Shortly after the Senate voted to approve its version of the Trump-backed One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Tennessee GOP Rep. Andy Ogles introduced an amendment to return the bill to its original House version that passed in late May.
Ogles made a series of criticisms about the Senate's version of the bill after it passed Tuesday afternoon, including complaints about the bill forcing his constituents to pay for illegal aliens' healthcare and not doing enough to halt taxpayer dollars from subsidizing green energy projects. Ogles also appeared to take issue with the Senate's changes to the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, lamenting that the Senate "dramatically increased the amount Tennesseans are forced to subsidize state and local taxes for wealthy people in blue states."
"The Senate CAVED to an unelected staffer appointed by a Democrat and rushed through an unfinished bill just so they could go home for July 4th," Ogles said on X after the bill passed.
"I don’t work for the Senate parliamentarian. I work for the PEOPLE. That’s why I just filed an amendment to delete their dud and replace it with the strong House bill we passed weeks ago. The Senate’s version of the Big Beautiful Bill guts key Trump provisions — all at the behest of an unelected parliamentarian."
Ogles and other Republicans took issue Tuesday with the Senate parliamentarian's rulings on whether aspects of the GOP spending package fall within the necessary guidelines to qualify for reconciliation's simple majority passage threshold. One of those decisions included requiring a provision that excludes illegal immigrants from Medicaid eligibility to obtain a super majority, as opposed to the reconciliation's simple majority.
"We have the majority in the Senate, we should be acting like it," Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, posted on X Tuesday. "The truth is, there are multiple Senators happy to let the parliamentarian act as a foil to preserve the status quo. That’s not leadership, that’s service to the swamp."
The Senate began its amendment process to the House's version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act Monday, and lawmakers put forth numerous amendments. After the Senate finished with its amendments, it voted Tuesday afternoon to advance the bill back to the House chamber for approval.
Ogles' office did not respond to questions about whether his amendment to revert the Senate version back to the original House version also means he does not intend to vote in favor of the current Senate version.
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., has indicated he does not expect to vote for the Senate version and opposes advancing it. And Roy warned that the odds of passing the spending package before the July 4 deadline after the Senate altered the House's version "are a hell of a lot lower than they were even 48 hours ago."
Both Roy and Norman are on the powerful House Rules Committee, which must approve the Senate's version for the bill to advance. Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., told Fox News Tuesday he does not believe the Rules Committee vote will pass right away.
"Then the speaker is going to have to decide how he gets this back into the House framework," Harris said. "And whether that's by scaling back some of the tax cuts that were added in the Senate, whether it's by going after some of the Green New Scam that the president doesn't like – we'll get there eventually, but I don't think it's going to be in the next couple of days."
Harris clarified he is also a "no" on the motion to proceed with the Senate’s version in its current state.
Democrats are taking a page from the conservative playbook.
A group of leading Democratic Party thinkers is beginning to collaborate on a policy agenda for their eventual presidential nominee in the 2028 election cycle.
And, as first reported by the New York Times, they're calling it Project 2029. It's an obvious play on the notorious Project 2025, the more than 900-page policy blueprint assembled by the conservative powerhouse Heritage Foundation think tank for the Republican Party's 2024 presidential nominee.
Democrats repeatedly attacked Project 2025 during the previous White House race as a far-right threat to the nation. Then-GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump and his campaign distanced themselves from the document, even as many Trump allies helped draft it.
But Trump, during the opening months of his second tour of duty in the White House, executed much of what was proposed in Project 2025. And Russell T. Vought, who was a key member of the team that produced the document, now leads the Office of Management and Budget.
The Democrats behind Project 2029 hope to rally White House hopefuls behind their policy framework as the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination race heats up following the 2026 midterm elections.
The project is being spearheaded by Andrei Cherny, a onetime Democratic speechwriter and state party leader.
"Avengers… Assemble!" he wrote in a social media post, as he spotlighted the New York Times story on Project 2029.
Democrats are aiming to escape the political wilderness following 2024 election setbacks, when the party lost control of the White House and the Senate, and failed to win back the House majority. And 2025 polls have indicated the Democratic Party brand sinking to new lows.
"After several Democratic presidential runs that featured the old guard, there is a hunger for the next generation of candidates and ideas," Jim Kessler, executive vice president for policy at the center-left Third Way, told Fox News.
Kessler, who's involved with the project, added that the effort "is a chance for those candidates to see and test out new policy ideas. The advisory group runs the gamut of the Democratic ideological perspective, so these new ideas may not bring a consensus, but it can act as a showroom for presidential candidates to test drive."
Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville, asked about Project 2029, welcomed more ideas to the party's conversation.
But Carville told Fox News Digital that "the person Democrats need to look to, whose ideas will count, is the next presidential nominee. People can throw ideas out and the different candidates can respond in one way or another, but the idea that a political party can develop a message outside of having some power – it's been done before, but it's quite difficult."
Word of Project 2029 comes amid continued divisions in the Democratic Party between its establishment and progressive wins.
And it comes as the stunning victory in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary by outsider and 33-year-old democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani over former three-term Gov. Andrew Cuomo has reignited the party's argument over whether the Democrats' problem is their policy or their messaging.
President Donald Trump rallied Republicans in the House to get his "big, beautiful bill" to the finish line and on his desk by July 4, reminding his colleagues the American people sent them to Washington, D.C. to "get it done."
Nearly every Republican in the Senate voted to pass Trump’s $3.3 trillion megabill, though Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, voted against the legislation. No Senate Democrats crossed the aisle to support the bill.
Hours after the bill was passed and forwarded to the House, Trump turned to Truth Social to issue a rallying cry.
"Almost all of our Great Republicans in the United States Senate have passed our ‘ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL,’" he wrote. "It is no longer a ‘House Bill’ or a ‘Senate Bill’. It is everyone’s Bill."
Trump continued, reminding party members there is much to be proud of with the "major policy win."
But he said the biggest winners will be the people of America, who Trump said will have "Permanently Lower Taxes, Higher Wages and Take Home Pay, Secure Borders, and a Stronger and More Powerful Military."
"Additionally, Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security Benefits are not being cut, but are being STRENGTHENED and PROTECTED from the Radical and Destructive Democrats by eliminating Waste, Fraud, and Abuse from those Programs," Trump wrote. "We can have all of this right now, but only if the House GOP UNITES, ignores its occasional ‘GRANDSTANDERS’ (You know who you are!), and does the right thing, which is sending this Bill to my desk."
He reminded Republicans the bill is on schedule and urged them to keep it moving so they can go and enjoy time with their families on the Fourth of July.
"The American People need and deserve it. They sent us here to, GET IT DONE! Our Country is going to explode with Massive Growth, even more than it already has since I was Re-Elected," Trump said. "Between the Growth, this Bill, our Tariffs, and more, ‘THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ sets the United States down a fiscal path by greatly reducing our Federal Deficit, and setting us on course for enormous Prosperity in the new and wonderful Golden Age of America.
"To my GOP friends in the House: Stay UNITED, have fun, and Vote ‘YAY,’" he added. "GOD BLESS YOU ALL!"
The bill now heads to the House, where fiscal hawks in the House Freedom Caucus are frustrated with what they say are shallow spending cuts, and moderates are concerned over cuts to Medicaid. All have warned that they may not support the bill.
Still, Republican leaders have made clear that they intend to have the bill on Trump’s desk by Friday.
Fox News Digital’s Alex Miller contributed to this report.
EXCLUSIVE: FBI Director Kash Patel is shutting down the J. Edgar Hoover building and moving its headquarters across Washington to the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, with President Donald Trump touting the move, telling Fox News Digital that the FBI "will finally have the kind of building they deserve."
Fox News Digital exclusively obtained a Tuesday memo Patel sent to the FBI, notifying employees of the re-location, and stressing that it is "most cost-effective way" to serve the American people, Fox News Digital has learned.
Patel, in May, first hinted that the bureau would be reallocating its workforce around the country, and would move agents out of the J. Edgar Hoover Building, which opened in 1975.
The FBI and the General Services Administration (GSA) have been looking at options for a new FBI headquarters for more than a decade, including locations near D.C. in Maryland and Virginia.
