WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. will send $1.8 billion in military aid to Ukraine in a massive package that will for the first time include a Patriot missile battery and precision guided bombs for their fighter jets, as the Biden administration&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/zelenskyy-biden-68c65b3274e552f36f16853f24fedbb9?utm_source=homepage&amp;utm_medium=TopNews&amp;utm_campaign=position_01">&nbsp;welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Washington</a>.

&nbsp;The aid signals an expansion by the U.S. in the kinds of advanced weaponry it will send to Ukraine to bolster the country’s air defenses against what has been an increasing barrage of Russian missile strikes.

The package, which was President Biden confirmed Wednesday, will include about $1 billion in weapons from Pentagon stocks and another $800 million in funding through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which funds weapons, ammunition, training and other assistance, officials said.

Zelenskyy and other Ukraine officials have pressed Western leaders to provide more advanced weapons, including the Patriots, to help their country in its war with Russia. The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-patriot-missile-system-explainer-b16125509161de8a7a3b4c38022534c7">Patriot would be the most advanced</a>&nbsp;surface-to-air missile system the West has provided to Ukraine to help repel Russian aerial attacks. The timing of the military aid announcement — as Zelenskyy makes his first trip out of Ukraine since the war began — sends a strong message of continued U.S. support for Ukraine as the war drags on.

The aid comes as Congress is&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-3e0fef206f524f6b1b67f7c36178a688">poised to approve another $44.9 billion</a>&nbsp;in assistance for Ukraine as part of a massive spending bill. That would ensure that U.S. support will continue next year and beyond as Republicans take control of the House in January. Some GOP lawmakers have expressed wariness about the assistance.

During the quick trip, Zelenskyy is expected to meet with Biden at the White House, take questions from the press, and deliver an address before Congress. White House officials said the visit, which will come 10 months after the Russian invasion, is meant to help underscore Biden's message that the U.S. will be there for Ukraine for as long as it takes to repel Russian forces.

The decision to send the Patriot battery comes despite threats from Russia's Foreign Ministry that the delivery of the advanced surface-to-air missile system would be considered a provocative step and that the Patriot and any crews accompanying it would be a legitimate target for Moscow's military.

But the White House is pushing back against the notion that delivery of the Patriot amounts to an escalation of U.S. involvement on behalf of Ukraine. A senior administration official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity, said that Biden has been clear that his administration would “lean forward” in supporting Ukraine but it is “not seeking to engage in direct war with Russia.”

It's not clear exactly when the Patriot would arrive on the front lines in Ukraine, since U.S. troops will have to train Ukrainian forces on how to use the high-tech system. The training could take several weeks, and is expected to be done at the Grafenwoehr training area in Germany. To date, all training of Ukraine forces by the U.S. and the West has taken place in European countries.

Also included in the package will be an undisclosed number of Joint Direct Attack Munitions kits, or JDAMs, officials said. The kits will be used to modify massive bombs by adding tail fins and precision navigation systems so that rather than being simply dropped from a fighter jet onto a target, they can be released and guided to a target.

U.S. fighter and bomber aircraft use the JDAMs, and the Pentagon has been working to modify them so they can be used by Ukraine.

The U.S. so far has been reluctant to provide Ukraine with American fighter jets. Russia has warned the the advanced aircraft would be considered provocative, and the U.S. to date has said other weaponry would be a better fit, citing the significant maintenance and training needs for those warplanes.

So instead of providing Ukraine those U.S. aircraft, the Pentagon is helping Kyiv find innovative ways to upgrade its fleet with the same capabilities it would get with a U.S. fighter jet.

The aid package will also include an undisclosed number of rockets for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, thousands of artillery and mortar rounds, trucks, and HARM air-to-surface anti-radiation missiles.

According to officials, the urgent pleadings of Ukrainian leaders and the devastating destruction of the country’s civilian infrastructure, including loss of electricity and heat during winter, ultimately overcame U.S. reservations about supplying the Patriots.

White House and Pentagon leaders have said consistently that providing Ukraine with additional air defenses is a priority, and Patriot missiles have been under consideration for some time. Officials said that as the winter closed in and the Russian bombardment of civilian infrastructure escalated, that consideration took on increased priority.

U.S. officials had balked at providing the Patriots to Ukraine because they could be considered a escalation that would trigger a response from Moscow. In addition, there were concerns about the significant training that would be required and questions about whether U.S. troops would have been required to operate it. Biden has flatly rejected sending any U.S. combat troops to Ukraine.

One Patriot battery routinely includes up to eight launchers, each of which can hold four missiles. It would be coming from Pentagon training stocks in the U.S..

The entire system, which includes a phased array radar, a control station, computers and generators, typically requires about 90 soldiers to operate and maintain. However, only three soldiers are needed to actually fire it, according to the Army.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1671662635298.png" alt="The decision to send the Patriot battery comes despite threats from Russia's Foreign Ministry that the delivery of the advanced surface-to-air missile system would be considered a provocative step and that the Patriot and any crews accompanying it would be a legitimate target for Moscow's military.-White House photo" />
 <figcaption>The decision to send the Patriot battery comes despite threats from Russia's Foreign Ministry that the delivery of the advanced surface-to-air missile system would be considered a provocative step and that the Patriot and any crews accompanying it would be a legitimate target for Moscow's military.-White House photo</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. will send $1.8 billion in military aid to Ukraine in a massive package that will for the first time include a Patriot missile battery and precision guided bombs for their fighter jets, as the Biden administration&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/zelenskyy-biden-68c65b3274e552f36f16853f24fedbb9?utm_source=homepage&amp;utm_medium=TopNews&amp;utm_campaign=position_01">&nbsp;welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Washington</a>.&nbsp;The aid signals an expansion by the U.S. in the kinds of advanced weaponry it will send to Ukraine to bolster the country’s air defenses against what has been an increasing barrage of Russian missile strikes.The package, which was President Biden confirmed Wednesday, will include about $1 billion in weapons from Pentagon stocks and another $800 million in funding through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which funds weapons, ammunition, training and other assistance, officials said.Zelenskyy and other Ukraine officials have pressed Western leaders to provide more advanced weapons, including the Patriots, to help their country in its war with Russia. The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-patriot-missile-system-explainer-b16125509161de8a7a3b4c38022534c7">Patriot would be the most advanced</a>&nbsp;surface-to-air missile system the West has provided to Ukraine to help repel Russian aerial attacks. The timing of the military aid announcement — as Zelenskyy makes his first trip out of Ukraine since the war began — sends a strong message of continued U.S. support for Ukraine as the war drags on.The aid comes as Congress is&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-3e0fef206f524f6b1b67f7c36178a688">poised to approve another $44.9 billion</a>&nbsp;in assistance for Ukraine as part of a massive spending bill. That would ensure that U.S. support will continue next year and beyond as Republicans take control of the House in January. Some GOP lawmakers have expressed wariness about the assistance.During the quick trip, Zelenskyy is expected to meet with Biden at the White House, take questions from the press, and deliver an address before Congress. White House officials said the visit, which will come 10 months after the Russian invasion, is meant to help underscore Biden's message that the U.S. will be there for Ukraine for as long as it takes to repel Russian forces.The decision to send the Patriot battery comes despite threats from Russia's Foreign Ministry that the delivery of the advanced surface-to-air missile system would be considered a provocative step and that the Patriot and any crews accompanying it would be a legitimate target for Moscow's military.But the White House is pushing back against the notion that delivery of the Patriot amounts to an escalation of U.S. involvement on behalf of Ukraine. A senior administration official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity, said that Biden has been clear that his administration would “lean forward” in supporting Ukraine but it is “not seeking to engage in direct war with Russia.”It's not clear exactly when the Patriot would arrive on the front lines in Ukraine, since U.S. troops will have to train Ukrainian forces on how to use the high-tech system. The training could take several weeks, and is expected to be done at the Grafenwoehr training area in Germany. To date, all training of Ukraine forces by the U.S. and the West has taken place in European countries.Also included in the package will be an undisclosed number of Joint Direct Attack Munitions kits, or JDAMs, officials said. The kits will be used to modify massive bombs by adding tail fins and precision navigation systems so that rather than being simply dropped from a fighter jet onto a target, they can be released and guided to a target.U.S. fighter and bomber aircraft use the JDAMs, and the Pentagon has been working to modify them so they can be used by Ukraine.The U.S. so far has been reluctant to provide Ukraine with American fighter jets. Russia has warned the the advanced aircraft would be considered provocative, and the U.S. to date has said other weaponry would be a better fit, citing the significant maintenance and training needs for those warplanes.So instead of providing Ukraine those U.S. aircraft, the Pentagon is helping Kyiv find innovative ways to upgrade its fleet with the same capabilities it would get with a U.S. fighter jet.The aid package will also include an undisclosed number of rockets for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, thousands of artillery and mortar rounds, trucks, and HARM air-to-surface anti-radiation missiles.According to officials, the urgent pleadings of Ukrainian leaders and the devastating destruction of the country’s civilian infrastructure, including loss of electricity and heat during winter, ultimately overcame U.S. reservations about supplying the Patriots.White House and Pentagon leaders have said consistently that providing Ukraine with additional air defenses is a priority, and Patriot missiles have been under consideration for some time. Officials said that as the winter closed in and the Russian bombardment of civilian infrastructure escalated, that consideration took on increased priority.U.S. officials had balked at providing the Patriots to Ukraine because they could be considered a escalation that would trigger a response from Moscow. In addition, there were concerns about the significant training that would be required and questions about whether U.S. troops would have been required to operate it. Biden has flatly rejected sending any U.S. combat troops to Ukraine.One Patriot battery routinely includes up to eight launchers, each of which can hold four missiles. It would be coming from Pentagon training stocks in the U.S..The entire system, which includes a phased array radar, a control station, computers and generators, typically requires about 90 soldiers to operate and maintain. However, only three soldiers are needed to actually fire it, according to the Army.

US sending another $1.8 billion, Patriot missiles, to Ukraine

By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/keystone-pipeline-operator-reports-more-than-half-of-leaked-oil-has-been-recovered/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

LINCOLN — The Canadian company that operates the Keystone pipeline 
indicated Wednesday that more than half of the crude oil spilled from a 
rupture near a northeast Kansas creek has now been recovered.

TC Energy, in an update posted Wednesday morning, said its crews had 
recovered an estimated 7,599 barrels of oil from Mill Creek, and a total
 of 15,488 barrels of oil and water.

Leak was more than half a million gallons

That would be more than half of the estimated 14,000 barrels of oil —
 about 588,000 gallons — that spilled into the creek east of Washington,
 Kansas, <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/12/09/leak-on-keystone-pipeline-released-more-than-half-a-million-gallons-of-crude-oil/">in a leak detected Dec. 7</a>.

