The Full Belmonte, 5/12/2023
© Associated Press / J. Scott Applewhite | The Capitol in January.
Debt limit talks postponed
“The clock is ticking on the debt ceiling, and there’s no clear way out in sight.
The projected June 1 X-date, as laid out by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, is creeping closer, and the White House and Congress are still working to find a solution to prevent the country from defaulting on its $31.4 trillion debt — which would likely result in economic turmoil across the globe.
President Biden and congressional leaders on Thursday afternoon postponed a second meeting to discuss the debt ceiling from today to next week as staff members work behind-the-scenes to bring the parties closer to a resolution (The Hill). Congressional and White House staff plan to meet again today, when both the House and Senate are scheduled to be out of session (Politico).
‘There have been very good discussions over the last few days at the staff level. And I think the decision was collectively made, led by the White House, to allow those staff conversations to continue,’ House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Thursday.
Biden is scheduled to leave for the G-7 summit in Japan on Wednesday, so a meeting would likely need to happen in the coming days.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was less optimistic about the state of negotiations and said he expected the leaders to meet next week.
‘The White House didn’t cancel the meeting; all of the leaders decided it’s probably in the best of our interest to let the staff meet again before we get back together,’ he said. ‘I don’t think there’s enough progress for the leaders to get back together.’
Several House Republicans said Thursday they were encouraged by the White House’s engagement in the talks so far, adding potential areas of compromise in a broader budget deal include energy permitting reforms and rescinding unspent COVID-19 aid.
The Hill: Here are the top four areas of debt ceiling compromise the GOP is eyeing.
White House officials, meanwhile, are insisting they must preserve Biden's signature climate legislation that passed along party lines last year.
The White House has for months maintained its position that Congress has an obligation to raise the debt ceiling without conditions and that any discussions about government spending should be handled separately from a vote to avoid default. House Republicans, on the other hand, have passed legislation — considered dead-on-arrival in the Senate — that would raise the debt ceiling and cap government funding at fiscal 2022 levels to curb spending and roll back several Biden administration actions (Reuters).
The New York Times: How Wall Street is preparing for a debt ceiling showdown.
USA Today: ‘I’m much more scared now’: Veterans of 2011 debt ceiling crisis say this year's fight is different.
CBS News: What happens to Social Security checks if the U.S. breaches the debt ceiling?
CNBC: As lawmakers warn of a Social Security ‘shutdown,’ here's how the debt ceiling may affect benefits.
The ongoing debt ceiling drama is also jeopardizing one of the Senate's more precious institutions every holiday: recess. As The Hill’s Al Weaver reports, senators this week have expressed alarm that they might have to nix their Memorial Day recess, which is slated to run from May 19 through May 29.
‘I’m not making any solid plans until the debt ceiling is taken care of,’ Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told The Hill about the upcoming planned break. ‘I’m not planning to be here, but I’m not planning on leaving. I’ve been in the Senate long enough I can say that and it makes sense.’
Senate Republicans are disavowing former President Trump’s call during a CNN town hall to let the federal government default on its debts unless Biden agrees to ‘massive’ spending cuts, dismissing Trump’s suggestion as something far too risky to seriously consider, writes The Hill’s Alexander Bolton.
The cold reception Trump’s bold statement got from Republican senators is the latest sign of the widening rift between Trump and his party’s establishment in Washington. While Trump maintains strong influence in the House, where he helped McCarthy nail down enough votes to get elected Speaker, it’s a different story in the Senate.
‘I don’t think anybody suggesting that we ‘we have to do a default’ is wise policy, wise strategy for this country,’ said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who added that Trump’s comment ‘certainly doesn’t impact’ her view.
The Hill: Democrats, GOP clash over definition of ‘woke’ in budget hearing.
On Thursday, House Republicans passed their long-promised border crackdown, voting to finish Trump’s border wall and severely restrict access to asylum the same day Biden is set to lift the use of Title 42 — a pandemic-era policy that allowed for the expulsion of migrants at the southern border. The bill, which faces little chance of passage in the Senate, was approved with a 219-213 vote. In addition to building the wall, the legislation greatly increases the hiring of border agents and seeks to bar them from doing any ‘processing’ of migrants, language Democrats said would prevent officers from doing basic tasks (The Hill).” [The Hill]
© Associated Press / J. Scott Applewhite | Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) at the Capitol in February along with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
Immigrants seeking asylum are processed by US Border Patrol agents after crossing into Arizona from Mexico.
