Venezuelan political leader María Corina Machado is pitching her country as a top U.S. oil partner and “beacon of hope and wealth creation for this hemisphere” after she said the Trump administration’s arrest of former dictator Nicolás Maduro has opened up a “new era” of free markets.

Addressing several thousand oil and energy executives at the CERAWeek conference in Houston, Machado, who until recently lived in the U.S. as a political exile, predicted that Venezuela will soon be a critical contributor to U.S. prosperity.

She thanked President Donald Trump and Energy Secretary Chris Wright for laying the groundwork for a “new chapter” in Venezuela, which she said will greatly benefit the U.S. She touted Venezuela’s energy potential, calling its reserves the “largest proven oil reserve in the world” and its natural gas supply the seventh-largest globally.

“For decades, all this was locked away by ideology and corruption; that time is ending,” she said, adding, “A new era has already begun with an upside of a completely different order of magnitude.”

TRUMP ENERGY CZAR SAYS IRAN CONFLICT GAS SPIKE IS ‘TEMPORARY BLIP’ AS DRILLING PUSH RAMPS UP

Machado said that since the Trump administration’s covert operation to topple the socialist Venezuelan dictator, “important steps have been taken to re-engage Venezuela’s oil and gas sector and begin addressing years of institutional decline and corruption.” She predicted that Venezuela would soon “turn from the criminal hub of the Americas” and instead become a “driving force in the global energy sector.”

“After Jan. 3, we finally feel that freedom is at the threshold; we are there,” she said.

ENERGY SEC CHRIS WRIGHT TO HEADLINE CERAWEEK 2026 AMID UNPRECEDENTED ENERGY STRAIN

Though current Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez is a lieutenant of Maduro, Machado predicted that the next election, which she said will likely be at least nine months away, will show “overwhelming” support for democratic free-market capitalism. She vowed that the government would “get out of the way,” saying, “We have learned the cost of socialism… We want open markets.”

“It takes at least nine months, or 40 weeks, from a technical perspective to have perfect, free and fair elections. But they will take place. And when they do, you will see the awakening of a country that will turn into the beacon of hope and wealth creation for this hemisphere.”

TRUMP TURBOCHARGES US ECONOMIC COMEBACK AS SOCIALISM KEEPS FAILING WORLDWIDE

After her address, Machado received a standing ovation from the auditorium full of oil and energy leaders. On a panel discussing her speech, S&P Global Vice Chairman Daniel Yergin said Machado “answered a lot of the questions” that energy executives had.

However, another panelist, Luisa Palacios, a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy, said Venezuela still has a “long way” to go before enough confidence builds in the country to attract significant oil investment.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is moving to block new foreign-made internet routers from entering the U.S. market, citing mounting concerns that overseas supply chains could expose American networks to cyber threats inside their own homes. 

The move expands the agency’s “covered list,” which bars equipment deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to national security and will effectively prevent new foreign-manufactured routers from being authorized for sale in the U.S. 

The order effectively means new routers must be built in the United States or clear a national security review that scrutinizes ownership, supply chains and software control to be sold domestically.

The list includes communications equipment and services considered “to pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the safety and security of United States persons,” the FCC said.

LAWSUIT CLAIMS SECURITY CAMERAS SOLD IN THE US CARRIED UNDISCLOSED SURVEILLANCE RISKS

The agency warned that “malicious actors have exploited security gaps in foreign-made routers to attack American households, disrupt networks, enable espionage, and facilitate intellectual property theft,” citing multiple cases in which such devices were used in cyberattacks targeting U.S. infrastructure.

The rule applies broadly to devices produced outside the country but largely targets routers with Chinese origins. The world’s networking hardware supply is largely dependent on China for manufacturing and engineering.

Estimates in recent years indicate that devices with significant Chinese supply chain ties account for the majority of home routers used in the U.S.

TP-Link, a China-founded router manufacturer and one of the top-selling brands on Amazon, has faced growing scrutiny in Washington amid cyber incidents and broader concerns about foreign-linked networking equipment.

