Texas capital murder case attempts to severely punish abortion pill use by treating a fetus as a person
A North Texas man charged with capital murder after slipping mifepristone into his girlfriend’s food signals another attempt to rein in abortion pills.
Texas lawmakers have gotten used to state budget surpluses. That era may be ending.
As federal pandemic aid ends and sales tax revenues cool, analysts say it could constrain the Texas Legislature in coming years. But they don’t see an immediate budget crisis on the horizon.
Sen. John Cornyn looks to overcome Paxton primary challenge by embracing Trump
As he faces the toughest electoral challenge of his career, Cornyn has also wielded his powers as a U.S. senator to lean into partisan issues prized by the GOP base.
Americans weigh in on Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’: polls
President Donald Trump is cheering on the GOP’s landmark spending and tax cut bill, as it faces judgment day in the Senate. “ONE GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL, is moving along nicely!” the president wrote in a social media post hours before the Senate on Monday began to take a slew of votes on the Republican-crafted measure. The bill, which the president is insisting pass Congress and reach his desk by this Friday, July 4, is stuffed full of Trump’s campaign trail promises and second-term priorities on tax cuts, immigration, defense, energy and the debt limit. It includes extending his signature 2017 tax cuts and eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay, providing billions for border security and codifying his controversial immigration crackdown. SENATOR’S ENTER VOTE-A-RAMA ON TRUMP’S MASSIVE BUDGET BILL However, many of the latest national surveys indicate that Americans are far from thrilled with the measure. By a 21-point margin, voters questioned in the most recent Fox News national poll opposed the federal budget legislation (38% favored vs. 59% opposed), which passed by the House of Representatives by just one vote last month. HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLING The bill was also underwater in national surveys conducted this month by the Washington Post (minus 19 points), Pew Research (minus 20 points) and Quinnipiac University (minus 26 points). As Democrats attack the bill, they’re highlighting the GOP’s proposed restructuring of Medicaid — the nearly 60-year-old federal program that provides health coverage to roughly 71 million low-income Americans. Additionally, Senate Republicans increased cuts to Medicaid over what the House passed. DEMOCATS’ DELAY TACTIC ENDS, DEBATE BEGINS ON TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ The changes to Medicaid, as well as cuts to food stamps, another one of the nation’s major safety net programs, were drafted in part as an offset to pay for extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which are set to expire later this year. The measure includes a slew of new rules and regulations, including work requirements for many of those seeking Medicaid coverage. Meanwhile, Republicans criticize Democrats opposing the bill for voting to increase taxes on most Americans. About half of respondents questioned in the Fox News poll said the bill would hurt their family (49%), while one quarter thought it would help (23%), and another quarter didn’t think it would make a difference (26%). Sixty percent felt they had a good understanding of what is in the measure, formally known as the One, Big, Beautiful Bill, and while those voters were more likely to favor the legislation than those who are unfamiliar with it, more still think it will hurt rather than help their family (45% vs. 34%). The latest surveys all indicate a wide partisan divide over the measure. According to the Fox News poll, which was conducted June 13-16, nearly three-quarters of Republicans (73%) favored the bill, while nearly nine in ten Democrats (89%) and nearly three-quarters of independents (73%) opposed the measure. Fox News’ Dana Blanton contributed to this report.
