GOP lawmaker unveils WALZ Act after billions lost in Minnesota fraud scandal
FIRST ON FOX: A Republican lawmaker has reacted to the massive unfolding fraud scandal in Minnesota with legislation aimed at preventing more taxpayer dollars from being wasted at the United States Department of Health and Human Services. Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks has introduced the Welfare Abuse and Laundering Zillions Act, or the “WALZ Act,” which would require HHS’ Office of Inspector General to open investigations into any program that sees a 10% or greater increase in total payments over any six-month period within a fiscal year. Under the bill, HHS would no longer have discretion to ignore sudden billing increases that critics say often signal fraud schemes, particularly in large entitlement programs. The bill comes amid revelations in recent months that Minnesota’s federally funded health and nutrition programs were rife with fraud to the tune of potentially up to $9 billion, federal prosecutors said last week. OMAR ACCUSED BY GOP OPPONENT OF OPENING UP THE DOOR TO MASSIVE MINNEAPOLIS FRAUD: ‘DEEP, DEEP TIES’ Critics have made Walz the face of the scandal, given the fact that concerns over the fraud date back to 2019, when he took office and the inability of the state, which he serves as the top executive, to tackle the problem over the last five years. “This is on my watch,” Walz told reporters on Friday. “I am accountable for this. And more importantly, I am the one that will fix it.” MEDIA ‘COMPLICITY’ BLAMED AS FEDS SAY MINNESOTA FRAUD CRISIS COULD REACH $9B: ‘SHOWN THEIR TRUE COLORS’ Miller-Meeks told Fox News Digital the situation in Minnesota represents a “jaw-dropping failure of leadership.” “This is what happens when soft-on-crime Democrats run the show: zero accountability, zero oversight and taxpayers left holding the bag,” the Iowa Republican continued. “The WALZ Act is named for a reason, to ensure this level of negligence can never be repeated anywhere else in America. This bill puts hard safeguards in place to protect taxpayer dollars, shut the door on scam artists and bring real accountability back to government programs.” On Monday, a group of 98 Minnesota mayors raised concerns with state leaders and Walz in a letter about their state’s fiscal policies, saying they have impacted their cities and residents, noting a disappearing $18 billion surplus and a projected $2.9 billion to $3 billion deficit for the 2028-29 biennium. Former federal prosecutor Joe Teirab, who briefly worked on the Feeding Our Future aspect of the fraud investigation, recently told Fox News Digital the fraud scheme was notable not only for its size, but for how easy it was to carry out. “Honestly how easy this fraud was to do,” Teirab said. “These fraudsters were just saying that they were spending all this money on feeding kids… and they were just making up these PDFs, putting false names into Excel sheets.” Teirab said oversight failures within the Minnesota Department of Education and other agencies played a significant role. He argued that officials had incentives to avoid scrutiny, citing political sensitivities surrounding Minnesota’s Somali community. “There were huge incentives to just turn the other way,” Teirab said. “There’s a sense of, ‘If we say something, are they going to call us racist?’ And that’s exactly what happened.” Fox News Digital’s Nikolas Lanum and Louis Casiano contributed to this report
Rand Paul’s ‘Festivus Report’ calls out cocaine dogs, COVID influencers and a mountain of debt
Congress’ top fiscal hawk is back with his yearly government waste report card, this time uncovering over $1.6 trillion in spending on cocaine experiments on dogs, COVID-19 vaccine influencer campaigns and staggering yearly debt payments. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., unveiled his 11th annual “Festivus Report” on Tuesday, detailing the wonky ways that the federal government dumps taxpayer dollars into pet projects. Paul has long been against Congress’ spending habits, routinely voting against appropriations bills and spending packages for not trying to tackle the nation’s growing debt problem. His report highlights that even with several lawmakers pounding their chests on Washington’s spending problem, Congress can’t help but spend more. DEMOCRATS’ LAST-MINUTE MOVE TO BLOCK GOP FUNDING PLAN SENDS LAWMAKERS HOME EARLY “No matter how much taxpayer money Washington burns through, politicians can’t help but demand more,” Paul said. “Fiscal responsibility may not be the most crowded road, but it’s one I’ve walked year after year — and this holiday season will be no different. So, before we get to the Feats of Strength, it’s time for my Airing of (Spending) Grievances.” He lauded moves taken by the Trump administration to slash government spending, like the nearly $9 billion rescissions package that slashed funding for public broadcasting and some foreign aid, Paul said that while the action was “a good start, it’s just a drop in the bucket.” Paul noted that in the last year, the federal debt has skyrocketed to nearly $40 trillion, up from roughly $36 trillion. RAND PAUL’S ‘FESTIVUS REPORT’ EXPOSES $900B IN GOVERNMENT SQUANDER “The Congressional Budget Office predicts we will add an average of $23.9 trillion in debt annually for the next