NationalWatch

 

Congress released a $900 billion defense bill that reshapes U.S. economic and military competition with China by imposing new investment restrictions, banning a range of Chinese-made technologies from Pentagon supply chains, and expanding diplomatic and intelligence efforts to track Beijing’s global footprint. 

The legislation, which authorizes War Department spending at $8 billion above the White House’s request, includes a 4% pay raise for enlisted service members, expands counter-drone authorities, and directs new investments in the Golden Dome missile defense shield and nuclear modernization programs. 

It also extends Pentagon support to law enforcement operations at the southwest border and strengthens U.S. posture in the Indo-Pacific, including funding for Taiwan’s security cooperation program.

In a victory for conservative privacy hawks like House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the legislation includes a non-defense provision that would mandate FBI disclosure when the bureau was investigating presidential candidates and other candidates for federal office.

That measure was the subject of party in-fighting last week when Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., whom Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had appointed chairwoman of House GOP leadership, publicly accused the speaker of kowtowing to Democrats and allowing that provision to be removed.

WAR DEPARTMENT REFOCUSES ON AI, HYPERSONICS AND DIRECTED ENERGY IN MAJOR STRATEGY OVERHAUL 

Johnson said he was blindsided by Stefanik’s anger and was unaware of her concerns when she had made them public.

Stefanik later claimed victory on X, stating the provision had been reinstated after a conversation between herself, Johnson and President Donald Trump. 

Coverage of in vitro fertilization (IVF) for military families, which became a flashpoint in recent days, is not included in the final NDAA. Neither are provisions preempting states from regulating AI or banning a U.S. central bank digital currency (CBDC). 

Republicans have pushed the CBDC prohibition as a privacy and civil-liberties measure, arguing that a government-issued digital dollar could give federal agencies the ability to monitor or restrict individual transactions. 

House aides said the anti-CBDC language became tied to a separate housing-policy package known as “Road to Housing,” and the concessions required to keep both items together were unacceptable.

The bill also establishes a new “Artificial Intelligence Futures Steering Committee” charged with producing long-range forecasts and policy recommendations for advanced AI systems, including artificial general intelligence.

The legislation takes aim at long-standing bottlenecks in the defense industrial base by authorizing new investment tools, expanding multi-year procurement for high-demand munitions and platforms, and overhauling portions of the acquisition system to speed the fielding of commercial and emerging technologies. 

Alongside those reforms, lawmakers approved new “right-to-repair” style requirements that force contractors to provide the technical data the Pentagon needs to maintain and sustain major weapons systems—a change intended to reduce vendor lock-in and ease chronic maintenance delays across the fleet.

One major section of the bill establishes a far-reaching outbound investment screening system, requiring U.S. companies and investors to alert the Treasury Department when they back certain high-risk technologies in China or other “countries of concern.” The measure gives Treasury the ability to block deals outright, forces detailed annual reporting to Congress, and grants new authorities to sanction foreign firms tied to China’s military or surveillance networks. Lawmakers cast the effort as a long-overdue step to keep U.S. capital from fueling Beijing’s development of dual-use technologies.

US COULD LOSE NEXT MAJOR WAR DUE TO PENTAGON’S ‘BROKEN’ ACQUISITION SYSTEM

The bill also includes a procurement ban targeting biotechnology providers that would bar the Pentagon from contracting with Chinese genetic sequencing and biotech firms linked to the People’s Liberation Army or China’s security services. 

Additional sourcing prohibitions restrict the War Department from purchasing items such as advanced batteries, photovoltaic components, computer displays, and critical minerals originating from foreign entities of concern, further tightening U.S. supply chains away from China. They also require the department to phase out the use of Chinese-made computers, printers and other tech equipment.

Beyond economic measures, the NDAA directs the State Department to deploy a new cadre of Regional China Officers at U.S. diplomatic posts around the world, responsible for monitoring Chinese commercial, technological, and infrastructure activities across every major geographic region, including Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.

The NDAA contains several Israel-related provisions, including a directive for the Pentagon to avoid participating in international defense exhibitions that bar Israeli involvement. It authorizes funding for  Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and Arrow – the missile defense programs the U.S. operates with Israel. 

The bill also requires biennial reports comparing China’s global diplomatic presence to that of the United States. The Pentagon is separately directed to strengthen U.S. posture in the Indo-Pacific by extending the Pacific Deterrence Initiative and expanding cooperative training and industrial-base initiatives with regional allies, including Taiwan and the Philippines.

The legislation reauthorizes the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative at $400 million per year for fiscal years 2026 and 2027. Congress will also require more frequent reporting on allied contributions to Ukraine to track how European partners support Kyiv.

The bill repeals two long-dormant war authorizations tied to earlier phases of U.S. military involvement in Iraq, while leaving the primary post-9/11 counterterrorism authority untouched. Lawmakers said the final text includes repeals of the 1991 Gulf War AUMF and the 2002 Iraq War AUMF, both of which successive administrations have said are no longer operationally necessary. The 1991 authorization approved the U.S.-led effort to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait, and the 2002 authority permitted the invasion of Iraq under President George W. Bush.

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Both parties have debated winding down these authorizations for years, arguing they no longer reflect current U.S. missions in the Middle East. Presidents from both parties, including Trump, have maintained that modern military operations in the region do not rely on either statute and that the commander in chief already holds sufficient Article II authority to defend U.S. personnel when required. Repeal also answers long-running concerns in Congress about outdated war authorities being used as secondary legal justifications for actions far from their original intent, such as the 2020 strike on Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

The NDAA does not touch the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force, which remains the central legal basis for U.S. counter-terror operations against al-Qaeda, ISIS, and associated groups. That post-9/11 statute continues to underpin nearly all active U.S. counter-terror missions worldwide.

House aides said leaders in their chamber hoped to consider the bill as soon as this week. It will first need to go through the House Rules Committee, the final gatekeepers before legislation gets a chamber-wide vote. It could hit that panel as early as Tuesday afternoon.

Then it will head for a vote in the Senate before reaching Trump’s desk for his signature.

New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani on Sunday released a video outlining New Yorkers’ rights during encounters with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after an attempted raid in Manhattan, pledging that his administration will safeguard immigrant communities while protecting the city’s constitutional right to protest.

The video comes as immigration enforcement in New York faces renewed scrutiny, underscoring how Mamdani plans to confront federal actions he says threaten immigrant communities and demand that New Yorkers be prepared, informed and confident in asserting their legal rights.

In the video, Mamdani opens by recalling an ICE raid last weekend in Manhattan that sought to detain immigrants.

“As mayor, I’ll protect the rights of every single New Yorker, and that includes the more than 3 million immigrants who call this city their home,” he said. “But we can all stand up to ICE if you know your rights.”

MAMDANI VOWS NYPD WILL ‘NEVER’ GO BACK TO ADAMS-ERA COOPERATION WITH ICE ENFORCEMENT

He then offered guidance for immigrants who may encounter ICE.

“First, ICE cannot enter into private spaces like your home, school or private area of your workplace without a judicial warrant signed by a judge,” Mamdani advised. “If ICE does not have a judicial warrant signed by a judge, you have the right to say, ‘I do not consent to entry’ and the right to keep your door closed.’”

He noted that ICE may present paperwork claiming authority to make an arrest, but said “that is false.”

BONDI PUTS SANCTUARY CITIES NATIONWIDE ON NOTICE AFTER DC POLICE FEDERAL TAKEOVER

“ICE is legally allowed to lie to you, but you have the right to remain silent,” the mayor-elect said. “If you’re being detained, you may always ask, ‘Am I free to go?’ repeatedly until they answer you.”

Mamdani also said that people are “legally allowed to film” ICE agents as long as they do not interfere with an arrest.

“It is important to remain calm during any interaction with ICE or law enforcement. Do not impede their investigation, resist arrest or run,” he said.

DHS DEMANDS LETITIA JAMES TAKE ACTION OVER NEW YORK’S REFUSAL TO HONOR ICE DETAINERS

Mamdani closed by emphasizing New Yorkers’ constitutional right to protest.

“New Yorkers have a constitutional right to protest, and when I’m mayor, we will protect that right,” he said. “New York will always welcome immigrants, and I will fight each and every day to protect, support and celebrate our immigrant brothers and sisters.”

The video comes more than two weeks after the mayor-elect met with President Donald Trump, appearing to forge a new path in their relationship as they found common ground on affordability issues and improving conditions in New York.

Despite that meeting, Mamdani reaffirmed New York’s status as a sanctuary city during a speech at a church in the Bronx.

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“I shared with the president directly that New Yorkers want to follow the laws of our city, and the laws of our city say that, in our sanctuary city policies, city government can be in touch with the federal government on around 170 serious crimes,” Mamdani said last month. “The concern comes from beyond those crimes, the many New Yorkers who are being arrested, they’re being detained, they’re being deported for the crime of making a regular court appearance.”

“My focus as the next mayor of this city is going to be to protect immigrants who call this city their home,” the mayor-elect added.

The Trump administration is reshaping when Americans can enter national parks for free – adding President Donald Trump’s birthday as a fee-free day while eliminating Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth in a move already drawing criticism from civil rights leaders.

Although presidents often revise the list, the changes are sparking criticism from civil rights advocates and Democratic lawmakers who say the removals undercut holidays that honor Black Americans’ history and contributions.

The shift in free-entry days marks a notable break from the 2025 calendar, which leaned heavily on long-established public lands celebrations and civil rights observances.

This year’s lineup included Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Juneteenth, National Public Lands Day, and the kickoff to National Park Week – all of which disappear under the 2026 schedule.

