Politics and views in the United States.

President Biden announces a path to citizenship for spouses of U.S. citizens. Republicans vote to kill a bump-stock ban following a Supreme Court ruling, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls out the U.S. for withholding weapons.

TRANSCRIPT

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Welcome to 2024 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

This action is a better way.

It doesn't tear families apart by requiring every undocumented spouse to fulfill their obligations under the law.

President Joe Biden announcing a new policy to protect the undocumented spouses of US citizens from deportation.

The executive action will apply to those who've been in the country for a decade and will let them work legally.

The White House estimates it'll benefit half a million families.

Meanwhile, House Republicans charge that non-citizens are voting in federal elections and want a law requiring proof of citizenship to cast a ballot.

Despite a lack of evidence, some argue the Biden administration is intentionally flooding the US with undocumented immigrants to tip the election.

David Becker with the Center for Election Innovation says the conspiracy theory is corrosive for democracy.

Non-citizens are already not legally allowed to vote in federal elections.

This has been the case through American history and it was codified into American law in 1996.

Lawmakers in at least six states have introduced similar legislation.

A recent survey of 8 million voter registrations by Ohio's Republican Secretary of State turned up fewer than 150 non-citizens, who he said probably registered by accident.

An independent think tank says turnout could take a hit from anti-voting policies.

The Movement Advancement Project says half of states have passed restrictions since 2020 and eight states have new voter ID requirements.

ID rules now apply to a quarter of all voters.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken affirmed that US military assistance is being provided to Israel, despite publicity around one delayed bomb shipment.

But everything else is moving as it normally would move.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is accusing the US of withholding needed weapons.

Secretary Blinken assured me that the administration is working day and night to remove these bottlenecks.

I certainly hope that's the case.

Meanwhile, observers warn that Israel could be headed for a full-scale conflict with Hezbollah.

They cite increasing tit-for-tat strikes across Lebanon's southern border with the powerful Iranian-backed militia.

Senate Republicans are blocking a Democratic bill to ban bump stocks.

Last week, the Supreme Court overturned an executive action outlawing the mechanism that lets a semi-automatic rifle fire like a machine gun.

Melissa Cain is with Connecticut Against Gun Violence.

Legislation to ban bump stocks have already been introduced in the US House and Senate, and the Congress has the power to change the law and ban bump stocks now to keep these kind of weapons off of our streets and out of our communities, but it has to happen.

Vice President Kamala Harris joined rapper Quavo at a one-day Atlanta summit on gun crime.

The Grammy nominee says he used to glorify violence until the shooting of his nephew, Takeoff.

He commemorated what would have been Takeoff's 30th birthday, raising money for community anti-violence groups.

We want to make sure that we get these organizations that want to do something about it, you know, funded.

We want to make sure we support them.

I'm Alex Gonzalez for Pacific Network and Public News Service.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.