It was the largest leak to date on the 12-year-old crude oil 
pipeline, and larger than five previous, reportable leaks combined, 
according to the Government Accountability Office.

TC Energy, formerly TransCanada, said Wednesday that crews had 
removed the impacted pipeline segment and have sent it to an independent
 lab for metallurgical testing.

The testing was ordered by the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which regulates pipelines.

The leak site is just a few miles south of Steele City, Nebraska, 
where TC Energy has a pipeline terminal. The cause of the leak is still 
under investigation, but it occurred as the company was sending a 
diagnostic tool through the metal pipe in that area.

A group that has opposed tar sands pipelines, the Bold Alliance, has 
called for the entire pipeline to be shut down so the integrity of the 
metal pipe can be assessed. Environmental groups have also expressed 
worry about the oil recovery because tar sands oil sinks in water, 
rather than floats like conventional oil.

The Keystone pipeline — a forerunner of the more controversial and 
now abandoned Keystone XL pipeline — transports refined crude oil from 
Canada’s tar sands region to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast and in 
southern Illinois.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1671653789945.png" alt="The response site, pictured Sunday, to oil spill on Keystone pipeline near Washington, Kansas. (Courtesy of TC Energy)" />
 <figcaption>The response site, pictured Sunday, to oil spill on Keystone pipeline near Washington, Kansas. (Courtesy of TC Energy)</figcaption>
 </figure>By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/keystone-pipeline-operator-reports-more-than-half-of-leaked-oil-has-been-recovered/">Nebraska Examiner</a>LINCOLN — The Canadian company that operates the Keystone pipeline 
indicated Wednesday that more than half of the crude oil spilled from a 
rupture near a northeast Kansas creek has now been recovered.TC Energy, in an update posted Wednesday morning, said its crews had 
recovered an estimated 7,599 barrels of oil from Mill Creek, and a total
 of 15,488 barrels of oil and water.<h2>Leak was more than half a million gallons</h2>That would be more than half of the estimated 14,000 barrels of oil —
 about 588,000 gallons — that spilled into the creek east of Washington,
 Kansas, <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/12/09/leak-on-keystone-pipeline-released-more-than-half-a-million-gallons-of-crude-oil/">in a leak detected Dec. 7</a>.It was the largest leak to date on the 12-year-old crude oil 
pipeline, and larger than five previous, reportable leaks combined, 
according to the Government Accountability Office.TC Energy, formerly TransCanada, said Wednesday that crews had 
removed the impacted pipeline segment and have sent it to an independent
 lab for metallurgical testing.The testing was ordered by the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which regulates pipelines.<h2>Site is south of Nebraska terminal</h2>The leak site is just a few miles south of Steele City, Nebraska, 
where TC Energy has a pipeline terminal. The cause of the leak is still 
under investigation, but it occurred as the company was sending a 
diagnostic tool through the metal pipe in that area.A group that has opposed tar sands pipelines, the Bold Alliance, has 
called for the entire pipeline to be shut down so the integrity of the 
metal pipe can be assessed. Environmental groups have also expressed 
worry about the oil recovery because tar sands oil sinks in water, 
rather than floats like conventional oil.The Keystone pipeline — a forerunner of the more controversial and 
now abandoned Keystone XL pipeline — transports refined crude oil from 
Canada’s tar sands region to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast and in 
southern Illinois.

Keystone operator: More than half of leaked oil recovered

TOPEKA&nbsp;–&nbsp;Today the State Finance Council approved a total of $374 million in COVID-19 relief funds for broadband infrastructure and adoption, the modernization and improvement of government services, economic development, and health and education initiatives recommended by the Strengthening People and Revitalizing Kansas (SPARK) Executive Committee.

<a href="https://sg001-harmony.sliq.net/00287/Harmony/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20221220/-1/15457">Click here to watch a</a> replay of the meeting

“The funding approved today will accelerate the work my administration is doing to expand broadband, attract new businesses and create jobs, and strengthen the state’s information security,”&nbsp;Governor Kelly said.&nbsp;“I want to thank the bipartisan State Finance Council and everyone who participated in the SPARK process for helping ensure these relief dollars are invested as effectively and efficiently as possible.”

The SPARK Executive Committee met on December 20 to consider program design proposals for&nbsp;<a href="https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDEsInVyaSI6ImJwMjpjbGljayIsImJ1bGxldGluX2lkIjoiMjAyMjEyMjEuNjg2NDMyOTEiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL2NvdmlkLmtzLmdvdi93cC1jb250ZW50L3VwbG9hZHMvMjAyMi8xMC9TUEFSSy1FeGVjdXRpdmUtQ29tbWl0dGVlLUFubm91bmNlcy1JbnZlc3RtZW50LVJlY29tbWVuZGF0aW9ucy5wZGYifQ.aTO6cjsXDlv6NXfD5Ui2KQ4hwL_JDgzK947j6BD-agU/s/1303160919/br/151067355514-l" target="_blank">COVID-19 relief funding recommended by the committee in September</a>. The Executive Committee reviewed the proposals and recommended programming to distribute $374 million in federal coronavirus relief funds allocated to Kansas through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of March 2021.

“The programs approved today will make catalytic investments in critical areas of need that will position Kansas for future success,”&nbsp;Kansas&nbsp;House Speaker Ron Ryckman said. “From broadband to economic development these programs will provide funding to Kansas communities that will be impactful for years to come.”

The portfolio of approved funding includes investments in competitive grant programs in the four SPARK Advisory Panel areas: Connectivity, Efficiency and Modernization, Health and Education, and Economic Revitalization.

An overview of approved programming is available&nbsp;<a href="https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDIsInVyaSI6ImJwMjpjbGljayIsImJ1bGxldGluX2lkIjoiMjAyMjEyMjEuNjg2NDMyOTEiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL2NvdmlkLmtzLmdvdi93cC1jb250ZW50L3VwbG9hZHMvMjAyMi8xMi9TUEFSSy1TRkMtTWF0ZXJpYWxzLTEyLjIxLjIyLnBkZiJ9.78rRlPZS1GqMYQGauUWJAhLz39sTNwaSzkhNW_Wk3zI/s/1303160919/br/151067355514-l" target="_blank">on the Office of Recovery’s website</a>.

“I’m thrilled that the program details are finalized and these dollars can begin flowing to Kansas communities and businesses,”&nbsp;Lieutenant Governor and Commerce Secretary David Toland said.&nbsp;“The competitive opportunities available will be transformative for the Kansas economy and substantively improve the quality of life for all Kansans. I commend the Executive Committee and Advisory Panel members for their diligent work in shaping the recommendations approved today and helping put Kansas on a path to future success.”

Additional details on these competitive grant programs will be forthcoming from administering agencies by the end of February.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1671656545805.png" alt="Kan. Lt. Governor David Toland during the Wednesday meeting." />
 <figcaption>Kan. Lt. Governor David Toland during the Wednesday meeting.</figcaption>
 </figure>TOPEKA&nbsp;–&nbsp;Today the State Finance Council approved a total of $374 million in COVID-19 relief funds for broadband infrastructure and adoption, the modernization and improvement of government services, economic development, and health and education initiatives recommended by the Strengthening People and Revitalizing Kansas (SPARK) Executive Committee.<a href="https://sg001-harmony.sliq.net/00287/Harmony/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20221220/-1/15457">Click here to watch a</a> replay of the meeting“The funding approved today will accelerate the work my administration is doing to expand broadband, attract new businesses and create jobs, and strengthen the state’s information security,”&nbsp;Governor Kelly said.&nbsp;“I want to thank the bipartisan State Finance Council and everyone who participated in the SPARK process for helping ensure these relief dollars are invested as effectively and efficiently as possible.”The SPARK Executive Committee met on December 20 to consider program design proposals for&nbsp;<a href="https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDEsInVyaSI6ImJwMjpjbGljayIsImJ1bGxldGluX2lkIjoiMjAyMjEyMjEuNjg2NDMyOTEiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL2NvdmlkLmtzLmdvdi93cC1jb250ZW50L3VwbG9hZHMvMjAyMi8xMC9TUEFSSy1FeGVjdXRpdmUtQ29tbWl0dGVlLUFubm91bmNlcy1JbnZlc3RtZW50LVJlY29tbWVuZGF0aW9ucy5wZGYifQ.aTO6cjsXDlv6NXfD5Ui2KQ4hwL_JDgzK947j6BD-agU/s/1303160919/br/151067355514-l" target="_blank">COVID-19 relief funding recommended by the committee in September</a>. The Executive Committee reviewed the proposals and recommended programming to distribute $374 million in federal coronavirus relief funds allocated to Kansas through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of March 2021.“The programs approved today will make catalytic investments in critical areas of need that will position Kansas for future success,”&nbsp;Kansas&nbsp;House Speaker Ron Ryckman said. “From broadband to economic development these programs will provide funding to Kansas communities that will be impactful for years to come.”The portfolio of approved funding includes investments in competitive grant programs in the four SPARK Advisory Panel areas: Connectivity, Efficiency and Modernization, Health and Education, and Economic Revitalization.An overview of approved programming is available&nbsp;<a href="https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDIsInVyaSI6ImJwMjpjbGljayIsImJ1bGxldGluX2lkIjoiMjAyMjEyMjEuNjg2NDMyOTEiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL2NvdmlkLmtzLmdvdi93cC1jb250ZW50L3VwbG9hZHMvMjAyMi8xMi9TUEFSSy1TRkMtTWF0ZXJpYWxzLTEyLjIxLjIyLnBkZiJ9.78rRlPZS1GqMYQGauUWJAhLz39sTNwaSzkhNW_Wk3zI/s/1303160919/br/151067355514-l" target="_blank">on the Office of Recovery’s website</a>.“I’m thrilled that the program details are finalized and these dollars can begin flowing to Kansas communities and businesses,”&nbsp;Lieutenant Governor and Commerce Secretary David Toland said.&nbsp;“The competitive opportunities available will be transformative for the Kansas economy and substantively improve the quality of life for all Kansans. I commend the Executive Committee and Advisory Panel members for their diligent work in shaping the recommendations approved today and helping put Kansas on a path to future success.”Additional details on these competitive grant programs will be forthcoming from administering agencies by the end of February.

🎥State Finance Council approves $374 million in COVID relief funds

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy paid a defiant wartime visit to Washington on Wednesday to thank U.S. leaders and “ordinary Americans” for their support in fighting off Russia’s invasion and to press for continued aid in the brutal months to come. President Joe Biden and Congress responded with billions in new assistance and a pledge to help Ukraine pursue a “just peace.”

Biden welcomed Zelenskyy to the Oval Office, saying the U.S. and Ukraine would continue to project a “united defense” as Russia wages a “brutal assault on Ukraine's right to exist as a nation.” Zelenskyy, on his first known trip outside his country since Russia invaded in February, said he wanted to visit earlier and his visit now showed the “situation is under control, because of your support.”

