Texas Medical Board director retires after uproar over his Planned Parenthood employment
Conservative lawmakers claimed credit for Dr. Robert Bredt’s retirement after it came out he also worked at a Planned Parenthood-affiliated lab.
Swalwell slammed on social media for questioning how Trump will lower grocery prices
Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., sparked online backlash with a post in which he questioned President-elect Donald Trump’s ability to bring down grocery prices. Social media users were quick to point out that food prices spiked under President Biden’s leadership. “I don’t care if Donald Trump wants to buy Greenland. I just want to know what he’s going to do to lower the cost of groceries,” Rep. Swalwell wrote on X. MAGAFEST DESTINY? TRUMP FLEXES HIS MUSCLES WITH REPEATED TALK OF AMERICAN EXPANSIONISM But social media users noted that the congressman’s party had control of the House, Senate and White House while Americans struggled to afford food. While they later lost control of the House after the 2022 midterm elections, the Democrats held on to the Senate. 3 WAYS TRUMP CAN DELIVER AN ECONOMIC ‘GOLDEN AGE’ FOR AMERICA Swalwell later appeared to double down on his assertion that Trump will not lower grocery prices. “Guys, it’s so obvious. Trump has no idea how to lower your cost of groceries. So he’s going to distract you by sending your kids to die fighting Canada,” Swalwell tweeted. However, this only brought more fury the congressman’s way, with social media users questioning why the congressman is not more worried about the fires raging in his state that has so far left two dead and forced thousands to flee their homes. AMERICANS FORCED TO LEAVE EVERYTHING BEHIND TO ESCAPE DEADLY WILDFIRES NOW FACING NEW THREAT On Tuesday, President Biden released a statement on the deadly wildfires and announced that FEMA had approved a grant to help fight the inferno. “I am being frequently briefed on the wildfires in west Los Angeles. My team and I are in touch with state and local officials, and I have offered any federal assistance that is needed to help suppress the terrible Pacific Palisades fire,” Biden said in a statement. The Trump team has not responded to a request for comment. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Tren de Aragua believed to be behind murder of immigration official near border
Police in the Mexican state of Chihuahua believe that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua may be behind the murder of a Mexican immigration official just south of the U.S. border. The Mexican immigration agent, Luis Alberto Olivas, was pushed down a hill and stoned to death by two Venezuelan migrants identified as David J.V. and Carlos Arichuna S.M. on Dec. 30. The murder took place by a military checkpoint close to Ciudad Juárez, just south of El Paso, Texas. According to Border Report, Mexican authorities believe that at least one of the Venezuelans is suspected of being a member of Tren de Aragua (TdA), which is a transnational criminal organization that facilitates much of the drug and human trafficking in the area. TREN DE ARAGUA ARE IDEOLOGICAL TERRORISTS DISGUISED AS A STREET GANG WARNS FORMER MILITARY OFFICER Chihuahua Public Safety Director Gilberto Loya told Border Report that one of the alleged killers “has the tattoos that we have identified as probably linked to Tren de Aragua” and that police have shared this information with other agencies and are “waiting for the next binational meeting to have it checked in [American] databases.” The tattoo in question depicts an owl, a symbol that according to Mexican investigative journalist Luis Chaparro is “often found on Tren de Aragua members” and often indicates a human smuggler “guide.” According to local news source “El Diario MX,” the two possible Tren de Aragua members threw stones at Olivas’ chest, pushed him, causing him to fall six meters down a hill, and then smashed his head with a large stone, killing him. TRUMP DIGS INTO BIDEN ADMIN FOR SELLING OFF BORDER WALL AT ‘FIVE CENTS ON THE DOLLAR’ CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE TdA has been active on the U.S. southern border in recent weeks. On Dec. 31, the Texas Department of Public Safety caught four confirmed TdA members trying to sneak into the U.S illegally. The individuals were identified as Segundo Ocando-Mejia, 39; Pedro Luis Salazar-Cuervo, 27; Antonio Joe Urruttia-Rojas, 18; and Levi Jesus Urrutia-Blanco, 18. Ocando-Mejia had tattoos on his shoulders indicating he may hold rank or leadership within the gang. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who has led many efforts to secure the border and clamp down on TdA, responded to the arrests by saying: “Our top priority is the safety and security of Texans, including against the growing threat of Tren de Aragua.”
