Category: USA Politics

As the Senate weighs the new paths forward to end the 38-day government shutdown Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security is blasting Democrats for “the safety, dependability, and ease of our air travel at risk.”

The first spring travel weekend airport chaos has subsided in the Transportation Security Administration lines at some of the major hubs of Atlanta, House and New Orleans, but acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis told Fox News that more than 3,200 TSA workers called out from their Monday shifts and more than 450 TSA officers have outright quit their jobs.

“Day 38 of the Democrats’ shutdown: American travelers are facing hours-long waits at airports across the country and more than 450 TSA officers quit and thousands have called out sick from work because they are not able to afford gas, childcare, food, or rent,” Bis said in a statement.

Notably, President Donald Trump’s move to deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at the hardest-hit airports has been given credit to alleviating some of the TSA security delays that reached a reported high of nine hours in Atlanta.

DELTA SUSPENDS VIP SERVICES FOR CONGRESS MEMBERS AMID DHS SHUTDOWN, TSA DELAYS

Fox News reporting on site noted security lines were minimal Tuesday at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, widely known as the busiest airport in the world. Also, video on social media hailed ICE agents in Houston passing out water to travelers waiting in still-long lines there.

“While the Democrats continue to put the safety, dependability, and ease of our air travel at risk, President Trump is taking action to deploy hundreds of ICE officers, that are currently funded by Congress, to airports being adversely impacted,” Bis’ statement added.

UNPAID DHS WORKERS ‘DISTRACTED’ AS TERROR THREATS RISE, FUELING AIRPORT SECURITY CONCERNS

“This will help bolster TSA efforts to keep our skies safe and minimize air travel disruptions.”

Some critics note Tuesday’s lighter security lines were due to lighter weekday travel versus the first Sunday of spring, famously a busy travel time due to spring break.

Sunday’s TSA officer callout rate peaked Sunday at its highest rate of the shutdown (11.6% nationwide), according to DHS data shared with Fox News.

‘THE VIEW’ HOST SARA HAINES ADMITS ICE AGENTS SHOULD FILL AIRPORT GAPS AS TSA STRUGGLES

But callout rates are not equal nationwide, with Houston, Atlanta and New Orleans topping the DHS charts among the top 10 major airport callout rates.

The DHS funding remains under the pressure of a Democrat-forced government shutdown, the second in this fiscal year. Democrats have made Trump the most shutdown president of all time.

Trump has sent ICE officers to distressed airports, while negotiating a potential deal to fund DHS — even if it leaves out ICE funding as it is currently being weighed on Capitol Hill.

EXCLUSIVE: Despite the ongoing conflict in Iran, President Donald Trump’s “energy czar,” Doug Burgum, is confident the “temporary blip up” in gas and energy prices facing Americans will come back down very soon as the president’s “drill baby drill” agenda takes effect.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Burgum, who leads the Interior Department and chair of Trump’s National Energy Dominance Council, said: “It’s all about supply.”

“You want prices to go down? Supply has got to go up,” he said. To this end, he said his agency approved a record 6,000-plus drilling permits on U.S. soil, reversing the Biden administration’s trend of increased regulation that he said had stunted the country’s energy independence.

“We have a temporary blip up now because of the conflict in the Middle East, but as you heard the news earlier this morning, energy prices dropped a lot today, and stock markets [are] up and energy prices down; those are all positive things for working Americans to have those two things happening simultaneously,” he said.

TRUMP’S IRAN STRATEGY SHOWCASES ‘DOCTRINE OF UNPREDICTABILITY’ AMID STRIKE THREATS AND SUDDEN PAUSE

Despite criticism of the president’s actions on the global stage, Burgum said these moves, such as the military intervention in Venezuela and negotiations with leadership, are going to help reduce prices for Americans.

“What happened in Venezuela actually helps Americans a lot because now we’ve got Venezuelan oil flowing towards Gulf of America refineries in Louisiana and Texas,” he said.

