Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., held a press conference alongside a business owner and supporter of President Donald Trump, who is speaking out against the president's tariff agenda.

On Long Island on Thursday, Schumer stood with Tandy Jeckel, the owner of TandyWear, a women’s clothing shop in Suffolk County.

"No matter what your vantage, if you're a business, if you are a consumer, if you are in the industry, the tariffs are one giant mess," Schumer said.

Jeckel told Fox News Digital that she is the exemplar of a split-ticket voter – consistently supporting Trump, while also praising Schumer’s years of work on behalf of Long Islanders, including after Superstorm Sandy.

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When asked how she would grade Trump, she told Fox News Digital, "I would give him an 8 – it's absolutely not a fail."

"I would say an A," she added, when asked for a letter grade. "But, with the tariffs, that’s my only issue… because I have a small business. So it’s not really political, it’s just something that - this has to be rectified for our small business, because how long can we go on with this for my small business?"

Tariffs, she told Fox News Digital, bring uncertainty to both businessowners and customers, adding that customers are "resistant to buy" these days "because of this shaky uncertainty."

She declined to answer a handful of questions that were political in nature.

Jeckel told Fox News Digital that, in the long run, the Trump economy is "going to be great – once we get this situation with the tariffs" considered.

Meanwhile, Schumer also announced he would force a vote next week to end what he called Trump’s trade war, and called on the House of Representatives to act in-kind.

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Long Island, though a suburban area of a blue state, is remarkably red for its environs – with particularly the eastern half of the island solidly Republican for more than a decade.

Long Island lawmakers in Congress have real sway to pressure Republicans to act, Schumer suggested in a release prior to the event.

The event was billed as one where Schumer "st[ood] with Long Island Trump voters who love MAGA, but hate tariffs. . . . "

Schumer claimed Nassau County, the central part of the island abutting Queens, could lose nearly 11,000 jobs, and Suffolk could see 24,000 disappear.

His new bill to force an end to the tariffs, he said, was co-sponsored by Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Tim Kaine, D-Va., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Peter Welch, D-Vt.

"On Monday I was in restaurants in Syracuse and Albany," he said of cities 300 miles to the northwest. "They're having the same problem: paying more for their goods, less money in people's pockets. So, it's all across the state."

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He also expressed hope that the House will take up a Senate-passed resolution to nix tariffs directed specifically at Canada, an issue Welch brought up in recent comments to Fox News Digital as well.

When asked for a response, the White House said through a spokesman that Schumer wasn’t being forthright about his prior criticisms of unfair trade practices by other countries.

"[He] railed against America’s historic and persistent trade deficits with China for years until President Trump took historic action to actually do something about China’s unfair trade practices and cheating," spokesman Kush Desai said.

"As always, Democrats are playing political games instead of working with the Trump administration to do what’s right," he added.

EXCLUSIVE: The only Cuban-born member of Congress is calling on the Trump administration to "starve the regime" in Havana by cutting off some of its last economic lifelines connected to the U.S.

Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., who recently returned to the island for the first time in 64 years as part of a congressional delegation to Guantanamo Bay, said that despite the decadeslong economic embargo and travel restrictions, there are still many ways Americans can incidentally aid the regime.

On Thursday, Gimenez will write to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, requesting the "cessation of all travel" to and from the communist island, as well as a ban on remittances from U.S. citizens to relatives or friends there—except for specific funds approved by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Gimenez told Fox News Digital that dictator Miguel Diaz-Canel’s government ends up with a substantive cut of remittances, and any way to further turn the economic screws to the regime is something the U.S. government should look into.

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"The regime in Cuba is a listed state sponsor of terrorism, harbors criminal fugitives of American justice, and prevents a clear threat to the safety of the United States and our citizens," Gimenez will write to Bessent.

"As you know, this issue is one of great importance to the Cuban-American community and to millions of Americans who hold freedom, democracy, and human rights as our guiding principles."

He praised President Donald Trump for reversing the Obama-era "disastrous appeasement" policies that allowed some daylight between Havana and Washington.

Former President Barack Obama also notably visited with then-dictator Raul Castro, resulting in the famous photo of Castro awkwardly holding up Obama’s arm and smiling during a public appearance.

