Whip watch: Dick Durbin gives tearful goodbye as Dem power play begins for No. 2 Senate spot
With the upcoming departure of longtime Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., in 2026, a battle will soon commence for his coveted role as Senate minority whip, the second-highest leadership role in the caucus next to Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer. “There comes a point in your career when the torch must be passed, and I’ve reached that point,” Durbin said during a press conference in Springfield Thursday. “I will not be seeking re-election to this United States Senate seat.” Several names have already been floated for the whip job, including some typically vocal senators and others whose quiet policy chops appear just as attractive. One candidate mentioned has been Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz. ZELDIN GRILLED BY DEMOCRATS ON CLIMATE CHANGE, TRUMP’S STANCE ON CARBON EMISSIONS DURING EPA HEARING Schatz, 52, is in his third term and is Durbin’s current chief deputy whip as well as deputy conference secretary, a job involving communication and strategy for Senate Democrats. He is also the top Democrat on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, given the Aloha State’s heavy native population. Schatz has been active behind the scenes for liberals, placing holds on hundreds of Trump nominees for State Department positions in response to the president’s efforts to shutter USAID. A former member of the Green Party in Hawaii, he is also considered a bridge between progressives and mainstream liberals. A former top aide to previous Senate mainstays Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., told The Hill it’s hard to tell how leadership elections will go because they’re closed-door votes, but “as far as I can tell, Sen. Schatz seems to be in a pretty good position if he wants to take the leap.” DICK DURBIN, NO 2 SENATE DEMOCRAT, WON’T SEEK RE-ELECTION Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., is rumored to be a possible successor to Durbin as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to Politico. Whitehouse has raised his profile as another one of President Donald Trump’s loudest critics, regularly creating viral clips of combativeness with administration nominees in the various hearings he’s sat in on. Another lawmaker mentioned is Washington Sen. Patty Murray, who had been third in line to the presidency until the GOP took back the Senate. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa., now holds that role, which is typically held by the longest-serving senator of the majority party. Murray is also the top Democrat on the influential Senate Appropriations Committee. Frequently called the “mom in tennis shoes” who ran for the Senate in 1992 as a relative political newcomer, Murray once said she and others “got into the U.S. Senate because we were mad.” She lobbied officials in Olympia to save an education program from budget cuts when she was told “you can’t make a difference,” according to a biography from the Washington Secretary of State’s office. That populist history, along with Murray’s long tenure and closeness with leadership, could also make her a lock to succeed Durbin. Fox News Digital reached out to Schatz, Whitehouse and Murray for comment but did not immediately hear back. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Durbin spoke tearfully about his decision to retire during a press conference outside the same Springfield home where he announced his first Senate run nearly 30 years ago. He hearkened back to his risky move to give up a “safe House seat.” “So, for the last 29 years, I’ve been vindicated that that decision paid off,” said Durbin. “I love this job. I think it’s a terrific job, but I also know reality.”
Abbott signs first bill of session into law, creating a Texas DOGE
The first bill to reach Abbott’s desk this session creates a regulation-cutting state agency under the purview of the governor. It was passed with bipartisan supermajorities.
Bill to create dementia research institute approved in House, but could face $3 billion funding hurdle
Some Republicans have bristled at the hefty cost of the bill, and Democrats could reject the funding for it over the school voucher dispute.
CPS took a Texas newborn for three weeks. Now the family is suing.
The lawsuit says the state investigated the family without a proper hearing and determined it had “reason to believe” that the parents engaged in medical neglect.
Starbase, the SpaceX site, is likely Texas’ next city. What happens next?
City leaders, who will be elected in May, will have just a short window to decide what services to provide, like police or fire, and how to tax residents.
Texas school districts got their first A-F grades in five years. See how your school did here.
The Texas Education Agency released the 2022-23 school year ratings on Thursday after a 19-month legal battle over how those ratings are calculated.
Fort Worth ISD at risk for state takeover after 2023 ratings released
A Fort Worth middle school has chronically underperformed for years, qualifying the entire district for state intervention. Failing grades for districts were made public for the first time since 2019.
