DeSantis ends surprise boat inspections in Florida
The measure (SB 1388), which will take effect July 1, will require Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers to have probable cause to halt boaters.
"When you have somebody who has been stopped three times in one day without there ever being a basis to stop them, then you know something's wrong," DeSantis said during an appearance at Watson Landings Marina in Panama City.
DeSantis said such inspections have created friction between boaters and law-enforcement officers. He pushed for lawmakers to approve the change this year, in part because of an incident last year involving a boater in Jupiter that drew heavy attention online.
"They board his vessel, they have him blow the breathalyzer, 0.0. He wasn't drinking, and there was no basis to do it," DeSantis said Monday.
"There was no activity that was suspicious. There was no safety violations. There was no reckless boating. And it was this whole thing, this guy ends up getting arrested. I'm just thinking to myself, 'That is not what we want.'" Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Executive Director Roger Young said the agency will focus "on violations that are occurring, that we're seeing, reckless operation, careless operation."
The House voted 104-7 to pass the bill, while the Senate approved it in a 35-2 vote.
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Los Angeles Times
20 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Republicans can't stop talking about Joe Biden. That may be a problem
ATLANTA — It's been six months since Joe Biden left the Oval Office. Republicans, including President Trump, can't stop talking about him. The House has launched investigations asserting that Biden's closest advisers covered up a physical and mental decline during the 82-year-old Democrat's presidency. The Senate has started a series of hearings focused on his mental fitness. And Trump's White House has opened its own investigation into the Biden administration's use of the presidential autopen, which Trump has called 'one of the biggest scandals in the history of our country.' It all fits with Trump's practice of blaming his predecessors for the nation's ills. Just last week, he tried to deflect criticism of his administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case by casting blame on others, including Biden. Turning the spotlight back on the former president carries risks for both parties heading into the 2026 midterms. The more Republicans or Democrats talk about Biden, the less they can make arguments about the impact of Trump's presidency — positive or negative — especially his sweeping new tax cut and spending law that is reshaping the federal government. 'Most Americans consider Joe Biden to be yesterday's news,' Republican pollster Whit Ayres said. Seeking to avenge his 2020 loss to Biden, Trump mocked his rival's age and fitness incessantly in 2024, even after Biden dropped his reelection bid and yielded to then-Vice President Kamala Harris. He and other Republicans seemed poised to spend the summer touting their new tax, spending and policy package. But Trump, now 79 and facing his own health challenges, has refused to let up on Biden, and his allies in the party have followed suit. Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin called the Biden White House's use of the autopen 'a massive scandal,' while Republican Rep. Nick Lalota insists his New York constituents 'are curious as to what was happening during President Biden's days.' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt recently confirmed the administration would pursue an investigation of the Biden administration's use of the presidential autopen. Trump and other Republicans have questioned whether Biden was actually running the country and suggested aides abused a tool that has long been a routine part of signing presidentially approved actions. 'We deserve to get to the bottom of it,' Leavitt said. Biden has responded to the criticism by issuing a statement saying he was, in fact, making the decisions during his presidency and that any suggestion otherwise 'is ridiculous and false.' On Capitol Hill, the House Oversight Committee has convened hearings on use of the autopen and Biden's fitness for office. Van Orden cited the Constitution's Article II vesting authority solely with the president. 'It doesn't say chief of staff. It doesn't say an autopen,' he said. The House panel subpoenaed Biden's physician and a top aide to former first lady Jill Biden. Both invoked Fifth Amendment protections that prevent people from being forced to testify against themselves in government proceedings. 