"We applaud and welcome the administration's most recent policies to ban vessels arriving from communist Cuba at U.S. ports, but more must be done. I urge you, Mr. Secretary, to take swift and decisive action in halting all travel to and from Communist Cuba and eliminating the flow of remittances to the island," Gimenez will tell Bessent.

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"The murderous dictatorship in Cuba is on life support. The regime cannot even keep the lights on, and America must stand with the Cuban people to topple this pathetic gang once and for all…. The time is now."

"There's plenty of travel happening between Cuba and the United States," Gimenez said when asked how strong the current restrictions are.

"All you’ve got to do is go to MIA and you'll see all kinds of flights from the United States to Cuba and back -- that needs to stop."

A partial travel ban is not enough, as the regime will always find loopholes to exploit, he said – and that if there were to be exceptions to what he is asking, Rubio would be the right official to determine their viability.

He said that large amounts of money in the form of remittances flow particularly out of Miami-Dade to Cuba every year.

"So these are efforts to basically starve the regime. A lot of times when flights are going from Miami to Cuba, a lot of those people are taking goods and products, et cetera," he said. "The regime can't even provide electricity to their own people. It needs to fail on its own weight; America can't provide any more oxygen to that regime."

Gimenez added there may be some short-term pain in Miami and elsewhere, but that there is the "long-term gain" of potentially accelerating the collapse of the Castro/Diaz-Canel government, which has been otherwise cut off from U.S. trade since 1959.

When asked why Cuba appears to be treated differently than other official state sponsors of terror like Iran and Afghanistan, Gimenez said the 90-mile proximity to the U.S. and the large numbers of Cuban refugee families living in Florida and beyond do create a different dynamic.

"Many family members in Miami and in the United States try to help their [Cuba-resident] family and friends as much as possible, and they want to visit every once in a while."

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"But I’ve never gone – [until] a month ago in Guantanamo. I’ve never gone back to visit any family. I’ve never sent one penny to Cuba for anything during my time in the United States; over 60 years."

"There are different circumstances for different people, but now it's time to say enough."

EXCLUSIVE: The respective chairs of the Small Business Committee in both chambers of Congress are unveiling a plan to address the roughly 2 million "likely fraudulent" pandemic aid applications flagged in a recent government report.

Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Rep. Roger Williams of Texas, both Republicans, plan to introduce the SBA Fraud Enforcement Extension Act on Wednesday in hopes of corralling the alleged scofflaws who they say broke the law and prevented untold numbers of legitimate U.S. small businesses from receiving crucial aid.

The bill extends the statute of limitations to 10 years for fraud surrounding the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) and the Restaurant Revitalization Fund relief programs instituted in 2020.

In 2022, Williams, Ernst and other lawmakers sought to do the same to identify potential scofflaw violators of the Paycheck Protection Program.

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A report from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the Biden-era Small Business Administration (SBA) either signed or guaranteed more than $1 trillion in loans to more than 10 million small businesses.

While it had instituted a four-step process to manage fraud, that plan reportedly faltered when the SBA inspector general was unable to fully probe two-thirds of the risk referrals because the agency didn’t provide either correct or complete information about those cases.

The GAO then made a formal recommendation to the SBA, which, according to the public watchdog’s website, remains "open" – and it appeared no action had at least been recorded.

The GAO also found that the fraud prevention process had not been fully implemented until "more than half" of aid programs’ funding had been approved.

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"I will not allow criminals to run out the clock and escape justice simply because the Biden administration was asleep at the wheel," Ernst told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

"Thousands of hardworking small businesses were deprived of desperately needed relief because swindlers, gang members, and felons cashing in on COVID drained the programs. Every single con artist who stole from taxpayers will be held accountable."

In Ernst’s home state, 1,800 restaurants reportedly qualified for SBA aid but never received it, prompting critics to question how much funding was diverted to fraudulent applicants instead of family-run eateries.

In Williams’ Lone Star State, federal aid allowed tens of thousands of restaurants to stay in business, but others told outlets like Houston PBS that such funding ran out before many could get back on their financial feet.

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The Texas Restaurant Association told the station that 12,000 restaurants found themselves in danger of closing by 2022.

