Hegseth bans future trans soldiers, makes sweeping changes for current ones
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth instituted a ban on allowing transgender people to join the military late last week, following a directive from President Donald Trump. A memo dated Feb. 7 and signed by the defense secretary says, “Effective immediately, all new accessions for individuals with a history of gender dysphoria are paused.” “All scheduled, unscheduled, or planned medical procedures associated with affirming or facilitating a gender transition for service members are paused.” The memo also says service members with gender dysphoria “have volunteered to serve our country and will be treated with dignity and respect.” TRANSGENDER SERVICE MEMBERS AND RIGHTS GROUPS FILE SUIT AGAINST TRUMP’S PENTAGON DIRECTIVE But the memo was unclear about what would happen to those currently in the military and identifying as a gender different than that assigned at birth, delegating responsibility to the under secretary for personnel and readiness to provide policy and implementation guidance for active service members with gender dysphoria. The Pentagon could not immediately be reached for comment on the status of current transgender service members. During a military town hall on Friday, Hegseth tore into diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. “I think the single dumbest phrase in military history is, ‘Our diversity is our strength.’ I think our strength is our unity,” he said. Hegseth went on: “Our strength is our shared purpose, regardless of our background, regardless of how we grew up, regardless of our gender, regardless of our race. In this department, we will treat everyone equally, we will treat everyone with respect, and we will judge you as an individual by your merit and by your commitment to the team and the mission.” TRUMP SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDERS BANNING ‘RADICAL GENDER IDEOLOGY,’ DEI INITIATIVES IN THE MILITARY Late last month, the Pentagon declared identity months, including Black History Month and Women’s History Month, “dead” within DoD and said it would not use resources to celebrate them. An executive order signed by Trump last month required Hegseth to update medical standards to ensure they “prioritize readiness and lethality” and take action to “end the use of invented and identification-based pronouns” within DOD. It says that expressing a “gender identity” different from an individual’s sex at birth does not meet military standards. The order also restricts sleeping, changing and bathing facilities by biological sex. It’s not an immediate ban, but a direction for the secretary to implement such policies. It revokes former President Joe Biden’s executive order that the White House argues “allowed for special circumstances to accommodate ‘gender identity’ in the military – to the detriment of military readiness and unit cohesion.” A categorical ban on transgender service members was lifted in 2014 under President Barack Obama. There are an estimated 9,000 to 14,000 transgender service members – exact figures are not publicly available. Between Jan. 1, 2016, and May 14, 2021, the DOD reportedly spent approximately $15 million on providing transgender treatments (surgical and nonsurgical) to 1,892 active duty service members, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Trump says he ordered firing of military academies’ Board of Visitors
President Donald Trump says he is dismissing members of the Board of Visitors for each of the U.S. military service academies on Monday. Trump made the announcement on social media, saying the dismissals would impact the Boards of Visitors for the U.S. Army Academy, or West Point, the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy and the Coast Guard Academy. Each academy’s Board of Visitors is tasked with influencing and maintaining the curriculum and culture at the schools. The boards consist of appointees from various sources, with six members being chosen by the president, four from the speaker of the House, three from the vice president, and one each from the House and Senate Armed Services committees. The White House did not immediately clarify whether Trump’s Monday order dismisses all members of the boards or only those who are presidential appointees. HOUSE DEMOCRAT DITCHES DOGE CAUCUS, SAYS MUSK IS ‘BLOWING THINGS UP’ “Our Service Academies have been infiltrated by Woke Leftist Ideologues over the last four years. I have ordered the immediate dismissal of the Board of Visitors for the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard. We will have the strongest Military in History, and that begins by appointing new individuals to these Boards. We must make the Military Academies GREAT AGAIN!” Trump wrote Monday. TRUMP DOD CREATES TASK FORCE TO ABOLISH DEI OFFICES THAT ‘PROMOTE SYSTEMIC RACISM’ Each of the academies declined to comment and deferred to the White House when contacted by Fox News Digital. The move is the latest effort by Trump’s administration to combat “woke” influences across the federal government. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has vowed to dismantle DEI within the Pentagon and across America’s armed forces. Hegseth said this weekend that he is also welcoming Elon Musk’s DOGE into the agency to streamline processes and “cut tail to put it to tooth,” he said Sunday on the Fox News Channel. “We know in a world where America’s $37 trillion in debt, resources will not be unlimited, so every dollar we can find that isn’t being spent wisely is one we can put toward a warfighter, so we welcome DOGE at DOD,” he told “Sunday Morning Futures” anchor Maria Bartiromo. “We will partner with them, and it’s long overdue. The Defense Department’s got a huge budget, but it needs to be responsible.” The former “Fox & Friends Weekend” host took the helm at the DOD last month after a deadlocked Senate confirmation vote ended with Vice President JD Vance’s tiebreaker. Since then, he has overseen overhauls of Biden-era policies, including DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) initiatives within the agency.