"Team, the FBI Headquarters will be moving down the street to the Ronald Reagan Building, and the Hoover building will be shut down," Patel wrote in the memo, exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital.
Trump told Fox News Digital that the Ronald Reagan Building is "a wonderful building," and said the FBI is "a wonderful group of people."
"The FBI will finally have the kind of building they deserve," the president told Fox News Digital. "Congratulations to Kash Patel, Dan Bongino and all the great people at the FBI."
In the memo to the FBI, Patel said the bureau is "the world’s premier law enforcement agency, and our headquarters will reflect that fact."
"After nearly 20 years of constant churn surrounding the matter, we’ve finally gotten it done," Patel said, adding that the move "will be the most cost-effective way to best serve the American people while most efficiently using the resources available to us."
Patel said that the move will also, simultaneously get "our awesome workforce, a modern, safe, and superior HQ location that will allow us to build for the future and maintain mission success while being tremendous stewards of taxpayer dollars."
Patel told the FBI that he is working "closely with Congress and GSA" to make the move "happen quickly," but said there are "a lot of moving pieces."
"We need to ensure our security and technology requirements are in place before HQ employees can begin making the move, in phases," Patel wrote. "Thanks in advance for your patience, and for staying the course."
Patel added: "Please join me in celebrating this historic milestone for the FBI."
Patel also thanked FBI officials and employees for "all you do for the country."
"And welcome to your new FBI, and your new FBI HQ," Patel wrote.
A source familiar with the decision-making told Fox News Digital that "the Hoover building is a dump and not just unsafe for the FBI workforce, but unsafe for the country's national security."
In 2024, the General Services Administration said it would take more than a decade to build newly constructed FBI headquarters.
"The FBI has long badly needed significant upgrades and after decades of debating, the president, administration and Director Patel are delivering — allowing the bureau to far better serve the American people at a much lower cost to taxpayers than the alternatives," the source told Fox News Digital.
Patel has said the Hoover building is "unsafe for our workforce."
"If you're going to come work at the premier law enforcement agency in the world, we're going to give you a building that's commensurate with that, and that's not this place," he said.
It was never in doubt following his stunning victory last week, but Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday was officially declared the winner of New York City's Democratic Party primary for mayor.
But the big question remains: Will the 33-year-old democratic socialist from Queens — who defeated former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo — continue with an independent run in November’s general election?
The New York City Board of Elections posted the official results of three rounds of the ranked choice voting from last week's mayoral primary, and Mamdani grabbed a majority in the third round of ranked choice voting, with 56% of the vote.
Cuomo, the three-term governor who resigned from office in 2021 amid multiple scandals and who was aiming for a political comeback, won 44% of the vote. Cuomo was the frontrunner in the mayoral primary race for months until Mamdani closed the gap in the closing weeks of the campaign.
With his victory over Cuomo and nine other candidates — officially called by the Associated Press — Mamdani is now one major step closer to becoming the first Muslim mayor of the nation’s most populous city.
Mamdani, whose showing last week sent political shockwaves across the nation, grabbed more than 545,000 votes, the highest total for a New York City Democratic mayoral primary winner in nearly four decades. And more than 1 million ballots were cast in the primary, the largest total since 1989.
"I am humbled by the support," Mamdani wrote in a social media post. And he vowed: "This is just the beginning of our expanding coalition to make New York City affordable. And we will do it together."
Mamdani is now considered the favorite in the general election in heavily blue New York City, where Democrats outnumber Republicans by roughly a six-to-one margin.
He will face off in November with incumbent Mayor Eric Adams – a Democrat who's running for re-election as an independent after his poll numbers plummeted.
Adams' poll numbers were sinking even before he was indicted last year on five counts, which accused the mayor of bribery and fraud as part of an alleged "long-running" scheme to personally profit from contacts with foreign officials.
The mayor made repeated overtures to President Donald Trump, and the Justice Department earlier this year dismissed the corruption charges, so Adams could potentially work with the Trump administration on its illegal immigration crackdown.
Also on the ballot is Republican Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the volunteer crime-fighting patrols known as the Guardian Angels. Sliwa is the GOP nominee for a second straight election cycle. Also running this November as an independent is former federal prosecutor Jim Walden.
While he acknowledged Mamdani's victory on primary night, Cuomo left the door open for running as an independent candidate, which election rules in New York State permit.
And Cuomo let a deadline pass last week for candidates who had already qualified to run as independents to decline that independent ballot line.
But sources told Fox News last week that Cuomo had not committed yet to running an active general election campaign through the summer and into the fall.
If Cuomo drops out of the race at a later date, his name will stay on the general election ballot.
Cuomo campaign senior adviser Rich Azzopardi, in an apparent jab at Mamdani, said in a statement Tuesday that "Extremism, division and empty promises are not the answer to this city’s problems, and while this was a look at what motivates a slice of our primary electorate, it does not represent the majority. The financial instability of our families is the priority here, which is why actionable solutions, results and outcomes matter so much."
"We’ll be continuing conversations with people from all across the city while determining next steps," Azzopardi added.
Mamdani surged to a primary victory thanks to an energetic campaign that put a major focus on affordability and New York City's high cost of living.
Endorsements by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive rock star and New York City's most prominent leader on the left, and by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the progressive champion and two-time Democratic presidential nominee runner-up, helped Mamdani consolidate support on the left.
Mamdani made smart use of social media platforms, including TikTok, as he engaged low-propensity voters. He proposed eliminating fares to ride New York City's vast bus system, making CUNY (City University of New York) "tuition-free," freezing rents on municipal housing, offering "free childcare" for children up to age 5, and setting up government-run grocery stores.
And Mamdani, thanks in part to the efforts of a massive grassroots army of volunteers, rode a wave of support from younger and progressive voters to catapult himself into first place.
Azzopardi, in his statement on Tuesday, acknowledged that "this primary saw a massive spike in voters under 30, and those who had never voted before -- completely changing the overall electorate, which is why no poll or model predicted the outcome -- an outcome which was also felt in council races citywide."
Mamdani's stunning victory last week has reignited longstanding debates within the Democratic Party between its more moderate and progressive wings, and between outsiders and the establishment.
And it's reignited the debate over whether the party's policy, or messaging, was to blame for last November's election setbacks, when Democrats lost control of the White House and Senate, and failed to win back the House majority.
In New York, top Democratic Party leaders, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, have praised Mamdani’s campaign. But they have refrained, as of now, from endorsing the mayoral nominee.
As Immigration and Customs Enforcement continues its operations throughout the United States, debate rages on the right over President Donald Trump’s proposed "temporary pass" for some farmworkers and those in the hospitality industry.
While touring "Alligator Alcatraz" in Florida with Gov. Ron DeSantis and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the president elaborated on his proposal.
"We have a lot of cases where ICE will go into the farm, and these are guys working for 10-15 years, no problem. The farmers know them. It’s called farmer responsibility, or owner responsibility, where they’re gonna be largely responsible for these people. And they know these people, they’ve worked on the farms for 15 years," Trump said in Florida on Tuesday.
"We're going to give them responsibility for people, and we're going to have a system of signing them up so they don't have to go. They can be here legally, they can pay taxes, and everything. They're not getting citizenship, but they get other things. And the farmers need them to do the work," he said.
While some Republicans believe that the primary focus should be on those with a criminal background only, others have criticized the proposal made by the president.
"This is a bad idea. The law should not be enforced selectively, with politically-connected employers getting away with hiring illegal workers," Jessica M. Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, told Fox News Digital in an email.
"Farm employers have access to a work visa program that allows them to hire an unlimited number of foreign workers, as long as they pay them a certain wage and provide other benefits. They shouldn't get a pass now for their unscrupulous behavior before. Hotel employers can get seasonal workers, and many of them do," she added.
In California, six state-level Republican lawmakers signed a letter calling on the president to "direct ICE and DHS to focus their enforcement operations on criminal immigrants, and when possible to avoid the kinds of sweeping raids that instill fear and disrupt the workplace," KCRA reported.
However, Republican state Sen. Melissa Melendez criticized the stance in a post on X regarding the letter.
