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Ken Paxton’s impeachment cost Texas House at least $3.7 million

The bulk of the costs came from bills from Rusty Hardin’s law firm, according to records released this week.

Chicago mayor accused of prioritizing migrants over Black community as vote to recall sanctuary status stalled

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson was accused of prioritizing tens of thousands of migrants from the southern border over the Black community and homeless veterans on Thursday, during a special council meeting meant to consider whether residents would be asked to vote on a referendum on Illinois’ largest city’s sanctuary status. The Chicago City Council special meeting began with time for public comment, but councilors ultimately voted to adjourn afterward without considering a resolution “authorizing a referendum question to be submitted to the voters of City of Chicago whether Chicago should continue to keep its designation as a Sanctuary City,” until it moves out of committee.  Lauren Lawrence, a woman who described herself as a Chicago native, born and raised in the city, said she witnessed a “transition as if a lot of people are not important here.”  “I’m not for the sanctuary city, and the reason why I’m not for the sanctuary city is because people have waited years to come in here legally,” she said. “Not just transported on these buses, dropped off in our neighborhood, raise of crime, almost got hit several times just making it down here today. And this is ludicrous. There should not be two sets of laws.” CHICAGO MAYOR LAUNCHES LAWSUITS AGAINST COMPANIES TRANSPORTING ‘ROGUE BUSES’ OF MIGRANTS TO CITY “Also, the West Side and the South Side Black communities have been earmarked for having funds – never seen it. We’re still waiting those funds to come into those communities,” she continued, taking aim at the new mayor, who just assumed office in May, replacing former Mayor Lori Lighfoot.  “Brandon Johnson, many people stood behind you. They feel let down, because the day you came into office, which I believe was May 15, you already had signed an executive order,” Lawrence said Thursday, referencing Johnson’s Day One order establishing a “deputy mayor for immigrant, migrant and refugee rights.”  The May 15 order instructs all city department heads to take direction from the new deputy mayor “to ensure the efficacy of Chicago’s status as a welcoming and sanctuary city.” “Now, whether it came from Gov.r Pritzker or whomever that directed you on this, is it fair to these communities that have been waiting for years? You said you on the West side, but you should know what’s going on over there as well,” Lawrence said. “When are you going to have our neighborhoods cleaned up? And when are we going to get the rights that we deserve?” “I’m not against anyone coming in here legally. I want to say that clearly. But for those who have not, they don’t top us. They don’t go before us. We’re not last in line,” she said.  Lawrence complained that thousands of dollars were going to those who entered the country illegally, ahead of lawful Chicagoans, including veterans and the homeless. “They need to be taken care of. They need to stop being neglected. Because if we don’t have a voice here, we will have a voice out there,” she said. The council’s decision to adjourn without considering the sanctuary status referendum vote drew condemnation from Alderman Anthony Beale, who demanded to know whether Johnson and councilors were afraid that city voters would tell them “the truth” about funding decisions regarding the migrant influx.  “Let me just say that I figured you all had something up your sleeve,” Beale, who represents Chicago’s Ninth Ward, told Johnson and fellow councilors. “What are you scared of? To let the people have a voice? What are you scared of? The truth? Are we scared of the truth here? Are we afraid that the people are going to tell us that we are spending money frivolously in this body? Are we afraid that the people are going to tell us that we are headed in the wrong direction? Are we afraid that the people are going to finally stand up and speak in the city of Chicago, that they’re saying that this ship is headed in the wrong direction? Why are we afraid to let the people speak?”  IL ALLOCATES $160 MILLION TO AID MIGRANTS IN CHICAGO DURING WINTER MONTHS “But we are afraid of the truth. Crime is running rampant. Our schools are in trouble. We’re spending hundreds, millions of dollars on people that don’t even pay taxes and live in the city,” Beale continued. “Now I’m all for taking care of people. I get it. I am sympathetic as well. However, I’m more sympathetic for the people in my community that have been paying taxes their entire life, can’t get a furnace, can’t get a roof, can’t get a hot water heater, can’t get a back porch. And my seniors are still starving for resources.”  Beale charged: “There’s no conscionable way we should be voting on hundreds of millions of dollars to just, you know, go to Brighton Park, only to have the whole thing blown up.”  Earlier this month, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration scrapped plans for a temporary winter camp for migrants at Brighton Park in Chicago, citing the risk of contaminants at the former industrial site. With the coldest weather looming – and despite a partnership with religious leaders to provide temporary housing – hundreds of migrants were still awaiting placement at airports and police stations, and some are still camped on sidewalks outside precinct buildings. As of Thursday morning, more than 25,000 people have arrived in Chicago from the southern border since August 2022, according to data compiled by the City of Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC). The city’s dashboard claims 25,700 people have come via “Texas buses,” as Democrats have blasted Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s migrant busing operation transporting migrants to sanctuary jurisdictions.  But the city dashboard only has data for migrants arriving to Chicago “via airplane” as of June 2023, showing 4,252 individuals have arrived by plane to Chicago seeking asylum since then. Besides Abbott, the federal government also relocates migrants from the border across the country. “We need to

