By JOEY CAPPELLETTI

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly two dozen House Republicans joined Democrats Thursday to pass a bill that would restore collective bargaining rights for hundreds of thousands of federal employees, an attempt to overturn an executive order that President Donald Trump issued earlier this year.

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The measure passed 231-195 after reaching the floor through a bipartisan maneuver that bypassed GOP leadership — a so-called “discharge” tactic that is being used with growing frequency as Republicans seethe over dysfunction in the chamber. The bill still needs Senate approval to become law, but 20 Republicans sided with Democrats in a rare break from the president.

The executive order that Trump issued in March aimed to end collective bargaining for employees of agencies with national security missions across the federal government. He said he had the authority to revoke the rights under a 1978 law.

“Reinstating these rights is not a concession — it is a commitment. A commitment to treat federal workers with dignity, to reinforce a resilient public service, and to honor the commitment of the men and women who show up for the American people every single day,” GOP Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a co-sponsor of the bill, said on the floor before passage.

Trump’s order targeted the union rights of roughly 600,000 of the 800,000 federal workers represented by the American Federation of Government Employees, or AFGE, including those at the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense.

The union is challenging those moves in court, arguing they are illegal and retaliatory. In May, an appeals court said the administration could move forward with the executive order while the lawsuit plays out.

In a statement after Thursday’s vote, the AFGE said it “extends its deep appreciation to every member of Congress who voted for the bill.” The group’s president, Everett Kelley, called it a “seismic victory.”

The bill’s approval was also praised by the AFL-CIO, the biggest labor federation in the U.S.

“We commend the Republicans and Democrats who stood with workers and voted to reverse the single largest act of union-busting in American history,” said Liz Shuler, the group’s president.

The bill reached the floor through a discharge petition led by Democratic Rep. Jared Golden of Maine. It’s a tactic that has been used with increasingly frequency this Congress due to frustrations with GOP leadership, including in the high-profile push to force release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Any lawmakers can force a vote on legislation if their petition gains 218 signatures, a majority in the 435-member House.

All House Democrats who voted supported the measure to restore the bargaining rights. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries supported the bill, saying on the floor prior to its passage that it would help “public servants who have been targeted viciously by the Trump administration from the very beginning of his time in office.”

While passage in the Republican-held Senate appears unlikely, the vote represented one of the chamber’s first formal rebukes of the president and the flurry of executive orders he has issued during his second term.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Still, most of the Republicans who backed the bill still held back from directly calling out the president. Speaking on the House floor before voting in favor of the bill, New York Republican Rep. Mike Lawler said that “earlier this year, an executive order changed the collective bargaining status.”

“Every American deserves a voice in the workplace, and that includes the people who keep our government running and open,” said Lawler.

Of the 20 Republicans who backed the bill, many, including Fitzpatrick, face tough reelections next year. It comes at a time when some Republicans, following Trump’s lead, have become more supportive of labor unions, long a key part of the Democratic Party’s coalition.

New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who switched parties in Trump’s first term, was among the Republicans to support the bill, but told reporters prior to the vote that he wasn’t trying to send a message to the president with his vote.

“No message here at all,” said Van Drew. “This is a New Jersey message. I got to take care of my people. And I’ve always been supportive of unions.”

NEW YORK (AP) — A Hollywood director was convicted Thursday on charges that he scammed Netflix out of $11 million for a show that never materialized, while he instead used the cash for lavish purchases that included several Rolls-Royces, a Ferrari and about $1 million in mattresses and luxury bedding.

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Carl Erik Rinsch, best known for directing the film “47 Ronin,” was convicted of wire fraud, money laundering and other charges, according to court records and a spokesperson for federal prosecutors in New York.

In a statement, Rinsch’s attorney, Benjamin Zeman, said he thought the verdict was wrong and “could set a dangerous precedent for artists who become embroiled in contractual and creative disputes with their benefactors, in this case one of the largest media companies in the world, finding themselves indicted by the federal government for fraud.”

Prosecutors said Netflix had initially paid Rinsch about $44 million for an unfinished sci-fi show called “White Horse,” and then sent over an another $11 million after he said he needed additional funding to wrap up the production.

