NationalWatch

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that Kyiv is nearly ready to present a refined peace plan to the United States after days of talks with European partners, even as he maintains that Ukraine cannot give up any territory to Russia.

Zelenskyy said he reviewed the results of negotiations held in London with European national security advisors and that Ukraine and its European partners had further developed their components of potential steps toward ending the war. He said Kyiv is prepared to share the updated documents with Washington and is in “constant contact” with the United States as the process moves forward.

“We are working very actively on all components of potential steps toward ending the war,”  Zelenskyy posted on X. “The Ukrainian and European components are now more developed, and we are ready to present them to our partners in the U.S. Together with the American side, we expect to swiftly make the potential steps as doable as possible.” 

“We are committed to a real peace and remain in constant contact with the United States,” he wrote. “And, as our partners in the negotiating teams rightly note, everything depends on whether Russia is ready to take effective steps to stop the bloodshed and prevent the war from reigniting. In the near future, we will be ready to send the refined documents to the United States.”

The update came one day after Zelenskyy insisted his country cannot cede territory to Russia, complicating earlier peace proposals. 

“Under our laws, under international law — and under moral law — we have no right to give anything away,” Zelenskyy told reporters Monday, per The Washington Post. “That is what we are fighting for.”

Zelenskyy on Tuesday is in Brussels to meet with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, after meeting in London with British, French and German leaders.

The Ukrainian leader is under growing pressure from the U.S. to accept a framework to end the war after close to four years of fighting with Russia.

NO UKRAINE PEACE DEAL AFTER LENGTHY FIVE-HOUR PUTIN-WITKOFF-KUSHNER MEETING 

An initial draft of the 28-point plan, brokered by White House envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, spooked Ukrainian and European leaders who said it was too deferential to Russia’s demands. Ukrainian officials met with Witkoff and whittled the plan down. 

Zelenskyy told reporters that in European talks the “obvious anti-Ukrainian points were removed.” 

Trump on Sunday accused Zelenskyy of not keeping up with the latest on peace talks.

US ENVOY GAVE RUSSIAN AIDE TIPS ON HOW TO SELL UKRAINE DEAL TO TRUMP: REPORT 

“I’m a little bit disappointed that President Zelenskyy hasn’t yet read the proposal, that was as of a few hours ago,” Trump told reporters at the Kennedy Center in D.C. Sunday. “His people love it, but he hasn’t.”

“Russia, I guess, would rather have the whole country when you think of it, but Russia is, I believe, fine with it, but I’m not sure that Zelenskyy is fine with it,” Trump added.

Leaked versions of the initial deal had offered Russia swaths of Ukrainian territory, both lands it has occupied throughout the war and the Donbas region, which it has yet to seize in full.

TRUMP TOUTS ‘PROGRESS’ ON UKRAINE-RUSSIA DEAL, ADMITS IT’S ‘ONE OF THE MORE DIFFICULT’ CONFLICTS TO SOLVE 

It offered Ukraine no path to NATO but Europe and U.S.-backed security guarantees that were not definitive. 

Ukraine views NATO membership as essential to preventing a Russian attack — seeking a path to NATO is enshrined in its constitution. 

Ukraine is entering one of the hardest stretches of the nearly four-year war, giving new urgency to the negotiations. Russian troops are pushing forward in the east as Kyiv struggles with shortages of ammunition and manpower. Meanwhile, Moscow’s continued strikes on Ukraine’s power grid have left the country facing rolling blackouts and widespread outages at the start of the winter months. 

Zelenskyy said in the past week alone, Russia launched more than 1,600 drones, roughly 1,200 guided aerial bombs, and nearly 70 missiles of various types against Ukraine.

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And talks are heating up in tandem with a brewing scandal in Ukraine that has already pushed out Andrii Yermak, Zelenskyy’s former chief of staff and powerful gatekeeper who was leading negotiations, along with his justice and energy ministers. 

Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, has taken over negotiations, but is rumored to be caught up in the corruption investigation. 

Fox News’ Ashley Carnahan contributed to this report. 

An ongoing decline in American assimilation and a deep fear of being accused of racism were key factors in the massive fraud scheme in Minnesota that is now coming to light, according to an expert.

Minnesota is facing one of the largest social-services fraud scandals in U.S. history after federal prosecutors uncovered what they describe as “schemes stacked upon schemes” by Somali-run non-profits that siphoned hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars from child-nutrition and Medicaid housing programs.

Prosecutors have since charged more than 70 defendants, a large percentage of whom are members of Minnesota’s Somali community, securing dozens of convictions as new waves of indictments continue. The scandal has triggered state and federal investigations, congressional scrutiny, and calls for accountability over why warnings were missed and how the fraud was allowed to reach this scale.

Simon Hankinson, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, said that the decline in immigrant assimilation in America was key during an interview with Fox News Digital.

INSIDE ‘LITTLE MOGADISHU’: MINNESOTA’S BELEAGUERED SOMALI COMMUNITY UNDER A CLOUD OF FRAUD AND TRUMP ATTACKS

“Assimilation is a two-sided coin. The pressure comes from inside, from you wanting to assimilate so you can make it in the new society, but it also comes from outside, where the society says, ‘Hey, we expect you to do this. We expect you, if you want a driver’s license, to be able to speak and read English at a basic level.’ We don’t do that anymore in America. We don’t we don’t really expect anything of our immigrants,” explained Hankinson.

“There are a lot of people who are American-born,” he went on, “who really don’t like this country and what it stands for. And so, they don’t think anyone else ought to accept it and adapt to it either.”

Hankinson noted that in no way can the fraud scheme be blamed writ large on the Minnesota-Somali community, which is estimated to have around 80,000 people. He said that those involved in the scam are a minority. However, the fact that the tight-knit community has by and large not assimilated into the broader American society and customs meant that many of the factors that could have exposed the scheme earlier were not there, according to Hankinson.

“When you come from a culture that provides you with nothing from the center, everything is family, everything is clan, everything is local, then it’s almost impossible for you to understand how a federal system would work. And if your neighbor came to you and said, ‘Hey, we got this cool thing going, if you just say your kid’s autistic, I’ll give you a thousand dollars a month.’ I mean, that’s a no-brainer for an awful lot of people,” he explained.

“Even if they thought that maybe it was wrong on some level, they might think, ‘Well, hang on, in my new country, maybe that’s frowned upon,’ they’re not going to rat out the clan member, the family member,” he added.

TIM WALZ CALLED OUT BY WASHINGTON POST FOR REFUSING TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR MINNESOTA FRAUD SCANDAL

That, combined with the existence of generous taxpayer-funded welfare programs and Minnesota being what Hankinson called a “high trust state,” made the state “ill-equipped to handle fraud.”

“In Minnesota, these programs were low-hanging fruit. They were so easy to fleece, it’s almost farcical,” said Hankinson. “So, the carrot is there to commit fraud, and there’s no stick.”

He pointed to one aspect of the scheme in which prosecutors say Minnesota’s Medicaid autism program was exploited by companies recruiting families, securing fraudulent diagnoses, and billing for therapy that never happened, draining millions from the program.

“That is outrageous. Somebody should have noticed at some point that, ‘Hang on a minute, why have the autism rates in Somali kids gone from one in a hundred to like one in three or whatever it was?’” he said. “There should have been some oversight, and there again you get into the whole American racial guilt, which is a particular issue that we have, where if you’re an unscrupulous scammer, you can always play the race card, and that will often get you away with it because people are terrified.”

“Nobody likes to be called a racist. It’s about one of the worst things you could be called,” he went on. “But I do think liberal Americans, in particular white liberal Americans, are more afraid of that label than anything else. So, some of these scammers, they threatened to make a fuss about being targeted on account of race or immigrant status or religion. And that probably contributed to state authorities being a little slower.”