Key House GOP moderate Don Bacon won’t seek re-election
A House GOP centrist from a key battleground district, Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., announced Monday that he will not seek re-election next year. “After 30 years in the Air Force and 10 years in Congress, it’s time to spend my future with the love of my life, our four kids, and our wonderful grandchildren. Thank you, Nebraska!” Bacon said Monday. Bacon’s announcement comes as Congress works overtime to pass President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” by their self-imposed July 4 deadline. Through the reconciliation process, the megabill seeks to deliver on the president’s key campaign promises, including tax cuts, immigration reform and energy production. The moderate Republican has built a reputation for bucking Trump’s agenda in the House. While Bacon ultimately voted with his Republican colleagues to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last month, the Nebraska Republican had concerns about the impact of proposed Medicaid cuts. THOM TILLIS ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT FROM SENATE AFTER CLASH WITH TRUMP Bacon indicated earlier this month that he would vote against the White House’s rescission proposal if it cuts an AIDS relief program. Last month, he was the only Republican who voted against a House bill to make Trump’s name change for the Gulf of America permanent. Bacon, a loyal Ukraine supporter, has also criticized Trump’s position on its war with Russia. REPUBLICAN REP INDICATES HE’S ‘A NO’ ON TRUMP-BACKED RESCISSIONS MEASURE Surrounded by his family in Omaha on Monday morning, Bacon thanked his constituents and his family for their support throughout his political career. When asked how he plans to vote on Trump’s megabill this week, Bacon said he will have to weigh his decision once the Senate version is finalized this week. “I think the Senate has done some new provisions in there that are concerning… But there’s a lot of amendments being voted out today. So I’m going to keep my powder dry, see how it turns out,” Bacon told reporters. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., announced Sunday he would also not seek re-election next year. Like Bacon, Tillis has been willing to buck Trump and the Republican Party on key issues, including the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Tillis was one of just two Republicans who voted against a procedural vote on the bill in the Senate this weekend. Bacon has represented Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District since 2017. He won re-election in 2024 by less than two percentage points. Former Vice President Kamala Harris won his district by almost five percentage points in 2024. Nebraska is one of just two states that splits its Electoral College votes in presidential elections by congressional district. Bacon’s congressional district was already a high-target House seat for Democrats ahead of the competitive 2026 midterm elections. “The writing has been on the wall for months,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) spokesperson Madison Andrus said on Friday. “Nebraskans are tired of the false promises that Republicans are trying to sell, and they want real results. Don Bacon’s decision to not seek re-election in 2026 is the latest vote of no-confidence for House Republicans and their electoral prospects. Next November, Nebraskans are going to elect a Democrat who will actually deliver for them,” Andrus added. In a statement released Monday, Bacon said, “I’d like to dedicate more time to my family, my church, and the Omaha community.” Bacon, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, chairs the House Armed Services Committee’s (HASC) Cyber, Information Technologies and Innovation Subcommittee (CITI) for the 119th Congress. He vowed to continue delivering for Nebraskans “until the lights in the office are turned off for the last time.” “Legislatively, I aim to work to get five agricultural bills passed that were included as part of the Farm Bill, including the increase of defenses for our nation’s food supply chain and removing barriers for the next generation of farmers seeking to establish their operations. I will continue my work on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and lay the groundwork for a new VA hospital in Omaha.” Fox News’ Matt Reidy contributed to this report.
Supreme Court to hear Republican challenge that could shake up US elections
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to take up a Republican-led challenge to U.S. campaign finance restrictions that limit the amount of money that political parties can spend on behalf of certain candidates. The case, National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission, was originally appealed to the court by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), and on behalf of two Senate Republican candidates running for election at the time — among them, now-Vice President JD Vance. It centers on whether federal limits on campaign spending by political parties run afoul of free speech protections under the First Amendment of the Constitution. In asking the Supreme Court to review the case, petitioners said the spending limits “severely restrict political party committees from doing what the First Amendment entitles them to do: fully associate with and advocate for their own candidates for federal office.” CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS SOUNDS ALARM ON DANGEROUS RHETORIC AIMED AT JUDGES FROM POLITICIANS A decision from the Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority could have major implications on campaign spending in the U.S., further eroding the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, a law Congress passed more than 50 years ago with the aim of restricting the amount of money that can be spent on behalf of candidates. The case comes as federal election spending has reached record highs: Presidential candidates in 2024 raised at least $2 billion and spent roughly $1.8 billion in 2024, according to FEC figures. The challenge will almost certainly be among the most high-profile cases to be heard by the Supreme Court in the upcoming term. The Trump-led Justice Department also said it will side with the NRSC in arguing the case, putting the administration in the somewhat unusual move of arguing against laws passed by Congress. The Democratic National Committee, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, meanwhile, have asked to defend the decision of a lower appeals court that ruled in 2024 to keep the limits in place. JUDGES V TRUMP: HERE ARE THE KEY COURT BATTLES HALTING THE WHITE HOUSE AGENDA The Justice Department cited free speech protections as its basis for siding with the NRSC, saying their decision to do so represents “the rare case that warrants an exception to that general approach” of backing federal laws.” Oral arguments will be held in the fall.
