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From peanut farmer to Georgia state politician, to President, Jimmy Carter was known as more of a humanitarian than a politician, even though he made his life as a politician beginning in the 1960’s where he lost his first try for Georgia’s Governor’s seat. He won that seat in his second try before running for president in 1976. His impact on the trucking industry? Historical. President Carter signed the Motor Carrier Act in 1980. The legislation removed federal entry controls in interstate trucking and made it easier for carriers to reduce rates. President Carter’s signing statement predicted gains for consumers, shippers, and the trucking industry. “I have today signed into law S. 2245, the Motor Carrier Act of 1980,” Carter wrote. “This is historic legislation. It will remove 45 years of excessive and inflationary Government restrictions and redtape. It will have a powerful anti-inflationary effect, reducing consumer costs by as much as $8 billion each year. And by ending wasteful practices, it will conserve annually hundreds of millions of gallons of precious fuel.” “The Motor Carrier Act of 1980 will bring the trucking industry into the free enterprise system, where it belongs,” Carter added. “It will phase out most of the antitrust immunity that has allowed rate bureaus to fix prices. It will eliminate redtape and encourage price competition by allowing trucking companies to price their goods within a zone of reasonableness not subject to ICC review, and it immediately ends antitrust immunity for all rates set through that zone,” Carter wrote. “The premise of the rate-zone provision is that increased competition between truckers will prevent abuses of this pricing freedom. I expect the ICC to implement this legislation effectively and promptly to ensure the vigorous competition needed to make greater pricing freedom work in the interest of shippers and consumers.” Carter was the spearhead of the Panama Canal Treaty that turned control of the canal over the the Republic of Panama by 2000. According to the Associated Press, Carter partially deregulated the airline, railroad and trucking industries and established the departments of Education and Energy, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He designated millions of acres of Alaska as national parks or wildlife refuges. He appointed a then-record number of women and nonwhite people to federal posts. He never had a Supreme Court nomination, but he elevated civil rights attorney Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the nation’s second highest court, positioning her for a promotion in 1993. He appointed Paul Volker, the Federal Reserve chairman whose policies would help the economy boom in the 1980s — after Carter left office. He built on Nixon’s opening with China, and though he tolerated autocrats in Asia, pushed Latin America from dictatorships to democracy.

WHARTON, N.J. (AP) — Road crews were repairing a short stretch of Interstate 80 in northern New Jersey on Friday where a sinkhole forced the eastbound lanes to shut down, but it was still unknown when they will reopen. The highway’s guardrail still hung suspended in the air across the gaping 40-foot-wide (12-meter) hole, which opened up when an abandoned mine collapsed under the highway’s right shoulder Thursday morning, according to the New Jersey Department of Transportation. The sinkhole has forced motorists to take a short detour near Wharton, which is about 40 miles (64 kilometers) west of New York City. Crews have stabilized the area and started excavating. They will work around the clock to the repair the roadway, the highway department said Friday. The timing of when the eastbound lanes will upon depends on how extensive the repairs will be and the upcoming weather, the department said. Drivers should continue to expect delays and use alternate routes.

EL PASO, Texas – Customs and Border Protection reported last week that agents found migrants in a trailer in Texas. According to a release, U.S. Border Patrol El Paso Sector agents assigned to the Las Cruces Station apprehended 37 undocumented migrants concealed inside a tractor-trailer during a routine inspection at the Interstate-25 checkpoint on Sunday, Dec. 22. CBP says during the inspection, agents reported hearing movement near the rear door of the trailer and observed individuals attempting to crouch behind freight. Further investigation revealed 37 migrants hiding inside the cargo trailer without proper documentation. The migrants, who were from various countries, including Guatemala, Mexico, Cuba, El Salvador and Ecuador were taken into custody and transported to the Central Processing Center for further processing under Title 8 authority. CBP says during Fiscal Year 2024 El Paso Sector Agents disrupted 24 tractor trailer smuggling events with 387 migrants found. So far in fiscal year 2025, El Paso Sector Agents have disrupted four significant tractor trailer smuggling operations, resulting in the apprehension of 97 undocumented migrants. The El Paso Sector Border Patrol regularly encounters smuggling tactics used by transnational criminal organizations, including concealing migrants in commercial vehicles. Smuggling large groups in tractor trailers poses extreme dangers due to the lack of proper safety measures. Individuals are often crammed into confined spaces without seat belts, adequate ventilation, or climate control often experiencing dangerously high temperatures in the summer and freezing conditions in the winter. “Smuggling organizations exploit migrants with false promises of safe passage and easy entry, but illegal entry into the United States often involves tactics that not only violate U.S. immigration laws but also endanger lives,” said El Paso Sector Chief Anthony Scott Good. “We remain focused on enforcing immigration laws, holding smugglers accountable, and applying consequences to those who cross the border illegally or attempt to circumvent the legal immigration process.”