Immigration
“The United States' Covid-era border restriction policy known as Title 42 expired overnight, and with tens of thousands of migrants believed to be massed in northern Mexico, today and the following days will show just how effective US preparations were. Just before the expiration, the US homeland security secretary issued a statement emphasizing it will not be any easier to gain unlawful entry now that Title 42 is lifted. ‘Do not believe the lies of smugglers. The border is not open,’ Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said. The State Department said it plans to eventually open around 100 regional processing centers in the Western Hemisphere and "in the coming days" expects to launch an online platform where migrants applying for asylum can make appointments.” [Axios]
Trump
“Former President Donald Trump is appealing the $5 million judgment awarded by the Manhattan federal jury that found he sexually abused and defamed former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll. Trump's lawyers filed the appeal on Thursday, hours after a federal judge ordered Trump to pay Carroll the full sum. Carroll alleged Trump raped her in a luxury department store in New York in 1996 and then defamed her when he denied her claim, said she "wasn't his type" and suggested she made up the story to boost sales of her book. Trump has denied all claims brought against him by Carroll and called the civil trial verdict ‘a total disgrace.’ The verdict has no legal effect on Trump's 2024 presidential candidacy.” [CNN]
Banning gun sales to young American adults under 21 is unconstitutional, judge rules
By DENISE LAVOIE
FILE - Displayed is a Glock 17 pistol fitted a with a cable style gun lock in Philadelphia, Wednesday, May 10, 2023. A federal judge in Virginia has ruled that a law banning licensed firearms dealers from selling handguns to young adults under 21 violates the Second Amendment and is unconstitutional. The ruling Wednesday, May 10, by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Payne in Richmond, if not overturned, would allow dealers to sell handguns to 18- to 20-year-olds. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
“RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A federal judge in Virginia has ruled that a law banning licensed federal firearms dealers from selling handguns to young adults under 21 violates the Second Amendment and is unconstitutional.
The ruling Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Payne in Richmond, if not overturned, would allow dealers to sell handguns to 18- to 20-year-olds.
In his 71-page ruling, Payne wrote that many of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship are granted at the age of 18, including the right to vote, enlist in the military without parental permission and serve on a federal jury.
‘If the Court were to exclude 18-to-20-year-olds from the Second Amendment’s protection, it would impose limitations on the Second Amendment that do not exist with other constitutional guarantees,’ Payne wrote.
‘Because the statutes and regulations in question are not consistent with our Nation’s history and tradition, they, therefore, cannot stand,’ he wrote….” Read more at AP News
Supreme Court Puts New Limits on Fraud Prosecutions
High court throws out conviction of former aide to ex-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo
The Supreme Court curtailed the Justice Department’s use of the ‘honest-services fraud statute.’PHOTO: VALERIE PLESCH/BLOOMBERG NEWS
“WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court placed new limits on white-collar fraud prosecutions, handing down a pair of decisions that criticized legal theories frequently used by the Justice Department.
In both rulings on Thursday, the court threw out convictions emerging from former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s crackdown on what he called a ‘show-me-the-money culture in Albany’ during the tenure of former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
In the first case, Percoco v. United States, the court ruled in favor of former Cuomo top adviser Joseph Percoco, who challenged his 2018 conviction on fraud and bribery charges.
In that unanimous decision, the court curtailed the Justice Department’s use of the ‘honest-services fraud statute,’ limiting how it can be used against private citizens.
A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York declined to comment.
‘We are extremely gratified by the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision that Mr. Percoco was wrongly convicted of honest-services fraud, as we have long argued,’ said Barry Bohrer, Mr. Percoco’s trial lawyer.
Yaakov Roth, Mr. Percoco’s appellate lawyer, said the prosecution of his client ‘was an abuse of the federal fraud statutes; it blurred the fundamental line between private citizens and public officials.’
Joseph Percoco, in beige, left a court in New York at the time of the 2018 conviction that the Supreme Court rejected Thursday. PHOTO: MARY ALTAFFER/ASSOCIATED PRESS
In the second case, Ciminelli v. United States, the court overturned the criminal conviction of real-estate developer Louis Ciminelli, who was accused of conspiring to rig bids on a $750 million manufacturing project, part of a Cuomo administration initiative to boost the economy of the city of Buffalo.
That decision dealt with the scope of the federal wire-fraud statute, a key statute in the U.S. criminal code. The court declared invalid an approach frequently used by prosecutors in recent years, known as the ‘right-to-control’ theory of fraud, which expanded the wire fraud statute’s scope.
