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Colorado lawmakers spent hours Friday afternoon considering a Democrat-led resolution to condemn President Donald Trump’s pardons of Jan. 6 prisoners while the state grapples with an estimated $1.2 billion budget shortfall for the 2025-26 fiscal year. 

“With skyrocketing costs, a $1 billion budget deficit, rising crime and an affordability crisis pushing families to the brink, it is appalling that the majority is more focused on passing meaningless, partisan resolutions instead of addressing the real concerns of Coloradans,” Republican minority leader Rep. Rose Pugliese told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

Pugliese also called the resolution “political theater” to “divide rather than deliver results for our communities.”

The measure passed by a 41-23 vote in the Democrat-controlled state House of Representatives. Rep. Lisa Feret, a Democrat, voted against the resolution.

COLORADO POISED TO BAN SALE OF AR-15S, OTHER RIFLES AND SHOTGUNS WITH EXTENDED MAGS

Colorado Republicans turned their chairs around in protest Friday when the assembly considered a resolution to condemn President Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons. (Rep. Jarvis Caldwell; Getty Images)

Republicans, who spent time providing public comment against the bill, also turned their chairs around to face away from the assembly speaker during the hearing. Lawmakers tried to introduce several amendments to the resolution to change some of the phrasing used in the bill, but they were rejected.

“To Hell with your concerns about cost of living, crime, and other important issues,” Republican state Rep. Jarvis Caldwell wrote on X. “Democrats are running another January 6th resolution. We turned our chairs in protest, and now we’re having a debate about it.”

State Republican Rep. Ryan Gonzalez also posted on X, saying, “The majority, instead of addressing issues the voters sent us to do—are instead passing messaging resolutions aimed *indirectly* at the sitting President.”

The Colorado House GOP X account posted that “not one life in Colorado will be saved by this resolution.”

Another X post said, “Democrats could be working on real solutions to our 1 BILLION dollar budget deficit. Instead, they are playing political games.”

Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Republican who represents Colorado’s 4th Congressional District in the U.S. House, tweeted, “Will Colorado Dems playing partisan politics lower the cost of eggs?”

The measure, sponsored by state Democratic senators Nick Hinrichsen and Matt Ball, passed along party lines in the state Senate earlier this month in a 21-12 vote. The Democratic lawmakers condemned Trump’s pardons and the mass firings of FBI agents assigned to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riots. 

Democratic representatives Sean Camacho and Michael Carter were the sponsors of the state House version.

“Colorado House Republicans have now launched a full-throated defense of the January 6th rioters,” state Rep. Steven Woodrow, a Democrat, wrote on Bluesky Social, an X-like social media platform favored by progressives. “They can turn their backs on America—but we see them, and we know the truth.”

DAS MAY TRY TO CHARGE JAN. 6 PARTICIPANTS GRANTED CLEMENCY BY TRUMP WITH NEW CRIMES ON STATE, LOCAL LEVELS

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Democratic state Rep. Lorena Garcia also wrote on Bluesky Social saying, “While this resolution will pass, today is a wake up call to all Coloradans who believe in freedom, that the republican party is not a party that believes in freedom. It is the party of authoritarianism, it’s the party of fascism.”

All the Jan. 6 defendants — more than 1,500 — were pardoned by Trump as one of his first executive actions in January. 

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s pick to head the FBI, was sworn in on Friday after a narrow Senate confirmation vote Thursday. 

Patel was sworn in at the Eisenshower Executive Office Building by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi after being confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the ninth-ever FBI director, succeeding Christopher Wray. Patel, who is Indian-American, is the first person of color to become FBI director. 

“I am living the American dream,” Patel said after taking his oath of office. “And anyone that thinks the American dream is dead: just look right here. You’re talking to a first-generation Indian kid who’s about to lead the law enforcement community of the greatest nation on God’s green earth. That can’t happen anywhere else.” 

FBI NOMINEE KASH PATEL CONFIRMED IN NARROW SENATE VOTE

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s pick to head the FBI, was sworn in on Friday after a narrow Senate confirmation vote Thursday.  (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Patel also made a promise to the lawmakers who confirmed him and those who opposed his nomination.

“There will be accountability within the FBI and outside of the FBI, and we will do it through rigorous constitutional oversight starting this weekend.” 

Patel has been a longtime Trump ally and a fierce opponent of the investigations into the president. During his confirmation hearing last month, Patel vowed he would not engage in political retribution against agents who worked on the Trump classified documents case and other politically sensitive matters.

He faced a rocky path to confirmation – similar to other fellow Trump picks – despite the Republican-majority chamber. Democrats on the panel used their political weight to delay Patel’s confirmation vote earlier this month. 

TRUMP FBI DIRECTOR NOMINEE KASH PATEL PICKS UP SUPPORT FROM KEY GOP SENATOR

On the Senate floor, top Judiciary Democrat Dick Durbin claimed Patel had been behind recent mass firings at the FBI. Durbin cited what he described as “highly credible” whistleblower reports that indicated Patel had personally directed the ongoing FBI employee purge prior to his confirmation.

On the Senate floor, top Judiciary Democrat Dick Durbin claimed Patel had been behind recent mass firings at the FBI.  (AP/Reuters)

Patel brings to the office an extensive background in national security and intelligence. He previously engaged in personally carrying out dangerous missions in the Middle East in an effort to bring home U.S. hostages and also implemented counterterrorism strategies against America’s most-wanted terrorists. 

4 OF THE BIGGEST CLASHES BETWEEN PATEL, SENATE DEMS AT HIS CONFIRMATION HEARING

Current and former U.S. national security officials and lawmakers told Fox News Digital previously that he, “objectively,” is “one of the most experienced people ever to be nominated” to lead the bureau. 

Patel’s confirmation to head the office comes at a time when the FBI’s activities are under extreme scrutiny for possible political motivations, including its own leadership and decisions. 

Patel’s confirmation to head the office comes at a time when the FBI’s activities are under extreme scrutiny for possible political motivations, including its own leadership and decisions.  (AP/Ben Curtis)

Previously, thousands of FBI agents as well as their superiors were ordered to fill out a questionnaire detailing their roles in the Jan. 6 investigation, prompting concerns of retaliation or retribution. 

“There will be no politicization at the FBI,” Patel said during his confirmation hearing. “There will be no retributive action.”

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Patel previously served as deputy assistant to the president and as senior director for counterterrorism under the first Trump administration, wherein he worked on presidential missions aimed at decimating al-Qaeda senior leadership and ISIS command and control.

Patel was also involved in planning the mission to take out Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, among others. 

Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch, Morgan Phillips, and Brooke Singman contributed to this report. 

A Biden-appointed judge extended a temporary restraining order Friday against the Trump administration’s cuts to National Institutes of Health research funding. 

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley of Massachusetts – who issued the initial restraining order last week – comes in response to separate lawsuits filed by a group of 22 states plus organizations representing universities, hospitals and research institutions nationwide.  

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced earlier this month it would be cutting billions in costs associated with federally funded research grants that go to various institutions, as part of a wider move by the Trump administration to slash wasteful spending. 

The NIH, the main funder of biomedical research, awarded more than 60,000 grants last year totaling about $35 billion. The total is divided into “direct” costs – covering researchers’ salaries and laboratory supplies – and “indirect” costs, the administrative and facility costs needed to support that work. 

TRUMP SPARKS BACKLASH AFTER CUTTING BILLIONS IN COSTS FROM NIH RESEARCH GRANTS 

Medical researchers from various universities and the National Institutes of Health rally at Health and Human Services headquarters to protest federal budget cuts on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP/John McDonnell)

The Trump administration had dismissed those expenses as “overhead” but universities and hospitals argue they’re far more critical. They can include such things as electricity to operate sophisticated machinery, hazardous waste disposal, staff who ensure researchers follow safety rules and janitorial workers, according to The Associated Press. 

The states and research groups argue that the cuts are illegal, pointing to bipartisan congressional action during Trump’s first term to prohibit them. 

“Yet here we are again,” attorneys argued in a court motion, saying the NIH is “in open defiance” of what Congress decreed. 

In its own written arguments, the Trump administration said NIH has authority to alter the terms after awarding grants and that Kelley’s courtroom isn’t the proper venue to arbitrate claims of breach of contract. 

States and researchers “have failed to show that they would suffer an irreparable injury,” according to the administration motion. 