Trump admin probe accuses Harvard of discriminating against Jewish students, threatens to pull all funding
The Trump administration has issued Harvard a “Notice of Violation” under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act for its handling of alleged discrimination against Jewish students on campus, emphasizing that it must adopt changes or lose all federal funding. In a letter to Harvard President Alan Garber, obtained by Fox News Digital, the multi-agency Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism wrote that the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has finished its investigation into alleged antisemitism at the university. “After a thorough investigation, HHS OCR finds that Harvard University is in violent violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin,” the letter reads. “The enclosed Notice of Violation details the findings of fact supporting a conclusion that Harvard has been in some cases deliberately indifferent, and in others has been a willful participant in anti-Semitic harassment of Jewish students, faculty, and staff,” it continued. HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL ANNOUNCES LAYOFFS AFTER TRUMP CUT BILLIONS IN FUNDING The OCR investigation found that “specific and repeated examples” it uncovered establish a pattern of “unlawful and unchecked discrimination” at Harvard through direct student-on-student harassment, targeted harassment by student groups, exclusion from campus spaces and institutional-level acceptance of antisemitism, according to the notice obtained by Fox News Digital. The letter said, as an example of harassment and discrimination, that the majority of Jewish students reported experiencing negative bias or discrimination on campus, while a quarter felt physically unsafe. Other examples cited were Jewish and Israeli students reporting that they were assaulted and spit on and that they concealed their Jewish identity from classmates over fear of ostracization. An image circulated across the campus community that showed a dollar sign inside a Star of David and the campus was vandalized with various stickers, including one that showed the Israeli flag with a swastika in place of the Star of David, the letter states. The letter also pointed to the anti-Israel demonstrations on campus in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on the Jewish State. “The campus was wracked by demonstrations that flagrantly violated the University’s rules of conduct. The demonstrations included calls for genocide and murder, and denied Jewish and Israeli students access to campus spaces,” it reads, adding that students who participated in the encampment demonstrations “received lax and inconsistent discipline.” “By the end of the process, even accounting only for the students that were charged, only a fraction received some sort of discipline, and none were suspended,” it added. The letter said Harvard “did not dispute our findings of fact, nor could it” and that the school’s “inaction in the face of these civil rights violations is a clear example of the demographic hierarchy that has taken hold of the University.” “Equal defense of the law demands that all groups, regardless of race or national origin, are protected,” the letter reads. “Harvard’s commitment to racial hierarchies—where individuals are sorted and judged according to their membership in an oppressed group identity and not individual merit—has enabled anti-Semitism to fester on Harvard’s campus and has led a once great institution to humiliation, offering remedial math and forcing Jewish students to hide their identities and ancestral stories.” Harvard was informed that the failure to immediately institute adequate changes would lead to the loss of all federal financial resources and continue to affect its relationship with the federal government. The university, the letter notes, “may of course continue to operate free of federal privileges, and perhaps such an opportunity will spur a commitment to excellence that will help Harvard thrive once again.” HARVARD WEIGHS HOW TO STRIKE DEAL WITH TRUMP ADMIN WITHOUT LOOKING LIKE IT CAVED: REPORT The Trump administration has already moved to cut billions of dollars in federal research funding for Harvard, in part, over its handling of alleged antisemitism and violence on campus amid anti-Israel protests. In a recent email to faculty and staff, Harvard Kennedy School Dean Jeremy Weinstein announced staff layoffs at Kennedy, citing “unprecedented new headwinds” creating “significant financial challenges,” including a “substantial proposed increase in the endowment tax” and “massive cuts to federal funding of research.” “Harvard holds the regrettable distinction of being among the most prominent and visible breeding grounds for race discrimination,” the letter to Harvard’s president reads, noting the 2023 Supreme Court decision that found that race-based affirmative action programs in college admissions violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. “That legacy of discrimination persists with Harvard’s continued anti-Semitism. Any institution that refuses to meet its duties under federal law may not receive a wide range of federal privileges.”
