NYC residents praise ICE raids after violent gang member captured
Immigration officials have been busy this week removing criminal illegal migrants off New York City streets, with many residents hailing the sweeps as making the Big Apple a safer place to live. A member of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which has gained a foothold in New York City as well as other cities, was among those scooped up in the raids on Tuesday. Gang member Anderson Zambrano-Pacheco, 26, was picked up by Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Homeland Security Investigations officers in the Bronx. Zambrano-Pacheco is wanted by police in Aurora, Colorado, for first-degree burglary and menacing with a firearm from an Aug. 18, caught-on-camera incident where police say he and five other armed men are accused of breaking into an apartment at gunpoint. NOEM SAYS ‘WORST OF THE WORST’ ARRESTED IN NYC RAID TARGETING CRIMINAL ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS Zambrano-Pacheco was apprehended when immigration authorities stormed an Ogden Avenue apartment building in The Bronx in the early hours, the New York Post reports, citing sources. The building is across the street from a public school. Other sweeps took place in other parts of the Bronx and in Queens and came after President Donald Trump’s support throughout the city swelled in 2024. In the Bronx, for instance, Trump’s vote increased by 11% compared to 2020. “I’m glad they’re gone,” one New York City resident told Fox News. “I was planning on calling ICE to be honest with you, but they got here before I was able to call them. There was 15 of them in a one bedroom. They were constantly doing drugs in front [of the building].” He alleged that they were squatting in the building and had “destroyed” an apartment. One Bronx woman, 80-year-old Evelyn Brown, said she is relieved the raids are underway.”Get them the hell off the street! Get them the hell out of the street so people don’t have to walk in fear,” Brown, who is originally from Jamaica, told the New York Post.”Take the damn bad ones away!” The Drug Enforcement Administration in New York and ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations posted images from the raids. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was also present for the raids and said federal immigration authorities were targeting violent criminals and the operations were “very specific.” She called for the Bif Apple’s sanctuary city laws – which mandate the city to provide shelter to migrants and prohibit law enforcement from coordinating with ICE – to be lifted. “We are picking up the worst of the worst in this country that are making our streets so dangerous,” Noem told Sean Hannity on “Hannity.” “The community is safer now. That’s the reality of it. Tyreek Goodman, a member of the Bronx County Conservative Party, welcomed the raids and said the threat of the gang’s violent crimes had sowed fear within the community. “You do have the feeling, the fear of what happens if they come here next,” said Goodman, who is a city council candidate. “There’s been a lot of crimes on the MTA, based off people that weren’t supposed to be here. So we have to understand that in order to keep our people safe, this is a time for us to stand by law enforcement.” Ramses Frías, a local Queens activist who’s voiced concerns over a crime crisis gripping his neighborhood, said the raids have also been warmly received by the community. “Many residents, from immigrants to citizens, welcome ICE coming in and taking the criminals out of these communities,” Frías, a city council candidate, told Fox News Digital. “They welcome law and order and want safe streets.” ‘UNDO THE DAMAGE’: TEXAS LAWMAKER LAUNCHES STRATEGY TO HELP ICE AMID TRUMP DEPORTATION BLITZ U.S. Rep Nicole Malliotakis, whose district includes portions of Staten Island and Brooklyn, said the Trump administration was wasting no time to initiate the removal of dangerous, violent foreign criminals and gangs from New York City streets. She said the groups “have wreaked havoc in our city over the past four years and have committed thousands of crimes including robberies, sex crimes, assaulting NYPD officers, and even murder.” Not everyone supported the crackdown. New York City Council Member Alhea Athens, a Democrat, said she would demand answers and action to ensure families are protected and human rights are respected. “It is both disheartening and unacceptable that community members are being removed from their homes without due process or transparency,” Athens wrote on X. “The long-lasting effects of these raids on our community cannot be undone.” New York Attorney General Letitia James, meanwhile, issued an apparent warning to state and local law enforcement cooperating with federal authorities. In a Tuesday X post, she said she would be monitoring the situation closely to ensure that state sanctuary policies are not violated. “My office is aware of the increased presence of ICE across New York City,” she said. “I am monitoring the situation to ensure our laws are being respected and people’s rights are not being violated. We have sent guidance to law enforcement, and it must be followed.” Fox News’ Louis Casiano and Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.