Hollywood celebrities had also received some of the SVOG funds and spent them on private jets and parties or cash for themselves, Business Insider reported.

"The SBA distributes millions of dollars to small businesses in need every year. However, where small business owners found the capital needed to stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic, bad actors saw the opportunity to defraud the government," Williams told Fox News Digital.

"It is imperative that every fraudster who stole and exploited taxpayer dollars during our nation’s utmost hour of need be prosecuted to the full extent of the law."

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He added that as March marked five years after the first COVID lockdowns, an extension of the SBA and law enforcement’s ability to pursue fraudsters must be realized.

Fox News Digital reached out to the SBA for comment.

When asked about the discrepancies found in the GAO report, an SBA spokesperson told Fox News Digital that Administrator Kelly Loeffler has already taken action to enhance fraud prevention efforts.

"The SBA fully supports all efforts to crack down on fraud within its loan programs – in stark contrast to the last administration, which failed to investigate or address more than $200B in estimated pandemic-era fraud," Caitlin O’Dea said.

"[SBA] will continue working to hold pandemic-era fraudsters accountable."

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been sending out cellphones, funded by a closely-tied nonprofit, to CEOs of California companies with his personal number pre-programmed into them in an effort to "connect more directly with business leaders in the state."

"The feedback has been positive, and it’s led to valuable interactions," Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

The state's public disclosure rules still apply, meaning both the nonprofit – which was formed in 2002 under former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration – and Newsom must still comply with the rules for making public records available upon request regarding correspondence on the phones. 

Newsom's office began sending out cell phones on a rolling basis in November to some of the state's top 100 companies. The phones are being funded by the California State Protocol Foundation – which functions similarly to presidential inaugural committees – which has three board members, two of whom are former Newsom staffers. 

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The foundation is funded largely by businesses and private donations, according to reports, and has funded several previous governors on business trips at no cost to taxpayers. According to a Sacramento Bee report last May, the nonprofit funded Newsom's international trips, including visits to El Salvador in 2019 and to Israel and China in 2023. 

However, charity watchdog group Charity Navigator gives the foundation a poor rating, noting issues such as no website, a high liabilities-to-assets ratio, no financial statements and having no known whistleblower nor document retention and destruction policies on record.

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The foundation's principal officer, Steve Kawa, is a seasoned Democratic strategist who previously worked in the governor’s office, serving as chief of staff when Newsom was mayor of San Francisco. Other board members include Jim DeBoo, who is also a Democratic strategist and served as former executive secretary to Newsom and Matina Kolokotronis, the chief operating officer for the Sacramento Kings NBA team. 

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The move to give companies a direct line to Newsom comes as the blue-state governor has come under fire in recent years for the state's high cost of doing business, with several high-profile companies such as Chevron, Oracle and Tesla moving their headquarters to more business-friendly red states like Texas. 

Attempts by Fox News Digital to reach the California State Protocol Foundation for comment were unsuccessful.

FIRST ON FOX: A baby products manufacturer is challenging a new federal regulation as overly broad and contrary to President Donald Trump's agenda of reigning in three-letter agencies and commissions. 

New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) filed suit Thursday in Washington, D.C. against the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) over a new federal safety standard for infant support cushions. NCLA, on behalf of Heroes Technology, says the commission misinterprets the term "durable" in the provision to include items not previously covered by the standard, like cushions and other such products. 

NCLA argues that the CPSC previously only included items that fell squarely within the accepted definition of "durable" as delineated by congressional statute – cribs, for example, as well as high chairs, swings, etc. 

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"We think that this is a pure case of statutory construction that guides agency authority and over here they step their bounds," Kara Rollins, Litigation Counsel at NCLA, told Fox News Digital. 

Rollins said that, via the provision in question, the commission is "shortcutting and bypassing really important procedural checks, evidentiary requirements in order to push out a regulation faster."

NCLA had previously sent CPSC a letter requesting to stay the rule, saying it "establishes an arbitrary and ineffective safety standard." NCLA requested "postponement and reconsideration" of the rule in light of one of Trump's executive orders ordering all executive agencies and departments to halt issuing new rules and regulations pending review and approval. 

"The president has said to these agencies, ‘you must do X’, and it's not clear that they're actually following through with what's required of them," Rollins said. 

