ends Sept. 30.

The service's multibillion-dollar shortfall is the product of a widening set of operational demands and rising costs across the force.

Major drivers, a U.S. official noted, have been costs associated with the Iran war and an expanding mission securing the southern U.S. border.

Additionally, expansive National Guard missions, including the ongoing deployment in Washington, D.C., which alone is projected to cost roughly $1.1 billion this year, according to estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

At the same time, the service is absorbing ballooning personnel expenses and stepping in to cover missions tied to Department of Homeland Security funding lapses, including at the southern border and construction projects. The Army is expected to be reimbursed for covering down for some of DHS' expenses incurred during the record 76-day DHS shutdown.

The Army's III Armored Corps, an umbrella of the Army's heavy armor and cavalry units, is expected to bear a lot of the brunt, a document outlining projections to units on consequences of funding cuts shows.

That internal plan warns that the corps' aviation units will deploy next year at "a lower state of readiness," and "career stagnation" of mid-level officers who would oversee key training events and noted it would take a full year for units to rebuild "combat proficiency."

The corps commands some 70,000 soldiers representing nearly half of the service's combat power.

The reductions there include slashing roughly half of the formation's budget and gutting pilots' flight hours down to minimum mandatory levels.

The cuts to flights come as the Army's aviation enterprise faces mounting scrutiny following a string of high-profile mishaps, much of that historically been attributed to fatigue and dwindling pilot flying time in recent years.

Also among the moves: an upcoming Army Sapper Course, the service's premier combat engineering school, was canceled, while an artillery course set to begin Monday at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, was abruptly called off. Other units and military training courses are also auditing more closely how many soldiers it can train, two U.S. officials explained.

"Army commanders are taking all necessary measures to prioritize critical readiness and operational requirements, ensuring we operate responsibly within our currently enacted funding levels," Col. Marty Meiners, an Army spokesperson, said in a statement.

The Defense Department declined to say whether similar training cuts are being made across the military or are largely confined to the Army, referring ABC News questions to the individual services.

The cuts come amid skyrocketing fuel costs, which can quickly drive up the price of large-scale training exercises, aviation operations and travel. But it remains unclear whether those soaring costs are directly behind the moves now rippling through Army commands.

The Pentagon's belt-tightening measures were briefly mentioned on Capitol Hill Tuesday as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testified before lawmakers on the Pentagon's request for a $1.5 trillion budget. But defense officials never directly addressed the concerns.

"We need to know the impact of what it's having on the services executing missions beyond the war, the department notified us that the standard fuel price for the services has increased from $154 to $195 a barrel," Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., said Tuesday during a hearing on the Pentagon's budget.

"That's more we have to pay for fuel. Then there's less money available for training and exercise that the services need to perform," she added.

Scaling back training late in the summer as the fiscal year winds down is relatively routine inside the Pentagon. But officials say it is far less common to see such sweeping cuts and cancellations this early in the budget cycle.

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(WASHINGTON) -- President Donald Trump said Americans' financial situation was "not even a little bit" of a motivating factor for him reaching a deal to end the war in Iran, despite a new report that inflation rose for a second consecutive month and hit a three-year high.

Trump made the comment on Tuesday as he took questions from reporters as he left the White House for a high-stakes trip to China.

"Not even a little bit," the president said when asked to what extent Americans' financial situations were motivating him to make a deal with Iran, as the war stretches into its 11th week.

"The only thing that matters when I'm talking about Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon," Trump continued. "I don't think about Americans' financial situation. I don't think about anybody. I think about one thing: we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That’s all."

ABC News White House Correspondent Karen Travers pressed Trump to clarify whether he was considering the financial impact of the war on Americans. He doubled down.

"The most important thing, by far, is Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon," Trump said.

"What about the pressure on Americans and prices, right now?" ABC's Travers asked.

"Every American understands," Trump said.

He added, "They understand that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. If Iran has a nuclear weapon, the whole world would be in trouble because they happen to be crazy."

When pressed on his 2024 campaign promise to bring down inflation in light of Tuesday's report showing prices rose 3.8% in April compared to last year, Trump insisted his policies are "working incredibly."

A recent poll from ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos found about two-thirds of Americans (65%) disapproved of how Trump is handling the economy. About three-quarters of Americans disapprove of how Trump is handling the cost of living in the U.S. (76%) with just about a quarter approving (23%). Nearly as many disapprove of how he's handling inflation (72%), up from 65% who disapproved in February. 

Several of the poll's participants spoke to ABC News about the financial strain they're experiencing because of soaring gas prices.

As of Tuesday, the national average for a gallon of gas in the U.S. was $4.50, according to data from AAA, up more than $1.50 since the war began in late February.

Trump, who on Monday floated a gas tax holiday to bring some financial relief to Americans, reiterated on Tuesday his belief that prices will go back down once the conflict comes to an end.

"When it’s over, you’re going to have a massive drop in the price of oil," Trump told reporters.

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(WASHINGTON) -- Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said Tuesday he does not trust Pakistan and questioned the country's role as a mediator in negotiations between the U.S. and Iran after a recent report suggested the Pakistanis are working closely with Iran. 

"I don't trust Pakistan as far as I can throw them," Graham said during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine.

On Monday, CBS News reported U.S. officials told the outlet that Pakistan had allowed Iranian military aircraft to be parked at its airfields, “potentially shielding them from American airstrikes.”

CBS reported the U.S. officials, who spoke only under condition of anonymity to discuss national security issues, said that days after President Donald Trump announced the ceasefire with Iran in early April, Tehran sent multiple aircraft to Pakistan Air Force Base Nur Khan.

Leaving the White House on Tuesday for his trip to China, Trump told reporters the Pakistanis have been "great."