Another major policy shift Burgum said he expects to make a big difference for Americans is the administration’s actions to “unleash Alaska.”

“The Biden administration had taken over 70 legal actions, executive orders from President Biden to regulatory actions, which were essentially sanctioning Alaska more than we sanctioned Iran during the last administration,” he explained.

Pressed on when Americans can expect to start seeing prices tick back down, Burgum said, “I think we started to see how they were happening and they happened quite effectively over the first year of the Trump administration.” He also pointed out that prices “vary a lot” depending on which state you live in and the extent of regulation and taxes placed on oil and gas production.

“Consumers need to understand that it is not just federal action, but it’s state and local action that’s often driving up the cost of your energy,” he said. “It’s not quite as simple as red state versus blue state. But if you take a look at gas prices before the war, red states were among all the lowest states in the country, blue states were among the highest in terms of that. And it was a reflection of the policies of those state legislatures and those governors that were driving energy prices up.”

US AND IRAN SEND CONFLICTING SIGNALS ON TALKS TO END THE WAR

As an example, he said that just a month ago, gas prices in Iowa were under $2 per gallon, while the price in California was $5.

“California imports 63 percent of its oil from foreign countries,” he explained, adding, “At the time of this breakout with Iran … California, by their own data, provided by the state of California, the number one country they were importing oil from in California was from Iraq.”

“They always brag about, ‘Oh, if we were a country, we’d have one of the world’s largest economies.’ And if they were a county, they would have designed for themselves one of the most energy-dependent and energy-expensive economies,” he said of California.

“They’re not saving the planet by using foreign oil in California when you could have been getting clean, reliable, affordable energy, say from the Permian Basin in Texas or New Mexico,” he continued. “When you think you’re saving the planet by blocking U.S. infrastructure, you artificially raise the prices.”

To push back on this, Burgum said that, authorized by Trump’s energy emergency declaration, Energy Secretary Chris Wright recently ordered California to reopen its Santa Ynez pipeline system to resume pumping domestic offshore oil. The order is being challenged by California in court; however, oil has already begun being pumped.

IRAN CHOKES STRAIT OF HORMUZ WITH REPORTED $2M TANKER TOLL, REGIME THREATENS GLOBAL OIL SUPPLY

He framed the administration’s “energy abundance” agenda as a move back to reality after four years of “climate fantasy” under former President Joe Biden. This move, he said, stands in stark opposition to policies still being pursued in blue states like California.

“We’re focused on energy reality, which is all Americans deserve and need to have reliable, affordable, and secure energy,” he said. “We’re fighting for every citizen in the country, regardless of what state regime they’re under. Because like I said, every American, no matter where you live, deserves to have affordable, reliable, and nationally secure energy.”  

Fox News Digital reached out to spokespeople for Biden and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Republican Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt on Tuesday announced Alan Armstrong as his choice to fill Markwayne Mullin’s U.S. Senate seat. 

The Senate on Monday voted 54-45 to confirm President Donald Trump’s nomination of Mullin to serve as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Mullin is being sworn in Tuesday.

Stitt, who made the announcement during a press conference on Tuesday, described Armstrong in a post on X as “a proud third-generation Oklahoman, staunch conservative, respected business leader, and a devoted family man with an inspiring American Dream story.”

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: GOP EYES DHS DEAL FUNDING ICE PROBES, BUT NOT REMOVALS, AS SHUTDOWN DRAGS

The governor noted during the press conference that Armstrong is stepping down from the board of Williams. 

The company’s website describes Williams as an “energy infrastructure company.”

MULLIN CONFIRMED AS DHS CHIEF AS LAWMAKERS NEAR SOLUTION ON SHUTDOWN STANDOFF

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was the only Republican to vote against Mullin’s confirmation, while Sens. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico were the only Democrats to vote for confirmation. 

Mullin cast a vote to green-light his own nomination.