Rollins said that the rule not only affects Heroes Technology, but it also extends to "thousands of manufacturers [and] thousands of manufacturing jobs" both in and outside the U.S.

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"It's emblematic," Rollins said of the broader implications of the rule. "When an agency is not held to account, when it's not held to the standards set out by the statute, or is independent and doesn't answer to the president in its own mind, then these sorts of self-aggrandizements tend to occur."

Rollins said that while the rule applies to a specific sector of businesses and products, "there's not really anything that stops it from sort of infiltrating further unless there's a check on their power."

"And one thing we're very clear on is that it's not that we don't think our clients' products can't be regulated or shouldn't be regulated, but how Congress said they should be regulated," Rollins said. "Congress said if you're a durable infant good, everything else has to go through the process, and it's our view that it should have went through the other process."

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Rollins and NCLA argue that infant cushions such as the ones in the case should undergo a separate process that "is more onerous, more rigorous, requires more data, more fact-finding."

The suit comes as the Trump administration works to reel in the administrative state via executive orders, directives, and legal challenges. In February, Trump signed one order in particular that requires federal agencies to evaluate all of their regulations that could violate the Constitution as the administration continues to prioritize slashing red tape. 

The administrative state was previously dealt a blow by the Supreme Court in 2024 when it overturned the Chevron doctrine. 

In the landmark decision, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the Supreme Court effectively scaled back administrative power by holding that "Courts must exercise their independent judgment in deciding whether an agency has acted within its statutory authority." The doctrine previously gave deference to an agency's interpretation of a federal regulation. 

Fox News Digital's Diana Stancy contributed to this report. 

Allegations of coziness between California’s elected state insurance commissioner and the insurance industry led to accusations flying between him, critics in Sacramento and Washington, and frustrated Californians who lost everything in the Pacific Palisades fires.

Commissioner Ricardo Lara accused Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., of trying to "White mansplain" the role of insurance commissioner after the Los Angeles Times reported his criticisms of the agency.

Garamendi, who was California’s first insurance commissioner after the position became an elected one in the 1990 contests, had said Lara’s intended reforms are ones that "clearly… the insurance industry wants."

"Your job is to hold the companies accountable, and he seems to be doing the exact opposite, and that is giving the companies whatever they want," he said of Lara to the Times.

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Lara claimed in response that he does not have the power to compel companies to write insurance policies, and that Garamendi’s suggestions would "exacerbate the problem at a time when insurance companies are pulling out of California."

"[Q]uite honestly… this is not going to be the first or last time that I get White mansplained on how to do my job," Lara, who is the son of Mexican immigrants, told the Times.

With six years in his current role under his belt and several prior in the state legislature, Lara’s reform plan seeks to help Californians following the weekslong conflagration of Los Angeles County that destroyed untold numbers of homes.

Insurance companies may be on the hook for about $45 billion, and State Farm reportedly asked for an emergency rate hike following the blazes, which Lara rejected, according to the Times.

The paper described Lara’s plan as a "carrot-and-stick" effort to offer concessions to insurers who agree to help underwrite customers in areas prone to natural disasters.

A representative for Lara expounded on the controversy to Fox News Digital, saying that it is entirely normal for an insurance commissioner to meet regularly with insurance companies.

"The California Department of Real Estate [also] meets with Realtors. The California Public Utilities Commission meets with SCE and SoCalGas. If they didn’t, they would be rightly criticized for failing to do their job," the representative said.

"The same standard applies to the Department of Insurance."

He also took aim at a prominent critic cited in the original report, a group called Consumer Watchdog that had claimed Lara and associated entities "attempted to conceal" $122,000 in contributions from the insurance industry to support his re-election. 

A state commission later found "insufficient evidence" to support the complaint as a violation of state law and closed the case in January, according to the Times.

The Lara representative called those allegations "baseless," when reached Tuesday by Fox News Digital.

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The Lara representative characterized Garamendi as a "member of Congress who has failed to act in his current position to protect consumers."

The representative added Lara is committed to holding insurers accountable in the rate-making process and met with residents at 900 town halls covering every Golden State county.

"Californians want solutions, not distractions. Commissioner Lara is battling the status quo that has failed consumers for decades, while his critics have done nothing of merit to help consumers and make insurance more available and more affordable."

