Author: NOVA Corp

Congress took a major step toward ending the record-breaking Department of Homeland Security shutdown on Thursday as the White House warned hundreds of thousands of federal employees were on the verge of missing paychecks amid the 75-day funding lapse.

The House of Representatives approved by voice vote a Senate-passed spending measure covering most of the department’s appropriations through September.  

President Donald Trump is expected to swiftly sign the measure into law, restoring funding for the Secret Service, Coast Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency and Transportation Security Administration, among other agencies.

The vote came after the Senate’s DHS funding bill had stalled in the lower chamber for more than a month as House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., declined to put the bill on the floor over objections to language he said defunded law enforcement. The speaker’s opposition reflected the views of many in the Republican conference, who viewed the bill as a dead letter when the Senate passed it unanimously in March.

CHUCK SCHUMER INSISTS CALLING DHS FUNDING SHUTDOWN ‘POLITICAL’ POSTURING’ IS ‘NOT FAIR’

Johnson changed course this week after the White House appeared to side with the Senate and urged swift passage of the upper chamber’s bill. 

“We’re not defying the White House,” Johnson told reporters Wednesday. “Everybody understands what we’re doing. We’re all one team.”

In an internal memo sent to Hill offices and obtained by Fox News Digital, the White House warned it would not be able to pay employees starting in May if the House did not pass the Senate’s partial DHS bill. The administration since early April had been using existing funds to cover six weeks of back pay and a new pay period for DHS employees — but warned that money was quickly depleting.

“If this funding is exhausted, the Administration will be unable to pay DHS personnel beginning in May, which will once again unleash havoc on air travel, leave critical law enforcement officers—including our brave Secret Service agents—and the Coast Guard without paychecks, and jeopardize national security,” the memo states.

Republicans are in the beginning stages of writing a separate party-line package to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). But that legislation will not advance before lawmakers leave Washington for the upcoming recess period. 

Trump has requested top Republicans send the immigration enforcement measure to his desk by June 1.

Johnson said he dropped his objections to the Senate bill after his chamber took the first step toward funding Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda late Wednesday.

“We had to ensure that they could not isolate and eliminate those two critical agencies,” Johnson told reporters. “That was critically important for us to ensure that we’re going to protect the homeland.”

HOUSE REPUBLICANS UNLOCK RECONCILIATION PROCESS TO FUND ICE AND BORDER PATROL WITHOUT DEMOCRATS

Some Republicans argued that failure to move the Senate’s DHS bill prior to leaving Washington for a planned recess was untenable.

“We have got to fund DHS, even if it’s 80% of DHS,” Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital in an interview. “We’re in a dangerous position with funding levels right now. We have to get this done before we even think of leaving on a recess.”

Langworthy sent a letter, obtained by Fox News Digital, to Johnson earlier in the week imploring the speaker to put the Senate’s DHS bill up for a vote. 

“What other avenue of approach are you going to have? Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital when asked about whether the House would take up the Senate’s languishing DHS bill. “This is hurting families of individuals willing to serve their communities, their nation, their state. Why wouldn’t we?”

The prolonged funding lapse created financial distress for a vast swath of DHS employees, who were forced to report to work for weeks at a time without pay. More than 1,000 TSA agents quit their jobs during the shutdown, DHS announced this week.

Democrats, who initially sparked the shutdown over objections to funding immigration enforcement, supported the Senate measure because it did not include funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

“Bring the bipartisan Senate-passed bill to the House Floor today, and it would fund the Department of Homeland Security in its entirety with the exception of ICE and the violent Republican mass deportation machine,” Jeffries said at a news conference on Monday.

House conservatives did not ask for a recorded vote on the Senate DHS bill despite warning about the precedent of passing an appropriations bill that isolates immigration enforcement funding from the rest of the department. 

“That vote was going to pass if there was a suspension vote, so we agree to let it go by voice [vote],” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told reporters Thursday.

FIRST ON FOX: The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) racked up a $1.2 million tab at D.C.’s five-star Salamander Hotel during a lobbying trip to oppose President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a new report from the Center for Union Facts (CUF) found.

Social media posts show that SEIU members from around the country converged in Washington, D.C., between June 23 and June 29, 2025, to confront lawmakers and stage protests against the tax and spending cuts under consideration in Congress. Department of Labor disclosures logged on June 30, 2025, reveal that the union spent $1.2 million of members’ dues at the Salamander Hotel to cover a series of expenses labeled as “support for political activities.” 

