By Moira Warburton, Diane Bartz and Idrees Ali

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday finalized a budget agreement with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to suspend the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling until Jan. 1, 2025, and said the deal was ready to move to Congress for a vote.

“This is a deal that’s good news for … the American people,” Biden told reporters at the White House after a call with McCarthy to put the final touches to a tentative deal they struck on Saturday night.

“It takes the threat of catastrophic default off the table, protects our hard-earned and historic economic recovery,” Biden said.

The deal, if approved, will prevent the U.S. government from defaulting on its debt and comes after weeks of heated negotiations between Biden and House Republicans.

It still needs to pass through a narrowly divided Congress before June 5, when the U.S. Treasury says it would run short of money to cover all of its obligations.

“I strongly urge both chambers to pass that agreement,” Biden said, adding that he expected McCarthy to have the necessary votes for the deal to pass.

The deal has drawn fire from hardline Republicans and progressive Democrats, but Biden and McCarthy are banking on getting enough votes from both sides.

McCarthy earlier on Sunday predicted he would have the support of a majority of his fellow Republicans, and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said he expected Democratic support.

The agreement would suspend the debt limit through January 1 of 2025, cap spending in the 2024 and 2025 budgets, claw back unused COVID funds, speed up the permitting process for some energy projects and include extra work requirements for food aid programs for poor Americans.

The 99-page bill would authorize more than $886 billion for security spending in fiscal year 2024 and over $703 billion in non-security spending for the same year, not including some adjustments. It would also authorize a 1% increase for security spending in fiscal year 2025.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell applauded the agreement and called on the Senate to act swiftly to pass it without unnecessary delay once it has gone through the House.

“Today’s agreement makes urgent progress toward preserving our nation’s full faith and credit and a much-needed step toward getting its financial house in order,” McConnell said.

Members of the Republican hardline Freedom Caucus said they would try to prevent the agreement from passing in a House vote expected on Wednesday.

“We’re going to try,” Representative Chip Roy, a prominent Freedom Caucus member, said in a tweet.

McCarthy dismissed threats of opposition within his own party, saying “over 95%” of House Republicans were “overwhelmingly excited” about the deal.

“This is a good strong bill that a majority of Republicans will vote for,” the California Republican told reporters in the U.S. Capitol. “You’re going to have Republicans and Democrats be able to move this to the president.”

MCCARTHY NOT WORRIED

To win the speaker’s gavel, McCarthy agreed to enable any single House member to call for a vote to unseat him, potentially making him vulnerable to ouster by disgruntled Republicans. But he has said he is “not at all” concerned about that possibility during the debt ceiling debate.

Republicans control the House by 222-213, while Democrats control the Senate by 51-49. These narrow margins mean that moderates from both sides will have to support the bill if it is opposed by hardliners in either or both parties.

“I’m not happy with some of the things I’m hearing about,” Representative Pramila Jayapal, who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told CNN’s “State of the Union.”

She praised the deal that she said would save Medicaid from benefit cuts while expanding the safety net to veterans and homeless people. “We kept the student debt responsibility that we have,” she said, referring to Biden’s policy of limited loan forgiveness.

Progressive Democrats in both chambers had said they would not support any deal that had additional work requirements for government food and healthcare programs.

The deal does add work requirements to food aid for some people aged 50 to 54, but White House officials said the carefully worded text would mean that roughly the same number of people would be subject to the requirements as is the case under current law.

(Reporting by Moira Warburton, Steve Holland, Diane Bartz, Daphne Psaledakis, Richard Cowan, Trevor Hunnicutt and Idrees Ali; Writing by David Morgan and Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Heather Timmons, Mark Porter, Andrea Ricci, Deepa Babington and Lincoln Feast.)

WASHINGTON (AP) — With days to spare before a potential first-ever government default, President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached final agreement Sunday on a deal to raise the nation’s debt ceiling and worked to ensure enough Republican and Democratic votes to pass the measure in the coming week.

The Democratic president and Republican speaker spoke with each other Sunday evening as negotiators rushed to draft and post the 99-page bill text so lawmakers can review compromises that neither the hard-right or left flank is likely to support. Instead, the leaders are working to gather backing from the political middle as Congress hurries toward votes before a June 5 deadline to avert a damaging federal default.

