Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, has been living in a retirement facility, a source told Fox News on Sunday. The source also denied a local news report that said she was in a memory care facility.
Granger, who is retiring at the end of this congressional term, has largely remained absent from the Capitol in recent months, having last cast votes on July 24. She was not present for over 54% of votes this year.
The Dallas Express investigated the 81-year-old congresswoman's absence, publishing a report on Friday that quoted a constituent of her district who said that Granger was residing in a memory care facility in Texas. The report was later picked up by other news outlets.
Fox News spoke with a source from Granger's office who denied that Granger was in a memory care unit. The source told Fox News that Granger is in a retirement facility where memory care is provided, though not in the memory care unit itself.
Granger released a statement to Fox News, saying that she has faced "health challenges" and is "deeply grateful for the outpouring of care and concern" over the weekend.
"As many of my family, friends, and colleagues have known, I have been navigating some unforeseen health challenges over the past year," Granger said in the statement. "However, since early September, my health challenges have progressed making frequent travel to Washington both difficult and unpredictable. During this time, my incredible staff has remained steadfast, continuing to deliver exceptional constituent services, as they have for the past 27 years."
Granger, who did not seek re-election for the coming term, has served in the House since 1997. She previously served as the first female mayor of Fort Worth, Texas.
While Granger appears to not have cast a vote since July, she did return to the Capitol in November for the unveiling of her portrait as Appropriations Committee Chairwoman, and a reception that followed. House Speaker Johnson, R-La., and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., both spoke at the event.
One senior Republican source told Fox News that Granger did not step down earlier due to the paper-thin GOP House majority.
"Frankly, we needed the numbers," the source told Fox News.
The slim majority presents a challenge for the speaker of the 119th Congress, in which vote attendance could be the difference between success or defeat for Republicans.
Fox News reached out to Johnson's office for comment.
Granger’s long absence was blasted by Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., in a post on X.
"Kay Granger's long absence reveals the problem with a Congress that rewards seniority & relationships more than merit & ideas," he wrote. "We have a sclerotic gerontocracy. We need term limits. We need to get big money out of politics so a new generation of Americans can run and serve."
Khanna was one of the few lawmakers who previously criticized what he referred to as the "gerontocracy." In May 2023, he called on Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who was then aged 89, to step down as her own health issues kept her away from the Capitol. Feinstein died months later in September 2023.
"Rockin' around the Christmas tree At the Christmas party hop" – Brenda Lee
It’s a yuletide tradition on Capitol Hill.
An annual custom of rockin’ around a congressional Christmas tree, festooned with hundreds of legislative ornaments, Advent appropriations and mistletoe modifications.
A political Polar Express chugs through the halls of Congress nearly every December. It’s always the last piece of legislation huffing out of the congressional station.
"It's another cram down," fumed Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, the morning after congressional leaders released the bill. "Here's what you get. ‘Do this or shut the government down.’ So, it's very disappointing."
Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., didn’t gift wrap his criticism.
"It's a total dumpster fire. I think it's garbage," decreed Burlison. "It's shameful that people celebrate DOGE coming, and yet we're going to vote for another billion dollars to be added to the deficit. It's ironic."
Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., mocked his colleagues for talking out of both sides of their mouths when it came to spending.
"We keep on saying we want to take the deficit and the debt seriously. But we keep on voting to increase it. You can't have it both ways," he said. "This is irresponsible."
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, lamented this was business as usual.
"I mean, the swamp is going to swamp, right?" proffered Roy.
"We have broken the Christmas omni. I have no intention of going back to that terrible tradition. There won’t be a Christmas omnibus," Johnson declared Sept. 24. "We won’t do any ‘buses.’"
So, yours truly pressed Johnson about his promise after frustrated Republicans upbraided him during a House GOP Conference meeting.
"You said back in September there would be no more Christmas omnibuses. You were not doing anymore ‘buses,’" I asked. "But how is this not yet another Christmas tree at the holidays?"
"Well, it's not a Christmas tree. It's not an omnibus," responded Johnson.
Johnson is technically right. In appropriations parlance, it’s not a true omnibus — even though outside observers and many lawmakers themselves might colloquially refer to the massive bill as an "omnibus." An omnibus is where Congress gift wraps all 12 individual spending measures into one package. A "minibus" is where a handful of bills are bundled together.
Even so, I reminded Johnson of the opprobrium directed at this legislation.
"They called this cram down. They said it was garbage. Those are your own members calling it that," I noted.
"Well, they haven't even seen it yet," said Johnson, even though the bill materialized the night before. "I’ve got a couple of friends who will say that about any end-of-year funding measure. This is not an omnibus, OK? This is a small CR (continuing resolution) that we've had to add things to that were out of our control."
The legislation was stocked with a hefty price tag to cover the entire cost of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. A radioactive pay raise for lawmakers. Health care provisions. Language about concert ticket prices. Emergency aid for farmers. And $110 billion to help cover devastation from Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
"It was intended to be, and it was until recent days, a very simple, very clean CR stopgap funding measure to get us into next year when we have a unified government," said Johnson. "But a couple of intervening things have occurred. We had, as we say, acts of God. We had these massive hurricanes."
But then Elon Musk torched the bill. President-elect Trump demanded an immediate debt ceiling increase. Debt limit deals are one of the most complex and contentious issues in Congress. They require weeks if not months of painstaking negotiations.
This wasn’t as simple as presenting Santa at the mall a wish list of items for Christmas morning.
The bill began bleeding support just hours before the House planned a vote.
But to paraphrase Charles Dickens’ opening line in "A Christmas Carol" about Jacob Marley, "That bill was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever, about that."
Democrats were flabbergasted at outside last-minute ultimatums. Especially since Johnson attended the Army-Navy football game last week with Trump. How could they not have discussed the contours of this bill?
"It was blown up by Elon Musk, who apparently has become the fourth branch of government," Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., scoffed about the bill. "So, who is our leader, (House Minority Leader) Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., supposed to negotiate with? Is it Mike Johnson? Is he the speaker of the House? Or is it Donald Trump? Or is it Elon Musk. Or is it somebody else?"
Johnson and company then prepped a svelte 116-page bill to fund the government. But bipartisan lawmakers roasted that measure faster than chestnuts by an open fire.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., mocked Republicans for insisting that they adhere to their internal "three-day rule." That allows lawmakers to ponder bills for three days before a vote. Yet Republicans were now racing the new bill to the floor faster than shoppers rushing home with their treasures.
"Have you printed it? How many pages is it? What happened to the 72-hour rule?" mocked Moskowitz.
The bill plummeted to an embarrassing defeat on the House floor. It only scored 174 yeas, punctuated by an eye-popping 38 Republican nays.
"The Democrats just voted to shut down the government," Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, the vice president-elect, claimed. "They've asked for a shutdown, and I think that's exactly what they're going to get."
By Friday, there was a third bill. And despite grousing, lawmakers finally passed the legislation. There was no need to go to "Plan Z," popularized in "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie." The House approved the bill in the early evening. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., hit the Senate floor late Friday night.
"Democrats and Republicans have just reached an agreement that will allow us to pass the CR tonight before the midnight deadline," said Schumer.
Critics of the third bill might characterize the entire process as a "railroad." But it was an actual railroad that prevented the Senate from passing the bill on time. An unnamed Republican senator placed a hold on nominees to Amtrak's board. But once senators resolved that problem, the Senate finally aligned with the House to prevent the shutdown around 12:45 a.m. ET Saturday, 45 minutes after the midnight deadline.
The slenderized bill included disaster aid and emergency assistance for farmers. But when it came to appropriations, the legislation simply renewed all current funding at present levels. It was definitely not a "Christmas tree." It just kept the government running through March 14. So no holiday crisis.
As the dust settles on Congress frantically passing a stopgap bill at the eleventh hour to avoid a government shutdown, lawmakers are having their say on a chaotic week on Capitol Hill.