A lawyer for Mr. Ciminelli didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Percoco, one of Mr. Cuomo’s top aides when he was first elected governor in 2010, was prosecuted over actions he took in 2014, when he temporarily left his state job to manage Mr. Cuomo’s re-election campaign.
During that period, Mr. Percoco helped a development firm obtain a favorable decision from a state agency. In exchange, the development firm paid Mr. Percoco $35,000, which was wired to him through intermediaries.
Mr. Bharara’s office called it a bribery scheme, saying Mr. Percoco was functionally a state employee at the time he accepted the payment. The Justice Department noted that, at the time of the alleged scheme, Mr. Percoco had tremendous clout with state agencies and still had access to his desk and telephone in the governor’s office.
Prosecutors charged Mr. Percoco with honest-services fraud, which makes it a felony to deprive members of the public of the right to ‘honest services,’ among other charges. Prosecutors said Mr. Percoco’s influence in Albany meant he had a duty to act in the public’s best interest.
A jury in 2018 found Mr. Percoco guilty of two counts of honest-services fraud, as well as one count of soliciting a bribe. He received a six-year prison sentence for all three offenses. He completed his sentence last month, when he was released from a halfway house.
On appeal to the high court, Mr. Percoco’s lawyers said he was engaging in the sort of lobbying that is perfectly lawful in U.S. politics.
In Thursday’s unanimous decision, written by Justice Samuel Alito, the court said the jury had been improperly instructed on honest-services fraud and sent the case back to the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals for further proceedings.
The case against Mr. Ciminelli hinged on the ‘right-to-control’ theory of fraud, which treats depriving someone of complete and accurate information bearing on an economic decision as a type of property fraud.
The high court said that theory isn’t a valid basis for liability under the federal wire-fraud statute.
‘The right to valuable economic information needed to make discretionary economic decisions is not a traditional property interest,’ Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the unanimous court. ‘Accordingly, the right-to-control theory cannot form the basis for a conviction under the federal fraud statutes.’
Mr. Ciminelli’s firm constructed a factory in South Buffalo operated by Tesla. The factory was a cornerstone of Mr. Cuomo’s efforts to revitalize upstate New York with projects undertaken by arms of the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute.” [Wall Street Journal]
Supreme Court backs California law for more space for pigs. Producers predict pricier pork, bacon
By JESSICA GRESKO
FILE - The U.S. Supreme Court is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 2, 2023. The Supreme Court has rejected a challenge to a California animal cruelty law that affects the pork industry, ruling that the case was properly dismissed by lower courts. Pork producers had said that the law could force industry-wide changes and raise the cost of bacon and other pork products nationwide. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File Photo)
“WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday backed a California animal cruelty law that requires more space for breeding pigs, a ruling the pork industry says will lead to higher costs nationwide for pork chops and bacon.
‘While the Constitution addresses many weighty issues, the type of pork chops California merchants may sell is not on that list,’ Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in an opinion for the court.
Industry groups have said the law would mean expensive, industry-wide changes even though a majority of the farms where pigs are raised are not in California, the nation’s most populous state, but instead in the Midwest and North Carolina.
A majority of the high court agreed that lower courts had correctly dismissed pork producers’ challenge to the law. Both liberal and conservative justices were a part of the majority, though they were not united in their reasoning.
Gorsuch said the pork producers challenging the law were asking the justices to ‘fashion two new and more aggressive constitutional restrictions on the ability of States to regulate goods sold within their borders.’ The justices declined….” Read more at AP News
Man who fatally choked Jordan Neely on NYC subway to face manslaughter charge
“Nearly two weeks after Daniel Penny used a fatal chokehold to restrain a man on the floor of a New York City subway car, the 24-year-old will face criminal charges, prosecutors said. The white U.S. Marine Corps veteran is expected to be charged Friday with secondary manslaughter for killing Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old Black man who experienced homelessness and suffered from mental health problems. Neely’s violent death sparked days of protests in New York after police questioned the killer but then released him from custody the same day as the incident. Read more at USA Today
People attend a vigil at City Hall Park for Jordan Neely, who was fatally choked on a subway by a fellow passenger ten days ago, on May 11, 2023 in New York City.
Spencer Platt, Getty Images
F.D.A. Eases Ban on Blood Donations From Gay and Bisexual Men
“The Food and Drug Administration announced on Thursday that it had formally ended the agency’s wide-ranging prohibition on blood donations from gay and bisexual men, a longstanding policy that had been denounced as discriminatory.