TOP TRUMP DEPARTMENT ROLLS OUT CHRISTMAS TREE SAVINGS PLAN: ‘MAKING THIS SEASON BRIGHTER’

In their place, the Trump administration has added a slate of historically themed or presidentially-aligned dates. President Donald Trump’s birthday on June 14 becomes a fee-free day for the first time, as do Constitution Day, the 110th anniversary of the National Park Service, and the birthday of Theodore Roosevelt.

The agency is also shifting some observances to federal holidays with broader national recognition, including Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day and a three-day Independence Day weekend.

YOSEMITE RANGERS BUST OUTLAW JUMPERS OFF EL CAP — ZERO TOLERANCE, SHUTDOWN OR NOT

Veterans Day remains the lone date carried over from both years, underscoring how dramatically the free-day calendar is being remade heading into 2026.

FOX 5 in DC reported that some civil rights leaders have voiced opposition to the changes.

National Parks Conservation Association spokesperson Kristen Brengel told the station that the elimination of Martin Luther King Jr. Day is concerning, adding that the day had become a popular day of service for community groups that use it to conduct volunteer projects at the parks.

SQUATTERS TAKE OVER YOSEMITE AS SHUTDOWN LEAVES POPULAR NATIONAL PARK WITH FEW RANGERS: REPORT

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., also weighed in on the changes in a post on X on Friday.

“Let’s be clear here: both MLK Jr. Day and Juneteenth were free entry days last year,” she wrote. “The President didn’t just add his own birthday to the list, he removed both of these holidays that mark Black Americans’ struggle for civil rights and freedom. Our country deserves better.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House regarding the changes.

AMERICA’S NATIONAL PARKS ARE AT A CROSSROADS. HERE’S HOW CONGRESS CAN PROTECT THEM

The Department of Interior is pairing the new free-day schedule with a broader overhaul of how visitors access national parks beginning Jan. 1, 2026.

The agency is rolling out fully digital America the Beautiful passes – including annual, military, senior, fourth-grade and access passes – that can be purchased and displayed on mobile devices through Recreation.gov. Visitors will be able to activate passes instantly and still link them to physical cards if needed.

Officials say updated validation tools and new training for park staff are intended to speed up entrance lines and simplify visitor experiences across the system.

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE ANNOUNCES IT WILL RESTORE, REINSTATE STATUE HONORING CONFEDERATE GENERAL ALBERT PIKE

“President Trump’s leadership always puts American families first,” Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said. “These policies ensure that U.S. taxpayers, who already support the National Park System, continue to enjoy affordable access, while international visitors contribute their fair share to maintaining and improving our parks for future generations.”

The department is also refreshing annual pass designs with new patriotic artwork that will appear on both digital and physical versions.

Alongside the digital rollout, the administration announced it is shifting its fee structure to emphasize lower costs for U.S. residents and higher prices for international visitors.

The annual pass will remain $80 for Americans but jump to $250 for nonresidents. Foreign visitors who do not hold a pass will pay an added $100 per person at 11 of the most visited national parks.

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The agency is also broadening access for motorcycle riders by allowing all America the Beautiful passes to cover two motorcycles instead of one.

Interior officials say the increased revenue from higher nonresident fees will be directed toward facility upgrades, maintenance projects, and visitor services across the park system.

LA GRANGE, TEXAS — Along the bends of Highway 71, a string of steady Texas towns dot the wind-swept pastures. It’s here where most folks earn a living with their hands, wear dust on their boots, sun on their skin and easy smiles on their faces.

This is the soft edge of the Hill Country, where limestone gives way to red dirt and family ranches stitch the land together. Folks here haul their own hay, do things right the first time and don’t wait for daylight to start the day.

Among those who know the grind is Cole Bolton, owner of K&C Cattle Company, who welcomes the Trump administration’s renewed focus on the razor-thin margins ranchers have endured for years.

“What the real issue is, is the price differential between the big four packers and what they’re paying us for the product,” Bolton told Fox News Digital.

Known as the “big four,” Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef anchor the U.S. beef supply chain, commanding pricing power that reaches from pasture to plate. 

Combined, the packing titans process about 85% of the grain-fattened cattle that become steaks, roasts and other supermarket cuts.

AMERICA’S SMALLEST CATTLE HERD IN 70 YEARS MEANS REBUILDING WILL TAKE YEARS AND BEEF PRICES COULD STAY HIGH

And those margins, Bolton said, have been squeezed for decades. “Ranchers have dealt with such thin margins of profitability for the last 20 years.”

It’s the kind of sustained financial strain that federal officials say could signal deeper problems in the supply chain.

The revelation comes on the heels of President Donald Trump’s executive order establishing food supply chain security task forces within the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to address risks from price fixing and anti-competitive behavior.

TRUMP’S BEEF IMPORT PLAN IGNORES KEY ISSUE SQUEEZING AMERICAN CATTLE RANCHERS

“My administration will act to determine whether anti-competitive behavior, especially by foreign-controlled companies, increases the cost of living for Americans and address any associated national security threat to food supply chains,” Trump said in the order released on Saturday.

According to the order, the attorney general and the FTC chairman may bring enforcement actions or propose new regulatory measures if the investigation uncovers anti-competitive behavior.

In a related move, the Trump administration called on the Justice Department to investigate the major meatpacking companies, accusing them of driving up beef prices through “illicit collusion, price fixing and price manipulation.”

The probe did not identify any targets.

BEEF PRICES ARE CLOSE TO RECORD HIGHS — BUT AMERICANS AREN’T CUTTING BACK

Meanwhile, beef prices have climbed to record highs.

According to USDA data, the average price of beef in grocery stores climbed from about $8.40 per pound in March to $9.18 per pound by August 2025, a roughly 9% increase over that period. Despite that rise, beef demand continues to hit new highs.

But that strong appetite comes as ranchers are contending with the smallest U.S. cattle herd in 70 years.

Years of punishing drought, rising costs and an aging ranching workforce have thinned herds across the country. Ranchers and agricultural economists alike say rebuilding will take years, and beef prices aren’t likely to ease anytime soon.

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“I think it’s going to take a while to fix this crisis that we’re in with the cattle shortage. My message to consumers is simple: Folks, be patient. We’ve got to build back our herds,” Bolton told Fox News Digital.

He noted that the cattle industry has weathered one setback after another, from market turmoil to extreme conditions, over the past five years.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press office responded to a New York Post article mocking his “testicle-crushing” sitting pose with a photo of the politician in an exaggerated, contorted position that quickly went viral.

“Democracy requires flexibility,” Newsom’s office wrote in the post accompanying the image.

HALLE BERRY STUNS CROWD BY CRITICIZING GAVIN NEWSOM, SAYS HE ‘PROBABLY SHOULD NOT BE OUR NEXT PRESIDENT’

The California governor had been ridiculed online after video from his appearance at The New York Times DealBook Summit on Wednesday showed him sitting with his legs tightly crossed, prompting a wave of joking commentary on social media.

“I have never seen a man crush his testicles harder than this dude,” said one user.

LIBERAL COMEDIAN HAS HAD ENOUGH OF NEWSOM’S TRUMP-LIKE TWITTER ANTICS 

The press office’s exaggerated photo sparked another round of memes and quips from users, questioning whether the governor’s team had actually meant to post it.

“They…  Posted this?” one man wrote. 

“Gavin illustrating his taxation policy on your average California residence,” said another user.

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“What the. When they say ‘the Left can’t meme,’ they’re really not kidding,” another man chimed in.

Newsom himself responded to the viral photo, writing on X, “WOW!”

Democrat lawmakers are increasingly turning up the heat on the Trump administration over its series of military strikes on suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean since September, most recently focusing on alleged drug runners who survived an initial strike and were killed by a follow-up. 

“If the reports are true, [Secretary of War] Pete Hegseth likely committed a war crime when he gave an illegal order that led to the killing of incapacitated survivors of the U.S. strike in the Caribbean,” Nevada Democrat Sen. Sen. Jacky Rosen said in a statement earlier in December of strikes that killed suspected traffickers. 

The White House told Fox News Digital on Friday that the Democrat criticism echoes the “Maryland Man” hoax, referring to the arrest of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an accused MS-13 gang member who was illegally residing in Maryland. 

Abrego Garcia received an outpouring of support from Democrat lawmakers in March over his deportation to El Salvador, with lawmakers traveling to El Salvador to meet with him, and media outlets describing him as a “Maryland man.” 

EXPERT REVEALS WHAT IT WOULD TAKE FOR TRUMP TO DEPLOY TROOPS TO VENEZUELA: ‘POSSIBILITY OF ESCALATION’

“’Innocent fisherman’ is the new ‘Maryland Man’ hoax – just like the media tried to paint MS-13 human smuggler Kilmar Abrego Garcia as ‘father of the year,’ they are now running cover for foreign terrorists smuggling deadly narcotics intended to murder Americans. President Trump is using every element of American power to take on the cartels and stop deadly drugs from flooding into our country – just like he promised on the campaign trail,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told Fox Digital. 

Trump has long vowed to take on the ongoing opioid epidemic and stop foreign drugs and precursor chemicals from flowing into the U.S. The administration has defended the at least 22 strikes, which have killed dozens of suspected drug criminals, on suspected narco-boats as protecting the U.S. from cartels looking to “poison Americans.”

“These narco-terrorists are bringing drugs to our shores to poison Americans at home — and they will not succeed,” Hegseth wrote in a post on X in November. “The Department will treat them EXACTLY how we treated Al-Qaeda. We will continue to track them, map them, hunt them, and kill them.”

Democrats have increasingly taken issue with a pair of strikes on Sept. 2 against an alleged drug boat from Venezuela. The White House confirmed the military carried out an initial strike on the boat before firing off a second that killed two suspected traffickers, sparking Democrats to claim the administration committed potential war crimes. 

“You have two individuals in clear distress, without any means of locomotion, with a destroyed vessel, who were killed by the United States,” Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told reporters earlier in December of the strikes. 

While Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly shot back, “Going after survivors in the water, that is clearly not lawful.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Kelly’s and Himes’ respective offices for comment on the White House statement and the opioid epidemic in the U.S., but did not immediately receive replies. 

Rosen’s office told Fox News Digital on Friday in response: “If Donald Trump is serious about fighting drug smuggling, why did he pardon the former President of Honduras who was convicted for smuggling hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States? And why did the Trump Administration threaten to cut millions of dollars in funding to address the opioid epidemic? The American people deserve to know.” 

Republicans such as Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, remarked that video of the survivors allegedly showed individuals who wanted to “stay in the fight.”

“I saw two survivors trying to flip a boat, loaded with drugs bound for the United States, back over so they could stay in the fight,” Cotton said. 

Alabama Republican Senate candidate Capt. Morgan Murphy told Fox News Digital that he’s seeing “utter hypocrisy from a party of theater kids who just don’t care about the lives being lost to the drug trade” when asked about Democrats sounding off about the strikes. 

“For nearly a decade, Democrats lauded President Obama as the ‘Prince of Peace,’ even though his bomb strikes Yemen, Pakistan, and Somalia killed hundreds of civilians. None of those countries were at war with the United States or targeted American civilians,” Murphy said, referring how former President Barack Obama faced war-crimes accusations from critics over his administration’s drone strikes and civilian casualties in countries like Pakistan, Yemen, and Afghanistan. 

Murphy formerly served as the head of public diplomacy for the President’s Special Envoy to Russia and Ukraine in the Trump administration before launching his Senate campaign earlier in the fall. He is a captain in the U.S. Navy Reserves, as well as a veteran of the Afghanistan war, where he was awarded the Meritorious Defense Service Medal and the Afghan campaign medal, among others. 

“But when President Trump pushes his own effort to stop human smugglers and drug dealers who have done untold harm and killed millions of Americans, they want to place the President and Secretary of War on a show trial,” he said. 

CAPITOL HILL REVOLT THREATENS TRUMP’S VENEZUELA PLAYBOOK AMID CARIBBEAN STRIKE OVERSIGHT

The Trump administration launched the strikes after the president campaigned to end the flow of narcotics into the U.S. from nations including China, Mexico and Central and South America. The Trump administration turned its attention toward Venezuela, which is led by dictatorial president Nicolás Maduro, saying the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels after the groups evolved into transnational terror organizations. 

The administration has defended the strikes as necessary to curb the flow of opioid deaths in the U.S., while experts have also said the pressure campaign on Venezuela is likely aimed to also oust Maduro as leader of the oil-rich nation. 

HEGSETH DID NOT ISSUE ‘KILL THEM ALL’ ORDER DURING VENEZUELA STRIKES, ADMIRAL TELLS CONGRESS

The CDC found that an estimated 806,000 people died from an opioid overdose between 1999-2023. The opioid crisis is viewed as unfolding in three waves, beginning in the 1990s with the increase in prescriptions to opioids, the CDC reported, followed by the second wave that began in 2010, when heroin overdoses spiked, and finally the current third wave of deaths involving synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl. 

The crisis has slowed from its high of 81,806 opioid-related deaths in 2022, with 2023 marking the first annual decline in deaths since 2018, according to CDC data. There were an estimated 79,358 opioid deaths in 2023, according to CDC data. 

As of Thursday, an estimated 86 suspected drug traffickers have died in the strikes. 

Fentanyl has long been on the medical market to treat individuals suffering with severe pain, but has since become an illegal manufactured substance by transnational criminal organizations, such as cartels. 

Trump vowed in his 2022 announcement that he would run for re-election to the White House that cartels would face the U.S. wrath over overdose deaths upon his return to the Oval Office.  

RAND PAUL JOINS DEMS ON ‘WAR POWERS RESOLUTION’ CLAIMING TRUMP ADMIN COULD SOON STRIKE VENEZUELAN TERRITORY

“We will wage war upon the cartels and stop the fentanyl and deadly drugs from killing 200,000 Americans per year,” he said in November of 2024, previewing his administration. 

Several Republican members of the House Armed Services Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee told Fox News Digital that the Trump administration has been well within its rights to act against Maduro’s regime. They added that they’re eager for more information after several strikes against alleged Venezuelan drug boats and Trump’s heightened rhetoric targeting Maduro.

“These boats, they’re stacked up with bags of white powder, that’s mostly fentanyl and other drugs too,” Trump said in September. “Every boat kills 25,000.”

Democrats in past decades have promoted fiery rhetoric focused on taking out foreign narco-terrorist, including then-Delaware Sen. Joe Biden calling for “another D-Day” to end the war on drugs in a 1989 address criticizing Republican President George H.W. Bush’s administration for not taking strong enough action on the crack cocaine epidemic.

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“Let’s go after the drug lords where they live with an international strike force. There must be no safe haven for these narco-terrorists and they must know it,” Biden said in the 1989 speech.

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report. 

Congress has been back after the week-plus Thanksgiving Day break. And days are slipping off the calendar as lawmakers struggle to assemble a plan to address health care or defray the cost of spiking premiums.

The deadline is the end of the calendar year. But Fox is told that the insurance companies just need action by Jan. 15.

Still, that doesn’t give Congress much time to act. And, depending on the metric, the House is only scheduled to meet for nine days for the rest of 2025.

 The Senate is not as clear, but, unofficially, the Senate will only meet for nine more days as well.

GOP WRESTLES WITH OBAMACARE FIX AS TRUMP LOOMS OVER SUBSIDY FIGHT

The House is scheduled to be in Tuesday through Friday. Then Dec. 15 through Dec. 19.

The Senate meets Monday. But it’s unclear if the Senate would meet Friday.

The Senate also meets Dec. 15 through at least Dec. 18. But anything beyond that is a little sketchy.

CONGRESS RACES AGAINST 3-WEEK DEADLINE TO TACKLE MASSIVE YEAR-END LEGISLATIVE AGENDA

However, this is where things get interesting.

The House originally was not scheduled to meet Dec. 19. But that date was added to the schedule a few weeks ago.

Some would interpret that added date as “code” for the possibility that the House may need to be in town the weekend of Dec. 20 to Dec. 21, and perhaps beyond. There is a possibility that the House could add days to the calendar around that period because Christmas Day isn’t until that Thursday.

DEMS PULL OUT ALL THE STOPS TO KEEP OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES FIGHT ALIVE AFTER VOTE TO REOPEN GOVERNMENT

So, in theory, the House has a few extra days at its disposal to address issues before Dec.25. It would be a different matter if Christmas itself fell on say a Monday or Tuesday. 

So let me fillet the meaning of this.

House Republicans are aiming to release a health care plan in the coming days. But developing a coalition to support such a package — without bipartisan support and full-throated support from President Donald Trump — likely stymies any health care package.

CONGRESS MELTS DOWN: MEMBERS UNLEASH PERSONAL ATTACKS AFTER WEEKS OF SHUTDOWN DRAMA

Keep in mind, Republicans have talked about an alternative plan to Obamacare since 2009, but have never passed anything. So, it’s truly hard to believe they can pass anything in the next 26 days.

The Senate is expected to take votes related to competing health care plans late next week. The GOP offering is still unclear.

Senate Democrats just unveiled a three-year extension of the current Obamacare subsidies. Any bill needs 60 yeas. So expect the Democrats’ plan to die immediately.

OBAMACARE STICKER SHOCK: THREE FACTORS PUSHING PREMIUMS TO RECORD HIGHS

Frankly, it’s likely that the failure of both plans in the Senate makes everyone get serious. Often in the Senate, something must first fail until the sides get serious about a compromise and begin to hustle.

That takes us back to the calendar.

Thus, with the deadline of skyrocketing health care premiums, it’s possible that Congress races up to and/or through the holidays to pass some sort of a health care fix before the end of 2025. 

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That’s why that weekend and days between Dec. 20 and Dec. 23, which are not on the congressional calendar, could be prime targets for Congress to work to pass something.

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

That’s to say nothing of Congress returning after Christmas and trying to approve something before or around the New Year.

 Both bodies are technically slated to return to session Jan. 5.

And don’t forget, that the Senate passed its version of the original Obamacare plan just after dawn on Christmas Eve morning, 2009.

BIPARTISAN DEAL ON OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES FADES AS REPUBLICANS PUSH HSA PLAN

Also lurking in the background: spending bills to fund the government.

Government funding expires at 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern Time on January 30. Nine of the 12 annual spending bills for Fiscal Year 2026 remain unfinished. The House expects to tackle a few bills before the end of the year.

But if Congress fails to address anything on health care before the end of January, the probability of another government shutdown increases exponentially.

So, I bid you “tidings of comfort and joy.”

EXCLUSIVE: The Kennedy Center Honors has raised a record $23 million for its 48th annual celebration, nearly doubling the $12.7 million raised last year under President Biden, as President Donald Trump begins his tenure as chairman of the Kennedy Center, Fox News Digital has learned.

According to the Kennedy Center, the $23 million total marks the largest fundraising haul in the 48-year history of the Honors, which was launched in 1978 as the institution’s highest recognition of lifetime artistic achievement.

While Kennedy Center Honorees have visited the Oval Office privately in past years, Trump on Saturday hosted the first official, on-camera ceremony recognizing the recipients inside the Oval Office, introducing each honoree ahead of Sunday night’s gala.

Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell told Fox News Digital that the center “nearly doubled last year’s fundraising, reaching a historic $23 million dollars,” calling the Honors “one of our nation’s highest celebrations of the performing arts.” 

Trump’s expanded role as chairman and his direct involvement in the weekend’s events, officials say, have contributed to what they describe as “intense interest and momentum” around the program. 

