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A state bill protested by hundreds of homeschooling families at the Illinois state Capitol advanced out of committee on Wednesday and will head to the state House floor for a vote, likely sometime next week, Fox News has learned. 

House Bill 2827, known as the Homeschool Act, passed out of the Education Policy Committee by a vote of 8-4. If it passes a House floor vote, the bill will then go to the full House for a vote, followed by the Senate and then onto the desk of Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. 

Pritzker, a Democrat, has not publicly taken any position on the bill. Fox News reached out to his office multiple times asking if he supports the bill and if he plans to sign it if it reaches his desk but has not received a response so far.

The bill would establish requirements for parents to meet to homeschool their children and if they do not comply, they could face up to a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by up to 30 days in jail. Hundreds of homeschooling families gathered inside the state Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois, earlier Wednesday, condemning the bill as an overreach by lawmakers.

Will Estrada, senior counsel for the Homeschool Legal Defense Association, told Fox News that the bill’s language was left “open-ended for unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats to be able to write different sections of regulations.” 

“If this bill is passed into law, it’s going to be expanded in future years to put even more restrictions on homeschool and private school families,” Estrada said after testifying at Wednesday’s hearing. “The record of homeschoolers shows that we do well academically, socially, emotionally and so why are we messing with them? That’s the question. This bill is a solution in search of a problem.” 

ILLINOIS PARENTS, LAWMAKERS SOUND ALARM OVER PROPOSED HOMESCHOOLING BILL: ‘DIRECT ASSAULT ON FAMILIES’

Will Estrada, senior counsel for the Homeschool Legal Defense Association, explains his opposition to House Bill 2827, known as the Homeschool Act. (Fox News)

“We became homeschoolers in 2020 upon seeing all the government overreach, so the fact that they are now coming for us again with government overreach, I feel like it’s an attack on parental rights,” one homeschooling mother who showed up to the state Capitol protest, Michelle Langworthy, told Fox News. “There’s a part of the bill that says the school will be the one that will get to determine where the child’s records go that the parent no longer has that right.” 

“That is a such a gross overreach of what the state should be allowed to do. And they also say that the student should be educated to serve the state. That’s absurd,” Langworthy said. “I don’t align with the state. I don’t want what the state prioritizes to be the priority of my family. We have a different value system. We are not ownership of the state.” 

Hundreds protested House Bill 2827 at the Illinois state Capitol. (Fox News)

“We’re fine. We’re scoring high. We’re doing great. We’re involved in the community,” she said, condemning sexual abuse and harassment allegations within the Chicago Public Schools system. “They have no right coming to our side of the lane.” 

Another homeschooling parent, Luke Schurter, told Fox News at the state Capitol Wednesday that the bill is “taking a step back for homeschool freedom, not a step forward.” 

CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS, TEACHERS UNION REAFFIRM BEING A ‘SANCTUARY SPACE’ AHEAD OF TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

“We want to choose what we teach our kids, how we raise our kids, how we instruct them, so we’re concerned that this is cracking that door open and then the next thing is going to be more requirements on ‘hey, we need to look and see, we need to dictate what the subjects you are teaching are, we need to dictate how much time you’re spending,'” the father of three said. “This would circumvent those efforts and bring them back under the authority and the watchful eye of the public school system.” 

A sign reading “Stop HB 2827, unconstitutional overreach” hangs from the balcony at the Illinois state Capitol in Springfield on March 19, 2025. (Fox News)

The bill would require the State Board of Education to create a “Homeschool Declaration Form,” which a homeschooling parent must submit to essentially register their child in the nearest public school. The children of parents who do not submit the form would be “considered truant, with penalties applying,” according to a synopsis of the bill. 

A regional office of education or a school district could also request that homeschooling parents hand over an “education portfolio,” or a set of their child’s records, including writing samples, workbooks, worksheets or other logs of curricular materials. 

The portfolio would serve “as evidence that the homeschool administrator’s homeschool program provides a course of instruction that is sufficient to satisfy the education requirements set forth in Sections 26-1 and Section 27-1 of the School Code that is at least commensurate with the standards prescribed for public schools,” according to the bill text. Section 26-1 sets the compulsory school age at between 7 and 17 unless the child has already graduated from high school, while Section 27-1 is intended to ensure the areas of education taught in public schools do not discriminate on account of the sex of the student. 

One homeschooling mother, Michelle Langworthy, speaks to Fox News at the Illinois state Capitol regarding her opposition to House Bill 2827. (Fox News)

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The bill would also require homeschooling parents of children who participate in public school activities on or off school grounds to “submit proof that the child has received all required immunizations and health examinations or a signed Certificate of Religious Exemption.” 

Fox News’ Patrick McGovern contributed to this report.

The head of Oklahoma’s public school system is backing President Donald Trump’s executive order to dismantle the federal Department of Education, saying that Trump will “go down in history as the president that saved education.”

Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced a dramatic “reduction in force” of the federal Department of Education and detailed plans to reduce the size of the agency by over 50% from around 4,133 to around 2,183 employees.

Trump has previously said he wants to “close up the Department of Education” entirely and “move education back to the states.”

As Democrats and media outlets sound the alarm that Trump’s changes mean doom for education in America, Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters is saying that Trump’s move is exactly what students, parents and the entire country need right now.

“This is a historic moment,” he said. “I think President Trump is going to go down in history as the president that saved education and the future of the country.”

RANDI WEINGARTEN ‘SPITTING MAD’ ABOUT ‘EVISCERATION’ OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters is saying that President Donald Trump’s move is exactly what students, parents and the entire country need right now. (AP Photo | Sue Ogrocki/iStock | Evan Vucci/AP)

Walters said that rather than helping to implement effective education systems, the Department of Education had long been co-opted by radical teachers’ unions like the American Federation of Teachers, which he said has been pushing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and other leftist ideologies in states, including Oklahoma.

“The disruption of education was the federalization of education and the unionization of education. That’s what got us away from the concept of schools that valued the community, value the family, value the individual,” he said. “You have thousands of bureaucrats that are up there that are pushing a left-wing agenda, the most radical agenda the country has ever seen. They’re teaching kids to hate the country. They’re teaching kids to hate their faith.”

“You can talk to teachers about the types of trainings the feds were requiring them to go to,” he continued. “These were not helping them drive student achievement in their classroom. It was to push a left-wing agenda on kids.”

DEMOCRAT-LED STATES SUE THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OVER EDUCATION DEPARTMENT PURGE

The Trump administration announced a dramatic “reduction in force” of the federal Department of Education and detailed plans to reduce the size of the agency by over 50%. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

After taking office in January 2023, Walters said he had to immediately deal with the Biden Department of Education using federal funding as leverage to push concepts like DEI and gender ideology in classrooms.

“I was very sharp in my responses of why are we talking about transgenderism in an Algebra One class? Like there’s no connection between the two, but it shows you how far they were willing to go with their woke ideology, with the strategy to undermine American society, undermine the family unit,” he said.

The result, Walters said, has shown in students’ test scores.  

“All the test scores have shown that they’ve all gotten worse since this disruption occurred,” he explained. “Nearly every society factor has gotten worse. You look at teenage suicide. You look at teenage drug use. You look at the disintegration of the family unit. All of these things coincided in part with the creation of the federal Department of Education and the rise of the teachers’ unions.”  

TEXAS PRIVATE SCHOOL INTEGRATES AI, REPORTS STUDENTS LEARNING ‘FASTER’

Walters said that “all the test scores have shown that they’ve all gotten worse since this disruption occurred.” (iStock | Getty Images)

Walters anticipates that cutting the Education Department will free up huge sums of funds that, instead of paying bureaucrats’ salaries, will instead go straight to students’ education and teachers.

He pointed to cuts he made to the Oklahoma Education Department in which he reduced the state’s bureaucracy by 150 employees, which he claimed saved millions, creating opportunities for tutoring programs and offering more competitive salaries to hire top-talent teachers.  

“You’re going to see that, times a thousand with the federal Department of Education,” he said.

Meanwhile, Tiffany Justice, co-founder of the parents’ rights group Moms for Liberty, assured parents that “your children’s education will not be affected by any of these things.”

ILLINOIS MOM SPEAKS OUT OVER SCHOOL’S TRANSGENDER LOCKER ROOM POLICY

Tiffany Justice, co-founder of the parents’ rights group Moms for Liberty, assured parents that “your children’s education will not be affected by any of these things.” (Fox News Digital )

“Don’t believe the union talking point, fearmongering lies,” Justice said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “Abolishing the Department of Education or dismantling it, cutting back on half the staff, only means more power to the parents, which is why the unions are concerned.”

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“Since the creation of the Department of Education, student achievement has only declined,” she said. “We’ve got a real crisis on our hands. I think the fact that the majority of American children are not learning to read is one of the biggest national security threats that we face as a nation.”

“If you’re watching mainstream media or the fake news, as President Trump likes to say, you’re hearing those union fearmongering talking points. They’re saying, ‘Oh, this is going to hurt teachers. This is going to hurt services.’ Nothing could be further from the truth,” she went on. “Every state has a department of education, and I think every state and every state leader should really be looking at this as an opportunity to be able to show what their vision is for education, and then to execute on that vision and really make sure that kids in their states are learning,” said Justice.

Nearly two dozen Democrat attorneys general are currently suing the Trump administration to stop the cuts to the Department of Education. 