ILHAN OMAR SAYS SHE’S FRUSTRATED SINCE SOMALIS ARE ALSO VICTIMS IN ‘FEEDING OUR FUTURE’ SCAM

This dynamic has also played out on the national level. Following the Trump administration’s announcement of its crackdown on illegal immigrant Somalis in Minnesota, Democratic Gov. Tim Walz has accused it of “demonizing an entire group of people just by their race and their ethnicity.”

“I can’t take Tim Walz seriously, honestly, because he was the governor who was in charge while all this was happening. Where was he?” said Hankinson. “He was asleep at the switch.”

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“It’s not a question of scapegoating,” he said. “It’s a good thing to send a message, not to the Somali community per se, but to all of Minnesota and the rest of the 49 states that this is America, we have laws, we have rules. When you break those rules, you are going to get punished.”

Hankinson added that ultimately, he hopes to see many Somalis joining in the effort to crack down on the minority involved in fraud so that they can “give their community the reputation that it deserves.”

It took nearly 30 years, but Democrats finally broke their decades-long ballot box losing streak in Miami, Florida, the city known as the nation’s “Gateway to Latin America.”

Democrat Eileen Higgins, a former county commissioner, defeated Republican Emilio Gonzalez, a former city manager, in Tuesday’s Miami’s mayoral runoff election, according to the Associated Press.

While the election was technically nonpartisan, the ballot box face-off became the latest showdown this year between Democrats and Republicans, with both parties pouring in resources and the race grabbing plenty of national attention.

President Donald Trump endorsed Gonzalez, who served on Trump’s Homeland Security Department transition team, and this past weekend took to social media to emphasize that Miami’s mayoral election “is a big and important race!!! Vote for Republican Gonzalez.”

WHY MIAMI, FLORIDA IS IN THE NATION’S POLITICAL SPOTLIGHT

Meanwhile, the Republican Party of Florida poured in resources to boost Gonzalez.

But Democrats, energized by last month’s decisive 2025 election victories and by last week’s double-digit overperformance in a special election in a red-leaning congressional district in Tennessee, aimed for a victory in Miami.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON THE 2025 ELECTIONS

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) and allied groups invested in the race.

DNC Chair Ken Martin told Fox News Digital that, following last week’s “historic overperformance in Tennessee and the record Democratic momentum across the country this year,” the DNC is now “laser focused” on Miami’s mayoral runoff.

Higgins made history as the first woman elected Miami mayor. And her victory is another boost for Democrats.

“Tonight’s result is yet another warning sign to Republicans that voters are fed up with their out-of-touch agenda that is raising costs for working families across the country,” the DNC’s Martin said in a statement Tuesday night.

Florida was once the largest of the general election battleground states but has shifted dramatically to the right over the past decade.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis won re-election by nearly 20 points in 2022, and Trump carried the state by 13 points in last year’s presidential election victory.

But Miami remains a rare blue oasis in the Sunshine State. Trump narrowly lost the city in last year’s presidential election, although the president won the wider Miami-Dade County by 11 points.

Trump made major gains last year with Hispanic and Latino voters in his re-election victory, but Higgins’ win in Tuesday’s runoff election is the latest signal that Hispanic and Latino voters may be souring on the president and his party.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE 2025 ELECTIONS

Higgins, a mechanical engineer and former Peace Corps director in Belize, focused on the issue of affordability and of making local government work better and faster during her campaign.

González, a veteran and senior advisor at an asset management firm, spotlighted the fight against overdevelopment and called for the elimination of property taxes for primary homes as he bid for mayor.

Higgins captured 36% of the vote in the Nov. 4 election, with González coming in second at 19%, in the multi-candidate field. With no candidate topping 50%, the contest headed to Tuesday’s runoff.

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Higgins will succeed term-limited Republican Mayor Francis Suarez, who grabbed national attention two years ago as he briefly and unsuccessfully ran for the GOP presidential nomination.

A wide-ranging bill setting the federal government’s defense and national security policy for the fiscal year survived a key hurdle Tuesday night, but questions over whether it will get to President Donald Trump’s desk still remain.

The House Rules Committee voted to advance the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) along party lines after hours of debate, setting up the bill for a chamber-wide vote on Wednesday afternoon.

The legislation will dictate how roughly $900 billion of the federal budget will be spent on America’s national defense.

But with several conservatives already voicing concerns, it’s unclear if it can survive a procedural hurdle that will likely need almost all House Republicans to vote in lock step despite support from the majority of the House GOP.

CONGRESS UNVEILS $900B DEFENSE BILL TARGETING CHINA WITH TECH BANS, INVESTMENT CRACKDOWN, US TROOP PAY RAISE

The House Rules Committee is the final gatekeeper before most pieces of legislation get a chamber-wide vote. Lawmakers on the panel are responsible for setting terms of debate on a bill, including deciding which amendments, if any, can be voted on.

The next step is generally a House-wide procedural vote, called a rule vote, where lawmakers decide whether to green-light debating the bill. 

Fox News Digital was told earlier this week that House GOP leaders hope to hold the NDAA vote in the early evening Wednesday.

But questions about whether the bill could pass a chamber-wide rule vote earlier in the day began popping up soon after the 3,000-page bill was unveiled Sunday night.

Rule votes generally fall along party lines even if the underlying measure has bipartisan support. And with a razor-thin majority, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., can only afford to lose two GOP votes and still win.

GERMANY UNVEILS NEW INCENTIVES TO BOOST MILITARY RECRUITMENT AMID GROWING RUSSIA THREAT

At least two House Republicans, Eric Burlison, R-Mo., and Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told Fox News Digital Tuesday afternoon they are undecided on the House-wide rule vote.

Some conservatives are concerned with the bill’s exclusion of a ban on central bank digital currency (CBDC). Without it, GOP privacy hawks argue that the federal government could use digital currency for widespread surveillance and control of Americans.

“Conservatives were promised that an anti-central bank digital currency language, authored by Tom Emmer, the whip, would be in the NDAA. Our initial reading of it, we’ve had it for hours now, is that it is not in there. And then there is no anti-abortion language either. So, as we fund our military, there are red lines that we need to put in here,” Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, said on “Mornings with Maria” Monday.

Self told Fox News Digital he was also undecided on the rule vote but would vote “no” on the final legislation.

Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, posted his frustration with the measure’s exclusion on X and told reporters he too was undecided on the rule.

Meanwhile, Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., said he was frustrated with the process of crafting the final NDAA.

“All of this was negotiated behind closed doors,” he told Fox News Digital. “We’re getting shoved, and we just have to eat it, or, you know, vote against increasing pay to our military service members. It’s a very unfortunate situation to be in, that the speaker keeps putting us in.”

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And Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said he was likely going to vote “no” on the rule vote Wednesday.

It was a good sign, however, that the House Rules Committee’s three House Freedom Caucus members — Reps. Morgan Griffith, R-Va.; Chip Roy, R-Texas; and Ralph Norman, R-S.C. — all voted to advance it to a chamber-wide vote.

The vast majority of House Republicans are also supportive of the legislation, pointing out it includes multiple measures codifying Trump’s agenda, ramping up the U.S.’s capabilities against China and other adversaries, as well as providing a pay increase for service members.

House GOP leaders have the option of putting the bill up under suspension of the rules, meaning it bypasses that procedural hurdle in exchange for raising the passage threshold to two-thirds rather than a simple majority.

The NDAA itself is likely to pass along bipartisan lines, but it’s unclear how many Democrats will help. 

Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said he would vote for the NDAA despite concerns “with how a number of issues were handled by the Speaker and the White House during final negotiations,” he said in a statement.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday night that West Virginia National Guard Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, who was critically wounded in a Thanksgiving eve ambush-style shooting in Washington, D.C., has begun showing incredible signs of recovery.

Speaking at an event in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, Trump told supporters he has remained in close contact with Wolfe’s family since the shooting that also killed 20-year-old National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom.

The president described Wolfe’s parents’ unwavering belief that their son would survive even as physicians warned that the odds were impossibly slim.