The highly sensitive trip was taking place after 10 months of a brutal war that has seen tens of thousands of casualties on both sides and devastation for Ukrainian civilians. Zelenskyy's visit was meant to reinvigorate support for his country in the U.S. and around the world, amid concerns that allies are growing weary of the costly war and its disruption to global food and energy supplies. Just before his arrival, the U.S. announced its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-zelenskyy-80ae774f3b7cbb3e1b88d1b728961079">largest single delivery of arms to Ukraine</a>, including&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-zelenskyy-b90ce5a55b1f6b820d03da96612b3796">Patriot surface-to-air missiles</a>, and Congress planned to vote on a spending package that includes about $45 billion in emergency assistance to Ukraine.

Russia, Biden said, is “trying to use winter as a weapon, but Ukrainian people continue to inspire the world,” Biden said. He told Zelenskyy, who wore a combat-green sweatshirt and boots, that ”it’s an honor to be by your side.”

After the White House meeting, Zelenskyy and Biden were to hold a news conference in the East Room. The Ukrainian president was scheduled to give an address to Congress in the evening, which Vice President Kamala Harris would attend.

Zelenskyy headed abroad after making&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-zelenskyy-kyiv-9b7d42d3897185c0ecff222e5149e4ea">a daring and dangerous trip</a>&nbsp;Tuesday to what he called the hottest spot on the 1,300-kilometer (800-mile) front line of the war, the city of Bakhmut in Ukraine’s contested Donetsk province. He praised Ukrainian troops for their “courage, resilience and strength” as artillery boomed in the background.

Poland’s private broadcaster, TVN24, said Zelenskyy crossed into Poland early Wednesday on his way to Washington. The station showed footage of what appeared to be Zelenskyy arriving at a train station and being escorted to a motorcade of American SUVs. TVN24 said the video, partially blurred for security reasons, was shot in Przemysl, a Polish border town that has been the arrival point for many refugees fleeing the war.

Officials, citing security concerns, were cagey about Zelenskyy's travel plans, but a U.S. official confirmed that Zelenskyy arrived on a U.S. Air Force jet that landed at Joint Base Andrews, just outside the capital, from the Polish city of Rzeszow.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in her invitation to Zelenskyy to speak to lawmakers, said “the fight for Ukraine is the fight for democracy itself” and that they were looking forward to "hearing your inspiring message of unity, resilience and determination.”

U.S. and Ukrainian officials have made clear they do not envision an imminent resolution to the war and are preparing for fighting to continue for some time. The latest infusion of U.S. money would be the biggest yet — and exceed Biden’s $37 billion request.

Biden has repeated that while the U.S. will arm and train Ukraine, American forces will not be directly engaged in the war.

Biden and Zelenskyy first discussed the idea of a visit during a telephone call on Dec. 11, with a formal invitation following three days later, according to a senior U.S. administration official. Zelenskyy accepted the invitation on Friday and it was confirmed on Sunday, when the White House began coordinating with Pelosi to arrange the congressional address.

The White House consulted with Zelenskyy on security, including the risk of Russian action while he was briefly out of the country, said the official, who declined to detail the measures taken to safeguard the Ukrainian leader. The official briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the visit.

The $1.85 billion U.S. military aid package will include, for the first time, a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-patriot-missile-system-explainer-b16125509161de8a7a3b4c38022534c7">Patriot missile battery</a>&nbsp;and precision guided bombs for its fighter jets, U.S. officials said. It represents an expansion in the kinds of advanced weaponry intended to bolster Ukraine's air defenses against what has been an increasing barrage of Russian missiles.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has said the delivery of the advanced surface-to-air missile system would be&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-biden-0cc0e5bece38007e3d9f958f536bf1fe">considered a provocative step</a>&nbsp;and that the system and any crews accompanying it would be a legitimate target for Moscow’s military.

It was unclear when the Patriot battery would arrive on the front lines in Ukraine, given that U.S. troops will have to train Ukrainian forces. The training could take several weeks and is expected to be done in Germany.

The visit comes at an important moment, with the White House bracing for greater resistance when Republicans take control of the House in January and give more scrutiny to aid for Ukraine. GOP leader Kevin McCarthy of California has said his party will not write a “blank check” for Ukraine.

Biden and Zelenskyy frequently have talked by phone, with Biden praising Ukraine for remaining steadfast against the Russians and Zelenskyy thanking the U.S. president for support.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer opened the chamber's session by saying that passage of the aid package and confirmation of the new U.S. ambassador to Russia, Lynne M. Tracy, would send a strong signal that Americans stand “unequivocally” with Ukraine. Tracy was confirmed later on a 93-2 vote.

Schumer, a New York Democrat, said Zelenskyy arrives not only as a president but an “ambassador to freedom itself.”

The Senate's top Republican, Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, said “the most basic reasons for continuing to help Ukraine degrade and defeat the Russian invaders are cold, hard, practical American interests.” He said "defeating Russia’s aggression will help prevent further security crises in Europe."

Russia’s invasion, which&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-europe-russia-moscow-kyiv-626a8c5ec22217bacb24ece60fac4fe1">began Feb. 24</a>, has lost momentum. The illegally annexed provinces of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia remain fiercely contested.

With the fighting in the east at a stalemate, Moscow has used missiles and drones to attack Ukraine’s power equipment, hoping to leave people without electricity as freezing weather sets in.

In a video released by his office from the Bakhmut visit, Zelenskyy was handed a signed Ukrainian flag and alluded to delivering it to U.S. leaders. “We are grateful for their support, but it is not enough," he said. "It is a hint — it is not enough.”

Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Kyiv-based Penta Center think tank, said Zelenskyy’s visit to the U.S. “should determine the course of the war — Zelenskyy for the first time dared to leave Ukraine and is counting on being able to maintain, and possibly even strengthen, U.S. military and economic assistance.”

Hanna Danylovych, 43, who lives in Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, and works as a scientist, welcomed the prospect of additional military supplies, saying “there is a great desire and dream to speed up the removal of Russian evil from our land.”

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/putin-finland-sergei-shoigu-ee953abf7f9bf217ccdaa61ec1b35ddd">Russian President Vladimir Putin</a>&nbsp;on Wednesday told his country's military leaders that Russia will achieve its stated goals in Ukraine and use the combat experience to strengthen its military. His defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, said Russia's military must be expanded from the current 1 million to 1.5 million during the fighting in Ukraine.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1671657547305.png" alt="President Biden welcomed Zelenskyy to the Oval Office, saying the U.S. and Ukraine would continue to project a “united defense” as Russia wages a “brutal assault on Ukraine's right to exist as a nation.-White House photo" />
 <figcaption>President Biden welcomed Zelenskyy to the Oval Office, saying the U.S. and Ukraine would continue to project a “united defense” as Russia wages a “brutal assault on Ukraine's right to exist as a nation.-White House photo</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy paid a defiant wartime visit to Washington on Wednesday to thank U.S. leaders and “ordinary Americans” for their support in fighting off Russia’s invasion and to press for continued aid in the brutal months to come. President Joe Biden and Congress responded with billions in new assistance and a pledge to help Ukraine pursue a “just peace.”Biden welcomed Zelenskyy to the Oval Office, saying the U.S. and Ukraine would continue to project a “united defense” as Russia wages a “brutal assault on Ukraine's right to exist as a nation.” Zelenskyy, on his first known trip outside his country since Russia invaded in February, said he wanted to visit earlier and his visit now showed the “situation is under control, because of your support.”The highly sensitive trip was taking place after 10 months of a brutal war that has seen tens of thousands of casualties on both sides and devastation for Ukrainian civilians. Zelenskyy's visit was meant to reinvigorate support for his country in the U.S. and around the world, amid concerns that allies are growing weary of the costly war and its disruption to global food and energy supplies. Just before his arrival, the U.S. announced its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-zelenskyy-80ae774f3b7cbb3e1b88d1b728961079">largest single delivery of arms to Ukraine</a>, including&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-zelenskyy-b90ce5a55b1f6b820d03da96612b3796">Patriot surface-to-air missiles</a>, and Congress planned to vote on a spending package that includes about $45 billion in emergency assistance to Ukraine.Russia, Biden said, is “trying to use winter as a weapon, but Ukrainian people continue to inspire the world,” Biden said. He told Zelenskyy, who wore a combat-green sweatshirt and boots, that ”it’s an honor to be by your side.”After the White House meeting, Zelenskyy and Biden were to hold a news conference in the East Room. The Ukrainian president was scheduled to give an address to Congress in the evening, which Vice President Kamala Harris would attend.Zelenskyy headed abroad after making&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-zelenskyy-kyiv-9b7d42d3897185c0ecff222e5149e4ea">a daring and dangerous trip</a>&nbsp;Tuesday to what he called the hottest spot on the 1,300-kilometer (800-mile) front line of the war, the city of Bakhmut in Ukraine’s contested Donetsk province. He praised Ukrainian troops for their “courage, resilience and strength” as artillery boomed in the background.Poland’s private broadcaster, TVN24, said Zelenskyy crossed into Poland early Wednesday on his way to Washington. The station showed footage of what appeared to be Zelenskyy arriving at a train station and being escorted to a motorcade of American SUVs. TVN24 said the video, partially blurred for security reasons, was shot in Przemysl, a Polish border town that has been the arrival point for many refugees fleeing the war.Officials, citing security concerns, were cagey about Zelenskyy's travel plans, but a U.S. official confirmed that Zelenskyy arrived on a U.S. Air Force jet that landed at Joint Base Andrews, just outside the capital, from the Polish city of Rzeszow.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in her invitation to Zelenskyy to speak to lawmakers, said “the fight for Ukraine is the fight for democracy itself” and that they were looking forward to "hearing your inspiring message of unity, resilience and determination.”U.S. and Ukrainian officials have made clear they do not envision an imminent resolution to the war and are preparing for fighting to continue for some time. The latest infusion of U.S. money would be the biggest yet — and exceed Biden’s $37 billion request.Biden has repeated that while the U.S. will arm and train Ukraine, American forces will not be directly engaged in the war.Biden and Zelenskyy first discussed the idea of a visit during a telephone call on Dec. 11, with a formal invitation following three days later, according to a senior U.S. administration official. Zelenskyy accepted the invitation on Friday and it was confirmed on Sunday, when the White House began coordinating with Pelosi to arrange the congressional address.The White House consulted with Zelenskyy on security, including the risk of Russian action while he was briefly out of the country, said the official, who declined to detail the measures taken to safeguard the Ukrainian leader. The official briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the visit.The $1.85 billion U.S. military aid package will include, for the first time, a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-patriot-missile-system-explainer-b16125509161de8a7a3b4c38022534c7">Patriot missile battery</a>&nbsp;and precision guided bombs for its fighter jets, U.S. officials said. It represents an expansion in the kinds of advanced weaponry intended to bolster Ukraine's air defenses against what has been an increasing barrage of Russian missiles.Russia’s Foreign Ministry has said the delivery of the advanced surface-to-air missile system would be&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-biden-0cc0e5bece38007e3d9f958f536bf1fe">considered a provocative step</a>&nbsp;and that the system and any crews accompanying it would be a legitimate target for Moscow’s military.It was unclear when the Patriot battery would arrive on the front lines in Ukraine, given that U.S. troops will have to train Ukrainian forces. The training could take several weeks and is expected to be done in Germany.The visit comes at an important moment, with the White House bracing for greater resistance when Republicans take control of the House in January and give more scrutiny to aid for Ukraine. GOP leader Kevin McCarthy of California has said his party will not write a “blank check” for Ukraine.Biden and Zelenskyy frequently have talked by phone, with Biden praising Ukraine for remaining steadfast against the Russians and Zelenskyy thanking the U.S. president for support.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer opened the chamber's session by saying that passage of the aid package and confirmation of the new U.S. ambassador to Russia, Lynne M. Tracy, would send a strong signal that Americans stand “unequivocally” with Ukraine. Tracy was confirmed later on a 93-2 vote.Schumer, a New York Democrat, said Zelenskyy arrives not only as a president but an “ambassador to freedom itself.”The Senate's top Republican, Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, said “the most basic reasons for continuing to help Ukraine degrade and defeat the Russian invaders are cold, hard, practical American interests.” He said "defeating Russia’s aggression will help prevent further security crises in Europe."Russia’s invasion, which&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-europe-russia-moscow-kyiv-626a8c5ec22217bacb24ece60fac4fe1">began Feb. 24</a>, has lost momentum. The illegally annexed provinces of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia remain fiercely contested.With the fighting in the east at a stalemate, Moscow has used missiles and drones to attack Ukraine’s power equipment, hoping to leave people without electricity as freezing weather sets in.In a video released by his office from the Bakhmut visit, Zelenskyy was handed a signed Ukrainian flag and alluded to delivering it to U.S. leaders. “We are grateful for their support, but it is not enough," he said. "It is a hint — it is not enough.”Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Kyiv-based Penta Center think tank, said Zelenskyy’s visit to the U.S. “should determine the course of the war — Zelenskyy for the first time dared to leave Ukraine and is counting on being able to maintain, and possibly even strengthen, U.S. military and economic assistance.”Hanna Danylovych, 43, who lives in Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, and works as a scientist, welcomed the prospect of additional military supplies, saying “there is a great desire and dream to speed up the removal of Russian evil from our land.”<a href="https://apnews.com/article/putin-finland-sergei-shoigu-ee953abf7f9bf217ccdaa61ec1b35ddd">Russian President Vladimir Putin</a>&nbsp;on Wednesday told his country's military leaders that Russia will achieve its stated goals in Ukraine and use the combat experience to strengthen its military. His defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, said Russia's military must be expanded from the current 1 million to 1.5 million during the fighting in Ukraine.