Speaking with Fox News, Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, said it is “outrageous” that the Trump administration is “set on gutting the Department of Education.” She claimed that this move amounts to “neglecting our students, and our parents, our communities and… the future of this country.” 

FIRST ON FOX: An energy watchdog group is calling on the Trump administration to investigate whether former President Joe Biden used an autopen to sign energy-related executive orders and if such actions “were instituted with the president’s knowledge.”

Power the Future, a pro-energy group, sent a letter to the attorney general’s office raising questions regarding the “propriety and legitimacy” of several major orders signed by the Democratic president during his term.

“In light of the mounting evidence of significant executive actions with serious economic and national and global security implications being undertaken in President Biden’s name apparently without his knowledge by unelected officials, we respectfully request that you investigate whether former President Biden authorized the LNG pause, or whether any documentation reflecting the White House’s position was instead prepared or signed by staff,” the group wrote in a letter to Bondi, shared first with Fox News Digital.

The letter comes after President Donald Trump declared Biden’s 11th hour pardons “void” over claims that they were signed by an autopen and that the former president “did not know anything about them.”

TRUMP CLAIMS BIDEN PARDONS ARE ‘VOID,’ ALLEGING THEY WERE SIGNED VIA AUTOPEN

Attorney General Pam Bondi and former President Joe Biden (Getty Images/AP)

Power the Future points to Biden’s January 2024 order pausing permits for liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facilities and his ban on new drilling on 625 million acres of U.S. coastal and offshore waters – both orders that Trump immediately moved to lift after assuming office.

“In connection with recent revelations that many actions purportedly taken by the former president may not have been approved or signed by him, but instead promulgated over his signature using an ‘autopen,’ and especially in light of the Speaker’s public statements that Mr. Biden was not even aware of the LNG pause and the reporting that a particular White House ‘advisor’ was ‘the person behind [it,]’ it does not require a great leap to wonder whether the LNG pause was itself promulgated by an advisor with an autopen, rather than by the former President himself,” the group wrote.

The letter, raising concerns over the president’s knowledge of his executive orders, refers to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who, in January, shared that Biden, during a meeting, appeared to forget that he signed an order to pause LNG exports.

Pam Bondi, former Florida attorney general, speaks at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at the U.S. Capitol. (Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA)

TRUMP UNDOES STACK OF ‘HARMFUL’ BIDEN EXECUTIVE ORDERS, SHRINKS MULTIPLE AGENCIES

“I cannot answer this from my constituents in Louisiana,” Johnson said he told Biden. “Sir, why did you pause LNG exports to Europe? Liquefied natural gas is in great demand by our allies. Why would you do that? Cause you understand we just talked about Ukraine, you understand you are fueling Vladimir Putin’s war machine, because they gotta get their gas from him.”

Biden, according to Johnson, responded by saying, “I didn’t do that.”

The letter also notes the involvement of John Podesta, the former White House senior advisor to the president for clean energy innovation and implementation, in the major decision to pause LGN exports. 

In March 2024, a group of GOP lawmakers hand-delivered a letter to Podesta expressing concern over his “driving” the LNG pause.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Biden’s office and the DOJ for comment. 

The presidential autopen has been in focus this week after Trump claimed on Sunday that the courts must decide whether Biden’s use of an autopen for executive orders and pardons means they are void. 

An autopen is a device that physically holds a pen and is programmed to replicate a person’s signature. The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel determined in 2005 that the president is permitted to use an autopen to sign bills into law, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued a ruling in February that said the absence of “a writing does not equate to proof that a commutation did not occur.”

The majority of official documents signed by Biden allegedly used the same autopen signature, reinvigorating concerns over the former president’s mental acuity and if he “actually ordered the signature of relevant legal documents,” a recent report published by an arm of the Heritage Foundation found.

Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy and Emma Colton contributed to this report

The NASA astronauts who were stranded at the International Space Station were stuck in space for so long because the Biden administration lacked “urgency” in securing their return to Earth, according to the White House press secretary.

Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams launched from their Boeing Starliner spacecraft in June 2024 for a mission set to last only eight days. But when the spacecraft encountered technical issues, NASA decided it was unsafe for it to arrive back on Earth with the astronauts on board.

As a result, Wilmore and Williams remained stranded at the International Space Station — until Tuesday when they parachuted down to Earth, off the coast of Florida. 

“These two incredible astronauts were only supposed to be up there for eight days, but because of the Biden administration’s lack of urgency, they ended up spending nine months in space,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Wednesday at the White House. “Joe Biden’s lack of courage to act boldly and decisively was a big reason why Butch and Suni did not make it back until yesterday. But President Trump doesn’t waste time.”

SPACEX DRAGON CAPSULE STICKS SPLASHDOWN LANDING AS NASA ASTRONAUTS RETURN HOME AFTER MONTHS STUCK IN SPACE

Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams launched from their Boeing Starliner spacecraft in June 2024 for a mission set to last only eight days. (NASA via AP)

A spokesperson for Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Leavitt said that after taking office in January, Trump directed SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk to hash out a plan to rescue the astronauts with NASA. Wilmore and Williams returned to Earth on a SpaceX Dragon capsule. 

Musk issued his congratulations to the SpaceX team and NASA for successfully pulling off the rescue, and also thanked Trump for prioritizing the mission.

STRANDED ASTRONAUT SAYS HE BELIEVES MUSK’S CLAIMS THAT BIDEN REFUSED TO CONDUCT RESCUE MISSION

Trump directed SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk to hash out a plan to rescue the astronauts with NASA. Wilmore and Williams returned to Earth on a SpaceX Dragon capsule. (Getty | Fox News)

“Thanks to the excellent work of the SpaceX team working with NASA, the astronauts are now safely home,” Musk said Tuesday during an exclusive interview on “Hannity.” “And so congratulations to the SpaceX NASA teams on excellent work.”  

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Musk, who is also heading the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), previously said in an interview with Hannity in February that he had offered to work with the Biden administration to return the astronauts, but that his offer was rejected for “political reasons.” 

Wilmore said in an interview in March that he trusted Musk’s assessment of the situation, although he said he did not know the nature of the private discussions. 

“I can only say that Mr. Musk, what he says, is absolutely factual… I believe him,” Wilmore said March 4 during an in-orbit press conference, according to the New York Post.

Still, Wilmore said he wasn’t involved in the discussions, and so he couldn’t personally verify what the conversations entailed. 

“We have no information on that, though, whatsoever,” Wilmore said. “What was offered, what was not offered, who it was offered to, how that process went. That’s information that we simply don’t have.”

Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content.

Here’s what’s happening…

-Progressive leader says Schumer faces ‘uphill’ climb to win back Democrats’ trust

-Study found US gas exports did not impact climate change, so Biden admin buried it, officials say

-Israeli official thanks Trump administration as the country resumes war in Gaza

DeSantis Urges Congress to ‘Strip’ Judges of Immigration Jurisdiction

As aspects of President Donald Trump’s agenda are stymied by judges amid legal challenges, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has suggested that Congress could strip federal courts of jurisdiction.

“Congress has the authority to strip jurisdiction of the federal courts to decide these cases in the first place. The sabotaging of President Trump’s agenda by ‘resistance’ judges was predictable — why no jurisdiction-stripping bills tee’d up at the onset of this Congress?” DeSantis wrote in a Wednesday post on X.

When someone responded by asking how such a move could pass when 60 votes would be needed to push it through the Senate, DeSantis replied, “Attach it to a ‘must pass’ bill…”…Read more

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks to Iowa voters (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

White House

JUDICIAL REBUTTAL: Federal judge blocks Trump’s transgender military executive order

SECURE THE SEAS: Trump’s use of warship for border enforcement a ‘smart’ use of military force, expert says

CHOPPING BLOCK: Trump fires Democratic FTC commissioners

Two Democrats fired from the Federal Trade Commission say they will sue President Trump over wrongfully terminated them. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

‘UNLIKELY TO BE SERIOUSLY QUESTIONED’: Successful legal challenges to Biden’s pardons over autopen signature ‘vanishingly low’

JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP: Judge blocks Trump’s EPA from terminating $14 billion in ‘green bank’ grants after accusations of fraud

‘F—ING CRAZY’: JD Vance recalls his wife texting him under table at Silicon Valley dinner

FIRST ON FOX: Judge who blocked key Trump executive order has long history of left-wing activism, Dem donations

World Stage

‘JUDICIAL COUP’: El Salvador’s Bukele weighs in after Trump’s call to impeach judge

PROGRAM ENDED: Trump administration ends program to track kidnapped Ukrainian children in Russia, lawmakers say

‘WE WILL NOT GO FOR IT’: Zelenskyy wants details after Trump-Putin call, lays out ‘red line’ for Ukraine

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a briefing with press on July 8, 2023 in Lviv, Ukraine.  (Mykola Tys/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

DESPERATION PLAY?: Iran trying to bolster its ‘battered deterrence’ with response to Trump threats against Houthis, expert says

HARD NEGOTIATIONS: What’s next in the Russia, Ukraine ceasefire talks?

