Democratic Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on Thursday vetoed parts of a $6 billion public education spending plan backed by the Sunflower State’s Republican-dominated Legislature.Kelly’s objection to the bill is largely due to her taking issue with a provision she believes would cut rural schools’ funding.’This provision pulls the rug out from rural school districts at the 11th hour,’ Kelly claimed. ‘If the provision is enacted, it will bring dangerous and devastating consequences for our rural districts.’

Kansas’ Democratic governor on Thursday vetoed parts of the Republican-backed $6 billion funding plan for the state’s K-12 schools, setting up a likely legal battle that will test her office’s powers.

Gov. Laura Kelly, who won reelection in the conservative state in November, issued a statement explaining her decision to take the unprecedented step of vetoing parts of the proposed education budget, saying she objected to one provision, in particular, that she says would cut funding for rural public schools, which have been dealing with declining enrollment.

‘This provision pulls the rug out from rural school districts at the 11th hour,’ Kelly said. ‘If the provision is enacted, it will bring dangerous and devastating consequences for our rural districts.’

Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson and House Speaker Dan Hawkins, leaders of the GOP-controlled Legislature, quickly issued a joint statement criticizing Kelly, saying the state’s constitution limits line-item vetoes to appropriations.

‘We strongly encourage the Attorney General to immediately review this unconstitutional overreach,’ they said.

The spending plan, which would provide the bulk of the money that the state’s 286 school districts rely on, would also expand a program aimed at providing private school scholarships for low-income families. Although Kelly opposes that provision, she didn’t veto it.

Kelly said that because the bill mixed policy with funding, the Kansas Constitution allows her to veto parts but not all of the bill, as it does with legislation setting the state’s annual budgets. Top Republicans are likely to object and to challenge the assertion in court.

The issue has never been tested legally, creating uncertainty about how much money school districts might have and what policies they might face the next academic year.

In her statement, Kelly said the GOP-backed bill would change the way districts count their enrollment, which determines their funding. Currently, districts are allowed to use one of the two previous school years to determine how much money they will receive.

The new education bill requires districts to use the current or previous year’s enrollment to determine appropriations. That provision would force districts with declining enrollments to immediately make changes to budgets they have already approved for the upcoming year, she said.

Kelly also noted that the Kansas Supreme Court has upheld the current method for determining enrollment, and she said changing the formula would raise questions over the state’s compliance with that law.

Education groups had pushed Kelly to veto the bill even though it would increase the state’s total aid to districts by about 4% for the next school year. The increases would vary by district, with 29 — most with fewer than 700 students — receiving less aid than they did this school year.

Kelly has signed education bills with a similar marriage of funding and policy in the past. But she and top Republicans clashed repeatedly over her handling of the coronavirus pandemic. GOP lawmakers forced her to accept a whittling away of the powers of her office and of local officials to close schools and businesses and impose mask mandates.

If Kelly had vetoed the entire bill, she would have forced a special legislative session to ensure that schools are funded for the next school year because lawmakers have adjourned for the year. If she were to lose a court battle over her vetoing parts of the bill, it’s unclear if the entire bill would become law or if it would die altogether.

Educators also were upset that GOP lawmakers rejected Kelly’s proposal to phase in a 70% increase in funding for programs for students with physical or intellectual disabilities, or behavioral problems. It would have required an extra $72 million in the next state budget, but legislators only approved $7.5 million.

Kelly said she was disappointed that lawmakers didn’t increase special education funding and that they need to ‘correct their mistake’ when they return for next year’s session.

In a statement Thursday, the Kansas Association of School Boards praised Kelly’s line-item veto and also expressed disappointment in lawmakers’ ‘inadequate response’ to special education funding at a time when the state has a record budget surplus.

And educators opposed provisions that would expand an income tax credit program for donors to funds that provide annual private school scholarships of up to $8,000 annually to students from low-income families. Although the total credits would remain capped at $10 million a year, more students would be eligible for the scholarships.

Kelly said most Kansans don’t support such policies, and she chastised lawmakers for ‘logrolling’ them into the education funding bill rather than proposing them as separate bills.

Conservative Republicans wanted to pass a far broader plan to use state education dollars to help parents pay for private or home schooling for their children, something GOP lawmakers have enacted in other states, including Iowa, South Carolina and Utah.