Biden tells Zelenskyy: 'It's an honor to be by your side'

TOPEKA&nbsp;– Due to safety concerns regarding the winter storm projected for the state on Thursday, December 22 and dangerously cold temperatures on Friday, December 23, Governor Kelly has issued a Declaration of Inclement Weather for Shawnee County, ordering state office buildings in Shawnee County to be closed on Thursday, December 22 and Friday, December 23, 2022, according to a statement her office.

"Due to the potential for hazardous road conditions, precipitation, and dangerously cold temperatures, we are closing state office buildings in Shawnee County on Thursday and Friday,"&nbsp;Governor Laura Kelly said.&nbsp;"Please exercise extreme caution if traveling for the holiday weekend, give road crews enough space to do their jobs safely, and stay safe and warm."

The declaration takes effect at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, December 21st and remains in effect until 11:59 p.m. Friday, December 23rd.&nbsp;&nbsp;Ambient temperatures 6 a.m. on Thursday will be 4 degrees with wind chills hitting -20 to -30 degrees.&nbsp;Additionally, with wind guests up to 40-45 mph, blizzard-like conditions are expected. Travel through midday Friday will be hazardous.

This declaration applies to all non-essential state employees in Executive Branch agencies under the Governor’s jurisdiction who work in offices located in Shawnee County. During the period of Inclement Weather, essential employees are required to report to work as normal. Benefits-eligible non-essential employees should record Inclement Weather Leave during the period of Inclement Weather.&nbsp;Remote work is not being required.

This declaration does not include employees in the Board of Regents, Regents Institutions, the Judicial Branch, nor the Legislative Branch of Government. Their designated representative will make a separate declaration for those employees if appropriate.

To ensure consistent leadership during potentially dangerous road conditions, Secretary Lorenz will remain in her current role as Kansas Department of Transportation Secretary until midnight on Saturday, December 24, 2022. Calvin Reed will assume his role as Acting Secretary at KDOT on Sunday, December 25, 2022.

Appointing authorities in offices located outside Shawnee County have the option to declare Inclement Weather for those counties.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1671652426819.png" alt="Image National Weather Service Topeka" />
 <figcaption>Image National Weather Service Topeka</figcaption>
 </figure>TOPEKA&nbsp;– Due to safety concerns regarding the winter storm projected for the state on Thursday, December 22 and dangerously cold temperatures on Friday, December 23, Governor Kelly has issued a Declaration of Inclement Weather for Shawnee County, ordering state office buildings in Shawnee County to be closed on Thursday, December 22 and Friday, December 23, 2022, according to a statement her office.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Light snow and freezing drizzle possible this morning and afternoon. No accumulations are expected until the front arrives this evening. Winter Storm Warning is in effect with blowing snow and bitterly cold temps arrive overnight through Thursday. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/kswx?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#kswx</a> <a href="https://t.co/VQYZ2eAcrz">pic.twitter.com/VQYZ2eAcrz</a>&mdash; NWS Topeka (@NWSTopeka) <a href="https://twitter.com/NWSTopeka/status/1605510149891772417?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 21, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>"Due to the potential for hazardous road conditions, precipitation, and dangerously cold temperatures, we are closing state office buildings in Shawnee County on Thursday and Friday,"&nbsp;Governor Laura Kelly said.&nbsp;"Please exercise extreme caution if traveling for the holiday weekend, give road crews enough space to do their jobs safely, and stay safe and warm."The declaration takes effect at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, December 21st and remains in effect until 11:59 p.m. Friday, December 23rd.&nbsp;&nbsp;Ambient temperatures 6 a.m. on Thursday will be 4 degrees with wind chills hitting -20 to -30 degrees.&nbsp;Additionally, with wind guests up to 40-45 mph, blizzard-like conditions are expected. Travel through midday Friday will be hazardous.This declaration applies to all non-essential state employees in Executive Branch agencies under the Governor’s jurisdiction who work in offices located in Shawnee County. During the period of Inclement Weather, essential employees are required to report to work as normal. Benefits-eligible non-essential employees should record Inclement Weather Leave during the period of Inclement Weather.&nbsp;Remote work is not being required.This declaration does not include employees in the Board of Regents, Regents Institutions, the Judicial Branch, nor the Legislative Branch of Government. Their designated representative will make a separate declaration for those employees if appropriate.To ensure consistent leadership during potentially dangerous road conditions, Secretary Lorenz will remain in her current role as Kansas Department of Transportation Secretary until midnight on Saturday, December 24, 2022. Calvin Reed will assume his role as Acting Secretary at KDOT on Sunday, December 25, 2022.Appointing authorities in offices located outside Shawnee County have the option to declare Inclement Weather for those counties.

Gov. orders state office buildings closed ahead of winter storm

WICHITA —The abortion industry in Kansas announced Tuesday it has begun administering chemical abortions through telemedicine.

“True to form, the abortion industry is once again putting its own profits and convenience ahead of safeguards for the health of women and girls,” said Danielle Underwood, <a href="https://kfl.org/locations/">KFL Director of</a> Communications in a media release from the organization.

“This time, abortionists are heartlessly pursuing their goal to perform larger numbers of abortions by withholding direct and needed physical care of an onsite physician. Once again, this has sadly become another ‘I told you so’ moment as women and babies in Kansas will be the ones who suffer from these actions.”

“<a href="https://kfl.org/locations/">Pro-life Kansans</a> have issued urgent, repeated warnings since 2019 that the abortion industry planned to push for the overturn of reasonable, existing limits on abortion and make our state an ever-growing regional destination for abortion. These predictions become truer by the day,” said Underwood.

With the abortion industry succeeding in forcing the overturn of Kansas’ in-person doctor requirement in November due to the legal precedent set by&nbsp;<a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/kansas/supreme-court/2019/114153.html">Hodes and Nauser v. Schmidt</a>, abortion extremists moved quickly to expand abortion offerings to residents and nearby states, going so far as to advertise in Kansas visitors guides.

Peer-reviewed science has shown abortion pills are dangerous. Large cohort studies have found&nbsp;<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19888037/">chemical abortion resulted in four times the rate of complications</a>&nbsp;compared to surgical abortion. Well-documented dangers include life-threatening blood loss, undiagnosed ectopic pregnancy, and inappropriate use of chemical abortion pills due to underestimated gestational age from lack of proper medical oversight in telemed-assisted chemical abortions.

Pro-abortion advocates claim women in rural areas are disadvantaged without telemedicine abortions, but studies show&nbsp;<a href="http://www.lozierinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/AAPS-Journal-Chemical-abortion-risks-posed-by-changes-in-supervision.pdf">one in 20 women suffer a failed chemical abortion</a>, placing rural women at greater risk from these procedures due to emergency care being far away. Days later, these women may require hospital admission for immediate surgery, blood transfusion, or intravenous antibiotics to save their lives, causing disproportionate suffering and frightening escalation of adverse events.

<a href="https://kfl.org/mission/">Kansans for Life </a>is considering every possible course of action, including legal remedies, and plans to continue to pursue legislation that would ensure women are provided critical information about risks of abortion pills and medical interventions available to potentially reverse their effects, as well as other protective measures.

“While Governor Laura Kelly has previously opposed providing this critical information to pregnant women and girls, KFL has and will continue to pursue passage of Abortion Pill Reversal (APR) legislation,” said Jeanne Gawdun, KFL Director of Government Relations. “Women have a right to this potentially lifesaving information.”

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Planned Parenthood affiliate announced Tuesday that it has started teleconferences with off-site doctors for patients seeking medication abortions at one of its Kansas clinics, a small step toward potentially much broader access in a state that has become a destination for the procedure after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-primary-elections-kansas-abortion-b6d62a852c2ce4617f2c03589fbb523e">an August vote affirming abortion rights</a>.

