Happy New Year 2025

Tag: Dems

House Democrat’s smear of Border Patrol bill backfires after dozens of Dems support it: ‘Fearmongering’

A House Democrat’s strategy to demonize legislation aimed at making it a federal crime to try to evade law enforcement within 100 miles of the border backfired last week after dozens of House Democrats voted in favor of the bill.

“I urge my colleagues to oppose H.R. 35. Let’s call this bill what it is: fearmongering dressed up as officer safety,” Rep. Janelle Bynum, D-Ore., said last week about the bill named after late Border Patrol Agent Raul Gonzalez, who died in a pursuit in 2022.

House Resolution 35 would make individuals convicted of “intentionally fleeing” law enforcement in a vehicle subject to up to two years in prison and fines. If the police chase results in a death, the individual could face up to life imprisonment under the legislation, and potentially face deportation if the person involved is in the country illegally.

SAN DIEGO MIGRANT SHELTER CLOSES AFTER NO NEW ARRIVALS SINCE TRUMP TOOK OFFICE; OVER 100 EMPLOYEES LAID OFF

Oregon State Rep Janelle Bynum faced off against Rep. Lori Chavez DeRemer, right, in OR-05. ( )

“This bill echoes one of the darkest chapters in our nation’s history, ‘The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.’ Just like that shameful law, H.R. 35 forces local authorities and encourages the deputizing of randos to do the federal government’s work, punishing them if they refuse. Back then, it was hunting people down who dared to seek freedom. Today, it’s forcing local police to become federal enforcers,” she continued in her House floor speech.

Regardless, the bill passed 264-155, with 50 Democrats voting in favor, including a handful in border states. The legislation is now in the hands of the Senate, where Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is leading the charge on the proposal.

FLORIDA SHERIFF SAYS ICE PARTNERSHIP ONLY THE BEGINNING IN ILLEGAL MIGRANT CRACKDOWN

Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz., leaves the House Republicans’ caucus meeting at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, May 10, 2023. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT IMMIGRATION

“This bill delivers a clear message to anyone who endangers our community that they will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz., said about the legislation he is sponsoring.

Police pursuits near the border are a frequent site as smugglers hope to evade law enforcement. Under the Trump administration, there has been an across-the-board crackdown on border and immigration policies, including sending in the military to the border as well as deportation raids throughout the country.

A Border Patrol agent walks between a gap along the border wall between the U.S. and Mexico in Yuma, Arizona, on June 1, 2022. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

Bynum started in Congress last month, as she narrowly defeated former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer in November. Chavez-DeRemer is now President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as Labor secretary.

The seat will likely be one of the nation’s most competitive in 2026, according to the Cook Political Report, which ranks the seat as “Lean Democrat.”

“Janelle Bynum’s unglued comments reinforced she’s hellbent on pursuing a dangerous anti-police officer crusade in Congress. Bynum’s extremist vote siding with cartel terrorists over Border Patrol puts Oregonians in danger,” National Republican Campaign Committee spokesman Ben Petersen said in a statement.

Cameron Arcand is a politics writer at Fox News Digital in Washington D.C. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @cameron_arcand

February 17, 2025
Some Dems already turning on Hogg two weeks into DNC vice chair gig: Report

Some Democratic insiders are already expressing concerns over newly elected Democratic National Committee (DNC) Vice Chair David Hogg just two weeks into his tenure in leadership.

Hogg has already ruffled some feathers within the DNC for using the committee’s contact list to solicit donations for his own political action committee (PAC), Leaders We Deserve, according to a report from the New York Post.

“David Hogg here: I was just elected DNC Vice Chair! This is a huge win for our movement to make the Democratic Party more reflective of our base: youthful, energetic, and ready to win,” reads one of eight texts, which include solicitation links to “Leaders We Deserve,” sent out to a DNC database of phone numbers, according to the report.

NEW DNC VICE CHAIR SETS SOCIAL MEDIA ABLAZE AFTER ‘RADICAL’ POSTS EXPOSED: ‘LEARNED ABSOLUTELY NOTHING’

Gun violence survivor and activist David Hogg speaks at the March for our Lives rally against gun violence at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on June 11, 2022. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The texts aren’t sitting well with some DNC insiders, who believe the committee’s vast database of numbers and donors should be used to help the future of the party, not a member’s individual PAC.

“David Hogg – talk about living up to your name. A trough of DNC dollars all for him and he doesn’t seem to give an oink,” one top Democrat told the Post.