Kelly is strongly opposed to the idea, saying public funds should go to public schools. Republican legislators were split.

The state constitution says that if any bill ‘contains several items of appropriation of money,’ the governor can veto one or more ‘such items’ while signing the rest.

While lawmakers often set policy in the budget with provisions directing how money must be spent or prohibiting some spending, those provisions are in effect only for a year. In the past, it’s been uncommon for lawmakers to mix spending with measures rewriting state laws permanently, so governors haven’t previously taken actions similar to Kelly’s.

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Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., a member of the far-left ‘Squad,’ on Thursday called Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a White supremacist, and said she wants Black people ‘targeted for harm’ after she said she felt ‘threatened’ by his ‘physical mannerisms.’

Speaking to reporters outside the Capitol, Bowman addressed Greene’s comments, which she made during a press conference earlier in the day in response to a Wednesday altercation between the two.

‘This is why it is so important that we teach and know our history. There is a long tradition—that Marjorie should be well aware of—of Black men who are passionate, outspoken, or who stand their ground, being characterized as ‘threatening’ or ‘intimidating.’ That’s what happened with Emmett Till, with Mike Brown, and with so many more,’ Bowman said.

‘Marjorie’s attack is beyond a dog-whistle. It’s a bullhorn. And it’s reckless and dangerous. She has put a target on my back,’ he said. ‘The truth of the matter is that we had a light back-and-forth on the steps of Capitol Hill, surrounded by reporters and staff. We can roll back the tapes and see her characterization of our conversation is an utter and blatant lie.’

‘This is, historically, what white supremacists do. They try to dehumanize Black people, Black skin, and Black humanity—so that we can be targeted for harm,’ he added.

Bowman doubled down in a post on Twitter later Thursday, saying, ‘White supremacists like Marjorie Taylor Greene use racist dog whistles to characterize outspoken, passionate Black men like me as threatening. But I won’t stop speaking truth to power.’

The two clashed following a Wednesday vote to send a resolution to expel embattled Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., to the House Ethics Committee rather than directly take up the measure. As Santos spoke with reporters about the vote, Bowman and fellow ‘Squad’ member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., heckled him to resign.

According to footage of the spat, Bowman and Greene began shouting over each other, with him calling on her to vote to expel Santos, who is facing numerous federal charges and an ethics investigation, and her calling on him to ‘impeach Biden’ and ‘save the country.’ 

At a Thursday morning press conference, Greene told reporters she was ‘swarmed’ by a ‘mob’ led by Bowman, which she said was also captured on video, and that he called her a ‘White supremacist.’ 

‘He was the one that approached me — even CNN reported that — yelling, shouting, raising his voice. He has aggressive — his physical mannerisms are aggressive,’ Greene said, while also referring to a previous altercation Bowman had with Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., in March over gun violence, in which Bowman, appearing angry, continuously shouted over Massie as he tried to talk with him.

‘I think there’s a lot of concern about Jamaal Bowman, and I am concerned about it. I feel threatened by him,’ she said. ‘I am very concerned about Jamaal Bowman, and he’s someone people should watch.’

Greene was attacked by others following the press conference, including Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who referred to her comments as ‘blatant racism.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Greene’s office concerning the footage she said was captured on video beyond that which had already been circulating, but did not immediately receive a response.

Fox also reached out to Bowman’s office about the altercation with Greene, but was referred to his comments mentioned earlier.

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday a busload of migrants from his state had arrived in Denver.

Abbott made the announcement in a press release that the migrants had been bussed from Texas to Denver and dropped off in the city’s downtown area.

NYC FACES IRE OF RESIDENTS OVER PLAN TO HOUSE MIGRANTS IN BROOKLYN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL GYM 

‘Texas’ overwhelmed and overrun border communities should not have to shoulder the flood of illegal immigration due to President Biden’s reckless open border policies, like his mass catch and release without court dates or any way to track them,’ Abbott said in the release. ‘Until the President and his Administration step up and fulfill their constitutional duty to secure the border, the State of Texas will continue busing migrants to self-declared sanctuary cities like Denver to provide much-needed relief to our small border towns.’ 

Abbott has bussed migrants to several cities, including New York City; Chicago; Washington, D.C.; and Philadelphia.

Philadelphia officials said 34 asylum seekers arrived in their city Wednesday from Texas by bus, while another 46 migrants arrived Thursday.