Capitol Hill

INFO DUMP: Lawmakers cheer Trump’s JFK files release: ‘Restoration of the people’s trust’

‘DOGE-BAGS’: Dem governor slams Trump’s ‘authoritarian rule’ during ‘better way forward’ speech

Gov. JB Pritzker has been sharpening his attacks on President Trump as the Illinois Democrat is considered a potential candidate for the White House in 2028. (AP)

‘I’M THE FUTURE’: House Dem Green’s GOP challenger dishes on campaign after outburst during Trump speech

‘WHAT CAN WE DO?’: Dems forecast ‘Trump recession,’ as Republicans say it’s time to double down

‘PART OF THE GAME’: House Dems stage coordinated ‘Town Halls’ on GOP colleagues’ turf

SMALL BUSINESS CALL: House panel asks Trump’s small business chief to provide info on alleged Biden-era electioneering project

Across America

‘RESISTANCE’: DeSantis proposes solution as Trump’s agenda is stymied by judges

‘RESTORE ORDER’: Trump admin demands NYC ‘restore order’ amid rampant crime or face billions in funding cuts

DOGE AT DOD: Pentagon to cut up to 60,000 civilian jobs, but fewer than 21,000 have voluntarily resigned

CLIMATE COVER-UP: Study found US gas exports did not impact climate change, so Biden admin buried it, officials say

‘BAD IDEA’: Conservatives warn red state data center bill will derail Trump’s vision of energy ‘golden age’

‘LET GOOD COPS BE’: Patel says FBI has captured its 3rd most wanted fugitive since Trump took office: ‘Let good cops be good cops’

NOURISHING A GENERATION: RFK Jr targets companies making baby formula after shortages rocked Biden administration

CRIME CRISIS: Chicago police solve only 6% of non-fatal shootings, review finds, as mayor faces mounting criticism

SPEAKING OUT: Mahmoud Khalil blames ‘anti-Palestinian racism’ for arrest in first statement since ICE detainment

People demonstrate outside Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse, on the day of a hearing on the detention of Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, in New York City, U.S., March 12, 2025. (REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton)

BLUE WALL: Chaos erupts at GOP lawmaker’s town hall after left-wing groups promote protests 

WOAH, BABY: Hospital questionnaire sparks outrage over newborn sexual orientation question

‘START RUNNING NOW’: Blue sanctuary state operating as ‘control’ center for vicious migrant gang: acting DEA chief

Get the latest updates on the Trump administration and Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

Nearly two months into his second term, President Donald Trump’s approval rating matches his all-time high. 

Congressional Republicans also enjoy record ratings, while views of congressional Democrats tumble near an all-time low, according to the latest Fox News Poll.

FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS HAVE CONCERNS ABOUT DOGE, EVEN AS THEY SEE NEED FOR CUTS

Half of voters, 49%, approve of the job Trump is doing as president, matching his high from April 2020. That’s also better than at the same point in his first term (43% approved in March 2017). He is at high marks among key groups, including women, Black voters and voters under age 30. (For reference, in January, a 52% majority of voters approved of the job Trump was doing handling the presidential transition.)

Nine in 10 Republicans approve of Trump, while the same number of Democrats disapprove. Six in 10 Independents disapprove of his job performance.

FOX NEWS POLL: TRUMP IS THE MOST POPULAR HE’S EVER BEEN

Overall, 51% disapprove of the job Trump is doing, including 45% who strongly disapprove.

Trump has issued more than 90 executive orders in his first 60 days in office and about 7 in 10 voters are concerned these actions may permanently alter the country’s system of checks and balances. That’s similar to how voters felt about former President Barack Obama’s use of executive actions in December 2014 (68% concerned).

Predictably, a decade ago, more Republicans were concerned, while now it’s Democrats — roughly 9 in 10, respectively. Independents feel about the same as they did 10 years ago (about three-quarters concerned).

FOX NEWS POLL: OVER HALF SAY BIDEN ADMINISTRATION MADE THE ECONOMY WORSE

Congressional Republicans hit their highest approval rating ever this month, as 43% of voters approve and 55% disapprove. While that is upside down by 12 points, it still constitutes a significant improvement from the 36-point net negative rating in October 2023 and the 55-point low a decade ago. 

News across the aisle isn’t as rosy. For Democrats in Congress, 66% disapprove of the job they are doing, with only 30% approving — nearly matching their record low of 29% approval in November 2013. The current 36-point deficit represents a marked decline from the 23-point difference in October 2023, the last time the question was asked (37% approve, 60% disapprove), and the high of +10 in April 2009 (50-40%).

The boost to the GOP approval is primarily attributable to more Republicans backing their party today (88%) than in October 2023 (54%). Again, the partisan contrast is striking, as only 49% of Democrats approve of their party’s lawmakers today vs. 74% in 2023.

“Democrats are united in their antipathy toward Trump, but they aren’t happy with their own party, either,” says Daron Shaw, a Republican who conducts the survey with Democrat Chris Anderson. “As Democratic elites argue over whether to be more confrontational or accommodating toward Trump, their voters are unhappy with what they see as an uneven, disjointed response.”

A few more things…

Vice President JD Vance’s job rating is in negative territory by 8 points: 45% approve, 53% disapprove. Among Republicans, his approval (85%) is slightly lower than Trump’s (92%) and Congressional Republicans’ (88%).

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By an 18-point margin, voters disapprove of the job Elon Musk is doing at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) (40% approve, 58% disapprove). Most Republicans (78%) approve, while nearly all Democrats disapprove (93%).

Secretary of State Marco Rubio breaks even with 47% both approving and disapproving. He is the only administration official who receives double-digit approval from Democrats (11%).

CLICK HERE FOR CROSSTABS AND TOPLINE

Conducted March 14-17, under the direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News survey includes interviews with a sample of 994 registered voters randomly selected from a national voter file. Respondents spoke with live interviewers on landlines (123) and cellphones (648) or completed the survey online after receiving a text (223). Results based on the full sample have a margin of sampling error of ±3 percentage points. Sampling error associated with results among subgroup is higher. In addition to sampling error, question wording and order can influence results. Weights are generally applied to age, race, education, and area variables to ensure the demographics of respondents are representative of the registered voter population. Sources for developing weight targets include the American Community Survey, Fox News Voter Analysis and voter file data.

Voters have concerns about the recent government spending cuts executed by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), even as they see the need for such an effort.

Most think the national debt is a crisis or major problem, and nearly 6 in 10 feel a great deal or almost all of government spending is “wasteful and inefficient,” according to a new Fox News national survey.

Yet a slim 51% majority opposes substantially shrinking the number of government employees, some 56% disapprove of the job the Trump administration is doing identifying and reducing wasteful spending, and another 65% worry that not enough thought and planning has gone into the cuts.

FOX NEWS POLL: TRUMP IS THE MOST POPULAR HE’S EVER BEEN

A sizable minority of Republicans (39%) share the concern of large numbers of Democrats (88%) and Independents (71%) about how the reductions are being implemented.

Forty percent approve of the job Elon Musk is doing working with DOGE, while 58% disapprove. Fully 93% of Democrats disapprove, along with 70% of Independents and 20% of Republicans.

When asked about funding for specific federal programs, majorities think the government should increase funding for Social Security (63%), Medicare and Medicaid (58%), and medical research (53%), while a large minority says the same about funding the military and national defense (44%). Sentiment is more mixed on humanitarian foreign aid, as 23% want to increase federal funding on aid, 36% would keep it at the same level as last year, and 39% want to decrease it. 

FOX NEWS POLL: TRUMP, REPUBLICANS AT RECORD HIGH RATINGS AS DEMOCRATS FALTER

Overall, one in four voters says someone in their family has been significantly affected by the government cuts, and among that group, 79% are concerned about how the cuts have been handled.

Voters also have doubts about tariffs, as majorities think the measures will make products that they buy more expensive (69%) and hurt the economy (53%). Views are divided on the job front, with 35% saying tariffs help protect U.S. jobs and 39% saying they hurt.

FOX NEWS POLL: OVER HALF SAY BIDEN ADMINISTRATION MADE THE ECONOMY WORSE

The 53% saying tariffs hurt the economy is a new high, up from 50% in January and a low of 39% in 2024.

When asked about specific tariffs, voters favor imposing them on products from China (55%), while they oppose tariffs on Mexico (56%) and Canada (61%). 

On the overall economy, a growing number of voters think it is in bad shape, many think inflation is out of control, and most believe a recession is at least somewhat likely.

Views of the economy have soured since President Donald Trump began his second term, as 79% of voters give it negative marks, up from 70% two months ago. This increase in pessimism is largely due to a 35-point spike among Democrats plus an 18-point jump among Independents. In the same period, Republican assessment of the economy has shifted positively by 22 points.

At the end of December, at the tail end of former President Joe Biden’s term, 77% held a negative view of the economy.

Some 60% of voters rate their personal finances negatively, which is a touch better compared to 62% in December.

And while nearly half, 47%, continue to say inflation is “not at all” under control, that’s down from 56% in early 2023 (the last time the question was asked).

Seven in 10 say they expect a recession this year, including majorities of Democrats (93%) and Independents (72%), and half of Republicans (50%).

Those sentiments help explain why more than 4 in 10 identify inflation (27%) or the economy generally (16%) as the most important issues facing the country. Those beat the next most commonly mentioned issues: political divisions (14%), political leadership/corruption (10%), and immigration (8%). For reference, 3% cite government spending and 2% say tariffs. 

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“Even though partisans have adjusted their attitudes with the change in administrations, the public as a whole remains jittery about the economy,” says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts Fox News surveys with Democrat Chris Anderson. “The aggressiveness of Trump’s tariff policy and the pace of DOGE’s actions have spooked Democrats and many Independents. If Trump is to maintain broad public support, it’s imperative that his approach produces results.”  

