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EXCLUSIVE – Former Vice President Mike Pence says his fight to keep the Republican Party from drifting too far from its conservative roots and principles, amid a rise of populism in the GOP and big government creep in President Donald Trump‘s second administration, is “the calling of my life right now.”

And Pence takes issue with the conventional wisdom that Trump, since he first won the White House a decade ago, has upended and completely transformed the Republican Party.

“I’m convinced that while President Trump has changed some aspects of the agenda of the Republican Party, he hasn’t really changed the Republican Party,” Pence argued in an exclusive interview this past week with Fox News Digital, a couple of months ahead of the release of a new book promoting the conservative agenda.

Sitting in his Washington, D.C., office at Advancing American Freedom, his policy and advocacy organization that has been expanding in recent months, the former vice president emphasized, “We intend to be a voice for what conservatives believe and have always believed, and that’s fiscal responsibility, traditional values, strong defense and American leadership.”

ONLY ON FOX NEWS: PENCE SAYS TRUMP ‘TURNED A DEAF EAR’ TO ISOLATIONISTS IN GOP

Pence is a former congressman and Indiana governor who served as vice president during Trump’s first term in office before breaking with his boss amid the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol as he oversaw congressional certification of the 2020 election results.

The former vice president gave a thumbs up to some of what Trump’s accomplished in his second term.

“I’ve been very proud of the fact of what this administration accomplished in securing our border. I was pleased that the administration turned aside from those that were talking about raising taxes on top marginal earners. They extended all the Trump Pence tax cuts,” he highlighted.

PENCE URGES SENATE TO ‘RESTORE PUBLIC CONFIDENCE’ WITH NATIONWIDE VOTER ID LAW

But Pence took issue with the second Trump administration for “embracing more big government programs and solutions, price controls on pharmaceuticals and credit companies, taking a position in private companies, the nationalization trend that has emerged, as well as marginalizing the right to life in so many ways and ignoring the scourge of mail order abortion pills around the country.”

“I am hopeful those advising the president are reminding him that it… was the conservative agenda that we governed on in our four years…that led to great prosperity for American families, for our economy and for strength in the world,” Pence said.

But the former vice president warned that “the Republican Party today is experiencing a scourge of some ‘-isms.’ We’ve seen protectionism show itself in unilateral tariffs that the Supreme Court of the United States recently turned back. We’ve seen some voices of isolationism that question our support for Israel, that would leave allies like Ukraine defend for themselves.”

And Pence added, “I think that the on the fringe and on the margins, voices of antisemitism in the party all need to be confronted, because none of those things represent what conservatives believe.”

But many Republicans would take issue with the former vice president’s argument that Trump hasn’t transformed the GOP.

“Donald Trump has tremendously altered the make-up of the Republican Party and the issues that it focuses on,” veteran GOP strategist and communicator Ryan Williams told Fox News Digital.

Williams emphasized that Trump “has altered the voter base of the Republican Party” and taken “the values and trajectory of this party in a different direction… It’s never going back to the way it was before.”

FOX NEWS EXCLUSIVE: PENCE CHARGES DEMOCRATS’ HOLDUP OF DHS FUNDING ‘UNCONSCIONABLE’  

While not aiming to return the party to its pre-Trump image, Pence said his mission is to remind people that Republicans believe in a strong national defense of American leadership in the world. We believe in free market economics and limited fiscally responsible government. We believe in the right to life and traditional values.”

“It’s been those principles that have guided our party for more than a half a century and have been to the betterment of the American people,” he added.

Pence said his hope is that “we’ll see not only this administration hew back to our roots of conservatism, but that we’ll see candidates for the House and Senate and statehouse around the country come back to those core conservative principles.”

Republicans are battling stiff political headwinds as the party in power in the nation’s capital traditionally loses seats in the midterm elections, and a rough political climate fueled by economic concerns amid persistent inflation and Trump’s underwater approval ratings.

But Pence said that pushing a conservative platform is “not only a pathway toward American prosperity and the vitality of freedom, but it’s also a winning agenda.”

Likely boosting the former vice president’s push will be his new book, “What Conservatives Believe: Rediscovering the Conservative Conscience,” which is expected to release in June.

Pence ran on a traditional conservative platform, framing the future of the Republican Party against what he called the rise of “populism” in the party, as he bid for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, as part of a large field that unsuccessfully challenged Trump.

While Pence, who became the first running mate in over 80 years to run against their former boss, regularly campaigned in the crucial early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, his White House bid never took off.

Struggling in the polls and with fundraising, he suspended his campaign just four and a half months after launching it.

“It was clear to me that there’s a portion of the Republican Party today that’s being drawn aside by the siren song of populism unmoored to conservative principles. I spoke out against that as a candidate. Our foundation, Advancing American Freedom, has been championing that conservative agenda and will continue to,” Pence noted.

Asked if there’s another White House run in his future, Pence didn’t rule anything out.

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“I will tell you, I’m not a long-term planner,” he answered. “We’ll let the future take care of itself.”

But he added, “For me, for my family, it really is all about the issues and values that first drew me to the Republican Party. Those are conservative values. And reminding our party and sharing with people across the country what conservatives believe and why it will make America stronger and more prosperous is really the calling of my time.”

President Donald Trump issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Iran on Saturday, warning the U.S. would strike its power plants if the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened.

“If Iran doesn’t FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

The president’s threat represents a notable escalation in rhetoric as tensions surge over the strategically vital waterway.

Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a global choke point for oil and gas transport that supplies roughly one-fifth of the world’s crude oil, has been largely limited since early March, shortly after the war with Iran began.

US SIGNALS READINESS TO ESCORT TANKERS THROUGH HORMUZ AS TRAFFIC THINS BUT NO MISSION LAUNCHED

Trump’s post comes after he told reporters Friday that reopening the strait was a “simple military maneuver.”

“It’s relatively safe, but you need a lot of help in the sense of you need ships, you need volume,” he said.

The president added that NATO hasn’t had the “courage” to assist the U.S. with reopening the waterway.

TRUMP SAYS US ‘OBLITERATED’ TARGETS IN STRIKE ON KEY IRANIAN OIL HUB

“NATO could help us, but they so far haven’t had the courage to do so, and others could help us,” Trump said. “But, you know, we don’t use it. You know, at a certain point, it’ll reopen itself.”

Earlier Friday, Trump ripped NATO on Truth Social as “cowards,” saying they “complain about the high oil prices they are forced to pay, but don’t want to help open the Strait of Hormuz.”

A growing group of countries has signed onto a joint statement signaling their “readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage” through the strait.

The joint statement said, “We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait,” and, “We welcome the commitment of nations who are engaging in preparatory planning.”

The statement was attributed to leaders from more than 20 countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and the United Arab Emirates.

“We condemn in the strongest terms recent attacks by Iran on unarmed commercial vessels in the Gulf, attacks on civilian infrastructure including oil and gas installations, and the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iranian forces,” the statement reads.

NATO HEAVYWEIGHTS BALK AT HORMUZ MISSION AS TRUMP WARNS ALLIANCE AT RISK

“We express our deep concern about the escalating conflict. We call on Iran to cease immediately its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the Strait to commercial shipping, and to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2817,” the statement continued.

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Earlier this week, U.S. forces struck Iran’s anti-ship missile sites near the Strait of Hormuz with 5,000-pound bunker-buster bombs, according to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM).

Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman-Diamond contributed to this report.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday urged a judge to dissolve the injunction that keeps the Trump administration from detaining Kilmar Abrego Garcia again so he can quickly be deported to Liberia.

“Dissolution is also warranted because the Court’s Memorandum Order failed to acknowledge that the Court’s own prior injunction against removal is the sole impediment to Petitioner’s prompt removal,” the DOJ wrote in a court filing obtained by Fox News Digital. “The Court cannot both impose the impediment that delays removal and consequently prolongs detention and, at the same time, hold that the resulting detention is impermissibly prolonged.”

It added, “Any attempt by this Court to permanently enjoin the government from exercising its authority to remove the Petitioner from this country is in direct contradiction to established judicial norms, and a clear error of law.”

The administration deported Abrego Garcia, who they claim is a member of MS-13, a year ago to a prison in his native El Salvador, but he was returned to the U.S. in June to face human smuggling charges in Tennessee related to a 2022 traffic stop despite at first saying the administration had no power to bring him back. 

His Lawyers deny he is a member of MS-13.

US JUDGE VOWS TO RULE ‘SOON’ ON ABREGO GARCIA’S FATE AFTER MARATHON HEARING

He was released from detention in December on the grounds that the Trump administration had not obtained the final notice of removal order that is needed to deport him to a third country.

Abrego Garcia, 31, has become a flash point in the national immigration debate since last March, when he was deported to El Salvador in violation of a 2019 court order in what Trump administration officials acknowledged was an “administrative error.” 

The Supreme Court later ruled that the administration had to work to bring him back to the U.S.

JUDGE ORDERS MIGRANT DEPORTED IN ‘ERROR’ FREE FROM ICE CUSTODY WITH CRIMINAL CASE LOOMING

He has pleaded not guilty on the human smuggling charges and is seeking dismissal of the charges on the grounds of vindictive and selective prosecution.