"The Pakistanis have been great, the field marshal and the prime minister of Pakistan have been great," he said.

Graham first asked Caine if the report was accurate, but Caine would not comment, citing the classified nature of the intelligence. Graham then asked Caine if such a move would be inconsistent with Pakistan's role as a mediator. 

"I wouldn't want to comment on that based on the ongoing negotiations impact and Pakistan's role," Caine responded.

Graham asked Hegseth the same question.

"Again, I wouldn't want to get in the middle of these negotiations," Hegseth responded.

“I want to get in the middle of these negotiations,” Graham replied. “I don’t trust Pakistan as far as I can throw them. If they actually do have Iranian aircraft parked in Pakistan bases to protect Iranian military assets, that tells me we should be looking maybe for somebody else to mediate.”

“No wonder this damn thing is going nowhere,” he added. 

In a statement provided to ABC News, the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs "categorically rejected" the CBS News report, suggesting it was misleading and sensationalized. The statement confirmed that Iranian aircraft are in Pakistan but said American aircraft are also allowed to use its airfields.

“Following the ceasefire and during the initial round of the Islamabad Talks, a number of aircraft from Iran and the United States arrived in Pakistan to facilitate the movement of diplomatic personnel, security teams, and administrative staff associated with the talks process,” the statement said. 

“Some aircraft and support personnel remained temporarily in Pakistan in anticipation of subsequent rounds of engagement," the statement said. 

The ministry added that the aircraft within its borders “arrived during the ceasefire period and bear no linkage whatsoever to any military contingency or preservation arrangement.”

The ministry defended Pakistan’s stance as an “impartial, constructive, and responsible facilitator in support of dialogue and de-escalation.”

"Assertions suggesting otherwise are speculative, misleading, and entirely detached from the factual context," the statement said.

ABC News' Habi Khan contributed to this report. 

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(WASHINGTON) -- Eileen Wang, the mayor of Arcadia, California, was charged with acting as an illegal foreign agent for China, the Justice Department announced on Monday.

Wang agreed to plead guilty, the DOJ said.

The City of Arcadia said Wang resigned from her position on Monday.

Starting in late 2020, Wang and Yaoning "Mike" Sun worked together to operate a website called U.S. News Center that "purported to be a news source for the local Chinese-American community."

The Justice Department said in a plea agreement that Wang and Sun "received and executed directives from PRC (People's Republic of China) government officials to post pro-PRC content on the website, and sometimes sought approval from PRC government officials to circulate other pro-PRC content."

In one instance in November 2021, Wang wanted to circulate an article about the Chinese and Russian ambassador asking for Americans to respect the PRC's "democratic rights."

"This is what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wants to send," she said.

In her plea agreement she admitted to not notifying the attorney general that she was working for the PRC.

"Individuals elected to public office in the United States should act only for the people of the United States that they represent," said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg. "It is deeply concerning that someone who previously received and executed directives from PRC government officials is now in a position of public trust at all, but particularly so because that relationship with that foreign government had never been disclosed."

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(WASHINGTON) -- FBI Director Kash Patel sparred with the Senate Appropriations Committee's top Democrat over the director's alleged questionable behavior when Patel appeared before the panel for a budget hearing on Tuesday.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, the ranking member of the committee, addressed reports of Patel's alleged misuse of FBI resources and a story in The Atlantic that alleged he has had "bouts of excessive drinking" and job performance issues.

"What we are learning about what's happening at the FBI is anything but normal," Van Hollen said. "Director Patel, as you ask for more taxpayer resources, we cannot look away from the credible, extremely troubling reports about your misconduct at the FBI."

Patel said last month that he's "never been intoxicated on the job," following the report. Patel sued The Atlantic over the article, demanding $250 million in damages.

Van Hollen later grilled Patel on the report asking Patel if, per The Atlantic report, he had "episodes of excessive drinking."

Patel shot back, calling the report a "total farce."

In a heated exchange, Patel then claimed without evidence that Van Hollen was "slinging margaritas" just over a year ago with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the migrant who the government said in court was erroneously deported to El Salvador.

The moment is a reference to when Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador to meet with Abrego Garcia, who had been deported against a judge's orders to the notorious CECOT prison. At the time, the senator said at one point during the meeting monitored by the El Salvador government, El Salvador officials put glasses on the table where they were meeting that appeared to have liquid inside with salt or sugar rims on top.

Van Hollen insisted that neither he nor Abrego Garcia touched those glasses and said it was clear they didn't based on photos of the meeting taken by El Salvadoran officials.

In his opening statement, Patel lauded the men and women of the FBI, listing off a litany of accomplishments including a quick response by FBI agents during a shooting at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner last month.

Patel is appearing alongside other Department of Justice agency heads regarding the agencies' 2027 budget requests. Patel is joined by Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Terry Cole, United States Marshals Service Director Glady Serralta and Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Director Robert Cekada.

When Patel last testified on Capitol Hill in September 2025, he faced questions from Democrats about the assassination of conservative activist and influencer Charlie Kirk and his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

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(WASHINGTON) -- Virginia Democrats are asking the United States Supreme Court to override a decision by the state's highest court last week that struck down a voter-approved redistricting ballot measure ahead of the midterm elections.

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

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(WASHINGTON) -- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon will review whether Sen. Mark Kelly improperly disclosed classified information when the Arizona Democrat and retired Navy captain raised concerns about the strain the war with Iran has placed on U.S. weapons stockpiles.

Hegseth, in a social media post Sunday evening, blasted Kelly for "blabbing on TV" after the senator appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation" that morning and discussed strains on the Pentagon's ammunition inventory. 