Senate Dems to join Republicans to advance anti-illegal immigration bill named after Laken Riley
A number of Senate Democrats say they will vote to advance a bill that would require federal authorities to detain illegal immigrants found guilty of theft – increasing the bill’s chance of passing in the upper chamber. At least eight Senate Democrats are expected to vote to advance the bill in the upper chamber, giving it the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster if all Republicans vote in favor. It would then begin debate on the bill, and eventually a vote on final passage, where it would only need 51 votes to pass and send it to the president’s desk. Sens. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., Gary Peters, D-Mich., John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., Angus King, I-Maine, Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and John Fetterman, D-Pa., have all said they will support advancing the bill. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said he is likely to support advancing the bill. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., previously voted for the bill in the House. LAKEN RILEY ACT PASSES HOUSE WITH 48 DEMS, ALL REPUBLICANS “You know, I plan, I plan to support it. Because if you’re a criminal, you should be held accountable,” Rosen said. Hickenlooper’s office said he will vote to let the bill proceed to amend it, but “he does not support the Laken Riley Act in its current form.” A senior GOP staffer told Fox News Digital that they believe they have the votes to proceed to a full debate. Kelly echoed those comments. “Yeah I think it will,” he said when asked by Fox if it will get more than 60 votes. The Laken Riley Act, which passed the House on Tuesday with 48 Democrats voting in favor, is named after a nursing student killed by a Venezuelan illegal immigrant on the University of Georgia’s campus last year. It not only requires the feds to detain illegal immigrants guilty of committing theft, burglary or shoplifting until they are deported, but also allows states to sue the Department of Homeland Security for harm caused to their citizens because of illegal immigration. Riley’s killer, Jose Ibarra, had previous arrests, including for theft, but had never been in ICE detention. HOUSE, SENATE REPUBLICANS REVIVE TRUMP-BACKED PUSH TO CRACK DOWN ON NONCITIZEN VOTING It was the first bill introduced in the House in the new Congress and indicates how tackling illegal immigration, both at the border and in the interior, is likely to be a top priority for Republicans and some Democrats. President-elect Trump won his presidential campaign in part by focusing on the border crisis which had plagued the Biden administration before a recent, sharp drop in numbers. Trump has pledged to carry out a “historic” mass deportation campaign and his team have indicated they intend to push back against “sanctuary” cities that refuse to comply with ICE. A number of the Democrats saying they will support the bill have a looming re-election fight. Sens. Shaheen, Peters and Hickenlooper are all up for re-election in 2026 and illegal immigration could again be a crucial issue as it was in many races in 2024. Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
Trump eyes an end to new windmill production under second term, says they are ‘driving the whales crazy’
President-elect Donald Trump is envisioning a future without new wind energy projects under his administration, arguing that this power source is economically impractical and is causing harm to marine life. Trump has long criticized using wind farms as a main form of energy production, but his latest remarks suggest that his incoming administration could place major restrictions on the future production of new wind-powered energy projects. “It’s the most expensive energy there is. It’s many, many times more expensive than clean natural gas,” Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday. “So we’re going to try and have a policy where no windmills are being built.” The federal government currently offers several different ways to obtain subsidies for windmill production, which Trump pointed to as one of the main issues with the energy source. TRUMP HITS BIDEN ON LAST-MINUTE ENERGY CRACKDOWN, PROMISES DAY 1 REVERSAL “The only people that want them are the people getting rich off windmills, getting massive subsidies from the U.S. government,” he added. “You don’t want energy that needs subsidy.” The incoming president has also claimed potential interference with sea mammals is an issue, specifically in Massachusetts. ENERGY INDUSTRY INSISTS US IS THE BEST PLACE FOR OIL DRILLING DESPITE BIDEN’S BAN “You see what’s happening up in the Massachusetts area, where they had two whales wash ashore in I think a 17-year period,” Trump said during the news conference. “Now they had 14 this season. The windmills are driving the whales crazy, obviously.” Trump finds consensus with some environmental groups on the issue. “That’s the only thing out there that’s changed, and it’s changed dramatically,” said Constance Gee of Green Oceans, a group that strives to protect ocean life, according to WCVB 5. “There is so much ship traffic out there. It’s so loud. There’s piledriving. There’s sub-bottom profiling with sonar.” The National Marine Fisheries Service, however, says that there is no evidence currently connecting wind turbines and whale deaths. Trump’s latest comments were criticized by a Democratic ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, who said the incoming president “is completely out of touch.” “Trump is against wind energy because he doesn’t understand our country’s energy needs and dislikes the sight of turbines near his private country clubs,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in a statement. Wind energy is currently the largest source of renewable energy in the U.S., according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). However, such energy production has received growing opposition from members of the GOP in recent years, who have expressed concerns over its potential adverse effects. “Like the canary in the coal mine, the recent spate of tragic whale deaths shed new light and increased scrutiny to the fast-tracking of thousands of wind turbines off our coast,” Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., said in March 2023. Over the past four years, President Joe Biden has made major investments in the offshore wind industry as part of his green energy push, approving the nation’s first 11 commercial scale offshore wind projects.