Hogg, who first came to prominence as a survivor of the 2018 Parkland, Florida, school shooting, founded the PAC in August 2023, which he said aims to help young progressives get elected to Congress and state legislatures across the country.

David Hogg speaks onstage during the Fast Company Innovation Festival at BMCC Tribeca PAC on Sept. 17, 2024, in New York City. (Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Fast Company)

NEW DNC VICE CHAIR PREVIOUSLY CALLED FOR ICE TO BE ABOLISHED

The now 24-year-old DNC vice chair also pockets a salary of over $100,000, the report notes, having last taken a $20,000 salary payment in December, according to the most recent public data.

While Hogg’s personal fundraising for his PAC does not break any rules, some within the party have taken exception to the young activist’s use of DNC resources.

David Hogg addresses the March for Our Lives rally on March 24, 2018, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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“It’s especially important for all Democratic national officials to focus on raising support for the party and not using their position to raise money for themselves or their personal political PACS,” a second Democratic Party official told the Post. “It’s a stunning lack of judgment that is concerning to many people.”

The DNC did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

Michael Lee is a writer for Fox News. Prior to joining Fox News, Michael worked for the Washington Examiner, Bongino.com, and Unbiased America. He has covered politics for more than eight years.

February 16, 2025
Trump targets McConnell’s mental acuity as former leader joins Dems against key nominees

President Donald Trump derided former Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as “not equipped mentally” after he went from being the face of the GOP in the upper chamber to opposing his entire conference and voting with the Democrats on Trump’s key Cabinet nominations in just a matter of months.

“He wasn’t equipped ten years ago, mentally, in my opinion,” Trump told reporters at the White House after McConnell refused to vote in favor of confirming his controversial Health and Human Services (HHS) pick, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“He’s a, you know, very bitter guy,” Trump added of McConnell, with whom he has had a strained relationship with over the years, including during his previous presidency.

TRUMP AGRICULTURE PICK CONFIRMED AS PRESIDENT RACKS UP CABINET WINS

The GOP’s recent and longest-serving Senate party leader has stood in opposition to his conference multiple times, demonstrating the party’s significant transformation in the age of Trump. (Reuters)

While such a shift from GOP leader to defiant Republican might be optically jarring, the move was unsurprising to Jim Manley, former senior communications advisor and spokesman for former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the Senate Democratic Caucus.

“He was living on borrowed time the last couple of years,” he told Fox News Digital of McConnell. Manley speculated that if he hadn’t decided to step down from leadership voluntarily before the 119th Congress, he would have had significant trouble being re-elected. “[I]t’s evident just how exactly out of step he is with the caucus,” he said, noting that it has become “much more conservative.”

In three pivotal Senate votes on Trump’s most vulnerable Cabinet nominees in the last few weeks, McConnell bucked his party. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s nomination was confirmed by a razor-thin margin, 51-50, after Vice President JD Vance was called in to break the tie.

TULSI GABBARD SWORN IN AT WHITE HOUSE HOURS AFTER SENATE CONFIRMATION

McConnell and Trump have had a thorny relationship. (Reuters)

Moderate GOP Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, joined him in voting against the controversial defense pick.

However, McConnell was the only Republican to vote against the similarly controversial Director of National Intelligence (DNI) nominee Tulsi Gabbard and HHS pick Kennedy. Even Collins, Murkowski, and several other senators with reputations for being somewhat hesitant got behind them.

“If Senator McConnell was looking to accelerate the deterioration of his legacy as the former Republican Senate leader, he’s succeeded,” a Senate GOP source remarked. They described the Kentucky Republican’s actions as “an attempt to embarrass the president and the Republican Party” and evidence “of why he was no longer fit to lead our conference.”

McConnell released lengthy statements following each vote, explaining his reasoning. He also wished each of them well and committed to working with them.

DOGE ‘PLAYBOOK’ UNVEILED BY GOP SENATOR AS MUSK-LED AGENCY SHAKES UP FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Hegseth was confirmed after JD Vance cast a tie-breaking vote. (Omar Marques/Getty Images)

A defense hawk and chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, McConnell was unconvinced that Hegseth or Gabbard were the best national security selections.

As for Kennedy, McConnell recalled his childhood experience with polio and touted the effectiveness of vaccines, of which the now-HHS secretary has been consistently critical.

McConnell did vote in favor of Trump’s other, less-controversial and lesser-known Cabinet nominees.

Republican strategist Matt Dole called the former leader “an enigma.”

“[H]e sought to rule the Republican Caucus with an iron fist when he was leader,” he pointed out.