Senators enter marathon vote-a-rama as Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ deadline barrels near
Senate Republicans are inching closer to a final vote on President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” but face one more obstacle before lawmakers go on record on the president’s ambitious agenda. Lawmakers wrapped up several hours of debate on the megabill that began Sunday afternoon and petered out early Monday morning. The next hurdle is the marathon “vote-a-rama,” when lawmakers on either side of the aisle can submit an unlimited number of amendments to the bill. DEM DELAY TACTIC ENDS, DEBATE BEGINS ON TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ Senate Republicans will use the time to further change and mold the bill to sate holdouts, while Democrats will inflict as much pain, and burn as much time as possible, with amendments designed to kneecap or outright kill the legislation. The debate was largely a predictably partisan affair filled with floor charts, impassioned gesticulating fists and pleas to either pass or nuke the bill. Senate Democrats railed against the bill for its slew of changes to Medicaid, green energy tax subsidies and how the bill, particularly its design to make Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Job act permanent, would balloon the federal deficit. SENATE REPUBLICANS RAM TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ THROUGH KEY TEST VOTE Republicans lauded the “big, beautiful bill” for the growth it could supercharge in the country, and in particular, how important it was to prevent the president’s first-term tax cuts from lapsing. “I say to everybody in America who’s been hearing all of the politics of fear, about what we’re doing here and running up the deficit, [they] need to remember that only in Washington, D.C., is the refusal to raise your taxes an increase in the deficit,” Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, said. “And we’re not going to let that happen.” Lawmakers kicked off the debate with a back and forth on whether Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., or the Senate parliamentarian had the authority to dictate if Republicans could use the current policy baseline, the budget gimmick the GOP argues would negate their tax bill from ballooning the deficit, or current law, which would show the real cost of Trump’s tax package over the next decade. “Republicans can use whatever budgetary gimmicks they want to try and make the math work on paper, but you can’t paper over the real-life consequences of adding tens of trillions to the debt,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ FACES REPUBLICAN FAMILY FEUD AS SENATE REVEALS ITS FINAL TEXT The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released two sets of scores Saturday and Sunday that reflected both current policy and current law. Under current policy, the bill would tack on just over $507 billion over the next decade. But under current law, the package would add roughly $3.3 trillion. Graham countered that as budget chair, he has the right to set the numbers. “The resolution we’re operating under to get us here, we voted to make that the case so we’re not doing anything sneaky,” he said. “We actually voted to give me the authority to do this, and it passed.” Graham also went to bat for the GOP’s planned cuts to Medicaid, which they have presented as efforts to root out waste, fraud and abuse in the program by instilling work requirements, booting illegal migrants off the benefit rolls, and making changes to just how much the federal government would pay states. NATIONAL DEBT TRACKER: AMERICAN TAXPAYERS (YOU) ARE NOW ON THE HOOK FOR $36,215,806,064,740.36 AS OF 6/27/25 He argued that since former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act became law, Medicaid has grown exponentially, largely because Obama “incentivized” states to opt in to the Medicaid expansion program and allowed for able-bodied working-age adults to get onto the benefit rolls, something he noted that Medicaid was “never intended” to do. “It’s a good thing for the individual involved to be working,” he said. “It’s a good thing for the taxpayer, for them to be working. But that seems to be a crime on the other side, to ask somebody to work that can work.” Not all Republicans were aligned in their passion to pass Trump’s bill. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., torched the legislative behemoth in a fiery floor speech that railed against the deficit-adding effect the bill would have. He and Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., both voted against advancing the bill through a key procedural hurdle late Saturday night. Tillis, who largely agrees with many of the tweaks to Medicaid, railed against the changes to the provider tax rate and accused the president of being duped by his healthcare advisors in the White House. He said he would remain against the bill until lawmakers took the time to actually unpack what their Medicaid proposals would do to the states, adding, “What’s wrong with actually understanding what this bill does?” “Republicans are about to make a mistake on healthcare and betraying a promise,” he warned. “What do I tell 663,000 people in two or three years, when President Trump breaks his promise by pushing them off of Medicaid because the funding isn’t there anymore?” Paul, who has taken issue with the addition of a $5 trillion hike to the debt ceiling baked into the bill, reaffirmed that he would be voting against the megabill during final passage. “In deciding whether to vote for the ‘big, not-so-beautiful bill,’ I’ve asked a very specific question: Will the deficit be more or less next year? The answer, without question, is this bill will grow the deficit,” he said.