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act served as the cornerstone of Trump’s second-term economic agenda. While supporters touted tax breaks for service workers and small business owners, critics argued cuts to health and food subsidies would harm less affluent Americans. This disagreement sparked fierce opposition, including the SEIU’s seven-figure protest campaign, though Trump ultimately signed the bill into law on 4th of July weekend 2025.

“Once again, we see union leaders spending lavishly at the expense of the members who fork over millions in union dues every year,” Rep. Tim Walberg, chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, told Fox News Digital. “These limousine liberals chose to stay at top-tier hotels so they could fight a bill that is actively lowering costs for workers and families across the nation—including their own members. SEIU’s leadership should put its money where its mouth is and focus on actually helping workers thrive.”

DC RESTAURANT GROUPS BLAST DEMS’ ‘BASELESS’ BOYCOTT THREAT REPORTEDLY BACKED BY AOC, SANDERS

The SEIU did not respond to a request for comment after being contacted by Fox News Digital on Wednesday.

SEIU chapters posted images of its members in the hotel’s event spaces and outside its rooms to social media in late June 2025, according to images collected by CUF and reviewed by Fox News Digital.  

“The SEIU lectures the country about economic justice by day and apparently checks into five-star luxury hotels by night on their members’ dimes,” CUF communications director Charlyce Bozzello told Fox News Digital. “So much for solidarity.”

CUF is a nonprofit interest group critical of organized labor. The SEIU, meanwhile, is a union representing roughly two million workers in healthcare, public service and other sectors.

The hotel appears in the Michelin Guidebook, a catalog of luxury hotels published by the same organization responsible for awarding coveted Michelin stars to restaurants. 

“While it’s slightly less central than some of the older hotels, there’s an immediate payoff in the form of spectacular views — rooms overlook the Mall and the Washington Monument on one side, with the Basin and Jefferson Memorial on the other,” the guide reads. “Facilities, of course, are first-class; the Salamander Spa is one of the main attractions, itself as large as some hotels we’ve seen, offering every therapy yet devised in a surprisingly chic environment.”

Alongside spacious rooms and dramatic architecture, the Salamander Hotel has several luxury dining options, including a restaurant belonging to celebrity chef Kwame Onwuachi.

REPUBLICANS RIP 4 BLUE STATES FOR KEEPING TAXES ON TIPS, OVERTIME AFTER TRUMP REPRIEVE

CUF notes in its report that the SEIU has its own conference space in D.C., raising questions about why it spent so much at the five-star hotel.

The SEIU’s website states that “dues are a touchy topic in any union,” and that “when times are tough, almost any expense can seem burdensome to workers.”

The webpage goes on to explain how the SEIU believes that dues payments help union members secure better pay and benefits through lobbying efforts, legal aid, educational programs and organizational training.

ASRA NOMANI: THE $2.1 BILLION MACHINE BEHIND ‘SPONTANEOUS’ ANTI-TRUMP PROTESTS

While staying in D.C. to protest the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, some SEIU members were among the more than two dozen people arrested by the United States Capitol Police for illegally occupying a Senate office building on June 25, 2025.

Disclosures show that the SEIU spent additional funds at other high-end resorts in 2025.

Among these was the Salamander Resort in Middleburg, Virginia, where the union’s leadership spent $32,806 on “staff meetings and training.” The resort consistently ranks among the best in the nation.

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers moved Thursday to strip out a controversial pesticide provision from legislation setting U.S. farm and nutrition policy after Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., threatened to “slaughter” the legislation if her measure did not receive a floor vote.

Lawmakers voted 280 to 142 to approve Luna’s amendment, which removed language from the farm bill shielding pesticide manufacturers from legal liability. 

The successful vote could be a sign of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement’s growing influence over congressional Republicans, who splintered over the issue. Leading MAHA advocates applied public pressure on Republicans to back the amendment, arguing that failing to do so would be a betrayal of the MAHA movement.

Seventy-three Republicans backed Luna’s measure, while 142 GOP lawmakers rejected it.

HOUSE CONSERVATIVES THREATEN EXTENDED SHUTDOWN OVER ELECTION INTEGRITY MEASURE

The provision that lawmakers struck would block lawsuits against pesticide companies for failing to disclose potential health risks as long as they are in compliance with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations on labeling. States and localities would be barred from issuing pesticide labeling guidance that diverges from the EPA. 