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A review of router manufacturing and supply chains by Fox News Digital indicates that nearly all major router brands sold in the United States depend extensively on Chinese manufacturing, engineering talent or components, even when marketed as American or allied products.

Companies that have shifted production to countries like Vietnam often still rely on Chinese-owned manufacturers and engineering teams, meaning the supply chain footprint remains largely unchanged.

Core elements of router development — including firmware and hardware design — frequently are supported by engineering teams based in China, raising concerns about vulnerabilities within widely used networking equipment.

FCC ANNOUNCES BAN ON NEW CHINESE-MADE DRONES OVER NATIONAL SECURITY CONCERNS

Those risks have already surfaced in real-world cyber operations.

In 2023, the Justice Department disrupted a network of hundreds of compromised U.S. home and small-business routers that had been hijacked by Chinese state-backed hackers known as “Volt Typhoon.” The infected devices were used to conceal the origin of cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure, allowing malicious traffic to appear as if it came from inside the U.S.

By routing activity through compromised devices, hackers can make attacks harder to trace and maintain access inside targeted networks.

A single router often connects dozens of devices inside a home or small business, including phones, laptops, security cameras, smart TVs and baby monitors. A compromised device can give attackers visibility into network traffic and provide a foothold to move across connected systems or launch additional attacks.

U.S. officials say the broader campaign targeted sectors including energy, water, telecommunications and transportation, part of an effort to establish access that could be used to disrupt systems during a future conflict.

The FCC’s move is the latest step in a broader push in Washington to reduce reliance on foreign — and particularly China-linked — technology across critical sectors, including telecommunications equipment, semiconductors and consumer applications.

Supporters of the policy say it addresses long-standing supply chain risks and reduces the chances of foreign adversaries gaining access to U.S. networks. But the rule could strain supply chains and push up prices, given that most routers sold in the U.S. are manufactured overseas.

The policy does not apply to routers already legally purchased or currently in use. Companies can continue selling routers that are already in the U.S. and previously approved, but once that inventory runs out, new foreign-made models would be effectively blocked unless they pass a national security review.

The rule does not mean routers already in American homes are known to be compromised. But cybersecurity officials have long warned outdated or unpatched devices can be vulnerable, and in some cases have been used as part of larger botnet networks that support cyberattacks.

The Chinese embassy and relevant router companies could not immediately be reached for comment. 

Philadelphia County District Attorney Lawrence Krasner criticized the Trump administration for dispatching ICE agents to airports to assist TSA officers who have gone unpaid for weeks amid a Democrat-forced funding lapse at the Department of Homeland Security.

Krasner, a Democrat whose campaigns received funds tied to left-wing Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros, has criticized President Donald Trump and DHS for months over their immigration enforcement measures and previously threatened to “hunt down” ICE agents he believed violated city laws if there were to be a Minnesota-style situation in Pennsylvania.

On Tuesday, Krasner spoke from the airport, saying Trump administration officials have tried to confound the public and agents themselves as to what is legal behavior and what is not.

Krasner said he will not accept any phone calls from President Donald Trump asking for leniency:

IGNORED ICE DETAINERS ‘PUT LIVES AT RISK,’ DHS SAYS, TARGETING NEWSOM, PRITZKER, HEALEY

“The president cannot pardon you and yes I will put you in handcuffs, and I will put you into a courtroom, and if necessary, I will you put you a jail cell if you decide to make the terrazzo floor of this airport anything like what you did in the streets of Minneapolis,” Krasner said, addressing agents.

He claimed that situation involved “the criminal homicide of unarmed, innocent people” and that Philadelphia would not accept such actions.

“My job is to enforce the law: so this is how that works — because I know there have been efforts to confuse you, including by the Vice President of the United States. This is how it works. You commit crimes within the jurisdiction that is the city and county of Philadelphia, I prosecute you.”

Vice President JD Vance declined to comment. But, the White House lambasted separate comments from Krasner as he stood in front of a “Wooder Ice” mural for a video message.

