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Year: 2024

DOGE Caucus co-founder introduces 2 bills to kick-start waste cuts in Trump term

DOGE Caucus co-founder introduces 2 bills to kick-start waste cuts in Trump term

FIRST ON FOX: One of the founding Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Caucus members, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., is leading the introduction of a legislative package targeting government waste related to the COVID-19 pandemic on Tuesday ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s next term.  The Oklahoma Republican gave Fox News Digital an exclusive first look at two bills he will introduce Tuesday, one to address cases of unemployment fraud and another to extend the statute of limitations to prosecute COVID-19 recovery fund fraud.  “Making the government more efficient isn’t a partisan issue—it’s an American issue. Loopholes in the law let fraudsters get away with billions in COVID recovery and Unemployment Insurance payouts while forcing taxpayers to foot the bill. The decades of government waste must come to an end,” Lankford said in a statement. The first measure would allow states to halt unemployment payments to claimants if they are deemed fraudulent, getting rid of a requirement for unemployment agencies to restart payments within two weeks if they are appealed, despite potential fraud.  TOM COTTON DEMANDS DOD RECORDS ON BORDER-WALL MATERIAL SALES BE PRESERVED The latter bill would expand the extended statute of limitations for certain pandemic-era programs to all of them, including large and costly ones such as the Coronavirus Relief Fund, Economic Impact Payments and Unemployment insurance.  According to Lankford’s office, Government Accountability Office Comptroller Eugene Dodaro endorsed the bill addressing COVID relief fraud.  JUDGES BACKING OUT OF RETIREMENT AHEAD OF TRUMP TERM LEAVE GOP SENATORS FUMING “I am very pleased that this bill addresses the Inspector General community’s request to extend the statute of limitations for pandemic unemployment insurance program fraud,” he said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital by Lankford’s office.  “If enacted, this bill would give our oversight partners and law enforcement additional time to pursue federal fraud-related investigations in these programs and hold individuals accountable to the American people.” NJ LAWMAKER CRAFTS STATE DOGE COMMITTEE TO ‘MIRROR’ ELON’S BRAINCHILD: ‘WE NEED IT MORE’ In November, Trump announced that billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy would lead DOGE, a proposed advisory board tasked with eliminating government waste. “Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies – Essential to the ‘Save America’ Movement,” he wrote in a statement at the time.  Afterward, caucuses were formed in both the House and Senate, led by Reps. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., and Pete Sessions, R-Texas, and Blake Moore, R-Utah, and Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, respectively.  REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: A DOGE IN THE FIGHT Ernst is a co-sponsor of Lankford’s COVID fraud bill. Before Trump officially announced DOGE and his choice of Musk and Ramaswamy to lead it, the billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO said at an October rally that he believed it could cut trillions in government spending. “I think we could do at least $2 trillion,” Musk said at the time. 

TN lawmaker proposes sending illegal migrants accused of minor crimes to sanctuary cities instead of deporting

TN lawmaker proposes sending illegal migrants accused of minor crimes to sanctuary cities instead of deporting

A Tennessee state lawmaker introduced a bill to require law enforcement to send illegal migrants accused of minor crimes to sanctuary cities rather than deporting them to another country. State Rep. Todd Warner, a Republican, filed the bill, the Tennessee Illegal Immigration Act, ahead of the legislative session. The proposal would also ensure that all law enforcement agencies report illegal migrants to federal immigration authorities. Warner told Fox 17 that sending migrants to a sanctuary city could cost the state less than deporting them to their home countries, even if the federal government would eventually take on the deportation costs. “It seeks to make Tennessee safer. It seeks to make the federal government, you know hold their feet to the fire and enforce immigration law and it seeks the state to recoup some costs back out of it,” he said. INCOMING MISSOURI STATE LAWMAKER INTRODUCES BILL TO GIVE $1K TO ANYONE WHO TURNS IN ILLEGAL MIGRANTS Under the bill, if ICE fails to show up in 48 hours to pick up an illegal migrant who is detained, law enforcement would help send them to a sanctuary city. Warner said the arresting agency would be responsible for relocating the detained migrants. Warner said this would be paid for by withholding money Tennessee generates for the federal government through the gas tax. The lawmaker said he plans to add an amendment clarifying that the bill would only apply to illegal migrants charged with a minor offense. Violent criminals would still be subject to deportation. GREG ABBOTT BLASTS MIGRANT ACCUSED OF SETTING TEXAS HOME ON FIRE WITH CHILDREN INSIDE: ‘LOCATE & DEPORT’ “This is for victimless crimes. This is not for someone that has committed a terrible crime,” Warner told Fox 17. Hannah Smalley, the Advocacy and Education Manager at Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors, argues that the proposal would unnecessarily separate migrant families. “The mere act of being transported away from your family is damaging,” she told Fox 17. “This means that people, including people who have not been charged with crimes, are going to be facing these really punitive consequences just on the basis of their immigration status.” “When U.S. citizens commit crimes and we pay a fine or we go to jail,” she added. “Immigrants are also doing that. So to then make this about someone’s immigration status, which is totally separate from any kind of crime that they would have committed, is not productive to our community as a whole.” Warner said he still has to tweak the bill, but he is hoping it will receive bipartisan support in the legislature.