Instead, the F.D.A. is finalizing guidance that includes a questionnaire for all donors that is aimed at learning about their recent sexual activity. The more targeted questions will focus on whether someone has had new or multiple sex partners and anal sex in the last three months.
Potential donors who had recent sex with new or multiple partners and anal sex under those screening criteria would still be turned away.
The revised policy would also preclude blood donations from people taking oral PrEP to prevent H.I.V. infection, a restriction the agency said was designed to avoid false-negative results during blood screening.
In the revised policy the F.D.A. took its cues from Canada and the United Kingdom, which adopted similar approaches. The U.S. agency has been working on the change for months and said it also reviewed data from other nations and from a U.S. study examining this method….” Read more at New York Times
HHS races for new COVID drugs
Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
“The Biden administration is pouring billions into developing future coronavirus vaccines — an attempted sequel to Operation Warp Speed, Axios' Oriana González reports.
HHS is fleshing out targets and putting an organizational framework around the $5 billion ‘Project NextGen,’ announced last month, which will operate similarly to the Trump-era public-private partnership in speeding development of new treatments.
Of the $5 billion, $4.7 billion will go to the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), which focuses on the development of vaccines and treatments for public health medical emergencies.
BARDA will focus on public-private partnerships to invest in potentially risky projects, such as mucosal vaccines, which are administered nasally or orally.
The program is also looking at the development of ‘pan-coronavirus vaccines’ to protect against different coronaviruses.” [Axios]
Vivek's ‘draft off Trump’ theory
Vivek Ramaswamy steps off his bus yesterday at a campaign rally in Urbandale, Iowa. Photo: Charlie Neibergall/AP
“Vivek Ramaswamy — the little-known biotech multimillionaire who jumped into the '24 GOP presidential race — is auditioning to be the party’s next Donald Trump, with hyper-Trumpian positions on the border, voting, culture wars and more, Axios' Alexi McCammond reports.
Why it matters: By running to the right of Trump, the 37-year-old entrepreneur positions himself as heir apparent to the former president, 76. Ramaswamy is an understudy in plain sight — and already mentioned as a plausible V.P. pick for Trump.
Ramaswamy often speaks of the former president in the past tense — and suggests he could deliver better results, without the baggage.
‘We can take the America First agenda even further than Trump because we will do it from a moral foundation,’ Ramaswamy told Axios in a recent interview. ‘He had his chance to do a lot of things’ that were left undone.
The intrigue: Trump, long known for bashing his opponents, has praised Ramaswamy.
‘I am pleased to see that Vivek Ramaswamy is doing so well in the most recent Republican Primary Poll,’ Trump posted last weekon his Truth Social, referring to a survey that showed Ramaswamy tied with former Vice President Mike Pence for third among GOP contenders.
Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski talked with a super PAC backing Ramaswamy about coming aboard — and had the conversation with Trump’s blessing, Politico reports.
State of play: Ramaswamy — with an estimated net worth of at least $630 million through his biotech and asset management ventures— casts himself as a post-Trumper who'd go further right than Trump.
He hasn't criticized Trump much beyond equating him with Joe Biden for refusing to debate GOP opponents.
Between the lines: Ramaswamy's pleasant manner cloaks the sledgehammer he'd like to take government agencies, policies and laws.
He said one of his first acts as president would be to end affirmative action by executive order.
He wants to fire ‘half the federal workforce.’
He's called for shutting down the FBI and IRS, as well as the Department of Education.
He wants to disenfranchise millions of young voters by raising the voting age to 25. Those in the military, first responders, and people who pass a civics test would be able to vote at 18. (Go deeper.)
He'd use the military to attack drug cartels in Mexico — an idea that also intrigues Trump.” [Axios]
Cyclone Mocha
“A strengthening cyclone in the Bay of Bengal is heading toward the world's largest refugee camp. Cyclone Mocha is on course to hit western Myanmar and Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar on Sunday, where around 1 million people live in flimsy shelters made of bamboo and tarpaulin. Many shelters are also perched on hilly slopes that are vulnerable to strong winds, rain and landslides. Meanwhile, forecasts show that the storm’s winds could peak Sunday at 137 mph – equivalent to a category 4 Atlantic hurricane, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. Ahead of Mocha's expected landfall, aid agencies are ramping up their emergency preparedness and response efforts with local and refugee communities.” [CNN]
Ukraine
“Ukrainian forces have begun ‘shaping’ operations in advance of a highly-anticipated counteroffensive against Russian forces, a senior US military official and a senior Western official tell CNN. Shaping involves striking targets such as weapons depots, command centers and armor and artillery systems to prepare the battlefield for advancing forces. On the ground, Ukraine says its forces have pushed the Russians back 2 kilometers around Bakhmut over the past week. Moscow has rejected Kyiv's claims after trying for months to capture the eastern city to little avail. Bakhmut is the site of a monthslong assault by Russian forces, including Wagner mercenaries, that has driven thousands from their homes and left the area devastated.” [CNN]
“Half the Turkish population is too young to have a clear memory of any other leader than President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Over two decades, he has reshaped the country through seeking to assert the role of Islam in society and championing Turkey’s hard power abroad.