“The night that he was so badly hit and the doctors gave him almost no chance, I called their hospital room and spoke to her, and she said, sure, he’ll be fine,” Trump said. “Oh no, I’m telling you, he’s going to. I’m praying, the whole country is praying, sir. I’m telling you, don’t worry about it. He’s going to be fine.’ This is the mother talking to me.”

FATHER OF FALLEN NATIONAL GUARD MEMBER CALLS HER DEATH A ‘HORRIBLE TRAGEDY’ IN HEARTBREAKING POST

“And the father is like, devastated,” he continued. “He’s an incredible guy too, both. And I went and invited them to the Oval Office, and they came in.”

Trump said Wolfe’s mother never wavered. 

“She said, ‘sir, he’s fine.’ It was amazing, actually.”

Then Trump shared a significant medical update on Wolfe’s condition since he was rushed into critical care.

AFGHAN SUSPECT IN NATIONAL GUARD ATTACK WAS ‘RADICALIZED’ AFTER ARRIVING TO US, NOEM SAYS

“And today, Monica — she said, ‘we’re all praying’ and I’m praying. And then she called to say, ‘Sir, he moved his finger today.’ This is like three days later — ‘he moved his finger.’ 

And today I got a call that he got up from bed. Do you believe that? He got up, he got up,” Trump told the crowd.

“Now, he didn’t speak. He’s not ready for that yet. I mean, you got hit in the head, but he got up, and boy, they’re so happy.”

Trump praised the medical teams watching over Wolfe. “It’s amazing. And the care that they’ve given him — the hospital and the generals that have been there, the military that’s been there — it’s amazing,” he said.

Wolfe, 24, and Beckstrom were ambushed near the Farragut West area of downtown Washington on Nov. 26. 

Beckstrom succumbed to her injuries, and Wolfe has remained in critical care since the attack.

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Federal prosecutors charged 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal in connection with the shooting, including first-degree murder.

The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

President Donald Trump was in Pennsylvania Tuesday night touting his administration’s economic success, after Democrats swept a series of elections in 2025 while mainly campaigning on platforms focused on “affordability.”

“They caused the high prices, and we’re bringing them down,” Trump told the crowd in attendance at a casino resort in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania. “Lower prices, bigger paychecks – you’re getting lower prices, bigger paychecks, we’re getting inflation – we’re crushing it – and you’re getting much higher wages. The only thing that is really going up big – it’s called the stock market and your 401ks.” 

Affordability has become a flashpoint heading into the midterms, with Republicans now fine-tuning their messaging on the economy after a slew of Democrats won elections in 2025 running on a platform focused on lowering costs. Prior to Tuesday night’s address in Pennsylvania, Trump told Politico in an interview that he would give his economy an “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus” grade, but a November Fox News national survey found that some 76% of voters reported they view the economy negatively, up from the 67% who reported the same in July, and up from the 70% who said the same at the end of former President Joe Biden’s term.

TRUMP INSISTS PRICES ARE ‘COMING DOWN,’ BLAMES BIDEN – BUT VOTERS SAY THEY’RE STILL GETTING SQUEEZED

Real-wages were among one of the several statistics that Trump shared with voters Tuesday to prove how much better the economy is under him than Biden. According to Trump, real wages “plummeted” by $3,000 under Biden, while under Trump’s second administration, the president said, the typical factory worker has seen their real wages increase by $1,300, construction workers by over $1,800, and miners by $3,300. Trump added that, under Biden, real-wages for construction workers dropped by $3,500. 

To put things into perspective for the audience, Trump also touched on the price of everyday goods, and shared charts with the audience showing how the prices differed under his predecessor’s term. Citing a report from Walmart, Trump said the cost of a full Thanksgiving meal, trimmings, turkey and all, is 25% cheaper under his administration than it was under Biden. He said the price of Thanksgiving turkeys specifically was also down 33%. 

Trump added that egg prices have “dropped like a rock” under his second term, noting their price point is down 80% since March.

TRUMP APPROVAL CLIMBS AS REPUBLICANS RALLY BEHIND PRESIDENT’S AFFORDABILITY AGENDA: POLL 

“One of the most important ways we’re defeating inflation is by unleashing American energy, including oil, gas and clean beautiful coal,” Trump also said, citing data he said shows 22 different states have lower gas prices today than they ever have in the last seven years. Three of them, Trump noted, have gas as low as $1.99 per gallon.

Trump also touted lower mortgage rates under his administration, $18 trillion in new private investments compared to Biden’s less than $1 trillion, and a hot stock market as examples of how his economy is doing well.

“I can’t say affordability hoax because I agree the prices were too high. I can’t call it a hoax because they’ll misconstrue that. But they use the word affordability and that’s their only word,” Trump said while bashing Democrats on the economy Tuesday night. “They say, ‘affordability’ and everyone says, ‘Oh, that must mean Trump has high prices.’ No. Our prices are coming down tremendously from the highest prices in the history of our country.”

Trump added during his speech Tuesday night that Democrats talking about affordability, “is like Bonnie and Clyde preaching about public safety.”

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Meanwhile, amid his barbs at Democrats on their “affordability” messaging, Trump posited that he doesn’t have to “sell” his administration’s policies to anyone, because they are “the right policy.”  

“We don’t have to sell men in women’s sports. We don’t have to sell transgender to everybody. We don’t have to sell open borders where the whole world is allowed to come into our country from prisons and everywhere,” Trump told the crowd. “That’s our message. They gave you high prices. They gave you the highest inflation in history. And we’re giving you we’re bringing those prices down rapidly.”

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he believes Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, running for Senate in the Lone Star State is “a gift to Republicans,” saying he “can’t imagine she wins.”

Speaking to reporters after departing Air Force One at Wilkes-Barre Scranton International Airport in Pennsylvania, Trump was asked to respond to Crockett’s recent announcement on entering the race for the seat held by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who is running for re-election.

“She’s a low IQ person, I can’t imagine she wins,” Trump said.

“Maybe she gets the Democrat nomination, but I think it’s a gift to Republicans,” he continued.

FIERCE TRUMP CRITIC JASMINE CROCKETT SHAKES UP HIGH-STAKES SENATE RACE

The president added: “She’s a terrible representative. I’ve watched her for the last two years, I can’t believe she’s a politician, actually.”

Crockett, a progressive firebrand and fierce Trump critic, filed paperwork on Monday to run for Senate in 2026. She has served as a congresswoman for Texas’ 30th congressional district since 2023.

The congresswoman, a late addition to the field, told supporters after launching her campaign that she would stand up to Trump, which she said Cornyn had failed to do.

“I’m done watching the American dream on life support while Trump tries to pull the plug. The gloves have been off, and now I’m jumping into the ring,” she said. 

“Many people wonder why I jumped in this race so late, and I just want to be clear that this was never my intention, this was never about me, I never put myself into any of the polls,” Crockett added. “But the more I saw the poll results, I couldn’t ignore the trends, which were clear, both as it relates to the primary as well as the general election, I could have played it safe and continued serving in the United States House of Representatives for as long as my constituents would have me, but I don’t choose to do that, because, Texas, this moment we’re in now is life or death.”

Crockett appeared optimistic that she could flip the seat viewed as a Republican stronghold in a GOP-led state. A Democrat has not won a statewide office in Texas in more than 30 years.

“Many people asked, ‘Can we win this race in November?’ I’m here to say, ‘Yes, we can!'” Crockett said during her speech.

“Texas is a big boy state made up of brawlers with a moral code. Our representation should reflect that, sadly enough, it doesn’t,” she continued. “After evaluating the data, analyzing the trends, researching historic numbers, and combing over the crosstabs, it was clear, the numbers were strongest for my candidacy for United States Senate, that’s why I decided to enter this race.”

EX-NFL STAR ABANDONS SENATE BID AS JASMINE CROCKETT NEARS MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT

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Crockett’s campaign announcement, which included a video with soundbites of Trump attacking her, came shortly after former Rep. Colin Allred — one of the two Democrats already running for the Senate in 2026 — abandoned his bid to replace Cornyn, instead launching a campaign to return to the House rather than continue his second straight bid for the Senate.

