The Biden administration announced another $4.28 billion in student loan handouts as President Biden and Vice President Harris prepare to leave the White House.

The massive loan handout will give 54,900 public workers loan forgiveness.

“Four years ago, the Biden-Harris Administration made a pledge to America’s teachers, service members, nurses, first responders, and other public servants that we would fix the broken Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, and I’m proud to say that we delivered,” Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a release on Friday.

The action brings the total loan forgiveness approved by Biden to nearly $180 billion for nearly 5 million borrowers.

“With the approval of another $4.28 billion in loan forgiveness for nearly 55,000 public servants, the Administration has secured nearly $180 billion in life-changing student debt relief for nearly five million borrowers,” Cardona said. “The U.S. Department of Education’s successful transformation of the PSLF Program is a testament to what’s possible when you have leaders, like President Biden and Vice President Harris, who are relentlessly and unapologetically focused on making government deliver for everyday working people.”

The Biden-Harris administration touted the program for creating an “incentive” for public servants to “pursue and remain” in their careers by forgiving borrowers’ remaining balance after they made the 120 qualifying monthly payments.

“The relief announced today includes both borrowers who have benefitted from the Administration’s limited PSLF waiver, a temporary opportunity that ended in October 2022, as well as from regulatory improvements made to the program during this Administration,” the release said.

During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden pledged to forgive student loans for millions of Americans if elected, but the president has faced continuous legal roadblocks in his attempt to eliminate hundreds of billions of dollars in debt.

After the Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration’s first attempt at providing broad-based student loan forgiveness, ruling it was an overreach of the executive branch’s authority under the Constitution, the president and his team began to work on other options to provide handouts.

President-elect Trump has not said specifically how he will approach the Biden administration’s student loan handout plans, but he has said he plans to rework the entire education system during his term.

Fox News Digital’s Audrie Spady contributed to this report.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., while speaking at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., called out House Republicans for breaking a bipartisan agreement to fund the government and avoid a government shutdown, accusing them of hurting everyday Americans across the country.

On Wednesday, House GOP leaders scrambled to search for a backup plan after reaching an initial bipartisan deal to avoid a partial government shutdown this Friday was buried by a barrage of opposition from conservative leaders.

Jeffries spoke about the failed deal, accusing Republicans and their leaders for not reaching the agreement.

“House Republicans, house democrats, Senate. Republicans and Senate Democrats reached a bipartisan agreement to fund the government, keep it open and meet the needs of the American people,” Jeffries said, pointing out the agreement would provide disaster assistance for those affected by extreme weather events. “House Republicans have now unilaterally decided to break a bipartisan agreement that they made. House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government and hurt everyday Americans all across this country…An agreement is an agreement. It was bipartisan and there was nothing more to say.”

The minority leader also fired off a post on X, saying, “House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government. And hurt working class Americans they claim to support. You break the bipartisan agreement; you own the consequences that follow.”

As of Wednesday, the U.S. national debt – which is a measure of what U.S. taxpayers were on the hook for to the nation’s creditors – had reached $36,189,345,826,140.62, and was climbing at a rapid pace, showing no signs of slowing down. The federal government’s budget deficit in the recently concluded fiscal year totaled $1.834 trillion, ranking the third largest in U.S. history.

Billionaire Elon Musk, who was appointed by President-elect Trump to serve as a co-chair of the newly-established Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, lambasted the bill on his social media platform, saying the 1,547-page continuing resolution (CR) bill is full of “pork.”

Musk fired back at Jeffries’ on X. 

“You seem to think the public is dumb. They are not.” he wrote.

Musk also wrote in a separate post, “The voice of the people was heard. This was a good day for America.”

Trump adamantly opposed the bill on Wednesday through a series of posts on Truth Social.

“Sounds like the ridiculous and extraordinarily expensive Continuing Resolution, PLUS, is dying fast, but can anyone imagine passing it without either terminating, or extending, the Debt Ceiling guillotine coming up in June?” the incoming president asked. “Unless the Democrats terminate or substantially extend [the] Debt Ceiling now, I will fight ‘till the end. This is a nasty TRAP set in place by the Radical Left Democrats!”

He continued, saying Democrats are looking to embarrass Republicans when it comes up for a vote in June, and the people who extended it from Sept. 28 to June 1, “should be ashamed of themselves.”

Trump called the extension “political malpractice,” and reiterated the bad timing of Congress asking for pay increases.

“Hopefully, you’ll be entitled to such an increase in the near future when we, “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” he said.

In another post, Trump explained that trying to pass a clean CR without all of the bells and whistles Democrats want will be destructive to the country and his administration instead of the Biden administration.

“Any Republican that would be so stupid as to do this should, and will be Primaried,” Trump warned. “Everything should be done, and fully negotiated, prior to my taking office on January 20th, 2025.”

Congressional leaders released the text of their 1,547-page CR on Tuesday evening after last-minute negotiations delayed its original planned release on Sunday. A source familiar with discussions told Fox News Digital more specifically that the deal was largely struck between the top two Democrats and Republicans in each chamber.

Since its release, the CR has seen fierce pushback from conservatives and House GOP hardliners, many of whom are frustrated with unrelenting policy riders attached to the legislation, rather than a “clean” extension of government funding.

While the bill would avert a partial government shutdown through March 14 if passed, it also includes provisions on health care and ethanol fuel, along with $100 billion in disaster aid funding and measures to fund the reconstruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. The bill also includes the first pay raise for lawmakers since 2009.

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

The 1,547-page interim spending bill to avoid a government shutdown is effectively dead. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has all but yanked the plan off the floor after President-elect Trump, Vice President-elect Vance and Elon Musk torched the package to avoid a government shutdown this weekend and fund the government through March 14.

