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Biden Administration: President Biden is scheduled to honor 2021-2022 Medal of Valor recipients at 9:30 a.m. ET. The president is set to depart the White House at 9:45 a.m. en route to Hiroshima, Japan, where he will attend meetings with leaders of the Group of Seven nations.

Russia-Ukraine War: Washington was assessing potential damage to a Patriot air-defense system sustained during a Russian missile assault on Kyiv, according to a U.S. official.

The long-shot parliamentary maneuver is designed to circumvent House Republican leadership and force a vote, and comes a day after President Biden said he would cut short a planned overseas trip to focus on striking a deal to raise the debt ceiling to avoid a default, reports Lindsay Wise. Party leaders remained at odds following a meeting at the White House on Tuesday to discuss potential spending cuts.

• Overhauling Energy Permitting Is a Heavy Lift in Debt-Ceiling Talks (Read)

In a letter to House and Senate leaders, lawyers for the Internal Revenue Service supervisor said “his entire investigative team” had also been removed from the inquiry, in what they suggested was retaliation after he claimed to have evidence of political interference in the criminal inquiry, reports C. Ryan Barber.

In other politics news...

• Young Americans Are Dying at Alarming Rates, Reversing Years of Progress (Read)

• Daniel Cameron Wins GOP Nomination to Challenge Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear (Read)

• Cherelle Parker Wins Democratic Nomination in Philadelphia Mayoral Primary (Read)

Commerce Department data showing retail sales up a seasonally adjusted 0.4% month-to-month add to a mixed picture of economic activity in recent months, report Gwynn Guilford and Sarah Nassauer. Federal Reserve officials this month raised short-term interest rates for the 10th consecutive time, bringing its benchmark federal-funds rate to a 16-year high in an effort to fight inflation by slowing the economy.

• Heard on the Street: How Car Sales Could Keep the Economy Humming (Read)

In other economic news...

• More People Are Falling Behind on Credit Card and Car Debt (Read)

• Senators Blame SVB, Signature Management for Banks’ Failures (Read) (▶️Video)

• IRS Will Offer Free Online Tax Prep for Some Taxpayers in 2024 (Read)

The CIA and FBI have used social-media platforms and public appearances to encourage Russians angered by President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine to contact them—and have provided what they say are secure Internet channels to do so, reports Warren P. Strobel. Some Russians have responded, an official involved in the outreach effort said.

In other national security news...

• Secret Service Probes Breach at Jake Sullivan’s Home (Read)

• Ex-Apple Engineer Indicted in Crackdown on Flow of Restricted Tech to China, Russia (Read)

Speaking at a White House reception to mark Jewish American Heritage Month, Biden paid tribute to Gershkovich, whom he called fearless, alongside other Jewish Americans who have represented the U.S. in the public sphere, reports William Mauldin. The president made the remarks after a House committee advanced a bipartisan resolution calling on Russia to free Gershkovich.

• U.S. Condemns Russia’s Arrest of Embassy Contractor (Read)

• Brittney Griner’s Saga Hasn’t Deterred Some U.S. Athletes From Competing in Russia (Read)

In other world news...

• Influential Middle East Leader Woos Russia and China, Testing U.S. Ties (Read)

• In Hiroshima, Biden Will Meet Leader Whose Family Knew Atomic-Bomb Tragedy (Read)

• What Everyone—Except the U.S.—Has Learned About Immigration (Read)

The agency filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking an injunction that would prevent the deal from closing, in a rare effort by antitrust enforcers to prevent a merger of pharmaceutical companies, report Dave Michaels and Joseph Walker. Under Chair Lina Khan, the FTC has taken a stricter stance on deals generally, saying antitrust enforcers in the past several decades shied away from challenging many deals, allowing firms in technology, healthcare and other industries to amass excessive market power.

In other regulatory news...

• ChatGPT’s Sam Altman Warns Congress That AI ‘Can Go Quite Wrong’ (Read) (▶️Video)

In recent weeks, a legal challenge to the pill’s approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration moved rapidly from a courthouse in Amarillo, Texas, to the U.S. Supreme Court, reports Laura Kusisto. The high court in an order last month allowed the pill mifepristone, which is used in more than half of abortions in the U.S., to remain on the market indefinitely while litigation proceeds.

• North Carolina Lawmakers Vote to Override Veto of 12-Week Abortion Ban (Read)

In other legal news...

• Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes’s Request to Stay Out of Prison Denied (Read)

• Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) in a brief conversation seemed to not remember her extended absence from the Capitol following a case of shingles. (Slate)
• House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) is facing pressure from within his ranks to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, which could displease some moderate GOP lawmakers. (CNN)
• A veteran Russian politician and former army commander called for a crackdown on the country’s private military company, Wagner Group, as tensions rise over its role in the invasion of Ukraine. (Politico)

Yesterday, we asked what Congress should prioritize as it considers regulating artificial-intelligence tools.

With all of the dire predictions of job losses, to human extinction, you would think government officials would have been doing everything possible to get ahead of the curve, on how, when, and what to do to regulate this amazing but threatening technology. It certainly appears that they are very late in the game. Can they get the toothpaste back in the tube after the fact?
–Richard Mandy, Maryland

Responses have been condensed and edited.

Should a New Orleans-based federal appeals court side with plaintiffs who oppose the the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval of a widely used abortion pill?

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