White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was pressed Wednesday for a response to the United Kingdom’s decision to ban puberty blockers for minors despite President Biden’s claim that American lawmakers pushing such bans were ‘hysterical’ and ‘prejudiced.’

Biden made the comments on June 8 during a joint press conference at the White House with U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the first person of color elected British prime minister, and declared his administration was ‘not relenting’ when it came to making sure LGBTQ Americans were ‘protected.’

‘When the president made those remarks, he was standing next to the prime minister from the United Kingdom, and afterward, the United Kingdom announced that they were going to be placing a ban on puberty blockers for minors in most cases. Will the president raise this human rights issue with his U.K. counterpart?’ RealClearPolitics reporter Philip Wegmann asked Jean-Pierre during the daily White House press briefing.

‘I didn’t see those comments, so I can’t respond to that directly. And I’m just not going to go beyond what the president said in those conversations,’ Jean-Pierre responded.

Wegmann also asked if the Biden administration intended to withhold Medicare funds or other federal healthcare dollars from states passing similar laws, but she said she didn’t ‘have anything to add to that.’

The Biden administration previously considered withholding Medicare and other funds in an effort to force Americans to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

The U.K.’s National Health Service said last week that it would not routinely offer puberty-blocking drugs to children at gender identity clinics, saying more evidence is needed about the potential benefits and harms.

It specifically said that ‘outside of a research setting, puberty-suppressing hormones should not be routinely commissioned for children and adolescents.’

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., claimed Wednesday that 2-year-olds should have been ‘required’ to wear masks throughout the coronavirus pandemic and insisted parents who opposed the notion were engaging in a form of ‘child abuse.’

Arguing in favor of vaccines, Nadler said from the House floor that ‘we have to vaccinate people to prevent diseases and pandemics’ and that ‘people should [be] required to be vaccinated’ in the event of a pandemic.

‘It protects against transmission of the disease to the next person, and the health care worker certainly ought to be required to be vaccinated,’ Nadler said.

‘When we have a pandemic, like [the] COVID-19 pandemic that we had, 2-year-olds should have been required to wear masks. It would be child abuse for parents not to do that because there was no vaccination available for 2-year-olds,’ Nadler added.

‘The only way to protect them against COVID was [to] have them wear masks. These mandates are meant to protect the public’s health and safety.’

The comments from Nadler, who has served in the House since the early ’90s, came during a debate over an amendment on vaccine mandates in the REINS Act offered by Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy. 

Roy’s amendment expands the definition of ‘major rule’ to include any rule likely to result in an increase in mandatory vaccinations, meaning Congress would have to vote to approve any rule that’s promulgated by the executive branch to push mandatory vaccinations. 

All but five Republican representatives — Lloyd Smucker of Pennsylvania, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Don Bacon of Nebraska, Zach Nunn of Iowa and Mike Lawler of New York — voted in favor of the amendment.

Nadler’s remarks drew criticism from those across the aisle, including Roy, who blasted the longtime New York lawmaker’s comments. 

‘I’m tempted to yield the rest of my time to the gentleman from New York because he’s basically making the case for me more effectively than I can,’ Roy said as he spoke shortly after Nadler. ‘The gentleman from New York is basically acknowledging everything that I’m sitting here saying, that I’m trying to do to protect the American people from the tyrannical state of the executive branch, but in this case my Democratic colleagues on the other side of the aisle.’

‘I want everybody in America to understand what they just heard from the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee in the United States House of Representatives,’ Roy added. ‘Your 2-year-old should be forced to be masked. That is what the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee just said here on the floor of the House of Representatives. That the power of the government, the full power of the federal government, should be a part of ensuring and enforcing your children, your 2-year-old child to be masked.’

The 2024 presidential campaign for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also weighed in on Nadler’s comment that toddlers should have been forced to mask up during the pandemic, writing in a tweet that Democrats ‘have no regrets about harming kids in the name of COVID.’

‘If given the chance … they’ll do it again,’ the DeSantis campaign added.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez officially filed paperwork on Wednesday declaring his campaign for president in 2024 as a Republican, according to a Federal Election Commission filing.

The filing comes after a newly rebranded super PAC that supports Suarez launched a digital ad blitz earlier Wednesday in the first four states that hold contests in the 2024 GOP presidential nominating calendar. 

Suarez teased a run on ‘Fox News Sunday,’ saying he’s going to make a ‘major announcement’ in the coming weeks.

‘My announcement is to stay tuned,’ he said Sunday. ‘Next week, like you said, I’m going to be making a big speech in the Reagan Library, and I think it’s one that Americans should tune into.’

The mayor has been mulling a presidential run for several months, including visiting four of the early key states for presidential primaries. Fox News Digital previously interviewed Suarez during an April visit to New Hampshire, where he expressed optimism about the GOP primary.