Had House Republicans had the votes to pass the bill – without leaning too heavily on Democrats – Republicans may have been able to pass the bill late Wednesday afternoon before the intervention of Mssrs. Trump and Vance. But there was just too much grassroots pressure, sparked by Musk on X and elsewhere.

The stopgap spending package proved unpopular due to its size, and various legislative ornaments festooned on the bill like a Christmas tree. Conservatives were expecting Johnson to handle the spending plan differently this year at the holidays. But it backfired. Badly.

It’s notable that Mr. Trump did not weigh in until the 11th hour. He also demanded a debt ceiling increase. That’s something which faced the President-elect in the first quarter of the year and threatened to derail any legislative agenda or potentially spook the markets.

Johnson’s decision to veer off course – despite touting the bill heartily on Fox this morning – underscores several things.

This is a sign of things to come once President-elect Trump is in office. And that could present problems for Johnson as he may be at the whim of decisions by the new President?

Why did Johnson pull the bill?

It was wildy unpopular with his rank and file. But it devolved further once Musk and the President-elect got infused themselves. 

In many respects, Johnson’s decision to pull the bill was all about January 3. That’s the day of the Speaker’s vote. With 434 members to start the new Congress, Johnson needs 218 votes. Otherwise, he lacks a majority and cannot become Speaker. The House must vote repeatedly – as it did in January 2023 – before electing former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) five days later in what was the longest Speaker’s race since the 1850s. 

Johnson tried to salvage himself in the Speaker’s vote by adding emergency agriculture spending to the bill. But Johnson is now trying to salvage himself by coming up with a new bill. 

The irony is that Johnson did not want to create drama before Christmas with a spending package. But drama is exactly what he got in what quickly became the worst Congressional holiday standoff since the fiscal cliff in 2012 or a government shutdown threat in 2014.

So here’s the $64,000 Question: What play does Johnson call next?

Does he do a clean CR to fund the government with nothing attached? Is it a bill that just re-ups current funding coupled with disaster aid? Do they attach a debt ceiling suspension as President-elect Trump has requested?

And then the biggest question of all: can ANYTHING pass at all? Especially without votes from the Democrats?

Johnson has a tranche of conservatives who won’t vote for any CR at all. Many of them would also not vote for a debt ceiling increase, either. 

And even if there is a new bill, do conservatives insist on waiting three days to ponder that bill? That triggers a government shutdown right there.

The deadline is 11:59:59 pm ET on Friday.  

So this is going to require someone to pull a rabbit out of a hat. 

President-elect Trump’s maneuver today is reminiscent of a similar move he made in December 2019, which sparked the longest government shutdown in history. 

Then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), then-Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and others thought they had a deal to fund the government and avoid a Christmas-time shutdown. 

The Senate voted for the bill. Senators even sat in the back of the chamber and sang Christmas carols during the vote. 

Mr. Trump then balked at the last minute. House Republicans followed suit. The government shut down for more than a month. 

House GOP leaders are working toward a backup plan after an initial bipartisan deal to avoid a partial government shutdown on Friday was killed by an avalanche of conservative opposition.

The legislation angered conservatives in both the House and Senate, as well as President-elect Trump’s pick to co-chair his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Elon Musk.

As Musk called for lawmakers who supported the bill to lose their seats, Trump’s presidential transition team released an official joint statement by Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance opposing the initial iteration of the deal.

As of Wednesday, the U.S. national debt – which is a measure of what U.S. taxpayers were on the hook for to the nation’s creditors – had reached $36,189,345,826,140.62, and was climbing at a rapid pace, showing no signs of slowing down.

Additionally, the federal government’s budget deficit in the recently concluded fiscal year totaled $1.834 trillion, ranking the third largest in U.S. history.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., confirmed to reporters that the deal was dead while leaving the Capitol on Wednesday night.

“There’s still a lot of negotiations and conversations going on but there’s no new agreement,” Scalise said. He said he did not speak with Trump “directly” all day.

The bill was expected to get a vote sometime Wednesday afternoon, but a planned round of late afternoon votes was canceled. Instead, senior Republicans are huddling in the speaker’s office to chart a path forward, less than 24 hours after the legislation was unveiled.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., told reporters while leaving Johnson’s office in the early evening, “There will be a new CR likely tomorrow. They are negotiating right now. But there will be no votes this evening.”

Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., told reporters a short while later he anticipated a “skinny” CR without disaster aid or agricultural subsidies.

It came after GOP critics of the spending bill spent much of the day attacking Johnson’s handling of the issue.

As of Wednesday, the U.S. national debt – which is a measure of what U.S. taxpayers were on the hook for to the nation’s creditors – had reached $36,189,345,826,140.62, and was climbing at a rapid pace, showing no signs of slowing down.

The 1,547-page bill is a short-term extension of fiscal year (FY) 2024 government funding levels, aimed at giving lawmakers more time to agree on funding the rest of FY 2025 by the Friday deadline.

It’s the second such extension, called a continuing resolution (CR), since FY 2024 ended on Sept. 30.

In addition to funding the government through March 14, the bill includes more than $100 billion in disaster aid to help Americans affected by Hurricanes Milton and Helene. It also includes an $10 billion in economic relief for farmers, as well as health care reform measures and a provision aimed at revitalizing Washington, D.C.’s RFK stadium and its surrounding campus.

Members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus said they felt blindsided by what they saw as unrelated policy riders being added to the bill in last-minute negotiations.

Several GOP lawmakers granted anonymity to speak freely said Johnson would see challenges to his speakership bid in early January over the matter.