In Sunday’s presidential election, the fate of the Erdogan era will be very much in the balance.
Opposition parties from across the political spectrum have united to try and defeat Erdogan, blaming him for Turkey’s ailing economy, an erosion of civil freedoms and the government’s inadequate response to February’s earthquakes that killed over 50,000 people.
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leading challenger, is the antithesis of Erdogan, contrasting his vision of a more democratic and united Turkey with Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian rule and often divisive rhetoric.
He has projected an image of modesty in juxtaposition to Erdogan’s 1,000-room presidential complex that Kilicdaroglu promises to turn into ‘a museum of squandering’ if he’s elected.
The outcome will have global implications.
Erdogan has cultivated strong ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, prompting volatility in relations with allies like the US, and stirred trouble in NATO by stalling Sweden’s bid to join the military alliance.
He has enjoyed flexing diplomatic muscle, attempting to place Turkey as a mediator in Russia’s war on Ukraine and helping broker a deal enabling vital Black Sea grain exports to ease global food prices.
Kilicdaroglu, who yesterday accused a Russian group of meddling in the vote, promises a ‘180 degree switch’ in foreign policy aimed at improving ties with the West as well as neighbors like Syria.
Still, Turks are more consumed by domestic issues including a severe cost-of-living crisis that has made onions a hot-button issue for Kilicdaroglu’s campaign, which claims prices of the vegetable will triple if Erdogan wins.
Now it’s for Turkey’s 64 million voters to decide in the most important election in a generation.” — Beril Akman [Bloomberg]
Erdogan at an election campaign rally in Istanbul on Sunday. Photographer: Moe Zoyari/Bloomberg
“US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan held two days of talks with China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, in a sign the sides are working to maintain lines of communication and ease tensions. The meetings that wrapped up yesterday in Vienna touched on issues including Russia’s war on Ukraine and managing strains over Taiwan, the White House said, setting the scene for a possible call between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.” [Bloomberg]
While many of the fortunes forged during the Covid-19 pandemic have long since crumbled, a $95 billion boom among a small group of wealthy shipping tycoons has prevailed. That’s spurred a mad dash to invest and diversify, but their options are narrowing by the day.
Anderson Cooper defends town hall
CNN's Kaitlan Collins questions former President Trump on Wednesday night in Goffstown, N.H. Photo: Will Lanzoni/CNN
CNN's Anderson Cooper last night defended the chaotic Trump town hall against a broad backlash:
‘The man you were so disturbed to see and hear from last night? That man is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for president. And according to polling, no other Republican is even close. ... He may be president of the United States in less than two years. And that AUDIENCE that upset you? That's a sampling of about HALF the country. ... It IS happening again. He hasn't changed, and he is running HARD. ... After last night, none of us can say: 'I didn’t know what's out there. I didn’t know what's coming.’
By the numbers: The town hall drew 3.3 million total viewers for CNN, compared to 707,000 at the same time the night before.
Fox News had 1.45 million during the town hall and MSNBC had 1.398 million, according to a CNN release. (That's a total of 6 million watching cable news on an epic night. For context, ABC's "World News Tonight with David Muir" got 8 million in total viewers during two weeks in April.)
Among adults 25-54, CNN's town hall drew 781,000 vs. 458,000 for Fox and 160,000 for MSNBC (a total of 1.4 million).
Wednesday's prime time (8-11 p.m. ET) was CNN's best night in total viewers since 2022 midterm night.” [Axios]
NBCU ad chief in talks for Twitter CEO
Linda Yaccarino. Photo: NBCUniversal
“Linda Yaccarino, NBCUniversal's veteran ad sales leader, is in talks to become Twitter's CEO, Axios Media Trends author Sara Fischer writes.
Why it matters: Yaccarino — who is NBCU's Chairman, Global Advertising and Partnerships — is one of the industry's most formidable ad sales leaders. She'd bring professionalism and experience to Twitter's ad sales efforts that have been lost since Musk took ownership.