'There was no there there,' said Democratic Rep. Wesley Bell of Missouri, a member of the committee who called the effort 'an extraordinary waste of time.' The committee's chairman, Rep. James Comer, wants to hear from former White House chiefs of staff Ron Klain and Jeff Zients; former senior advisers Mike Donilon and Anita Dunn; and other former top aides Bruce Reed, Steve Ricchetti and Annie Tomasini, among others. Republicans confirmed multiple dates for the sessions through late September, ensuring it will remain in the headlines. That GOP schedule comes as both parties work feverishly to define Trump's start to his second term. His so-called 'One Big Beautiful Bill' is a mix of tax cuts, border security measures and cuts to safety net programs such as Medicaid, a joint state-federal insurance program for lower-income Americans. Polls suggest some individual measures are popular while others are not and that the GOP faces headwinds on tilting the public in favor of the overall effort. A recent poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about two-thirds of U.S. adults view the bill as a win for the wealthy and another found that only about one-quarter of U.S. adults felt Trump's policies have helped them. In the policy survey, he failed to earn majority support on any of the major issues, including the economy, immigration, government spending and health care. Immigration, especially, had been considered a major strength for Trump politically. It is 'rather tone deaf,' said Bell, for Republicans to go after Biden given those circumstances. 'Americans want us to deal with the issues that are plaguing our country now … the high cost of living, cost of food, the cost of housing, health care,' Bell said, as he blasted the GOP for a deliberate 'distraction' from what challenges most U.S. households. The effort also comes with Trump battling his own supporters over the Justice Department's decision not to publicly release additional records related to the Epstein case. 'The Epstein saga is more important to his base than whatever happened to Joe Biden,' said Ayres, the GOP pollster. Even Lalota, the New York congressman, acknowledged a balancing act with the Biden inquiries. 'My constituents care most about affordability and public safety,' Lalota said. 'But this is an important issue nonetheless.' With Republicans protecting a narrow House majority, every hotly contested issue could be seen as determinative in the 2026 midterm elections. That puts added pressure on Republicans to retain Trump's expanded 2024 coalition, when he increased support among Black and Hispanic voters, especially men, over the usual Republican levels. But that's considerably harder without Trump himself on the ballot. That could explain Republican efforts to keep going after Biden given how unpopular he is with Trump's core supporters. Democrats, meanwhile, point to their success in the 2018 midterms during Trump's first presidency, when they reclaimed the House majority on the strength of moderate voters, including disaffected Republicans. They seem confident that Republicans' aggressiveness about Biden does not appeal to that swath of the electorate. But even as they praise Biden's accomplishments as president, Democrats quietly admit they don't want to spend time talking about a figure who left office with lagging approval ratings and forced his party into a late, difficult change at the top of the ticket. Democratic Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia said Biden was productive while acknowledging he 'was not at the top of his game because of his age.' He said Democrats want to look forward, most immediately on trying to win control of the House and make gains in the Senate. 'And then who's our standard bearer in 2028?' Beyer said. 'And how do we minimize the Trump damage with what we have right now?' Barrow and Brown write for the Associated Press. Brown reported from Washington.
Boston Globe
20 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Texas Republicans aim to redraw House districts at Trump's urging, but there's a risk
Advertisement 'Get ready for some pickup opportunities,' Gonzalez said, adding that his party is already recruiting challengers to Republicans whose districts they expect to be destabilized by the process. 'We're talking to some veterans, we're talking to some former law enforcement.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Texas has 38 seats in the House. Republicans now hold 25 and Democrats 12, with one seat vacant after Democrat Sylvester Turner, a former Houston mayor, died in March. Gonzalez's district — and what happens to the neighboring GOP-held ones — is at the crux of President Donald Trump's high-risk, high-reward push to get Texas Republicans to redraw their political map. Trump is seeking to avoid the traditional midterm letdown that most incumbent presidents endure and hold onto the House, which the GOP narrowly controls. Advertisement Trump's push comes as there are numerous political danger signs for his presidency, both in the recent turmoil over his administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case and in new polling. Surveys from Republicans risk putting their own seats in jeopardy The fear of accidentally creating unsafe seats is one reason Texas Republicans drew their lines cautiously in 2021, when the constitutionally mandated redistricting process kicked off in all 50 states. Mapmakers — in most states, it's the party that controls the legislature — must adjust congressional and state legislative lines after every 10-year census to ensure that districts have about the same number of residents. That is a golden opportunity for one party to rig the map against the other, a tactic known as gerrymandering. But there is a term, too, for so aggressively redrawing a map that it puts that party's own seats at risk: a 'dummymander.' The Texas GOP knows the risk. In the 2010s, the Republican-controlled Legislature drew political lines that helped pad the GOP's House majority. That lasted until 2018, when a backlash against Trump in his first term led Democrats to flip two seats in Texas that Republicans had thought safe. In 2021, with Republicans still comfortably in charge of the Texas Statehouse, the party was cautious, opting for a map that mainly shored up their incumbents rather than targeted Democrats. Still, plenty of Republicans believe their Texas counterparts can safely go on offense. 