But Johnson defended the deal on “Fox & Friends” Wednesday morning.

“When we start the new Congress in January, when Republicans are in control … we’re going to be able to scale back the size and scope of government. But before we get to that point, remember right now, we only control one half of one third of the federal government. Remember, Democrats are still in charge of the Senate and the White House. So, what we’ve done is the conservative play call here,” he said.

Opponents of the legislation include Elon Musk, who posted on X, “Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!”

He later called on Republicans to leverage a partial government shutdown. 

“‘Shutting down’ the government (which doesn’t actually shut down critical functions btw) is infinitely better than passing a horrible bill,” he suggested.

Trump and Vance called for Republicans to reject the deal and instead opt for a CR paired with an increase in the U.S. debt limit, which was suspended until January 2025.

“Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but we’d rather do it on Biden’s watch. If Democrats won’t cooperate on the debt ceiling now, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration? Let’s have this debate now. And we should pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want,” the statement said.

Trump later said on Truth Social that any Republican who supported a CR without a debt limit increase deserved to be primaried.

Scalise signaled it was being considered but would not commit to any plan.

“We’ve been having some conversations about the debt limit as it relates to the CR, so those are ongoing conversations,” he said.

But simply bowing to his right flank may not get Johnson out of the woods, with Democrats warning him to not renege on their deal.

“House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government. And hurt the working class Americans they claim to support. You break the bipartisan agreement, you own the consequences that follow,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., wrote on X.

Johnson was always likely to need Democratic help to pass a CR, given his slim margins in the House and widespread opposition to short-term funding extensions within the GOP.

But it’s not clear if the number of Democrats willing to break ranks will offset that Republican opposition. 

House leaders will also have to decide whether to put the bill through regular order, which will include a House Rules Committee vote followed by a House-wide procedural vote before lawmakers can weigh in on the measure itself. Or they could bypass that and rush the bill onto the House floor in exchange for raising the threshold for passage to two-thirds rather than a simple majority.

All the while, the clock is ticking until the partial government shutdown deadline at the end of Friday.

President-elect Trump commented Wednesday that it was “too bad” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was recently turned down for a leadership position on a House committee, prompting an amused response by the progressive politician. 

“Really too bad that AOC lost the Battle for the Leadership Seat in the Democrat Party,” Trump wrote Wednesday on Truth Social. “She should keep trying. Someday, she will be successful!”

Later, the New York congresswoman shared a screenshot of Trump’s remarks and wrote a humorous response.

“Damn you know it’s bad when even Trump is feeling bad for me,” Ocasio-Cortez said, adding a laughing emoji.

The amusing exchange came just one day after the 36-year-old Democrat was defeated in her bid to serve as the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. The leadership role went to Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, who received 131 votes to Ocasio-Cortez’s 84.

“I thank my colleagues for their support and the confidence they’ve placed in me to lead House Democrats on the Oversight Committee,” Connolly said in a statement after being elected by the House Democratic Caucus.

“This will be trench warfare,” he added. “Now is not the time to be timid. I promise the American people that our Committee Democrats will be a beacon of truth and prepared from day one to counter Republican gaslighting.”

Ocasio-Cortez, who has served on the oversight committee since 2023, wrote on the social media platform Bluesky that she “tried her best” with her bid.

“Tried my best. Sorry I couldn’t pull it through everyone — we live to fight another day,” she wrote.

Fox News Digital’s Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.

President-elect Trump on Wednesday said he is “totally against” the continuing resolution (CR) being debated by the House to keep the government from shutting down through March.

Trump spoke with “FOX & Friends” co-host Lawrence Jones on Wednesday, telling him the “fight starts now.”

“I just spoke with President-elect [Trump], and he is ‘totally against’ the proposed CR,” Jones wrote in a post on X. 

In another post, the morning show co-host wrote, “The President-elect [Trump] believes that the ‘fight starts now,’ rather than waiting until he is sworn in.

Jones later wrote, “The President-elect [Trump] acknowledged [House Speaker Mike Johnson’s] challenging situation but emphasized that this approach is not the appropriate course of action.”

As of Wednesday, the U.S. national debt – which is a measure of what U.S. taxpayers were on the hook for to the nation’s creditors – had reached $36,189,345,826,140.62, and was climbing at a rapid pace, showing no signs of slowing down. Additionally, the federal government’s budget deficit in the recently concluded fiscal year totaled $1.834 trillion, ranking the third largest in U.S. history.

Congressional leaders in Washington, D.C., released the text of their 1,547-page CR on Tuesday evening after last-minute negotiations delayed its original planned release on Sunday. A source familiar with discussions told Fox News Digital more specifically that the deal was largely struck between the top two Democrats and Republicans in each chamber.

Since its release, the CR has seen strong opposition from conservatives and House GOP hardliners, many of whom are frustrated with unrelenting policy riders attached to the legislation, rather than a “clean” extension of government funding.

While the bill would avert a partial government shutdown through March 14 if passed, it also includes provisions on health care and ethanol fuel, along with $100 billion in disaster aid funding and measures to fund the reconstruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. The bill also includes the first pay raise for lawmakers since 2009.

Republican congressional leaders have defended their plan for a stopgap spending bill, arguing it would allow Trump to have a greater influence on spending when the question comes up again in the spring.

Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance released a statement on the spending bill on Wednesday.

“The most foolish and inept thing ever done by Congressional Republicans was allowing our country to hit the debt ceiling in 2025. It was a mistake and is now something that must be addressed,” they wrote. “Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but we’d rather do it on Biden’s watch. 

“If Democrats won’t cooperate on the debt ceiling now, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration? Let’s have this debate now. And we should pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want.

