Bipartisan Senate group makes deal on gun legislation, historic heat wave: 5 Things podcast

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Bipartisan Senate group makes deal on gun legislation

The proposal follows a House vote last week on more aggressive measures. Plus, more public hearings are on the way surrounding January 6, money reporter Terry Collins tells us how homebuying brings many to tears, members of a white supremacist group are arrested near a Pride event and a historic heat wave continues.

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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Monday, the 13th of June, 2022. Today, possible first steps toward bipartisan gun legislation, plus more January 6th hearings and more.

Here are some of the top headlines:

1. The search for an Indigenous expert and a journalist who disappeared in the Brazilian Amazon last week has advanced after their personal belongings were found in a river. Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips were last seen on June 5th near the Javari Valley Indigenous Territory, which borders Peru and Colombia. The area has seen violent conflicts between fishermen, poachers and government agents.

2. Country music star Toby Keith has revealed he's fighting stomach cancer and has been for much of the past year. He said he's gone through chemo, radiation, and surgery.

3. And the Tony Awards returned to Radio City Musical Hall last night. Stephen Sondheim's gender-swapped version of Company and Stefano Massini's financial epic, The Lehman Trilogy, led the Broadway prizes with five a piece.

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A bipartisan group of senators said yesterday that it has an agreement on principle on gun control legislation. Lawmakers have not yet gone into detail with specifics, but 10 of the signers were Republicans, the number needed to break a GOP filibuster on the package. The group said its plan, "increases needed mental health resources, improves school safety and support for students, and helps ensure dangerous criminals and those who are adjudicated as mentally ill can't purchase weapons."

Democratic Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer, called the agreement a good first step. Republican Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, praised the work of negotiators, but did not specifically endorse the proposal. Senators who signed the statement included four who led negotiations: Democrats Chris Murphy and Kyrsten Sinema, and Republicans John Cornyn and Thom Tillis. Overall, there's not much chance for political blowback for the Republicans who signed the proposal. Four of the 10 are retiring this year, another five are not up for reelection until 2026, and Mitt Romney often goes his own way. The group said its proposal includes protections for victims of domestic violence, support for state crisis intervention and more. Though it's considerably more limited than changes pushed by President Joe Biden to ban assault weapons entirely, along with high-capacity magazines, while raising the minimum age to buy guns to 21.

Elsewhere, in the House, lawmakers voted last week to raise the minimum age from 18 to 21 to buy semi-automatic rifles. The bill passed but is not expected to advance through the Senate, where Republicans have enough votes to block gun legislation.

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Another public hearing is on the way today for the House committee investigating the January 6th capital insurrection. It's the second hearing after last Thursday's primetime session. House members sought to present their case that former president Donald Trump was the driving force behind an attempted coup that led to the deadly violence at the Capitol.

Bennie Thompson:

Donald Trump lost the presidential election in 2020. The American people voted him out of office. It was not because of a rigged system, it was not because of voter fraud.

Taylor Wilson:

That's January 6th Committee Chair, Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson. And Trump's former Attorney General Bill Barr had similar comments in an interview to the committee.

Bill Barr:

No, just what I've been ... I had three discussions with the president that I can recall. One was on November 23rd, one was on December 1st, and one was on December 14th. And I've been through sort of the give and take of those discussions. And in that context I made it clear I did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen and putting out this stuff, which I told the president was [beep]. And I didn't want to be a part of it. And that's one of the reasons that went into me deciding to leave when I did. I observed, I think it was on December 1st, that you can't live in a world where the incumbent administration stays in power based on its view, unsupported by specific evidence, that there was fraud in the election.

Taylor Wilson:

Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney said that today's hearing will continue to focus on the fact that Trump knew he lost the 2020 election, but despite that, engaged in a "massive effort to spread false and fraudulent information." Unlike last week's session, this one won't be centered on primetime television. Instead, things kick off this morning at 10:00 AM Eastern Time. Two more hearings are scheduled for this coming Wednesday and Thursday.

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For so many buying a home is the American Dream, but the road to home ownership can be draining. And it can even bring many to tears, as Money and Tech Reporter Terry Collins tells us.

Terry Collins:

Yeah, this is kind of a weird one, but we know that getting into home ownership for some could be the American Dream. And according to a recent study by Zillow, it found that half of US home buyers cry at least once during the process. And then more so, almost 90% of recent buyers surveyed said at least one aspect of the home-buying process proved stressful. So stressful enough that there was also a large percentage that cried at least twice, some almost nearly five times. So we know trying to buy a house is daunting, but it can be daunting that so much it can move you to either tears of joy or tears of angst, especially if you don't get the house that you're looking for first time around.

It turns out that Gen Z and Millennials, especially those two groups that are looking to become first-time home buyers, are far more likely to cry at least once during the journey. And then, let's see, 65% of Gen Z buyers, those are in their 20s and 30s, more than the 65% of them cried at least once. And then 61% of millennial buyers, those in their 30s or 40s, also cried at least once. 44% of Gen Z buyers surveyed said that they cried between two to four times, while Millennial buyers are slightly ahead at 45%. So it seems like the younger you are, the more likely you're going to become very emotional through the home-buying process.

And talking to experts, if you want to buy a home, you just have to be really determined and committed to wanting to do it, and be willing to accept some of the ups and downs that may come with it. Yes, some houses go by really quick, some in a matter of days, some in a matter of weeks, depending on your affordability, how much you're willing to pay for a house. But it's more of a marathon than a race if you're into home-buying, because you may have a victory quickly, or it may be a long time before you're able to get into the home that you want because you have to make these adjustments. And I think that the younger groups are finding out that it's not as easy as it may appear to be, or it has been in the past.

Taylor Wilson:

For more from Terry, head to the Money section on USATODAY.com

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The 31 members of the white supremacist group, Patriot Front, who were arrested near a Pride event in Idaho over the weekend, will be arraigned today. The men were arrested after being found packed into the back of a U-Haul truck with riot gear. They were standing inside the truck, covering their faces with white balaclavas, when police in the city of Coeur d'Alene stopped the truck and began arresting them on the side of the road. All 31 were charged with conspiracy to riot. Along with riot gear, police found a smoke grenade and shields. Those arrested came from at least 11 states according to authorities. They say the group planned to riot in several areas around downtown Coeur d'Alene. The truck was stopped near where the North Idaho Pride Alliance was holding the city's Pride in the Park event. Patriot Front, which the would-be riots are a part of, is described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a white nationalist hate group. It formed after the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.

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A historic heatwave continues across the country. More than 50 million Americans have been under heat advisories in recent days. That includes temperatures in Death Valley, California, that climbed above 120 degrees, while a man in Phoenix grilled burgers and baked a cake on his dashboard. And according to the National Weather Service parts of Missouri, Kansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi also faced weekend heat advisories. A major weather pattern has essentially been stuck in the same place for more than a week, allowing heat to build across the Central and Southwestern US. Now southerly winds will pump hot and humid air into the Eastern two thirds of the country through Wednesday, that's according to the forecaster WeatherBug. The result means temperatures up to 30 degrees above normal for this time of year. Cities from Chicago and St. Louis to Charlotte could see record high temperatures and temperatures in the triple digits this week.

Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us seven mornings a week on whatever your favorite podcast app is. And if you have a chance, please drop us a rating and review. Thanks to PJ Elliott for his great work on the show, and I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bipartisan Senate gun legislation, brutal US heat wave: 5 Things podcast