President Biden signed the 118-page bill into law on Saturday, extending government funding into March, the White House announced. The bill provides over $100 billion in disaster aid for those affected by storms Helene and Milton in the U.S. Southeast earlier this year. It also includes a $10 billion provision for economic assistance to farmers.
President Biden has not yet publicly commented on the passage of the legislation, nor has President-elect Trump, although sources tell Fox that the incoming president is not that happy about the bill, because it does not suspend the debt ceiling.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who faced criticism from both Republicans and Democrats for his handling of the negotiations, said after the House vote that the result was "a good outcome for the country." He said he had spoken with Trump and that the president-elect "was certainly happy about this outcome, as well."
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., considered the legislation a win for his party.
"The House Democrats have successfully stopped extreme MAGA Republicans from shutting down the government, crashing the economy and hurting working-class Americans all across the nation," Jeffries said, referring to Trump’s "Make America Great Again" slogan.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., praised Democrats, including Jeffries and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., for "their unity and courage withstanding the Trump-Musk irresponsibility."
"Democrats will always fight to protect the needs of America’s working families, veterans, seniors, farmers and first responders against the GOP’s agenda for billionaires and special interests."
A bulging 1,547-page continuing resolution was thrown into disarray earlier in the week following objections by Elon Musk and President-elect Trump. A slimmed-down version was then rejected by House members on Thursday before the House approved Speaker Mike Johnson’s new bill overwhelmingly on Friday by 366 votes to 34.
The Senate worked into early Saturday morning to pass the bill 85-11, just after the deadline.
"There will be no government shutdown right before Christmas," Schumer wrote on X. "We will keep the government open with a bipartisan bill that funds the government, helps Americans affected by hurricanes and natural disasters, helps our farmers and avoids harmful cuts."
Meanwhile, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., said the revised funding package keeps government funded at current levels, delivers aid to Americans suffering from natural disasters and protects agricultural supply chains.
"Not only is this straightforward bill much more palatable to me, but it respects the taxpayers we represent, unlike the previous backroom boondoggle I opposed that was over 1,500 pages long and gave unnecessary and costly giveaways to the Democrats," Malliotakis wrote on X.
"Passing this legislation today gives us what we need until President Trump is sworn in and settled so our Republican trifecta can deliver the results the American people voted for."
Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., questioned why President Biden appeared to play a limited role in negotiations.
"People fail to recognize that even though the focus has been on President Trump, Joe Biden is actually still the president, which is really mind-boggling, because nobody's heard from him in weeks," Lawler told Fox & Friends Weekend on Saturday, adding that the debt ceiling has been used as a "political piñata for decades."
"The party in the minority uses it as leverage in a negotiation, and I think what President Trump is trying to avoid is giving Democrats a loaded gun to hold to his head here."
Elsewhere, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., applauded the Senate for approving the D.C. Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalization Act, which he had introduced and helped pass in the House.
The bill would give the District of Columbia control of the 174-acre RFK campus and revive potential plans for a new Washington Commanders stadium.
The surprising move came after a provision in the initial continuing resolution (CR) -- to transfer control of the RFK campus from the federal government to the District -- was eliminated from Thursday's slimmed down version of the bill.
"The Senate’s passage of the D.C. RFK Stadium Campus Revitalization Act is a historic moment for our nation’s capital. If Congress failed to act today, this decaying land in Washington would continue to cost taxpayers a fortune to maintain," Comer said.
"Revitalizing this RFK Memorial Stadium site has been a top economic priority for the city, and I am proud to have partnered with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to get this bill across the finish line and to the President’s desk. This bipartisan success is a testament to the House Oversight Committee’s unwavering effort to protect taxpayers and our full commitment to ensuring a capital that is prosperous for residents and visitors for generations to come," he added.
The White House has announced that President Biden signed a stopgap funding bill into law on Saturday, extending government funding into March and avoiding a shutdown.
The bill provides over $100 billion in disaster aid for those affected by storms Helene and Milton in the U.S. Southeast earlier this year. There was also a $10 billion provision for economic assistance to farmers in the bill.
The Senate worked into early Saturday morning to pass the bill 85-11, just after the deadline following a chaotic week on Capitol Hill.
President Biden has not yet publicly commented on the passage of the legislation.
"H.R. 10545, the ‘American Relief Act, 2025,’ which provides fiscal year 2025 appropriations to Federal agencies through March 14, 2025, for continuing projects and activities of the Federal Government; provides disaster relief appropriations and economic assistance to farmers; extends the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018; and extends several expiring authorities," a White House statement reads.
President-elect Trump has not spoken publicly since the bill’s passage either, although sources tell Fox that the incoming president is not that happy about the bill because it does not suspend the debt ceiling.
Trump had called on Republicans to act on the debt limit as part of their talks to avert a government shutdown, a demand that dozens of conservative GOP lawmakers bristled at given their concerns about the national debt — which has exceeded $36 trillion.
A bulging 1,547-page continuing resolution (CR) was thrown into disarray earlier in the week following objections by Elon Musk and President-elect Trump. A slimmed-down version was then rejected by House members on Thursday before the House approved Speaker Mike Johnson’s new bill overwhelmingly by 366 votes to 34 on Friday.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre warned on Friday that a shutdown could have disrupted the incoming administration's presidential transition process.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer praised the passage of the funding legislation early Saturday.
"There will be no government shutdown right before Christmas," Schumer wrote on X. "We will keep the government open with a bipartisan bill that funds the government, helps Americans affected by hurricanes and natural disasters, helps our farmers and avoids harmful cuts.
Fox News' Julia Johnson and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre volleyed away reporters’ questions on Friday about President Biden’s lack of public appearances amid the ongoing government funding fight as a partial shutdown looms.
Jean-Pierre refused to answer why the president has not spoken to the American public about his position, and she instead blamed Republicans, President-elect Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and their "billionaire friends" like Elon Musk for the chaos on Capitol Hill.
"Why hasn’t President Biden said anything in the public about this? Don't the American people deserve to know why millions of federal workers could enter this holiday period without a paycheck?" Jean-Pierre was asked during her daily press briefing.
"All Americans need to know that Republicans are getting in the way here and they are the ones who have created this mess. That's the reality. That's the fact," she responded. "This is not the first time we've been here. And the president has had this approach before. He understands how Congress works. He's been around for some time. He understands what strategy works here to get this done."
Jean-Pierre said Friday that Biden has held phone calls with Democratic leaders in Congress — Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. — but would not say if the president has spoken to the House speaker with regard to the ongoing discussions.
"He has been getting regular updates from his team. His team has been in touch with congressional members from both sides of the aisle," she said.
A streamlined version of a bill backed by Trump to avert a partial government shutdown failed to pass the House of Representatives on Thursday night.
The bill, which needed two-thirds of the House chamber to pass, failed by a vote of 174 to 235. The national debt has soared to over $36 trillion, and the national deficit is over $1.8 trillion.
Jean-Pierre said Republicans went back on their word and "blew up this deal."
"Republicans need to stop playing politics with a government shutdown. And they are doing the bidding. They're doing the bidding of their billionaire friends. That's what we're seeing at the expense of hard-working Americans," she said.
"There is a bipartisan agreement that Republicans tanked because of what they were directed to do by Elon Musk and President-elect Trump. That's what happened. That is the reality that we're in now."
Musk, an outspoken critic of government waste, has weighed in on the spending bill debate and led a conservative revolt against the first 1,547-page bill due to its bloated spending provisions, calling for lawmakers who supported the bill to lose their seats.
He supported the newer, slimmer version, which was ultimately rejected by House members.
Reporters tried several different ways to try and get Jean-Pierre to comment on the president’s role in the matter, but she continued to sidestep.
"The president is the President of the United States, and he is leading," she told a reporter, to which he responded: "To be clear, the strategy is he is leading by staying in the background?"