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When asked for further response, a representative for Garamendi pointed to recent remarks he made on the subject.

"The commissioner must really stand up for consumers, and that is the challenge that the current commissioner (Lara) must address in the days ahead."

"Unfortunately, in the months and years past, he basically rolled over and let the insurance companies cancel policies which they did in the Palisades area, and he allowed the insurance companies to double and, in many cases, triple and quadruple homeowner insurance rates without the normal and the required public hearings and detailed investigation," Garamendi said.

Meanwhile, in the state legislature, Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones blamed Gov. Gavin Newsom as well as Lara and Sacramento Democrats for putting off serious reform to the insurance structure.

"Waiting this long leaves us now with the current system waiting for major reforms to take effect, and could result in the total failure of the insurance market during these catastrophic events like those we are seeing in Los Angeles," said Jones, R-San Diego.

"Sadly, if the FAIR Plan collapses, every Californian will be paying the price with a surcharge on their homeowner policies to cover the state's failures to act."

Fox News Digital also reached out to Newsom for comment but did not receive a response by press time. 

Two bipartisan lawmakers from America’s agricultural heartland are putting forth legislation that would amend the federal student aid provisions to help students in farming families receive the help they need to go to school.

Sens. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Michael Bennet, D-Colo., along with Rep. Tracey Mann, R-Kan., in the House, are forwarding the Family Farm and Small Business Exemption Act.

As of late, the household contribution formula for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) "fundamentally misunderstands" how farming families operate and how agricultural assets differ from the more liquid assets of other U.S. families.

FAFSA is a form typically accessible to students on Oct. 1 of each year to allow for ample time to submit financial information in advance of both state and school-specific deadlines for aid eligibility. 

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The bipartisan bill would exempt farms and small family businesses from considerations in the Higher Education Act of 1965 and therefore offer a more realistic calculus for students in rural areas seeking federal aid.

The new act would amend the FAFSA Simplification Act to restore the original exemption of all farmland, machinery, other operational materials and small businesses with fewer than 100 employees from being declared on the application.

"No one should have to sell off the farm — or their small business — to afford college. As a farm kid myself, I know the enormous impacts grants and financial aid have on rural students’ decision to go to college," Ernst told Fox News Digital. 

"I’m fighting for Iowa families, so unfair policies don’t hold them back from investing in their child’s education."

In February 2024, Ernst, her Iowa counterpart Sen. Charles Grassley, and other Heartland and Deep South lawmakers like Sens. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Roger Wicker of Mississippi wrote to Biden Education Secretary Miguel Cardona about their concerns, which appeared to go largely unanswered.

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They alleged Question 22 of the FAFSA application asks for the net worth of a family’s business operations, which the letter said wrongly analyzes how revenue streams for crops and livestock work — and how they can vary depending on the year.

"[A]ssets cannot be cashed out to support a loan in the same capacity as traditional investments," the letter read. 

Therefore, Ernst on Thursday signaled she wants to adjust the qualification formula for FAFSA, so that America’s agricultural families are able to have an equal shot at aid based on their conditions.

Mann, who represents the seventh-largest congressional district in the nation that isn't an at-large seat, said he has innumerable farm families who are in need of clear, fair FAFSA policy.

"Across Kansas’ Big First and the country, net farm income has decreased by nearly 25% since 2022," Mann told Fox News Digital.

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"Between navigating record-levels of inflation and skyrocketing input costs, our family farmers, ranchers, agricultural producers and small business owners are doing their best to make an honest living.

"When young people from these families are applying for higher education financial aid, the assets tied up in the family farm or the small business should not count against them. Congress should work to make life easier, not harder, for these dedicated families and students."

Mann said he hopes the bill will even the playing field for students while "protecting the American dream for every student regardless of their parents’ career ventures."

FIRST ON FOX: A select group of tech industry titans and venture capitalists will gather in Washington, D.C., this week to welcome the incoming Trump administration and celebrate new opportunities for global innovation in artificial intelligence and entrepreneurship. 