The 2019 court order prevents Abrego Garcia from being deported to El Salvador after an immigration judge determined he faced danger from a gang that had threatened his family. He immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager and has been under the supervision of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Last month, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis agreed to convert her previous emergency order blocking ICE from immediately re-detaining Abrego Garcia into a longer-term form of injunctive relief sought by his lawyers. 

She said that the Trump administration failed to provide the court with any “good reason to believe” that they plan to remove Abrego Garcia to a third country in the “reasonably foreseeable future.” Instead, she said, they “made one empty threat after another to remove him to countries in Africa with no real chance of success.”

Abrego Garcia has said he’s willing to be sent to Costa Rica, but Acting Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons said he will instead be removed to Liberia.

Abrego Garcia’s attorney said in December Abrego was willing to leave for Costa Rica immediately, and that the country had given him asylum status months ago.

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The government’s “persistent refusal to acknowledge Costa Rica as a viable removal option, their threats to send Abrego Garcia to African countries that never agreed to take him, and their misrepresentation to the Court that Liberia is now the only country available to Abrego Garcia, all reflect that whatever purpose was behind his detention, it was not for the ‘basic purpose’ of timely third-country removal,” Xinis said in December.

The administration asked the judge to rule on its request to have the injunction dissolved by April 17.

Fox News Michael Sinkewicz, Louis Casiano, Breanne Deppisch, and Jake Gibson contributed to this report. 

Former FBI Director Robert Mueller has died at the age of 81, and President Donald Trump gave a sharp reaction on Truth Social.

“Robert Mueller just died,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

“Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!”

DOJ SUBPOENAS EX-FBI DIRECTOR JAMES COMEY OVER ROLE IN 2017 RUSSIA INTEL ASSESSMENT

Mueller led the FBI from 2001 to 2013 and later served as special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, a probe that shadowed much of Trump’s presidency.

He brought charges against multiple Trump associates during the Russia investigation, including former campaign Chairman Paul Manafort and former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.

His final report detailed extensive contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia but did not establish a criminal conspiracy.

Mueller declined to make a traditional prosecutorial decision on whether Trump obstructed justice, citing longstanding Justice Department policy against indicting a sitting president.

Mueller’s family announced his death in a statement. 

“With deep sadness, we are sharing the news that Bob passed away” on Friday night, his family said in a statement Saturday, according to The Associated Press. “His family asks that their privacy be respected.”

OBAMA ADMIN ‘MANUFACTURED’ INTELLIGENCE TO CREATE 2016 RUSSIAN ELECTION INTERFERENCE NARRATIVE, DOCUMENTS SHOW

A cause of death was not immediately known.

Mueller had been in ill health after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2021.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer withdrew a subpoena for Mueller to testify in September in the panel’s Jeffrey Epstein investigation after learning he had health issues that prevented him from appearing.

Mueller had difficulty with speech and mobility and was unable to appear before Congress, his family said at the time.

A Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam, Mueller built a decades-long career in law enforcement and national security. 

He worked as a federal prosecutor and later served as a U.S. attorney in San Francisco before taking on senior roles at the Justice Department.

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He was appointed FBI director in 2001, just one week before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and went on to lead the bureau through a major shift toward counterterrorism. 

Mueller remained in the role for 12 years after being asked by President Barack Obama to stay beyond the traditional 10-year term.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., accused Senate Democrats of not having “any excuses” to continue blocking Homeland Security funding as Republicans and the White House continue to make repeated offers to reopen the government.

“The opportunity to actually drive this to a conclusion is there,” Thune said at a press conference on Saturday in response to Fox News Digital. “You have to have, obviously, to negotiate a deal, you got to have two sides at the table. The White House is there, Senate Republicans are there. The question is, are Senate Democrats going to take yes for an answer?”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) entered its 36th day of shutdown as Senate Democrats continue to block funding for the agency in their pursuit of reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

DHS SHUTDOWN TIED FOR SECOND-LONGEST EVER AS DEMS AGAIN BLOCK FUNDING AMID AIRPORT CHAOS, TERRORISM CONCERNS

After more than two weeks of negotiations appearing to have stalled, Democrats responded to the White House’s latest offer. That spurred two face-to-face meetings with Senate Republicans and Trump administration officials, including border czar Tom Homan, on Capitol Hill.

The latest meeting, which wrapped on Friday, saw Republicans offer Senate Democrats a compromise DHS funding bill.

Thune said the meeting went well and hoped the parties will meet again over the weekend. He characterized the GOP’s offer as filled “with a lot of reforms that have been requested and asked for by Democrats.”

DEM SENATORS CALL TO FUND DHS AFTER VOTING TO BLOCK IT 4 TIMES AMID SHUTDOWN FIGHT

It comes as lines at airports snake for blocks, tens of thousands of federal workers go without pay, and concerns about increased threats in the U.S. as the Pentagon continues Operation Epic Fury against the Iranian regime.

Still, Thune and the GOP have grown increasingly frustrated with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Democrats’ unwillingness to engage in negotiations over the last several weeks.

“We have the Department of Homeland Security closed right now because apparently my Democratic colleagues are more afraid of ICE than they are of Iran and the challenges that we face now in the conflict internationally that we know that we have threats back in the homeland,” Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., said at Saturday’s press conference.

DEMS UNMOVED AS WHITE HOUSE REVEALS DHS CONCESSIONS IN SHUTDOWN BATTLE

Republicans tried and failed for a fifth time to fully reopen the agency on Friday. In the background, there have been several attempts by Senate Democrats to move forward with standalone funding bills to open parts of DHS, excluding immigration enforcement.

The Senate will have a full vote on a standalone funding bill for the Transportation Security Administration, pushed by Schumer, later on Saturday. It will likely fail, given Republicans’ position that the department should be completely reopened.

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“I know they think it’s, as has been described by one of their leaders, ‘very serene, very serene’ with their position,” Thune said. “Well, I’m telling you something, the people who are sitting in those lines at the airports right now don’t see it as very serene. This needs to be resolved. We need a result.”

In a Truth Social post later Saturday, President Donald Trump threatened to deploy ICE agents to U.S. airports if Democrats did not accept a deal. He said ICE would handle airport security and immediately arrest illegal immigrants coming into the U.S., with a special focus on Somalians. 

FIRST ON FOX: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently confirmed agents from the U.S. Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector arrested two Mexican fugitives with active warrants for homicide and lewd acts upon a child.

Agents conducted coordinated surveillance on Feb. 26 targeting Silvia Del Rosario Torres-Castro, a Mexican national wanted in Mexico for homicide. 

Torres-Castro was arrested without incident in Anaheim, California, and turned her over to Mexico’s Fiscalía General de la República (FGR), according to DHS.

Officials said she entered the U.S. illegally in December 2023 under the Biden administration in the Imperial Beach Border Patrol Station’s Area of Responsibility.

ICE ARRESTS ‘WORST OF THE WORST’ CRIMINAL ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS INCLUDING MURDERERS AND PEDOPHILES

In a separate surveillance operation on March 6, agents targeted Salvador Suazo-Garcia, a Mexican national wanted in Mexico for lewd and lascivious acts upon a child. 

Agents arrested Suazo-Garcia without incident in Lemon Grove, California, processed him administratively, and turned him over to Mexico’s FGR.

AFGHAN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT WHO STABBED SISTER FOR BEING ‘BAD MUSLIM GIRL’ ARRESTED BY ICE AGENTS IN NEW YORK

Though Suazo-Garcia entered the U.S. legally in May 2021, his visa was revoked based on his alleged crimes in Mexico.

“Thanks to the Biden administration, these dangerous criminal illegal aliens were allowed to roam American streets and make our communities less safe,” DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis wrote in a statement to Fox. “These are the types of illegal aliens the media categorizes as ‘non-criminal’ illegal aliens because they lack a rap sheet in the U.S.”

Bis said nearly 70% of illegal immigrants ICE has arrested across the country have criminal convictions or pending criminal charges in the U.S. 

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“This statistic doesn’t even account for those wanted for violent crimes in their home country or another country, human rights abusers, gang members, and terrorists,” Bis wrote. “Now, thanks to our law enforcement, these two criminal illegals are back in Mexico to face justice for their crimes.”

Senate Republicans blocked an attempt by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to only pay Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers as the Homeland Security shutdown drags on.

Despite being in the minority and not controlling the Senate floor, Schumer used an arcane tactic to force a procedural vote to allow the Senate to get onto the bill in Democrats’ move to shift the narrative of the ongoing Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown.

“It is unacceptable for workers and travelers and entire airports to get taken hostage in political games,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “But that’s what the Republicans are doing. It is unacceptable to say we will only pay TSA workers if it is attached to a bill that funds ICE with no reforms, but that’s what the Republicans have been doing.”

GOP SENATOR’S GAMBIT EXPOSES FALSE DEM CLAIMS ABOUT SUPPORTING VOTER ID

The shutdown entered its 36th day on Saturday as the ongoing partial closure hurtles toward matching the record-breaking full government shutdown from last year. Schumer’s failed gambit follows increasingly long wait times at airports as thousands of TSA agents go without pay.