‘You have to compete with other things, by inspiring people. You have to compete by explaining to people you have a track record of success, a vision for the future. That you can inspire people with a positive view of what their future can look like in ways other candidates can’t,’ Suarez told Fox News Digital.

Suarez is joining the growing field of Republican candidates that already includes two fellow Floridians — former President Donald Trump, the current front-runner, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who announced his bid late last month.

Suarez’s campaign announcement comes weeks after the Miami Herald reported that Suarez, who receives $130,000 in compensation to serve as mayor, is facing an ethics investigation for outside payments he received for private consulting.

The Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust has opened an investigation in coordination with the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office into Suarez’s work for developer Rishi Kapoor, who paid him at least $170,000 since 2021, according to the report.

Suarez has repeatedly denied any possible conflicts of interest. Speaking to Fox News, he accused the Herald of liberal bias.

‘All of a sudden, they assign three reporters and come up with all these allegations in advance of what appears to be a major announcement that you indicated next week,’ he told anchor Shannon Bream.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) slammed Suarez as ‘yet another contender in the race for the MAGA base who has supported key pieces of Donald Trump’s agenda.’

‘As mayor of Miami, Suarez has repeatedly used his position to benefit himself, prioritizing pay raises for himself, accepting lavish gifts, and taking shady payments – all while ignoring the biggest challenges facing the people he was elected to serve,’ DNC chair Jaime Harrison said. ‘As the MAGA field keeps growing, we’ll keep reminding the American people that there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between these extreme, self-serving candidates.’

The mayor will deliver remarks at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute in Simi Valley, California, on Thursday evening as part of its ‘A Time for Choosing’ speaker series.

According to the Reagan Foundation, Mayor Suarez, whose father, Xavier Suarez, was Miami’s first-ever Cuban-American mayor, was ‘elected with a mandate of 86 percent’ in 2017 and then ‘re-elected with a mandate of nearly 79 percent’ in 2021.

The crowded Republican field includes former Vice President Mike Pence and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, as well as multiple long-shot candidates, including Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson; Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C.; Vivek Ramaswamy; and Larry Elder.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

Senate Republicans on Wednesday rolled out a new plan to address rising student debt and the soaring cost of college just as President Joe Biden’s $400 billion student loan handout is expected to be struck down in the Supreme Court.

Instead of trying to forgive loans as Biden did, Senate Republicans are supporting programs aimed at making sure students understand the real cost of college and shutting off loans for programs that don’t result in salaries that are high enough to justify those loans.

‘President Biden’s answer was to enact his $400 billion student debt scheme, which doesn’t forgive debt. It really transfers the responsibility to pay it back away from the person who willingly took on the debt,’ Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., the top Republican on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said Wednesday.

Senate Republicans say their plan will tackle the rising cost of post-high school degrees and make it easier for students and families to navigate loan programs. It’s a package of five bills collectively called Lowering Education Costs and Debt Act.

One of the bills from Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, aims to reduce confusion for federal student borrowers by narrowing the number of repayment plan options from nine to two – the standard 10-year plan as well as an option for low-income, low-balance borrowers.

Cornyn’s bill also prohibits new undergraduate and graduate loans from being issued for programs where students are projected to make less than the average high school and bachelor’s degree recipient, respectively.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., introduced a second bill to end the government’s Graduate PLUS loans, which have no borrowing limits, while keeping in place other federal loans that do. Republicans say the PLUS loans are helping drive up the cost of college.

‘This would prevent some of the worst examples of students being exploited for profit. It would force schools to bring down cost and to compete for students. What an idea,’ Tuberville said on Wednesday. ‘It would also protect students from getting buried in debt they can never, ever pay.’

A third bill from Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., is the Informed Borrowing Act. Under that proposal, borrowers would be required to acknowledge receiving information that explains the cost of their loan and what their repayment windows look like, among other information, each year. It also calls for income projections for a student’s desired trajectory based on their school and program of study.

Two other bills, from Cassidy and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, are specifically aimed at making sure students are fully aware of college costs and how far that investment would go.

Cassidy’s College Transparency Act, which has bipartisan support in the House and Senate, would refine and update databases to give a more complete picture of schools’ enrollment statistics and data on how students fare after graduation across all available majors and programs. Grassley’s Understanding the True Cost of College Act is seeking to standardize colleges’ financial aid offer forms so that students can better compare different options.

The Supreme Court is expected this month to decide the fate of the president’s student loan plan, which would forgive up to $20,000 for federal student loan recipients whose income is less than a certain amount.