Department of Veterans Affairs cancels $178K in subscriptions to Politico Pro
The Department of Veterans Affairs canceled $178,000 in subscriptions to Politico Pro, VA Secretary Doug Collins announced Monday. Collins announced the move on X, saying his office had only recently become aware of the contract. The cancelation comes after President Donald Trump’s administration revealed that the federal government had paid over $8 million to Politico in subscription fees in recent years. “Ran across a $178,000 contract VA had with Politico and we promptly canceled it. That money can be better spent on Veterans health care!” Collins wrote. EX-POLITICO REPORTERS REVEAL EDITORS QUASHED, SLOW-WALKED NEGATIVE BIDEN STORIES ‘WITH NO EXPLANATION’ “It’s a new day at VA,” Collins told Fox News Digital. “We’re putting Veterans at the center of everything the department does, focusing relentlessly on customer service and convenience. We’re working every day to find new and better ways of helping VA beneficiaries. That means cutting wasteful spending and redirecting resources toward programs that benefit Veterans, families, survivors and caregivers.” TOP DEM STRATEGISTS WARN USAID FUNDING FIGHT IS A ‘TRAP’ FOR THE PARTY The move comes after Politico denied claims that it was a “beneficiary of government programs” last week upon revelations of millions of dollars worth of contracts with federal agencies. “As surely many of you saw today, there was a spirited discussion at the White House and among officials connected to the Department of Government Efficiency on the subject of government subscriptions for journalism products, at POLITICO and other news organizations,” Politico’s CEO Goli Sheikholeslami and editor-in-chief John Harris jointly wrote to staff on Wednesday in a memo obtained by Fox News Digital. “This is a fine conversation to have, and we welcome it. The value of POLITICO subscriptions is validated daily in the marketplace. Some parts of today’s conversation, however, were confusing and left some people with false understandings. For this reason, we want you to hear from us on several points.” Sheikholeslami and Harris stressed Politico “has never been a beneficiary of government programs or subsidies—not one cent, ever, in 18 years” and touted that its subscription service Politico Pro “provides both private and public sector clients with granular, fact-based reporting, real-time intelligence, and tracking tools across key policy areas.” There was speculation on social media that the $8 million in question all came from USAID, the agency currently being targeted by DOGE co-founder Elon Musk, but only $44,000 of it came from that agency. Base subscriptions are typically between $12,000 and $15,000 for three users. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Politico received taxpayer funding for its costly subscription service from elsewhere in the federal government. The Department of Health and Human Services led the way, with $1.37 million followed by $1.35 million from the Department of the Interior, according to USAspending.gov. The Department of Energy paid Politico $1.29 million, the Department of Agriculture paid $552,024 and the Department of Commerce paid $485,572. Fox News’ Brian Flood contributed to this report
Trump expected to pardon former Illinois Gov Rod Blagojevich
President Donald Trump is expected to pardon former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Fox News has learned. Blagojevich, a former “Celebrity Apprentice” contestant, served eight years in prison on charges stemming from his effort to sell Barack Obama’s Senate seat after Obama won the 2008 presidential election. Trump commuted his 14-year sentence in 2020. Fox News’ Pat Ward contributed to this report. This is a developing news story. Check back for updates.