Dance company featured in Jill Biden’s Christmas video promotes ‘prison abolition,’ ‘defund the police’ groups

The New York City tap dancing troupe enlisted by first lady Jill Biden for a Christmas video promotes controversial far-left ideologies, including abolishing prisons and defunding the police. The first lady got lit up on Twitter over her Wednesday video featuring Dorrance Dance performing a “playful interpretation of The Nutcracker Suite” in the White House. However, outside the candy-coating, Dorrance Dance promotes controversial policies, including “prison abolition.” FIRST LADY JILL BIDEN BLASTED OVER ‘BIZARRE’ WHITE HOUSE CHRISTMAS VIDEO: ‘UNITED STATES OF BANANAS’ Dorrance Dance’s “take action for justice [and] change” website page pushes readers to join their local Black Lives Matter or Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) chapters while including a quote from SURJ directly below it on their website. “In this moment, we know there are thousands of white people who are looking for direction and a way to show up alongside black communities and communities of color. Welcome,” the quote reads. “You are needed. Here are a few ways to start showing up – not just in words but in action.” The quote was pulled from SURJ’s May 2020 Medium article, “5 Ways White People Can Take Action in Response to White and State-Sanctioned Violence.” On the same page, Dorrance Dance pushes readers to “get involved” in “prison abolition” work while pointing users to far-left organizations, including M4BL – which advocates for defunding the police. Additionally, the organization pushes website users toward the organization Critical Resistance, which “seeks to build an international movement to end the prison industrial complex (PIC) by challenging the belief that caging and controlling people makes us safe,” as well as INCITE! – a “network of radical feminists of color organizing to end state violence and violence in our homes and communities.” INCITE! also pushes allegations of “genocide” against the Israeli government on their homepage, which reads “free Palestine” at the top and pushes a digital poster for download reading, “feminists of color rise up free Palestine.” Additionally, Dorrance Dance’s “educate yourself” page provides resources for “those who are investigating or have questions about white privilege, systemic racism, white fragility, and anti-racism for the very first time.” Biden’s video of Dorrance Dance was bashed online after it was posted on Wednesday. In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the first lady shared the video from the official @FLOTUS account, along with a caption. “A bit of magic, wonder, and joy brought to you by the talented tappers of Dorrance Dance, performing their playful interpretation of The Nutcracker Suite. Enjoy!” the first lady’s post read. But social media observers didn’t seem to be enjoying the musical content. The video was filled with smiling dancers in brightly colored costumes, prancing and tapping all over the White House, but many viewers described the video as nothing remotely close to a Christmas theme. The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment from the first lady on Dorrance Dance’s support of the controversial policies. The White House also did not answer Fox News Digital’s questions on whether the first lady was aware of Dorrance Dance’s support of these policies when she enlisted them for the video or how much the performance potentially cost taxpayers. Dorrance Dance also did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