SCIENTISTS EXPECT MAJOR ‘MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS’ DESPITE TRUMP’S CAP ON NIH RESEARCH FUNDING 

The National Institutes of Health under President Donald Trump put a cap on indirect costs associated with agency research grants, as part of a wider move to reduce wasteful government spending. (Alamy/Getty Images)

If the new policy stands, indirect costs would be capped at 15% immediately, for already awarded grants and new ones. NIH calculated that would save the agency $4 billion a year. 

Officials at Johns Hopkins University said the cuts would end or require significantly scaling back research projects, potentially including some of the 600 NIH-funded studies open to Hopkins patients. 

“The care, treatments and medical breakthroughs provided to them and their families are not ‘overhead,’” university president Ron Daniels and Hopkins Medicine CEO Theodore DeWeese wrote to employees. 

The Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, has applauded the moves. 

Elon Musk speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, on Thursday, Feb. 20, in Oxon Hill, Md. Musk has praised the Trump administration’s NIH funding cuts. (AP/Jose Luis Magana)

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“Can you believe that universities with tens of billions in endowments were siphoning off 60% of research award money for ‘overhead’?” Musk posted on social media. “What a ripoff!” 

Fox News’ Alec Schemmel and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday the Jeffrey Epstein client list is “sitting on my desk right now” and she is reviewing the JFK and MLK files as well after President Donald Trump’s earlier directives. 

“It’s sitting on my desk right now to review,” Bondi told America Reports’ John Roberts on Friday. “That’s been a directive by President Trump.”

Bondi also stated she is “reviewing” the JFK and MLK files, which the president signed an executive order to declassify at the start of his second term. 

JEFFREY EPSTEIN FILES: TRUMP’S ELECTION COULD EXPOSE NAMES ON ‘BLACK BOOK’ LIST

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday the Jeffrey Epstein client list is “sitting on my desk right now” and is reviewing the JFK and MLK files after President Donald Trump’s earlier directives.  (AP)

“That’s all in the process of being reviewed, because that was done at the directive of the president from all of these agencies,” Bondi said. 

When asked if she had “seen anything,” Bondi responded, “Not yet.”

Trump’s return to the Oval Office came with the prospect of the public finally being able to see Epstein’s long-awaited “black book” amid inqueries into the deceased financier and sex trafficker.  

Epstein, a 66-year-old millionaire financier with a private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands and mansions around the country, died in federal custody in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

FBI UNCOVERS THOUSANDS OF UNDISCLOSED RECORDS CONNECTED TO JFK’S ASSASSINATION

Bondi herself advocated for the release of the Epstein list in 2024, telling Sean Hannity at the time, “It should have come out a long time ago.” 

Shortly after kicking off his second term, Trump signed an executive order to declassify files on the assassinations of former President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert F. Kennedy and civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. 

Epstein, a 66-year-old millionaire financier with a private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands and mansions around the country, died in federal custody in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. (Rick Friedman/Rick Friedman Photography/Corbis via Getty Images)

“Everything will be revealed,” Trump told reporters as he signed the order in the Oval Office.

Trump had previously promised on the campaign trail to declassify the documents upon entering his second term, saying at the time, “When I return to the White House, I will declassify and unseal all JFK assassination-related documents. It’s been 60 years, time for the American people to know the TRUTH!”

TRUMP SIGNS ORDER TO DECLASSIFY FILES ON JFK, RFK AND MLK ASSASSINATIONS

Shortly after kicking off his second term, Trump signed an executive order to declassify files on the assassinations of former President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert F. Kennedy and civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.  (Associated Press)

Earlier this month, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and the attorney general reached their deadline to release their proposed plan for the declassification of the JFK files. 

The FBI announced shortly thereafter that it had uncovered thousands of records connected to the JFK assassination. Axios initially reported that the agency had released 2,400 records tied to the Nov. 22, 1963, assassination of Kennedy, which were not provided to the board that reviewed and disclosed the files.

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It was upon DNI’s plan submission to release the files that it reportedly disclosed the records’ existence. 

Fox News confirmed at the time with a person familiar with the records that the files were uncovered during the review.

Fox News’ Greg Wehner and Patrick Ward contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump sparred with Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills over transgender women in sports, telling her at the White House that she must follow his executive order or “you’re not going to get federal funding,” to which she replied, “we’ll see you in court.” 

The blue state is one of several defying Trump’s Feb. 5 executive order preventing trans athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports. Trump threatened Thursday to cut off federal funding to Maine before clashing with Mills this afternoon at a bipartisan meeting of governors. 

“You better do it because you’re not going to get federal funding,” Trump told her.  

“We’re going to follow the law sir. We’ll see you in court,” she responded. 

TRUMP VOWS TO CUT OFF FEDERAL FUNDING TO MAINE OVER REFUSAL TO COMPLY WITH ‘NO MEN IN WOMEN’S SPORTS’ ORDER 

President Donald Trump and Maine Gov. Janet Mills clashed Friday at the White House over executive order compliance. (Pool via AP/Win McNamee/Getty Images)

“Enjoy your life after governor because I don’t think you’ll be an elected official afterwards,” Trump then said. 

Mills released a statement Friday saying that “The State of Maine will not be intimidated by the President’s threats.” 

“If the President attempts to unilaterally deprive Maine school children of the benefit of Federal funding, my Administration and the Attorney General will take all appropriate and necessary legal action to restore that funding and the academic opportunity it provides,” she added. 

Trump told a gathering of Republican governors in Washington on Thursday that “I heard men are still playing in Maine.” 

“I hate to tell you this, but we’re not going to give them any federal money, they are still saying ‘we want men to play in women’s sports’ and I cannot believe that they’re doing that… So we’re not going to give them any federal funding, none whatsoever, until they clean that up,” he also said. 

WISCONSIN BANS TRANS ATHLETES FROM GIRLS’ SPORTS, FOLLOWING TRUMP’S EXECUTIVE ORDER 

President Donald Trump speaks at the Governors Working Session in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, on Friday, Feb. 21. (Pool via AP)

Trump’s executive order, which was signed on Feb. 5, instructed all federal agencies to review grants, programs and policies that fail to comply with the administration’s efforts to end “male competitive participation in women’s sports… as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.” 

The order also instructed strict Title IX enforcement against any educational institutions or athletic associations that do not comply and demands federal assistance be taken away in such cases. 

Shortly after the order was signed, multiple states, including Maine, California, Minnesota and others run primarily by Democrats, indicated that they would not comply with Trump.  

President Donald Trump arrives at the governors working session in the State Dining Room of the White House on Friday, Feb. 21. (Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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The executive director of the primary governing body for high school sports in the state of Maine said athletic teams will continue to determine eligibility based on a student’s stated gender identity, despite the president’s executive order seeking to keep “men out of women’s sports.” 

Fox News’ Jackson Thompson contributed to this report. 

Rumors swirled this week that Secretary Pete Hegseth is prepping a list of top Pentagon brass for the chopping block, but it’s not the first time an administration has cleaned out top military commanders to align with new political goals.

Five months into office in 2009, President Barack Obama relieved Army Gen. David McKiernan as the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan – making McKiernan the first wartime commander to be dismissed since Gen. Douglas MacArthur in 1951.

He was replaced by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who had led special operations forces in Iraq, on the advice of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who wanted “fresh eyes” in the drawn-out Afghanistan conflict. 

“We have a new strategy, a new mission and a new ambassador. I believe that new military leadership is also needed,” Gates said at a news conference. 

OFFICIALS PUSH BACK ON CLAIMS OF ‘LIST’ OF GENERALS HEGSETH PLANS TO FIRE AT PENTAGON

Obama replaced Gen. Stanley McChrystal with David Petraeus, right, in Afghanistan.  (Reuters/Larry Downing )

Days before he was summoned to meet with Obama about the job, McChrystal had given a speech in London on the need for a military buildup in Afghanistan. Shortly afterward, Obama authorized the deployment of 33,000 troops to Afghanistan. 

Only a year into his command, McChrystal resigned, pushed out by Obama after reportedly badmouthing White House officials, and was replaced by Gen. David Petraeus.

Obama also fired Gen. James Mattis as head of U.S. Central Command – and Trump once quipped that the “only thing” he and Obama had in common was “the honor of firing Jim Mattis.”

Obama and Mattis fell out over the withdrawal from Iraq. “Central Command, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and the new Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, who had replaced Bob Gates, continued to recommend to the White House retaining a residual force, as did Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,” Mattis wrote in his book ‘Call Sign Chaos.’