"The strategy is that Congress, Republicans in particular, need to do their jobs and get out of their own way and focus on the American people, not their billionaire friends. That is what needs to happen. And that's what the president wants to see," she replied.
Jean-Pierre also warned that a shutdown could disrupt the presidential transition process for the incoming administration.
"If there is a shutdown — and I don't want to get too much into hypotheticals — but this is the reality, transition activities will be restricted with limited exceptions, obviously, such as to prevent imminent threats to the safety of human life or the protection of property," she said.
Meanwhile, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said Friday that Republicans have a "good plan" to avoid a partial government shutdown.
Rep. Stephanie Bice, R-Okla., added: "I think you come to an agreement, then you get together and sit down and figure out, you know, if we can get across the finish line. And that's probably what we're about to do now."
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, predicted that House Speaker Mike Johnson would not retain the gavel next year and called for either Elon Musk or Vivek Ramaswamy to fill the leadership role.
"I don't think the speaker is going to remain in power," Lee predicted during a Thursday night appearance on "Jesse Watters Primetime."
The senator went on to say if he is correct, the next speaker should be a "DOGE speaker," a reference to the Department of Governmental Efficiency. President-elect Donald Trump tapped Musk and Ramaswamy to lead the effort to advocate for reduced government spending.
"Vivek, Elon if you're watching, please sign up, America needs you," Lee said.
In a Thursday morning post on X, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., had floated the idea of Musk for House speaker.
"Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk . . . think about it . . . nothing’s impossible. (not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka ‘uniparty,’ lose their ever-lovin’ minds)," Paul posted Thursday morning.
This week, with the prospect of a potential partial government shutdown looming, conservatives railed against a 1,547-page government spending measure advocated by House Speaker Mike Johnson.
President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance also weighed in, declaring in a statement, "Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025. The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling."
Before a vote on Thursday, in which 38 House Republicans and most Democrats rejected a reworked proposal with a much lower page count, Trump lambasted Rep. Chip Roy, R-Tx., claiming that the lawmaker was "getting in the way, as usual, of having yet another Great Republican Victory - All for the sake of some cheap publicity for himself."
"Weak and ineffective people like Chip have to be dismissed as being utterly unknowledgeable as to the ways of politics, and as to Making America Great Again," Trump asserted in a Truth Social post.
Lee spoke highly of Roy after Trump trashed the Lone Star State lawmaker.
"There is not a more faithful advocate of conservative policy, constitutionally limited government, or MAGA principles than @ChipRoyTX," Lee declared in a post on X. "President Trump will not have a more principled, hardworking ally than @ChipRoyTX," he added. "If a more devoted advocate for the Constitution exists today, I have not met that person."
Roy delivered a fiery speech ahead of the vote on Thursday, in which he blasted the new version of the spending proposal and the Republicans supporting it.
"Yes, I think this bill is better than it was yesterday on certain respects," Roy noted, adding that to "congratulate yourself because it's shorter in pages but increases the debt by $5 trillion is asinine."
Roy said he was "sickened by a party that campaigns on fiscal responsibility and has the temerity" to suggest the proposal was "fiscally responsible. It is absolutely ridiculous," he asserted.
Sen. Paul, R-Ky., reposted a clip of Roy's speech, and commented, "We are either fiscally conservative or not. An unlimited increase in the debt ceiling for 2 years is not fiscally conservative and should be rejected."
In a post on X, Roy noted, "Currently, I’m against raising the debt ceiling without major spending cuts/reform."
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who like Roy, voted against passing the spending proposal on Thursday, suggested that instead of voting on a catchall measure, there should be multiple measures that receive individual votes.
"This isn’t complicated. Separate the bills and vote on them individually. one vote on the clean CR one vote on the debt limit one vote on disaster relief one vote on farm bailouts Radical right? Individual bills for each issue," he posted.
Lee agreed with him.
"Separate the bills," he wrote. "Vote on them individually," he added. "Revolutionary!"
A bill to avert a partial government shutdown that was backed by President-elect Donald Trump failed to pass the House of Representatives on Thursday night, pushing Congress closer to a government shutdown.
The bill, which had won the approval of President-elect Donald Trump, still lost the approval of 38 Republicans.
The deal roundly lost 235 to 174, scoring only 2 Democratic ‘yes’ votes and 197 Democratic nos.
It comes after two days of chaos in Congress as lawmakers fought among themselves about a path forward on government spending – a fight joined by Trump and his allies Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Meanwhile, the national debt has climbed to over $36 trillion, and the national deficit is over $1.8 trillion.
The new deal also includes several key policies unrelated to keeping the government open, but the 116-page bill is much narrower than its 1,547-page predecessor.
Like the initial bill, the new iteration extended the government funding deadline through March 14 while also suspending the debt limit – something Trump had pushed for. It also included $110 billion in disaster relief and a farm bill extension.
"Why would we give Joe Biden more money this late in his administration?" said Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., after the vote. "The money intended for disaster victims should have been paid for, there should have been offsets.
The Democrats who voted ‘yes’ on the legislation were Reps. Kathy Castor, Fla., and Marie Gleusenkamp Perez, Wash.
Here's a list of all the Republicans who voted ‘no’ on the legislation:
Congressional leadership unveiled legislation Wednesday to punt the government funding deadline down the road, but that bill was pronounced dead only hours after it was revealed.
It led to the intervention of Trump-allied conservatives like Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, with Musk threatening to support a primary challenge to any Republican member of Congress who voted for the bill.
It even prompted President-elect Trump to say he is "totally against" the legislation and insist any spending deal raise the debt ceiling before he gets into office, saving his administration the headache of doing so.
The continuing resolution, or CR, was meant to kick the government funding deadline down the road by continuing spending at 2024 levels until March and buy more time for Congress to hash out a longer-term budget plan for fiscal year 2025. But it included 1,500 pages worth of policy and funding riders.
With a national debt of $36 trillion and a deficit of $1.8 trillion, conservatives are leery of CRs that don't cut government spending to begin with, but they've argued only a "clean" CR without any riders attached could earn their vote. Others — Democrats and some Republicans — wanted policy and funding riders attached to get something done beyond the status quo.
Here’s a look at all the provisions that prompted Musk and Ramaswamy to step in and insist Republicans kill the CR:
A nearly 4% pay raise would line the pockets of lawmakers if the legislation were to pass: $6,600 extra per year on top of their $174,000 salary.
That salary hasn’t been increased since 2009, but Congress created a program in 2022 allowing members of Congress to expense their food and lodging in Washington, D.C., while conducting official business.
Some members have been pushing for a pay raise for years, arguing that if members aren’t paid more it means that only independently wealthy people will run for Congress. Others are worried about the optics of a pay raise with voters.
Still, others just don’t think lawmakers deserve it.
"The worst part of the CR was the pay raise for members. That money should be earned and right now it is just being taken," said Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., on X.
The legislation also includes a provision stipulating that members of Congress do not have to participate in the health care system they wrote into law — the Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare.
It would allow members to opt out of the program and instead participate in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. The lawmaker mandate was a contentious debate during the passage of ObamaCare in 2009 and 2010, and for years Republicans tried to overturn the health care bill entirely.
While the CR would exempt members from having to buy health care on the ObamaCare exchange, it would still require their staff to participate in it.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., whose job has come under renewed threat due to anger over the CR, has said he started with a "clean" CR plan but needed to add disaster relief for victims of Hurricanes Helene and Milton in the southeastern part of the country.
Some $100 billion for disaster relief was included, but some conservatives argue it should be paid for by cutting funding in other areas.
The CR includes $8 billion for rebuilding the Baltimore area bridge, which collapsed earlier this year. Some conservatives don’t believe the federal government should be on the hook entirely for the bridge.
"Guess what, folks? Even though the Francis Scott Key Bridge is privately owned, insured, and collects tolls, you still have the honor of footing 100% of the bill to have it repaired. Oh, and it will continue to collect tolls once it’s fixed," Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., wrote on X.
