>> the supreme court reveals its abortion pill ruling. >> we were prepared for whatever announcement comes out. >> the supreme court goes right up to its deadline and weighs in on the widely used abortion pill. >> they say they are going to default unless i agree to all of these wacko notions they have feared >> a no strings attached debt limit increase will not pass. >> the debt ceiling dance takes a new turn. heightening tension in washington as the government's spending deadline looms. and sources confirm president biden has made an expected but historic decision, preparing to announce his reelection bid. next. >> this is "washington week."

corporate funding is provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular's goal has been to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and connect. we offer a variety of no-contract plans, and our u.s.-based customer service team can find one the fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. >> additional funding is provided by -- koo and patricia yuen through the yuen foundation -- committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. sandra and carl delay-magnuson. rose hirschel and dy shreeves. robert and susan rosenbaum. the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> good evening and welcome. what a week it is. after weeks of confusion, the supreme court has weighed in on the most common form of abortion in the country, the use of a

medication. the court ruling preserves access to the drug and declines restrictions on its use as the lawsuit over its fda approval continues. joining me to discuss it in more are john yang, who covers the supreme court for the pbs newshour. and joining me at the table, nancy debose, heather cable, michael shearer, and scott wong. john, let's start with you. we've got breaking news. help us understand what did the court say tonight? john: as you said, they said mifepristone will remain available without any new restrictions while the appeal of the texas judge's decision that invalidated itspproval by the fda in 2000 works through the system.

because this was an emergency appeal in what has become known as the shadow docket, we don't know t breakdown among the justices. we know there were only two noted since, clarence thomas and samuel alito. the majority did not explain your decision and only alito explained his opposition. he said he did not think allowing mifepristone to remain available with the restrictions the fifth circuit put on it would cause irreparable harm to the public. lisa: is it correct that the use of missive up -- of mifepristone stays as it was, no change for the time being. john: a year ago you didn't have it by mail, which is now permanent, but there are no new restrictions. the fifth circuit ruling would have put, gone back to 2016,

limited it to pregnancies in the seventh week rather than the 10th week. it would have required threer. visits instead of one. it would have said you couldn't get it from nurses, midwives or physician assistants, you had to go to a physician. and it said you could not get it through the mail. lisa: the supreme court is saying we are going back to the policy before we saw this court ruling out of texas. thank you for joining us and your reporting and we will see you tomorrow night on pbs news weekend. you have covered abortion policy significantly. how significant is this tonight? >> this is a huge win for the white house. i was just talking to a senior white house official who said they are celebrating and the esident was made aware, and he green lit the statement that went out and there is pausing,

taking it all in and still preparing for what comes next because this case was an appeal for a stay and there could be future cases that decide the fate of the pill. the white house is celebrating but it is a temporary relief. what i will add is the strategy going forward will focus on preserving access, making sure the pill is available around the country, law enforcement officials cannot easily access records of women traveling out of state to get an abortion. thedministration will focus on some of those things. there's also a flurry of meetings, from what i understand, focusing on the

political calculus, making sure thisemains top of mind for young voters, for women going forward for 2024. so they are not losing sight of that because of this decision. lisa: the victory for the white house, they are celebrating if not the final answer. heather, is it possible some republicans have some political relief about this decision? heather: i think so. what we've sn since roe v. wade was overturned there's been a disconnect with republicans at the federal and state level. ron desantis, his legislator moved to enact a six-week abortion ban that we cover capitol hill and they are all over the map. it was easier to be for overturning roe v. wade, now you have complicated issues about when should we restrict abortion, what week, what exceptions? democrats are unified generally around the idea of abortion access and voters are

overwhelmingly with them so the politics have turned so the democrats have a unified message and republicans are over the map. michael: the chair of the republican party gave a long speech, and not noticed by many, but in the middle of the speech, she said republicans need to be really worried about seeming screen -- extreme on abortion, they got beat bad in the midterms on that. she says it is a winning message to say you are for 15 weeks. mifepristone, we are talking about seven weeks, 10 weeks. ron desantis in florida, six weeks. in 2022, a lot of candidates got tripped up because they said they didn't believe in exceptions. right now this debate is entirely on the democratic field