$1,300 COFFEE CUPS, 8,000% OVERPAY FOR SOAP DISPENSERS SHOW WASTE AS DOGE LOCKS IN ON PENTAGON

Obama, who promised to “finish the job” in Afghanistan after he withdrew troops from Iraq in 2011, surged as many as 100,000 troops into Afghanistan, then drew them out at a rapid-fire pace that many in the military advised against, finishing his term in 2017 with 8,400 American troops on the ground. Ending the war also evaded the subsequent Trump administration, which set a removal deadline that fell under the following Biden administration and resulted in the messy withdrawal in August 2021 and the deaths of 13 U.S. troops.

But the Obama presidency was marred by reports of a schism between the White House and the military. 

One general, upon returning from Afghanistan, reportedly said he felt that the Obama White House wanted the military to be “seen and not heard.” 

In his memoir, “Duty,” Gates blamed then-Vice President Joe Biden, who had pushed against the initial surge in Afghanistan, for Obama’s poor relationship with the military.

Trump quipped that the “only thing” he had in common with Obama was firing Jim Mattis.  (Reuters/Yuri Gripas)

“I thought Biden was subjecting Obama to Chinese water torture, every day saying ‘the military can’t be trusted,’ ” he wrote.

In 2012, the Navy removed and replaced Rear Adm. Charles M. Gaouette as commander of an aircraft carrier strike group deployed in the Middle East over allegations of inappropriate leadership judgment. The Navy Inspector General later found that Gaouette had made racially insensitive remarks in emails. The Navy denied assertions that Gaouette had been dismissed for providing assistance during the Benghazi attack without orders. 

In October 2013, the Air Force fired the two-star general in charge of 450 nuclear missiles, Michael Carey, due to “loss of trust and confidence in his leadership and judgment.” That same week, Obama fired the number-two nuclear commander, Vice Adm. Tim Giardina, from U.S. Strategic Command after he was involved in a criminal investigation into using counterfeit gambling chips in a poker game at a western Iowa casino.

Former Trump National Security Advisor and retired three-star Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn speaks during the AmericaFest 2024 conference sponsored by conservative group Turning Point in Phoenix, Arizona, on December 20, 2024. Reuters/Cheney Orr

Obama fired Army Gen. Michael Flynn as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014 over “insubordination,” which Flynn claimed had stemmed from criticisms he had made about Obama not being tough enough on Islamic extremism.

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Obama’s moves to slim down the armed forces and reinvent social policies to protect minority groups proved contentious among military brass. Critics claimed that his abrupt troop drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan had allowed for ISIS to gain ground, while supporters painted him as a Nobel Peace Prize winner who had kicked off a reorientation of the U.S. from the Middle East theater to the Indo-Pacific. 

Wildfire-like rumors swirled around Washington on Thursday of a “list” of names Hegseth has reportedly circulated among congressional leaders of generals and admirals he planned to fire. But members and staff of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees had seen no such list. 

Ahead of his swearing-in as FBI director on Friday, Kash Patel laid out his top priorities for the agency in a letter to subordinates obtained by Fox News Digital, vowing to bolster the bureau’s resources and “rebuild the American people’s trust in the FBI.” 

“I am honored to have been nominated and confirmed as your new Director,” Patel wrote to colleagues. “While I’m new to the Bureau’s ranks, I’ve spent my career in government service and the past decade in national security, working shoulder to shoulder with the FBI and many of its partners throughout the law enforcement and intelligence communities. My commitment has always been — and always will be — to pursuing justice and upholding the rule of law, and I look forward to continuing that commitment alongside all of you.”

Patel also reiterated that keeping Americans safe, both at home and abroad, is a “no-fail mission” that the FBI must continue to support in the coming months.

FBI NOMINEE KASH PATEL CONFIRMED IN NARROW SENATE VOTE

Kash Patel is sworn in during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on his nomination to be FBI director, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 30, 2025. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

The letter continued, “As I take on this new role, my priorities for our organization are twofold. First is to provide you with the tools and resources you need to keep our communities safe. This will include streamlining our operations at Headquarters while bolstering the presence of field agents across the nation and collaborating even more closely with our essential partners in state and local law enforcement.

“Second is to ensure we rebuild the American people’s trust in the FBI. We’ll do that by committing ourselves to full transparency with the people’s representatives in Congress and by upholding the highest standards in all that we do, ensuring rigorous obedience to the Constitution and a single standard of justice for all.”

“I know that you, the dedicated men and women of the FBI, are courageous warriors of justice,” he wrote. “I will always have your backs, because you have the backs of the American people. I look forward to serving with you in the years to come.”

TRUMP FBI DIRECTOR NOMINEE KASH PATEL PICKS UP SUPPORT FROM KEY GOP SENATOR

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s choice to be director of the FBI, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Patel – nominated by President Donald Trump – was confirmed as the ninth FBI director in a narrow Senate vote on Thursday, succeeding former Director Christopher Wray. He is set to be sworn in on Friday afternoon.

During the first Trump administration, Patel worked as a deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism. He played a key part in missions to take down high-ranking al Qaeda and ISIS leaders, including planning the operation that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi in these positions. Patel also contributed to efforts to capture some of the most-wanted terrorists and bring them to the U.S. for prosecution.

 4 OF THE BIGGEST CLASHES BETWEEN PATEL, SENATE DEMS AT HIS CONFIRMATION HEARING

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s choice to be director of the FBI, arrives for his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Patel was the principal deputy at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), where he helped with the transition of leadership between acting DNI Ric Grenell and John Ratcliffe prior to his role as deputy to Trump and on the National Security Council. 

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He also focused on intelligence related to counter-narcotics and transnational threats. Prior to ODNI, Patel served as national security advisor and senior counsel for counterterrorism on the House Intelligence Committee. There, he led the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, exposing FISA abuse and illegal surveillance of Americans, including Trump campaign members.

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report. 

Schools spent hundreds of billions of COVID-relief funds on expenses that had “little” impact on students, such as Las Vegas hotel rooms and the purchase of an ice cream truck, according to the Trump administration’s cost-cutting department.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk to purge wasteful government spending, revealed on Thursday that schools have spent nearly $200 billion in COVID-relief funds “with little oversight or impact on students.”

Granite Public Schools in Utah spent their COVID-relief funds on $86,000 in hotel rooms at Caesars Palace, a ritzy Las Vegas Casino, while Santa Ana Unified spent $393,000 to rent out a Major League Baseball stadium, according to a report by Parents Defending Education and shared by DOGE.

The cost-cutting department also revealed that schools spent $60,000 of COVID-relief funds on swimming pool passes, while a California district used its funds to purchase an ice cream truck.

DOGE PUTS DEI ON CHOPPING BLOCK WITH TERMINATION OF OVER $370M IN EDUCATION DEPARTMENT GRANTS

DOGE reveals how COVID-relief funds have been spent. (Getty Images)

“All of this money was drawn with zero documentation,” DOGE wrote in a post on X.

DOGE highlighted that the Trump administration is implementing more thorough requirements for dishing out the $4 billion left from the funds, requiring that all grantees must “provide receipts for every purchase before funding is released.”

WHITE HOUSE OUTLINES WHERE DOGE SAVINGS COULD GO AFTER TRUMP FLOATS RETURNING 20% TO AMERICANS

While the Trump administration reworks the Department of Education’s issuing of funds, the revelations about where money has been spent have sparked outrage from local leaders and education groups across the country.

Elon Musk speaks during an event in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (AP Images)

“Recall those school board meetings when the ruling elites of Covidstan branded mothers as selfish disruptors simply for challenging their interpretation of “The Science” and scrutinizing how they allocated ESSER Funds? Never let them forget that we were right about everything,” Moms for Liberty said in response to the findings.

Will O’Neil, chairman of the Orange County Republican Party, called the funds being spent on renting the MLB stadium “an absolute joke.”

“This is outrageous,” wrote the Republican Party of Bexar County.

Department of Education Building. (iStock)

DOGE has taken specific aim at cutting spending by the Department of Education (DoEd), slashing $370 million in taxpayer dollars being spent on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) just last week.

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The department terminated 70 DEI training grants within the department, including one that funded training for teachers to “engage in ongoing learning and self-reflection to confront their own biases and racism, and develop asset-based anti-racist mindsets,” DOGE said.

A group of migrants is suing the Trump administration for ending a deportation shield for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans living in the U.S., claiming that the move was illegal and driven by race.

The 48-page federal suit names Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. government for revoking Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 600,000 Venezuelans.