Senate Democrats have dug in deep in their demands for stringent reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and have so far refused to reopen the agency or temporarily extend funding to end the closure until they get what they want.

Senate Republicans and the White House made a new compromise offer to Democrats on Friday night after an open letter from the administration on several reforms to immigration operations was revealed earlier this week. The letter spurred two back-to-back meetings on Capitol Hill with Republicans, Democrats and administration officials.

THUNE ACCUSES CRITICS OF ‘CREATING FALSE EXPECTATIONS’ AMID BACKLASH OVER STALLED SAVE AMERICA ACT

Whether they accept that offer or counter remains in the air for now. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., who was in the meeting, said that she hoped there would be another soon.

“That will be up to them, but I hope so,” Britt said.

Still, Republicans tried and failed for a fifth time to fully reopen the agency on Friday. In the background, there have been several attempts by Senate Democrats to move forward with standalone funding bills — like Schumer’s gambit — to open parts of DHS, save for immigration enforcement.

DHS SHUTDOWN TIED FOR SECOND-LONGEST EVER AS DEMS AGAIN BLOCK FUNDING AMID AIRPORT CHAOS, TERRORISM CONCERNS

Time is also running out for lawmakers to find middle ground on reopening the agency, given that they are set to leave Washington, D.C., for a two-week break at the end of next week.

At a press conference earlier Saturday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Fox News Digital that it’d be “very, very hard to explain if we leave town this next week without having funded the Department of Homeland Security.”

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“At some point the Democrats are going to be held accountable for this,” Thune said.

“I know they think it’s, as has been described by one of their leaders, ‘very serene, very serene’ with their position,” he continued. “Well, I’m telling you something, the people who are sitting in those lines at the airports right now don’t see it as very serene. This needs to be resolved.”

Senate Democrats blocked a move by Senate Republicans to modify a Trump-backed voter ID bill with a provision that would halt men in women’s sports.

The amendment to the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act from Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., was one of several tweaks to the legislation requested by President Donald Trump.

Tuberville’s amendment could have codified Trump’s earlier executive order from last year to ban transgender women from participating in women’s sports — a culture war flashpoint between Republicans and Democrats that, unless turned into law, will likely be reversed should a Democratic administration take over in 2028.

GOP SENATOR’S GAMBIT EXPOSES FALSE DEM CLAIMS ABOUT SUPPORTING VOTER ID

But, as expected, the add-on failed on a party-line vote in the upper chamber.

The amendment was the first of several expected to hit the floor as Republicans continue their takeover strategy to debate the bill. Saturday marked the fifth day that the SAVE America Act dominated the floor.

“I would do whatever it took to get this passed,” Tuberville told Fox News Digital. “This is probably one of the most important bills that’s come through here in a long, long time. It’s just pitting Americans versus non-Americans.”

THUNE ACCUSES CRITICS OF ‘CREATING FALSE EXPECTATIONS’ AMID BACKLASH OVER STALLED SAVE AMERICA ACT

Others on the docket include a ban on transgender surgeries on minors and halting unsolicited mail-in ballots — add-ons that Trump requested Republicans tack onto the voter ID and citizen verification bill.

And the ongoing floor takeover likely won’t result in the SAVE America Act passing, given that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Democrats are unified in their rejection of the legislation.

“So I’m like, President Trump, we need to get it done,” he continued. “But I don’t know whether we’ve got enough support, even on the Republican side, much less Democrats.”

REPUBLICANS SIGNAL NO RETREAT ON SAVE ACT AS MARATHON SENATE DEBATE KICKS OFF

The unlimited debate on the legislation is meant to mimic the talking filibuster, a strategy that would lower the threshold to pass the legislation to a simple 50-vote majority at the cost of deadlocking the Senate floor.

And Senate Democrats would be able to offer an unlimited number of amendments that could drastically change the bill, which Republicans have acknowledged they don’t have the numbers to block.

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The floor takeover they’re currently undertaking is largely meant to shift blame from Republicans to Schumer and Democrats for the bill’s expected failure, given that, in order to pass conventionally, the GOP would need 60 votes.

But others hope, like Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who is the lead sponsor of the SAVE America Act in the Senate, that the constant debate will grind down Democratic resistance and flip some over to support the bill.

President Donald Trump warned he could send Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to U.S. airports and arrest illegal aliens if Democrats don’t agree to his budget demands to end the partial government shutdown.

‘‘If the Radical Left Democrats don’t immediately sign an agreement to let our Country, in particular, our Airports, be FREE and SAFE again, I will move our brilliant and patriotic ICE Agents to the Airports where they will do Security like no one has ever seen before, including the immediate arrest of all Illegal Immigrants who have come into our Country, with heavy emphasis on those from Somalia, who have totally destroyed, with the approval of a corrupt Governor, Attorney General, and Congresswoman, Ilhan Omar, the once Great State of Minnesota. I look forward to seeing ICE in action at our Airports,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday. 

He concluded the post by writing, “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! President DONALD J. TRUMP’’

Trump’s comments come as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been without new funding for roughly five weeks. 

The impasse has left TSA agents working without pay, triggering staffing shortages and long airport lines nationwide, while raising concerns about the ability to prevent attacks.

Republicans have pushed to fund DHS, while Democrats have sought standalone funding for agencies like TSA that would exclude immigration operations.

TSA officers are considered essential employees and are required to report to work even during a shutdown, though pay can be delayed.

Earlier Saturday, Elon Musk offered to cover the salaries of TSA personnel during the ongoing government funding standoff.

“I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports throughout the country,” Musk said in an X post.

Major U.S. airports have experienced severe delays, with security wait times exceeding 3 hours in some cases, due to high TSA officer absenteeism. Hardest-hit airports include Houston (HOU, IAH), Atlanta (ATL), New Orleans (MSY), and Philadelphia (PHL). 

Footage from PHL, shot early Thursday morning, showed hundreds of passengers waiting on elevators and escalators to clear a security checkpoint.

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This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

FIRST ON FOX: Jim Steyer — the brother of billionaire California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer — has multiple board members with ties to Jeffrey Epstein involved in his children’s online safety organization, Common Sense Media (CSM), which could set off alarm bells as wealthy elites continue to face a reckoning for exchanging emails with Epstein or riding on his private jet.

CSM, which will be hosting a conference next week that will include many industry experts and Democratic politicians as speakers, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Illinois Gov JB Pritzker, is a nonprofit organization with the stated goal of putting children’s “well-being first in the digital era,” and providing parental guidance while also providing a forum for industry experts to discuss how to safeguard minors online.

While none of the previously reported ties between the board members and Epstein implicate them in any wrongdoing related to his crimes, the optics of their past communications could raise questions about the judgment of some of their past interactions with him and the vetting process to be on the board.

“Having reviewed the related references here, we have no concerns about these individuals.  Common Sense Media remains the leading non-partisan children’s advocacy organization dedicated to protecting and promoting the best interest of America’s children and families,” a CSM spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

WATCH: HILLARY CLINTON STORMS OUT OF EPSTEIN DEPOSITION AFTER HOUSE LAWMAKER LEAKS PHOTO FROM INSIDE

The Steyer brothers have not appeared in the Epstein emails and have not been accused of any wrongdoing.

WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM FACES FRESH SCRUTINY AS EPSTEIN TIES REVIVE PAST SCANDALS, CRITICISM

Tim Zagat

Tim Zagat, the founder and former CEO of Zagat Survey, a fine dining rating service, was reported by the New York Post to have repeatedly visited dining establishments with Epstein and is listed in Epstein’s flight logbook — a revelation uncovered by recent disclosures from the Department of Justice.

Zagat also reportedly attended a dinner at Epstein’s Upper East Side mansion in 2014, which included Hollywood director Woody Allen and his wife Soon-Yi Previn, former Hyatt hotels boss Nick Pritzker, who is Democratic Illinois Governor JB Pritzker’s cousin once removed, among others. Several emails reviewed by Fox News Digital show that Zagat reached out to Epstein to invite him to meals on multiple occasions.

He is also listed on a flight entry from 2002 on Epstein’s notorious “Lolita Express” private jet that appears to match up with a late-February trip to a TED conference in California.

“JE. SK. GERALDINE LAYBORNE. KIT LAYBORNE. STEVEN PINKER. NINA TIM ZAGAT,” the entry reads, listing off a series of passengers.

The entry is unclear if the “JE” reference indicates Epstein himself was on the flight. 

What is clear, however, is that the flight included one other CSM board member.

Geraldine Laybourne

Geraldine Laybourne who served as president of Nickelodeon from 1984 to 1996, was also mentioned as a passenger on one of the 2002 entries. In the past, Laybourne has claimed she did not know the plane belonged to Epstein but that she had simply accepted a flight from New York to Monterey, California.

“We said yes. We did not know whose plane it was or who Jeffrey Epstein was,” Laybourne told the Daily Beast in 2023.

WATCH: BILL CLINTON GRILLED ON SHIRTLESS HOT TUB PHOTO AMID SWIRLING QUESTIONS ON EPSTEIN RELATIONSHIP

Howard Gardner

In another case, CSM brought on Howard Gardner, a celebrated scholar best known for his research on education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, who maintained contact with Epstein long after news of his crimes had surfaced.

