While California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom blames President Donald Trump’s actions in Iran for the price of gas, critics are calling him out for “insane” climate policies as the state’s prices at the pump soar significantly above the national average.

On Tuesday, Newsom, who is widely considered a top contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, took to X to slam “Trump’s war with Iran” over gas prices.  

Newsom wrote that “Americans will pay $1.5 BILLION MORE at the gas pump just this week because of Donald Trump’s war with Iran.” He added that California “will continue using the tools we’ve spent years developing to help fight price spikes and lessen the blow from Trump’s recklessness.”

In response, Steve Hilton, a Republican candidate for California governor, slammed Newsom, saying, “California has the highest gas taxes and fees in America.”

CALIFORNIA VOTER ID INITIATIVE CLEARS SIGNATURE THRESHOLD, SETTING UP NOVEMBER SHOWDOWN WITH NEWSOM

“Gavin Newsom is trying to shift blame,” said Hilton, “and he’s blaming these insane gas prices in California, $5.49, $5.69, heading to $6, on the war in Iran. It’s not the war in Iran, because in the rest of the country, they don’t have $5.49, they have $3 gas.”

“It’s entirely because of Gavin Newsom’s insane climate dogma that we have the highest gas taxes in the country,” he continued.

Hilton called on Newsom to end his national book tour and to immediately “suspend the gas tax.”

At approximately $5.33 per gallon, California has by far the highest average gas prices in the U.S., according to AAA. California gas prices significantly exceed those in the next two highest-priced states, Washington and Hawaii, which have average prices of $4.72 and $4.69 per gallon, respectively. Meanwhile, the national average in the U.S. is $3.57 per gallon.

California has the highest gas tax, at roughly 70 cents per gallon, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

In a 2025 opinion piece on Fox News Digital, Hilton wrote that “California’s sky-high gas prices” are the “direct result of 15 years of one-party Democratic rule.”

He added that “Gavin Newsom, former Vice President Kamala Harris and every other leading Democrat in the state have been cheerleaders for this ‘war on fossil fuels,’ endlessly bragging about ‘leading the world’ on climate change.”

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Hilton is not the only one criticizing Newsom’s oil and gas policies.

Roxanne Hoge, chair of the Los Angeles County GOP, called Newsom’s take “a textbook case of projection, pointing fingers at others while his own record is riddled with mismanagement and failure.” 

“Californians have seen the cost of gas be higher than the rest of the USA for reasons having nothing to do with President Trump. He has driven supply down by banishing producers while not fixing infrastructure with gas tax money as promised,” Hoge told Fox News Digital, adding, “We all know that Gavin Newsom has moved on to campaigning for president in spite of his atrocious record at home.”

On Wednesday, Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum posted on X that “California is KILLING their economy!” 

The secretary wrote that while Newsom “continues to close refineries & drive up gas prices for California,” the department approved over 6,000 drilling permits “to advance [Trump’s] American Energy Dominance Agenda & lower gas prices nationwide.” 

Chevron President Andy Walz also recently sounded the alarm, warning California Gov. Gavin Newsom and state regulators that newly proposed “cap-and-invest” amendments are a death knell for California’s remaining refineries.

‘UTTERLY UNAFFORDABLE’: STUDY REVEALS HOW DEEP BLUE CITY’S MINIMUM WAGE LAW IS RAVAGING KEY INDUSTRY

The California Air Resources Board is aiming to make companies cleaner by aggressively lowering the cap on how much total pollution is allowed in the state. Specifically, the board is proposing to pull 118.3 million allowances out of the state’s market between 2027 and 2030 and has more recently increased its carbon reduction target to 90% by 2045.

The energy giant warns the move will kill more than half a million jobs, threaten national security and spike gas prices by more than a dollar per gallon — all to fuel a state-run “shakedown” of the energy sector — in a letter addressed to Newsom and obtained by The California Globe.

“The proposed regulation will cripple the survivability of the state’s remaining refineries, which will result in California losing the entire industry to this misguided program,” Chevron President Andy Walz wrote.

“This regulation will increase transportation and aviation fuel prices for consumers. It will risk significant job losses, including many high-paying union jobs, while reducing funding for essential public services,” he continued, adding that “it will upend California’s fuels market and threaten critical energy and national security assets.”

In the same vein, Tim Stewart, a spokesperson for the U.S. Oil & Gas Association, told Fox News Digital that “California’s energy malaise is beginning to infect the other western states’ economies and unless there is a course change immediately, we will all feel the pain of decades of horribly bad California energy policy led by Governor Newsom.” 

“California’s gross mismanagement of its energy production and distribution economy is becoming a national security issue, and it now impacts all of us,” Stewart continued, adding that in addition to this, “agriculture, manufacturing, housing, the financial system is all impacted.” 

