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You’ll likely need a universal translator to decipher the fiscal discourse emanating from Capitol Hill this week and next.

You’ll hear a lot about budget reconciliation. “One bill/two bill.” And “vote-a-rama.”

Let’s break down what the House and Senate Budget Committees completed last week. That will set the table for what the full Senate addresses this week – and what the House aims to tackle next week.

Congressional Republicans intend to enact President Donald Trump’s core agenda of cutting taxes and reducing federal spending. Republicans have their own problems passing such a plan in the House of Representatives because of the GOP’s slim majority. Republicans must stick together. But in the Senate, Republicans have 53 seats. That’s not enough to crack a filibuster on legislation. The bar there is 60. However, there’s a way to overcome that obstacle: use a special process called “budget reconciliation” to bypass a filibuster and pass the bill.

Congressional Republicans intend to enact President Donald Trump’s core agenda of cutting taxes and reducing federal spending. (Reuters)

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“Budget reconciliation” isn’t a trick or scheme. It’s a time-honored parliamentary method used by both parties to enact their agenda when they can’t vault the filibuster.

Democrats used budget reconciliation to clear filibuster hurdles to approve Obamacare in 2009-2010. Republicans deployed the reconciliation gambit to try to undo Obamacare in 2017. However, Republicans were more successful in approving President Trump’s tax cuts later that year via reconciliation. The issue is that you must have a budget in place in order to use reconciliation in the Senate. And, the House and Senate must approve the same budget vehicle for reconciliation.

Let me say that again: it has to be the same budget vehicle for reconciliation.

That lays the groundwork. Here’s what unfolded last week.

House Republicans initially struggled to assemble a budget chassis for their eventual legislative plan. What they had to do first was construct and approve the legislative structure for this in the Budget Committee.

That took a Herculean lift, but after six weeks of meetings, House Republicans finally advanced their plan through committee. It cuts $4.5 trillion in taxes, $2 trillion in “mandatory” spending (like entitlements) and lifts the debt limit by $4 trillion.

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Republicans specifically designed this measure to make it out of the Budget Committee and appeal to conservatives.

Hold that thought for a moment about whom the committee targeted the bill for.

House Republicans could no longer dither. That’s because Senate Republicans were marching ahead with their own plan. It was slimmer and didn’t focus on some of the same priorities demanded by the House.

The Senate Republican package didn’t touch tax cuts. Instead, it bolstered military spending and infused the Department of Homeland Security and other related agencies with $175 billion to finish the border wall. It also increased energy production. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., long argued that voters elected President Trump and awarded Congressional Republicans the House and Senate because their message about border security resonated with them. Graham believes it’s a fool’s errand to deal with tax and spending cuts first. He says the border should be up first. Then move to other things.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, left, believes it’s a fool’s errand to deal with tax and spending cuts first. (Getty Images)

You’ve undoubtedly heard the debate about, “one bill, two bill.” This is the crux of the debate between the House and Senate. The House wants to do one bill, or in the vernacular of the president, a “big, beautiful bill.” However, the Senate approach of focusing first on energy and the border – and leaving tax and spending cuts for later – naturally dictates doing two pieces of legislation.

This is the parliamentary problem facing Republicans. It doesn’t matter if it’s one bill, two bill, red bill, blue bill. Yes. I know this sounds like Dr. Seuss. Passing one thing is a lot easier than approving two things in Congress. And it’s far from clear that House Republicans can even pass their sole bill that just came out of committee.

Graham forged ahead with his bill in committee – the day before the House Budget Committee could even meet. That created the very real possibility that the Senate could jam the House with its “one bill” because the House may never approve its own framework on the floor.

But, there’s a risk involved.

What happens if Republicans are stymied by infighting and can never re-up the tax cuts?

The Senate began its 50-hour debate on the budget framework Tuesday night.

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The budget process is lengthy and arduous. It culminates in a marathon vote series – known as a vote-a-rama Thursday, through Friday and perhaps into the wee hours of Saturday morning.

This onerous exercise is to craft a legislative product which enables Republicans to bypass a Senate filibuster later. However, the proposal must be fiscal in nature and not add to the deficit over a ten-year period.

Here’s something important to know.

The mechanics just spelled out creates nothing more than a shell. This is the legislative chassis I referred to earlier. Both the House and Senate must have this in place to eventually debate substantive and “binding” provisions of legislation down the road – be it border security or massive tax cuts. No “chassis,” then no final bill.

So, this is an important phase in moving the president’s agenda. But not the end result.

Remember what I said about House Republicans writing their bill to appeal to conservatives on the Budget Committee? The maneuver by the GOP brass was to specifically pry a plan out of committee. But adopting that budget proposal on the House floor – let alone the final bill – is a challenge. Some conservatives don’t think the bill cuts enough. Some moderates worry about blowing a hole in the deficit with the tax cuts. High-tax state Republicans – like those from New York and California – may be loath to support the package if it fails to address SALT. That’s the reduction on state and local taxes.

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., is concerned about blowing a hole in the deficit with the tax cuts.

“$4.5 trillion (in tax cuts) does not leave a lot of room to do the president’s priorities. I share a lot of those priorities with the president, particularly as it relates to SALT and reducing taxes for our seniors,” said Malliotakis.

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) listens to testimony from Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, during a hearing of the House Select Committee on the Coronavirus in Washington, D.C., on June 3, 2024. (ALLISON BAILEY/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

One option Republicans are talking about is offsetting some of the tax cuts with money brought in via tariffs. It’s argued they could bring in up to $1 trillion in tariffs annually. But the total goods imported was only a little over $3 trillion.

There is no plan right now to slap a 33% tariff on all goods. So that figure seems to be ambitious.

Also, Republicans can’t technically “count” revenue generated by tariffs toward deficit reduction – unless it’s in the bill. Yes, tariffs could impact the bottom line. Favorably, even. But it’s something the Congressional Budget Office would not evaluate unless it was part of the legislation.

So could lawmakers put tariffs in the bill? Sure. But some Republicans would be loath to vote for that provision. That’s because some would interpret the tariffs as a tax on the public.

But even as the Senate moved ahead, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., referred to Graham’s approach as “a non-starter” in the House.

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This is the parliamentary problem facing Republicans.

“If the House can pass one big beautiful bill and get 218 on it and send it to the Senate, I will tell you right now, we can get 51 votes on that,” said Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., on Fox Business. “I’m just not sure they can do it.”

Mullin went on to characterize the House approach as “having all of our eggs in one basket.”

Senator Markwayne Mullin, a Republican from Oklahoma, speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (Al Drago)

Then came a shot across the Senate’s bow on Wednesday morning.

The president took to Truth Social to undercut Senate Republicans just as they began debate on their slimmer bill.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has been in touch with the White House. But when speaking of the president’s decision, Thune conceded he “didn’t see that one coming.”

Mr. Trump officially endorsed the House GOP’s “one, big beautiful bill” to enact his agenda.

“He’s going to get what he wants. And so he wants one bill,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.

“When he says over and over, ‘I want one bill,’ it kind of seems to me like maybe he wants one bill,” observed Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.

Still, Senate Republicans marched ahead with their own package.

“I just hope that leadership is going to sort this out and not just stick fingers in ears and say, ‘Well, we’re just going to do what we want,’” said Hawley.

Senate GOP brass did not budge.

So, yours truly had a question for Thune.

“Are you defying the president by going ahead with your own budget plan?” I asked.

“We believe that the president also likes optionality,” countered Thune.

President Donald Trump speaks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. (Pool via AP)

The president also called out Graham by name for failing to craft a comprehensive bill. President Trump noted that the House approach “implements my FULL America first agenda.”

Mr. Trump then dispatched Vice President JD Vance to Capitol Hill to meet with Senate Republicans at their weekly luncheon.

“What the post seemed to suggest that we shouldn’t move forward. That was cleared up today. JD says we prefer one bill. I prefer one bill. But we go forward,” said Graham.