Diesel prices keep bouncing. After a huge drop two weeks ago, followed by a bounce back upward, the prices per gallon of diesel have dropped again, but not as drastically as the plunge of two weeks ago. The national average price for a gallon of diesel dropped nearly two cents from $3.494 to $3.476. Three regions made the difference in this week’s drop. The West Coast dropped a little more than five cents from $4.130 to $4.079 while the West Coast less California, fell from $3.726 to $3.645, a more than 8-cent drop. The Gulf Coast also fell by nearly four cents per gallon from $3.190 to $3.154. The New England and Central Atlantic regions did rise, but by only by a quarter and a third of a cent. The Midwest dropped by one-hundredth of a cent.

ASHLAND, Ore. – A $33,200,100 federal grant award will allow the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) to construct a wildlife crossing over Interstate 5 in southern Oregon in the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument; this will be the first wildlife overcrossing for Oregon and for the entire stretch of I-5 between Mexico and Canada. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) grant was announced Friday.   “With this significant investment of federal funding, ODOT can now provide a new connection for wildlife in an ecologically diverse area,” said Kris Strickler., ODOT director. “This will improve safety for drivers on I-5 by reducing wildlife collisions. I want to thank our federal partners for making this project possible by fully funding ODOT’s grant request.”  The grant award will go toward construction of a wildlife overpass on Interstate 5 just north of the Oregon-California border. The location is within the Mariposa Preserve, part of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, according to an ODOT press release. Funding will allow for construction of an overpass spanning the northbound and southbound lanes, directional fencing to funnel wildlife to the structure and associated habitat improvements. The purpose of a wildlife crossing is to prevent wildlife-vehicle collisions, which threaten the safety of both motorists and wildlife, and to reconnect critical wildlife habitat.  “What a huge win for Southern Oregon,” U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley. “This first-ever I-5 wildlife crossing in Oregon will be instrumental in safeguarding all the special species that call the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument home, while protecting drivers from dangerous wildlife collisions and costly damages to their vehicles. I’ve long championed efforts to strengthen the Cascade-Siskiyou area, and this latest federal investment I pushed to secure will certainly go a long way toward protecting drivers and the diverse wildlife that are entwined with this spectacular landscape that’s unlike anywhere in the world.”  In addition to the $33,200,100 FHWA grant award, ODOT will provide matching funds of $3,799,900 for a total project cost of $37 million. The required match comes from a $7 million allocation to wildlife corridors by the Oregon legislature with the passage of House Bill 5202 in 2022.   There are currently six wildlife undercrossings in the state, including five under U.S. 97 and one under U.S. 20. Their construction has led to an 86% decrease in vehicle-wildlife collisions. Recent data shows the average cost of a vehicle collision with a deer is $9,000, and $24,000 for a collision with an elk. Future sites for wildlife overcrossings on U.S. 20 are under review in Central Oregon.   ODOT has collaborated with the Southern Oregon Wildlife Crossing Coalition, a group of governmental, nonprofit and tribal partners, to develop a plan and support for a wildlife crossing. “We are grateful for all the hard work our partners have put in to help bring the project to fruition,” said Darrin Neavoll, ODOT Region 3 manager. “This project means a lot to a lot of people.”  

