At least 50 House Democrats are being criticized as "actors reading a script" after posting identical talking points to social media, one of several similar online campaigns by Democratic lawmakers.
"House Democrats stand united for a four-week funding extension that stops harmful cuts, keeps government open, and allows Congress to reach a bipartisan funding agreement. I am ready to vote today, tomorrow or Friday to pass a four-week extension," a social media post made by dozens of Democratic lawmakers read on Thursday.
The message was posted by the House Democrats X account, as well as by various lawmakers such as "Squad" member Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich.,
"You can see the ridiculous political puppet show for what it really is," Elon Musk, who is leading cost-cutting efforts at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), wrote in a post on X in response to the identical posts shared by EndWokeness. "They are just actors reading a script."
"This is the 2025 version of ‘Live by the promise of the hashtag,'" Republican commentator Matt Whitlock said. "Dems are so tacky."
Joe Concha, a Fox News contributor, deemed Democrats the "cut-and-paste party."
Dingell told Fox News Digital why Democrats decided to make the same social media post.
"House Democrats shared the same message because we are all unified and ready to keep the government open in a way that serves the American people," the congresswoman said in a statement.
The message comes as part of a new trend by Democratic lawmakers to post coordinated content to social media.
Fox News Digital reached out to the House Democratic Caucus for comment.
Senate Democrats also faced criticism earlier this year after identical videos to social media ahead of President Donald Trump's address to Congress in March.
The synchronized "S--- That Ain’t True" mashup saw at least 22 Democratic Senators repeating the same statement in unison. "Since day one of Donald Trump’s presidency, prices are up, not down. Inflation is getting worse, not better. Prices of groceries, gas, housing, rent, eggs — they’re all getting more expensive. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has done nothing to lower costs for you," the Democrats, including senators Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said in the video.
Sen. Corey Booker, D-N.J., recently said the video was created with the intention of reaching more people online. "We're trying to do more things as a caucus that break through. Clearly, this was very successful," the senator said.
Democrats were again recently mocked for a viral "choose your fighter parody," where several congresswomen, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, were seen jumping up and down in a fighting position as if they were video game characters, along with their attributes.
Jeremy Hunt, a media fellow at the Hudson Institute, recently told Fox News that Democrats are "lost at sea" with their messaging.
"When you don't have a message, and you have nothing positive to present to the American people, you have no plan, no strategy, you just start to think they are now just going off the reservation, constantly swearing, trying to howl at the moon, and trying to garner some type of resistance to what Trump is doing because they have no message," Hunt told "Outnumbered in March.
The "hostile political climate" of the Trump administration means that states must "rethink" their mandated abortion reporting requirements and "vigorously oppose new ones," according to the nation's leading abortion research institute. But one pro-life activist told Fox News Digital such a move would be a "serious mistake."
A Guttmacher Institute policy analysis report published this month concluded that "the benefits of state-mandated abortion reporting no longer outweigh the risks, a shift that is likely to accelerate as anti-abortion policymakers double down on punitive approaches to data collection while using the resulting data to further restrict abortion rights and access."
"The enactment of abortion reporting requirements for purely political reasons and their increasing weaponization against patients and providers are clear indications that the harms of this mandatory data collection now outweigh its benefits," researchers for the pro-abortion rights group said. "To prevent further harms, policymakers at all levels of government should work to remove existing reporting requirements and vigorously oppose new ones, along with any attempt to tie federal funding to abortion reporting."
Guttmacher, which is considered the gold standard for accurate abortion statistics since it provides more comprehensive data and receives more reporting than the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), recommended that, instead of doing away with reporting altogether, state policymakers should implement a voluntary form of data collection.
Pro-life advocates object to the Guttmacher recommendation.
"Rolling back state-mandated abortion reporting would be a serious mistake," Mia Steupert, research associate at Charlotte Lozier Institute, a pro-life research group, said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
"Considering Dobbs placed the authority to enact protections for unborn children in the hands of the American people and their elected representatives at the federal and state levels, it’s critical to have access to good data so that the impact of those abortion policies can be evaluated," Steupert said, referring to the 2022 ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.
The normative practice of abortion data collection comes primarily from states that report their numbers to the CDC. The data is then compiled to give a snapshot of how many abortions there are nationwide, the age of the mother and how far along she was. However, while most do, not every state requires abortion providers, hospitals and other medical providers to report their numbers.
Currently, 46 states and the District of Columbia have some form of mandated abortion reporting, according to the institute. California, Maryland, Michigan and New Jersey do not require reporting.
"Even the CDC agrees that accurate abortion data is important for public health in terms of measuring unintended pregnancies and tracking changes in clinical practice," Steupert said. "Ending state reporting requirements would give the abortion lobby a monopoly on abortion reporting, leaving the American people in the dark about the horrific realities of abortion."
The information gathered in abortion reports varies by state but generally includes details such as the names of the medical facility and clinician involved in the abortion service. Demographic data on the person receiving an abortion, including age, race, ethnicity, marital status, place of residence, gestational age of the pregnancy, the type of abortion elected and number of previous live births are also included.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for Guttmacher said their "recommendation isn’t an argument against states collecting abortion data, but a discussion of the risks and burdens of howit’s collected."