The migrants are from Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic, according to the update. 

Philadelphia has received 23 total buses of migrants since November.

In Chicago — one city taking in migrants being bussed from Texas — newly-elected Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order which establishes a ‘deputy mayor for immigrant, migrant, and refugee rights.’

‘Mayor Johnson’s executive order to establish a Deputy Mayor for Immigrant, Migrant, and Refugee Rights makes the new role responsible for the coordination and communication between all applicable City departments and officials related to the City’s efforts to support newly arrived and established immigrants, refugees, and migrants,’ Johnson’s office said in a statement.

FIRST ON FOX: Cincinnati public schools have been advised to ‘consider’ reporting child abuse to child protective services if a student’s parents are unsupportive of his or her gender identity.

A student’s transgender status is confidential and such information ‘should not be shared with parents if disclosing the information to parents could put the student at risk of harm at home,’ according to a 2021 memo by the Cincinnati Board of Education’s Policy and Equity Committee.

‘A student’s transgender status, sex at birth, and legal name are all confidential records,’ the memo states. ‘Special consideration should be given by schools about disclosing a student’s gender identity to parents.’

The memo, which was published in the Board of Education’s meeting minutes, tells schools to consider reporting child abuse to Hamilton County Job and Family Services if a student’s gender identity puts them at risk at home.

‘Parents may or may not be supportive of the student’s gender identity,’ it states. ‘This information should not be shared with parents if disclosing the information to parents could put the student at risk of harm at home. In that case, the administrator should also consider whether there is a mandatory duty to report child abuse to 241-KIDS.’

During a Board of Education meeting on Sept. 13, 2021, the equity committee said Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) General Counsel Daniel Hoying provided the memo to all principals in the district at the start of the school year, saying it was the district’s position.

‘Mr. Hoying presented the following memo to the Committee and has provided this document to principals, as it describes the District’s position in accommodating transgender students,’ it states.

The committee said the recommendations in the memo were ‘based, in part, on best practices suggested by the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (‘GLSEN’); National Center for Transgender Equality; American Civil Liberties Union (‘ACLU’); Gender Spectrum; Human Rights Campaign Foundation; National Center for Lesbian Rights; and National Educational Association.’

Nicki Neily, the president and founder of Parent Defending Education, called the district’s policy ‘unconscionable.’

‘It is unconscionable that a public school system would casually toss families into the wood chipper of the child protective services bureaucracy based on mere speculation that parents may or may not be ‘supportive’ of a child’s gender identity,’ she told Fox News Digital. ‘Doing so not only strains an already overburdened child welfare system, but also subjects loving families to a nightmarish process where they are forced to ‘prove’ that they do, in fact, love their children.’

‘This is such a betrayal of trust,’ added Erika Sanzi, the group’s director of outreach. ‘Treating a parent who protects their child from gender ideology as dangerous and deserving of a call to child protective services is a terrifying abuse of power.’

Fox News Digital asked CPS to clarify its position on reporting child abuse as it relates to gender identity. The school district was asked whether the 2021-era policy had faced any revisions, whether a parent’s lack of support for a student’s transgender status due to religious reasons constituted child abuse, or whether a parent’s lack of support for a student’s transgender status ever resulted in a child abuse report by the school district.

Despite the memo going out to principals, the school district told Fox News Digital it is not ‘official district policy.’

The school district said all school employees are ‘mandatory reporters of child abuse,’ and that ‘there is significant evidence that LGBTQ+ individuals are at a higher risk for experiencing domestic violence.’

‘The link you included below is meeting minutes from the CPS Policy and Equity Committee, not official District policy, procedure or statement,’ the school district said. ‘CPS’ Nondiscrimination And Access to Equal Educational Opportunity Board Policy (2260) states, ‘The Board of Education does not discriminate on the basis of religion, race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, disability or age in its programs, activities or employment.’ 

‘There is no Board policy relating to reporting a student’s gender identity or expression to parents,’ the school district continued. ‘As written in the meeting minutes, school district employees should exercise caution if disclosing the information could put the students at risk of harm at home. Per Ohio Revised Code 2151.421, all school employees are mandatory reporters of child abuse, and a school employee is legally obligated to report information to Child Protective Services if they become aware that a student is experiencing violence at home.’

Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna filed a resolution on Wednesday evening to expel Rep. Adam Schiff, formerly the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, from Congress alleging that he pushed a false narrative to the American people in the Trump-Russia investigation.

‘Adam Schiff lied to the American people. He used his position on House Intelligence to push a lie that cost American taxpayers millions of dollars and abused the trust placed in him as Chairman. He is a dishonor to the House of Representatives,’ Luna said in a press release Wednesday, May 17. 

Republicans, like Luna, have been vocal that lawmakers should face the consequences for the report after the Durham report found significant FBI failures and no evidence that Donald Trump’s campaign was coordinated with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election. 

The full report was released by the Justice Department on Monday, May 15 after a year-long investigation in a report that spans more than 300 pages. 

‘The Durham report makes clear that the Russian collusion was a lie from day one and Schiff knowingly used his position in an attempt to divide our country,’ Luna added. 

In the past, Schiff has repeatedly claimed there is ‘clear evidence on the issue of collusion’ between the Kremlin and Trump’s 2016 campaign.

‘I don’t want to go into specifics, but I will say that there is evidence that is not circumstantial. But as I’ve said all along, there’s plenty of evidence of collusion,’ he told ‘Meet The Press’ in 2017.

Following the freshman congresswoman’s announcement, Schiff struck back in a Twitter post, saying that a ‘MAGA Republican’ wants payback. 

‘A MAGA Republican Member of Congress just filed a motion to expel me from the U.S. House of Representatives. I stood up to Donald Trump and held extreme MAGA forces accountable,’ Schiff wrote in a Twitter post Wednesday night. ‘Now they want payback. They’ll go after anyone who defends the rule of law.’

While the Constitution gives Congress the ability to impeach federal officials and judges, it does not allow Congress to impeach its own members. However, members of Congress can be removed by expulsion, which requires a two-thirds vote.

EXCLUSIVE: Nashville musicians are increasingly worried about complications with artificial intelligence’s growing sophistication that could threaten their livelihood, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., warned this week.

‘We met with the Nashville Technology Council a couple of weeks ago, and we have talked with so many of the musicians. They’re concerned that using AI, they will do a copycat of their voice and take the lyrics of their song, which you can get on ChatGPT,’ Blackburn told Fox News Digital during an interview in her Senate office.

ChatGPT ‘pulls it right up, and then you can lay in that voice. Give me a voice that sounds like Garth Brooks. Give me a voice that sounds like Reba McEntire singing,’ the senator said.

‘And you can get that type of generation through these platforms that exist … and that means the artist makes no money, so you’re depriving them of their constitutional right to benefit from their work,’ Blackburn added.

Concerns about musicians’ copyright ownership, and those of content creators as a whole, have been a growing issue as AI continues to permeate different facets of everyday life. That includes song clips that have been shared on social media that appear to be samples of artists like Drake, when in reality they are generated entirely by AI technology.

Blackburn raised these issues during a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing Tuesday, when lawmakers on both sides questioned OpenAI CEO Sam Altman about the rapidly advancing AI sector. That hearing featured an example of AI’s ability that Blackburn and songwriters are worried about.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., started the hearing by letting an AI-generated voice that sounded like his read part of an AI-generated opening statement.

‘Can you commit, as you’ve done with consumer data, not to train AI models on artists’ and songwriters’ copyrighted works, or use their voices and their likenesses without first receiving their consent?’ Blackburn asked Altman,

Altman did not give her a direct answer but downplayed the reach of OpenAI’s Jukebox app, which generates music using AI. 

‘Jukebox does not get much attention or usage. It was just put out to show what’s possible,’ he said.

‘We think that content creators, content owners, need to benefit from this technology,’ he said, referring to AI. ‘Exactly what the economic model is we’re still talking to artists and content owners about what they want. I think there’s a lot of ways this can happen. But, very clearly, no matter what the law is, the right thing to do is to make sure people get significant upside benefit from this new technology.’

Blackburn signaled to Fox News Digital that she was dissatisfied with Altman’s answer.

‘I think he showed he was aware of those concerns, but he did not have answers,’ she said. ‘And that is going to mean that Congress needs to step in and look for similar situations.

‘He didn’t seem to be familiar with what the music industry went through with Napster, where they would take the songs and put them out, but the artists got no money. And, of course, he has [Jukebox],’ she said. ‘And we’re very concerned about a format like that being commercialized, even though it isn’t right now.’