“Republicans want to support farmers and pay for disaster relief while setting the country up for success in 2025.”

“The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country,” they said. “Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH. 

“If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF. It is Schumer and Biden who are holding up aid to our farmers and disaster relief. THIS CHAOS WOULD NOT BE HAPPENING IF WE HAD A REAL PRESIDENT. WE WILL IN 32 DAYS!”

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, who was appointed co-chair of Trump’s newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), also came out in opposition to Johnson’s proposed bill to keep the government funded on Wednesday.

Musk turned to his social media platform X to argue that the 1,547-page document is full of “pork.”

“This bill should not pass,” he wrote.

The other co-chair of DOGE, Vivek Ramaswamy, expressed skepticism of the bill on Tuesday, though he did not outright oppose Johnson’s solution.

“Currently reading the 1,547-page bill to fund the government through mid-March. Expecting every U.S. Congressman & Senator to do the same,” Ramaswamy wrote on X.

The GOP holds a one-seat majority in the House, meaning Johnson will likely have to rely on Democratic votes to pass the bill. The legislation must also pass the Senate by the Friday deadline to avoid a shutdown.

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

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., blocked a Senate bill Wednesday that would have authorized resources for state and local authorities to track drones that have mystified residents across New Jersey and the Northeast in recent weeks. 

Paul objected to the passage of the bill, citing his long-standing concerns over expanding governmental powers. 

“This body must not rush to grant sweeping surveillance powers without proper consideration and debate by the committees of jurisdiction,” he said.

Paul said the bill would “expand federal authority to intercept communications and disrupt drone activity – powers that raise serious concerns for Americans’ privacy, civil liberties, and Fourth Amendment protections against unwarranted search and seizure.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., sought to speed a bipartisan bill through the Senate by seeking unanimous consent on the floor before it was blocked by Paul. 

“The people in New York and New Jersey have a lot of questions, and they’re not getting good enough answers,” said Schumer. “The utter confusion surrounding these drone sightings shows that the feds can’t respond all on their own.”

In addition to giving local authorities the ability to track drones, the proposed legislation would expand some federal agencies’ authority to start a pilot program to allow states and local authorities to disrupt, disable or seize a drone without prior consent of the operator.

The drone sightings across the Northeast have worried some local and state officials, but the Biden administration has said the drones don’t appear to be a sign of foreign interference or a public safety threat.

However, they have not determined who is responsible for them. 

President-elect Trump last week called for the administration to release information on the drones or shoot them down. Paul, who has often called for limiting governmental powers, said he objected to the bill because it wasn’t clear that urgent action was needed. 

“We’re being told that this legislation is urgent, that it is needed to address an imminent drone threat,” he said. “Yet the government itself admits no such threat exists.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

EXCLUSIVE: House GOP critics of how Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is handling government funding talks are already beginning to float names of possible challengers, people told Fox News Digital.

Two GOP lawmakers told Fox News Digital that House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn.; House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio; and Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., were all mentioned in early talks about alternatives.

One of the two lawmakers said they had not heard from any of the three, adding, “That would be suicidal.” 

A person close to Donalds told Fox News Digital in response, “At this time, the Congressman has not made any statements regarding the future of House leadership.”

A spokesperson for Emmer told Fox News Digital, “Whip Emmer supports Speaker Johnson and is focused on doing the job he was elected to do.”

Fox News Digital also reached out to Jordan and Johnson’s offices for comment.

But discussions about potential rivals to Johnson in the Jan. 3 House-wide speaker vote represent the latest warning shot from Republican lawmakers who are vehemently opposed to the short-term spending bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR).

As of Wednesday, the U.S. national debt – which is a measure of what U.S. taxpayers were on the hook for to the nation’s creditors – had reached $36,189,345,826,140.62, and was climbing at a rapid pace, showing no signs of slowing down. Additionally, the federal government’s budget deficit in the recently concluded fiscal year totaled $1.834 trillion, ranking the third largest in U.S. history.

Congressional leaders released the text of their 1,547-page CR on Tuesday evening after last-minute negotiations delayed its original planned release on Sunday. A source familiar with discussions told Fox News Digital more specifically that the deal was largely struck between the top two Democrats and Republicans in each chamber.

Since then, it has seen fierce pushback from conservatives and House GOP hardliners, many of whom are frustrated at the unrelated policy riders attached to the legislation — rather than a “clean” extension of government funding.

In addition to averting a partial government shutdown through March 14, the bill also includes provisions on health care and ethanol fuel, plus more than $100 billion in disaster aid funding and measures to fund the rebuilding of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge and the first pay raise for lawmakers since 2009.

Multiple GOP lawmakers signaled Tuesday that Johnson could face a challenge to his leadership over the CR.

“The speaker definitely has some ‘no’ votes and some people considering their options,” a third House Republican granted anonymity to speak candidly told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital when asked if Johnson could see blowback on Jan. 3, “There’s always consequences.”

When previously asked about any potential speakership challenges, Emmer, Jordan and Donalds have all said they back Johnson.

A source close to Jordan told Fox News Digital that the Ohio Republican is “not interested in challenging Johnson.”

But all three ran for House Speaker last year after ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was ousted. Johnson ultimately won after a messy three-week fight.

The Louisiana Republican, who Republicans chose unanimously to be their candidate for speaker last month, is also backed by President-elect Trump, which is likely to keep a significant amount of backlash at bay.

He is also still expected to get a large share of GOP lawmakers to vote for his plan, with most in Congress in agreement that a partial government shutdown over the holidays would have a negative political and economic impact.

But his CR plan is also under attack by members of Trump’s orbit — both Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy blasted the bill on Wednesday.

“Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!” Musk wrote on X.