WAYNESVILLE, N.C. (AP) — The reopening of a section of Interstate 40 in western North Carolina that collapsed during Hurricane Helene’s historic flooding has been delayed after more asphalt from eastbound lanes fell this week, the state Department of Transportation said on Friday, Dec. 20. The primary road connection between North Carolina and eastern Tennessee was severed in late September as flooding in the Pigeon River gorge washed away over 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) of I-40’s eastbound lanes. Transportation crews and contractors had focused initially on reopening the westbound lanes in Haywood County to two-way traffic during the first week of January. Now the new damage will keep it closed until engineers determine the area is safe enough for drivers in such a narrow pattern in the gorge, according to a state DOT news release. “It is an unfortunate situation,” division engineer Wanda Payne said. “It’s a new hurdle that we have to overcome in order to provide a safe facility for the travelling public.” The department attributes the new slide to wet weather and freeze-thaw conditions. Contractors have been working to stabilize one lane in each direction from Harmon Den to the Tennessee line, or about 7 miles (11.3 kilometers). “We would like to open the corridor as soon as it is safe to do so,” Payne said. “We know it is a critical route for folks who live here, visit here and travel through here.” Hurricane Helene and its resulting destruction damaged roads and bridges in more than 6,900 sites, according to a state government damage and needs assessment report. The department, its contractors and partners have reopened more than 1,200 roads that were closed.

PECOS, Texas (AP) — Federal officials investigating the deadly West Texas collision between at Union Pacific train and a tractor-trailer hauling a wind turbine base said Friday they were trying to determine why the tractor-trailer was stopped on the tracks, leading to the crash that derailed the train and propelled the enormous wind turbine base into the air. Two employees of Omaha, Nebraska-based Union Pacific were killed in the collision Wednesday at a railway crossing in Pecos. The National Transportation Safety Board said it hasn’t yet determined how long the tractor-trailer was on the tracks before the collision or if anyone tried to contact the railroad through the emergency number posted at the crossing. The train was traveling at about 68 mph (109 kph) before the crew applied emergency brakes prior to impact, the NTSB said. The collision caused the wind turbine base to fly into a nearby building, NTSB said. The Chamber of Commerce building was damaged in the collision, and a Reeves County official has said that some people in the building were injured. The Pecos police chief has said all of the three injuries from the collision were minor. NTSB said that a data recorder recovered from the wreckage is being transported to its lab.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden signed a bill into law Saturday that averts a government shutdown, bringing a final close to days of upheaval after Congress approved a temporary funding plan just past the deadline and refused President-elect Donald Trump’s core debt demands in the package. The deal funds the government at current levels through March 14 and provides $100 billion in disaster aid and $10 billion in agricultural assistance to farmers. “This agreement represents a compromise, which means neither side got everything it wanted,” Biden said in a statement, adding that “it ensures the government can continue to operate at full capacity. That’s good news for the American people.” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had insisted lawmakers would “meet our obligations” and not allow federal operations to close. But the outcome at the end of a tumultuous week was uncertain after Trump had insisted the deal include an increase in the government’s borrowing limit. If not, he had said, then let the closures “start now.” Johnson’s revised plan was approved 366-34, and it was passed by the Senate by a 85-11 vote after midnight. By then, the White House said it had ceased shutdown preparations. “There will be no government shutdown,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. Johnson, who had spoken to Trump after the House vote, said the compromise was “a good outcome for the country” and that the president-elect “was certainly happy about this outcome, as well.” The final product was the third attempt from Johnson, the beleaguered speaker, to achieve one of the basic requirements of the federal government — keeping it open. The difficulties raised questions about whether Johnson will be able to keep his job, in the face of angry Republican colleagues, and work alongside Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk, who was calling the legislative plays from afar. The House is scheduled to elect the next speaker on Jan. 3, 2025, when the new Congress convenes. Republicans will have an exceedingly narrow majority, 220-215, leaving Johnson little margin for error as he tries to win the speaker’s gavel. One House Republican, Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, criticized Republicans for the deficit spending in the bill and