TRUMP TOUTS 2026 WORLD CUP DRAW SUCCESS, CLAIMS MASSIVE VIEWERSHIP

Roma Daravi, the Kennedy Center’s vice president of public relations, told Fox News Digital the new benchmark reflects unprecedented donor enthusiasm. 

“The record-breaking $23 million in contributions to the Kennedy Center Honors is a testament to the extraordinary support for our mission and affirms a vibrant future for this beloved American institution,” she said.

During Saturday evening’s Oval Office ceremony, a first in Honors history, Trump personally introduced each of the 2025 honorees. “Great honor,” he began. “And I’m delighted to welcome to the Oval Office… our truly exceptional 2025 Kennedy Center honorees.” 

He went on to call the group “perhaps the most accomplished and renowned class of Kennedy Center honorees ever assembled.”

This year’s recipients include George Strait, members of the rock band KISS — Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Peter Criss, and Ace Frehley (posthumous) — Michael Crawford, Gloria Gaynor and Sylvester Stallone. 

Trump singled out each in turn, praising Strait as a “country music legend,” Crawford as a “great star of Broadway,” Gaynor as “the disco queen,” Stallone as “one of the true great movie stars,” and KISS as “the incredible rock band.”

KENNEDY CENTER BOARD MEMBER SAYS FAMILIES ARE ‘WELCOME’ AGAIN AS GALA BREAKS FUNDRAISING RECORDS

Trump also unveiled the Honors’ new medallions, redesigned and donated by Tiffany & Co. “We will be presenting this year with the Kennedy Center Honors medallions, which will be designed this year with the help of the fantastic team at Tiffany and Company,” he said.

The new medallion features a gold disc etched with an image of the Kennedy Center, flanked by rainbow colors representing the breadth of art disciplines celebrated by the Honors. 

The reverse side includes each honoree’s name in script above the date of the 2025 Medallion Ceremony, and the medallion hangs from a navy-blue ribbon “associated with dignity and tradition,” according to the institution’s description.

The honorees will be formally recognized Sunday evening during a star-studded celebration at the Kennedy Center following a State Department reception, which Trump noted “was never done before” because “we never had a president hosting the awards before. This is the first.”

This year’s class spans five decades of American cultural achievement. Strait, known as the “King of Country Music,” holds more than 100 million RIAA certifications and remains the only artist to chart a Top 10 hit every year for more than thirty years. KISS has sold more than 100 million albums worldwide and remains one of America’s most enduring rock groups.

Crawford is internationally known for originating the title role in “The Phantom of the Opera.” Gaynor has achieved global stardom across five decades and is a two-time Grammy winner. 

Stallone, an Academy Award–nominated actor, writer and director, has shaped generations of filmgoers through the “Rocky” and “Rambo” franchises.

NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA TO OPEN ALL OF ITS KENNEDY CENTER SHOWS WITH THE NATIONAL ANTHEM

The Kennedy Center itself, founded in 1971 as the national living memorial to President John F. Kennedy, hosts more than 2,000 performances each year. The Honors began in 1978 and have become a defining fixture of Washington’s cultural calendar.

Trump also highlighted ongoing renovations to the Kennedy Center building, which he said are being carried out “at a level that nobody’s ever seen before,” noting congressional funding for major upgrades — including improvements to acoustics. “The sound is so fantastic,” he said. “If it’s built with bad sound, you never get it fixed.”

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The 48th annual Kennedy Center Honors will air Dec. 23 on CBS and will stream on Paramount+, with live access for Premium subscribers and next-day streaming for Essential subscribers.

Officials say the weekend’s events, from the FIFA World Cup draw to the Oval Office reception to Sunday’s gala, reflect a new chapter for the institution as it enters its first full year under Trump’s leadership and prepares for the next phase of renovations, programming, and donor expansion.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz on Friday warned Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz that the state could lose federal Medicaid funding unless it restores “the integrity” of its program.

In a post on X, Oz claimed that more than $1 billion had been stolen through a massive Medicaid fraud scheme carried out by “bad actors” within Minnesota’s Somali community, alleging that some of the funds “may have even made its way to the Somalian terrorist group Al-Shebab.”

“Our staff at CMS told me they’ve never seen anything like this in Medicaid — and everyone from Gov. Tim Walz on down needs to be investigated, because they’ve been asleep at the wheel,” Oz said.

COMER TARGETS WALZ IN NEW HOUSE INVESTIGATION, CITING NEARLY $1B IN ALLEGED MINNESOTA FRAUD

Oz demanded Walz take the following corrective measures within 60 days:

• Send weekly updates on anti-fraud efforts to CMS
• Freeze enrollment of high-risk providers for six months
• Verify all current providers as “legitimate” or remove them
• Send CMS a corrective action plan to prevent fraud in the future

“If we’re unsatisfied with the state’s plans or cooperation, we’ll stop paying the federal share of these programs,” Oz warned.

The CMS administrator pointed to two Minnesota Medicaid programs launched in recent years, noting dramatic spikes in costs.

The “Housing Stabilization Services” program, projected at $2.6 million annually, paid out over $100 million in 2024, according to Oz. 

The “Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention” program grew from $3 million in 2018 to nearly $400 million in 2023, he said.

WALZ ‘DERELICT LEADERSHIP’ TO BLAME IN $1B FRAUD SCANDAL WITH ‘HAUNTING REMINDS OF WATERGATE’: GOP CHALLENGER

“These scammers used stolen taxpayer money to buy flashy cars, purchase overseas real estate, and offer kickbacks to parents who enrolled their kids at fake autism treatment centers,” Oz said. “Some of it may have even made its way to the Somalian terrorist group Al-Shebab. … “So why didn’t Walz stop them? That’s simple: because he went all-in on identity politics.”

Minnesota officials previously reported the problem to CMS but failed to address it effectively, according to Oz.

“We stepped in and shut down the worst program: housing. We also froze provider enrollment in a few of the most abused programs,” Oz said. 

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Oz added, “The message to Walz is clear: either fix this in 60 days or start looking under your couch for spare change, because we’re done footing the bill for your incompetence.”

The move comes as President Donald Trump recently announced a flurry of actions to crack down and investigate fraud schemes in Minnesota, which he has assailed as a “hub of money laundering activity,” and cited as the basis of his decision to terminate deportation protections for hundreds of Somali migrants.

This past week, senior Trump administration officials announced fresh investigations, including a new Treasury Department probe into how taxpayer dollars were allegedly diverted to the terrorist organization al-Shabaab, according to Secretary Scott Bessent. 

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

Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth offered new details Saturday about how he personally authorized the Trump administration’s first strike on a suspected drug-smuggling vessel off Venezuela on Sept. 2, telling Fox News’ Lucas Tomlinson that he watched the strike live in the Pentagon after giving the green light.

Earlier in his keynote remarks, Hegseth declared that President Donald Trump is the true heir to Ronald Reagan’s “peace through strength” doctrine, accusing past bipartisan leaders of drifting into endless wars.

After his speech, Hegseth sat down with Tomlinson for a Q&A that revealed new details about the Sept. 2 operation, which he said was the first in a series of more than 20 U.S. strikes targeting cartel-linked narco-terrorist networks across the Caribbean.

He also sharply rejected reporting that he had instructed U.S. forces to kill all individuals on the boat.

AS TRUMP’S STANDOFF WITH MADURO DEEPENS, EXPERTS WARN THE NEXT MOVE MAY FORCE A SHOWDOWN

“Does anybody here from the Washington Post? I don’t know where you get your sources, but they suck,” Hegseth said when asked if he had ever issued such an order. “Of course not… you don’t walk in and say, ‘Kill them.’ It’s just patently ridiculous.”

Hegseth also said it took “a couple of weeks, almost a month” to build the intelligence required for the first strike. He said the Pentagon had to reorient assets that had been focused “10,000 miles around the other side of the world for a very long time.”

He kept strike authority at his level only for the initial operation due to its “strategic implications.”

CAPITOL HILL REVOLT THREATENS TRUMP’S VENEZUELA PLAYBOOK AMID CARIBBEAN STRIKE OVERSIGHT

“The briefing that I received before that strike was extensive, exhaustive,” he said. “Military side, on the civilian side, lawyers, intel analysts, red-teaming… all the details you need to strike a designated terrorist organization.”

Hegseth said the target was part of an organization President Trump had formally designated as a terrorist group.

“My job was to say execute or don’t execute,” he said.

He approved the strike.

HEGSETH TO HIGHLIGHT REBUILDING THE ‘ARSENAL OF FREEDOM’ IN SPEECH AT REAGAN NATIONAL DEFENSE FORUM

According to Hegseth, he viewed the mission feed “for probably five minutes or so” before moving to other tasks once the strike shifted to tactical execution.

Hours later, Hegseth said he was informed by commanders that a second strike was necessary.

“There had to be a re-attack, because there were a couple of folks that could still be in the fight,” he said, citing access to radios, a possible link-up point with another boat and remaining drugs on board.

“I fully support that strike,” he said. “I would have made the same call myself.”

He added that re-attacks are common in combat zones and fell “well within the authorities of Admiral Bradley,” who now oversees strike decisions. Hegseth said he no longer retains approval authority for subsequent missions.

Addressing questions about survivor protocols, Hegseth pointed to a later incident involving a semi-submersible drug vessel.

“In that particular case, the first strike didn’t take it out, and a couple of guys jumped off and swam,” he said. After the vessel was struck again and sank, U.S. forces retrieved the survivors.

“We gave them back to their host countries,” he said, adding that the situation “didn’t change our protocol” but reflected different circumstances.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS BACK TRUMP’S VENEZUELA MOVES FOR NOW AS ESCALATION UNCERTAINTY LOOMS

Hegseth argued that the operations have already had a deterrent effect. “We’re putting them at the bottom of the Caribbean… it will make the American people safer.”

Tomlinson pressed Hegseth on President Trump’s public statement that he did not oppose releasing the unredacted video of the first strike.