Armstrong will not be able to run in the next election for the Senate seat he’s now filling because Oklahoma state law stipulates that “a person who is a prospective appointee shall submit to the Secretary of State an oath affirming that the person will not file as a candidate for the office when it next appears on the ballot.”

TRUMP-BACKED SENATE HOPEFUL GAINS MOMENTUM WITH TOP GOP ENDORSEMNTS BEFORE MULLIN DHS SHIFT

Mullin is replacing Kristi Noem, who will instead serve as a special envoy for a security initiative pertaining to the Western Hemisphere.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is testifying Tuesday in the trial of former Miami congressman and roommate David Rivera, who is accused of trying to lobby members of Congress and the White House on behalf of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. 

Rubio, testifying in a packed federal courtroom in Miami with heightened security, said he and Rivera became “very close” when both overlapped for six years as members of the Florida Legislature in the early 2000s. Rivera, a Republican, was arrested in December 2022 on charges of money laundering and representing a foreign government without registering. 

In July 2017, Rubio said he got a call from Rivera saying he needed to see him urgently to discuss Venezuela. The next morning, Rivera traveled to Washington and, at a meeting at his home, said he was working with Raul Gorrin, a media magnate in Venezuela who was Rivera’s main conduit to the Maduro government, on a plan to persuade Maduro to step aside. 

“I was skeptical,” said Rubio during his testimony, according to The Associated Press, adding that the Maduro government was full of “double dealers” who were constantly pitching plans to betray Maduro. 

VENEZUELA’S DELCY RODRIGUEZ REPLACES SANCTIONED LOYALIST DEFENSE MINISTER WITH MILITARY INTEL HEAD 

“But if there was a 1% chance it was real, and I had a role to play alerting the White House, I was open to doing that,” he added. 

Within days, borrowing talking points provided by Rivera, Rubio wrote and delivered a speech on the Senate floor signaling the U.S. would not retaliate against Venezuelan government insiders who worked to push Maduro from power, the AP reported. 

“He provided me with insight into some of the key phrases that regime insiders would’ve wanted to hear to know this was serious,” Rubio testified. “No vengeance, no retribution.” 

In the indictment against Rivera, there’s no indication that Rubio acted improperly as a senator at the time. 

The allegations come in connection to a $50 million consulting contract Rivera signed with Venezuela’s socialist government. 

The indictment alleges Rivera, at the start of the Trump administration, was part of a conspiracy to lobby on behalf of Venezuela to lower tensions with the U.S., resolve a legal dispute with a U.S. oil company and end U.S. sanctions against the South American nation — all without registering as a foreign agent. 

RUBIO SAYS CUBA NEEDS ‘NEW PEOPLE IN CHARGE’ AS BLACKOUTS, UNREST GRIP ISLAND 

As part of his work, Rivera and his co-defendant are accused of trying to arrange meetings for then-Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez — now Venezuela’s acting president — in Dallas, New York, Washington and Caracas, Venezuela, with White House officials, members of Congress and the chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil. 

To cloak their activities, prosecutors said, the co-defendants and others set up a chat group called MIA — for Miami — in which they used Spanish-language code words like “Little Cuban” for Rubio, “The Lady in Red” for Rodríguez and “melons” for millions of dollars. 

“This case is about two things: greed and betrayal,” prosecutor Roger Cruz said in his opening statement Monday. “The evidence will show that for $50 million these two defendants made a pact to secretly lobby for Nicolás Maduro,” as well as for Rodríguez. 

Rivera, 60, counters that his one-man firm, Interamerican Consulting, was hired by an American subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company — not the company itself — and therefore did not need to register as a foreign agent. 

His three-month contract, his attorney says, was focused exclusively on luring Exxon back to Venezuela — commercial work that is generally exempt from the Foreign Agents Registration Act. 

Separate and wholly distinct from that consulting work were his efforts with the Venezuelan opposition to pave the way for Maduro’s exit, Rivera’s defense said. 