"'Captain' Mark Kelly strikes again," Hegseth posted. "Now he's blabbing on TV (falsely & dumbly) about a *CLASSIFIED* Pentagon briefing he received. Did he violate his oath ... again? @DeptofWar legal counsel will review."

During the CBS interview, Kelly pointed to recent open-door Pentagon briefings to Congress, which he says outlined that U.S. stockpiles of key munitions, including Tomahawk and ATACMS missiles, are being rapidly depleted amid the war with Iran.

A Pentagon review of Kelly's comments would mark the second time Hegseth has sought to punish him, the first being after Kelly and several other Democratic military and intelligence service veterans posted a video advising U.S. troops to not follow illegal orders. Hegseth sought to demote Kelly, which would reduce his military pension.

A three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals expressed skepticism over Hegseth’s effort to punish Kelly over the comments during oral arguments last week.

The Pentagon says it has hit some 13,000 targets in the war with Iran. In some cases, those targets may need to be hit several times, it said. Acting Pentagon Comptroller Jules Hurst III told lawmakers in late April that the war had cost at least $25 billion to that point, noting that much of that was for munitions use. 

"It's shocking how deep we've gone into these magazines," Kelly said.

Following Hegseth's threat, Kelly responded on social media, showing a clip from last week's Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in which Hegseth is shown saying it would take years to replenish stockpiles to pre-war levels. 

"We had this conversation in a public hearing a week ago and you said it would take 'years' to replenish some of these stockpiles," Kelly said. "That's not classified, it's a quote from you."

An analysis from the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that the U.S. has used half of its inventory of munitions fighting Iran, and that it could take up to four years for the pre-war stock to be rearmed. 

The Pentagon briefs members of Congress on classified materials behind closed doors, but it's unclear whether Kelly violated any disclosure laws, as he did not get into specifics on the volume of weapons used or remaining in the CBS interview. 

Hegseth has insisted the U.S. has sufficient ammunition to sustain fighting against Iran, though much of the anxiety inside defense circles is centered less on Tehran and more on the Pentagon's ability to respond to another major conflict.

"That means the American people are less safe. Whether it's a conflict with China or somewhere else in the world, the munitions are depleted," Kelly said on CBS. 

The Pentagon had already been grappling with mounting concerns over its weapon stockpiles and how quickly industry can replenish munitions, with the war with Iran dramatically exacerbating those concerns.  

Those concerns come as the Pentagon pushes for a historic $1.5 trillion defense budget next year, roughly a 50% increase over current spending levels, with a significant share earmarked for munitions production and cheaper, mass-produced drone systems. But the spending plan was largely finalized before the war started and does not fully account for the strain the war is placing on U.S. inventories.

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(WASHINGTON) -- Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has temporarily extended an order that maintains nationwide access to the abortion pill mifepristone by mail and through telehealth visits.

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

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(WASHINGTON) -- President Donald Trump said on Monday that he would like to temporarily suspend the federal gas tax as prices soar due to the war in Iran.

"Yeah, I'm gonna reduce until the -- let me tell you, as soon as this is over with Iran, as soon as it's over, you're going to see gasoline and oil drop like a rock," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked if he would suspend the tax. "Going to be dropping down like a rock."

When pressed how long a suspension would last, Trump said "until it's appropriate."

Oil and gas prices have skyrocketed worldwide during the monthslong war, as the critical Strait of Hormuz remains effectively shut. As of Monday, the national average for a gallon of gas in the U.S. was $4.52, according to data from AAA, up more than $1.50 since the wear started.

Lifting the federal gas tax -- currently 18.4 cents per gallon for regular gas and 24.4 cents per gallon for diesel -- would require congressional approval.

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley posted on social media on Monday that he would be soon be introducing legislation to suspend the tax.

Trump acknowledged that suspending the gas tax wouldn't substantially decrease costs for Americans, who have reported feeling the financial strain of higher gas prices.

"It's a small percentage, but it's, you know, it's still money," Trump said in the Oval Office.

In 2022, when gas prices surged to a similar level because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, then-President Joe Biden requested a monthslong federal gas tax holiday from Congress. His proposal was rebuffed by lawmakers, some of whom said at the time that suspending the tax would be ineffective at solving the problem.

On the current status of negotiations with Iran, Trump said the ceasefire in place is "on life support" after Iran delivered its counterproposal for a peace deal over the weekend.

"I would call it the weakest right now. After reading that piece of garbage they sent us. I didn't even finish reading it," the president said.

Still, Trump boasted of his plan to bring the conflict to an end -- though didn't detail what it was.

"You know, a lot of people said, 'Well, does he have a plan?' Yeah, of course I do have a plan. I have the best plan ever," Trump said. He later added, "But the plan is, they cannot have a nuclear weapon, and they didn't say that in their letter."

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(WASHINGTON) -- President Donald Trump sounded off on Sunday about Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett over their joining the majority in the court's opinion on his tariff policy, a ruling that said the president could not use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose broad tariffs.

"They were appointed by me, and yet have hurt our Country so badly!" Trump wrote on his social media platform on Sunday evening. "I do not believe they meant to do so, but their decision on Tariffs cost the United States 159 Billion Dollars that we have to pay back to enemies, and people, companies, and Countries, that have been ripping us off for years. It’s hardly believable!"

He added, "They could have solved that situation with a 'tiny' sentence, 'Any money paid by others to the United States does not have to be paid back.' Why wouldn’t they have done so?"

In a 6-3 decision, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the Supreme Court in February invalidated most of Trump's sweeping global tariffs, a cornerstone of his economic policy in his second term.

"We claim no special competence in matters of economics or foreign affairs. We claim only, as we must, the limited role assigned to us by Article III of the Constitution," Roberts wrote in the opinion. "Fulfilling that role, we hold that IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs."