“We’re reviewing it right now,” Hegseth said, citing concerns over “sources, methods,” and ongoing operations.

Hegseth said defense spending is one of the issues that “keeps [him] up,” adding that he was recently in Oval Office meetings about the FY26 and FY27 budgets.

Asked directly whether defense spending as a share of GDP will rise, he replied: “I think that number is going up,” while declining to get ahead of President Trump.

“We need a revived defense industrial base,” he said. “We need those capabilities. We need them yesterday.”

Tomlinson also asked whether Hegseth regretted using Signal ahead of combat operations in Yemen, referencing a recently closed inspector general review.

“I don’t live with any regrets,” Hegseth said. “I know exactly where my compass is on our troops.” He argued that morale has surged under Trump.

“The revival of the spirit inside our military… the desire to join and re-enlist is at historic levels,” he said.

Asked whether he prefers troops equipped with more AI-enabled tools or autonomous systems replacing them, Hegseth said the modern battlefield requires both.

“It has to be both,” he said. “What AI is doing to ten, 100, 1,000-x the speed of sensing… is critical.”

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Tomlinson ended with a traditional Reagan Forum question: who Hegseth wants to win the Army–Navy game.

“Well, I’m with Navy,” he said, before adding that the Marine Corps “stood strong” during political “nonsense” in recent years.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is preparing to deliver a speech Saturday on rebuilding the “Arsenal of Freedom” at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California.

Ahead of the keynote address, Hegseth shared a video on X touring facilities in California. 

“The era of vendor-locked, prime-dominated, closed architecture, cost plus over. We’re going to compete, we’re going to move fast, we’re going to do open architecture, we’re going to innovate, we’re going to scale, we’re going to do it at cost. Because this is a commitment to a mission,” Hegsteh said in the video. 

“Whether you’re a vet or not who served already, all of you are serving the Department of War, the American people, and the Arsenal of Freedom,” Hegseth said. “I need you to understand that yes, we’re here for the war fighters who are out there pulling triggers on the behalf of our nation right now. Everybody here’s touched someone who serves at some point. But they can’t succeed without you.”

WAR DEPARTMENT REFOCUSES ON AI, HYPERSONICS AND DIRECTED ENERGY IN MAJOR STRATEGY OVERHAUL 

The secretary told those building the Department of War’s arsenal that American troops would not be able to do what’s required of them “in far-flung places, in dangerous moments, in the dead of night without the capabilities that you will underwrite for them.”

“So, this Arsenal of Freedom is built not just with men and women in camouflage. But it’s in folks in civilian clothes all across the country. Who are also putting in the work 24/7, to out-compete, out-innovate and out-manufacture our opponents,” Hegseth declared.

Hegseth’s speech is set to begin around 2:50 p.m. ET, according to a Reagan National Defense Forum schedule. He will be joined at the event by other leaders from the U.S. military.

“We are rebuilding the Arsenal of Freedom,” Hegseth wrote on X alongside the video. 

SAUDI ARABIA IS ALREADY AMERICA’S TOP ARMS BUYER AND NOW TRUMP WANTS TO ADD F-35S

The event is being held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.

“The Reagan National Defense Forum (RNDF) brings together leaders from across the political spectrum and key stakeholders in the defense community, including Members of Congress, current and former Administration officials, senior military leadership, industry executives, technology innovators, and thought leaders,” the Forum said on its website.

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“Their mission is to review and assess policies that strengthen America’s national defense in the context of the global threat environment,” it added.

Let’s face it: Politics is personal. And you cannot separate the two on Capitol Hill.

Lawmakers may not have missed legislating during the government shutdown. But they sure missed attacking one another.

Yes, both chambers of Congress voted to reopen the government. That’s legislating. There were certainly a few bills of consequence on the House and Senate floors in September before the shutdown. 

There was a little bit in the Senate, which remained in session during the shutdown. There was the adoption of the measure to compel the release of the Epstein files.

EPSTEIN DOCUMENTS RAISE NEW QUESTIONS ABOUT TRUMP CONDUCT AS HE DENOUNCES DEMOCRATS

But prior to that, one must hustle all the way back to the Senate’s approval of the “big, beautiful bill” in June and the House in early July — plus the plan to defund foreign programs and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — to find Congress really engaging in legislation of consequence in 2025. 

So, what has the House of Representatives resorted to since it’s been back in session? Members taking on members. Even fellow lawmakers of their own party.

It’s gotten personal. And you don’t even have to be a voting member of the House to face the wrath of your colleagues.

There was an effort by Republicans to censure the non-voting Democratic member from the U.S. Virgin Islands to Congress, Del. Stacey Plaskett, for exchanging messages with Epstein in preparation for President Donald Trump’s first impeachment in 2019.

Trump loyalists in the House would find revenge on Paskett sweeter than Caribbean sugar cane. Plaskett served as one of the House’s impeachment “managers,” prosecuting the House’s second impeachment case of Trump before the Senate in early 2021.

The measure to rebuke Plaskett failed. And, as a result, Democrats refrained from a similar censure effort for Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla.

That said, Democrats and some Republicans want to discipline Mills for two alleged transgressions. Democrats prepped a resolution in September to censure Mills for allegedly harassing and assaulting an ex-girlfriend in Washington, D.C. 

Mills contends he did nothing wrong.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., wants to censure Mills now. Mills provided a key vote earlier in 2025 to block the censure of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., over her remarks following the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Some lawmakers also want House discipline for Mace after authorities claim she cursed and berated TSA workers and other employees at the Charleston, South Carolina, airport recently.  

Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., is one of the most centrist members in the House. She prepped a rebuke of Rep. Chuy Garcia, D-Ill., in November. 

Garcia is retiring at the end of his term in early 2027. He filed for re-election but then decided at the last moment to step aside. 

The Illinois Democrat cited family-related health reasons and his family’s recent adoption of an 8-year-old boy. However, the only person who apparently knew about the Congressman’s plans was Patty Garcia, his chief of staff. 

Chuy Garcia is not related to Patty Garcia. However, she filed paperwork to run for the House seat with just moments to spare before the deadline. It turns out that Patty Garcia is the only one to file for the seat. That means Patty Garcia is practically a shoo-in for victory in the heavily Democratic seat. 

JOHNSON SAYS HE’S ‘OPEN’ TO CHANGING HOUSE CENSURE RULES AFTER WEEK OF POLITICAL DRAMA

The audacious move by Patty Garcia and Chuy Garcia gave critics fodder to chew on. They believed that the outgoing congressman pre-baked the ballot, delivering a political Walter Payton stiff-arm that blocked anyone else from running except his chief of staff.

Old-style Chicago machine politics haven’t been this brutal in the Windy City since they originally brewed Old Style beer.

Gluesenkamp Perez and others excoriated the sitting congressman, voting 236-183 to sanction him. Including Gluesenkamp Perez, 23 Democrats voted with all Republicans to dock Chuy Garcia.

So, it’s likely that voters will elect Patty Garcia as congresswoman-elect in the fall of 2026. But after the vote to sanction her old boss, winds blowing off of Lake Michigan would provide a warmer welcome for Patty Garcia to Capitol Hill when she prospectively takes office in January 2027.

Now there’s a move to sanction Rep. Shelia Cherfilus-McCormick D-Fla., after she was indicted for allegedly stealing $5 million in COVID-related health aid. 

Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., prepped a resolution to expel Cherfilus-McCormick even though there’s been no trial. Cherfilus-McCormick says the indictment is a sham.

And we haven’t even discussed efforts earlier in 2025 to expel Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., after she was charged with allegedly assaulting ICE agents at a detention center in Newark, New Jersey, in the spring. McIver continues to serve and pleaded not guilty. 

This may only get worse.

Sens. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich.; Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.; and Reps. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa;, Chris Deluzio, D-Pa.; Jason Crow, D-Colo.; and Maggie Goodlander, D-N.H., faced criticism over a video in which they instructed service members to defy illegal orders. 

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has now launched an investigation into Kelly and threatened to recall the former astronaut to active duty to face military discipline.

And it’s not just member on member. The president also excoriated his arch-nemesis on the Republican side of the aisle, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., for getting married 16 months after the congressman’s first wife, Rhonda, died.

“Did Thomas Massie, sometimes referred to as Rand Paul Jr., because of the fact that he always votes against the Republican Party, get married already??? Boy, that was quick!” Trump posted to Truth Social in November. “Anyway, have a great life Thomas and (?). His wife will soon find out that she’s stuck with a LOSER!”

It’s now officially the holiday season. And few on Capitol Hill are truly extending tidings of good cheer to their congressional colleagues. It surely can’t get any worse, can it?

Well, we’re not even halfway through the 119th Congress. And after lengthy recesses in July, all of August, a portion of September — and for the House, all of October and some of November — lawmakers are just making up for lost time. The recriminations will keep coming.

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Politicians have decided to make it personal. It’s easier to attack one another and score political points than legislate.

It’s not practical politics. Lawmakers just prefer personal politics.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg is again facing scrutiny for his assigned cases after California Rep. Eric Swalwell’s high-profile lawsuit accusing a senior Trump housing official of brazen misconduct landed in his court.

Some Republicans have criticized Boasberg’s docket, given his assignment to an earlier legal challenge involving President Donald Trump‘s removal of hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to a Salvadoran prison in March and his role in presiding over the so-called “Signalgate” lawsuit, which, as of this writing, is all but mooted. But like other federal courts, the D.C. District Court assigns its cases to judges via a randomized computer system — a process that former federal judges outlined to Fox News Digital in a series of recent interviews.

A Fox News Digital review of the cases assigned to judges in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., showed the same — putting Boasberg on the lower side of Trump-related case assignments compared to some of his colleagues in the district.

