An ex-Chicagoland police chief says violent ambushes and murder of on-duty police officers need to be punishable as a federal crime, and he's calling on President-elect Donald Trump to move the effort forward.
"Attacks on police officers are certainly on the rise since 2020, and what's really on the rise is ambush," retired Riverside Police Chief Tom Weitzel told Fox News Digital in an interview. "There's been more ambush attacks on police officers in the last two to three years than I've ever seen before, and that goes from everything from just an officer sitting in a squad car, either writing a report or he or she is on an assignment, and somebody walking up and just shooting the officer right in the squad car."
"That's happened several times over the last couple of years, or fake 911 calls where – the whole purpose of the calls [is] to get the officer to respond and to open fire on that officer and kill that officer. That's happened many times. We had never seen that, you know, 10 years ago," he added.
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Currently, killing state or local law enforcement officers can lead to a federal penalty only if the killing is committed to influence or retaliate against the officer's official duties and involves interstate commerce or federal jurisdiction. While some laws have been passed in recent years to curb the uptick in police killings, there's no official federal law that killing a police officer in any state is a felony because most cases are prosecuted under state law.
States generally treat the murder of a police officer as an aggravated form of homicide that can carry harsh penalties, including life imprisonment or the death penalty.
"What I'm looking for is uniformity, and I'm looking forward to give the family and loved ones some relief that things are being done properly, and I know for a fact that they're not prosecuted and investigated the same in every state in America. That's not happening," Weitzel said.
Weitzel, who was almost killed in an ambush shooting during his time as a cop, said he's sent letters to his state legislators, including Sen. Tammy Duckworth, and both the Biden and previous Trump administrations, but he only heard back from Trump's DOJ with a list of best practices. Last week, Weitzel sent another letter to Trump urging him to look at the proposal.
"There's still an unsolved police murder in the west suburbs of Chicago, and that really that also made me think, like, we need to get an outside agency's experts in doing it. I'm not criticizing local law enforcement, I'm saying we just want it done uniformly," he said.
FBI data shows a significant rise in officer fatalities nationwide between 2020 and 2023, with nearly 200 officers feloniously killed over three years. In Chicago, the police department saw several of its officers killed last year: Officer Andres Mauricio Vasquez Lasso on March 1 and Officer Arenah M. Preston on May 6. Officer Enrique Martinez, 26, was killed in November during a traffic stop in the city's East Chatham neighborhood.
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"President Trump has publicly stated he's a law-and-order president. He has stated he supports law enforcement, many of the law enforcement ideals and legislation," Weitzel said. "So, it's the right time to at least push this, because we have somebody who in the White House says he's willing to work and pass legislation and funding with local law enforcement."
Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump transition team for comment but did not hear back by the time of publication.
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.
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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.
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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."
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 Associated Press contributed to this report.
A rule banning transgender people in Montana from changing the sex designation on their birth certificates and driver’s licenses will be temporarily blocked following a state judge’s ruling.
District Judge Mike Menahan on Monday ruled that the ban would be blocked while the case proceeds through the courts.
Under state law, transgender people born in Montana are blocked from changing the sex designation on their birth certificate, and transgender residents are prevented from changing the sex on their driver’s licenses without an amended birth certificate.
Two transgender women filed the case in April on behalf of themselves and others who have been unable to obtain documents "that accurately reflect their sex," the complaint said.
The state had argued that sex is binary, either male or female, and that being transgender is not a protected class of people who could have their constitutional rights to privacy violated.
Menahan said it was not necessary at this point in the litigation to determine whether transgender Montanans constitute a special class on the basis of their transgender status, and disagreed with the state’s argument that discrimination on the basis of transgender status is not discrimination on the basis of sex.
"If the challenged state actions discriminate against transgender individuals on the basis of their transgender status, they also necessarily discriminate on the basis of sex," he wrote.
The ruling comes days after the Montana supreme court temporarily blocked a state law banning transgender surgeries for minors, saying the law likely violates Montana’s constitutional right to privacy.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A group of U.S. oil and gas producers is upping the pressure on House Speaker Mike Johnson to push through a major permitting reform bill, stressing in a letter Wednesday the urgency for the chamber to move swiftly on approving the legislation, which they see as crucial for attracting new investments in domestic oil and gas projects, bolstering national energy security and breathing new life into other long-stalled energy infrastructure projects.
The letter, authored by a coalition of U.S. oil and gas groups who represent a combined 80% of domestic fossil fuel production, stressed the need for House Republicans to swiftly and "immediately" pass the Energy Permitting Reform Act, or the 2024 bill authored by Sens. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., and John Barrasso, R-Wyo. They described that legislation as crucial to helping expedite actions for producers under the second Trump administration.
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"While this bill is merely the first step towards comprehensive permitting reform in this country, we believe that passing the package now, at the end of the 118th, and then earnestly advancing additional National Environmental Policy Act reforms such as those being drafted by Chairman Westerman in the Natural Resources Committee, will ensure that America can get back on track as quickly as possible," the letter said.
Pressure on Johnson and House Republicans has mounted in recent days as lawmakers prepare for a final sprint before the end of the 118th session of Congress. Some have suggested the bill's best chances of passage are by paring it with NEPA reform — likely efforts championed by House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., which could earn the permitting reform bill more buy-in from House Republicans.
Its signatories included more than half a dozen major oil and gas industry groups, including the Gulf Energy Alliance, the U.S. Oil & Gas Association, and the Independent Petroleum Association, among others.
