NationalWatch

President-elect Trump estimated the exact time his administration will be “fully operational” on Jan. 20 in his first rally-styled speech since his decisive win over Vice President Kamala Harris last month. 

“You just have a few days to wait. We’re going to be fully operational, I would say, by about 2:00 on the 20th,” Trump said from the AmericaFest stage. 

Trump took the stage of the Phoenix Convention Center Sunday as part of Turning Point’s annual AmericaFest – a four-day event billed as part of the “biggest conservative movement in the country” – where the president took a victory lap for his electoral win last month, and to also preview his administration in the waning days of the transition period. 

“The thing that brings people together is victory. It’s winning. And we had that for much of my first year. We had the most – we had the greatest economy in history, in our first term. We can now call it a first term. We had the greatest economy in the history of our country, maybe in the history of any country, frankly. And we had – we did things that nobody could have done. And we’re going to do them even better now. We’re going to be drilling, as we say, ‘drill, baby, drill.’ We’re going to drill, baby drill, but we’re going to be doing a lot more than drilling,” he said of his win and upcoming administration. 

TRUMP SET TO DELIVER FIRST RALLY-STYLED SPEECH SINCE DECISIVE ELECTION WIN: ‘BIGGEST CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT’

President-elect Trump at AmericaFest in Arizona. (Rick Scuteri/AP Photo)

On Saturday evening, Trump issued a message on Truth Social, calling for the U.S. to regain control of the Panama Canal. He elaborated during his speech Sunday that “we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States of America in full, quickly and without question.”

“A secure Panama Canal is crucial for U.S. commerce and rapid deployment of the Navy from the Atlantic, all the way to the Pacific. It’s an incredible thing. And drastically cut shipping times down to U.S. ports by days and even weeks. The United States is the number one user of the Panama Canal, with over 72% of all transits heading to or from U.S. ports. Think of that. So we built it. We’re the ones that use it. They gave it away,” he said. 

The canal had been under American control since its construction was completed, and it began operations in 1914. It was handed over to Panama during President Jimmy Carter’s administration in 1977.

Trump also previewed his upcoming administration, saying that in addition to carrying out the “largest deportation operation in American history,” his admin will also roll out an advertising campaign highlighting the evils of drug use, spotlighting fentanyl that flows across the border. 

President-elect Trump on stage at AmericaFest in Arizona. (Cheney Orr/Reuters)

“We’re going to do very big advertising campaigns, just like a campaign for running for president. We spend a lot of money, but it’ll be a very small amount of money, relatively. We’re going to advertise how bad drugs are for you, how bad they are. They ruin your look. They ruin your face. They ruin your skin. They ruin your teeth. If you want to have horrible teeth, take a lot of fentanyl. If you want to have skin that looks so terrible, take fentanyl,” he said. 

Efforts to bolster border security and deport illegal immigrants in the nation, Trump said, will also include efforts to secure the northern border. 

“Canada allows people and drugs to flood in through our northern border. You know, we have a northern border that’s not doing so well either. Likewise, people are coming in from Mexico in numbers that have never, ever been seen before. We had 21 million people come in over the past four years,” he said. 

WHITE HOUSE PRESSED ON BIDEN REFUSING TO SPEAK PUBLICLY AHEAD OF SHUTDOWN

Border Patrol picks up a group of asylum seekers from an aid camp at the U.S.-Mexico border near Sasabe, Arizona, on March 13, 2024. (Justin Hamel/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Trump’s speech on Sunday followed Congress avoiding a prolonged government shutdown early Saturday morning. Members of the House returned to the negotiating table last week after Trump and allies such as Elon Musk slammed a more than 1,500-page bill as “outrageous” and rife with excessive spending. 

Trump called on Republicans to suspend the debt limit as part of their talks to avert a government shutdown. The final bill, however, did not include a suspension of the debt ceiling.

Trump has not spoken publicly since the bill’s passage, including on Sunday, although sources told Fox News that the incoming president is not that happy with the bill. 

The Capitol in Washington is framed by early morning clouds, March 19, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

In his speech, Trump again reaffirmed his support for former Fox News host Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense in his second administration, as Hegseth battles allegations of sexual misconduct and excessive drinking while rallying support for his confirmation among senators. Hegseth has denied the allegations and vowed that he won’t drink “a drop of alcohol” if confirmed to Trump’s Cabinet.

TRUMP NOMINATES TV PRODUCER, CREATOR OF ‘THE APPRENTICE,’ TO SERVE IN NEW ADMINISTRATION

House Speaker Mike Johnson, National Intelligence Director nominee Tulsi Gabbard, President-elect Trump, Vice President-elect JD Vance, and Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth attend the 125th Army-Navy football game on Dec. 14, 2024, in Landover, Maryland. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“To get wokeness out of our military and restore the unquestioned strength and fighting spirit of the American armed forces, I have appointed Pete Hegseth to be our next secretary of the defense. He’s going to be great. You know, I’ve interviewed with him a lot on Fox, and all he ever wanted to talk about was the military,” he said. 

Trump also celebrated his other Cabinet picks, including Pam Bondi as attorney general, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. 

“When you look at, like, autism from 25 years ago, and you look at it now, something’s going on. And I nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Think of it. Think of this: 25 years ago, autism, 1 in 10,000 children. Today it’s 1 in 36 children. Is something wrong? I think so, and Robert and I, we’re going to figure it out,” he said. 

TRUMP NOMINATES PAIR TO HELP LEAD DOJ, ANNOUNCES FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION PICK

President-elect Trump vowed to unleash the energy industry and remove “woke” policies from schools and the military, at AmericaFest in Arizona. (Rick Scuteri/AP Photo)

The former and upcoming president continued in his speech with his typical campaign talking points, vowing to come through on his promises to unleash the energy industry and remove “woke” policies from schools and the military. 

“I will sign day one orders to end all Biden restrictions on energy production. Terminate his insane electric vehicle mandate. Cancel his natural gas export ban, reopen ANWR in Alaska, the biggest site potentially anywhere in the world, and declare a national energy emergency,” he said. 

‘EVIL TERRORISTS’: HOUSE GOP BORDER HAWKS RALLY AROUND TRUMP’S DEPORTATION PLAN TARGETING ‘CARTEL THUGS’

Adding at another point: “With a stroke of my pen on day one, we’re going to stop the transgender lunacy. And I will sign executive orders to end child sexual mutilation, get transgender out of the military and out of our elementary schools, and middle schools, and high school. And we will keep men out of women’s sports.”

Trump also quoted his mother at one point during his speech, citing her use of the word “befuddled” to describe Democrats following the election. 

President-elect Trump dances at AmericaFest. (Rick Scuteri/AP Photo)

“If you watch television now, they’re all befuddled. They don’t know what the hell happened. They’re befuddled. To use quite a nice word that my mother used to use years ago, talking about somebody that’s a mess. But they did. They’ve lost their confidence. And hopefully they’ll lose it for a long time and then come over to our side because we want to have them,” he said. 

AmericaFest kicked off on Dec. 19 in Phoenix and will conclude on Sunday following Trump’s speech. The annual event is billed as one that reenergizes conservative students and voters “​​all while celebrating the greatest country in the world.” The venue has about a 14,000-person capacity, while Turning Point reported about 21,000 tickets were sold for the convention. 

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“We are incredibly honored that President Trump will deliver his first rally-style speech since the election at AmFest 2024 in Phoenix,” Turning Point USA and Turning Point Action chief Charlie Kirk said in a press release ahead of the event. “This was already the largest multi-day event in the movement, and this year will be the biggest we’ve ever hosted, by far.”

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., says he hopes President-elect Trump is successful, and spoke out against those who feel otherwise. 

Fetterman appeared Sunday on ABC’S “This Week.” His more than 10-minute sit-down segment was pre-recorded with co-anchor Jonathan Karl. 

“I’m not rooting against him,” the Democratic senator said. “If you’re rooting against the president, you are rooting against the nation. And and I’m not ever going to be where I want a president to fail. So, country first. I know that’s become maybe like a cliche, but it happens to be true.”

The senator told Karl he never believed Trump’s movement was about fascism, while noting that it was Vice President Kamala Harris’ “prerogative” to call Trump a fascist during her campaign.

FETTERMAN MEETS WITH TRUMP NOMINEES, PLEDGES ‘OPEN-MIND AND AN INFORMED OPINION’ FOR CONFIRMATION VOTES

Sen. John Fetterman talks with West Point cadets in the Senate subway on Nov. 19, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“Fascism, that’s not a word that regular people use, you know?” Fetterman said. “I think people are going to decide who is the candidate that’s going to protect and project, you know, my version of the American way of life, and that’s what happened.”

Fetterman has been meeting with Trump’s Cabinet nominees, noting that his decision about whether to vote to confirm the candidates will stem from an open mind and informed perspective.

FETTERMAN SAYS DEMS SHOULDN’T ‘FREAK OUT’ OVER EVERYTHING TRUMP DOES: ‘IT’S GOING TO BE 4 YEARS’

Sen. John Fetterman and Rep. Elise Stefanik, who has been nominated to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration. (@EliseStefanik on X)

“I believe that it’s appropriate and the responsibility of a U.S. senator to have a conversation with President-elect Trump’s nominees. That’s why I met with Elise Stefanik and Pete Hegseth, just wrapped with Tulsi Gabbard, and look forward to my meetings with others soon,” Fetterman declared in a post on X.

“My votes will come from an open mind and an informed opinion after having a conversation with them. That’s not controversial, it’s my job,” he continued.

Sen. John Fetterman gestures while speaking at a rally for Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Oct. 2, 2024, in York, Pennsylvania. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

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More than a month ago, Fetterman said Democrats cannot afford to “freak out” over everything Trump says or does. He echoed that sentiment on Sunday, again mentioning that Trump has not even taken office yet. 

Fox News’ Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report. 

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Sunday said he “couldn’t be happier” with President-elect Trump’s Cabinet nominees, saying he will work to push them through as quickly as possible.

When Paul was asked during an appearance on “Sunday Morning Futures” whether he would support all of Trump’s picks for his inner circle, the senator responded, “I couldn’t have picked better.”

“The vast majority I will support on day one,” the senator said. “We’ll try to get Kristi Noem through Department of Homeland Security, Russ Vought for [Office of Management and Budget]. … I think in the first week you’ll have half a dozen of them approved in the first week.”