"Ending government-mandated abortion reporting does not contradict the collection of rigorous and accurate abortion data. We urge states to consider changing their laws and regulations to switch to voluntary models of data collection, which can produce high quality data while protecting the safety and privacy of patients and providers. We strongly oppose the intrusive and punitive federal abortion reporting mandate laid out in Project 2025," the spokesperson said.
Project 2025 refers to a policy blueprint by the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank and is not an official Trump administration policy guide.
The report comes nearly three years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade – the 1973 decision guaranteeing a woman's right to abortion – and many states have since enacted abortion bans.
The Trump administration also rolled back a Biden-era executive order that federally funded abortion services, re-enacting the Hyde Amendment, which bars the use of federal taxpayer dollars for elective abortions.
Democrats pounced on President Donald Trump’s purchase of a red Tesla on Tuesday — even though former President Joe Biden similarly paraded a Jeep Wrangler at the White House in 2021.
Trump flaunted the vehicle on the White House’s South Lawn with SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is also heading up the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), as Tesla’s stock floundered earlier in the week. The share price rose following the White House event.
Democrats decried the move, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee labeled the Trump administration the "most corrupt administration in American history."
But Biden also conducted a similar event at the White House in August 2021, when he drove an electric Jeep Wrangler on the White House South Lawn as part of a meeting with top executives from General Motors, Ford and Stellantis.
That event corresponded with Biden signing an executive order aiming for zero-emission vehicles manufactured in the U.S. to make up half of its vehicle production by the end of the decade.
Musk and Tesla weren't invited to Biden's 2021 electic vehicle event. Musk had called out the Biden administration in a post on X at the time, saying, "Yeah, seems odd that Tesla wasn’t invited."
When asked at the time why the White House had excluded Tesla, the largest electric vehicle maker in the U.S., White House press secretary Jen Psaki suggested that Tesla would receive an invitation for future events.
"Well, we of course welcome the efforts of automakers who recognize the potential of an electric vehicle future and support efforts that will help reach the President’s goal, and certainly Tesla is one of those companies," Psaki said in August 2021. "I would not expect this is the last time we talk about clean cars and the move toward electric vehicles, and we look forward to having a range of partners in that effort."
Meanwhile, the Biden’s administration’s refusal to meet with Musk served as the catalyst for Musk’s departure from the Democratic Party, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Journal reported in July 2024 that Musk had voted for Biden in 2020 and had reached out to the Biden White House following his inauguration, but the White House had refused to speak with him.
The Journal reported that the Biden White House had hesitated to take Musk up on the offer due to concerns that ties to him would upset the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, since Tesla is the only non-union automaker in the U.S.
Psaki said that for the electic vehicle event it had selected the "three largest employers of the United Auto Workers, so I'll let you draw your own conclusions."
Others criticized Trump for his Tuesday Tesla show. "I’m sure all the people losing their retirement, jobs, and health care because of Trump are glad to see the White House turned into a car dealership for the richest man on the planet," Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said in an X post.
Fox Business’ Breck Dumma contributed to this report.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear slammed fellow Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom for allowing Steve Bannon on his new podcast, saying that "I don’t think we should give him oxygen on any platform, ever, anywhere."
Beshear made the remark Thursday during a Democratic policy retreat in Virginia, according to Politico. The episode of the "This is Gavin Newsom" podcast featuring Bannon was released the day before, describing him in the show notes as a "former Trump White House chief strategist and MAGA architect."
"I think that Governor Newsom bringing on different voices is great, we shouldn’t be afraid to talk and to debate just about anyone," Beshear was quoted by Politico as saying. "But Steve Bannon espouses hatred and anger, and even at some points, violence, and I don’t think we should give him oxygen on any platform, ever, anywhere."
Newsom’s office did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment by Fox News Digital.
The governor told Politico Wednesday that it is "critically important" to understand President Donald Trump’s movement and that "I think we all agreed after the last election that it’s important for Democrats to explore new and unique ways of talking to people."
Former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger also criticized Newsom for bringing Bannon onto his show.
"I am in shock at the stupidity of Gavin Newsom inviting Steve Bannon on his podcast. Many of us on the right sacrificed careers to fight Bannon, and Newsom is trying to make a career and a presidential run by building him up. Unforgivable and insane," Kinzinger wrote on X.
Newsom previously sat down one-on-one with conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk for a frank discussion about his party's shortcomings in the 2024 presidential election.
In the first episode of his new podcast, "This Is Gavin Newsom," the governor marveled at Kirk's success as the founder of Turning Point USA, which played a pivotal role in President Donald Trump making inroads with young voters.
Fox News Digital’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
The Senate will take a key procedural vote on Friday afternoon to potentially tee up final passage of a crucial stopgap government spending bill to avoid a shutdown as time runs out.
After tense caucus meetings, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., revealed he would vote for the House-passed short-term spending bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), because "a shutdown would be a gift" for President Donald Trump and Republicans.
The Friday cloture vote was scheduled shortly after his Thursday evening announcement. It will take place shortly after 1:15 p.m. ET.
In order to move forward to a final passage vote, the stopgap bill will need 60 favorable votes to beat what's known as the legislative filibuster.
During a partial government shutdown, federal agencies and non-essential services would be halted. However, some government functions would continue, which are deemed "essential." National security protocols, such as border patrol, law enforcement and disaster response, stay active during shutdowns, for example.