Tillis denounces Trump ‘big, beautiful bill’ hours after surprise retirement announcement
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., denounced President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” just hours after making the surprise announcement that he would not run for a third term in 2026. Tillis voted against a motion to proceed with the spending package on Saturday and then announced his retirement on Sunday, citing political polarization and a desire to spend more time with family. He then took to the Senate floor later Sunday to warn that “Republicans are about to make a mistake on healthcare and betraying a promise” on Medicaid should the package clear the upper chamber. TRUMP REACTS TO TILLIS NOT SEEKING RE-ELECTION, SENDS WARNING TO ‘COST CUTTING REPUBLICANS’ “It is inescapable that this bill in its current form will betray the very promise that Donald J. Trump made in the Oval Office or in the Cabinet room when I was there with finance. He said, ‘We can go after waste, fraud and abuse’ on any programs,” Tillis said. “Now, those amateurs that are advising him, not Dr. Oz, I’m talking about White House healthcare experts, refuse to tell him that those instructions that were to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse, all of a sudden eliminates a government program that’s called the provider tax. We have morphed a legal construct that admittedly has been abused and should be eliminated into waste, fraud and abuse, money laundering. Read the code. Look how long it’s been there.” “I’m telling the president that you have been misinformed,” Tillis said. “You supporting the Senate mark will hurt people who are eligible and qualified for Medicaid.” “I love the work requirement. I love the other reforms in this bill. They are necessary, and I appreciate the leadership of the House for putting it in there,” Tillis said. “But what we’re doing, because we have a view of an artificial deadline on July 4, that means nothing but another date in time. We could take the time to get this right if we lay down the House mark of the Medicaid bill and fix it.” The two-term senator said he consulted with Republican experts in the state legislature, Democrats loyal to Gov. Josh Stein and an independent body from the hospitals’ association to gain insight on how the provider tax cuts would impact North Carolinians. In the best-case scenario, he said, the findings showed a $26 billion cut in federal support for Medicaid. Tillis said he presented the report to the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Dr. Mehmet Oz. “After three different attempts for them to discredit our estimates, the day before yesterday they admitted that we were right,” Tillis said. “They can’t find a hole in my estimate.” SCOOP: HOUSE REPUBLICAN EYES BID FOR THOM TILLIS SENATE SEAT AFTER TRUMP ATTACK “So what do I tell 663,000 people in two years or three years when President Trump breaks his promise by pushing them off of Medicaid because the funding is not there anymore, guys?” Tillis said. “I think the people in the White House, those advising the president are not telling him that the effect of this bill is to break a promise, and do you know the last time I saw a promise broken around healthcare? With respect to my friends on the other side of the aisle, it’s when somebody said, ‘If you like your healthcare, you could keep it, if you like your doctor, you could keep it.’ We found out that wasn’t true.” In promoting the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, from 2009 to 2010, former President Barack Obama repeatedly claimed, “If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep it. If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.” Tillis argued that it was the failures of that package that led to him becoming the second Republican Speaker of the North Carolina House since the Civil War and later to his election to the U.S. Senate. Trump celebrated Tillis’ retirement announcement and issued a warning to other “cost-cutting Republicans.” “For all cost-cutting Republicans, of which I am one, REMEMBER, you still have to get reelected. Don’t go too crazy!” Trump wrote Sunday night. “We will make it all up, times 10, with GROWTH, more than ever before.” After his Senate speech, Tillis told reporters that he had told Trump that he “probably needed to start looking for a replacement.” “I told him I want to help him,” Tillis said, according to Politico. “I hope that we get a good candidate that I can help and we can have a successful 2026.” The senator told reporters Trump is “getting a lot of advice from people who have never governed and all they’ve done is written white papers.” He condemned “people from an ivory tower driving him into a box canyon.” In his retirement announcement, Tillis said that “it’s become increasingly evident that leaders who are willing to embrace bipartisanship, compromise, and demonstrate independent thinking are becoming an endangered species.”