Johnson himself dismissed concerns about his job as the blowback began to build on Tuesday.

“I’m not worried about the speaker vote,” he said. “We’re governing. Everybody knows we have difficult circumstances. We’re doing the very best we can under those circumstances.”

The speaker and his allies have argued that they won the most they could while controlling one half of one third of government, and promised that Republicans would be in a better position to handle federal funding when the CR expires at the beginning of Trump’s term.

Members of the House Border Security Caucus pledged to back President-elect Trump and his border czar Tom Homan’s mass deportation plans and vowed to crack down on “particularly pernicious” sanctuary city policies protecting “evil terrorists” and “cartel thugs.”  

Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, decried the historic level of illegal immigration under the Biden administration and the subsequent dramatic rise in migrant crime and gang activity, including the violent Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua.

He called for the rest of Congress to stand behind Trump’s border security plans, saying that “every single one of these cartel thugs and evil terrorists needs to be deported immediately.”

“The American people can finally breathe a very big and deep sigh of relief,” said Babin. “The disastrous Biden administration is coming to an end and with that, that will be an end of open borders, asylum abuse, lawlessness, sanctuary cities – all these will end as well.”

“But for us, as members of the House Border Security Conference,” Babin went on, “our job is just begun.”

California Republican Rep. Tom McClintock also said congressional Republicans’ “first priority” must be passing the Secure the Border Act. He said this would “assure that future presidents cannot subvert the law as Biden has.” 

“President Trump proved that simply enforcing laws can produce secure borders,” he said. “But President Biden proved that a president intent on leaving our borders wide open can do so as well.”

McClintock also said Congress needs to sanction sanctuary jurisdictions that are protecting criminal illegal immigrants from deportation.

Texas Republican Rep. Michael Cloud backed this idea as well, saying that Republicans in Congress need to “steel our spine” to defund agencies and cities that serve as magnets to draw illegal immigrants into the country.

“As Congress, we need to defund the wrong things. We need to stop sending these agencies’ money to do bad things. And that includes the magnet that continues to draw people here through wrong and illegal processes,” he said. “So, we will have to take the tough votes. We will have to do the job that’s required of us in Congress… to make sure that we make good on the promise that we have given the American people.”

Arizona Republican Rep. Andy Biggs called the sanctuary city issue “particularly pernicious.”

He mentioned how his home state governor, Democrat Katie Hobbs, has pledged to resist Trump’s efforts to secure the border, saying she “unequivocally” “will not tolerate” the plan. Hobbs is one of several other Democratic leaders in over a dozen sanctuary states and dozens more sanctuary cities who have similarly pledged to resist the mass deportations. 

“The problem is this, when you prevent the arrest of a criminal, illegal alien, you prevent the safety of the community,” said Biggs. “When you ignore the law, the community is put at risk.”  

Biggs said mayors and governors doubling down on sanctuary policies and pledging resistance are “going to find themselves in hot water,” and will likely face obstruction of justice and aiding and abetting criminal cartel charges.

“The cartel knows that Donald Trump means business and Tom Homan means business,” he said. “And, hopefully, Congress means business.”

A State Department agency – which has been chided by conservatives for its alleged blacklisting of Americans and news outlets – is set to be refunded in the continuing resolution (CR) bill currently being hammered out among lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

The Global Engagement Center has been included in page 139 of the CR. Although it doesn’t specify its budget allocation, a previous Inspector General report shows the agency’s FY 2020 budget totaled $74.26 million, of which $60 million was appropriated by Congress. 

The provision in the CR can be found under “Foreign Affairs Section 301. Global Engagement Center Extension,” and comes despite the State Department saying in response to a lawsuit that it intended to shut down the agency by next week.

The GEC, according to reporter Matt Taibbi, “funded a secret list of subcontractors and helped pioneer and insidious—and idiotic—new form of blacklisting” during the pandemic. 

Taibbi wrote last year when exposing the Twitter Files that the GEC “flagged accounts as ‘Russian personas and proxies’ based on criteria like, ‘Describing the Coronavirus as an engineered bioweapon,’ blaming ‘research conducted at the Wuhan institute,’ and ‘attributing the appearance of the virus to the CIA.’” 

“State also flagged accounts that retweeted news that Twitter banned the popular U.S. website ZeroHedge, claiming it ‘led to another flurry of disinformation narratives.'” ZeroHedge had made reports speculating that the virus had a lab origin.

Elon Musk previously described the GEC as being the “worst offender in US government censorship & media manipulation.” 

“They are a threat to our democracy,” Musk wrote in a subsequent tweet. 

The GEC is part of the State Department but also partners with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Special Operations Command and the Department of Homeland Security. The GEC also funds the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab).

Taibbi offered various instances in which the DFRLab and the GEC sent Twitter a list of accounts they believed were engaged in “state-backed coordinated manipulation.” However, a quick glance from Twitter employees determined that the list was shoddy and included the accounts of multiple American citizens with seemingly no connection to the foreign entity in question.

DFRLab Director Graham Brookie previously denied the claim that they use tax money to track Americans, saying its GEC grants have “an exclusively international focus.”

A 2024 report from the Republican-led House Small Business Committee criticized the GEC for awarding grants to organizations whose work includes tracking domestic as well as foreign misinformation and rating the credibility of U.S.-based publishers, according to the Washington Post. 

The State Department, in response to a lawsuit, said it intended to shut down the agency on Dec. 23. But the CR provision means, if passed, it will continue to operate.

The lawsuit was brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Daily Wire and the Federalist, who sued the State Department, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and other government officials earlier this month for “engaging in a conspiracy to censor, deplatform and demonetize American media outlets disfavored by the federal government.”