“Good news,” Biden declared Sunday evening at the White House.

“The agreement prevents the worst possible crisis, a default, for the first time in our nation’s history,” he said. “Takes the threat of a catastrophic default off the table.”

The president urged both parties in Congress to come together for swift passage. “The speaker and I made clear from the start that the only way forward was a bipartisan agreement,” he said.

The compromise announced late Saturday includes spending cuts but risks angering some lawmakers as they take a closer look at the concessions. Biden told reporters at the White House upon his return from Delaware that he was confident the plan will make it to his desk. The bill was posted Sunday evening.

McCarthy, too, was confident in remarks at the Capitol: “At the end of the day, people can look together to be able to pass this.”

The days ahead will determine whether Washington is again able to narrowly avoid a default on U.S. debt, as it has done many times before, or whether the global economy enters a potential crisis.

In the United States, a default could cause financial markets to freeze up and spark an international financial crisis. Analysts say millions of jobs would vanish, borrowing and unemployment rates would jump, and a stock-market plunge could erase trillions of dollars in household wealth. It would all but shatter the $24 trillion market for Treasury debt.

Anxious retirees and others were already making contingency plans for missed checks, with the next Social Security payments due soon as the world watches American leadership at stake.

McCarthy and his negotiators portrayed the deal as delivering for Republicans though it fell well short of the sweeping spending cuts they sought. Top White House officials were briefing Democratic lawmakers and phoning some directly to try to shore up support.

As Sunday dragged on, negotiators labored to write the bill text and lawmakers raised questions.

McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol on Sunday that the agreement “doesn’t get everything everybody wanted,” but that was to be expected in a divided government. Privately, he told lawmakers on a conference call that Democrats “got nothing” they wanted.

A White House statement from the president, issued after Biden and McCarthy spoke by phone Saturday evening and an agreement in principle followed, said the deal “prevents what could have been a catastrophic default.”

Support from both parties will be needed to win congressional approval before a projected June 5 government default on U.S. debts. Lawmakers are not expected to return to work from the Memorial Day weekend before Tuesday, at the earliest, and McCarthy has promised lawmakers he will abide by the rule to post any bill for 72 hours before voting.

Negotiators agreed to some Republican demands for increased work requirements for recipients of food stamps that House Democrats had called a nonstarter.

With the outlines of an agreement in place, the legislative package could be drafted and shared with lawmakers in time for House votes as soon as Wednesday, and later in the coming week in the Senate.

Central to the compromise is a two-year budget deal that would essentially hold spending flat for 2024, while boosting it for defense and veterans, and capping increases at 1% for 2025. That’s alongside raising the debt limit for two years, pushing the volatile political issue past the next presidential election.

Driving hard to impose tougher work requirements on government aid recipients, Republicans achieved some of what they wanted. It ensures people ages 49 to 54 with food stamp aid would have to meet work requirements if they are able-bodied and without dependents. Biden was able to secure waivers for veterans and homeless people.

The deal puts in place changes in the landmark National Environmental Policy Act designating “a single lead agency” to develop environmental reviews, in hopes of streamlining the process.

It halts some funds to hire new Internal Revenue Service agents as Republicans demanded, and rescinds some $30 billion for coronavirus relief, keeping $5 billion for developing the next generation of COVID-19 vaccines.

The deal came together after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress that the United States could default on its debt obligations by June 5 — four days later than previously estimated — if lawmakers did not act in time. Lifting the nation’s debt limit, now at $31 trillion, allows more borrowing to pay bills already insurred.

McCarthy commands only a slim Republican majority in the House, where hard-right conservatives may resist any deal as insufficient as they try to slash spending. By compromising with Democrats, he risks losing support from his own members, setting up a career-challenging moment for the new speaker.

“I think you’re going to get a majority of Republicans voting for this bill,” McCarthy said on “Fox News Sunday,” adding that because Biden backed it, “I think there’s going to be a lot of Democrats that will vote for it, too.”

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that he expected there will be Democratic support but he declined to provide a number. Asked whether he could guarantee there would not be a default, he said, “Yes.”