'Smart map-drawing can yield pickup opportunities while not putting our incumbents in jeopardy,' said Adam Kincaid, executive director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust, which helps coordinate mapmaking for the party nationally.. Advertisement Democrats contemplate a walkout Republican Gov. Greg Abbott called a special session of the Legislature, which starts Monday, to comply with Trump's request to redraw the congressional maps and to address the flooding in Texas Hill Country that killed at least 135 people this month. Democratic state lawmakers are talking about staying away from the Capitol to deny the Legislature the minimum number needed to convene. Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton posted that any Democrats who did that should be arrested. Lawmakers can be fined up to $500 a day for breaking a quorum after the House changed its rules when Democrats initiated a walkout in 2021. Despite the new penalties, state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, who led the walkout in 2021, left open the possibility of another. 'I don't think anybody should underestimate the will of Texas Democrats,' he said. Texas is not the only Republican state engaged in mid-decade redistricting. After staving off a ballot measure to expand the power of a mapmaking commission last election, Ohio Republicans hope to redraw their congressional map from a 10-5 one favoring the GOP to one as lopsided as 13-2, in a state Trump won last year with 55% of the vote. GOP sees momentum after 2024 presidential election Some Democratic leaders have suggested that states where their party is in control should counter the expected redraw in Texas. 'We have to be absolutely ruthless about getting back in power,' former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke said Sunday on CNN. But Democrats have fewer options. More of the states the party controls do not allow elected partisans to draw maps and entrust independent commissions to draw fair lines. Advertisement Among them is California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom has floated the long shot idea of working around the state's commission. The few Democratic-controlled states that do allow elected officials to draw the lines, such as Illinois, have already seen Democrats max out their advantages. Trump and his allies have been rallying Texas Republicans to ignore whatever fears they may have and to go big. On Tuesday, the president posted on his social media site a reminder of his record in the state last November: 'Won by one and a half million Votes, and almost 14%. Also, won all of the Border Counties along Mexico, something which has never happened before. I keep hearing about Texas 'going Blue,' but it is just another Democrat LIE.' Texas has long been eyed as a state trending Democratic because of its growing nonwhite population. But those communities swung right last year and helped Trump expand his margin to 14 percentage points, a significant improvement on his 6-point win in 2020. Michael Li, a Texas native and longtime watcher of the state at the Brennan Center for Justice in New York, said there's no way to know whether that trend will continue in next year's elections or whether the state will return to its blue-trending ways. 'Anyone who can tell you what the politics of Texas looks like for the balance of the decade has a better crystal ball than I do,' Li said. Aggressive redistricting also carries legal risks One region of the state where Republican gains have been steady is the Rio Grande Valley, which runs from the Gulf of Mexico along much of the state's southern border. The heavily Hispanic region, where many Border Patrol officers live, has rallied around Trump's tough-on-immigration, populist message. Advertisement As a result, Gonzalez and the area's other Democratic congressman, Henry Cuellar, have seen their reelection campaigns get steadily tighter. They are widely speculated to be the two top targets of the new map. The GOP is expected to look to the state's three biggest cities to find its other Democratic targets. If mapmakers scatter Democratic voters from districts in the Houston, Dallas and Austin areas, they could get to five additional seats. But in doing so, Republicans face a legal risk on top of their electoral one: that they break up districts required by the Voting Rights Act to have a critical amount of certain minority groups. The goal of the federal law is to enable those communities to elect representatives of their choosing. The Texas GOP already is facing a lawsuit from civil rights groups alleging its initial 2021 map did this. If this year's redistricting is too aggressive, it could trigger a second complaint. 'It's politically and legally risky,' Li said of the redistricting strategy. 'It's throwing caution to the winds.'
Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
Republicans can't stop talking about Joe Biden. That may be a problem.