5 things to know about President Donald Trump’s ‘Iron Dome’ plan for America
President Donald Trump has ordered the construction of an advanced, next-generation missile defense shield to protect the United States from aerial attack. On Monday, the president signed an executive order that tasks Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth with drawing up plans to build an “Iron Dome for America” that will protect Americans from the threat of missiles launched by a foreign enemy. In doing so, Trump kept a campaign promise to prioritize missile defense. “By next term we will build a great Iron Dome over our country,” Trump said during a West Palm Beach event on June 14. “We deserve a dome…it’s a missile defense shield, and it’ll all be made in America.” TRUMP SAYS THAT IRON DOME CONSTRUCTION WILL BE ‘IMMEDIATE,’ SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER But what exactly are Trump’s plans for an “Iron Dome”? Here’s what you need to know: The Iron Dome missile defense system Trump has called for is similar to one that Israel has developed to intercept thousands of rockets. Israel’s first line of defense, a missile defense system developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, is labeled the Iron Dome. It was first deployed in 2011, and has since rebuffed and destroyed rockets from Hamas terrorists, Hezbollah forces and Iranian drones and missiles. PETE HEGSETH CONFIRMED TO LEAD PENTAGON AFTER VP VANCE CASTS TIE-BREAKING VOTE The Iron Dome is land-based and built to keep the citizens of Israel safe from barrages of rockets deployed most often by Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip. Israeli officials claim the Iron Dome has been 90% effective in intercepting thousands of rockets fired into Israel. The U.S. has contributed at least $2.6 billion to the development of Israel’s Iron Dome system since 2011. Critically, the Iron Dome is a short-range defense system capable of tackling missiles with ranges between 2.5 miles and about 43 miles. Trump’s executive order identifies attack by long-range ballistic, hypersonic and cruise missiles as “the most catastrophic threat facing the United States,” so his proposed defense system will need to be adapted and redesigned to defend against intercontinental missiles. Russia currently has an arsenal of 1,250 deployed weapons, according to the New York Times. Pentagon analysts believe China will have a weapons stockpile of similar size within 10 years, if not earlier, and North Korea has continued development of intercontinental ballistic missiles under both Trump and President Joe Biden’s watch. Most recently, Russia and China have experimented with hypersonic missiles, which are designed to exceed Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound. Intercepting missiles at such speeds is a challenge the U.S. has partnered with Japan to confront at an estimated cost of $3 billion, the Associated Press reported. President Ronald Reagan was the first U.S. president to call for a national defense system that would counter the threat of the Soviet Union’s nuclear weapons, including warheads attached to ballistic missiles. On March 30, 1983, Reagan proposed “a vision for the future that offers hope” that he called the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). The idea was to develop a space-based missile defense program that would protect the country from large-scale nuclear attack. Reagan proposed to develop technology that would allow the United States to identify and automatically destroy numerous incoming ballistic missiles before they reached their targets. MCCONNELL VOTED NO ON HEGSETH AS PENTAGON HEAD, FORCING VANCE TO CAST TIEBREAKER Acknowledging that the technology to realize his vision did not yet exist, Regan urged the scientific community to partner with the defense community and work towards a future where Americans need not fear nuclear attack. “I call upon the scientific community in our country, those who gave us nuclear weapons, to turn their great talents now to the cause of mankind and world peace, to give us the means of rendering these nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete,” Reagan said. The president’s critics derided the plan, nicknaming it, “Star Wars,” and questioned why his administration would pursue a costly defense initiative with no guarantee that it would work. The Soviet Union accused Regan of violating a 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty that committed both countries to refrain from developing missile defense systems. Arms control measures stalled during Reagan’s term because he refused to give up the project. After