A 100-strong group of moderates in the New Democratic Coalition gave a crucial nod of support on Sunday, saying in a statement it was confident that Biden and his team “delivered a viable, bipartisan solution to end this crisis” and were working to ensure the agreement would receive support from both parties.

The coalition could provide enough support for McCarthy to make up for members in the right flank of his party who have expressed opposition before the bill’s wording was even released.

It also takes pressure off Biden, facing criticism from progressives for giving into what they call hostage-taking by Republicans.

Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington state, who leads the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told CBS that the White House and Jeffries should worry about whether caucus members will support the agreement.

By Moira Warburton, Diane Bartz and Idrees Ali

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden said on Sunday he had finalized a budget agreement with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to suspend the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling until Jan. 1, 2025 and that the deal was ready to move to Congress for a vote.

“This is a deal that’s good news for…the American people,” Biden told reporters at the White House after a call with McCarthy to put the final touches to a tentative deal they struck on Saturday night.

“It takes the threat of catastrophic default off the table, protects our hard-earned and historic economic recovery,” Biden said.

The deal preventing the U.S. government from defaulting on its debt – which would have been a first in history – comes after weeks of heated negotiations between Biden and House Republicans. It still needs to pass through a narrowly divided Congress before June 5, when the U.S. Treasury says it would run short of money to cover all of its obligations.

“I strongly urge both chambers to pass that agreement,” Biden said, adding he expected McCarthy to have the necessary votes for the deal to pass.

The deal has drawn fire from hardline Republicans and progressive Democrats, but McCarthy earlier on Sunday predicted he would have the support of a majority of his fellow Republicans.

The agreement would suspend the debt limit through January 1 of 2025, cap spending in the 2024 and 2025 budgets, claw back unused COVID funds, speed up the permitting process for some energy projects and include extra work requirements for food aid programs for poor Americans.

The bill would authorize more than $886 billion for security spending in fiscal year 2024 and over $703 billion in the non-security spending category for the same year, not including some adjustments, according to the text. It would also authorize a 1% increase for security spending in fiscal year 2025.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell in a statement applauded the agreement and called on the Senate to act swiftly to pass it without unnecessary delay.

“Today’s agreement makes urgent progress toward preserving our nation’s full faith and credit and a much-needed step toward getting its financial house in order,” McConnell said.

But members of the Republican hardline House Freedom Caucus said they would try to prevent the agreement from passing the House in a vote expected on Wednesday.

“We’re going to try,” Representative Chip Roy, a prominent Freedom Caucus member, said in a Sunday tweet.

McCarthy dismissed threats of opposition within his own party, saying “over 95%” of House Republicans were “overwhelmingly excited” about the deal.

“This is a good strong bill that a majority of Republicans will vote for,” the California Republican told reporters in the U.S. Capitol. “You’re going to have Republicans and Democrats be able to move this to the president.”

MCCARTHY NOT WORRIED

To win the speaker’s gavel, McCarthy agreed to enable any single House member to call for a vote to unseat him, potentially making him vulnerable to ouster by disgruntled Republicans. McCarthy said he was “not at all” concerned about that possibility.

Republicans control the House by 222-213, while Democrats control the Senate by 51-49. These narrow margins mean that moderates from both sides will have to support the bill, if the compromise loses the support of the far left and far right wings of each party.

“I’m not happy with some of the things I’m hearing about,” Representative Pramila Jayapal, who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told CNN’s “State of the Union.”

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said he expected Democratic support for the deal, but declined in an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation” to estimate how many of his party members would vote for it.

Democratic Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, interviewed on CNN, said of the debt deal: “I am an optimist with a sense of concern” about its contents.

She praised the deal that she said would save Medicaid from benefit cuts while expanding the safety net to veterans and homeless people. “We kept the student debt responsibility that we have,” she said, referring to Biden’s policy of limited loan forgiveness.

Progressive Democrats in both chambers had said they would not support any deal that had additional work requirements for government food and healthcare programs. Sources said this deal would add work requirements to food aid for people aged 50 to 54.

(Reporting by Moira Warburton, Steve Holland, Diane Bartz, Daphne Psaledakis, Richard Cowan, Trevor Hunnicutt and Idrees Ali; Writing by David Morgan and Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Heather Timmons, Mark Porter, Andrea Ricci, Deepa Babington and Lincoln Feast.)

