PM Modi to inaugurate Sela Tunnel in Arunachal Pradesh today
The completion of the Sela tunnel underscores India’s efforts to bolster border infrastructure, particularly in light of China’s accelerated development in its frontier areas.
Texas federal judge dismisses Ken Paxton’s lawsuit against Biden’s immigration program
The Trump-appointed judge has previously ruled against the Biden administration in other immigration-related lawsuits brought by Texas. This time, he said, Texas has no standing to sue.
Senate passes multi-billion-dollar funding package to avoid government shutdown
The Senate passed a $460 billion package of spending bills to avert a partial government shutdown ahead of the first funding deadline Friday. Lawmakers spent the majority of Friday considering motions related to the slate of bills and debating the package following President Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday night. The votes were 75-22 in favor, and the package now goes to Biden for him to sign. FORMER PRESIDENTIAL SPEECHWRITERS REACT TO BIDEN’S ADDRESS Bills funding Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the Departments of Justice and Commerce, Energy and Water Development, the Department of Interior, and Transportation and Housing for the remainder of fiscal year 2024 were ultimately approved by senators and will head to President Biden’s desk to be signed. However, the upper chamber cleared the midnight shutdown deadline by only a number of hours, with a significant faction of mostly Republicans opposing each step of Senate procedure. On the motion to invoke cloture on the bills to limit debate, which requires a 60-vote threshold in the body, the chamber voted 63-35, only narrowly avoiding a potential filibuster. Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, noted on the floor that the choice of many Republicans to oppose cloture on the bill was not because they want to see a shutdown, but because they were denied votes on several amendments, particularly those relating to immigration. SEN RAND PAUL DEMANDS FAUCI, NIH SCIENTISTS DISCLOSE PHARMACEUTICAL ROYALTIES The Senate also struggled to establish a time agreement to quickly move the package through the chamber. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who serves as vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, offered a “warning” to her fellow Republicans ahead of the vote over their hesitance to support the package. “If we do not act at midnight tonight, we will have a partial government shutdown,” she said in floor remarks. “It will affect the Department of Agriculture. It will impair the work of the Food and Drug Administration. It will prevent military construction projects from going forward.” HOUSE PASSES $460 BILLION GOVERNMENT FUNDING BILL BLASTED BY GOP HARDLINERS The package was first passed by the House on Wednesday by a vote of 339-85. Several Republican senators had expressed skepticism prior to the vote, pointing to the number of earmarks included. A number of these concerned Republicans joined a resolution to condemn the use of earmarks in budget appropriations. Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., Mike Braun, R-Ind., Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Roger Marshall, R-Kan., held a press conference on Wednesday, during which they slammed the current process for not allowing debate on various earmarks by individual lawmakers. SOTU GUEST CONCEIVED IN RAPE CHALLENGES BIDEN ON ABORTION: ‘I AM THAT ONE PERCENT’ “The minibus spending bill has more than 6,600 projects that will cost taxpayers $12 billion,” Scott said in a statement. “This clearly isn’t about funding the government, it’s about funding pet projects for politicians like Chuck Schumer.” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., revealed on Wednesday his intent to vote against the measure, with a different justification. “Buried in the appropriations bill being voted on this week is a terrible new gun policy rider that significantly rolls back the firearms background check system. You need to know about this – it’s bad enough that I will vote against the entire bill,” he said in a statement. HOUSE REPUBLICANS SHARPEN THEIR KNIVES AHEAD OF BIDEN’S STATE OF THE UNION, SAY THEY EXPECT ‘MORE GASLIGHTING’ The second funding deadline is March 22, and spending bills are still being negotiated for consideration. Bills to fund the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon will be included in the second slate of appropriations measures. Last month’s week-long stopgap funding measure became the fourth of its kind since the initial appropriations bill deadline to fund the government for the year on Sept. 30. Part of the justification among House Republicans who ensured the removal of former California Rep. Kevin McCarthy from the speakership was his failure to keep promises, including passing appropriations bills in regular order. However, newly minted Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has struggled to get funding bills passed without the use of stopgap measures, especially amid a shrinking Republican majority.
Texas Supreme Court refuses to hear ethics lawsuits brought by conservative activist Michael Quinn Sullivan
In 2014, and following a two-year investigation, the Texas Ethics Commission fined Sullivan $10,000 for failing to register as a lobbyist.