Judges are “totally reactive” by design, Philip Pro, a former U.S. district judge and Reagan appointee, said last month about the cases judges are tasked with hearing.

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“We’re sitting in our districts. The cases are randomly assigned,” Pro said. “There is nothing ‘rogue’ about these decisions.”

Boasberg’s earlier work on the FISA Court — and his rulings in cases tied to the Trump era — have long made him a focal point for Trump’s criticism.

In 2014, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts appointed him to serve a seven-year term on the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, or FISA Court — a court composed of 11 federal judges hand-selected by the chief justice.

After returning full-time to the federal bench, Boasberg oversaw the sentencing of former FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith, who pleaded guilty to doctoring a 2017 email asking to extend surveillance permissions for the wiretap of former Trump campaign advisor Carter Page. Boasberg declined to sentence Clinesmith to prison time and instead ordered him to 12 months of probation and 400 hours of community service — a notable decision, given his own background on the FISA Court.

He said in his sentencing decision that he believed Clinesmith’s role at the center of a years-long media “hurricane” had provided sufficient punishment.

Trump has since zeroed in on Boasberg, now the chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., as he continues to rail against so-called “activist judges” — though Boasberg is far from the only district judge to draw the former president’s ire.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, for example, has presided over cases involving the Trump administration’s attempt to restrict or ban transgender U.S. service members, and an early challenge to Trump’s National Guard deployment.

U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb in November sought to temporarily block the continued deployment of National Guard troops in D.C. Cobb also issued a temporary order in September blocking Trump from immediately firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.

Other challenges heard by judges in the district involve mass layoffs at government agencies in the early months of the Trump administration, efforts to reshape U.S. international aid programs — including funding previously allocated by Congress — and one of the consolidated tariff cases appealed to the Supreme Court.

Still, the notion that Boasberg has an outsize share of the cases persists. This is likely due in part to the longevity of the J.G.G. v. Trump litigation, which centered on the Trump administration’s use of a 1798 Alien Enemies Act statute to quickly deport hundreds of Venezuelan nationals to El Salvador in March.

Despite Boasberg’s emergency order blocking the flights from leaving U.S. soil, the planes arrived in El Salvador hours later — kicking off a separate, months-long review of whether senior government officials knowingly defied his court order. A list of declarations from government officials is due Friday as part of that process, which Boasberg said he will use to determine which officials he plans to call as witnesses in the contempt proceedings.

“The Senate has made great mention of the fact that the judiciary should not be involved in that decision,” former U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady said about the Alien Enemies Act case in a recent interview with Fox News Digital.

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Boasberg “didn’t pluck this issue out of the sky and say, ‘Oh, I’m going to refuse this, because I don’t believe that the Alien Enemies Act is appropriately being used,’” said O’Grady, who spent 16 years as a judge in the Eastern District of Virginia and was appointed by Chief Justice John Roberts to serve on the FISA Court, where he overlapped with Boasberg.

Boasberg “has a case before him where one side is saying, ‘it can’t be used,’ and the executive branch is saying, ‘it can be used,’” O’Grady said of the Alien Enemies Act case. “And it’s up to him to make that decision.” 

Former judges note that the D.C. District Court, by design, has jurisdiction over a large share of cases that emanate in the nation’s capital, including lawsuits against government agencies or administrative actions.

JUDGES V. TRUMP: HERE ARE THE KEY COURT BATTLES HALTING THE WHITE HOUSE AGENDA

It’s not the first time Trump’s allies in Congress have attempted to cast doubt on the randomized assignments.

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to the D.C. clerk’s office in May seeking more information about how cases are assigned in the district, after Boasberg was assigned to an earlier case brought by the American Oversight group in response to the so-called “Signalgate” controversy.

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The lawsuit accused the Trump administration of potentially violating federal recordkeeping laws when they exchanged sensitive information — including a planned strike in Yemen — in the Signal messaging app.

“While the District Court’s allocation process is intended to produce an ‘equal distribution of cases to all judges,’ in practice the distribution of cases can be unequal,” Reps. Jim Jordan, Darrel Issa, and Chip Roy said in the letter.

That case appears to be all but mooted, as lawyers for the Justice Department and American Oversight told Judge Boasberg in a status update Monday.

They are expected to resolve the issue without further judicial involvement, according to the filing, and will submit a formal notice to that effect by mid-December. 

A teenage girl who spent her final years advocating for young people battling cancer is forever memorialized in history, thanks to a key bill passed by the House of Representatives.

Mikaela Naylon was just 16 when she died five years after being diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer.

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, who helped lead the landmark legislation that became her namesake, said Mikaela spent much of that time fighting to give fellow children a chance to survive cancer.

He told Fox News Digital that he viewed childhood cancer patients as “the best advocates” for their cause, calling them his “better angels.”

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“Mikaela was a great example of that,” McCaul said. “She was very sick. She’d just undergone radiation and chemotherapy. She wasn’t feeling very well, and I could tell. But she still made the effort to come to Washington, to go to members’ offices and advocate for the legislation.”

The Mikaela Naylon Give Kids A Chance Act is aimed at expanding children’s access to existing cancer therapy trials, as well as incentivizing development of treatments and solutions for pediatric cancer.

It reauthorizes funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support pediatric disease research through fiscal year 2027, and extends the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) ability to expedite review of drugs aimed at helping certain pediatric illnesses.

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“It’s probably one of the most rewarding things I’ve done is to not only draw awareness to childhood cancer by forming the [Childhood Cancer Caucus] and then having an annual summit, but to be able to pass legislation that results in saving children’s lives. I don’t think there’s anything more important than that,” McCaul said.

His bill passed the House unanimously on Monday, with both Republicans and Democrats speaking out in strong support for the legislation.

Mikaela’s family was in attendance to watch both its passage and the speeches lawmakers gave in favor of it.

“Nothing will take the place of her. But it helped fill kind of a void, an emptiness they have right now. And they’re very proud of that, that her legacy is carried on through this legislation,” McCaul, who also gave the Naylon family a tour of the U.S. Capitol, said.

Mikaela’s parents Kassandra and Doug, and her brother Ayden, told Fox News Digital that she had “faced every day with hope, purpose and a fierce determination to make the world better for the kids who would come after her.”

“She believed that all children, no matter how rare their diagnosis, deserve access to the most promising treatments and a real chance at life. This legislation reflects that mission,” the Naylon family told Fox News Digital.

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They thanked McCaul as well as Reps. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., and Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., for championing the bill, as well as advocacy groups who also helped shepherd it forward.

“Their commitment ensures that Mikaela‘s voice, and the voices of so many brave children like her, will forever be heard in the halls of Congress,” the family said.

As the city of Minneapolis faces a $1 billion welfare scandal, Minnesota Republican gubernatorial candidate Dr. Scott Jensen spoke to Fox News Digital about his belief that Gov. Tim Walz is not only directly responsible for the controversy, but suggested that a “cover up” that’s “worse than Watergate” is at play.

Walz’s role in what’s been labeled by prosecutors as the largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the country, stemming from allegations that the Minnesota nonprofit Feeding Our Future and its associates defrauded federal child-nutrition programs for hundreds of millions of dollars in COVID-19 aid, has been a major topic of conversation in the gubernatorial race in recent weeks.

“In Minnesota, I don’t think that there’s any way to cut it other than to say the buck has to stop somewhere,” Jensen told Fox News Digital. “And it’s always been that the buck stops at the governor’s desk. Arguably, the governor is the CEO of the state of Minnesota and the business of the government. And Tim Walz has been derelict in doing his duties, and he’s absolutely corrupted common sense.”

The dereliction, Jensen explained, is evident when one examines a timeline he says shows Walz knew about Feeding Our Future fraud far earlier than he has admitted and then misled Minnesotans about his administration’s response.

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“Tim Walz and the Minnesota Department of Education knew in 2020 that there was a problem… but they didn’t get the FBI involved until 2021,” Jensen said. “And yet they’ve made claims that as soon as they learned about it, they got the FBI involved. That’s not true. Their timeline’s a year off.”

Jensen argues the delay was not just mismanagement but part of a broader pattern of deflection and dishonesty from the governor’s office.

“At the end of the day, he’s demonstrated a very skilled approach to deflecting, so that he’s not being honest,” Jensen said. 

Jensen cited several examples of actions by Walz that he views as deflecting the blame onto others, including in 2022 after the first indictments in the scandal were handed down by the FBI and U.S. Attorney, and Walz placed blame on district court judge John Guthman for allegedly forcing the state to continue fraudulent payments.

In what was described by media outlets at the time as a “rare public rebuke,” Guthman fired back at Walz accusing him of making “inaccurate statements.”

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“When Judge Guthman did that, then you saw Tim Walz and Keith Ellison try for someone else they could blame it on,” Jensen told Fox News Digital. “So they blamed it on the FBI and said, ‘Well, the FBI told us we had to keep paying because we’re not supposed to interfere with their investigation.’ And the FBI said, ‘We didn’t make you continue fraudulent payments to the Feeding Our Future agency.’”

Jensen told Fox News Digital that the “elephant in the room” is what else will come out in the future about the “cover up” of the scandal. 

“The underlying question has to be: is there something more nefarious than this?” Jensen said.

“Is there literally sequestration of funds that at some point in time could be paid back to people when things have calmed down? Is there some pay-to-play scheme that we haven’t yet been informed about? That’s what’s really frightening, because if that’s the case, then you have to, you have to ask yourself the question: will there be at some level a need for criminal prosecution to take place of some Minnesota elected officials?”

LIZ PEEK: MASSIVE MINNESOTA WELFARE HEIST PROVES DEMOCRATS CAN’T POLICE THEIR OWN MESS

The welfare fraud controversy has received the attention of the federal government in recent days.

