Today at the Roundhouse, Feb. 19
Paid family leave: A hotly debated proposal to allow New Mexico employees to take up to 12 weeks of paid parental or medical leave is scheduled for a key hearing in the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee. A similar proposal to this year's House Bill 11 was defeated on the House floor last year by a two-vote margin.
Crime bills in the spotlight: A House-approved crime package gets its first — and only — Senate committee hearing. The six-bill package passed the House on a 48-20 vote on Saturday and could face scrutiny in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Behavioral health package hits House: A trio of behavioral health bills approved last week by the Senate are starting their journey through the House of Representatives. One of those measures, Senate Bill 3, is up for debate in the House Health and Human Services Committee, while the other two bills will be discussed by the House Appropriations and Finance Committee.
Honoring veterans: It's Military and Veterans Day at the Legislature, and representatives from the New Mexico National Guard and the Department of Veterans Services will be at the Roundhouse.
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USA Today
5 minutes ago
- USA Today
Oval Office meeting again puts rocky, tense Trump-Zelenskyy relationship to the test
Trump's appraisal of the Ukrainian president has been an exercise in zigzag diplomacy as their relationship has unfolded since Trump's first term. WASHINGTON – He has his bromance with Vladimir Putin. But President Donald Trump's relationship with Volodymyr Zelenskyy is more whiplash than kinship. Trump's appraisal of the Ukrainian president has been an exercise in zigzag diplomacy, deriding him one moment as a modestly successful comedian who doesn't want peace and the next minute calling him a nice man with whom he has a good relationship. "Did I say that?" Trump asked back in February, when reporters reminded him that just a week earlier he had mocked Zelenskyy as a dictator. "I can't believe I said that," he exclaimed. He said it. Zelenskyy returned to the White House on Monday, Aug. 18, to discuss a potential peace deal to end Ukraine's three-and-a-half year war with Russia. The visit marks his first time back since a disastrous Oval Office meeting back in February in which Trump berated him on live television and then kicked him off the White House grounds. This time, Zelenskyy brought some backup. French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other European leaders joined Zelenskyy at the White House meeting with Trump. Trump's like-him-one-minute, lampoon-him-the-next relationship with Zelenskyy stands in stark contrast to his rapport with Putin. Trump gave the Russian leader a red-carpet welcome to Alaska on Aug. 15 for a summit that was big on pageantry but produced no results. The two leaders left The Last Frontier without a deal to end the war. Troubled history for Trump and Zelenskyy Trump and Zelenskyy have a troubled history. It started with a phone call that led to Trump's first impeachment. The two leaders connected in July 2019, just three months after Zelenskyy's stunning rise from television comedian to newly elected president of Ukraine. The call started off well enough. Trump congratulated Zelenskyy on "a great victory" and complimented him for a doing a terrific job, according to a summary later released by the White House. But then Trump asked for a favor. He pressured Zelenskyy repeatedly to reopen an investigation into a Ukrainian energy company to focus on a political rival, Joe Biden, and Biden's son, Hunter. At the time, Joe Biden was considered a likely candidate for president and would, in fact, go on to defeat Trump in the 2020 election. Democrats said Trump's asking a foreign government to investigate a political rival amounted to an egregious abuse of power. Trump was impeached for the first time just a few months later but was acquitted in a Senate trial. From then on, Trump and Zelenskyy have never been on the best of terms. Trump has insisted repeatedly that Ukraine's war with Russia would never have started if he had been president and at times has even appeared to blame Zelenskyy for the conflict. But it was Putin who started the war when he ordered Russian troops to invade their Eastern European neighbor. Trump has also taken Zelenskyy to task on social media when efforts to strike a peace deal have come up short. "Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn't be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the U.S. and 'TRUMP,' will never be able to settle," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Feb. 19. "A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left." A week later, Trump suggested he didn't remember calling Zelenskyy a dictator and insisted he gets along with Zelenskyy just fine. "I have a very good relationship with President Putin. I think I have a very good relationship with President Zelenskyy," he said. Discord on full display in Oval Office The next day, though, the discord between them exploded in spectacular fashion when Zelenskyy came to the Oval Office to sign a deal for the U.S. to receive revenue from Ukraine's minerals in exchange for military assistance. As tempers flared, Zelenskyy told Trump an ocean separates the U.S. from the conflict now, "but you will feel it in the future." "Don't tell us what we're going to feel," Trump shot back. 