Generally, 43% are satisfied with how things are going in the country. That’s up 12 points from 31% in December. Some 57% are unsatisfied, including 20% of Republicans. Voter dissatisfaction hit a high of 75% during Biden’s term (August 2022). In Trump’s first term, it peaked at 66% (August 2020).

Again, major post-inauguration partisan shifts are driving these changing numbers. The new survey shows the share of Democrats happy with the direction of the country dropped 33 points to 9% after Biden left office. And 80% of Republicans are satisfied now, up 55 points since Trump took office.

Trump started his first term with a 48% job approval rating (Feb. 2017). Today, his approval stands at a record 49%, which he also achieved once during his first term (April 2020). For comparison, Biden’s highest approval was 56% in June 2021. Currently, 92% of Democrats disapprove of Trump, while an equal number of Republicans approve (92%). Fully 97% of 2024 Trump supporters like the job he’s doing as president. 

Trump’s ratings are underwater by 13 points on the economy (43% approve – 56% disapprove) and by 18 points on inflation (40-58%). He receives his best marks on border security, as a 56% majority approves (43% disapprove).

CLICK HERE FOR CROSSTABS AND TOPLINE

Conducted March 14-17, 2025 under the direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News survey includes interviews with a sample of 994 registered voters randomly selected from a national voter file. Respondents spoke with live interviewers on landlines (123) and cellphones (648) or completed the survey online after receiving a text (223). Results based on the full sample have a margin of sampling error of ±3 percentage points. Sampling error associated with results among subgroup is higher. In addition to sampling error, question wording and order can influence results. Weights are generally applied to age, race, education, and area variables to ensure the demographics of respondents are representative of the registered voter population. Sources for developing weight targets include the American Community Survey, Fox News Voter Analysis, and voter file data.

Fox News’ Victoria Balara contributed to this report.

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., was gifted a silver-plated beeper during a visit with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the lawmaker praised Israel’s covert operation in which it detonated pagers last year worn by Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon. 

Fetterman repeatedly has voiced support for Israel while breaking with the Democratic Party, which has been critical of Israel’s military operations in Gaza, and has demanded that Hamas return all the hostages the terror group took on Oct. 7, 2023. 

He was visiting Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem this week when he reiterated his support for the Jewish state. 

ISRAEL SHOOTS DOWN HOUTHI BALLISTIC MISSILE AFTER CEASEFIRE COLLAPSES

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gifts Democratic Sen. John Fetterman a silver-plated beeper, commemorating the operation that used pagers against Hezbollah leaders and operatives. Fetterman visited Israel to show his support in its fight against the terrorist group that attacked on Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 and taking many hostages. (Israel Government Press Office)

“Hamas does not want peace. I unapologetically, 100% stand with Israel, and demand the release of all remaining hostages,” he wrote Tuesday on X. “Sending this from Israel.”

During an exchange of gifts, Fetterman gave Netanyahu a framed news article about an effort to memorialize Netanyahu’s brother, the fallen Israeli soldier Yoni Netanyahu, in Philadelphia, where Netanyahu lived as a teenager, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported.

The fallen prime minister’s brother is considered a hero in Israel after he was killed in the 1976 Israeli raid in Entebbe, Uganda during the rescue of 102 hostages taken by German and Palestinian terrorists in a plane hijacking.

Netanyahu then reciprocated with his gift.

“What can I give a man who has everything? How about giving him a beeper?” Netanyahu said. “This is a silver-plated beeper. The real beeper is, like, one-tenth the weight. It’s nothing, but it changes history.”

FATHER OF HAMAS HOSTAGE: LET TRUMP CLOSE DEAL OF THE CENTURY

Image lays out the areas Hezbollah has infiltrated in Lebanon. Photo provided 9/6/2024. (Image provided by Alma Research and Education Center)

The beeper references Israel’s September 2024 operation in which it detonated pagers used by members of Hezbollah in Lebanon, killings dozens of people. 

“When that story broke, I was like, ‘Oh, I love it, I love it.’ And now, it’s like, thank you for this,” Fetterman responded. 

The operation came before Israel killed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader, and weeks ahead of an Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon. That conflict ended in a ceasefire in late November.

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In February, Netanyahu also gifted a gold-plated pager to President Donald Trump. 

A Republican senator has vowed to remain vocal against some of the Trump administration’s actions, even if it means risking a billion-dollar opposition campaign funded by billionaire Elon Musk.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who previously claimed actions taken by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could have “incredibly troubling” outcomes, suggested that Musk may “take the next billion dollars that he makes off of Starlink and put it directly against me” if she remains critical of the administration.

“And you know what, that may happen. But I’m not giving up one minute, one opportunity to try and stand up for Alaskans,” the senator, whose term is up in 2029, said while speaking to voters in Alaska on Tuesday. “I’m gonna take the criticism that comes.”

Murkowski also suggested that other lawmakers choose to “duck and cover” rather than speak out against the administration over fears of being primaried in their next elections.

ELON MUSK IN ‘SHOCK’ OVER DEMS’ ALLEGED ‘HATRED AND VIOLENCE,’ LAMENTS ‘DERANGED’ ATTACKS ON TESLA PLANTS

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who previously claimed actions taken by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could have “incredibly troubling” outcomes, suggested that Musk may “take the next billion dollars that he makes off of Starlink and put it directly against me” if she remains critical of the administration. (Getty Images)

“That’s why you got everybody just zip-lipped, not saying a word, because they are afraid they’re going to be taken down, they’re gonna be primaried, they’re gonna be given names in the media,” the senator said. “You know what? We cannot be cowed into not speaking up.”

BUCKING TRUMP ORDER, GOP SENS. MURKOWSKI AND SULLIVAN PUSH TO CHANGE MOUNT MCKINLEY’S NAME BACK TO DENALI

Murkowski has been critical of some actions taken by the Trump administration, voting against the confirmation of the president’s pick to head the Department of Defense, Secretary Pete Hegseth.

A Republican senator has vowed to remain vocal against some of the Trump administration’s actions, even if it means risking a billion-dollar opposition campaign funded by billionaire Elon Musk. (AP Images)

The Republican also spoke out against Trump and Vice President JD Vance following their heated meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House.

“This week started with administration officials refusing to acknowledge that Russia started the war in Ukraine. It ends with a tense, shocking conversation in the Oval Office and whispers from the White House that they may try to end all U.S. support for Ukraine,” Murkowski wrote in a post on X in March. 

“I know foreign policy is not for the faint of heart, but right now, I am sick to my stomach as the administration appears to be walking away from our allies and embracing Putin, a threat to democracy and U.S. values around the world.”

Musk has suggested that he will fund primary challenges against Republican lawmakers who break with the Trump agenda.

Musk has suggested that he will fund primary challenges against Republican lawmakers who break with the Trump agenda. (Andrew Harnik)

The billionaire, in response to a report posted to X making the suggestion about his potential involvement in future GOP elections, said in a November 2024 post, “How else? There is no other way.”

“Until Alaskans tell me, Lisa, it’s just not working anymore, I’m gonna give you every last breath that I have, and I’m gonna try to solve every little problem, and I’m not gonna compromise my own integrity by hiding from my words when I feel they need to be spoken,” Murkowski said on Tuesday.

The senator said that while she has disagreements with Trump, she is going to find “constructive” ways to work with him.

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Fox News Digital reached out to DOGE and Murkowski for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.

President Donald Trump is moving forward with plans to abolish the Department of Education.

Trump is expected to sign an executive order following through on a campaign promise to disband the department, claiming on the campaign trail that the department was full of “radicals, zealots and Marxists.”

A White House fact sheet states that the move will “turn over education to families instead of bureaucracies. Trump and proponents of eliminating the department have long said the agency has failed American students. 

“NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) scores reveal a national crisis — our children are falling behind,” Harrison Fields, the White House principal deputy press secretary, told Fox News. “Over the past four years, Democrats have allowed millions of illegal minors into the country, straining school resources and diverting focus from American students.”

AFT PRESIDENT RANDI WEINGARTEN SOUNDS ALARM ABOUT LEGALITY OF TRUMP ELIMINATING EDUCATION DEPARTMENT 

“Coupled with the rise of anti-American CRT and DEI indoctrination, this is harming our most vulnerable,” he added. “President Trump’s executive order to expand educational opportunities will empower parents, states, and communities to take control and improve outcomes for all students.”

The directive comes after the Senate voted to confirm Linda McMahon, former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), to lead the agency on March 3. McMahon issued a memo later that day outlining her support for the Trump administration’s plans for the department and that she would oversee a “new era of accountability” in the agency’s final days. 

“The reality of our education system is stark, and the American people have elected President Trump to make significant changes in Washington,” McMahon said in the March 3 memo. “Our job is to respect the will of the American people and the President they elected, who has tasked us with accomplishing the elimination of bureaucratic bloat here at the Department of Education — a momentous final mission — quickly and responsibly.”

Secretary of Education Linda McMahon appeared before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee for a confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 13. (Getty Images)

Following reports that Trump planned to sign the executive order, the American Federation of Teachers issued a statement imploring Congress to oppose the executive order and “to make clear to the president that the federal government, in the face of this order, will not abdicate its responsibility to all children, students and working families, who deserve a future full of promise and possibility, not diminished dreams.”

The teacher’s union pointed to an NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll conducted in February that found more than 60% of Americans “strongly oppose” eradicating the agency. 