“That makes his own, lonely, votes stand out as all the more egregious.”

McConnell’s successor, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., reacted to the “no” votes in an interview with Fox News Digital. “I think he knows better than anybody how hard it is to lead a place like the United States Senate, where it takes 60 votes to get most things done, and that you got to have everybody, sort of functioning as a team,” he said.

According to Thune, McConnell “is still active up here and still a strong voice on issues he’s passionate about, including national security, and so when it comes to those issues, he has outsized influence and a voice that we all pay attention to.”

DEM LOOKS TO CODIFY NEW AG BONDI’S DESIRED CRACKDOWN ON ‘ZOMBIE DRUG’ XYLAZINE

Thune succeeded McConnell as Senate GOP leader. (Reuters)

He explained that while the conference doesn’t necessarily agree with him, “we respect his positions on these, some of these [nominations], and I know that a lot of big stuff ahead of us, he’s going to be with us. He’s a team player.”

One former top Senate Republican strategist explained the former leader has “nothing to lose” at this point. In fact, they said, the feelings he is expressing about Trump’s most controversial selections actually reflects those of a number of other senators. But they can’t oppose the picks themselves “for fear of retribution by Trump or primary voters that will make a difference on whether or not they remain in power.”

“Not being in leadership can be quite liberating,” GOP strategist John Feehery added.

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According to Grant Reeher, a political science professor at Syracuse University, “I think he wants to make a symbolic statement in favor of an older Reagan-era type of conservatism and a more traditional Republican Party—this is the way he wants to be remembered.”

McConnell’s office declined to comment to Fox News Digital.

Julia Johnson is a politics writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business, leading coverage of the U.S. Senate. She was previously a politics reporter at the Washington Examiner.

Follow Julia’s reporting on X at @JuliaaJohnson_ and send tips to [email protected].

February 16, 2025
Trump’s name fundraising focal point for Republicans and Dems

Fundraising messages centered around President Donald Trump have continued to dominate on both sides of the political aisle since his return to the White House.

The Democrats’ messages revolve around voicing their opposition to Trump’s second term, his executive orders, and action by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has become a cornerstone of Trump’s first month back in the Oval Office.

“Americans are starting to feel the disastrous effects of a Trump-Musk presidency, and we see that sentiment reflected in our top-performing messaging, which highlights the need to fight the extremes of Donald Trump and prepare for elections this year, in 2026 and beyond,” DNC Senior Spokesperson Hannah Muldavin told Fox News Digital.

Muldavin said the DNC’s most effective fundraising messages have centered around “the extremes of Donald Trump.”

FORMER DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE SAYS HIS PARTY IS ACTING ‘PATHETICALLY’ TO THWART MUSK’S DOGE

Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump holds up a fist at a campaign rally at the Santander Arena on November 4, 2024 in Reading, Pennsylvania. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“Our most effective outreach to grassroots supporters right now comes from our new Chair Ken Martin, who talks about not just fighting the extremes of Donald Trump, but also on making the case to working families in both red and blue states that Democrats are the party fighting for them,” Muldavin added.

The Democratic National Committee’s website opened this week to a photo of Ken Martin, newly elected DNC Chair, with a simple message: “Ken Martin is the new DNC Chair. Help Democrats mobilize against Trump.” A fundraising message on the donation page invites Democrats to “pitch in to the DNC and help elect Democrats nationwide.”

DEMOCRATS ELECT NEW CHAIR WHO BRANDED TRUMP A ‘TRAITOR’ AS PARTY AIMS TO REBOUND FROM DISASTROUS 2024 ELECTION

Newly elected Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin speaks after winning the vote at the Democratic National Committee Winter Meeting at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md., on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

“The DNC is the organization best positioned to fight back, organize, and stop the worst impulses of a Trump administration. So please don’t wait: donate now to elect Democrats who will fight back against the MAGA agenda,” the message says.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has a similar strategy with a down-ballot focus. On the DCCC website, a photo of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries appears next to a fundraising message inviting supporters to “become a majority maker.”

“At the DCCC, we’re laser-focused on the midterms and taking back the House from the MAGA Majority,” the message says. “With just THREE seats standing between us and the Majority, your monthly donation will help us do everything we can to flip the House blue and build a firewall against the Trump Trifecta. Will you make a recurring monthly donation to the DCCC to fuel our work today?”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., conducts his weekly news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center on Thursday, May 23, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Trump’s fundraising apparatus has also capitalized on his return to center stage. Trump National Committee, the joint super PAC of Never Surrender and the Republican National Committee, have maintained consistent fundraising outreach since Trump’s election victory.