Planned Parenthood Great Plains said it began offering telemedicine consultations Monday to patients visiting its Wichita clinic. President and CEO Emily Wales said the immediate goal is to have more days that patients can go there to get medication abortions. She said her affiliate hopes to offer the service to patients visiting its other two clinics on the Kansas side of the Kansas City area “in short order” and eventually to allow patients in doctors' offices and clinics across the state to teleconference with its physicians.

The move comes as Kansas abortion providers say they are seeing a flood of requests for appointments from women in states with more strenuous restrictions on abortion than Kansas — particularly Oklahoma and Texas. Kansas voters in August decisively voted to retain state constitutional protections for abortion rights.

The announcement also came less than a month after a state-court judge blocked enforcement of Kansas' ban on telemedicine abortions. The abortionfinder.org website lists 26 other states in which residents seeking abortion medications can teleconference with doctors, including Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Wyoming. However, for some states, the website lists only online pill providers, such as Aid Access or carafem.

“My vision for telehealth medication abortion is the same as my vision for abortion generally, which is that it would be widely accessible by many providers,” Wales said in an interview ahead of the announcement.

The blocked Kansas law required a doctor to be in the same room with a patient taking what is typically the first of two doses of medication to end a pregnancy. Another provider, a Wichita clinic operated by the abortion rights group Trust Women, offered telemedicine abortions for a few months late in 2018 but stopped because the legal climate was uncertain at the time.

Trust Women also expects to offer telemedicine abortions but has said it is considering what additional staff and infrastructure it will need.

Eighteen states have bans on telemedicine abortions in place, according to national groups on both sides of the debate. They include Arizona, Indiana, Nebraska and North Carolina.

Kansans for Life, the state's most politically influential anti-abortion group, responded to what it called Planned Parenthood's “dark announcement” by promising to consider “every possible course of action,” including legislation.

Abortion opponents have long argued that telemedicine bans protect women's health by ensuring a physician is present to deal with major problems, though research has shown that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-medication-abortion-783874945633">abortion pills are safe</a>.

The long-term goal, Wales said, is to work with a network of doctors or clinics across the state so that women don’t have to travel to Wichita or the Kansas City area to obtain abortion medications.

Patients in states with more restrictive abortion laws still would have to travel to Kansas, as they do now. Doctors doing the teleconsulting also would have to be licensed to practice medicine in Kansas, as they must be now.

For now, Planned Parenthood Great Plains is using existing staff and physicians to offer telemedicine abortion consultations to patients in Wichita. Wales said while the clinic sometimes has a doctor there three or four days a week, one day a week is typical. Her affiliate's medical director, Dr. Iman Alsaden, said there would have been no abortion appointments Monday in Wichita without teleconferencing.

The Planned Parenthood affiliate already offers some telehealth services, such as refilling birth control prescriptions or gender-affirming care visits for transgender patients. Wales said it's still deciding day-by-day how quickly to expand telemedicine abortion appointments.

Abortion providers had to wait until this year for a clearer picture of the legality of telemedicine abortions. The statewide vote in August preserved&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/3f479b218a6140719e1694fcfcdb8036">a Kansas Supreme Court ruling</a>&nbsp;in April 2019 that access to abortion is a “fundamental” right under the state constitution.

The vote came as Trust Women was pursuing a lawsuit to against the state's ban on telemedicine abortions. That lawsuit led to the state-court judge's order blocking enforcement of the Kansas telemedicine abortion ban.

“We’re pretty confident that the courts are on our side and that we have a very strong legal leg to stand on,” said Erin Thompson, Planned Parenthood Great Plains’ general counsel.

WICHITA —The abortion industry in Kansas announced Tuesday it has begun administering chemical abortions through telemedicine.“True to form, the abortion industry is once again putting its own profits and convenience ahead of safeguards for the health of women and girls,” said Danielle Underwood, <a href="https://kfl.org/locations/">KFL Director of</a> Communications in a media release from the organization.“This time, abortionists are heartlessly pursuing their goal to perform larger numbers of abortions by withholding direct and needed physical care of an onsite physician. Once again, this has sadly become another ‘I told you so’ moment as women and babies in Kansas will be the ones who suffer from these actions.”“<a href="https://kfl.org/locations/">Pro-life Kansans</a> have issued urgent, repeated warnings since 2019 that the abortion industry planned to push for the overturn of reasonable, existing limits on abortion and make our state an ever-growing regional destination for abortion. These predictions become truer by the day,” said Underwood.With the abortion industry succeeding in forcing the overturn of Kansas’ in-person doctor requirement in November due to the legal precedent set by&nbsp;<a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/kansas/supreme-court/2019/114153.html">Hodes and Nauser v. Schmidt</a>, abortion extremists moved quickly to expand abortion offerings to residents and nearby states, going so far as to advertise in Kansas visitors guides.Peer-reviewed science has shown abortion pills are dangerous. Large cohort studies have found&nbsp;<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19888037/">chemical abortion resulted in four times the rate of complications</a>&nbsp;compared to surgical abortion. Well-documented dangers include life-threatening blood loss, undiagnosed ectopic pregnancy, and inappropriate use of chemical abortion pills due to underestimated gestational age from lack of proper medical oversight in telemed-assisted chemical abortions.Pro-abortion advocates claim women in rural areas are disadvantaged without telemedicine abortions, but studies show&nbsp;<a href="http://www.lozierinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/AAPS-Journal-Chemical-abortion-risks-posed-by-changes-in-supervision.pdf">one in 20 women suffer a failed chemical abortion</a>, placing rural women at greater risk from these procedures due to emergency care being far away. Days later, these women may require hospital admission for immediate surgery, blood transfusion, or intravenous antibiotics to save their lives, causing disproportionate suffering and frightening escalation of adverse events.<a href="https://kfl.org/mission/">Kansans for Life </a>is considering every possible course of action, including legal remedies, and plans to continue to pursue legislation that would ensure women are provided critical information about risks of abortion pills and medical interventions available to potentially reverse their effects, as well as other protective measures.“While Governor Laura Kelly has previously opposed providing this critical information to pregnant women and girls, KFL has and will continue to pursue passage of Abortion Pill Reversal (APR) legislation,” said Jeanne Gawdun, KFL Director of Government Relations. “Women have a right to this potentially lifesaving information.”----------TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Planned Parenthood affiliate announced Tuesday that it has started teleconferences with off-site doctors for patients seeking medication abortions at one of its Kansas clinics, a small step toward potentially much broader access in a state that has become a destination for the procedure after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-primary-elections-kansas-abortion-b6d62a852c2ce4617f2c03589fbb523e">an August vote affirming abortion rights</a>.Planned Parenthood Great Plains said it began offering telemedicine consultations Monday to patients visiting its Wichita clinic. President and CEO Emily Wales said the immediate goal is to have more days that patients can go there to get medication abortions. She said her affiliate hopes to offer the service to patients visiting its other two clinics on the Kansas side of the Kansas City area “in short order” and eventually to allow patients in doctors' offices and clinics across the state to teleconference with its physicians.The move comes as Kansas abortion providers say they are seeing a flood of requests for appointments from women in states with more strenuous restrictions on abortion than Kansas — particularly Oklahoma and Texas. Kansas voters in August decisively voted to retain state constitutional protections for abortion rights.The announcement also came less than a month after a state-court judge blocked enforcement of Kansas' ban on telemedicine abortions. The abortionfinder.org website lists 26 other states in which residents seeking abortion medications can teleconference with doctors, including Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Wyoming. However, for some states, the website lists only online pill providers, such as Aid Access or carafem.“My vision for telehealth medication abortion is the same as my vision for abortion generally, which is that it would be widely accessible by many providers,” Wales said in an interview ahead of the announcement.The blocked Kansas law required a doctor to be in the same room with a patient taking what is typically the first of two doses of medication to end a pregnancy. Another provider, a Wichita clinic operated by the abortion rights group Trust Women, offered telemedicine abortions for a few months late in 2018 but stopped because the legal climate was uncertain at the time.Trust Women also expects to offer telemedicine abortions but has said it is considering what additional staff and infrastructure it will need.Eighteen states have bans on telemedicine abortions in place, according to national groups on both sides of the debate. They include Arizona, Indiana, Nebraska and North Carolina.Kansans for Life, the state's most politically influential anti-abortion group, responded to what it called Planned Parenthood's “dark announcement” by promising to consider “every possible course of action,” including legislation.Abortion opponents have long argued that telemedicine bans protect women's health by ensuring a physician is present to deal with major problems, though research has shown that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-medication-abortion-783874945633">abortion pills are safe</a>.The long-term goal, Wales said, is to work with a network of doctors or clinics across the state so that women don’t have to travel to Wichita or the Kansas City area to obtain abortion medications.Patients in states with more restrictive abortion laws still would have to travel to Kansas, as they do now. Doctors doing the teleconsulting also would have to be licensed to practice medicine in Kansas, as they must be now.For now, Planned Parenthood Great Plains is using existing staff and physicians to offer telemedicine abortion consultations to patients in Wichita. Wales said while the clinic sometimes has a doctor there three or four days a week, one day a week is typical. Her affiliate's medical director, Dr. Iman Alsaden, said there would have been no abortion appointments Monday in Wichita without teleconferencing.The Planned Parenthood affiliate already offers some telehealth services, such as refilling birth control prescriptions or gender-affirming care visits for transgender patients. Wales said it's still deciding day-by-day how quickly to expand telemedicine abortion appointments.Abortion providers had to wait until this year for a clearer picture of the legality of telemedicine abortions. The statewide vote in August preserved&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/3f479b218a6140719e1694fcfcdb8036">a Kansas Supreme Court ruling</a>&nbsp;in April 2019 that access to abortion is a “fundamental” right under the state constitution.The vote came as Trust Women was pursuing a lawsuit to against the state's ban on telemedicine abortions. That lawsuit led to the state-court judge's order blocking enforcement of the Kansas telemedicine abortion ban.“We’re pretty confident that the courts are on our side and that we have a very strong legal leg to stand on,” said Erin Thompson, Planned Parenthood Great Plains’ general counsel.___

Pro-life group responds to news of telemedicine abortions in Kansas

TOPEKA — The Kansas Department of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/160/COVID-19-in-Kansas">Health reported&nbsp;</a>&nbsp;4,216 new coronavirus cases in Kansas from Dec. 14 to Dec. 21, for a total of&nbsp; 914, 407 cases.&nbsp;&nbsp;The state reported 4,153 new cases the previous week.

On Wednesday, th<a href="https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1529/June-15-Case-Summary-PDF?bidId=">e state reported</a>&nbsp;7 additional COVID-19 deaths since the report on Dec. 14, for a total of 9,709.

<a href="https://www.kansasvaccine.gov/158/Data">Click here for Data</a>&nbsp;about the COVID-19 vaccine.

<a href="https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/160/COVID-19-in-Kansas">Click here&nbsp;</a>for additional virus numbers from the KDHE.