“The Department of Education, and the laws it is supposed to execute, has one major purpose: to level the playing field and fill opportunity gaps to help every child in America succeed,” the American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said in a March 5 statement. “Trying to abolish it — which, by the way, only Congress can do — sends a message that the president doesn’t care about opportunity for all kids. Maybe he cares about it for his own kids or his friends’ kids or his donors’ kids — but not all kids.”

Despite spending billions of dollars on education, student outcomes haven’t fared any better. The White House cited 13 Baltimore high schools in which no students tested proficient in mathematics in 2023, as well as money spent to teach “radical ideologies.”

Despite President Donald Trump’s order, he needs Congress to sign off on eradicating the agency. (Getty Images)

“The Trump Administration recently canceled $226 million in grants under the Comprehensive Centers Program that forced radical agendas onto states and systems, including race-based discrimination and gender identity ideology,” the fact sheet states. 

Under the Biden administration, schools have been forced to redirect resources to comply with “ideological initiatives,” social experiments and obsolete programs, the White House said. 

In addition, Trump has supported bringing education back to the states and a rethinking of schools.  

“I want every parent in America to be empowered to send their child to public, private, charter, or faith-based school of their choice,” he said. “The time for universal school choice has come. As we return education to the states, I will use every power I have to give parents this right.”

Despite Trump’s order, the president needs Congress to sign off on eradicating the agency, under Article II of the U.S. Constitution. Such a measure would require 60 votes to pass in the Senate, and there are only 53 Republicans currently. 

Still, there is some appetite in Congress to eliminate the department. For example, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., introduced a measure Jan. 31 to nix the Department of Education by December 2026. 

WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY ON REPORTS THAT TRUMP WILL DISBAND EDUCATION DEPARTMENT: ‘EXPECT HIM TO DELIVER’

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., introduced a measure on Jan. 31 to nix the Department of Education by December 2026. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

“Unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., should not be in charge of our children’s intellectual and moral development,” Massie said in a Jan. 31 statement. “States and local communities are best positioned to shape curricula that meet the needs of their students. Schools should be accountable.”

Trump told reporters on Feb. 4 that even though he’d nominated McMahon to lead the Department of Education, he eventually wanted her to lose her job. 

“What I want to do is let the states run schools,” Trump said. “I believe strongly in school choice. But in addition to that, I want the states to run schools, and I want Linda to put herself out of a job.”

TRUMP SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDERS STRIPPING FEDERAL FUNDING FROM SCHOOLS THAT TEACH CRT, SUPPORTING SCHOOL CHOICE

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt signaled that the American people could count on Trump’s campaign promise to end the department.   (Evan Vucci/The Associated Press )

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also signaled that the American people could count on Trump to move forward with such plans to disband the department. 

“President Trump campaigned on that promise, and I think the American people can expect him to deliver on it,” Leavitt told Stuart Varney on “Varney & Co.” on Feb. 4. 

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The Department of Education, established in 1980, seeks to improve coordination of federal education programs and support state and local school systems, according to its website. The agency received a budget of $79.1 billion in fiscal year 2024. 

Trump said at a rally in September 2024 that he wanted to reduce the “government education swamp and stop the abuse of your taxpayer dollars to indoctrinate America’s youth with all sorts of things that you don’t want to have our youth hearing.”

Critics of the Department of Education also have pointed to the “Nation’s Report Card,” the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) released every two years, published Jan. 27. The exam tests fourth and eighth-grade students, and found almost stagnant math scores for eighth-graders in comparison to 2022, and reading scores dropped 2 points at both grade levels.

“In report card language, what was a D- is now an F,” former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos wrote in a Feb. 5 op-ed for Fox News Digital. 

Former Secretary of Education Betsy Devos said the U.S. needs a “complete reset” when it comes to education that prioritizes students in an op-ed for Fox News Digital.  (Jim Watson)

As a result, the U.S. needs a “complete reset” that prioritizes students, she said. That starts with shuttering the Department of Education, an agency that has focused more on diversity, equity and inclusion mandates than the foundations of education, she said. 

Meanwhile, Democrats pressed the Department of Education for more information about its future in February amid concerns that the Trump administration would shutter the agency. 

“We will not stand by and allow this to happen to the nation’s students, parents, borrowers, educators, and communities,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Acting Secretary of Education Denise Carter on Feb. 5. “Congress created the Department to ensure all students in America have equal access to a high-quality education and that their civil rights are protected no matter their zip code.” 

The Associated Press and Fox News’ Kayla Bailey contributed to this report. This is a breaking story; check back for updates.

A federal judge ruled in favor of the Trump administration on Wednesday, after a government-funded nonprofit organization filed a lawsuit protecting itself from “ongoing destruction” from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The U.S. Institute for Peace (USIP) filed a request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) on Tuesday, claiming that DOGE had committed “literal trespass and takeover by force…of the Institute’s headquarters building on Constitution Avenue.”

The organization also accused the anti-waste initiative of “ongoing destruction of the Institute’s physical and electronic property.”

“Defendants have been and are at this minute engaged in conduct that will cause the Institute irreparable harm that will prevent the Institute from performing any of its lawful functions and is likely to utterly destroy it,” the lawsuit stated.

WHITE HOUSE UNLEASHES ON ‘ROGUE BUREAUCRATS’ AFTER AGENCY HEAD REFUSES DOGE ENTRY TO HEADQUARTERS

The U.S. Institute for Peace’s temporary restraining order request against DOGE was denied by a judge on Wednesday, representing a win for Trump. (Getty Images/AP Images)

In a decision on Wednesday, Judge Beryl Howell motioned to deny the USIP’s request for a TRO.

“I think there is confusion in the complaint that make me uncomfortable,” Howell said.

“I would say I am very offended by how DOGE has operated in the Institute in treating American citizens…. but that concern about how this has gone down is not one that can sway me in the consideration of factors for TRO, which is emergency relief, which is exceptional,” she continued.

Howell, who was appointed as a senior judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 2024, also said she was “particularly concerned about plaintiffs’ likelihood of success.”

“Two of the most important tests, likely to succeed on the merits and likely to suffer irreparable harm, are just a stretch here,” Howell added. 

THE UNELECTED POWER IS THE ROGUE BUREAUCRACY, STEPHEN MILLER SAYS

Judge Beryl Howell, pictured here in 2016, issued her decision on Wednesday. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

USIP, an independent institution funded by Congress, was established in 1984 under the Reagan administration. Its goal is to “[protect] U.S. interests by helping to prevent violent conflicts and broker peace deals abroad,” according to its website.

“Our work helps keep America safe, reducing the risk that the United States will be drawn into costly foreign wars that drive terrorism, criminal gangs and migration,” the agency’s website reads. “We help make America stronger by projecting U.S. influence and bolstering partner countries in regions destabilized by China and other U.S. adversaries.”

USIP had infamously not complied with President Donald Trump‘s February executive order to pull back the “scope of federal bureaucracy,” refusing to reduce its size to the statutory minimum listed in the order.

As such, the Trump administration fired 11 of its 14 board members last week, leaving only Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and National Defense University President Peter Garvin.

Howell’s decision came shortly after the White House told Fox News Digital that the Trump administration had gutted USIP of “rogue bureaucrats.” 

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Signage reading “No Trespassing” is seen on the doorways to the U.S. Institute of Peace building headquarters, Tuesday, in Washington, D.C.  (Getty Images)

“Rogue bureaucrats will not be allowed to hold agencies hostage,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a Tuesday statement. “The Trump administration will enforce the president’s executive authority and ensure his agencies remain accountable to the American people.”

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.

Faith leaders from across the country visited President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday where they prayed with the commander-in-chief.

The White House posted an image of the leaders gathered in prayer around Trump as he sat at his desk. 

William Wolfe, the executive director of the Center for Baptist Leadership, posted the same image. 

POPE FRANCIS SEEN FOR FIRST TIME SINCE BEING ADMITTED TO HOSPITAL: PHOTO

President Donald Trump is seen praying with Faith leaders in the Oval Office on Wednesday. (White House)

“It was a huge honor to represent @BaptistLeaders and meet @realDonaldTrump today along with other Christian leaders and pray for him in the Oval Office,” Wolfe wrote on X. “It’s been an incredible day—been keeping this under wraps until it happened, but can’t wait to share more!!”

Robert Jeffries, the pastor at the First Baptist Dallas church, also remarked on the visit. 

“Honored to lead a prayer today for our great president @realDonaldTrump!” he wrote on X. 

EVEN IF TRUMP SECURES UKRAINE-RUSSIA PEACE DEAL, CAN PUTIN BE TRUSTED?

Then President-elect Donald Trump speaks with Vice President-elect JD Vance during a church service at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square in Washington, DC, Jan. 20.  (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

WallBuilders founder David Barton, who was with the faith leaders, said it was “an honor” to pray for Trump. 

In a video, Barton said Trump was supportive of faith-based programs and policies that are “reflective of family and faith and values.” WallBuilders aims to educate the public on how the Bible has played a pivotal role in the founding of the nation. 

In February, Trump signed an executive order to establish the White House Faith Office as part of the Domestic Policy Council. The order states the new office will consult with faith leaders on various topics, including “defending religious liberty.”

President Donald Trump delivers remarks on the jobs report from the Oval Office at the White House on March 07, 2025, in Washington, DC. The U.S. economy added 151,000 jobs, with the unemployment rate rising slightly to 4.1%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

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On Wednesday evening, Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, will host the Catholics for Catholics Gala.