Backed by ominous music, Krasner said Philadelphians enjoy Water Ice because it “doesn’t break the law [nor] bother us at an airport.” The “Rapid Response 47” team called Krasner’s video “sick and deranged,” adding, “If you don’t like it, Larry, tell your fellow Democrats to fund DHS.”

Krasner also noted during his airport remarks that there are law-abiding agents within DHS ranks.

FETTERMAN SLAMS DEMOCRATIC ‘MESS’ AS TSA WORKERS MISS PAYCHECKS DURING DHS SHUTDOWN

“I have a message for the good people, and there are a lot of good people [in] ICE… Keep your oath. Uphold the United States Constitution. Uphold the laws. It does not matter whether I personally approve of policies that you are following,” Krasner began, adding he believes DHS’ “mass deportations” are “immoral.”

“To any agent who might think of doing in an illegal way, I’ll be seeing you in court and you’re not going to like it because a Philly jury is not going like what you did if it is illegal.”

When a reporter appeared to mention that the city cannot instruct ICE agents, Krasner said he is not suggesting Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) agents or ICE should not be present in Philadelphia, but that there appears to be “sort of an escalation” in the novel concept of using ICE to do the work of TSA.

DEMOCRATS BROKE AIRPORT SECURITY. NOW THEY’RE CALLING THE SOLUTION DANGEROUS

Krasner claimed ICE’s presence at airports and elsewhere has given foreigners cold feet.

He said the city saw 2,000 hotel rooms canceled for FIFA’s World Cup in June, and that he heard from Scottish fans that they would stay home because of high gas prices, airline ticket prices and the idea that their brogue could make them a target for ICE.

“There are Scottish soccer fans who do not want to come here for fear their accent will be overheard and they’re going to get a bunch of grief from ICE agents in the airports, which they’ve never experienced before. This is a direct economic hit to FIFA and all the cities where it applies. This is a direct economic hit to the city of Philadelphia.”

“It is just one more thing that this president is doing to basically wreck our economy. I wish he wouldn’t do it. Having said that, I cannot blame an ICE agent who is following orders, has come here and is standing in the corner, basically doing nothing,” he said, calling ICE’s work as TSA agents “stupid but lawful.”

Krasner’s comments come as other top Democrats have lambasted ICE’s presence in airports, including remarks from one senator who claimed people will die because of them.

“ICE agents at airports will only aggravate delays & lines — disrupting checks, interrogating travelers, dragging parents from children, detaining citizens, brutalizing families, shooting & even killing,” Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal wrote on X.

“Brutal, lawless tactics common in communities across the country by masked, unidentified agents, violating basic rights — no way to help TSA or travelers,” he continued.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York added separately that the last thing “the American people need is for untrained ICE agents to be deployed at airports all across the country, potentially to brutalize or in some instances kill them.”

“We have already seen how ICE conducts itself,” Jeffries continued. “These are untrained individuals when it comes to doing the current job they have, for the most part, let alone deploying them in close proximity in highly sensitive situations at airports across the country,” the East New York lawmaker added.

Fox News Digital reached out to DHS for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Elaine Mallon contributed to this report.

Democrats are ecstatic after flipping a Republican-controlled legislative seat in a right-leaning, Palm Beach, Florida-anchored district that includes Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s home turf.

“If Democrats can win in Trump’s own backyard, we can win anywhere. From now until November, Democrats are all gas and no brakes as we compete across every corner of Florida and the nation,” Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin emphasized as he pointed to this year’s midterm elections, when the GOP will be defending its narrow House and Senate majorities.

Martin released his statement on Tuesday night, minutes after Democrat Emily Gregory defeated Republican Jon Maples in a special election in Florida’s House District 87, 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.

But the rival Republican National Committee (RNC), pointing to the ballot box setback, stressed that Democrats were overplaying their hand and that special elections are far from the best barometer of things to come.

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

“A low-turnout state House special election is a snapshot of local quirks, candidate dynamics, and turnout math — not some grand verdict,” RNC Senior Adviser Danielle Alvarez said in a statement.