Kansas is providing fewer updates of its data about COVID-19 now that Gov. Laura Kelly formally declared that the state is moving toward treating COVID-19 as a disease like the flu that spreads regularly and isn't considered a pandemic.&nbsp;The health department plans to update data about cases and vaccinations each Wednesday.

The state continues to support access to free COVID-19 testing, works to ensure that vulnerable populations can get vaccinated, see that providers serve a broad population and give “comprehensive guidance” about the virus. She called the new phase “endemic normalcy.”

The health department plans to update data about cases and vaccinations each Wednesday.

TOPEKA — The Kansas Department of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/160/COVID-19-in-Kansas">Health reported&nbsp;</a>&nbsp;4,216 new coronavirus cases in Kansas from Dec. 14 to Dec. 21, for a total of&nbsp; 914, 407 cases.&nbsp;&nbsp;The state reported 4,153 new cases the previous week.On Wednesday, th<a href="https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1529/June-15-Case-Summary-PDF?bidId=">e state reported</a>&nbsp;7 additional COVID-19 deaths since the report on Dec. 14, for a total of 9,709.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1671645768077.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure><a href="https://www.kansasvaccine.gov/158/Data">Click here for Data</a>&nbsp;about the COVID-19 vaccine.<a href="https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/160/COVID-19-in-Kansas">Click here&nbsp;</a>for additional virus numbers from the KDHE.Kansas is providing fewer updates of its data about COVID-19 now that Gov. Laura Kelly formally declared that the state is moving toward treating COVID-19 as a disease like the flu that spreads regularly and isn't considered a pandemic.&nbsp;The health department plans to update data about cases and vaccinations each Wednesday.The state continues to support access to free COVID-19 testing, works to ensure that vulnerable populations can get vaccinated, see that providers serve a broad population and give “comprehensive guidance” about the virus. She called the new phase “endemic normalcy.”The health department plans to update data about cases and vaccinations each Wednesday.

KDHE reports slight increase in COVID cases; 7 more deaths

GEARY COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a burglary and asking the public for help to ID suspects.

Just after 5a.m. December 13, two unknown subjects broke into and stole a large amount of money from Money Zone, 314 East Chestnut, in Junction City, according to a media release from police.

Police ask that anyone with information about this incident and or the identity of the two individuals pictured please get in touch with the Junction City Police Department and or Geary County Crime Stoppers.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1671645462890.png" alt="Photo courtesy JCPD" />
 <figcaption>Photo courtesy JCPD</figcaption>
 </figure>GEARY COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a burglary and asking the public for help to ID suspects.Just after 5a.m. December 13, two unknown subjects broke into and stole a large amount of money from Money Zone, 314 East Chestnut, in Junction City, according to a media release from police.Police ask that anyone with information about this incident and or the identity of the two individuals pictured please get in touch with the Junction City Police Department and or Geary County Crime Stoppers.&nbsp;

Police ask for help to ID suspects who robbed Kan. payday loan store

WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of people who enrolled in Medicaid during the COVID-19 pandemic could start to lose their coverage on April 1 if&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-3e0fef206f524f6b1b67f7c36178a688">Congress passes the $1.7 trillion spending package leaders unveiled Tuesday</a>.&nbsp;

Thirteen GOP Senators including Kansas Senior Senator Jerry Moran voted Tuesday night to proceed with the omnibus bill. Missouri Senator Roy Blunt, who is set to retire at the end of the month, also voted to advance the legislation.

The legislation will sunset a requirement of the COVID-19 public health emergency that prohibited states from booting people off Medicaid. The Biden administration has been under mounting pressure to declare the public health emergency over, with 25 Republican governors asking the president to end it in a letter on Monday, which cited growing concerns about bloated Medicaid enrollment.

“This is a positive for states in terms of planning, however, this will come at the cost of some individuals losing their health care,” said Massey Whorley, a principal at health consulting firm Avalere.

Millions are expected to be bumped from the program, which grants health care coverage to nearly 80 million low-income people throughout the country. The federal government will also wind down extra funds given to states for the added enrollees over the next year under the proposal.

Many will be eligible for health insurance coverage through employers, the Affordable Care Act or, in the case of kids, the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Advocates have raised concerns about how states will notify enrollees if they are being kicked off the program and what their options are. The effort will be particularly challenging for some of the country's poorest people, who may not have stable home address or access to internet or phone services to check their status. If passed, the spending package would allow states to start kicking people off the program as early as April, but require them to notify enrollees first.

People who are on Medicaid should make sure their contact information is up to date on their accounts and that they check the mail frequently to keep an eye on their eligibility status as that April 1 date nears, said Robin Rudowitz, the director of Medicaid at Kaiser Family Foundation.

“There is likely to be people who fall through the cracks,” she said.

The move will free up additional funds, however, to pay for more stable health insurance coverage for children in low-income households by requiring states to keep those children on Medicaid for at least a year once they've enrolled. A push require states to extend Medicaid to new mothers for a 12-month period after giving birth, however, failed to make the cut. The District of Columbia and 27 states currently extend coverage for a 12-month period for postpartum mothers.

The spending package also extends the telehealth flexibilities that were introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic and led health care systems around the country to overhaul their approach to deliver care by smartphone or computer more frequently.

Under the proposal, the restrictions that once tightly governed telehealth care under Medicare will stay loosened through the end of 2024.

That will give Congress more time to study telehealth and how widespread fraud is in this program, said Andrew Hu of the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington think tank, which has studied the use of telehealth during the pandemic.

“We can get some more time to assess where the benefits are with telehealth,” Hu said.

The Senate is expected to take a final vote on the spending bill Wednesday, and Democrats are looking for support from at least 10 Republican senators to pass the measure before sending to the House for consideration.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of people who enrolled in Medicaid during the COVID-19 pandemic could start to lose their coverage on April 1 if&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-3e0fef206f524f6b1b67f7c36178a688">Congress passes the $1.7 trillion spending package leaders unveiled Tuesday</a>.&nbsp; Thirteen GOP Senators including Kansas Senior Senator Jerry Moran voted Tuesday night to proceed with the omnibus bill. Missouri Senator Roy Blunt, who is set to retire at the end of the month, also voted to advance the legislation.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">I wonder how long it would take the clerk to read this… <a href="https://t.co/iaphBzTEsS">pic.twitter.com/iaphBzTEsS</a>&mdash; Rand Paul (@RandPaul) <a href="https://twitter.com/RandPaul/status/1605288779660812289?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 20, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>The legislation will sunset a requirement of the COVID-19 public health emergency that prohibited states from booting people off Medicaid. The Biden administration has been under mounting pressure to declare the public health emergency over, with 25 Republican governors asking the president to end it in a letter on Monday, which cited growing concerns about bloated Medicaid enrollment.“This is a positive for states in terms of planning, however, this will come at the cost of some individuals losing their health care,” said Massey Whorley, a principal at health consulting firm Avalere.Millions are expected to be bumped from the program, which grants health care coverage to nearly 80 million low-income people throughout the country. The federal government will also wind down extra funds given to states for the added enrollees over the next year under the proposal.Many will be eligible for health insurance coverage through employers, the Affordable Care Act or, in the case of kids, the Children’s Health Insurance Program.Advocates have raised concerns about how states will notify enrollees if they are being kicked off the program and what their options are. The effort will be particularly challenging for some of the country's poorest people, who may not have stable home address or access to internet or phone services to check their status. If passed, the spending package would allow states to start kicking people off the program as early as April, but require them to notify enrollees first.People who are on Medicaid should make sure their contact information is up to date on their accounts and that they check the mail frequently to keep an eye on their eligibility status as that April 1 date nears, said Robin Rudowitz, the director of Medicaid at Kaiser Family Foundation.“There is likely to be people who fall through the cracks,” she said.The move will free up additional funds, however, to pay for more stable health insurance coverage for children in low-income households by requiring states to keep those children on Medicaid for at least a year once they've enrolled. A push require states to extend Medicaid to new mothers for a 12-month period after giving birth, however, failed to make the cut. The District of Columbia and 27 states currently extend coverage for a 12-month period for postpartum mothers.The spending package also extends the telehealth flexibilities that were introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic and led health care systems around the country to overhaul their approach to deliver care by smartphone or computer more frequently.Under the proposal, the restrictions that once tightly governed telehealth care under Medicare will stay loosened through the end of 2024.That will give Congress more time to study telehealth and how widespread fraud is in this program, said Andrew Hu of the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington think tank, which has studied the use of telehealth during the pandemic.“We can get some more time to assess where the benefits are with telehealth,” Hu said.The Senate is expected to take a final vote on the spending bill Wednesday, and Democrats are looking for support from at least 10 Republican senators to pass the measure before sending to the House for consideration.

Moran votes to advance $1.7T budget bill; millions to lose Medicaid

WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS failed to pursue mandatory audits of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;on a timely basis during his presidency, a congressional panel found on Tuesday, raising questions about statements by the former president and leading members of his administration who claimed he could not release his tax filings because of the ongoing reviews.

(<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5047652/chair-richard-neal-audits-president-trumps-tax-returns-existent">Click here to watch</a>&nbsp;Committee Chair Rep.&nbsp;Richard Neal's statement on the investigation or <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23476419-committee-report-final">Click here to read the report.</a>)

A report released by the Democratic majority on the House Ways and Means Committee indicated the Trump administration may have disregarded an IRS requirement dating back to 1977 that mandates audits of a president's tax filings. The IRS only began to audit Trump's 2016 tax filings on April 3, 2019, more than two years into Trump's presidency and just months after Democrats took control of the House. That date coincides with Rep. Richard Neal, the panel chairman, asking the IRS for information related to Trump's tax returns.

There was no suggestion that Trump, who has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-2024-updates-cd5339d48064a149527e8f9a1aa7614e">announced</a>&nbsp;a third presidential run, sought to directly influence the IRS or discourage the agency from reviewing his tax information. But the report found that the audit process was “dormant, at best.”

The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23476419-committee-report-final">29-page report</a>&nbsp;was published just hours after the committee voted along party lines to release Trump's tax returns in the coming days, raising the potential of additional revelations related to the finances of the onetime businessman who broke political norms by refusing to voluntarily release his returns as he sought the presidency. The vote was the culmination of a yearslong fight between Trump and Democrats that has played out everywhere from the campaign trail to the halls of Congress and the Supreme Court.

Democrats on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee argued that transparency and the rule of law were at stake, while Republicans countered that the release would set a dangerous precedent with regard to the loss of privacy protections.

“This is about the presidency, not the president,” Neal, D-Mass., told reporters.

Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, the panel’s top GOP member, said, “Regrettably, the deed is done.”

“Over our objections in opposition, Democrats in the Ways and Means Committee have unleashed a dangerous new political weapon that overturns decades of privacy protections,” he told reporters. “The era of political targeting, and of Congress’s enemies list, is back and every American, every American taxpayer, who may get on the wrong side of the majority in Congress is now at risk.”