Gardner had lengthy correspondence with Epstein, according to reporting from Bloomberg. Gardner’s name appears at least 380 times in the DOJ’s Epstein disclosures. Most are email communications or logistical arrangements.

In one email, Epstein described planned outings with Gardner.

“I am having a ‘smart day’ at Harvard. Larry Summers – finance. Chomsky – language. Eric Lander, George Church – genetics. Howard Gardner – intelligence,” Epstein wrote, referring to various experts and their areas of study.

Gardner told The Harvard Crimson last year that “Once [Epstein] had been arrested, I made it clear to him that I could no longer accept any funding but, as a friend and beneficiary of his philanthropy, I tried to be supportive.”

“Of course, no one I knew (which included dozens of Harvard faculty) had any idea of the nature and extent of Epstein’s crimes, which only became clear in the following years,” he continued.

PETER ATTIA OUT AS CBS NEWS CONTRIBUTOR AFTER NAME APPEARED OVER 1,700 TIMES IN EPSTEIN FILES

Cyrus Vance Jr.

Cyrus Vance Jr., a former district attorney for Manhattan from 2010 to 2021, joined CSM’s board in 2024 despite past backlash after his office’s insistence in 2011 that Epstein should receive more lenient treatment.

Specifically, Vance’s office argued that Epstein should be designated a Level 1 sex offender — a reduction from level 3, the classification reserved for high-level threats.

The judge overseeing the case was reportedly taken aback by the request, according to court transcripts.

“I have to tell you, I am a little overwhelmed because I have never seen the prosecutor’s office do anything like this. I have done many [cases], much less troubling than this one, where the People would never make a downward argument like this,” Judge Ruth Pickholz said.

Epstein, at that point, had already been convicted of sexual misconduct with minors in 2008.

In response to a request for comment, Vance said he had no knowledge of Epstein’s prior case due to an error in the case. After becoming aware of the case, Vance said he pursued the most stringent restrictions possible for Epstein.

“I have never met, or communicated with Mr. Epstein in any form,” Vance said in a comment.

Vance’s office also received backlash for not prosecuting disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein in 2015, two years before the “MeToo” movement took him down. 

Chelsea Clinton

Finally, Chelsea Clinton, vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, has served on the CSM board for over a decade. She, too, had a brush with Epstein that garnered public attention when Ghislaine Maxwell — an accomplice of Epstein — attended her wedding.

Maxwell had attended at the invitation of Ted Waitt, a donor to the Clinton Foundation, according to later statements from Hillary Clinton.

But reporting from Politico suggested the one-off went deeper. Politico reported that sources had said the pair had been “incredibly close.”

Chelsea Clinton has repeatedly pushed back against those characterizations.

“It wasn’t until 2015 that Chelsea [her husband] Marc became aware of the horrific allegations against Ghislaine Maxwell and hope that all the victims find justice. Chelsea and Marc were friendly with her because of her relationship with a dear friend of theirs. When that relationship ended, Chelsea’s friendship with her ended as well,” a person familiar with the relationship told Politico.

Both of Chelsea’s parents, Bill and Hillary Clinton, recently went viral after they were interviewed by the House Oversight Committee about their previous longtime relationship with Epstein and Maxwell.

In addition to the board members, CSM includes the Gates Foundation as one of its foundation partners. The foundation’s co-founder, Bill Gates, who is the chair of the board, has repeatedly been tied to Epstein through their email communications and meetings over several years, which Gates called “foolish” earlier this year. 

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“In retrospect, I was foolish to spend any time with him,” Gates said of Epstein. “I think I was quite stupid. I thought it would help me with global health philanthropy. In fact, it failed to do that. It was just a huge mistake.”

He is expected to show up for a transcribed interview with the House Oversight Committee in May.

Fox Digital reached out to the Steyer campaign and the five board members for comment. The Steyer brothers have not 

The Trump administration’s anticipated multibillion-dollar funding request to bolster its Iran campaign could face resistance from GOP fiscal hawks.

Though congressional Republicans have been broadly supportive of the Trump administration’s conflict in Iran, some conservatives are drawing a red line that an emergency cash infusion, known as a supplemental, cannot increase budget deficits. Multiple House Freedom Caucus members, for example, told Fox News Digital that such a funding bill would have to be made up for by cutting spending elsewhere.

“I think the big thing there is going to be making sure that there’s a pay-for,” Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., told Fox News Digital. 

“I’d like to see how this is paid for,” Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., said, adding that he’d like to see Iran ultimately cover the costs. 

TRUMP RALLIES DEFENSE TITANS TO SURGE WEAPONS OUTPUT AS IRAN WAR RAGES

Neither the president nor Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth has attempted to dispute reports Thursday that the administration is considering an infusion of roughly $200 billion to help finance the Iran campaign and restore depleted munitions. However, no formal request has been sent to congressional leaders yet.

“Our national debt just surpassed $39 trillion. A potential supplemental for Operation Epic Fury — or any supplemental funding for that matter — must be offset,” Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., told Fox News Digital when asked about the prospective $200 billion request. 

Clyde said he supported the mission but that any resources Congress signs off on must be done “in a fiscally responsible manner.”

Meanwhile, another House conservative granted anonymity to speak freely about the Freedom Caucus’s thinking told Fox News Digital that fiscal hawks were likely to be “skeptical” about the price tag.

HEGSETH WARNS ‘MORE CASUALTIES’ EXPECTED IN OPERATION EPIC FURY AGAINST IRAN

“America isn’t signing up for a $200 billion war. The White House needs to give details of a plan regarding boots on the ground and how much is for replenishing our own arsenal, and how it’s being paid for,” that lawmaker said.

With Democrats’ expected opposition to an Iran supplemental, some Republicans believe putting defense spending in a second “big, beautiful bill” via the budget reconciliation process could be the path of least resistance for the GOP.

Top congressional Democrats were sharply critical of a massive supplemental Thursday — a position that could harden if the conflict drags on.

“They are certainly not going to spend an additional dime on the military, on security, on any of the things that we care about,” Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital in an interview last week, referring to Democrats. “This conflict right now and the future of our country and our Western values have to be secured by additional defense spending, which can only happen in a reconciliation bill.”

Pfluger did not comment specifically on the prospective $200 billion request when asked on Friday, but he reaffirmed his support for another reconciliation bill. He also pointed out that reconciliation means that the new spending would be mostly or fully paid for.

“Iran is the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world, and I strongly support the administration’s efforts to ensure the United States and our allies cannot be threatened,” he said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “The pathway for additional military funding could be through a second reconciliation bill, with commonsense offsets that ensure the president’s request is fully paid for. Our warfighters will not be left waiting while the left plays politics with national security.”

The budget reconciliation process allows the majority party to steer around the Senate’s 60-vote requirement and pass legislation via a simple majority. Republicans used the legislative maneuver to advance Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act through Congress in the first half of 2025.

Budget reconciliation would also allow Republicans to identify offsets to a substantial increase in defense spending. However, intraparty divisions are likely to emerge over spending cuts.

There is also skepticism among some Republicans that the Pentagon needs a massive infusion of money.

The “big, beautiful bill” gave $150 billion to the Pentagon. The president has also requested a $1.5 trillion defense budget for the upcoming fiscal year — more than a 50% increase from current levels. 

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Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital that he would like to see the specifics of the supplemental request before committing to supporting one.

“The DoD hasn’t passed an audit for a while,” Self said. “I would like for them to scrub things before they start asking for more money after the $150 billion and before the appropriations get passed.”

And some Republicans are doubtful that the House GOP’s razor-thin majority will be able to pass any reconciliation bill at all, particularly in an election year.

“We’ll see,” Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., who’s already signaled skepticism over the prospect of a second reconciliation bill, told Fox News Digital when asked specifically about military funding in such a vehicle.

And Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., told Fox News Digital of a second reconciliation bill, “I don’t know how well the prospects are, because there’s some people saying that we aren’t going to do it, and given our small majority, it’s going to be challenging.”

Connecticut Democrats recently rushed through an emergency anti-fraud law requiring bottle redemption centers to collect a copy of a person’s driver’s license when they cash in more than 1,000 cans or bottles in a day — a document demand that Republicans say undercuts the party’s attacks on voter-ID rules.

Earlier this month, an emergency certification bill, SB 299, was introduced by top Democratic leaders in the state’s legislature. It was later passed in both chambers in late February and was signed by Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, on March 3. 

It requires people wishing to recycle cans for money to present a copy of their driver’s license, put in place because the state has had issues with non-residents crossing their border to take advantage of it’s higher return rate of 10 cents a can instead of five cents. The issue was reportedly causing the state to lose significant revenue.

Meanwhile, the state still does not require its residents to present a driver’s license, or some other form of formal identification. Instead, residents wishing to vote simply have to attest, under penalty of the law, that they are a citizen of the United States. 

Additionally, both of Connecticut’s senators, Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., recently voted against advancing the SAVE Act earlier this week, which Republicans introduced to pass stricter photo-ID requirements for voting in federal elections, including a national proof-of-citizenship requirement for anyone wishing to register to vote.