"So, if I’m to understand this correctly, we should look the other way regarding illegal immigration as long as it’s in the construction, hotel, or restaurant industries? This is far beyond disappointing, it’s infuriating," Melendez wrote.
The White House emphasized that it’s a matter of prioritization when it comes to overall deportation efforts, as it was a key promise of the president on the campaign trail.
"The White House is working closely every day with Department of Agriculture as well as the Department of Homeland Security when it comes to worksite enforcement. And the President’s focus and the focus of this Administration is, of course, to remove public safety threats from the streets and to deport as many of the illegal criminals, especially the violent criminals, that we know are still here because of the previous administration," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during Monday’s press briefing.
In addition, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital that the president "remains committed to carrying out the largest mass deportation operation in history by removing dangerous, violent criminal illegal aliens from American communities and targeting the sanctuary cities that provide safe harbor to criminal illegals."
The president said that "Changes are coming!" to immigration enforcement for the agriculture and hospitality sectors in a Truth Social post on June 12. Days later, border czar Tom Homan noted that worksite enforcement was ongoing "even on farms and hotels but based on a prioritized basis," but said that "Criminals come first," according to Axios on June 19.
Trump further explained the concept on "Sunday Morning Futures" this week, saying that he's "the strongest immigration guy that there’s ever been, but I’m also the strongest farmer guy that there’s ever been."
Fox News Digital reached out to DHS and ICE for comment.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., forced a name change for President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" moments before the legislative package passed the upper chamber of Congress.
While Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., was chairing the Senate, Schumer raised a point of order against lines three to five on the first page of the legislative proposal that said, "SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ‘'One Big Beautiful Bill Act.'"
Schumer argued the title of the bill violated Section 313 B1A of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, or what's commonly referred to as the "Byrd Rule."
Ricketts said the point of order was sustained, meaning that text will be stricken from the bill.
"This is not a ‘big, beautiful bill’ at all. That's why I moved down the floor to strike the title. It is now called ‘the act.’ That's what it's called. But it is really the ‘big ugly betrayal,’ and the American people know it," Schumer told reporters. "This vote will haunt our Republican colleagues for years to come. Because of this bill, tens of millions will lose health insurance. Millions of jobs will disappear. People will get sick and die, kids will go hungry and the debt will explode to levels we have never seen.
"This bill is so irredeemable that one Republican literally chose to retire rather than vote yes and decimate his own state," Schumer added, referring to Sen. Thom Tills, R-N.C.
Asked whether he hoped to irritate Trump by changing the name of the bill, Schumer responded, "I didn't even think of President Trump. I thought of the truth. This is not a beautiful bill. Anyone who loses their health insurance doesn't think it's beautiful. Any worker in the clean energy industry who loses their job does not think it's beautiful. Any mom who can't feed her kid on $5 a day doesn't think it's beautiful. We wanted the American people to know the truth."
The Senate narrowly passed Trump's $3.3 trillion spending package by a 51-50 vote on Tuesday after an all-night voting session.
Vice President JD Vance was the tiebreaking vote. No Senate Democrats crossed the aisle to support the legislation. Tillis and Republican senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and Susan Collins of Maine opposed the megabill.
Democrats condemned the bill's passage, including Schumer's fellow New Yorker, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. She has not confirmed a primary run.
"JD Vance was the deciding vote to cut Medicaid across the country," the progressive "Squad" member wrote on X. "An absolute and utter betrayal of working families."
Vance championed the bill as securing "massive tax cuts, especially no tax on tips and overtime. And most importantly, big money for border security."
"This is a big win for the American people," the vice president wrote.
He also approved an assessment by longtime GOP operative Roger Stone.
"The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects Trump's reconciliation bill would add $3.3 trillion to the national debt over the next decade by extending the president's tax cuts that he first implemented in 2017. In fact, federal revenues spiked after the 2017 Trump tax cuts just like they did after Reagan and JFK implemented across-the-board tax cuts," Stone wrote.
"The deficit is caused by excess spending which the administration is addressing in a series of recision bills. PS the CBO is always wrong."
Despite initial reservations, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, voted in favor of the legislation after Republicans added Alaska-specific provisions to curry her favor.
The bill now heads back to the House for final approval. Congress must reconcile differences between the Senate and House versions of the bill, namely on Medicaid. Republican leaders are aiming to get it to the president's desk by Friday, July 4.
FIRST ON FOX: The Trump administration released data on Tuesday morning showing that it had slashed the federal government workforce, while promising that there is more to come as Trump continues his push to rid the government of waste.
Data released by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) shows that the United States employs 2,289,472 federal workers as of March 31, which is down from 2,313,216 on September 30, 2024.
The reduction of more than 23,000 positions "reflects the administration’s early efforts to streamline government and eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy," OPM said in a press release.
"The American people deserve a government that is lean, efficient, and focused on core priorities," Acting OPM Director Charles Ezell said in a statement.
"This data marks the first measurable step toward President Trump’s vision of a disciplined, accountable federal workforce, and it’s only the beginning."
Trump signed an executive order in February instructing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to coordinate with federal agencies and execute massive cuts in federal government staffing numbers.
That order is reflected in the new data, OPM said, showing that agencies averaged 23,000 new monthly hires from April 2024 to January 2025 but dropped by nearly 70% to just 7,385 per month once the freeze was fully implemented.
The agency said the cuts saved the taxpayers "billions."
OPM added that "hundreds of thousands more workers" will drop from the rolls in October 2025, when more workers depart via the Deferred Resignation Program that was offered to employees in an effort to trim the workforce.
Tens of thousands of employees who are in the process of being terminated remain on the government payroll due to court orders that are currently being challenged by the administration, OPM says.
Trump's effort to shrink the federal workforce has faced stiff resistance from Democrats and various courts, with critics saying that the administration is cutting critical jobs.
"It's a judge that's putting himself in the position of the President of the United States, who was elected by close to 80 million votes," Trump said aboard Air Force One on a flight back to Washington in March, after a federal judge blocked one of his efforts to fire federal workers.
"That's a very dangerous thing for our country. And I would suspect that we're going to have to get a decision from the Supreme Court."
Last month, OPM unveiled a new rule it said will make it easier to terminate federal employees for serious misconduct by cutting through the red tape that currently impedes that process.
Fox News Digital reported in 2023 that under current law, the vast majority of the federal workforce is not at-will and may only be terminated for misconduct, poor performance, medical inability or reduction in force. Federal employees are also entitled to sweeping due process rights when fired, which can create a cumbersome process for agencies to remove a worker.
FIRST ON FOX: A pair of Republican oversight hawks escalated a complaint on Tuesday about a district court judge who is presiding over one of the Trump administration’s cases, alleging the judge has a financial conflict of interest.
Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman and member of the House Judiciary Committee, respectively, asked the judicial council for the First Circuit Court of Appeals to investigate Judge John McConnell, according to a letter obtained by Fox News Digital.
McConnell, an Obama appointee, has been presiding over a pivotal funding freeze case in Rhode Island brought by 22 states with Democratic attorneys general. The case centers on the Office of Management and Budget’s order in January that federal agencies implement a multibillion-dollar suspension of federal benefits.
The states’ lawsuit argued the funding freeze was illegal because Congress had already approved the funds for use. McConnell agreed with the states and blocked the administration from suspending the funds, and the case is now sitting before the First Circuit Court of Appeals.
McConnell wrote in an order in March that the Trump administration’s funding suspension "fundamentally undermines the distinct constitutional roles of each branch of our government."
The judge said the freeze lacked "rationality" and showed no "thoughtful consideration of practical consequences" because it threatened states’ "ability to provide vital services, including but not limited to public safety, health care, education, childcare, and transportation infrastructure."
Issa and Jordan said McConnell’s long-standing leadership roles with Crossroads Rhode Island, a nonprofit that has received millions of dollars in federal and state grants, raised the possibility of a judicial ethics violation.
"Given Crossroads’s reliance on federal funds, Judge McConnell’s rulings had the effect of restoring funding to Crossroads, directly benefitting the organization and creating a conflict of interest," Jordan and Issa wrote.