Trump spent much of Tuesday evening releasing statements on his social media platform that were unrelated to his tax returns. The IRS didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

But&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23476433-jct-report-final">an accompanying report</a>&nbsp;released by Congress' nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation also found repeated faults with the IRS’s approach toward auditing Trump and his companies.

IRS agents in charge of the audits repeatedly did not bring in specialists with expertise assessing the complicated structure of Trump’s holdings. They frequently determined that a limited examination was warranted because Trump hired a professional accounting firm that they assumed would make sure Trump “properly reports all income and deduction items correctly.”

“We must express disagreement with the decision not to engage any specialists when facing returns with a high degree of complexity,” the tax committee report states. “We also fail to understand why the fact that counsel and an accounting firm participated in tax preparation ensures the accuracy of the returns.”

The reports released Tuesday renewed scrutiny on one of the biggest questions that has surrounded Trump since he shifted from a reality television star to an unlikely presidential candidate: Why did he abandon the post-Watergate tradition of White House hopefuls releasing their tax returns? Trump and those around him have consistently said that IRS audits prevented him from doing so.

“I would love to give them, but I’m not going to do it while I’m under audit,” Trump said on April 10, 2019, before boarding the presidential helicopter.

There are no laws that would have barred Trump from voluntarily releasing his returns even if they were being audited. But when Trump spoke of being audited, it's unclear whether he was referring to the mandatory process specifically aimed at presidents or prior reviews that are more typical for wealthy individuals.

<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html">The New York Times</a>&nbsp;found that before he entered the White House, Trump was facing an IRS audit potentially tied to a $72.9 million tax refund arising from $700 million in losses he claimed in 2009. The documents released Tuesday indicate that Trump continued to collect tax benefits from those losses through 2018.

“What happened?" said Steven Rosenthal, senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. "If it was not resolved, the IRS stalled. If it was resolved in Trump’s favor, then maybe the IRS rolled over and played dead. That’s what we have to find out.’’

The report raised multiple red flags about aspects of Trump's tax filings, including his carryover losses, deductions tied to conservation and charitable donations, and loans to his children that could be taxable gifts.

In response to the findings, the Ways and Means Committee is proposing legislation to beef up the IRS’s approach, requiring an initial report no later than 90 days from the filing of a president’s tax returns. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the chamber would “move swiftly” to advance the legislation.

Democrats argue that the IRS is ill-equipped to audit high-income, complex tax returns, and instead targets filers in lower-income brackets — something they have tried to remedy with their work on the panel.

“Because of the dismantling of funding to the IRS, they have not been able to do their job,” said Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev. “They did not have the specialized staff to do it for that high-income category — not just this person, but people who fall into that category.”

But Republicans have vowed to cut a recent influx of funding for more IRS agents. That's the first bill they will consider upon taking the House majority in less than two weeks.

The committee’s move represents yet another challenge for Trump. Just a day earlier, the House Jan. 6 committee voted to make a criminal referral to the Justice Department for Trump’s role in sparking the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. He’s also facing an intensifying investigation in Atlanta for efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. And he’s the subject of growing criticism from fellow Republicans for contributing to the party’s underwhelming performance in last month’s midterms.

Trump's family business, The Trump Organization, was convicted earlier this month on tax fraud charges for helping some executives dodge taxes on company-paid perks such as apartments and luxury cars.

Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg told The Associated Press in an interview last week that his office’s investigation into Trump and his businesses continues.

“We’re going to follow the facts and continue to do our job,” Bragg said.

Trump has argued there is little to learn from his tax returns even as he has fought to keep them private.

“You can’t learn much from tax returns, but it is illegal to release them if they are not yours!” he complained on his social media network last weekend.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democratic-controlled House Ways and Means Committee voted along party lines Tuesday to issue a report on Donald Trump’s tax returns — likely offering a deeper look into financial records that the former president tried to shield from the public.

(<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5047652/chair-richard-neal-audits-president-trumps-tax-returns-existent">Click here to watch</a>&nbsp;House Ways and Means Committee Chair Rep.&nbsp;Richard Neal's statement of the investigation.)

Lawmakers indicated after the vote that the world could see redacted copies Trump's tax filings within a couple of days.

The dueling mix of animosity and loyalty inspired by Trump has made the release of the tax forms into a fever-pitched and yearslong grind, one that could continue well after the public learns more details about the finances, foreign dealings and possible net worth of the one-term Republican president.

The report shows how much of a grip Trump still holds over U.S. politics despite losing reelection in 2020. Democratic lawmakers argued that transparency and the rule of law were at stake by voting to issue the report that legally rests on questions about IRS audits of the wealthy. Republicans countered that the release would set a dangerous precedent with regard to the loss of privacy protections.

Tuesday's vote comes after a multiyear battle that ultimately resulted in the Supreme Court clearing the way last month for the Treasury Department to send the returns to Congress. The committee received six years of tax returns for Trump and some of his businesses.

Democrats faced pressure to act aggressively in the final stretch of this year. With just two weeks left until Republicans formally take control of the House, Tuesday’s meeting was an opportunity for Democrats to disclose whatever information they have on Trump, a reputed multibillionaire who used his wealth as a selling point with voters to win the presidency in 2016.

Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., said supporting materials will be released along with the report. Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, the committee's top Republican, raised concerns about privacy as the documents could contain information such as Social Security numbers.

Republicans have railed against the potential release, arguing that it would set a dangerous precedent.

Before Tuesday’s meeting, Brady called any release of Trump’s tax records a “dangerous new political weapon” that “even Democrats will come to regret.”

“Our concern is not whether the president should have made his tax returns public, as is traditional, nor about the accuracy of his tax returns,” Brady said. “Our concern is that, if taken, this committee action will set a terrible precedent that unleashes a dangerous new political weapon that reaches far beyond the former president and overturns decades of privacy protections for average Americans that have existed since the Watergate reforms.”

Trump has long had a complicated relationship with his personal income taxes.

As a presidential candidate in 2016, he broke decades of precedent by refusing to release his tax forms to the public. He bragged during a presidential debate that year that he was “smart” because he paid no federal taxes and later claimed he wouldn't personally benefit from the 2017 tax cuts he signed into law that favored people with extreme wealth, asking Americans to simply take him at his word.

Tax records would have been a useful metric for judging his success in business. The image of a savvy businessman was key to a political brand honed during his years as a tabloid magnet and star of “The Apprentice” television show. They also could reveal any financial obligations — including foreign debts — that could influence how he governed.

But Americans were largely in the dark about Trump's relationship with the IRS until October 2018 and September 2020, when The New York Times published two separate series based on leaked tax records.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-tax-schemes-fred-trump.html">2018 articles</a>&nbsp;showed how Trump received a modern equivalent of at least $413 million from his father's real estate holdings, with much of that money coming from what the Times called “tax dodges” in the 1990s. Trump sued the Times and his niece, Mary Trump, in 2021 for providing the records to the newspaper. In November, Mary Trump asked an appeals court to overturn a judge’s decision to reject her claims that her uncle and two of his siblings defrauded her of millions of dollars in a 2001 family settlement.

The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html">2020 articles</a>&nbsp;showed that Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes in 2017 and 2018. Trump paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the past 15 years because he generally lost more money than he made.

The articles exposed deep inequities in the U.S. tax code as Trump, a reputed multi-billionaire, paid little in federal income taxes. IRS figures indicate that the average tax filer paid roughly $12,200 in 2017, about 16 times more than the former president paid.

Details about Trump's income from foreign operations and debt levels were also contained in the tax filings, which the former president derided as “fake news."

At the time of the 2020 articles, Neal said he saw an ethical problem in Trump overseeing a federal agency that he has also battled with legal filings.

"Now, Donald Trump is the boss of the agency he considers an adversary," Neal said in 2020. “It is essential that the IRS’s presidential audit program remain free of interference.”

The Manhattan district attorney’s office also&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/manhattan-prosecutor-trump-tax-records-87f675d7ae8e24fbf2e8f33c480869d6">obtained copies of Trump’s tax records</a>&nbsp;in February 2021 after a protracted legal fight that included two trips to the Supreme Court.

The office, then led by District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., had subpoenaed Trump’s accounting firm in 2019, seeking access to eight years of Trump’s tax returns and related documents.

The DA’s office issued the subpoena after Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen told Congress that Trump had misled tax officials, insurers and business associates about the value of his assets. Those allegations are the subject of a fraud lawsuit that New York Attorney General Letitia James filed against Trump and his company in September.

Trump’s longtime accountant, Donald Bender, testified at the Trump Organization’s recent criminal trial that Trump reported losses on his tax returns every year for a decade, including nearly $700 million in 2009 and $200 million in 2010.

Bender, a partner at Mazars USA LLP who spent years preparing Trump’s personal tax returns, said Trump’s reported losses from 2009 to 2018 included net operating losses from some of the many businesses he owns through his Trump Organization.

The Trump Organization was convicted earlier this month on tax fraud charges for helping some executives dodge taxes on company-paid perks such as apartments and luxury cars.

The current Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, told The Associated Press in an interview last week that his office’s investigation into Trump and his businesses continues.