Texas may officially recognize Gulf of America change after Senate gives first OK
Senate Bill 1717 would require the name of Gulf of Mexico to be changed in every official reference made by a state agency, resolution, rule or publication.
Trump’s executive order on voting blocked by federal judge amid flurry of legal setbacks
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Thursday blocked a portion of President Donald Trump’s executive order on election integrity, specifically provisions related to providing documentary proof of citizenship before being allowed to register to vote. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia handed down the order in response to lawsuits filed by three separate groups of plaintiffs over five different provisions in a March 25 Trump executive order relating to election integrity. While Kollar-Kotelly dismissed requests to block three of the provisions, requests to block two other provisions pertaining to a proof of citizenship requirement for voters were granted. The first blocked provision sought to compel the Election Assistance Commission to amend standardized national voter registration forms to require documentary proof of citizenship. The second sought to require federal agencies offering voter registration to people on public assistance to “assess” the individual’s citizenship status before doing so. CITIZENSHIP VOTER REGISTRATION BILL IS ‘COMMON SENSE,’ GOP LAWMAKER ARGUES “Our Constitution entrusts Congress and the States – not the President – with the authority to regulate federal elections. Consistent with that allocation of power, Congress is currently debating legislation that would effect many of the changes the President purports to order,” Kollar-Kotelly, a Clinton-appointee, wrote in her order. “No statutory delegation of authority to the Executive Branch permits the President to short-circuit Congress’s deliberative process by executive order.” Kollar-Kotelly said she would not block the other provisions that the groups sought to challenge, which cover mail-in ballots and data collection on citizenship status, calling the challenges “premature” and indicating they would be best challenged at the state level. Earlier this month, the Republican-led House of Representatives passed a bill requiring proof-of-citizenship to vote in federal elections. The measure still must pass the Senate, however, before the president can sign it into law. TOP OFFICIAL APPLAUDS RED STATE’S HISTORIC LEGISLATION REQUIRING PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP TO VOTE: ‘HUGE WINNERS’ Meanwhile, 25 states are considering some form of proof-of-citizenship legislation, according to the Voting Rights Lab, which is tracking such legislation. In total, 15 state constitutions have explicit prohibitions against non-citizen voting. In addition to Trump’s proof-of-citizenship orders getting shot down, two other federal judges from Maryland and New Hampshire also shot down additional orders from the president related to ending diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in K-12 public schools on Thursday. The rulings followed lawsuits filed by the National Education Association, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Maryland chapter of the American Federation of Teachers. The groups argued that making federal funding contingent on whether educators squash their DEI programs violates First Amendment rights granted by the Constitution. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on this article but did not receive a response in time for publication.
DOGE slashes ‘wasteful’ ‘problem-solving’ contract worth $50K in latest round of eliminations
Slash and burn. Contracts and grants worth hundreds of millions of dollars were terminated over several days, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) said Thursday, including one aimed at providing “problem-solving” services. Federal agencies have eliminated 269 “wasteful” contracts with a “ceiling value of $845M and savings of $255M,” according to a DOGE post on X. DAVID MARCUS: WHAT AMERICA OWES ELON MUSK AFTER DOGE DOGE eliminated $90 million in grants, including $995,000 for “a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) culinary program” and $625,000 for a “Russian-Far East biodiversity partnership.” One of the terminated contracts was a $50,000 Department of the Interior consulting contract to “provide facilitation and collaborative problem-solving services.” FOX NEWS POLL: THE FIRST 100 DAYS OF PRESIDENT TRUMP’S SECOND TERM On Wednesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi said some of the grants the Justice Department eliminated included $2 million for “national listening sessions of individuals with lived experience.” Another was a $625,000 grant for “a parallel convergent mixed-methods case study research design to assess the efficacy of police departments’ LGBTQ liaison services.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP DOGE, which is led by Elon Musk, has been aggressive in its mission to root out wasteful spending and to downsize the scope of the federal government.