TPS grants protection from deportation and allows work permits for nationals living in the U.S. from countries deemed unsafe for them to be returned. Then-DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced extensions for TPS for Venezuela, as well as El Salvador, Sudan and Ukraine, for an additional 18 months in the final few days of the Biden administration. That move, if left in place, would have complicated President Donald Trump’s efforts to deport large numbers of those nationalities.

President Donald Trump attends a town hall, moderated by then-South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center and Fairgrounds in Oaks, Pennsylvania, on October 14, 2024.  (IM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

KRISTI NOEM JOINS IMMIGRATION RAID TO CATCH ‘DIRTBAGS’ IN MAJOR SANCTUARY CITY

“These actions have the effect of robbing 600,000 Venezuelan TPS holders of the right to live and work in this country for the next 18 months,” the lawsuit reads. 

Without the protection, at least 350,000 Venezuelan TPS holders stand to lose their legal status on April 7 and their work authorization as soon as April 2, per the lawsuit.

Another 257,000 will also be affected by September, according to the Miami Harald. Venezuelans were among the top nationalities coming into the U.S. at the height of the 2021-2024 border crisis, with many also coming in through a separate parole policy for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans—a program now ended by the Trump administration.

The program for TPS for Venezuelans was put in place amid the severe economic and political crises ongoing in the country, which has seen millions flee.

The suit takes aim at Noem and comments she made when announcing the decision to revoke the TPS. 

“The Secretary’s decisions also were motivated at least in part by racial animus, in contravention of the Fifth Amendment,” the suit reads. “That is clear from statements the Secretary made when announcing the decisions themselves, labeling Venezuelan TPS holders as ‘dirtbags’ —an expression of racism made by the official decisionmaker as part of her explanation for the decision.”

Noem made the comments while referring to a criminal illegal alien who had been apprehended by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on kidnapping, assault and burglary charges.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem participates in an immigration session in New York City. (Department of Homeland Security)

TRUMP ADMIN ENDS DEPORTATION PROTECTIONS FOR MASSIVE NUMBER OF VENEZUELANS AMID ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN

“Making matters worse, that statement is just one among a torrent of similar racist statements that Secretary Noem, President Trump, and members of the Trump campaign and administration have made to attack and marginalize nonwhite immigrants generally, and the Venezuelan TPS community in particular,” the suit continues.

The plaintiffs accuse Noem of conflating many TPS holders as being members of the violent Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) who have been terrorizing communities across the country. The plaintiffs claim that TdA’s threat to the U.S. are “overblown.

They also accuse Noem of a “baseless assertion” that Venezuela emptied its mental health facilities and sent them to the United States.

Additionally, they claim that she does not have the legal authority to revoke the TPS order.

The plaintiffs are calling on the courts to cancel Noem’s actions and reinstate the extension.

The suit was filed in San Francisco by the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law, the ACLU Foundation of Southern California and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network on behalf of eight Venezuelan TPS holders.

The plaintiffs include two university students, a factory worker with a 12-year-old daughter and an instructional coach who’s been living in the U.S. for 12 years. The latter’s mother, father, brother, sister and nephews all live in the U.S. and are U.S. citizens, per the lawsuit.

Migrants, mostly from Venezuela, move into Eagle Pass, Texas, on Sept. 20, 2023. (Fox News)

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The lawsuit goes on to accuse Trump and his administration officials of embracing racist talking points, specifically White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who they accuse of supporting white nationalism and that Secretary of State Marco Rubio espoused an exaggerated depiction of TdA. 

“During President Trump’s first term, every federal district court to consider the question found ‘evidence that President Trump harbors an animus against non-white, non-European aliens which influenced his (and thereby the Secretary’s) decision to end the TPS designation[s]’ for El Salvador, Haiti, Sudan, and Nicaragua in 2017 and 2018,” the suit reads.

“The evidence adduced in those cases further illustrates that the conduct challenged here is part of a premeditated effort to terminate TPS without regard to applicable law or standards, and to further a racist agenda.”

Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report. 

READ THE LAWSUIT BELOW: APP USERS CLICK HERE

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Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem signed a memo this week deputizing up to 600 State Department officials as immigration officers, as part of a government-wide push to ramp up deportations and secure the border.

Noem signed an order that deputized up to 600 special agents in the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service to help with the arrest and deportation of illegal immigrants.

“Under President Trump, the Department of Homeland Security will use every tool and resource available to secure our border and get criminal illegal aliens out of our country,” Noem said in a statement. “The safety of American citizens comes first.”

TRUMP’S DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY LOOKING TO DEPUTIZE IRS AGENTS FOR IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT

ICE agents arrested seven illegal immigrants during a workforce operation raid. (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)

The move is the latest effort by the department to expand the number of officials involved in immigration enforcement, amid a push by the Trump administration to aggressively increase the arrests and deportation of illegal immigrants.

DHS has deputized IRS employees, law enforcement components of the Justice Department and law enforcement officials with the Texas Attorney General’s Office.

“It is DHS’s understanding that the Department of Treasury has qualified law enforcement personnel available to assist with immigration enforcement, especially in light of recent increases to the Internal Revenue Service’s work force and budget,” Noem said last week.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. (Getty)

Fox News Digital reported last week that interior arrests have skyrocketed compared to the same period in 2024, while numbers of crossings of illegal immigrants at the border have continued to trend downward. According to Department of Homeland Security data, there were 11,791 interior ICE arrests from Jan. 20 to Feb. 8, compared to 4,969 during the same period in 2024. That is a 137% increase.

The administration has said it is trying to target the “worst of the worst,” focusing on criminal illegal immigrants and gang members but has also stressed that it is not ruling anyone out of contention. 

TRUMP FLOATS GUTTING THE IRS, MOVING AGENTS TO THE BORDER ARMED WITH GUNS

Meanwhile, the administration has secured additional cooperation at the border from Mexico and Canada, as well as agreements from Venezuela and Colombia to take back their nationals.

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DHS has also moved to shut down Biden-era parole programs and the use of Temporary Protected Status to allow migrants to avoid deportation. The administration is also tapping into the resources of the Pentagon by deploying the military to the border and is also using Guantanamo Bay to house illegal immigrants. 

Fox News’ Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: Republican lawmakers have launched an effort to withdraw the U.S. from the United Nations, amid concern that the international humanitarian and human rights organization fails to promote American interests and align with President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda. 

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, introduced legislation Thursday called the Disengaging Entirely From the United Nations Debacle Act of 2025, which would terminate U.S. membership in the U.N. and its affiliated bodies, and funding to those groups. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., is co-sponsoring the measure in the upper chamber. 

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, is poised to introduce the measure in the House Friday, claiming that the U.N. and its bodies don’t advance the interests of Americans. 

TRUMP REINSTATES ‘MAXIMUM PRESSURE’ CAMPAIGN AGAINST IRAN 

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah., introduced legislation in the Senate that would cut U.S. involvement from the United Nations.  (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

“The United Nations has devolved into a platform for tyrants and a venue to attack America and her allies,” Lee said in a Thursday statement to Fox News Digital. “We should stop paying for it. As President Trump revolutionizes our foreign policy by putting America first, we should withdraw from this sham organization and prioritize real alliances that keep our country safe and prosperous.”

The U.S. provides more funding than any other country to the U.N., donating more than $18 billion in 2022, according to the U.S. foreign policy think tank the Council on Foreign Relations. That makes up roughly a third of the U.N.’s entire collective budget. 

“The United Nations has enjoyed American tax money while often undermining our interests, attacking our allies and bolstering our adversaries,” Roy said in a Thursday statement to Fox News Digital.

“What has the United Nations achieved?” Roy said. “Despite all of the money and the attention, this corrupt globalist organization has, for decades, failed to prevent wars, genocides, human rights violations and even pandemics.”

HEAD OF UN WATCHDOG SAYS UNRWA HIRED PEOPLE ‘WHO WERE SUPPORTING TERRORISM’

U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, will introduce the measure in the House on Feb. 20, 2025. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Specifically, Roy pointed to U.N. groups like the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which assists Palestinian refugees and their descendants. 

However, the organization has come under scrutiny after a U.N. investigation found that UNRWA employees may have been involved in Palestinian-militant group Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The U.S. temporarily halted funding for UNRWA in January 2024 in response to the report. 

“No sane country would stand for this,” Roy said in his statement. 

Republican Reps. Mike Rogers of Alabama, Eli Crane of Arizona, Diana Harshbarger of Tennessee, Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia co-sponsored the legislation. 

The legislation also specifies that the U.S. may not participate in peace negotiations with the U.N., and bars the executive branch from entering any agreements for membership with the U.N. or its subsidiaries without Senate approval. 