Fox News’ Gillian Turner, Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Senate Republicans have landed on a funding framework for Homeland Security that they hope will end the shutdown.

Now, they just need Senate Democrats to agree.

The framework, which was developed over the weekend and finalized early this week, would reopen and fund most of the agency, except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

It follows the first face-to-face meetings between Republicans and Democrats during the shutdown, as well as a last-minute meeting at the White House on Monday after President Donald Trump demanded that the GOP combine DHS funding with his prized Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act.

CORNYN TARGETS LAWMAKERS’ AIRPORT FAST PASS AS TSA LINES GROW DURING DHS SHUTDOWN

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said the framework would fund most of DHS, except for roughly $5.5 billion designated for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). Senate Democrats previously tried to fund everything except for ICE, but were blocked by Republicans who desired to reopen the entirety of DHS. 

It also includes initial compromises from the original bill, such as millions for body-worn cameras, but not the stricter reforms Senate Democrats had demanded.

“If you’re not going to have funding, I don’t know how all of a sudden you can demand reforms,” Thune said.

“A lot of the reforms are contingent on funding for ICE. And now, since the ERO office is not going to be funded through ICE, Democrats have basically given up on reforms,” he continued. “I never thought that was serious.”

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

Still, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Democrats must agree to the framework before Republicans can move forward.

Schumer said on the Senate floor that Republicans would “hopefully now come back to the table and get serious about reaching a solution to pay” Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers quickly, after Trump’s demands nearly derailed progress made over the past several days.

“We await a written proposal that we will review, because right now the situation in our airports is untenable,” Schumer said.

Key Senate Republicans who were at the White House on Monday or have been involved in negotiations huddled in Thune’s office to discuss the framework. They said Republicans had sent the legislative text to Democrats for review.

“We’re ready to go,” Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said. “The Democrats need to join us now. We bent over backwards negotiating with them. We talked to the White House and folks on our side, and they need to stop moving the goalposts.”

It also appears the White House is on board with the framework. A White House official told Fox News Digital, “Conversations are ongoing, but this deal seems to be acceptable.”

MULLIN CONFIRMED AS DHS CHIEF AS LAWMAKERS NEAR SOLUTION ON SHUTDOWN STANDOFF

Another part of the framework would fund immigration enforcement — and include portions of the SAVE America Act — through budget reconciliation. That party-line process nearly divided Republicans last year when they passed Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.”

Not all Republicans support the plan as it stands, meaning Thune will need as many Senate Democrats as possible to reopen the agency.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that he was a “no” on the deal, arguing the framework “doesn’t make any sense to me.”

“And this idea that it will get funded through a reconciliation package is a pipe dream. We’re not going to get a reconciliation package done,” Scott said.

“Look at the last one — the only reason it got done is because of the tax cuts. There are no tax cuts in this, there’s no pressure,” he continued.

A resurfaced post by Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy discussing the people Democrats “care about most” is sparking social media outrage from conservatives, making the case it points to their priorities in the current fight on Department of Homeland Security funding. 

In the clip, posted on Monday night by the conservative influencer account End Wokeness, MSNBC host Chris Hayes asked Murphy in 2024 about negotiations between Democrats and Republicans happening at the time about a border security bill. Hayes pressed Murphy on why Democrats were pushing to get funding for Ukraine instead of pushing for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, as the party had done in the past.

“Well, I mean, Chris, that’s been a failed play for 20 years,” Murphy replied. “So you are right that that has been the Democratic strategy for 30 years, maybe, and it has failed to deliver for the people we care about most, the undocumented Americans that are in this country.”

TRUMP DEMANDS SAVE AMERICA ACT BE TIED TO DHS FUNDING AMID AIRPORT CHAOS

Conservatives quickly picked up on the clip and argued it’s emblematic of why Democrats haven’t been motivated to end the DHS shutdown that they voted for in February in opposition to ICE, even as concerns about national security during the war with Iran linger. 