The lawsuit stated that the GEC was used as a tool for the defendants to carry out its censorship. 

“Congress authorized the creation of the Global Engagement Center expressly to counter foreign propaganda and misinformation,” the Texas Attorney General’s Office said in a press release. “Instead, the agency weaponized this authority to violate the First Amendment and suppress Americans’ constitutionally-protected speech. 

The complaint describes the State Department’s project as “one of the most egregious government operations to censor the American press in the history of the nation.’”

The lawsuit argued that The Daily Wire, The Federalist, and other conservative news organizations were branded “unreliable” or “risky” by the agency, “starving them of advertising revenue and reducing the circulation of their reporting and speech—all as a direct result of [the State Department’s] unlawful censorship scheme.”

Meanwhile, America First Legal, headed up by Stephen Miller, President-elect Trump’s pick for deputy chief of staff for policy, revealed that the GEC used taxpayer dollars to create a video game called “Cat Park” to “Inoculate Youth Against Disinformation” abroad. 

The game “inoculates players … by showing how sensational headlines, memes, and manipulated media can be used to advance conspiracy theories and incite real-world violence,” according to a memo obtained by America First Legal. 

Mike Benz, the executive director at the Foundation For Freedom Online, said the game was “anti-populist” and pushed certain political beliefs instead of protecting Americans from foreign disinformation, per the Tennessee Star.

A State Department spokesperson said the agency does not comment on pending legislation when asked for comment by Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital reached out to the GEC for comment on its potential refunding but did not immediately receive a response. 

Fox News Nikolas Lanum and Louis Casiano contributed to this report. 

The Senate voted to pass the $895 billion annual defense policy bill that includes a pay raise for U.S. servicemembers and a provision that restricts transgender care. 

The bill passed 85 to 14, and now heads to President Biden’s desk for his signature. 

The legislation scored a more bipartisan vote in the Senate than it did in the House, where more Democrats voted no on the legislation in protest of the transgender provisions. 

The bill prohibits military health care provider Tricare from paying for transgender care “that could result in sterilization” for children under 18.

The legislation passed the House last week 281-140, with 16 Republicans voting “no.” Only 81 Democrats voted yes – 124 voting no – a much larger margin than in years passed when the legislation typically enjoyed bipartisan support. 

The 1,800-page bill details how $895.2 billion allocated toward defense and national security will be spent. It will be voted on more than two months after the start of the fiscal year. 

The $895.2 billion represents a 1% increase over last year’s budget, a smaller number than some defense hawks would have liked. 

Additionally, while the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) outlines policy, a separate spending bill will actually fund the programs it lays out. That spending legislation will be voted on in the next Congress, when Republicans will have a narrow majority in both chambers. 

A significant portion of the legislation focused on quality-of-life improvements for servicemembers amid record recruitment issues, a focus of much bipartisan discussion over the last year. That includes a 14.5% pay increase for junior enlisted servicemembers and increasing access to child care for servicemembers while also providing job support to military spouses.

The measure authorizes a 4.5% across-the-board pay raise for all servicemembers starting Jan. 1 and a 2% increase for civilian personnel within the Department of Defense.

It also puts more restrictions on Chinese-made drones, fearing their use in the U.S. could be for foreign surveillance. It specifically targets China-based DJI and Autel Robotoics. 

The NDAA mandates that a national security agency must determine within one year if drones from DJI or Autel Robotics pose unacceptable national security risks. If no agency completes the study, the companies would automatically be added to the Federal Communications Commission’s “covered lists,” preventing them from operating in the U.S. 

DJI is the world’s largest drone manufacturer and sells more than half of all U.S. commercial drones. 

The bill recommends a $20 million increase in counter-unmanned aerial systems (UAS) Advanced Development budget and requires the Defense secretary to establish a “C-UAS task force” within 30 days and provide a report to congressional defense committees on the military’s latest counter-drone training efforts within four months.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., led a group of 21 Democratic senators demanding an amendment to remove the transgender care restrictions from the NDAA. That amendment was not included as it would have forced the bill back to the House. Congressional leaders spent months conferencing to find agreement between the chambers and the parties on the yearly must-pass legislation. 

“Let’s be clear: we’re talking about parents who are in uniform serving our country who have earned the right to make the best decisions for their families,” Baldwin said in a statement. “I trust our servicemembers and their doctors to make the best health care decisions for their kids, not politicians.”

The amendment will affect care for 7,000 children, according to Baldwin, who said she would support the NDAA if not for the provision.

Other Democrats said they had objections to the provision, but the bill’s provisions to strengthen U.S. defenses against China, raise pay for servicemembers, invest in new military technologies and replenish weapons stockpiles. 

“Of course, the NDAA is not perfect. It doesn’t have everything either side would like … But of course, you need bipartisanship to get this through the finish line,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters Tuesday he shares his colleagues’ “frustration” with House Speaker Mike Johnson’s “extreme, misguided provision,” but he said Democrats during the negotiation process were able to strip out “the vast majority of very far right provisions that had passed in the House bill.”

Provisions like a blanket ban on funding for gender transition surgeries for adults did not make their way into the bill. Neither did a ban on requiring masks to prevent the spread of diseases. 

The bill also supports deploying the National Guard to the southern border to help with illegal immigrant apprehensions and drug flow. 

Another provision opens the door to allowing airmen and Space Force personnel to grow facial hair. It directs the secretary of the Air Force to brief lawmakers on “the feasibility and advisability” of establishing a pilot program to test out allowing beards. 

Democrats are also upset the bill did not include a provision expanding access to IVF for servicemembers. Currently, military health care only covers IVF for servicemembers whose infertility is linked to service-related illness or injury.

