Biden Considering Paying Illegal Immigrant Families Nearly $1 Million Each – The Biden administration could pay illegal immigrants’ families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border $450,000 per person in settlements, according to The Wall Street Journal. The payments could amount to close to $1 million per family. Some families would likely receive smaller payouts depending on the circumstances, according to the report. Migrant children separated from their parents at the border were supposed to be reunited with their parents by the U.S. government within 30 days. That was in 2018. Three years later, at least 1,000 children have not been returned to their parents. The Biden administration ended the policy through an executive order in June and created a Family Reunification Task Force that, as of Oct. 8, has reunited 52 families separated under former President Donald Trump. Roughly 2,800 children were taken from their parents under the 2018 policy, according to a report from the Department of Homeland Security.

Democrats Poised to Lose VA Governor Race – Republican Glenn Youngkin now holds a clear lead over Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the Virginia gubernatorial race with five days to go before Election Day, according to a just-released poll. The Fox News survey showed Youngkin leading McAuliffe by eight percentage points (53-45) among likely voters, with just 2 percent supporting other candidates or undecided. That represents a dramatic turnaround from just two weeks ago, when the same poll showed McAuliffe with 51 percent support among likely voters, 46 percent supporting Youngkin and 3 percent undecided or supporting other candidates. Youngkin also leads McAuliffe by a single percentage point (48-47) among all registered voters — a 12-point turnaround from two weeks earlier, when McAuliffe held a 52-41 advantage among registered voters.

McCarthy Slams Biden’s Spending Bonanza Plan – House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Thursday condemned President Joe Biden’s runaway spending plan as the ”most expensive Thanksgiving for America.” He also invoked a scene from the comic strip ”Peanuts” to mock negotiations on President Joe Biden’s ”Build Back Better” agenda. ”I wonder if the president feels a little like Charlie Brown in the famous scene with the football,” McCarthy said in a press conference on Capitol Hill. ”His advisers tell him to come back up to the Hill. They promise this time Speaker Pelosi won’t take it out from under him. We will find out today if she does the exact same thing,” he added. Biden traveled to the Capitol on Thursday to ask congressional Democrats for support on a framework for a $1.85 trillion climate and safety net plan. ”We have a framework that will get 50 votes in the United States Senate,” Biden told a group of House Democrats, according to a person familiar with his private remarks. ”I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that the House and Senate majorities and my presidency will be determined by what happens in the next week.”

Radical Libs Threaten to Block Infrastructure Bill – Liberals on Thursday vowed to block a popular infrastructure bill — a central piece of President Biden’s domestic agenda — just hours after the president urged their support and Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced plans to bring the bipartisan proposal to the House floor for a vote the same day. The move by dozens of members in the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) was hardly a departure of tactics: Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who chairs the group, has said for months that liberals would oppose the infrastructure bill until there was a concrete agreement with Democratic centrists on a larger social spending package. Still, their decision to hold that line constitutes a remarkable escalation of the high-stakes power struggle between Pelosi and the progressive members of her own caucus, who said they simply can’t back the infrastructure bill without greater assurances that a larger social spending bill will contain their priorities. In an exceptional interaction Thursday, Pelosi walked into a strategic meeting of the CPC, only to leave a short time later without speaking to the group.

Cuomo Charged, Will be Arrested for Harassing Aide – Disgraced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo is expected to be arrested next week and charged with a misdemeanor in the alleged physical harassment of a former aide. The anticipated charge is the result of a probe by Albany County District Attorney David Soares, a source briefed in the matter said Thursday. Cuomo’s looming arrest is believed to be the reason that Attorney General Letitia James decided to tell a key union leader on Wednesday that she’ll launch a campaign for governor “shortly,” the source briefed on the matter said.

Caravan of Migrants Heading to US Border – A caravan of some 2,000 immigrants — including hundreds of children — continued their trek toward the southern border of the United States after pushing past police over delays in getting refugee or asylum papers at a city in southern Mexico over the weekend. Many in the crowd carried US flags or signs with President Biden’s name on them. They arrived in Huixtla on Tuesday after three days of travel by foot along a highway from Tapachula, a city near the Guatemala border where their asylum claims were being processed by the Mexican government. The journey began in Central and South America. Mexico, which requires migrants with humanitarian or asylum claims to wait in the border state of Chiapas for processing, did not make any moves to break up the group as it has in the past — sometimes by force. The migrants paused in Huixtla — about 25 miles from Tapachula — to rest, seek medical attention for blistered feet, cool themselves, and wash clothing in a nearby river before once again embarking on their journey to the US, hoping to reach Escuintla, about 19 miles away.

US Issues First Passport with Gender Marked ‘X’ – The United States has issued its first passport with an “X” gender designation and expects to be able to offer the option to gender-nonconforming people early next year, the State Department said Wednesday. Jessica Stern, the U.S. special diplomatic envoy for certain rights, said the move brings the government documents in line with the “lived reality” that there is a wider spectrum of characteristics than is reflected in the previous two designations. “When a person obtains identity documents that reflect their true identity, they live with greater dignity and respect,” Stern said. The department did not announce to whom the passport was issued. A department official declined to say whether it was for Dana Zzyym, a Colorado resident who has been in a legal battle with the department since 2015, saying the department does not usually discuss individual passport applications because of privacy concerns. Zzyym (pronounced Zimm) was denied a passport for failing to check male or female on an application.

FDA Panel Endorses Pfizer Shot for Kids – An expert panel on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to recommend the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorize the Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, saying the benefits of inoculation outweigh the risks. An authorization for that age group would be would be an important regulatory step toward reaching about 28 million children for inoculation, most of them back in school for in-person learning. The vaccine could be available to the younger age group as soon as next week. The FDA is not obligated to follow the advice of its outside experts, but usually does. If the FDA authorizes the shots for this age group, an advisory panel to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will meet next week to make a recommendation on the administration of the vaccine. The CDC director will make the final call. The companies have said their vaccine showed 90.7% efficacy against the coronavirus in a clinical trial of children aged 5 to 11.