Regan left office, interest in SDI waned and the program was canceled before the U.S. could develop a functional missile defense system. However, research conducted while SDI was active contributed to the Iron Dome’s development. In 2002, the U.S. withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which now allows Trump to pick up where Reagan left off. Under Trump’s order, freshly confirmed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth must submit to the president “a reference architecture, capabilities-based requirements, and an implementation plan for the next-generation missile defense shield.” The plans must include defense against “ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other next-generation aerial attacks from peer, near-peer, and rogue adversaries.” Hegseth is also instructed to accelerate the deployment of a satellite-based sensor system developed by the Missile Defense Agency that is currently in its prototype phase. Called the Hypersonic Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor, the system uses “birth-to-death” tracking to follow missile threats from launch through interception, according to the Defense Department. Additionally, Trump’s order instructs the development and deployment of several space-based missile interception technologies, including systems that could disable a missile prior to launch, as well as a “secure supply chain” to ensure that the ordered missile defense infrastructure is made in America. Hegseth must also submit a plan to pay for these dense systems before the president puts together his fiscal year 2026 budget. Trump’s order calls to “increase bilateral and multilateral cooperation on missile defense technology development, capabilities, and operations,” as well as to “increase and accelerate the provision of the United States missile defense capabilities to allies and partners.” Hegseth is also directed to conduct a review of the U.S. military’s missile defense posture in theaters across the globe and identify areas for cooperation with allies.
‘Squeezed by rising costs’: Democrat Jacky Rosen leads bipartisan bill to address childcare affordability
FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., is rolling out a new measure to ease the current childcare issues for families across the country due to lack of affordability. To address the childcare crisis, the Nevada Democrat’s bill would allow certain nonprofit institutions that provide childcare to have access to loans through the Small Business Administration. PETE BUTTIGIEG GIVING ‘SERIOUS LOOK’ TO 2026 SENATE RUN IN TRUMP-WON MICHIGAN “The lack of affordable childcare options in our communities hurts hardworking families at a time when they are already being squeezed by rising costs,” Rosen said in a statement. “Our bipartisan bill will help increase the number of childcare providers in Nevada and across the country by bolstering non-profits with access to much-needed federal resources, giving families greater access to care. I will continue working to lower costs of the everyday essentials that Nevadans rely on.” GARY PETERS, DEMOCRATIC SENATOR FROM TRUMP STATE, WON’T SEEK RE-ELECTION Rosen is introducing the Small Business Child Care Investment Act on Wednesday alongside Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Chair. “Finding affordable and high-quality childcare is one of the most pressing issues facing small businesses looking to hire and retain capable staff,” Ernst said in a statement. “As chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, I’m proud to help alleviate the pressure on hardworking families, especially in rural areas,” Ernst added. “This commonsense legislation will clear the Washington red tape, expand options, and drive down costs in Iowa and across the country.” TRUMP’S MOST VULNERABLE NOMINEES RFK JR, TULSI GABBARD GET BACK-TO-BACK HEARINGS The bipartisan bill would additionally let some nonprofit childcare providers access loan programs such as 7(a) and 504, which are eligible to be used for real estate, construction and remodeling, among other expenses. According to Rosen’s office, the bill would create local jobs and give families more options. The access to loans would also help those institutions maintain their childcare operations and expand. PETE HEGSETH CONFIRMED TO LEAD PENTAGON AFTER VP VANCE CASTS TIE-BREAKING VOTE Affordability and the strain of high inflation was a prevailing issue during the 2024 election, which saw President Donald Trump earn the support of most voters. While Trump won in swing states, including Nevada, Rosen was one of a handful of Democrat senators who managed to get re-elected.