decade. The U.S. government will add over $6.53 billion of debt every single day for the next ten years,” Paul said. “We borrow over $272 million every hour, we borrow $4.54 million every minute, and we borrow over $75,000 every second.” “This year, I’m spotlighting a jaw-dropping amount of government waste — the kind that makes you wonder if anyone in Washington has ever heard the word ‘priorities,’” he continued. “A grand total of $1,639,135,969,608, which includes $1.22 trillion in interest payments on the debt.” And several programs highlighted in the report that funneled taxpayer dollars to celebrities, drug experiments, diversity, equity and inclusion programs and several other obscure projects contributed to that staggering figure. KENNEDY URGES GOP TO RESTART SPENDING BATTLE AMID SOARING COST OF LIVING, WARNS AGAINST WASTING MAJORITY Among the highlights are over $40 million to social media influencers to promote getting the COVID-19 vaccine to racial and ethnic minority groups, over $5 million to dose dogs with cocaine, over $1 million to teach “teenage ferrets to binge-drink alcohol,” over $14 million to teach monkeys to play a “Price is Right”-inspired game and roughly $13 million to continue experiments on beagles. There’s also the over $7 billion previously allocated by Congress to build electric vehicle charging stations nationwide — only 68 have been built so far, he noted — and schools receiving nearly $200 billion in COVID-19 relief funds that has been spent on “rooms at Caesars Palace, renting out MLB stadiums, and ice cream trucks.” The report highlighted several other programs, including over $1 million to hire celebrity influencers for anti-drug campaigns targeting “Latinx” communities, nearly $5 million total for studies looking at the effect of screen time on toddlers and mobile-phone obesity intervention for toddlers, and over $2 million for researchers to take saliva swabs at electronic dance music festivals in New York City.
Cornyn torches Democratic field, says party now ‘ruled by socialists’
Republican Sen. John Cornyn says that Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s campaign launch in Texas’ high-stakes 2026 Senate race is proof that “the Democratic Party has become the captive of the left wing.” Cornyn, the longtime senator from Texas who’s facing arguably the toughest re-election of his political career, charged in a Fox News Digital interview that the bid by Crockett, a progressive champion and vocal critic and foil of President Donald Trump, shows that “even people like Chuck Schumer,” the top Democrat in the Senate, “have been hijacked by the Bernie Sanders and AOC wing of the Democratic Party.” Crockett, a two-term lawmaker who represents a Dallas-area district, launched her bid earlier this month hours after former Rep. Colin Allred, a more moderate Democrat running a second straight time for the Senate in right-leaning Texas, ended his campaign. Crockett will now face off in her party’s March 3 primary with state Rep. James Talarico, a former middle school teacher and Presbyterian seminarian who is also seen as a rising Democrat. The general election showdown in Texas is one of a handful of midterm races that may determine if the GOP holds its Senate majority. WHAT THE SENATE GOP CAMPAIGN CHAIR MAKES A 2026 PREDICTION Cornyn embraces Crockett’s entry into the race. “I think she is unelectable in a general election in Texas. Texas is still a conservative red state,” Cornyn claimed. “She can’t win, so I’m really happy she’s decided to run.” While Crockett and Talarico face off for the Democratic nomination, Cornyn is battling Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt in a competitive and combustible Republican primary. THE GOP’S TAKE ON HIGH-PROFILE SENATE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARIES: ‘THEY’RE IN SHAMBLES’ And unlike the Democratic primary, where Crockett and Talarico are the only major candidates, the three-way Republican race may be headed towards a May runoff, which would be triggered if no candidate tops 50% in the March primary. But Cornyn said that a GOP runoff won’t “really change our chances of winning in November.” Cornyn is backed by Senate Majority Leader John Thune and the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) in the GOP primary. NRSC chair Sen. Tim Scott predicts Cornyn will be the GOP’s nominee, emphasizing in a Fox News Digital interview last week that “we are confident that Texas will be red, ruby red, with John Cornyn as our candidate.” Paxton, who has been battered over the past decade by a slew of scandals and legal problems and who is now dealing with a messy divorce, is a longtime MAGA champion and ally of Trump, who remains neutral in the Senate GOP primary race. GOP SENATE CAMPAIGN CHIEF AIMS TO EXPAND 2026 MAP IN THIS BLUE-LEANING STATE Cornyn, highlighting his Trump credentials, noted that “I get along well with the President. I’ve supported him during his first term, and now in his second term, I think the figure we came up with was 99.3% of the time. So I want the president to be successful and look forward to continuing to support him and his policies.” But he acknowledged that “I don’t think he’s [Trump] in a big hurry to endorse. He says that both the attorney general and I are friends of his, and I don’t think he wants to disappoint some of his friends who support one or the other of us, if he…goes to support one and not the other.” The Republican primary in Texas has become explosive, with charges flying from all sides. But Cornyn, remaining more diplomatic than incendiary, merely touted that he would be the most effective general election candidate. And he pointed to Paxton and Hunt and argued, “They’re probably not going to be able to win, certainly by the same margin, and they might not be able to win at all because they’re flawed candidates.” 