and no one is talking about what republicans want to be talking about, which is the rare cases of a very late term abortion some democrats support. you said the white house is excited and i heard the same thing. they are all really bullish right now that in 2024, abortion will appear on the polls the same way it did during the midterms. lisa: former president trump got critism from the right, the susan b anthony group, criticiz him for not a federal ban, instead stressing states. scott, what are you hearing from democrats and republicans on the hill? scott: in the trump case, he was getting a lot of pressure to weigh in on ron desantis's six-week abortion ban in florida. ron desantis has alluded -- has signed that bill, quiet ceremony. lisa: 11:00 p.m. at night.

sct: press release at 11:00 p.m. at night, not like the usual ron desantis press conference. trump had been silent for more than a week on that ban in his home state. under pressure, under questioning from reporters, president trump, his campaign, put out a statement saying it was my judges that overturned roe v. wade, i appointed three of them in the got the job done. they relegated decisions back to the states and i am fine with that. he came under withering criticism from the susan b anthony groups, the other antiabortion groups, saying that does not go far enough, we will not support a candidate unless they want the federal ban on abortion nationwide. lisa: as you said, the subtext is 2024. i did some math, this case that john young was talking about,

temporary, but the merits could get to the supreme court this fall, it is being fast tracked. this that mean we could have a decision by spring of 2024? could you help us understand what that would do in a presidential race? >> absolutely. we saw how roe played out in the midterms and how beneficial it was, especially when it came down to boosting turnout. democrats and the white house are consisting -- consistently betting on that. while they are celebrating now, politically speaking, this decision, had it gone the other way, could have been a little more beneficial. which is why they are regrouping and talking about how they can keep the issue alive for 2024. they are talking to a lot of abortion rights groups to keep talking about this issue in front of female and young voters. once the decision comes down in 2024, it could potentially be

very beneficial for the white house. >> it's one of these issues that democrats are excited about because they don't really have a primary on their side. biden will shift toward the center and republicans will fight amongst themselves. trump at his own rallies has warned republicans not to go too far to the right on abortion. he will be on the debate stage at some point with mike pence and tim scott and ron desantis and they will be fighting over abortion. that's exactly what democrats want to be seeing in the fall. lisa: all of this comes as the two top leaders in washington in a standoff over raising the u.s. debt ceiling. speaker mccarthy rolled out his long awaiting -- long-awaited plan on wednesday, he would raise the debt ceiling into next year in exchange for major spending cuts and the end of some big m aquatic priorities, but does he have enough -- big m aquatic priorities, but does he have enough votes? >> i want you to write strings like i am teetering, the whole

world hangs in the balance and then i want you to write a story after it passes, would the president sit-down and negotiate? >> president biden immediately rejected the speakers opening bid and took him to task. >> folks, that is the maga economic agenda, spending cuts for working and middle-class folks, americans, tax cuts for those at the top. >> on thursday, democratic senator joe manchin blasted biden in a statement for what he called a deficiency in leadership and urged the president to negotiate with mccarthy. somehow stomach rats echoed the idea that is time for the presidt to sit down with the speaker. that comes amid the backdrop of what we've been talking about. next week, president biden will announce his 2024 reelection bid. i suppose i am supposed to say he is considering announcing his election bid. he will announce next week. let's start with the debt

ceiling. heather and scott, i want to ask what will happen here. does mccarthy have the votes? heather: not right now. he could lose four votes on the floor and pass it. they are short of that. he's got some problems on his right flank, the andy biggs of the world. mccart saying i'm not going to reopen this bill. in the midwest, iowa and minnesota, a lot of these guys are nervous about the biofuels tax credit being repealed and how that looks. they are trying to see if they can give them something like an amendment or some kind of vote later on that would restore some of this to help them go back and save face. they hope to vote on wednesday or thursday but right now they are still short. lisa: scott, i'm going to ask you to ask you two questions at once. what does mccarthy want and how big of a fall if he can't get the vote next week? scott: he's trying to drive