(Reuters) – (The story saying the Texas Senate on Sunday was set to begin deliberations to permanently remove from office Attorney General Ken Paxton is wrong and withdrawn. The secretary of the Senate’s office said no time has been set for the impeachment trial. There will not be a replacement story.)

STORY_NUMBER: L1N37P09K

STORY_DATE: 28/05/2023

STORY_TIME: 1921 GMT

(Reuters) – (The story saying the Texas Senate on Sunday was set to begin deliberations to permanently remove from office Attorney General Ken Paxton is wrong and withdrawn. The secretary of the Senate’s office said no time has been set for the impeachment trial. There will not be a replacement story.)

STORY_NUMBER: L1N37P09K

STORY_DATE: 28/05/2023

STORY_TIME: 1921 GMT

(Reuters) – (The story saying the Texas Senate on Sunday was set to begin deliberations to permanently remove from office Attorney General Ken Paxton is wrong and withdrawn. The secretary of the Senate’s office said no time has been set for the impeachment trial. There will not be a replacement story.)

STORY_NUMBER: L1N37P09K

STORY_DATE: 28/05/2023

STORY_TIME: 1921 GMT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The debt ceiling deal that U.S. President Joe Biden and House Republican Kevin McCarthy agreed over the weekend adds new conditions to food aid that will impact one segment of the U.S. population specifically – GenXers with no dependents.

The deal targets recipients of the Supplementary Nutrition Program, or SNAP, between the ages of 50 and 54, adding new requirements that they work 20 hours a week to receive the aid.

Previously, work requirements to receive SNAP ended at age 50.

After weeks of negotiations, McCarthy and Biden forged a tentative agreement late on Saturday. The deal needs to still pass through the narrowly divided Congress before the Treasury Department runs short of money to cover all its obligations.

People who have dependents, including children under age 18 or elderly people who rely on them, or people with disabilities, are already exempt from these work requirements, and will remain so. The deal also exempts veterans and homeless people.

“The agreement phases in and then sunsets SNAP time limits to people up to age 54, which the president fought hard against,” one source briefed on the negotiations said.

Republicans argue that the work requirements encourage people to get back to work.

The U.S.’s approximately 65 million members of Gen X, those born between 1965 and 1980, are sandwiched between Baby Boomers, the generation born after World War II, and millennials.

As a group, they saw their wealth jump during the Trump administration and even during the COVID pandemic.

However, hundreds of thousands of GenXers living below or near the poverty line are likely to be impacted by the new work requirements.

SNAP benefits are available for Americans whose income is less than 130% of the federal poverty line, or about $1,500 a month for a one person household, or $2,000 for a two-person household in many areas.

Before temporary increases during the COVID pandemic that have since been reversed, these benefits averaged about $121 per person per month, or about $4.00 per person per day, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found.

(Reporting by Heather Timmons; editing by Diane Craft)

By Moira Warburton, Diane Bartz and Idrees Ali

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden said on Sunday he had finalized a budget agreement with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to suspend the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling until Jan. 1, 2025 and that the deal was ready to move to Congress for a vote.

“This is a deal that’s good news for…the American people,” Biden told reporters at the White House after a call with McCarthy to put the final touches to a tentative deal they struck on Saturday night.

“It takes the threat of catastrophic default off the table, protects our hard-earned and historic economic recovery,” Biden said.

The deal preventing the U.S. government from defaulting on its debt – which would have been a first in history – comes after weeks of heated negotiations between Biden and House Republicans. It still needs to pass through a narrowly divided Congress before June 5, when the U.S. Treasury says it would run short of money to cover all of its obligations.

“I strongly urge both chambers to pass that agreement,” Biden said, adding he expected McCarthy to have the necessary votes for the deal to pass.

The deal has drawn fire from hardline Republicans and progressive Democrats, but McCarthy earlier on Sunday predicted he would have the support of a majority of his fellow Republicans.

The agreement would suspend the debt limit through January 1 of 2025, cap spending in the 2024 and 2025 budgets, claw back unused COVID funds, speed up the permitting process for some energy projects and include extra work requirements for food aid programs for poor Americans.