Paul said that he will control one committee in charge of confirming the nominees, adding, “I pledge to get them through as quickly as possible.”

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TAKES SHAPE: PRESIDENT-ELECT COMPLETES TOP 15 CABINET PICKS

Sen. Rand Paul has said he will chair the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee with the start of the new Congress in January.  (Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images, File)

Paul has said that he will chair the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee with the start of the new Congress in January. 

Trump has handpicked an array of establishment and unconventional officials for the 15 top posts in his Cabinet, including Health and Human Services pick Robert F. Kennedy Jr., FBI Director selection Kash Patel and Sen. Marco Rubio as the nominee for Secretary of State.

Paul said he “couldn’t be happier” with President-elect Trump’s Cabinet nominees. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images, File)

ABC, CBS AND NBC EVENING NEWSCAST COVERAGE OF TRUMP’S CABINET PICKS ‘ALMOST UNIFORMLY NEGATIVE,’ STUDY FINDS

Some of Trump’s picks proved controversial, such as Patel, Defense Secretary pick Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard.

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In late November, Fox News Digital learned that nearly a dozen of Trump’s Cabinet nominees and other appointees tapped for the incoming administration were targeted with “violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them.”

Conservatives and allies of President-elect Donald Trump are dismantling a narrative put forth by Democratic lawmakers such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren that Republicans blocked funding for childhood cancer research in the spending bill, pointing to a stand-alone bill that had languished in the Democrat-controlled Senate for months. 

Congress passed a pared-down spending bill early Saturday morning as the government careened towards a prolonged shutdown. The bill’s passage followed tech billionaire Elon Musk and other Trump allies slamming a more than 1,500-page piece of legislation earlier last week as “outrageous” and “​​full of excessive spending, special interest giveaways and pork barrel politics,” demanding lawmakers return to the negotiation table. 

The Senate advanced a third version of a short-term funding bill on Saturday morning, following negotiations that whittled down the legislation to not include measures such as providing lawmakers a pay raise. 

As negotiations were hashed out, Warren and other Democrats attempted to slam Republicans for allegedly blocking funding for childhood cancer research in the bill. 

TRUMP SET TO DELIVER FIRST RALLY-STYLED SPEECH SINCE DECISIVE ELECTION WIN: ‘BIGGEST CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT’

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, D-Massachusetts, is renewing calls for a national COVID-19 memorial day.  (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“We actually are now getting our first taste – this is it live and in living color – about what it means to have this DOGE,” Warren said on CNN as the government prepared to shut down on Friday evening. 

LAWMAKERS REACT TO STOPGAP FUNDING AND AVERTING GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, is an upcoming presidential advisory committee that will be led by Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to cut excessive government spending and slash the size of the government under Trump’s second administration. 

SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk speaks during an America PAC town hall on October 26, 2024 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

“Right out here, and what that’s going to mean. And that’s where Elon Musk’s fingerprints are all over this. Because, for example, what this bill says is all, let’s get rid of funding for research on pediatric cancer. Let’s get rid of funding for research on early detection of cervical cancer and breast cancer. Let’s get rid of funding for research on children with Down Syndrome and on sickle cell anemia. Let’s get rid of those things so that we could make way for tax cuts for billionaires, that is Elon Musk’s notion of efficiency,” she continued. 

PRESIDENT BIDEN SIGNS STOPGAP FUNDING BILL INTO LAW, NARROWLY AVERTING SHUTDOWN

While the Democrat Party’s war room published a press release declaring: “Trump and his MAGA minions in Congress have decided to threaten a government shutdown for his political gain — and now they’ve stooped as low as cutting child cancer research.”

“​​Lyin’ Liz Warren aka Pocahontas,” Musk shot back in response to Warren’s comments, referring to Trump’s common taunt against Warren. 

FILE – The Capitol in Washington, is framed by early morning clouds, March 19, 2024. Congress has until midnight Friday to come up with a way to fund the government, or federal agencies will shutter. It’s up to each federal agency to determine how it handles a shutdown, but there would be disruptions in many services. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Other conservatives and Trump allies slammed the narrative that the GOP blocked funding for childhood cancer research, pointing to a standalone bill that passed in the Republican-led House back in March, and had for months languished in the Democrat-led Senate. 

WHITE HOUSE PRESSED ON BIDEN REFUSING TO SPEAK PUBLICLY AHEAD OF SHUTDOWN

“Elizabeth Warren repeats the lie that @elonmusk and Republicans blocked funding for child cancer research. A stand alone bill for child cancer research funding passed the Republican controlled House in March and got held up in the Democrat controlled Senate,” popular conservative X account Libs of TikTok posted in response to Warren’s CNN interview. 

“Democrats blocked funding for child cancer research.”

WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 27: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) speaks to a staff member before the start of a Senate Banking Committee hearing on oversight of credit reporting agencies, on Capitol Hill April 27, 2023 in Washington, DC. The hearing featured testimony from leaders of the three largest national credit reporting agencies. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

The House passed a stand-alone bill on March 5, at a vote of 384-4, that allocated millions of dollars per year for pediatric research through 2028. The bill was delivered to the Senate on March 6, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had not taken action on the legislation, sparking condemnation from conservatives months later that Democrats used the research funding as a “bargaining chip.” 

TRUMP-BACKED SPENDING BILL GOES DOWN IN FLAMES AS SHUTDOWN LOOMS

“Democrats are using children with cancer as political shields in the shutdown game to blame Republicans after using them as political shields to help defend all the slop Democrats wanted included in the bill. If this funding is so important, it can be passed on its own as a stand-alone bill. You know, like how the government is supposed to work, instead of cramming hundreds of useless proposals into the same bill as pediatric cancer research funding in a 1,500-page mess that no one actually reads so that you can attack anyone who doesn’t support the useless stuff by claiming they hate children with cancer,” an op-ed published in the Washington Examiner outlined. 

A review of the legislation shows that on Friday​​ evening, the Senate passed the legislation by a voice vote, following condemnation targeting the GOP for allegedly blocking funding for the research.

The legislation extends $12.6 million a year in cancer research funding through 2031. 

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Fox News Digital reached out to Warren’s office for additional comment Sunday morning, but did not immediately receive a reply. 

President-elect Trump is set to take the stage in Phoenix, Arizona, on Sunday to deliver his first rally-styled speech since his decisive win over Vice President Kamala Harris last month. 

“We are incredibly honored that President Trump will deliver his first rally-style speech since the election at AmFest 2024 in Phoenix,” Turning Point USA and Turning Point Action chief Charlie Kirk said in a press release. “This was already the largest multi-day event in the movement, and this year will be the biggest we’ve ever hosted, by far.”

“When I spoke to the president, he said he’d only do it if we called it a ‘Tribute to Arizona,’ so that’s exactly what we’re doing. President Trump knows the people of Arizona have always been with him, they’re loyal to him and they just delivered the largest win for him of all of the swing states, giving him a 5.5% margin of victory.”

Trump is expected to take the stage of the Phoenix Convention Center at 10:30 a.m. local time Sunday, as part of Turning Point’s annual AmericaFest – a four-day event billed as part of the “biggest conservative movement in the country.”

LAWMAKERS REACT TO STOPGAP FUNDING AND AVERTING GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

Former President Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally in Bozeman, Montana, on Aug. 9. (AP/Rick Bowmer)

Trump’s address at the event comes just a day after Congress avoided a prolonged government shutdown. 

The Senate passed a stopgap spending bill early Saturday morning – after the midnight deadline had passed and the government briefly shut down – and sent the legislation to President Biden for his signature. 

PRESIDENT BIDEN SIGNS STOPGAP FUNDING BILL INTO LAW, NARROWLY AVERTING SHUTDOWN

Last week, lawmakers had reached an agreement on a short-term spending bill that included more than 1,500 pages of text. Conservatives and Trump allies, spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk, slammed the original and lengthy legislation, as negotiations came down to the wire last week, taking issue with provisions such as increasing lawmakers’ cost of living. 

Turning Point USA executive director Charlie Kirk signs hats during AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center on Dec. 20, 2024, in Arizona. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

Trump called on Republicans to suspend the debt limit as part of their talks to avert a government shutdown, which has exceeded $36 trillion. The House crafted a new, 116-page bill that included suspending the debt limit for two years until January 2027, roughly $110 billion in disaster relief aid for Americans affected by storms Milton and Helene, as well as a measure to fund rebuilding Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge.

WHITE HOUSE PRESSED ON BIDEN REFUSING TO SPEAK PUBLICLY AHEAD OF SHUTDOWN

The U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree is lit during a ceremony on the west front of the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 3, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

That bill failed 174 to 235, before House lawmakers negotiated and passed another version. 

TRUMP-BACKED SPENDING BILL GOES DOWN IN FLAMES AS SHUTDOWN LOOMS

The final bill sent to Biden included economic relief for farmers and disaster aid for those affected by recent storms, but it did not include a suspension of the debt ceiling, which Trump had requested. 

A large decal reads “Give Trump his Cabinet” during Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center on Dec. 20, 2024. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

Trump has not spoken publicly since the bill’s passage, although sources told Fox News that the incoming president is not that happy with the bill. 

Ahead of Trump’s speech on Sunday, conservative lawmakers and allies, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, upcoming Trump administration “border czar” Tom Homan, comedian Rob Schenider, and Kirk will also take the stage. 

A video is shown during Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center on Dec. 20, 2024. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

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AmericaFest kicked off on Dec. 19 in Phoenix and will conclude on Sunday following Trump’s speech. The annual event is billed as one that reenergizes conservative students and voters “​​all while celebrating the greatest country in the world.”

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind, Julia Johnson and Michael Dorgan contributed to this report. 

The U.S. Supreme Court issued several major decisions over the course of 2024. 

Its rulings include those that have pushed back on the Biden administration’s attempted change of Title IX protections for transgender students, reversed a 40-year precedent that had supported what conservatives have condemned as the administrative state in Washington, and considered the constitutionality of Republican-controlled state efforts to curtail what they define as liberal Silicon Valley biases online. 

The high court also ruled on presidential immunity at a consequential time for current President-elect Trump during the 2024 election – and sided with a Jan. 6 defendant who fought a federal obstruction charge. 

Here are the top cases considered by the justices over the past year. 

Department of Education v. Louisiana

The Supreme Court on Aug. 16, 2024, kept preliminary injunctions preventing the Biden-Harris administration from implementing a new rule that widened the definition of sex discrimination under Title IX to include sexual orientation and gender identity, while litigation over the rule continues.