The confirmation juggernaut: How Trump is getting everything he wants in building his Cabinet
President Donald Trump is getting what he wants. Specifically, who he wants to serve in his administration. The nomination of former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., for attorney general last November? That was a lifetime ago. Pushed out. Withdrawn. Unconfirmable. Whatever you want to call it. OUT OF POWER: DEMOCRATS DISORIENTED IN FIGHT AGAINST TRUMP AGENDA The Senate has already confirmed at least one nominee whom political experts deemed as potentially unconfirmable a few weeks ago: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Hegseth skated through to confirmation with three GOP nays. But Vice President JD Vance broke a tie. It was only the second time in U.S. history that the Senate confirmed a Cabinet secretary on a tiebreaking vote by the vice president. And by the end of the week, the Senate will likely confirm two other controversial nominees who at one point seemed to be a stretch. The Senate votes Monday night to break a filibuster on the nomination of Tulsi Gabbard to serve as Director of National Intelligence. Her confirmation vote likely comes Wednesday. After that, the Senate likely crushes a filibuster on the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to serve as Health and Human Services Secretary. The Senate could confirm Kennedy by late Thursday. THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO HOUSE REPUBLICANS RELEASING THEIR TAX AND SPENDING CUT PLAN It was unthinkable in November that Trump may be able to muscle through certain nominees. But this is a confirmation juggernaut. Yes, challenges await former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore., who’s up for Labor Secretary. Some Republicans believe Chavez-DeRemer is too pro-labor. And the Department of Education may not be around long enough for the Senate to ever confirm Education Secretary nominee Linda McMahon. But so far, Republicans are sticking together. Many Senate Republicans aren’t willing to buck the president. They believe the GOP owes its majority in the House and Senate to him. So they’re willing to defer to Mr. Trump. Moreover, some Republicans worry about the president hammering them on Truth Social or engineering a primary challenge against them. Or, perhaps just pressuring them. Groups aligned with the president went after Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, late last year after her initial meeting with Hegseth. Ernst served in the military and is a sexual assault survivor. In an interview on Fox, Ernst suggested she wasn’t on board with Hegseth yet and wanted “a thorough vetting.” But weeks later, Ernst came around and gave Hegseth the green light following a second meeting. Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., dodged reporters’ questions in the hallways for several days about his stance on Gabbard. “We’re not taking any questions!” an aide hollered brusquely as the senator tried to evade the Capitol Hill press corps in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The same thing happened the next day. “Sorry, we’re not taking questions today. Sorry guys, we’re not taking questions today. Thank you though. Appreciate it,” said an aide as Young maneuvered through the halls. Young didn’t tip his hand on Gabbard until the Intelligence Committee prepared to vote on the nomination and send it to the floor. Young released a letter from Gabbard where the nominee apparently allayed the senator’s concerns. “There was certain language I wanted her to embrace,” said Young. In particular, he wanted Gabbard to state she wouldn’t push for a pardon for spy Edward Snowden. TULSI GABBARD EXPLAINS WHY SHE WON’T CALL EDWARD SNOWDEN A ‘TRAITOR’ AHEAD OF TOUGH COMMITTEE VOTE Gabbard once advocated that a pardon was in order for Snowden – even though he made off with perhaps the biggest heist of U.S. intelligence secrets of all time – and fled to Moscow. The committee then voted 9-8 to send Gabbard’s nomination to the floor with a positive recommendation toward confirmation. What made the difference to Young? He spoke with President Trump. He spoke with Vance. He even spoke with Elon Musk. “Was there any implication that there would be recriminations if you voted a different way?” asked yours truly. “Never an intimation,” said Young. “I think something the American people don’t understand is that this process sometimes takes a while.” He argued that obtaining reassurances followed the process that “our Founding Fathers wanted people like myself to” do. The road to a prospective confirmation for RFK Jr. isn’t all that different. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., is a a physician and chairs the Senate Health Committee. After Kennedy’s hearing with that panel, Cassidy signaled he wasn’t prepared to support the nominee yet and wanted to talk with him over the weekend. Cassidy was perplexed by RFK Jr.’s stance on vaccines. But Cassidy was in RFK Jr.’s camp when it came time for the Senate Finance Committee to vote on the nomination a few days later. TRUMP’S HEALTH SECRETARY NOMINEE RFK JR CLEARS SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE CONFIRMATION VOTE “Mr. Kennedy and the administration committed that he and I would have an unprecedentedly close, collaborative working relationship if he is confirmed,” said Cassidy. “We will meet or speak multiple times a month. This collaboration will allow us to work well together and therefore to be more effective.” Cassidy’s support dislodged RFK Jr.’s nomination from committee and sent it to the floor. That’s why, like Gabbard, he’s on cruise control for a confirmation vote later this week. What made the difference in salvaging these nominations which once teetered on the edge? Multiple Senate Republicans point to their former colleague, Vance. Vance has worked quietly in the shadows, leaning on his relationship with senators, to convince skeptical Republicans into a comfort zone with controversial nominees. The Trump Administration saw how quickly the nomination of Matt Gaetz evaporated last fall. There was worry that robust GOP pushback could jeopardize an entire slate of nominees. So has Vance deployed soft power with senators? Or has he dispelled concerns through brute force? Judge for yourself. Consider what the vice president said about the role of senators during an interview on Fox last month: “You don’t have to agree with everything Bobby Kennedy has ever said. You don’t have
Schumer reveals Dem counter-offensive against Trump’s DOGE audit
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., unveiled on Monday the Democrats’ counter-offensive plan against the broad government audit being conducted by President Donald Trump’s temporary agency, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). “Senate Democrats have a responsibility to fight back on behalf of American families as Republicans look the other way in obedience to Donald Trump. And we are,” he wrote to members of the Senate Democratic Caucus in a letter. Notably, with Democrats out of control in each legislative chamber, as well as the White House, they have very few levers of authority over items of which they disapprove. TRUMP’S KEY TO CABINET CONFIRMATIONS: SENATOR-TURNED-VP VANCE’S GIFT OF GAB The Democratic leader explained that the plan to fight DOGE, headed by Trump-aligned billionaire and special government employee Elon Musk, is four-pronged. Schumer said that Democrats will take on the audit through Oversight, Litigation, Legislation and Communication & Mobilization. According to Schumer, Democrats have begun conducting oversight by sending “hundreds” of inquiries. He and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Ranking Member Gary Peters, D-Mich., sent a letter to federal employees announcing a new portal for whistleblowers “to report corruption, abuses of power, and threats to public safety.” INSIDE SEN. TOM COTTON’S CAMPAIGN TO SAVE TULSI GABBARD’S ENDANGERED DNI NOMINATION As for litigation, Schumer noted that court challenges “are already bearing fruit.” He cited federal court injunctions against a since-rescinded Office of Management and Budget temporary funding freeze, judges’ actions to prevent buyouts and administrative leave for federal employees as ordered by the administration, and a judge’s ruling to prevent DOGE’s team from accessing certain government systems. “Our committees and my office are in regular communication with litigants across the country, including plaintiffs, and are actively exploring opportunities for the Democratic Caucus to file amici curiae that support their lawsuits,” Schumer wrote. LEADER THUNE BACKS SENATE GOP BID TO SPEED PAST HOUSE ON TRUMP BUDGET PLAN He further pointed to opportunities to take on Trump and Musk through legislation, with the specific example of the upcoming government spending deadline next month. The Democratic leader noted that there will be 60 votes needed in the Senate to pass a deal — meaning Republicans will need some Democratic support. With this in mind, Democrats will use this leverage to get certain priorities into a spending deal as both parties look to avoid a partial government shutdown. “It is incumbent on responsible Republicans to get serious and work in a bipartisan fashion to avoid a Trump shutdown,” Schumer said. SENATORS LEAPFROG HOUSE REPUBLICANS ON ANTICIPATED TRUMP BUDGET BILL Lastly, the minority leader said Democrats in the Senate are working to keep the caucus informed and united to amplify their concerns to the public. “And the public is responding,” he wrote. “Grassroots energy is surging. From town halls to protests, Americans are pushing back. The stakes couldn’t be higher, and Senate Democrats are standing with the people to fight back, expose the truth, and stop the Trump agenda.”