“It doesn’t have to be this way, and Governor Newsom knows it,” said Stewart. “He also knows that no matter how hard he tries – he can’t pin this on Trump or our industry. The public isn’t buying it anymore.”

Minnesota Department of Human Services (MNDHS) officials skipped a key hearing this week held by a state House fraud prevention panel, earning the ire of its chairwoman as Gov. Tim Walz separately promised reform.

MNDHS was expected to face tough questions at the hearing, which featured a former judge and Catholic diocesan official appointed by Walz to investigate “program integrity” in the state.

“I’m incredibly frustrated that they ghosted us,” House Fraud Prevention Committee Chair Kristin Robbins said, as she has since sent a letter to the department demanding answers.

Robbins, a suburban Minneapolis Republican who is also running for governor, previously said state leaders “knew this was going on and they allowed it to continue.”

YOUTUBER TO TESTIFY BEFORE CONGRESS ON MINNESOTA’S MASSIVE $9B FRAUD NETWORK INVESTIGATION

At the top of Monday’s hearing, Robbins verbally recognized the absence of MNDHS, as she introduced the session as one “discussing the roadmap to program integrity and fraud prevention, followed by an informational hearing and discussion of periodic data matching.”

“Before we begin, is there anyone in the Department of Human Services in the audience? I don’t see anyone,” she said. “So I just want to note for the record that [MN]DHS was invited to be available in the audience to answer questions today after Judge O’Malley’s presentation. And they have apparently declined to come, which is very frustrating.”

MINNESOTA ‘ON THE CLOCK’ AS HHS THREATENS PENALTIES OVER CHILDCARE FRAUD SCANDAL

Robbins said it was the second such hearing that MNDHS ignored, and that she would be contacting MNDHS Commissioner Shireen Gandhi.

“She may not always be able to attend, but there are a lot of employees at that agency [including] someone who especially can speak to periodic data matching should have been here for that portion of the hearing.”

Instead, Robbins moved on to testimony from Tim O’Malley, a retired judge and St. Paul archdiocesan official, who was recently appointed by Walz as state director of Program Integrity.

“Minnesota has experienced extensive, well-documented fraud in programs designed to serve the state’s most vulnerable residents. The state’s ineffectiveness in combating that fraud has wasted taxpayer dollars, enriched criminals, eroded public confidence, and impeded the delivery of essential services to Minnesotans in need,” O’Malley said.

In a video interview with Fox News Digital, Robbins expounded on her earlier reported comments, saying it was “very disappointing” to see MNDHS no-show.

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“What was more shocking is, as we gaveled out, the next hearing was coming in, a Ways and Means Committee hearing, and all the [MN]DHS people walked in the door for the next hearing because they wanted to ask for money from the state … but they couldn’t bother to show up to react to the governor’s own program integrity report. It was unbelievable,” she said.

When reached for comment, an MNDHS spokesperson said “the department had a prior commitment Monday morning.”

“Monday marked the 19th hearing of the Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee since it began in February 2025. The Minnesota Department of Human Services has testified before the committee eight times. This was the second time the department was unavailable to attend at the chair’s request,” the spokesperson said, adding that the agency supports O’Malley’s work.

Asked about MNDHS’ response to the no-show, Robbins said “it’s not true” and said that when she left the hearing at its end, she ran into MNDHS staff coming in to testify at an ensuing hearing.

“[Ours] wasn’t just any run-of-the-mill hearing. It was the public hearing on the governor’s program integrity report with the guy the governor appointed: Judge O’Malley. So, absolutely, they should have been there to ask questions.”

Walz said during a press availability broadcast Tuesday that he and O’Malley are working to root out decades of institutional issues that he likened to a “Frankenstein” monster that saw additional “bolts” being soldered on it and complicating its structure instead of it being fixed.

MINNESOTA AG BLASTS HOUSE HEARING ON FRAUD SCANDAL IN HIS STATE : ‘A LOT OF BULLS— FROM REPUBLICANS’

“When I came here, the discussion was, if you recall clear back in 2019, that reforms around [MN]DHS as a large organization that does multiple things that we needed to think about modernizing… I talked to my fellow governors and we talked to commissioners in other states, Minnesota system of delivery around social services is a bit of an outlier in how it’s done,” Walz said.

The “topline” he said, will be to “moderniz[e] a proposal on how Medicaid is administered … Strengthening oversight of enrollment in these programs by centralizing eligibility decisions, and funding a comprehensive study to examine the role of state, counties, and tribal nations in the delivery of these to provide more transparency and effectiveness.”

Walz underlined he was not blaming counties for issues in attempting to restructure the system to a more state-centralized one.