Top Republican touts ‘real motivation’ behind House DOGE Caucus’ mission before first meeting

Top Republican touts ‘real motivation’ behind House DOGE Caucus’ mission before first meeting

A co-chair of the House of Representatives’ Congressional DOGE Caucus said there is “real motivation” behind accomplishing its mission of cutting the federal deficit. Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, is House GOP Conference vice chair and the No. 6 House Republican, and recently joined Reps. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., and Pete Sessions, R-Texas, in leading the caucus. The group’s name is an acronym for Delivering Outstanding Government Efficiency, coinciding with the Department of Government Efficiency – also DOGE for short – a new advisory panel commissioned by President-elect Trump and led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. The caucus’ first meeting is slated for Tuesday. Moore said he hopes they can “create some structure on what we want to accomplish and set some initial first easy wins.” REP. JARED MOSKOWITZ FIRST DEMOCRAT TO JOIN CONGRESSIONAL DOGE CAUCUS He did not elaborate on what those wins would be, but suggested one of the caucus’ main goals would be delivering recommendations to Musk and Ramaswamy on how to make the federal government more efficient. “We’ve got people that have great ideas from their various committees on things, areas that we can find efficiencies, and just get that all on paper and eventually, you know, provide some recommendations,” Moore said. The Utah Republican is hopeful that his unique position as a member of House leadership will allow him to be a conduit between the caucus and fellow congressional leaders. “I was looking for another opportunity to help serve the conference,” Moore said of his decision to become a co-chair. “There is a ton of bipartisan work that’s already been done on this type of stuff for years leading up to it. We needed this moment as a catalyst to do it. So I am just thrilled to be a part of the leadership team.” He also suggested that the enthusiasm for DOGE was unlike anything he’d seen for prior government initiatives. REPUBLICANS GIVE DETAILS FROM CLOSED-DOOR MEETINGS WITH DOGE’S MUSK, RAMASWAMY “There’s real motivation behind this, and the American people are galvanized by this. For example, I’m the chair, co-chair of the Ski and Snowboard caucus. Utah has… got the best ski – greatest snow on earth and all that. That doesn’t draw the attention,” Moore said. “But I became a co-chair also of the DOGE Caucus, and you could tell a widespread interest in this from both media back home [and] constituents. We have to honor that.” Moore also dismissed concerns that DOGE’s internet meme-inspired branding might make people take it less seriously, arguing instead that it will help make Americans enthusiastic about the mission. “Doge” is also the name of an internet meme popular in the 2010s, depicting a Shiba Inu and frequently accompanied by phrases in broken English representing the dog’s supposed internal monologue. Musk has made no secret of his affinity for the meme, and even coined the name “Department of Government Efficiency” while posting references to it on X, formerly Twitter, before Trump made it a reality. He’s also promoted a cryptocurrency of the same name. “I’ve never seen so much excitement and engagement from my constituents,” Moore said. “The fact that it’s the Doge, I think this is how people connect now. Like, you know, that’s a good thing because it makes it relatable. And so I think it’s definitely something that kind of makes people laugh a little bit and just find the irony in it.” “Whatever can get people’s attention, you have to use that for good. Then you’ve got potential for impact.”

Vance will likely be 2028 front-runner, but RNC chair ‘excited about the bench that we have’

Vance will likely be 2028 front-runner, but RNC chair ‘excited about the bench that we have’

With former president and now President-elect Donald Trump unable to run again for the White House in 2028, Vice President-elect JD Vance appears to be the heir apparent to the America First movement and the Republican Party’s powerful MAGA base. But even though the 40-year-old Vance will be considered the front-runner in the next GOP presidential nomination race, the chair of the Republican National Committee says the party will hold to its traditional role of staying neutral in an open and contested presidential primary. “We will,” RNC chair Michael Whatley said in a Fox News Digital interview. Vance, with Trump’s support in a party firmly in the president-elect’s grip, will be very hard to knock off in the 2028 Republican presidential primaries. RNC CHAIR SPOTLIGHTS TRUMP’S ROLE IN THE 2026 MIDTERMS “We are getting four more years of Trump and then eight years of JD Vance,” Donald Trump Jr. said in October on the campaign trail.  The younger Trump, who’s a powerful ally of the vice president-elect, is extremely popular with the MAGA base. “The vice president will be in the catbird seat. No question about it,” longtime Republican consultant Dave Carney recently told Fox News Digital.  Carney, a veteran of numerous Republican presidential campaigns over the past four decades, said that Vance “is the guy to beat.” VANCE THE 2028 GOP FRONT-RUNNER, BUT CHECK OUT THESE OTHER POTENTIAL CONTENDERS David Kochel, another longtime GOP strategist with plenty of presidential campaign experience, said that Vance is the front-runner due to “the size and the scope” of Trump’s Electoral College and popular vote victories last month, “and the implied passing of the torch from Donald Trump.” “There will be no shortage of people looking at it. But most people looking at it are seeing the relative strength of the Trump victory and the movement,” Kochel said. However, Kochel noted that “nobody will completely defer to JD Vance. There will be a contest. There always is.” Whatley, who was interviewed a week after Trump asked him to continue as RNC chair moving forward, said he’s “very excited about the bench that we have in the Republican Party right now.” “You think about all the Republican governors, you think about all the Republican senators, the members of the House that we have, the leaders across the country that have been engaged in this campaign are going to be part of the president’s cabinet,” he added. Whatley argued that the president-elect’s “America First movement is bigger than Donald Trump. He is the tip of the spear. He is the vanguard of this movement. But. It is a very big movement right now.” The chairman on Thursday also emphasized that “Donald Trump has completely remade the Republican Party. We’re now the working-class party. We’re now a party that is communicating and working with every single voter, speaking to every single voter about the issues that they care about. So, as we go into 2028, we are in a great position to be able to continue the momentum of this agenda and this movement.” Unlike the rival Democratic National Committee, which in the 2024 cycle upended the traditional presidential nominating calendar, the RNC made no major changes to their primary lineup, and kept the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary as their first two contests. Asked about the 2028 calendar, Whatley said “I’ve not had any conversations with anybody who wants to change the calendar on our side. I know the Democrats did during the course of this election cycle, not sure that it really helped them all that much.” “We’re very comfortable with the calendar as it is. But as we move towards 2028, we’ll have those conversations,” he added.