However, the bill did not include an amendment to walk back a provision allowing the Pentagon to reimburse servicemembers who have to travel out of state to get an abortion.

The bill extends a hiring freeze on DEI-related roles and stops all such recruitment until “an investigation of the Pentagon’s DEI programs” can be completed.

Johnson, meanwhile, touted $31 billion in savings in the legislation that would come from cutting “inefficient programs, obsolete weapons, and bloated Pentagon bureaucracy.”

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., has suggested that it is his duty to meet with President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees, noting that his decision about whether to vote to confirm the candidates will stem from an open mind and informed perspective.

“I believe that it’s appropriate and the responsibility of a U.S. Senator to have a conversation with President-elect Trump’s nominees. That’s why I met with Elise Stefanik and Pete Hegseth, just wrapped with Tulsi Gabbard, and look forward to my meetings with others soon,” Fetterman declared in a post on X.

“My votes will come from an open-mind and an informed opinion after having a conversation with them. That’s not controversial, it’s my job,” he continued.

Trump has tapped Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Hegseth to serve as secretary of defense, and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for the role of director of national intelligence.

While Fetterman has previously noted that he plans to support Stefanik, it is unclear whether he will ultimately back Hegseth and Gabbard for confirmation.

Fox News Digital reached out to request comment from the senator, but a spokesperson did not provide any additional insight into Fetterman’s voting plans regarding Hegseth and Gabbard.

Fetterman has been unflinching in his staunch support for Israel in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack against the U.S. ally.

“Always was a hard YES for @EliseStefanik but it was a pleasure to have a conversation. I support defunding UNRWA for its documented Hamas infiltration and fully look forward to her holding the @UN accountable for its endemic antisemitism and blatant anti-Israel views,” Fetterman declared in a post earlier this month.

He has also pledged to support Sen. Marco Rubio’s confirmation to serve as secretary of state.

“Unsurprisingly, the other team’s pick will have political differences than my own,” Fetterman noted in a post on X last month. “That being said, my colleague @SenMarcoRubio is a strong choice and I look forward to voting for his confirmation.”

The Biden administration released a draft report on Tuesday warning of potentially negative impacts to Americans should the president’s moratorium on liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports be lifted.  

The report, which concludes that growth in LNG exports could cause U.S. energy prices to climb by as much as 30% in coming years while contributing to carbon emissions, was quickly met with pushback by energy industry officials dismissing it as a “politically motivated” appeal to environmentalists. Meanwhile, one environmental group panned the same report as “weak and half-hearted.”

The study comes weeks before President-elect Donald Trump is to take office and follows on President Biden’s decision in January to pause all new U.S. LNG exports to non-Free Trade Agreement countries, citing the need to better consider climate and economic impacts of such “sizeable” growth in sales of LNG to buyers in Asia and Europe. President-elect Trump vowed on the campaign trail to quickly reverse Biden’s moratorium once he’s in office.

The draft report analysis, which is now open for a 60-day comment period, found that U.S. LNG growth could cause prices to rise for U.S. consumers by as much as 30% in the near-term. Additionally, while it stopped short of recommending a full ban on LNG exports — in recognition of near-term demand from other countries — it also focused largely on the negative impacts for U.S. consumers, who Energy Department officials said could see energy prices rise by roughly $100 by 2050 as a result of the tighter demand. 

The analysis noted that boosting U.S. LNG exports beyond currently authorized levels could cause as much as 1.5 gigatons of CO2 equivalent emissions into the atmosphere by 2050, or roughly 25% of the nation’s annual greenhouse gas emissions.

However, industry groups have pushed back on this assertion. One senior industry official told Fox News Digital that that data set models for a scenario that assumes the growth in LNG exports does not substitute any other forms of energy consumption, such as coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel. In reality, this person noted, LNG is expected to help offset emissions from coal use in the EU and elsewhere by as much as 50-60%, according to estimates from the International Energy Agency.

While the analysis found that increasing exports would result in a roughly 0.2% rise in U.S. GDP, Energy Department officials told reporters Tuesday that the increase in GDP “does not necessarily correlate with a positive effect on broader public and consumer welfare.”

In a statement released alongside the report, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm noted that increasing LNG exports would “generate wealth for the owners of export facilities and create jobs across the natural gas supply chain,” but she suggested that the domestic price of natural gas would increase.

The study comes as U.S. sales of the chilled natural gas have boomed. The U.S. rose in 2023 to become the world’s No. 1 exporter of LNG, and current capacity is already slated to double by the end of the decade on the backs of current projects, according to estimates from the Energy Information Administration.

It also comes as Russia’s war in Ukraine has sparked new demand from U.S. allies in Europe, who have scrambled to purchase LNG to offset lost Russian piped gas, and Japan, an import-dependent nation that receives as much as 90% of its energy from outside suppliers.

The report, released just weeks before Trump assumes office on Jan. 20, sparked backlash from natural gas advocates.

“Today’s report from Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is clearly a politically motivated document designed for an audience who believes no form of carbon-based energy is acceptable,” National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) CEO and President Jay Timmons said in a statement. “LNG exports play a crucial role in reducing emissions by providing cleaner energy alternatives to countries reliant on higher emission sources.”

For its part, NAM conducted a study on the ban that found nearly 1 million jobs would be threatened by the LNG pause over the next two decades if the restriction remains in place, Fox News Digital previously reported.

American Gas Association CEO and President Karen Harbert described the report as a “clear and inexplicable attempt to justify their grave policy error.”