DAYS BEFORE TRUMP HALTED FUNDING, AN EX-ISRAELI HOSTAGE WAS HELD AT UNRWA SCHOOL IN GAZA, SHE REVEALS

Co-sponsors of the measure in the House include the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Republican Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama.  (Getty Images)

The U.N. also has received pushback from Democrats amid the Israel–Hamas conflict. For example, 11 Democrats joined Republican counterparts in sending a letter to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres in October 2024, claiming the U.N. has failed to remain neutral and has “definitively taken sides against Israel.” 

The lawmakers pointed to a resolution the United Nations General Assembly passed that Israel return all land and assets it settled in the Palestinian Territories since 1967.

“We will not accept the U.N.’s ongoing hostility to our ally Israel,” the lawmakers wrote.

The American people remain divided on their views of the U.N. For example, more than 70% of Democrats and liberal-leaning independents reported they maintained a favorable view of the U.N., compared to 34% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, according to a Pew Research Center survey released in April 2024. 

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Trump sought to cut or reduce funding to U.N. groups during his first term, and he has also done so in his second term. He signed an executive order in February pulling the U.S. out of the U.N.’s Human Rights Council and cutting funding for UNRWA. 

Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report. 

A federal judge on Thursday ordered Trump administration officials to comply with his previous order to temporarily lift a freeze on nearly all foreign aid, temporarily restoring it to programs worldwide. 

In his order, Judge Amir H. Ali, a Biden appointee, said Trump administration officials had used his Feb. 13 order to temporarily lift the freeze on foreign aid to instead “come up with a new, post-hoc rationalization for the en masse suspension” of funding. 

Despite the judge’s order to the contrary, USAID Deputy Secretary Pete Marocco, a Trump appointee, and other top officials had “continued their blanket suspension of funds,” Ali said.

Still, the Washington, D.C. district court judge declined a request by nonprofit groups doing business with the U.S. Agency for International Development to find Trump administration officials in contempt of his order.

TRUMP’S DOGE STAYS ON TRACK AFTER PAIR OF FEDERAL JUDGE RULINGS

Flowers and a sign are placed outside the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025, in Washington.  (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Ali’s ruling comes in a lawsuit by the nonprofit groups challenging the Trump administration’s month-old cutoff of foreign assistance through USAID and the State Department, which shut down $60 billion in annual aid and development programs overseas almost overnight.

Even after Ali’s order, USAID staffers and contractors say the State Department and USAID still have not restored payments, even on hundreds of millions of dollars already owed by the government.

President Donald Trump waves as he walks from Marine One after arriving on the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Marocco and other administration officials defended the nonpayment in written arguments to the judge this week. They contended that they could lawfully stop or terminate payments under thousands of contracts without violating the judge’s order.

The Trump administration says it is reviewing all State Department and USAID foreign assistance programs on a case-by-case basis to see which ones meet the Trump administration’s agenda.

TRUMP’S DOGE STAYS ON TRACK AFTER PAIR OF FEDERAL JUDGE RULINGS

Aid organizations, current and former USAID staffers in interviews and court affidavits, say the funding freeze and deep Trump administration purges of USAID staffers have brought U.S. foreign assistance globally to a halt, forced thousands of layoffs and is driving government partners to financial collapse.

FILE: Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk delivers remarks as he joins U.S. President Donald Trump during an executive order signing in the Oval Office at the White House on February 11, 2025 in Washington, DC.  (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Led by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s efforts at the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the department has been what Musk characterizes as a crusade to cut government spending and downside the federal workforce. 

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DOGE so far claims to have saved some $55 billion via cuts to USAID, the Department of Education and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But many of DOGE’s cost-cutting efforts have brought legal challenges.

Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A blue California city voted last week to impose a strict ban on camping on public property, including penalties such as fines or jail time for those “causing, permitting, aiding, abetting, or concealing” homeless encampments. 

While activists argue the ordinance “criminalizes” homelessness, one advocate — who himself once struggled with drug addiction and a period of homelessness — tells Fox News Digital that the Fremont City Council’s actions reflect a growing “frustration” with the escalating crisis affecting cities across the state.

“This entire ordinance was born out of frustration regarding their inability to mitigate the homeless issue, and because politicians are afraid or lack political will, in many cases, to make the hard choices that need to be made,” Tom Wolf, founder of the San Francisco Bay-area nonprofit Pacific Alliance for Prevention and Recovery, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

Wolf, who himself was homeless for six months while addicted to fentanyl and heroin in 2018, said that Fremont’s ordinance is “not criminalizing homelessness,” but rather it is “criminalizing the behaviors that are exhibited by people who happen to be experiencing homelessness and are also struggling with drug addiction.”

CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY ALARMED BY HOMELESS CAMPS FOUND IN UNDERGROUND CAVES: ‘HUGE SAFETY HAZARD’

Homeless and fentanyl split image (Getty Images)

“It’s not as controversial as people and the media are blowing it up to be controversial, because it’s a departure from the approach that we’ve been taking for the last eight to 10 years in California, which is, ‘Oh, everyone just needs a home,’ Wolf said, referring to the state’s “Housing First” model adopted several years ago, which prioritizes providing shelter and temporary housing units to homeless without requiring sobriety or wraparound drug addiction services to people.

The Fremont City Council voted 6-1 last week in a lengthy session in favor of banning camping on any public property “including any street, sidewalk, park, open space, waterway, or banks of a waterway or any private property not designated and equipped for such camping” as well as “any land designated as a high fire risk area.”

Fremont is roughly 40 miles south of San Francisco.

The new ordinance states that anyone “causing, permitting, aiding, abetting or concealing” encampments shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subjected to either a $1000 fine or up to six months in jail. Violators may also be subjected to a temporary seizure of personal property.

CALIFORNIA CITY PASSES SWEEPING HOMELESS ENCAMPMENT BAN ON ALL PUBLIC PROPERTY

A homeless encampment in Balboa Park, San Diego, CA, Wednesday, January 8, 2025. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)

“Fremont is not a conservative city,” conservative think tank California Policy Center expert Edward Ring told Fox News Digital. “It’s part of one of the most liberal regions in the country. So, the fact that they’re doing this, it’s not a reflection of some sort of harsh conservative mentality.”

“It’s a bipartisan conclusion, a non-partisan conclusion, that the city council has come to, and they’ve apparently decided that just a ban isn’t going to be sufficient, because there are so many groups associated with the homeless nowadays that call themselves advocates for the homeless,” Ring added.

“But what they’re basically doing by aggressively protecting the right of people to camp in public spaces, for example, is perpetuating homelessness,” he said.

These groups include nonprofits and homeless outreach workers who offer services to homeless people. These services include optional substance abuse treatment, housing, temporary shelter, tents, and even “safe” supplies for drug use, in line with the state-sanctioned “Harm Reduction” model, which focuses on preventing overdoses and infections rather than stopping drug use altogether.

Wolf said he takes issue with much of the Harm Reduction’s strategy because “people are going to still continue to use because they’re out there on the street addicted to drugs.”

As of the 2024 Point-in-Time (PIT) Count, which provides a snapshot of homelessness on a single night completed annually, Fremont reported 612 homeless individuals, marking a 21% decrease from the previous count in 2022.

California’s homeless population was estimated at approximately 187,000 after last year’s PIT count, making it the highest in the nation for unsheltered homeless people. The 2025 count is currently underway across the state’s cities.

CALIFORNIA PLANS TO CONTINUE ALLOWING TRANS ATHLETES TO COMPETE IN GIRLS’ SPORTS DESPITE TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDER

Oakland Homeless encampment (Getty Images)

“The purpose of this chapter is to maintain streets, parks and other public and private areas within the city in a clean, sanitary and accessible condition and to adequately protect the health, safety and public welfare of the community, while recognizing that, subject to reasonable conditions, camping and camp facilities associated with special events can be beneficial to the cultural and educational climate in the city,” the ordinance reads.

It continued, “The use of streets and public areas within the city for camping purposes or for storage of personal property interferes with the rights of the public to use these areas for which they were intended. Such activity can constitute a public health and safety hazard that adversely impacts residential neighborhoods and commercial areas. Camping without the consent of the owner and proper sanitary measures adversely affects private property rights, public health, safety, and welfare of the city. Nothing in this chapter is intended to interfere with otherwise lawful and ordinary uses of public or private property.”

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Beyond California, cities like Washougal, Washington, have also adopted anti-camping restrictions, though Fremont’s is unique due to its penalties.