State Rep. James Talarico remains in the race on the Democratic side, while Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt are challenging Cornyn in the GOP primary.

FIRST ON FOX: Although the federal government’s spending on citizens has never been greater, Americans continue to feel the burden of an affordability crisis.

Conservative fiscal watchdog group Open The Books, which keeps track of various metrics on government growth and spending, identified in their latest report that, since 1916, per capita government spending, or how much money the government spends on average per person in the United States, is 9,800% bigger. 

In 1916, the government spent an average of $208.36 per person in today’s dollars, according to Open The Books. Since then, the fiscal watchdog group says the trend line has gone up “almost uninterrupted” and the current per capita spending by the federal government sits at $20,474.19.

Estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan government agency that provides economic and budgetary analyses, found that in Fiscal Year 2025 the federal government spent a record $7.035 trillion. 

WHITE HOUSE TURNS UP HEAT ON BIDEN’S ECONOMIC RECORD AS VOTERS SOUR ON ‘AFFORDABILITY’ 

“While American families and businesses find a way to do more with less, government does less with more,” Open The Books CEO John Hart told Fox News Digital. “Today’s federal government is 98 times bigger per person than it was just over a century ago. The best affordability and stimulus program imaginable is to reduce the waste, fraud and central planning in government. Every dollar saved in Washington is a dream realized somewhere in America.”

The government’s per capita spending level equals about $82,000 for a family of four. In their report outlining their findings, the group pointed out that this is virtually just as much as the median household income in 2024, which was $83,730.

Open The Books also notes that, according to national averages for how much people spend annually on their mortgages and groceries, the government’s per capita spending eclipses the average spending on these two basic needs. According to Open The Books, the Department of Agriculture recommends spending between $12,000 and $20,000 annually on groceries for a family of four, while the average mortgage payment in 2025 is just under $28,000, according to Rocket Mortgage.

AMERICANS HAVE NEVER HAD ACCESS TO MORE LUXURIES, BUT WHY DO WE FEEL SO POOR? 

During the early part of Donald Trump’s first term, as Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) began to take shape, Open The Books also worked to keep track of all the savings that the Musk-led group created. Ultimately, DOGE’s cuts were but a drop in the bucket compared to how much the government forks over each year in mandatory spending for programs like Medicare and Social Security, Open The Books found. 

While DOGE helped scoop up discretionary spending savings totaling approximately $150 billion, and congressional Republicans’ passed a July rescission package saving around $9 billion, spending for Medicare in 2024 totaled around $912 billion, while Social Security got $1.5 trillion.  

Meanwhile, another recent report from Open The Books illustrated how government spending has increased at a much faster rate than it has grown. For example, staffing levels at the Department of Education have decreased since 2000, but the agency’s spending has grown by 749%, according to Open The Books.

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“Much of the spending growth is now predestined as Americans are forced to service an extraordinary national debt. But taxpayers should also scrutinize all aspects of federal spending,” Open The Books wrote in their per-capita spending report. 

“Has quality of life, affordability, or innovation improved along with per capita spending? Aside from interest, what else is the government buying that it wasn’t before, back when we were building ourselves into a global superpower? Open the Books will spend 2026 continuing to expose waste, fraud and abuse wherever it exists and pushing for real-time transparency for taxpayers. Put simply, they deserve more bang for their buck.”

A divided federal appeals court on Tuesday allowed the Pentagon to temporarily enforce its revived ban on transgender military service, ruling that a lower court improperly blocked the Trump administration’s 2025 policy.

The decision marks a major development in one of the most closely watched military policy cases in the country.

The 2–1 ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit stays a district court’s preliminary injunction and permits the Trump administration to continue enforcing the restrictions while litigation continues.

“Today’s victory is a great win for the security of the American people,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital. “As commander in chief, President Trump has the executive authority to ensure that our Department of War prioritizes military readiness over woke gender ideology.”

FEDERAL JUDGE RULES AGAINST TRUMP ORDER HALTING SEX CHANGE PROCEDURES IN PRISONS

Judges Gregory Katsas and Neomi Rao, writing for the majority, said the district court wrongly substituted its own judgment for that of Pentagon leadership.

“The United States military enforces strict medical standards to ensure that only physically and mentally fit individuals join its ranks. For decades, these requirements barred service by individuals with gender dysphoria, a medical condition associated with clinically significant distress,” the majority wrote.

“The district court nonetheless preliminarily enjoined the 2025 policy based on its own contrary assessment of the evidence. In our view, the court afforded insufficient deference to the Secretary’s [Hegseth] considered judgment. Accordingly, we stay the preliminary injunction pending the government’s appeal.”

FEDERAL JUDGE UNDERCUTS TRUMP’S EXECUTIVE ORDER ON ‘RADICAL GENDER IDEOLOGY’

The 2025 policy, enacted under President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, “generally bars individuals with gender dysphoria from serving in the Armed Forces,” the court noted. 

According to the majority opinion, the Pentagon concluded the policy would advance “important military interests of combat readiness, unit cohesion, and cost control.”

Judge Patricia Millett Pillard issued a sharp dissent, accusing the Trump administration of failing to justify the renewed ban and arguing that the motives behind it were impermissible.

SUPREME COURT HANDS TRUMP VICTORY ON TRANSGENDER PASSPORT POLICY CHANGE

“There may well be valid reasons to reexamine and alter military service policies set by previous administrations. But on this record, one cannot tell,” Pillard wrote. 

“Defendants provide no evidence that they based their new policy on any assessment of costs, benefits, or any other factor legitimately bearing on military necessity. Indeed, there is ‘no evidence that [President Trump or Secretary Hegseth] consulted with uniformed military leaders’ before imposing their unprecedented ban on transgender servicemembers.”

Pillard said the administration’s approach reflected “animus from the start,” pointing to President Trump’s Jan. 27 Executive Order 14183, or Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness, issued in February.

In that order, Trump declared it “the policy of the United States” that “adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life.” The order also claimed that openly identifying as transgender is “not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member” and directed Hegseth to develop policies within 60 days.

The policy on transgender service has shifted repeatedly over the past decade. Restrictions were relaxed in 2016, tightened in 2018, relaxed again in 2021 and reinstated in 2025, the court noted. The district court halted the latest version earlier this year, prompting the Pentagon’s successful appeal for a stay.

The case now returns to the district court for full consideration and is expected to continue moving toward what could ultimately be a Supreme Court review.

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The Department of War did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

FIRST ON FOX: A top parental rights group is urging President Donald Trump to take more steps to improve healthcare pricing transparency, an issue the Trump administration says Joe Biden’s administration failed to adequately address. 

The American Parents Coalition, which previously made headlines for its advocacy on behalf of parents regarding gender identity issues, sent a letter to President Trump, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Treasury, and the Department of Labor on Tuesday thanking them for the work they have done so far on improving healthcare pricing transparency, but also urging them to do more. 

“There is still much work to be done on this front,” the letter to Trump insisted. “Healthcare shouldn’t be a gamble for parents, and we shouldn’t have to fight for transparency when our full focus should be on our children’s health. With clear, detailed, and accurate price breakdowns before care, informed parents can do what they have always wanted: make the best decisions for their children’s wellbeing, without sacrificing financial stability.”

HOUSE GOP SEEKS OFF-RAMP TO SKY-HIGH HEALTH INSURANCE COSTS FOR MILLIONS OF AMERICANS

One of the president’s first moves on this issue during his second term was a February Executive Order aimed at ramping up implementation and enforcement of existing transparency regulations for hospitals and health plans ushered in during his first term. According to the order, progress on price transparency “stalled” during the previous Biden administration, pointing out that price transparency data that was supposed to be posted was often incomplete or not even posted at all. 

“After President Trump’s landmark price transparency regulations from his first term were left to languish by the inept Joe Biden, the second Trump Administration is in full gear developing the most aggressive price transparency enforcement possible,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai told Fox News Digital.