House Democrats demand answers on DOJ’s move to fire former special counsel officials
House Democrats are demanding answers regarding the Justice Department’s move this week to fire more than a dozen officials involved in former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation, arguing the action was in “complete contradiction” of President Trump’s effort to keep a “merit-based system” for government employees. House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Gerald Connolly, D-Ma., penned a letter to acting Attorney General James McHenry Tuesday, obtained by Fox News. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT FIRES MORE THAN A DOZEN KEY OFFICIALS ON FORMER SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH’S TEAM “We write to you with alarm and profound concern about reports of the administration engaging in the widespread summary firing and involuntary reassignment of excellent career prosecutors and federal agents throughout the Department of Justice (DOJ),” they wrote. “This onslaught against effective DOJ civil servants began within hours of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, in complete contradiction of the president’s repeated pledges to maintain a merit-based system for government employment.” Raskin and Connolly added that the officials worked “strenuously to defend the rule of law have been removed from their positions without any evaluation—much less any negative evaluation—of their work.” McHenry, on Monday, fired more than a dozen key officials on Smith’s team who worked to prosecute the president, saying that they could not be trusted in “faithfully implementing the president’s agenda.” Fox News Digital first reported the news exclusively on Monday. TRUMP TO TAKE MORE THAN 200 EXECUTIVE ACTIONS ON DAY ONE Raskin and Connolly argued that the officials terminated on Monday were “part of an expert, non-political workforce tasked with protecting our national security and public safety.” “They have been hired and promoted based on their professional merit and excellence,” they wrote, adding that “many of them have decades of experience under their belt and have served under, been promoted by, and received awards from presidential administrations of both major political parties, including President Trump’s first administration.” The Democrats argued that McHenry removed them from their posts “without regard to their demonstrated competencies, their recognized achievements, or their devoted service to the Department, in some cases reassigning them to areas that are outside of their legal expertise.” “By removing them from their positions in this hasty and unprincipled way, you have very likely violated longstanding federal laws,” they wrote, also accusing McHenry of having “taken aim at law students who applied to, interviewed for, and received offers from the Department based on their demonstrated academic achievements and their commitment to public service.” DOJ RELEASES FORMER SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH’S REPORT ON INVESTIGATION INTO TRUMP ELECTION INTERFERENCE CASE The Democrats claimed that the DOJ “rescinded job offers to summer interns and entry-level attorneys hired through the Attorney General’s Honors Program, a highly competitive 72-year-old recruitment program that receives applications from students at hundreds of law schools across the country.” “We have also received disturbing reports surfacing that White House staff are playing a substantial role in these employment decisions and examining career civil servants’ LinkedIn and other social media profiles to ascertain their personal political leanings,” Raskin and Connolly wrote. “Taken together, your actions raise significant concern that you are determined to fill the ranks of the DOJ and FBI with career employees selected for the personal loyalty or political services they have rendered to President Trump.” Raskin and Connolly are demanding the DOJ provide them with a list of names of officials who have been reassigned or terminated; and provide any communications between the DOJ and the White House since Inauguration Day regarding the content of personal social media accounts of career DOJ employees or applicants. Raskin and Connolly demanded the information by Feb. 11 at 5:00 p.m. Their letter comes after McHenry, on Monday, transmitted a letter to each official notifying them of their termination, a Justice Department official exclusively told Fox News Digital. It is unclear how many officials received that letter. The names of the individuals were not immediately released. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Acting Attorney General James McHenry terminated the employment of a number of DOJ officials who played a significant role in prosecuting President Trump,” a DOJ official told Fox News Digital. “In light of their actions, the Acting Attorney General does not trust these officials to assist in faithfully implementing the President’s agenda.” This action “is consistent with the mission of ending the weaponization of government,” the official told Fox News Digital. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Thomas Massie and Mike Lee advocate for US to dump NATO
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Sen. Mike Lee are advocating for the U.S. to withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organiation (NATO). “If you could snap your fingers and get us out of NATO today, would you?” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, asked in a post on X. “Yes,” Massie replied. MASSIE AND OTHER REPUBLICANS PUSH ‘NATIONAL CONSTITUTIONAL CARRY ACT’ TO PROTECT AMERICANS’ GUN RIGHTS The House lawmaker has previously called the alliance — which includes the U.S. and scads of other nations — a “Cold War relic.” “I would withdraw us from NATO,” Massie said, the Washington Post reported in 2022. “It’s a Cold War relic. Our involvement should have ceased when the [Berlin] wall fell and the Soviet Union collapsed.” Lee has been critical of the NATO alliance, describing it as a “great deal for Europe,” but a “raw deal for America.” MIKE LEE FLOATS ALLOWING PRIVATE PARTIES TO TARGET DRUG CARTELS FOR PROFIT The senator has called for the U.S. to consider departing NATO, and has in some cases explicitly endorsed the prospect of a U.S. withdrawal. “NATO members must pay up now,” Lee asserted in a tweet. “If they don’t—and maybe even if they do—the U.S. should seriously consider leaving NATO,” he continued. “We won the Cold War,” the senator noted. “A long time ago, in fact.” “Amen!” Lee exclaimed in a tweet when responding to someone who had declared, “Let’s leave NATO.” “Let’s go!” the lawmaker wrote in response to two separate posts suggesting that President Donald Trump should withdraw the U.S. from NATO. MIKE LEE CONTINUES CALLING FOR ABOLITION OF TSA Part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024, which was signed by President Joe Biden in late 2023, placed into U.S. law language that declares, “The President shall not suspend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty, done at Washington, DC, April 4, 1949, except by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, provided that two-thirds of the Senators present concur, or pursuant to an Act of Congress.”