said he was now “undecided” about the GOP leadership. Others are signaling unhappiness with Johnson as well. Yet Trump’s last-minute debt limit demand was almost an impossible ask, and Johnson had almost no choice but to work around that pressure. The speaker knew there wouldn’t be enough support within the slim Republican majority alone to pass any funding package because many Republican deficit hawks prefer to cut the federal government and would not allow more debt. Instead, the Republicans, who will have full control of the White House, House and Senate in the new year, with big plans for tax cuts and other priorities, are showing they must routinely rely on Democrats for the votes needed to keep up with the routine operations of governing. The federal debt stands at roughly $36 trillion, and the spike in inflation after the coronavirus pandemic has pushed up the government’s borrowing costs such that debt service next year will exceed spending on national security. The last time lawmakers raised the debt limit was June 2023. Rather than raise the limit by a dollar amount, lawmakers suspended the debt limit through Jan. 1, 2025. There is no need to raise that limit right now because the Treasury Department can begin using what it calls “extraordinary measures” to ensure that America does not default on its debts. Some estimate these accounting maneuvers could push the default deadline to the summer of 2025. But that’s what Trump wanted to avoid because an increase would be needed while he was president. GOP leaders said the debt ceiling would be debated as part of tax and border packages in the new year. Republicans made a so-called handshake agreement to raise the debt limit at that time while also cutting $2.5 trillion in spending over 10 years. It was essentially the same deal that flopped Thursday night — minus Trump’s debt demand. But it’s far smaller than the original deal Johnson struck with Democratic and Republican leaders — a 1,500-page bill that Trump and Musk rejected, forcing him to start over. It was stuffed with a long list of other bills — including much-derided pay raises for lawmakers — but also other measures with broad bipartisan support that now have a tougher path to becoming law. Trump, who has not yet been sworn into office, is showing the power but also the limits of his sway with Congress, as he intervenes and orchestrates affairs from Mar-a-Lago alongside Musk, who is heading up the new Department of Government Efficiency. Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Stephen Groves, Mary Clare Jalonick, Darlene Superville and Bill Barrow contributed to this report.

DETROIT (AP) — In the waning days of President Joe Biden’s administration, the government’s highway safety agency is proposing voluntary safety guidelines for self-driving vehicles. But a rule from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration putting the plan in place won’t be approved before the end of Biden’s term in January and likely will be left to whoever runs the agency under Republican Donald Trump. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whom Trump has named to co-lead a “Department of Government Efficiency” to cut costs and regulations, has floated the idea of him helping to develop safety standards for self-driving vehicles — even though the standards would affect Tesla’s automated driving systems. At present there are no federal regulations that specifically govern autonomous vehicles, and any regulation is left to states. However, self-driving vehicles must meet broad federal safety standards that cover all passenger vehicles. Under the agency’s proposal, released on Friday, automakers and autonomous vehicle companies could enroll in a program that would require safety plans and some data reporting for autonomous vehicles operating on public roads. To apply companies would have to have independent assessments of their automated vehicle safety processes, and there would be requirements to report crashes and other problems with the vehicles. Companies would have to give NHTSA information and data on the safety of the design, development and operations of the vehicles. The agency would decide whether to accept companies into the program. But auto safety advocates say the plan falls short of needed regulation for self-driving vehicles. For instance, it doesn’t set specific performance standards set for the vehicles such as numbers and types of of sensors or whether the vehicles can see objects in low-visibility conditions, they said. “This is a big bunch of nothing,” said Missy Cummings, director of the autonomy and robotics center at George Mason University and a former safety adviser to NHTSA. “It’ll be more of a completely useless paperwork drill where the companies swear they’re doing the right thing.” Michael Brooks, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety, said one of the few good things about the plan is that companies will have to report data on crashes and other problems. There have been reports that the Trump administration may want to scrap a NHTSA order that now requires autonomous vehicle companies to report crashes to the agency so it can collect data. A message was left Friday seeking comment from the Trump transition team on crash reporting requirements. Brooks