Biden’s plan also received bipartisan opposition in Congress. A resolution disapproving of the policy passed the House and Senate with bipartisan support.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Wednesday repeatedly dodged a question concerning whether President Biden would support ‘financial’ reparations being paid to the descendants of Black slaves in the U.S.

The question was posed by liberal reporter April Ryan, who noted the recent introduction of legislation by far-left Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., pushing for $14 trillion to be paid to reparations, and asked what the administration’s view was on ‘repairing a wrong for the descendants of Africans in this nation.’

‘As it relates to reparations, I saw just moments ago Cori Bush’s resolution. We haven’t reviewed the proposal yet — some new proposals — so we’ll take a look at it,’ Jean-Pierre responded after a lengthy explanation of Biden’s advocacy for Juneteenth to be a federal holiday.

‘So I can’t comment on that specifically. But the president has been really clear as it relates to reparations. He wants to see a study of reparations and studying the continuing impacts of slavery. He believes that is incredibly important,’ she said.

Ryan pressed Jean-Pierre on the subject, asking whether Biden would ‘support a pay-out’ and ‘financial repair’ should the results of a study agree with calls for financial reparations.

‘So, look, I will say this: We’ve got to let the study move forward. We’ve got to let — to see what the study shows, and we’ve got to continue to study the impact of slavery,’ Jean-Pierre responded, avoiding directly answering the question. 

‘That is something that the president believes that we need to do. So that’s incredibly important,’ she said.

Jean-Pierre went on to praise what she said was Biden calling out race inequality ‘as a problem’ across the country, and said he was taking ‘comprehensive action’ to ensure ‘we put equity at the center’ of federal government decisions.

‘So let’s see what the study shows. It is important to continue to study the continuing impacts, if you will, on slavery. And I think because of the president’s action — he’s been very clear. He’s been very clear how important it is, even just looking at his economic policy, how important it is to leave no one behind, have equity at the center of everything that he’s done,’ she added. 

Republican Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders is set to visit Europe on her first international trade mission since taking office in January.Sanders is set to meet with aerospace industry leaders at the Paris Air Show, as well as with other American, British, French and German business executives elsewhere.‘It’s time for the whole world to learn what Arkansans already know: there’s never been a better time to invest in the Natural State and call it home,’ a statement by Sanders said.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is heading to Europe on her first overseas trade mission since taking office this year.

Sanders, a Republican, said she planned to meet with aerospace industry leaders at the Paris Air Show during the trip. She also planned to meet with American, British, French and German business executives to make the case for investing in Arkansas, Sanders said in a statement released Wednesday.

Sanders said Commerce Secretary Hugh McDonald and Arkansas Economic Development Commission Executive Director Clint O’Neal will also go on the trade mission.

The governor’s office said they planned to meet with executives from several companies, including Lockheed Martin, Aerojet Rocketdyne and Raytheon. Sanders’ mission will also include meetings in Cologne, Germany, her office said.

Aerospace and defense is a major part of Arkansas’ economy and makes up about 20% of the state’s exports, according to the Arkansas Economic Development Commission.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette first reported details of Sanders’ trip on Wednesday. Her office said the state won’t have a breakdown of the cost of the trip until after the governor returns.

‘It’s time for the whole world to learn what Arkansans already know: there’s never been a better time to invest in the Natural State and call it home,’ Sanders said in a statement.

Sanders, who served as former President Donald Trump’s press secretary, was inaugurated in January as governor.

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Twenty Republicans in the House of Representatives sided with most Democrats Wednesday in voting to set aside a resolution that would have censured Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., for insisting that former President Donald Trump colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election.

The 225-196 vote effectively killed the resolution introduced by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., and included two other Republican lawmakers voting ‘present’ along with five Democrats.

Here are the 20 Republicans who voted not to move forward with the measure:

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky.

Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D.

Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore. 

Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz.

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla. 

Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa. 

Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas 

Rep. Garret Graves, R-La. 

Rep. Thomas Kean, R-N.J. 

Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif. 

Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif.

Rep. Michael Lawler, R-N.Y.

Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif. 

Rep. Marcus Molinaro, R-N.Y. 

Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif.

Rep. Michael Simpson, R-Idaho

Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio

Rep. David Valadao, R-Calif.

Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark.

Prior to the vote, Massie said he opposed the idea of a fine against Schiff — the resolution recommended a $16 million fine but did not require it.

‘Adam Schiff acted unethically but if a resolution to fine him $16 million comes to the floor I will vote to table it. (vote against it),’ he tweeted Wednesday.

‘The Constitution says the House may make its own rules but we can’t violate other (later) provisions of the Constitution,’ he added. ‘A $16 million fine is a violation of the 27th and 8th amendments.’

It wasn’t clear late Wednesday whether House Republicans might try again with a resolution against Schiff that leaves out all mentions of possible fines.