US Domestic News Roundup: Biden cancels $6 billion in student loan debt for 78,000 public service workers; US Congress releases $1.1 trillion spending package to avert shutdown and more

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Biden cancels $6 billion in student loan debt for 78,000 public service workers

U.S. President Joe Biden announced Thursday that $6 billion in student loans would be canceled for 78,000 borrowers, bringing his administration's total student debt cancellation to nearly $150 billion. Biden, a Democrat, last year pledged to find other avenues for tackling debt relief after the Supreme Court in June blocked his broader plan to cancel $430 billion in student loan debt.

US Congress releases $1.1 trillion spending package to avert shutdown

After days of delay, U.S. congressional leaders unveiled a $1.1 trillion bipartisan spending measure for defense, homeland security and other programs early on Thursday, giving lawmakers less than two days to avert a partial government shutdown. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives will vote on the sprawling package on Friday, leaving the Democratic-majority Senate only hours to pass the package of six bills that covers about two-thirds of the $1.66 trillion in discretionary government spending for the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1.

What policies do Biden and Congress have for the US border?

U.S. President Joe Biden is blaming Republicans for refusing to pass legislation to reduce illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border while Republicans say the Democratic president should first use his executive authority to stem crossings. At the same time, the Republican-led state of Texas is being challenged in court after trying to implement its own immigration law allowing Texas authorities to arrest and detain people suspected of being in the country illegally.

US appeals court appears divided over Texas border enforcement law

A U.S. appeals court panel on Wednesday seemed divided over whether to continue blocking a Republican-backed Texas law that would empower state authorities to arrest and prosecute migrants and asylum seekers suspected of illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. A three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is considering whether to allow the law known as S.B. 4 to take effect while the state appeals a judge's ruling that prevented it from being enforced pending the outcome of a challenge by the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden and civil rights groups.

Trump can appeal ruling that kept Georgia prosecutor on case, judge says

A Georgia judge on Wednesday said Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump and eight of his co-defendants in the state's criminal election subversion case could appeal a ruling that let lead prosecutor Fani Willis remain on the case. Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee's decision cleared the way for the former U.S. president and the others to ask a Georgia state appeals court to consider whether Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, should be disqualified over her romantic relationship with a former deputy, Nathan Wade.

Republican trading firm owner and TikTok investor Yass emerges as top donor in US election

The biggest donor in this U.S. election cycle is Jeffrey Yass, a libertarian trading firm owner who started off as a professional poker player and is now a major investor in TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance. Philadelphia-based Yass has donated more than $46 million to Republican causes so far in the 2024 election cycle, data from political donations tracker OpenSecrets shows.

Legal spending by Trump group accelerated in February, disclosures show

A fundraising group run by Donald Trump, who is facing four criminal trials as he seeks the U.S. presidency, stepped up spending on legal fees last month, further draining money from efforts to return him to the White House, financial disclosures showed on Wednesday. In a filing to the Federal Election Commission, the group, known as Save America, detailed legal expense outlays totaling more than $5.5 million in February, the biggest single month of such spending since Trump, a Republican, formed the organization in 2020 following his defeat to Democrat Joe Biden in that year's presidential election.

US House panel to ask president to testify in impeachment probe

A House of Representatives committee plans to invite President Joe Biden to testify in Republicans' impeachment probe, the chairman said on Wednesday, the first time the panel has suggested calling him although it was improbable the president would accept. "We need to hear ... from the president himself," James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said at the end of a nearly eight-hour-long hearing into the Biden family's business dealings.

In Texas, Biden targets Senator Ted Cruz, raises millions

U.S. President Joe Biden assailed Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz in his home state on Thursday as part of a fundraising tour that has raised millions for Biden's re-election campaign. Biden, at a fundraiser at the Dallas home of lawyer Russell Budd, urged donors to support U.S. Representative Colin Allred, the Democratic nominee for the Senate seat held by Cruz.

US Republicans have taken sharp populist turn in the Trump era, Reuters/Ipsos data shows

The Republican Party's transformation is apparent at any Donald Trump rally: The crowd is filled with working-class voters, many without college degrees, who are in lockstep with him on issues where he has overhauled the party's platform, from immigration to trade to foreign policy. An analysis of a decade's worth of Reuters/Ipsos polls shows how the U.S. Republican electorate has shifted in its makeup and views. The classic "country club" Republican, well-off and well-educated, now makes up a smaller slice of the pie.