The governor did not respond directly to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Fox News’ Mike Tobin and Elise Oggioni con

The Senate floor erupted Wednesday as Republicans and Democrats sparred over funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with one point becoming clear: neither side was close to reaching a deal.

While senators met behind closed doors just steps from the chamber, party leaders accused each other of refusing to negotiate over reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the key sticking point in the standoff.

“You can cry about it. You can whine about it. You lost an election over it,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said. “The White House has dealt with you in good faith. You want to prolong this until you get another incident, while your activists are on the street confronting ICE agents in sanctuary jurisdictions, hoping they get some viral moment.”

So far, Senate Republicans have delegated final say over any agreement to the White House, though the back and forth between both sides has slowed to a grinding halt.

KATIE BRITT BLASTS DEMOCRATS FOR PLAYING ‘POLITICAL GAMES’ WITH SHUTDOWN AMID AIRPORT CHAOS

Republicans want DHS reopened in the short term, while negotiations over reforms to ICE continue. Democrats, meanwhile, have offered a funding proposal that would carve out immigration enforcement but reopen other key functions, including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

At the center of the dispute is whether either side will agree to formal negotiations. Republicans say Democrats are ignoring their offers to meet, while Democrats contend they have not received an invitation.

KRISTI NOEM’S FIRING FAILS TO SWAY DEMOCRATS AS DHS SHUTDOWN DRAGS ON

“We are here today, and we are trying to close a deal that would enable us to fund all the agencies that the Democrats say they want funded with reforms to ICE,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said. “And I’ve seen the offer sheet from the White House, and they have gone a lot farther, a lot farther than any Democrat I thought was even possible.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said their demands for reform are straightforward, though Republicans have drawn red lines against proposals that would require ICE agents to obtain judicial warrants and unmask their identities, citing concerns about doxxing.

“But the bottom line is they refused, probably because the right wing doesn’t like it,” Schumer said. “So then let’s fund everything else but ICE and Border Patrol.”

SCHUMER WEAPONIZES MULLIN NOMINATION TO DEMAND DHS OVERHAUL, SAYS ‘ROT’ GOES BEYOND NOEM

The floor fight was ignited by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, and her attempt to force a vote on a DHS spending bill that stripped out funding for ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

But both ICE and CBP are flush with billions in funding for the next handful of years thanks to Republicans’ “big, beautiful bill.” 

Still, she argued that Democrats would not be “blackmailed” into funding immigration operations after the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good, who were shot and killed by ICE agents in Minnesota.

“I am willing to talk to people, but I’m not willing to sit in a room, have coffee, give away a few things, and have Stephen Miller override whatever we all agreed to in a room,” Murray said.

There has been little movement in the stalemate over DHS. The White House made its last offer nearly two weeks ago, and Democrats rejected it.

Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., who was tapped by Thune to lead DHS negotiations for Senate Republicans, contended that Murray and Senate Democrats’ latest offer “would effectively defund our law enforcement.”

“Look, we’re not going back to the era of ‘defund the police,’” Britt said. “We’re not doing it.”

A federal appeals court on Wednesday granted the Trump administration‘s request to pause a lower court order that blocked it from deporting illegal immigrants to so-called “third countries” — granting a near-term reprieve to the administration just hours before the lower court’s order was slated to take effect.

Trump administration lawyers had appealed the ruling to the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals last week, arguing that the order from U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy created an “unworkable scheme” that threatened to derail sensitive negotiations with outside countries, and risked derailing up to “thousands” of planned deportations. 

They also argued Murphy’s ruling cut against two previous Supreme Court emergency stays last year, after the high court intervened and allowed the administration to continue its deportation policy, for now. 

US JUDGE ACCUSES TRUMP ADMIN OF ‘MANUFACTURING CHAOS’ IN SOUTH SUDAN DEPORTATIONS, ESCALATING FEUD

The case is all but certain to be punted to the high court for a full review on its merits, as senior Trump administration officials acknowledged earlier this year.

Murphy, a Biden appointee, sided with migrants last month in his 81-page ruling, determining that the Department of Homeland Security’s third-country removal process — or the process by which migrants are removed from the U.S. to a country other than their country of origin — is unlawful and violates due process protections under the U.S. Constitution.

He ruled that the Trump administration must first try to deport the migrants to their home country, or to a country of removal previously designated by an immigration judge. Only after that process, he said, could migrants be removed to a third country, so long as “meaningful notice” is provided, as well as the opportunity for the migrants to raise any fear of persecution in the third country identified for their removal under a so-called “reasonable fear” interview.

The third-country removal policy “fails to satisfy due process for a raft of reasons, not least of which is that nobody really knows anything about these purported ‘assurances,’” Murphy wrote in his ruling, though he stayed it from taking force for 15 days in order to give the administration time to appeal.