Nobel laureate letter opposing RFK Jr confirmation loaded with Dem donors, officials: ‘Thinly veiled attempt’
A letter signed by 77 Nobel laureates opposing the confirmation of Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. being touted as a reason to oppose him is almost entirely composed of political donors, many of them who supported Democrat campaigns. “In view of his record, placing Mr. Kennedy in charge of DHHS would put the public’s health in jeopardy and undermine America’s global leadership in the health sciences, in both the public and commercial sectors,” more than 75 Nobel laureates wrote in an open letter published by the New York Times last month. A Fox News Digital review found that at least 60 of the signatories are political donors, mostly to Democratic campaigns, including Steven Chu, who served as former President Barack Obama’s secretary of Energy. Chu gave $5,400 to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016. Nobel Medicine Laureate Joseph L. Goldstein, who also signed the letter, has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Democrats, including former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, former President Joe Biden and the Democrat-aligned SMP Super PAC. RFK JR.’S PLAN TO COMBAT ADDICTION: ‘WELLNESS FARMS’ American economist George A. Akerlof, who is married to Biden Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, also signed the letter on top of donating $25,000 to Biden in 2020 and $20,000 to the DCCC in 2018. Akerlof signed a letter in June of last year warning of the economic dangers of electing President Donald Trump back into office, which was amplified by the Biden campaign and other Biden surrogates and also littered with signatories who have either donated to Biden or supported him politically in the past. Akerlof, who donated nearly $90,000 to Democrats between the 1990s and 2022, also signed a letter supporting Build Back Better, and signed a letter in 2020 calling Trump’s re-election effort “selfish and reckless.” Louis E. Brus, an American chemist who signed the letter, is a frequent Democrat donor, including sending $2,000 to Biden’s campaign. Chemists Walter Gilbert, Johann Deisenhofer, Alan Heeger and Brian K. Kobilka also donated to Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, former Vice President Kamala Harris, Obama, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren. HEALTH EXPERTS PREP DEM LAWMAKERS ON ANTI-VACCINE ARGUMENTS AHEAD OF RFK JR’S CONFIRMATION HEARINGS Other signatories include Planned Parenthood donor David Baltimore, John Kerry donor Michael Rosbash, former President Bill Clinton NIH Director Harold E. Varmus and Adam Schiff donor Kip Stephen Thorne. “If there’s one thing Americans should understand about politics, it’s that things are rarely as they seem,” Camryn Kinsey, executive director of Confirm 47, told Fox News Digital. “This letter appears to be nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt by special interests to block a critical Cabinet nomination. The fact that one of the signers is a former Obama Cabinet official, and that the majority are Democrat donors, tells you everything you need to know.” Kennedy is also facing a million-dollar opposition campaign from Protect Our Care, which is backed by the dark money group Sixteen Thirty Fund that is not required to disclose its donors, Politico reported. The dark money fund is a group “committed to tackling society’s biggest social challenges” such as climate change and gun reform, brought in $181 million, spending about $141 million in 2023. Kennedy, who has been criticized by both sides of the aisle for previous positions on vaccines and his stance on abortion, will have his first confirmation hearing Wednesday at 10 a.m. On top of facing opposition from experts in the New York Times letter and other petitions, Kennedy has faced support in the medical community, including an initiative backed by IMA Action, a coalition of over 15,000 healthcare professionals, who are rallying support for Kennedy. “Our coalition is broad, highly active and deeply committed to much needed healthcare reform,” Lynne Kristensen, Communications Director for IMA Action, said in a statement. “We’re going to push back against the falsehoods of the Pharma-financed opposition to RFK Jr., and our healthcare professionals will be exceedingly active with their home state senators, policy makers and public health agencies.” “The Kennedy and other HHS confirmations are about restoring health to America’s healthcare system, and IMA Action is excited for health reform to be at the forefront of the national conversation.”