So, the Senate moves ahead. However, this is just the first of many steps to implement the president’s agenda.

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And here are the biggest questions on the table right now.

Will the president’s decision to weigh in compel skeptical House Republicans to support the House package?

Can the House approve a plan?

And, can the House and Senate ever approve the same framework – just so they can eventually move ahead to the actual bill?

All answers are unclear.

Speaking at the opening session of the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) on Thursday morning, Vice President JD Vance touted the Trump administration’s success in its first month of restoring “safety and prosperity” to the American people, which he said is the president’s “fundamental goal.”

A week after his fiery speech to European political leaders in Munich, Germany, Vance spoke before a packed house at National Harbor, Maryland, in a conversation-style address with a CPAC organizer.

He said that Trump recognizes that “we have a historical mandate on a few issues,” which he said were cracking down on illegal immigration, restoring American energy dominance and cutting the rampant waste of taxpayer dollars through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). He quipped that in his first thirty days in office, President Donald Trump signed “more executive orders than CNN has viewers.”

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Vice President JD Vance will attend an AI summit in Paris, France, a French official said anonymously. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Addressing the migrant crisis, Vance said: “We have to secure the southern border and thanks to [Trump’s] actions, border crossings are down well over ninety percent and we’re just getting started.”

On the heels of the administration designating several migrant criminal groups – including Tren de Aragua and MS-13 – as foreign terrorist organizations, Vance said that Trump’s message to migrant criminals is “get the hell out of our country because your free ride is over … you’re not welcome.”

Regarding American energy and the economy, Vance said that Trump “recognizes that we have to really unlock the engine of American growth.”

“We’ve got to get back to having a growing economy that creates good jobs and high wages for the American people and a lot of that goes back to ‘drill, baby, drill,’” he said as the crowd broke into applause.

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The official portraits of President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance. (Trump-Vance Transition Team)

The vice president also criticized wasteful government spending under the Biden administration.

“Why are we spending money on progressive, modern art projects centered around toilets in Afghanistan? That’s actually something that your tax dollars were funding until very recently,” he said. “And I think all of us are sitting around and asking, what the hell are we doing with the American people’s money for the last four years?”

“It is easy, unfortunately, to burn the house down. It takes a little bit of time to build it back up and that’s what we have to do,” he continued.

“Look, the fundamental goal of our immigration policy, of our border policy, of DOGE saving taxpayer money, the fundamental goal is we want your children and grandchildren to be able to raise a family in security and comfort in the country that we all love,” he explained. “That is the whole goal of President Trump’s agenda.”

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United States Vice-President JD Vance addresses the audience during the Munich Security Conference at the Bayerischer Hof Hotel in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025.  (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Vance received a massive standing ovation after the CPAC organizer mentioned his Munich speech, in which he spoke about the need for Europe to follow Trump’s example of restricting illegal immigration and restoring free speech.

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“We cannot rebuild Western civilization; we cannot rebuild the United States of America or Europe by letting millions and millions of unvetted illegal migrants come into our country. It has to stop. Thank God it stopped here. But it’s got to stop there,” he said.

“The Biden administration did more to destroy free speech, not just in the United States, but also in Europe than any administration in American history,” he went on. “I’m not even blaming the Europeans. I’m actually saying you followed the lead of Joe Biden into censorship and mass migration, follow the lead of Donald J. Trump and that’s free speech, borders and sovereignty. That is the future for our shared civilization.”

A bipartisan group of lawmakers has introduced a bill that would give parents up to $6,000 per child in expanded tax credits. 

It’s part of a wider piece of legislation called the Affordable Childcare Act, led by Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., and Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa., on the right and Sharice Davids, D-Kan., and Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., on the left.

Both the Republican and Democratic campaigns had called for an expanded child tax credit during the 2024 presidential race, where both sides attempted to make inroads with families struggling to afford care. 

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A new bipartisan bill would expand the child tax credit up to $6,000 per dependent or $12,000 for families of two or more. (iStock/FoxNews)

The current child tax credit levels give parents a refund of up to $2,000 for dependents under age 17. Adults with incomes that exceed $200,000 as a single filer or $400,000 for married couples can still be eligible for a partial credit.

The bipartisan bill would raise the maximum threshold to $6,000 for one dependent and $12,000 for two or more. 

It would also double the tax credit for businesses that facilitate childcare for employees, raising the amount to $300,000 per year for qualifying workplaces.

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Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick is one of the lawmakers leading the bill. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

During the most recent White House campaign, now-Vice President JD Vance and then-Vice President Kamala Harris, who was running for the top of the ticket, called for a $5,000 and $6,000 child tax credit, respectively.

But it’s not certain Congress will find an appetite to work together on such a bill now, given bitter divisions over the government funding process and President Donald Trump’s crackdown on government spending. 

Republicans are also working on a larger tax package that they’re aiming to pass with only GOP votes via the budget reconciliation process.

Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which Republicans are hoping to extend with reconciliation, raised the maximum child tax credit from $1,000 at the time to $2,000.

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If Congress fails to extend Trump’s tax cuts by the end of 2025, the original parameters would be back in place.

The maximum was briefly raised to $3,000 for children ages 6 to 16 and $3,600 for children ages 0 to 5 to help families cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, but those rates were not extended.

The consideration of Linda McMahon to run the Department of Education (DOED) will head to a full Senate vote after the Trump nominee advanced in a heavyweight decision on Thursday.

McMahon testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee during her confirmation hearing last week, when she was grilled on recent spending cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), potentially dismantling the DOED and Title IX.

“We need a strong leader at the department who will get our education system back on track,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said ahead of the committee vote. “Mrs. McMahon is the partner this committee needs.”

On Thursday, the committee voted to advance the nomination of McMahon for Education secretary to a full Senate vote.

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Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of Education, arrives for a hearing of the Health, Education, and Labor Committee on her nomination on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Jacquelyn Martin)

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., spoke in opposition to her nomination during the vote on Thursday. 

“I like her personally. I respect the work she has done in building a large and successful business. But I think the main point that has to be made at this particular point in history is that it really doesn’t matter who the secretary of education or the secretary of labor is, because those people will not be calling the shots,” Sanders said, taking aim at President Donald Trump during his remarks.

McMahon’s nomination now heads to the Senate floor, where the entire chamber will vote on her nomination. At this time, the floor vote has not been scheduled.

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Before entering the political scene, McMahon worked as the CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, which she co-founded with her husband, Vince McMahon.

President Donald Trump has said he wants to close the Department of Education “immediately.” (AP)

During Trump’s first term, McMahon also served as administrator of the Small Business Administration before stepping down in 2019 to “return to the private sector.” 

McMahon is now being considered to head the Education Department, which Trump has said he wants to close “immediately.”

“It’s a big con job,” Trump said the day before McMahon’s confirmation hearing. “They ranked the top countries in the world. We’re ranked No. 40, but we’re ranked No. 1 in one department: cost per pupil. So, we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, but we’re ranked No. 40.”

The president said that if confirmed, he wants McMahon to “put herself out of a job.”

Linda McMahon, former administrator of the Small Business Administration and Education secretary nominee, arrives for a meeting on Capitol Hill. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg)

The Education Department has been under the national spotlight in recent weeks, as DOGE, the department led by Elon Musk to slash federal costs, has cut hundreds of millions of spending on DEI programs being funded by DOED. 

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On Friday, DOGE announced that in just 48 hours, the department terminated 70 DEI training grants within the department, which totaled over $370 million.

FIRST ON FOX: An influential conservative group is throwing its weight behind Elbridge Colby’s nomination to serve in a top position at the Defense Department. 

The Heritage Foundation said, in a memo obtained by Fox News Digital, that Colby is “without question the most influential defense policy thinker in over twenty years.”