The plan would allow year-round sales of gasoline with ethanol up to 15%, a major win for the corn and ethanol lobbies. Currently, sales of E15 are blocked from June through September due to the high level of emissions it produces.
Opposition to the E15 mandate is seemingly a more regional debate than ideological — Southern Republicans from oil-producing states want to protect pure gasoline. Agricultural states want to protect farmers and their subsidies.
A State Department agency that Republicans accuse of adding Americans and news outlets to a blacklist for things like speculating the COVID-19 virus was a Chinese-engineered bioweapon would get a reauthorization under the bill.
Musk previously described the Global Engagement Center (GEC) as being the "worst offender in US government censorship & media manipulation."
"They are a threat to our democracy," Musk wrote in a subsequent post.
Although the bill doesn’t specify its budget allocation, a previous Inspector General report showed the agency’s FY 2020 budget totaled $74.26 million, of which $60 million was appropriated by Congress.
The legislation reauthorizes the farm bill for a year, offering $21 billion in disaster relief to farmers and another $10 billion in economic aid. Most conservatives say they aren't necessarily against this, but think it should get a standalone vote and not be attached to the CR.
Other seemingly unrelated riders are sprinkled throughout, such as a bill to establish data collection and reporting requirements concerning composting and recycling programs, and a bill related to transparency of hotel fees.
The chaotic collapse of the continuing resolution spending bill is putting House Speaker Mike Johnson’s, R-La., leadership under the spotlight and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has floated the idea of replacing him with Elon Musk, President-elect Trump's pick to co-chair his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Paul took to Musk’s X on Thursday morning to pitch the idea of the tech billionaire taking the House speaker’s gavel, noting that the speaker does not need to be a sitting member of Congress.
"The Speaker of the House need not be a member of Congress… Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk… think about it... nothing’s impossible. (not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka ‘uniparty,’ lose their ever-lovin’ minds)," wrote Paul, a staunchly libertarian conservative on fiscal matters.
Musk, an outspoken critic of government waste, has weighed in on the spending bill debate and led a conservative revolt against the latest plan due to its bloated spending provisions — calling for lawmakers who supported the bill to lose their seats.
"Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!" Musk wrote on X. The legislation has angered conservatives, including President-elect Trump who also called for it to be scrapped.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., confirmed to reporters that the deal was dead while leaving the Capitol on Wednesday night. It came after GOP critics of the spending bill spent much of the day attacking Johnson's handling of the issue.
It's unclear if Paul was serious in his suggestion or if the post was made with tongue-in-cheek.
Democratic political strategist Jimmy Williams balked at the idea.
"Senators should stick to Senating and House Members should stick to their Chamber," Williams wrote on X. "No House Member gives a damn what a Senator thinks about who should be Speaker."
However, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., backed the idea.
"I’d be open to supporting @elonmusk for Speaker of the House," Greene wrote on X, replying to Paul. "DOGE can only truly be accomplished by reigning in Congress to enact real government efficiency. The establishment needs to be shattered just like it was yesterday. This could be the way."
Johnson ascended to the speakership after former House Speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was ousted late last year in a move initiated by eight Republican rebels, becoming the first House speaker to be voted out of the position in U.S. history.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D- N.Y., said last week that no Democrats will vote for Johnson on Jan. 3 when his leadership is scheduled to be voted on.
With Republicans set to hold a four-seat majority, Johnson retaining the gavel is not guaranteed.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said Wednesday that he won’t vote for Johnson, barring a "Christmas miracle." Earlier this year, Massie supported Greene in pushing to remove Johnson from the speakership, but the vast majority of members in both parties ultimately voted to spike the ouster effort.
With Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., saying she will no longer caucus with Republicans while remaining a registered Republican, that may reduce Johnson's support to a single vote.
Paul is not the only senator to weigh in on Johnson’s leadership.
On Wednesday, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo, took aim at the House speaker for the chaotic situation playing out on Capitol Hill and suggested change.
"It's ridiculous. It's a horrible plan. I can't believe that Republican leadership ever cooked it up," Hawley told "Hannity."
"Clearly, they didn't talk to Trump about it, and I tell you what, we need to have a serious look at who's leading this Congress because if this is the best they could do, I mean, it's just it's total incompetence, this is a disaster."
Hawley said the latest plan would saddle the incoming administration with a "terrible spending bill" and it would need to be revisited again in March.
"Under this bill, they'd shut the government down again, have to do this all over again, have to raise the debt ceiling again later, the same year," he said.
"This bill right here would add hundreds of billions of dollars to the deficit, and the worst part is, it is all for Dem priorities."
Fox News’ Danielle Wallace and Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.
The revolt by conservatives and the sudden infusion into negotiations of President-elect Donald Trump, Vice President-elect JD Vance and Elon Musk has House Speaker Mike Johnson and others struggling to find a way out of their political cul-de-sac and avoiding a government shutdown at 12:00:01 a.m. ET Saturday.
Fox News is told that Trump’s unexpected demand to tackle the debt ceiling in this package has complicated matters exponentially. Many conservatives won’t vote for any debt ceiling increase. And Democrats are balking because Republicans reneged on the deal.
Moreover, there may not be enough time to avoid a shutdown, especially if a new bill is to be produced – and conservatives demand that it lay fallow for three days before voting.
That does not even address getting it through the Senate.
Many members with whom Fox News spoke Wednessday night are now resigned to a very high chance of a government shutdown – perhaps one which bleeds through Christmas. There simply isn’t a combination of votes that unlocks this puzzle yet.
Congress also hasn't addressed disaster aid. Some conservatives are opposed to that for North Carolina and Florida without offsets. The fate of assistance after Hurricanes Helene and Milton is now in serious limbo.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has declared that he will not vote for House Speaker Mike Johnson to retain the speakership next year.
"He does not have my vote," Massie told CNN's Manu Raju. Asked whether he would change his mind, Massie said that would require "a Christmas miracle."
Earlier this year Massie supported Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in pushing to remove Johnson from the speakership, but the vast majority of members in both parties ultimately voted to spike the ouster effort.
"It’s a new paradigm in Congress. Nancy Pelosi, and most republicans voted to keep Uniparty Speaker Mike Johnson," Massie tweeted at the time.
This week Johnson had advocated in favor of a more than 1,500-page government spending measure that would have averted the looming prospect of a partial government shutdown.
During a Wednesday interview on "Fox & Friends" Johnson said that the spending measure would kick the government funding issue until March when Republicans will have control of Congress and the White House, enabling the GOP to "decide spending for 2025."
The measure also included disaster relief funding as well as aid related to farmers.
"Disaster aid and Farm aid is not ‘Pork’. It’s called governing. That’s what we were all ELECTED to do," Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., declared in a post on X.
President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance also weighed in. In a statement, they called for passage of "a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want."
"Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025. The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country…" they said in the statement.
The returning head of the House Republican campaign committee says President-elect Trump's convincing 2024 White House victory gives the GOP plenty of home field advantage as the party aims to defend its razor-thin majority in the 2026 midterm elections.
"The battlefield is really laying out to our advantage. There are 14 Democrats who won seats also carried by Donald Trump. There are only three Republicans in seats that were carried by Kamala Harris. So that tells me we're going to be on offense," National Republican Congressional Committee chair Rep. Richard Hudson emphasized in a recent Fox News Digital interview.
Trump carried all seven crucial battleground states and, for the first time in three presidential elections, won the national popular vote as he defeated Vice President Harris last month.
The Republicans also flipped control of the Senate from the Democrats, and even though they had a net loss of two seats in the 435-member House, they'll hold a fragile 220-215 majority when the new Congress convenes next month.
Eight years ago, when Trump first won the White House and the GOP held onto their House majority, Democrats targeted roughly two-dozen Republicans in the 2018 midterms in districts Trump lost in the 2016 election.