Trump to create task force to plan ‘extraordinary celebration’ for 250th anniversary of America’s independence
EXCLUSIVE: President Donald Trump will sign an executive order Wednesday establishing a White House task force focused on coordinating the plans and activities surrounding the celebration of the 250th anniversary of American independence, Fox News Digital has learned. The president’s order will organize a “grand celebration of the semiquincentennial of the ratification of the Declaration of Independence.” The 250th anniversary of America’s founding is July 4, 2026. TRUMP VOWS ‘NEW ERA OF NATIONAL SUCCESS,’ SAYS AMERICA’S ‘DECLINE IS OVER’ IN INAUGURAL ADDRESS The task force, which will be named “Task Force 250,” will “coordinate the plans and activities of federal agencies for an extraordinary celebration of the 250thh Anniversary of American Independence.” Task Force 250 will build upon the U.S. Bicentennial Celebration half a century ago. The White House told Fox News Digital that the celebration “emphasized national renewal of our founding ideals after a period of national unrest and division.” DONALD TRUMP SWORN IN AS 47TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES The order, which Trump is set to sign Wednesday, will also reinstate executive orders from his first administration that would establish the National Garden of American Heroes, a statuary park memorializing 250 historically significant Americans, and commission artists for the first 100 statues. Fox News Digital has learned that the National Garden of American Heroes will honor “American heroism” after dozens of monuments to Americans, including presidents and founding fathers, were toppled or destroyed and never restored. The order also reinstates an order to protect American monuments, memorials and statues from destruction or vandalism. AMERICA WILL BE CELEBRATING ITS 250TH BIRTHDAY AND EVERYONE’S INVITED: ‘BE INSPIRED FOR OUR COUNTRY’S FUTURE’ The White House said America’s 250th anniversary will “afford an opportunity to unite the American people around their shared history and common future as a nation.” The order, according to White House officials, also continues Trump’s “longstanding commitment to honor America’s 250th anniversary and celebrate American history.” During Trump’s first address to a joint session of Congress in February 2017, he cited the upcoming semiquincentennial and noted that “in nine years the United States will celebrate the 250th anniversary of our founding, 250 years since the day we declared our Independence.” The executive orders that Wednesday’s order reinstates were signed in 2020 and 2021 and were created to protect American monuments during unrest and violence in cities during protests and the COVID-19 pandemic.