Program that allows 30,000 migrants from 4 countries into the US each month upheld by judge
VICTORIA, Texas (AP) — A federal judge in Texas on Friday upheld a key piece of President Joe Biden’s immigration policy that allows a limited number of migrants from four countries to enter the U.S. on humanitarian grounds, dismissing a challenge from Republican-led states that said the program created an economic burden on them. BLOODTHIRSTY VENEZUELAN GANG TREN DE ARAGUA SETS UP SHOP IN US AS BORDER AUTHORITIES SOUND ALARM U.S. District Judge Drew B. Tipton in Victoria, Texas, ruled in favor of the humanitarian parole program that allows up to 30,000 asylum-seekers into the U.S. each month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela combined. Eliminating the program would undercut a broader policy that seeks to encourage migrants to use the Biden administration’s preferred pathways into the U.S. or face stiff consequences. Texas and 20 other states that sued argued the program is forcing them to spend millions on health care, education, and public safety for the migrants. An attorney working with the Texas attorney general’s office in the legal challenge said that the program “created a shadow immigration system.” Advocates for the federal government countered that migrants admitted through the policy helped with a U.S. farm labor shortage. An appeal appeared likely. Tipton is an appointee of former President Donald Trump who ruled against the Biden administration in 2022 on an order that determined who to prioritize for deportation.
House Republicans call for Biden to ‘immediately terminate’ program that flew 320K migrants into US cities
A group of House Republicans fired off a pointed letter to the Biden administration, calling for the president to “immediately terminate” a program that has flown in more than 320,000 migrants into the U.S. “We write today to express our grave concerns over the Biden administration’s actions to fly approximately 320,000 illegal immigrants from Latin American airports to 43 cities across the United States,” the letter from Rep. Russell Fry, R-S.C., to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) acting director Troy Miller said. “These secretive flights have compounded the effects of the already historic crisis at the Southern Border.” Fry was joined by 22 GOP lawmakers to demand answers about the continued crisis on the southern border. “We urge you to provide Congress and the American people with information as to where these illegal immigrants have been deposited into the country and immediately terminate this practice,” Fry said. BORDER PATROL UNION BOSS SAYS BIDEN ‘SLAPPED EVERY AMERICAN IN THE FACE’ DURING STATE OF THE UNION Fry cited a report by the Center for Immigration Studies that revealed how CBP has allowed “secret flights” to transport illegal aliens from Latin America to communities across the U.S. “The Biden administration’s usage of the CBP One mobile application has exasperated this deposit of illegal immigrants in our country,” Fry wrote. The southern border crisis recently culminated in the death of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, who was brutally murdered by an illegal migrant. LAKEN RILEY’S MOTHER SPEAKS OUT ABOUT ‘AVOIDABLE TRAGEDY’ AFTER DAUGHTER’S FUNERAL “The recent murder of Laken Riley by an illegal immigrant highlights the senseless and destructive policies put in place by the Biden administration,” Fry said. “The American people cannot afford more tragedies due to immigrants entering our country illegally.” The South Carolina representative noted that under Biden’s presidency, 340 individuals who were stopped at the Southern Border in 2023 were on the terrorist watchlist. Fry noted that in the Fiscal Year 2024, there had already been 58 people whose names appeared on the terrorist watchlist. “We are concerned that there could be additional illegal immigrants on the terrorist watch list who could be flown into cities across the United States,” Fry said. In the letter, Fry demanded that the Biden administration provide details on the locations that the illegal migrants were flown to and the cost to taxpayers: 1. What prompted this practice of flying illegal immigrants into the United States from Latin America? 2. What airports were illegal immigrants flown into between the dates of January 20, 2021, and March 8, 2024? MEXICAN MAN ILLEGALLY IN US DEPORTED TO FACE MURDER, ROBBERY CHARGES IN HOME COUNTRY 3. On what dates did these flights occur? 4. What nations were these illegal immigrants from who came to the United States on these flights? 5. What was the total cost of these flights? 6. Who within CBP is responsible for overseeing this program? In a statement to Fox News Digital, Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, said that the Biden administration is “exploiting” the CBP One app and bringing “unvetted” migrants into the U.S. “Joe Biden, his impeached DHS Secretary Mayorkas, and his other White House cronies are exploiting the CBP One app and every other loophole in existence to sneak unvetted illegals into the nation by the hundreds of thousands,” Babin said. “We will not stand idly by and watch as this reckless president unravels our national security and endangers the American people.” Illegal immigration has skyrocketed in recent years. According to a report from the House Republicans, since Biden took office in 2020, there have been 8.7 million illegal crossings nationwide. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Since the start of the Fiscal Year 2024, there have been over 1 million illegal immigrant encounters. U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital.