South Carolina’s Senate is set to vote on a bill that would ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, often before women even know they’re pregnant.If passed, the state’s near-total abortion ban would add to the list of southern states with abortion restrictions. Some southern states that already have abortion restrictions in place include Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Georgia, and West Virginia,Virginia will become an outlier among the southern states as the only state without abortion restrictions if South Carolina’s Senate votes in favor of the bill.

South Carolina became the latest state to move toward a near total abortion ban Wednesday with legislation that if enacted would leave Virginia an outlier in the South as a place where women have unrestricted access to abortions amid a rapid rise in restrictions in the year since Roe v. Wade was overturned.

South Carolina is among the last bastions in the region for those seeking legal abortions, but that status could end soon. Access would be almost entirely banned after about six weeks of pregnancy — often before women know they’re pregnant — under the bill that now must pass the state Senate, which previously rejected a proposal to nearly outlaw abortions but could give final passage to the new legislation next week.

And most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy will be banned in North Carolina beginning July 1 after the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature successfully overrode the Democratic governor’s veto late Tuesday.

Abortion is banned or severely restricted in much of the South, including bans throughout pregnancy in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia. In Georgia, it’s allowed only in the first six weeks.

Such restrictions are possible because the U.S. Supreme Court last year struck down the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which established a nationwide right to abortion.

‘It would be just devastating for abortion access in the South,’ Jamie Lockhart, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, said of the proposed six-week ban in South Carolina, the 12-week ban in North Carolina, and a six-week ban in Florida that will take effect only if the state’s current 15-week ban is upheld by the state Supreme Court.

But North Carolina Rep. Sarah Stevens, a Republican, said she sees the 12-week ban and other restrictions in North Carolina’s new law as ‘safeguards,’ not obstacles to abortion.

‘We seek to balance protecting unborn babies while ensuring the safety of mothers,’ she said Tuesday.

Stricter bans across the South would heighten Virginia’s role as an access point and create a ‘ripple effect’ as people travel from out of state to seek care, Lockhart said.

‘Despite abortion providers’ efforts to increase available appointments and expand access for patients through telemedicine, the dramatic influx in out-of-state patients will lead to longer wait times for people in those access states,’ Lockhart said.

Virginia currently allows abortions in the first and second trimesters. An abortion is allowed in the third trimester only if three doctors certify the mother’s mental or physical health is at serious risk.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, pushed for a 15-week ban during this year’s legislative session, but that was defeated by the narrow Democratic majority in the state Senate.

Victoria Cobb, president of the conservative Family Foundation of Virginia, said Wednesday that the state’s laws became out of step with its neighbors’ during years of ‘liberal influence.’

Virginians ‘are going to have to work to protect our Commonwealth from being exploited by the abortion industry,’ Cobb said.

The costs of travel for women who need to go outside their home states for abortions can quickly pile up, said Ashlyn Preaux, who helps run an abortion fund in South Carolina. Her organization helps patients pay for abortion care as well as gas cards and sometimes plane tickets.

If South Carolina enacts new restrictions, she expects to help send more patients to Virginia and Washington, D.C.

‘All of these things add up and it’s just not anything that people are prepared for,’ Preaux said. ‘It’s not really treated at all like it’s a health care issue.’

The South Carolina House vote capped nearly 24 hours of grueling debate split across two days as the Republican supermajority tossed or defeated over 900 Democratic amendments. Lawmakers paused for roughly eight hours early Wednesday only after a computer glitch.

Democrats repeatedly spoke for all three minutes allotted per amendment. One would have required that residents read ‘The Handmaid’s Tale.’ Another sought to make the state cover funeral costs for anyone who dies upon being denied an abortion.

Republican Rep. John McCravy urged colleagues to support ‘the only path forward to prevent our state from becoming an abortion destination state in the Southeast.’

Attention now turns to the Senate. Lawmakers could accept the House changes and send the measure to the governor who has indicated he would sign it. Or they could put the bill to a conference committee, where members from each chamber would have to work out their differences.

Until then, abortion remains legal through 22 weeks in South Carolina, and the state had already seen an increasing number of out-of-state patients before Florida and North Carolina enacted new restrictions. Farther west, women often travel to Illinois, Kansas, New Mexico or Colorado.