While Gregory’s victory 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 were up for grabs in the president’s home district.

And Maples was 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.

REPUBLICAN ‘WAKE-UP CALL’—SPECIAL ELECTION SHOCKER HIGHLIGHTS GOP MIDTERM RISKS

“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.

Palm Beach County has leaned blue for decades, but Republicans have made major gains there at the ballot box in recent election cycles.

Gregory’s upset, in a district that in the 2024 elections Trump carried by 10 points and Caruso won by 19 points, wasn’t the Democrats’ only flip of a red seat on Tuesday night.

According to unofficial results from Hillsborough County in central Florida, Democrat Brian Nathan narrowly edged Republican Josie Tomkow in a special election in the race to succeed the GOP’s Jay Collins, who resigned from the state Senate in August to become lieutenant governor. In a third special election, Republican Hilary Holley defeated Democrat Edwin Perez, in the race to replace Tomkow.

The Democrats’ Sunshine State victories are their latest wins or over performances in a slew of special elections from coast to coast since Trump returned to power in the White House 14 months ago. 

The flipping of two GOP-controlled state Senate seats in Iowa last year denied Republicans their super majority in the chamber.

And plenty of Republicans were calling their party’s double-digit shellacking in a state Senate election in a ruby red district in Texas in an early February special election a “wake-up call” for the party.

Democrats also scored larger than expected victories in last November’s gubernatorial elections in blue-leaning Virginia and New Jersey.

Partially fueling the Democrats’ ballot box performances is their laser focus on affordability amid persistent inflation. And the victories are further energizing Democrats as they work to win back control of Congress in the midterms.

Meanwhile, Republicans are battling stiff political headwinds as the party in power in the nation’s capital traditionally loses seats in the midterms, and a rough political climate fueled by economic concerns, an unpopular war with Iran, and Trump’s underwater approval ratings.

And public opinion polling suggests that the economy and immigration, winning issues for Trump and Republicans in the 2024 elections, may be liabilities now.

The DNC, in their statement, called Gregory’s win “an earth-shattering victory for Florida Democrats and humiliating defeat for Donald Trump.”

“Donald Trump’s own neighbors just sent a crystal clear message: They are furious and ready for change,” Martin claimed.

But Republicans say that Democrats are overemphasizing their special election successes.

“Historically, special elections have been a poor barometer for what will occur during regularly scheduled midterm or presidential elections,” veteran Republican strategist and communicator Jesse Hunt told Fox News Digital. “Specials have unique dynamics that don’t play as much of a factor when the broader electorate feels the muscle memory of showing up to vote in November.”

Longtime Republican strategist Colin Reed pointed to the GOP’s sweeping One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the massive measure passed along party lines last summer by Republicans, which includes numerous tax cuts that many voters will feel this spring.

“If the economy starts booming on the backs of the One, Big Beautiful Bill’s provisions taking hold, the Republican Party need to remind America that this was a policy uniformly supported by one party and opposed by another. That’s the GOP’s big bet heading into the midterms, with the situation in Iran remaining the one unknowable wild car that has the potential to upend the entire political landscape,” Reed said.

Congressional Democrats are pressing the Republican-controlled House to subpoena Corey Lewandowski — former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s top advisor — over his alleged role in a controversial border security ad campaign that prompted bipartisan criticism.

House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Co., sent a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Wednesday demanding the committee launch an investigation and require Lewandowski to sit for a deposition.

The lawmakers argue the matter is an urgent taxpayer oversight issue and want Jordan to compel witness testimony and documents related to Lewandowski’s influence over the ad campaign.

“We urge you to use the Committee’s subpoena power to compel production of documents and communications regarding Mr. Lewandowski’s role in awarding these contracts and require Mr. Lewandowski to appear before the Committee for a deposition,” the Democratic lawmakers wrote. “Mr. Lewandowski was at the center of the Department’s advertising spending and is the person best positioned to explain how a quarter of a billion dollars in taxpayer money was spent.”