Following the February executive directive, HHS, the Labor and Treasury departments jointly announced a package of actions to “strengthen healthcare price transparency.” Among those actions was a request for public input on how to better increase price transparency and updated federal guidance aimed at eliminating meaningless or duplicative data while making cost information easier for people to understand and utilize.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CSM) also released independent agency guidance directing hospitals and health plans to post “the actual prices of items and services, not estimates.”

REPUBLICANS DIVIDED OVER WHETHER TO SALVAGE OBAMACARE — OR REPLACE IT — AHEAD OF SUBSIDY DEADLINE

Since these actions early in Trump’s first term, the entire administration has continued to take steps to carry out the orders from Trump’s February executive order on price transparency, which built on similar initiatives from his first administration. One example is updating its federally operated repository with new resources to help hospitals comply with changes to hospital price transparency requirements.

“President Trump already signed another price transparency executive order just over a month into his second term to fine noncompliant hospitals, and additional actions to advance this presidential priority are actively under review,” the White House noted. 

According to the American Parents Coalition, which argued in their letter to President Trump that the financial uncertainty around healthcare costs “is crippling American families,” there is one policy prescription that could be a quick, yet monumental, win for families and parents.

In their letter to Trump, the American Parents Coalition said that new policy directed at insurance providers, requiring them to tell patients “exactly” what they will cover, what they will not, and transparently sharing how much patients will have to pay out-of-pocket, “could be quickly implemented to deliver another win for American families.”

“Parents deserve to know the price of healthcare, just like when we shop for groceries or plan activities for our kids. Hidden healthcare costs make financial planning impossible and decisions difficult,” said American Parents Coalition Executive Director Alleigh Marre. 

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“Given the uncertainty of pricing when going to the doctor, parents may forgo medical care or opt out of appointments for themselves or their children, putting their health at risk. Thanks to President Trump and his Make America Healthy Again agenda, he is paving the way for families to have access to prices through healthcare price transparency, but there is more work to be done and we are urging the Trump Administration to continue implementing these transparency policies that will have huge impacts on parents.”

As part of the coalition’s effort to continue pushing for greater price transparency within the healthcare system, it launched a new television advertisement that began airing Tuesday, as well as a new website titled ParentsNeedPrices.com.

Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content. Here’s what’s happening…

-Minnesota anti-fraud spending has ballooned, leaving taxpayers to pay for failure twice

-Mamdani will introduce British antisemitism, taxes to US: Former UK Prime Minister

-New lawsuit presses Pentagon, State Dept to disclose legal justification for Venezuelan boat strikes

Dem-appointed education officials face new scrutiny as Feeding Our Future scandal widens, Trump targets fraud

New scrutiny has fallen on former Minnesota Department of Education leaders as the Feeding Our Future scandal tied to Gov. Tim Walz widens and President Donald Trump announces new measures targeting fraud in the state.

Feeding Our Future (FOF) was a Minnesota nonprofit that aimed to feed low-income children, though federal prosecutors claimed it illegally funneled more than $250 million in taxpayer funds to shell companies and people who used the money to purchase luxury cars, residential and commercial real estate, international travel and expensive jewelry. MDE was the government’s financial interlocutor responsible for approving and monitoring it.

In 2018, MDE conducted its only administrative review of the child and adult care food program operations (CACFP) at FOF…READ MORE.
 

White House

BACK IN THE SADDLE: As GOP political power hangs in the balance, Wiles says Trump will ‘campaign like it’s 2024’ ahead of midterms

TECH FIGHT SPREADS: Bessent warned EU-style ‘regulatory nightmare’ creeping into Latin America — and aimed squarely at the US

‘HISTORIC FIGURE’: Kamala Harris declares herself a ‘historic’ figure: ‘There will be a marble bust of me’

MESSAGE GAP: ‘Prices are coming down’: Trump hails his economy as voters say they’re still spooked by costs

PRICED OUT: HUD chief blames ‘unchecked illegal immigration’ pricing-out families amid new housing report

World Stage

ONE WEEK WARNING: US could run out of key munition in ‘about a week’ if war with China erupts, top security expert warns

DEAL OR NO DEAL: Zelenskyy says Ukraine ready to present new peace deal proposals to US

Capitol Hill

COSTLY CARE CRISIS: Key voting bloc boosts Obamacare to highest approval ever as Congress battles over soaring costs: Poll

PREMIUMS AT STAKE: GOP senator pitches ‘Black Friday’ Obamacare fix that bridges Democrat, Republican demands

DEADLINE LOOMING: Bipartisan lawmakers unveil Obamacare extension as pressure grows on Johnson for play call

DRAWN OUT: House Democrat drops re-election bid after Texas redraws congressional map

Across America 

TERROR TWINS BUSTED: New Jersey twins charged in threats to kill DHS official, ‘shoot ICE on sight’

CITY FOR ALL: Mamdani reveals why he appointed convicted armed robber to public safety transition team

A MATTER OF FAITH: DOJ sues Virginia school board over Christian students’ rights

TAXPAYER STRAIN: DHS blasts Newsom over taxpayer-funded healthcare for illegals as California ambulance costs may soar 382%

Get the latest updates on the Trump administration and Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

Hours before President Donald Trump was set to deliver a highly anticipated speech on the economy and affordability, a new national poll indicated the president’s approval is on the rise, thanks in part to soaring support by Republicans.

Trump’s approval rating in a Reuters/Ipsos survey conducted Dec. 3–8 and released on Tuesday stood at 41%, with 57% disapproving.

That’s an improvement from mid-November, when the president stood at 38%-60% approval/disapproval in the previous Reuters/Ipsos national poll.

Trump’s focus on lowering prices helped boost him and Republicans to sweeping victories last year, when the GOP won back the White House and Senate and successfully defended their House majority.

TRUMP BLAMES BIDEN FOR HIGH PRICES HOURS BEFORE MAJOR AFFORDABILITY SPEECH

But Democrats are energized following decisive victories last month in the 2025 elections and in their over-performance last week in a special congressional election in Tennessee, as they hammered Republicans over affordability as prices have remained elevated this year.

The most recent Labor Department report, from September, indicated inflation increased 3% from a year earlier, up slightly from 2.9% in August.

Although combating high prices remains one of Trump’s weakest polling issues, the new survey indicates the president’s approval on dealing with the cost of living jumped from 26% last month to 31% now. The rise was fueled by a 10-point jump among Republicans.

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLING

While Trump has described the Democrats’ focus on affordability as a “hoax,” he has also become more engaged in combating high prices in recent weeks, as the president has scaled back some of his tariffs and pledged to lower high food prices.

On Tuesday evening, Trump is scheduled to deliver his first major address on affordability, with a speech in battleground Pennsylvania.

The Reuters/Ipsos survey, which was conducted online, questioned 4,434 respondents nationwide. It had an overall sampling error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Trump’s approval rating stood at 41% in the most recent Fox News national poll, which was conducted in mid-November. That’s the lowest approval for the president during his second term in the White House.

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Three-quarters of those questioned viewed the economy negatively. And by a nearly two-to-one margin, voters say Trump was more responsible for the current economy than former President Joe Biden.

President Donald Trump will be deployed on the campaign trail next year ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles indicated during an appearance on “The Mom VIEW.”

Wiles said that “so many of those low-propensity voters are Trump voters,” and that she had not “quite broken it to him yet, but he’s going to campaign like it’s 2024 again,” for the individuals he assists.

While Trump does not help everyone, “for those he does, he’s a difference maker,” she said, adding that the president is “a turnout machine.”

DESANTIS WARNS GOP FACES ‘ISSUE’ KEEPING TRUMP VOTERS ENGAGED IN FUTURE ELECTIONS

“The president started raising money for the midterms the day after the election. And he’s sitting on a huge war chest to help these people,” she said, noting that “he’ll use it.”

Trump took office earlier this year after Republicans in 2024 clinched a trifecta, winning the White House back, maintaining their House majority and taking back control of the Senate.