said the incoming administration probably will want to put out its own version of the guidelines. NHTSA will seek public comment on the plan for about 60 days, then the plan would have to wind its way through the federal regulatory process, which can take months or even years. The agency said it believes the plan can accelerate learning about autonomous vehicles as well as work toward future regulations. “It is important that ADS (Automated Driving System) technology be deployed in a manner that protects the public from unreasonable safety risk while at the same time allowing for responsible development of this technology, which has the potential to advance safety,” the proposed rule says. The agency concedes that in the future, there may be a need for NHTSA to set minimum standards for self driving vehicle performance that are similar to mandatory safety standards that govern human-driven cars. But the agency says it now doesn’t have data and metrics to support those standards. The voluntary plan would help gather those, the proposal said.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Friday added the 27 countries that make up the European Union to the list of trade partners he’s threatening with tariffs — unless the group takes steps to import more U.S. goods. “I told the European Union that they must make up their tremendous deficit with the United States by the large scale purchase of our oil and gas,” Trump posted shortly after 1 a.m. on social media. “Otherwise, it is TARIFFS all the way!!!” In 2023, the United States’ trade imbalance with the EU on goods was $209 billion, according to the Census Bureau. There were $576 billion in imports from Europe and $367 billion in exports from the United States. Trump’s transition team did not respond to questions seeking greater clarity on the message, which for all its bluntness was unclear on next steps. When Trump threatened Canada and Mexico with 25% tariffs in November, the leaders of both countries spoke with him to try and resolve any tensions. But the European Union lacks a single figure who can make the purchase commitments of natural gas and oil on behalf of its 27 member states that Trump is seeking. EU Commission spokesman Olof Gill said in reaction to Trump’s post that “we are ready to discuss with President-elect Trump how we can further strengthen an already strong relationship, including by discussing our common interests in the energy sector.” Gill noted that the EU is already “committed to phasing out energy imports from Russia and diversifying our sources of supply. We’re not going to go into any details about what that might entail in the future, given that the new administration isn’t even in place yet.” Scott Lincicome, a vice president at the libertarian Cato Institute, said it was difficult to parse what Trump was trying to say relative to European trade, given that natural gas exports to the continent are already up after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. “What we really need to chalk all of this up to is Trump laying the groundwork for future negotiations,” Lincicome said. “This is for better or worse a lot of what we’re going to see for the next four years.” While there is a $209 billion trade imbalance, a more complicated relationship lies beneath those numbers. A company such as German automaker BMW can import parts needed to assemble vehicles at its factory in South Carolina, such that the trade totals also reflect the flow of goods within European companies that employ U.S. workers. More than half of the liquified natural gas imported by the EU and the United Kingdom in 2023 came from the United States, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The volume of LNG going to the EU and UK has tripled since 2021. On Tuesday, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm issued a statement based off a new study that unfettered exports of LNG could increase prices domestically and increase carbon emissions. Trump ran for president on the idea that increased oil and natural gas production would reduce costs for U.S. voters who were left frustrated by a 2022 inflationary spike that still lingers. Trump’s demands on Europe to buy more oil and natural gas were not especially new. He also made them during his initial term as president and in 2018 reached a deal with Jean-Claude Juncker, then-president of the European Commission, to sell more LNG to Europe. The problem with that agreement, as noted by the University of Pennsylvania’s Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, is that the U.S. “cannot force companies to send products to a specific region or country” and the EU cannot force its members to buy American fossil fuels.