The anti-camping law comes after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that local governments have the authority to ban camping on public property, allowing cities to clear homeless encampments. The decision came after the Court declined to review a lower court ruling that upheld Boise, Idaho’s ban on camping, effectively setting a precedent for other municipalities to follow.

Fox News Digital’s Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.

Senate Republicans scored a win over their House counterparts in the early morning hours of Friday, officially passing their preferred budget resolution to tackle some of President Trump’s priorities, such as securing the southern border. 

After hours of back-to-back voting on Democratic amendments, the bill to fund border security, energy and defense finally got its vote on the chamber floor. 

“[T]his particular budget resolution… addresses the president’s priority, top priority, which is securing the border and implementing and putting in place his immigration policies, rebuilding our military, and creating energy dominance for this country,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters on Wednesday, previewing the eventual vote. 

The leader and Republicans in the upper chamber started to move forward with the all-important budget reconciliation process earlier this month, pushing their preferred plan through a key committee and clearing a procedural hurdle. 

EXCLUSIVE: DEMS TO FORCE VOTES ON MEDICAID AS IT BECOMES SORE POINT IN SENATE BUDGET FIGHT

Thune succeeded McConnell as Republican leader. (Getty Images)

The move came despite House Republicans being expected to take the lead on passing a budget bill first. Thune and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also pressed on even after Trump came out in support of the House’s proposal, endorsing it earlier this week on Truth Social. 

The decision to move forward with the Senate’s alternative budget plan, which is two-pronged as opposed to the House’s effort to pass one large bill, was blessed by Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday, a source told Fox News Digital.

Trump himself did not seem bothered by their effort either, posting on Truth Social, “Thank you to Majority Leader John Thune, and the Republican Senate, for working so hard on funding the Trump Border Agenda. We are setting records, the likes of which have never been seen before, on stopping criminal illegals aliens from entering our Country. Put simply, we are delivering for the American People, far faster and, more successfully, than anyone thought possible. Your work on funding this effort is greatly appreciated!”

SCOOP: REPUBLICAN DANIEL CAMERON BLASTED BY LIKELY GOP OPPONENT AS MCCONNELL SUCCESSOR FIGHT BEGINS

Trump initially said he wanted one bill. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

The Senate’s procedural vote earlier in the week triggered a 50-hour debate clock that ended on Thursday night. Then, a marathon of votes, known as a “Vote-a-Rama,” began. 

Senators were able to introduce an unlimited number of amendments, of which many received floor votes. The process forced Republicans to take many potentially uncomfortable votes teed up by their Democratic counterparts. 

“Tonight, one amendment at a time, Democrats exposed Republicans’ true colors here on the Senate floor. For the first time this year, Senate Republicans were forced to go on record and defend their plans to cut taxes for Donald Trump’s billionaire friends. What happened tonight was only the beginning. This debate is going to go on for weeks and maybe months. Democrats will be ready to come back and do this over and over again, because Americans deserve to know the truth,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement following the budget resolution’s passage. 

“Again and again and again, Republicans sent a clear and consistent message from the Senate floor: under their agenda, billionaires win, and American families lose. If Republicans continue with this reckless plan to help their billionaire buddies at the expense of American families, Democrats will make sure the American people know the truth at every opportunity,” the Democratic leader continued. 

In the Senate Republicans’ budget plan, the first reconciliation bill includes Trump’s priorities for border security, fossil fuel energy and national defense. The second bill, to be drawn up later in the year, would focus on extending Trump’s tax policies from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). The cuts begin to expire at the end of 2025. 

SUSAN COLLINS VOWS TO OPPOSE TRUMP FBI DIRECTOR NOMINEE KASH PATEL AHEAD OF CRITICAL VOTE

Thune and Graham moved forward with the White House’s blessing. (Getty Images)

By lowering the threshold for Senate passage from 60 votes to 51 out of 100, reconciliation allows the party in power to skirt its opposition to advance its agenda – provided the items included relate to budgetary and other fiscal matters. The House of Representatives already has a simple majority threshold.

The process is crucial for Republicans, who have a trifecta in Washington, to get key Trump goals accomplished. 

KASH PATEL’S CONFIRMATION AS TRUMP FBI PICK ‘WILL HAUNT YOU,’ SENATE DEMS WARN GOP AHEAD OF VOTE

The House hasn’t brought their budget to the floor yet. (Getty Images)

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House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has claimed that the Senate’s first budget bill, along with its two-pronged approach, would be dead on arrival in the lower chamber. He has remained committed to including tax cuts in the bill with border security and other priorities. 

The House has managed to move their version through the appropriate committee, but a floor vote has yet to be scheduled. 

EXCLUSIVE: Governors from across the country are descending upon Washington, D.C., this week for the National Governors Association’s winter meeting. Among them is Gov. Tate Reeves, R-Miss., who said the Department of Government Efficiency has renewed Republican governors’ optimism in the federal government.

Reeves, who was elected governor of Mississippi in 2019 and re-elected in 2023, told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview at the Republican Governors Association that DOGE aligns with Republican governors’ “fiscal sanity.”

“There’s no doubt that Republican governors lead the nation in fiscal responsibility and, quite frankly, in fiscal sanity. Part of that is because, as governors, we have to balance our budgets back home. For us to see the efforts by the Department of Government Efficiency, by Elon Musk and his team with the support of President Trump, it gives us great reason for optimism, because we think that there are literally billions and billions of dollars in spending in the federal government that should not be spent, that are for waste, fraud and abuse,” Reeves said. 

The second-term governor said most Americans appreciate DOGE’s audit and Republicans won’t allow the federal government to spend American taxpayer dollars on “some of the crazy things that have been identified in the last several weeks.”

SURPRISING NEW POLL NUMBERS RELEASED ON TRUMP’S PERFORMANCE SO FAR IN THE WHITE HOUSE

Mississippi Republican gubernatorial candidate Tate Reeves, left, stands with President Donald Trump during a “Keep America Great” campaign rally at BancorpSouth Arena on November 1, 2019 in Tupelo, Mississippi. (Brandon Dill/Getty Images)

“We believe that we ought to treat the taxpayers’ money exactly the way we would treat our own money. We’re not going to allow our own money to be spent on things that don’t make sense. We don’t think we ought to use the taxpayers’ money, spending them on things like what has been found in the last couple of three weeks,” Reeves added.

MUSK WEIGHS A ‘DOGE DIVIDEND’ TO SEND AMERICANS CHECKS USING SAVED FUNDS

Meanwhile, Reeves can’t wrap his head around Democrats’ rejection of government efficiency. 

“I’m really perplexed as to why Democrats have not actually supported these efforts,” Reeves said. “There was a time in America where all politicians of reasonable stripes would say we ought to try to make government more efficient. We ought to ensure that government money is being spent in the right way.”

Reeves questioned who benefited from the misuse of taxpayer dollars during President Joe Biden’s administration. 

“The Democrats’ opposition to these audits is really beyond my ability to comprehend. The reality is that they are fighting for waste, fraud and abuse in government. It’s almost as if they want that waste, fraud and abuse. It drives you to the question of who’s benefiting from the way in which the Biden administration spent these dollars in the last four years.”

Democrats have called DOGE’s ongoing layoffs and President Donald Trump’s flurry of executive orders a “constitutional crisis.” Reeves said Trump is doing exactly what he was elected to do. 

Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves delivers his State of the State address to the Mississippi State Legislature, Feb. 26, 2024, at the state Capitol in Jackson, Mississippi. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

“When you talk about their claims of a constitutional crisis, a duly elected president managing the executive branch of government is not a constitutional crisis. In fact, it is exactly what the duly elected executive is supposed to do. President Trump is doing exactly what he got the mandate to do when he was elected overwhelmingly in the election in November. He got that mandate in large part because the Democrats have gone so far to the left that most people in the middle don’t even recognize the Democrat Party of today, and they’re just continuing down that path in deciding that government efficiency is not something they want to support,” Reeves said. 

Reeves added Trump’s return to the White House has empowered governors’ voices on both sides of the political aisle, drawing a stark contrast between President Joe Biden’s and Trump’s presidencies. 

“Having President Trump in office is a big plus, not only for me or for our Republican governors, but really for all governors,” Reeves said. “The first thing I would say about President Trump is that it is just completely different than what we saw during the Biden years, regardless of politics, regardless of policy views. President Trump respects and wants to hear from governors. He wants to know what other chief executives are doing in the states. We have a voice and that’s incredibly important.”