Between the lines: Musk prefers to focus on product and technology over marketing and client services. With advertisers fleeing Twitter, he needs someone to take that responsibility off his hands.
Early today, answering tweets about the return of bans or shadow bans, Musk said: ‘That will not be the case.’
To a tweet praising the new Twitter, Musk responded: ‘It will get better rapidly.’” [Axios]
Cheaper eggs on way
Data: FactSet, USDA. Chart: Axios visuals
“From my conversations with the West Wing, aides seem to track the price of eggs nearly as closely as the price of gas.
They got good news in the new weekly egg report from the Agriculture Department: It shows a sharp drop in the wholesale prices retailers are paying for eggs, Matt Phillips writes for Axios Markets.” {Axis]
Sex? Sexual intercourse? Neither? Teens weigh in on evolving definitions — and habits
By JOCELYN GECKER
A young couple sit on the beach in Huntington Beach, Calif., Monday, May 8, 2023. For years, studies have shown a decline in the rates of American high school students having sex. That trend continued, not surprisingly, in the first years of the pandemic, according to a recent survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study found that 30% of teens in 2021 said they had ever had sex, down from 38% in 2019 and a huge drop from three decades ago when more than half of teens reported having sex. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
“SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Situationships. ‘Sneaky links.’ The ‘talking stage,’ the flirtatious getting-to-know-you phase — typically done via text — that can lead to a hookup.
High school students are having less sexual intercourse. That’s what the studies say. But that doesn’t mean they’re having less sex.
The language of young love and lust, and the actions behind it, are evolving. And the shift is not being adequately captured in national studies, experts say.
For years, studies have shown a decline in the rates of American high school students having sex. That trend continued, not surprisingly, in the first years of the pandemic, according to a recent survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study found that 30% of teens in 2021 said they had ever had sex, down from 38% in 2019 and a huge drop from three decades ago, when more than half of teens reported having sex.
The Associated Press took the findings to teenagers and experts around the country to ask for their interpretation. Parents: Some of the answers may surprise you.
THE MEANING OF SEX: DEPENDS WHO YOU ASK
For starters, what is the definition of sex?
‘Hmm. That’s a good question,’ says Rose, 17, a junior at a New England high school.
She thought about it for 20 seconds, then listed a range of possibilities for heterosexual sex, oral sex and relations between same-sex or LGBTQ partners. On her campus, short-term hookups — known as “situationships” — are typically low commitment and high risk from both health and emotional perspectives.
There are also “sneaky links” — when you hook up in secret and don’t tell your friends. “I have a feeling a lot more people are quote unquote having sex — just not necessarily between a man and a woman.”
For teens today, the conversation about sexuality is moving from a binary situation to a spectrum and so are the kinds of sex people are having. And while the vocabulary around sex is shifting, the main question on the CDC survey has been worded the same way since the government agency began its biannual study in 1991: Have you “ever had sexual intercourse?”
“Honestly, that question is a little laughable,” says Kay, 18, who identifies as queer and attends a public high school near Lansing, Michigan. “There’s probably a lot of teenagers who are like, ‘No, I’ve never had sexual intercourse, but I’ve had other kinds of sex.’”
The AP agreed to use teenagers’ first or middle names for this article because of a common concern they expressed about backlash at school, at home and on social media for speaking about their peers’ sex lives and LGBTQ+ relations.
SEXUAL IDENTITY IS EVOLVING
Several experts say the CDC findings could signal a shift in how teen sexuality is evolving, with gender fluidity becoming more common along with a decrease in stigma about identifying as not heterosexual.
They point to another finding in this year’s study that found the proportion of high school kids who identify as heterosexual dropped to about 75%, down from about 89% in 2015, when the CDC began asking about sexual orientation. Meanwhile, the share who identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual rose to 15%, up from 8% in 2015….” Read more at AP News
SPORTS NEWS FROM THE ATHLETIC
“N.B.A. playoffs: The Nuggets eliminated the Suns last night. And the Celtics beat the Sixers, forcing Game 7 in a series that’s felt backward from the beginning.
Unheralded signing: Jourdan Heilig was working at a fast-food restaurant when the Patriots called. Now he could be a special teams ace.” [New York Times]
“Lives Lived: Chris Strachwitz devoted his life to music passed down over generations — cotton-field music, orange-orchard music, mountain music, bayou music — that came from a time before there was such a thing as a music industry. He died at 91.” [New York Times]