“This has absolutely proven to be true and never more than this week,” Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, posted on X. “Senate Democrats have allowed 260,000 American workers to be used as political pawns so that they could protect criminal aliens that invaded our nation. Sick stuff.”

“Treachery,” Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk posted on X.

LIZ PEEK: VOTERS TELL CONGRESS ‘DO YOUR JOB’ AND END THE DHS SHOWDOWN

“He really said it,” Fox News contributor Guy Benson posted on X.

“And this guy is going to run for President…,” former White House press secretary and Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer posted on X.

“Bookmarked for later this year!” White House deputy chief of staff James Blair posted on X.

“He accidentally said the truth out loud,” Congressman Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., posted on X.

Fox News Digital reached out to Murphy’s office for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Hannah Panreck contributed to this report

Former counterterrorism official Joe Kent sparred with conservative radio host and Fox News personality Mark Levin on his syndicated radio show Monday, denying leak allegations, breaking with the Trump administration over Iran, and claiming Israel “forced President Trump into this war.”  

“I never leaked any classified information,” Kent said, as Levin pressed him on reports that he was under investigation by the FBI for leaking. 

Three sources familiar with the matter have told Fox News the FBI probe into Kent predated his resignation. 

INSIDE JOE KENT’S ABRUPT FALL AS GOP BACKLASH GROWS OVER ANTISEMITISM ACCUSATIONS, FBI PROBE

Kent also disputed the administration’s case for the conflict with Iran, saying “there was no imminent threat coming from Iran against Americans.”

Kent resigned March 17 as director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), issuing a public letter claiming the U.S. entered the conflict due to “pressure from Israel” — a position he has since defended in multiple media appearances.

Kent maintained that U.S. intelligence did not support the administration’s justification for military action in Iran, asserting “we had no intelligence that said that Iran was working to develop a nuclear weapon,” a claim that runs counter to assessments publicly cited by top administration officials.

Kent’s resignation makes him the highest-ranking figure in the Trump administration to step down over the Iran war, a rare instance of open dissent from a senior national security official. His assertions put him at odds with top intelligence and defense officials who have said Iran posed an immediate threat to the United States. 

“Joe Kent’s self-aggrandizing resignation letter and recent comments are riddled with lies. Most egregious are Kent’s false claims that the largest state sponsor of terrorism somehow did not pose a threat to the United States and that Israel forced the President into launching Operation Epic Fury,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told Fox News Digital. “As Commander-in-Chief, President Trump took decisive action based on strong evidence which showed that the terrorist Iranian regime posed an imminent threat and was preparing to strike Americans first.”

Levin, a staunch advocate of the U.S. alliance with Israel and host of weekend program “Life, Liberty & Levin” on Fox, repeatedly challenged Kent’s claims throughout the roughly 22-minute interview, turning what began as a policy discussion into a pointed back-and-forth over intelligence, Israel and Trump’s decision-making. 

Levin rejected Kent’s assertion that Israel drove the U.S. into war, calling it “conspiratorial” and pushing back on the idea that a foreign government could dictate American military action.

“Why do you create a conspiratorial notion that Israel dragged the powerful Donald Trump into war?” Levin asked on his radio show, “The Mark Levin Show.” “Do you have no respect for Donald Trump’s agency that he has the capacity to make these decisions himself?”

Kent responded, “I believe that he was influenced by a media echo chamber and by the Israelis.”

Kent also argued that “the Israelis forced President Trump into this war,” a claim Levin repeatedly pushed back on during the exchange. 

Kent elsewhere described the decision as influenced by Israeli pressure.

Kent maintained that “there was no intelligence that said that Iran was working to develop a nuclear weapon.”

As director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Kent would have had access to high-level intelligence assessments, including threat reporting and interagency analysis used to brief senior policymakers. 

Administration officials have told Fox News he was not included in discussions surrounding the Iran conflict known as Operation Epic Fury. 