The bill would authorize more than $886 billion for security spending in fiscal year 2024 and over $703 billion in the non-security spending category for the same year, not including some adjustments, according to the text. It would also authorize a 1% increase for security spending in fiscal year 2025.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell in a statement applauded the agreement and called on the Senate to act swiftly to pass it without unnecessary delay.

“Today’s agreement makes urgent progress toward preserving our nation’s full faith and credit and a much-needed step toward getting its financial house in order,” McConnell said.

But members of the Republican hardline House Freedom Caucus said they would try to prevent the agreement from passing the House in a vote expected on Wednesday.

“We’re going to try,” Representative Chip Roy, a prominent Freedom Caucus member, said in a Sunday tweet.

McCarthy dismissed threats of opposition within his own party, saying “over 95%” of House Republicans were “overwhelmingly excited” about the deal.

“This is a good strong bill that a majority of Republicans will vote for,” the California Republican told reporters in the U.S. Capitol. “You’re going to have Republicans and Democrats be able to move this to the president.”

MCCARTHY NOT WORRIED

To win the speaker’s gavel, McCarthy agreed to enable any single House member to call for a vote to unseat him, potentially making him vulnerable to ouster by disgruntled Republicans. McCarthy said he was “not at all” concerned about that possibility.

Republicans control the House by 222-213, while Democrats control the Senate by 51-49. These narrow margins mean that moderates from both sides will have to support the bill, if the compromise loses the support of the far left and far right wings of each party.

“I’m not happy with some of the things I’m hearing about,” Representative Pramila Jayapal, who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told CNN’s “State of the Union.”

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said he expected Democratic support for the deal, but declined in an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation” to estimate how many of his party members would vote for it.

Democratic Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, interviewed on CNN, said of the debt deal: “I am an optimist with a sense of concern” about its contents.

She praised the deal that she said would save Medicaid from benefit cuts while expanding the safety net to veterans and homeless people. “We kept the student debt responsibility that we have,” she said, referring to Biden’s policy of limited loan forgiveness.

Progressive Democrats in both chambers had said they would not support any deal that had additional work requirements for government food and healthcare programs. Sources said this deal would add work requirements to food aid for people aged 50 to 54.

(Reporting by Moira Warburton, Steve Holland, Diane Bartz, Daphne Psaledakis, Richard Cowan, Trevor Hunnicutt and Idrees Ali; Writing by David Morgan and Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Heather Timmons, Mark Porter, Andrea Ricci, Deepa Babington and Lincoln Feast.)

By Moira Warburton, Diane Bartz and Idrees Ali

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden said on Sunday he had finalized a budget agreement with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to suspend the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling until Jan. 1, 2025 and that the deal was ready to move to Congress for a vote.

“This is a deal that’s good news for…the American people,” Biden told reporters at the White House after a call with McCarthy to put the final touches to a tentative deal they struck on Saturday night.

“It takes the threat of catastrophic default off the table, protects our hard-earned and historic economic recovery,” Biden said.

The deal preventing the U.S. government from defaulting on its debt – which would have been a first in history – comes after weeks of heated negotiations between Biden and House Republicans. It still needs to pass through a narrowly divided Congress before June 5, when the U.S. Treasury says it would run short of money to cover all of its obligations.

“I strongly urge both chambers to pass that agreement,” Biden said, adding he expected McCarthy to have the necessary votes for the deal to pass.

The deal has drawn fire from hardline Republicans and progressive Democrats, but McCarthy earlier on Sunday predicted he would have the support of a majority of his fellow Republicans.

The agreement would suspend the debt limit through January 1 of 2025, cap spending in the 2024 and 2025 budgets, claw back unused COVID funds, speed up the permitting process for some energy projects and include extra work requirements for food aid programs for poor Americans.

The bill would authorize more than $886 billion for security spending in fiscal year 2024 and over $703 billion in the non-security spending category for the same year, not including some adjustments, according to the text. It would also authorize a 1% increase for security spending in fiscal year 2025.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell in a statement applauded the agreement and called on the Senate to act swiftly to pass it without unnecessary delay.

“Today’s agreement makes urgent progress toward preserving our nation’s full faith and credit and a much-needed step toward getting its financial house in order,” McConnell said.