Conservative groups, ex-border officials demand lawmakers reject ‘unacceptable’ border compromise

FIRST ON FOX: A number of conservative groups and former border officials are urging Republican lawmakers to reject a potential compromise on border funding that falls short of the House signature legislation passed this year — as the clock ticks down on a potential deal. Negotiations are ongoing between Republicans, Democrats and the Biden administration over a $106 billion supplemental spending agreement for the border, Israel and Ukraine. Republicans have demanded policy changes, including asylum limits, to restrict the entry of migrants into the U.S. as part of the deal. Republicans in the House and conservative groups have called for the inclusion of the entirety of H.R. 2 — the House signature legislation passed in the chamber this year which ramps up border security, restarts border wall construction, brings back the Remain-in-Mexico policy and limits the use of asylum and humanitarian parole among other sweeping changes. REPUBLICANS SEE PROGRESS IN BORDER TALKS, BUT UNCLEAR IF DEAL WITHIN REACH AS CRISIS RAGES A Senate working group released a slimmer version of proposals taken in part from H.R. 2, but that was rejected by the White House and Senate Democrats. This week it was reported that the administration was open to a Title 42-type expulsion authority in certain circumstances, expanded expedited removal and a broadening of immigration detention. Those proposals drew optimism from some Senate Republicans, even as some Democrats and immigration activists condemned them. However, the conservatives — who are part of a coalition that previously warned Congress against “watering down” H.R. 2, — say that it falls short of what is required to fix the ongoing crisis at the border which has hit historic highs in terms of migrant encounters. Kevin Roberts, president of Heritage Action, said in a statement to Fox News Digital that “years of backroom deals and weakness from Congress have given us the worst illegal immigration crisis in American history” and that Americans are “sick and tired” of secret negotiations that end in “do-nothing bills.” “The border is in chaos because of Biden’s intentional destruction of the enforcement measures that discouraged illegal immigration. Lawmakers cannot trust this administration with more money and more power to make up the rules as they go. Conservatives have already passed a plan to secure the border. H.R. 2 gets the job done,” he said. “Anything less would be a defeat for the American people and the rule of law.”  “Allowing the Biden administration to use a Christmas deadline and false promises of border security to pass billions in foreign funding is unacceptable. Conservative members of Congress shouldn’t take these negotiations seriously—the American people surely do not,” he said. Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center and a former DHS official, dismissed reported claims by the Biden administration that it would deport and detain more. “That’s current law, which they’ve ignored for three years. That’s neither a ‘concession’ nor credible,’ she said. CONSERVATIVE COALITION WARNS GOP LEADERS AGAINST ‘WATERING DOWN’ BORDER MEASURES TO CLINCH SPENDING DEAL Tom Homan, a former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and a Heritage visiting fellow, called the policies in H.R. 2 a “no-brainer” “Because we proved they worked under the Trump administration and implementing these policies resulted in the most secure border of my lifetime,” he said. “Why would anyone negotiate proven success? Now is the time to be strong and act.  “The FBI has publicly stated that the threat stream to this nation is very high. The time for negotiating is over,” Homan said. “We can no longer accept the Democrats delaying action on Israel and Ukraine because continuing an open border national security failure is more important to them.” Former acting Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Mark Morgan accused Senate Democrats of “negotiating with themselves to water down what they already agreed was the path to success.”  “Throwing more money at the crisis and begging the current administration to enforce the laws they have disregarded for three years, without the inclusion of the policy changes contained in H.R. 2, is not a solution – it’s failure. What’s happening at our borders is not about immigration – it’s about our ability to safeguard our nation against a vast set of complex threats pouring across them,” he said. “When did it become acceptable to ‘compromise’ on protecting and defending our borders and our sovereignty?” MIGRANT ENCOUNTERS AGAIN TOP 10K IN SINGLE DAY AS LAWMAKERS EYE NEW BORDER LIMITS Chris Chmielenski, President of the Immigration Accountability Project, said that the proposal “falls short” of addressing the crisis and warned that “any Republican that goes along will join the Biden Administration in owning it.” The only way to end the crisis, he said, is to pass H.R. 2. “Then, and only then, will a loud and clear message be sent around the world that the U.S. border is closed,” he said. Lawmakers are due to leave Washington on Thursday for the holiday break, it is unclear if a deal will be reached before then. Meanwhile, sources confirmed to Fox News this week that encounters breached the 10,000 mark at the southern border in a single day on Tuesday.