Presidents and CEOs from companies on the cutting edge of AI tech and their big financial backers, along with personnel from the incoming administration, will attend a dinner on Thursday organized by Outside the Box Ventures, a firm founded last year by journalist-turned-investment banker Katherine Tarbox, along with Laurent Bili, the French ambassador to the U.S.

The list of those invited to Thursday's dinner includes "DOGE" chief Elon Musk, Silicon Valley investor and GOP mega-donor Peter Thiel, NVCA chief executive Bobby Franklin, incoming White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks, OpenAI's Sam Altman, investor Joe Lonsdale and Narya co-founder Colin Greenspon.

"This gathering represents more than discussion. We hope it symbolizes a new chapter in public-private collaboration to harness technology’s transformative power for the nation’s future," a source close to the planning told Fox News Digital. The event comes days before President-elect Trump is inaugurated as the nation's 47th president.

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America's leading entrepreneurs want to seize what Microsoft's Brad Smith has called a "golden opportunity for American technology and economic competitiveness." The aim is for the joined forces of industry leaders and government resources that Trump brought together for Operation Warp Speed, his first administration's lauded COVID-19 vaccine program, to be reproduced for advancements in AI. 

The participation of Bili reflects how France is interested in being a leader in AI, with a global action summit on the rapidly developing technology to be held in Paris this February, and believes the U.S. is a valuable partner in this effort. 

"We believe this is the hottest ticket for tech and venture capital up to the inauguration," the source said. The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Franklin, the CEO of the National Venture Capital Association, the industry trade group for venture capital, confirmed he plans to attend. He told Fox News Digital there is great excitement in his industry for several of Trump's hires who have backgrounds in venture capital, including Sacks, a billionaire tech executive, and Vice President-elect JD Vance.

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"One of our challenges is always educating, and there's always a lack of understanding of what the venture industry does, how it works with entrepreneurs, how it creates great tech and drugs and everything else in the economy," Franklin said. "And so having folks that understand that coming into the administration is a wonderful, welcome situation from our perspective." 

The dinner comes at a critical juncture for the U.S., which leads the world in AI startups but faces tough competition from China and other foreign adversaries. 

American companies received more than 40% of global AI funding in 2023, surpassing China and the European Union combined. That same year, U.S. venture capital firms unleashed $17.9 billion in funds for AI startups, contributing to the leaps and bounds in generative AI tech popularized by ChatGPT, Google's Gemini and Grok from xAI.

More than 10,000 AI-related patents have been filed by U.S. entities in the past five years, showcasing the deep bench of American innovators that Franklin and others believe Trump stands ready to support.

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But analysts warn that China's recent developments in AI technology pose a challenge to American dominance in this field and may even threaten U.S. national and economic security.

A recent report published by American Edge Project cautions that "China is rapidly advancing its own open-source ecosystem as an alternative to American technology and using it as a Trojan horse to implant its CCP values into global infrastructure."

The report called China's progress "both significant and concerning." 

"Chinese-developed open-source AI tools are already outperforming Western models on key benchmarks, while operating at dramatically lower costs, accelerating global adoption. Through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which spans more than 155 countries on four continents, and its Digital Silk Road (DSR), China is exporting its technology worldwide, fostering increased global dependence, undermining democratic norms, and threatening U.S. leadership and global security."

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There is a broad expectation that the Trump administration will let the private sector lead the way as the U.S. confronts China. Whereas the Biden administration prioritized establishing "guardrails" for AI development through regulatory bodies, analysts for Perkins Coie note that Trump has promised to revoke a Biden-era executive order that set policy for federal agency AI purchases and uses. The 2024 Republican platform claimed Biden's policy "hinders innovation and imposes Radical Leftwing Ideas," apparently in reference to requirements that the National Institute of Standards and Technology create guidance to ensure AI models are unbiased and do not discriminate based on race or sex.

Additionally, Trump's appointment of Sacks as AI czar signals his thinking on AI is in line with Sacks' associates Musk and Thiel, who each co-founded PayPal and favor a deregulatory agenda. 

"The new czar will likely be tasked with coordinating with federal agencies and outside stakeholders to ensure consistent guidance regarding AI use in the federal government. We would expect Sacks to be less focused on the potential harms of AI and more focused on promoting and facilitating AI innovation with fewer restraints," Perkins Coie said. 