The Democrats, in a blue-wave election, were successful in flipping the House majority.
Fast-forward eight years, and it's a different story, as this time Republicans will be defending seats on friendly turf in districts that the president-elect carried.
"There's a whole lot more opportunity for us to go on offense," Hudson, who's represented a congressional district in central North Carolina for a dozen years, touted.
Hudson also made the case that House Republicans who will once again be targeted by the Democrats in the upcoming election cycle are "really battle tested. I mean, they're folks who've been through the fire before. They've gone through several cycles now with millions of dollars spent against them."
"They've been able to succeed because they work very hard in their districts. They've established very strong brands, as you know, people who know how to get things done and how to deliver for their community," he emphasized. "The Republicans who are in tough seats are our best candidates."
The three House Republicans who are in districts that Harris carried last month are Reps. Don Bacon of Nebraska, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, and Mike Lawler of New York.
But there will be a big difference in 2026: Trump, who helped drive low propensity voters to the polls this year, won't be on the ballot in the 2026 midterms.
"I certainly would rather have him on the ballot because he turns out voters that don't come out for other candidates," Hudson acknowledged.
But he argued, "If you look at the way this race is shaping up, we campaigned on a key set of issues of things that we promised we would deliver. If we deliver those things and have Donald Trump there with us campaigning with our candidates, I believe we can drive out a higher percentage of those voters than we have in midterms in the past."
Hudson said Trump "was a great partner" with House Republicans this year and will be again in the upcoming election cycle.
"[Trump] cares deeply about having a House majority because he understands that a Democrat House majority means his agenda comes to a grinding halt. And so he's been very engaged, was a very good partner for us this last election, and I anticipate that continuing."
Hudson, who is returning for a second straight cycle chairing the NRCC, said that at the top of his committee to-do list are candidate recruitment and fundraising.
"I mean, first thing, we've got to go out and recruit candidates. You know, candidate quality matters. And then we've got to go raise the money. And so I'll be on the road and be out there helping our incumbents. But I'm looking forward to it," he emphasized.
Fox News' Emma Woodhead contributed to this report
Editors note: Fox News Digital also interviewed Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington. That report will be posted on Friday.
The 1,547-page interim spending bill to avoid a government shutdown is effectively dead. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has all but yanked the plan off the floor after President-elect Trump, Vice President-elect Vance and Elon Musk torched the package to avoid a government shutdown this weekend and fund the government through March 14.
Had House Republicans had the votes to pass the bill – without leaning too heavily on Democrats – Republicans may have been able to pass the bill late Wednesday afternoon before the intervention of Mssrs. Trump and Vance. But there was just too much grassroots pressure, sparked by Musk on X and elsewhere.
The stopgap spending package proved unpopular due to its size, and various legislative ornaments festooned on the bill like a Christmas tree. Conservatives were expecting Johnson to handle the spending plan differently this year at the holidays. But it backfired. Badly.
It’s notable that Mr. Trump did not weigh in until the 11th hour. He also demanded a debt ceiling increase. That’s something which faced the President-elect in the first quarter of the year and threatened to derail any legislative agenda or potentially spook the markets.
Johnson’s decision to veer off course – despite touting the bill heartily on Fox this morning – underscores several things.
This is a sign of things to come once President-elect Trump is in office. And that could present problems for Johnson as he may be at the whim of decisions by the new President?
Why did Johnson pull the bill?
It was wildy unpopular with his rank and file. But it devolved further once Musk and the President-elect got infused themselves.
In many respects, Johnson’s decision to pull the bill was all about January 3. That’s the day of the Speaker’s vote. With 434 members to start the new Congress, Johnson needs 218 votes. Otherwise, he lacks a majority and cannot become Speaker. The House must vote repeatedly – as it did in January 2023 - before electing former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) five days later in what was the longest Speaker’s race since the 1850s.
Johnson tried to salvage himself in the Speaker’s vote by adding emergency agriculture spending to the bill. But Johnson is now trying to salvage himself by coming up with a new bill.
The irony is that Johnson did not want to create drama before Christmas with a spending package. But drama is exactly what he got in what quickly became the worst Congressional holiday standoff since the fiscal cliff in 2012 or a government shutdown threat in 2014.
So here’s the $64,000 Question: What play does Johnson call next?
Does he do a clean CR to fund the government with nothing attached? Is it a bill that just re-ups current funding coupled with disaster aid? Do they attach a debt ceiling suspension as President-elect Trump has requested?
And then the biggest question of all: can ANYTHING pass at all? Especially without votes from the Democrats?
Johnson has a tranche of conservatives who won’t vote for any CR at all. Many of them would also not vote for a debt ceiling increase, either.
And even if there is a new bill, do conservatives insist on waiting three days to ponder that bill? That triggers a government shutdown right there.
The deadline is 11:59:59 pm ET on Friday.
So this is going to require someone to pull a rabbit out of a hat.
President-elect Trump’s maneuver today is reminiscent of a similar move he made in December 2019, which sparked the longest government shutdown in history.
Then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), then-Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and others thought they had a deal to fund the government and avoid a Christmas-time shutdown.
The Senate voted for the bill. Senators even sat in the back of the chamber and sang Christmas carols during the vote.
Mr. Trump then balked at the last minute. House Republicans followed suit. The government shut down for more than a month.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., while speaking at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., called out House Republicans for breaking a bipartisan agreement to fund the government and avoid a government shutdown, accusing them of hurting everyday Americans across the country.
On Wednesday, House GOP leaders scrambled to search for a backup plan after reaching an initial bipartisan deal to avoid a partial government shutdown this Friday was buried by a barrage of opposition from conservative leaders.
Jeffries spoke about the failed deal, accusing Republicans and their leaders for not reaching the agreement.
"House Republicans, house democrats, Senate. Republicans and Senate Democrats reached a bipartisan agreement to fund the government, keep it open and meet the needs of the American people," Jeffries said, pointing out the agreement would provide disaster assistance for those affected by extreme weather events. "House Republicans have now unilaterally decided to break a bipartisan agreement that they made. House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government and hurt everyday Americans all across this country…An agreement is an agreement. It was bipartisan and there was nothing more to say."
The minority leader also fired off a post on X, saying, "House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government. And hurt working class Americans they claim to support. You break the bipartisan agreement; you own the consequences that follow."
As of Wednesday, the U.S. national debt – which is a measure of what U.S. taxpayers were on the hook for to the nation’s creditors – had reached $36,189,345,826,140.62, and was climbing at a rapid pace, showing no signs of slowing down. The federal government's budget deficit in the recently concluded fiscal year totaled $1.834 trillion, ranking the third largest in U.S. history.
Billionaire Elon Musk, who was appointed by President-elect Trump to serve as a co-chair of the newly-established Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, lambasted the bill on his social media platform, saying the 1,547-page continuing resolution (CR) bill is full of "pork."
Musk also wrote in a separate post, "The voice of the people was heard. This was a good day for America."
Trump adamantly opposed the bill on Wednesday through a series of posts on Truth Social.
"Sounds like the ridiculous and extraordinarily expensive Continuing Resolution, PLUS, is dying fast, but can anyone imagine passing it without either terminating, or extending, the Debt Ceiling guillotine coming up in June?" the incoming president asked. "Unless the Democrats terminate or substantially extend [the] Debt Ceiling now, I will fight ‘till the end. This is a nasty TRAP set in place by the Radical Left Democrats!"
He continued, saying Democrats are looking to embarrass Republicans when it comes up for a vote in June, and the people who extended it from Sept. 28 to June 1, "should be ashamed of themselves."
Trump called the extension "political malpractice," and reiterated the bad timing of Congress asking for pay increases.
"Hopefully, you’ll be entitled to such an increase in the near future when we, "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" he said.
In another post, Trump explained that trying to pass a clean CR without all of the bells and whistles Democrats want will be destructive to the country and his administration instead of the Biden administration.