DOGE Chair Joni Ernst takes on food stamps in new bill to hold states ‘accountable’
FIRST ON FOX: The chair of the Senate Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) caucus is leading an effort to cut what she says is significant waste in food stamp programs. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, is debuting a new bill on Wednesday designed to tackle overpayments in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), colloquially known as “food stamps.” PETE BUTTIGIEG GIVING ‘SERIOUS LOOK’ TO 2026 SENATE RUN IN TRUMP-WON MICHIGAN “Bureaucratic blunders are leaving billions of dollars on the table as Americans are starved to keep up with the ever-growing $36 trillion debt,” she told Fox News Digital in a statement. “SNAP plays an essential role in helping feed families. That’s why we need to strengthen its integrity by holding states accountable for growing error rates, implementing a zero-tolerance policy, and snapping back overpayments.” GARY PETERS, DEMOCRATIC SENATOR FROM TRUMP STATE, WON’T SEEK RE-ELECTION The Snap Back Inaccurate SNAP Payments Act would charge states with collecting back SNAP overpayments while also requiring states to return what is owed to the federal government. The measure would further hold states accountable for their rates of errors in SNAP payment distribution in order to incentivize finance management. Ernst’s legislation would also require that every error is reported rather than only those that exceed the tolerance threshold of $54. TRUMP’S MOST VULNERABLE NOMINEES RFK JR, TULSI GABBARD GET BACK-TO-BACK HEARINGS Ernst estimated that her bill could reduce spending by about $91 billion over the next 10 years, per her office. DOGE was previously announced by President Donald Trump, who tapped billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the new advisory board looking to cut government waste. However, it was recently confirmed that Ramaswamy is stepping back from DOGE as he plans to run for governor of Ohio. PETE HEGSETH CONFIRMED TO LEAD PENTAGON AFTER VP VANCE CASTS TIE-BREAKING VOTE Shortly after Trump revealed his plan for DOGE, Republicans in the House and Senate formed caucuses by the same name to help facilitate his agenda and cut waste, bureaucracy and spending. Ernst has already introduced several bills aligned with DOGE’s mission.
Scoop: Trump HHS secretary nominee RFK Jr to stress he’s not ‘anti-vaccine’ at confirmation hearing
EXCLUSIVE: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), will emphasize that he is not “anti-vaccine” when he appears Wednesday in Congress at the first of two straight days of Senate confirmation hearings. “I want to make sure the Committee is clear about a few things. News reports have claimed that I am anti-vaccine or anti-industry. Well, I am neither; I am pro-safety,” Kennedy will say in his opening statement in front of the Senate Finance Committee. The statement was shared first with Fox News ahead of the appearance by Kennedy, who, if confirmed, would have control over 18 powerful federal agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. And Kennedy will emphasize he’s not “the enemy of food producers. American farms are the bedrock of our culture and national security … I want to work with our farmers and food producers to remove burdensome regulations and unleash American ingenuity.” HOW KENNEDY MAY BE TARGETED OVER HIS VACCINE VIEWS The hearing, as well as a Thursday hearing in front of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (a courtesy hearing as only the Senate Finance Committee will vote on Kennedy’s confirmation), are expected to be contentious because of Kennedy’s controversial vaccine views, including his repeated claims linking vaccines to autism, which have been debunked by scientific research. Kennedy also served for years as chair or chief legal counsel for Children’s Health Defense, the nonprofit organization he founded that has advocated against vaccines and sued the federal government numerous times, including a challenge over the authorization of the COVID vaccine for children. THE TAKE ON KENNEDY’S CONFIRMATION FROM FOX NEWS’ SENIOR MEDICAL ANALYST After Trump’s convincing November presidential election victory, Kennedy has said he won’t “take away anybody’s vaccines.” And in his opening statement at his confirmation hearing, Kennedy will spotlight that “all of my kids are vaccinated, and I believe vaccines have a critical role in healthcare.” But he will also say, “In my advocacy, I have disturbed the status quo by asking uncomfortable questions. Well, I won’t apologize for that. We have massive health problems in this country that we must face honestly.” HHS is a massive federal department, with approximately 90,000 people and an annual budget of roughly $1.7 trillion. And Kennedy has said he wants to shift the focus of the agencies he would oversee toward promotion of a healthy lifestyle and the root causes of chronic diseases, which has garnered some bipartisan support in Congress. Kennedy has said he would aim to overhaul dietary guidelines and take aim at ultra-processed foods, among other initiatives. “American farms are the bedrock of our culture and national security,” Kennedy is expected to say in his opening statement. “I want to work with our farmers and food producers to remove burdensome regulations