Their letter was directed to Judge David Barron, chief judge of the First Circuit and chair of the First Circuit Judicial Council.
McConnell was quick to become one of Trump’s judicial nemeses when he became involved with the funding freeze case. His initial order blocking the freeze and subsequent orders to enforce his injunction and unfreeze FEMA funds fueled criticism from Trump's allies.
The Trump-aligned group America First Legal has been highlighting McConnell’s ties to Crossroads Rhode Island for months through its own investigation and complaint to the First Circuit.
Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., filed articles of impeachment against the judge in March, though impeachment as a solution for judges with whom Republicans take issue has not garnered widespread support among the broader Republican conference.
Vocal Trump supporter Laura Loomer targeted the judge’s daughter on social media, and X CEO Elon Musk elevated her grievance on his platform.
One of McConnell’s local newspapers, the Providence Journal, described the judge as a man "well-known" in Democratic political circles and a major donor to Democratic politicians and organizations before he was confirmed to the bench in 2011.
McConnell included Crossroads Rhode Island and his membership as a board member in his recent public annual financial disclosure reports. No parties in the case have actively sought his recusal at this stage.
An aide for the judge did not respond to a request for comment.
EXCLUSIVE: The FBI blocked an investigation into allegations that the Chinese Communist Party manufactured fake driver’s licenses and shipped them to the U.S. in a scheme to influence the 2020 presidential election in favor of Joe Biden because it would "contradict" then-FBI Director Christopher Wray’s congressional testimony, newly declassified FBI documents obtained by Fox News Digital reveal.
The records, which include communications between FBI officials ahead of the 2020 election, were recently declassified by FBI Director Kash Patel and transmitted to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley.
Fox News Digital reported in June that Patel located and declassified the original reporting document alleging the Chinese Communist Party sought to deliver fake driver’s licenses to Chinese sympathizers in the U.S. who would cast a vote for Biden in the 2020 election. The document did not say whether any ballots were cast as part of the scheme.
The FBI recalled that reporting, though, Sept. 25, 2020 — just a day after Wray testified before Congress that the FBI had not seen any coordinated voter fraud ahead of the 2020 election.
The FBI, at the time, had recalled that report "in order to re-interview the source." It also directed "recipients" of the original report to "destroy all copies of the original report and remove the original report from all computer holdings."
But Patel, this week, declassified additional documents, including records relating to the re-interview of the source, and communications between FBI officials at the time discussing the decision-making behind the recall and its decision not to republish the intelligence reporting.
The records were sent to Grassley and Fox News Digital has reviewed the records.
"Although the source was reengaged and provided additional context to support the initial IIR, FBI Headquarters maintained its position not to republish the report," Assistant FBI Director Marshall Yates wrote in a letter to Grassley, obtained by Fox News Digital. "One reason cited for not releasing the IIR was because ‘the reporting will contradict Director Wray’s testimony.’"
Fox News Digital was unable to reach Wray for comment.
During a Senate hearing Sept. 24, 2020, Wray said he had not seen any widespread fraud by mail, and said that if he had, it would be something that we would investigate seriously … and aggressively."
"We have not seen historically any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether it is by mail or otherwise," Wray testified. But "people should make no mistake we are vigilant as to the threat and watching it carefully, because we are in uncharted new territory."
But Wray also testified that the Chinese had been "expanding their influence efforts," saying they had been "looking for different ways to take a page out of the malign foreign influence playbook that they have seen elsewhere."
But Yates, in his letter to Grassley, explained that the recall of the original reporting document was "abnormal."
"The rationale provided to Albany staff for the recall was that Headquarters deemed the report not ‘authoritative,’ but this characterization was met with disagreement by those in the Albany office," Yates explained.
Grassley told Fox News Digital: "These records smack of political decision-making and prove the Wray-led FBI to be a deeply broken institution. Ahead of a high-stakes election happening amid an unprecedented global pandemic, the FBI turned its back on its national security mission."
"One way or the other, intelligence must be fully investigated to determine whether it’s true or, or if it’s just smoke and mirrors." Grassley said.
The report was recalled at the direction of Deputy Assistant Director for Counterintelligence Nikki Floris and Tonya Ugoretz from the cyber division.
Fox News Digital first reported that Floris was the FBI official to deliver a "defensive briefing" to Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., in August 2020, claiming that their Hunter Biden investigation advanced Russian disinformation.
The FBI declassified internal emails among Albany staff, obtained by Fox News Digital, reflecting concerns that suppressing the document would be "dangerous if we cite potential political implications as reasons for not putting out our information."
Yates explained that it "was not the role of analysts to align intelligence with public testimony."
"Albany staff further warned against FBI assuming the role of sole gatekeeper for the Intelligence Community (IC), emphasizing that suppressing field-generated reporting could deprive other IC elements of the opportunity to corroborate or discredit intelligence," Yates said.
In an email on Sept. 30, 2020, reviewed by Fox News Digital, agents questioned why the report could not be released, to which another replied: "Again, the reporting will contradict Director Wray’s testimony."
On Oct. 1, 2020, an agent in the Albany Field Office replied:
"I’m not trying to be a pain on this, but after taking some time thinking this over I just want to voice my opinion and concerns on this issue and make it clear I do not agree with the reasoning for not putting this out," the FBI agent from the Albany Field Office wrote.
"I’m not satisfied with the reasoning of needing a new 1023 and HQ review as these things are everyday operational and administrative requirements," the agent continued. "Most concerning to me, is stating the reporting would contradict with Director Wray’s testimony. I found this troubling because it implied to me that one of the reasons we aren’t putting this out is for a political reason, which goes directly against our organizations mission to remain apolitical and simply state what we know."
The agent added: "Likewise, at the field operational level, I do not feel it is our job to assess whether or not our intelligence aligns with the Director, rather we provide intelligence for people way above our pay grade (like the director) to make the call of what the FBI is seeing as a whole."
The agent agreed that the FBI had "an obligation to not put out reckless information where we know something to be false or will cause undue harm."
"However, we are also not in a sole position to determine a reporting’s validity, as we only make up one USIC agency, and an incredibly small fraction of all USIC, and other FBI Sources that could report on this matter," the agent wrote. "My concern is that I think it gets dangerous if we cite potential political implications as reasons for not putting out information."
The agent also stressed that with the decision to keep the report recalled, the FBI is "starting to drift too far into being the sole decider for the USIC regarding when information we gather is, or is not valid, or of interest to the intelligence community because it takes away the crucial opportunity from the rest of the USIC to potentially corroborate or discredit our intelligence."
"Chris Wray’s FBI wasn’t looking out for the American people – it was looking to save its own image," Grassley told Fox News Digital. "Now’s the time to rebuild the FBI’s trust."
He added: "Director Patel’s willingness to work with me to establish renewed transparency and accountability is a critical part of that process, and I applaud him for his efforts."
Meanwhile, Yates explained that even though an intelligence analyst "requested further research and re-engagement with the source, Headquarters ultimately decided not to issue a new IIR, citing a lack of additional substantiating information, even after the source was reinterviewed."
Yates said that the FBI believed that source "appeared to be reliable," and said that the FBI "did not close the source for cause or lack of credible information."
According to the declassified documents, the source was a China-based individual who was not a member of the Chinese Communist Party. In the re-interview, according to the documents, an Albany officer "was able to partially corroborate some of the information s/he provided."
"The case agent believes the source is competent and is authentic in his/her reporting," a declassified FBI record states.
When asked how "confident" was the source in the information, an agent wrote: "very, very confident."
"Additional emails show that the Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) did not approve reissuance of the IIR, citing concerns about authoritativeness and potential for disinformation by foreign actors," Yates explained. "However, other than a request for information to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, we have found no information to indicate that FITF-China aggressively investigated the reported information, despite corroborating intergovernmental reporting and logical investigative leads."
The original FBI reporting document came just a month after U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the International Mail Facility at Chicago O'Hare International Airport seized nearly 20,000 fraudulent driver's licenses.
From January 2020 through June 30, 2020, CBP officers at that location reported seizing 1,513 shipments of fraudulent documents that included a total of 19,888 counterfeit US driver's licenses.