The Small Business Administration announced it is investigating the network of Somali groups in Minnesota that it says are tied to the massive COVID fraud scandal highlighting alleged systemic failures by Walz’s team to properly audit public funds.

House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., has claimed that “because of Governor Walz’s negligence, criminals — including Somali terrorists — stole nearly $1 billion from the program while children suffered.” He is leading the probe into Walz’s role in the Feeding Our Future scandal.

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President Donald Trump also recently announced a flurry of new actions to crack down and investigate fraud schemes in Minnesota, which he has assailed as a “hub of money laundering activity,” and cited as the basis of his decision to terminate deportation protections for hundreds of Somali migrants.

Senior Trump administration officials announced fresh investigations this week, including a new Treasury Department probe into how taxpayer dollars were allegedly diverted to the terrorist organization al-Shabaab, according to Secretary Scott Bessent. 

“With where it’s gone from the beginning to now, recognizing that there’s been an interest in covering this up, for many people it has some of the haunting reminders of Watergate,” Jensen told Fox News Digital. 

“And yet, in this way, this time, it could even be worse, because it’s possible that there’s something far more nefarious than simply covering something up. It could be a pay to play scheme that involves elected officials.”

Fox News Digital asked Jensen, who ran against Walz in 2022, what he believes the governor’s legacy is after two terms in office.

“Tim Walz’ legacy right now would be fraud at an unprecedented level, and I think from his policies, I think people would say he seemed to worship the ground that AOC and Bernie Sanders walked on,” Jensen explained. “He went from someone who many people who knew him earlier in life thought of as a moderate person to a person who was literally living on the five-yard line of the hard left part of the Democratic field.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Walz’s office for comment. 

Fox News Digital’s Deirdre Heavey and Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: Hollywood icon Lorenzo Lamas is endorsing a pro-law enforcement Republican for California governor after he says that Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has had a “devastating” impact on the state.

Lamas, who is best known for his action roles in the 80’s and 90’s, told Fox News Digital he is endorsing Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco for governor, saying, “The impact on the state of California with the current [Newsom] administration is nothing short of devastating.”

Lamas said that “over the years I’ve been very careful about voicing an opinion politically,” noting that “sometimes it can affect who you work for, depending on a company’s or studio’s political point of view.”

“But I think we’re at a point now, not just in California, but I think nationwide, that we have to start at least voicing what we feel is wrong with what’s happening,” he explained.

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Lamas said he was motivated to finally speak out after long watching his home state be mismanaged despite its enormous economy and abundant natural resources. He described the Democratic Party’s grip on California as “a sickness that’s permeated the state from the top to the bottom.”

“We have to figure out what we’re going to do with the people that are disenfranchised and living on the streets, the programs that supposedly are budgeted for these folks, where is that money? … There’s nobody that’s accounting for the millions of dollars that are spent on welfare programs that’s not benefiting anybody that can use it,” he said.

Regarding the several devastating natural disasters the state has experienced in recent years, Lamas said, “I grew up in Pacific Palisades, that fire devastated my hometown. The home I grew up in burned down. My elementary school burned down. Why? Because not enough budget was allocated to resources to fight the fire.”

“Not only that, the people that lost their homes in the Palisades. Many of them were second, third generation people. They cannot afford to rebuild in the city that they grew up in, the city that they came to love. Why? Well, because, hey, guess what? It takes years to get rebuilding plans approved. There’s just so much red tape, so much bureaucracy, and Chad wants to just eliminate it.”

ERIC SWALWELL ANNOUNCES RUN FOR CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR, VOWS TO BE ‘PROTECTOR AND FIGHTER’

“I’ve watched the wealthiest state in the nation become completely mismanaged by the current administration,” he went on. “It’s just it’s beyond the pale what’s happened to my state.”

Meanwhile, Lamas said that he believes Bianco, who has framed his candidacy around cost of living and public safety issues, “is the man that can really turn this thing around.”

“We’ve got to have a governor that’s pro-law enforcement, that’s going to keep our moms and our daughters safe on the streets,” he said, explaining, “I have two daughters that live in Los Angeles, and there I tell them, every single day [that] their heads got to be on a swivel. You see all the crime that’s rampant, not just in California, but all around the country. It’s permeating this beautiful nation of ours, and it really makes me sick.” 

Bianco is facing a steep uphill battle to win as a Republican in deep blue California. It has been nearly two decades since a Republican won a statewide race. On the Democratic side of the aisle, California Rep. Eric Swalwell and former Rep. Katie Porter, both progressives and vocal critics of President Donald Trump, are running to replace Newsom, who is term-limited. 

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On whether he believes California is ready to send a Republican to the governor’s mansion, Lamas answered, “What I see in Chad is a tremendous gift of being able to present his agenda with a commonsense foundation, and that’s going to appeal to anybody with half of a brain.”

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“Last November 6th, America voted for commonsense. And I think it’s time that California votes for commonsense, and the only person that I really feel can bring that to our state is Chad Bianco.”

A spokesperson for Newsom brushed off Lamas’ criticism, sending Fox News Digital a one-word response, simply asking, “Who?”

Bianco has also been endorsed by UFC legends Royce Gracie and Dan Henderson. 

Former President Joe Biden, when he served as a Delaware senator, railed against foreign narco-terrorists flooding the U.S. with highly addictive substances, calling for an “international strike force” against the drug traffickers in a fiery 1989 speech. 

“Let’s go after the drug lords where they live with an international strike force. There must be no safe haven for these narco-terrorists and they must know it,” then-Sen. Biden said in an 1989 video speech addressing then-President George H.W. Bush’s efforts to combat the narcotics flooding U.S. streets. 

The remarks have resurfaced on social media as the Trump administration currently faces outrage from Democrats over its strikes on suspected drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean. 

Biden’s address was billed as the Democrat Party’s official response to then-President H.W. Bush’s Sept. 5, 1989, address on his administration’s efforts to tackle the crack cocaine epidemic and rampant use of cocaine, C-SPAN footage reported. Bush had announced that the administration would double federal assistance to state and local law enforcement to tackle the drug problem, $65 million emergency assistance to nations such as Colombia to “fight against the cocaine cartels,” an overall $1.5 billion increase in drug-related federal spending on law enforcement and other initiatives. 

EXPERT REVEALS WHAT IT WOULD TAKE FOR TRUMP TO DEPLOY TROOPS TO VENEZUELA: ‘POSSIBILITY OF ESCALATION’

Biden, in the Democrat Party’s response, called for “another D-Day” to end the war on drugs. 

“The president says he wants to wage a war on drugs, but if that’s true, what we need is another D-Day, not another Vietnam, not another limited war fought on the cheap and destined for stalemate and human tragedy,” Biden said in his response. 

Biden railed that the H.W. Bush administration was failing to take stronger actions on drugs at a time when cocaine from Colombia flooded the nation and U.S. cities were rocked by the crack epidemic that persisted through the 1980s and early 1990s, when crystal meth and heroin became the drugs of choice. 

“We speak with great concern about the drug problem in America today, but we fail to appreciate or address it for what it really is, the number one threat to our national security,” Biden said during his 1989 address on the war on drugs. “It affects the readiness of our army, the productivity of our workers and the achievement of our students and the very health and safety of our families.”

“America is under attack, literally under attack by an enemy who is well financed, well supplied and well armed and fully capable of declaring total war against a nation and its people, as we’ve seen in Colombia. Here in America, the enemy is already ashore, and for the first time, we are fighting and losing the war on our own soil,” Biden continued before arguing the U.S. should “go after the drug lords where they live.”

CAPITOL HILL REVOLT THREATENS TRUMP’S VENEZUELA PLAYBOOK AMID CARIBBEAN STRIKE OVERSIGHT

Fox News Digital reached out to Biden’s office Friday inquiring if he stands by his 1989 address or has any additional comment to include, but did not immediately receive a response. 

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has come under fire for carrying out a series of military strikes on boats suspected of trafficking narcotics from Venezuela in the waters off of Central and South America. The administration has carried out at least 22 fatal strikes on the boats since September, killing dozens of suspected drug traffickers. 

The administration has defended the strikes, saying the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels after the groups evolved into transnational terror organizations.

Trump has said the strikes are part of an effort to curb drugs flooding into the U.S., while experts have weighed in that the pressure on Venezuela is likely also to force Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s ouster and end his regime in the country. 

US CARRIES OUT 22ND STRIKE ON ALLEGED DRUG VESSEL OPERATED BY A DESIGNATED TERRORIST ORGANIZATION

Democrats have taken issue with a pair of strikes on Sept. 2 against an alleged drug boat from Venezuela. The White House confirmed the military carried out an initial strike on the boat before firing off a second that killed two suspected traffickers, sparking Democrats to claim the administration committed potential war crimes. 

“If the reports are true, Pete Hegseth likely committed a war crime when he gave an illegal order that led to the killing of incapacitated survivors of the U.S. strike in the Caribbean,” Nevada Democratic Sen. Sen. Jacky Rosen said in a statement earlier in December. 

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Several Republican members of the House Armed Services Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee told Fox News Digital that the Trump administration has been well within its rights to act against Maduro’s regime. They added that they’re eager for more information after several strikes against alleged Venezuelan drug boats and Trump’s heightened rhetoric targeting Maduro.

Trump campaigned on ending the flow of narcotics flowing across U.S. borders in 2024, vowing after his election win to deploy the Navy to assist in the effort. 

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“To stop the deadly drugs that are poisoning our people, I will deploy the U.S. Navy to impose a full fentanyl blockade on the waters of our region.…The drug cartels are waging war on America, and we will destroy those cartels!” Trump wrote on Truth Social a day before his inauguration.

 Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report. 

FIRST ON FOX: Democrats sounding the alarm of potential harms to Alaskan communities if their efforts were reversed and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) was further opened to energy development got a very different response than they may have been expecting from a consortium of local Natives.