4 KEY SENATE SEATS REPUBLICANS AIM TO FLIP IN 2026 MIDTERMS TO EXPAND THEIR MAJORITY “I’ve been through a lot of races before. This is nothing new for me, and we look forward to a good primary on March the third and probably a runoff that will finish the race off in May, and then we’ll get ready for whoever the Democrats decide to nominate for November,” he added. Paxton campaign spokesman Nick Maddux, pushing back against Cornyn, told Fox News Digital, “Everyone knows that Jasmine Crockett, who said Hispanic Trump voters have a ‘slave mentality,’ is going to lose the general election miserably after winning the Democratic nomination. Cornyn’s reciting this tired talking point about the general election because his sad campaign has nothing else to talk about it.” “Ken Paxton won his last statewide general election by nearly double digits, despite tens of millions in negative spending against him, and he’ll do exactly that again in 2026,” Maddux predicted. Cornyn, who is running for a fifth six-year term representing Texas in the Senate, announced his re-election campaign in early March, with Paxton launching his primary challenge a month later. Hunt, a West Point graduate who flew Apache helicopters during his Army service and a rising MAGA star who is in his second term representing a solidly Republican district in the Houston-area, jumped into the race in October. As he declared his candidacy, Hunt showcased his own Trump credentials, saying, “I was the first person in the nation to endorse President Trump, and I have remained steadfast in my commitment to the people of Texas.” Hunt had been mulling a Senate run for months and sources confirmed to Fox News earlier this year that the congressman made his case to Trump’s political team that he’s the only person who could win both a GOP primary and a general election. Asked about Hunt, Cornyn claimed that “he can’t win the primary. He can force a runoff.” And Cornyn said Hunt was “pretty headstrong and is determined to run, which is his right… but he also has a right to lose, which is what’s going to happen.” The 44-year-old Hunt, responding to the 73-year-old
House GOP tensions erupt after moderate Republicans’ Obamacare ‘betrayal’
Tensions are once again boiling in the House GOP after four moderate Republicans joined Democrats in a bid to force a vote on extending Obamacare subsidies that were enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s a betrayal to the Republican Party,” House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., said. “It basically turned the agenda over to the Democrats.” “This is not what people voted for when they voted for a Republican majority,” he said. A Democrat-led Congress voted to broaden who can get federally subsidized healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, later voting to extend those subsidies through 2025 the following year. HOUSE REPUBLICANS TURN ON EACH OTHER HEADING INTO YEAR’S END Congress has now left D.C. until the new year with no plan in place to extend or replace those subsidies, and millions of Americans are now facing heightened healthcare costs in a matter of days. The majority of Republican lawmakers are opposed to extending those subsidies, calling them a pandemic-era initiative that’s part of an overall broken system. But several GOP lawmakers have warned that a failure to extend the subsidies, preferably with reforms, would negatively impact people across the country — as well as Republicans headed into a tough re-election year. Several GOP plans have emerged for another short-term extension to give Congress an off-ramp while they work on a new healthcare plan, but leaders in the House and Senate showed no appetite for taking them up. The four House Republicans who joined Democrats’ push for a three-year extension — Reps. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., Robert Bresnahan, R-Pa., and Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa. — have argued that their own leaders left them with no choice but to tack onto a pathway they did not want to support to extend the subsidies. “Ultimately, the failure to bring a vote left us with little choice,” Lawler told reporters last week. MODERATE REPUBLICAN ERUPTS ON HOUSE GOP LEADERS, SAYS NOT HOLDING OBAMACARE VOTE IS ‘ABSOLUTE BULLS—‘ But it’s inflamed tensions with conservatives, threatening an already-unsteady peace in the House GOP’s razor-thin majority. “For any Republican to be supportive of Obamacare is really gross and a betrayal to everything that we’ve ever promised voters,” Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., said. “I mean, this is the Democrats’ fault. They are the ones who made insurance, health insurance, unaffordable and unreliable.” She noted that House Republicans did pass a bill with some modest healthcare reforms before they left Washington, but conceded “we need to do a lot more.” Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital, “I think it’s disappointing — why people would want to bail out Obamacare, I don’t understand.” “That discharge petition forces our children to go into greater debt,” Fine said. “We should be focused on destroying Obamacare, not bailing it out.” A discharge petition is a mechanism for forcing a vote on legislation over the wishes of House leaders, provided it gets support from more than half of the lawmakers in the chamber. HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS ON THE HILL: ‘FIGHTING’ IN THE HOUSE REPUBLICAN ‘FAMILY’ In this case, the four moderates helped House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., clinch a majority of signatures on his petition, setting up a vote early next month. Lawler criticized Jeffries as “not interested in actually solving the problem” in his comments to reporters last week, however. “He wants it to fail so he can use the issue. Otherwise, you would get the bipartisan discharge to move. And that’s the unfortunate thing,” Lawler said. “But my view is, doing nothing is the worst thing. And that’s why Brian Fitzpatrick, myself, Robert Bresnahan and Ryan Mackenzie signed the discharge.” Meanwhile, Mackenzie said he spoke directly with one of his fellow House Republicans who was critical of their move. “I went to him directly and said, ‘I would like to talk to you about your comments.’ I said, ‘I need to explain to you why I voted this way.’ Here’s an anecdote from my district about an individual, a small business owner, a restaurateur. For him and his family, without the premium tax credits, he goes from $3.99 a month up to $9.31 a month, and what that meant for him was that he was going to de-enroll and hope that nothing happened to his family,” Mackenzie told reporters last week. “I said, that is not a great outcome for that individual, so we’re looking for some kind of relief or reform. And when ultimately we had that long conversation with the individual … we came to a much better resolution. We both were more understanding of each other.” House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., did not appear as frustrated as some of his colleagues but predicted “it will die in the Senate.” The House GOP’s healthcare plan, which did not include an extension of the subsidies, passed last week with support from all Republicans, save for Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky. It got no Democratic “yes” votes. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that enacting the bill would reduce the federal deficit by $35.6 billion for a 10-year period through 2035. If the bill became law, it would also decrease the number of people with health insurance by an average of 100,000 per year between 2027–2035 and lower gross benchmark premium costs by an average 11% through 2035, CBO said. However, it’s not immediately clear whether it will be taken up by the Senate.
Salah scores goal as Egypt rally to win against Zimbabwe at AFCON 2025
Mohamed Salah puts Liverpool controversy behind him with dramatic winner against Zimbabwe in their AFCON opener. By News Agencies Published On 23 Dec 202523 Dec 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Mohamed Salah snatched a dramatic stoppage-time winner as Egypt came from behind to beat Zimbabwe 2-1 in their first fixture at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals in Morocco on Monday. Egypt’s captain, starting his first game after four successive matches on the bench at Liverpool, fired home a left-footed effort in the 91st minute to earn the seven-time champions a late victory after Zimbabwe had stunned them by going ahead in the first half. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Egypt laid an early siege to Zimbabwe’s goal, but it was the underdogs who netted first through Prince Dube in the 20th minute. It was left to Egypt’s Premier League contingent of Omar Marmoush, who equalised in the 64th minute, and talisman Salah to see them to a last-gasp victory. Salah had come into the tournament in Morocco under the spotlight following a fiery outburst after being dropped by the Premier League champions, and struggled to find his rhythm for most of the match at the Grande Stade d’Agadir. When it counted, however, he swept home the winner to see Egypt join South Africa, who beat Angola 2-1 earlier in Marrakesh, at the top of Group B. It was as much as Egypt deserved, breaking a run of six successive draws over the last two editions of the Cup of Nations. They had four good chances in the opening 10 minutes as they put Zimbabwe under intense pressure but fell behind when Emmanuel Jalai fed the ball inside for Dube, who turned in possession and placed his effort into the bottom left corner. It could have been 2-0 as Daniel Msendami’s pace set up a scrambled chance for Washington Navaya that Egypt goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy managed to gather before it could be bundled over the line. Salah, centre, puts Egypt ahead 2-1 in stoppage time [Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images] Marmoush sole effect Marmoush equalised in the 64th minute, picking up a long pass on the left wing before cutting inside and firing home with his right foot from an acute angle for a superb solo goal. Advertisement “We created many chances without being able to score early, but in the end everything went well,” Marmoush said. “We kept a good mindset and finished the match strongly. We will learn from everything that happened in tonight’s game.” Substitute Ahmed Zizo should have headed home at the back post from Mohamed Hamdy’s inviting cross but put his effort wide, and missed again four minutes from the end when Salah teed him up with a good chance. It was left to Salah to secure the three points, holding off his marker to bring the ball under control before steering it home for his first goal since early last month. In the next set of Group B fixtures, Egypt meet South Africa in Agadir on Boxing Day while Zimbabwe and Angola clash on Friday in Marrakesh. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war live: One killed in Kyiv, dozens injured across Ukraine
blinking-dotLive updatesLive updates, The large-scale Russian attacks come two days after US-led peace talks end in Miami. Published On 23 Dec 202523 Dec 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Adblock test (Why?)
Video: Maduro rejects Trump’s warning against ‘acting tough’
NewsFeed US President Donald Trump warned Nicolas Maduro to ‘not play tough’ and to step down on Monday, while the Venezuelan leader said Trump should focus on the issues in his own country. Trump told reporters the US will keep 1.9 million barrels of oil that were seized near Venezuela in December. Published On 23 Dec 202523 Dec 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Adblock test (Why?)
FACTCHECK: Your social media accounts, email can be accessed by Income Tax dept from April 1? Here’s what you need to know
The government has refused a social media claim that the Income Tax Department will gain broad access to private digital data, including emails and social media accounts, starting April 1, 2026. The government labeled the information as “misleading.”
White House says no to Catholic bishops’ call for Christmas pause in immigration enforcement
Florida’s Catholic bishops made an appeal on Monday for a pause in immigration enforcement for the Christmas holidays, but the White House said operations will continue. The appeal to President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was issued by Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski and signed by seven other members of the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops. “The border has been secured,” Wenski wrote. “The initial work of identifying and removing dangerous criminals has been accomplished to a great degree. Over half a million people have been deported this year, and nearly two million more have voluntarily self-deported.” “At this point, the maximum enforcement approach of treating irregular immigrants en masse means that now many of these arrest operations inevitably sweep up numbers of people who are not criminals but just here to work,” he continued. “It should be noted that a significant majority of those detained in Alligator Alcatraz have no criminal background.” US CATHOLIC BISHOPS PRESIDENT SAYS DEPORTATIONS INSTILLING ‘FEAR’ IN ‘WIDESPREAD MANNER’: ‘CONCERNS US ALL’ He noted that migrant sweeps sometimes include people with legal authorization to be in the U.S. and that surveys show Americans believe immigration enforcement operations are going too far. “Eventually these cases may be resolved, but this takes many months causing great sorrow for their families … A climate of fear and anxiety is infecting not only the irregular migrant but also family members and neighbors who are legally in the country,” Wenski said. “Since these effects are part of enforcement operations, we request that the government pause apprehension and round-up activities during the Christmas season,” he said. “Such a pause would show a decent regard for the humanity of these families. Now is not the time to be callous toward the suffering caused by immigration enforcement.” The White House did not directly address the appeal for a holiday pause, but did say that enforcement activities would be business as usual. “President Trump was elected based on his promise to the American people to deport criminal illegal aliens. And he’s keeping that promise,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement to The Associated Press. Wenski, like many other Catholic leaders, has been an outspoken advocate for treating illegal immigrants humanely. DHS PACKAGES LATEST ICE ARRESTS AS ‘CHRISTMAS GIFT TO AMERICANS’ In September, he joined other Catholic leaders on a panel at Georgetown University criticizing the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown for splitting up families, inciting fear and upending church life. Wenski also cited the contributions illegal immigrants make to the U.S. economy. “If you ask people in agriculture, you ask in the service industry, you ask people in health care, you ask the people in the construction field, and they’ll tell you that some of their best workers are immigrants,” Wenski said. “Enforcement is always going to be part of any immigration policy, but we have to rationalize it and humanize it.” Wenski has joined the “Knights on Bikes” ministry, an initiative led by the Knights of Columbus that brings attention to the spiritual needs of migrants held