“I have a little boy, and the amount of articles I have seen on pesticides and herbicides popping up in children’s products (to include organic) is very bad,” Luna, a MAHA-aligned Republican, wrote on social media earlier this week. “On behalf of all the moms and dads that aren’t in office, I am not going to be bullied into supporting a bill that is providing protections and immunity to corporations that are responsible for giving children and adults cancer.”

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, policy chair of the House Freedom Caucus, also endorsed Luna’s amendment, arguing it would “protect Americans from dangerous pesticides.”

‘LONG OVERDUE’: SENATE REPUBLICANS RAM THROUGH TRUMP’S CLAWBACK PACKAGE WITH CUTS TO FOREIGN AID, NPR

Republican critics, however, contended that Luna’s amendment would raise costs for consumers if the pesticide provision was stripped from the farm bill. 

“If the EPA says the label is good, I don’t see why every state municipality should have to have another label that would simply raise the price for the American consumer,” Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., said in opposition to Luna’s measure.

“We’re not talking about the pesticide in the jug as has been misrepresented to the American citizens and especially the MAHA movement,” Scott continued. “We’re talking about just the label on the jug. There is no liability shield for the pesticide in the jug. 

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., also sharply criticized Luna’s measure.

“The arguments on the other side are pretty shallow, and they’re emotional,” Thompson said on the House floor. “They’re not science-based.”

Democrats also widely backed the effort to remove the pesticide provision from the bill.

“Put simply, this language puts chemical company profits over the health of Americans,” Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, said during debate on the House floor. 

The floor battle over the pesticide provision also comes as the Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week about whether pesticide manufacturers like Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018, should be given legal preemption from failing to warn consumers that its weedkiller product Roundup could cause cancer.

The Trump administration sparked controversy among MAHA advocates earlier this year when it declared domestic production of glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup, a national security priority. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an influential MAHA voice, publicly defended the move despite railing against glyphosate for years.

Bayer has repeatedly maintained that its product is safe to use and has not been found to cause cancer.

North Carolina’s discovery of 34,000 dead people on its voter rolls has sparked renewed calls for voter roll cleanup measures, including increased pressure on Congress to pass the SAVE America Act.

After a state election official said the number of dead people found on North Carolina’s voter rolls was “higher than we anticipated,” Republican Rep. Mark Harris of North Carolina called for immediate action to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, commonly known as the SAVE America Act.

“North Carolina confirms 34,000 deceased individuals on our voter rolls,” he wrote in an X post. “This isn’t a mistake—it’s a failure. Election integrity is non-negotiable. Fix it now. Pass the SAVE America Act!”

This discovery has also prompted questions about how many other states have deceased voters still on their rolls. Jason Snead, executive director of Honest Elections Project Action, said he is especially concerned about blue states he believes have been refusing “commonsense” measures to clean up voter rolls.

REPUBLICANS FAIL TO ATTACH SAVE AMERICA ACT TO PARTY-LINE FUNDING PACKAGE

Earlier this month, the North Carolina State Board of Elections submitted over 7.3 million voter records to the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database as part of an initiative to strengthen the accuracy and integrity of the state’s voter registration list. Following a comprehensive data comparison with the federal database, the elections board identified approximately 34,000 dead people on the state’s voter rolls.

Sam Hayes, executive director of the State Board of Elections, said in a press release after the discovery, “While we expected to find some cases, this is higher than we anticipated.”

“The benefit of entering into cross-state and federal database checks is that it allows us to uncover issues like this. Our goal is to use every available and legal tool at our disposal to achieve the most accurate voter rolls possible,” he continued. “Now, we must roll up our sleeves and begin the hard work to act of verifying that every person registered to vote in North Carolina is eligible. Our team, along with our state and federal [partners] will do what’s necessary to meet this responsibility.”

The state board said it will work with county boards of elections to remove the deceased individuals from the voter rolls in accordance with state and federal law. 

WATCH: CHAOS ERUPTS AS FLORIDA DEM IN PINK JUMPSUIT GRABS BULLHORN MID-VOTE: ‘IT’S ILLEGAL!’

While North Carolina is collaborating with the federal government and taking steps to clean up its rolls, Snead expressed concern that Democratic-run states are not doing the same.

“Voter list maintenance takes effort from state officials,” he told Fox News Digital.

He called North Carolina “another example of a state doing the work to root out bad registrations using federal records like the SAVE system.”