"Any Republican that would be so stupid as to do this should, and will be Primaried," Trump warned. "Everything should be done, and fully negotiated, prior to my taking office on January 20th, 2025."
Congressional leaders released the text of their 1,547-page CR on Tuesday evening after last-minute negotiations delayed its original planned release on Sunday. A source familiar with discussions told Fox News Digital more specifically that the deal was largely struck between the top two Democrats and Republicans in each chamber.
Since its release, the CR has seen fierce pushback from conservatives and House GOP hardliners, many of whom are frustrated with unrelenting policy riders attached to the legislation, rather than a "clean" extension of government funding.
While the bill would avert a partial government shutdown through March 14 if passed, it also includes provisions on health care and ethanol fuel, along with $100 billion in disaster aid funding and measures to fund the reconstruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. The bill also includes the first pay raise for lawmakers since 2009.
Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
President-elect Trump on Wednesday said he is "totally against" the continuing resolution (CR) being debated by the House to keep the government from shutting down through March.
Trump spoke with "FOX & Friends" co-host Lawrence Jones on Wednesday, telling him the "fight starts now."
"I just spoke with President-elect [Trump], and he is ‘totally against’ the proposed CR," Jones wrote in a post on X.
In another post, the morning show co-host wrote, "The President-elect [Trump] believes that the ‘fight starts now,’ rather than waiting until he is sworn in.
Jones later wrote, "The President-elect [Trump] acknowledged [House Speaker Mike Johnson’s] challenging situation but emphasized that this approach is not the appropriate course of action."
Congressional leaders in Washington, D.C., released the text of their 1,547-page CR on Tuesday evening after last-minute negotiations delayed its original planned release on Sunday. A source familiar with discussions told Fox News Digital more specifically that the deal was largely struck between the top two Democrats and Republicans in each chamber.
Since its release, the CR has seen strong opposition from conservatives and House GOP hardliners, many of whom are frustrated with unrelenting policy riders attached to the legislation, rather than a "clean" extension of government funding.
While the bill would avert a partial government shutdown through March 14 if passed, it also includes provisions on health care and ethanol fuel, along with $100 billion in disaster aid funding and measures to fund the reconstruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. The bill also includes the first pay raise for lawmakers since 2009.
Republican congressional leaders have defended their plan for a stopgap spending bill, arguing it would allow Trump to have a greater influence on spending when the question comes up again in the spring.
Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance released a statement on the spending bill on Wednesday.
"The most foolish and inept thing ever done by Congressional Republicans was allowing our country to hit the debt ceiling in 2025. It was a mistake and is now something that must be addressed," they wrote. "Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but we’d rather do it on Biden’s watch.
"If Democrats won’t cooperate on the debt ceiling now, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration? Let’s have this debate now. And we should pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want.
"Republicans want to support farmers and pay for disaster relief while setting the country up for success in 2025."
"The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country," they said. "Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH.
"If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF. It is Schumer and Biden who are holding up aid to our farmers and disaster relief. THIS CHAOS WOULD NOT BE HAPPENING IF WE HAD A REAL PRESIDENT. WE WILL IN 32 DAYS!"
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, who was appointed co-chair of Trump’s newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), also came out in opposition to Johnson’s proposed bill to keep the government funded on Wednesday.
Musk turned to his social media platform X to argue that the 1,547-page document is full of "pork."
The other co-chair of DOGE, Vivek Ramaswamy, expressed skepticism of the bill on Tuesday, though he did not outright oppose Johnson’s solution.
"Currently reading the 1,547-page bill to fund the government through mid-March. Expecting every U.S. Congressman & Senator to do the same," Ramaswamy wrote on X.
The GOP holds a one-seat majority in the House, meaning Johnson will likely have to rely on Democratic votes to pass the bill. The legislation must also pass the Senate by the Friday deadline to avoid a shutdown.
Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has compared America's practice of doling out aid to foreign countries to a preposterous hypothetical scenario in which an individual waters their neighbor's yard while their own house burns.
"US foreign aid spending is like watering the neighbor’s yard while your house is on fire," he tweeted.
The congressman followed up his initial comment by sharing an AI-generated image of House Speaker Mike Johnson holding a hose as flames emerge from a house behind him.
Fox News Digital reached out to request comment from Massie and a spokesperson confirmed that the image was created using AI, specifically, Grok.
Vivek Ramaswamy replied to Massie's comment about foreign aid by noting, "It’s worse - because unlike a household, U.S. government actors are spending *other* people’s money to do it."
President-elect Donald Trump tapped Ramaswamy and Elon Musk to advocate government cost-cutting via an effort dubbed the Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE).
But getting Republicans on board with drastic spending cuts could prove problematic.
Massie colorfully warned during a WABC radio interview, "I have Republican colleagues who'd rather run over their own mom with a car than to vote to cut spending."
In a post on X, GOP Rep. Chip Roy of Texas agreed with Massie's take, noting, "He’s not wrong…."
Conservatives have been savaging a government spending proposal released at the last-minute to avert the prospect of a looming partial government shutdown, even as some Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, speak out in favor of it.
"I had hoped to see @SpeakerJohnson grow a spine, but this bill full of pork shows he is a weak, weak man. The debt will continue to grow. Ultimately the dollar will fail. Democrats are clueless and Big Gov Republicans are complicit. A sad day for America," Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., declared in a post on X.
Fox News Digital reached out to request comment from Johnson about Paul and Massie's comments and the AI-generated image Massie shared, but a Johnson spokesperson pointed to the speaker's interview on "Fox & Friends."
Johnson noted during the interview that the spending measure kicks the government funding issue until March when Republicans will have control of Congress and the White House, enabling the GOP to "decide spending for 2025." The speaker also pointed to disaster relief in the measure as well as aid related to farmers.
"People call me ‘NostraThomas’ for accurately predicting @SpeakerJohnson would use the Christmas recess to force a massive spending bill through Congress. After claiming he would not, Johnson is embracing a D.C. tradition that's nearly as old as decorating Christmas trees," Massie tweeted.
Earlier this year Johnson said there would not be a "Christmas omnibus."
Pressed this week by Fox News senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram, Johnson said the measure under consideration is "not an omnibus."
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Wednesday rebuffed the Biden-Harris administration's response to recent drone sightings in New Jersey, decrying how federal authorities have given no clear answers to Congress on their origin.
In a Fox News appearance, Johnson agreed that the White House, and more broadly the U.S. government, does not seem concerned about the increased sightings in New Jersey and elsewhere in the Northeast.
"Look, I'm the speaker of the House. I have the exact same frustrations that you do and all of us do. We don't have the answers. The administration is not providing them," Johnson said.
Johnson said he set up a meeting last week with officials from the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, and "the answers are not forthcoming."
"They just say 'don't worry about it, it's not foreign entities, there's not a vessel offshore doing this, and they're not collecting any data.' OK, then what is it?" Johnson said.
"You heard Mayorkas, who no one believes, we impeached him in the House as you know, the DHS secretary, he said in an interview a couple days ago, well because they changed the regulations to allow drones to fly at night, that's why everybody's seeing them now. They've always been there. I mean, look, people are not buying the answers," Johnson said. "We are digging in further to get the answers, and we're demanding that the administration do its job. We gotta protect Americans, protect our intelligence, of course, and our data and everything else. We're going to get down to the bottom of it, but we don't have the answers yet."
Johnson referenced how Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told ABC News on Monday that there are thousands of drones flown every day in the U.S., and that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in September 2023 "changed the rules so that drones could fly at night, and that may be one of the reasons why now people are seeing more drones than they did before, especially from dawn until dusk."
Mayorkas also said it was "critical" for Congress to expand authorities for state and local agencies to counter drone activity "under federal supervision."
Johnson reacted to President Biden telling reporters at the White House on Tuesday that there was "nothing nefarious" happening with the drones, and that so far, there has been "no sense of danger."