Barring intervention from the U.S. appeals court, the order was slated to take force on Thursday. 

FEDERAL JUDGES IN NEW YORK AND TEXAS BLOCK TRUMP DEPORTATIONS AFTER SCOTUS RULING

DHS officials have previously claimed an “undisputed authority” to deport criminal illegal migrants to third countries that have agreed to accept them. 

“If these activist judges had their way, aliens who are so uniquely barbaric that their own countries won’t take them back, including convicted murderers, child rapists and drug traffickers, would walk free on American streets,” former Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in June, after the Supreme Court temporarily permitted the Trump administration to continue its deportation policy amid legal challenges. 

Murphy had presided for months over a class-action lawsuit filed by migrants challenging deportations to third countries, including South Sudan, El Salvador, and both Costa Rica and Guatemala, which the Trump administration has reportedly eyed in its ongoing wave of deportations.

He has sparred with the Trump administration while overseeing the case, including in May, when he accused the administration of failing to comply with a court order requiring it to keep in U.S. custody six migrants who were deported to South Sudan without due process or notice.

‘WOEFULLY INSUFFICIENT’: US JUDGE REAMS TRUMP ADMIN FOR DAYS-LATE DEPORTATION INFO

Murphy previously ordered that the migrants remain in U.S. custody at a military base in Djibouti until each of them could be given a “reasonable fear interview,” or a chance to explain to U.S. officials any fear of persecution or torture, should they be released into South Sudanese custody.  

Murphy previously acknowledged the criminal histories in question after Trump officials blasted the individuals removed as the “worst of the worst.”

“The court recognizes that the class members at issue here have criminal histories,” Murphy wrote in an order last year.

“But that does not change due process,” he wrote. “The court treats its obligation to these principles with the seriousness that anyone committed to the rule of law should understand.”

Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime accountant testified behind closed doors that he was never aware of any payments the late financier and sex offender made to President Donald Trump, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said Wednesday.

Richard Kahn, one of the executors of Epstein’s estate, is the latest person to be deposed in the committee’s investigation into how the federal government handled Epstein’s case.

“Mr. Kahn testified under oath that — because the Democrats asked this question — that he had never seen any type of transaction to Trump or anyone in his family,” Comer told reporters. “That makes the fifth witness now that’s testified under oath that they’ve never seen any involvement by Donald Trump or the family.”

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Comer said Kahn did confirm, however, that five people paid money to Epstein: ex-Victoria’s Secret CEO Les Wexner, hedge fund manager Glenn Dubin, businessman Steven Sinofsky, the Rothschilds and investor Leon Black. Epstein was known to have served as a financial advisor for each of them.

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“What Kahn said is he was under the impression that Epstein made his money as a tax advisor and a financial planner. So, these were the five people that transferred significant sums of money to Epstein,” Comer said.

But when it comes to Trump, Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., gave a slightly different account of what Kahn said behind closed doors.

He told reporters Kahn said a “person who was an accuser of Donald Trump was given a settlement by Jeffrey Epstein’s estate.”

That does not necessarily mean that the alleged settlement was regarding Trump.

The president was known to be a friend of Epstein’s until the two had a falling out before the late pedophile’s first federal investigation. 

He has not been implicated in any wrongdoing related to his crimes.

Subramanyam said Kahn also testified that “there was another head of state that was mentioned as having financial transactions with Jeffrey Epstein,” though he did not elaborate on who that was.

Dorothy McAuliffe, the wife of former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, announced Wednesday that she is entering the Democratic primary race for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.

“As a mom of five, grandmother, former State Department official & First Lady of Virginia, I’ve spent my life fighting for children, families, and those without a voice,” she wrote in a post on X.

The Associated Press reported that Virginia voters will decide April 21 whether to approve a constitutional amendment establishing a new congressional map. 

McAuliffe would seek to represent the proposed new 7th District stretching from the D.C. suburbs to western Augusta County if the map is approved.

5 VIRGINIA CONGRESSMEN: DEMOCRATS ARE REJECTING VOTERS TO GERRYMANDER OUR STATE

Virginia’s primary elections are scheduled to be held Aug. 4 after the General Assembly moved the date from June to August under legislation signed in February.

Early in-person voting begins June 19, with absentee ballots mailed by that date, according to the Virginia Department of Elections.

“We need a leader who has a record of delivering and can finally bring down costs for families, who will increase access to affordable healthcare, and who will never back down from holding Donald Trump and ICE accountable,” McAuliffe said in a statement to the AP.

“I look forward to traveling this district — from Arlington to Augusta and Prince William to Powhatan — and sharing that vision for this community that I’ve long called home,” she added.