After the Fifth and Sixth Circuit Courts of Appeal denied the administration’s request to put a stay on the injunctions, the Department of Education turned to the Supreme Court, arguing that some parts of the rule should be able to take effect. The Supreme Court rejected their request.

“Importantly, all Members of the Court today accept that the plaintiffs were entitled to preliminary injunctive relief as to three provisions of the rule, including the central provision that newly defines sex discrimination to include discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity,” the court’s unsigned opinion said, concluding that the Biden administration had not “adequately identified which particular provisions, if any, are sufficiently independent of the enjoined definitional provision and thus might be able to remain in effect.”

The U.S. Supreme Court is seen in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 5, 2024.  (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

In April, the Department of Education issued the new rule implementing Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, arguing that expanding the definition of discrimination to include “sexual orientation and gender identity” would protect LGBTQ students. Louisiana led several states in suing the DOE, contending the new rule “violates students’ and employees’ rights to bodily privacy and safety.” 

Title IX implemented the long-standing athletics regulation allowing sex-separate teams decades ago, and Republicans contended Biden’s new rule would have significant implications on women- and girls-only spaces and possibly legally back biological males playing in women’s sports. Separate court injunctions blocked the rule from taking effect in 26 states. 

LIBERAL SUPREME COURT JUSTICE MAKES ‘CRINGE’ CAMEO PERFORMANCE ON BROADWAY

“I’m grateful that the Supreme Court agreed not to block our injunction against this radical rewrite of Title IX,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement at the time. “Other than the 19th Amendment guaranteeing our right to vote, Title IX has been the most successful law in history at ensuring equal opportunity for women in education at all levels and in collegiate athletics. This fight isn’t over, but I’ll keep fighting to block this radical agenda that eviscerates Title IX.” 

Moody v. NetChoice, LLC

The Supreme Court on July 1, 2024, kept on hold efforts by Texas and Florida to limit how Facebook, TikTok, X, YouTube and other social media platforms regulate content in a ruling that strongly defended the platforms’ free speech rights.

Writing for the court, Justice Elena Kagan said the platforms, like newspapers, deserve protection from governments’ intrusion in determining what to include or exclude from their space. “The principle does not change because the curated compilation has gone from the physical to the virtual world,” Kagan wrote in an opinion signed by five justices. All nine justices agreed on the overall outcome.

The justices returned the cases to lower courts for further review in broad challenges from trade associations for the companies.

While the details vary, both laws aimed to address long-standing conservative complaints that the social media companies were liberal-leaning and censored users based on their viewpoints, especially on the political right. 

The Florida and Texas laws were signed by Republican governors in the months following decisions by Facebook and Twitter (now X) to cut then-President Trump off over his posts related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Trade associations representing the companies sued in federal court, claiming that the laws violated the platforms’ speech rights. One federal appeals court struck down Florida’s statute while another upheld the Texas law, but both were on hold pending the outcome at the Supreme Court.

In a statement made when he signed the Florida measure into law, Gov. Ron DeSantis said it would be “protection against the Silicon Valley elites.”

When Gov. Greg Abbott signed the Texas law, he said it was needed to protect free speech in what he termed the new public square. Social media platforms “are a place for healthy public debate where information should be able to flow freely – but there is a dangerous movement by social media companies to silence conservative viewpoints and ideas,” Abbott said. “That is wrong, and we will not allow it in Texas.”

NetChoice LLC has sued Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. 

“The judgments are vacated, and the cases are remanded, because neither the Eleventh Circuit nor the Fifth Circuit conducted a proper analysis of the facial First Amendment challenges to Florida and Texas laws regulating large internet platforms. NetChoice’s decision to litigate these cases as facial challenges comes at a cost,” the court wrote. “The Court has made facial challenges hard to win. In the First Amendment context, a plaintiff must show that ‘a substantial number of [the law’s] applications are unconstitutional, judged in relation to the statute’s plainly legitimate sweep.’ So far in these cases, no one has paid much attention to that issue.” 

The court said its analysis and arguments “focused mainly on how the laws applied to the content-moderation practices that giant social-media platforms use on their best-known services to filter, alter or label their users’ posts, i.e., on how the laws applied to the likes of Facebook’s News Feed and YouTube’s homepage,” but the justices said they “did not address the full range of activities the laws cover, and measure the constitutional against the unconstitutional applications.”

Trump v. United States

The Supreme Court on July 1, 2024, ruled that former presidents have substantial protection from prosecution, handing a major victory to Donald Trump, the former president who at the time was the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and is now president-elect.

Trump had moved to dismiss his indictment in a 2020 election interference case based on presidential immunity. 

The U.S. Supreme Court on July 1, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/AFP via Getty Images)

The court did not dismiss the case, but the ruling did ensure the 45th president would not face trial in the case before the November 2024 election. 

In a 6-3 decision, the court sent the matter back down to a lower court, as the justices did not apply the ruling to whether or not Trump is immune from prosecution regarding actions related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

“The President enjoys no immunity for his unofficial acts, and not everything the President does is official,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority. “The President is not above the law. But Congress may not criminalize the President’s conduct in carrying out the responsibilities of the Executive Branch under the Constitution. And the system of separated powers designed by the Framers has always demanded an energetic, independent Executive.” 

Trump, having won the 2024 presidential election, will take office Jan. 20, 2025.

SCOTUS HEARS ARGUMENTS IN CASE THAT COULD RESHAPE ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce

In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court on June 28, 2024, overruled the 1984 landmark decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council. 

Known as Chevron deference, the 40-year-old decision instructed lower courts to defer to federal agencies when laws passed by Congress were too ambiguous. It had been the basis for upholding thousands of regulations by dozens of federal agencies, but has long been a target of conservatives and business groups who argue that it grants too much power to the executive branch, or what some critics call the administrative state.

Roberts, writing for the court, said federal judges must now “exercise their independent judgment in deciding whether an agency has acted within its statutory authority.”

The ruling does not call into question prior cases that relied on the Chevron doctrine, Roberts wrote. 

The reversal makes it so executive branch agencies will likely have more difficulty regulating the environment, public health, workplace safety and other issues. 

The case came about when Atlantic herring fishermen sued over federal rules requiring them to pay for independent observers to monitor their catch. The fishermen argued that the 1976 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act did not authorize officials to create industry-funded monitoring requirements and that the National Marine Fisheries Service failed to follow proper rulemaking procedures.

Chief Justice John Roberts and associate justices Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson await President Biden’s State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 7, 2023. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

In two related cases, the fishermen asked the court to overturn the 40-year-old Chevron doctrine, which stems from a unanimous Supreme Court case involving the energy giant in a dispute over the Clean Air Act. In that case, the court upheld an action by the Environmental Protection Agency under President Ronald Reagan.

In the decades following the ruling, Chevron has been a bedrock of modern administrative law, requiring judges to defer to agencies’ reasonable interpretations of congressional statutes.

The current Supreme Court, with a 6-3 conservative majority, has been increasingly skeptical of the powers of federal agencies. Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch have questioned the Chevron decision. Ironically, it was Gorsuch’s mother, former EPA Administrator Anne Gorsuch, who made the decision that the Supreme Court upheld in 1984.

The Biden administration argued that overturning Chevron would be destabilizing and could bring a “convulsive shock” to the nation’s legal system.

Fischer v. US

The Supreme Court on June 28, 2024, ruled in favor of a participant in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot who challenged his conviction for a federal obstruction crime.

The case stemmed from a lawsuit filed by Joseph Fischer – a former police officer and one of more than 300 people charged by the Justice Department with “obstruction of an official proceeding” in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. His lawyers argued that the federal statute should not apply, and that it had only ever been applied to evidence-tampering cases. 

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court held to a narrower interpretation of a federal statute that imposes criminal liability on anyone who corruptly “alters, destroys, mutilates, or conceals a record, document, or other object, or attempts to do so, with the intent to impair the object’s integrity or availability for use in an official proceeding.” 

The ruling reversed a lower court decision, which the justices said swept too broadly into areas like peaceful but disruptive conduct, and returned the case to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. 

The Justice Department argued that Fischer’s actions were a “deliberate attempt” to stop a joint session of Congress directly from certifying the 2020 election, thus qualifying their use of the statute that criminalizes behavior that “otherwise obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do” and carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

However, Roberts said the government stretched the law too far.

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“January 6 was an unprecedented attack on the cornerstone of our system of government – the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next. I am disappointed by today’s decision, which limits an important federal statute that the Department has sought to use to ensure that those most responsible for that attack face appropriate consequences,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement reacting to the ruling. 

“The vast majority of the more than 1,400 defendants charged for their illegal actions on January 6 will not be affected by this decision,” he said.

Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo, Bill Mears, Shannon Bream, Brooke Singman, Brianna Herlihy and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Lara Trump, President-elect Trump’s daughter-in-law, said Saturday she is removing herself from consideration for Florida Republican Marco Rubio’s seat in the U.S. Senate. 

“After an incredible amount of thought, contemplation, and encouragement from so many, I have decided to remove my name from consideration for the United States Senate,” she wrote on X Saturday. 

The president-elect has nominated Rubio to be secretary of state. 

“I could not have been more honored to serve as RNC co-chair during the most high-stakes election of our lifetime and I’m truly humbled by the unbelievable support shown to me by the people of our country, and here in the great state of Florida,” Lara Trump added.

TRUMP SAYS HE DOESN’T EXPECT DESANTIS TO NAME DAUGHTER-IN-LAW LARA TRUMP AS RUBIO’S SENATE REPLACEMENT

Lara Trump, President-elect Trump’s daughter-in-law, said Saturday she is removing herself from consideration for Florida Republican Marco Rubio’s seat in the U.S. Senate.  (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Trump, the wife of Eric Trump, the president-elect’s son, stepped down as co-chair of the Republican National Committee earlier this month.

” I have read so many of your kind messages and I cannot thank you enough,” Lara Trump said, adding she has a “big announcement that I’m excited to share in January.”

She said she remains “incredibly passionate about public service and (looks) forward to serving our country again sometime in the future. In the meantime, I wish Governor DeSantis the best of luck with this appointment.”

The president-elect had previously pressed DeSantis to name Lara as Rubio’s replacement, a source in his political orbit told Fox News Digital, but he later told reporters he didn’t necessarily expect him to select her. 