Speakers at that event will include retired U.S. Army Gen. Michael Flynn and veteran political consultant Roger Stone. 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom admitted that the high Medi-Cal spending, which is the state’s version of the Medicaid program for low-income Golden Staters, is partly due to illegal immigrants being allowed to take part in the program, but that it’s part of a larger cost issue nationwide.

“That’s partial,” Newsom said when asked by a KCRA reporter about the $9.5 billion price tag for the program, which the Newsom administration is having to ask for $6.2 billion in loans to help cover.

A $3.4 million loan was first requested last week, then another $2.8 million was asked for. He further told the local outlet that it was “something we previewed in the January budget.”

CALIFORNIA EXPLOITING MEDICAID ‘LOOPHOLE’ TO PAY BILLIONS FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS’ HEALTHCARE, STUDY SAYS

California Gov. Gavin Newsom admitted that the high Medi-Cal spending is partly due to illegal immigrants being allowed to take part in the program. (Getty Images)

“Yeah,” he said when asked by the outlet if it would be the end of requests made by the state’s Executive Branch for more funding this fiscal year.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE

“With tough fiscal choices ahead, Governor Newsom, jointly with Pro Tem McGuire and Speaker Rivas, will evaluate proposals to rein in long-term spending — including in Medi-Cal — while working to protect the core health and social services Californians rely on,” Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon said in a statement Tuesday to Fox News Digital.

Newsom and the governor’s office have argued that similar problems in Colorado, Pennsylvania and Indiana make the Golden State’s situation less unique. 

TRUMP SURROGATE CORRIN RANKIN PICKED TO LEAD BLUE STATE’S GOP: ‘MAKE CALIFORNIA GREAT AGAIN’

Of the 15 million people in the Medi-Cal program, an estimated 1.6 million are in the United States without proper documentation. (Bill Melugin/Fox News)

Medi-Cal is the state’s affiliate of Medicaid, which is a health insurance program for low-income residents in the Golden State. The program receives taxpayer dollars at both the state and federal levels. 

The $9.5 billion cost was a major increase to the $6 billion projected for the program. It has earned the criticism of numerous Republican lawmakers because of the ability to enroll when “immigration status doesn’t matter,” according to the California Department of Health Care services. 

“That’s a staggering $6.2 billion over budget…and the costs keep climbing with no end in sight,” California Senate Republican Minority Leader Brian Jones, said in a post on X on Monday. “Californians should not be forced to shoulder the burden of radical Democrats’ reckless financial mismanagement.”

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“Even Jerry Brown refused to expand Medi-Cal to all illegal immigrants because he knew it was fiscally irresponsible and unsustainable,” Jones added. “Now under Newsom, legal residents are paying the price both financially and in reduced access to healthcare. The public deserves answers: Why are the costs so much higher than what Newsom promised? What is Newsom’s plan to fix the financial disaster he created?”

NEWSOM ASKS FOR NEARLY ANOTHER $3B FOR STATE HEALTH PROGRAM OVERWHELMED BY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

Medi-Cal is the state’s affiliate of Medicaid, which is a health insurance program for low-income residents in the Golden State. (Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for National Urban League)

Of the 15 million people in the Medi-Cal program, an estimated 1.6 million are in the United States without proper documentation, according to the state.

Fox News’ Jamie Joseph contributed to this report.

The two-decade War on Terror in the Middle East has left America overlooking the security issues in its own backyard, at least according to the House’s new Intelligence Chair Rick Crawford, R-Ark.

“We were so focused on the global war on terror, what that’s done is opened up opportunities for countries like China,” the Arkansas Republican told a small group of reporters as he laid out his priorities for the committee. 

“But even going back before China, you know, obviously the Russians have been very aggressive in the hemisphere, in particular in countries like Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela and elsewhere,” Crawford added. 

“They’ve taken every opportunity to try to carve out a niche of influence in areas… in our backyard.”

GABBARD ANNOUNCES CRACKDOWN ON INTELLIGENCE LEAKS 

The two-decade War on Terror in the Middle East has left America overlooking the security issues in its own backyard, at least according to the House’s new Intelligence Chair Rick Crawford. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Since President Donald Trump took office, his administration has pushed a new Monroe Doctrine-like focus, most notably with Trump calling for the U.S. to take back the Panama Canal from China. 

That call was answered with a deal for U.S.-based BlackRock to take over two ports of entry to the canal from Hong Kong-based C.K. Hutchison. Now, Chinese authorities are threatening to thwart that deal. 

As China increasingly threatens U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific, Crawford believes the U.S. could win a war with the Chinese if it needed to — for now. “But we don’t have a lot of time. We can’t sit back and ponder the situation much more.”

China and Russia are aggressively testing offensive capabilities in space, Pentagon officials have said, while China-watchers warn the CCP is ahead of the U.S. in shipbuilding capabilities, hypersonics, anti-ship ballistic missiles, cyber and is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal. 

Crawford said the U.S. may need to rethink its policy from a focus that leans heavily on cybersecurity to one that considers offensive attacks. 

As China increasingly threatens U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific, Crawford believes the U.S. could win a war with the Chinese if it needed to — for now. (Andy Wong/AP Photo)

Crawford’s predecessor, former committee Chair Mike Turner, fired off an ominous public warning calling on President Joe Biden to declassify information about a threat that was later reported to be Russian anti-satellite capabilities. That warning and the public scare it caused later factored into Speaker Mike Johnson’s decision to replace Turner as head of the committee in January, sources familiar with the situation have told Fox News Digital. 

Crawford’s views also fell closer in line with those of Trump than Turner’s.

Asked if he shared Turner’s concern, Crawford said: “Everything that Russia does is a concern to me as it applies to, you know, their belligerent behavior, the potential that they have.”

“The reason they punch above their weight is, I mean, they have a GDP about the size of Spain. It’s not that they’re a huge economy, it’s that they’re willing to do things that other countries aren’t, and they’re willing to be belligerent. They’re willing to invade their neighbor, and that’s a problem.”

RUBIO THREATENS VENEZUELA WITH NEW SANCTIONS

Venezuela, whose dictatorial leader Nicolas Maduro is backed by China, Russia and Iran, has claimed swaths of Guyanese territory as its own. (Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/Reuters)

It’s a different message than one might expect to hear from a Trump-aligned Republican, amid a thawing in U.S.-Russia relations as Trump tries to negotiate peace between President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. 

“[Russia’s] willingness to do things that most civilized nations wouldn’t do puts them in a unique category,” Crawford said. “So let’s engage in trying to end the hostilities in Ukraine, bring that to a peaceful end to the extent that we can. But, you know, as Reagan said, trust, but verify.”

Crawford also said that the intelligence community [IC] needed a “retooling of the culture” to address recruitment and retention issues. He called the IC’s handling of the Havana Syndrome a “slap in the face” to its sufferers.

The IC’s assessment that Havana Syndrome, also known as anomalous health incidents (AHI) was likely not the work of a foreign adversary “missed the mark grossly.”

“If we’ve got problems with recruiting and retention because the workforce doesn’t think the seventh floor [where leadership sits] has their back, that’s a real problem for national security.” 

Crawford continued: “If analytic integrity or lack of is driving that, that’s something we’re going to have to pay close attention to. And we’re going to exercise rigorous oversight.”

In December, Crawford’s CIA subcommittee released a report finding it “increasingly likely” a foreign adversary had been behind a number of the anomalous health incidents, and that the IC’s assessment finding just the opposite “was developed in a manner inconsistent with analytic integrity and thoroughness.”

Trump officials have repeatedly stressed that this administration will put renewed attention on the Western Hemisphere, with an eye for what Secretary of State Marco Rubio calls “missed opportunities and neglected partners.” (Mark Schiefelbein/Reuters)

Trump officials have repeatedly stressed that this administration will put renewed attention on the Western Hemisphere, with an eye for what Secretary of State Marco Rubio calls “missed opportunities and neglected partners.” 

Crawford added that the U.S. needed to hold close to its relationship with Guatemala. 

“Guatemala is probably our best ally in the hemisphere,” he said. “They want to be a partner. There are others where we see some great opportunity — Guyana and Suriname are sort of beneficiaries of some huge mineral wealth that has developed in the last four or five years.” 

Venezuela, whose dictatorial leader Nicolas Maduro is backed by China, Russia and Iran, has claimed swaths of Guyanese territory as its own. 

The U.S., which does not recognize Maduro’s regime, removed sanctions loopholes for Venezuelan oil in January, and threatened to ramp up financial penalties even further if Maduro will not accept deported migrants.

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For the U.S.’s northern neighbor, Crawford believes the current quarrel with Canada over tariffs and Trump suggesting it become the 51st U.S. state will quiet down due to the important national security partnership. 

“We’re having a little family spat here,” Crawford said. “But you know, Canada is an important ally.” 

The El Paso sector of the southwest border has become the busiest in the country as overall encounters at the border continue to freefall.

The El Paso sector, which extends from Hudspeth County, Texas, to the New Mexico-Arizona state line, became the busiest sector on the southwest border in February, with the latest U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data showing it recorded 2,110 encounters last month.

Overall, CBP data shows 8,347 encounters at the southwest border in February, a stunning 94.1% drop from the same month last year, when 124,215 encounters were recorded.