“Trump is the center of the universe at the moment,” Republican strategist Matt Gorman, who worked on Senator Tim Scott’s presidential campaign and as communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee, told Fox News Digital. “It’s been pretty well proven over the last decade that Trump animates the fundraising base of both parties and utilizing him is an effective strategy.”

As soon as Nov. 6, just a day after the election, a message “from Trump” to his supporters read, “TOTAL VICTORY! Because of you, WE WON!” with a link to donate to Trump’s super PAC. The messages continued in the weeks and months leading up to his inauguration.

The tone of the messages took a turn after Democrat Rep. Al Green, D-T.X., who attempted to impeach Trump three times during his first term, announced that he would file articles of impeachment against the president for saying he would “take over” Gaza.

U.S. President Donald Trump, accompanied by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L), speaks during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on February 4, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Green said on the House floor the next day that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “should be ashamed, knowing the history of his people, to stand there and allow such things to be said.”

“Before Democrats introduce Articles of Impeachment, can you answer question #1?” a fundraising message from Trump’s super PAC asked the next day.

Then last week, the PAC sent a message from Vice President JD Vance that read, “Don’t pee on my boots & tell me it’s raining. It’s JD Vance. These are the top lies I’ve seen from Democrats.”

“Democrats don’t have any policies. All they have is lies. Nobody believes their crap. So on behalf of every American who is sick of their lies, I got one thing to say: Don’t pee on my boots & tell me it’s raining. Democrats can’t stand that we have a President who’s putting the working men & women of America first, AND NOW THEY’RE THREATENING TO IMPEACH TRUMP AGAIN!”

Senator JD Vance points toward Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally, March 16, 2024, in Vandalia, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean, File)

The message from Republicans is clear: Democrats do not have policies beyond resisting Trump.

“Their identity for the last ten years has been, simply, ‘Whatever Trump is for, I’m against,’” Gorman said.

While using Trump’s name can be an effective fundraising strategy, Gorman urged candidates to move past the moniker and step into policy discussions as well.

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“Policy is really important, too. Every candidate has to articulate what they stand for, how they’d be different from their opponent and what they bring to Washington or to the statehouse. Trump is helpful in every aspect, but it’s important to make sure you’re defining what you would do in your policies as well.”

Deirdre Heavey is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.

February 15, 2025
Dems torched over DOGE security claims after allowing ‘wide-open’ border

As Democrats lob claims that President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are a potential national security threat, Republicans are calling them out for what they perceive as hypocrisy after years of weak immigration and foreign policies.

“Being lectured by the Democrats on national security is pretty rich after they spent the last four years sending billions of taxpayer dollars to terrorists, letting suspected terrorists walk through our wide-open southern border and disgracefully retreating from Afghanistan, empowering Iran and kicking off the most destabilizing foreign policy paradigm in a generation,” Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., told Fox News Digital.

Democrats, led by Mark Warner, D-Va., vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, recently pressed White House chief of staff Susie Wiles over their “grave concern” that Musk and DOGE were illegally risking “exposure of classified and other sensitive information that jeopardizes national security and violates Americans’ privacy.”

TRUMP AGRICULTURE PICK CONFIRMED AS PRESIDENT RACKS UP CABINET WINS

Republicans slammed Democrats’ claims that DOGE’s actions potentially threatened U.S. national security. (Getty Images)

One GOP Senate leadership aide remarked to Fox News Digital that it was “absurd” to suggest cutting wasteful spending through DOGE amounts to a security threat.

“This is the Russia hoax all over again, with an attempt to scare Americans by making preposterous claims that Elon Musk is going to steal their identity,” the aide said.

Sheehy added in his response, “America is lucky to have President Trump, Elon and DOGE working to restore accountability and fix our government. Perhaps the Dems should just say ‘thank you’ for cleaning up their mess.”

Warner wrote to Wiles that “unauthorized access to classified information risks exposure of our operations and potentially compromises not only our own sources and methods, but also those of our allies and partners. If our sources, allies, and partners stop sharing intelligence because they cannot trust us to protect it, we will all be less safe.”

TULSI GABBARD SWORN IN AT WHITE HOUSE HOURS AFTER SENATE CONFIRMATION

Elon Musk speaks during an event in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump at the White House Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Images)

The Democratic letter was sent amid uproar over Musk and DOGE’s shake-up of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), followed by other agencies and departments in the executive branch.