Levin countered, saying, “The president agrees with his own conclusions. The CIA director says you’re wrong.”

Asked Wednesday during a Senate hearing if he disagreed with Kent’s resignation assessment that Iran did not pose an imminent threat, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said he did. 

“I think Iran has been a constant threat to the United States for an extended period of time and posed an immediate threat at this time,” Ratcliffe said. 

Levin also questioned Kent’s credibility Monday, telling him, “I hope when you tell me you haven’t leaked that you are telling me the truth.”

Kent also indicated that efforts to investigate potential foreign links to the killing of Charlie Kirk and the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, were not fully carried out.

GABBARD SIDESTEPS IRAN ‘IMMINENT THREAT’ CLAIM UNDER SENATE GRILLING

“What I know is that there were foreign leads that we didn’t get a chance to look into. From my vantage point at the National Counterterrorism Center, that was not thoroughly looked into,” Kent said, referring to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

In other interviews, Kent has pointed to social media posts made before the attack against Kirk and suggested authorities should examine whether any individuals had prior knowledge or made threats. 

Levin pressed Kent on whether he was suggesting a specific country, including Israel, may have been involved in Kirk’s death, but Kent stopped short of naming any nation, saying only that potential foreign links should be investigated.

On Thomas Matthew Crooks and the attempted assassination of Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, Kent said: “We should investigate to see if there’s any linkage, particularly between Iran and the Iranian agent who was convicted for plotting an assassination attempt against President Trump.”

Kent pointed to the case of Asif Merchant, a Pakistani national convicted in U.S. federal court in March for attempting to orchestrate a political assassination plot tied to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

Endorsed by Trump in two unsuccessful congressional campaigns, Kent rose to MAGA stardom in large part in his opposition to “endless wars” after the death of his wife, Shannon, in a suicide bombing in Syria in 2019.

Kent could not be reached for comment. 

Tulsi Gabbard, the director of National Intelligence, has not publicly weighed in on Kent’s claims and largely has deferred to the president’s assessment of the Iran threat in recent public appearances. It’s not clear who has taken on Kent’s duties as director of the National Counterterrorism Center. 

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Israeli embassy could not immediately be reached for comment. 

House conservatives are firing a warning shot at their Republican counterparts in the Senate as a deal begins to take shape on ending the six-week Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown. 

Senate Republicans are eyeing a second “big, beautiful bill” via the budget reconciliation process aimed at funding portions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that would likely get little to no Democratic support.

That bill would also include parts of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE America) Act, legislation to require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo ID to cast ballots in federal elections.

But a growing contingent of House Republicans who are refusing to vote for any Senate-led legislation are crying foul on that portion of the plan.

THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE ‘TALKING FILIBUSTER’ AND THE SAVE ACT

“Senate Republicans refused to force a talking filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act because it would have allowed Democrats to offer unlimited amendments. Now, Senate R’s claim they will pass SAVE America Act via reconciliation (which may not even be possible under the Senate’s arcane rules), which would… checks notes …allow Democrats to offer unlimited amendments,” the conservative House Freedom Caucus said in a statement posted to X on Tuesday.

“This is gaslighting. The American people are not stupid and will not accept more failure theater from Republicans in Congress.”

Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., who led a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., vowing to oppose Senate bills until the SAVE America Act was passed, signaled he would reserve final judgment until a legislative proposal was released. But he did signal some skepticism in comments to Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS PUSH JOHNSON TO GO TO WAR WITH SENATE OVER SAVE ACT

“It will not resolve my issue. I mean, look, they can say they’ll put it in reconciliation if they want. But I will continue to vote no on all Senate bills until the SAVE America Act is passed,” Fine said.

He made an exception for funding DHS, however, particularly if the final Senate bill was a modified version of that which the House already passed in January.

Republican senators huddled with President Donald Trump and others at the White House late on Monday, and emerged hopeful that an end to the shutdown could be in sight.