Provisional state health department data show South Carolina reported nearly 1,000 abortions in each of the first three months this year, after totaling just over 200 in the one full month that a previous six-week ban took effect last year. Nearly half of the patients reportedly came from other states.

Until Tuesday, North Carolina had been considered a safe space, said Dr. Erica Pettigrew, a family medicine doctor in Hillsborough. But now, ‘North Carolinians will be health care refugees to other states,’ she said, also criticizing provisions of the law for potentially creating more paperwork, along with additional medical and licensing requirements.

Another challenge to abortion access was considered Wednesday when a federal appeals court heard arguments on whether the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the widely used abortion drug mifepristone should be overturned. A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is reviewing a ruling by a federal judge in Texas who ordered a hold on approval of mifepristone, a decision that overruled two decades of scientific approval of the drug. That ruling was stayed while the appeal is pending.

Lawyers seeking to preserve access to the drug used in the most common method of abortion got pushback Wednesday from the appellate judges, who each have a history of supporting restrictions on abortion. A ruling is not expected immediately.

In Michigan, one of the leading states in protecting abortion rights since Roe v. Wade was overturned, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation Wednesday that will prohibit companies from firing or otherwise retaliating against workers for having an abortion.

The legislation amends the state’s civil rights law, which had previously only outlawed employment discrimination if an abortion was to ‘save the life of the mother.’ It will ensure that workers cannot be treated differently for receiving an abortion regardless of reasoning.

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Riley Gaines, the former college championship swimmer who competed against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, said Wednesday that her advocacy in support of women’s sports has earned ‘amazing’ support among liberals.

‘I have gotten messages… from women and men who are lifelong liberals, who once prided themselves, especially women, on the original feminist movement, who are seeing what’s happening with the Democrat party now,’ Gaines told Fox News Digital.

‘Just a few weeks ago, all [Democrats] in the U.S. House voted ‘no’ on protecting women and girls in sports,’ Gaines said. ‘And these women, they’re seeing this and they’re fed up.’

‘The amount of support that I’ve had from liberal women who, again, consider themselves feminists, is amazing. These are women who are sick of their own party. These representatives are not listening to their constituents, and these women have had enough,’ said Gaines, who is also a spokeswoman for the Independent Women’s Voice.

Gaines also accused Democrats in Washington of ‘ignoring’ women over the Biden administration’s pro-transgender inclusion policies in schools.

‘The people in charge, the governing bodies, the representatives, the senators, especially on the left, they are ignoring the demands of women,’ Gaines said. ‘We’re asking for the bare minimum. We want fairness, we want privacy, we want safety, and we want respect, and they’re ignoring that.’

Gaines was on Capitol Hill for the unveiling of House Republicans’ Women Bill of Rights legislation. During a press conference Wednesday morning, she explained the bill would define the word ‘woman’ in federal law in order to bolster other bills like the House’s recently passed Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.

‘It doesn’t prevent any laws from being passed for any other protected group, it doesn’t change any pre-existing laws. It simply defines the word ‘woman,’ codifies the term,’ she said.

As an example, she said the House-passed Fairness In Women’s Sports Act was ‘phenomenal,’ but asked, ‘what longevity does it have if we can’t define the word ‘woman?’ And that’s what this does. It gives longevity to bills such as the sports bill.’

The House bill is unlikely to get through the Democrat-controlled Senate, and if it did, President Biden is likely to veto it. He said last month that he would veto the women’s sports bill if it came to his desk.

Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., the Women’s Bill of Rights’ lead sponsor, acknowledged this likelihood as she introduced Gaines.

‘It’s a frustrating place… We don’t always get our legislation through, but this is really an important issue,’ Lesko said.

Throughout the event, multiple Republicans called on Democrats to take up the bill.

‘We call on the House, the Senate, and the Democrats who care about the future of women to come together and pass this bill,’ said Republican Study Committee Chair Kevin Hern, R-Okla.

EXCLUSIVE: Republican presidential candidate and former governor and ambassador Nikki Haley will unveil her Veterans for Nikki coalition next week during a two-day swing through New Hampshire, the state that holds the first primary and second overall contest in the GOP presidential nominating calendar.

And Haley, the only female candidate among the major contenders for the Republican presidential nomination, will also launch a Women for Nikki New Hampshire coalition. The announcements, shared first with Fox News on Thursday, will come as the former two-term South Carolina governor who later served as ambassador to the United Nations makes her fourth swing through the Granite State since declaring her candidacy for the White House in February.