House Republicans managed to pass a CR earlier in the week that would keep spending levels the same as fiscal year (FY) 2024 until Oct. 1. But if a spending bill is not passed by 11:59 p.m. on Friday, the government will enter into a partial shutdown.
While some Senate Democrats, such as Schumer and Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., have committed to supporting the CR, far more of their colleagues have publicly stated that they will oppose it.
"The House bill also irresponsibly fails to impose any constraints on the reckless and out-of-control Trump Administration," Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., said in a late Thursday statement.
"I will oppose the House budget proposal. The best available solution is a 30-day stopgap funding measure to avoid a shutdown, during which time Congress can do its job to properly pass a bipartisan budget," he said.
Democrats had pushed for a month-long CR, but Republicans didn't budge from the House-passed plan.
Before Schumer revealed his intention to support the bill while the rest of his caucus made their own decisions, meetings between the Democrats became so contentious that a senator could be heard yelling by the press through thick, heavy wooden doors on Thursday. The voice was identified as that of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., by press, but her office would not confirm.
Earlier Thursday, Fetterman slammed his colleagues for pledging to vote against the short-term bill, joking that their video announcements were "spicy."
"It wasn't that long ago before we were lecturing that you can never shut the government down. So that's kind of inconsistent," he told reporters.
"We can all agree that it's not a great CR, but that's where we are and that's the choice," Fetterman explained.
If the procedural vote on Friday garners enough votes to beat the legislative filibuster, a vote on final passage will be planned for within the next day and a half. It could come sooner, rather than later, if a time agreement is reached between parties.
Expect the Senate to take a test vote to break a filibuster around 2 p.m. ET today on the Republican stopgap spending bill.
This vote is the key to the entire ballgame. If the Senate breaks the filibuster, we are on a glidepath to a vote to avoid a government shutdown. But if this test vote fails, a government shutdown is all but assured at 12:00:01 a.m. ET Saturday.
Reminder: THIS VOTE IS NOT THE FINAL PASSAGE OF THE BILL.
We should have a result on the vote to break the filibuster sometime in the 2 p.m. hour. Certainly by 3 p.m., unless they drag their feet.
The calculus changed dramatically last night when Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced he would support the Band-Aid bill. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., is also in favor. Sixty votes are needed to break the filibuster.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is the lone GOP nay. So a grand total of eight Democrats are necessary to join the 52 Republican yeas to hit the magic mark of 60.
Here’s who to watch: Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., along with Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., John Hickenlooper, D-Co., Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., and others.
If Democrats fail to cobble together eight votes, this is a major miscalculation by Schumer. As it is said, a leader without any followers is just a man out for a walk.
It’s unclear when the Senate would vote on the actual bill to align with the House if the Senate breaks the threshold of 60 yeas on the test vote. It’s likely that comes late this afternoon or this evening. But those Democrats who may be willing to break a filibuster might demand a series of votes on amendments (which won’t pass) in exchange for their votes.
That includes a vote on the Democrats’ 28-day temporary spending bill, additional money for Washington, and restrictions for DOGE.
Also, don’t underestimate how livid the left is at Schumer. Progressives who oppose the temporary spending bill could demand some time on the floor to speak against the plan.
But there is also an appetite to escape Washington since the Senate has been in session for 10 consecutive weeks. So if they break the filibuster, that could accelerate things, too.
People jeered Vice President JD Vance at the Kennedy Center on Thursday night.
"Boos for JD Vance as he enters tonight’s concert at the Kennedy Center," Global Affairs correspondent for The Guardian Andrew Roth tweeted when sharing a video of the episode on Thursday evening.
Vance, seated next to his wife Usha, waved from a balcony amid the cacophony.
Presidential Envoy for Special Missions Richard Grenell, who is serving in a leadership post with the Kennedy Center, suggested that people on the political left are "intolerant."
"The intolerant Left are radicals who can’t even sit in the same room with people that don’t vote like they do. What has happened to today’s Democrats? They are so intolerant," he declared when commenting on the episode.
Fox News Digital reached out to Vance's team to request comment on Friday, but no comment was provided.
The event was a National Symphony Orchestra concert, reports indicate.
Vance, the author of the book "Hillbilly Elegy," previously noted that he was shocked to find out that people listen to classical music for enjoyment.
"Elites use different words, eat different foods, listen to different music — I was astonished when I learned that people listened to classical music for pleasure — and generally occupy different worlds from America’s poor," Vance said, according to The New York Times.
President Donald Trump announced a shakeup of Kennedy Center leadership last month.
"I have decided to immediately terminate multiple individuals from the Board of Trustees, including the Chairman, who do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture. We will soon announce a new Board, with an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP!" the president declared in part of a Truth Social post in February.
He later announced that Grenell would serve as interim executive director.
A Kennedy Center press release stated, "the Board elected President of the United States Donald J. Trump as Kennedy Center Board Chair, replacing former Chair David M. Rubenstein," and "terminated Kennedy Center President Deborah F. Rutter’s contract and announced Richard Grenell as interim Kennedy Center President."
The press release also noted that more than a dozen new Kennedy Center Board of Trustee members were announced, including Usha Vance, Trump, and others.
President Donald Trump is blaming former President Joe Biden for getting the U.S. into "a real mess with Russia," but said he would get the U.S. out of it. He called on Russia to commit to the U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire that Ukraine agreed to earlier this week.