PENCE URGES SENATE TO ‘RESTORE PUBLIC CONFIDENCE’ WITH NATIONWIDE VOTER ID LAW

“In Connecticut, it seems that they are committed to securing recycling, but not to securing elections,” said Anna Pingel, America First Policy Institute’s Campaign Director for Secure Elections. “Requiring photo ID to collect cash from recycling but opposing photo ID to cast a vote tells you everything you need to know about the hypocrisy of politicians fighting against commonsense legislation like the SAVE Act. What is more important to safeguard—bottles or ballots?”

Fox News Digital reached out to Blumenthal, Murphy and Lamont for comment but only heard back from Blumenthal.

“Let’s be very clear: the SAVE America Act requires a birth certificate or passport to register to vote, which Republicans know 21 million Americans do not have,” Blumenthal told Fox News Digital. “This is not a voter identification bill. It is a voter purge bill.”

STEPHEN A SMITH STUNNED AFTER REP KEVIN KILEY EDUCATES HIM ON CALIFORNIA VOTER ID BAN

Earlier this week, the Senate voted 51-48 to begin a debate on the House-passed SAVE Act vehicle, S. 1383. Blumenthal and Murphy both voted ‘Nay.’ The House had already passed the bill 218-213 on Feb. 11, but the measure still faces the Senate’s 60-vote hurdle to advance toward passage — a threshold Democrats have said they intend to block.

In speeches on the Senate floor trying to downplay the seriousness and scope of illegal citizen voting, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., tacitly acknowledged the existence of a problem they’ve argued is immaterial: that illegal immigrants may be able to unlawfully participate in federal elections.

“The evidence is that almost no illegal aliens vote,” Schumer said in remarks on the Senate floor. Warnock similarly acknowledged the issue while listing statistics about voting records in his home state. “8.2 million people are registered to vote in Georgia. The Republican Secretary of State found 20 instances of non-citizens who were registered, and only nine had ever attempted to vote,” Warnock said.

Democrats have fiercely opposed the Republican-led bill, citing concerns that its voter integrity measures are overly heavy-handed and could inadvertently burden communities that may struggle to provide documented proof of citizenship.

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Republicans, who argue that lax identity requirements may have already allowed an unknown number of non-citizens onto voter rolls, have launched a marathon standoff over the bill on the Senate floor.

The Senate will be holding weekend sessions as the deadlock continues. 

Fox News Digital’s Leo Briceno contributed to this report.

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., invoked his collegiate soccer career while introducing a package of bills to prevent immigration enforcement behavior in and around World Cup sites this June.

More than a dozen American cities will be hosting World Cup soccer matches, including East Rutherford, N.J., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami and Washington – while three Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee want to prevent what they call racial and linguistic profiling that would instill fear in fans.

“How can our country host the World Cup while deporting visiting fans from around the world?” Swalwell said in a statement introducing his “Safe Passage to the World Cup Act.”

“As a former Division I soccer player, I know what an honor it is to host the world’s biggest sporting event.

SENATE DEMS REFUSING TO BUDGE ON DHS FUNDING MAY CAUSE HEADACHE FOR WORLD CUP TRAVELERS

Swalwell, an Iowa native, played goalkeeper in Division I soccer at Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina. 

The future liberal firebrand dreamed of being a professional soccer star himself, but ended up breaking his thumbs, which eventually sidelined his prospective career.

After transferring to the University of Maryland in College Park, he interned in neighboring Washington, D.C. for Rep. Ellen Tauscher, a California Democrat.

“That was a turning point. I knew I didn’t want to play soccer anymore; I wanted to be in Washington,” Swalwell told Diablo Magazine in 2013 in a story now facsimiled on his official congressional website.

Swalwell’s bill would ban federal DHS funding from being used for civil immigration enforcement activities on public transit or at terminals from June 11 to July 19 in any city hosting a FIFA match or festival.

GERMAN SOCCER TEAM WERDER BREMEN CANCELS MINNESOTA TRIP OVER TRUMP IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT: REPORT

The bill does provide a carveout for “hot pursuit” of suspects presenting an “imminent risk to public safety.”

“Our priority should be to showcase our best—not have police commandeering buses, trains, and public spaces,” Swalwell said in a statement.

“This bill ensures ICE cannot turn everyday public transportation into a place of terror. It is shameful for DHS to trap people with political stunts.”

“We are better than this,” he said.

Swalwell sits on the House Homeland Security Committee’s Task Force on Enhancing Security for Special Events in the United States.

That panel’s top Democrat, Rep. Nellie Pou of New Jersey, represents the area around the New York Giants’ stadium, where matches will be held.

Pou crafted a companion bill called the Save the World Cup Act, which bans immigration enforcement near matches or festivals themselves – and would enforce measures to ensure parking lots and fan midways are not encroached upon by ICE enforcement sweeps to “deter attendance and indiscriminately target communities.”

GOP WARNS DEMOCRATS’ DHS SHUTDOWN COULD JEOPARDIZE WORLD CUP SECURITY

“With fewer than 90 days until kickoff, the World Cup should bring the world together and not leave families wondering if ICE agents will be waiting outside stadiums,” Pou said in a statement, adding that she asked ICE Director Todd Lyons if he would assure her of no such enforcement — but that he declined.

A third task force member – Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., — still faces charges over an alleged assault on a federal agent outside Delaney Hall in her hometown of Newark.

The case remains active as of January, according to the New Jersey Monitor, which reported that Biden-appointed Judge Jamel Semper allowed two of three counts to proceed as McIver appeals.

McIver’s companion bill would prohibit state grant programs for being used for civil immigration enforcement near World Cup game sites.

“Fans from around the world and across the country will travel to New Jersey to watch the World Cup, and keeping them safe means protecting them from DHS attempting to turn this global event into a dragnet for the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda,” she said in a statement.

“We fought to secure millions of federal dollars so soccer fans can enjoy the biggest game in the world—they should not be intimidated by immigration enforcement. I’m introducing this bill to draw a clear line that makes sure state and local law enforcement can actually focus on keeping fans safe.”

A DHS spokesperson said the agency still plans to work with local and federal partners to secure the World Cup matches “in line with federal law and the U.S. Constitution as we do with every major sporting event, while showcasing American greatness to the entire world.”

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“International visitors who legally come to the United States for the World Cup have nothing to worry about,” DHS said. “What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is whether or not they are illegally in the U.S.— full stop.”

The spokesperson called speculation in the legislative package “ill informed” and that foreign visitors must still be “proactive” and have all their forms filed to Washington and their personal documents in order ahead of time to ensure a smooth travel experience.

Democratic leaders say they don’t oppose voter ID laws, but they blocked a bill to impose a nationwide requirement Thursday.

Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, attempted to pass a standalone voter ID bill through unanimous consent Thursday night, but Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., blocked the measure on the Senate floor. 

“I’ve heard my Democratic colleagues say that they don’t oppose photo ID laws,” Husted said during a floor debate. “I heard Senator Schumer say, ‘Our objection as Democrats is not to photo ID. I heard Senator Fetterman say he supports a photo ID law.”

“If I could quote him, ‘If the GOP wants real reform over a show vote, put out a clean standalone bill and I’m in aye,” Husted continued, referring to a social media post Fetterman released Tuesday. “Well, that’s what I’m doing tonight.”

THUNE ACCUSES CRITICS OF ‘CREATING FALSE EXPECTATIONS’ AMID BACKLASH OVER STALLED SAVE AMERICA ACT

The measure would have enacted a nationwide voter ID requirement, though 36 states already have similar rules on the books. The Ohio Republican said citizens could use a state-issued driver’s license, a U.S. passport or valid military or tribal ID to meet the requirement.

Husted, who is running for a full six-year term in November, slammed Democrats’ opposition to the voter ID measure in a brief interview with Fox News Digital on Friday.

“So apparently they would like people to believe that they’re for photo ID, but when it comes down to it, they didn’t appear to be,” the Ohio Republican said.

Husted’s voter ID gambit came as the Senate is currently in the midst of a multi-day floor fight over the SAVE America Act, a Trump-backed elections bill aimed at preventing noncitizens from voting.

The marathon debate schedule is a move by Republicans to pin blame on Schumer and Democrats for blocking the bill. 

But it’s not the same floor takeover, called a talking filibuster, that President Donald Trump, a cohort of conservatives in the Senate GOP and a fervent right-wing social media campaign have pressed for the conference to pursue.

That’s because not enough Senate Republicans supported the move, which would require a near-unified front to successfully execute. And without Democratic support, the bill is doomed to fail at the end of the floor fight.

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: TRUMP’S SAVE ACT ULTIMATUM RUNS INTO SENATE REALITY

A Fox News poll released in September 2025 found that 84% of registered voters said photo ID should be required to prove citizenship before voting.

Still, Democrats could move to filibuster a standalone voter ID bill if Republicans were to hold an up-or-down vote on the measure over the coming days.

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who notably opposes the SAVE America Act over provisions that would restrict mail-in ballots, has called on the Senate to pass a standalone voter ID bill. 