“For far too long, the United States has employed the Department of Defense – and the men and women of the U.S. military – to engage in activities that were not central to American interests,” the letter read. 

“From peacekeeping operations in far-flung theaters, to nation-building among cultures riddled with ethno-sectarian and religious strife, to democracy building in areas with no history of the rule of law, the Department of Defense has spent much of the post-Cold War era expending resources and American lives in conducting operations that are tangential to U.S. interests.”

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Heritage released a letter Thursday supporting Elbridge Colby to serve as undersecretary of defense for policy. (Dominic Gwinn/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

MAGA loyalists have muscled Republicans who are hesitant of Colby’s nomination to serve as undersecretary of defense for policy, mostly over his realist worldview. 

Colby has suggested that the U.S. living with a nuclear Iran is more plausible than countering the country’s nuclear assets, a position that has reportedly prompted concern for Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., a member of the Armed Services Committee, which will vote on Colby’s nomination first. 

Colby is “the single best person to implement President Trump’s and Secretary Hegseth’s policies within the Department of Defense and ensure that American lives and resources are used judiciously against prioritized threats,” according to Heritage.

The current acting undersecretary of defense for policy, Alex Velez-Green, was plucked for the administration while working as a policy advisor for the Heritage Foundation’s Center for National Defense.

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Vice President JD Vance expressed support for the Trump nominee, writing, “Bridge has consistently been correct about the big foreign policy debates of the last 20 years.”

“He was critical of the Iraq War, which made him unemployable in the 2000s era conservative movement. He built a relationship with [the Center for a New American Security] when it was one of the few institutions that would even hire a foreign policy realist,” Vance said. 

Heritage called Colby the “single best person” to implement the Trump and Hegseth agenda. (DefSec Hegseth on X)

Colby, who worked at the Pentagon during Trump’s first term, has long asserted the U.S. should limit its resources in the Middle East and refocus on China as the bigger threat. 

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, told Roll Call that Colby’s nomination posts “a concern to a number of senators.” 

Colby served in the first Trump administration as deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development and was the primary author of the 2018 U.S. National Security Strategy. 

Donald Trump Jr. wrote of Colby in an op-ed for Human Events on Tuesday: “He starts off in exactly the right place – with the concrete interests of the American people, not abstractions like ‘the rules based international order’ or spreading democracy in the Middle East.” 

Meanwhile, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk accused Cotton over the weekend of “working behind the scenes” to kill Colby’s nomination. 

“Colby is one of the most important pieces to stop the Bush/Cheney cabal at DOD,” Kirk wrote in a post on X. “Why is Tom Cotton doing this?”

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Elon Musk echoed Kirk’s post: “Why the opposition to Bridge? What does he think Bridge will do?”

Cotton will meet with Colby in the coming days before making up his mind on how to vote, sources told Fox News Digital. 

Fox News’ Julia Johnson and Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump’s approval rating remains higher than at any point during his first term in office, according to a new poll from CNN.

The Thursday poll shows Trump at 47% approval rating with 52% disapproval. The poll found that a plurality of Americans, 28%, say Trump’s “single most significant” action has been securing the border, followed by his slashing of government with Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency at 12%.

Meanwhile, many Americans say they want Trump to do more to address everyday prices. According to the poll, 62% of Americans say he hasn’t gone far enough on the issue, including 47% of Republicans, 65% of independents and 73% of Democrats.

CNN conducted its poll from Feb. 13-17, surveying 1,206 U.S. adults in both English and Spanish. The poll advertises a margin of error of 3.1%.

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President Donald Trump sits at a 47% approval rating, according to a new poll from CNN. (AP)

CNN’s poll comes on the heels of three other polls that were released Wednesday.

Forty-five percent of voters questioned in a Quinnipiac University survey said they approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president, with 49% disapproving.

That’s down from a 46%-43% approval/disapproval in a Quinnipiac poll conducted in late January, during the president’s first week back in office following his inauguration.

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Trump has signed a slew of executive orders since entering office last month. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Another national poll from Gallup indicated the president at 45% approval and 51% disapproval, down from 47%-48% approval/disapproval late last month.

And according to a Reuters/Ipsos national survey also released on Wednesday, the president stood at 44% approval and 51% disapproval. Trump registered at 45%-46% approval/disapproval in the previous poll by Reuters/Ipsos, which was conducted late last month during the first week of the president’s second administration.

The latest Quinnipiac poll was conducted Feb. 13-17, with Gallup in the field Feb. 3-16, and Reuters/Ipsos conducting their survey Feb. 13-18.

A CNN poll says Trump’s immigration actions have been the most significant part of his presidency so far. (White House)

New surveys this week from other polling organizations indicate Trump’s approval ratings remain above water.

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Trump has kept up a frenetic pace during his opening weeks back in the White House, with an avalanche of executive orders and actions. His moves not only fulfilled some of his major campaign trail promises, but also allowed the returning president to flex his executive muscles, quickly put his stamp on the federal government, make major cuts to the federal workforce, and also settle some longstanding grievances.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump floated the idea of delivering 20% of savings from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) directly to the American people on Wednesday.

Trump said 20% of the savings could be delivered to U.S. citizens in personal checks to taxpaying households, while another 20% would be used to pay down the national debt. 

“There’s even under consideration a new concept where we give 20% of the DOGE savings to American citizens, and 20% goes to paying down debt, because the numbers are incredible,” Trump told reporters during an event at Miami Beach, Florida.

Users on X, formerly Twitter, first pitched the idea of a “DOGE dividend” to Elon Musk earlier this week, suggesting payouts of $5,000. The billionaire Tesla owner said he would “check with the president” about the plan.

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President Donald Trump is considering the idea of a “DOGE dividend” for Americans. (Fox News / Special Report)

A reporter asked Trump about the proposal directly during Wednesday night’s event in Florida.

“I love it,” Trump said. “A 20% dividend, so to speak, for the money that we’re saving by going after the waste, fraud and abuse and all of the other things that are happening. I think it’s a great idea.”

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Trump went on to suggest that the dividend could serve as an incentive for Americans to report government waste on their own, according to NBC News.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) savings could be used for direct payments to Americans. (Musk: Reuters / Money: iStock / Trump: Getty)

DOGE so far claims to have saved some $55 billion via cuts to USAID, the Department of Education, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Some of DOGE’s cost-cutting efforts are under legal challenge, however.

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DOGE is currently planned to exist only through July 4, 2026, after which the organization will be dissolved. 

Trump has not clarified what his administration would do with the remaining 60% of DOGE savings if he moves forward with the plan.

A federal judge in D.C. peppered Justice Department lawyers with hypothetical questions and video game references as she presided over the second day of oral arguments about the Trump administration’s attempt to restrict or ban transgender U.S. service members in the military. 

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes searched in vain for answers to key questions about the nature of a Jan. 27 executive order signed by President Donald Trump that requires the Defense Department to update its guidance regarding “trans-identifying medical standards for military service” and to “rescind guidance inconsistent with military readiness.” 

Though Trump has instructed that “radical gender ideology” be banned from all military branches, the executive order did not explain how the Pentagon should do this – a lack of clarity that Judge Reyes, a Biden appointee, zeroed in on Wednesday. 

For a second day, Judge Reyes led the court through a dizzying-fast line of questions that whipsawed between real and hypothetical, fact and fiction, and was flecked with her own sarcastic quips and observations. 

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U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes is pictured with a group of protesters (Getty Images / YouTube / SenatorDurbin)

At one point, Judge Reyes ticked through a list of actions the Trump administration has taken in the past three weeks against transgender persons, including moving to revoke a regulation that ensured trans-identifying individuals have equal access to homeless shelters. 

Judge Reyes then asked the Justice Department lawyers to tell her whether, in their view, such actions are discriminatory. 

“What do you think Jesus would say,” Reyes proceeded to ask, about an action that revokes a transgender person’s access to homeless shelters? 