"Millions of people are needlessly dead, never to be seen again… and there will be many more to follow if we don’t get the ceasefire and final agreement with Russia completed and signed," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "There would have been NO WAR if I were president. It just, 100%, would not have happened."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the Trump administration to put more sanctions on Russia on Friday, claiming Russian President Vladimir Putin is looking to prolong the bloody three-year war. Putin said on Thursday that he agreed with the proposal in "principle." Zelenskyy believes Putin will try to block the deal in any way possible.
Trump hasn’t ruled out imposing more sanctions, but said he doesn’t "want" to go that route and would rather have peace. He did acknowledge, however, that the U.S. could make financial moves that are "very bad for Russia."
"In a financial sense, yeah, we could do things, very bad for Russia. It would be devastating for Russia," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday. "But I don’t want to do that because I want to see peace."
In the same post, Trump listed numerous tragic events and hardships that he believes could have been avoided if he, and not former President Biden, won the 2020 election.
"Likewise, there would have been no October 7th with Israel, the pullout from Afghanistan would have been done with strength and pride, and would not have been the most embarrassing day in the history of our country, it could have been a moment of glory. Also, there would not have been any perceptible inflation," Trump wrote in a Friday post on Truth Social.
Trump has not been shy about criticizing former President Biden, and even called out his predecessor multiple times in his address to a joint session of Congress. In his speech, Trump declared Biden was "the worst president in American history."
Trump also slammed the Green New Deal, which he calls the "Green New Scam," said Biden didn’t do enough to free Marc Fogel from Russian detention, criticized Biden’s spending on the war in Ukraine and emphasized Biden’s failures on the border.
"The media and our friends in the Democrat Party kept saying we needed new legislation. ‘We must have legislation to secure the border.’ But it turned out that all we really needed was a new president," Trump said as the room erupted with applause.
SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif.— A group of U.S. military veterans that formed to respond to the crisis at the southern border has continued its work, even as President Donald Trump has largely followed through on promises to stem the flow of illegal crossings.
"As a country, we were going quietly into the night," Kate Monroe, a Marine Corps veteran who became the founder of Border Vets, a group of U.S. military veterans who have given their own time and money to patch up holes in the border barrier in Southern California, told Fox News Digital. "It's not as difficult to secure the nation as people might think."
The comments come as the group that Monroe founded, Border Vets, has continued its work to patch up potential weak points on the U.S. border with Mexico in Southern California.
On a rainy and uncharacteristically cold day in San Diego County, Monroe invited Fox News Digital to see the volunteer organization's continuing work. A group of nearly a dozen U.S. military veterans tagged along for the ride, returning to the infamous "San Judas Break," a gap in the border wall that at its height was allowing more than 3,000 illegal migrants to spill into the U.S. on a weekly basis.
At issue is a gap in the barrier where the fencing erected by the U.S. government meets a hilly rock formation, leaving a tiny pathway into the country for thousands of migrants who knew where to look. While members of the Border Vets patched the hole with razor wire last year, the group returned to the spot to make improvements to the barrier and extend it further up the hill in an attempt to dissuade illegal crossings.
But things have changed at this spot since the Border Vets initially volunteered their own time and money to patch the hole, with illegal crossings now coming to a near standstill in the area since Trump took office in January.
The Mexican Army has also begun to occupy the area, standing up a makeshift encampment on the other side of the border just a couple of feet from where the Border Vets worked.
The Mexican government's cooperation and Trump's reentry into the White House have had a profound impact on crossing numbers, with February data showing that just 8,300 people attempted to illegally cross the border last month, the lowest mark recorded since fiscal 2000.
Agents with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have also had far fewer encounters with illegal migrants compared to the same time period in 2023 and 2024, recording just 30,000 encounters in February 2025 compared to more than 130,000 during the same time period in 2023 and 2024.
Nevertheless, members of the Border Vets have continued their volunteer work, noting that some migrants have been determined enough to find a way through.
"Things are getting better down at the border," one Marine veteran who volunteers for Border Vets told Fox News Digital, noting that there are still gaps, not only figuratively, but literal gaps in the border.
"You can see on the footpath that people are just walking through," he added.
The group insists they have had little trouble with CBP agents patrolling the area, arguing that many have welcomed the assistance, especially during the height of illegal crossings seen in the previous few years. An agent who anonymously spoke to Fox News Digital on Tuesday struck a similar tone, noting that the agency does not stop the group from erecting the makeshift barriers.
In one area of San Diego County near Jacumba Hot Springs, a makeshift shelter built out of wood pallets and tarp, a site that once hosted hundreds of migrants as they waited to make asylum claims to border agents, stood empty.
In other areas of San Diego County's border with Mexico on Tuesday, members checked on their patchwork barriers while noting the stark difference between now and just a few short months ago.
"It's a crazy thing," Monroe said. "There used to be hundreds of people crossing every time I came, now not one. And it's not because of the rain, they were coming rain or shine … the difference has just been absolutely amazing."
Members of the Border Vets welcomed the change, though they plan to stay vigilant to prevent the situation from returning to the point of crisis it had reached over the last few years.
"An open border policy that we've dealt with for the last four years has been nothing but a detriment to the country," a Navy veteran member of Border Vets told Fox News Digital. "We're all struggling, we're all being dealt a bad hand, and it just doesn't send the right message to have our borders wide open when every other nation has closed-border policies."