"The majority of these shipments were arriving from China and Hong Kong," CBP posted in a July press release.
It was not immediately clear if the seizure had any relation to the document's allegations.
"Finally, because of this episode, FBI Headquarters set a new requirement on the field for the 2020 election; ‘all raw reporting concerning the election will now require HQ coordination, which was not required’ before," Yates explained to Grassley.
The FBI said the records reflect "the broader sentiment within the Albany Field Office that the recall decision and resulting suppression of the IIR raised serious questions about the integrity of the intelligence reporting process and its susceptibility to perceived political pressures.
The FBI is continuing to investigate the matter, and noted that records have been preserved within the bureau’s systems.
The House Rules Committee – which is the gateway for legislation to hit the House floor, meets shortly.
That committee will tee up the bill for floor debate tomorrow.
The House will meet at 9 a.m. Wednesday. The House GOP brass wants to consider the "rule" – which is the pre-debate. Expect dilatory tactics by the Democrats such as motions to adjourn. The House must first vote and approve the rule before debating the actual Senate-approved version of the so-called "big, beautiful bill."
That vote on the rule – which is a test vote – could be challenging for the GOP leadership, but if the House approves the rule by midmorning, it’s on to debate on the actual bill.
In a speedy scenario, the House could debate the actual bill by midday and approve the bill itself by early afternoon.
But as you know, this is Capitol Hill. And nothing ever seems to go as quickly as leadership hopes. (e.g. – see Senate, U.S.)
Fox is told that leaders will tell reluctant Republicans that the bill is not going to get any better. But it’s also not going to get any worse.
In addition, Republicans are banking on the idea that GOP members will want to break off their vacations and other activities to get into town as quickly as possible – and then leave. That will provide "peer pressure" – as one source described it. Die-hard proponents of the bill would then blame GOP skeptics for dithering and keeping the House in session longer than is needed – especially before the 4th of July.
Senate Republicans coalesced to pass President Donald Trump's colossal "big, beautiful bill" early Tuesday morning.
Senate Republican leaders and the White House have pitched the legislative behemoth as a means to turbocharge the economy, root out waste, fraud and abuse in a slew of federal programs, and to make crucial investments in defense and Trump's border and immigration priorities.
Meanwhile, Senate Democrats have bashed the bill as a deficit-ballooning monstrosity that would boot millions of Americans from their healthcare and rollback key Medicaid, food nutrition assistance and green energy provisions ushered in by the Obama and Biden administrations.
So what's in Trump's bill? Below, Fox News Digital breaks down key proposals in Senate Republicans' "big, beautiful bill."
The bill seeks to permanently extend Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which a House GOP memo from earlier this year said would avoid a 22% tax hike for American families at the end of this year.
It also includes tax cuts specifically tailored to the middle and working-class, like allowing people to deduct taxes on up to $25,000 of tipped wages. That deduction would begin to phase out for people making $150,000 per year or $300,000 as a married couple.
The Senate bill would also allow people to deduct up to $12,500 in overtime pay under the same income guidelines. Both the tipped and overtime wage deductions would be available through 2028.
Another temporary tax break through 2028 would allow people to deduct interest paid on their car loans.
For seniors aged 65 and older, the bill would give an additional $6,000 tax deduction through 2028.
The legislation increases the current cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions, a benefit primarily geared toward people living in high-cost-of-living areas like New York City, Los Angeles and their surrounding suburbs.
The current SALT deduction cap would be raised to $40,000 for five years, before reverting down to $10,000 – where it stands now – for the subsequent five years.
Blue state Republicans fought for the increase, arguing it’s an existential issue for a bloc of lawmakers whose victories were decisive for the House GOP majority. However, Republicans from redder areas have criticized SALT deductions as giveaways to high-tax states as a reward for their progressive policies.
Medicaid cuts have proven the biggest pain point among Republicans, though many of the changes that have been proposed are widely popular. Cuts to the widely used healthcare program account for roughly $1 trillion, according to recent analyses from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
The CBO found that under the Senate GOP’s plan, nearly 12 million Americans could lose their health insurance.
Stricter work requirements have been the crown jewel for the GOP. The bill would require able-bodied, childless adults between the ages of 18 and 64 to work at least 80 hours a month to maintain their benefits, or by participating in community service, going to school or engaging in a work program.
However, there are more divisive changes, like tweaks to the Medicaid provider tax rate. The rate change would, year-by-year, lower the provider tax in Medicaid expansion states from 6% to 3.5%. The plan was tweaked to comport with Senate rules and now starts in fiscal year 2028.
Just ahead of the bill's passage in the Senate, Republicans doubled a rural hospital stabilization fund pushed for by lawmakers concerned that the changes to the provider rate would shutter rural hospitals around the country.
That fund was boosted to $50 billion, half of which will be distributed through grants, in chunks of $10 billion each year.
Republicans also removed a ban on Medicaid benefits funding transgender healthcare, largely because it would not have complied with Senate rules.
Senate Republicans’ bill also includes cuts to the supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps.
Like tweaks to Medicaid, Republicans pushed for work requirements for SNAP for able-bodied, working-age adults between the ages of 18 and 64 years old, and for parents with children over the age of 7.
The bill would also shift some of the cost burden of the program from the federal government to the states.
Currently, the federal government covers the costs of SNAP, but states with a higher payment error rate would cover a greater share of benefit costs.
If the error rate is 6% or higher, states would be subject to a sliding scale that could see their share of allotments rise to a range of between 5% and 15%.
However, in last-minute deal-making, Senate Republicans delayed SNAP work requirements for states that have a payment error rate of 13%, like Alaska, or higher for one whole year.
A failure to raise that limit – also called the debt ceiling – before the U.S. government runs out of cash to pay its obligations could result in a downgrade in the country’s credit rating and potential turmoil in financial markets.
Trump has made it a priority for congressional Republicans to deal with the debt ceiling and avoid a national credit default. A bipartisan agreement struck in 2023 suspended the debt ceiling until January 2025.
Multiple projections show the U.S. is poised to run out of cash to pay its debts by sometime this summer.
While the bill cuts spending on Medicaid and other domestic programs, it includes billions of dollars in new funding for defense programs and federal immigration enforcement.
The bill provides $25 billion to build a Golden Dome missile defense system, similar to Israel’s Iron Dome. It would also include $45.6 billion to complete Trump’s border wall, and $4.1 billion to hire new border agents.
The bill would also surge an additional $45 billion to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement for the detention of illegal immigrants.
An additional $15 billion would be directed toward modernizing the U.S. nuclear triad and $29 billion for shipbuilding and the Maritime Industrial Base.
Several new provisions were included in the bill that hike, or create, fees for migrants who are seeking asylum, a work permit or are apprehended, among others.
Among the list of new fees is a new, $100 fee for those seeking asylum. That becomes an annual fee for every year that the asylum application remains pending. There is also a new, $1,000 minimum fee for immigrants granted temporary entry into the U.S. on the grounds of "humanitarian or significant public interest."
For migrants caught trying to illegally enter the country through a port of entry, a new minimum $5,000 fee would come into play. There is another new $5,000 fee for migrants that are arrested after being ordered to be removed.
There are also new fees of between $500 and $1,500 for migrants whose immigration status is changed by a judge, or who appeal for a status change.
Then there is a new, $30 Electronic Visa Update System fee for certain Chinese nationals. They also have to maintain biographic and travel information in the country online.
The House of Representatives is beginning the final legislative sprint of President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" before the commander-in-chief signs it into law.
The powerful House panel is the final gatekeeper before most pieces of legislation get a chamber-wide vote.
It comes after the Senate spent more than 24 hours straight considering the bill, eventually passing it along the narrowest of margins around midday Wednesday. Vice President JD Vance was on Capitol Hill to cast the tie-breaking vote.
It's not clear how long the House Rules Committee meeting will go; when the panel considered the House's own version of the bill in May, Democrats introduced dozens of amendments to symbolically object to the bill and delay the process.
Meanwhile, two conservatives on the House Rules Committee, Reps. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., and Chip Roy, R-Texas, are among those in the lower chamber raising concerns about the bill.