Ireland’s prime minister urges EU leaders to call for Gaza ceasefire

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar says there is ‘some truth’ to accusations that EU employs a double-standard on Gaza. A growing number of countries in the European Union have expressed support for a humanitarian ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war as Israel’s assault on Gaza plunges the Palestinian territory into a dire humanitarian crisis. In remarks on Tuesday at an EU summit focused largely on Ukraine, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar urged his colleagues to take a firmer stance and call for an end to the fighting between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas in the besieged Gaza Strip. “I think the European Union has lost credibility because of our inability to take a stronger and more united position on Israel and Palestine,” Varadkar said. “We’ve lost credibility at the Global South, which actually is most of the world, because of what is perceived to be double standards. And there’s some truth in that, quite frankly.” Before the summit, Varadkar and the prime ministers of Spain, Belgium, and Malta wrote to European Council President Charles Michel asking him to host a “serious debate” about the Israel-Hamas war and the “humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza.” “We must call urgently for all the parties to declare a lasting humanitarian cease-fire that can lead to an end of hostilities,” the four leaders wrote. The comments came several days after a large majority of nations represented at the United Nations General Assembly voted in favour of a resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire and the number of Palestinians killed in Israel’s assault on Gaza passed 18,000, most of them women and children. The resolution passed with 153 nations in support, 23 abstaining, and 10 voting against it. In Tuesday’s UN vote, 17 EU countries were among those that backed the call for a ceasefire. In October, only eight had backed a resolution calling for a truce. Varadkar insisted that a ceasefire could lead “to a new peace process and Palestinian statehood, which is the only way to secure justice and security for everyone living in the region.” Spanish Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, backed his Irish colleague. “Europe has to speak out … in a clear, strong, firm and unified voice,” he said. The current round of fighting began on October 7 when Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 240 others captive. Israel responded with a devastating assault on Gaza, bombarding the territory and launching a ground offensive, claiming that it seeks to topple Hamas. The Hamas attack was widely condemned, and Israel received strong international backing for its war against Hamas from the United States and several European countries. But as the Israeli assault continued, leading to dire humanitarian conditions and displacing more than 80 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, some allies have tempered their support with growing warnings about the toll on civilians. Western countries have also been accused of employing a double-standard, chastising Russia for violations of international law during its invasion of Ukraine but relatively muted when faced with similar acts by Israel. Speaking on Tuesday, US President Joe Biden said that Israel risks losing support due to “indiscriminate bombing” in a rare moment of sharp criticism. But despite mounting international pressure, Israel has shown no signs of scaling down its fighting in Gaza, where UN officials have described conditions as “hell on earth”. On Thursday, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that the fighting in Gaza would last “more than several months”. Adblock test (Why?)