FIRST ON FOX: A group of House Republicans is moving to have federal funds blocked to any state or local area that enacts policies regarding slavery reparations.
It comes in response to Washington's new reparations task force, expected to be formed this year after the Democrat-controlled city council approved it in its budget last year, according to the Washington Times.
"That is now going to be, evidently, policy in Washington, DC," House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairman Brian Babin, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital. "I think this is a very timely bill to be able to push back on basically…virtue signaling."
Babin, who introduced the No Bailouts for Reparations Act on Friday, called the matter of reparations "a milking of the U.S. taxpayer for a very narrow group of people."
"I think it is a privilege to be an American citizen. And certainly we have had, there was slavery in the past. There's been indentured servitude," Babin said. "No American taxpayer should be on the hook to pay reparations to individuals for something that happened over 150 years ago."
Reparations refer to measures to repay past wrongs. In the case of the U.S. political debate, it almost always refers to payments to Black Americans whose families have suffered from slavery.
It's a thorny political issue that's vehemently opposed by conservatives, who see it as a waste of taxpayer dollars for something living Americans aren't responsible for, and backed by far-left progressives who argue the damages of slavery are still seen today.
Just earlier this year, "Squad" member Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., released legislation "to establish a federal commission to examine the lasting legacy of slavery and develop reparations proposals for African American descendants of enslaved people," according to a press release.
That bill is virtually guaranteed to wither on the vine in the 119th Congress, however, with Republicans controlling all the major levers of power in DC.
President Donald Trump said, "I don’t see it happening" when asked about reparations in a 2019 interview with The Hill.
Babin's bill has circulated through the House for potential co-sponsors this week.
"I don't think the American people want to see divisiveness. They don't want to see special victim interest groups for something, and we fought a war over, and it's been over for 150 years," he said. "The nation should focus on policies to promote economic opportunity for everyone, not government handouts based on ancestry."
Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, will face questions in front of the Senate Committee on Finance Friday morning.
Following the hearing, the committee will schedule a vote to send Oz's nomination to the full Senate, where approval is likely, considering the Republican majority.
If confirmed, Oz would be in charge of nearly $1.5 trillion in federal healthcare spending. Medicare, a federal healthcare program for seniors aged 65 and up, currently provides coverage for about 65 million Americans, according to the Center for Medicare Advocacy. Medicaid, which assists people with low incomes, covers roughly 72 million Americans, according to Medicaid.gov.
A former heart surgeon who saw his fame rise through his appearances on daytime TV and 13 seasons of "The Dr Oz Show," Oz later transitioned into politics, launching an unsuccessful bid for Pennsylvania’s open Senate seat in 2022. He ultimately lost to John Fetterman, then the state's lieutenant governor. Oz graduated from Harvard and received medical and business degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.
Oz is expected to be grilled by Democrats during the hearing over his financial ties to a myriad of healthcare-related companies, several of which pose potential conflicts of interest for the potential CMS director.
Oz has committed to divesting many of his financial interests that pose the most obvious risk of impropriety, such as his hundreds of thousands of dollars in stock in United Health Group, a major private health insurer. He also said that if he were confirmed, he would forfeit the nearly $25 million in stock options he obtained as an advisor to a company selling health and beauty supplements.
As the administrator of CMS, Oz would make decisions related to how the government covers procedures, hospital stays and medication within the federal healthcare programs, as well as the reimbursement rates at which healthcare providers get paid for their services.
On Thursday, Trump's pick to lead the NIH and FDA, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya and Dr. Marty Makary, respectively, were approved in committee and will now face impending votes by the full Senate.
FIRST ON FOX: Former Vice President Mike Pence's nonprofit conservative coalition, Americans Advancing Freedom (AAF), is urging House Republicans to "end the weaponization" of a Clinton-era law that they say unfairly targets pro-life activists.
The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act was signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton in May 1994. The FACE Act made it a federal crime to use force, threats or obstruction to interfere with individuals seeking or providing abortion services, which includes blocking access to clinics, threatening or using violence against patients or clinic workers, and damaging abortion-related property.
In one of his first actions since taking office, President Donald Trump pardoned nearly two dozen pro-life activists who were serving multiyear sentences for participating in 2020 pro-life demonstrations at abortion clinics. Three of those pardoned were elderly. The Biden administration's Department of Justice (DOJ) had charged them with violating the FACE Act. Trump said during the pardons that the advocates "should not have been prosecuted."
"Congress must do its part to support President Trump’s effort to end the weaponization of government by repealing the FACE Act in its entirety," reads the AAF memo, sent to Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday afternoon. "There’s no question that the Biden Administration weaponized the FACE Act against pro-life Americans."
"During the Biden Administration, pro-life Americans faced early morning SWAT team raids, unjust prison sentences, and alleged mistreatment while in custody," the memo continues.
Last month, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight held a hearing, "Entering the Golden Age: Ending the Weaponization of the Justice Department," where Peter Breen, the executive vice president and head of litigation at the Christian nonprofit law firm Thomas More Society, testified that one of his clients was subject to such SWAT raids and a lengthy prison sentence.
"The Biden DOJ engaged in a systematic campaign to abuse the power of the federal government against pro-life advocates, while that same DOJ ignored hundreds of acts of vandalism and violence against pro-life churches, pregnancy help centers, and other advocates," Breen said.