“But too many Democrat-controlled states are refusing to do the commonsense work of cleaning up bloated voter rolls or stopping ineligible people from registering in the first place,” he said.

“That’s why it’s so important for Congressional Democrats to end their obstruction of the SAVE America Act, a commonsense, popular piece of legislation that keeps it easy to vote and makes it harder to cheat,” he added.

The SAVE America Act would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. It mandates states to verify voter rolls using citizenship data, remove ineligible registrants and impose civil and criminal penalties on officials who register voters without required proof.

The legislation is currently stuck in limbo in the Senate. Last week, a cohort of Senate Republicans joined Democrats to sink a late-night attempt to attach a version of the voter ID and citizenship verification legislation to the GOP’s bill funding federal immigration enforcement.

Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.; Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; Susan Collins, R-Maine; and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., all voted against a modified version of the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act.

BLUE STATE RESIDENTS ‘FLEEING IN DROVES’ AFTER ‘INSANE’ PROGRESSIVE TAKEOVER, SAYS TOP STATE ATTORNEY

President Donald Trump has repeatedly pushed for passage of the SAVE America Act. Last month, he vowed not to sign any other bills until it gets through, and said he wouldn’t approve of a “watered down version.”

Last month, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif.; and Rep. Joe Morelle, D-N.Y., released a statement explaining their opposition to the legislation. The statement posited that the legislation would “disenfranchise up to 21 million citizens who can’t readily access their passports and birth certificates.”

If enacted, the three asserted the SAVE America Act would be “sowing chaos in state election administration and fueling attacks against hardworking election officials by exposing them to new criminal liability.”

Schumer charged “MAGA Republicans” with “trying to make it harder for Americans to vote.” He asserted that “they know their agenda is failing, so they’re changing the rules.”

Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel and Alex Miller contributed to this report.

The Department of Justice’s investigations and prosecutions of Christians during the Biden administration signal that the government discriminated against people based on their faith, according to a sweeping 200-page report released Thursday by the Trump DOJ. 

“The Biden Administration generally tolerated religious beliefs that were privately held but zealously pursued actions to limit Christians’ ability to act in accordance with their faith,” the report found.

The document, released by a DOJ task force, serves as an internal deep dive into concerns critics have already publicly raised surrounding prosecutions of pro-life protesters, investigations into Catholics, the administration’s posture toward religious concerns with COVID-19 vaccines and more. The report contended that the Biden administration showed a pattern of making enforcement choices that de-prioritized religious liberty protections at the expense of Christians.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD APOLOGIZES FOR ‘INADVERTENTLY’ GIVING SEXUALLY EXPLICIT COLORING BOOK TO CHILDREN

“No American should live in fear that the federal government will punish them for their faith,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who chaired the task force, said in a statement. “As our report lays out, the Biden Administration’s actions devastated the lives of many Christian Americans. That devastation ended with President Trump. The Department of Justice will continue to expose bad actors who targeted Christians and work tirelessly to restore religious liberty for all Americans of faith.”

One little known detail revealed in the report was that federal government employees were systemically denied religious accommodation requests or subject to tedious processes when seeking exceptions to COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

“The Task Force found that during the COVID-19 period, federal agencies frequently subjected employees seeking religious accommodations to invasive scrutiny of their beliefs,” the report stated, saying the practice was at odds with court precedent requiring employers to “presume sincerity” of beliefs. 

EXCLUSIVE: CONSERVATIVE GROUPS URGING TRUMP ADMIN TO EXPOSE ANTI-CHRISTIAN ‘PATTERN’ IN BIDEN FBI

Former Attorney General Merrick Garland’s emphasis on reproductive healthcare was a top focus of the report. In the wake of the landmark Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the Garland DOJ sought to prioritize access to abortion and to protect abortion clinics, while making weak attempts to engage with and protect faith-based pregnancy counseling centers that discourage abortion, the report found.

The task force summarized how the Biden DOJ aggressively pursued Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances violations at abortion clinics, especially surrounding heightened polarization on abortion while the Supreme Court was weighing the Dobbs decision. The department frequently brought federal charges against nonviolent pro-life protesters, including several elderly protesters, many of whom were found guilty of blocking doors to abortion clinics. Those prosecutions far outpaced charges brought against abortion advocates who targeted pregnancy counseling centers or churches, the report noted.