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The DHS ad campaign that prominently featured Noem — including a scene of the former secretary on horseback at Mount Rushmore — upset some GOP lawmakers, who voiced concerns about whether there was a competitive bidding process and whether the infomercials were a smart use of taxpayer dollars.

Lawmakers in both chambers grilled Noem on the topic during back-to-back hearings earlier in March, during which she testified under oath that the ad campaign had been approved through the standard competitive bid process and disputed that its purpose was to boost her public profile. 

Noem also told members of Congress that Lewandowski had “no” role in signing off on DHS contracts, but Raskin and Neguse point to reporting that appears to show the top advisor approving numerous contracts at the department.

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In the letter, the Democratic lawmakers singled out three businesses that received the $220 million ad contract, which multiple reports have found bypassed the traditional competitive bidding process.

Noem also claimed under oath that the ad campaign had President Donald Trump’s approval only for him to contradict her testimony in an interview with Reuters.

Raskin has accused Noem of perjury and has recommended that criminal charges be brought against the secretary for lying to Congress.

The Democrat-authored letter comes as Jordan has expressed concern about the ad campaign’s $220 million price tag. The lawmakers reference Jordan telling The New York Post earlier in March that “we’ll take a look at it.”

The House Homeland Security Committee has also said it is probing the controversial ad blitz.

Noem has since started a new role as special envoy to the Shield of the Americas, where she is expected to focus on immigration and border security issues.

Fox News Digital reached out to Jordan for comment.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito pushed back Tuesday on an attorney defending migrants seeking asylum, challenging the argument that those stopped at the border have “arrived in” the United States — a key issue in an immigration case.

The case stems from a Trump administration petition asking the Supreme Court to overturn a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruling that found migrants remain eligible for asylum even if stopped at a port of entry on the Mexico side, concluding they had still “arrived” in the United States. The Supreme Court’s decision could determine whether migrants blocked at the border can seek asylum and how officials will handle future surges.

Kelsi Corkran, an attorney representing asylum seekers, argued that the phrases “arriving at” and “arriving in” a location carry the same meaning, and that the only difference between “at” and “in” is grammatical. 

Alito challenged that interpretation, repeatedly pressing whether migrants stopped at the border can be said to have “arrived in” the United States, a distinction that determines whether they qualify for asylum protection.

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“So there’s been talk about knocking at the door. Do you think someone who comes to the front door and knocks at the door has arrived in the house? The person may have arrived at the house?” Alito asked, testing that logic.  

“No, but that’s past tense,” Corkran said. “Are they arriving in the house?”

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Alito pressed Corkran again, asking whether someone still knocking outside could be said to have arrived inside the house.

“Yes, I think here the door is open,” Corkran said.

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She said asylum seekers at the “threshold” should be treated as arriving. 

U.S. law allows migrants at the border to seek asylum by claiming fear of persecution, a process that can lead to legal status if approved. Critics argue the system is often abused, with some migrants filing weak claims and not appearing for hearings.

An amicus brief filed by the HIAS Foundation affirmed Corkran’s point, asserting that denying asylum for refugees not physically on U.S. soil creates a “a legal no-man’s land.”

“People are left in limbo in dangerous border towns, unable to access the process our laws guarantee to those who arrive at a port of entry and present themselves to U.S. officials standing on U.S. soil,” the brief stated. 

Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued in his brief that “arrive in the United States” does not include someone stopped in Mexico.

The Supreme Court’s ruling on the case may come as late as June.

Democrats blasted President Donald Trump’s decision to deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to airports across the country on Monday as travel centers struggle to maintain a security presence amid a partial government shutdown, which is now nearing the 40-day mark.

“There’s absolutely no reason for him to do that,” said Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas. “[Trump] has put a stop to it.”

Instead of using ICE to meet security needs at airports, Escobar said that Congress should pass a proposal that separates funding for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) from the gridlock.

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Fellow Democrat Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., echoed Escobar’s condemnation of the deployment.