Israel bombards Rafah as pressure mounts over civilian death toll in Gaza

At least 26 people have been killed in an Israeli air strike on Rafah in southern Gaza, according to Palestinian officials as international calls grow for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. Footage from the scene shared online and verified by Al Jazeera on Thursday showed local residents trying to extinguish a fire and rescue survivors as black smoke rises from one of the buildings. Two adjacent homes belonging to the Abu Dhbaa and Ashour families were obliterated in the attack on the city, where tens of thousands of displaced people have sought shelter since a weeklong truce collapsed in early December. Displaced people have been sleeping in makeshift shelters and in the streets after evacuating from the north and from other areas of southern Gaza that had previously been deemed safe by the Israeli army. “It was difficult because of the dust and people’s screams. We went there, and we saw our neighbour who had 10 martyrs,” said Fadel Shabaan, a resident who rushed to the area after the bombing. “This is a safe [refugee] camp. There is nothing here. The children play football in the street,” he told the news agency Reuters. Gaza health authorities said 26 people were killed in the attack. Gaza’s Ministry of Health said on Thursday that at least 179 people had been killed and 303 wounded in Israeli attacks over the past day, bringing the death toll in Gaza since the war began on October 7 to 18,787 with 50,897 injured. Footage verified by Al Jazeera shows relatives mourning by the shrouded bodies of at least 20 people. A member of the Ashour family said she lost her mother, two brothers, their wives and their children. “I have a niece who is still under the rubble,” she said. “We had displaced people. One of them was our cousin who was displaced from the north. Our neighbour and his grandmother who were displaced from Beit Lahiya were killed too.” Another member of the Ashour family said there were more than 50 people inside the four-storey building. “They were people from Beit Lahiya, Jabalia, al-Saftawi and Nuseirat,” she said. “We lost [an] old lady, a five-month pregnant lady, her little boy and her husband, … my brother, his son and his wife.” An Israeli air strike has killed at least 26 people in the southern city of Rafah, where tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought shelter in recent days [Mahmud Hams/AFP] Fighting rages across Gaza Two weeks after the truce collapsed, the war has entered an intense phase with fighting now raging across the entire Palestinian enclave and international organisations warning of a worsening of the humanitarian catastrophe there. Israel has brushed off calls for a ceasefire, including a resolution at the UN Security Council blocked by a US veto last week and another that passed overwhelmingly in the General Assembly this week. Despite Israel’s pledges to reduce harm to civilians, it has extended its ground campaign from the north to the south this month, leaving no part of the enclave unscathed. It says it is offering warnings where it can before attacking an area. In the main southern city, Khan Younis, where advancing Israeli forces reached the centre this week, a whole city block was bombed to dust overnight. Although most people had fled after Israeli warnings, neighbours digging in the rubble with a hand shovel afterwards said they believed four people were under the debris. One body had been recovered. In the north, including the ruins of Gaza City, fighting has escalated since Israel announced that its troops had largely completed their military objectives last month. In Jabaliya also in the north, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Israeli forces had stormed a hospital, detaining and abusing medical staff and preventing them from treating a group of wounded patients, at least two of whom had died. Twelve children were in the intensive care unit, where the electricity had been cut and there was no milk, ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra said. Israel’s military said Palestinian fighters had been operating inside the hospital, 70 of whom had surrendered there “with weapons in hand” and were now undergoing interrogation. Washington has provided diplomatic cover for its ally but expressed increasing alarm over civilian deaths. US President Joe Biden, whose government has provided Israel with billions of dollars in military aid, delivered his sharpest rebuke of the war on Wednesday. He said Israel’s “indiscriminate bombing” of Gaza was eroding its international support. White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who arrived in Israel on Thursday, will discuss with the Israelis the need to be more precise with their strikes, spokesperson John Kirby said. Up to 45 percent of the 29,000 air-to-ground munitions that Israel has dropped on Gaza since October 7 have been unguided “dumb bombs”, according to a US intelligence assessment reported by CNN. Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter, a member of Israel’s security cabinet and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, rejected Biden’s characterisation of Israel’s strikes as indiscriminate. “There is no such thing as ‘dumb bombs’. Some bombs are more accurate. Some bombs are less accurate. What we have is mostly pilots who are precise,” he told Army Radio. “There is no chance that Israel’s air force or other military units fired at targets that were not terror targets.” “[Sullivan] will likely point to the UN General Assembly vote in favour of a ceasefire earlier this week, but we have already heard from Netanyahu and [Israeli Defense Minister Yoav] Gallant that this war will be conducted the way they want,” Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher said, reporting from occupied East Jerusalem. Netanyahu promised to carry on the war “until victory, nothing less than that”, and Foreign Minister Eli Cohen has said the war would continue “with or without international support”. The United Nations estimated 1.9 million out of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced. The head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, said on Wednesday that Palestinians in Gaza