With DeSantis back from Iowa, Florida passes $117B budget on final day of 2024 session
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Lawmakers often save the most important issue for the final day of their annual session. This year in Florida, that meant raising the age for strippers to 21. Oh, and they also passed a $117 billion state budget. POOL DECK LIKELY CAUSE OF SURFSIDE CONDO COLLAPSE: INVESTIGATORS But unlike the previous two years when GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis was gearing up to run for president, he didn’t ask as much from the Legislature. This year there were fewer divisive bills addressing issues like abortion, guns, racism and LGBTQ+ rights — and more focused on the priorities of House Speaker Paul Renner and Senate President Kathleen Passidomo. Still, DeSantis declared victory, standing with Republican leaders after the annual 60-day session ended early Friday afternoon. “Everything that we’ve set out to do, we’ve accomplished. A hundred percent of the promises have been delivered on. All our big ticket items,” DeSantis said, naming teacher pay raises and commuter toll relief as two such issues. “We got everything that we asked for and then some.” But in reflecting on successes, the governor mostly discussed past years instead of the 2024 session. Following two whirlwind years of polarizing bills that gave DeSantis plenty of conservative red meat to take on the presidential campaign trail, the session was relatively calm and the governor noticeably more quiet. “A big difference between this legislative session and the last two is that we didn’t have Gov. DeSantis’ thumbs on the scale as much. I think he was trying to figure out how to recover from his failed presidential campaign,” Democratic House Leader Fentrice Driskell said. In a show of bipartisanship, the $117 billion budget passed unanimously in the Senate and 105-3 in the House, where a Republican and two Democrats opposed the spending plan that gives all state workers a 3% raise. DeSantis spent half the session out of the state, campaigning for president in places like Iowa and New Hampshire. By the time DeSantis dropped out of the race, the Republican-dominated Legislature was well on its way to finish early, in part due to little interference from the governor. Renner’s top priority was a bill restricting minors’ access to social media, and he eventually advanced it in the final week, The legislation will ban social media accounts for children and teens under 14 and require parental permission for 15- and 16-year-olds. DeSantis vetoed the first social media ban for minors, but then worked with Renner on language they could agree on. Passidomo successfully pass her top priority — a package of bills streamlining regulations and offering incentives to improve access to health care. Lawmakers also passed bills that range from letting schools create voluntary chaplain programs and defining antisemitism in law to letting Floridians kill bears that pose threats to residents’ homes or property. “The really, really hardcore controversial bills, I can’t think of anything off the top of my head other than the social media bill, but that was vetoed — and we, of course, passed a lighter version of it,” said Democratic Sen. Bobby Powell, noting that a proposal to protect Confederate monuments was one of the divisive bills that died. Meanwhile strippers will have to wait until they’re 21 to seek employment — along with other employees of strip clubs and adult entertainment venues, such as dishwashers. There were fewer developments this year on the education front, though lawmakers did loosen child labor laws so kids who are home-schooled can work longer and later hours. “How crazy is that?” Democratic Sen. Bobby Powell said of the new labor laws.
Biden campaign launches $30 million ad buy following aggressive, political SOTU
President Biden’s presidential re-election campaign on Friday launched a $30 million ad buy following his State of the Union address Thursday night, as the president heads out on a battleground state tour. The ad spending is more than Biden’s campaign spent in all of last year, his deputy campaign manager Rob Flaherty said. Flaherty said in a statement on social media that Biden had the best fundraising hours of this cycle after his State of the Union, claiming it set a record for fundraising for an incumbent Democrat without giving numbers. “The dumbest thing you can do is underestimate Joe Biden,” Flaherty wrote on his X account. BIDEN’S SOTU BLASTED AS ‘NAKEDLY PARTISAN’ CAMPAIGN SPEECH: ‘UTTER DISGRACE’ Republicans have slammed Biden’s aggressive speech as “divisive,” “partisan” and an “utter disgrace.” BIDEN CAMPAIGN TROLLS TRUMP’S ‘WEAKEST OPERATION IN RECENT HISTORY’ AMID LAGGING CAMPAIGN CASH “I thought it was the most divisive State of the Union from the most out-of-touch president in American history,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., told Fox News. “I thought it was bizarre.” The president visited Pennsylvania on Friday, and also plans swings through Georgia, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Michigan over the next week as he prepares to face-off against former President Trump. Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Arizona and Nevada. “We firmly believe that this race is going to be won on the ground across key states that afford multiple pathways to 270, and everything we are doing this month to kick off the general election is grounded in that premise,” said Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said, according to Reuters. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Fox News Digital has reached out to the Biden campaign for comment. Reuters contributed to this report.