“Stop turning this into a Christmas list and attacking vote-by-mail,” Fetterman wrote Tuesday. “If GOP wants real reform over a show vote––put out a clean, standalone bill and I’m AYE.”

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One of the core components of the SAVE America Act is providing proof of citizenship to register to vote, something Democrats have pushed back against more fiercely than the voter ID provision.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who is leading the SAVE America Act in the Senate, questioned why Democrats would say they want one without the other. 

“I’d love to hear their reasoning, why they would support voter ID but not proof of citizenship,” Lee told Fox News Digital.

As a partial government shutdown blows past the one-month mark, Democrats are demanding lawmakers shrink the size of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) funding lapse — while leaving out the agency at the heart of Trump’s immigration crackdown.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in their view, can stay shut down.

“We already said we’d open everything in the department except ICE, so the answer is yes,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said when asked about partial funding for DHS.

“Republicans won’t agree because they’re trying to hold the security of the country hostage.”

SCHUMER, DEMS AGAIN BLOCK DHS FUNDING, FORCE STATE OF THE UNION SHOWDOWN

His position was echoed by Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif.

“We need to fund every aspect of it other than ICE. We’re going to fight on the ICE funding. I mean, they already have $75 billion,” Khanna said, noting that ICE itself already received funding through Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill.

In light of those appropriations, Republicans believe Democrats have assumed an unsustainable position as they continue to shoot down efforts to fund DHS in its entirety.

“They’re not interested in reopening, right? Their whole thing is: ‘Okay, we’re doing a shutdown to go out there and affect ICE and Border Patrol.’ But ICE and border patrol are the ones that are not even affected by this shutdown. They’re funded by the One Big, Beautiful Bill that passed previously,” Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., said.

“How long do I foresee Democrats lying to their base? Forever,” Mast added.

Calls to implement the partial funding stance have grown louder since the shutdown first began.

KRISTI NOEM’S FIRING FAILS TO SWAY DEMOCRATS AS DHS SHUTDOWN DRAGS ON

Funding for DHS originally lapsed on Feb. 14 when Democrats refused to advance spending legislation for DHS that didn’t also include a set of demands to reform ICE. Among other changes, Democrats have conditioned their support on a ban on masks for ICE agents, stiffer warrant requirements for apprehending suspects in public and a ban on roaming patrols.

Republicans have rebuffed the demands, arguing they would handcuff President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement goals.

Republicans need at least seven Democrats to reach the 60-vote threshold to break a filibuster in the Senate, where they hold just 53 seats.

The standoff has overlapped with a series of domestic attacks, raising alarm among Republicans that DHS’ closure may be reducing the country’s preparedness to counter similar threats.

A vehicle-ramming at a synagogue in Michigan, a university shooting in Virginia, the detonation attempts in New York and another shooting in Texas have left members like Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., joining calls to pass non-ICE DHS funding.

‘YOU CAN CRY ABOUT IT’: TEMPERS FLARE IN SENATE AS DHS SHUTDOWN DEBATE ERUPTS, STALEMATE DIGS DEEPER

“If it takes more time to negotiate those changes to ICE, then the right thing to do is to fund the rest of DHS, TSA, Coast Guard, FEMA, counterterrorism, all of that, while we continue to negotiate over ICE,” Magaziner said.

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Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said he has also joined that position.

“Ready, willing, and eager to approve funding for TSA, for FEMA, and for the Coast Guard through the separate bill that we’ve offered and Republicans have rejected. There’s an easy solution here,” Blumenthal said.

EXCLUSIVE: The White House on Friday unveiled its first national policy framework for artificial intelligence — a legislative outline to establish a “consistent” national standard for AI development across the nation that prevents censorship and protects free speech and children, Fox News Digital has learned.

Fox News Digital exclusively obtained the legislative framework that the White House will share with congressional leadership Friday as the White House pushes Congress to advance and codify its “commonsense” proposals into law “this year.”

“This year. As fast as we can,” White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview Thursday evening. “Congress has a lot of priorities they’re trying to make happen, but we believe this can receive bipartisan support.”

TRUMP BRINGS BIG TECH EXECUTIVES TO WHITE HOUSE TO CURB POWER COSTS FOR AMERICAN HOUSEHOLDS AMID AI BOOM

White House sources told Fox News Digital that the framework was designed to reduce regulatory uncertainty, sustain U.S. dominance in the AI space, prevent censorship and protect free speech.

“We need one national policy — not a 50-state patchwork of laws,” Kratsios told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview Thursday evening. “This legislative proposal delivers on that.” 

“In December, President Trump signed an Executive Order tasking us with the development of a national framework for AI, what he called ‘One Rulebook,’” White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks told Fox News Digital. “This was in response to a growing patchwork of 50 different state regulatory regimes that threaten to stifle innovation and jeopardize America’s lead in the AI race.”

The White House is urging Congress to “preempt state AI laws that impose undue burdens to ensure a minimally burdensome national standard consistent with these recommendations, not fifty discordant ones,” according to the official framework obtained by Fox News Digital.

“This national standard should respect key principles of federalism and not preempt the traditional police powers retained by the states to enforce laws of general applicability against AI developers and users, including particular laws to protect children, prevent fraud, and protect consumers,” the framework states, adding it should also not preempt “state zoning laws, including state authorities, to determine the placement of AI infrastructure.”

The framework said that “preemption must ensure that state laws do not govern areas better suited to the Federal Government or act contrary to the United States’ national strategy to achieve global AI dominance.” 

The White House stresses that states “should not be permitted to regulate AI development, because it is an inherently interstate phenomenon with key foreign policy and national security implications.”

“States should not unduly burden Americans’ use of AI for activity that would be lawful if performed without AI,” the framework says. “States should not be permitted to penalize AI developers for a third party’s unlawful conduct involving their models.”

Beyond the regulatory structure, the framework also focuses on protections for children.

The White House is urging Congress to build on and codify actions taken throughout the Trump administration to protect children from AI harms and empower parents with robust tools to manage their children’s privacy settings, screen time, content exposure and account controls.

Sacks told Fox News Digital that the framework helps parents to “safeguard their children from online harm, shield communities from higher electric bills, protect our First Amendment rights from AI censorship, and ensure that all Americans benefit from this transformative technology.”

The legislative proposal includes establishing commercially reasonable, privacy protective, age-assurance requirements — like parental attestation — for AI platforms and services likely to be accessed by minors.

TRUMP’S SCIENCE AND TECH MAN LAYS OUT WHITE HOUSE’S GLOBAL AI STRATEGY

In addition, the White House is calling for legislation requiring AI platforms to implement features that reduce the risk of sexual exploitation and self-harm to minors.

“We are calling on Congress to ensure parents are empowered to shape and protect their children’s digital upbringing,” Kratsios told Fox News Digital.

Kratsios pointed to first lady Melania Trump’s efforts surrounding the passage and signing of the “Take it Down Act” last year. That legislation punishes internet abuse involving nonconsensual, explicit imagery and garnered strong bipartisan support.

The framework also addresses energy costs tied to AI infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the White House is pushing Congress to codify its Ratepayer Protection Pledge into law. The pledge ensures that tech giants protect Americans from higher electricity bills tied to data center power demand. It also requires companies to “build, bring, or buy new generation resources and cover the cost of all power delivery infrastructure upgrades required for data centers.”

The pledge came amid concern that the creation of new data centers will cause mounting energy prices for everyday Americans.

The pledge works to protect Americans against spiking electricity bills. It also has companies vowing against passing expenses to American households and commits companies to hiring and training talent from within communities where they build and operate data centers — a move that could create thousands of jobs.

“We’re calling on Congress to codify this Ratepayer Protection Pledge,” Kratsios said.

Meanwhile, the White House is also calling on Congress to augment existing law enforcement efforts to combat AI-enabled impersonation scams and fraud that target vulnerable populations, such as seniors.

The framework also addresses national security concerns tied to advanced AI systems.

As for national security, the White House is urging Congress to ensure the appropriate federal agencies have sufficient technical capacity to understand frontier AI model capabilities and any associated national security considerations. The White House is also calling on Congress to establish plans to mitigate potential national security concerns.

Another key area is intellectual property and creator protections.

Another section of the White House’s legislative framework urges Congress to draft language to protect American creators, publishers and innovators from AI-generated outputs that infringe their protected content. This recommendation specifically asks Congress to respect those intellectual property rights, without undermining lawful innovation and free expression.

“Although the Administration believes that training of AI models on copyrighted material does not violate copyright laws, it acknowledges arguments to the contrary exist and therefore supports allowing the Courts to resolve this issue,” the White House framework states. “Similarly, Congress should not take any actions that would impact the judiciary’s resolution of whether training on copyrighted material constitutes fair use.”

CHINA’S AI INNOVATION IS ‘ACCELERATING’ BUT US REMAINS DOMINANT, WHITE HOUSE SAYS

As for imitation, the framework urges Congress to consider a “federal framework protecting individuals from the unauthorized distribution or commercial use of AI-generated digital replicas of their voice, likeness, or other identifiable attributes, while providing clear exceptions for parody, satire, news reporting, and other expressive works protected by the First Amendment.”