"This is why we need Donald J. Trump back in the White House to bring steady hands at the wheel and a strong commander-in-chief," Johnson said. "He would have already had the answers, he would have already delivered to the American people and certainly to members of Congress. So leadership matters. That's why he got the mandate. That's why the American people can't wait for the America First agenda to start, and we can't wait either."
Federal authorities said Monday evening that the reported drone sightings have been identified as legal commercial drones, hobbyist drones and law enforcement drones, as well as manned aircraft, helicopters and even stars. Officials said that assessment was based on technical data and tips.
The House Intelligence Committee grilled federal law enforcement and intelligence officials about the drones during a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., told CNN.
Authorities told the panel there still is no evidence of public safety or national security threats, Himes said.
Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday that drone-detection equipment supplied by the federal government has yielded little new information. He declined to describe the equipment, except to say it was powerful and could even disable the drones, though he said that is not legal on U.S. soil. Murphy urged Congress to give states more authority to deal with the drones.
Meanwhile, the FBI and New Jersey state police warned against pointing lasers at suspected drones, because aircraft pilots are being hit in the eyes more often. Authorities also said they are concerned people might fire weapons at manned aircraft that they have mistaken for drones.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Monday that the federal government has yet to identify any public safety or national security risks from any of the reported drone sightings in the northeast, saying officials believe they were lawfully flown drones, planes or stars.
"There are more than 1 million drones that are lawfully registered with the Federal Aviation Administration here in the United States," Kirby said. "And there are thousands of commercial, hobbyist and law enforcement drones that are lawfully in the sky on any given day. That is the ecosystem that we are dealing with."
The federal government has deployed personnel and advanced technology to investigate the reports in New Jersey and other states, and is evaluating each tip reported by citizens, he said.
About 100 of the more than 5,000 drone sightings reported to the FBI in recent weeks were deemed credible enough to warrant more investigation, according to a joint statement by DHS, FBI, FAA and the Department of Defense.
Speculation has raged online, with some expressing concerns that the drones could be part of a nefarious plot by foreign agents.
Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said it Is unlikely the drones are engaged in intelligence gathering, given how loud and bright they are. He repeated Tuesday that the drones being reported are not being operated by the Department of Defense. When asked whether military contractors might be operating drones in the New Jersey area, Ryder rebuffed the notion, saying there are "no military operations, no military drone or experiment operations in this corridor."
Ryder said additional drone-detecting technology was being moved to some military installations, including the Picatinny Arsenal and at Naval Weapons Station Earle in New Jersey, where drones also have been reported.
As conservative lawmakers decry a government spending measure released at the last-minute to avert the looming prospect of a partial government shutdown, Rep. Kat Cammack quipped that conservatives should launch an OnlyFans account.
"Conservative Republicans should start an OnlyFans account considering how often we get screwed… The CR is a bad deal," the Florida Republican declared in a post on X.
GOP Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona also playfully noted that he plans to oppose the measure.
"'Twas three days before the gov't shutdown And I’m at my desk On page 54 of this 1,547 page mess. The CR is garbage Chocked full of carnage. I’ll be a hard no I won’t stoop that low," he tweeted.
Republican Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia referred to the measure as the "Christmas Cramnibus" and GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, also of the Peach State, called it a "Christmas CR lump of coal."
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., also declared her opposition, noting, "I got a word for this CR: nope."
"Many of the loudest, self-proclaimed ‘@DOGE Heroes’ in Congress will vote for the CR—even though it flies in the face of everything @DOGE is trying to fix & perpetuates the very problems Republicans railed against while campaigning this year," Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, stated in a post on X. "Then they’ll say "@DOGE will fix it!"
President-elect Donald Trump tapped Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to helm the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, an effort to root out government waste and advocate for lower spending. The duo "will serve as outside volunteers, not federal officials or employees," they noted in a Wall Street Journal piece last month.
"Pay attention to the members of Congress who have been all in for @DOGE for media attention but will vote for the short-term omnibus. They are the Swamp," Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., declared in a tweet.
House Appropriations Committee chair Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., made arguments in favor of approving the proposal, which according to a press release, contains billions for disaster relief.
"While a continuing resolution is not ideal, this strategy ensures President Trump has a voice in shaping the final FY25 bills. Importantly, it averts a costly government shutdown that would only serve to handcuff the start of his new administration," Cole noted, according to the press release.
"At the same time, we cannot ignore the devastation caused by natural disasters across the nation," he noted. "This bill provides crucial relief for Americans recovering from these disasters, including those in my home state of Oklahoma, and also generates economic benefits for the nation. We have a responsibility to help our fellow citizens rebuild and restore, and this legislation demonstrates shared resilience and unity in the face of tragedy."
Elon Musk chimed in to render his own verdict on the proposal, giving it the thumbs down.
"This bill should not pass," he declared in a post on X.
"Ever seen a bigger piece of pork?" he asked in another post when sharing a photo of the first page of the measure sitting atop a towering stack of papers, presumably the rest of the more than 1,500-page document.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., addressed Musk's disapproval on Fox & Friends Wednesday morning, saying he had spoken to both Musk and Ramaswamy in a text. "They said, ‘This is not directed at you, Mr. Speaker, but we don't like the spending bill. I said, ‘Guess what, fellas, I don’t either. We gotta get this done because here's the key: by doing this, we're clearing the decks and we are setting up for Trump to come in roaring back with the America First agenda."
Former Rep. Liz Cheney is facing calls from GOP legislators that the FBI investigate her for "potential criminal witness tampering" related to her former role on the Jan. 6 House Select Committee, a report released Tuesday by the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight chairman, Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., details.
"Based on the evidence obtained by this Subcommittee, numerous federal laws were likely broken by Liz Cheney, the former Vice Chair of the January 6 Select Committee, and these violations should be investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Evidence uncovered by the Subcommittee revealed that former Congresswoman Liz Cheney tampered with at least one witness, Cassidy Hutchinson, by secretly communicating with Hutchinson without Hutchinson’s attorney’s knowledge," the report, which was provided to Fox Digital, found.
The Jan. 6 committee was founded in July 2021 to investigate the breach of the U.S. Capitol earlier that year by supporters of Trump ahead of President Biden officially taking office on Jan. 20. The Jan. 6 committee’s investigation was carried out when Democrats held control of the House.
The committee concluded its 18-month investigation last year, when Republicans regained control of the House and sent referrals to the Justice Department recommending Trump be criminally prosecuted for his involvement in the lead-up to supporters breaching the Capitol. The committee was composed of seven Democrats and two Republican lawmakers, Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, both of whom are no longer in office.
Loudermilk's subcommittee was tapped to investigate the J6 committee and its findings in January 2023.
The House Republicans' report Tuesday specifically took issue with Cheney’s alleged "direct intervention" with Hutchinson, who was considered the star witness of the investigation, including allegedly encouraging Hutchinson to hire "Select Committee-friendly attorneys to represent her," as opposed to keeping her original legal representation.
Hutchinson, who worked as an aide to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, had claimed before the select committee that on Jan. 6, 2021, she was told Trump allegedly became "irate" and attempted to join supporters at the Capitol ahead of them breaching the government building. The incident reportedly unfolded after Trump delivered a speech at the Ellipse, which is a park just south of the White House fence.
Hutchinson alleged she was told Trump attempted to grab the steering wheel of a Secret Service SUV before the driver reportedly told Trump to remove his hand and that they were headed to the White House, not the Capitol. Hutchinson’s account was directly refuted by Anthony Ornato, who served as White House deputy chief of staff for operations under Trump after decades in the Secret Service.
Less than two weeks after firing her original attorney, and hiring "the attorneys Representative Cheney suggested – Hutchinson sat for her fourth transcribed interview with the Select Committee under unusual circumstances," the report found.