Scoop: More than 100 lawmakers join Congressional DOGE Caucus
EXCLUSIVE: More than 100 congressional lawmakers have lined up behind the goal of cutting government waste, as Republicans and Democrats wage an aggressive ideological battle over the merits of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The Congressional DOGE Caucus was founded shortly after President Donald Trump tapped Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead an advisory panel on where the federal bureaucracy could be trimmed. That effort is now being led by Musk alone, and it’s attracted fierce criticism from Democratic lawmakers who call him an unelected bureaucrat with too much control over the federal government despite no prior experience inside of it. KEY CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS DRAWS RED LINE ON HOUSE BUDGET PLAN But in the House, enthusiasm for the mission is still strong. Fox News Digital was told more than 100 members are part of the DOGE Caucus – which is more than one in five House lawmakers. The group’s members are currently working on legislative items aimed at reducing government spending and forwarding specific items on Trump’s agenda, Fox News Digital was told. The caucus, led by Reps. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., Pete Sessions, R-Texas, and House GOP Conference Vice Chair Blake Moore, R-Utah, has had two meetings so far. BLACK CAUCUS CHAIR ACCUSES TRUMP OF ‘PURGE’ OF ‘MINORITY’ FEDERAL WORKERS During the second session, lawmakers were asked which of eight different working groups they wanted to be a part of, after which those groups would focus on finding areas to trim government waste in their designated areas. Documents obtained by Fox News Digital after the second meeting showed the working groups are: “Retirement,” “safety net and family support,” “emergency supplementals,” “natural resources and permitting,” “homeland and legal,” “defense and [veterans affairs],” “workforce and infrastructure,” and “finance and government operations.” Fox News Digital was told those member selections have been made, and the groups are “in full swing.” The caucus has seen significant interest from outside the Washington, D.C., Beltway as well, according to numbers shared with Fox News Digital. More than 40,000 people have reached out to the DOGE Caucus’ email tip line, and Fox News Digital was told that some ideas “for how to cut waste, fraud, and abuse” were shared with Musk’s DOGE team. A source in the room during the group’s previous meeting told Fox News Digital that Bean also challenged lawmakers to introduce at least one bill each aimed at cutting government waste.
Dems flirt with government shutdown threat despite past furor over spending cliff
Democratic lawmakers are fueling concerns of a partial government shutdown, warning they may withhold support for any plan in protest of President Donald Trump‘s shakeup of the federal government. Left-wing leaders who have warned of the catastrophic consequences of government shutdowns in the past are now publicly signaling it could be a possibility – and they are already positioning to blame Republicans. “What leverage do we have? Republicans have repeatedly lectured America, they control the House, the Senate and the presidency. It’s their government,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters when asked about what concessions he would seek in exchange for Democratic help to avert a partial shutdown. “We are in the governing season, and so we’re ready to work together on any issue. But I’m also confused about the leverage that we allegedly have in the face of such an overwhelming mandate that was given to Republicans by the American people, according to them.” BLACK CAUCUS CHAIR ACCUSES TRUMP OF ‘PURGE’ OF ‘MINORITY’ FEDERAL WORKERS Meanwhile, Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., suggested a partial shutdown could even aid in stopping the work of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which Democrats have repeatedly raised alarms over. “This is on them. This is about whether or not they can get the votes. They are the majority. And if they cannot govern, then that’s for the American people to see,” Kim told NBC News’ “Meet The Press,” referring to Republicans. “I’ve worked through multiple government shutdowns. I will be the last person to want to get to that stage. But we are at a point where we are basically on the cusp of a constitutional crisis, seeing this administration taking steps that are so clearly illegal. And until we see a change in that behavior, we should not allow and condone that, nor should we assist in that.” KEY CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS DRAWS RED LINE ON HOUSE BUDGET PLAN House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., signaled one point of opposition was Trump and his allies’ support of allowing Trump to direct less federal spending than what was authorized by Congress, which Democrats argue runs afoul of the Constitution’s separation of powers. “We will meet with folks, and we will try to find common ground where it is possible. But what we will not do is engage in an effort that gives Donald Trump money to direct our federal government that he has no plan to utilize or implement,” Aguilar said at a press conference last week. “If we’re going to pass law, we need to know that the law is followed. And it doesn’t appear that House Republicans are in a position to push back against Donald Trump to protect vital funding that supports our communities.” Progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., told CNN that Democrats should seek a “very high” price in exchange for