Reuters US Domestic News Summary

His idea quickly ran into opposition in Congress, where Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell predicted that it would never pass the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. Two of four Americans kidnapped by gunmen in Mexico found dead Two of four Americans kidnapped by gunmen on Friday after they drove into northeastern Mexico have been found dead, and the two survivors have returned to the United States, U.S. and Mexican officials said on Tuesday.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Norfolk Southern vows to rebuild safety culture amid NTSB probe

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw said on Tuesday the railroad will hold safety meetings and work to revitalize its safety culture as the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced a wide-ranging investigation after several accidents. Norfolk Southern has been under fire after a number of derailments of its trains, particularly one it operated on Feb. 3 in East Palestine, Ohio that caused cars carrying toxic vinyl chloride and other hazardous chemicals to spill and catch fire.

Yellen warns climate change could trigger asset value losses, harming US economy

Climate change is already having a major economic and financial impact on the United States and may trigger asset value losses in coming years that could cascade through the U.S. financial system, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will warn on Tuesday. Yellen will tell a new advisory board of academics, private sector experts and non-profits there has been a five-fold increase in the annual number of billion-dollar disasters over the past five years, compared to the 1980s, even after taking into account inflation.

U.S. DOJ asks for stiff sentences for straw gun buyers, despite racial disparities

A U.S. Department of Justice official on Tuesday urged a panel to swiftly comply with a congressional directive to increase prison sentences for so-called straw purchasers of guns, despite concerns that doing so might disproportionately impact Black people. Gary Restaino, the top federal prosecutor in Arizona, told a bipartisan panel in Washington, D.C., that increasing penalties for straw purchasers - people who buy guns for individuals barred from owning them or for those who do not want to be tracked - would "reflect the danger their conduct poses to public safety."

Former 'Boy Meets World' star Ben Savage to run for U.S. Congress

Ben Savage, who starred in the 1990s sitcom "Boy Meets World," is running for U.S. Congress in a Los Angeles-area district, aiming at a seat being vacated by Representative Adam Schiff, who is now running for Senate. "I'm running for Congress because it's time to restore faith in government by offering reasonable, innovative and compassionate solutions to our country's most pressing issues," Savage, 42, said in an Instagram post announcing his campaign.

U.S. judge rules Missouri state gun law is unconstitutional

A Missouri state law that declared several federal gun laws "invalid" is unconstitutional, a U.S. federal judge ruled on Tuesday, handing the U.S. Justice Department a victory in its bid to get the law tossed out. At issue was a measure Republican Governor Mike Parson signed into law in 2021 that declared that certain federal gun laws infringed on the rights of individuals to keep and bear arms under the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment.

U.S. State Dept spokesperson Price to step down after two years

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price will step down this month after more than two years and take up a new position reporting to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the secretary said on Tuesday. Price was sworn in as spokesperson on Jan. 20, 2021, the day Joe Biden was inaugurated as president. His service was marked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the chaotic withdrawal of diplomats and other personnel from Afghanistan.

Biden aims to shore up Medicare by taxing high-income Americans

U.S. President Joe Biden will seek to raise the Medicare tax on high earners and push for more drug price negotiations to help keep the federal health insurance program solvent through at least 2050 as part of his budget proposal this week, the White House said. His idea quickly ran into opposition in Congress, where Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell predicted that it would never pass the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

Two of four Americans kidnapped by gunmen in Mexico found dead

Two of four Americans kidnapped by gunmen on Friday after they drove into northeastern Mexico have been found dead, and the two survivors have returned to the United States, U.S. and Mexican officials said on Tuesday. The survivors and the two bodies were discovered by Mexican security forces on Tuesday morning in a wood cabin southeast of the border city of Matamoros, said Americo Villarreal, governor of Tamaulipas, the state the four crossed into from Texas.

U.S. Senator Schumer condemns Speaker McCarthy for supplying Jan.6 videos to Fox

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday accused House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy of helping Fox News stoke conspiracy theories by providing videos that were used by the cable network to portray the Jan. 6 Capitol rioters as peaceful. On Monday, Fox's right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson used some of the security videos, showing protesters walking through the Capitol, to argue that they were merely "sightseers."

Florida Republican lawmakers propose a six-week abortion ban

Republican lawmakers in Florida filed bills on Tuesday to outlaw most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, a ban that would severely undercut access to the procedure in the U.S. South if passed by the state's Republican-controlled legislature. The bills, filed on the opening day of the legislature's 2023 regular session, make exceptions for rape and incest cases but not explicitly for the life or health of the pregnant person.