SENATE MAJORITY LEADER JOHN THUNE PREVIEWS REPUBLICAN MIDTERM MESSAGE HEADING INTO 2026

But the GOP’s political power will be on the line in 2026 since Republicans could potentially lose their majority in one or both chambers.

TOP GOP SENATOR SAYS CROCKETT ANNOUNCEMENT EXPOSES HOW ‘RADICAL’ DEMS ARE NATIONWIDE

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In the 2018 midterm elections during Trump’s first term, Republicans expanded their majority in the Senate but lost their House majority.

Liz Truss, the former British prime minister who staked her brief tenure on tax cuts and deregulation, is warning Americans about New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s socialist agenda will mirror the high-tax, high-regulation model she fought in the U.K.

“I’ve seen what’s happened with Mamdani being elected,” former U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. “We have characters like that in Britain. They are never satisfied. They keep putting up taxes. They keep putting up more regulations. We have seen in Britain appalling development of antisemitism. That’s what I fear for New York.”

Mamdani plans to pay for his ambitious campaign promises, including fast and free buses, universal childcare and city-run grocery stores, by raising taxes on corporations and the top 1% of New Yorkers. As the 34-year-old mayor-elect prepares to move into Gracie Mansion, critics have compared his agenda to European-style social welfare programs.

The British conservative served just 49 days as prime minister of the U.K. in 2022 before resigning amid market turmoil over her administration’s dramatic attempt to implement a pro-growth economic agenda. Now that the dust has settled, Truss has launched a private club for “pro-growth leaders,” the Leconfield, and a YouTube show, “The Liz Truss Show.”

TRUMP, MAMDANI SET TO FACE-OFF IN FIRST OVAL OFFICE MEETING — WHAT’S ON THE TABLE

“The Leconfield is about economic growth,” Truss said. “It’s about prosperity. It’s about building that network of senior business executives, entrepreneurs, political leaders to create new opportunities in Britain and around the world. We need to see economic growth. That is the most important thing.”

Truss said her new members-only club will unite business leaders in Mayfair in co-working spaces and executive suites. The Times reported that Truss has requested £500,000 from each of the 700 Leconfield founding members for the lifetime membership.

JD VANCE ‘DIRECTLY’ CONVINCED UK TO DROP APPLE BACKDOOR DATA DEMAND, PROTECTING AMERICANS’ RIGHTS: US OFFICIAL

“This will bring together people in real-life to exchange those ideas, but it will also provide a space in London where people can do business. Currently, people end up in hotel lobbies. They are trying to work in clubs that maybe ban laptops or mobile phones. This will have boardrooms, executive space where people can get business done,” Truss said.

According to a 2025 analysis by Henley & Partners, a global investment-migration consultancy, the United Kingdom is losing millionaires and billionaires faster than any country in the world.

“Our taxes are too high,” Truss explained. “Our regulation is too high, and our energy prices are also sky-high. This has meant people leaving, businesses leaving. It’s difficult to build new buildings because of all the regulations, and even though we’re sitting on masses of oil and gas, fracking is banned, so our energy prices are high, and it’s not surprising that that makes us uncompetitive.”

While Truss briefly lifted a ban on fracking in the U.K. in 2022 in an attempt to unleash energy production, her successor, Rishi Sunak, reinstated the moratorium that ended support for new fracking projects.

Like Truss, President Donald Trump has moved to reverse key Biden-era climate regulations as part of his key campaign promise to “unleash American energy,” signing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July, which includes rollbacks on clean-energy incentives and repeals green energy mandates.

As Trump’s sweeping second-term agenda reshapes U.S. and global markets, his reciprocal and retaliatory tariffs have pushed some countries to reopen trade talks amid heightened market tensions.

Asked about Trump using tariffs to pressure the U.K. and the rest of Europe to pay more for certain goods, including U.S. medicine, Truss offered a surprisingly complimentary view of his strategy.

“I was trade secretary in Britain, and I signed 60 trade deals as trade secretary, and I know that in order to get deals done you have to negotiate and you have to use leverage, and it’s exactly what I did as trade secretary, so I know that is how you get the deals done,” Truss told Fox News Digital.

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Her stance is a sharp departure from Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has urged Trump to scale back tariff measures that could hurt the British economy.

Truss told Fox News Digital that her new YouTube channel, “The Liz Truss Show,” will be a “free speech” platform for exploring British and Western politics outside the mainstream media bubble.

Mamdani’s transition team did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

Former Vice President Kamala Harris declared herself to be a “historic figure” on Tuesday and touted that there will be a marble bust of her constructed in Congress.

Harris made the statement during an interview with The New York Times regarding her upcoming book, “107 Days,” telling the newspaper that she no longer feels “burdened” by the need to achieve a place in history.

“I understand the focus on ’28 and all that,” she told the Times. “But there will be a marble bust of me in Congress. I am a historic figure like any Vice President of the United States ever was.”

“Thousands of people are coming to hear my voice. Thousands and thousands,” she added about her book tour. “Every place we’ve gone has been sold out.”

WASHINGTON POST SLAMS KAMALA HARRIS BOOK TOUR, SAYS DEMS DON’T ‘HAVE TIME TO WASTE’ ON FORMER VP

Harris’ comments reference a tradition in the Senate of commissioning a bust of vice presidents after they leave office. The tradition has held strong since the late 1800s.

The former vice president has used the release of her upcoming book as a chance to settle scores with figures throughout the Democratic Party, from Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to former President Joe Biden himself.

Harris writes in her book that Shapiro had asked her staff lots of questions, including “how he might arrange to get Pennsylvania artists’ work on loan from the Smithsonian.” She also accused him of wanting to be involved in every decision and said she reminded him, “a vice president is not a co-president.”

HARRIS REVEALS CRUDE HYPOTHETICALS ON ABORTION, VIAGRA REHEARSED BEFORE TRUMP DEBATE

Many political observers had scratched their heads when Harris selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz over Shapiro to be her running mate.

“She wrote that in her book? That’s complete and utter bull—-,” Shapiro said in an interview with the Atlantic. “I can tell you that her accounts are just blatant lies.”

“I did ask a bunch of questions,” he continued. “Wouldn’t you ask questions if someone was talking to you about forming a partnership and working together?”

JON STEWART SLAMS KAMALA HARRIS OVER HER EXPLANATION OF WHY SHE SNUBBED PETE BUTTIGIEG FOR VP

“I mean, she’s trying to sell books and cover her a–,” he said, before backtracking. “I shouldn’t say ‘cover her a–.’ I think that’s not appropriate.”

“She’s trying to sell books. Period,” he concluded.

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The book also blames Biden’s White House for sidelining her and failing to support her throughout their term in office and during her contest against Trump.

“Getting anything positive said about my work or any defense against untrue attacks was almost impossible,” her book reads.

She also argued the White House was happy to let her “shoulder the blame” for the border crisis.

Fox News’ Hannah Panreck contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner slammed the Biden administration for what he called an illegal immigration and refugee crisis that rattled the housing market – particularly for low-income renters – though some analysts dispute the findings.

Every two years, HUD releases its “Worst Case Housing Needs Report” – considered the agency’s flagship assessment of the state of the housing market for low-income Americans – and how many lack affordable and adequate housing. The report serves as a nationwide barometer of housing stress and shows whether the availability of affordable housing is improving or worsening, and who may be being hurt by the current conditions, which Congress can then use to craft policy.

Policymakers use it to gauge gaps in the supply of low-cost rentals, target federal housing programs, and understand trends in who is being left behind. In short, it’s HUD’s way of tracking the renters in the greatest need — and how the U.S. housing system is failing to meet them.

TRUMP’S HOUSING CHIEF RIPS POWELL FOR BLOWING MILLIONS ON FED FACELIFT DURING HOUSING CRISIS HE PERPETUATES

Turner told Fox News Digital there are damning findings in this year’s assessment that he places right on the policies of former President Joe Biden’s immigration crisis.