The president-elect has nominated Sen. Marco Rubio to be secretary of state.  (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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“That’s his choice,” the president-elect added. 

Rubio’s senate replacement will be appointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and will serve the remaining two years of Rubio’s term. 

In 2026, the seat will be open for a full six-year term. 

Lara Trump is married to President-elect Trump’s son, Eric Trump.  (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Lara Trump had previously said she was “seriously considering” the position, although she wasn’t sure it was right for her. 

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DeSantis previously said he would make an appointment by early January. 

Lara Trump did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

“Rockin’ around the Christmas tree
At the Christmas party hop” – Brenda Lee

It’s a yuletide tradition on Capitol Hill. 

An annual custom of rockin’ around a congressional Christmas tree, festooned with hundreds of legislative ornaments, Advent appropriations and mistletoe modifications.

A political Polar Express chugs through the halls of Congress nearly every December. It’s always the last piece of legislation huffing out of the congressional station.

WHAT TO EXPECT AS REPUBLICANS TRY TO SALVAGE SPENDING PACKAGE, AVOID GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

“All aboard!” hollers the conductor.

Get your Noel needs loaded into the baggage car of this train, or it’s going to be left behind.

So, lawmakers decorated their “Christmas tree” in the only way they know how.

That resulted a few days ago in the colossal 1,547-page interim spending bill to avoid a government shutdown.

The sheer scope of the bill was breathtaking.

You want a hippopotamus for Christmas? You surely would have gotten it with this plan.

It wasn’t long until House Republicans pulverized the legislation.

The U.S. Capitol Christmas tree is lit during a ceremony in Washington, D.C., Dec. 3. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“It’s another cram down,” fumed Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, the morning after congressional leaders released the bill. “Here’s what you get. ‘Do this or shut the government down.’ So, it’s very disappointing.”

Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., didn’t gift wrap his criticism.

“It’s a total dumpster fire. I think it’s garbage,” decreed Burlison. “It’s shameful that people celebrate DOGE coming, and yet we’re going to vote for another billion dollars to be added to the deficit. It’s ironic.”

Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., mocked his colleagues for talking out of both sides of their mouths when it came to spending.

“We keep on saying we want to take the deficit and the debt seriously. But we keep on voting to increase it. You can’t have it both ways,” he said. “This is irresponsible.”

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, lamented this was business as usual.

“I mean, the swamp is going to swamp, right?” proffered Roy.

THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO WHAT HAPPENED TO THE INTERIM SPENDING BILL

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said the following in the fall:

“We have broken the Christmas omni. I have no intention of going back to that terrible tradition. There won’t be a Christmas omnibus,” Johnson declared Sept. 24. “We won’t do any ‘buses.’”

So, yours truly pressed Johnson about his promise after frustrated Republicans upbraided him during a House GOP Conference meeting.

“You said back in September there would be no more Christmas omnibuses. You were not doing anymore ‘buses,’” I asked. “But how is this not yet another Christmas tree at the holidays?”

“Well, it’s not a Christmas tree. It’s not an omnibus,” responded Johnson.

Johnson is technically right. In appropriations parlance, it’s not a true omnibus — even though outside observers and many lawmakers themselves might colloquially refer to the massive bill as an “omnibus.” An omnibus is where Congress gift wraps all 12 individual spending measures into one package. A “minibus” is where a handful of bills are bundled together.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks briefly to reporters just before a vote on an amended interim spending bill to prevent a government shutdown at the Capitol in Washington Thursday. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Even so, I reminded Johnson of the opprobrium directed at this legislation.

“They called this cram down. They said it was garbage. Those are your own members calling it that,” I noted.

“Well, they haven’t even seen it yet,” said Johnson, even though the bill materialized the night before. “I’ve got a couple of friends who will say that about any end-of-year funding measure. This is not an omnibus, OK? This is a small CR (continuing resolution) that we’ve had to add things to that were out of our control.”

The legislation was stocked with a hefty price tag to cover the entire cost of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. A radioactive pay raise for lawmakers. Health care provisions. Language about concert ticket prices. Emergency aid for farmers. And $110 billion to help cover devastation from Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

“It was intended to be, and it was until recent days, a very simple, very clean CR stopgap funding measure to get us into next year when we have a unified government,” said Johnson. “But a couple of intervening things have occurred. We had, as we say, acts of God. We had these massive hurricanes.”

But then Elon Musk torched the bill. President-elect Trump demanded an immediate debt ceiling increase. Debt limit deals are one of the most complex and contentious issues in Congress. They require weeks if not months of painstaking negotiations.

HOUSE GOP LEADERS SCRAMBLE FOR PLAN B AFTER TRUMP, MUSK LEAD CONSERVATIVE FURY AGAINST SPENDING BILL

This wasn’t as simple as presenting Santa at the mall a wish list of items for Christmas morning.

The bill began bleeding support just hours before the House planned a vote.

But to paraphrase Charles Dickens’ opening line in “A Christmas Carol” about Jacob Marley, “That bill was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever, about that.”

Democrats were flabbergasted at outside last-minute ultimatums. Especially since Johnson attended the Army-Navy football game last week with Trump. How could they not have discussed the contours of this bill?

“It was blown up by Elon Musk, who apparently has become the fourth branch of government,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., scoffed about the bill. “So, who is our leader, (House Minority Leader) Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., supposed to negotiate with? Is it Mike Johnson? Is he the speaker of the House? Or is it Donald Trump? Or is it Elon Musk. Or is it somebody else?”

Johnson and company then prepped a svelte 116-page bill to fund the government. But bipartisan lawmakers roasted that measure faster than chestnuts by an open fire.

SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk speaks during a town hall event in Pittsburgh Oct. 20. (Michael Swensen/Getty Images)

Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., mocked Republicans for insisting that they adhere to their internal “three-day rule.” That allows lawmakers to ponder bills for three days before a vote. Yet Republicans were now racing the new bill to the floor faster than shoppers rushing home with their treasures.

“Have you printed it? How many pages is it? What happened to the 72-hour rule?” mocked Moskowitz.

The bill plummeted to an embarrassing defeat on the House floor. It only scored 174 yeas, punctuated by an eye-popping 38 Republican nays.

“The Democrats just voted to shut down the government,” Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, the vice president-elect, claimed. “They’ve asked for a shutdown, and I think that’s exactly what they’re going to get.”

By Friday, there was a third bill. And despite grousing, lawmakers finally passed the legislation. There was no need to go to “Plan Z,” popularized in “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.” The House approved the bill in the early evening. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., hit the Senate floor late Friday night.

“Democrats and Republicans have just reached an agreement that will allow us to pass the CR tonight before the midnight deadline,” said Schumer.

Critics of the third bill might characterize the entire process as a “railroad.” But it was an actual railroad that prevented the Senate from passing the bill on time. An unnamed Republican senator placed a hold on nominees to Amtrak’s board. But once senators resolved that problem, the Senate finally aligned with the House to prevent the shutdown around 12:45 a.m. ET Saturday, 45 minutes after the midnight deadline.

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The slenderized bill included disaster aid and emergency assistance for farmers. But when it came to appropriations, the legislation simply renewed all current funding at present levels. It was definitely not a “Christmas tree.” It just kept the government running through March 14. So no holiday crisis.

Merry Christmas.

But beware the Ides of March.

President-elect Trump announced Saturday he has tapped the creator of “The Apprentice” to serve a diplomatic role in the United Kingdom.

In a Truth Social post, Trump named Mark Burnett, a British-American TV producer who was born in London, as the next U.S. special envoy to the United Kingdom.

“It is my great honor to appoint Mark Burnett as the Special Envoy to the United Kingdom,” the president-elect said. “With a distinguished career in television production and business, Mark brings a unique blend of diplomatic acumen and international recognition to this important role.”

In addition to creating Trump’s former show “The Apprentice,” Burnett also created “Shark Tank” and led production of other programs such as “Survivor” and “The Martha Stewart Show.” In his Truth Social post, Trump said the producer had created some of the “biggest shows in Television History” and touted his achievements.

TRUMP NOMINATES PAIR TO HELP LEAD DOJ, ANNOUNCES FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION PICK

President-elect Trump has picked TV producer Mark Burnett for a new role in his administration. (AP Photo/Getty Images)

“He is the former Chairman of MGM, and has won 13 Emmy Awards!” the Republican wrote. “Mark will work to enhance diplomatic relations, focusing on areas of mutual interest, including trade, investment opportunities, and cultural exchanges. Congratulations Mark!”

No one is currently serving as a U.S. special envoy to the United Kingdom. Special envoy roles are typically temporary in nature and meant to fulfill a specific mission, though Trump did not specify the purpose of the role in his announcement.

GET TO KNOW DONALD TRUMP’S CABINET: WHO HAS THE PRESIDENT-ELECT PICKED SO FAR?

Donald Trump and Mark Burnett during “The Apprentice” finale arrivals at California Mart in Los Angeles.  (Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic)

Earlier in December, Trump tapped Warren A. Stephens to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the Court of St. James, also known as the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom.

“Over the last 38 years, while serving as the president, chairman, and CEO of his company, Stephens Inc., Warren has built a wonderful financial services firm, while selflessly giving back to his community as a philanthropist,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. 

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TV producer Mark Burnett introduces President Trump at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., Feb. 2, 2017. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

“Warren has always dreamed of serving the United States full-time. I am thrilled that he will now have that opportunity as the top Diplomat, representing the U.S.A. to one of America’s most cherished and beloved Allies.”

Burnett did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

As the dust settles on Congress frantically passing a stopgap bill at the eleventh hour to avoid a government shutdown, lawmakers are having their say on a chaotic week on Capitol Hill.

President Biden signed the 118-page bill into law on Saturday, extending government funding into March, the White House announced. The bill provides over $100 billion in disaster aid for those affected by storms Helene and Milton in the U.S. Southeast earlier this year. It also includes a $10 billion provision for economic assistance to farmers. 

President Biden has not yet publicly commented on the passage of the legislation, nor has President-elect Trump, although sources tell Fox that the incoming president is not that happy about the bill, because it does not suspend the debt ceiling. 

The U.S. Capitol, on Dec. 12, 2024 in Washington D.C. It was a frantic week of tough negotiations in the nation’s capital.  (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

PRESIDENT BIDEN SIGNS STOPGAP FUNDING BILL INTO LAW, NARROWLY AVERTING SHUTDOWN

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who faced criticism from both Republicans and Democrats for his handling of the negotiations, said after the House vote that the result was “a good outcome for the country.” He said he had spoken with Trump and that the president-elect “was certainly happy about this outcome, as well.”

