内容摘要：Fellow firefighters found the body of Laurel County Fire Major Leslie Leatherman on top of a woman he was shielding from the storm’s fury as he answered calls during the worst of the storm. The woman was yelling for help and they were in a field across from a destroyed subdivision.

Fellow firefighters found the body of Laurel County Fire Major Leslie Leatherman on top of a woman he was shielding from the storm’s fury as he answered calls during the worst of the storm. The woman was yelling for help and they were in a field across from a destroyed subdivision.

by the Trump administration in actions that Democrats have denounced as illegal and unconstitutional.Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat, said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has illegally withheld, or impounded, climate-law funding despite a decades-old law that explicitly prohibits such actions by the executive branch. Repeated court rulings, including by the Supreme Court, support the power of Congress to set federal spending levels.

Zeldin’s budget maneuvers “endanger communities by making it harder to address pollution and climate chaos,” Merkley said at a hearing Wednesday.Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, chair of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on the environment, also criticized Zeldin, saying funding freezes approved by his agency — including to grants intended for rural communities in Alaska — were “somewhat indiscriminate.″Murkowski questioned whether severe budget cuts proposed by President Donald Trump were “serious.” Many of the proposals, such as an 88% cut to a state revolving fund for clean water, are likely to be reversed by Congress, she said.

The EPA’s approach under Zeldin is “problematic,” Murkowski added. “EPA has not adhered to our guidelines and has been largely unresponsive to questions,” she said.Zeldin told Murkowski she has a special phone number for his office and can call him any time.

His exchanges with Democrats were less friendly.

“So you understand that when you impound funds, you’re violating the law?” Merkley asked Zeldin, a formerPresident Donald Trump speaks with reporters as he signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, May 9, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as he signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, May 9, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)But to be sure, there are many more steps before the package becomes law.

At its core, the goal for GOP lawmakers is to extend — and enhance — tax cuts approved in 2017, adding the president’s 2024 campaign promises forThere’s also larger standard deduction, $32,000 for couples, a boost to the Child Tax Credit and a potentially higher cap of $30,000 on state and local tax deductions, known as SALT, that’s still being negotiated.