Justices Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh and Samuel Alito dissented from the majority, arguing that Trump should have the power to impose tariffs during national emergencies.

Trump in March had railed on social media against the U.S. court system, saying at the time that Gorsuch and Barrett, both of whom the president appointed during his first term, were attempting to go "out of their way, with bad and wrongful rulings and intentions, to prove how 'honest,' 'independent,' and 'legitimate' they are."

Gorsuch and Barrett have been reliable conservative votes on the court, consistently voting in favor of positions backed by the Trump administration. Last year, Barrett authored the landmark 6-3 decision restricting the ability of lower court judges from issuing nationwide injunctions against Trump policies.

Gorsuch last week responded publicly to Trump's previous personal attacks, telling ABC News Live Prime anchor Linsey Davis that he is determined to remain "independent" and "fearless" in fulfilling his duty despite harsh criticism from the president who appointed him.

Trump also appeared to suggest on Sunday that Republican-appointed justices should never rule against a Republican president despite the fact that justices have previously ruled against the president that appointed them.  

"With certain Republican Nominated Justices that we have on the Supreme Court, the Democrats don’t really need to 'PACK THE COURT' any longer," he said. "In fact, I should be the one wanting to PACK THE COURT! I’m working so hard to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, and then people that I appointed have shown so little respect to our Country, and its people. What is the reason for this? They have to do the right thing, but it’s really OK for them to be loyal to the person that appointed them to 'almost' the highest position in the land, that is, a Justice of the United States Supreme Court."  

Trump on Sunday also said he believed the Supreme Court would block his attempt to limit access to birthright citizenship. The court heard a case on April 1 over Trump's executive order.

"I don't want loyalty, but I do want and expect it for our Country," Trump said.

"Well, maybe Neil, and Amy, just had a really bad day, but our Country can only handle so many decisions of that magnitude before it breaks down, and cracks!!!" he added. "Sometimes decisions have to be allowed to use Good, Strong, Common Sense as a guide. A negative ruling on Birthright Citizenship, on top of the recent Supreme Court Tariff catastrophe, is not Economically sustainable for the United States of America?"

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(WASHINGTON) -- The Pentagon on Friday released declassified UFO files from various federal agencies, some dating as far back as the late 1940s.

­­ The documents, which the Pentagon said includes "never-before-seen" files on unidentified flying objects — called unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) by the U.S. government — were being posted on a new government website.

"The American people can now access the federal government's declassified UAP files instantly. The latest UAP videos, photos, and original source documents from across the entire United States government are all in one place — no clearance required," the Pentagon said in a statement.

The department said it will release more files "on a rolling basis."

Many of the reported sightings of unidentified flying objects were clustered near active military operations, according to the files reviewed by ABC News.

A large share of the alleged encounters date back to the 1950s and 1960s, particularly in Cold War-era hotspots like Germany and the Soviet Union, according to the documents. More recent reports are concentrated in the Middle East —including around the Strait of Hormuz, Iraq and Syria — where the U.S. has maintained a substantial military presence and some of its most sophisticated monitoring capabilities.

The concentration of sightings around military activity is mostly likely a reflection of where the Pentagon is deploying its most advanced equipment and conducting frequent missions. The lion’s share of reported sightings come from military pilots, according to the files. 

In all of the reported incidents, the aerial phenomena posed no apparent threat, with most encounters ending after the mysterious craft abruptly flew away. There was one brief reported encounter in Iraq in 2024 which a mysterious craft zipped across a U.S. aircraft’s surveillance systems at a high rate of speed while that crew was attacking an unrelated target.

In a statement, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth touted the release as "unprecedented transparency." Some of the files are heavily redacted, including several documents with entire pages blacked out. 

The release is in keeping with President Donald Trump's announcement earlier this year that he is directing agencies to make public files related to unidentified flying objects, unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) and "extraterrestrial life."

There are some redactions in the files, but this is the first time ever that complete case files have been released. In recent years, the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) has been reviewing these historic documents and has released public summaries and reviews to the public.

So far, none of their reviews have found anything that has led them to conclude that UFOs or UAPs are extraterrestrial in origin.

Trump touted the Pentagon’s release of the first batch of UFO files on Friday, taking credit for offering transparency to the American people.

"In an effort for Complete and Maximum Transparency, it was my Honor to direct my Administration to identify and provide Government files related to Alien and Extraterrestrial Life, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, and Unidentified Flying Objects," Trump wrote on his social media platform. 

Trump added that this document release will allow the American people to "decide for themselves" what is happening with the reported sightings.

For weeks, the president has floated the release of government files on UFOs and UAPs. 

"Well, I think we're going to be releasing as much as we can in the near future. For some reason, and I guess it's just a reason, it's been in the minds of people for a long time," Trump said last month while welcoming the Artemis II astronauts to the Oval Office. 

-ABC News' Emily Chang contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) -- The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday overturned the state's redistricting ballot measure, delivering a major setback to Democrats who hoped the new map would allow them to flip up to four congressional seats.

In a 4-3 ruling, the Virginia Supreme Court said the Democratic-led legislature violated procedural requirements when referring the measure to the ballot. Virginia voters approved the ballot measure in an election last month.

The state's Supreme Court said Virginia will need to use its congressional map from 2021 instead.

The decision is a win for Republicans, who are now currently set to net more seats than Democrats in the ongoing, nationwide mid-decade redistricting scramble.

President Donald Trump celebrated the ruling in a post on his social media platform.