Finland set to again shut its entire border with Russia

The decision comes amid renewed asylum seekers arrivals that Helsinki has labelled a Russian hybrid attack. Finland will close its eastern border with Russia, the country’s interior minister has said, just hours after the Nordic nation relaxed a two-week closure of all roads between the two countries. Helsinki has said a recent rise in asylum seekers arriving via Russia was an orchestrated move by Moscow in retaliation for the Nordic country’s decision to increase defence cooperation with the United States, a charge the Kremlin has denied. The arrivals stopped when Finland shut the border in late November, but resumed on Thursday when two of the eight crossings were opened, with some 36 people seeking asylum, the Finnish Border Guard said. “The phenomenon has started again and we will close the whole border,” Interior Minister Mari Rantanen told the country’s parliament. “This is a sign that the Russian authorities are continuing their hybrid operation against Finland. This is something that Finland will not tolerate,” Rantanen said in a statement. Finland joined NATO in April after decades of military non-alignment and pragmatic friendly relations with Moscow. Its 1,340km (832-mile) border with Russia serves as the European Union’s external border and makes up NATO’s northeastern flank. Approximately 900 asylum seekers from nations such as Kenya, Morocco, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen entered Finland from Russia in November, an increase from fewer than one per day previously, according to the Border Guard. Concerns about the rights of asylum seekers In a letter published on Monday, the Council of Europe said it was “concerned about the rights of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants” following the temporary border closure, and asked Finland to ensure it remained possible to seek protection. Rantanen, who represents the anti-immigration Finns Party, on Monday told the news agency Reuters there was no cause for human rights concerns, however, as asylum could be sought at other entry points. “Undoubtedly Russia is instrumentalising migrants” as part of its “hybrid warfare” against Finland, Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said last month. “At the EU border with Finland, Russian border guards have been letting people through without Schengen visas or EU residence permits. People who are being misled. People who are being used by Russia,” said EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson. At the end of November, the European Union’s border protection agency, Frontex, deployed 50 officers to Finland, and said it would send equipment such as patrol cars “to bolster Finland’s border control activities”. In 2021, 3,000 to 4,000 asylum seekers became stranded in a no-man’s land on the border between Poland and Belarus as Warsaw deployed security forces to stop people from entering amid freezing winter temperatures. The EU and Warsaw said Minsk was deliberately enticing migrants and refugees to Belarus and then pushing them westwards with promises of easy entry into the bloc, and accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of masterminding the crisis. Adblock test (Why?)

Parliament security case: Main accused Lalit Jha arrested by Delhi Police

Lalit Jha, a key accused in the Parliament security breach incident has been arrested, say Delhi Police sources.

DNA TV Show: Delhi Police probe unveils shocking plan behind Parliament security breach

The lapse in security of Parliament is now being investigated by the Special Cell of Delhi Police. So far, 4 accused have been arrested in this case. The investigation has revealed the involvement of a total of 6 people in the conspiracy.