president biden to the negotiating table. president biden has been able to hang back and not participate, not invite mccarthy over these talks because republicans have been fighting amongst themselves about what types of spending cuts they want to attach this debt ceiling bill. the democrat, the white house, president biden feel they are in a superior negotiating position. we will see in this coming week whether mccarthy can get to 218, the magic number that eluding him for 15 rounds in the speaker race. he's saying he will get there with this republican debt deal but that only starts the conversation. michael: we are serving the chest thumping phase of the investigation and both sides are trying to show how much power they bring to the table. as nancy pelosi used to say, our powers are in unity. they are sizing each other up.

there will have to be a conversation at some point someone will have to cave. both mccarthy and biden have said defaulting is not an option so there is a cliff both sides have said they don't want to go over. where the middle ground is found will depend on how strong they look when they come to the table. lisa: there's a lot of doublespeak and we talked about this earlier. i think folks might be confused by the white house stance. they won't negotiate but they will talk about something later. >> right. lisa: what are they trying to do? >> you are absolutely right. we've seen that trajectory when the president especially started with show me a proposal and i am happy to negotiate. that has slowly evolved into i want a clean debt ceiling hike, take the risk of default off the table and i'm happy to have a serious conversation. there has been an evolution in

that position the white house has taken. lisa: the white house wrote down the word evolution. [laughter] >> the white house position on this has been it is a draconian proposal, that we want budget talks to be kept separate from debt ceiling talks. the president was at the rose garden a few hours ago describing how the spending cuts impact his climate agenda. the white house is on a messaging blitz, sending out a lot of information talking about how this impacts manufacturing jobs, how it impacts the student debt relief program could their strategy right now is premised around the idea that the spending proposal will prove to be unpopular as soon as the consequences of this are spelled out clearly. that's what they are trying to do, and also privately, the president is calling his supporters in congress, democrats in congress, trying to

keep the caucus together. that's another priority. lisa: power in unity. i know some viewers might say we have until june or maybe september 4 that x date, that the u.s. government can no longer pay its bills. how much time is that rlly in congressional speak to get things done? heather: i'm getting a little nervous, i will be honest. we've seen congress, they don't do anything until they have a deadline and they usually take it right up until then. the problem is, as you said, we don't know when the date is pitted -- date is. we will know more from treasury next week and the cbo will give an update in mid-may. but the houses out for a week, we are getting into may and close to june, it is very nerve-racking i think on the hill. the white house is saying i'm not going to negotiate with mccarthy until he passes something and agrees to put a clean debt limit on the floor and he's not going to do that. so there's going to have to be

some acknowledgment from both sides that we will meet and give up some of these talking points, come to the middle and find something that can allow both of them to save face. i don't think either one is going to get exactly what they want. lisa: scott, you've seen a lot of this brinkmanship. what could the endgame be here? let's figure it out. [laughter] scott: the questio i didn't answer earlier is what happens to mccarthy, what are the stakes? this is his first test as speaker of the house. we know part of the deal he negotiated with the conservatives when he was securing the speaker's gavel was to reinstate the motion to vacate where any single member can bring a vote to the floor to remove mccarthy as speaker of the house at any given moment. if they don't like the details of this deal with president biden, that could happen. mccarthy personally has a lot riding on the debt deal, estevez -- as does the nation.