their votes. In past fiscal standoffs, Democrats had used the specter of a government shutdown to force Republicans back to the negotiating table. Jeffries said during the previous round of government funding talks in late December, “If the government shuts down, holiday travel will be impacted…Border security and border patrol agents will not be paid. TSA agents will not be paid. Small businesses will be hurt in every single community in this country.” “This reckless Republican-driven shutdown can be avoided if House Republicans will simply do what is right for the American people and stick with the bipartisan agreement that they themselves negotiated,” Jeffries said at the time. Government funding has long been a thorny issue within the House Republican conference. GOP leaders have relied on Democratic support to pass every federal funding bill that has been signed into law since taking the House majority in January 2023. Despite now having the Senate majority as well, Republican leaders’ razor-thin margins mean House GOP lawmakers would need to vote nearly in lock-step to pass any one bill without Democrats. The House has about 15 days left in session before the government funding deadline on March 14. Democratic lawmakers have also previously painted shutdowns as “catastrophic” for the economy and federal workforce. Aguilar said during a January 2024 press conference, “House Democrats are in lock step that we need to avoid a government shutdown, which would be a disaster for our economy and a disaster for hardworking American families.”
AZ Senate leader urges Burgum to reverse Biden-Obama ‘land grabs’ on uranium sites
Arizona’s Senate president will urge Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to undo former President Joe Biden’s “land grab” in the Grand Canyon State that he said wrongly cordoned off nearly 1 million acres in the state for future energy exploration. State Sen. Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, said in a letter to President Donald Trump’s new Cabinet official – and obtained by Fox News Digital – that he will take swift and sweeping actions like undoing certain national monument designations to “Make America Energy Dominant Again.” “On his first day in office, President Trump directed you and the rest of his cabinet to immediately identify and rescind all agency actions that impose an undue burden on the development of domestic energy resources like critical minerals and nuclear energy resources,” Petersen wrote. Biden’s proclamation making 900,000 acres near the Grand Canyon the “Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni” or “Ancestral Footprints National Monument” nixed any exploration of what scientists believe is more than 300 million pounds of uranium, according to Petersen. ENERGY SECRETARY WRIGHT ISSUES DAY-1 ORDERS TARGETING SPR, NUKE STOCKPILE, MORE Undoing that “land grab” would both make the U.S. less reliant on foreign uranium and be a potential energy source breakthrough. Notably, during Trump’s first administration, Attorney General Jeff Sessions looked into allegations of a “racketeering scheme” involving Russian entities trying to forward Moscow’s energy goals within the U.S., in relation to the sale of the company Uranium One to Russian energy giant Rosatom – in what Trump called the “Real Russia Story” of the 2016 election cycle. In 2017, Hillary Clinton maintained allegations of Clinton or Clinton Foundation involvement in the Uranium One situation were “debunked repeatedly.” According to the left-wing Center for American Progress, the Biden administration issued protections for 28 million acres in Alaska to keep them from the reach of oil and gas interests, as well as 625 marine acres along coastlines for similar reasons. “Virtually all of the uranium used in America comes from foreign powers,” Petersen wrote, adding that former President Barack Obama also enacted a ban on domestic uranium mining during his term. “President Biden’s action made this prohibition permanent,” he said. ALASKANS LAUNCH GROUP HIGHLIGHTING HOW US CAN BE STRENGTHENED VIA THE LAST FRONTIER In 2018, the Supreme Court declined to hear a case in which the Ninth Circuit ruled against the GOP and mining interests as they hoped to nix the ban – announced by then-Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar as a block on new mining on federal lands near the Grand Canyon for 20 years. Petersen estimated the uranium beneath Ancestral Footprints is equivalent to 13 billion barrels of oil in an area the size of Rhode Island – and that he and other Arizona officials have fought such “land grabs” for more than a decade. As leader of Arizona’s upper chamber, Petersen said the feds already own nearly half of the land in his state. The newest national monument does nothing to protect the Grand Canyon, as critics reportedly claimed. Included among the justifications for the new monument, he said, was the protection of the northern grasshopper mouse, which can reportedly carry fleas infected with the plague. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Petersen told Fox News Digital on Monday that the previous administration “trashed the Constitution to steal land and critical resources from Arizonans” and that he led the fight against such “generational theft” from the people of Arizona. “I look forward to working with the Trump Administration to reverse the rampant federal overreach and allow Arizona to regain control over its Tenth Amendment rights.” “We know President Trump and Secretary Burgum will help make Arizona great again as our state and nation heal from the unconstitutional onslaught of the previous administration.”