Mississippi incumbent Republican Gov. Tate Reeves and his family speak to supporters during an election night watch party at The Refuge Hotel & Conference Center on November 7, 2023 in Flowood, Mississippi. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Reeves said, unlike what he saw during Biden’s administration, Trump genuinely values all governors’ opinions, and having access to the president again is encouraging. 

“I think even some of those governors on the other side of the political aisle will recognize that it’s certainly something that President Trump values is our opinion. That’s something that we’re going to see over the next few days, having multiple opportunities to sit down and visit with the president, so that’s encouraging.”

Reeves said Trump’s return to Washington is building on Mississippi’s momentum in education, artificial intelligence and manufacturing. 

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“We want to work with President Trump in his efforts to onshore more manufacturing. That’s something that’s important to Mississippi’s economy. Many states across the country gave up on manufacturing 20 years ago. Mississippi never gave up on manufacturing. And that’s the reason we have a workforce that is ready for tremendous economic growth and prosperity. We’re going to take advantage of that,” Reeves said. 

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., signaled he was not a fan of a proposal to send Americans stimulus checks with the money saved by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and that he believed the funding was better directed toward the national debt.

“Well, look, I mean, politically, that would be great for us, you know, because that gives everybody a check,” Johnson said during a Q&A session at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Thursday.

“But if you think about our core principles, right, fiscal responsibility is what we do as conservatives. That’s our brand. And we have a $36 trillion federal debt.”

SCOOP: KEY CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS DRAWS RED LINE ON HOUSE BUDGET PLAN

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., right, signaled he was not thrilled with President Donald Trump’s DOGE stimulus proposal. (Getty Images)

Johnson added there was a “giant deficit” — which is over $838 billion for fiscal year 2025 so far, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center — the U.S. was grappling with as well.

“I think we need to pay down the credit card. That’s what I think we need to do,” Johnson said.

It comes after President Donald Trump said he was considering giving 20% of DOGE-led savings back to U.S. taxpayers during a speech on Wednesday at the FII Priority Summit in Miami.

Billionaire Elon Musk, who is leading DOGE, said Tuesday on X that he would “check with the president” about the proposal after it was first floated by Azoria investment firm CEO James Fishback.

Elon Musk wants DOGE to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget. (AP/Alex Brandon)

DOGE’s stated goal under Musk is to cut federal spending by $2 trillion.

During his sit-down remarks with Newsmax on Thursday, Johnson also warned that Americans could see the “largest tax increase in U.S. history” if Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was not extended before measures expired at the end of this year.

Congressional Republicans are currently trying to use their majorities to extend Trump’s tax cuts and pass his priorities on defense and the border via a massive bill using the budget reconciliation process.

BLACK CAUCUS CHAIR ACCUSES TRUMP OF ‘PURGE’ OF ‘MINORITY’ FEDERAL WORKERS

Reconciliation will allow Johnson and Republicans to side-step House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. (Getty Images)

Under reconciliation, both the Senate and House operate under simple majorities, allowing the party in power to pass a massive budget bill without help from the opposition. Normally, the Senate’s threshold for passage is two-thirds.

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“We’re going to take a blowtorch to the regulatory state, get the bureaucracy back in check — lots of details, lots of subcategories under all that. But it’s going to be a big, beautiful bill. And it has to be by necessity, because that gives us the highest probability of success. Remember that I have a small margin in the House,” Johnson said. “I have one vote for much of this.”

Extending Trump’s tax cuts alone is expected to cost upwards of $4.5 trillion.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been circulating a list to congressional Republicans with the names of top military generals and officers he is interested in firing, Fox News has learned. 

Among the names on the list are U.S. Navy Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the current Chief of Naval Operations and the second woman to be promoted to a four-star Admiral in the Navy’s history, a senior official said. 

“She is one of the folks on the list,” the official said. 

HEGSETH ORDERS PENTAGON TO MAKE PLANS FOR MAJOR BUDGET CUTS TO ALIGN WITH TRUMP’S PRIORITIES

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attends a NATO Defence Ministers meeting at the Alliance’s headquarters in Brussels, Belgium last week.  (REUTERS/Yves Herman)

So far, the list contains a “handful of names,” but it may not be the final version. It has been conveyed to Republican members of Congress, not Democrats. Several top Republicans on the Armed Services Committee said they heard about the list, but had not seen it themselves.

“I may have heard a rumor, but I’m not going to speculate on rumors,” Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) told Fox. “No one has approached me about such a list other than people asking me questions.”  

Hegseth was slated to travel Friday to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to conduct a media interview, but the trip has been postponed until Tuesday.

Some officials have taken the postponement to be another sign that firings could be imminent. Late Friday is often the time that firings are announced in Washington. 

TRUMP ADMIN EXPECTED TO ENACT LAYOFF AT DEFENSE DEPARTMENT AMID DOGE ARRIVAL: REPORT

Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Lisa Franchetti on Thursday, May 23, 2024. (Getty Images)

During her tenure, Franchetti commanded two aircraft carrier strike groups in the Pacific and served as the commander of U.S. Naval Forces Korea. She also served as the deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting development, and director for strategy, plans, and policy of the Joint Staff. 

As head of the Navy’s 6th Fleet, she oversaw the Navy’s response to Syrian President Bashar al Assad’s use of chemical weapons.

“She is a war fighter with combat experience. She’s an operational leader. She’s a strategist. She’s an innovator,”Adm. Michael Gilday, the former Chief of Naval Operations, said when Franchetti was nominated by then-President Joe Biden in July 2023.

“She’s a team builder. She’s a trailblazer. She’s an example of personal and professional resilience and a testament to the power of the American dream to inspire service and sacrifice,” Gilday said.

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Hegseth has been outspoken about his belief that women should not serve in combat roles.

“I’m straight up saying that we should not have women in combat roles – it hasn’t made us more effective, hasn’t made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated,” he said on a Nov. 7, 2024 episode of the “Shawn Ryan Show” podcast.

He later clarified his comments, saying his remarks had been “misconstrued, that I somehow don’t support women in the military, some of our greatest warriors, our best warriors out there are women.”

Joint Chiefs Chairman C.Q. Brown is also rumored to be on the list.

When asked if he would fire Brown on his first day in office, Hegseth said “I look forward to working with him.”

Brown was standing next to Hegseth as he answered the question.

Donning his “Dark Gothic MAGA” hat, a black coat and sunglasses, and wielding a chainsaw, Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chief Elon Musk made a surprise appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Thursday evening.

Musk spoke on a wide range of topics, including the latest DOGE updates, the Democratic and media hatred towards him and the importance of reducing waste and abuse in the federal government.

He also mentioned that he is in talks with President Donald Trump about issuing tax refunds to U.S. citizens from the money saved by DOGE.

‘WASTEFUL AND DANGEROUS’: DOGE’S TOP FIVE MOST SHOCKING REVELATIONS

At the start of his speech, the DOGE chief was joined by Argentinian President Javier Milei, who is also known for dramatically slashing the size of government in his country. The two men wielded a chainsaw hearkening back to a viral video of Milei and symbolizing their shared goals of cutting down government waste.

“I wasn’t really that interested in being political. It’s just like there was at a certain point no choice,” Musk explained. “The actions that we’re taking, with the support of the president and the support of the agencies, is what will save Medicare, what will save Social Security.” 

“That’s the reason I’m doing this,” he said. “Because I was looking at the big picture here and it’s like, man, it’s getting out of control.” 

“A country is no different from a person,” he went on. “[A] Country overspends, a country goes bankrupt in the same way as a person who overspends usually goes bankrupt. So, it’s not like optional to solve these things, it’s essential.”

TRUMP ISSUES WARNING ABOUT WASTEFUL SPENDING, ORDERS ‘RADICAL TRANSPARENCY’ AMID DOGE PROBES, REVELATIONS

Musk confirmed he is in talks with the president about the possibility of issuing “DOGE dividends” to U.S. taxpayers from the savings from cutting government waste.

“I talked to the president, and he’s supportive of that and so it sounds like, you know, that’s something we’re going to do,” he said. “So, as we’re finding savings, that’s going to translate directly to reductions in tax.”

He also criticized the Biden administration and entrenched government bureaucrats for what he called a “very obvious” scheme to use taxpayer dollars for their own ideological agenda, which he said included importing voters through mass immigration.

“You don’t actually have to assume some grand conspiracy, you just need to look at basic incentives,” he said. “If the probability [is] that an illegal is going to vote Democrat at some point … then the incentive is to maximize the number of illegals in the country. That is why the Biden administration was pushing to get in as many illegals as possible and spent every dollar possible to get as many [as they could] because every one of them is a customer.”