"Huge win for the Republican Party, and America, in Virginia," Trump wrote. "The Virginia Supreme Court has just struck down the Democrats' horrible gerrymander. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

Virginia currently has six Democratic members of the U.S. House and five Republicans, a balance that will likely stay in place instead of the 10 Democratic and 1 Republican delegation Democrats were hoping to elect under the new map.

The newly passed Republican-favoring congressional maps in Tennessee and Florida are undergoing their own separate legal challenges. The ruling on Friday is specific to Virginia and does not impact those maps.

Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones, a Democrat, wrote that his team is working to pursue "every legal pathway forward to defend the will of the people and protect the integrity of Virginia's elections."

The Virginia Supreme Court ruled that lawmakers missed the deadline to place the redistricting referendum on the ballot because early voting for the 2025 election had already started.

Under Virginia’s constitution, lawmakers must approve a constitutional amendment twice and have an election in between.

Democrats argued that requirement referred only to Election Day itself and not the early voting period. The court said early voting is legally part of the election, meaning the process had already begun before lawmakers acted.

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger expended significant political capital on supporting the measure, which became a flashpoint just a few months into her governorship, although it was first championed by the state legislature and during her time on the campaign trail she indicated not being interested in redistricting.

“More than three million Virginians cast their ballots in Virginia’s redistricting referendum, and the majority of Virginia voters voted to push back against a President who said he is ‘entitled’ to more Republican seats in Congress with a temporary and responsive referendum. They made their voices heard,” Spanberger wrote in a statement on Friday.

“I am disappointed by the Supreme Court of Virginia’s ruling, but my focus as Governor will be on ensuring that all voters have the information necessary to make their voices heard this November in the midterm elections because in those elections we — the voters — will have the final say.”

In a dissent, three justices wrote, "Today the majority has broadened the meaning of the word 'election,' as used in the Virginia Constitution, to include the early voting period. This is in direct conflict with how both Virginia and federal law define an election."

The redistricting measure had prompted multiple notable Democrats -- including former Mike Pence aide Olivia Troye and former first lady of Virginia Dorothy McAuliffe -- to launch runs for Congress. The fact that they'd have to now run under the old map may change their plan.

ABC News' Emily Chang contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) -- The monthslong war in Iran is inflicting economic pain across the country as many Americans report struggling with higher costs, particularly the record rise in gas prices.

An ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll released last week found that half of Americans expect gas prices to increase more in the next year, and that 4 in 10 Americans say they are not as well off as they were when President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025.

Nearly a quarter said they are falling behind financially.

In callback interviews with several of the poll's participants, people emphasized they are struggling to pay for basic necessities and that they are unsatisfied with the country's leadership.

In an interview with ABC News, Jacob Olson, 28, from Beebe, Arkansas, said rising gas and food prices have made life challenging. After he was laid off from his position as a warehouse manager for a solar company that went bankrupt, Olson became a self-employed maker of custom wood projects like storage racks. He said he spends a lot on gas while driving around to his customers.

"One day at a time," Olson said. "One foot in front of the other. ... That's about the way to sum it up."

The ABC/Post/Ipsos poll found that in addition to the 50% of Americans who said they expect gas prices to get worse over the next year, another 15% expect gas prices to stay about the same.

Olson agreed that prices for gas and other goods will continue to go up.

"I don't really do anything, you know, for leisure or luxury anymore," Olson said. "It's all kind of just getting the bills paid ... I have a 1-year-old, and I just had another baby about a month ago, so I've got two little ones, and every day it's getting harder."

Brenda Howard, 66, from Lubbock, Texas, said she can't afford luxuries like trips or meals out either, and since she does not own a car she has to rely on rideshare services like Uber and Lyft for errands and transport to her job as a cleaner.

She said using Uber or Lyft to take a trip to the grocery store costs her around $30.

"This is not the way I thought my retirement was gonna turn out," Howard said. "I never dreamed that it would be a day-to-day struggle, sometimes hour to hour."

The poll found some Americans said they were changing their behaviors because of higher gas prices. Over 4 in 10 have cut back on driving (44%) or cut household expenses (42%). Another 34% said they have changed travel or vacation plans.

Those in lower-income households have been hit even harder by the gas price spike. More than half of people with household incomes of under $50,000 a year said they have cut down on driving and household expenses.

Martha Davis, a 66-year-old Texan who works as a caretaker for her disabled son, said she's struggling to pay for essentials, including gasoline and rent. She has to travel, sometimes as much as 60 miles from where she lives in Tool, Texas, to get to medical appointments.

"I used to get back and forth on like $20, $25, but now it's almost 70 bucks," Davis said.

Four in 10 Americans reported that they are less well off than they were at the beginning of Trump's second presidential term according to the ABC News/Post/Ipsos poll. Some of those who said they are doing worse still support the president.

Andy Breedlove, 51, from West Virginia said he believes both that Trump is doing well in his second term and that gasoline prices are too high.

"But with the price of everything else, it kind of evens out a little," said Breedlove, who is not working due to a disability. Breedlove suspects gas prices will continue to climb because of the war with Iran.

The Iranian government's retaliatory blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping lane for the oil market, has led to severe trade disruptions. Around 20% of oil traded on global markets normally passes through the strait.

A 61% majority of Americans said in the ABC/Post/Ipsos poll that the Trump administration's decision to go to war against Iran was a mistake.

"He hasn't made a clear statement on why ... we're actually participating at all," said Olson, the woodworker with a young family. "From what I know, there's been a lot of just lying and, you know, not being transparent, and ... a big lack of professionalism, which I don't appreciate coming from the president."

Christopher Mosley, 43, a former Walmart employee from Fort Smith, Arkansas, described Trump as "reckless" on foreign policy.