“The unchecked illegal immigration and open borders policies allowed by the Biden administration continue to put significant strain on housing, pricing out American families,” Turner said.

“These policies have plagued America’s housing market, but in President Trump, Americans finally have a leader fighting to restore sanity to American immigration policy.”

TRUMP’S DHS TOUTS MASSIVE NUMBER OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS DEPORTED AS DEMS LASH OUT AT ICE

But Jenna Stauffer, Global Real Estate Advisor at Sotheby’s International Realty of Key West, told Fox News Digital she didn’t think immigration was the primary driver of the “housing mess we are in.”

“Housing affordability has been unraveling for years, and the problems we’re dealing with go way beyond any one factor,” she said.

“We’ve really been under building for almost two decades. After the Great Recession, construction basically stalled, and it took years to recover. By some estimates, the U.S. is short four to seven million homes, and that long-term shortage is the core issue behind today’s affordability challenges.”

HUD’s 2025 report found that increased immigration has driven up housing prices, and that the “unrestricted” nature of the influx has both strained the housing market and priced-out many American families. The report found that an estimated 15 million illegal immigrants constitute 30% of all foreign-born residents.

Turner added in separate comments to Fox Business that HUD took away Federal Housing Authority-backed mortgages from illegal immigrants offered during the Biden administration, saying the former president “turned a blind eye” to the issue.

In California and New York, immigrants have accounted for 100% of all rental growth and over one-half of all growth in owner-occupied housing in recent years, the report found – while nationally, the foreign-born population accounted for more than 60% of the growth in rental demand.

KRISTI NOEM SAYS BIDEN USED DHS ‘TO INVADE THE COUNTRY WITH TERRORISTS’

Nationwide, the foreign-born population accounted for two-thirds of rental demand growth.

HUD’s report contrasted that figure with the 13% growth attributed to noncitizens in 2019 and 2023’s lookbacks.

“This further demonstrates that non-citizen households are playing an increasing role in the household growth that is straining the affordable housing supply,” the 109-page report said.

NEW GOP BILL WOULD CUT OFF HOUSING FUNDS TO SANCTUARY CITIES DEFYING TRUMP DHS

The agency found that without the migrant surge, housing inventory pressures would have been far lower and prices would not have climbed as sharply, noting roughly 784,000 fewer households would have formed over that period.

Net additions to the housing market from 2015 onward have not kept up with “household formation among citizens” and non-citizen population growth has also inordinately affected rental markets.

Worst-case housing reports have been released regularly since 1991, but the 2025 findings mark a sharper warning about the illegal immigration crisis’ impact on the numbers.

BIPARTISAN PLAN AIMS TO MAKE THE AMERICAN DREAM AFFORDABLE AGAIN FOR MILLIONS OF FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYERS

In August, Turner ordered an audit of every public housing authority, seeking data on verifiable citizenship of those living in subsidized housing.

“No longer will illegal aliens be able to leave citizenship boxes blank or take advantage of HUD-funded housing, riding the coattails of hardworking American citizens,” Turner said.

“Currently, HUD only serves one out of four eligible families due, in part, to the lack of enforcement of prohibition against federally funded assistance to illegal aliens,” he continued.

TRUMP’S BORDER MIRACLE: FROM BIDEN’S CHAOTIC IMMIGRATION CRISIS TO ‘ALL QUIET’ IN RECORD TIME

Vice President JD Vance highlighted a recent comment from Turner – who had been responding to a CNBC report that rents have dropped for four straight months.

“Six months of zero illegals released into our country. Two million illegals removed. Rents dropped for the fourth straight month. Coincidence? I think not,” Turner said.

Vance echoed what the agency ultimately would find in its report, remarking that the “connection between illegal immigration and skyrocketing housing costs is as clear as day.”

SEC SCOTT TURNER: BLAME DRUGS AND MENTAL ILLNESS, NOT PRESIDENT TRUMP, FOR THE CHAOS GRIPPING OUR STREETS

HUD’s findings, as expressed by Turner and others prior to the official report, also had other critics.

Harvard Joint Center For Housing Studies senior research analyst Riordan Frost previously wrote that while the “surge in immigration” has affected the market, other factors like the coronavirus pandemic contributed to increases in housing costs during that time in history.

“Immigrants play a role in household growth, sometimes to a substantial degree, but housing demand during the pandemic has been primarily shaped by native-born household growth in a time of constrained housing supply,” Frost said.

BOMBSHELL REPORT ALLEGES BIDEN TEAM FORCED AIRPORTS TO HOUSE MIGRANTS, RISKING SAFETY

Rep. Bonnie Watson-Coleman, D-N.J., also lit into Turner at a recent hearing, saying “you (Turner) are worsening the housing crisis with your budget proposal.”

“If you really believe that you would not slash your agency’s budget by over 50%,” she said.

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Additionally, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., claimed earlier this year that Turner was “abandoning HUD’s legal obligation to eliminate housing discrimination in the United States [a]t a time when America is experiencing a full-blown housing crisis and record levels of housing discrimination complaints.”

Fox News Digital reached out to representatives for Biden for purposes of this story but did not hear back by press time.

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers has introduced legislation aimed at keeping COVID-19 pandemic-era Obamacare subsidies alive for another two years.

Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., and Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., co-chairs of the Problem Solvers Caucus, have told reporters for weeks that they are working on such a measure as Capitol Hill scrambles to avert skyrocketing health insurance costs for millions of Americans beginning next year.

Democrats in Congress voted twice during the pandemic to expand the availability of premium tax credits for Obamacare, also called the Affordable Care Act (ACA), to make sure more Americans had access to healthcare coverage.

Those enhanced subsidies are set to expire at the end of this year.

BIPARTISAN DEAL ON OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES FADES AS REPUBLICANS PUSH HSA PLAN

A majority of House Republicans have signaled they are not open to extending them, at least not without significant reforms. Conservatives in particular have panned the enhanced subsidies as a COVID-era relic that benefited insurance companies rather than Americans themselves.

But some GOP lawmakers have joined Democrats in warning that failing to extend them at least temporarily at this point will result in millions of Americans seeing their healthcare premiums skyrocket while Congress does nothing to help.

House Republicans are now largely looking to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and their leaders for the next move.

Johnson has said he intends to hold a vote on some kind of healthcare package before the end of this year, while panning Obamacare as a long-broken system badly in need of reforms.

HOUSE GOP SPLITS OVER OBAMACARE FIX AS COSTS POISED TO SPIKE FOR MILLIONS

One House GOP source told Fox News Digital that they expect Johnson to lay out a roadmap on healthcare at Republican lawmakers’ weekly conference meeting on Wednesday morning.

The bipartisan bill released Tuesday is being pushed by a group of four Democrats and three Republicans — Fitzpatrick, Suozzi, along with Reps. Don Bacon, R-Neb., Rob Bresnahan, R-Pa., Jared Golden, D-Maine, Don Davis, D-N.C., and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash.

Fitzpatrick called the legislation “a practical, people-first fix that protects families now, while preserving the space to keep working toward a stronger, smarter, more affordable healthcare system.”

“When the stakes are this high, responsible governance means securing 80 percent of what families need today rather than risking 100 percent of nothing tomorrow,” he said in a statement.

In addition to extending the enhanced Obamacare subsidies for two years, the bill also “stops unauthorized plan and subsidy changes by requiring consent and prompt notification before any modifications take effect,” according to a press release.

It would also rein in pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) profits and expand access to health savings accounts (HSAs) — two reforms that other rank-and-file House Republicans have been advocating for.

But it’s not clear yet if House GOP leaders would put the bill on the floor for a chamber-wide vote, nor if it has the backing of their Democratic counterparts.

Still, there are ways to force a vote on legislation without leadership’s approval. One of those methods is called a discharge petition, which requires signatures from a majority of House lawmakers to override leaders’ wishes to vote on a given bill.