Their opposition in committee would not be enough to stop it, but the legislation could face serious threats House-wide, where just four GOP "no" votes would be enough to sink the bill.
The House first passed the bill – a mammoth piece of legislation advancing Trump's agenda on taxes, the border, energy, defense, and the national debt – in late May by just one vote.
Modifications made by the Senate in order to pass that chamber's own razor-thin, three-vote majority must now be approved in the House before getting to Trump's desk.
Republican leaders have a self-imposed deadline of getting the bill to Trump's desk by THE Fourth of July.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told Fox News Digital early evening on Monday that he expected his chamber would begin considering the bill as early as 9 a.m. on Wednesday.
But two members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, Norman and Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital earlier that same day that they believed the bill would not survive a House-wide procedural vote Wednesday if the Senate's text did not materially change.
The bill would permanently extend the income tax brackets lowered by Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), while temporarily adding new tax deductions to eliminate duties on tipped and overtime wages up to certain caps.
It also includes a new tax deduction for people aged 65 and over.
The legislation also rolls back green energy tax credits implemented under former President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, which Trump and his allies have attacked as "the Green New Scam."
The bill would also surge money toward the national defense, and to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the name of Trump's crackdown on illegal immigrants in the U.S.
The bill would also raise the debt limit by $5 trillion in order to avoid a potentially economically devastating credit default sometime this summer, if the U.S. runs out of cash to pay its obligations.
President Donald Trump during his visit to "Alligator Alcatraz," located in the swamps of the Florida Everglades, said that California Gov. Gavin Newsom should take a visit to the Sunshine State and "learn something" about curbing illegal immigration.
"Mr. President. Mr. Governor, what's your message to Governor Gavin Newsom inside of this facility?" a reporter asked Trump as he toured the detention facility for illegal aliens while accompanied by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.
"Well, the first thing he should do is come here and learn something because they don't do this," he said. "They wouldn't know where to begin. And if they did, it would cost them a 100 times more. So I would say he should call the governor, Kristi … his state is a disaster."
DeSantis added that California is home to the original Alcatraz that could be outfitted as a migrant detention center.
"They have the original Alcatraz, so you guys could approve him being able to set one of these up over there. I'm sure the secretary would be happy to do that," DeSantis said, adding he doubts Newsom would "bite on that."
Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom's office for a response to Trump's remarks, but did not immediately receive a reply.
Trump visited "Alligator Alcatraz" Tuesday ahead of its official Wednesday grand opening, when it is expected to begin receiving violent illegal immigrants for deportation. The detention center earned its name due to its location in the heart of the Everglades, which is home to massive reptiles such as alligators and pythons.
DeSantis authorized the construction of an illegal immigrant detention center on a 30-square-mile property in the Everglades' swamplands of Miami–Dade County under an emergency order. The property is a former airport that has been outfitted with sturdy tent structures to house 5,000 illegal immigrants amid the Trump administration's deportation blitz to remove the millions of illegal migrants who flooded the nation during the Biden administration.
Trump, as well as DeSantis, has long traded barbs with the California governor over his leaders of the liberal West Coast state, including in June when anti-ICE riots spiraled in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles descended into violent riots June 6, when federal immigration officials converged on the city to carry out raids targeting illegal immigrants. Local leaders such as Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Newsom, however, quickly denounced the raids in public statements while offering words of support for illegal immigrants in the state.
Protests over the raids soon devolved into violence as rioters targeted and launched attacks on federal law enforcement officials, while Newsom and other Democrats attempted to pin blame on Trump's immigration policies for the violence.
Trump also was asked during his tour to describe his relationship with DeSantis after the pair traded campaign barbs during the 2024 presidential election cycle. DeSantis ran as a Republican candidate in the race, bowing out in January 2024.
"I would say its a 10," Trump said, assessing his relationship status with DeSantis. "I think it's a 10, maybe 9.9, because there might be a couple of little wounds. … I think we have a 10."
"We get along great," Trump added.
DeSantis also added that he immediately endorsed Trump in the 2024 race after bowing out.
"I endorsed him immediately in January 2024. I raised, his — one of his PACs — millions and millions of dollars. And obviously, we saved him a lot of money in Florida because Florida was a deep red state. He didn't even have to do a rally in Florida," DeSantis said, remarking how Florida has shifted to the right.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that deportation is the "only way out" of the new "Alligator Alcatraz" migrant detention center located deep in the Florida Everglades.
Trump speaking to reporters after touring the facility built on former airport in Miami-Dade County, said it will soon host "some of the most menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet
"It's known as Alligator Alcatraz, which is very appropriate because I looked outside and that's not a place I want to go hiking anytime soon," Trump also said, noting that "we're surrounded by miles of treacherous swampland, and the only way out is really deportation."
A sign located next to where Trump was speaking said the facility can hold up to 3,000 detainees and is operated by 1,000 staff members, including more than 400 security personnel. It added that it was built in eight days and is outfitted with over 200 security cameras and more than 28,000 feet of barbed wire. The facility is also surrounded by 10 miles of rugged Everglades terrain on all sides.
Joining Trump on Tuesday at a roundtable event after touring the site were Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., Todd Lyons, acting ICE director and Stephen Miller, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor, among other officials.
DeSantis authorized the construction of the illegal immigrant detention center on a 30-square-mile property in the Everglades' swamplands of Miami–Dade County under an emergency order. The property is a former airport that has been outfitted with sturdy tent structures.
"This facility here is a fantastic representation of what can happen when all of government works together, and when it's accountable to the taxpayers and to the citizens that live here," Noem said.
"This facility is exactly what I want every single governor in this country to consider doing with us," Noem continued, describing "Alligator Alcatraz" as "state of the art."
"Thank you to Governor DeSantis for stepping up and being an example to other governors. I hope my phone rings off the hook from governors calling and saying, ‘how can we do what Florida just did?’" Noem also said.
Fox News’ Emma Colton and Mara Robles contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday visited the official opening of an immigration detention camp in Florida’s Everglades that is surrounded by alligators dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" and said officials there would prioritize deporting the "worst of the worst" first.
The 3,000-bed facility is set to become the largest migrant detention center in the U.S., built as part of the Trump administration’s effort to deport the millions who flooded the country under the Biden administration.
Florida National Guard members will be deputized as immigration judges, allowing migrants to have hearings within 48 hours, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said, while Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem warned illegal migrants to self-deport or else risk ending up at the facility.
"Worst of the worst always first and I think it's great government what we've done," Trump said on the airport ramp shortly after disembarking Air Force One.
"Nobody can ever forget what this group of people, Biden or whoever it was. It probably wasn’t even Biden, I don’t think he knew what the hell he was doing. A small group of people who surrounded the Resolute Desk, what they did to this country."
Trump praised the facility as "beautiful, so secure," with alligators and law enforcement portraying a hardline image.
After touring the facility, Trump said that some of the most "menacing migrants" will be held there. "Some of the most vicious people on the planet," Trump said. "We're surrounded by miles of treacherous swampland, and the only way out is really deportation."
DeSantis authorized the construction of the illegal immigrant detention center on a sprawling property in the Everglades' swamplands of Miami–Dade County under an emergency order. It took eight days to construct, will cost $450 million per year to operate and the Sunshine State will be fully reimbursed by the federal government.
The property is a former airport that has been outfitted with sturdy tent structures to house the thousands of illegal immigrants. The detention center earned its name due to its location in the heart of the Everglades, which is home to massive reptiles such as alligators and pythons. Officials have said the alligators could serve as a deterrent for escape.
DeSantis, who flanked Trump with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, said the facility was built using the airport’s existing concrete infrastructure, with temporary structures providing essential services like the beds, medical care and food preparation.
The governor said the center will be used to fast-track immigration cases.
"We’re offering up our National Guard and other folks in Florida to be deputized to be immigration judges," De Santis said.
"We’ll have people here in this facility that can make [legal decisions]... Someone has a notice to appear — Biden would tell him to come back in three years... here, you’ll be able to appear like a day or two."
"So we want to cut through that so that we have an efficient operation between Florida and DHS to get the removal of these illegals done."
