Reuters US Domestic News Summary

The bill, according to text seen by Reuters, seeks to make March 9 "National Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Day," to call increased attention to Americans unjustly held abroad and add urgency to the push to bring them home. U.S. senator Manchin says Treasury should limit commercial EV tax credit use U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat who chairs the chamber's energy panel, asked the Treasury Department on Tuesday not to allow a commercial electric vehicle tax credit to be used for consumer leasing, rental cars or ridesharing vehicle sales, rejecting a broad interpretation of the credit.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Breonna Taylor's boyfriend settles lawsuits over botched police raid

Louisville will pay $2 million to settle two lawsuits filed by the boyfriend of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman killed by police during a no-knock raid at her apartment in the Kentucky city two years ago, the Washington Post reported. Kenneth Walker filed the lawsuits against the city in state and federal court claiming that plainclothes officers violated his rights when they burst into Taylor's apartment while the couple was asleep and killed her on March 13, 2020, during the botched raid.

Ex-employee of pharmacy in deadly 2012 meningitis outbreak gets prison

A former employee of a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy whose mold-tainted drugs sparked a deadly nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak in 2012 was sentenced on Tuesday to five months in prison for deceiving regulators about its operations before the tragedy. Sharon Carter, New England Compounding Center's (NECC) former director of operations, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns in Boston after a federal appeals court last year reversed his decision to throw out her trial conviction.

U.S. Supreme Court to review murder-for-hire conviction

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear an appeal by a North Carolina man serving life in prison after being convicted of taking part in a plot to murder a woman in the Philippines at the behest of the head of a multinational criminal organization. The justices agreed to consider whether Adam Samia's constitutional right to confront the witnesses against him at trial was violated when prosecutors introduced part of a co-defendant's post-arrest statement admitting to the 2012 murder.

Biden signs marriage equality act to tune of Cyndi Lauper's 'True Colors'

U.S. President Joe Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law on Tuesday at a jubilant celebration that featured U.S. singer Cyndi Lauper performing "True Colors" in front of thousands of supporters on the White House lawn. The new law provides federal recognition to same-sex marriages, a measure born out of concern that the Supreme Court could reverse its legal support of such relationships.

Explainer-U.S. pandemic border entry limits on migrants due to end next week. Will they?

Pandemic-era border restrictions that have blocked hundreds of thousands of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border are set to end on Dec. 21 following a U.S. judge's ruling that found the limits unlawful, but an ongoing legal battle could delay that timeline. WHY ARE MIGRANTS BLOCKED AT THE BORDER UNDER COVID RULES?

U.S. House advances stopgap government funding bill

A stopgap spending bill to avoid a partial shutdown of the U.S. federal government began moving through the House of Representatives on Tuesday, as Congress scampered to meet a midnight Friday deadline when existing funds expire. The one-week, government-wide funding bill is designed to give lawmakers additional time to finish negotiations on a year-long "omnibus" spending bill that would expire on Sept. 30, 2023, the end of the current fiscal year.

U.S. House Jan. 6 committee to meet Dec. 19 for vote on referrals, report

The U.S. House of Representatives committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol will hold a public meeting on Dec. 19 to vote on its report and criminal referrals, before releasing the report on Dec. 21, the panel's chairman said on Tuesday. Democratic U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson told reporters at the Capitol that the report would be posted online on Dec. 21.

Biden says inflation going down but do not take anything for granted

President Joe Biden on Tuesday said inflation in the United States was coming down and he hopes prices will be back to normal by the end of next year. U.S. consumer prices rose less than expected for a second straight month in November, resulting in the smallest annual increase in inflation in nearly a year and giving the Federal Reserve cover to start scaling back the size of its interest rate increases.

Following Griner's release, U.S. lawmakers want a "National Hostage" day

Days after the release of U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner from imprisonment in Russia, Democratic and Republican U.S. lawmakers will introduce legislation on Tuesday to establish March 9 as an annual day to remember Americans detained abroad. The bill, according to text seen by Reuters, seeks to make March 9 "National Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Day," to call increased attention to Americans unjustly held abroad and add urgency to the push to bring them home.

U.S. senator Manchin says Treasury should limit commercial EV tax credit use

U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat who chairs the chamber's energy panel, asked the Treasury Department on Tuesday not to allow a commercial electric vehicle tax credit to be used for consumer leasing, rental cars or ridesharing vehicle sales, rejecting a broad interpretation of the credit. Reuters first reported last week the push by South Korea and some automakers that asked the Treasury Department to allow use of the commercial electric vehicle tax credit to boost consumer EV access as well as for the purchase of ride share and rental car vehicles.