TRUMP FREEZES APPLICATIONS FOR BIDEN-ERA MIGRANT PROGRAMS AMID FRAUD, NATIONAL SECURITY CONCERNS

President Donald Trump speaks as Elon Musk, joined by his son X Æ A-Xii, listens in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Since Trump returned to the White House, Musk has been the center of much of Democratic and media vitriol because of his role with DOGE and work gutting wasteful government programs, many of which have been rooted in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and other favorite liberal causes.

DOGE claims that it has already cut $44 billion in previously wasted taxpayer dollars. 

“People ask me, what’s the most surprising thing that you’ve encountered when you got to DC?” he said. “Well, the most surprising thing is the scale of the expenditures and actually, how easy it is to – when you add caring and competence where it was absent before – you can actually save billions of dollars sometimes in the span of an hour. Like it’s wild.”

“It just shows that they really lack empathy for the average taxpayer who’s working hard, paying taxes and then and then they say: ‘Oh: ‘$1 million doesn’t matter.’ I’m like: ‘I think it matters a lot to people.’”

DOGE UNCOVERS OVER 4M GOVERNMENT CREDIT CARDS RESPONSIBLE FOR 90M TRANSACTIONS

A protester holds up a “NO MUSK” sign at the “No Kings on President’s Day” protest in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 17, 2025. (Deirdre Heavey/Fox News Digital) (Fox News Digital)

He made light of the widespread criticism against him from the media and the left.

“They’re always saying like ‘threat to our democracy.” But if you just replace democracy with bureaucracy, yeah, it makes a lot of sense. It makes perfect sense, big threat to the bureaucracy,” he said laughing. 

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Musk also explained some of his personal motivations for caring about fixing government overspending. 

“I grew up in South Africa, but my morality was informed by America. I read comic books, you know, played Dungeons and Dragons and I watched American T.V. shows, and it seemed like America cared about being the good guys, you know? About doing the right thing,” he said. “So, I was like, yeah, you want to be on the side of good, you want to care about what’s right.” 

President Donald Trump is making it very clear whom he would support in the blockbuster 2026 gubernatorial race to succeed term-limited Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“I am hearing that Highly Respected Congressman Byron Donalds is considering running for Governor of Florida, a State that I love, and WON BIG in 2016, 2020, and 2024,” Trump, a Florida resident, wrote in a social media post on Thursday.

And the president emphasized that Donalds, a longtime Trump friend, ally and supporter, “would be a truly Great and Powerful Governor for Florida.”

Trump added that Donalds, “should he decide to run, will have my Complete and Total Endorsement. RUN, BYRON, RUN!”

WHAT BYRON DONALDS SAID ON FOX NEWS SUNDAY

Byron Donalds speaks inside the Capital One arena at an event for President Donald Trump, on the inauguration day of Trump’s second presidential term, in Washington D.C., on January 20, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Segar (REUTERS/Mike Segar)

Donalds, a conservative former state lawmaker who has represented parts of southwest Florida’s 19th District in Congress for four years, has been eyeing a potential gubernatorial bid for nearly a year.

“I’ve thought about it. I don’t really rule anything out,” Donalds said in a Fox News Digital interview last spring when asked about a possible run for governor.

Sources confirmed to Fox News last month that Donalds had been telling potential donors and Florida political players that he intends to run for governor.

WHY TRUMP IS PRAISING ONE-TIME PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY RIVAL DESANTIS

Another signal also came last month, when Donalds hired prominent Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio’s research firm. Fabrizio was a top pollster in Trump’s 2016 and 2024 presidential campaigns.

Sources in Florida tell Fox News that Donalds, behind the scenes, continues to make moves towards launching a gubernatorial campaign.

Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida speaks during Day 1 of the Republican National Convention, at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 15, 2024.  (REUTERS/Mike Segar)

Donalds, responding to Trump’s social media post, took to X to write “President Trump is Making America Great Again. I’m committed to working with him to Keep Florida Great. Announcement coming soon!”

A source in Donalds’ political orbit told Fox News on Thursday that the congressman has been pushing hard for a Trump endorsement, in an effort to crowd out potential rivals for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.

Another prominent Florida Republican who’s seriously considering a run for governor is state Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, the former president of the state Senate.

There’s also been some speculation that DeSantis’ wife, Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis, was considering a run to succeed her husband in Tallahassee. A poll released earlier this week, which suggested Casey DeSantis would be favored in the race, grabbed plenty of attention.

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, who was Trump’s first choice for attorney general in his second administration before dropping out amid controversy, late last year made some noise about potentially running for governor. But there’s been little buzz in recent weeks about a possible Gaetz campaign.

The post by the president, who holds immense sway over the GOP and who is an adopted Florida resident, may put a damper on the speculation regarding Casey DeSantis, and could potentially dissuade Simpson, who’s hauled in millions for his political committees, from launching a gubernatorial bid.

Dan Eberhart, a Florida-based oil drilling chief executive officer and a prominent Republican donor who’s raised big bucks for Trump and DeSantis in recent years and who is also in Donalds’ political orbit, told Fox News that Donalds, if he runs, would “bring a fresh conservative vision for Florida’s future that will be hard to beat.”

The social media post by Trump was his second this week to pump up Donalds.

Trump on Monday showcased a screen grab of a poll conducted by a group aligned with Donalds that indicated the congressman leading in a hypothetical 2026 Florida gubernatorial match-up.

Trump has been talking up Donalds for over a year when it comes to a possible run for governor. At a closed-door fundraiser in New York City last spring, Trump suggested that if Donalds ran for Florida governor, he’d have “many friends in the race.”

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Donalds, speaking with Fox News Digital soon after Trump made the comments, said “it’s really cool that people back home in Florida consider me to be able to be the state’s next governor. It’s really an honor. It’s honestly surreal thinking about it because I’m 45 and my journey through politics has been a really fruitful one.”

While Florida was once a top general election battleground, it’s now firmly red, and the eventual winner of the GOP primary will be considered the front-runner in next year’s gubernatorial election.

Two federal judges declined this week to stop the Trump administration from firing federal workers and conducting mass layoffs, allowing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to remain on track with finding and slashing wasteful government spending.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper shot down a request from several federal labor unions, including the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), to issue a pause on the mass firings of federal workers by the Trump administration.

NTEU and four other labor unions representing federal employees – the National Federation of Federal Employees; the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers; the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers; the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers; and the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America – filed a complaint on Feb. 12, challenging the firing of probationary employees and the deferred resignation program.

The resignation program presented federal employees with a fork in the road, meaning they could either return to the office or they could resign from their positions and continue to get paid through September, though they had to decide by Feb. 6. That date was ultimately deferred to Feb. 12, then subsequently closed that day.

‘GET BACK TO WORK’: HOUSE OVERSIGHT TO TAKE ON GOVERNMENT TELEWORK IN 1ST HEARING OF NEW CONGRESS

Elon Musk is heading up President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The unions moved for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) and preliminary injunction to prevent the firing of probationary employees across all federal agencies and furtherance of the resignation program on Feb. 14, and the next day it was sent to Cooper’s court.

Cooper denied the request, though, saying the court lacks jurisdiction over the unions’ claims.

Instead, Cooper ruled the unions must pursue their challenges through the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute, which provides for administrative review by the Federal Labor Relations Authority.

JUDGE EXTENDS RESTRAINING ORDER TO BAN TRUMP ADMIN BUYOUT OFFER TO FEDERAL WORKERS

In a separate case, 14 states asked U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan to issue a TRO preventing billionaire Elon Musk and DOGE from accessing data systems at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Department of Education, Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Energy, Department of Transportation and Department of Commerce for 14 days after the order is issued.

The plaintiffs also asked Chutkan’s order to forbid Musk and DOGE from terminating, furloughing, or putting on leave, any federal officers, or employees in those agencies.

JUDGE ISSUES RESTRAINING ORDER AFTER TRUMP BLOCKS FEDERAL FUNDS FOR YOUTH SEX CHANGE OPERATIONS

This week, Chutkan wrote, “The court is aware that DOGE’s unpredictable actions have resulted in considerable uncertainty and confusion for Plaintiffs and many of their agencies and residents.”

She ultimately ruled that DOGE can continue to operate as it is now and keep the status quo.

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Chutkan also, on Friday, issued the court briefing schedule for plaintiffs and defendants to file motions for discovery, preliminary injunctions and dismissals, which stretches through April 22.