While the tide is turning in a different direction from the previous administration's pro-abortion agenda, conservative lawmakers are now looking at the FACE Act as the next step in the pro-life movement. In January, Trump also revoked two previous executive orders from the Biden administration that expanded abortion services. The new order reaffirms the policy established by the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits the use of federal taxpayer dollars for elective abortions.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, re-introduced legislation in January around the same time to repeal the law.
Roy's office presented data indicating that 97% of FACE Act prosecutions between 1994 and 2024 targeted pro-life individuals. He is supported in this effort by 32 co-sponsors in the House, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, introduced companion legislation in the Senate.
In 2023, several media outlets reported that under the Biden administration, the DOJ initiated at least 15 criminal cases under the FACE Act involving approximately 46 pro-life defendants since January 2021, with victims in all but one case being abortion-rights supporters.
Former vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., is hosting town halls on Friday in Republican-held congressional districts in Iowa and Nebraska, following reports that the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) told Republicans in Congress to stop holding in-person town hall meetings.
The Republicans in those districts told Fox News Digital that Walz has some questions to answer of his own.
The Minnesota governor is holding a town hall in Omaha, Nebraska, on Friday morning – Republican Rep. Don Bacon’s home congressional district. The event’s digital flier said they will discuss "Trump and Musk's cuts to critical programs from Medicaid and SNAP to our national parks."
"Don Bacon is not holding an in-person town hall. Nebraska Democrats are stepping up and taking action," the flier said. But Bacon fired back in a statement to Fox News Digital, urging Walz to answer for the inconsistencies in his record that plagued his 2024 campaign alongside former Vice President Kamala Harris.
"First, Nebraska Democrats brought in Bernie Sanders, the most liberal Senator, to the district. Now they’re bringing in the most liberal Governor in America. Perhaps at the townhall, Gov. Walz can finally clarify what Army rank he actually retired at and when the supposed combat deployment he used to talk about occurred. If he wants to call into our townhall, he can answer these questions," Bacon added.
On Friday afternoon, Walz is hosting a town hall in Des Moines, Iowa, where Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, has represented the state's 3rd Congressional District in the House of Representatives since 2023. The Iowa Democratic Party’s fundraising flier for the event alleges "Zach Nunn has refused to host a public town hall since he was sworn into office in 2023." Nunn took aim at the Democrats, in response to the town hall, for calling "a fundraiser a forum."
"The American people spoke loud and clear in November—they voted for change. I’m delivering to: secure the border, unleash US energy, and cut taxes for working Americans. If out-of-state Democrats want to call a fundraiser a ‘forum,’ they should join us at our listening sessions, where Iowans help drive real results. Next week, I begin my Air Force Reserve duty—I hope the Senate avoids a Schumer Shutdown, so our troops continue to get paid," Nunn said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
Walz's office did not reply to Fox News Digital's request for comment on his upcoming town halls.
The NRCC, the political campaign committee tasked with electing more Republicans to the U.S. House of Representatives, advised against town halls following a series of disruptions by Democrats' discontent with President Donald Trump’s second term.
Walz announced on Wednesday if a Republican representative refused to meet with his constituents, then he would "lend a megaphone" to the red state constituents.
"I’m hitting the road, traveling to red states across the country to lend a megaphone to the people. Your congressman may not want to listen, but they’re going to hear from us anyway," Walz said in a post on Wednesday.
The NRCC said the protests that shut down Republicans' town hall meetings were "manufactured productions." Fox News Digital reported last month about the coordinated effort by progressive groups protesting the Department of Government Efficiency.
"The Democrat Party has sold themselves out to the far-left crazies and their mega-donors who are funding these clown show protests. This isn’t grassroots — it’s manufactured productions, orchestrated to distract voters from the Democrats’ failed and out of touch record. Sending out Tampon Tim won’t solve the Democrats’ ‘massive brand problem,’ despite what they may think," Mike Marinella, NRCC National Press Secretary, said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
MoveOn.org, which has accepted millions of dollars from billionaire George Soros and his Open Society Policy Center, announced in a press releaselast month that it was mobilizing resources as part of a "Congress Works for Us, Not Musk" initiative "aimed at pressuring lawmakers to fight back against the Trump-Musk agenda."
"MoveOn members and allies will show up at congressional-led town halls and congressional offices across the country, targeting House Republicans whose votes will be crucial in opposing Trump and Musk’s harmful policies," MoveOn.org said in the press release.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., kicked off his "Fighting Oligarchy" tour in Omaha last month. Sanders drew thousands of supporters to his stops in Michigan and Wisconsin this past weekend as the Vermont senator stands out as the leading progressive voice opposing Trump’s second term. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has reportedly started planning her own rallies in Republican-held congressional districts.
Walz teased his red state tour in a post last week, promising to host events in Republican-held congressional districts "to help local Democrats beat ‘em."
"If your Republican representative won’t meet with you because their agenda is so unpopular, maybe a Democrat will. Hell, maybe I will. If your congressman refuses to meet, I’ll come host an event in their district to help local Democrats beat ‘em," Walz said in the post.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor that town hall protests should be the "first clue" that Republicans "should drop their terrible agenda."
"Americans are organizing in public, and Republicans have seen these frustrations at town halls. That should be the first clue that they should drop their terrible agenda. When a lead Republican in the House tells Republicans, you better cancel your town halls, they're running away from their policies and priorities," Schumer said.