‘What a ripoff!’: Trump sparks backlash after cutting billions in overhead costs from NIH research grants
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced it would be cutting billions in overhead costs associated with federally funded research grants that go to various institutions, as part of a wider move by the Trump administration to slash wasteful spending. The agency’s announcement unveiling the directive indicated that in fiscal year 2023, the NIH spent around $35 billion across roughly 50,000 grants that go to research institutions, such as universities and hospitals. Of that $35 billion, according to the announcement, $9 billion was allocated for “indirect costs” that cover expenses related to depreciation on buildings, equipment, capital improvements, interest on debt associated with certain buildings, and operations and maintenance expenses. When a grant is awarded, an additional percentage, on top of the allocated research funding, goes to the facility housing their work to cover these “indirect costs.” According to the announcement, that percentage has historically been around 27 to 28% for each grant; however, the new directive is now imposing a 15% threshold, unless otherwise negotiated. US SEASONAL FLU CASES SKYROCKET TO HIGHEST LEVEL IN AT LEAST 15 YEARS: CDC “Most private foundations that fund research provide substantially lower indirect costs than the federal government, and universities readily accept grants from these foundations. For example, a recent study found that the most common rate of indirect rate reimbursement by foundations was 0%, meaning many foundations do not fund indirect costs whatsoever,” NIH’s announcement, released Friday evening, stated. “In addition, many of the nation’s largest funders of research—such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—have a maximum indirect rate of 15%. And in the case of the Gates Foundation, the maximum indirect costs rate is 10% for institutions of higher education.” Some universities responded to the new indirect cost cap with confusion and backlash. The University of Wisconsin-Madison put out a statement arguing the new indirect cost cap will “significantly disrupt vital research activity and daily life-saving discoveries.” It added that the move will also “have an inevitable impact on student opportunities to engage in research activities.” POSITIVE PEOPLE CAME THROUGH COVID MUCH BETTER THAN OTHERS: NEW STUDYNews of the At the University of Michigan, which currently has a negotiated indirect cost rate with the federal government of 56%, the school put out a statement emphasizing the “great deal of uncertainty” over how the policy will be implemented. The school said it has begun investigating the implications of this new rule on its current grants. “It seems like it is of a piece with the sort of slash-and-burn philosophy of the current administration,” Dr. Francis P. Wilson, a Yale associate professor of medicine and public health, told the Yale Daily News. “It feels indiscriminate and abrupt, executed with little regard for the potential downstream consequences.” The Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, applauded the move in a post on social media. “Amazing job by the NIH team,” the group said in a post on social media. “Saved > $4B annually in excessive grant administrative costs.” “Can you believe that universities with tens of billions in endowments were siphoning off 60% of research award money for ‘overhead’?” Musk also posted on social media. “What a ripoff!” “Contrary to the hysteria, redirecting billions of allocated NIH spending away from administrative bloat means there will be more money and resources available for legitimate scientific research, not less,” added White House spokesperson Kush Desai in an emailed statement to reporters. Fox News Digital reached out directly to the NIH for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.