and unleash American ingenuity.” He will warn that “the United States has worse health than any other developed nation, yet we spend far more on healthcare — at least double; and in some cases, triple.” TULSI GABBARD, RFK JR EXPECTED TO FACE OPPOSITION IN SENATE CONFIRMATION HEARINGS And he will “thank President Trump for entrusting me to deliver on his promise to make America healthy again.” “Should I be so privileged to be confirmed, we will make sure our tax dollars support healthy foods. We will scrutinize the chemical additives in our food supply. We will remove the financial conflicts of interest in our agencies. We will create an honest, unbiased, science-driven HHS, accountable to the President, to Congress, and to the American people. We will reverse the chronic disease epidemic and put the nation back on the road to health,” Kennedy is expected to say. The 71-year-old Kennedy, the longtime environmental activist and crusader who is the scion of the nation’s most storied political dynasty, launched a long-shot campaign for the Democrat presidential nomination against then-President Biden in April 2023. But six months later, he switched to an independent run for the White House. Kennedy made major headlines again last August when he dropped his presidential bid and endorsed Trump. While Kennedy had long identified as a Democrat and repeatedly invoked his late father, former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and his late uncle, former President John F. Kennedy – who were both assassinated in the 1960s – Kennedy in recent years built relationships with far-right leaders due in part to his high-profile vaccine skepticism. Trump announced soon after the November election that he would nominate Kennedy to his Cabinet to run HHS. Opposition to Kennedy’s nomination has been fierce, with advocacy groups running ad campaigns urging senators to vote against his confirmation. Kennedy, in his opening statement, will “thank my wife Cheryl, who is with us here today; and all the members of my large extended family, for the love that they have so generously shared. Ours has always been a family devoted to public service, and I look forward to continuing that legacy.” But many members of the Kennedy family were very vocal in their opposition to his primary challenge against Biden as well as his independent White House run. And on the eve of his confirmation hearing, his well-known cousin, Caroline Kennedy, sent a letter to senators on Tuesday that charged Kennedy as one who “preys on the desperation of parents and sick children” and whose actions “have cost lives.” She seemed to be referring to Kennedy’s connection to a measles outbreak in 2019 in the Pacific Island nation of Samoa, where 83 people died. Among those vocal in their opposition to Kennedy is Democrat Gov. Josh Green of Hawaii, a former emergency room physician who traveled to Samoa to help treat the deadly measles outbreak, including vaccinating tens of thousands of individuals. “Our people deserve a Health and Human Services Secretary who champions science, supports vaccines, and is committed to lowering costs
Senate to kick off RFK Jr, Kelly Loeffler confirmation hearings for top Trump posts
The Senate will have separate committee hearings for three of President Donald Trump’s administration nominees on Wednesday, including former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is considered one of his more vulnerable picks. At approximately 10 a.m. on Wednesday, hearings for both Kennedy in the Finance Committee and Howard Lutnick in the Commerce Committee will begin. PETE BUTTIGIEG GIVING ‘SERIOUS LOOK’ TO 2026 SENATE RUN IN TRUMP-WON MICHIGAN Trump picked Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), while Lutnick is the president’s choice for Commerce secretary. In the afternoon, Kelly Loeffler goes before the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. The hearing for Trump’s pick to lead the Small Business Administration starts at 3:30 p.m. GARY PETERS, DEMOCRATIC SENATOR FROM TRUMP STATE, WON’T SEEK RE-ELECTION Several of Trump’s nominees have already been confirmed, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Transportation Secretary-designate Sean Duffy. While the Hegseth confirmation came down to the wire, with Vice President JD Vance being needed to break a tie in the Senate, there’s been some indication that other Trump nominees such as Kennedy, former Democrat Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and potentially Kash Patel will have their own uphill battles to getting confirmed. TRUMP’S MOST VULNERABLE NOMINEES RFK JR, TULSI GABBARD GET BACK-TO-BACK HEARINGS Gabbard is Trump’s choice to be director of national intelligence, and Patel is nominated to be the next attorney general. While the Finance Committee will ultimately vote on whether to advance Kennedy’s nomination to the Senate floor, he will also have a hearing on Thursday before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions because of the position’s relevance to public health. PETE HEGSETH CONFIRMED TO LEAD PENTAGON AFTER VP VANCE CASTS TIE-BREAKING VOTE Senators on both sides of the aisle in the Finance Committee are expected to ask Kennedy for clarifications on his past statements regarding vaccines and how he would apply his beliefs if confirmed to lead HHS.