"Prior to this interview, nearly every interview the Select Committee conducted included approximately a dozen people – including committee staff members, committee counsel, often a Member of the Select Committee, the interviewee, and the interviewee’s legal representation. Most of the interviews were done in large conference rooms or over zoom, allowing space for all participants. Hutchinson’s fourth transcribed interview, however, was vastly different. It consisted of only four people: Representative Cheney, one attorney from the Select Committee, Hutchinson, and Hutchinson’s new counsel. Additionally, instead of the Select Committee conducting the interview in a conference room or virtually, Representative Cheney used her private hideaway inside of the United States Capitol Building," the report states.
The House Republican report continued that Hutchinson’s testimony to the Jan. 6 committee was crucial, arguing "it is unlikely the Select Committee could make its assertions about President Trump’s mood, attitude, and alleged culpability in the events of January 6" without her comments.
"Hutchinson is mentioned by name in the Select Committee’s Final Report no fewer than 185 times. Inexplicably, the Select Committee discredited the multitude of legitimate witnesses who, under oath, repeatedly refuted Hutchinson’s testimony. These legitimate witnesses include senior government officials and federal agents."
Cheney, in comments provided to Fox News Digital on Tuesday afternoon, defended her former committee's investigation, while arguing Loudermilk's report "intentionally disregards the truth and the Select Committee’s tremendous weight of evidence."
"January 6th showed Donald Trump for who [he] really is – a cruel and vindictive man who allowed violent attacks to continue against our Capitol and law enforcement officers while he watched television and refused for hours to instruct his supporters to stand down and leave," Cheney said to Fox News Digital.
"The January 6th Committee’s hearings and report featured scores of Republican witnesses, including many of the most senior officials from Trump’s own White House, campaign and Administration. All of this testimony was painstakingly set out in thousands of pages of transcripts, made public along with a highly detailed and meticulously sourced 800 page report. Now, Chairman Loudermilk’s 'Interim Report' intentionally disregards the truth and the Select Committee’s tremendous weight of evidence, and instead fabricates lies and defamatory allegations in an attempt to cover up what Donald Trump did. Their allegations do not reflect a review of the actual evidence, and are a malicious and cowardly assault on the truth. No reputable lawyer, legislator or judge would take this seriously."
The Democratic former chair of the committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson, also slammed Loudermilk's report in a comment to Fox News Digital on Tuesday.
"Representative Loudermilk has failed to discredit the work of the January 6th Select Committee. His so-called 'report' is filled with baseless, conclusory allegations rather than facts. That’s because there’s no escaping the reality that Donald Trump bears the responsibility for the deadly January 6th attack no matter how much Mr. Loudermilk would love to rewrite history for his political purposes," he said.
The president-elect railed in an interview on NBC earlier this month that Cheney, Thompson and others on the J6 committee "deleted and destroyed" evidence related to the investigation and "should go to jail."
"Cheney did something that’s inexcusable, along with Thompson and the people on the un-select committee of political thugs and, you know, creeps," he said in the interview. "They deleted and destroyed all evidence."
"And Cheney was behind it. And so was Bennie Thompson and everybody on that committee," he continued. "For what they did, honestly, they should go to jail."
Trump's claims of the committee allegedly "deleting" evidence was supported by a previous report released by Loudermilk earlier this year claiming the select committee "deleted" records and hired "Hollywood producers" to promote a political narrative while investigating Jan. 6.
The report released Tuesday found that the Jan. 6 committee failed to archive "as many as 900 interview summaries or transcripts," despite a process for committee chairs to properly archive data, including interviews.
"As part of its investigation, the Subcommittee learned that the Select Committee failed to archive or provide the Subcommittee with any of its video recordings of witness interviews, as many as 900 interview summaries or transcripts, more than one terabyte of digital data. Concerningly, of the documents that were archived, the Select Committee delivered more than 100 encrypted, password protected documents and never provided the passwords. It is unclear why the Select Committee chose only those documents to be shielded by password," the report found.
The Jan. 6 committee, the report found, failed to archive more than "one terabyte of digital data" after Thompson reported archiving more than four terabytes of data in a July 2022 letter. The subcommittee ultimately received less than three terabytes of digital data.
"One terabyte of data is equivalent to 6.5 million document pages such as PDFs or office files, 500 hours of high definition video, or 250,000 photos," the report noted.
Thompson previously denied the claims of deleting evidence in a July 2023 letter to Loudermilk, detailing that the committee had called on the federal government regarding the "proper archiving of such sensitive material to protect witnesses’ safety, national security, and to safeguard law enforcement operations."
Thompson provided three "facts" in response to the report Tuesday in comment to Fox Digital.
"Here are the facts: (1) The Select Committee was properly constituted, as every court that heard challenges found. Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro would not have gone to prison for contempt of Congress had there been a legitimate issue. Not even the Republican-controlled Supreme Court stayed their sentences, despite Mr. Loudermilk’s entreaties. (2) The Select Committee followed all House Rules, and it did not withhold or destroy any record that was required to be archived. Moreover, every record the Select Committee had was turned over to the Department of Justice, which was in turn provided to the former President’s defense team through the discovery process during his criminal proceedings. Most of those records are publicly available through the Government Publishing Office’s online repository," he said.
"(3) The Members of the Select Committee and the witnesses who came before us – who were mainly Republicans from the Trump administration – acted honorably and out of patriotic duty to the Constitution. The Select Committee’s Final Report was not based on any single witness’s testimony, and it painted a damning picture of the former President’s dereliction of duty. That work stands on its own."
Thompson added that Loudermilk failed to "to find a single valid problem with the Select Committee’s work," that reflects what he said is an "inescapable conclusion."
"Donald Trump orchestrated a multi-part conspiracy that attempted to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 Presidential election by summoning a mob to Washington to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in American history," he said.
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy tapped Loudermilk to investigate both the Jan. 6 incident itself and the Jan. 6 House Select Committee’s report on the Capitol breach in January 2023.
"Over the past twenty-four months of this investigation, my subcommittee staff have faced incredible obstacles in pursuit of the truth; missing and deleted documents, hidden evidence, unaccounted for video footage, and uncooperative bureaucrats. At one point, the work of the subcommittee was completely halted due to the removal of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker, and subsequently faced internal efforts to derail the investigation. However, our team persevered through the delays; and, when Mike Johnson took the gavel as Speaker of the House, he allocated even more resources to our investigation and committed to more transparency for the American people," Loudermilk wrote in a letter to colleagues accompanying the report.
Progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was defeated in her bid to be the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, losing to Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia.
Connolly, 74, bested the 35-year-old Ocasio-Cortez with 131 to 84 votes in what is seen as a blow for progressives who backed Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the progressive "Squad."
"I thank my colleagues for their support and the confidence they’ve placed in me to lead House Democrats on the Oversight Committee," Connolly said in a statement after being elected by the House Democratic Caucus.
Connolly called out "the Republican playbook," in which he accused Republicans of using "debunked conspiracy theories" and enabling "the worst abuses of the Trump Administration."
"This will be trench warfare." Connolly said. "Now is not the time to be timid. I promise the American people that our Committee Democrats will be a beacon of truth and prepared from day one to counter Republican gaslighting."
When Fox News Senior Congressional Correspondent Chad Pergram asked Connolly if he was up for a potential fight against the Trump administration, Connolly said he was "raring to go."
"I did it before for four years, and bested them on a number of occasions, and I'm raring to go again," he said.
Connolly said that President-elect Trump "may feel more emboldened" after his reelection victory, though "that may also make him more reckless."
"There is a law in this land, and we're going to make sure it's enforced," Connolly said.
In his written statement, Connolly said Democrats will be "disciplined" and "laser focused on getting results on the kitchen table issues that are affecting the American people the most."
"We will stand up for our democracy and for truth," the statement said. "And we will protect the tremendous and historic progress we have made as House Democrats."
Fox News' Chad Pergram and Tyler Olson contributed to this report.