“I think it’s a horrible, horrible idea that’s just going to cause more problems,” Grijalva said.

Like the rest of the agencies that operate under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), funding for TSA ran dry on Feb. 14 over Democrat-led demands to reform ICE, the agency at the heart of Trump’s immigration crackdown.

Democrats have conditioned their support for DHS funding on a ban on masks for ICE agents, stiffer warrant requirements for apprehending suspects in public and a ban on roaming patrols, among other changes.

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Republicans have rebuffed the demands, arguing they would handcuff Trump’s immigration enforcement goals. Republicans need at least seven Democrats to reach the 60-vote threshold to break a filibuster in the Senate, where they hold just 53 seats.

As the standoff reaches the 40-day mark, TSA agents have struggled to continue working while covering costs. Trump announced on Monday that he would deploy ICE in an effort to shore up airport security.

However, Grijalva voiced concern that their immigration-focused work might clash with places of travel.

“I think that their whole job is to try to pick people off that they think are not legally in the United States. That’s most of our big travel hubs,” Grijalva said.

SENATE REPUBLICANS MOVE TO REOPEN DHS WITH NEW PLAN, WAIT FOR DEMOCRATIC BUY-IN

She expressed concern that ICE agents wouldn’t have sufficient time to receive the training afforded to regular airport security.

“So, if you think about it, I don’t know how they would be helpful in making people feel calm. If I were an international traveler, I wouldn’t want to come to the United States to deal with a rogue agency that is under-trained,” Grijalva said.

According to DHS, more than 366 TSA agents have left the force. TSA agents missed their first full paychecks on March 13.

Senate Democrats rejected Republicans’ latest offer to reopen Homeland Security, despite the deal giving them much of what they asked for.

Senate Republicans crafted a framework to reopen the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after meeting with President Donald Trump earlier in the week that would carve out immigration enforcement funding and include some reforms to immigration operations.

It mirrors a similar proposal that Democrats tried to advance on the Senate floor twice during the shutdown, which entered its 39th day on Wednesday. But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Democrats aren’t satisfied with the latest offer, which is still being finalized.

SENATE REPUBLICANS MOVE TO REOPEN DHS WITH NEW PLAN, WAIT FOR DEMOCRATIC BUY-IN

“Negotiations are ongoing, and they’ve sent us an offer,” Schumer said. “And we’ll be sending them an offer back. And I can assure you it will contain significant reform in it.”

But by Wednesday morning, Senate Democrats had yet to send an offer to Republicans.

After meeting with Trump and hoping that they had a workable deal, Republicans are now frustrated that Democrats are balking.

“We finally just said, ‘Stop. We’ll just fund everything but [Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO)],’” Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told Fox News Digital. “That’s what you said you wanted at the beginning. Let’s do that.”

“That’s what we’re doing,” he continued. “So no extra language, no extra playing with it. We’re doing just the baseline. We don’t like it. They don’t like it. It opens everything up and gets everybody funded again.”

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Republicans’ framework also hit a snag on Tuesday when Trump acknowledged that the GOP was getting “fairly close, but I think any deal they make, I’m pretty much not happy with it.”

Democrats still want stringent reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) baked into any deal and have shut down previous offers from the White House that addressed most of their main concerns, minus requiring judicial warrants for DHS agents and unmasking.

“If we are talking about funding any part of ICE or [Customs and Border Protection], we absolutely must take some key steps to rein them in,” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said. “The current Republican offer in front of us does not do that.”

The latest chapter in the ongoing back-and-forth comes after negotiations between both sides appeared dead in the water, but reignited last week.

Republicans were hopeful that after finally getting Democrats into a room, they could break through the logjam and reopen the agency as thousands of federal workers go without pay, lines at airports produce staggering delays, and worries about attacks on the homeland increase.

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

That shifted over the weekend when Trump demanded that the GOP combine DHS funding with the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, which had a chilling effect on the talks between Democrats and Republicans.