“Do you think he’d say ‘sounds right to me’ or ‘WTF, let them in?'”

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President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House, where he signed an executive order, on Thursday, Feb. 13. (AP/Ben Curtis)

Jason Lynch, the Justice Department lawyer, told the court that the government did not have an answer as to what Jesus would think.

The pace of the back-and-forth kept both plaintiffs for the transgender service members and the Trump administration’s lawyers on their toes, even if it did little, in the near-term, to effectuate an actual court ruling or answer any outstanding questions about the executive order, which is extremely scant on details.

The Trump administration and DOJ lawyers have declined to answer Reyes’s questions over whether they can ensure plaintiffs in the case will not be removed from their roles in the military or face discrimination as a direct result of the executive order. The Justice Department, for its part, has described the order as not a ban but a pause, which Lynch said will allow the Defense Department time to align its policy with Trump’s order.

During the second day of oral arguments, Reyes appeared exasperated and did little to disguise her displeasure with the order itself, which she described as expressing “unadulterated animus” towards transgender service members.

Reyes did concede that there is an obvious national interest in ensuring the U.S. military is prepared.

“It is the greatest fighting force this world has ever seen, and we want to keep it that way – I’ve got that part,” the judge said. “So how does this executive order effectuate that policy?”

“By telling the Department of Defense to issue a policy within 30 days,” Lynch responded.

“Oh, okay, any policy?” Judge Reyes quipped.

She then outlined a hypothetical situation in which she, as head of the Pentagon, issued a policy that all DOD units be equipped with Miss Pac-Man machines – a game she noted she has in her own chambers, and plays from time to time to let off steam. 

 DOGE SCORES BIG COURT WIN, ALLOWED ACCESS DATA ON 3 FEDERAL AGENCIES

A transgender rights supporter takes part in a rally outside of the U.S. Supreme Court as oral arguments begin in a case on transgender health rights on Dec. 4, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty )

“So I’m now Secretary of Defense, I’m thinking about how to make my military best prepared,” Reyes said. “And I think people need to let off steam every once in a while. So I’m going to issue a policy that Miss Pac-Man machines should be in every unit.” 

“Would that be consistent,” she challenged Lynch, with the 30-day policy?

Lynch said that would be for the president to decide.

Putting aside whether the order discriminates on the basis of sex, Reyes asked the DOJ attorneys, “you agree the order penalizes on basis of sex, right? How is that not a sex-based classification?”

The judge has made clear she will not rule on the executive action until the Trump administration outlines its policy – including how, or to what extent, transgender service members might be impacted. 

But she continued to probe Lynch, whom she reminded Tuesday is technically acting as the legal representative for the Trump administration.

“I mean, I have no one else to ask, right?” Judge Reyes asked Lynch, before amending the question mark in her voice.

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“You are the person I have to ask,” she told him.

The transgender military policy is slated to take effect Feb. 28, and the court has set a March 3 hearing date to consider the executive order. 

Fox News’s Jake Gibson contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: A former Democrat fundraiser and political strategist is responding to questions about her leaving the party, saying she “didn’t plan” on making the exit and “had no choice but to leave the cult.”

“I’m the only one from the campaign telling the truth,” Lindy Li, who fundraised for Democrats in the 2024 presidential election, told Fox News Digital in an interview. “DNC leadership responded to my questions with deeply personal attacks. I had no choice but to leave the cult and am finally free to return to my roots as a conservative.”

Piers Morgan said in a post on X he was “confused” by one of Li’s posts during the campaign, where she is pictured with presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and said that she “already voted” for her in Pennsylvania.

Former Democrat fundraiser Lindy Li, left, and former Democrat presidential nominee Vice President Harris (Getty Images)

“I’m confused. On Monday, you told me you didn’t vote for Kamala in the 2024 election. But you posted this on your X account on October 3. Though oddly, you have now deleted it overnight. What’s going on?” Morgan wrote Wednesday.

‘WOKE IS THEIR GOD’: EX-DEM FUNDRAISER SAYS PARTY ‘IN SHAMBLES’ AFTER 2024 ELECTION LOSSES

Lindy Li previously worked on the Democrat’s 2024 presidential campaign. (X)

Li, responding to the question, said that as a surrogate of the Harris campaign, she “didn’t want to hurt Harris by disclosing I didn’t vote for her” and felt a “responsibility” to “see the campaign through,” despite personal objections. 

DEMOCRATIC OPERATIVES FREAKED OUT THAT THE PARTY WON’T HAVE ‘COME-TO-JESUS’ MOMENT AFTER TRUMP WIN: NYT

“As a public-facing surrogate of the campaign and a member of the team, I had a responsibility to see the campaign through, despite my personal objections — supporting Harris through Election Day was the right thing to do,” Li told Fox News Digital. 

“I didn’t leave the DNC. They pushed me out for simply asking for accountability for how the billions of dollars were spent.”

Lindy Li spoke with Fox News Digital about the state of the Democratic Party. (Fox News Digital)

Li was a well-known fundraiser for the Democrats’ 2024 presidential campaign before announcing her exit from the party in December after she said she was ostracized for criticizing then-Democrat presidential nominee Harris.

The former Democrat said her decision to leave the party “wasn’t easy” but was the “result of a decade-long progression.”

Lindy Li ran for congress in 2015 in Pennsylvania. (Charles Ommanney/Washington Post)

“It took a while for me to get here over the course of the past year. I just realized that the values of the Democratic Party are so incongruous to mine,” Li told Fox. “It just contradicts everything I believe, everything from open borders to woke and DEI insanity. It’s just not my party anymore.”

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“No one is contradicting me on the facts, they are coming after me as a person,” Li said, telling Fox that she is already working on fundraising for the GOP for the 2026 midterms.

Fox News Digital reached out to the DNC for comment.

EXCLUSIVE – Vice President JD Vance is expected to spotlight President Donald Trump’s avalanche of activity since returning to the White House a month ago, as he kicks off the Conservative Political Action Conference, better known by its acronym CPAC.

Vance is no stranger to CPAC, but on Thursday morning at the opening session at National Harbor, Maryland, just outside the nation’s capital, he’ll address the confab for the first time since his inauguration last month as Vice President of the United States.

“The Vice President is expected to emphasize the historic rate of achievement during President Trump’s first month in office,” a source familiar shared first with Fox News ahead of Vance’s CPAC appearance.

 President Donald Trump (right) and Vice President J.D. Vance, at an Inauguration Day rally inside Capital One Arena, in Washington D.C. on January 20, 2025. (REUTERS/Mike Segar)

According to the source, the vice president is expected to focus on the Trump/Vance administration’s efforts towards “securing the homeland and deporting violent illegal immigrants, unleashing American energy & fueling our economy, protecting American workers & promoting domestic manufacturing,” and “re-establishing American strength at home & abroad.”

The vice president will make his points as he takes part in a fireside chat with Mercedes Schlapp, the veteran Republican political and communications strategist who is a senior fellow at the American Conservative Union, the group that hosts CPAC.

Vance has been a regular at the conference in recent years, dating back to his successful 2022 campaign for the Senate in Ohio. And last October, as he crisscrossed the national campaign trail as Donald Trump’s 2024 running mate, Vance also spoke at a CPAC-hosted townhall in battleground Arizona.

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS’ REPORTING, ANALYSIS, OPINION ON VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE

JD Vance speaks on stage during the CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) Texas 2022 conference, on Aug. 18, 2022, in Dallas. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images) (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

CPAC, which dates back to 1974, is the nation’s oldest and largest annual gathering of conservative leaders and activists. In the years since Trump first won the White House in 2016, it has been dominated by legions of MAGA loyalists and America First disciples who hold immense sway over the GOP.