Serving as the honorary chair of Veterans for Nikki is someone that Haley knows quite well – her husband Michael – who’s a member of the South Carolina National Guard and a full-time federal military technician. He joined the National Guard following 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, and in 2013, he became the first spouse of a sitting governor to serve in a combat zone when he deployed to Afghanistan.

‘When my National Guard unit deployed to Afghanistan while Nikki was governor, I had no doubt that our family and our state would be in strong, capable hands,’ Michael Haley said in a statement. ‘Nikki is fearless and has always had the backs of our veterans and armed forces. As commander-in-chief, she will lead with grit and resolve.’ 

Jason Church, a retired U.S. Army captain who lost both of his legs in an IED explosion during his first deployment to Afghanistan, will also serve as part of the veterans coalition leadership team. ‘A President Nikki Haley will face America’s national security threats with backbone and courage,’ he emphasized.

Haley will announce her veterans coalition next Wednesday, May 24, during a campaign event at VFW Post 1631 in Concord, New Hampshire. Headlining the event will be retired Army Gen. Don Bolduc, a New Hampshire native who spent four decades in the military and served ten tours of duty in Afghanistan. Haley made multiple trips to New Hampshire last autumn to support Bolduc as he made his second straight bid for the Senate. Bolduc endorsed Haley after she launched her 2024 presidential campaign and has introduced her at numerous New Hampshire events.

Bolduc noted that as South Carolina governor, Haley ‘signed multiple bills to help our veterans and make the transition to civilian life easier. The bottom line is, Nikki Haley will be a commander-in-chief we can be proud of.’

While in New Hampshire next week, Haley will also headline the latest installment of the politics and eggs speaking series at Saint Anselm College’s New Hampshire Institute of Politics, which has been a must stop for White House hopefuls for over two decades. And she’ll headline a No BS Backyard BBQ in Rye, New Hampshire that’s hosted by former Sen. Scott Brown and his wife, former congressional candidate Gail Huff Brown.

Alaska lawmakers on Wednesday passed legislation that seeks to block state and local officials from closing gun stores during disasters declared by the governor, unless such closures apply to all other businesses.

The bill, HB61, is a response to business closures in Alaska and other states during the pandemic, according to a statement from House Speaker Cathy Tilton, a Wasilla Republican and the bill’s sponsor. Several other states have adopted similar bills.

The bill was one of the last debated by lawmakers in the waning days of the 121-day regular legislative session, which was set to end Wednesday. It was backed by the lobbying arm of the National Rifle Association and criticized as a ‘special rights’ bill by state Sen. Jesse Kiehl, a Juneau Democrat.

The measure passed the Senate 17-3 on Tuesday and was returned to the House for a concurrence vote. The House agreed 28-12 to pass the bill late Wednesday.

Last year a federal appeals court panel ruled that two California counties had violated the constitutional right to keep and bear arms when in 2020 they closed gun and ammunition stores as nonessential businesses during the pandemic. Alaska state Sen. Bill Wielechowski, an Anchorage Democrat, said HB61 aligns the state with that court decision.

For many residents in rural Alaska, ‘going to the ammo shop is essentially their way that they go and are able to … subsistence hunt and provide for their families,’ Wielechowski said.

The measure additionally states that in situations in which a governor has declared a disaster emergency, the governor, state agencies or municipalities cannot issue orders barring people from possessing or using guns or other weapons for personal use or issue orders that limit the sale of guns, ammunition or other weapons for personal use.

Prohibitions on gun possession would still apply to individuals who are otherwise restricted from having guns.

State law allows a governor to declare a disaster emergency if the governor finds a disaster has occurred or is ‘imminent or threatened.’ Disaster emergency proclamations are not to remain in effect for longer than 30 days unless extended by the legislature.

Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued a series of public health disaster emergency declarations during the pandemic. A 2020 order by Anchorage’s then-mayor was cited by Tilton’s office as an example of a situation in which there were gun store or shooting range closures during an emergency declaration. The city had issued its own emergency proclamation.

Jan Caulfield, a volunteer from Juneau with the group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, called the bill unnecessary. Lawmakers could have better used their time addressing issues such as high rates of gun deaths, she said.

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