Thursday's gathering is a strictly nonpartisan event, though Silicon Valley's high interest in building relationships with a Republican administration would seem to signal shifting political priorities. 

Previously, issues like immigration and climate change distanced Big Tech from the GOP. And when Trump first ran for president, his populist MAGA movement was an unknown factor that led many entrepreneurs to keep that distance. 

But a growing recognition of AI as a national priority has appeared to bridge that gap. So has a more clearly defined Trump, with key players in his second administration that have ties to the venture capital world.

"You know, it was certainly a political outsider that won in 2016," Franklin said. "Now, he's not an outsider."

FIRST ON FOX: A top "DOGE" senator said a government watchdog alerted her to an "alarming" rate of defaults on COVID-era "PPP" loans, and now she wants to hold fraudsters accountable.

In a letter to Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery (SIGPR) Brian Miller wrote that the loan programs funding reported losses of $1.27 billion as of November 2024, and had snowballed since debtors' initial payments began coming due in July 2023.

"Without SIGPR to protect the taxpayer, there will be no one on watch which will allow this crisis to continue," Miller wrote.

"Of equal concern is an alarming rate of defaults by borrowers who are failing to pay even the interest payments on the loans for the Main Street Lending Program (MSLP) and the Direct Loan Program."

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The inspector general added that their office has been "shedding staff" and going through legally mandated processes for an agency in the process of shutting down.

There are at least 130 potential defendants identified to be probed, and without proper resources, they may never be so.

Ernst warned that dishonest loan applicants could get away with $200 billion in fraud from COVID-19 relief if her bill does not pass.

"Con artists took advantage of small businesses’ pain during COVID to defraud government programs designed to help hardworking Americans," Ernst said Wednesday. 

"While we are $36 trillion in debt, we especially cannot afford to leave more than $200 billion floating around, especially in the hands of fraudsters. My Republican colleagues and I are making sure that all resources are available in this fight to get taxpayers’ money back and hold these criminals accountable."

BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION FAILED TO RECOUP $200B IN FRAUDULENT COVID LOANS, HOUSE COMMITTEE SAYS

When the Small Business Administration initiated the Restaurant Revitalization Fund and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, they were on a "first come, first serve" basis.

Critics claimed at the time that many qualifying businesses and entities were therefore turned away, and reports proliferated that gang members and drug traffickers were instead able to access the resources.

One alleged fraudster used a photo of a Barbie doll as their identifier on an SBA loan application, while another raked in $8 million that could have gone to struggling restaurants – particularly in states with onerous shutdown policies. 

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In response, Ernst has drafted the Complete COVID Collections Act, Fox News Digital has learned.

The bill would extend authorization of the SIGPR through 2030 and expand its jurisdiction to cover other SBA COVID-related programs. As of Wednesday, the SIGPR is only authorized into September.

The proposal also directs the Treasury to enforce collection of loans under $100,000 as stringently as high-dollar alleged scofflaws and late-debtors.

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It also brings in the Justice Department, requiring the law enforcement agency to provide regular reports to Congress on activities related to pandemic-centric programs including prosecutions, fund recovery and referrals to the DOJ from other entities.

By Wednesday afternoon, Ernst’s bill gained co-sponsorship from four other Republicans: Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Todd Young of Indiana, James Lankford of Oklahoma, and John Curtis of Utah – who was just seated following the departure of Mitt Romney.

Virginia's top legislative Democrat sounded an alarm over President-elect Trump's Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) plan to tell a portion of the federal workforce "you're fired" for efficiency's sake.

The state Senate's top Republican responded Thursday by saying the majority party is "asking the wrong question."

Earlier this week, House Speaker Don Scott Jr. wrote a letter to the commonwealth's unemployment agency warning of the fallout from such a plan and a potential uptick in unemployment claims.

"We should all be concerned about what these changes mean for the employees raising their families in Virginia, paying taxes in Virginia and calling Virginia home," Scott wrote to Virginia Employment Commissioner Demetrios Melis in a letter reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

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"Taking President-elect Trump at his word that he will immediately move to downsize the workforce and relocate agencies, we can safely assume that a large portion of our workforce that resides in the commonwealth will be negatively affected," added Scott, D-Portsmouth.