Vance, who served two years in the Senate before being elected vice president, has been considered a key player in helping the GOP-controlled chamber confirm Trump’s Cabinet nominees at a brisk pace.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON CPAC

And Vance made major headlines earlier this month at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, when he used his first major speech as vice president to deliver a blistering address directed at Europe’s political class.

Vice President JD Vance gives a speech at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, Germany on February 14, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis (REUTERS/Leah Millis)

Trump’s naming last summer of Vance – a former venture capitalist and the author of the bestselling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” before running for elective office – as his running was seen as a sign that the now 40-year-old politician was the heir apparent to Trump and his movement.

Trump praised Vance in a recent interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier on “Special Report” for “doing a fantastic job,”

WATCH: TRUMP SITS DOWN WITH FOX NEWS’ BRET BAIER ON “SPECIAL REPORT”

But asked by Baier if he viewed Vance as his successor and the Republican nominee in 2028, the term-limited Trump said, “No, but he’s very capable.”

“It’s too early. We’re just starting,” Trump added.

Questions about 2028 may be hanging over Vance at CPAC, which has long held a closely watched GOP presidential nomination straw poll.

Vance, in an interview earlier this month with FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures,” was asked about the next White House race.

“We’ll see what happens come 2028, but the way I think about this is the best thing for my future is actually the best thing for the American people, which is that we do a really good job over the next three and a half years,” the vice president said.

Vance noted that “we’ll cross that political bridge when we come to it. I’m not thinking about running for president. I’m thinking about doing a good job for the American people and I think the best way to do that is to make sure that President Trump is a success.”

CPAC announced on Wednesday night what was widely expected, that Trump will close out the conference with a Saturday address, where he’ll likely take a victory lap for his convincing 2024 presidential election victory, which cemented his massive grip over the Republican Party.

Then-former President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux) (AP)

The president, long a major draw at CPAC, returns in triumph thanks to his recapturing of the White House, along with the GOP’s flipping the Senate majority from blue to red, and the party’s successful defense of their fragile control of the House.

Trump has been a regular at CPAC since 2011, since the then business mogul and reality TV star gave his first speech at the confab, in what would be an appetizer for his first White House campaign four years later.

Trump used his 2011 speech to tease a potential 2012 presidential run that never materialized, telling the crowd that if he did run, “our country will be great again.”

“CPAC is where he developed his antennae. He appeared for several years while he was the host of ‘The Apprentice,'” former longtime CPAC communications director Ian Walters noted. “He learned how to arouse the crowd, how to toss red meat.”

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And Trump, at an extreme political low point after leaving the White House in January 2021 following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters aiming to upend congressional certification of former President Biden’s 2020 election victory, gave his first post-presidency speech at CPAC.

Walters told Fox News that the address, where Trump teased a 2024 White House run, “provided him a reliable and predictable opportunity with an audience largely of his supporters.”

President Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday aimed at eliminating a handful of federal advisory committees. 

The order targets the Presidio Trust, the Inter-American Foundation, the United States African Development Foundation and the United States Institute of Peace – all of which have received federal funding. 

It comes as the president has been working along with Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to aggressively reduce the size of the federal government and minimize government waste and abuse to reduce inflation.

TRUMP SIGNS ORDER INSTRUCTING DOGE TO MASSIVELY CUT FEDERAL WORKFORCE

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House, where he signed an executive order, on Thursday, Feb. 13. (AP/Ben Curtis)

Cutting these governmental entities and federal advisory committees will save taxpayer dollars, reduce unnecessary government spending, and streamline government priorities, according to Trump’s administration.

The named organizations were given 14 days to submit reports to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB Director) confirming that they are compliant and to give an explanation if any part of their government entity is required and to what extent.

In addition, the Administrator of USAID was asked to terminate the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid. The Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection will have to terminate the Academic Research Council and the Credit Union Advisory Council. The FDIC Board will be required to terminate the Community Bank Advisory Council. The Secretary of Health and Human Services has been asked to terminate the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Long COVID and the Administrator of CMS has to terminate the Health Equity Advisory Committee.

DC FEDERAL WORKERS IN A ‘PANIC’ OVER NOVEL EXPERIENCE OF JOB INSECURITY WITH JOB CUTS

President Donald Trump and DOGE head Elon Musk address attempts to portray a rivalry between the pair on a ‘Hannity’ exclusive, airing Tuesday, February 18. (Fox News)

The newly signed executive order coincides with one Trump signed Tuesday instructing DOGE to coordinate with federal agencies and execute massive cuts in federal government staffing numbers.  

That order instructed DOGE and federal agencies to work together to “significantly” shrink the size of the federal government and limit hiring new employees, according to a White House fact sheet. Specifically, agencies must not hire more than one employee for every four that leave their federal post. 

Agencies will also be instructed to “undertake plans for large-scale reductions in force” and evaluate ways to eliminate or combine agency functions that aren’t legally required.

Elon Musk and President Donald Trump talk about DOGE’s efforts to investigate wasteful U.S. government spending from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 11, 2025. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump is also requiring that within 30 days of the order, the President’s assistants for National Security Affairs, Economic Policy, and Domestic Policy identify and submit a list of additional committees and boards for termination.

The Trump administration stated that the American people elected President Trump to drain the swamp and end ineffective government programs that empower government without achieving measurable results.

Trump also voiced he wants to provide voters what they want – to tackle “all of this “horrible stuff going on” – and told reporters that he hoped the court system would cooperate. 

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“I hope that the court system is going to allow us to do what we have to do,” Trump said, adding that he would always abide by a court’s ruling but will be prepared to appeal.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order late Wednesday night ending the use of taxpayer money for federal resources supporting illegal immigration and illegal aliens.

The Trump administration said the goal of the executive order is to ensure “taxpayer resources are used to protect the interests of American citizens, not illegal aliens.”

Under the order, federal departments and agencies must identify and end all federally funded programs providing financial benefits to illegal aliens. It also aims to ensure federal funds are not being used to support “sanctuary” policies.

“President Trump is committed to safeguarding Federal public benefits for American citizens who are truly in need, including individuals with disabilities and veterans,” a White House fact sheet on the executive order said.

TRUMP EXPECTED TO SIGN EXECUTIVE ORDER TERMINATING ALL FEDERAL TAXPAYER BENEFITS TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order ending the use of federal taxpayer money for resources supporting illegal immigration and illegal aliens. (Reuters)

The surge in illegal immigration over the past four years has come at a high price, costing American taxpayers an estimated $451 billion to care for illegal aliens and gotaways in the U.S. unlawfully since January 2021, according to the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee.

The executive order cited calculations from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which stated that American taxpayers have spent at least $182 billion annually to cover the costs of 20 million illegal aliens and their children. While that number includes $66.5 billion in federal expenses, an additional $115.6 billion has come from state and local expenses.

The Center for Immigration Studies also estimated that one million illegal aliens could cost American taxpayers $3 billion annually through welfare programs, which are not supposed to be available to those unlawfully in the U.S. per the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996.

Though, illegal aliens granted parole become classified as “qualified aliens” when it comes to welfare programs, allowing them to become eligible for various benefits with full eligibility granted within five years.

TOP FEDERAL AGENCY EXPOSED FOR SPENDING BILLIONS ON MIGRANTS IN A SINGLE YEAR

The Trump administration also called out former President Joe Biden and his administration for its “enabling” of illegal immigration and allocation of funds to support the crime.

Seen from an aerial view, immigrants try to pass over razor wire after crossing the border into El Paso, Texas, in May 2024. Those who managed to get through the wire were then allowed to proceed for further processing by U.S. Border Patrol agents. (John Moore)

The executive order stated that federal and state taxpayers paid more than $16.2 billion to provide Medicaid-funded emergency services to illegal aliens through Biden’s open borders agenda – an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office.

“The Biden Administration gave billions in taxpayer dollars to left-wing groups that facilitated mass illegal migration and provided legal services to challenge deportation orders,” the fact sheet continued.