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., considered the legislation a win for his party. 

“The House Democrats have successfully stopped extreme MAGA Republicans from shutting down the government, crashing the economy and hurting working-class Americans all across the nation,” Jeffries said, referring to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., praised Democrats, including Jeffries and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., for “their unity and courage withstanding the Trump-Musk irresponsibility.”

“Democrats will always fight to protect the needs of America’s working families, veterans, seniors, farmers and first responders against the GOP’s agenda for billionaires and special interests.”

A bulging 1,547-page continuing resolution was thrown into disarray earlier in the week following objections by Elon Musk and President-elect Trump. A slimmed-down version was then rejected by House members on Thursday before the House approved Speaker Mike Johnson’s new bill overwhelmingly on Friday by 366 votes to 34.

The Senate worked into early Saturday morning to pass the bill 85-11, just after the deadline.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, who faced criticism from both Republicans and Democrats for his handling of the negotiations said after the House vote that the result is “a good outcome for the country.” (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)

WHITE HOUSE PRESSED ON BIDEN REFUSING TO SPEAK PUBLICLY AHEAD OF SHUTDOWN

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer praised the passage of the funding legislation early Saturday.

“There will be no government shutdown right before Christmas,” Schumer wrote on X. “We will keep the government open with a bipartisan bill that funds the government, helps Americans affected by hurricanes and natural disasters, helps our farmers and avoids harmful cuts.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., said the revised funding package keeps government funded at current levels, delivers aid to Americans suffering from natural disasters and protects agricultural supply chains. 

“Not only is this straightforward bill much more palatable to me, but it respects the taxpayers we represent, unlike the previous backroom boondoggle I opposed that was over 1,500 pages long and gave unnecessary and costly giveaways to the Democrats,” Malliotakis wrote on X. 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer gives a thumbs up when walking out of the Senate Chamber after speaking on the floor of the Senate on Dec. 20, 2024. ((Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images))

“Passing this legislation today gives us what we need until President Trump is sworn in and settled so our Republican trifecta can deliver the results the American people voted for.”

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., questioned why President Biden appeared to play a limited role in negotiations.

“People fail to recognize that even though the focus has been on President Trump, Joe Biden is actually still the president, which is really mind-boggling, because nobody’s heard from him in weeks,” Lawler told Fox and Friends Weekend on Saturday, adding that the debt ceiling has been used as a “political piñata for decades.” 

“The party in the minority uses it as leverage in a negotiation, and I think what President Trump is trying to avoid is giving Democrats a loaded gun to hold to his head here.”

Elsewhere, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., applauded the Senate for approving the D.C. Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalization Act, which he had introduced and helped pass in the House.

The bill would give the District of Columbia control of the 174-acre RFK campus and revive potential plans for a new Washington Commanders stadium.

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., applauded the Senate for approving the D.C. Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalization Act (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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The surprising move came after a provision in the initial continuing resolution (CR) — to transfer control of the RFK campus from the federal government to the District — was eliminated from Thursday’s slimmed down version of the bill.

“The Senate’s passage of the D.C. RFK Stadium Campus Revitalization Act is a historic moment for our nation’s capital. If Congress failed to act today, this decaying land in Washington would continue to cost taxpayers a fortune to maintain,” Comer said.

“Revitalizing this RFK Memorial Stadium site has been a top economic priority for the city, and I am proud to have partnered with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to get this bill across the finish line and to the President’s desk. This bipartisan success is a testament to the House Oversight Committee’s unwavering effort to protect taxpayers and our full commitment to ensuring a capital that is prosperous for residents and visitors for generations to come,” he added.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

President-elect Trump dropped his latest round of nominations on Saturday afternoon, naming two picks to help lead the Department of Justice (DOJ) and one to work within the Department of Transportation (DOT).

In a Truth Social post, the president-elect announced that he was nominating Aaron Reitz to lead the DOJ’s Office of Legal Policy (OLP). Trump wrote that Reitz would “develop and implement DOJ’s battle plans to advance my Law and Order Agenda, and restore integrity to our Justice System.” 

“Aaron is currently Senator Ted Cruz’s Chief of Staff, and was previously Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Deputy, where he led dozens of successful lawsuits against the lawless and crooked Biden Administration,” Trump continued, adding that Reitz would work closely with Trump’s pick for U.S. attorney general, Pam Bondi.
 
“Aaron is a true MAGA attorney, a warrior for our Constitution, and will do an outstanding job at DOJ. Congratulations Aaron!”

TIDE TURNS FOR HEGSETH AS TRUMP’S DEFENSE SECRETARY NOMINEE GOES ON OFFENSE

President-elect Donald Trump at the Elysee Palace for a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris Dec. 7. (Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images)

Trump followed up his first announcement by naming Chad Mizelle as the next chief of staff at the DOJ, who is also slated to work with Bondi. 

“During my First Term, Chad was General Counsel and Chief of Staff at the Department of Homeland Security, where he helped to secure our Border, and stop the flow of illegal drugs and aliens into our Country,” the Republican leader explained. 

GET TO KNOW DONALD TRUMP’S CABINET: WHO HAS THE PRESIDENT-ELECT PICKED SO FAR?

President-elect Trump reacts during a meeting with Prince William, Prince of Wales, at the Embassy of the United Kingdom’s Residence in Paris Dec. 7. (Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images)

“Chad is a MAGA warrior, who will help bring accountability, integrity, and Justice back to the DOJ.”
 
In a third post, Trump named David Fink as the next administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), describing his nominee as a “fifth generation Railroader.”

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President-elect Trump gestures after speaking during an America First Policy Institute gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., Nov. 14. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

“David will bring his 45+ years of transportation leadership and success, which will deliver the FRA into a new era of safety and technological innovation,” Trump said. “Under David’s guidance, the Federal Railroad Administration will be GREAT again. Congratulations to David!”

Newly elected GOP Congressman Derek Schmidt told Fox News Digital that the efforts of DOGE will be critical in the next Congress and explained why he is optimistic that Republicans will be on the same page in January to push through President-elect Trump’s agenda. 

“It’s no more business as usual,” Schmidt, elected in November to represent Kansas’ 2nd Congressional District, told Fox News about the impact of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy as the two lobbied against a 1,500 page continuing resolution that was being debated in the House and opposed by some conservatives for containing too much “pork.”

“Look, that was the top-line message from the voters last November. They want us to make progress on some of these issues, and we’re not going to make progress by continuing to do the same things and expecting a different result. So, you know, it’s going to be messy. It’s going to be tumultuous, but that’s what it takes in order to get this country back on track.”

Schmidt told Fox News Digital that DOGE reforms are part of what Trump ran on.

‘NO CHOICE’: DOGE LEADERS RALLY HOUSE CONSERVATIVES AGAINST 1,500+ PAGE ‘PORK-FEST’

Former Kansas AG Derek Schmidt will represent Kansas’ 2nd District in Congress in January (Getty Images)

“That’s what President Trump promised. That’s what many of us ran on. And that’s what I at least intend to be part of accomplishing,” Schmidt said. 

“So anything that helps put the genie back in the bottle, that helps move us back in the direction of this, you know, this federal system, this remarkable system of self-government that our founders gave us and that we have drifted so far from, especially since the New Deal, I think is something I want to be part of trying to help fix. I want to leave this country better for my kids than I found it, and that will not be true if we don’t start getting a handle on runaway federal spending. And on this, the sprawling, grotesque federal bureaucracy that is unaccountable to voters.”

Despite a net loss of two seats in the 435-member House in November, Republicans will hold a fragile 220-215 majority when the new Congress convenes next month giving them a razor-thin margin for error when attempting to advance Trump’s agenda.

Schmidt told Fox News Digital that he expects some “dissension” in the next Congress, which he called “the nature of Democratic self-government” but says he feels confident Republicans will unite on the big issues. 

“I think we’re going to get the president’s agenda adopted, look, I think a couple of things are true. One, to the extent that I’ve met my fellow incoming class members in the House and to the extent I’ve talked with current House members, there seems to be a broad sense that everybody knows we’ve got to deliver,” Schmidt, who served as Kansas attorney general for over a decade, said. 

“We have this trifecta, so-called, that the voters have given us. They’ve trusted us to do what we said we’re going to do, and everybody, even though they may have different perspective disagreements, understands we’ve got to deliver, and that means we’ve got to find ways to hang together.”

TOP DOGE SENATOR TO DEMAND LAME-DUCK BIDEN AGENCIES HALT COSTLY TELEWORK TALKS, CITING VOTER MANDATE

Current Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt gives his “Stump “speech during the Gubernatorial debate at the Kansas State Fair, Hutchinson, Kansas, September 8, 2018

Schmidt continued, “Number two. What’s different now from, you know, a few times in the past when things have lined up is we have a strong Republican president. President Trump pulled no punches. He was very clear on the campaign trail the direction he wants to take the country, the types of policies that he wants enacted, and the voters approve that, not with just a win in the Electoral College, not with just a win for him in the popular vote, but also with the trifecta to help deliver that so we don’t have to figure out what the agenda is. We have to listen to what the voters said by electing President Trump, what he articulated on the voter’s behalf. And we have to step up, hang together and deliver results.”

After winning both the Electoral College and the popular vote, Schmidt told Fox News Digital it is clear that Trump has a “mandate” from the American people and that House Republicans understand that a deadlock in Congress won’t be something the voters are content with.

“I think the voters knew what they were choosing, and they made that decision and I also think it’s very important, you know, to keep in line what I believe was the top line message, which is do something, make progress on these issues,” Schmidt said. 

“If we don’t like as the electorate, if we don’t like what you’ve done, will judge that two years, four years, six years down the road. But do something. This sort of deadlock of accomplishing very little is an unacceptable way to lead the greatest nation on earth. And so I think that sense is pretty widely accepted among at least most of us who are entered into public office, and we’ve got a spirit of let’s get together and act.”

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President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, on Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla.  (AP/Evan Vucci)

Fox News Digital asked Schmidt what he is most looking forward to when serving in Congress, and he outlined his excitement about taking part in what he called the “extraordinary experiment” of American governance. 