Internally, DOJ Civil Rights Division attorneys “questioned whether to provide pregnancy resource centers with the same resources as abortion clinics, questioning whether these facilities fall under the FACE Act’s scope,” the report stated.

The report, drafted in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order called Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias, laid out corrective measures the DOJ has taken, including engaging with faith groups, holding hearings featuring alleged victims, shifting law enforcement priorities and revising legal interpretations of court precedents.

Fox News Digital reached out to a Biden representative for comment.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills dropped out of the race for U.S. Senate in her home state on Thursday.

Mills announced the move in a statement posted on X, saying she failed to raise enough funds to support her campaign.  Mills was vying with other Democrats for a chance to challenge Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

“While I have the drive and passion, commitment and experience, and above all else – the fight – to continue on, I very simply do not have the one thing that political campaigns unfortunately require today: the financial resources,” Mills wrote.

Mills’ departure leaves political newcomer Graham Platner the front runner in the Democratic primary. Platner has run a deeply controversial campaign, in addition to being the subject of various scandals, including his having a “Totenkopf” Nazi SS tattoo.

MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE CITES COMBAT TRAUMA WHEN CONFRONTED ON ‘TERRIBLE’ POSTS ABOUT SEXUAL ASSAULT

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) declared Mills’ withdrawal as essentially a coronation for Platner in the Democratic primary.

DEMOCRATIC MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE GRAHAM PLATNER CONFRONTED BY MS NOW HOST ABOUT TATTOO CONTROVERSY

“Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats just coronated a phony who is too extreme for Maine. Susan Collins has always put in the work for her constituents and delivered. Washington Democrats always fall short in Maine and will again, because they just nominated a dishonest radical,” NRSC Chairman Tim Scott said in a statement on Thursday.

Mills had the full backing of the Democratic machine when she entered the Senate race last year, receiving endorsements from Sen. Chuck Schumer, R-N.Y., and prominent Democratic groups.

EXPERT WARNS DEMOCRATS RISK BACKLASH OVER FAILURE TO CONDEMN VIOLENT RHETORIC IN THEIR RANKS

Platner, meanwhile, has received backing from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., as well as Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz.,  and Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.

This is a developing story. Check back soon for updates.

Florida Democratic Rep. Angie Nixon went viral for taking a bullhorn to a legislative fight, storming down the aisle and causing confusion on the House floor during final passage of a Gov. Ron DeSantis-backed redistricting bill.

Dressed in a pink jumpsuit and wielding a pink megaphone, Nixon approached the House speaker’s dais and shouted to fellow Florida representatives as the final vote was called. She shouted, “This is a violation of the Constitution! It is!”

Nixon continued shouting into the bullhorn for the entirety of the vote. She insisted, “What y’all are doing is illegal!” and “I will not allow you to destroy our democracy!” As she shouted, several colleagues could be seen filming her on their phones.

However, her protest was ultimately unsuccessful. While she continued shouting, “You are out of order!” and “This is a violation of the Constitution,” the Florida House granted final approval of the redistricting bill in an 83-28 vote. The Florida Senate also passed the measure this week, sending it to DeSantis’ desk for signature.

DESANTIS’ REDISTRICTING FIGHT GETS MAJOR BOOST FROM HIS POTENTIAL GOP SUCCESSOR: ‘DOING THE RIGHT THING’

The new districts are expected to favor Republicans and could net the party an additional four seats.

Republicans and Democrats are engaged in a nationwide redistricting battle as they vie for control of the House of Representatives ahead of the upcoming midterm elections. Texas, California and Virginia are among the states that have approved redistricting measures.

Amid the controversy, DeSantis has defended the Florida redistricting push, telling Fox News Digital earlier this week that “Florida got shortchanged in the 2020 Census, and we’ve been fighting for fair representation ever since.”

“Our population has since grown dramatically, and we have moved from a Democrat majority to a 1.5 million Republican advantage,” he said.

DEMOCRATS WIN VIRGINIA REDISTRICTING FIGHT, THREATING REPUBLICAN HOUSE MAJORITY

He asserted that the current Florida district map is “based on race,” which he called unconstitutional and said, “Should be prohibited.”

“Our new map for 2026 makes good on my promise to conduct mid-decade redistricting, and it more fairly represents the makeup of Florida today,” said DeSantis.

Currently, the Florida delegation to Congress is represented by 20 Republicans and seven Democrats, with an eighth Democratic seat vacant following the resignation of former Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick.