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A day before a potential government shutdown, the House resoundingly rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s new plan Thursday to fund operations and suspend the debt ceiling, as Democrats and dozens of Republicans refused to accommodate his sudden demands. In a hastily convened evening vote punctuated by angry outbursts over the self-made crisis, the lawmakers failed to reach the two-thirds threshold needed for passage — but House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared determined to reassess, before Friday’s midnight deadline. “We’re going to regroup and we will come up with another solution, so stay tuned,” Johnson said after the vote. The cobbled-together plan didn’t even get a majority, with the bill failing 174-235. The outcome proved a massive setback for Trump and his billionaire ally, Elon Musk, who rampaged against Johnson’s bipartisan compromise, which Republicans and Democrats had reached earlier to prevent a Christmastime government shutdown. It provides a preview of the turbulence ahead when Trump returns to the White House with Republican control of the House and Senate. During his first term, Trump led Republicans into the longest government shutdown in history during the 2018 Christmas season, and interrupted the holidays in 2020 by tanking a bipartisan COVID-relief bill and forcing a do-over. Hours earlier Thursday, Trump announced “SUCCESS in Washington!” in coming up with the new package which would keep government running for three more months, add $100.4 billion in disaster assistance including for hurricane-hit states, and allow more borrowing through Jan. 30, 2027. “Speaker Mike Johnson and the House have come to a very good Deal,” Trump posted. But Republicans, who had spent 24 hours largely negotiating with themselves to cut out the extras conservatives opposed and come up with the new plan, ran into a wall of resistance from Democrats, who were in no hurry to appease demands from Trump — or Musk. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats were sticking with the original deal with Johnson and called the new one “laughable.” “It’s not a serious proposal,” Jeffries said as he walked to Democrats’ own closed-door caucus meeting. Inside, Democrats were chanting, “Hell, no!” All day, Johnson had been fighting to figure out how to meet Trump’s almost impossible demands — and keep his own job — while federal offices are being told to prepare to shutter operations. The new proposal whittled the 1,500-page bill to 116 pages and dropped a number of add-ons — notably the first pay raise for lawmakers in more than a decade, which could have allowed as much as a 3.8% bump. That drew particular scorn as Musk turned his social media army against the bill. Trump said early Thursday that Johnson will “easily remain speaker” for the next Congress if he “acts decisively and tough” in coming up with a new plan to also raise the debt limit, a stunning request just before the Christmas holidays that has put the beleaguered speaker in a bind. And if not, the president-elect warned of trouble ahead for Johnson and Republicans in Congress. “Anybody that supports a bill that doesn’t take care of the Democrat quicksand known as the debt ceiling should be primaried and disposed of as quickly as possible,” Trump told Fox News Digital. The tumultuous turn of events, coming as lawmakers were preparing to head home for the holidays, sparks a familiar reminder of what it’s like in Trump-run Washington. For Johnson, who faces his own problems ahead of a Jan. 3 House vote to remain speaker, Trump’s demands left him severely weakened, forced to abandon his word with Democrats and work into the night to broker the new approach. Trump’s allies even floated the far-fetched idea of giving Musk the speaker’s gavel, since the speaker is not required to be a member of the Congress. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., posted she was “open” to the idea. Democrats were beside themselves, seeing this as a fitting coda after one of the most unproductive congressional sessions in modern times. “Here we are once again in chaos,” said House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, who detailed the harm a government shutdown would cause Americans. “And what for? Because Elon Musk, an unelected man, said, ‘We’re not doing this deal, and Donald Trump followed along.’” As he left the Capitol, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said, “Now it’s time to go back to the bipartisan agreement.” The debate in the House chamber grew heated as lawmakers blamed each other for the mess. At one point, Rep. Marc Molinaro, who was presiding, slammed the speaker’s gavel with such force that it broke. The stakes couldn’t be higher. Trump was publicly turning on those who opposed him. One hardline Republican, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, drew Trump’s ire for refusing to along with the plan. Roy in turn told his own GOP colleagues they had no self-respect for piling onto the nation’s debt. “It’s shameful!” Roy thundered, standing on the Democratic side of the aisle and pointing at his fellow Republicans. The slimmed-down package does include federal funds to rebuild Baltimore’s collapsed Key Bridge, but dropped a separate land transfer that could have paved the way for a new Washington Commanders football stadium. It abandons a long list of other bipartisan bills that had support as lawmakers in both parties try to wrap work for the year. It extends government funds through March 14. Adding an increase in the debt ceiling to what had been a bipartisan package is a show-stopper for Republicans who want to slash government and routinely vote against more borrowing. Almost three dozen Republicans voted against it. While Democrats have floated their own ideas in the