NRCC Chair Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., told reporters it was a "shame that the Democrats are threats to democracy by disrupting this dialogue" at town halls. Hudson also emphasized the expanded reach of tele-town halls, where representatives can meet with thousands of constituents at a time.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson told reporters last week that town hall protesters could be paid professionals.
"George Soros-funded groups and others literally pay protesters," Johnson said. "Democratic activists who don't live in the district very often will show up for these town hall events, and they'll go in an hour early and fill all the seats, and so the constituents and the people from the community that are actually represented don't even get a seat."
"There are people who do this as a profession. They're professional protesters. So why would we give them a forum to do that? Right now, the best thing that our members can do is communicate directly, frequently, consistently with their constituents. There are other avenues to do it than just going in to try to give the other side soundbites. I mean, they're doing this for the cameras. We all know it," Johnson added.
Trump also dismissed the protesters as "paid troublemakers" in a Truth Social post.
"Paid ‘troublemakers’ are attending Republican Town Hall Meetings. It is all part of the game for the Democrats, but just like our big LANDSLIDE ELECTION, it’s not going to work for them!" Trump wrote.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries shut down Trump and Johnson’s claims in a video message posted last week, saying, "We don't need paid protesters, bro. The American people are with us."
"I'm told that Donald Trump, Mike Johnson and the extreme MAGA Republicans are claiming that Democrats are sending paid protesters into their town hall meetings. What's wrong with y'all? What's wrong with y'all? You don't need to send paid protesters into your town hall meetings. The American people are with us all across the country," Jeffries said.
All 40 illegal migrants held at the Guantánamo Bay U.S. naval base in Cuba have been sent back to the United States and are now being held in Louisiana, two U.S. defense officials told Fox News.
The group includes 23 "high-threat illegal aliens" who were held at the detention facility on base and 17 migrants who were held at the migrant operations center on base.
The illegal migrants were transported to Louisiana via Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) aircraft and there are currently no migrants being held at the base and no flights scheduled to arrive with more migrants, the officials said.
The U.S. defense officials were not told why the 40 migrants were sent back to the United States, and Homeland Security and ICE have not yet responded to any inquiries about why they were sent back and where in Louisiana they are being held.
It is unclear if the U.S. will continue to hold migrants at the base, commonly known as "Gitmo." None of the 195 tents that were set up to hold migrants have been used because they do not meet ICE standards, according to several U.S. defense officials, such as having air conditioning and other amenities.
In late January, President Donald Trump instructed the Pentagon to prepare 30,000 beds at the base to house "criminal illegal aliens" who pose a threat to the American public, adding that putting them there would ensure they do not come back. The president said the move would bring the U.S. one step closer to "eradicating the scourge" of migrant crime in communities, once and for all.
The 45-square-mile base, located about 430 miles southeast of Miami, is best known for detaining terrorism suspects, including those behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It's been leased from Cuba since 1903 and serves as a key operational and logistics hub for maritime security, humanitarian assistance and joint operations.
News of the migrants being sent to Louisiana comes as President Donald Trump is reportedly expected to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 in an effort to pave the way for faster mass deportations of illegal immigrants.
Trump will use the law to target members of the violent Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, the New York Post reported, citing two sources close to the administration.
Trump campaigned on invoking the wartime law, which allows the president to detain or deport the natives and citizens of an enemy nation.
Fox News’ Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
FIRST ON FOX – GOP state attorneys general previewed their upcoming meeting Friday at the Department of Justice, where President Donald Trump and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi will discuss collaborating with state top cops to combat crime.
Fox News Digital is told much of the conversation is expected to focus on fighting the scourge of fentanyl in communities.
Trump spoke to reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday previewing his Justice Department speech. He nodded to problems faced in cities, such as subway violence. "We don't want to have crime in the streets. We don't want to have people pushed into subways and killed," Trump said. "We want to have safety in our cities, as well as in our communities, and we'll be talking about immigration. We'll be talking about a lot of things. The complete gamut."
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares championed Bondi's "proactive" approach, saying he had received more calls from the DOJ in Trump's first 30 days in office than he did in his prior three years of service under the Biden administration.
"They keep open lines of communication. Whereas, before, the only time I ever heard from Merrick Garland was if he was trying to sue Virginia for some reason," Miyares told Fox News Digital.
Miyares said he viewed the fentanyl epidemic as both a national security and domestic challenge, citing how an average of 105,000 Americans were dying every 12 months of addiction deaths at the peak of the crisis. By contrast, over 50,000 Americans died in the Vietnam War over the course of 15 years. "It was two Vietnam wars happening every 12 months in this country to absolutely devastating impact. Virginia was not lost on that," Miyares said.
Virginia has seen a 40% reduction in addiction deaths since 2021, one of the most significant drops in the country, Miyares said, arguing he and Gov. Glenn Youngkin's three-prong approach of prosecution, prevention and treatment can be applied nationally. He noted that Trump's nominee to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, Terry Cole, is currently serving as Virginia’s Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security.
"He's going to be an exceptional, exceptional head of a DEA," Miyares said. "He knows what we've done in Virginia because he's been part of it. I look forward to seeing him bring that nationwide."