'We're trying to solve a problem. Don't tell us what we're going to feel." Trump mocked Zelenskyy's clothes, Vice President JD Vance called him "disrespectful" and Trump booted the Ukrainian president from the White House without signing the minerals deal. Trump later wrote on social media that Zelenskyy "is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations." Trump said Zelenskyy "disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office," adding "he can come back when he's ready for Peace." Trump and Zelenskyy met again in private at Pope Francis' funeral in Rome in April – the White House called the meeting 'productive' – and again at a NATO summit in June. Trump greeted Zelenskyy with a handshake when he arrived at the White House on Monday, Aug. 18 and said it was an 'honor' to have him back. Michael Collins writes about the intersection of politics and culture. A veteran reporter, he has covered the White House and Congress. Follow him on X @mcollinsNEWS. Contributing: Francesca Chambers and Joey Garrison
The Intercept
5 minutes ago
- The Intercept
Amid DSCC Pressure, Democratic Populist J.D. Scholten Exits Iowa Senate Race
Democrat J.D. Scholten, a two-term Iowa state House representative and former candidate for Iowa's first congressional district, announced Monday that he intends to withdraw from the Iowa Senate primary, ending his race only a few months after launching his campaign. The withdrawal announcement follows a push from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, or DSCC, to recruit and clear the field for fellow state House member Josh Turek, whom Scholten plans to officially endorse at a rally Monday night. Turek's recent entrance and Scholten's sudden withdrawal indicates the DSCC, an organ of the Democratic Party establishment, is taking a more active role in key primaries this year as the party mounts a longshot bid to retake the upper chamber. Two sources close to Scholten's campaign, who requested anonymity to protect their livelihoods in Democratic politics, told The Intercept last week he has faced increasing pressure in recent weeks to end his bid and back Turek, who announced his candidacy earlier in August. Scholten discussed the race with DSCC officials in early August before Turek announced his bid, according to one of the sources. In an interview with The Intercept last week, Scholten directly denied plans to drop out and endorse Turek. He also denied receiving pressure from national Democrats to end his candidacy. In a follow-up phone call Sunday night, Scholten changed his tune. 'This wasn't true last week, but I am dropping out, and I am endorsing Turek,' he told The Intercept. 'It's not because of pressure from the DSCC, though,' he added unprompted. It is unclear why the DSCC maneuvered to back Turek over Scholten. Both have strong electoral records, and Scholten has already been vetted by a high-profile national race. (The DSCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.) 'The DSCC's corporate donors won't let them support the candidate who can win.' Scholten has in the past spurned national Democrats, rejecting help in the general election from the House Democrats' Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in his failed 2020 House bid after receiving a small amount of support in 2018. He did not say whether he would have accepted the national party's support in the Senate primary election. The Senate party committee, helmed by New York Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer, has already drawn criticism this cycle for taking a more aggressive approach than usual in clearing the primary fields in key states on behalf of candidates seen as friendly to corporate interests. Among Schloten's allies, the consternation was palpable. 'We have a candidate with name recognition with a track record of connecting with rural Iowa voters on one of the most important, unifying messages there is: corporate power is destroying America,' Max Miller, a former Federal Trade Commission official and friend of Scholten's, told The Intercept. 