past for lifting or even doing away with the debt limit caps — Sen. Elizabeth Warren had suggested as much — they appear to be in no bargaining mood to save Johnson from Trump — even before the president-elect is sworn into office. The current debt limit expires Jan. 1, 2025, and Trump wants the problem off the table before he joins the White House. Musk, in his new foray into politics, led the charge. The wealthiest man in the world used his social media platform X to amplify the unrest, and GOP lawmakers were besieged with phone calls to their offices telling them to oppose the plan. Rep. Steve Womack, an Arkansas Republican and senior appropriator, said the bipartisan bill’s collapse signaled what’s ahead in the new year, “probably be a good trailer right now for the 119th Congress.” The White House’s Office of Management and Budget had provided initial communication to agencies about possible shutdown planning last week, according to an official at the agency. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin, Stephen Groves, Farnoush Amiri and Matt Brown contributed to this story.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is pledging to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by more than 60% by 2035 as he fights to ensure his legacy on slowing global warming, even as President-elect Donald Trump vows to undo much of Biden’s climate work when he takes office next month. Biden said the new goal — which supersedes a previous plan to cut carbon emissions at least in half by 2030 — keeps the United States on track to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions economy-wide by 2050. The U.S. is making a formal submission of the new target, known as a Nationally Determined Contribution, to the United Nations under terms of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, Biden said Thursday, Dec. 19. The new goal calls for reducing net emissions by 61% to 66% below 2005 levels in 2035. “I’m proud that my administration is carrying out the boldest climate agenda in American history,’’ Biden said in a videotaped statement. “We’re doing it by setting ambitious goals’’ such as deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind and conserving at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030, Biden said. His administration also has set strict new standards to cut air pollution from cars, trucks and power plants and signed into law the most significant investments in climate and clean energy in U.S. history, he said. The action by the Democratic president comes just over a month before he is set to leave office. Trump has already promised to unleash a series of executive actions that will seek to undo most or all of Biden’s climate agenda as the Republican president-elect pushes for “energy dominance” around the globe. Trump no longer dismisses climate change as a “hoax” but has pledged to dismantle what he calls Democrats’ “green new scam” in favor of boosting production of fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal, the main causes of climate change. Trump is expected to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord, as he did during his first term, and will likely move to repeal parts of the landmark Inflation Reduction Act, especially subsidies that benefit electric vehicles and offshore wind. Biden aides tried to downplay the impact of Trump’s return to the White House, insisting that states and local governments can continue to lead on clean energy. “American climate leadership is determined by so much more than whoever sits in the Oval Office,’’ said John Podesta, Biden’s senior adviser for international climate policy. Climate leadership “happens on the ground in our cities and states, from Phoenix to Pittsburgh, from Boise to Baltimore,’’ Podesta told reporters Wednesday. “And I believe that with this new 2035 target as their North Star, leaders across America can show the world that we are still in this fight for a better future.” The U.S. Climate Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of governors that support climate action, applauded the new target and pledged to work toward it, with or without help from the White House. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, the alliance’s co-chair, said climate-conscious governors “will carry the torch forward’’ after Biden leaves office. Hochul, a Democrat, said governors will use the new U.S. goal to “keep America on track toward a cleaner, safer future.” “By continuing to stamp out climate pollution together, we’re safeguarding public health, protecting the environment, growing the economy and creating good jobs across the U.S,” said New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, another alliance co-chair. Biden, in his remarks, called the new goal “ambitious” and said it would lead to thousands of well-paying jobs, more affordable energy, cleaner air, cleaner water and a healthier environment for all Americans. “It is also creating real momentum because we’re unleashing American ingenuity and innovation. And together, we will turn this existential threat into a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform our nation’’ for decades to come, Biden said. “I know we can do this.’’ The proposal would require sustained changes across the economy, from power generation to transportation, buildings, agriculture and industry, including significant increases in renewable energy such as wind and solar power and steep cuts in emissions from fossil fuels such as oil and coal. The U.S. pledge includes methane reductions of at least 35% from 2005 levels by 2035, Biden said. Cutting methane emissions is among the fastest ways to reduce near-term warming and is crucial to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Debbie Weyl, U.S. acting director of the World Resources Institute, a global research organization, said the new emissions target is “at the lower bound of what the science demands,” but said it was “close to the upper bound of what is realistic if nearly every available policy lever were pulled” in the next decade. “Assertive action by states and cities will be essential to achieving this goal,’’ she said, adding that the United States needs to swiftly expand renewable energy and electric vehicles, modernize the electric grid and decarbonize heavy industry. The nonbinding but symbolically important pledge is a key part of the Paris agreement, which calls for countries to submit so-called Nationally Determined Contributions every five years. A country’s NDC, or climate goal, outlines how it plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to help meet the global goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times. The Paris Agreement requires that NDCs are updated every five years with increasingly higher ambition, taking into consideration each country’s capacity. The next deadline is February 2025, although Brazil, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates have already submitted their proposed NDCs. “As the world’s largest producer of oil, the largest producer and exporter of fossil gas — and the largest historical climate polluter — the United States has an outsized responsibility to press forward in the climate fight no matter the political headwinds,’’ said Manish Bapna, president and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council, a leading environmental group. He called the new climate goal a clear signal for governors, mayors and CEOs who support climate action to “step up” and defend climate progress. “While the incoming administration has vowed to turn its back on the world — again — the majority of Americans want climate action, and the clean energy boom is unstoppable,” Bapna said. By Matthew Daly, The Associated Press. Associated Press writer Seth Borenstein contributed to this report.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters said workers at seven Amazon facilities will begin a strike on Thursday morning, an effort by the union to pressure the e-commerce company for a labor agreement during a key shopping period. The Teamsters say the workers, who authorized strikes in the past few days, are joining the picket line after Amazon ignored a Dec. 15 deadline the union set for contract negotiations. Amazon says it doesn’t expect an impact on its operations during what the union calls the largest strike against the company in U.S. history. The Teamsters say they represent nearly 10,000 workers at 10 Amazon facilities, a small portion of the 1.5 million people Amazon employs in its warehouses and corporate offices. At one warehouse, located in New York City’s Staten Island borough, thousands of workers who voted for the Amazon Labor Union in 2022 and have since affiliated with the Teamsters. At the other facilities, employees – including many delivery drivers – have unionized with them by demonstrating majority support but without holding government-administered elections. The strikes happening Thursday are taking place at one Amazon warehouse in San Francisco, California, and six delivery stations in southern California, New York City; Atlanta, Georgia, and Skokie, Illinois, according to the union’s announcement. Amazon workers at the other facilities are “prepared to join,” the union said. “Amazon is pushing its workers closer to the picket line by failing to show them the respect they have earned,” Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said in a statement. The Seattle-based online retailer has been seeking to re-do the election that led to the union victory at the warehouse on Staten Island, which the Teamsters now represent. In the process, the company has filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Board. Meanwhile, Amazon says the delivery drivers, which the Teamsters have organized for more than a year, are not its employees. Under its business model, the drivers work for third-party business, called Delivery Service Partners, who drop off millions of packages to customers everyday. “For more than a year now, the Teamsters have continued to intentionally mislead the public – claiming that they represent ‘thousands of Amazon employees and drivers’. They don’t, and this is another attempt to push a false narrative,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a statement. The Teamsters have argued Amazon essentially controls everything the drivers do and should be classified as an employer. Some U.S. labor regulators have sided with the union in filings made before the NLRB. In September, Amazon boosted pay for the drivers amid the growing pressure.