Miyares praised Trump's Inauguration Day executive order designating cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. As for the Biden administration, Miyares said he "never felt that they took it as seriously." He said one federal agent told him the Biden administration discouraged posting about drug busts online, describing the attitude at the top of the bureaucracy as signaling,[ "We don't want to admit we have a drug problem in this country."
"It was almost like an ostrich with its head in the sand. The other problem was the border. More fentanyl was crossing our southern border in one year to kill every man, woman and child in America three or four times over. It was staggering," Miyares said. "The reality is the Sinaloa Cartel is the single most dangerous criminal enterprise, I would argue, in the history of the world, they have a reach that is staggering."
"It was President Trump who has declared the cartels a foreign terrorist organization. The Biden administration could have done so," Miyares said. "These were criminal enterprises that, in my opinion, were conducting chemical warfare on everyday Americans to levels that we don't see even lost in war or happening to our kids, our friends and our neighbors. They are terrorist organizations."
With Democrats having lost control of both houses of Congress, Democratic attorneys general have led their party's charge against the Trump administration's agenda on a number of issues, including immigration. Miyares urged fellow state top cops across the aisle to "lock arms and work together" when it comes to the fentanyl epidemic, because "it affects every American Republican or Democrat, red state or blue state."
"Make sure you do that partnership so we can save lives, because our real enemy is not the other political party," he said. "Our real enemy are the cartels and these dealers poisoning our kids."
Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday told Fox News Digital that keeping families together is a crucial component to public safety. He also said that Republicans must have a greater presence in inner cities long controlled by Democrats.
"The only way that we can maximize outcomes to keep people safe in this country is when we all work together. And having a Justice Department that's aligned with my philosophy of public safety, that without safe communities, nothing else matters, it puts us in a position where we can take that collaboration to the next level," Sunday said. "Citizens have the absolute right to demand that their government works to keep them safe."
"As I go into this meeting tomorrow, I view this through a positive lens. This is an opportunity for us," he told Fox News Digital. "This epidemic not only is killing people. It's destroying our economy, and it's tearing families apart. And that's one of the absolute worst parts of this. You know that the family in America is one of the most crucial components to a thriving community and public safety."
"When you have addiction permeating our community, that tears families apart. And it's something that I absolutely do not want to see," Sunday said. "Local law enforcement cannot do the job by themselves."
He said from his experience as a local prosecutor that some of the "most painful meetings I've ever had are with parents who've lost their children to addiction."
"The thought of having to watch a child slip away into the web of addiction and become someone that's not even, you know, the person that you knew. It's so gut-wrenching," he said.
Sunday said part of the conservative values important to him is "keeping families together," explaining that he views his role as a father as "my most important job." And fatherhood and family can be applied through a public safety lens. "There's a lot of kids out there, especially in violent communities, that don't have any mentorship. They don't have anyone that looks after them," Sunday said.
Sunday praised the Trump administration's prioritization of border security, noting that fentanyl coming across from Mexico "takes probably less than maybe 24 hours to arrive here in Pennsylvania."
As Pennsylvania experienced the turning of a red tide in the last election, Sunday said his focus as attorney general included inner cities plagued by open-air drug markets and other quality of life concerns. He spoke to Fox News Digital on Thursday from Philadelphia, where he was getting ready to attend the mayor's budget address "so that people see the Republican attorney general is a part of Philadelphia."
"I'm here, and I'm not going away, and my resources are going to be here, and they're not going away because the citizens in Philadelphia have every right to demand that I work hard for them, just like anyone else," Sunday said. "When you have, you know, one party like the Democrat control over a city like this, without the influence, you know, of, I'll say, a Republican prosecutor, that creates a situation like we've dealt with."
Sunday said he values both holding people accountable and redemption programs. A former district attorney in York County, Pennsylvania, which sits outside of Baltimore, Maryland, he said he worked every single day with the Black Ministers Association and with Latino organizations "because they're victims of crime, just like everyone's a victim of crime."
"We live in this world right now where, you know, people make judgments about other people solely based on, you know, their political party," Sunday said. "And there are a lot of citizens here that probably have never dealt with a Republican attorney general, even physically being here . . . I have seen amazing things happen when people talk to each other."
Ahead of Friday's meeting at the DOJ, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey championed the Trump administration's crackdown on China in fighting the fentanyl crisis.
"We must address the fentanyl crisis at its source and hold China accountable. They continue to supply Mexican drug cartels and terrorist organizations with the necessary components for fentanyl production, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands and causing untold suffering in our communities," Bailey said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "Our recent $25 billion judgment against China for unleashing COVID-19 on the world is just one example of how attorneys general across the nation can begin fighting back against foreign actors who threaten our way of life."
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch also applauded Trump "for using tariffs as tools to take decisive action against the fentanyl crisis and put Americans’ safety and our national security first."
"In Mississippi, we are primed and ready to partner with him," Fitch told Fox News Digital. "We are raising awareness of the dangers of fentanyl and equipping citizens with the knowledge and tools to stop an overdose with our One Pill Can Kill Campaign. We are creating a network of law enforcement through our Fentanyl Strike Force to get this deadly drug and its dealers off the streets."
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said in a statement to Fox News Digital that "fentanyl has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans and kills thousands more Tennesseans each year, a death toll that demands an uncompromising response." He said he was grateful that Trump and Bondi "recognize the urgency of this crisis and are acting forcefully to save lives."