Mirroring Obama, Biden rebukes Supreme Court for overturning Roe v. Wade in SOTU address
President Biden lashed out at members of the Supreme Court for their controversial Dobbs decision during his State of the Union address on Thursday night. It mirrored the actions of former President Barack Obama, who rebuked a decision made by justices on the High Court during his 2010 State of the Union address to Congress. During Thursday’s high-profile speech from the Capitol, which was attended by six sitting Supreme Court justices, Biden spoke at length about abortion and women’s health care. At one point, the president took direct aim at the justices over their June 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and implied they weren’t aware of the “electoral or political power” women in America hold. “With all due respect, justices, women are not without … electoral or political power,” Biden said. “You’re about to realize just how much.” BORDER PATROL UNION BOSS SAYS BIDEN ‘SLAPPED EVERY AMERICAN IN THE FACE’ DURING STATE OF THE UNION “Those bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women, but they found out when reproductive freedom was on the ballot and we won in 2022 and we won in 2020 and when we win again in 2024,” he added. Biden’s remarks drew an immediate round of applause and a standing ovation from Democrats, as well as members of his cabinet, who had gathered in the House chamber to hear the president’s remarks. The six justices in attendance — Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson — remained seated and looked on as Biden vowed to “restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land” should he be given a “Congress that supports the right to choose.” Though uncommon, Biden’s move to directly target the justices for a decision they had made resembled the actions of Obama when he expressed frustration with a Supreme Court ruling during one of his own State of the Union addresses. BIDEN CAUGHT ON HOT MIC REVEALING PRIVATE ‘COME TO JESUS’ CONVERSATION WITH NETANYAHU While addressing a joint session of Congress in January 2010, Obama criticized the court’s 5-4 ruling in Citizens United, which slashed corporate campaign spending limits. “With all due deference to separation of powers, last week the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections,” Obama said from the chamber of the House of Representatives that year. “I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people. And I’d urge Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps correct some of these problems,” he added. In apparent disagreement with Obama’s remarks at the time, Justice Samuel Alito could be seen mouthing what appeared to be the words “not true.” Alito, along with Justices Amy Coney-Barrett and Clarence Thomas, did not attend Biden’s Thursday evening address. Alito, who is part of the court’s conservative majority, has not attended a State of the Union address since 2010. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Following Obama’s 2010 remarks, Biden, who served as vice president at the time, reportedly argued during an appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that Obama “didn’t question the integrity of the court. He questioned the judgment of it.”
Officers need warrants to use aircraft, zoom lenses to surveil areas around homes, Alaska court says
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska law enforcement officers must obtain a warrant before using aircraft to scope out the area around a person’s home with binoculars or cameras with zoom lenses, the state’s highest court ruled in a decision released Friday. The Alaska Supreme Court ruling comes in a case that dates to 2012, when Alaska State Troopers received a tip from an informant that John William McKelvey III was growing marijuana on his property in a sparsely populated area north of Fairbanks. IDITAROD MUSHER PENALIZED FOR IMPROPERLY GUTTING MOOSE AFTER KILLING ANIMAL WHEN IT ATTACKED DOGS According to the ruling, McKelvey’s property was heavily wooded, with a driveway leading to a clearing where a house and greenhouse were located. Trees blocked the ground-level view of the buildings from outside the clearing, and a gate blocked cars from entering. In the court’s recounting of the case, two troopers, following up on the tip, flew past the property and used a camera with a high-power zoom lens to take photos that showed buckets containing “unidentifiable plants” inside the greenhouse. Based on the tip and flight observations, a search warrant for McKelvey’s property was obtained. During the search, officers found items including marijuana plants, methamphetamine, scales, a rifle and cash. McKelvey sought to have the evidence suppressed, but a Superior Court judge denied that. He was convicted of one court of third-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance and a weapons misconduct count. He appealed, arguing the judge wrongly denied his motion to suppress. An appeals court reversed the Superior Court judge, and the Supreme Court affirmed the appeals court decision in its ruling released Friday. The state maintained “that because small airplane travel is so common in Alaska, and because any passenger might peer into your yard and snap a picture of you, law enforcement officials may do the same. We disagree,” the Alaska Supreme Court decision states. “The Alaska Constitution protects the right to be free of unreasonable searches,” the ruling states. “The fact that a random person might catch a glimpse of your yard while flying from one place to another does not make it reasonable for law enforcement officials to take to the skies and train high-powered optics on the private space right outside your home without a warrant.” Law enforcement officers must obtain a warrant before using aircraft and “vision-enhancing technology,” such as cameras with zoom lenses or binoculars, to surveil the area surrounding a person’s home that is protected from ground-level observation, the court said. Most land in Alaska is not considered “curtilage of the home, where the right to privacy is strongest. Therefore authorities are not necessarily restricted from using aircraft and vision-enhancing technology to surveil those areas,” the court said. Curtilage refers to the area in and around a home. Robert John, an attorney for McKelvey, called the ruling a “tremendous decision to protect the rights of privacy of Alaskans and hopefully set an example for the rest of the country.” The Department of Law did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.