Now, despite concessions on ICE funding, Democrats say funding for that portion of DHS wasn’t the real problem.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital that immigration enforcement wasn’t just happening at ERO, but operating through Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

“They’ve created this problem in which it’s really hard to address an immigration enforcement operation that’s out of control because it is funded out of almost every part of the DHS budget,” Murphy said.

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, who has been involved in direct talks with Senate Republicans and Trump officials, said that the remaining question was to ensure that funding that is going to HSI and CBP does make its way back into ERO, effectively requiring strict guardrails to prevent any funding from going where it shouldn’t.

“The idea is, HSI should do what HSI should do, CBP does what CBP should do, but not end up augmenting and running the pause on the funding of enforcement,” King said.

Still, Republicans aren’t happy with Democrats turning their back on the framework that they believed gave them exactly what they wanted. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., told Fox News Digital that Democrats couldn’t just “back up” every time a deal was put on the table.

“Look, we did all this work, we talked about framework, we get it squared away with the White House, we get it squared away with our caucus, and then they want something more,” Hoeven said. “So I’m not sure.”

Hasan Piker, a progressive media personality and streamer, downplayed the severity of rolling blackouts in Cuba while on a recent trip to the communist island, telling viewers that the population was “partying.”

“There are rolling blackouts that take place throughout the day, every day, all around the country. But today is a beautiful day out here. People are partying. People are partying in the f—— streets. I don’t know if it’s an island mindset,” Piker said.

The remarks come as U.S. officials warn the island faces a deepening energy crisis, highlighting a stark divide between firsthand accounts and government assessments.

Piker, who has supported self-declared progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, praised the Cubans for their endurance.

“The people’s resilience is remarkable. There are rolling blackouts that take place throughout the day, every day, all around the country, right? 11 million people.”

POST-MADURO, PRESSURE BUILDS ON MEXICO OVER CUBA’S NEW OIL LIFELINE

Piker’s descriptions come as Cuba’s communist regime finds itself choked off from access to energy imports after a U.S. operation in Venezuela resulted in the capture of President Nicolás Maduro earlier this year.

According to the Department of State, Cuba began to experience energy shortages shortly afterward.

“Understand that Cuba has largely survived on the basis of subsidies. The Maduro regime was providing them fuel,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a press event at the White House.

“So, the reason why Cuba’s electricity grid was already in collapse — before Maduro was captured, it was already in collapse — the reason why things are as bad as they are is because they have an economic model that does not work. It’s not functional,” Rubio said.

CUBAN ACTIVIST TO TRUMP: ‘MAKE CUBA GREAT AGAIN’ BY ENDING COMMUNIST RULE

President Donald Trump has characterized the energy crisis as severe and said he believes public unrest has strengthened U.S. influence over the island.

“I do believe I’ll be the honor of taking Cuba… That’s a big honor. They’re a very weakened nation right now. They were for a long time,” Trump told reporters last week.

Trump did not expand on what he meant by “taking” the island.

Piker’s characterizations, however, contrast sharply with the way the administration has framed the on-the-ground circumstances on the island.

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

“A lot of the info that you see and hear from the island is like directly coming from like, most of the time, National Endowment for Democracy-Foundation-backed individuals, State Department propaganda, things like that,” Piker said, referring to a pro-Democracy group.

“It’s very difficult to get information out of here. Even though it’s so close,” he added. “They’re just chilling. Cubans they vibe,”

Piker did not respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital.

A bipartisan group of senators is resurfacing legislation to cap many American patients’ insulin costs at $35 a month — the INSULIN Act of 2026 — reviving a push that previously stalled.

The bill co-authored by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Susan Collins, R-Maine, Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., and John Kennedy, R-La., would bar group and individual health plans from imposing deductibles on selected insulin products and could not charge more than $35 for a 30-day supply starting in plan year 2027.

Beginning in 2028, patients would pay the lesser of $35 or 25% of the negotiated net price.