ABORTION RESTRICTIONS CREATE MAJOR ROADBLOCK FOR BIPARTISAN OBAMACARE SUBSIDY DEAL IN SENATE

Fox News Digital asked Fitzpatrick last week if a discharge petition could be filed, but he did not give a direct answer, instead saying that the bill would be released imminently.

Bacon told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that a discharge petition is a realistic possibility but cautioned, “It would be wiser to see if we have 60 votes in the Senate first.”

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The plan is one of several put forward by House Republicans to deal with the looming healthcare cliff.

Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, introduced legislation last week to allow states to opt out of Obamacare altogether while radically expanding the availability of HSAs.

And late last week, a bipartisan group of House lawmakers introduced a plan to extend the enhanced Obamacare subsidies — with income caps and extra guardrails against fraud — for a year.

The Senate, meanwhile, is expected to vote this week on Democrat-led legislation to extend the enhanced subsidies, though it’s likely to fail. It’s not yet clear if Senate Republicans will put up their own counter-proposal.

White House science and technology advisor Michael Kratsios opened a meeting of G7 tech ministers by urging governments to clear regulatory obstacles to artificial intelligence adoption, warning that sweeping new rule books or outdated oversight frameworks risk slowing the innovation needed to unlock AI-driven productivity.

Kratsios, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy director, spoke Tuesday at the G7 Industry, Digital and Technology Ministers’ Meeting in Montréal, Quebec.

“The United States is committed to promoting private-sector-led development of AI systems, applications, and infrastructure, to protect and foster innovation. This primarily requires us to throw off regulatory burdens that weigh down innovators, especially in the construction of the infrastructure that undergirds the AI revolution,” said Kratsios in a draft of his remarks obtained by Fox News Digital.

“However, we also recognize the benefits of AI will not be fully realized by complete de-regulation. Regulatory and non-regulatory policy frameworks that safeguard the public interest while enabling innovation are necessary to earn the public trust in AI technologies that will allow broad deployment and fast adoption.”

TRUMP LAUNCHES ‘GENESIS MISSION’ TO SUPERCHARGE US SCIENTIFIC AI INNOVATION

The U.S. official told Fox News Digital that the White House wants its allies to build a “trusted AI ecosystem defined by smart, sector-specific regulations tailored to each nation’s priorities and designed to accelerate innovation.” 

“Together, we can deliver transformative growth, keep critical data secure, and ensure the future of AI is built on freedom and human ingenuity,” Kratsios added.

President Donald Trump has put artificial intelligence at the forefront of his administration, appointing David Sacks as his “AI czar” and issuing an executive order in January that rolled back many of the federal government’s previous AI safety and oversight policies in an effort to speed deployment — a move critics say could weaken safeguards and increase risks as the technology spreads.

Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform Monday that he will issue a “One Rule” executive order later this week to establish a single national framework for artificial intelligence regulation, arguing that U.S. dominance in the technology will be “destroyed in its infancy” if he doesn’t.

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“We are beating ALL COUNTRIES at this point in the race, but that won’t last long if we are going to have 50 States, many of them bad actors, involved in RULES and the APPROVAL PROCESS. THERE CAN BE NO DOUBT ABOUT THIS!” he said in part. “You can’t expect a company to get 50 Approvals every time they want to do something. THAT WILL NEVER WORK!”

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized the notion of stripping states of jurisdiction to regulate AI, arguing on X in November that it amounts to a “subsidy” to Big Tech and would prevent states from “protecting against online censorship of political speech, predatory applications that target children, violations of intellectual property rights and data center intrusions on power/water resources.”

“The rise of AI is the most significant economic and cultural shift occurring at the moment; denying the people the ability to channel these technologies in a productive way via self-government constitutes federal government overreach and lets technology companies run wild,” DeSantis added. “Not acceptable.”

President Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress have launched new investigations into Minnesota’s massive “Feeding Our Future” fraud case, pressing federal agencies to recover stolen taxpayer dollars and pursue additional enforcement actions, including a new Treasury Department probe. 

Republicans say the renewed investigations are necessary because, despite dozens of convictions, federal officials are still working to recover only a fraction of the stolen money — a process that has uncovered high-end vehicles, luxury homes, designer goods and large amounts of cash tied to the scheme. Meanwhile, city officials in Minneapolis are bracing for an influx of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents after the agency announced plans for a new operation in the state.

At issue is a $250 million fraud scheme that exploited a children’s nutrition program funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and overseen by the state of Minnesota during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the stated goal of providing food to school-aged children. 

The scheme exploited the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s decision to waive many of its standard requirements for the Federal Child Nutrition Program during the pandemic, including relaxing its requirement for non-school-based distributors to participate in the program.

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Conspirators charged in the scheme falsely claimed to have served millions of meals to children during the pandemic, but instead used the money for personal gain, according to federal authorities. They are also accused of fabricating invoices, submitting fake attendance records and falsely distributing thousands of meals from hundreds of so-called food distribution “sites” across the state.

At least 77 individuals in Minnesota have been indicted as part of the fraud scheme, as Fox News Digital previously reported, and it is believed to be the largest pandemic-era scheme in U.S. history.

Trial testimony and photos previously introduced as evidence in the case showed wads of more than $64,000 in cash, gold jewelry purchased in Dubai and four vehicles, including a brand-new Tesla and a Porsche, seized from one defendant’s home and cars, along with financial records for a $1.1 million Prior Lake property that he bought to build a custom 8,000-square-foot lake house, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported at the time of the trial. 

But the effort to recover at least a portion of the stolen funds has proved to be a bit slower-going. To date, federal officials have recovered an estimated $60 million in funding that was stolen as part of the “Feeding Our Futures” scheme, according to estimates provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the state — less than half of the $250 million in stolen funds.

The slow recovery effort is not for lack of trying. Last month, a federal judge in the state ordered one defendant to pay $48 million in restitution funds, in addition to a 10-year prison sentence he received as part of his role in the sprawling fraud effort.

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Other individuals convicted have also been ordered to refund the government millions of dollars to recoup the stolen taxpayer funds.

Still, the process can be complex and difficult. That’s because recovering the stolen funds often involves tracing them to how they were spent — including U.S. properties and vehicles, and then seizing those items for forfeiture — which can contribute to the delay.

In some cases, individuals who were convicted of the crimes actually have family members still living in the homes they are accused of purchasing with the stolen funds.

Others have funneled money abroad into shell corporations, while at least some others appear to have spent the money to pay down their own credit card bills, or otherwise fund their “lavish lifestyles,” according to information provided by the Justice Department.

In the case of Abdimajid Mohamed Nur — the defendant who was ordered to pay $48 million in restitution — the stolen funds were sent to a shell company. Nur is estimated to have spent the bulk of the $900,000 in fraud proceeds through his shell company, using that money to buy new vehicles, take a honeymoon to the Maldives and purchase jewelry.

FBI Director Kash Patel described the scheme in July as “one of the worst” in Minnesota history. 

“These individuals misappropriated hundreds of millions in federal funds intended to nourish vulnerable children during a time of crisis, redirecting those resources into luxury homes, high-end vehicles and extravagant lifestyles while families faced hardship,” he said. 

TRUMP, STATES BACK IN COURT OVER SNAP AS BENEFITS REMAIN IN LEGAL LIMBO

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Charging documents show that roughly 300 “food sites” in the state served little or no food, with the so-called food vendors and organizations fabricated to launder money intended to reimburse the cost of feeding children.

Senior FBI officials told Fox News that the investigation and resulting trials and indictments continue to impact the state and have already touched off legislative reform in Minnesota.

They added that the investigation into the fraud remains ongoing, and that additional charges were expected. 

“Stealing from the federal government equates to stealing from the American people — there is no simpler truth,” FBI’s special agent in charge, Alvin Winston, told Fox News Digital in a statement at the time.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman announced on “Fox & Friends” that he would run for the Republican nomination for New York governor. 

Blakeman has garnered praise from President Donald Trump, who also commended Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., when she announced her intention to run for governor.

This is a developing story, please check back for updates.