US Domestic News Roundup: Biden says he has decided how to respond to attack on US troops in Jordan; US Representative Cori Bush says Justice Dept probing her security spending and more

The full 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a request by the Arkansas Public Policy Panel and the Arkansas State Conference NAACP to reconsider a 2-1 ruling by a panel of judges holding that only the government and not private plaintiffs can pursue cases enforcing Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Republican US House panel advances impeachment charges against border chief A Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives panel early on Wednesday advanced impeachment charges against Democratic President Joe Biden's top border official, a near-unprecedented move that comes as political tensions around immigration ramp up.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Chinese hackers are targeting US infrastructure, FBI chief to testify

Hackers linked to the Chinese government are targeting critical infrastructure in the United States, preparing to cause "real-world harm" to Americans, FBI Director Christopher Wray plans to tell a House of Representatives panel on Wednesday. Water treatment plants, the electrical grid, oil and natural gas pipelines and transportation hubs are among the targets of state-sponsored hacking operations that have received "far too little public focus," Wray will testify to the House select committee on competition with China.

Meta, TikTok, X CEOs to face tough questions on child safety at US Senate hearing

The chief executives of social media companies Meta, X, TikTok, Snap, and Discord will face tough questions Wednesday on efforts to combat online child sexual exploitation at a U.S. Senate hearing on Wednesday. Senator Dick Durbin, the Judiciary Committee's Democratic chairman, said some tech firms had made some recent changes to protect children from online predators but had not done enough. "It's clear that we need legislation because the tech industry has failed on its own to protect our kids. They're protecting their profits, but they're not protecting our children," Durbin said Tuesday.

US court will not revisit ruling limiting voting rights lawsuits

Civil rights activists on Tuesday failed to convince a federal appeals court to reconsider a ruling that could sharply curtail lawsuits enforcing a landmark voting rights law's protections against racial discrimination. The full 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a request by the Arkansas Public Policy Panel and the Arkansas State Conference NAACP to reconsider a 2-1 ruling by a panel of judges holding that only the government and not private plaintiffs can pursue cases enforcing Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

Republican US House panel advances impeachment charges against border chief

A Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives panel early on Wednesday advanced impeachment charges against Democratic President Joe Biden's top border official, a near-unprecedented move that comes as political tensions around immigration ramp up. The House Homeland Security Committee approved two articles of impeachment targeting Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas following a lengthy hearing where lawmakers split sharply along partisan lines. The charges allege Mayorkas intentionally encouraged illegal immigration with lax policies and violated public trust by making false statements to Congress.

Trump to meet with Teamsters in fight with Biden over union support

Donald Trump is due to meet with one of America's biggest unions on Wednesday as he competes for the support of labor groups ahead of a likely general election rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden in November. Trump is due to sit down with the leadership and some rank-and-file members of the Teamsters, just days after the former Republican president reacted angrily to losing out on the endorsement from another union, the United Auto Workers.

Exclusive-Hotelier Robert Bigelow gives Trump $1 million for legal fees

Hotelier Robert Bigelow told Reuters on Tuesday he gave Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump $1 million for his legal fees and agreed to donate another $20 million to a pro-Trump outside group for campaign purposes. "I gave him $1 million towards his legal fees a few weeks ago. I made a promise to give him $20 million more, that will be to the super PAC," the Nevada-based owner of Budget Suites of America said in an interview.

Biden says he has decided how to respond to attack on US troops in Jordan

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday he has made up his mind on how to respond to a drone attack that killed U.S. service members in Jordan, as he weighs punishing Iran-backed militias without triggering a wider war. Biden, speaking to reporters as he left the White House on a campaign trip to Florida, did not elaborate on his decision, which came after consultations with top advisers at the White House.

US Representative Cori Bush says Justice Dept probing her security spending

Democratic U.S. Representative Cori Bush said on Tuesday the Justice Department is probing her campaign's spending on security, adding that she is fully cooperating with the investigation. Bush, a member of the high-profile group of House progressives nicknamed "The Squad," said in a statement that she had faced threats even before she was sworn into office in January 2021 and had used campaign funds for security. She denied wrongdoing.

Explorer may have found wreckage of Amelia Earhart's plane in Pacific

A former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer says he believes he has found the wreckage of Amelia Earhart's plane, which disappeared nine decades ago, on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean using sonar data from a deep-sea drone. Hoping to solve an 87-year-old mystery, explorer Tony Romeo plans to launch a mission later this year or next to find the long-lost plane, which a massive U.S. search failed to do in 1937.

California braces for back-to-back atmospheric river storms

California braced for a pair of approaching Pacific storms expected to drench much of the state in heavy rains that could trigger widespread flooding while also helping bolster longer-term fresh water supplies. The first of the back-to-back storms, both products of vast airborne currents of dense moisture called atmospheric rivers, was expected to hit Northern California on Wednesday and sweep over the Southern California coast on Thursday.