Wednesday morning news: May 31, 2023

Debt limit » House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has been working to shore up support for a debt ceiling deal as the House prepares to vote today on a bill that would raise the ceiling.

The measure would trim overspending. Some conservatives say it’s not nearly enough. But McCarthy countered:

KEVN MCCARTHY: I’m not sure what everybody wanted. We couldn’t get everything we wanted. And when we had this debate, we couldn’t talk about the whole budget. So in essence, we were only about to focus on about 11% of the budget.

The House Rules Committee advacned the 99-page bill last night, sending it to the House floor for a vote.

Leaders of the conservative House Freedom Caucus vowed to try and halt the bill.

And another conservative faction declined to take a position, leaving McCarthy hunting votes.

McCarthy on Wray contempt » Also on Tuesday, Speaker McCarthy ripped into FBI Director Christopher Wray. The director defied a subpoena from the House Oversight Committee demanding a record of a whistle blower complaint. The informant accused President Biden of taking part in a bribery scheme while he was vice president.

MCCARTHY: We have jurisdiction over this. He can send us that document. We have the right to look at, Republicans and Demcorats alike on that committee. And if he does not follow through with the law, we will move contempt charges in Congress against him.

Yesterday was the deadline set by the Oversight panel.

The FBI argued that it could not responsibly hand over the document, stating— “Releasing confidential source information could potentially jeopardize investigations and put lives at risk.”

Ukraine/Russia » Vladimir Putin says his country needs to address gaps in its missile defense system after drones struck some targets in Moscow yesterday.

Military analyst Mark Cancian:

MARK CANCIAN - Russian air defenses, particularly around Moscow, are oriented on a different kind of threat and that they are oriented on missiles, ballistic missiles, regional missiles, aircraft bombers, but not short-range drones.

The strikes on Moscow injured two people and caused some evacuations.

Ukraine refutes the Kremlin claim that it was behind the attack.

Meanwhile Moscow continues to batter the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv with air assaults.

Kohl’s boycott calls » Customers are calling for a boycott of another major U.S. retailer over LGBT merchandise aimed at children. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER: The department store chain Kohl’s is facing blowback for so-called PRIDE merchandise in its stores. The collection included pride onesies for newborns and shirts depicting illustrations of children waving a rainbow flag.

It also included a Disney pride t-shirt with a Mickey Mouse logo.

The criticism comes as Target has lost billions of dollars in market value over a growing boycott for carrying similar merchandise aimed at kids as well as other LGBT activism.

Target has also partnered with an LGBT group that seeks to inject gender ideology into schools, and to keep parents in the dark when children choose to identify as the opposite gender.

For WORLD, I’m Josh Schumcher.

Iowa apartments update » In Iowa, some occupants of an apartment building that partially collapsed on Sunday are still missing.

Davenport Mayor Mike Matson:

MIKE MATSON: At this time we have five individuals that are still unaccounted for. Two of those, we believe, to be possibly still in the building.

Workers have rescued more than a dozen people from the structure since its initial collapse.

No fatalities have been reported.

Nova Scotia wildfires » Wildfires are burning across the southeastern Canadian province of Nova Scotia amid abnormally hot and dry weather.

Officials have evacuated more than 16,000 people.

Halifax Regional Fire and Rescue Deputy Chief David Meldrum:

DAVID MELDRUM: We cannot say right now when we'll be able to notify residents and further when we'll be able to bring residents back and re-occupy this area. It's going to be complicated. It's a large area.

One of the largest blazes burned more than 20,000 acres.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Tim Scott’s bid for president. Plus, World Tour.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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