TRUMP POLICY ON BORDER JUMPERS EMPOWERS USE OF ‘MAXIMUM CONSEQUENCES,’ BORDER AGENT TELLS FOX

Migrants on the banks of the Rio Grande before being processed at the Border Patrol El Paso Sector, Texas, after crossing from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. (Herika Martinez/AFP via Getty Images)

While the El Paso sector took the crown for the busiest, the just over 2,000 encounters for the area still represented a significant year-over-year drop from the numbers recorded during February of last year, when the sector had 23,919 encounters. The February numbers in El Paso also represented a drop from last month, with the sector recording 4,870 encounters in January 2025.

El Paso replaced the San Diego sector as the busiest on the southwest border in February, with San Diego recording just 1,650 encounters last month, a decline of 94.8% from the year before. The numbers for San Diego were also a dramatic drop from those recorded just last month, when the sector recorded 6,390 encounters.

A makeshift shelter that once housed migrants sits empty in the San Diego sector in March 2025. (Michael Lee: Fox News Digital)

TRUMP PUTTING TROOPS ON BORDER WAS GAME CHANGER, SAN DIEGO SECTOR CHIEF SAYS: ‘FORCE MULTIPLIER’

CBP has nine sectors on the southwest border from the coast of California extending east to Texas and the Gulf of America. Multiple sectors along the border recorded under 200 total encounters in February, including the El Centro sector in the Imperial Valley of California and the Big Bend sector of West Texas.

The El Paso sector of the border is the busiest in terms of encounters with illegal migrants. (Fox News Digital)

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The El Centro sector recorded the fewest encounters in February, with CBP data showing just 102, a 91.6% reduction from the same time last year. The Big Ben sector wasn’t far behind, recording just 165 encounters in February, marking a 71% drop from the same month last year.

Woody Allen famously decreed that 90% of success in life is just showing up. 

With that in mind, should the House of Representatives allow members of Congress to vote from home?

How about with very particular criteria?

Oh, you may say, didn’t they try that a few years ago during the pandemic? Lawmakers would literally phone in their votes to a proxy member on the floor. That member in Washington, D.C., would then rifle through a set of index cards, announcing how a member was either in favor or opposed to a given bill, amendment, resolution or motion. 

A remote voting discharge petition by Reps. Luna and Pettersen collected enough signatures last week. (Getty/AP)

POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY: QUARRELING NYC NEIGHBORS A COUNTRY MILE APART ON TRUMP-ERA POLICY

That constituted voting in the House during the darkest days of the pandemic. 

Social distancing spurred proxy voting in the House. It was probably not the best idea to squeeze 435 people into the House at the same time when COVID-19 raged in 2020. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., and former Rep. Ben McAdams, D-Utah, tested positive in mid-March, 2020. McAdams was hospitalized for more than a week after experiencing shortness of breath. 

It took a while, but the House eventually adopted remote voting. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., initially had reservations about the practice, but as the pandemic intensified, proponents argued that flying scores of lawmakers from all around the country into Washington and back to their districts wasn’t feasible or maybe safe.

So the House implemented proxy voting.

DEMOCRATS LAUNCH BILLBOARDS TARGETING HOUSE REPUBLICANS AMID TOWN HALL SHOWDOWNS

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi speaks at 92NY on Oct. 24, 2024 in New York City. (John Lamparski/Getty Images)

“People have to choose between their health and their vote. That shouldn’t be the case,” Pelosi said in 2020. “We should always be removing obstacles of participation to vote.”

Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., represents a district just across the Potomic River in Northern Virginia. That means Beyer was always near Capitol Hill. Beyer served as one of the most reliable surrogates for colleagues to cast votes through him on the floor and would frequently come to the floor toward the end of the roll call vote and read off a flurry of names.

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., decried the practice.

“For more than 231 years, never have we seen a proxy on the floor of the House,” said McCarthy.

Then-Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., conducts a news conference in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Democrats pointed to health and safety. Many Republicans in turn pointed to the Constitution. Article I, Section 5 of the Constitution, which says that “a Majority of each (chamber) shall constitute a Quorum to do business.”

The GOP asserted that anything the House was doing – under proxy voting and Democratic control – was unconstitutional. Members had to be there in person. Yet many Republicans eventually began engaging in the practice – even while some spoke out against remote voting.

Fast-forward to the present.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., gave birth to a son during the summer of 2023. Rep. Brittany Pettersen, D-Colo., gave birth to a son in January. Pettersen was just the 13th woman ever to give birth while in office.

But, becoming a new mom doesn’t always comport with the intense schedule mandated for Members of Congress. Traveling to and from Washington, D.C., lawmakers are routinely expected to be in three places at once: meeting with constituents, voting on the floor and perhaps attending a committee hearing. You get the idea. 

Then there are actual health concerns for new moms. Doctors put some pregnant moms on bedrest. 

“Congress needs to be more accessible to regular people,” said Pettersen. “I wasn’t actually able to fly from Colorado to DC to vote a few weeks before giving birth because of the medical restrictions.”

Luna had a similar experience.

HOUSE DEMS UNDERCUT JEFFRIES ON SCHUMER’S LEADERSHIP AS LEFT’S MESSAGING WOES PERSIST

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna delivers remarks as Rep. Matt Rosendale applauds in the House Chamber during the third day of elections for speaker of the House at the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 5, 2023 in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

“I was trying to figure out what the process was for Members who are about to give birth. And to my disappointment, I was surprised. I was told that I could not vote,” said Luna. “This place is completely out of touch with average day Americans.”

So, Luna teamed with Pettersen to draft a resolution allowing expectant mothers, those who have just given birth and even spouses of new mothers, a three-month window under which to vote remotely.

“It is the first step forward in the right direction to not just give mothers a seat at the table, but also to encourage people to have families,” said Luna. “It’s pretty much hard to get anywhere after eight months.”

There’s a cumbersome parliamentary maneuver that disgruntled House Members can use to try an end-run around leadership if the speaker isn’t keen to put their pet issue on the floor. It’s called a “discharge petition.” A discharge petition requires a solid 218 signatures – regardless of the body’s membership at that moment – to force the House to consider your issue. 

Discharge petitions are rarely successful. 

In 2002, the House successfully adopted a discharge petition for the landmark “McCain-Feingold” campaign finance law. 

Another discharge petition wasn’t successful until there was a bipartisan plan to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank in 2015. 

But discharge petitions got a boost recently. The House adopted two last year alone. One was a package on natural disaster tax relief. Members also advanced a discharge petition to curb the reduction of Social Security payments to senior citizens. But over the past quarter-century, only four discharge petitions collected the requisite signatures to compel House action.

The remote voting discharge petition by Luna and Pettersen collected enough signatures last week. That will trigger the House to consider the plan on proxy voting for moms and parents – unless House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., can convince the sponsors to dial things back. 

Johnson opposes remote voting.

“I’m afraid the whole thing is unconstitutional. “So I’ve tried to discuss this with Anna, and she’s pretty stubborn about it,” said Johnson. 

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., is the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee. He argued that the GOP backlash to proxy voting “was insane” during the pandemic, but then McGovern called out Johnson.

House Speaker Mike Johnson. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

“Speaker Johnson voted remotely 39 times,” said McGovern. 

Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., said he opposes proxy voting because of the potential for members to take advantage of the option.

“Members abused the practice during COVID. They used to go to fundraisers. They used to go on vacation,” said Burchett. “But you can’t fake a pregnancy.”

What Luna and Pettersen actually constructed was a discharge petition for a “rule.” A “rule” is the parliamentary mechanism for the House to put a bill or resolution on the floor. The remote voting plan would pry loose a “rule” allowing the House to consider the Luna/Pettersen resolution.

Any member who signed onto the discharge petition can try to call it up as early as March 27. The House GOP brass can delay putting it on the floor until March 31 or April 1. That’s when the House would actually vote to discharge the “rule” on proxy voting. 

If the House voted to put the “rule” for remote voting on the floor, then it can actually debate and vote on the proposed change itself. But the House GOP leadership could also delay this step by a couple of days, perhaps until April 7 or 8. 

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson is pictured in front of the US Capitol. (Getty Images/AP)

Fox is told that Johnson could prepare a special rule from the Rules Committee to potentially impede the Luna/Pettersen plan. Under House rules, this plan could make the proxy voting plan only available on the second or fourth Monday of the month, but this approach is unwieldy at best.

The House is scheduled to be out of session on the second Monday of the month, April 14, but it does meet on Monday, April 28. So, it’s possible this could string out the plan until then. 

Fox is also told that the House Republican leaders may want to rip the Band-Aid off right away. That could prompt immediate action on the plan when the House returns next week.

Keep in mind that signing the discharge petition only makes it available to come to the floor. The cohort of 218 members who signed the discharge petition are not bound to vote in favor of any of the procedural steps just outlined. They are also not required to vote for the actual change, allowing for remote voting.

That’s why there could be lots of arm-twisting behind the scenes by members who don’t want the House to adopt this plan. 

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Regardless, when the House does consider any of these machinations, members will have to vote in person in the chamber. At least for now. 

Ninety percent of success in life is just showing up. But new parents who double as House Members might argue that success on the home front supersedes that. 

The Trump administration is planning to make cost-saving cuts by merging two similar HIV/AIDS prevention programs run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an administration official told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. The cuts will pertain to administrative costs and DEI-related spending.

The tentative proposal, which is still “a concept of a plan,” is to merge them into one program under HRSA to streamline efficiency – in line with the administration’s downsizing of federal government agenda – as having two separate programs doing similar functions doesn’t make sense, the official said.