Interior cancels $14M annual fishing grant cited in Fox report after DOGE highlights Disney ads, salaries
EXCLUSIVE: A multi-year grant to a Washington-area nonprofit focused on promoting fishing, boating and outdoor activities was canceled by the Interior Department after Senate DOGE leadership flagged the original Fox News Digital report to the Cabinet agency. More than $26 million has already been paid out – on top of $164 million since 2012 – to the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation (RBFF), based in Alexandria, Virginia. From the government website USA Spending, the grant’s purpose highlights RBFF’s “Take Me Fishing” consumer campaign that includes a social and digital media component, as well as ads on Walt Disney Company-branded streaming services and “mobile fishing units” that cater to urban communities and “underserved audiences.” At least $40.5 million will be saved in the near-term, the Senate DOGE Caucus told Fox News Digital, citing Interior’s response. DOGE SENATOR TELLS OUTDOORS GROUP TO ‘GO FISH’ AFTER DISCOVERING MASSIVE GRANT TIED TO HIGH SALARIES “Today’s catch of the day is Washington waste,” said Senate DOGE Caucus Chairwoman Joni Ernst, R-Iowa. “I am proud to have exposed bloated overhead costs and worked with Secretary Burgum to ensure tax dollars collected to boost fishing are not siphoned into the pockets of slick D.C.-based consultants.” “There’s more pork in the sea, and I am going to keep fishing for it!” Burgum’s office struck a similar tone, saying the agency is committed to fiscal responsibility, efficiency and accountability – while still fully supporting the recreational boating, fishing and outdoors industries. A spokeswoman for the agency, which oversees the National Park Service that provides outlets for all of the above, said that “under President Donald J. Trump’s leadership, we are ensuring that every taxpayer dollar serves a clear purpose and aligns with our core mission.” “Following a review of discretionary spending, the Department determined that the use of this particular [RBFF] grant had not demonstrated sufficient alignment with program goals or responsible stewardship of taxpayer resources,” Charlotte Taylor said. The grant, largely funded by excise taxes on fishing poles, came under DOGE scrutiny when Ernst discovered an RBFF contract with Disney worth $1.99 million plus hundreds of thousands in “SEO consulting,” and $5 million to a Minnesota creative media development agency. Several RBFF executives are paid from the mid-$100,000s on up. DOGE CAUCUS SENATOR PUSHES FOR END TO SLUSH FUND FOR PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES In part of a lengthy response to the grant’s cancellation, RBFF officials told Fox News Digital the organization has “devised a plan we believe would meet the goals and priorities of the administration, which includes adjusted employee compensation, reduced headcount and updated investment priorities.” But the group claimed it has not been able to connect directly with DOGE or Interior during the grant review process “despite repeated outreach attempts during the past three months.” A source familiar with the situation indicated the group had met with Ernst’s office, and Taylor said Burgum’s office did meet with RBFF in Washington earlier this month and has been in contact “multiple” times: “Anything to say otherwise is inaccurate.” “Since 1998, [RBFF] has helped build what has become a $230.5 billion industry that supports 1.1 million American jobs, generates $263 million in tax revenue, and contributes $2 billion annually to fisheries and conservation efforts in all 50 states,” RBFF’s statement continued. “Alarmingly, in just the past two months since RBFF’s funding has been paused, fishing license sales are down 8.6% across 16 states, representing the loss of over $590 million in angler spending and 5,600 jobs.” Several other groups came to RBFF’s defense. Matt Gruhn, president of the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas, told Fox News Digital he was disappointed in Interior’s decision to terminate the grant. “[RBFF’s] work was pivotal to enhancing the recreational boating and fishing industry’s recruitment, retention and reactivation efforts. Their training and resources vastly improved state agency processes and marketing and has made boating and fishing licensing and registration far easier for Americans,” Gruhn said. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “RBFF has been a responsible steward of these taxpayer dollars from the very beginning, with oversight from the very stakeholders that paid into the fund that RBFF’s grant originates from, as well as passing every audit with flying colors.” Additionally, the head of the American Sportfishing Association warned of the “severe impact” the loss of grant money will have on the outdoors industry. CEO Glenn Hughes said his organization’s members agreed in 1950 to self-impose a tax on fishing rods to reinvest back into the industry and bolster license sales, habitat conservation and more. The RBFF’s “Take Me Fishing” campaign began in 1998 with congressional funding from the tackle tax. Hughes claimed the effort has generated a total of $230.5 billion in economic impact since. “Without consultation and coordination with the recreational fishing industry, the Department of the Interior decided to withhold critical funding from RBFF, ultimately ending a 27-year history of increasing fishing participation and efforts to bolster the economic impact of the fishing industry.”