As DOGE has pressed on with the effort, Musk has revealed expenditures considered wasteful and the amount of contracts he is instructing agencies to cancel.

DOGE ‘PLAYBOOK’ UNVEILED BY GOP SENATOR AS MUSK-LED AGENCY SHAKES UP FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Intel Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., pushed back on those claims by his Democratic counterparts, writing on X, “The reaction from the Dem and media to DOGE conducting audits and cutting waste has been downright hysterical. It’s reminiscent of the Russia collusion hoax — a sad and dishonest attempt to scare Americans.”

The Senate GOP leadership aide said, “Senate Republicans are going to keep supporting this crucial work” through DOGE.

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While DOGE continues to scrutinize spending, courts across the country have begun to issue rulings and injunctions limiting the agency’s ability.

Trump and Musk have hit several judicial roadblocks, from a temporary halt to DOGE access to Treasury systems and a restraining order on attempts to shut down USAID.

Julia Johnson is a politics writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business, leading coverage of the U.S. Senate. She was previously a politics reporter at the Washington Examiner.

Follow Julia’s reporting on X at @JuliaaJohnson_ and send tips to [email protected].

February 15, 2025
Dems spar over DOGE cuts with Trump education nominee Linda McMahon

Democratic lawmakers on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee sparred with President Donald Trump’s Department of Education nominee Linda McMahon Thursday over cost-cutting efforts underway by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an agency led by tech billionaire Elon Musk.

“I believe the American people spoke loudly in the election last November to say that they want to look at waste, fraud and abuse in our government,” McMahon, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), said.

Pressed by Democrats including Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., if she would follow through with cuts suggested by the “DOGE brothers,” McMahon said she can be counted on to follow congressional statute “because that’s the law.”

TRUMP EDUCATION NOMINEE LINDA MCMAHON SAYS SHUTTING DOWN DOE WOULD ‘REQUIRE CONGRESSIONAL ACTION’

Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of Education, testifies during her Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing on February 13, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee/Getty Images))

Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat, also asked if McMahon believes DOGE should have access to “private student data,” suggesting that their probes “should frighten everyone.”

“It is my understanding that those employees have been onboarded as employees of the Department of Education, and therefore, they operate under the restraints of utilizing access of information,” McMahon said

“That’s not my understanding,” Murray shot back.

“That’s my understanding,” McMahon responded.

Murray said it was “deeply disturbing” that DOGE staffers aren’t “held accountable” and that it should “frighten everyone” if they have access to students’ private information.

INTO THE RING: TRUMP EDUCATION CHIEF PICK MCMAHON TO TESTIFY ON CUTTING ‘RED TAPE’ AMID DOGE SWEEPS

LInda McMahon worked as head of the Small Business Administration in President Trump’s first term as president. They are shown together in this 2019 photo. ( REUTERS/Joshua Roberts)

The Department of Education canceled over $100 million in grants for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training as part of a broader cost-cutting effort led by DOGE, Fox News Digital previously reported. DOGE announced the termination of 89 DOE contracts, totaling $881 million, including $101 million allocated for DEI programs focused on educating educators about oppression, privilege, and power in a post on X Monday.

“Your tax dollars were spent on this,” Musk wrote of the DOE spending.

DOGE reported that the Department of Education spent an additional $1.5 million on a contractor to “observe mailing and clerical operations” at a mail center, a contract that was also terminated in the dramatic spending audit.

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Linda McMahon, shown on Capitol Hill in this Jan. 2025 file photo, is expected to receive the support of Republican senators but is unlikely to see many Democrats cross the aisle to vote for her confirmation. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

At one point moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine raised the terminated contracts as she asked about fears from some educators that grants for tutoring might be on the chopping block.

“There are many worthwhile programs that we should keep,” McMahon said in response to Collins. “But I’m not yet apprized of them. I want to study them. I’d like to get back and talk to you more and to work with you.”

DOGE has been on a tirade to cut spending within the DOE, including terminating three grants in early February, one of which funded an institution that had hosted faculty workshops on “Decolonizing the Curriculum.” President Donald Trump’s early executive orders launched a federal review of DEI practices in federally funded educational institutions.

McMahon testified during Thursday’s hearing that she has “not” had any conversation with Musk about the Department of Education.

Jamie Joseph is a writer who covers politics. She leads Fox News Digital coverage of the Senate.

February 13, 2025
House Dems reintroduce reparations legislation: ‘We refuse to be silent’

House Democrats on Wednesday reintroduced legislation that aims to find ways to deliver reparations to Black Americans who are descendants of slaves.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., is co-leading the reintroduction of H.R.40, or the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act, to Congress with Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.