But members of the Republican hardline House Freedom Caucus said they would try to prevent the agreement from passing the House in a vote expected on Wednesday.

“We’re going to try,” Representative Chip Roy, a prominent Freedom Caucus member, said in a Sunday tweet.

McCarthy dismissed threats of opposition within his own party, saying “over 95%” of House Republicans were “overwhelmingly excited” about the deal.

“This is a good strong bill that a majority of Republicans will vote for,” the California Republican told reporters in the U.S. Capitol. “You’re going to have Republicans and Democrats be able to move this to the president.”

MCCARTHY NOT WORRIED

To win the speaker’s gavel, McCarthy agreed to enable any single House member to call for a vote to unseat him, potentially making him vulnerable to ouster by disgruntled Republicans. McCarthy said he was “not at all” concerned about that possibility.

Republicans control the House by 222-213, while Democrats control the Senate by 51-49. These narrow margins mean that moderates from both sides will have to support the bill, if the compromise loses the support of the far left and far right wings of each party.

“I’m not happy with some of the things I’m hearing about,” Representative Pramila Jayapal, who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told CNN’s “State of the Union.”

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said he expected Democratic support for the deal, but declined in an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation” to estimate how many of his party members would vote for it.

Democratic Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, interviewed on CNN, said of the debt deal: “I am an optimist with a sense of concern” about its contents.

She praised the deal that she said would save Medicaid from benefit cuts while expanding the safety net to veterans and homeless people. “We kept the student debt responsibility that we have,” she said, referring to Biden’s policy of limited loan forgiveness.

Progressive Democrats in both chambers had said they would not support any deal that had additional work requirements for government food and healthcare programs. Sources said this deal would add work requirements to food aid for people aged 50 to 54.

(Reporting by Moira Warburton, Steve Holland, Diane Bartz, Daphne Psaledakis, Richard Cowan, Trevor Hunnicutt and Idrees Ali; Writing by David Morgan and Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Heather Timmons, Mark Porter, Andrea Ricci, Deepa Babington and Lincoln Feast.)

(Corrects incorrect vote tally)

By Rich McKay

(Reuters) – The Texas Senate on Sunday was set to begin deliberations to permanently remove from office Attorney General Ken Paxton, a conservative firebrand and ally of former President Donald Trump, who was impeached by the House this weekend over accusations by fellow Republicans of abuse of office.

After hours of debate on Saturday, the House voted 121-23 to impeach Paxton, which immediately suspended him from office awaiting a final decision from the Texas Senate, where his wife, Angela Paxton, is a senator. Both the House and Senate have Republican majorities.

Proceedings are expected to start at 1 p.m. local time on Sunday and Paxton had earlier called for protests at the state Capitol in Austin.

Paxton has denied the accusations and denounced the proceedings as “illegal, unethical, and profoundly unjust” in a statement on Twitter after Saturday’s vote.

“The ugly spectacle in the Texas House today confirmed the outrageous impeachment plot against me was never meant to be fair or just,” he said, calling it a political sham.

“I look forward to a quick resolution in the Texas Senate, where I have full confidence the process will be fair and just,” he said.

Trump, on his social media platform Truth Social, defended Paxton and wrote: “Free Ken Paxton.”

The 20 articles of impeachment presented by a Republican-led House committee accuse Paxton of improperly aiding a wealthy political donor, conducting a sham investigation against whistleblowers in his office whom he fired, and covering up his wrongdoing in a separate federal securities fraud case against him, among other offenses.

Paxton, who had previously served in the House and Senate, has staked out a position on the far right on divisive cultural issues. He has sued the Biden administration nearly 50 times attempting to halt what has he labeled “unlawful tyrannical policies” on issues including immigration, gun rights and business regulation.

Paxton has repeatedly gone after Alphabet’s Google, leading to a $8 million settlement in mid-May to settle allegations of deceptive advertising to promote the Pixel 4 smartphone. It sued the company in 2020, accusing it of breaking antitrust laws to boost its already dominant advertising business. That lawsuit is ongoing.

(This story has been corrected to fix the vote tally to say 121-23 instead of 121-33 in paragraph 2)

(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Additional reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Heather Timmons and Andrea Ricci)