Noem acknowledged the collaboration between Florida and DHS, framing it as a potential model for other states.
"Florida was unique in what they presented to us, and I would ask every other governor to do the exact same thing," Noem said. "This is unique because we can hold individuals here. They can have their hearings. It’s a process."
She also warned illegal migrants to self-deport or else risk being detained at the high-security facility.
"They don’t have to come here, if they self-deport and go home, they can come back legally," Noem said. "But if you wait and we bring you to this facility, you don’t ever get to come back to America. You don’t get the chance to come back and be an American again."
Environmentalists and Democrats have come out against the detention center, including lining up along Highway 41, which runs through the Everglades, to protest its construction Saturday. Protesters held signs declaring, "Another stupid plan to abuse people & the Everglades," "No Alligator Alcatraz" or signs demanding ICE is pushed "out of Florida," photos show.
Various federal and state agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security and Florida's Division of Emergency Management, were additionally hit with a lawsuit Friday spearheaded by a pair of environmentalist groups that claim the detention facility will disrupt and threaten the Everglades ecosystem, the Associated Press reported.
The Senate has completed consideration of President Donald Trump's $3.3 trillion, 940-page agenda bill, sending it back to the House of Representatives to sync up before hitting the commander in chief's desk for his signature.
It first passed the House by just one vote in late May, and now it must advance through the chamber one more time before it can be signed into law.
That's because the Senate made some key changes to the legislation, chiefly to pass the "Byrd Bath" process in which its various measures are weighed for whether they adhere to the strict guidelines of the budget reconciliation process.
Republicans are using budget reconciliation to pass Trump's agenda on taxes, the border, energy, defense and the national debt. It allows the party in power to pass fiscal legislation while sidelining the minority – in this case, Democrats – by lowering the Senate's threshold for passage from 60 to 51.
Here are some of the key changes between the two versions:
Stricter work requirements have been the crown jewel for the GOP, being included in both versions. The bill would require able-bodied, childless adults between the ages of 18 and 64 to work at least 80 hours a month to maintain their benefits, or by participating in community service, going to school or engaging in a work program.
But there are more divisive changes, like tweaks to the Medicaid provider tax rate. The rate change would, year-by-year, lower the provider tax in Medicaid expansion states from 6 %to 3.5%. The plan was tweaked to comply with Senate rules, and now starts in fiscal year 2028.
The House bill, in comparison, would have frozen states at their current rates and placed a moratorium on new provider taxes.
It's a sticking point for moderate House Republicans who could see their states be forced to foot more of the bill for Medicaid than they currently do, risking politically damaging cuts to the program.
The Senate bill also includes a $50 billion fund to help rural hospitals in a bid to ease the concerns of Republicans in their own chamber.
The Senate bill aims to raise the debt limit by $5 trillion, $1 trillion higher than the House bill called for.
A failure to raise that limit – also called the debt ceiling – before the U.S. government runs out of cash to pay its obligations could result in a downgrade in the country’s credit rating and potential turmoil in financial markets.
Trump has made it a priority for congressional Republicans to deal with the debt ceiling and avoid a national credit default.
A bipartisan agreement struck in 2023 suspended the debt ceiling until January 2025.
Multiple projections show the U.S. is poised to run out of cash to pay its debts by sometime this summer.
The Senate version of the legislation provides more generous corporate tax benefits than the House version, while placing limits on Trump's newer policies, eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay.
Both bills sought to permanently extend the income tax brackets of Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).
The Senate bill makes permanent some corporate tax breaks that the House bill only temporarily expanded. It also makes permanent the standard deduction for personal income taxes, while the House bill only extended it through 2028.
The Senate bill would also allow people to deduct taxes on up to $25,000 of tipped wages. That deduction would begin to phase out for people making $150,000 per year or $300,000 as a married couple.
On the House side, the deduction is eliminated for both married and single filers making above $160,000. There is no cap of any kind on the amount that can be deducted, however.
Those same income differences are at play between the Senate and House versions of Trump's "no tax on overtime pay" promise. Whereas the Senate bill would allow people to deduct up to $12,500 in overtime pay, the House version did not include a stated limit.
The House version of the bill would have effectively blocked states from implementing their own AI regulations – a provision that was stripped out of the Senate bill even despite negotiations with critics to salvage the measure.
Sen. Masha Blackburn, R-Tenn., led the Senate GOP opposition to the measure, arguing it would prevent states from shielding populations who are vulnerable to the pitfalls of AI.
After talks with key senators fell through, Blackburn and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., co-sponsored an amendment to remove that provision. It passed 99 to 1.
Outside of Washington, 17 Republican state governors wrote to Congress objecting to the AI moratorium.
"This is a monumental win for Republican governors, President Trump's one, big beautiful bill, and the American people," Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, one of the signatories, wrote on X after it was removed.
USAID will no longer send foreign assistance across the globe, with the State Department taking over any such programs that President Donald Trump's administration wishes to continue, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Tuesday.
Rubio made the announcement in a Tuesday statement, saying USAID had for decades failed to ensure the programs it funded actually supported America's interests. The State Department will take over foreign assistance programs beginning July 1, he said.
"Beyond creating a globe-spanning NGO industrial complex at taxpayer expense, USAID has little to show since the end of the Cold War. Development objectives have rarely been met, instability has often worsened, and anti-American sentiment has only grown," Rubio wrote.
"This era of government-sanctioned inefficiency has officially come to an end. Under the Trump Administration, we will finally have a foreign funding mission in America that prioritizes our national interests. As of July 1st, USAID will officially cease to implement foreign assistance. Foreign assistance programs that align with administration policies—and which advance American interests—will be administered by the State Department, where they will be delivered with more accountability, strategy, and efficiency," he continued.
The move comes after the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) gutted USAID as part of Trump's effort to remove waste, fraud and abuse from the federal government.
The agency came under fire for many funding choices, including allocating $1.5 million for a program that sought to "advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities" and a $70,000 program for a "DEI musical" in Ireland.
As a result, Rubio announced on March 11 that the State Department had completed a six-week review and would cancel more than 80% of USAID programs — cutting roughly 5,200 of USAID's 6,200 programs.
Democrats have blasted the Trump administration's efforts to trim foreign aid programs, and many activists have protested the plans. Actress Charlize Theron lashed out at the administration on Monday.
"The world feels like it’s burning because it is," Theron said at the annual Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Program Block Party, according to Variety.
"Foreign aid cuts brought HIV and AIDS programs in my home country of South Africa to an absolute standstill," Theron said. "All of this is not just detrimental, it’s dangerous. People will lose their lives. Many have already, unfortunately, and at a frightening rate. It’s absolutely heartbreaking to see this kind of unnecessary suffering."
"Here in Los Angeles, in the U.S. and across the globe, we are moving backwards fast. Immigration policy is destroying the lives of families, not criminals. Women’s rights are becoming less and less every day, queer and trans lives are increasingly being erased, and gender-based violence is on the rise. This isn’t just policy, it’s personal. F--- them," she said.
Theron emphasized, however, that there is hope in "standing up, organizing, protesting, voting and caring for each other, and refusing to accept that this is the new normal." She touted her charity as an example.
Fox News' Diana Stancy and Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report
The House of Representatives is expected to take up the Senate's modified version of President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" this week.
The Senate passed the bill after a marathon weekend session, which included Democrats forcing a read-through of the entire 940-page text. Vice President JD Vance cast the tie-breaking vote.
The bill first passed the House in late May by just one vote – and Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., will have a margin of just three Republicans to advance it again.
Both moderate and conservative House Republicans still had various concerns about the bill as of the weekend, but it's not immediately clear if it will be enough to force GOP leaders to pause their ambitious timeline of getting the bill to the president's desk by Fourth of July.
"The House will work quickly to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill that enacts President Trump’s full America First agenda by the Fourth of July. The American people gave us a clear mandate, and after four years of Democrat failure, we intend to deliver without delay," House GOP leaders said ina joint statement.
"This bill is President Trump’s agenda, and we are making it law. House Republicans are ready to finish the job and put the One Big Beautiful Bill on President Trump’s desk in time for Independence Day."