at immigration detention centers, including “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Florida Everglades. He recalled praying a rosary in the scorching heat outside its walls before receiving permission just days later to celebrate Mass inside the facility. “The fact that we invite these detainees to pray, even in this very dehumanizing situation, is a way of emphasizing and invoking their dignity,” he said. Last month, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops adopted a “special message” in which they slammed Trump’s mass deportation agenda and the “vilification” of illegal immigrants, expressing concern over the fear and anxiety immigration raids are stoking in communities, as well as the denial of pastoral care in detention centers. CHARLOTTE CHURCH DEPICTS ICE ARRESTING HOLY FAMILY IN TRUMP-ERA NATIVITY SCENE The special message was endorsed by Pope Leo XIV and Bishop Ronald Hicks, who the pontiff recently named as the next archbishop of New York, replacing conservative Cardinal Timothy Dolan as the leader of the country’s second-largest Catholic diocese. Dolan announced earlier this year he would resign upon turning 75, which is required by Catholic law. “I think we have to look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have,” Leo said last month. “If people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to treat that. There are courts, there’s a system of justice.” The pope has previously urged local bishops to speak out on social justice concerns and has suggested that people who support the “inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States” may not be pro-life. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
FCC announces ban on new Chinese-made drones over national security concerns
The Federal Communications Commission announced on Monday that it would ban new foreign-made drones, citing national security concerns. The FCC said it was adding uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) and their critical components made in China and other foreign countries to its “covered list” that features equipment that has been determined to pose an “unacceptable risk” to U.S. national security and the safety of Americans. Specific drones or components would be exempt if the Pentagon or Department of Homeland Security determined they did not pose such risks. The distinction prohibits the products from being sold or imported in the U.S. The order does not apply to technology that has already been sold in the U.S. The agency said that allowing foreign-made UAS and component parts to be sold in the U.S. “undermines the resiliency of our UAS industrial base, increases the risk to our national airspace, and creates a potential for large-scale attacks during large gatherings,” citing upcoming events such as the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. FLORIDA TO USE HUNDREDS OF CONFISCATED CHINESE-MANUFACTURED DRONES AS TARGET PRACTICE FOR US MILITARY “Criminals, terrorists, and hostile foreign actors have intensified their weaponization of these technologies, creating new and serious threats to our homeland,” the FCC said in its notice. The announcement comes a year after a defense bill was adopted that raised national security concerns about Chinese-made drones, which have been used in farming, mapping, law enforcement and filmmaking. The bill called for stopping two Chinese companies — DJI and Autel — from selling new drones in the U.S. if a review found they posed a risk to U.S. national security. A spokesperson for DJI said in a statement that it is “disappointed” by the FCC’s decision and that “no information has been released regarding what information was used” in the government’s determination to add its drones and component parts to the covered list. “Concerns about DJI’s data security have not been grounded in evidence and instead reflect protectionism, contrary to the principles of an open market,” the statement said. The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party praised the FCC’s move, saying it “strongly supports” the decision. HEGSETH TEARS UP RED TAPE, ORDERS PENTAGON TO BEGIN DRONE SURGE AT TRUMP’S COMMAND “It will help safeguard our national security, protect the American people, and wind down the unacceptable national security threat posed by DJI and other Chinese drones,” the committee wrote on X. “Taken together with the Administration’s recent executive actions to accelerate domestic drone commercialization, this sends an unmistakable signal to American industry: The U.S. is open for drone innovation—and American manufacturing will be rewarded,” it added. Arthur Erickson, chief executive officer and co-founder of the Texas-based drone-making company Hylio, told The Associated Press that the departure of DJI would provide more opportunity for American companies like his to grow. He said new investments are coming in to help him boost production of spray drones, which farmers use to fertilize their fields, and it will bring down prices. But Erickson also called it “crazy” and “unexpected” that the FCC would expand the restrictions to all foreign-made drones and their components. “The way it’s written is a blanket statement,” Erickson said. “There’s a global-allied supply chain. I hope they will clarify that.” The Associated Press contributed to this report.