“Congress should prevent persons from abusing such a framework to stifle free speech online,” the proposal states, while urging Congress to continue to “carefully monitor” the development of copyright precedents and enforcement.

The White House is also urging Congress to defend free speech and First Amendment protections, while preventing AI systems from being used to “silence or censor lawful political expression or dissent.”

“Congress should prevent the United States government from coercing technology providers, including AI providers, to ban, compel, or alter content based on partisan or ideological agendas,” the framework states, adding that Congress should provide an effective means for Americans to “seek redress from the Federal Government for agency efforts to censor expression on AI platforms or dictate the information provided by an AI platform.”

Kratsios told Fox News Digital that the United States is “still ahead” in the global AI race and is “doing everything we possibly can to maintain and grow that lead.”

The White House is also calling on Congress to provide AI resources to small businesses, such as grants, tax incentives and technical assistance programs to support wider deployment of AI tools across American industry.

Fox News Digital sat for an exclusive interview with Kratsios last year as director of the White House Office of Science & Technology. He reflected on his first year on the job during the interview Thursday.

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“The first pillar of our work was around AI innovation, and part of that was to make sure we have a regulatory framework in the United States that provides certainty to our innovators,” Kratsios said. “This legislative framework is a big deliverable and if Congress is able to pass this into law this year it would be a big step forward for the country.”

Sacks told Fox News Digital that the White House team plans to work with Congress to “turn the principles we are announcing today into legislation.”

Kratsios and Sacks have been working with lawmakers over the past few weeks on the effort, including meetings with House and Senate leadership.

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“We spoke with the House Majority and Senate Majority leadership, and we think they’ll be excited,” Kratsios said.

In December, President Trump issued an executive order to ensure the National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence.

The new framework, according to White House officials, “delivers on the executive order while also expanding workforce and education opportunities to ensure American workers benefit from AI-driven growth.” 

Nearly two-thirds of Americans think that President Donald Trump will send U.S. ground troops into the fighting against Iran, a new national poll indicates.

A Reuters/Ipsos survey, conducted Tuesday through Thursday (March 17–19), also indicates that a majority of Americans, 55%, say they don’t support sending ground troops into the operation against Iran.

The poll’s release comes as the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran are about to close out their third week.

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Only 7% of those questioned in the survey said they’d support a large-scale strike by American ground forces, with 34% saying they’d back a more limited-in-scope incursion by U.S. special forces.

Fourteen percent of Republicans surveyed said they’d support a large ground force operation, with 63% saying they’d back inserting special forces into a ground action. Twenty-one percent of Republicans gave a thumbs-down to sending in American ground troops.

CLICK HERE FOR FOX NEWS LIVE UPDATES ON THE ATTACKS ON IRAN

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, at a Pentagon briefing earlier this month, declined to rule out the use of U.S. ground forces.

Trump said on Thursday that he was “not putting troops anywhere,” when asked by a reporter about his war plans.

“If I were, I certainly wouldn’t tell you,” the president added.

The military attacks by the U.S. and Israel have resulted in the deaths of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top officials, and the decimation of the country’s military.

But Iran has retaliated with attacks against Israel and many of its other neighbors in the volatile Middle East.

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Iran has targeted energy facilities with missile and drone attacks in a number of Persian Gulf nations. It has also made the Strait of Hormuz nearly impassable to commercial shipping, bringing to a halt roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply and in turn sending fuel prices skyrocketing in the U.S. and across the globe.

Most national polls conducted since the launch of the strikes at the end of February indicate opposition to the attacks outweighing support, and the Reuters/Ipsos survey is no exception.

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According to the poll, which questioned 1,545 adults nationwide, 37% of Americans approved of the fighting with Iran, with 59% disapproving.

But there’s a wide partisan divide, with 77% of Republicans but just 6% of Democrats and 28% of independents supporting the operation.

Iran’s instability is unlikely to trigger a Syrian- or Afghanistan-style refugee crisis, a top immigration expert told Fox News Digital, even as questions mount over what comes next for the Iranian people once the fighting subsides.

With Ayatollah Ali Khamenei killed in an airstrike, several top officials dead and competing factions vying for control, questions are mounting over whether Iran’s turmoil could trigger a refugee crisis.

However, given the geography and environment in Iran, a mass refugee exodus appears unlikely, according to Andrew “Art” Arthur – a nationally-recognized national security and immigration expert at the Center for Immigration Studies.

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“It’s actually an interesting question, and there are a couple of things to keep in mind,” Arthur said in a recent interview.

“One is Iran is about twice the size of Texas. It’s, I think, roughly the size as Alaska. It is a huge country, and I think there are 93 million people there, but it’s still a big country and most of it is untouched by the conflict, so it’s not like individuals couldn’t relocate in-country and be perfectly safe.”

Unlike Afghanistan, he added, the U.S. and the West don’t have a previous footprint on the ground and don’t have people inside the country offering assistance.

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“[W]e don’t have the ability to do something like President Biden did where we load up C-130s with everybody we can get our hands on and fly them to the United States. So, that’s a huge distinction.”

During the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal, chaos reigned at Hamid Karzai International Airport as U.S. military planes with refugees hanging off of them flew in and out of Kabul while Taliban forces created deadly roadblocks and uncertainty for those trying to flee.

The operation led to a huge influx of largely unvetted Afghan nationals into the U.S., which many immigration hawks blame for some of the migrant violence seen domestically.

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Arthur said that exemplar is rare, in that most refugees don’t or aren’t able to fly “halfway around the world” to escape unrest.

“The Afghanistan evacuation operation, Allies Refuge and Allies Welcome, was completely without precedent in U.S. history, because, generally, refugees resettle in an adjacent country assuming that they can resettle in-country,” he said.

Such was true during the other major refugee flow this century, the Syrian crisis during the 2011 “Arab Spring.”

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Then-Syrian President Bashar al-Assad responded to peaceful civilian protests with military force, spurring years of outflows of about 11 million Syrian nationals around Europe with a smaller proportion ultimately making their way to the U.S.

The Obama administration set a goal of 10,000 admissions of Syrians through refugee resettlement, while nearly 5 million were registered globally as refugees as of 2017, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

A good proportion of the U.S.’ Syrian population also predates the refugee crisis, some by more than 100 years, like the estimated 5,000 in Allentown, Pennsylvania. 

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Addressing the potential for any Iranian refugee crisis, Arthur said that, in practice, the U.S. could offer resources to neighboring countries but would not be obligated to take in refugees.

“That’s not the way that this works,” he said, pointing out that during the 1980s Afghan-Soviet conflict, Afghans relocated to Pakistan and the U.S. helped them from afar.

“We didn’t bring them to the United States,” he said, adding that the U.S. helped enforce a no-fly zone to assist aligned factions, such as the Kurds, maintain safer territory.

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Fox News Digital also asked the White House for its thoughts on the prospect of another refugee crisis amid another bout of instability in a Mideast country.

The White House directed Fox News Digital to recent comments by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on the matter, when he was questioned about the proclivity for such conflicts as Iran to force thousands to flee from the conflict zone and into the U.S. – and whether there are any “safeguards” in place to prevent such.

“I think it’s safe to say there’s no plan for a wave of new Middle Eastern refugees to the United States of America,” Hegseth said.

“I think, as the president has pointed out for a long time, there are a lot of countries in the region who would be capable of providing that kind of support if need be.”

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“But that’s certainly not something we’re planning on,” he said.

Despite years of warnings that China could move on Taiwan within the decade, the U.S. intelligence community now assesses that Beijing is not planning an invasion of Taiwan by 2027 and has no fixed timeline for doing so.  

“The IC assesses that Chinese leaders do not currently plan to execute an invasion of Taiwan in 2027, nor do they have a fixed timeline for achieving unification,” according to a newly released Annual Threat Assessment.

The finding marks a shift from prior warnings in Washington that China would have the capability to move on Taiwan within a narrowing window — often referred to as the “Davidson Window,” after a 2021 warning from a top U.S. Indo-Pacific commander.

That benchmark gained traction after then-Indo-Pacific Commander Adm. Philip Davidson told lawmakers in 2021 that China could attempt to take control of Taiwan “in the next six years,” warning the threat would “manifest during this decade.”

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China is currently “building a force with the aim of being capable of deterring U.S. and allied forces in the region and to achieve their stated objective of developing the ability to seize Taiwan by force if necessary,” Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told Congress during a worldwide threat hearing Wednesday. “However, the IC assesses that China likely prefers to set the conditions for an eventual peaceful reunification with Taiwan, short of conflict.” 

Unlike previous assessments, which focused on China’s growing military pressure and invasion capabilities, earlier reports did not make a definitive judgment about whether Beijing planned to use force. The 2024 and 2025 assessments described Taiwan as a potential flashpoint and warned China was building the capability for a cross-strait campaign, but stopped short of assigning a timeline or stating intent.

Despite the assessment, the report underscores that China has not abandoned its goal of bringing Taiwan under its control and continues to build the military capabilities needed to do so.

Beijing “prefers to achieve unification without the use of force, if possible,” but the People’s Liberation Army is still developing plans and capabilities for a potential military operation, the report says.