“I don’t I don’t mean to sound like Mr. Smith goes to Washington, but there is a certain element of truth in the idea that each of us who is allowed to represent a group of Americans has an opportunity to be part of this extraordinary experiment in self-government that is still going despite all of its warts and imperfections,” Schmidt said. 

“A lot of people who came before us paid great price at great personal expense to build this country into what it is today. We have an opportunity, those of us serving, myself included, to be part of rewriting or writing the next chapter in the American story. And I get excited about that every single morning. Whatever my service in public office ends, whether it’s in two years, ten years or somewhere down the road, I want to be able to look back and say, I made a difference. I left America better than I found it. And so few people have that opportunity and a direct way. I will never lose sight of what I’ve been entrusted with.”

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report

One of the leading candidates to fill Vice President-elect JD Vance‘s Ohio Senate seat recently traveled to President-elect Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence as a decision from the state’s governor draws closer.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine traveled to Trump’s Florida home with fellow Republican Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, who is believed to be a top candidate to replace Vance, in recent days, although the specifics of any conversation are unclear, News 5 Cleveland first reported, and Fox News Digital has confirmed.

State law dictates that DeWine will select a Republican to take Vance’s spot in the Senate until a special election is held in November 2026 to determine who will serve the rest of Vance’s term, which ends in 2028. The winner of that special election could then run again in 2028 in order to start a new six-year term. 

Multiple sources told Fox News Digital that a final decision on the Senate appointment is expected in the next few weeks as the new Congress will be sworn in on Jan. 3. 

JD VANCE CRITICIZES NY TIMES READER FOR ‘WHINING’ ABOUT ELDERLY NEIGHBOR’S PRAYERS: ‘STOP BEING A WEIRDO’

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine will name the replacement for VP-elect JD Vance in the Senate (Getty Images)

DeWine’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

The Governor’s spokesperson, Dan Tierney, told Fox News Digital last month that DeWine will be looking for a “workhorse” who is “qualified and ready to earn the trust of Ohio voters for another term.”

VANCE WILL LIKELY BE 2028 FRONT-RUNNER, BUT RNC CHAIR ‘EXCITED ABOUT THE BENCH THAT WE HAVE’

 Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted speaks during the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 15, 2024.  (Getty Images)

Fox News Digital previously reported that DeWine is considering, along with Husted, several candidates for Senate, including attorney Mehek Cooke, Ohio’s Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, former Ohio GOP Chair Jane Timken, Rep. Mike Carey and others.

“Governor DeWine has a crucial decision ahead in selecting Ohio’s next Senator,” Cooke told Fox News Digital on Friday night. “If Jon is the workhorse he picks, he is the right choice.”

“He’s battle-tested, with decades of experience fighting for Ohioans and securing a stronger future for our state. If Jon is the pick, I’m 100% behind him—there’s too much at stake, and we need someone who will put Ohio first. It was an honor to interview with the Governor, and he knows my commitment is to always put Ohio’s interests first.”

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An endorsement from Trump and Vance will be critical for any DeWine appointment, given that both are popular in the Buckeye State, where their ticket won by 11 points in November. 

Husted has served as Ohio’s lieutenant governor since 2019 after serving eight years as Secretary of State and a member of both the state Senate and Ohio House of Representatives before that.

Husted has widely been expected to run for governor to replace DeWine, and his team has recently taken steps to allocate resources to that race. Sources tell Fox News Digital that former presidential candidate Vivek Ramawamy’s interest in running for governor has caused some potential gubernatorial candidates to re-evaluate their options, given Ramaswamy’s deep pockets.

Husted has remained tight-lipped about the potential Senate appointment other than to say, “I will continue serving this state as long as the people of Ohio will have me. As for the future, I intend to make my plans known early next year.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump transition team for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

EXCLUSIVE: Senate Republicans are demanding answers on whether confidential human sources from Justice Department agencies beyond the FBI were used on Jan. 6, 2021, while also questioning whether Inspector General Michael Horowitz thoroughly reviewed classified and unclassified communications between handlers and their sources, warning that without that review, there may be a “major blind spot” in his findings. 

Horowitz last week released his highly anticipated report that there were more than two dozen FBI confidential human sources in the crowd outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but only three were assigned by the bureau to be present for the event. Horowitz said none of the sources were authorized or directed by the FBI to “break the law” or “encourage others to commit illegal acts.” 

But now, Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., are demanding further information from Horowitz, writing to him in a letter exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital that it is “unclear” if his office reviewed the use of confidential human sources by other DOJ components during the Capitol riot. 

DOJ IG REVEALS 26 FBI INFORMANTS WERE PRESENT ON JAN. 6

Scene from Jan. 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

“This IG report was a step in the right direction, but Senator Johnson and I still have questions the Justice Department needs to account for,” Grassley told Fox News Digital. “The American people deserve a full picture of whether Justice Department sources from its component agencies, in addition to the FBI, were present on January 6, what their role was, and whether DOJ had knowledge of their attendance.” 

Grassley told Fox News Digital that Horowitz and his team “must redouble its efforts to make sure it has reviewed all relevant information and provide a sufficient response to our inquiry.” 

Sen. Chuck Grassley in the U.S. Capitol after the Senate luncheons on Sept. 24, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Johnson told Fox News Digital he believes the report made public last week “may have only provided a fraction of the story regarding the presence and activities of confidential human sources or undercover federal agents in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021.” 

“I urge the Inspector General’s office to be fully transparent about their work to ensure that Congress and the public have an accurate and complete understanding about what it actually reviewed,” Johnson said.

DOJ INSPECTOR GENERAL DOES NOT DENY FBI INFORMANTS WERE AMONG JAN 6 CROWD

In their letter to Horowitz, Grassley and Johnson noted that the inspector general’s office received more than 500,000 documents from the Justice Department and its components as part of its investigation. 

“According to the report, your office obtained: CHS reporting, thousands of tips provided to the FBI, investigative and intelligence records from the FBI case management system, emails, instant messages, and phone records; contemporaneous notes of meetings and telephone calls; chronologies concerning the lead-up of events to January 6; after-action assessments; training materials and policy guides; and preparatory materials for press conferences or congressional testimony as well as talking points,” they wrote. 

Grassley and Johnson told Horowitz “it is vital” that his office “more precisely explain what records it sought and received from all DOJ component agencies.” 

Grassley and Johnson are demanding answers on whether Horowitz obtained evidence on whether other DOJ component agencies had tasked or untasked undercover confidential human sources in the Washington, D.C., area or at the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021. 

TRUMP SAYS WRAY RESIGNATION ‘GREAT DAY FOR AMERICA,’ TOUTS KASH PATEL AS ‘MOST QUALIFIED’ TO LEAD FBI

They are also asking if all communications were obtained between DOJ component agency handlers and confidential human sources or undercover agents present in the D.C. area, and whether he has received classified and unclassified non-email communication platforms used by the FBI. 

Grassley and Johnson are also demanding Horowitz share all FD-1023 forms, or confidential human source reporting documents, used in the investigation with them. 

Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz speaks during a Senate Judiciary hearing on Sept. 15. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

As for his initial report, Horowitz “determined that none of these FBI CHSs was authorized by the FBI to enter the Capitol or a restricted area or to otherwise break the law on January 6, nor was any CHS directed by the FBI to encourage others to commit illegal acts on January 6.” 

The report revealed that the FBI had a minor supporting role in responding on Jan. 6, 2021 – largely because the event was not deemed at the highest security level by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). 

Horowitz, though, said the FBI took significant and appropriate steps to prepare for that role. 

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According to the report, there were a total of 26 confidential human sources in the crowd that day, but only three of them were assigned by the bureau to be there. 

One of the three confidential human sources tasked by the FBI to attend the rally entered the Capitol building, while the other two entered the restricted area around the Capitol. 

If a confidential human source is directed to be at a certain event, they are paid by the FBI for their time.

EXCLUSIVE: Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears of Virginia could make history next year as the nation’s first Black woman to win election as a governor.

She would also make history as Virginia’s first female governor.

But Sears, in an exclusive national interview with Fox News Digital, emphasized that “I’m not really running to make history. I’m just trying to, as I’ve said before, leave it better than I found it, and I want everyone to have the same opportunities I had.”

Sears, who was born in the Caribbean island nation of Jamaica and immigrated to the U.S. as a 6-year-old, served in the Marines and is a former state lawmaker. She made history three years ago when she won election as Virginia’s first female lieutenant governor. 

WHAT’S NEXT FOR THIS POPULAR REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR WHEN HE LEAVES OFFICE IN A YEAR

Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears speaks during a rally held to announce she will seek her party’s nomination for Virginia governor in 2025 at Chick’s Oyster Bar in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on Sept. 5. (Kristen Zeis/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

“You’ve got to remember that my father came to America in ‘63 just 17 days before Dr. King gave his ’I Have a Dream speech,’ she said.

Sears noted that her father “saw opportunity here, even though… you really couldn’t, as a Black person, live where you wanted.”

“And yet, here I am, here I am sitting right now as second in command in the former capital of the Confederate States,” she said. “With me, we can see once again, there are still opportunities, still opportunities to grow, still opportunities to do even better. We are going to be better, not bitter. We’re not going to be victims. We’re overcomers.”

VIRGINIA’S YOUNGKIN ENDORSES HIS LT. GOVERNOR TO SUCCEED HIM

Sears has a major supporter in popular Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who three years ago became the first Republican in a dozen years to win a gubernatorial election in Virginia, a onetime key swing state that had shaded blue in recent cycles.

From left: Terrence Sears; Virginia Lieutenant Gov. Winsome Sears; Suzanne Youngkin; Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin; Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares; and Page Miyares hold hands as the governor leads the group in prayer at the State Capitol in Richmond, Virginia, on Jan. 15, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

But Virginia is unique due to its state law preventing governors from serving two consecutive four-year terms, so Youngkin cannot run for re-election next year.

Youngkin told Fox News Digital last month that Sears “is going to be a fabulous governor of Virginia.”

“I have to make sure that we have Winsome Sears as our next governor,” he emphasized. “I’m going to be campaigning hard.”

Making the case that Youngkin as a “successful businessman” has “brought that success to government,” Sears highlighted that “we want to continue what he has begun.”

“There’s still much work to do, still regulations that we’ve got to get rid of, still educational opportunities that are needing to be taken advantage of, and I am the one to carry that, because I’ve been part of that,” she added.