Pressley, a progressive member of the Squad, said during a news conference that “reparations are a necessary step in achieving justice.”

“We are in a moment of anti-Blackness on steroids and we refuse to be silent,” Pressley said. “We will not back down in our pursuit of racial justice.”

HOUSE, SENATE REPUBLICANS CLASH OVER MAMMOTH TRUMP BUDGET BILL SEEKING $1.5T IN CUTS

Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., reintroduced H.R.40, a bill that aims to create a commission to study the impact of slavery and develop ways to deliver reparations to African Americans who are descendants of slaves. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images, File)

The bill aims to create a federal commission charged with investigating the enduring impacts of slavery and its aftermath, along with developing concrete proposals for reparations to African Americans who are descendants of slaves, Pressley said.

Reparations can take different forms but broadly refer to payments or other forms of recompense to the descendants of Black individuals affected by slavery or past racist policies.

Democratic politicians in blue states, including California, in recent years have floated reparations as a way to atone for what proponents describe as a legacy of racist policies that created disparities for Black people in housing, education and health.

HOUSE DEMS ORGANIZE RAPID RESPONSE TASK FORCE AND LITIGATION GROUP TO COMBAT TRUMP AGENDA

Democrats on the Hill and in California have pushed for passage of reparations legislation, with other cities and states proposing ideas for reparations.

In August, however, a pair of reparations-related bills for the descendants of enslaved Black Americans failed to pass in the California legislature after backers said the bills would not move forward and were at risk of being vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said in a statement last month that “we as a nation have not yet truly acknowledged and grappled with the ways slavery, racism, and white supremacy continue to disadvantage African Americans.” (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Booker’s office released a statement last month on the bill’s reintroduction, which 17 Democratic senators are cosponsoring.

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“We as a nation have not yet truly acknowledged and grappled with the ways slavery, racism, and white supremacy continue to disadvantage African Americans,” Booker said in a statement. “Commissioning a study to better understand where our country has fallen short will help lawmakers better address the racial disparities and inequalities that persist today as a result of generational injustices.”

Fox News’ Joshua Q. Nelson and Jaime Joseph contributed to this report.

February 13, 2025
‘Makes sense’: GOP, Dems unite behind Trump’s plan to fire the penny

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Washington D.C. – Democratic and Republican lawmakers found consensus about President Donald Trump in his decision to eliminate the penny, telling Fox News Digital on Capitol Hill that it “makes sense” to stop making cents.

Trump announced on Sunday that he was instructing the Treasury Department to stop producing new pennies, writing in a Truth Social post that it costs more than two cents to mint a single one-cent coin.

Fox News Digital asked members of Congress for their two cents about Trump eliminating the coin, with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle saying they agree with his decision.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., speaking to Fox News Digital, said eliminating the penny “might be the best” thing Trump has done since taking office.

HOW TRUMP MIGHT GET RID OF THE PENNY – AND WHAT COULD COME NEXT FOR YOUR POCKET CHANGE

Democratic and Republican lawmakers spoke with Fox News Digital on Capitol Hill about whether they agree with President Donald Trump’s elimination of the penny. (Fox News Digital)

“In all the things he’s done in his first month in office, that might be the best,” Moskowitz told Fox. “We haven’t printed the penny since 2023, so I’m good with him eliminating it.”

DEMOCRAT SENATOR BACKS TRUMP’S ‘COMMON SENSE MOVE’ TO FIRE THE PENNY

Standing with Moskowitz was Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md. “I agree with eliminating the penny,” he said.

Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin said he supports Trump stopping production on the penny. (Fox News Digital)

“It costs more to make a penny than it’s worth, so if that’s what he wants to do, that’s fine,” another Democrat, Rep. Ami Bera, D-Calif., said.

According to the U.S. Mint, the government agency that makes coins, the Treasury Department lost more than $85 million on the pennies they produced in 2024.

“If it takes two cents to make one cent, it kinda makes sense, doesn’t it?” Rep. Carlos Giménez, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital.

Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz., said it “makes financial sense” given that the cost to make a penny is more than the coin is worth.

Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani said he supports doing away with the penny. (Fox News Digital)

Rep. George Latimer, D-N.Y., said he is talking to local businesses in his communities, and will support the route that best accommodates them.