MULLIN CONFIRMED AS DHS CHIEF AS LAWMAKERS NEAR SOLUTION ON SHUTDOWN STANDOFF

The working framework would see ICE funding carved from the broader DHS spending bill, something Senate Democrats have tried to do in recent weeks but were blocked by Senate Republicans. That means most of the agency would be reopened, and ICE would be dealt with in the future through budget reconciliation, the process that nearly ripped the GOP apart last year when they passed the “big, beautiful bill.” And part of the deal would also see Republicans pair portions of the SAVE America Act tossed in with ICE funding, which some Senate Republicans are already skeptical of.

Only parts of ICE would be left to reconciliation, however, with the majority of the agency, save for its enforcement and removal operations, being funded in the initial compromise deal, according to PBS.

The remainder of DHS would be funded via a bipartisan deal that could be released as soon as Tuesday.

But the budget reconciliation process is a long and politically arduous path that could take months — a particularly difficult feat in an election year.

There’s also been skepticism in both the House and Senate that Republicans’ razor-thin majorities could unite enough to pass another massive bill, like the one signed into law by Trump in July that mainly dealt with his tax plans.

Conservatives have also noted that there’s little chance many of the SAVE America Act’s provisions could survive the strict guardrails around what can be included in reconciliation.

A source familiar with the House Freedom Caucus’s thinking also panned the prospective deal to Fox News Digital.

“Radical progressive Democrats shut down Homeland Security to protect criminal aliens. Why on earth would we hand them exactly what they want by keeping the deportation wing unfunded?” the source said on Tuesday. “We hold the leverage. Don’t surrender it. No more kicking immigration enforcement down the road, so Democrats can take a victory lap.”

It would put the group at odds with not only Republican leaders in the Senate, but potentially the White House as well.

A White House official told Fox News Digital before the deal became official that, “Conversations are ongoing, but this deal seems to be acceptable.”

And a source familiar with negotiations on DHS retorted to Fox News Digital that the Freedom Caucus’ argument comparing the talking filibuster with reconciliation was “not even close to being the same.”

The key difference is that during reconciliation there is limited debate and only amendments that deal directly with what’s in the package can be offered, while in a talking filibuster there is unlimited debate and unlimited amendments.

The Senate GOP wanted to avoid the latter scenario, given that they aren’t unified to block every Democratic amendment that could have drastically altered the SAVE America Act.

Left-wing Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner is spotlighting a local church in an ad seeking to win over voters – but the congregation says it wants nothing to do with his campaign.

Sullivan Harbor Baptist Church, located in Platner’s hometown, appears in a 30-second spot the Platner campaign rolled out earlier in March. The video, titled “The Veteran Who Came Home,” features military veterans endorsing Platner’s campaign and is interspersed with shots of the American flag and the white clapboard church.

“We as Sullivan Harbor Baptist Church do not endorse this or any candidate,” the church wrote on Facebook last week. “We wish that he would remove our photo on his post.”

The ad comes as Platner, a staunch progressive backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has faced fierce backlash over his since-removed chest tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol and controversial online comments that resurfaced in 2025.

He is running to unseat longtime Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in November’s midterm elections, but first he faces Gov. Janet Mills in the Democratic primary, in a battle pitting the Democratic Party’s establishment against its far-left flank.

MAINE GOV MILLS TAKES BRUTAL SHOT AT JOE BIDEN WHEN PRESSED ON AGE CONCERNS IN SENATE RACE

The Platner campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Fox News Digital about whether it would take down the ad or remove the church from campaign materials.

Despite the church’s plea, versions of the ad continued to run on Facebook and Instagram, according to a Fox Digital review of the Platner campaign’s digital ad spending.

The campaign’s appeals to patriotism and faith come as he attempts to overcome a host of controversies tied to old Reddit posts that reemerged in fall 2025.

The Mills campaign, which has the tacit support of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., unveiled its first negative ad last week ripping Platner for making crude remarks in 2013 suggesting women deserved sexual assault.