Trump's messaging on gas prices has been mixed. When asked in early April whether he thought prices would decrease before the upcoming midterm elections, Trump said they might stay steady or get higher. On May 1, Trump said gas prices would come "tumbling down" once the conflict was resolved. Iran is reviewing the latest proposal from the U.S. government aimed at winding down the war, a spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry said.

The financial strain felt by voters has the potential to significantly impact the midterm elections, a cycle in which Democrats are already positioned to make gains. Trump has framed the prospect of a change in the power dynamics of Congress as an existential threat to his presidency.

Jim Piper, a 36-year-old from Portage, Indiana, said he wishes Trump had more latitude to pursue his policy goals. Since the start of the second Trump administration, Piper said he has been doing worse financially, but he thinks political deadlock between Democrats and Republicans is to blame for rising prices. Since Piper has a disability and relies on a fixed income, inflation is hard on his wallet.

"I got to pay more, even though I'm not making more," Piper said.

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(WASHINGTON) -- When President Donald Trump arrives in Beijing next Thursday, he'll be the first U.S. president to set foot in China in nearly a decade. The last visit was Trump's own, in 2017.

He arrives in a very different position than he expected: the trip was originally scheduled for earlier this spring, then postponed because of the Iran war.

Trump had said the war would only last four to six weeks. Instead, there’s no end in sight with the the Strait of Hormuz remaining closed and U.S. gas prices surging -- as the president faces record-low approval ratings.

That backdrop has flipped the leverage dynamic, according to experts who study the region.

The leverage flip

Beijing would have preferred this war never started -- the energy disruption and the hit to global demand are real headaches for an export-dependent economy, experts say. But they say the conflict has handed Xi a relative advantage: Trump now has too many fires to put out at home and abroad to risk another escalation cycle with China.

"China is a relative bright spot in Trump's foreign policy right now," said Jon Czin, a former director for China at the National Security Council.

The longer the Iran war drags on, Czin argued, the more it minimizes the chance of another economic confrontation -- Beijing has also already demonstrated it can retaliate -- as it did with tariffs and rare earth export controls -- and the administration backed down before.

Both sides are still trying to eke out an edge in the run-up. The Treasury Department recently sanctioned Chinese oil refiners and shipping firms tied to Iranian crude to cut off funding. In an unprecedented move, Beijing invoked a "blocking rule" for the first time, directing Chinese companies not to comply with sanctions on Chinese oil refiners.

Daniel Shapiro, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, points out the war has reduced the U.S. military posture in the Indo-Pacific with long-term consequences for deterring China and defending Taiwan.

"Trump's position and leverage at the summit is considerably weaker if he goes to Beijing with the war still unsettled, or even with renewed escalation. And the Iranians know that. So they are whittling down the terms to end the war to something much more modest than what Trump originally envisioned," Shapiro wrote in a post on X.

What Trump wants

The administration clearly wants Beijing to use its influence over Tehran. Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week urged Beijing to use the Iran's foreign minister's visit to China earlier this week to press Tehran on reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

"I hope the Chinese tell him what he needs to be told," Rubio said when asked about China’s top diplomat meeting with Iran’s foreign minister. "And that is that what you are doing in the strait is causing you to be globally isolated. You're the bad guy in this."

Beyond the war in Iran, Trump will be looking for wins on trade and investment: For instance, Chinese commitments to buy Boeing planes and U.S. agricultural goods as well as an extension of the trade truce reached during the last Trump-Xi meeting in South Korea last year, according to experts.

The administration also wants China to continue its pause on rare earth export controls, analysts say. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has also proposed a “Board of Trade” to manage economic ties between the countries and goods the two sides are trading.

What Beijing wants -- and what it doesn't

Here's the gap between the administration's public framing and what analysts who study China most closely are saying: Beijing doesn't actually plan to deliver much on Iran or get deeply involved.

Beijing’s statement after the meeting with the Iranian Foreign Ministry was carefully worded to not blame Iran for the crisis while also calling for greater efforts to open the Strait of Hormuz.

"The Chinese are not interested in assuming any kind of direct role in the conflict," according to Patricia Kim, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "They see this as a problem that the United States needs to solve, and they have no interest in intervening on Tehran’s behalf."

Czin’s read is similar. While Beijing's meeting with the Iranian foreign minister this week let it "posture as peacemakers," he says the Chinese don’t want Iran to take up too much summit time. His analog: even on North Korea, right on China's doorstep, Beijing rarely puts real pressure on Pyongyang.

China's energy buffer is part of why the urgency is lower than the Trump administration assumes. Beijing has built strategic oil reserves, invested heavily in green energy, and can shift to domestically produced coal. The bigger risk for China isn't the energy crunch itself.

"The bigger issue for China is the secondary and tertiary effects from this conflict," Czin said -- such as a war-driven global slowdown that hits the Southeast Asian and European consumers that Chinese exports depend on.

What Beijing actually wants from the summit is more stability: lock in the trade truce, push back on U.S. export controls on advanced technology and ease restrictions on Chinese investment in the U.S.

What’s unclear is how hard Xi will push Trump on Taiwan. Any small shift in U.S. declaratory language on Taiwan would be significant, though Czin is skeptical Trump would stick with new wording even if he agreed to it.

Bottom line

Expect fanfare, expect deliverables on the margins -- purchase commitments or a possible Board of Trade announcement -- and don't expect breakthroughs on the hard issues, experts say.

The summit's significance is less in what it produces than in what it preserves: a tenuous stability that both leaders, for different reasons, want to keep intact through the rest of the year.

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(TENNESSEE) -- As protesters accused them of racial gerrymandering, Tennessee state lawmakers passed into law on Thursday a new congressional map that could allow Republicans to flip the state’s lone Democratic-held seat, notching the GOP another win in the mid-decade redistricting scramble.

Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed the bill into law Thursday afternoon.

The session was interrupted by chaotic scenes with lawmakers shouting over protesters' voices and at one point forcing police clear the balcony above the House floor before it voted on the new map.

The new map breaks up the state’s current 9th Congressional District, which is primarily made up of Memphis, and the state’s only majority-Black district. The district is currently represented by Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen.

The legislature also passed bills on Thursday that will allow the state to legally redistrict outside of the normal once-a-decade cycle, as well as providing funding to help implement the new map in time for the 2026 elections.

Impact on the midterms and representation in Congress

With the map passed, it paves the way for President Donald Trump and Republicans to gain an additional House seat in the next Congress, increasing their chances of maintaining control of the House as they continue their redistricting battle across the country.

Tennessee Democrats will likely not have any representation in Congress next year if Republicans flip the seat and the map will dilute the Black vote by breaking up Memphis.

But legal challenges against the map are expected.

Cohen said Thursday he will file a lawsuit against the new map.

Cohen posted on X after the vote "[President Donald] Trump knows he HAS TO rig the game to keep his majority in November. And the TN GOP was willing to go along with it. It’s shameful. Next stop is the courts."

Cohen had said earlier this week on CNN that the Republicans' redistricting effort was a foregone conclusion, adding that he hopes the new congressional map can take effect in 2028 rather than 2026. 

The speed at which the process occurred was remarkable -- it was only last week that the Supreme Court struck down Louisiana's congressional map as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, dealing a blow to Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. 

And just one day after the Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, Trump posted on Truth Social that he spoke with Lee and that the governor said he would work to redraw the state’s congressional maps in order to net another GOP seat for Tennessee in the House. Lee called a special session the next day, April 30, to review the state's congressional map.

Potential redistricting efforts are also currently underway in Louisiana, Alabama and South Carolina, although each state has different procedural or legal barriers to overcome.

With Tennessee's new map, Republicans potentially could flip 14 Democratic-held seats in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and Florida. Democrats could pick up 10 from new maps passed in California, Utah and Virginia.

Acrimonious debate and protests in the state capitol

The proposed congressional map underwent much acrimonious debate and protest inside the legislature on Thursday before it was passed.

On the House floor, Democratic representatives condemned the map, saying it would dilute the Black vote in the state. At one point, chants of "our house!" started in the House gallery.

As the vote came up for the new map on the House side, chaos erupted in the room. A trooper was asked to clear out the balcony above the House floor as people protested.

Earlier, Democratic State Rep. Justin Pearson, who is running for Congress in the 9th District that will be broken up on the new map, said that “what is happening here is immoral and wrong.”

“This is about attacking, targeting and cracking District 9 into pieces for more political and racial dominance and white supremacy in the state of Tennessee. And we need to realize that the Callais decision that you all are basing your decisions off of that gutted the Voting Rights Act, that that Voting Rights Act was paid in blood,” Pearson said.

Pearson later confronted law enforcement officers, ABC affiliate WKRN reported, as they worked on clearing the House gallery of protestors. Pearson later said his brother KeShaun Pearson was arrested.

After the House passed the bill and it was taken up in the Senate, Republican state Sen. John Stevens spoke in support of the new map over audible protests and yelling.

“Tennessee is a conservative state, and I submit its congressional delegation should reflect that. The proposed map ensures that,” Stevens said.

He later said, “This bill represents Tennessee's attempt to maximize our partisan advantage and allow Tennesseans to support a national Congress to be a Republican majority.”

But Democratic state Sen. London Lamar, who is Black, slammed the new map during debate as an attack on Black voters and said it “diminishes Memphis.”

“This map does not reflect Memphis. It diminishes Memphis. It slices our city into pieces and stretches our communities hundreds of miles away to places of different needs, different economies, different histories and different lived realities,” she said. “You cannot take a majority-Black city, fracture its voting power and then tell us race has nothing to do with it. Racism does not become less racist because it's called partisan.”

Later, chants of “Hands off Memphis!” rang out and another lawmaker soon unfurled a banner that read “NO JIM CROW 2.0 - STOP THE TN STEAL.”

The Senate passed the map soon after.

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With six months until the high-stakes midterm elections, the Democratic Party is struggling to raise money and keep up with its GOP counterparts, leading to frustrations among some donors with Democratic National Committee leadership and its chair Ken Martin.

At the end of March, the Republican National Committee outraised the DNC $21.2 million to $11.4 million, according to new reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. The RNC reported having nearly eight times more cash on hand -- $116 million to the DNC’s $13.8 million. In addition, the DNC is a little over $18 million in debt, according to FEC filings.

Democrats, though, are performing better than they did in 2018 at this point in the cycle when the party had raised $7 million and had little more than $9 million cash on hand. The party had just under $6 million in debt at that time, too.

Multiple Democratic bundlers, strategists and donors told ABC News that they are still angry over how funds were allocated during the 2024 presidential election -- and frustrated at Martin's unwillingness to publicly release a DNC audit that examined what went wrong for Democrats in 2024.

After Martin won his campaign to be DNC chair in 2025 following the presidential election, he committed to conducting a review of the 2024 election and making it public. However, Martin has yet to release the full audit, saying instead he's focused on looking forward and has released "lessons" from the audit.

Democratic officials and leaders -- including Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz, who is poised to become the No. 2 Senate Democrat after the midterms -- have urged for the report to be released as they look toward the midterms.

"What’s in the report that you wouldn’t want publicized?" "Pod Save America" host and former Obama administration speechwriter Jon Favreau asked Martin during an episode released April 28.