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McAuliffe was Virginia’s first lady from 2014 to 2018 and was later appointed by former President Joe Biden as the U.S. Special Representative for Global Partnerships in June 2022.

According to Ballotpedia, incumbent Rep. Eugene Vindman is running in the Democratic primary for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, along with state Del. Dan Helmer and Alex Thymmons, a U.S. Army veteran.

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is introducing a new bill to strip FDA approval from the popular abortion pill mifepristone. The new bill builds upon proposed legislation Hawley introduced last year that would ban mifepristone and allow women to sue manufacturers profiting off of what the lawmaker deems an “inherently dangerous” drug.

The Safeguarding Women from Chemical Abortion Act was introduced in the Senate Tuesday and would prohibit the use of mifepristone for ending pregnancies. 

“The science is clear: The chemical abortion drug is inherently dangerous to women and prone to abuse. Yet major companies like Danco Laboratories are making billions off it,” Hawley told Fox News Digital in a statement. “That’s why I am introducing new legislation to ban the use of mifepristone for abortion and empower women to sue its manufacturers. Congress must act now to protect the health and safety of women.”

If passed, the legislation would withdraw FDA approval for the drug and classify its distribution for abortion as a violation of federal law. In 2023, mifepristone was used in 63% of all abortions in the U.S., according to data from the Guttmacher Institute.

PRO-LIFE ORGANIZATION CALLS ON HHS AND FDA TO SUSPEND ABORTION PILL APPROVAL, TIGHTEN SAFETY RULES

The Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit research organization formerly affiliated with Planned Parenthood, also estimates there were 1,038,100 clinician-provided abortions in 2024. However, that figure accounts only for states without abortion bans and does not include abortions performed outside the formal healthcare system or in states where abortion laws differ.

Hawley raised concerns about the abortion pill last May when he introduced a separate bill that would direct the FDA to create safeguards on mifepristone, allowing women who suffered complications the right to sue telehealth providers and pharmacies for damages. 

Research by the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) in Washington, D.C., showed the rate of side effects when using mifepristone is 22 times higher than indications from the FDA-approved drug label.

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The study revealed more than 1 in 10 women have reported experiencing “infection, hemorrhaging, or another serious or life-threatening adverse event.”

EPPC assessed 865,727 insurance claims between 2017 and 2023 for women who used the medication to terminate early pregnancy. The pill can be taken up to “70 days since the first day of their last menstrual period,” according to the FDA.

During the Biden administration, the FDA revised rules allowing mifepristone to be prescribed via telehealth, meaning patients would not have to physically go to the doctor to receive the abortion drug.

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In 2024, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected an Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine challenge that was brought to reverse the FDA’s approval and expansion for access to the drug. The ruling allowed mifepristone to remain available through telehealth and mail.

The Supreme Court’s rejection was based on the group’s inability to bring a lawsuit, saying Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine lacked the legal standing to challenge FDA approval. The merits of the abortion drug were never discussed or questioned in the ruling. 

Last May, Hawley sent a letter to FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, whom Hawley questioned during Makary’s Senate confirmation hearing last year.

“[D]uring your confirmation hearing, you pledged to me that you would ‘review the totality of the data and ongoing data’ to inform action on the drug,” Hawley’s letter to the FDA chief states. “I urge you to follow this new data and take all appropriate action to restore critical safeguards on the use of mifepristone.

“The health and safety of American women depend on it.”

Passage of the SAVE America Act is of paramount importance to President Donald Trump and many congressional Republicans.

In his State of the Union speech, the president implored lawmakers “to approve the SAVE America Act to stop illegal aliens and other unpermitted persons from voting in our sacred American elections.”

The House approved the plan to require proof of citizenship to vote last month, 218-213. There’s now a different version of the legislation that’s in play. And, as is often the case, the hurdle is the Senate. Specifically, the Senate filibuster.

So some Republicans are trying to save the SAVE America Act.

It’s important to note that Trump never called for the Senate to alter the filibuster in his State of the Union address. But in a post last week on Truth Social, Trump declared, “The Republicans MUST DO, with PASSION, and at the expense of everything else, THE SAVE AMERICA ACT.”

Again, the president didn’t wade into questions about overcoming a filibuster. But “MUST DO” and “at the expense of everything else” is a clear directive from the commander in chief.

That’s why there’s a big push by House Republicans and some GOP senators to alter the filibuster — or handle the Senate filibuster differently.

It’s rare for members of one body of Congress to tell the other how to execute their rules and procedures. But the strongest conservative advocates of the SAVE America Act are now condemning Senate Republicans if they don’t do something drastic to change the filibuster to pass the measure.