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“I’ve talked to some local businesses in our community to see how that affects them. And the question would be, does it make their life easier or more difficult?” Latimer said. “If they tell me, it’s easier, then it’s a good decision. They tell me it’s more difficult when they have to calculate sales tax and things that don’t even out to zeros or fives, then it’s not a good idea.”

February 13, 2025
NY Dems call Trump’s plan to shut down the DOE “illegal” and “unconstitutional.”

While the nation anticipates an executive order from President Donald Trump to dismantle the Department of Education, New York Democrats sparked a debate about its legality. The White House says cutting wasteful government funding is “not a crime in a court of law.”

Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., held a press conference at a Manhattan public school this week, calling Trump’s plans for the Education Department “illegal” and “unconstitutional.” The White House said the Democrats are “gaslighting” Americans.

“Earlier this week, we learned that the Trump administration is drafting an executive order to shut down the Department of Education,” Gillibrand said on Sunday. “This would jeopardize thousands of New York jobs, and billions of dollars in federal funding for New York’s kids, teachers, families and schools. We’re here to show them that we are ready to fight for our kids, fight for our communities and fight for our schools.”

As Trump is expected to take steps this month to defund the Department of Education, Democrats began another week of Trump’s second term protesting the Department of Government Efficiency. The Trump administration dismissed the protests as an attempt “to recover from their embarrassing loss” in November.

MAXINE WATERS, HOUSE DEMS RIPPED FOR ‘UNHINGED’ CLASH WITH SECURITY GUARD AT EDUCATION DEPT

Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks about gun violence during the Clinton Global Initiative on Sept. 23, 2024, in New York City. (Alex Kent/Getty Images)

“The Democrats have no plan on how to recover from their embarrassing loss, and it shows. Instead of working to become a party that focuses on the will of the people, they are hell-bent on keeping their heads in the sand and gaslighting on the widely supported mission of DOGE. Slashing waste, fraud, and abuse, and becoming better stewards of the American taxpayer’s hard-earned dollars might be a crime to Democrats, but it’s not a crime in a court of law,” White House principal deputy press secretary, Harrison Fields told Fox News Digital in a statement.

DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKER SAYS KIDS WILL BE IN TEACHERLESS CLASSROOMS, WON’T HAVE LUNCH IF DOGE, TRUMP GET THEIR WAY

Gillibrand on Sunday reminded New Yorkers that dismantling the Department of Education would require congressional approval.

“What he’s doing is illegal. It’s unconstitutional. It’s unconstitutional and illegal. It’s unconstitutional because Congress is the only body that is allowed to decide how the taxpayer dollars that New Yorkers send to Washington is spent.”

Sen. Kristen Gillibrand and Gov. Kathy Hochul called Trump’s plans for the Education Department “illegal” and “unconstitutional.” (Getty/iStock)

Hochul warned New Yorkers that they will pick up the tab if Trump shuts down the Department of Education.

“The largest part of your local property tax bill is your school taxes,” Hochul said. “If that money evaporates from the federal government, where are they going to go? This is going to hit homeowners and businesses, and I want them to be aware of this consequence.”

Students board a school bus in Manhattan’s East Village in New York City. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Hochul said defunding the Department of Education could deny students Pell Grants, a federally funded program that helps low-income students pay for college, and New York City’s public school nutrition programs, which provide free breakfast, lunch and after-school meals for students. Hochul urged New York Republicans to speak up in Washington for New York’s public school students.

“This is an outrage,” Gillibrand added. “The Trump administration is stealing money from our kids, from our teachers and from our schools. These are New York tax dollars.”

House Democrats were blocked from entering the Department of Education building in Washington, D.C., Feb. 7, 2025. (Fox News)

The New York Democrats said shutting down the Department of Education could cost New York’s 2.6 million students almost $1 billion annually.

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Hochul and Gillibrand join a growing coalition of Democrats speaking out against Trump’s education plans. Democrats protested outside the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., on Friday, demanding an audience with acting Education Secretary Denise Carter. Carter is keeping Linda McMahon’s seat warm during her Senate confirmation process.

Deirdre Heavey is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.

February 11, 2025
Top political handicapper reveals what Dems’ chances are at winning back the Senate in 2026

Democrats face “few opportunities” to win back the Senate majority in next year’s midterm elections, a top non-partisan political handicapper predicts.

While the Republicans are defending seats in 22 states in 2026 compared to just 13 for the Democrats, the Cook Report’s first Senate rankings of the new election cycle points to a tough road ahead for the Democrats as they aim to recapture control of the chamber.