“America’s allies are suffering from the weaponization of natural gas and energy deprivation and any limitations on supplying life essential energy is absolutely wrong-headed,” Harbert said in a statement, adding, “The Biden Administration’s pause on American LNG exports was a mistake that resulted in uncertainty for the market, for investors, and for America’s allies around the world.” 

The report is not without its critics from the left, however. 

The environmental group, Food & Water Watch, also slammed the Biden administration for the “weak” report cautioning LNG exports.

“This study mirrors the Biden administration’s entire four-year approach to advancing a clean energy future: weak and half-hearted,” Jim Walsh, Food & Water Watch policy director, said in a statement. “We cannot continue to be victimized by the profit-driven agenda of fossil fuel corporations. President Biden must listen to the warnings of his own government by banning further LNG exports and rejecting pending LNG permits before he leaves office.”

President-elect Trump, for his part, has also repeatedly pledged to undo the LNG pause upon taking office and to “unleash” U.S. energy exports, blaming high costs and supply issues on the outgoing Biden administration.

In October, he vowed at a campaign rally that U.S. residents would see their energy prices cut “in half” within one year of his inauguration.

Most recently, he vowed to “go strong on the issue” by moving to immediately lift Biden’s LNG pause to allow for new LNG exports after his inauguration, sources familiar with the transition plans told Reuters. 

The Biden administration has officially granted California permission to ban new gas car sales in the state by 2035. 

California set a strict emissions standard that would ban new gas cars in the state by 2035, but officials needed to obtain a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in order to proceed with the mandate.

The EPA on Wednesday announced that it would be approving two waivers, under the Clean Air Act, that grants California permission to phase out gas cars in the state — one of President Biden’s final acts pushing the auto industry into the green energy sector. 

One waiver grants California’s near future request to mandate that 35% of new cars and light-duty trucks sales be zero emissions by 2026 and achieve 90% below current emissions by 2027.

The other EPA waiver allows California officials to mandate that all new car sales be zero-emission within the decade — the most strict EV mandate in the country.

However, the waivers could soon be revoked by President-elect Trump, who is reportedly planning to rescind both federal EV requirements and any waiver issued for California by the Biden administration.

“Fresh off imposing his insane, job-killing electric vehicle mandate at the federal level, Crooked Joe Biden is preparing to slaughter the remnants of the U.S. auto-industry by approving California’s waiver request outlawing the sale of all gasoline-powered automobiles,” incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital during the campaign.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan said that the waivers will “protect its [California] residents from dangerous air pollution coming from mobile sources like cars and trucks.”

However, American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers CEO and President Chet Thompson described the mandate as “unlawful.”

“Contrary to claims on the campaign trail that they would never tell Americans what kinds of cars we have to drive, the Biden-Harris EPA just did exactly that by greenlighting California’s ban on sales of all new gas and traditional hybrid vehicles,” Thompson said in a statement. “These policies will harm consumers — millions of whom don’t even live in California — by taking away their ability to buy new gas cars in their home states and raising vehicle and transportation costs.”

American media personality and businesswoman Paris Hilton is headed to Capitol Hill Monday to urge the GOP-led House to pass the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act – a bill for which she has lobbied the last three years.

The bill cleared the Senate unanimously last week. 

Hilton told Fox News Digital in an interview she was “in tears” when the bill passed the upper chamber on Wednesday, calling it “such a monumental moment” for herself and her allies.

“It just makes me proud to know that every single senator recognized the urgency of this issue and supported something that I’ve worked so hard for,” Hilton said. 

The bipartisan bill, co-sponsored by 23 lawmakers including Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Ct., Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore. and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., aims to reform residential youth facilities for troubled kids. 

Hilton is now urging the House to take up the bill before the session ends this week. If the legislation fails to pass both houses before the new Congress sits in early January, the bill would have to be considered again by both legislative chambers.

“I just feel like it’s so important to do this, because right now, there’s just no regulation, and people are getting away with so much because they’re not being watched,” Hilton said. “So this bill is really just about transparency and just collecting that data so we can know where are the bad ones and where are the good ones, and just collect that data, because right now they’re not able to do that.”

“When the U.S. Senate came together in a rare show of unity to pass the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act unanimously on Wednesday December 11th, it was one of the best moments of my life,” the letter continued. “It was proof that when we listen to survivors and put politics aside, we can create real, meaningful change. But this journey isn’t over. I can’t celebrate until this bill becomes law, and now it’s up to the U.S. House of Representatives to finish what the Senate started.”

Hilton, an advocate of the bill since its inception, alleged in a New York Times video op-ed series last year that she was a victim of sexual abuse as a teenager in the 1990s, when she attended a boarding school in Utah. 

She said she was the victim of a “parent-approved kidnapping” when she was a misbehaving 16-year-old, with two men dragging her out of her home and into a congregate-care facility.

Last year, Hilton testified before the House Ways and Means Committee about her teenage experiences in these centers, describing them as “very emotional and traumatizing.”

“As a teenager, I was sent to youth residential treatment facilities where I endured abuse that no child should ever experience,” Hilton wrote in an open letter to House lawmakers Monday. “I was physically restrained, sexually abused, isolated, overmedicated, and stripped of my dignity. I was told I didn’t matter, that I was the problem, and that no one would believe me if I spoke up—not even my family. For years, I lived with the weight of that trauma, the nightmares, the shame. It wasn’t until I found my voice that I began to heal.”

In a statement after the bill cleared the Senate, Cornyn said that “A lack of oversight and transparency in residential youth programs has allowed for the abuse of children in facilities across the country for far too long.”

“I’m proud that the Senate unanimously passed this legislation to ensure the vulnerable children in these facilities are protected, and I want to thank the countless advocates who have bravely shared their stories to help end institutional child abuse.”