Scott reportedly said he believes Northern Virginia and the Hampton Roads area he represents would be hardest-hit.

"I have concerns that, in the coming months, not only will our nation experience a mass increase in unemployment due to the proposed changes to our government. But, more importantly, those changes will have a detrimental effect on Virginians, our commonwealth’s unemployment rate and our economy overall," he told the Times-Dispatch.

However, Senate Minority Leader Ryan McDougle, R-New Kent, said the concept of DOGE addresses a greater concern for Virginians and U.S. taxpayers when it comes to fiscally responsible governance.

"That's the wrong question," McDougle said in an interview Thursday.

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"The question should be whether we are taking dollars that Virginians are earning and paying to the federal government and whether they are being spent wisely.

"If the federal government is paying people to do jobs they shouldn't be doing, then that's spending taxpayer dollars unwisely."

Trump's DOGE co-leader, Vivek Ramaswamy, previously told Fox Business, "We expect mass reductions … [and] certain agencies to be deleted outright." 

Ramaswamy's counterpart, Elon Musk, has expressed similar sentiments, including a tweet stating, "Delete CFPB," a reference to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Additionally, Sen. Joni Ernst, the Iowa Republican seen as the top DOGE lawmaker in the upper chamber, is spearheading a bill to relocate about one-third of federal workers outside the District of Columbia-Maryland-Virginia area. The legislation proposed by Ernst has a lengthy acronym, the DRAIN THE SWAMP Act.

Ernst also demanded answers from Biden agency heads about work-from-home policies their staffs enjoy.

In his remarks Thursday, McDougle added that if Democrats were so concerned about the subject, they should have balked at plans to funnel Virginia taxpayer funds to the Washington-area Metro system to "subsidize" the lack of ridership from telework policies criticized by Ernst.

"I didn't feel our Democratic friends were as concerned with the millions of dollars going to fund Metro amid [federal workers not being required to] go into the office and having to subsidize them," McDougle said.

Virginia's 2024 budget included about $144 million in Metro funding. Metro CEO Randy Clarke said in June the transit agency found an additional $50 million in efficiencies for its nearly $5 billion budget, according to multiple reports.

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Earlier this month, a top Democrat on the state House Labor Committee, said she was "very disappointed" with a response from representatives for Gov. Glenn Youngkin when she voiced concerns about potential federal workforce cuts.

State Delegate Candi Mundon King, D-Dumfries, noted in November that thousands of federal workers live in the state and in her district and called DOGE's plan "disastrous" after the Virginia Republican Party touted the "streamlin[ing of] government bureaucracy" as "good for all Americans, including Virginians."

Mundon King's district sits in the Washington exurb of Prince William County, which, for many years, was led by high-profile conservative Corey Stewart but has recently swung heavily Democratic.

"No wonder Northern Virginia has lost faith in Virginia Republicans," Mundon King said.

Youngkin, a successful business executive before entering politics, previously said anyone who leaves the private sector to work in government will immediately recognize it needs drastic adjustments.

"Whether it's me coming into state government in Virginia or President Trump coming back into the federal government, [we] know it is inefficient. It does not work with the same efficiency you would expect out of a business," he told The Daily Progress of Charlottesville.

Government efficiency plans "may result in some job losses for the federal government. … The great thing about the Commonwealth of Virginia is we have nearly 300,000 jobs that are unfilled," he added.

Melis similarly told Scott Virginia is "well prepared" to adapt to changes in employment figures and reassured Mundon King earlier this month that some of the concerns voiced were premature, according to The Roanoke Times.

Youngkin earlier this month invited workers in Trump's incoming administration to choose Virginia as their place of residence over Maryland or the District of Columbia, citing, in part, lower taxes and better-ranked schools.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Youngkin spokesman Christian Martinez said Virginia's economy was "stagnant" and the unemployment system "in shambles" when the Republican took office after eight years of Democratic governorship.

"Commonsense policies to lower the cost of living and bring real business-like efficiency to government have helped fix both," Martinez said.

"The governor appreciates Speaker Scott’s recent commitments to support further tax relief, which, along with a roaring economy and over 300,000 open jobs, means Virginia is in a great position as the president works to shrink the bloated federal government."