But instead of putting the money toward the show, Rinsch steered the cash to a personal account where he made a series of failed investments, losing around half of the $11 million in a couple months, according to prosecutors.

He then put the remaining funds into the cryptocurrency market, netting some profit, though Rinsch then deposited the money into his own bank account.

Then came the lavish purchases, prosecutors said, with Rinsch buying five Rolls-Royces and one Ferrari, along with $652,000 on watches and clothes. He also bought two mattresses for about $638,000 and spent another $295,000 on luxury bedding and linens. In addition, he used some of the money to pay off about $1.8 million in credit card bills, prosecutors said.

Rinsch, 48, never finished the show. His sentencing date is set for April.

Netflix declined to comment.

U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, in a statement, said Rinsch “took $11 million meant for a TV show and gambled it on speculative stock options and crypto transactions.”

“Today’s conviction shows that when someone steals from investors, we will follow the money and hold them accountable,” Clayton said.

The Powerball jackpot has grown to an estimated $1 billion for Saturday night’s drawing after lottery officials said no ticket matched all six numbers drawn Wednesday night.

The U.S. has seen more than a dozen lottery jackpot prizes exceed $1 billion since 2016. Here is a look at the largest U.S. jackpots won and the places where the winning tickets were sold:

1. $2.04 billion, Powerball, Nov. 7, 2022. The winning ticket was sold at a Los Angeles-area gas station.

2. $1.787 billion, Powerball, Sept. 6, 2025. The winning tickets were sold in Missouri and Texas.

3. $1.765 billion, Powerball, Oct. 11, 2023. The winning ticket was sold at a liquor store in a tiny California mountain town.

4. $1.602 billion, Mega Millions, Aug. 8, 2023. The winning ticket was sold at a supermarket in Neptune Beach, Florida.

5. $1.586 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016. The winning tickets were sold at a Los Angeles-area convenience store, a Florida supermarket and a Tennessee grocery store.

6. $1.537 billion, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018. The winning ticket was sold at a South Carolina convenience store.

7. $1.348 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 13, 2023. The winning ticket was sold at a Maine gas station.

8. $1.337 billion, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022. The winning ticket was sold at a Chicago-area gas station.

9. $1.326 billion, Powerball, April 7, 2024. The winning ticket was sold at an Oregon convenience store.

10. $1.269 billion, Mega Millions, Dec. 27, 2024. The winning ticket was sold at a gas station in Northern California.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s Congress approved Wednesday most of the tariff increases proposed by the government on more than 1,400 products imported from China and other countries that do not have free trade agreements with Mexico.

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The Senate passed the measure Wednesday evening, following the lower chamber, which had approved the increases before dawn. The governing Morena party of President Claudia Sheinbaum, who said the tariffs were necessary to spur domestic production, controls both chambers. The Senate passed the legislation with 76 votes in favor, five against and 35 abstentions.

Analysts say the real motivation is ongoing negotiations with Washington, Mexico’s most important trading partner. Sheinbaum has been trying to find relief from remaining tariffs imposed on Mexican imports by the Trump administration, which has accused China of using Mexico as a backdoor into the U.S. market.

Tariff increases of as much as 50% will affect textiles, shoes, appliances, cars and auto parts among other things beginning in January.

China will be the most affected as Mexico imported $130 billion worth of products from the country in 2024, second only to the what Mexico bought from the United States. The Chinese government was critical of the proposed tariff increases when they were announced in September.

Avocados imported from Mexico are displayed at a market in San Francisco, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

“The real reason has to do with the United States, it has to do with the review of the USMCA (free trade agreement) that is coming up, with the negotiations to obtain reductions, exemptions from the tariffs that Mexico is facing at this moment to access the U.S. market,” said Oscar Ocampo, director of economic development at the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness. Mexico still faces U.S. tariffs on the automotive sector, steel and aluminum.

But Ocampo said Mexico was bending to an unpredictable U.S. President Donald Trump and changing its commercial policy “in the wrong direction.” He said the government was creating problems for a number of sectors, including auto parts, plastics, chemicals and textiles, because the tariffs will create disruptions in supply chains and could push inflation up at a time when the economy is slowing.