White House urges Congress to stop ‘dithering,’ delay break to address border, aid for Ukraine and Israel

EXCLUSIVE: The White House is urging Congress to delay its holiday recess to address issues at the southern border, aid for Ukraine and Israel, and more, while slamming Republicans for “actively undermining our national security interests” to “go on vacation.” Fox News Digital obtained a memo from White House deputy press secretary and senior communications adviser Andrew Bates that accused congressional Republicans of preferring to “go on vacation” rather than work on critical issues. The House of Representatives finished its votes for the year on Wednesday, and members are expected to return to their districts on Thursday. The Senate is also expected to finish its last day of session on Thursday. Both chambers are set to return on January 9, 2024.  AMERICANS WEIGH IMPORTANCE OF UKRAINE FUNDING AGAINST BOLSTERING BORDER SECURITY: ‘CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME’ Bates opened the memo by saying that President Biden is working to make American families “safer every day,” while “congressional Republicans are actively undermining our national security interests—both domestically and around the world—because they’d rather go on vacation than do their jobs.” “Months ago, President Biden released a concrete plan to address critical national security issues—including standing with Israel against the Hamas terrorists that just committed the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust, continuing to help Ukraine defend its freedom and democracy against Russian tyranny, protecting our interests in the Indo-Pacific, and making our border more secure,” Bates wrote. “A wide range of these policies create good-paying jobs in the United States by bolstering our industrial base all over the country.” But now, Bates says that congressional Republicans “are blocking those national security proposals, all of which will make American families safer—and all of which are infinitely more affordable than the cost of dithering.” “Why? Because even though Americans elected them to make hard decisions and work full-time, congressional Republicans would rather have a 3-week vacation than buckle down and meet the moment,” Bates said. Bates said Biden’s national security plan would “hire thousands of new border patrol officers and invest in new technologies that are essential for stopping fentanyl trafficking.” PRESIDENT BIDEN TELLS CROWD ‘I AM A ZIONIST’ AT HANUKKAH CEREMONY, CONDEMNS SILENCE ON ANTISEMITISM “But congressional Republicans are choosing their own vacation over joining President Biden in fighting to make our southern border more secure,” Bates said. “Unfortunately, this fits a longstanding pattern: President Biden has delivered record funding for border security, yet House Republicans have voted against it. They even voted to eliminate 2,000 Border Patrol positions while demanding tax cuts for the wealthy.” A bipartisan group of Senators have been negotiating on a potential deal to address border security, but since no text has been agreed to, many Republicans in the chamber have expressed skepticism that it could be completed before Christmas. Bates also went on to demand Congress address aid for Israel to replenish the Iron Dome, and provide additional assistance to Ukraine. SENATE LIKELY TO RECESS WITHOUT PASSING UKRAINE AND ISRAEL FUNDING, SOURCES SAY Russian President “Vladimir Putin’s government is literally thanking congressional Republicans on Russian state TV for holding up vital defense assistance that Ukraine needs to continue the brave, successful defense of their democracy,” Bates said. “America’s leadership has been indispensable to Ukraine as they protect themselves from Russian forces, who have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity and regularly launch aerial barrages against Ukrainian cities—including with Iranian drones as Russia and Iran strengthen their military partnership,” Bates said. “Congressional Republicans like to talk a big game about countering Iran, but apparently Iran gets a pass if Republicans’ vacations are on the line,” he continued. “And if Putin wins in Ukraine, he would be on NATO’s doorstep threatening our NATO allies that the United States is obligated to defend.” With regard to Ukraine funding, however, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy told Speaker Mike Johnson that Ukraine aid won’t run out until February—despite White House claims.  CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Bates also said congressional Republicans consider Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities “a secondary priority to going on a three-week vacation.”  When asked for comment, Raj Shah, a spokesman for Speaker Johnson, told Fox News Digital that the White House is making a “pathetic attempt to shift blame for the abject failure of the White House and Senate Democrats to put forth any supplemental measure that can pass out of Congress.”  “The House has passed a bipartisan Israel aid package, a border security measure, and is pressing for accountability over taxpayer aid,” Shah said. “It’s embarrassing for the White House to call on Congress to stay in town considering neither the White House nor Senate have produced anything to stay in town for. Not to mention, President Biden has spent over 400 days on vacation since taking office and has failed to engage in border talks until this week.”  Shah added: “The buck stops at the President’s desk.”