It was also shared that FEMA has allocated more than $1 billion to illegal aliens since 2021.

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The move comes in accordance with promises made by Trump during his presidential campaign to secure the borders and put America first.

President Donald Trump heavily campaigned on his promises to put American first and to immediately close America’s borders. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“President Trump has delivered on his promise to secure the border and prioritize the needs of American citizens, taking immediate action to put an end to the previous Administration’s border crisis,” the fact sheet stated before listing other immigration-related moves made by Trump since he took office on Jan. 20.

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he supports GOP-led efforts in Congress to put Washington, D.C., back under direct federal control.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump complained about crime and homelessness in the nation’s capital.

“I think we should take over Washington, D.C., — make it safe,” Trump said, adding: “I think that we should govern [the] District of Columbia.”

NINTH CIRCUIT REJECTS TRUMP’S BID TO REINSTATE BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP ORDER

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk arrive at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Wednesday, Feb. 19, after returning from Florida. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Per the city’s Home Rule authority, Congress vets all D.C. laws and can overturn them, but some congressional Republicans want to go further by putting the District under direct federal control, as it was at its founding.

Trump said he liked DC Mayor Muriel Bowser personally, but complained about the city’s governance.

President Trump said while he likes DC Mayor Muriel Bowser personally, he doesn’t think the nation’s capital is being governed well. (Robb Hill for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

“They’re not doing the job,” Trump said, arguing that there was “too much crime, too much – too many tents on the lawns – these magnificent lawns.”

GOP SENATORS BACK TRUMP’S DEMAND FOR UKRAINE ELECTIONS, BUT WON’T CALL ZELENSKYY ‘DICTATOR’

He argued that he can’t have sights of homelessness when he hosts foreign leaders in Washington. 

President Donald Trump said he supports putting Washington, D.C., back under direct federal control while complaining to reporters about crime and homelessness in the nation’s capital. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“You just can’t let that happen,” Trump said. “You can’t have tents on all your beautiful — your once magnificent plaza and lawns.”

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Fox News Digital has reached out to the mayor’s office for comment. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

MISSION, Texas – U.S. Border Patrol agents encountered nearly 220 people on Monday, a sharp decline from more than 1,800 on the same day last year.

As part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown, the Coast Guard has ramped up its operations along the Rio Grande.

The U.S. Coast Guard is increasing its presence alongside Border Patrol, bolstering operations with additional boats and personnel.

TRUMP RAMPS UP CARTEL SURVEILLANCE EFFORTS TO STRENGTHEN BORDER SECURITY 

United States and U.S. Coast Guard flags are displayed on a Coast Guard vessel.  (Sarah Alegre )

“We are augmenting our Border Patrol partners in key areas along the Rio Grande,” said Capt. Torrey Bertheau, sector commander for Corpus Christi. “Our mission is to detect, deter, and interdict illegal migration, drug smuggling—really any kind of illicit activity.”

We embedded alongside the Coast Guard for a look at operations and activity along the Rio Grande, when the crew encountered a suspected cartel spotter along the riverbank, a common tactic used by smugglers to monitor law enforcement movements.

BORDER STATE OFFICIALS PUT CARTELS ON NOTICE 

U.S. Coast Guard Captain Torrey Burtheau points to debris belonging to suspected smugglers along the Rio Grande.  (Sarah Alegre)

Since Trump took office last month, border crossings have dropped significantly. According to new data from Customs and Border Protection, 61,465 people were apprehended at the southern border during the month of January for illegal crossings. That’s a 36% decline from the previous month and illegal crossings along the southwest border have fallen to their lowest levels in decades. 

Despite the decline, Bertheau emphasized that smuggling operations continue.

“This is still a high-threat area,” he said. “The augmentation mission here is really to assist the Border Patrol in the areas that they need it.”

ACTIVISTS IN MEXICO REPORT FLOW OF MIGRANTS HAS ‘ENORMOUSLY DECREASED’

A boat is filled with U.S. Coast Guard crew members assisting Border Patrol agents along the Rio Grande.  (Sarah Alegre)

Beyond the river, the Coast Guard is also stepping up patrols along all Texas maritime boundaries. Last week in Port Isabel, guardsmen detained two individuals aboard a fishing boat—one was in the country illegally, and the other was wanted on felony weapons charges.

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“Whether the surge is happening or not, our goal is to ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the United States is protected,” Bertheau said.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the Trump administration’s ban on birth order immigration from taking force on Wednesday, a legal blow that could kick the issue into the hands of the Supreme Court.

The appellate judges ruled unanimously that the administration failed to show that it was likely to succeed on the merits of its appeal, prompting the panel to rule 3-0 against hearing their emergency request. 

“The emergency motion for a partial stay of the district court’s February 6, 2025, preliminary injunction is denied,” the judges wrote.

TRUMP ADMIN APPEALS RULING BLOCKING BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP

President Donald Trump speaks during an executive order signing in the Oval Office at the White House on February 11, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The ruling leaves in place a Seattle district court’s decision to temporarily block the executive order from coming into force. The court said Wednesday it will proceed with its June deadline to consider more closely the merits of the case.

To date, no court has sided with the Trump administration’s executive order seeking to ban birthright citizenship, though multiple district courts have blocked it from taking effect. 

The Justice Department, for its part, has sought to characterize the order as an “integral part of President Trump’s broader effort to repair the United States’ immigration system, and to address the ongoing crisis at the southern border.”

TRUMP TO SIGN EXECUTIVE ORDER INSTRUCTING AGENCIES TO HUNT DOWN REGULATIONS THAT VIOLATE CONSTITUTION

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services seal is displayed on a mobile phone screen. (Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The executive order banning birthright citizenship was slated to come into force Feb. 19, and would have impacted the hundreds of thousands of children born in the U.S. annually.  

To date, at least 22 U.S. states and immigrants’ rights groups have sued the Trump administration over the ban on birthright citizenship, arguing in court filings that the executive order is both unconstitutional and “unprecedented.”

The executive order in question sought to clarify the 14th Amendment, which states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

Instead, the language put forth by the Trump administration, and subsequently blocked – would have clarified that individuals born to illegal immigrant parents, or those who were here legally but on temporary non-immigrant visas, are not citizens by birthright.

LAWSUIT TRACKER: NEW RESISTANCE BATTLING TRUMP’S SECOND TERM THROUGH ONSLAUGHT OF LAWSUITS TAKING AIM AT EOS

Protesters chant during a rally against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies in New York City on Jan. 29. (Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The U.S. is one of roughly 30 countries where birthright citizenship is applied.

States who have challenged the law have argued that the 14th Amendment does in fact guarantee citizenship to persons born on U.S. soil and naturalized in the U.S.

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Several district courts across the country previously have blocked the order, prompting the Trump administration to file for emergency relief earlier this month. 

Should the Trump administration appeal the Ninth Circuit Court decision to the Supreme Court, it would go to Justice Elena Kagan, who is the Justice overseeing the 9th Circuit.  

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the agency to develop plans to slash 8% from the Department of Defense budget in each of the next five years to align with President Donald Trump’s priorities, specifically to achieve peace through strength, officials said.  

Hegseth is asking for plans in an effort to identify offsets from the Biden administration’s fiscal year 2026 budget that could be realigned from low-impact and low-priority Biden-legacy programs, a statement from Pentagon spokesman Robert Salesses said. 

LAWSUIT TRACKER: NEW RESISTANCE BATTLING TRUMP’S SECOND TERM THROUGH ONSLAUGHT OF LAWSUITS TAKING AIM AT EOS

Aerial view of the Pentagon. The Defense Department is expected to enact layoffs after members of DOGE arrived, according to a Washington Post report.  (DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images)

Hegseth ordered the proposed cuts to be drawn up by Monday, according to a memo. 