'And yet, the DSCC's corporate donors won't let them support the candidate who can win.' Scholten rose to national prominence in 2018 during an unexpectedly strong challenge to Republican former Rep. Steven King, who faced several controversies over his ties to white nationalists. Though King ultimately won, his narrow margin led House Republicans to back another candidate, Randy Feenstra, the following cycle in a rematch against Scholten. Scholten overperformed a second time in 2020 but still fell short in the race, laying the groundwork for his election to the Iowa state house in 2022. In 2024, he comfortably held his Sioux City-based seat even as Kamala Harris lost the district in her presidential bid. During each of his campaigns, Scholten has embraced a populist, anti-establishment message that emphasizes taking on corporate interests. Scholten's endorsement provides a substantial boost to Turek, whom several sources in Iowa politics confirmed was recruited to run by the DSCC. Turek is also starting his second term in the Iowa state House after winning a seat that voted for Donald Trump last year. Those sources say Turek's electoral performance and biography made national Democrats hopeful he could turn incumbent Republican Sen. Joni Ernst's recent Medicaid cut gaffes — she mocked concerns people would die by saying, 'We all are going to die' — into a defining issue of the race. (Turek was born with spina bifida and has championed Medicaid coverage during his brief tenure in the Iowa legislature.) Turek's broader views, and especially his views on corporate interests and the national party's establishment class, remain vague. Scholten told The Intercept his decision to endorse Turek stems from the friendly relationship the two have formed while serving together in the state house. Scholten also acknowledged that Turek's views on the issues the former has championed are unclear, but expressed a desire to push him to take a more populist approach, especially on corporate power in the state's crucial agriculture sector. (Turek's campaign did not immediately respond to a request to comment.) Despite Scholten's sudden exit from the race, Turek still faces a field with several high-profile Democratic primary challengers. Iowa state Sen. Zach Wahls, who gained national attention for his advocacy for gay rights in the early 2010s, announced his candidacy in June. Des Moines School Board chair and former chief of staff to First Lady Michelle Obama Jackie Norris joined the field in early August. And, while Scholten's exit provides a critical boost to Turek, it also potentially leaves the populist lane in the primary open to Nathan Sage, a first-time candidate from Indianola who announced his run in April of last year. Sage's biography and aggressively anti-corporate and anti-establishment campaign platform echoes the formula Dan Osborn used last cycle in neighboring Nebraska, where he overperformed Kamala Harris by more than any other candidate across the country in his challenge to Republican Sen. Deb Fischer. Osborn, however, like Scholten, ended up ultimately losing the race.
Forbes
6 minutes ago
- Forbes
Trump-Zelenskyy Meeting: Trump Says ‘I Don't Think You Need A Ceasefire' (Live Updates)
President Donald Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during their meeting Monday at the White House he doesn't think Russia and Ukraine need a ceasefire agreement repeating a stance he adopted after his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 18: U.S. President Donald Trump greets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on August 18, 2025 in Washington, DC. President Trump is hosting President Zelensky at the White House for a bilateral meeting and later an expanded meeting with European leaders to discuss a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. (Photo by) Getty Images Trump told Zelenskyy he would give Ukraine 'very good protection and very good security' when asked about security guarantees for Ukraine during his meeting with Zelenskyy on Monday afternoon, a key demand Zelenskyy is seeking in exchange for an agreement to end the war with Russia. Trump also said he would speak with Putin when the meeting with Zelenskyy was over. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte will also meet with Trump and Zelenskyy after their sitdown. The meeting comes after Trump's sitdown with Putin in Alaska on Friday ended without a ceasefire agreement. Trump and Putin offered minimal details of their discussion, though Trump said Saturday on Truth Social he is now calling for a 'peace agreement' to end the war 'and not a mere Ceasefire.' Trump softened his rhetoric toward Putin after their meeting Friday, expressing support for Putin's preference to end the war instead of a ceasefire. Trump also walked back his promise for 'severe consequences' if Putin didn't agree to end the war, telling Fox News he did not think sanctions were necessary. Trump's meeting with Zelenskyy comes after their last Oval Office sitdown devolved into a shouting match between the Ukrainian leader and Trump and Vice President JD Vance, who accused him of being ungrateful for U.S. support and 'disrespectful' to Trump. Further Reading Trump And Zelenskyy Set For High-Stakes White House Meeting Monday: Here's What To Know (Forbes) Trump Says 'No Deal' With Putin Following Meeting In Alaska (Forbes) Trump Will Meet Zelensky In D.C. Monday After Alaska Meeting With Putin (Forbes)