In the letter, the groups pointed to an analysis from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory that found that in 2000, it took an average of just two years for new U.S. energy infrastructure projects to go from being issued their first permit to becoming fully operational — a timeline, they noted, that has now extended to an average of more than five years for new projects.
"Such delays discourage investment in these projects and threatens our energy security," they said. "Many projects take even longer or are ultimately canceled as funding is lost or companies simply give up."
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"The Energy Permitting Reform Act must be treated as an urgent priority," National Ocean Industries Association President Erik Milito told Fox News Digital in a statement. "With the transition to a new Congress and administration looming, this legislation is crucial for establishing a strong national energy and permitting policy framework that will propel federal support for American offshore energy well into the future."
"By simplifying the permitting process, we can boost our domestic energy production while maintaining environmental safeguards," Milito said, adding, "These reforms reaffirm America's commitment to leading the world in energy production, economic prosperity, and environmental stewardship."In campaigning for president, Trump has vowed to "unleash" U.S. energy production, including oil and gas production, and to "frack, frack, frack."
President-elect Donald Trump blamed the Biden administration for what he views as recent failures in U.S. oil and gas production and used many of his campaign trail stump speeches to take aim at the administration for its outsize focus on electric vehicle manufacturing and production, as well as the shuttering of aging power plants and the spike in energy prices, which increased by as much as 50% in the Keystone State.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Speaker Johnson's office for comment on the letter.
Lawmakers will soon vote on legislation aimed at pushing back on the Biden administration's green energy standards for household appliances.
The Department of Energy (DOE) introduced a final rule in February imposing stricter energy standards for residential clothes washers (RCWs), such as washing machines. Under the regulations, certain less-efficient models of washers and dryers will be barred from being sold, according to DOE.
Just weeks after the new standards were announced, Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., introduced legislation, titled the "Liberty in Laundry Act," to circumvent the Biden administration's green energy push.
The House will vote on the legislation Tuesday. If passed, it could prevent the Energy Secretary and DOE from "implementing new or amended energy efficiency standards for clothes washers that are not technologically feasible and economically justified."
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Ogles told Fox News Digital that "Americans should be able to do their laundry in peace without the input of Big Brother."
"I have spent much of my time in Congress fighting back the federal government’s vast overreach into the lives of hardworking Americans. In a slew of woke, ‘environmental’ nonsense rulemaking attempts by the Biden Administration, the Secretary of Energy issued new standards for clothing washers and dryers in March," Ogles said in a statement. "In response, I introduced the Liberty in Laundry Act."
"Let’s be clear: President Biden and Washington bureaucrats' war on everyday household appliances only hurts American families and small businesses," House Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., wrote on his website detailing the measure. "You should be able to decide what washing machine is best for you and your family – not be forced to let the government decide for you."
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When introducing the new standards on clothing washers, the DOE argued that they would reduce nearly 71 million metric tons of "dangerous carbon dioxide emissions" over the next three decades.
"For decades, DOE’s appliance standards actions for clothes washers and dryers have provided loads of savings for American families while also de-creasing harmful carbon emissions," Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said in a February press release.
House Republicans have introduced a series of legislation this Congress to block efforts by the Biden administration to crack down on natural gas-powered household appliances.
Democratic lawmakers, however, have taken steps to incentivize people to switch to green appliances, such as in New York, where Gov. Kathy Hochul recently introduced plans to offer payments of up to $840 for residents who switch out their clothes dryers for greener alternatives.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn will roll out a package of legislation backing up Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) objectives, as Republican lawmakers launch legislative efforts to rally behind the cost-cutting efforts.
The Tennessee Republican announced her plans to unveil the "DOGE Acts" in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday. They would seek to move federal agencies out of Washington, D.C., freeze federal hiring and salaries for one year, and get federal workers back in the office.
The GOP senator will reportedly unveil a series of measures that will mirror more of the framework being pushed by the new agency to cut government spending, according to the senators' spokesperson.
"I will be introducing legislation that coincides with @DOGE’s plan to make the federal government more efficient," Blackburn said in a post on X.
"My DOGE Act will freeze federal hiring, begin the process to relocate agencies out of the D.C. swamp, and establish a merit-based salary system for the federal workforce," Blackburn said.
A spokesperson for the senator later revealed that she plans to announce several of these bills.
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"Senator Blackburn is planning to introduce a package of bills – known as the DOGE Acts – aimed at holding the federal government more accountable for managing taxpayer dollars next week," Blackburn’s spokesperson said in a statement, the Hill reported. "The DOGE Acts coincides with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s plan to make the federal government more efficient."
Musk responded to the senator's tweet, writing "thank you" in a post.
The announcement came after Musk and Ramaswamy, the pair appointed by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the efforts, spent the day meeting with lawmakers to discuss cost-cutting opportunities and objectives.
Lawmakers told Fox News Digital that they were "very impressed" with the DOGE framework following their meetings with the duo.
Along with Blackburn's legislative plans, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, chair of the Senate's DOGE Caucus, unveiled a 60-page cost-cutting proposal during a meeting with GOP senators and Ramaswamy on Thursday.
The DOGE efforts have already gained bipartisan support from Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., joining the House's GOP-led congressional caucus. Ahead of the meeting with Congress, Musk was asked whether he wanted Democratic members to be part of DOGE conversations, to which he was heard answering, "Yes."