Trump, who refused to release his returns during his 2016 presidential campaign and his four years in the White House while claiming that he was under IRS audit, has argued there is little to be gleaned from the tax returns even as he has fought to keep them private.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1671588054320.png" alt="House Ways and Means Committee Chair Rep.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.c-span.org/person/?6103/RichardNeal">Richard Neal&nbsp;</a>(D-MA) held a press conference following the committee’s vote to release the materials surrounding Donald Trump’s tax returns. photo courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>House Ways and Means Committee Chair Rep.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.c-span.org/person/?6103/RichardNeal">Richard Neal&nbsp;</a>(D-MA) held a press conference following the committee’s vote to release the materials surrounding Donald Trump’s tax returns. photo courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS failed to pursue mandatory audits of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;on a timely basis during his presidency, a congressional panel found on Tuesday, raising questions about statements by the former president and leading members of his administration who claimed he could not release his tax filings because of the ongoing reviews.(<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5047652/chair-richard-neal-audits-president-trumps-tax-returns-existent">Click here to watch</a>&nbsp;Committee Chair Rep.&nbsp;Richard Neal's statement on the investigation or <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23476419-committee-report-final">Click here to read the report.</a>)<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1671623474434.png" alt="Image House Ways and Means Committee" />
 <figcaption>Image House Ways and Means Committee</figcaption>
 </figure>A report released by the Democratic majority on the House Ways and Means Committee indicated the Trump administration may have disregarded an IRS requirement dating back to 1977 that mandates audits of a president's tax filings. The IRS only began to audit Trump's 2016 tax filings on April 3, 2019, more than two years into Trump's presidency and just months after Democrats took control of the House. That date coincides with Rep. Richard Neal, the panel chairman, asking the IRS for information related to Trump's tax returns.There was no suggestion that Trump, who has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-2024-updates-cd5339d48064a149527e8f9a1aa7614e">announced</a>&nbsp;a third presidential run, sought to directly influence the IRS or discourage the agency from reviewing his tax information. But the report found that the audit process was “dormant, at best.”The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23476419-committee-report-final">29-page report</a>&nbsp;was published just hours after the committee voted along party lines to release Trump's tax returns in the coming days, raising the potential of additional revelations related to the finances of the onetime businessman who broke political norms by refusing to voluntarily release his returns as he sought the presidency. The vote was the culmination of a yearslong fight between Trump and Democrats that has played out everywhere from the campaign trail to the halls of Congress and the Supreme Court.Democrats on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee argued that transparency and the rule of law were at stake, while Republicans countered that the release would set a dangerous precedent with regard to the loss of privacy protections.“This is about the presidency, not the president,” Neal, D-Mass., told reporters.Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, the panel’s top GOP member, said, “Regrettably, the deed is done.”“Over our objections in opposition, Democrats in the Ways and Means Committee have unleashed a dangerous new political weapon that overturns decades of privacy protections,” he told reporters. “The era of political targeting, and of Congress’s enemies list, is back and every American, every American taxpayer, who may get on the wrong side of the majority in Congress is now at risk.”Trump spent much of Tuesday evening releasing statements on his social media platform that were unrelated to his tax returns. The IRS didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.But&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23476433-jct-report-final">an accompanying report</a>&nbsp;released by Congress' nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation also found repeated faults with the IRS’s approach toward auditing Trump and his companies.IRS agents in charge of the audits repeatedly did not bring in specialists with expertise assessing the complicated structure of Trump’s holdings. They frequently determined that a limited examination was warranted because Trump hired a professional accounting firm that they assumed would make sure Trump “properly reports all income and deduction items correctly.”“We must express disagreement with the decision not to engage any specialists when facing returns with a high degree of complexity,” the tax committee report states. “We also fail to understand why the fact that counsel and an accounting firm participated in tax preparation ensures the accuracy of the returns.”The reports released Tuesday renewed scrutiny on one of the biggest questions that has surrounded Trump since he shifted from a reality television star to an unlikely presidential candidate: Why did he abandon the post-Watergate tradition of White House hopefuls releasing their tax returns? Trump and those around him have consistently said that IRS audits prevented him from doing so.“I would love to give them, but I’m not going to do it while I’m under audit,” Trump said on April 10, 2019, before boarding the presidential helicopter.There are no laws that would have barred Trump from voluntarily releasing his returns even if they were being audited. But when Trump spoke of being audited, it's unclear whether he was referring to the mandatory process specifically aimed at presidents or prior reviews that are more typical for wealthy individuals.<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html">The New York Times</a>&nbsp;found that before he entered the White House, Trump was facing an IRS audit potentially tied to a $72.9 million tax refund arising from $700 million in losses he claimed in 2009. The documents released Tuesday indicate that Trump continued to collect tax benefits from those losses through 2018.“What happened?" said Steven Rosenthal, senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. "If it was not resolved, the IRS stalled. If it was resolved in Trump’s favor, then maybe the IRS rolled over and played dead. That’s what we have to find out.’’The report raised multiple red flags about aspects of Trump's tax filings, including his carryover losses, deductions tied to conservation and charitable donations, and loans to his children that could be taxable gifts.In response to the findings, the Ways and Means Committee is proposing legislation to beef up the IRS’s approach, requiring an initial report no later than 90 days from the filing of a president’s tax returns. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the chamber would “move swiftly” to advance the legislation.Democrats argue that the IRS is ill-equipped to audit high-income, complex tax returns, and instead targets filers in lower-income brackets — something they have tried to remedy with their work on the panel.“Because of the dismantling of funding to the IRS, they have not been able to do their job,” said Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev. “They did not have the specialized staff to do it for that high-income category — not just this person, but people who fall into that category.”But Republicans have vowed to cut a recent influx of funding for more IRS agents. That's the first bill they will consider upon taking the House majority in less than two weeks.The committee’s move represents yet another challenge for Trump. Just a day earlier, the House Jan. 6 committee voted to make a criminal referral to the Justice Department for Trump’s role in sparking the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. He’s also facing an intensifying investigation in Atlanta for efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. And he’s the subject of growing criticism from fellow Republicans for contributing to the party’s underwhelming performance in last month’s midterms.Trump's family business, The Trump Organization, was convicted earlier this month on tax fraud charges for helping some executives dodge taxes on company-paid perks such as apartments and luxury cars.Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg told The Associated Press in an interview last week that his office’s investigation into Trump and his businesses continues.“We’re going to follow the facts and continue to do our job,” Bragg said.Trump has argued there is little to learn from his tax returns even as he has fought to keep them private.“You can’t learn much from tax returns, but it is illegal to release them if they are not yours!” he complained on his social media network last weekend.-----------------WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democratic-controlled House Ways and Means Committee voted along party lines Tuesday to issue a report on Donald Trump’s tax returns — likely offering a deeper look into financial records that the former president tried to shield from the public.(<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5047652/chair-richard-neal-audits-president-trumps-tax-returns-existent">Click here to watch</a>&nbsp;House Ways and Means Committee Chair Rep.&nbsp;Richard Neal's statement of the investigation.)Lawmakers indicated after the vote that the world could see redacted copies Trump's tax filings within a couple of days.The dueling mix of animosity and loyalty inspired by Trump has made the release of the tax forms into a fever-pitched and yearslong grind, one that could continue well after the public learns more details about the finances, foreign dealings and possible net worth of the one-term Republican president.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1671623474434.png" alt="Image House Ways and Means Committee" />
 <figcaption>Image House Ways and Means Committee</figcaption>
 </figure>The report shows how much of a grip Trump still holds over U.S. politics despite losing reelection in 2020. Democratic lawmakers argued that transparency and the rule of law were at stake by voting to issue the report that legally rests on questions about IRS audits of the wealthy. Republicans countered that the release would set a dangerous precedent with regard to the loss of privacy protections.Tuesday's vote comes after a multiyear battle that ultimately resulted in the Supreme Court clearing the way last month for the Treasury Department to send the returns to Congress. The committee received six years of tax returns for Trump and some of his businesses.Democrats faced pressure to act aggressively in the final stretch of this year. With just two weeks left until Republicans formally take control of the House, Tuesday’s meeting was an opportunity for Democrats to disclose whatever information they have on Trump, a reputed multibillionaire who used his wealth as a selling point with voters to win the presidency in 2016.Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., said supporting materials will be released along with the report. Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, the committee's top Republican, raised concerns about privacy as the documents could contain information such as Social Security numbers.Republicans have railed against the potential release, arguing that it would set a dangerous precedent.Before Tuesday’s meeting, Brady called any release of Trump’s tax records a “dangerous new political weapon” that “even Democrats will come to regret.”“Our concern is not whether the president should have made his tax returns public, as is traditional, nor about the accuracy of his tax returns,” Brady said. “Our concern is that, if taken, this committee action will set a terrible precedent that unleashes a dangerous new political weapon that reaches far beyond the former president and overturns decades of privacy protections for average Americans that have existed since the Watergate reforms.”Trump has long had a complicated relationship with his personal income taxes.As a presidential candidate in 2016, he broke decades of precedent by refusing to release his tax forms to the public. He bragged during a presidential debate that year that he was “smart” because he paid no federal taxes and later claimed he wouldn't personally benefit from the 2017 tax cuts he signed into law that favored people with extreme wealth, asking Americans to simply take him at his word.Tax records would have been a useful metric for judging his success in business. The image of a savvy businessman was key to a political brand honed during his years as a tabloid magnet and star of “The Apprentice” television show. They also could reveal any financial obligations — including foreign debts — that could influence how he governed.But Americans were largely in the dark about Trump's relationship with the IRS until October 2018 and September 2020, when The New York Times published two separate series based on leaked tax records.The Pulitzer Prize-winning&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-tax-schemes-fred-trump.html">2018 articles</a>&nbsp;showed how Trump received a modern equivalent of at least $413 million from his father's real estate holdings, with much of that money coming from what the Times called “tax dodges” in the 1990s. Trump sued the Times and his niece, Mary Trump, in 2021 for providing the records to the newspaper. In November, Mary Trump asked an appeals court to overturn a judge’s decision to reject her claims that her uncle and two of his siblings defrauded her of millions of dollars in a 2001 family settlement.The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html">2020 articles</a>&nbsp;showed that Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes in 2017 and 2018. Trump paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the past 15 years because he generally lost more money than he made.The articles exposed deep inequities in the U.S. tax code as Trump, a reputed multi-billionaire, paid little in federal income taxes. IRS figures indicate that the average tax filer paid roughly $12,200 in 2017, about 16 times more than the former president paid.Details about Trump's income from foreign operations and debt levels were also contained in the tax filings, which the former president derided as “fake news."At the time of the 2020 articles, Neal said he saw an ethical problem in Trump overseeing a federal agency that he has also battled with legal filings."Now, Donald Trump is the boss of the agency he considers an adversary," Neal said in 2020. “It is essential that the IRS’s presidential audit program remain free of interference.”The Manhattan district attorney’s office also&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/manhattan-prosecutor-trump-tax-records-87f675d7ae8e24fbf2e8f33c480869d6">obtained copies of Trump’s tax records</a>&nbsp;in February 2021 after a protracted legal fight that included two trips to the Supreme Court.The office, then led by District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., had subpoenaed Trump’s accounting firm in 2019, seeking access to eight years of Trump’s tax returns and related documents.The DA’s office issued the subpoena after Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen told Congress that Trump had misled tax officials, insurers and business associates about the value of his assets. Those allegations are the subject of a fraud lawsuit that New York Attorney General Letitia James filed against Trump and his company in September.Trump’s longtime accountant, Donald Bender, testified at the Trump Organization’s recent criminal trial that Trump reported losses on his tax returns every year for a decade, including nearly $700 million in 2009 and $200 million in 2010.Bender, a partner at Mazars USA LLP who spent years preparing Trump’s personal tax returns, said Trump’s reported losses from 2009 to 2018 included net operating losses from some of the many businesses he owns through his Trump Organization.The Trump Organization was convicted earlier this month on tax fraud charges for helping some executives dodge taxes on company-paid perks such as apartments and luxury cars.The current Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, told The Associated Press in an interview last week that his office’s investigation into Trump and his businesses continues.“We’re going to follow the facts and continue to do our job,” Bragg said.Trump, who refused to release his returns during his 2016 presidential campaign and his four years in the White House while claiming that he was under IRS audit, has argued there is little to be gleaned from the tax returns even as he has fought to keep them private.“You can’t learn much from tax returns, but it is illegal to release them if they are not yours!” he complained on his social media network last weekend.