“The time for preparation is over. We must act urgently to revive the warrior ethos, rebuild our military, and reestablish deterrence,” Hegseth wrote. “Our budget will resource the fighting force we need, cease unnecessary defense spending, reject excessive bureaucracy, and drive actionable reform including progress on the audit.”

The Washington Post first reported the memo. Fox News Digital has reached out to the Pentagon. 

Salesses said that the money saved could be used to realign the defense agency towards Trump’s new priorities, including the “Iron Dome for America,” his catchphrase for a missile defense system.

 DOGE SCORES BIG COURT WIN, ALLOWED ACCESS DATA ON 3 FEDERAL AGENCIES

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth delivers remarks during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Pentagon on Feb. 5 in Arlington, Va.  (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“The Department of Defense is conducting this review to ensure we are making the best use of the taxpayers’ dollars in a way that delivers on President Trump’s defense priorities efficiently and effectively,” he said. 

“The Department will develop a list of potential offsets that could be used to fund these priorities, as well as to refocus the Department on its core mission of deterring and winning wars,” he added. “The offsets are targeted at 8% of the Biden Administration’s FY26 budget, totaling around $50 billion, which will then be spent on programs aligned with President Trump’s priorities.”

The cuts will allow the Defense Department to halt all unnecessary spending that set the military back under the Biden administration through climate change and other “woke” programs, Salesses said. Hegseth has stressed that the U.S. aims to “revive the warrior ethos.”

Pentagon schools accused of woke indoctrination (MARTIN BUREAU/AFP via Getty Image | PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP via Getty Images)

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The request for cuts comes amid a separate order from the Trump administration to fire thousands of probationary DOD employees, which is being overseen by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump will sign an executive order Wednesday that will require federal agencies to evaluate all of their regulations that could violate the Constitution in the latest effort from his administration to prioritize slashing red tape. 

The executive order — which senior administration officials are calling a first of its kind and an attempt to ensure the government isn’t weaponized against the American people — will require agencies to submit a list to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) within the next 60 days of all regulations that could violate the Constitution or could cause harm.

OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) and the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will spearhead the effort and evaluate regulations across the federal agencies, senior administration officials told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. 

DOGE officials at federal agencies will gather an inventory of regulations that could violate the Constitution and then share them with OMB. After the 60 days, the OIRA will go through the list of regulations and make individual decisions on which are unconstitutional and will launch the process of repealing the regulations on a case-by-case basis, the senior administration officials said. 

OIRA oversees executive branch regulations, while the newly created DOGE aims to eliminate government waste, fraud and spending. 

HERE’S THE ARGUMENT TRUMP HOPES WILL NET FIRST MAJOR SCOTUS WIN IN SECOND TERM 

President Donald Trump has signed more than 60 executive orders during his second term as president. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The order comes as the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled against federal agencies who have sought to broadly enforce their own regulations outside the scope of their jurisdiction, including when the Supreme Court ruled against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in May 2023 in the case Sackett v. EPA. 

In that case, Mike and Chantell Sackett purchased a residential lot near Priest Lake, Idaho, in 2005 to build a home. However, the EPA stepped in as the Sacketts kicked off leveling the ground and told them to halt plans to start construction — or face massive fines — because the property fell on federally protected land covered under the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act of 1972. 

The law sets standards for regulating pollutants into “waters of the United States,” and Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the majority opinion that the EPA sought to classify the wetlands on the Sacketts’ property as “waters of the United States” because they were “near a ditch that fed into a creek, which fed into Priest Lake, a navigable, intrastate lake.” 

Ultimately, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that the Clean Water Act applies only to waters that are “relatively permanent, standing, or continuously flowing bodies of water.” 

TRUMP ADMIN SEEKS PERMISSION TO FIRE HEAD OF THE OFFICE OF SPECIAL COUNSEL

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the Environmental Protection Agency in May 2023 in the case Sackett v. EPA, which sought to determine which waters were covered by the Clean Water Act. (The Associated Press)

“Understanding the (Clean Water Act) to apply to wetlands that are distinguishable from otherwise covered ‘waters of the United States’ would substantially broaden (existing statute) to define ‘navigable waters’ as ‘waters of the United States and adjacent wetlands,'” Alito wrote.

Wednesday’s executive order will build on the Trump administration’s efforts to cut down on regulations. 

For example, Trump signed an executive order in January ordering that federal agencies eradicate 10 regulations for every new one implemented. 

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Trump said at the World Economic Forum oln Jan. 23 that his administration would launch the “largest deregulation campaign in history, far exceeding even the record-setting efforts of my last term.”

Previous steps Trump took during his first term to cut regulations included ordering federal agencies to nix two regulations for every new regulation issued. The White House has touted that agencies ultimately cut five and half regulations for every new one introduced during Trump’s first term. 

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., is seeing more staff turnover as he fosters his reputation as a sometimes-rebellious Democrat. 

Two top staffers are leaving Fetterman, a source familiar confirmed to Fox News Digital.

Both Deputy Chief of Staff and Legislative Director Tré Easton and Communications Director Charlie Hills decided to leave the Pennsylvania senator’s office, as NBC News first reported. 

SCOOP: TOP GOP SEN. COTTON TO MEET WITH EMBATTLED TRUMP DEFENSE NOMINEE AS DOUBTS SWIRL

Fetterman suffered more staff departures as he continues to buck his party.  (Getty Images)

In a statement, Easton said, “Working for John afforded me the opportunity to build a diligent policy team from scratch,” per NBC News. 

“Together we created a legislative body of work that I think is a blueprint for how Democrats should be governing when they have power. I’ll forever be grateful,” he continued. 

Easton and Hills are only the latest departures from the controversial Democrat’s office. 

In early 2024, three communications staffers for the senator all left within the span of one month. Former Communications Joe Calvello, former Deputy Communication Director Nicholas Gavio and former Digital Aide Emma Mustion each departed, taking on roles with other Democratic lawmakers and with a progressive political party, respectively. 

BATTLE OF THE CHAMBERS: TRUMP BUDGET TEST VOTE CLEARED IN SENATE AS HOUSE GOP LAGS BEHIND

The senator has developed a reputation for sometimes bucking his party.  (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

The departures didn’t end there, however. 

After getting a new communications chief in Carrie Adams, she virtually disappeared from the Senate hallways after publicly disagreeing with Fetterman in an August 2024 conversation with the Free Press. 

“I don’t agree with him,” the publication quoted Adams as saying about her boss’ stance on Israel and its war with Hamas. 

Her absence around the Capitol left reporters wondering whether she was still in the senator’s office. 

It wasn’t reported until last month that Adams had stopped working for Fetterman. 

MCCONNELL’S MENTAL ACUITY TARGETED BY TRUMP AFTER EX-SENATE LEADER JOINS DEMS AGAINST CABINET NOMINEES

Fetterman has been outspoken in support of Israel.  (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Since entering the Senate, Fetterman has made waves due, in part, to his colorful vocabulary and also his willingness to cross the aisle and side with Republicans, particularly when it comes to supporting Israel. 

The Democrat notably expressed openness to President Donald Trump’s proposal to annex Gaza, bringing it under U.S. control. “It’s a provocative part of the conversation, but it’s part of the conversation, and that’s where we are,” he told Jewish Insider. 

Fetterman has also been willing to buck his party on illegal immigration. He signed onto Republicans’ Laken Riley Act recently, an immigration bill deemed too harsh and too broad by most Democrats. He was the first Democrat to co-sponsor the bill. 

DEMS TORCHED OVER DOGE SECURITY CLAIMS AFTER ALLOWING ‘WIDE-OPEN’ BORDER, ‘EMPOWERING IRAN’

Fetterman co-sponsored the Laken Riley Act. (Getty Images)

“Laken Riley’s story is a tragic reminder of what’s at stake when our systems fail to protect people. No family should have to endure the pain of losing a loved one to preventable violence. Immigration is what makes our country great. I support giving authorities the tools to prevent tragedies like this one while we work on comprehensive solutions to our broken system,” the senator said in a statement at the time. 