House GOP leadership held a brief call with lawmakers on Saturday to discuss their expectations on the timing of the bill, while also urging them to air concerns about the bill with their Senate counterparts directly – rather than on social media.
Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said lawmakers would be asked to return with 48 hours' notice, noting that Tuesday or Wednesday looked more likely than a Monday callback, Fox News Digital was told.
That was when the Senate was expected to begin considering the bill with a vote on whether to proceed with the debate set for 4 p.m. ET, however. The chamber began the vote at 7:31 p.m. ET and passed it just after 11 p.m.
Since then, House leaders have signaled to lawmakers that votes could begin as early as 9 a.m. on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., and his team began taking temperatures in the House GOP conference remotely on Sunday, even as the Senate still considered the bill.
"We want to get on this as soon as possible, so be prepared," Emmer told lawmakers, Fox News Digital was told.
But a source familiar with whip team operations told Fox News Digital on Sunday that conservative fiscal hawks had concerns about the Senate's version of the bill, particularly after the parliamentarian said key provisions must be stripped out.
Republicans are using the budget reconciliation process to fast-track a massive bill advancing Trump's agenda on taxes, the border, defense, energy and the national debt.
Budget reconciliation allows the party in power to sideline opposition – in this case, Democrats – by lowering the Senate's threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51. But the legislation must adhere to certain guidelines, including only adding measures that deal with the federal budget or national debt.
The parliamentarian is a non-partisan, unelected Senate staffer who helps guide the chamber through its complex procedures. The parliamentarian is chosen by the Senate majority leader, without term limits, and is typically selected from someone already working in the parliamentarian's office due to their deep knowledge of its mechanisms.
Measures deemed non-germane to the final bill included a provision banning Medicaid funding from covering transgender medical services and a measure aimed at slashing funding to states that allow illegal immigrants to use Medicaid services.
But the Senate made its own changes to the House bill even without the parliamentarian's input; the Senate added a $25 billion rural hospital fund to offset concerns from Senate Republicans about Medicaid cuts still in the bill.
A provision was also added late Saturday morning that raised tax deductions for whale hunters, an apparent bid to court Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who had various concerns about the bill.
The Senate bill would also increase the debt limit by $5 trillion, compared to the House bill's $4 trillion. The U.S. debt is currently over $36 trillion.
House Freedom Caucus Policy Chair Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, wrote a lengthy post on X listing his issues with the bill.
"The Senate BBB has a deficit problem. 1) CBO shows the Senate bill misses the House framework by $651 billion EXCLUDING interest. Even adjusted for dynamic growth revenues - interest in light of front-loaded cost vs. backloaded savings lifts cost to $1.3 Trillion," he began.
Among his other issues were the debt limit increase and the added benefit aimed at Alaska.
"There remain numerous substantive problems - from illegals on benefits to funding sex change operations, no REINS Act regulatory relied," he posted.
Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., said on "Fox Report" on Sunday, "If it does pass to Senate and come over with those significant changes, it changes the framework that we agreed upon in the House from a spending perspective."
"When you do that, there are a lot of us that are going to have pause because we're not cutting as much spending as we wanted to cut previously because of decisions that the parliamentarian has made. So it's going be challenging," Steube said.
Meanwhile, multiple House GOP moderates are threatening to vote "no" over Medicaid cuts – specifically, changes that would shift a greater cost burden onto states that expanded their Medicaid populations under Obamacare.
A source close to Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., told Fox News Digital that she would vote against the bill if the Senate did not adhere to the House's Medicaid language on Saturday.
Rep. David Valadao, R-Calif., said in a public written statement, "I've been clear from the start that I will not support a final reconciliation bill that makes harmful cuts to Medicaid, puts critical funding at risk, or threatens the stability of healthcare providers across [California's 22nd Congressional district]."
"I urge my Senate colleagues to stick to the Medicaid provisions in H.R.1 – otherwise, I will vote no," Valadao wrote.
On the lawmaker-only call Saturday, both Johnson and Scalise urged Republicans to keep their negotiations and concerns about the bill private.
"They're not going to be reading your social media, so putting it there doesn't help. You need to reach out to them directly, they're in the thick of it," Johnson said, Fox News Digital was told.
Senate Republicans rallied to send President Donald Trump’s "big, beautiful bill" back to the House, notching a major victory in their record-shattering march toward getting the legislation signed into law.
Nearly every Republican in the upper chamber coalesced to advance Trump’s megabill, save for Sens.Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Rand Paul, R-Ky, and Susan Collins, R-Maine. No Senate Democrat crossed the aisle to support the bill.
Vice President JD Vance's tie-breaking vote was needed to push the bill across the finish line – unlike on Saturday, when the Ohio Republican descended on Capitol Hill in anticipation of a tight vote to proceed with debate on the bill.
That comes after Republican leadership tried to win over the votes of Collins and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska with sweeteners in the final, amended version of the bill.
The bill now heads to the House, where fiscal hawks in the House Freedom Caucus are frustrated with what they say are shallow spending cuts, and moderates are concerned over cuts to Medicaid. All have warned that they may not support the bill.
Still, Republican leaders have made clear that they intend to have the bill on Trump’s desk by Friday.
Many House Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., called on the Senate to change as little as possible. A product that could pass the House was front of mind for some Senate Republicans as the day dragged on.
"We're talking to the House," Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said. "We know they're going to have some issues over there, just like we had some issues when it came over here, too. But we think we're going to pass a bill that they can pass."
House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith, the chief tax writer in the House, said that he was "optimistic" about the bill on his way to the Senate floor Tuesday morning.
"We're moving to the point that we're getting more balance, and what I've said all along is let's have balance in the bill," the Missouri Republican said. "We're going to get this done, we're going to get this to the president by July 4."
Republicans pushed the chamber from the end of June to the beginning of July after a marathon weekend that saw a high drama unfold on the Senate floor, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., bleed time, hours of mostly one-sided debate, the occasional protest in the Senate gallery, a grueling blast of amendments and the penultimate vote to move the ball forward for the president’s ambitious agenda.
The blur from Monday to Tuesday, like the weekend slog before it, was not without its own dramatics.
Senate Democrats tried numerous times to shelve the legislation during the "vote-a-rama," while Republicans sought to revive certain measures that were scrapped — like provisions that would have booted illegal immigrants from Medicaid — or amendments to sate key Republican holdouts.
And before the bill was put on the floor for a final vote, last-minute deals were struck and changes made in a "wraparound" amendment to attract holdouts.
Included was the doubling of the rural hospital fund to $50 billion pushed for by Collins, and a rollback of the start date of supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) work requirements for states with higher payment error rates, like Alaska.
Trump’s "big, beautiful bill" is crammed with his and congressional Republicans’ legislative priorities, including billions for the Pentagon and to bolster the White House’s border and immigration agenda, the permanent extension of his 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, deep spending cuts and an effort to reform Medicaid.
Senate Republicans have pitched the bill as a way to both turbocharge the economy and as a means to prevent Trump’s first-term tax cuts from expiring. They have simultaneously used it as a vehicle to achieve deep spending cuts in the neighborhood of $1.5 trillion.
But Senate Democrats have railed against the package for the millions it could boot off of Medicaid and the trillions it could add to the federal deficit.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released two sets of scores Saturday and Sunday that reflected both current policy and current law. Under current policy, the bill would tack on just over $507 billion over the next decade. But under current law, the package would add roughly $3.3 trillion.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., countered that when it came to spending, Senate Democrats were being hypocritical.
"I've been here a long time," Thune said. "And I've not been involved in a single spending debate and fight in which Republicans were trying to spend less, and Democrats were trying to spend more, with one exception.
"And that's national security," he continued. "Democrats are always willing to cut defense but never want to cut anywhere else."
But Schumer accused Trump of "lying" about the bill, particularly over the nature of proposed cuts to Medicaid and the economic growth potential tied to the tax package.
And in one final act of defiance ahead of the bill's final passage, Schumer had the official title of the legislation "The One Big, Beautiful Bill Act" nixed.
"The American people will not forget what Republicans do in this chamber today," Schumer said.