THOMAS LEAVES NOTHING LEFT UNSAID ON RACIAL GERRYMANDERING DECISION: ‘GO FURTHER’

The redistricting proposal comes after Virginia recently approved a constitutional amendment allowing the state to redraw its congressional districts and flip four GOP seats to the Democratic side. The proposed map was praised by Democrats, including Gov. Abigail Spanberger and former President Barack Obama.

Fox News Digital reached out to Nixon for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Kiera McDonald and Preston Mizell contributed to this report.

News that a local steel manufacturing company would soon pour $43.4 million into expanding its Michigan-based operations prompted praise from the White House — but not for the state’s Democratic governor.

“Democrats like Gretchen Whitmer spent decades talking about fixing broken trade deals and creating manufacturing jobs here in America for American workers,” Kush Desai, a White House spokesperson, told Fox News Digital, referring to the Michigan governor who is often floated as a potential Democratic candidate for president in 2028.

“President Trump is actually delivering — and he’s delivering with the same agenda of tariffs, deregulation.”

The investment underscores President Donald Trump’s recent restructuring on tariffs for steel, aluminum and copper — even as both parties claimed victory over Michigan’s expanding steel production.

TRUMP’S LATEST MOVE PROVES HIS MANUFACTURING GOLDEN AGE IS JUST FOOLS’ GOLD

“Michigan is on the move and open for business, competing for and winning big projects in industries like steel manufacturing,” Whitmer said in a statement.

The investment, made by the Adrian Steel Company, would create at least 40 new jobs as the company expands its existing facilities in the southeast part of the state through a new 112,000-square-foot addition, according to the governor’s office.

The venture is Adrian Steel’s largest expansion since 1953, Whitmer’s office claimed..

“The expansion will enhance Adrian Steel’s manufacturing capabilities with additional space dedicated to raw material storage, cutting, forming, welding, painting, assembly, office functions and shipping operations,” Whitmer’s office said in a press release.

Whitmer’s office said the state had attracted the expansion, in part, through state-level incentives and added that the state will bolster Adrian Steel’s venture through a State Essential Services Assessment (SESA), a kind of tax break for manufacturers that could be worth up to $228,750.

TRUMP SAYS HE’S LOOKING AT CERTAIN TARIFF EXEMPTIONS FOR AUTOMAKERS: ‘THEY NEED A LITTLE BIT OF TIME’

In the past, Whitmer has criticized Trump’s tariffs, claiming that their overall effect has hindered industry development in Michigan.

“The pain of these increased costs from tariffs has not been offset by any of the promised economic gain,” Whitmer said in a press release earlier this month. “Michigan’s industries have been hit hard, with a recent analysis finding that the tariffs cost U.S. automakers $35 billion last year. Tariffs are estimated to have cost working families $1,000 per year.”

Under Trump’s re-worked tariff framework announced earlier this month, products made almost entirely of aluminum, steel or copper would pay a flat 50% tariff on their full value, while derivatives made only mostly of one of those elements would only pay 25%.

The new parameters also create lower rates for foreign products sourced from American materials and drop the tariffs entirely for products comprised of less than 15% steel, aluminum or copper.

TRUMP SAYS THOSE AGAINST TARIFFS ‘SERVING HOSTILE FOREIGN INTERESTS,’ ‘FULL BENEFIT’ YET TO BE SEEN

“This buildout — and the continued health of these vital American industries — is only possible through the continued implementation and strengthening of the President’s Section 232 tariff programs,” the White House said.

Whitmer’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A federal appeals court declined to take up President Donald Trump’s request to rehear his appeal of the $83 million judgment in the defamation case brought by writer E. Jean Carroll on Wednesday.

Trump had sought a hearing by the full 12-judge Second Circuit Court of Appeals, but a majority of the judges denied Trump’s motion. The development now allows Trump to appeal the case directly to the Supreme Court.

Lawyers for Trump argue he has presidential immunity from Carroll’s accusations.

Trump’s quest for appeals began after a federal jury found that Trump defamed Carroll when he called her a liar for accusing him of sexually abusing her in the 1990s.

TRUMP SHIFTS BATTLEGROUND IN FIGHT AGAINST ‘BRAZEN ELECTION INTERFERENCE’ BY IOWA POLLSTER

If Trump appeals the $83 million case, it would be the second of his contests with E. Jean Carroll to appear before the justices. He also appealed a separate $5 million ruling against him to the court in November 2025.