REPUBLICAN SEN SUSAN COLLINS SAYS SHE’S RUNNING FOR RE-ELECTION

Platner’s campaign immediately fired back with an ad seeking to move past the controversy.

“These are words and statements I abhor,” Platner says in the spot. “So, Maine, I’m asking you not to judge me for the worst thing I said on the internet on my worst day 14 years ago, but who I am today.”

The Republican National Committee slammed Platner for featuring the church in his campaign ad.

“Invoking religion in this ad was a transparent attempt to distract people from the fact that Graham Platner is a morally bankrupt, Nazi-sympathizing, rapist-apologizing, chauvinist,” RNC spokeswoman Kristen Cianci said in a statement. “It’s no wonder Platner’s hometown church can’t stomach being associated with him.”

Platner also referred to himself as a communist, denigrated law enforcement as “bastards” and suggested white Americans are “racist” and “stupid” in other since-deleted posts on Reddit.

He has largely blamed his comments on a period of “disillusionment” he experienced after his military service concluded. The Maine Democrat is a combat veteran who served multiple overseas deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Platner, an oyster farmer and political newcomer, has consistently led Mills in polling ahead of the state’s June primary despite the two-term governor’s high name recognition from decades in public life. 

He is running on an anti-establishment, far-left platform that has drawn large crowds on the campaign trail. Platner, 41, also frequently talks about the need for generational change — a direct hit on Mills, 78, who would be the oldest freshman senator in U.S. history if elected in November.

A GOP state legislative candidate in Florida is aiming to keep Republicans in control of a long-vacant state house seat in a Palm Beach-anchored district that includes Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s home turf.

Republican Jon Maples is facing off in a special election in Florida’s House District 87 against Democrat Emily Gregory in the race to fill the seat left vacant last August, when GOP state Rep. Mike Caruso resigned to become Palm Beach County clerk and comptroller.

The ballot box battle is one of three special legislative elections being held in GOP-dominated Florida on Tuesday. And while the contests won’t change the balance of power in the state legislature, where for more than a quarter-century Republicans have held majorities in both the House and Senate chambers, bragging rights are up for grabs in the president’s home district.

Maples is backed by Trump, who moved his primary permanent residence in 2019 from Trump Tower in New York City to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. He is also backed by a number of top Sunshine State Republicans.

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“There is a very important Special Election tomorrow, Tuesday, March 24th, for Florida State House District 87 in beautiful Palm Beach County — JON MAPLES HAS MY COMPLETE AND TOTAL ENDORSEMENT!” the president wrote in a social media post on Monday evening.

The 43-year-old Maples, a financial planner and former Lake Clarke Shores Council member who during his years at Palm Beach Atlantic University was an all-American athlete, has made cutting taxes and government spending, reducing regulations, promoting private sector job creation and advancing school choice.

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Gregory, a 40-year-old Army spouse, owns and runs a Jupiter-based fitness center for pregnant and postpartum women. The first-time candidate has made affordability, increasing public education, tackling rising property insurance and housing costs, and access to healthcare key parts of her campaign.

Maples was the favorite heading into the special election, thanks to his fundraising advantage in a district that leads to the right. Trump carried the district by roughly 10 points in his 2024 re-election victory.

A victory by Maples would be further evidence of the GOP surge in Palm Beach County, which was once firmly blue.

In central Florida‘s Hillsborough County, Republican Josie Tomkow and Democrat Brian Nathan are facing off Tuesday in the State Senate 14 race to succeed Republican Jay Collins, who resigned from the seat in August to become the state’s lieutenant governor.

The district includes much of Democrat-leaning Tampa as well as the more GOP-leaning Northwest Hillsborough suburbs.

And Republican Hilary Holley and Democrat Edwin Perez are on the ballot in the special election in House District 51, in the race to replace Tomkow. The district covers parts of Polk County, in the central part of the state.