Sears was interviewed in Virginia Beach on Thursday, with a month to go until President-elect Trump returns to the White House.

In late 2022, she described Trump as a liability after Republican candidates that the then-former president had backed underperformed in the midterm elections. And she said that she would remain neutral in the 2024 GOP presidential primary.

“I supported him in 16 and in 20 why? Because I saw that he was good for our country,” Sears noted.

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON THE TRUMP TRANSITION

But she added that Trump “said some things, and it bothered me. And as I said, I come at this as a Christian. And so I figured, well, let’s see if there’s somebody else.”

Sears pointed to July’s attempted assassination of Trump as the moment that changed her mind.

“I was waiting to hear a change, and after he was shot and he was accepting the nomination, I heard him say, ‘miracles are happening every day. I am one of those. God has spared my life. And so, I humbly ask for your vote.’ I was on board right then,” she emphasized.

Former President Trump is joined by his wife Melania following his address at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 18. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

But a top Trump supporter in Virginia, conservative radio host John Fredericks, has continued to criticize Sears.

“She’ll ruin Republicans’ chances in Virginia in 2025 and we need a different GOP candidate that REALLY has President Trump’s back,” he argued last month on his radio program and in a social media post.

Asked if she’d like Trump to campaign with her over the next 10 months leading up to the 2025 election, Sears said, “I think he’s going to be having a lot to do in, well, in D.C. And if he wants to come here, fine. If he wants to help, fine. I mean, you know, we could use all the help that we can get.”

THIS DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKER IS RUNNING FOR VIRGINIA GOVERNOR

Sears, who launched her gubernatorial bid in early September, avoided a competitive primary when Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares announced last month that he would seek re-election rather than run for governor.

Three-term Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA officer, is her party’s candidate for governor.

Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, speaks at a campaign rally in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on Nov. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston, File)

Spanberger announced 13 months ago that she would run for governor in 2025 rather than seek congressional re-election this year. While a Sears-Spanberger general election showdown is expected, recent reports indicate longtime Democratic Rep. Bobby Scott is mulling a gubernatorial run.

“We will see what shakes out on the Democrat side, but I will face whoever comes, because I believe that we have the better policies,” Sears said.

She is viewed by political pundits as more socially conservative than Youngkin, who hailed from the GOP’s business wing.

Asked if Sears was too far to the right for Virginia voters, Youngkin pushed back in his Fox News Digital interview, saying, “Not at all. And Winsome is a commonsense conservative leader. We have been partners literally from day one. We campaigned together. We were elected together. We have governed together.”

But the Democratic Governors Association (DGA), pointing to the criticism from Fredericks, who chaired Trump’s Virginia campaign in 2016 and 2020, argued that “Virginia Republicans are kicking off the 2025 election divided and already publicly calling out Winsome Sears.”

“This once again confirms that Sears will have to run even further to the right and take deeply harmful and out-of-touch positions to win the GOP nomination,” DGA national press secretary Devon Cruz claimed.

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Sears, asked about the DGA criticism, which also includes spotlighting her stances on issues such as abortion and IVF, argued that “the Democrats are trying to figure out a way to hit me… I don’t worry about it. I let them say what they want to say. I am proven, proven to do the right thing.”

“I’ve always said I’m a Christian first and a Republican second. That’s always who I am,” she added. “So it must mean that I don’t care about politics. I care about serving.”

GOP lawmakers indicated that the House could vote on another CR proposal Friday to avert the looming partial government shutdown, but the timing still remains unclear.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., speaking to reporters outside Speaker Mike Johnson’s office, said that lawmakers are “very close to a deal” and suggested that a vote could be held that morning.

“I do not believe the government is going to be shutting down. You guys will see some great stuff, very similar to President Trump’s plan yesterday,” the congresswoman said.

Luna added that “there will be no deals with the Democrats.”

TRUMP-BACKED SPENDING BILL GOES DOWN IN FLAMES AS SHUTDOWN LOOMS

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., attends a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)

However, Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., told reporters that was not certain a vote would come as early as Friday morning.

CAPITOL HILL BRACES FOR HIGH-STAKES SHOWDOWN OVER $36T US DEBT CRISIS

“I don’t have any reason to believe there will be a vote at 10 o’clock,” Johnson said. “I know some people would like to get something on the floor this morning.”

Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, leaving a Democratic caucus meeting on Friday, also told reporters that Democrats had no update on the timing for a potential vote.

Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., walks to the Capitol for the last votes of the week on Friday, April 1, 2022.  (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)

Democratic members told reporters that Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., was in talks with Johnson to try and reach a deal ahead of the partial government shutdown deadline, but suggested that the GOP put the original bipartisan deal on the floor.

House Republican negotiators have tentatively reached an agreement on averting a partial government shutdown at the end of Friday, sources told Fox News Digital.

Two people familiar with discussions told Fox News Digital late Frisy morning that House Republican negotiators had tentatively reached an agreement that would include a short-term extension of this year’s federal funding levels, disaster aid funding, and agricultural support for farmers – but under three separate bills.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is reportedly talking to Speaker Johnson to find a deal before the partial government shutdown deadline. (Kevin Dietsch)

The speaker originally put forward a 1,547-page bipartisan deal that would have extended the government funding deadline until March 14, but the proposal crumbled after Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy criticized the spending bill.

A new proposal, backed by Trump, was hastily negotiated on Thursday, but failed to pass the House of Representatives on Thursday night.  

The bill needed two-thirds of the House chamber to pass, but failed to even net a majority, with two Democrats voting with the majority of Republicans to pass the bill, and 38 GOP lawmakers against.

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The national debt has climbed to over $36 trillion, and the national deficit is over $1.8 trillion.

The House has passed a bill to avert a partial government shutdown on Friday, hours before the midnight federal funding deadline. 

The bill, which needed approval from two-thirds of the chamber, passed overwhelmingly in a 366 to 34 vote. 

All Democrats voted for the bill save for Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, who voted “present.”

Lawmakers were scrambling for a path forward after an initial bill was tanked by President-elect Trump and his allies on Wednesday, and a later bill approved by Trump failed on the House floor Thursday.

DANIEL PENNY TO BE TAPPED FOR CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL BY HOUSE GOP LAWMAKER

Speaker Johnson suggested a vote is coming Friday on averting a government shutdown. (Getty Images/AP)

But Trump has stayed noticeably silent on this latest measure – which many House Republicans saw as a tacit sign of approval.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was optimistic after days of uncertainty, telling reporters there would be a House-wide vote Friday when leaving a closed-door House GOP meeting where leaders presented their plan.

“We will not have a government shutdown, and we will meet our obligations for our farmers who need aid, for the disaster victims all over the country and for making sure that military and essential services and everyone who relies upon the federal government for a paycheck is paid over the holidays,” Johnson said. 

Meanwhile, the national debt has climbed past $36 trillion, and the deficit is over $1.8 trillion.

The legislation, if passed in the Senate, would extend current government funding levels through mid-March, a measure known as a continuing resolution (CR), paired with just over $100 billion in disaster relief aid for victims of storms Helene and Milton, as well as assistance for the agriculture industry.

Johnson bypassed regular House procedures to get the legislation straight to a chamber-wide vote, a maneuver known as “suspension of the rules.”

In exchange for the fast track, however, the threshold for passage was raised from a simple majority to two-thirds of the House chamber, meaning Democratic support is critical.

MIKE JOHNSON WINS REPUBLICAN SUPPORT TO BE HOUSE SPEAKER AGAIN

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., told reporters he believed Johnson struck an agreement with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. A longtime Johnson critic, Massie said he would not vote for the bill.

“Trump wanted a debt limit increase, and now we’re bringing the exact same bill to the floor without the debt limit increase,” Massie said.

Another Republican lawmaker argued Johnson would not move forward without Trump’s blessing.

President-elect Trump called on Republicans to tank the initial spending bill. (Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images)

“We wouldn’t do it if they weren’t,” Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., said when asked if Trump and Elon Musk were supportive of the deal.

Trump and Musk led the conservative rebellion against the initial plan to avert a partial shutdown, a bipartisan deal that came from negotiations between the top two Democrats and Republicans in both Congressional chambers.

That bill, 1,547 pages, would have extended current government funding levels until March 14. However, GOP hardliners were angered by what they saw as unrelated measures attached to the bill, like a pay raise for congressional lawmakers, health care policy provisions and legislation aimed at revitalizing RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.

TRUMP-BACKED SPENDING BILL GOES DOWN IN FLAMES AS SHUTDOWN LOOMS

It was scrapped as Trump and Musk threatened to force out of office any lawmaker who did not support pairing a CR with action on the debt limit.

The debt limit is suspended until January 2025 through a prior bipartisan deal, but Trump had pushed for Republicans to act on it now to avoid a messy, protracted fight early in his term.

The second iteration of the funding deal was much slimmer, coming in at 116 pages. It excluded the stadium bill and the congressional pay raise, but still included measures to fund the rebuilding of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge and disaster aid funding. It also suspended the debt limit through January 2027.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., is opposed to Johnson’s new CR plan (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

A House vote on the second plan went down in flames, however, after 38 Republicans opposed to raising or suspending the debt limit voted with all but two Democrats to defeat the bill.

Johnson huddled with those holdouts Friday morning, along with Trump’s nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, and Vice President-elect JD Vance. 

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The bill that passed the House on Friday does not act on the debt limit, but Johnson pledged in that closed-door meeting to raise the debt limit early next year as part of Republicans’ plans for a massive policy and spending overhaul.

During their closed-door meeting Friday, House GOP leaders unveiled their CR plan as well as a plan to raise the debt limit by $1.5 trillion, followed by $2.5 trillion in net spending cuts, multiple people told Fox News Digital.

Democrats who left their own closed-door meeting shortly before the vote largely said they would support the bill – which they did.

President Biden has said he would sign it into law if it reaches his desk after a Senate vote.

A partial government shutdown began at 12:01 on Saturday morning after Congress failed to pass a stopgap spending measure before the deadline and send it to President Biden’s desk.

However, the Senate is actively working through amendment votes and other considerations in order to send the measure to Biden. The stopgap bill is expected to be passed in the Senate in the coming hours. 

The partial shutdown comes only days before Christmas and New Year’s. 

As of Thursday, the U.S. national debt was at $36,167,604,149,955.61 and was continuing to climb rapidly. 