Some Senate Republicans are pushing for changes, or at the very least, advocating that Senate Republicans insist that Democrats conduct what they refer to as a “talking filibuster” and not hold up the legislation from the sidelines. It takes 60 votes to terminate a filibuster. The Senate does that by “invoking cloture.” The Senate first used the cloture provision to halt a filibuster on March 8, 1917. Prior to that vote, the only method to end a filibuster was exhaustion — meaning that senators finally just run out of gas, quit debating and voted.

So let’s explore what a filibuster is and isn’t and dive into what Republicans are talking about when they’re talking about a talking filibuster.

The Senate’s leading feature is unlimited debate. But, ironically, the “debate” which holds up most bills is not debate. It’s simply a group of 60 lawmakers signaling offstage to their leaders that they’ll stymie things. No one has to go to the floor to do anything. Opponents of a bill will require the majority tee up a cloture vote — even if legislation has 60 yeas. Each cloture vote takes three to four days to process. So that inherently slows down the process — and is a de facto filibuster.

But what about talking filibusters? Yes, senators sometimes take the floor and talk for a really long time, hence, the “unlimited debate” provision in the Senate. Senators can generally speak as long as they want, unless there’s a time agreement green-lighted by all 100 members.

That’s why a “filibuster” is hard to define. You won’t find the word “filibuster” in the Senate’s rules. And since senators can just talk as long as they want, they might argue that suggesting they are “filibustering” is pejorative. They’re just exercising their Senate rights to speak on the floor.

A true filibuster is a delay. For instance, the record-breaking 25-hour and 8-minute speech last year by Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., against the Trump administration was technically not a filibuster. Booker began his oratory on the evening of March 31, ending on the night of April 1. Once Booker concluded, the Senate voted to confirm Matt Whittaker as NATO ambassador. The Senate was supposed to vote on the Whitaker nomination on April 1 anyway. So all Booker’s speech did was delay that confirmation vote by a few hours. But not much.

In October 2013, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, held the floor for more than 21 hours. It was part of Cruz’s quest to defund Obamacare. But despite Cruz’s verbosity (and a recitation of “Green Eggs and Ham” by Dr. Seuss), the Senate was already locked in to take a procedural vote around 1 p.m. the next day. Preparations for that vote automatically ended Cruz’s speech. Thus, it truly wasn’t a filibuster either.

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So, this brings us to the talking filibuster, which actually gums up the Senate gearboxes. A talking filibuster is what most Americans think of when they hear the term “filibuster.” That’s thanks to the iconic scenes with Jimmy Stewart in the Frank Capra classic, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”

Most senators filibuster by forcing the Senate to take two cloture votes — spread out over days — to handle even the simplest of matters. That elongates the process by close to a week. But if advocates of a given bill have the votes to break the filibuster via cloture, the gig is up.

However, what happens if a senator, or a group of senators, delays things with long speeches? That can only last for so long. And it could potentially truncate the Senate’s need to take any cloture vote, needing 60 yeas.

Republicans who advocate passage of the SAVE America Act believe they can get around cloture — and thus the need for 60 votes — by making opponents of the legislation talk. And talk. And talk.

And once they’re done talking, the Senate can vote — up or down — on the SAVE Act. Passage requires a simple majority. The Senate never even needs to tangle with 60.

Senate Rule XIX (19) states that “no senator shall speak more than twice upon any one question in debate on the same legislative day.”

Easy enough, right? Two speeches per day. You speak twice on Monday, then you have to wait until Tuesday? Democrats would eventually run out of juice after all 47 senators who caucus with Democrats have their say — twice.

But it’s not that simple. Note the part about two speeches per “question.”

Well, here’s a question. What constitutes a “question” in Senate parlance? A “question” could be the bill itself. It could be an amendment. It could be a motion. And just for the record, the Senate usually cycles through a “first-degree” amendment and then a “second-degree” amendment — to say nothing of the bill itself. So, if you’re scoring at home, that could be six (!) speeches per senator, per day, on any given “question.”

Questions?

But wait. There’s more.

Note that Rule XIX refers to a “legislative day.” A legislative day is not the same as a calendar day. One basic difference is if the Senate “adjourns” each night versus “recessing.” If the Senate “adjourns” its Monday session on calendar day Monday, then a new legislative day begins on Tuesday. However, the legislative day of “Monday” carries over to Tuesday if the Senate “recesses.”

It may be up to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., whether the Senate “adjourns” or “recesses.” The creation of a new legislative day inhibits the GOP talking filibuster effort.