Retired Navy Capt. Brent Sadler, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, said the assessment risks being read too broadly if policymakers focus only on China’s current intentions rather than its growing capabilities.

“Intentions can change in a New York second,” Sadler told Fox News Digital. “Xi Jinping could wake up and decide, ‘I don’t want to go to war today,’ but he could wake up tomorrow in the morning and say, ‘Yeah, today’s the day.’ The real issue is where the money and where the materials are going.”

The annual threat assessment, produced by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, reflects the coordinated analysis of the U.S. intelligence community and is mandated by Congress to provide lawmakers with an unclassified overview of the most pressing global threats. The report is compiled with input from across the intelligence agencies based on updates throughout the past year. 

The assessment is released annually in both classified and unclassified forms, with a public version intended to outline key threats without revealing sensitive intelligence sources or methods.

U.S. intelligence officials also note that any decision by China to use force would depend on several factors, including military readiness, Taiwan’s political trajectory and whether the United States would intervene on the island’s behalf.

The report warns that a full-scale invasion would be difficult and risky, particularly if U.S. forces become involved, with Chinese officials recognizing that such an operation would be “extremely challenging” and carry a high risk of failure.

Piero Tozzi, a senior fellow at the Center for China at the America First Policy Institute, argued Beijing is still focused on trying to take Taiwan without a direct military confrontation.

“What they want to do is to win Taiwan without a war,” Tozzi told Fox News Digital, pointing instead to what he described as ongoing “cognitive warfare” efforts targeting Taiwan’s political system and public opinion.

He added that a full-scale amphibious invasion would come at a steep cost for China.

“An actual invasion of Taiwan would be very bloody,” Tozzi said. “If you had a maritime invasion of Taiwan and the casualties, you’d be talking about wiping out entire family lineages in the tens of thousands. That would lead to serious internal unrest within China, and that would threaten the regime.”

More broadly, the intelligence community assesses that China is continuing to expand its military power and global influence while seeking to “buy time to strengthen its position” in its long-term competition with the United States.

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The updated assessment comes as the U.S. remains heavily engaged in a high-intensity conflict with Iran, raising new questions among defense analysts about how global tensions could shape Beijing’s calculus on Taiwan.

While the report does not directly link the recent Iran conflict to China’s timeline, it highlights a broader environment of rising geopolitical competition, military modernization and regional instability that could influence future decisions in Beijing.

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At the same time, the intelligence community warns that Iran is likely to continue posing a threat to U.S. interests following recent military strikes, noting that Iran “almost certainly will seek to exact revenge” for the death of its supreme leader.

Even without a near-term move on Taiwan, the report makes clear that the risk of conflict with China remains, as Beijing continues preparing for a range of military contingencies while pursuing its long-term goal of unification.

“We have a unique moment in time here, right now, to address an issue that’s really fundamental,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., Tuesday.

In just an hour, the Senate would launch debate on the SAVE America Act.

Longtime Congressional agriculture reporter Matt Kaye had just asked Thune why the Senate was willing to burn so much time on the bill – despite it apparently lacking the votes to pass.

“Floor time is the coin of the realm,” observed Kaye. “How does it help you if you are using up valuable floor time by having an extended debate on this issue?”

Kaye then inquired why the Senate wouldn’t toil instead on a possible farm bill or even a supplemental spending plan for the war in Iran.

Kaye is on to something. Senate floor time is always at a premium. There are only so many floor hours available each week. But floor time isn’t the issue here. There’s only one thing which is more valuable in politics. And in this particular case for the GOP, it’s staying on the right side of President Trump.

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On Tuesday, the president proclaimed on Truth Social that the SAVE America Act is one of the “most important and consequential bills” in Congressional history. He added that he wouldn’t endorse any Republican who opposed the legislation.

Republicans say ID is essential to prove you’re a valid voter. However, the SAVE America Act goes further than that. It requires proof of citizenship – like a passport or birth certificate. That worries Michael Suggs, who lives in the Bronx, New York. He spoke to Fox’s Chelsea Torres.

“Your birth certificate? Social Security number when you show up at the polling place?” asked Suggs. “That might be a little unfair to certain people in this country, including myself. I don’t want to walk around with my birth certificate and my Social Security card. I’m a registered voter. I’ve been voting since I was 18 years old, and now I’m approaching 60. I don’t want that to be some kind of deliberate act to stop me from voting.”

The bill is now into its fourth day of debate – even if it’s doubtful the Senate has the votes to pass the measure. Democrats oppose the legislation. But the main problem lingers among members of the president’s party.

“Republicans by themselves don’t have the votes to get it passed,” said Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY).

She cited that some Republicans opposed the bill over differences about mail-in voting.

“It’s not a one size fits all process. And those challenges are not only apparent within the Democrat caucus. They’re apparent within the Republican caucus,” said Lummis.

There’s been a lot of chatter in the Senate lately about torching the filibuster, so the Senate can pass the bill. Breaking a filibuster requires 60 votes. So if the bill doesn’t have a simple majority, there is simply no universe where the measure can command 60.

Yours truly took this up with Thune.

“You don’t have 60 votes. Why go through this? Is this basically just a show?” I asked.

“We don’t know that we don’t have 60 votes yet. You’re making an assumption,” replied the South Dakota Republican.

“Multiple members of your conference say that there aren’t even 51 votes,” I followed up.

“Yeah. Well, you’re making an assumption that at the end of this debate that none of the Democrats will be won over. And I’m not saying that. I appreciate your skepticism. But I think it’s an important debate to have because it is an issue that is at the very core of elections in this country,” answered Thune.

The “60 vote” issue galls some Republicans. Especially on a subject like this which Republicans believe resonates with the electorate.

“If a body of 100 people can’t find 60 votes for an issue that’s an 80-20 issue, that’s a real disgrace,” said Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Penn., on Fox Business. “So we need to put the Democrats on the spot and have them defend this to their voters.”

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Even if the SAVE America Act is on a parliamentary road to oblivion, one of its feeder ramps has a junction with the midterm election. Republicans believe they have the political upper hand on this. They can again hammer Democrats on illegal immigration – punctuated by what the president cites repeatedly as voter fraud. The GOP hopes to boomerang that on Democrats this fall.

Then, there are social issues – which Republicans hope to link to this measure, too.

Senate GOPers devised amendments which would block men from playing women’s sports, bar transgender surgeries for kids and nix many forms of mail-in voting. Opponents ask what two of those three have to do with election security. That’s why they could be poison pills.

“If those those amendments are made in order, doesn’t that bring down the threshold where you might have a chance of getting 51 votes?” I asked Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.

“Let’s continue to work with leadership and see how all of this is going to proceed and what is going to be the best way to get these forward. I think the amendments are good amendments,” said Blackburn, not addressing the question.

Remember what Thune said about Republicans potentially peeling off some Democrats? Good luck.

“You’re somebody who sometimes bucks your party,” I queried Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn. “Why wouldn’t you side with the Republicans?”

“Well, they’ve turned it into an unserious kind of a Christmas tree and attaching all these other things to it. And now bashing mail-in voting. Absolutely, it’s secure. Florida loves it and uses it. Ohio does too,” said Fetterman.

Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., defended his state’s approach to sending in ballots.

“Almost 99 percent of Republican voters in Colorado voted by mail in 2025,” said Hickenlooper. “Vote by mail has proven to be less expensive, more secure, and people love it. That turnout just goes up. It’s perhaps the single most effective way to increase voter turnout today.”

But a vote related to the mail-in balloting amendment likely lacks the votes to pass and could tank the entire piece of legislation. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) says the vastness of Alaska presents problems for residents to provide proper papers.

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“If I happen to live here in Kotzebue, I’ve got to fly here to Nome to present my documentation. If I live in this Bethel community over here, I’m going all the way to Anchorage to present my documentation,” said Murkowski. “This is going to be costly on Alaskans. And again, these are people who are eligible to vote.”

Fox is told that Thune’s intention is to eventually move to terminate debate on the bill. That needs 60 yeas. There’s nowhere near 60 yeas to break a filibuster. That will kill the bill. Still, Thune might not do that until next week. Why? This is about making a show of things for the GOP base – even if they can’t pass the bill.

The Senate will veer away from the SAVE America Act on Sunday to break a filibuster on the nomination of Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to become Homeland Security Secretary. Senators then vote to confirm Mullin sometime on Monday. After that, it’s back to the SAVE America Act.

Thune is probably willing to let the election security issue slog continue on the floor until there’s a deal to end the shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security. The Senate is scheduled to leave town for the Easter and Passover recess for two weeks at the end of the month.

“It needs to get resolved by the end of next week,” said Thune of the DHS impasse. “I can’t see us taking a break if the government is still shut down.”

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It’s not exactly a secret that any agreement to fund DHS would probably put a halt to debate on the SAVE America Act. Otherwise, Thune may be inclined to burn floor time on the president’s most important legislative goal – even if it goes nowhere. And a potential agreement to end the DHS stalemate would give him reason to cease action on the SAVE America Act.

Floor time is the coin of the realm. You can use it to get something done. Or to earn political capital among party loyalists and the president.

In this instance, Thune is trying to do both.