Carroll, a journalist and advice columnist, sued Trump twice after she released a book in 2019 in which she claimed that he raped her in 1996 in the dressing room of New York City’s Bergdorf Goodman department store across the street from Trump Tower. Trump has repeatedly denied Carroll’s claims and said the case was “a complete con job.” He also said that Carroll was “not my type.”

“I don’t know this woman, have no idea who she is, other than it seems she got a picture of me many years ago, with her husband, shaking my hand on a reception line at a celebrity charity event,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in October 2022.

BBC SAYS IT WILL FIGHT TRUMP’S $10 BILLION LAWSUIT OVER EDITED JAN 6 COMMENTS

Trump’s repeated criticisms of Carroll and denial of her claims led to the journalist’s defamation allegations.

In May 2023, a jury found Trump was not liable for rape but was liable for sexual abuse and defamation. Carroll was awarded a total of $5 million in damages.

The Supreme Court is currently weighing whether to take up that case.

Fox News’ Rachel Wolf contributed to this report.

The leader of a parental rights group that the Southern Poverty Law Center labeled an “extremist” organization is calling for the group to be “shut down” as it faces federal charges.

The Justice Department indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit concealment and money laundering, stemming from allegations that the civil rights organization funneled $3 million in donations to people linked to various violent extremist groups, including Unite the Right, the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Nations. These same extremist groups have been targeted by the Southern Poverty Law Center through its litigation and advocacy efforts for years.

Moms for America founder Kimberly Fletcher accused the Southern Poverty Law Center of being a “hate group against America, families, freedom, and God.”

“They’re not going to stop what they’re doing,” Fletcher said. “They’re going to continue funneling money into organizations that are extremist hate groups, and they’re going to continue to target organizations like ours, moms who just want to make sure that our kids are protected, our freedoms are defended, and we restore the republic.”

DAVID MARCUS: ERIKA KIRK IS THE MOTHER SQUABBLING CONSERVATIVES NEED

In its “Year in Hate and Extremism 2022” report, the Southern Poverty Law Center identified Moms for America as an “anti-government extremist” group, alleging that it is an “anti-student inclusion” group and that its measures have “contributed to a volatile climate” for teachers, faculty and school board members.

“I find it ironic that the Southern Poverty Law Center turns out to be the extremist group, which we’ve always known, but now that they’re finally being exposed because the DOJ has investigated them and found them to be funneling money into all the extremist organizations that they’re supposed to be protecting us against,” Moms for America President and founder Kimberly Fletcher said in an interview with Fox News Digital.

“Putting moms in the same category as the Ku Klux Klan or these violent protesters, rioters, it absolutely is not compatible.”

ANTIFA VIOLENCE EXPOSES UC BERKELEY’S HYPOCRISY ON FREE SPEECH AND TOLERANCE

Moms for America, which consists of roughly 500,000 mothers across the country, advocates for restoring “truth, family, freedom and the Constitution” in schools and American culture, and opposes critical race theory and LGBT ideology in public school curricula.

Fletcher said that the SPLC’s “extremist” label has disrupted the group’s operations, claiming that tech companies cut off services and that the organization faced threats and harassment, prompting dozens of the organization’s leadership to step down.

“We have been continuously targeted in threats of violence,” Fletcher told Fox News Digital. “I’ve had emails sent to me saying, ‘I know where your kids live, I know who your grandkids are. And mostly it’s just trying to scare us, but there have been times where I’ve gone face to face with the belly of the beast and people have been right in my face and physically pushing on me.”

OPPONENTS OF MAINE CAMPUS PRO-LIFE GROUP INVOKE CHARLIE KIRK IN SOCIAL MEDIA THREAT : ‘GOTTA BE CAREFUL’

Despite threats and alleged shadowbanning by social media companies, Fletcher said the extremist label from the SPLC is “almost like a badge of honor.”

“You’re standing up for the right principles and values and so they’re gonna label you as an extremist,” and so we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing.”

To celebrate America’s 250th birthday, Fletcher said Moms for America is hosting a traveling festival in all 50 states geared toward families and children.

Fletcher said the key to countering the Southern Poverty Law Center and other leftist organizations’ attacks is to reach young people and unite families.

“We are shining a light on all that’s good in America so that the darkness will be exposed for what it is because people gravitate to the lake,” Fletcher said.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Southern Poverty Law Center for comment.