Senate Republicans enjoyed a very favorable map in the 2024 cycle as they flipped four seats from blue to red and stormed to a 53-47 majority in the new Congress, to go along with President Donald Trump’s recapturing of the White House and the GOP’s successful defense of their razor-thin House majority.

Cook Report Senate and governors editor Jessica Taylor, looking to a new Senate battle, suggested that “the challenge for Democrats to net the four seats necessary to win back the majority looks Herculean.”

FIRST ON FOX: SENATE GOP CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE SPOTLIGHTS ‘TEAM EFFORT’

Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, the chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, is interviewed by Fox News Digital at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 19, 2024. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

The Cook Report ranks two seats as toss-ups, and both are controlled by the Democrats.

They are in the battlegrounds of Michigan – where Democrat Sen. Gary Peters announced two weeks ago that he would not seek re-election in 2026 – and Georgia – where Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff faces a rough road to securing a second six-year term in the Senate.

Trump flipped Michigan in last November’s election, while then-Rep. Elissa Slotkin narrowly edged Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers in the race to succeed longtime fellow Democrat Sen. Debbie Stabenow. Rogers is now seriously mulling a second straight bid for the Senate.

SENATE REPUBLICANS JUMP OUT TO FAST START IN THIS KEY CAMPAIGN METRIC

In Georgia, which Trump also flipped after losing the state in his 2020 election loss to former President Joe Biden, the Cook Report calls Ossoff “the most endangered incumbent overall.”

State and national Republicans are urging popular Republican Gov. Brian Kemp – who is term-limited in 2026 – to challenge Ossoff.

The Cook Report ranks the key New England swing state of New Hampshire as Lean Democrat.

Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire speaks before then-President Joe Biden arrives to deliver remarks on lowering the cost of prescription drugs, on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024 in Concord, New Hampshire. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Longtime Democrat Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a former governor, has yet to announce if she will seek another term in office. Additionally, while plugged in Democrats in the Granite State have told Fox News the past couple of months that they expected the now-78-year-old Shaheen to run for re-election, her recently announced sparse fundraising for the fourth quarter of last year took many politicos by surprise.

Former Republican Sen. Scott Brown, who served as ambassador to New Zealand during Trump’s first term in the White House, is making moves toward launching a second run for the Senate in New Hampshire, a dozen years after narrowly losing to Shaheen.

TRUMP-BACKED 2024 GOP SENATE NOMINEE IN KEY BATTLEGROUND STATE MOVING TOWARDS ANOTHER RUN IN 2026

While no Republican held Senate seats are listed as toss-ups, two are rated by the Cook Report as Lean Republican.

They are Maine, where moderate GOP Sen. Susan Collins is running for re-election in a state Trump lost last November, and North Carolina, where Republican Sen. Thom Tillis is seeking another term in a state Trump narrowly carried last year.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine heads to the Senate floor for a vote on Jan. 23, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

While Cook lists both races as Lean Republican, Taylor notes that “the rating could change if Democrats recruit strong candidates.”

Those Democratic candidates could possibly be former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, who finished his second term earlier this year, and Maine Gov. Janet Mills, who is term-limited in 2026.

MEET THE REPUBLICAN SENATOR TASKED WITH DEFENDING THE GOP’S SENATE MAJORITY IN 2026

When it comes to potentially competitive races, the Cook Report ranks Ohio as likely Republican. GOP Gov. Mike DeWine last month named Lt. Jon Husted to fill the seat previously held by now-Vice President JD Vance. Husted is now running in 2026 to fill the final two years of Vance’s term.

Once a key battleground state, Ohio has shifted to deep red in recent election cycles and its unclear if former longtime Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who lost his re-election last year, will make another bid in 2026.

Cook also lists Minnesota – where Democrat Sen. Tina Smith is up for re-election next year – as a likely Democrat.

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said last November that he’d “like to see 55,” when asked in a Fox News Digital interview about how many seats he was aiming for in the 2026 midterms.

Additionally, this past weekend at the Senate GOP campaign committee’s winter meeting, Scott reiterated that “we believe we can get to 55 or maybe even stretch for 56,” according to sources attending the confab in Palm Beach, Florida.

The party in power – which this cycle is clearly the Republicans – traditionally faces electoral headwinds in the midterm elections.

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However, Taylor, pointing to recent polling, notes that the Democrats’ “party brand is… deeply unpopular.”

“Even if Democrats were able to defend every incumbent and open seat on their side and flip both those states, it would leave them two short of an outright majority. Additional targets are hard to find,” Taylor emphasized.

Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in New Hampshire.

February 11, 2025