Martin replied that there was no "smoking gun" and that he wants to "keep the focus on the lessons."

A longtime DNC finance member, who spoke to ABC News on the condition of anonymity, noted many donors are still questioning how funds were allocated during the 2024 race and the unreleased results of the DNC’s promised audit.

The member said donors were upset that, despite the DNC’s massive fundraising during the 2024 election, Kamala Harris didn’t win a single battleground state. It raised concerns about allocations toward paid media, voter outreach and, most troubling for many donors, the amount of money that went to consultants.

But following the 2024 election and Martin taking over the reins at the DNC, there has been a shift toward investing in state parties long before elections, as well as podcasts, influencers and more modern forms of public relations and communications

Cooper Teboe, a Democratic strategist in California, told ABC News that donors are "feeling incredibly jaded, incredibly unhappy" with the DNC over the 2024 election -- with some questioning whether their financial contributions make a difference.

"We're coming off of record fundraising for Democrats that seem to really not move the needle," Teboe said. "So, folks have been in a position of, well, does my money actually do anything? Does my money do anything to change the needle?"

DNC spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg said the party is investing in ways that will help Democrats win.

"Democrats are putting our resources into the field, building infrastructure to power wins today and for years to come, and delivering overperformances all across the country, meanwhile Republicans are losing elections at a humiliating rate in spite of their billionaire donors,” Ehrenberg said in a statement to ABC News.

As frustrations with Martin over how he’s handling his job grow, a few members have started exploring options and rules for removing a chair, a source familiar with the situation told ABC News -- although the source framed the efforts as very informal and focused on asking about the process.

"I don't see Ken as a leader. The DNC reached out to me probably six months ago, and I told them to take me off their list, that it's a waste of their time to send me anything, and the more they send, the less chances they ever have of getting me back," said one longtime Democratic donor, who is now focused on individual candidates as opposed to the national committee.

Asked about his job to raise money for the party on "Pod Save America," Martin said "the job of the DNC chair is singular: It's to win," adding that he has been helping the party succeed in that effort.

Michael Knapp, a DNC member, said he supports Martin's work as chair, telling ABC News that Martin "came in with a clear mandate to shift the DNC towards long-term party building."

"[Ken’s] investing in state parties, organizing, partisan voter registration, infrastructure ... the things that actually win elections over time," Knapp said to ABC News in a text message.

"On the fundamentals of the job, I think he's very strong. The DNC's raising significant grassroots money even while paying down inherited debt," Knapp also said.

Daniel Weiner, director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s elections and government program, told ABC News that historically, the party out of power has had an "uphill battle with fundraising that’s not unique to this moment."

“Frankly, over the years, the president has become much more habituated to raising the sort of big money that you would expect an incumbent to raise, and that Democratic incumbents have also raised, to some degree,” Weiner said. “And so we see the more traditional pattern emerging of the party in power just raises a lot more money than the party out of power."

A longtime DNC finance member said frustrations with the DNC have led donors to focus on "individual elections as opposed to the DNC as an organization."

While the national party is struggling to raise money, individual Democratic candidates are seeing a massive cash infusion ahead of November’s midterm elections, as donors show greater interest in investing in individual candidates.

Many of the Democratic Party’s top Senate candidates posted gainful fundraising hauls for the first quarter of 2026, massively outraising their Republican opponents, according to FEC filings.

"I think folks are very desperate for new leaders and new voices in the party, and I think that's why you're seeing the party infrastructure raising less, because the donors, both the donor class and the grassroots, want to see what is out there to define the future of the Democratic message and that's just not going to come from the DNC," Teboe said.

One senior Democratic official in touch with donors and party leaders told ABC News that while many big donors are frustrated by the results of the last election, an increasing number are expected to get off the sidelines and contribute more to various Democratic candidates and organizations through the summer and fall.

"Donors can be complicated," she told ABC News.

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(WASHINGTON) -- Amid intensifying scrutiny of the Senate Republican proposal to spend up to $1 billion on security for the new White House ballroom, top Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Secret Service officials say the money would also be spent on "other critical missions."

Those missions, they said, would include securing "frequently visited venues" outside of the White House. 

In a letter to congressional leaders obtained by ABC News, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Secret Service Director Sean Curran described the proposed billion-dollar package as "critical funding to address urgent needs in response to the unprecedented increase in threats against the President and other public officials."

Mullin and Curran said that the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner last month as well as a shooting near the National Mall earlier this week show a need for a secure White House ballroom.

The letter said the security upgrades to the "East Wing Modernization Project" will "afford needed protection for the President, his family, and visitors, along with the below-ground security functions."

The officials noted that, per the text of the Senate reconciliation bill, "none of these funds will be used to support non-security improvements at the White House."

The Senate proposal, released earlier this week, would provide $1 billion for the Secret Service "for the purposes of security adjustments and upgrades, including within the perimeter fence of the White House Compound to support enhancements by the United States Secret Service relating to the East Wing Modernization Project." 

Without spelling out how much of the billion dollars would be spent on the ballroom construction project specifically, the officials said the funding would also be directed toward other locations, including "frequently visited venues facing heightened risk due to their public visibility and static nature."

The text of the Senate's bill makes no reference to "frequently visited venues" outside of the White House that Mullin and Curran mentioned in their letter.

Also, Mullin and Curran said the additional money would also go toward training USSS agents, USSS training facilities, the Secret Service's Special Operations Division's work on drones and biological and "other emerging threats," as well as securing "high profile national events that require significant planning."

Overall, the $1 billion package is described in the letter as a "critical infusion to ensure the safety of the current President and future Presidents."

​By comparison, ​to fund all of its operations, USSS receives more than $3 billion a year from Congress via the regular appropriations process.

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