Swing state governor’s race gets curveball as top Dem runs independent, sparking calls for Buttigieg to enter

Swing state governor’s race gets curveball as top Dem runs independent, sparking calls for Buttigieg to enter

As Democrats hope to retain the governor’s seat in the swing state of Michigan with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer term-limited, a top Democratic figure has launched an independent bid, leading to a search on the left for an alternative standard-bearer. Three-term Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, viewed for some time as very likely to seek the governor’s office, reportedly surprised the state’s body politic by announcing he will do so as an independent. “I went to Lansing and built relationships with Democrats and Republicans. We took our neighborhoods out of the darkness of burned-out streetlights and we lit the entire city to the national standard… and reduced Detroit’s unemployment rate to its lowest rate in more than 30 years,” Duggan said in his campaign launch video. “The current system forces people to choose sides that find solutions. I want to see if I can change that.” BUTTIGIEG REJECTS CRITICS OF EV FUTURE: LIKE PEOPLE IN 2000S SAYING WE COULD HAVE LANDLINES FOREVER He struck a similar tone in recent remarks to reporters: Duggan said in his final year as mayor he wants to “establish a working relationship with the Trump administration,” and noted he had done so with fellow Motor City native HUD Secretary Ben Carson one term prior. He also told The Associated Press he views many Americans as being “tired of both parties and tired of the system – and so I want to offer people a choice.” That choice led Democrats to reportedly pivot to a prominent Indiana native who recently moved north to his husband’s home state. At an event with Detroit autoworkers, one man shouted a question about the Lions – rather than Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s home-state Colts – which the AP illustrated as a potential challenge for the Traverse City newcomer to connect with Michiganders if he decides to run. Another man at the event praised Buttigieg’s willingness to be “one of the few” politicians to speak to both liberal and conservative media audiences. Buttigieg has said he won’t make any official political decisions on “how to make myself useful” until after his current boss, President Biden, leaves office, but has been contacted by several Michigan Democrats about entering the race. Duggan’s announcement, however, was met with derision from Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, another potential Democratic contender. “In moments like this, we don’t flee from the party, but we stay and fix it,” Benson told FOX-2, which reported she is considering tossing her hat in the ring. Andrew Feldman, a Democratic strategist in the Great Lakes State, told the AP that people are “shocked and angry” at Duggan for eschewing the Democratic Party label. “Many view this as a serious situation where Mike Duggan could put the governor’s mansion in the hands of Republicans and roll back years of progress,” he said. While the left wing is divided between Duggan’s independent run and jockeying to fill the Democratic row on the ballot, the Republican race appears wide open. “You know what, [20]26 is always in the back of my mind, but right now, we’re focused on [20]24,” conservative media host Tudor Dixon – the 2022 Republican nominee – said just before the presidential election when asked about running again. HOUSE PANEL RELEASES YEAR-END REPORT ON BIDEN-MICHIGAN ELECTIONEERING CONTROVERSY Other names floated in the Michigan press include businessman Perry Johnson – who briefly ran for president on the GOP line in 2024 – businessman Kevin Rinke, and several sitting GOP lawmakers. Adding to the electoral uncertainty were Michigan’s 2024 split results, as voters there chose both Republican President-elect Trump and Democratic Sen.-elect Elissa Slotkin from the top-tier races.  As for Whitmer, reports have viewed her as a top contender in the 2028 Democratic presidential contest, along with several other governors, like Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro, California’s Gavin Newsom, North Carolina’s Roy Cooper, Maryland’s Wes Moore, Illinois’ JB Pritzker and Minnesota’s Tim Walz. Fox News Digital reached out to the Michigan GOP, Michigan Democrats and Buttigieg’s office for comment.