Advertisement Turning the spotlight back on the former president carries risks for both parties heading into the 2026 midterms. The more Republicans or Democrats talk about Biden, the less they can make arguments about the impact of Trump's presidency — positive or negative — especially his sweeping new tax cut and spending law that is reshaping the federal government. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'Most Americans consider Joe Biden to be yesterday's news,' Republican pollster Whit Ayres said. Republicans want Biden's autopen to become a flashpoint Seeking to avenge his 2020 loss to Biden, Trump mocked his rival's age and fitness incessantly in 2024, even after Biden dropped his reelection bid and yielded to then-Vice President Kamala Harris. He and other Republicans seemed poised to spend the summer touting their new tax, spending and policy package. But Trump, now 79 and facing his own health challenges, has refused to let up on Biden, and his allies in the party have followed suit. Advertisement Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin called the Biden White House's use of the autopen 'a massive scandal,' while Republican Rep. Nick Lalota insists his New York constituents 'are curious as to what was happening during President Biden's days.' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt recently confirmed the administration would pursue an investigation of the Biden administration's use of the presidential autopen. Trump and other Republicans have questioned whether Biden was actually running the country and suggested aides abused a tool that has long been a routine part of signing presidentially approved actions. 'We deserve to get to the bottom of it,' Leavitt said. Biden has responded to the criticism by issuing a statement saying he was, in fact, making the decisions during his presidency and that any suggestion otherwise 'is ridiculous and false.' Congressional committees investigate On Capitol Hill, the House Oversight Committee has convened hearings on use of the autopen and Biden's fitness for office. Van Orden cited the Constitution's Article II vesting authority solely with the president. 'It doesn't say chief of staff. It doesn't say an autopen,' he said. The House panel subpoenaed Biden's physician and a top aide to former first lady Jill Biden. Both invoked Fifth Amendment protections that prevent people from being forced to testify against themselves in government proceedings. 'There was no there there,' said Democratic Rep. Wesley Bell of Missouri, a member of the committee who called the effort 'an extraordinary waste of time.' The committee's chairman, Rep. James Comer, wants to hear from former White House chiefs of staff Ron Klain and Jeff Zients; former senior advisers Mike Donilon and Anita Dunn; and other former top aides Bruce Reed, Steve Ricchetti and Annie Tomasini, among others. Republicans confirmed multiple dates for the sessions through late September, ensuring it will remain in the headlines. Advertisement Investigations could crowd out GOP efforts to define Trump positively That GOP schedule comes as both parties work feverishly to define Trump's start to his second term. His so-called 'One Big Beautiful Bill' is a mix of tax cuts, border security measures and cuts to safety net programs such as Medicaid, a joint state-federal insurance program for lower-income Americans. Polls suggest some individual measures are popular while others are not and that the GOP faces headwinds on tilting the public in favor of the overall effort. A recent poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about two-thirds of U.S. adults view the bill as a win for the wealthy and another found that only about one-quarter of U.S. adults felt Trump's policies have helped them. In the policy survey, he failed to earn majority support on any of the major issues, including the economy, immigration, government spending and health care. Immigration, especially, had been considered a major strength for Trump politically. It is 'rather tone deaf,' said Bell, for Republicans to go after Biden given those circumstances. 'Americans want us to deal with the issues that are plaguing our country now … the high cost of living, cost of food, the cost of housing, health care,' Bell said, as he blasted the GOP for a deliberate 'distraction' from what challenges most U.S. households. The effort also comes with Trump battling his own supporters over the Justice Department's decision not to publicly release additional records related to the Epstein case. Advertisement 'The Epstein saga is more important to his base than whatever happened to Joe Biden,' said Ayres, the GOP pollster. Even Lalota, the New York congressman, acknowledged a balancing act with the Biden inquiries. 'My constituents care most about affordability and public safety,' Lalota said. 'But this is an important issue nonetheless.' Democrats don't want to talk about Biden With Republicans protecting a narrow House majority, every hotly contested issue could be seen as determinative in the 2026 midterm elections. That puts added pressure on Republicans to retain Trump's expanded 2024 coalition, when he increased support among Black and Hispanic voters, especially men, over the usual Republican levels. But that's considerably harder without Trump himself on the ballot. That could explain Republican efforts to keep going after Biden given how unpopular he is with Trump's core supporters. Democrats, meanwhile, point to their success in the 2018 midterms during Trump's first presidency, when they reclaimed the House majority on the strength of moderate voters, including disaffected Republicans. They seem confident that Republicans' aggressiveness about Biden does not appeal to that swath of the electorate. But even as they praise Biden's accomplishments as president, Democrats quietly admit they don't want to spend time talking about a figure who left office with lagging approval ratings and forced his party into a late, difficult change at the top of the ticket. Democratic Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia said Biden was productive while acknowledging he 'was not at the top of his game because of his age.' He said Democrats want to look forward, most immediately on trying to win control of the House and make gains in the Senate. 'And then who's our standard bearer in 2028?' Beyer said. 'And how do we minimize the Trump damage with what we have right now?' Advertisement