michael: both sides have to find a way to maintain their redlines but there is still gray space where they can figure out how to do that. another thing to keep an eye on, the plan mccarthy has talked about is a one-year extension, which means in the middle of an election year, we name a republican nominee and we are doing this again? that's a wild prospect. lisa: why would mccarthy want another debt ceiling fight in the spring of 2024? michael: heather can correct me but i think is trying to get votes. he's saying to his right flank, you will have a second run at this. we will get another piece of the pie next year at some point. right now, democrats feel very certain the polling on this is to their benefit. an election year next year, they will feel more certain, and the republican nominee will almost certainly say wait come of got to figure out how to get to a general election position here. i don't want to be defending the

collapse of the stock market. lisa: there has to be a handshake deal at this point, there's not time for a full appropriations deal to make it out. these guys aren't meeting at. i want to also talk about president biden and his election announcement we expect next week. michael, tell me the thinking and why is there no marching band? why will it be a video? michael: if you look back at how obama announced in 2012, it has become more typical to not start with giant rallies if you are a known commodity. what they need to do is set up a fundraising system, they need to start reactivating grassroots volunteers, start rebuilding their lists, start building their own staff. they have hire senior staff, get a building, probably in wilmington, to have this going. they need something to get there. later in the summer or even the fall, do a bigger splash

announcement. when obama announced in early 2011, that was a video, it was grassroots supporters talking about they are excited to get back in the game and he kept being president for six or eight months before he was on the campaign trail. i would expect some things similar. just establishing a foothold so they can start doing the work they need to build what they need. and biden connect more like a candidate later. >> it also helps the president stay above the fray, as everyone else fight out, the republicans fight for the gop nomination. that's been the strategy of the white house and his top advisers. that's why they've been delaying the decision as long as i have. they have consistently communicated they are in no rush to make an announcement. one other thing i will point out is how different this will be, thisampaign specifically.

the president ran the last one from his basement. [laughter] this one he really has to show up, he has to avoid verbal gaffes, he has to be present and sharp. and that will be a challenge for an 80-year-old president. white house aides are sort of focused on that strategy of how to keep him going because he will still have a day job to do. lisa: how do democrats on the hill do this? this president hasn't had a positive approval rating in a year, there is an enthusiasm gap with voters. how comfortable are members of the hill with their own jobs? scott: biden's underwater nationwide, but at the same time, heather and i were at the democrat retreat in baltimore a few weeks ago and biden came to talk to them but democrats were very excited about the prospects of four more years. primula jaya paul -- pamila

jayapal said that biden is the most progressive president we seen in our lifetimes, pointing to a researcher, gun reform, chips, the list goes on and on. it was a very productive two years, and democrats felt they had a lot to run on. lisa: one interesting thing i want to point out, i was talking to senior republicans in the house and senate this week and they think that biden can be trump and they are concerned about that. they want say that publicly. -- will not say that publicly. lisa: republicans have been trying to knock down biden through investigations. have they landed punches yet? heather: that's a good question. you talk to republicans on the how site and they launched a barrage of investigations.

they tweeted something this week, they sent hundreds of letters just in the first three or four months of having the majority. had they really landed a punch so far? i don't think so. part of it is early and part of it is the administration is not cooperating and part of it is so disparate. there's not a common narrative of there is corruption here or there is this. as it goes on we could see something but right now it's just a lot of spaghetti being thrown at the wall. lisa: in the senate they are sort of just sitting and not doing much at all. michael: the sentence business seems to be much these days, confirming judges and they are missing a key member of the judiciary committee, republicans are blocking anyway of temporarily placing or permanently replacing diane feinstein of california, who has been out with illness. they don't have much to do at the moment. lisa: i suspect that topic is of interest to viewers and will come up in the future. that in this episode of

washingtonweek. thank you to our panelists for sharing the reporting. thank you to all of you for watchingt home. watch pbs news weekend on saturday for a look at what scientists are doing to rescue disappearing plant life. i am lisa desjardin, good night from washington. >> corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has been offering no contract wireless plans designed to help people do what they like. our u.s.-based customer service team can find one the fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. >> additional funding is provided by -- koo and patricia yuen through the yuen foundation -- committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. sandra and carl delay-magnuson. rose hirschel and andy shreeves. robert and susan rosenbaum. the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you.

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