Congress had already mandated a Medicare-only cap of $35 in 2022, and President Donald Trump‘s long-running agenda to lower prescription medicine costs gives the effort some momentum before the 2026 midterms, where Collins’ seat could be targeted for a Democrat flip amid the very narrow Republican Senate majority (53-47).

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“We are the long-time chairs of the Senate Diabetes Caucus, and one of our top priorities is to make insulin more affordable,” Collins said in a Senate hearing last week.

“Our INSULIN Act would impose out-of-pocket limits for patients with commercial insurance, tackle commercial pharmacy benefit managers, and ensure that patients are the ones who are benefiting from the savings that they negotiate, and encourage biosimilar competition in order to lower list prices.”

The bill, first introduced in 2023, has been reworked at Kennedy and Warnock’s urging to include some work to provide capped insulin prices even for the uninsured.

“Our bill also includes provisions to help uninsured Americans access affordable insulin,” Collins continued. “Just this week, I met with a young woman who, a few years ago, ended up in the hospital because she was stretching out her insulin, not taking as much as she was prescribed, because she simply couldn’t afford the cost.”

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The issue aligns with a 2024 Trump presidential campaign vow. Trump has already announced other initiatives to lower prescription drug prices, including an executive order last May on his “Most Favored Nation” (MNF) policy to take action on Big Pharma companies that are not offering the world’s lowest price on drugs to Americans.

“Americans should not be forced to subsidize low-cost prescription drugs and biologics in other developed countries, and face overcharges for the same products in the United States,” Trump’s policy ordered. “Americans must therefore have access to the most-favored-nation price for these products.”

“My Administration will take immediate steps to end global freeloading and, should drug manufacturers fail to offer American consumers the most-favored-nation’s lowest price, my Administration will take additional aggressive action.”

Then, this December, Trump announced agreements with nine Big Pharma companies to lower prices on Americans under the MFN policy, including offering direct to the consumer lowest pricing on TrumpRx, the president’s new prescription drug portal.

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TrumpRX lists Insulin Lispro from Eli Lilly for $25.

Collin and Shaheen’s legislation would also offer a limited cap on insulin for the uninsured — an issue reportedly driven by Warnock and Kennedy in the bipartisan group — creating a five-year pilot in 10 states to help uninsured patients get insulin for no more than $35 a month.

“We have already capped insulin for Medicare enrollees at $35 a month — this new INSULIN Act, which we plan to introduce next [this] week, will address insulin affordability for children, adults and those who are uninsured,” Shaheen said in a statement.

“It will do, as the Medicare provision does, cap the cost of employer and private insurance coverage of insulin at $35 a month, create a pilot program to provide $35 a month insulin for uninsured diabetes patients, and it is a direct way to help American families facing economic pressures, and will make people healthier in the long run.”

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While Collins might need the bill for her 2026 midterm election hopes. Shaheen is serving out her final year in the Senate.

“I would really like to be able to leave the Senate thinking that we had helped to address insulin costs for a lot of Americans: This is the most expensive chronic disease,” Shaheen told Semafor, noting Trump’s agenda for capping prices.

“This is something that he should support, because it is affordability.”

Affordability has been the Democrats’ buzzword for the midterms, but Republicans and Trump have argued it has only been an issue Democrats have made after years of inflation under former President Joe Biden.

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The bill authorizes $100 million for fiscal 2027 for cost-cutting and defines “affordable” insulin as out-of-pocket costs of no more than $35 for a one-month supply.

Collins framed the measure as a response to patients rationing medicine they need to survive.

“I have heard far too many stories from people in Maine and across the country who have been forced to ration their insulin because of the cost, and that is simply unacceptable,” she told Semafor.

Beyond the consumer cap, the bill also tries to lower underlying costs by targeting pharmacy benefit manager practices and encouraging more competition from biosimilars and generics. It orders a federal study on delays in bringing insulin products to market and barriers to biosimilar uptake.

The proposal now faces the harder political test: winning buy-in from Senate leadership and finding a path to must-pass legislation later this year. But after years of failed starts, backers say they finally have a bipartisan framework that could move.