SEN LEE DARES DEMOCRATS TO REVIVE TALKING FILIBUSTER OVER SAVE ACT, SLAMMING CRITICISM AS ‘PARANOID FANTASY’

Democrats would obviously push for the Senate to adjourn each day. But watch to see if talking filibuster proponents object to Thune’s daily adjournment requests. If the Senate votes to stay in session, that forces the legislative day of Monday to bleed over to Tuesday.

Pro tip: Keep an eye on the adjournment vs. recess scenario. If a talking filibuster supporter tries to prevent the Senate from adjourning, that may signal whether the GOP has a shot at eventually passing the SAVE Act. If that test vote fails and the Senate adjourns for the day, the SAVE Act is likely dead in the water.

We haven’t even talked about a custom practiced by most Senate majority leaders to lock down the contours of a bill when they file cloture to end debate.

It’s typical for the presiding officer to recognize the Senate majority leader first on the floor for debate. So Thune and his predecessors often “fill” what’s called the “amendment tree.” The amendment tree dictates how many amendments are in play at any one time. Think of the underlying bill as a “trunk.” A “branch” is for the first amendment. A “sprig” from that branch is the second amendment. Majority leaders often load up the amendment tree with “fillers” that don’t change the subject of the bill. He then files cloture to break the filibuster.

That tactic curbs the universe of amendments. It blocks the other side from engineering controversial amendments to alter the bill. But if Thune doesn’t file cloture to end debate, then the Senate must consider amendment after amendment, repeatedly filling the tree and voting on those amendments. This would unfold during a talking filibuster, not when Thune is controlling the process by filing cloture and “filling the tree.”

This is why Thune is skeptical of a talking filibuster to pass the SAVE Act.

“This process is more complicated and risky than people are assuming at the moment,” said Thune.

In fact, the biggest “benefit” to filing cloture may not even be overcoming a filibuster, but blocking amendments via management of the tree. Republicans are bracing for amendments Democrats may offer.

“If you don’t think Democrats have a laundry list of amendments, talking about who won the 2020 election, talking about the Epstein files — if you don’t think they have a quiver full of these amendments that they’re ready to get Republican votes on the record, then I’ve got a bridge to sell you,” said George Washington University political science professor Casey Burgat.

Plus, forcing a talking filibuster for days precludes the Senate from passing a DHS funding bill. That’s to say nothing of confirming Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., as Homeland Security secretary. His confirmation hearing likely comes next Wednesday, but a protracted Senate debate would block a confirmation vote from the floor.

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Thune all but killed the talking filibuster maneuver on Tuesday — despite the president’s ultimatum.

“Do you run a risk of being on the wrong side of President Trump and your resistance to do this talking filibuster, tying the Senate in knots for weeks?” asked yours truly.

“We don’t have the votes either to proceed, get on a talking filibuster, nor to sustain one if we got on it,” replied Thune. “I understand the president’s got a passion to see this issue addressed.”

I followed up.

“Does he understand that, though?”

“Well, we’ve conveyed that to him,” answered Thune. “It’s about the math. And, for better or worse, I’m the one who has to be a clear-eyed realist about what we can achieve here.”

And there just doesn’t appear to be any parliamentary way to get there with the talking filibuster.

Like many things in Congress, it all boils down to one thing.

As Thune said, “It’s about the math.”

A member of House GOP leadership is jumping into the open race for a Senate seat likely being vacated by Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., after he was tapped to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

House GOP Policy Committee Chairman Kevin Hern, R-Okla., is officially launching his campaign for the Senate on Wednesday with support from at least four Republicans in the upper chamber.

“The American dream is under threat by the radical left and RINO Republicans who oppose President Trump’s America First agenda and want to turn the United States into a third-world country,” he says in his campaign debut video. 

“That’s why I’m running for U.S. Senate — to ensure President Trump has a loyal ally, a leader who stood by his side when RINOs turned their backs on him, who will fight against Democrat insanity, keep the southern border secure, deport dangerous illegal immigrants, stand with law enforcement, and deliver economic affordability.”

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Hern, who grew up in poverty without indoor plumbing until his teenage years, found considerable wealth as a McDonald’s franchisee before coming to Congress in 2018.

He’s the first major Republican candidate to declare his intent to run for Mullin’s seat in November — and whoever wins the GOP primary in the deep-red Midwestern state is the likely favorite to win.

Mullin is expected to leave the Senate after being tapped by President Donald Trump to lead DHS following Kristi Noem’s firing. He’s facing a confirmation hearing later this month.

Traditionally, Senate vacancies are filled by the state’s governor to serve out the remainder of the previous senator’s term. That person is also usually the favorite to win the seat in the subsequent election cycle.

But in Oklahoma, the governor’s appointee must sign an affidavit swearing they will not run in the next election — which in this case is coming in November, with Mullin’s term ending at the end of 2026.