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The Pennsylvania senator has further crossed the ideological threshold on multiple occasions to back Trump cabinet nominees, in some cases being the only Democratic supporter. 

Fetterman’s office did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital. 

President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy exchanged terse insults on Wednesday, following meetings between the U.S. and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia Tuesday without representatives from Ukraine. 

Trump repeatedly has said that he is the only one who can bring an end to the war between Ukraine and Russia, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was in contact with Zelenskyy and was working to ensure “that all parties are heard” during the peace talks. 

Yet Ukraine’s absence from the negotiations Tuesday appears to have exacerbated a wedge between Washington and Kyiv. 

While Zelenskyy accused Trump of perpetuating Russian “disinformation” on Wednesday, Trump clapped back and labeled Zelenskky a “dictator” who has failed his country. 

“A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left. In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only ‘TRUMP,’ and the Trump Administration, can do,” Trump said in a social media post Wednesday. 

“I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his Country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died,” Trump said. 

RUSSIA, UKRAINE TAKE ‘SIGNIFICANT FIRST STEP TOWARD PEACE’ AFTER RUBIO-LED NEGOTIATIONS, WHITE HOUSE INSISTS

Then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet at Trump Tower in New York City, New York, Sept. 27, 2024.  (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)

Trump’s post included a series of inaccurate statements, including that Zelenskyy “talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start.” Meanwhile, Congress has appropriated $175 billion since 2022 for aid to Ukraine, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. 

Trump’s comments build on statements he delivered Tuesday at his Florida Mar-a-Lago estate, where he said that Russia wasn’t the only one exerting pressure to force Ukraine to hold an election. One of Russia’s conditions for signing a peace deal includes Ukraine holding an election, nearly a year after Zelenskyy’s five-year term was slated to end. 

But Zelenskyy has remained in his position leading Kyiv because the Ukrainian constitution bars holding elections under martial law. Ukraine has been under martial law since February 2022. 

Additionally, Trump chastised Ukraine on Tuesday for not ending the war sooner, and also appeared to suggest that Ukraine started the conflict, even though Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

‘MAKE NATO GREAT AGAIN’: HEGSETH PUSHES EUROPEAN ALLIES TO STEP UP DEFENSE EFFORTS 

Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a meeting with members of the Security Council at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Monday, May 13, 2024.  (Aleksey Babushkin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo)

“I think I have the power to end this war, and I think it’s going very well. But today I heard, ‘Oh, we weren’t invited,'” Trump said Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago. “Well, you’ve been there for three years. You should have ended it three years (ago). You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.”

In response, Zelensky delivered his own jabs toward Trump, and said the U.S. president lived in a “disinformation space” peddling inaccurate information that originated from Russia. 

“We have seen this disinformation,” Zelenskyy said at a news conference Wednesday before meeting with retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellog, the U.S. special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. “We understand that it is coming from Russia.”

“I think Putin and the Russians are very happy, because questions are discussed with them,” Zelenskyy said. 

Zelenskyy has stressed in recent days that Ukraine must be involved in negotiations for a peace deal with Russia, and said Sunday that Ukraine wouldn’t accept a peace deal if his country was absent from negotiations. 

He also announced Tuesday he would postpone a scheduled trip to Saudi Arabia until March, after revealing during a joint press conference with Turkish President Recept Tayyip Erdoğan that Ukraine wasn’t invited to the U.S.-Russia discussions in Riyadh.  

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff met in Riyadh with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs advisor Yuri Ushakov to hash out ways to end the conflict. 

TOP RUSSIAN, US OFFICIALS MEET IN SAUDI ARABIA TO BEGIN TALKS ON UKRAINE WAR WITHOUT OFFICIALS FROM KYIV

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other U.S. officials met with Russian leaders to discuss a peace agreement to end the war between Russia and Ukraine at Diriyah Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday Feb. 18, 2025.  (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)

The first action the U.S. plans to take after the meetings with Russian officials is to “reestablish the functionality of our respective missions in Washington and in Moscow,” Rubio told reporters from the Associated Press and CNN.

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“For us to be able to continue to move down this road, we need to have diplomatic facilities that are operating and functioning normally,” Rubio said, according to a State Department transcript. 

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and Trump vowed on the campaign trail in 2024 that he would work to end the conflict if elected again.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Three new national polls released on Wednesday indicate President Donald Trump’s approval ratings are edging down slightly since taking over the White House one month ago.

Forty-five percent of voters questioned in a Quinnipiac University survey said they approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president, with 49% disapproving.

That’s down from a 46%-43% approval/disapproval in a Quinnipiac poll conducted in late January, during the president’s first week back in office following his inauguration.

And a new national poll from Gallup indicated the president at 45% approval and 51% disapproval, down from 47%-48% approval/disapproval late last month.

CLICK HERE FOR FOX NEWS COVERAGE OF TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS

President Donald Trump speaks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025.  (Pool via AP)

And according to a Reuters/Ipsos national survey also released on Wednesday, the president stood at 44% approval and 51% disapproval. Trump registered at 45%-46% approval/disapproval in the previous poll by Reuters/Ipsos, which was conducted late last month during the first week of the president’s second administration.

The latest Quinnipiac poll was conducted Feb. 13-17, with Gallup in the field Feb. 3-16, and Reuters/Ipsos conducting their survey Feb. 13-18.

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Recent surveys from other polling organizations indicate Trump’s approval ratings remain above water.

Trump has kept up a frenetic pace during his opening weeks back in the White House, with an avalanche of executive orders and actions. His moves not only fulfilled some of his major campaign trail promises, but also allowed the returning president to flex his executive muscles, quickly put his stamp on the federal government, take a meat cleaver to the federal workforce, and also settle some longstanding grievances.

President Donald Trump signs an executive order, at the White House on Feb. 10, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Reuters)

Trump has signed nearly 70 executive orders since his inauguration, according to a count from Fox News, which far surpasses the rate of any recent presidential predecessors during their first weeks in office.

The president, never shy about advertising his accomplishments, took to social media last week to tout “THREE GREAT WEEKS, PERHAPS THE BEST EVER.”

And at a news conference Tuesday, Trump argued that “incredible things are happening in our country.”

“I think we’ve made more progress in three weeks than they’ve made in four years,” he added, as he appeared to point to his predecessor in the White House, former President Biden.

While Trump’s approval ratings for his second term are an improvement from his first term — he started in 2017 in negative territory and remained underwater throughout his tenure in the White House — his numbers are below where Biden began his single term in office.

Biden’s approval rating hovered in the low to mid 50s during his first six months in the White House, with his disapproval in the upper 30s to low to mid 40s. 

Former President Joe Biden speaks about his administration’s accomplishments during a speech on Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

However, Biden’s numbers sank into negative territory in the late summer and autumn of 2021, in the wake of his much-criticized handling of the turbulent U.S. exit from Afghanistan and amid soaring inflation and a surge of migrants crossing into the U.S. along the nation’s southern border with Mexico.

Biden’s approval ratings stayed underwater throughout the rest of his presidency.

The new polls indicate a massive partisan divide over Trump’s performance.

Nine in 10 Republicans questioned in the Quinnipiac survey gave Trump a thumbs-up. But his approval dropped to 43% among independents and just 4% among Democrats.

President Donald Trump arrives prior to his inauguration at the United States Capitol on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Melina Mara/Pool/Getty Images)

It was a similar story in the Gallup poll.

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“Ninety-three percent of Republicans, 37% of independents and 4% of Democrats approve of Trump’s job performance overall,” the release from Gallup highlighted.

Meanwhile, the Gallup poll noted that while Trump’s ratings have edged down, Americans’ approval of Congress has surged 12 points since early January, to 29% in their latest survey. That’s the highest approval rating for Congress in Gallup polling since May 2021.