A partial government shutdown began at 12:01 on Saturday morning after Congress failed to pass a stopgap spending measure before the deadline. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images)

During a partial government shutdown, federal agencies and non-essential services are stopped, but some functions that are considered “essential” will continue. Certain national security functions, such as border patrol, law enforcement and disaster response, will remain active during the shutdown. 

However, because the Senate is expected to move the bill forward imminently, the disruption to government function will be minimal, if at all noticeable.

An original agreement on a short-term spending bill was released earlier in the week, totaling 1,547-pages and including a number of policy provisions and disaster aid. 

TOP SENATE DEMS POUR COLD WATER ON LATEST GOP SPENDING BILL PLANS: ‘READY TO STAY’ THROUGH CHRISTMAS

Musk’s public criticism of the bill preceded Trump’s statement. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

But soon after its release, billionaire Elon Musk and other conservative critics publicly blasted the measure, ultimately resulting in it being condemned by President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance. 

The initial spending measure would have extended government funding levels for fiscal year 2024 through March 14 and provide over $100 billion in disaster aid for those affected by storms Helene and Milton in the U.S. Southeast earlier this year. There was also a $10 billion provision for economic assistance to farmers in the bill. 

TIM SCOTT’S SENATE CAMPAIGN ARM STAFF REVEALED AHEAD OF CRUCIAL 2026 SWING STATE RACES

The size of the bill, along with several of its other provisions, including a cost of living raise for lawmakers, prompted the public reaction from Musk and others. 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, co-chair of the newly announced Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), arrives on Capitol Hill with his son on Dec. 5, 2024, in Washington, DC.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

After heading back to the drawing board, House Republicans emerged on Thursday with a new proposal. The revised measure would have extended current funding levels for three months and included a debt limit suspension for two years, per the request of Trump. 

‘MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN’ CAUCUS LAUNCHED BY SEN MARSHALL AFTER RFK JR MEETING

Additionally, it had economic relief for farmers and about $110 billion in disaster aid. 

But the bill failed on the House floor Thursday night as Democrats united against it and a significant group of Republicans opted to oppose it as well.

By Friday morning, there appeared to be no agreement between Democrats and Republicans in Congress to work together on a new bill. In fact, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., said the government would go into a partial shutdown at midnight if Republicans did not return to the original stopgap bill. 

DOGE CAUCUS LEADER JONI ERNST EYES RELOCATION OUT OF DC FOR THIRD OF FEDERAL WORKERS

Rep. Chip Roy speaks to the media after the House of Representatives failed to pass a government funding bill at the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 19, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“I’m ready to stay here through Christmas because we’re not going to let Elon Musk run the government,” Murray said in a statement. 

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The House managed to pass a third version of the spending bill on Friday. It was similar to the second version, including both economic relief for farmers and disaster aid, but did not have the debt ceiling suspension that Trump had been adamant about. 

The bill received broad bipartisan support in the House and the green light from Biden, as the White House said he’d support it. Even Schumer released a statement after the House’s passage, saying he was “confident” it would pass the Senate. 

Senators voted to pass a new version of a stopgap spending bill early Saturday morning after the midnight deadline for a partial government shutdown came and went.

The Senate advanced the third version of a short-term spending bill, and it will now head to President Biden’s desk, who has already signaled that he will sign it. 

An original agreement on a short-term spending bill was released earlier in the week, totaling 1,547-pages and including a number of policy provisions and disaster aid. 

But soon after its release, billionaire Elon Musk and other conservative critics publicly blasted the measure, ultimately resulting in it being condemned by President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance. 

SENATE DEMS RAIL AGAINST ‘SHADOW SPEAKER’ BILLIONAIRE ELON MUSK: ‘NOT ELECTED TO ANYTHING’

Congress passed a short-term spending bill with only hours until the shutdown deadline. (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH. If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF. It is Schumer and Biden who are holding up aid to our farmers and disaster relief,” Trump and Vance said in a lengthy statement opposing the bill on Wednesday afternoon.

The initial spending measure would have extended government funding levels for fiscal year 2024 through March 14 and provide over $100 billion in disaster aid for those affected by storms Helene and Milton in the U.S. Southeast earlier this year. There was also a $10 billion provision for economic assistance to farmers in the bill. 

Meanwhile, as of Thursday, the U.S. national debt was at $36,167,604,149,955.61 and was continuing to climb rapidly. 

SENATE REPUBLICANS TRY TO FAST-TRACK EMERGENCY MILITARY PAY AS THEY BRACE FOR SHUTDOWN

Elon Musk was vocally against the first iteration of the bill.  (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The size of the bill, along with several of its other provisions, including a cost of living raise for lawmakers, prompted the public reaction from Musk and others. 

“Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!” he wrote on X. 

After heading back to the drawing board, House Republicans emerged on Thursday with a new proposal. The revised measure would have extended current funding levels for three months and included a debt limit suspension for two years, per the request of Trump. 

Additionally, it had economic relief for farmers and about $110 billion in disaster aid. 

But the bill failed on the House floor Thursday night as Democrats united against it and a significant group of Republicans opted to oppose it as well.

TOP SENATE DEMS POUR COLD WATER ON LATEST GOP SPENDING BILL PLANS: ‘READY TO STAY’ THROUGH CHRISTMAS

Johnson was left to find a new stopgap bill after Musk’s opposition. (Jean Catuffe/GC Images/Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“Old bill: $110BB in deficit spending (unpaid for), $0 increase in the national credit card. New bill: $110BB in deficit spending (unpaid for), $4 TRILLION+ debt ceiling increase with $0 in structural reforms for cuts. Time to read the bill: 1.5 hours. I will vote no,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, wrote on X ahead of the vote. 

Roy was one of 38 House Republicans that opposed the stopgap bill. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson, left, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (Reuters)

By Friday morning, there appeared to be no agreement between Democrats and Republicans in Congress to work together on a new bill. In fact, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., said the government would go into a partial shutdown at midnight if Republicans did not return to the original stopgap bill. 

“I’m ready to stay here through Christmas because we’re not going to let Elon Musk run the government,” Murray said in a statement. 

TIM SCOTT’S SENATE CAMPAIGN ARM STAFF REVEALED AHEAD OF CRUCIAL 2026 SWING STATE RACES

Democrats did not get their wish, which was a return to the original bill. (Reuters)

Schumer said in remarks on the Senate floor that the original bill would pass in the House if Speaker Mike Johnson brought it to the floor for a vote. 

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The third measure, which ultimately passed the House and Senate, was similar to the one that failed the night prior. The bill included economic relief for farmers and disaster aid for those affected by recent storms. However, the final stopgap bill did not include a suspension of the debt ceiling, which Trump had requested himself. 

The House passed the short-term spending bill with 366 yes votes, surpassing the necessary two-thirds.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre volleyed away reporters’ questions on Friday about President Biden’s lack of public appearances amid the ongoing government funding fight as a partial shutdown looms. 

Jean-Pierre refused to answer why the president has not spoken to the American public about his position, and she instead blamed Republicans, President-elect Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and their “billionaire friends” like Elon Musk for the chaos on Capitol Hill. 

“Why hasn’t President Biden said anything in the public about this? Don’t the American people deserve to know why millions of federal workers could enter this holiday period without a paycheck?” Jean-Pierre was asked during her daily press briefing. 

RAND PAUL SUGGESTS REPLACING MIKE JOHNSON WITH ELON MUSK AS SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks during the daily press briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Friday. (Ting Shen/AFP via Getty Images)

“All Americans need to know that Republicans are getting in the way here and they are the ones who have created this mess. That’s the reality. That’s the fact,” she responded. “This is not the first time we’ve been here. And the president has had this approach before. He understands how Congress works. He’s been around for some time. He understands what strategy works here to get this done.”

Jean-Pierre said Friday that Biden has held phone calls with Democratic leaders in Congress — Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. — but would not say if the president has spoken to the House speaker with regard to the ongoing discussions. 

“He has been getting regular updates from his team. His team has been in touch with congressional members from both sides of the aisle,” she said. 

A streamlined version of a bill backed by Trump to avert a partial government shutdown failed to pass the House of Representatives on Thursday night.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre volleyed away reporters’ questions on Friday about President Biden’s lack of public appearances amid the ongoing spending bill crisis as a government shutdown looms. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images | AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

The bill, which needed two-thirds of the House chamber to pass, failed by a vote of 174 to 235. The national debt has soared to over $36 trillion, and the national deficit is over $1.8 trillion.

Jean-Pierre said Republicans went back on their word and “blew up this deal.”

“Republicans need to stop playing politics with a government shutdown. And they are doing the bidding. They’re doing the bidding of their billionaire friends. That’s what we’re seeing at the expense of hard-working Americans,” she said. 

SENATE REPUBLICANS TRY TO FAST-TRACK EMERGENCY MILITARY PAY AS THEY BRACE FOR SHUTDOWN

“There is a bipartisan agreement that Republicans tanked because of what they were directed to do by Elon Musk and President-elect Trump. That’s what happened. That is the reality that we’re in now.”

Musk, an outspoken critic of government waste, has weighed in on the spending bill debate and led a conservative revolt against the first 1,547-page bill due to its bloated spending provisions, calling for lawmakers who supported the bill to lose their seats.

He supported the newer, slimmer version, which was ultimately rejected by House members. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s, R-La., handling of the talks was criticized by White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)

Reporters tried several different ways to try and get Jean-Pierre to comment on the president’s role in the matter, but she continued to sidestep.

“The president is the President of the United States, and he is leading,” she told a reporter, to which he responded: “To be clear, the strategy is he is leading by staying in the background?”

“The strategy is that Congress, Republicans in particular, need to do their jobs and get out of their own way and focus on the American people, not their billionaire friends. That is what needs to happen. And that’s what the president wants to see,” she replied.

Jean-Pierre also warned that a shutdown could disrupt the presidential transition process for the incoming administration.

“If there is a shutdown — and I don’t want to get too much into hypotheticals — but this is the reality, transition activities will be restricted with limited exceptions, obviously, such as to prevent imminent threats to the safety of human life or the protection of property,” she said.

President-elect Trump, right, and Elon Musk were in favor of Thursday’s failed bill. (Brandon Bell)

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Meanwhile, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said Friday that Republicans have a “good plan” to avoid a partial government shutdown. 

Rep. Stephanie Bice, R-Okla., added: “I think you come to an agreement, then you get together and sit down and figure out, you know, if we can get across the finish line. And that’s probably what we’re about to do now.”