“One of those things is still very preliminary, but obviously, you don’t need two $1 billion budgets for this, with $1 billion going to the CDC and $1 billion going to HRSA,” the official said. “Some of that will go toward paying the administrative overhead costs and that sort of thing.” 

Both the CDC and HRSA are part of the Department of Health and Human Services, overseen by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

HOSPITALS WARNED THEY MUST PROTECT CHILDREN FROM CHEMICAL AND SURGICAL MUTILATION: HHS AGENCY MEMO

The Trump administration plans to consolidate two HIV programs into one and administer it through the Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency that reports to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennnedy Jr. (Getty Images)

“If this goes through, that will be more definitive… like with examining DEI spending with these two programs,” the official said. The Trump administration has already moved to slash federal funding of DEI programs and initiatives in one of his early executive actions titled, “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing.”

While the CDC has a department dedicated to the prevention of HIV and other infectious diseases, HRSA also runs a program called the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP), which provides medical care for low-income people with HIV. 

During his first term, in 2019, Trump launched the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative, with the aim of reducing cases of HIV by 75% by 2025 and by 90% by 2030. The initiative is operated by the CDC.

TRANS AIR FORCE SERGEANTS TAKE TRUMP ADMIN TO COURT, SAY IT’S ‘NOT POSSIBLE’ TO SERVE AS WOMEN

The Health and Human Services building in Washington on July 13, 2020. (Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

The proposal, which is still being worked on this week, comes amid big government shake-ups across several federal sectors at the direction of Trump and the Elon Musk-run Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), with thousands of workers let go in mass firings in recent weeks.

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A brand-new “state of the art” air traffic control system will be unveiled by the Trump administration in the “next couple days,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told “Fox & Friends” Wednesday. 

President Donald Trump will get the “first sneak peek” before the system is presented to Congress as part of a funding request, according to Duffy. 

“We’re going to have an announcement in the next couple days. We are going to have a brand new system. Again, our system is 25, 30 years old. We use copper wires, floppy disks. I mean… it’s atrocious, the system we use,” Duffy said. “It’s safe, but we’re seeing the cracks of age. So we’re going to build a brand new state of the art system.” 

“We’re going to go from copper lines to fiber lines. Our radar, some of the newest models that we have date back to like 1982. We’re going to have brand new radar, brand new terminals for air traffic controllers, we’re going to have sensors on runways,” Duffy continued. “So they don’t have to stand in the tower and look out with binoculars. And oftentimes the controller’s views are impeded. On their screens they’ll be able to see where airplanes are at, on the tarmac. So again, top technology that’s going to be deployed.” 

DUFFY PROPOSES BIG PLANS TO UPGRADE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS, USE AI TO FIND ‘HOT SPOTS’ 

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told Fox News on Wednesday that a new “state of the art” air traffic control system will be announced by the Trump administration in the “next couple days.” (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)

Duffy said the key to upgrading the nation’s air traffic control system is “speed.” 

“It’s not that we don’t know that we’ve had a problem with air traffic control, but it takes too long. And then technology changes, money changes, administrations change. So we have to do this really fast. And so the Congress has to give us all the money up front,” he told “Fox & Friends.” 

NTSB PROBE OF CHICAGO MIDWAY NEAR MISS REVEALS SUN GLARE AS POSSIBLE CONTRIBUTING FACTOR 

Air controllers work in the control tower of Ronald Reagan International Airport following a deadly mid-air collision in late January. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)

“We have some SpaceX engineers that are helping us and others, to help us deploy — again this fantastic system,” he also said. “And so we’re going to roll our plan out. Again, I’m talking to the president this week. Give him the first sneak peek, and then we’re going to roll it out to Congress and hopefully get the money quick.” 

Duffy said Trump will get the “first sneak peek” of the new air traffic control system. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Duffy previously said upgrading the system could take up to four years to complete. 

In a push to protect infants, the Food and Drug Administration launched a new initiative Tuesday to ensure baby formula is safe, nutritious, and free from harmful contaminants.

Titled “Operation Stork Feed,” news of the new initiative followed a meeting between Heath and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and several chief executives from baby formula manufacturers. 

The new, comprehensive review of baby formula in the U.S. follows a shortage in 2022 under former President Joe Biden, after a recall from a major manufacturer over bacterial contaminants and COVID-19 supply chain disruptions forced the military to fly in more formula from other countries. A Pro-Publica report last year also highlighted how, under the previous administration, the U.S. pushed more than half-a-dozen countries to loosen their baby formula regulations. 

MOST BABY FOODS MAY NOT MEET NUTRITIONAL GUIDELINES AND USE ‘MISLEADING CLAIMS,’ STUDY FINDS

Pallets of baby formula are transferred to a truck after arriving at an Air Force C-17 at the Indianapolis International Airport in Indianapolis, Sunday, May 22, 2022. The 132 pallets of Nestlé Health Science Alfamino Infant and Alfamino Junior formula arrived from Ramstein Air Base in Germany. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Operation Stork Speed will commence with several steps. One includes the initiation of a nutrient review, which will be the FDA’s first comprehensive update and review of infant formula nutrients since 1998. Another step includes ramping up testing for heavy metals and other contaminants in baby formula, while other steps revolve around addressing transparency and labeling concerns in the baby formula manufacturing industry.

“The FDA is deeply committed to ensuring that moms and other caregivers of infants and young children and other individuals who rely on infant formula for their nutritional needs have confidence that these products are safe, consistently available, and contain the nutrients essential to promote health and well-being during critical stages of development and life,” said Acting FDA Commissioner Sara Brenner. “Whether breastfed, bottle-fed or both, the rising generation must be nourished in a way that promotes health and longevity over the course of their lives.”

FEDERAL DIETARY GUIDELINES WILL SOON CHANGE FOR AMERICANS, HHS AND USDA ANNOUNCE

The Department of Health and Human Services, alongside the Food and Drug Administration, launched a new initiative Tuesday focused on ensuring infant formula has the necessary nutrients and is void of harmful contaminants, among other efforts to improve the safety and reliability of these products. (GETTY IMAGES/FOX NEWS)

Research from Consumer Reports released this week tested 41 types of baby formula for a number of toxic chemicals and found that roughly half of the samples they tested contained potentially harmful levels of contaminants. 

Abbott Laboratories, which was responsible for the 2022 recall that contributed to a nationwide baby formula shortage, was among one of the companies whose products tested above average for heavy metals. However, the company took issue with Consumer Report’s methodology, citing the fact that heavy metals exist in the environment and these substances “may be present in trace amounts in food products, including all brands of infant formula and even human breast milk.”

A House member holds a can of Similac infant formula during a news conference about the shortage of baby formula outside the US Capitol in Washington, D.C., US, on Thursday, May 12, 2022. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

In a statement following news of the initiative, Scott Stoffel, a spokesperson for Abbott Laboratories, said the company was looking forward to supporting the efforts of Operation Stork Speed. 

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“We look forward to working with the Secretary, the FDA, and the scientific and medical communities to continue to make infant formulas even closer to breast milk and support the aims of Operation Stork Speed,” Stoffel said. “Each ingredient in our formulas is purposefully chosen for the type of baby we’re feeding and their unique dietary needs.”

As aspects of President Donald Trump’s agenda are stymied by judges amid legal challenges, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has suggested that Congress could strip federal courts of jurisdiction.

“Congress has the authority to strip jurisdiction of the federal courts to decide these cases in the first place. The sabotaging of President Trump’s agenda by ‘resistance’ judges was predictable — why no jurisdiction-stripping bills tee’d up at the onset of this Congress?” DeSantis wrote in a Wednesday post on X.

When someone responded by asking how Republicans could accomplish this without 60 votes in the Senate, DeSantis replied, “Attach it to a ‘must pass’ bill…”

JUDGE ORDERS REINSTATEMENT OF USAID FUNCTIONS, SAYS DOGE EFFORT TO SHUTTER AGENCY LIKELY UNCONSTITUTIONAL

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gives a victory speech after defeating Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rep. Charlie Crist during his election night watch party at the Tampa Convention Center on Nov. 8, 2022 in Tampa, Fla. (Octavio Jones/Getty Images)

DeSantis, who sought the 2024 Republican presidential nod but ultimately dropped out and backed Trump after the GOP Iowa presidential caucus, floated the idea of stripping federal courts of jurisdiction when replying to a tweet from U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas.

“Lots of noise about impeachment. We must study every ruling & act accordingly w/ everything on the table (noting: 14 Dem votes required in Senate). But, more fertile ground… 1) House can pass a resolution stating there is/was an invasion, 2) we can defund radical courts,” Roy had posted.

EL SALVADOR’S BUKELE WEIGHS IN AFTER TRUMP’S CALL TO IMPEACH JUDGE: ‘THE U.S. IS FACING A JUDICIAL COUP’

In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, Trump called for the impeachment of a judge, apparently referring to Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

“This Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama, was not elected President,” Trump declared in the post. “This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!! WE DON’T WANT VICIOUS, VIOLENT, AND DEMENTED CRIMINALS, MANY OF THEM DERANGED MURDERERS, IN OUR COUNTRY.”

Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, announced that he had introduced articles of impeachment against Boasberg.

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP’S TRANSGENDER MILITARY EXECUTIVE ORDER

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said in a statement on Tuesday, “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”

Fox News’ Shannon Bream and Bill Mears contributed to this report