It’s not clear yet how crowded the GOP primary for Mullin’s open seat will get. Rep. Stephanie Bice, R-Okla., has previously said she is considering her own campaign but has not made any final decisions.

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Hern, meanwhile, is already stacking his team with Trump operatives.

He’s recruited pollster Tony Fabrizio, who is closely aligned with the president, as his campaign’s senior advisor.

Fabrizio said in a statement that Hern is in a “strong position” to win the seat, citing his “record of support for President Trump’s agenda, the trust he has built with Oklahoma voters, and his experience in public service and in business.”

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s, R-S.D., first goal is to get Mullin’s seat quickly filled. He is set to meet with Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a common practice when an appointment needs to be made, this week, a source familiar told Fox News Digital. 

It’s common practice for a governor to meet with the leader of the Senate to work on appointing a replacement, as is the case with Mullin, who is set to begin his confirmation process in the upper chamber next week. 

Further down the line, Thune has no preference as to who would replace Mullin, who is currently a member of his leadership team. 

“You know, obviously we want — we’re going to have to fill that seat for Markwayne here by the end of the month in the near term, and then the long-term issue will be decided by the voters of Oklahoma,” Thune said. “So whoever they decide to send us, we’ll be happy to receive.”

Still, Hern has already snatched up the endorsement of a handful of senators, including Sens. Jim Banks, R-Ind., Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis.

Trump has given a deadline of March 31 for Mullin to take over and for Noem to get out, and he is expected to easily pass through the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Whether Mullin hits hurdles during a full confirmation vote remains an open question. 

Republican House candidate Clay Fuller says his playbook for the runoff election for a vacant congressional district in solidly red northwest Georgia that was once held by Marjorie Taylor Greene is simple.

“We’re just going to continue to get that message out about President Trump supporting us, and my experience, being a military officer, an elected district attorney and an America First fighter too,” Fuller told Fox News Digital.

Fuller was interviewed soon after he advanced to the runoff after coming in the top two in the special election in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District. He will face off in the runoff with Democrat Shawn Harris, a retired brigadier general and cattle farmer. 

Harris grabbed 37% of the vote, with Fuller at 35% amid a field of 17 candidates, including 12 Republicans.

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Tuesday’s special election and the April 7 runoff are being held as Republicans cling to a razor-thin 218–214 majority in the House.

The congressional seat was left vacant when MAGA firebrand Greene stepped down at the beginning of January. Greene quit Congress with a year left in her term, after a very public falling out with Trump mostly over her push to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. 

The GOP cannot afford any surprises and allow the Democrats to pull an upset in a district which extends from Atlanta’s northwest exurbs to Georgia’s northwestern border with Alabama and northern border with Tennessee — that Trump carried by a whopping 37 points in his 2024 presidential victory.

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“President Trump truly matters in Georgia 14,” emphasized Fuller, a local prosecutor and Air National Guard member. 

Trump teamed up with Fuller during a stop in the district in March. Speaking ahead of the president at an event in Rome, Georgia, Fuller described himself as a “MAGA warrior.”

“It’s Christmas every time he’s here,” Fuller told Fox News Digital. “Let’s get him back as many times as we can. I’d love to have him here every day. I know he’s got bigger issues than Georgia 14 to deal with, but I’d love to see him. Let’s get Vice President JD Vance down here. Let’s get everybody down here.”

Fuller was also backed by the deep-pocketed political group Club for Growth, which pushes a pro-growth, limited government agenda.

Democratic Party of Georgia Chair Charlie Bailey, pointing to Harris topping the field Tuesday, argued that “Georgians are sick and tired of cost-raising, health care-cutting, failed Republican leadership — and Shawn’s performance tonight is the proof.”

Harris, taking to social media Wednesday, said, “Last night we came out on top in a crowded field and earned our spot in the runoff. That’s no small thing in Northwest Georgia. Now it’s one-on-one on April 7. We’re going right back to work — and we’re going to win again.”

But Harris, who lost to Greene by nearly 30 points in 2024, will face a steep climb in the runoff election.

Democrat sources tell Fox News Digital it’s highly unlikely Democratic-aligned groups will invest resources in the runoff. 

Fuller said he would be reaching out to the other Republican candidates who were on the ballot, including former state Sen. Colton Moore, a vocal Trump supporter who enjoys plenty of support from the far right. Moore finished in third place, with nearly 12% of the vote.

“We know that the Republican Party is going to consolidate around President Trump’s choice. We’re going to drive out the vote,” Fuller said.

And he emphasized, “Everybody in the field understands that a Democrat cannot represent Georgia 14. It would be a tragedy for Georgia 14, a tragedy for the MAGA movement. And we’re going to rally around as a party and go and win this thing and defeat Sean Harris.”