This live blog is now closed. For more on the US defense spending bill, you can read the full report here:US Senate passes defense bill that raises troop pay and strips trans care for kids of militaryBennie Thompson, the Democratic chair of the January 6 committee, has also condemned the House Republican report critical of the panel’s now-concluded investigation.Speaking to Fox News, Thompson said:Representative Loudermilk has failed to discredit the work of the January 6 select committee. His so-called ‘report’ is filled with baseless, conclusory allegations rather than facts. That’s because there’s no escaping the reality that Donald Trump bears the responsibility for the deadly January 6 attack no matter how much Mr Loudermilk would love to rewrite history for his political purposes.The justices took up South Carolina’s appeal of a lower court’s decision barring the Republican-governed state from terminating funding to Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, the organization’s regional affiliate, under the Medicaid health insurance program because the organization provides abortions.Planned Parenthood South Atlantic operates clinics in the South Carolina cities of Charleston and Columbia, where it provides physical examinations, screenings for cancers and other conditions, as well as abortions. Continue reading...