Using the Congressional Review Act, the Senate voted Thursday night to pass a resolution from Rep. Nick Begich, R-Alaska, that formally reversed a Biden-era rule restricting more than 1 million acres to development in the refuge, where Native communities like Kaktovik reside. 

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., notably spoke out on the Senate floor against the effort, saying that Congress rightly established the refuge in 1980 but neglected to properly protect the “very fragile ecosystem” there from development, calling it “America’s Serengeti.”

TRUMP ADMIN ANNOUNCES BIG STEP TOWARD ‘ENERGY DOMINANCE’ WITH MASSIVE ALASKA LNG PROJECT ALLIANCE

“So far, we’ve been able to protect the coastal plain and keep it intact as it has been for millions of years, and many Americans had hoped we had moved on,” Cantwell said.

Using “the Congressional Review Act to drill in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge (could) very well backfire on our drilling advocates. If Congress votes to overturn the Biden record of decision today, it would create legal and regulatory chaos, not clarity.”

Additionally, several Democrats and at least one Republican supported a separate bill in April that would designate the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as statutorily protected wilderness, shutting out any development whatsoever.

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“There are some places too special and too amazing and too ecologically and culturally significant to allow them to be permanently despoiled by oil and gas,” House Natural Resources Committee ranking member Jared Huffman, D-Calif., said at the time as chief sponsor.

Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., also led that bill’s introduction along with Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania moderate from the Philadelphia suburbs.

Despite such claims that development would damage the land and adversely affect those living there, Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat (VOICE) — a group representing the communities in and around the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, were ecstatic at the Senate’s reversal of the restrictive rule.

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“These joint congressional resolutions are a positive sign that congressional decisionmakers support our Iñupiaq self-determination,” VOICE President Nagruk Harcharek said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital.

Harcharek said that the vote is turning the tide on years of “lopsided relations” with Congress and the executive branch.

Our “communities are cautiously optimistic for the people of Kaktovik following this vote — supported by our local and regional leaders — in our Indigenous homelands.”

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Kaktovik Mayor Nathan Gordon Jr., added that the “Kaktovikmiut” — the community’s residents — overwhelmingly support responsible development projects in their native lands because it provides a prime way for them to provide for themselves and their regional economy.

“Kaktovik is the only community within ANWR, but the federal government and Congress have disregarded our voices for generations,” Gordon said.

A whaling captain who also attended a joint appearance in the region by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright also praised the news, crediting such officials for making efforts to engage with the Native community on issues that impact their lands.

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“Moving forward, we are hopeful to continue this positive relationship built on mutual respect with both Congress and the executive branch,” Charles C.C. Lampe said.

In a statement after the vote, Begich remarked that “America is strongest when Alaska is empowered to responsibly develop its resources.”

Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, also expressed the importance of listening to their state residents’ needs rather than the assumptions of the bureaucracy.

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Murkowski said previous Democratic administrations “paused everything, illegally canceled every lease, and then rewrote the program to ensure that neither leasing nor development would occur.” 

“Their worldview was exactly backwards,” she said.

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“Today, we are on the cusp of righting this wrong, rolling back the lawless lock-up of ANWR, and unleashing good-paying jobs and opportunity for Alaska’s working families,” added Sullivan.

Fox News Digital reached out to Cantwell, Markey, Huffman and Fitzpatrick for comment.

The Senate is quietly winning the battle over states’ abilities to craft their own artificial intelligence (AI) regulations, but there is still a desire to chart out a rough framework at the federal level. 

The issue of a blanket AI moratorium, which would have halted states from crafting their own AI regulations, was thought to have been put to bed over the summer. But the push was again revived by House Republicans, who were considering dropping it into the annual National Defense Authorization Act. 

However, Republicans in the lower chamber have pulled back from that push, even as the White House has pressed Congress to create a federal framework that would make regulations more cohesive across the country. 

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A trio of Senate Republicans, Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who banded together to block the original proposal, cheered the provision’s apparent rise from the grave.

Hawley told Fox News Digital that it was good news that the provision would not be included in the defense authorization bill, but warned that “vigilance is needed, and Congress needs to act.”

“I mean, for everybody out there saying, ‘Well, Congress needs to act and create one standard,’ I agree with that,” he said. “And we can start by banning chat bots for minors.” 

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who chairs the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation committee, initially pushed for a moratorium to be included in Trump’s One Big, Beautiful Bill. His position on the issue has been to unchain AI to give the U.S. a competitive edge against foreign adversaries like China.

But that attempt was nearly unanimously defeated over the summer and stripped from the bill. And Cruz hasn’t given up.

“The discussions are ongoing, but it is the White House that is driving,” Cruz told Fox News Digital. 

PROTECTING KIDS FROM AI CHATBOTS: WHAT THE GUARD ACT MEANS

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., acknowledged that getting the moratorium into the defense authorization bill would be difficult earlier in the week.

“That’s controversial, as you know,” Thune said. “So, I mean, I think the White House is working with senators and House members for that matter to try and come up with something that works but preserves states’ rights.”

Trump declared last month that the U.S. “MUST have one Federal Standard instead of a patchwork of 50 State Regulatory Regimes,” and argued that over regulation at the state level was threatening the investment, and expected growth, of AI. 

The White House reportedly drafted an executive order that would have blocked states from regulating AI that would have withheld certain streams of federal funding from states that didn’t comply with the order, and enlisted the Department of Justice to sue states that crafted their own regulations.

So far, Trump has not taken action on the order. 

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Blackburn, who was the leading player in thwarting Cruz’s previous attempt to assert an AI moratorium into Trump’s marquee tax bill, also wants some kind of federal framework, but one that is designed to “protect children, consumers, creators, and conservatives,” a spokesperson for Blackburn told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

“Senator Blackburn will continue her decade-long effort to work with her colleagues in both the House and Senate to pass federal standards to govern the virtual space and rein in Big Tech companies who are preying on children to turn a profit,” the spokesperson said.

And Johnson, another key figure in blocking the moratorium earlier this year, argued to Fox News Digital that it was an “enormously complex problem. It’s my definition of a problem.” 

But unlike his counterparts, he was more skeptical about Congress producing a framework that he would be comfortable with.

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“I’m not a real fan of this place,” Johnson said. “And I think we’d be far better off if we passed a lot fewer laws. I’m not sure how often we get it right. Look at healthcare, look at how that’s been completely botched.” 

“What are we gonna do with AI? Hard to say, but we just don’t go through the problem-solving process,” he continued. “And again, I’m concerned, the real experts on this have got vested interests. Whatever they’re advising is, can you really trust them?”

As scrutiny mounts on the Trump administration’s use of force in its targeting of suspected cartel members in the Caribbean, lawmakers on Capitol Hill were asked whether they believe U.S. citizen victims or drug traffickers are more important.

Republicans, such as Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., said the answer is easy.

“I can’t speak for anybody else, but my top concern is American citizens, their lives, their health. So, for me, it’s an easy choice. Kill drug dealers, save Americans,” said Sheehy.

Democrats, however, had less black and white opinions on the strikes.

“Look, I fully support doing whatever we can within the legal means to make sure that we’re stopping drug trafficking,” said Rep. Johnny Olszewski, D-Md., adding, “We should absolutely be concerned about the victims of drug trafficking and people who have lost their lives to drug violence.”

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“We support all efforts to [interdict], arrest, hold people accountable who are trying to smuggle drugs into this country. However, we have a rule of law, and we have rules of engagement for a reason. And so, we need to make sure that we have full transparency in terms of how these strikes are happening,” Olszewski went on.

He added that “if the reporting is true, it’s very likely” that the administration’s drug boat strikes are “in violation of our laws and may in fact be a war crime.”

“So, it merits full investigation; it merits the details being released. And you know, again, I fully support doing all that we can to stop drug trafficking, but that means that we have to make sure that we’re doing it within the rule of law and the rules that we have in this country.”

Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., pushed back on the question, saying, “Is this going to do anything to truly help them?”

“Cocaine’s still flowing, the demand is still there,” Smith said, adding, “You see a drug dealer on the street, that’s a bad person. That person is selling drugs. Let’s say they’re selling actual fentanyl, not the cocaine that we’re hitting here. Would you support allowing anyone to execute that person who wants to on the spot? … You want to be tough on drug dealers. Drug dealers are bad people. Why do we need due process? Why do you need probable cause?”

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“Don’t give me this crap about how this proves you don’t care about [selling drugs],” he said. “I care about selling drugs. I don’t want a fascist regime that gets to decide who they can kill when they want to kill them without any check on that power. That simply doesn’t make sense in the United States of America, or at least not the United States of America that I want us to have.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., answered, “We have to do our best to disrupt drug distribution. Also, we have to invest in drug health care and drug education, et cetera. We have to do all the things. The real question is, how do you do it right?”

Pressed on whether the government should be prioritizing drug victims above the traffickers, Reed responded, “I’ve commented and thank you for asking,” before walking away.

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Rep. Lou Correa, D-Calif., simply answered, “Congress has to do its job: oversight,” and walked away.

Republicans, meanwhile, were much more unilateral in their responses.

“If it disrupts the flow of one drug coming into West Virginia, I’m all for it,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.

“I come from a state that has historically had enormous drug problems. A lot of deaths from fentanyl, from overdoses,” said Capito. “So, I’m supportive of whatever the president can do to end the flow of fentanyl. And [with] the narco-terrorism, the intelligence around these strikes, from my understanding, is pretty solid.”

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“For too long, politicians have been satisfied to have a hundred thousand Americans die every year of drug overdoses. Finally, President Trump has stepped up to the plate and said, ‘No more,’” said Rep. Glenn Grothman.

“If you’re going to attack our country, and these people know full well Americans are dying because of what they’re doing. If you’re going to attack our country, we’re going to fight back, about time,” Grothman added.