FLASHBACK: Trump has long history of warning Newsom over ‘terrible’ wildfire prevention
President-elect Trump, during his first administration, put Gov. Gavin Newsom on notice for his handling of repeated wildfires in the state, years ahead of the devastating Los Angeles wildfires currently raging. “The Governor of California, @GavinNewsom, has done a terrible job of forest management. I told him from the first day we met that he must ‘clean’ his forest floors regardless of what his bosses, the environmentalists, DEMAND of him. Must also do burns and cut fire stoppers,” the former and upcoming president posted to X in 2019. “Every year, as the fire’s rage & California burns, it is the same thing-and then he comes to the Federal Government for $$$ help. No more. Get your act together Governor. You don’t see close to the level of burn in other states,” the thread continued. Trump’s message to Newsom came as the Kincade Fire raged in Sonoma County from Oct. 23 to Nov. 6, 2019. CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES RAGE ACROSS LOS ANGELES COUNTY, FORCING THOUSANDS TO EVACUATE THEIR HOMES “We’re successfully waging war against thousands of fires started across the state in the last few weeks due to extreme weather created by climate change while Trump is conducting a full on assault against the antidotes,” Newsom said in response to Trump’s message, the Washington Post reported at the time. Just roughly two weeks before Trump will be inaugurated as the nation’s 47th president, he again took aim at Newsom’s wildfire prevention leadership in the state, pinning blame for the LA County fires on Newsom and his environmental policies. “Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way,”Trump posted to Truth Social on Wednesday. “He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn’t work!), but didn’t care about the people of California. Now the ultimate price is being paid. I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA! He is the blame for this. On top of it all, no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes. A true disaster!” Newsom’s director of communications Izzy Gardon told Fox Digital in response to Trump’s Truth Social: “We’re focused on protecting lives and battling these blazes – not playing politics.” “There is no such document as the water restoration declaration – that is pure fiction. The Governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need,” Gardon added. PALISADES FIRE: HEIDI MONTAG, SPENCER PRATT LOSE HOME; CELEBRITIES FLEE RITZY NEIGHBORHOOD Trump has a long history of putting Newsom’s handling of wildfires under the microscope across his first four years in the White House, including in January 2019 when he threatened to cut off federal funds to California if reforms were not made to the state’s forest management services. “Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forest fires that, with proper Forest Management, would never happen. Unless they get their act together, which is unlikely, I have ordered FEMA to send no more money. It is a disgraceful situation in lives & money!” he posted to X that year. PACIFIC PALISADES INFERNO FORCES THOUSANDS TO FLEE CALIFORNIA HOMES; GOV. NEWSOM DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY “There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!,”he added in 2018 on X. Newsom and other Democrats have historically pushed back that wildfires in the state are due to climate change and global warming. ACTOR STEVE GUTTENBERG HELPS PALISADES FIRE FIRST RESPONDERS AS FLAMES RAGE, ‘IT’S A GHOST TOWN’ “You don’t believe in climate change. You are excused from this conversation,” Newsom shot back at Trump in 2019, for example, after the president slammed him for his wildfire leadership. California Republicans, however, have echoed Trump that Newsom and other Democrats in the state “failed” in addressing forestry management. “The Democrats who control this state, have been in charge of the legislature, and hold every statewide office have failed to take care of forestry management in California,” Assemblyman James Gallagher said on Fox News in 2020. “We have overgrown forests with brush piles 10 feet high and dead and dying trees and it’s a tinderbox waiting for a spark.” The California governor pledged in 2019 to reform California’s approach to wildfire prevention, but a 2021 NPR investigation reported the governor overstated the efforts. “The investigation found Newsom overstated, by an astounding 690%, the number of acres treated with fuel breaks and prescribed burns in the very forestry projects he said needed to be prioritized to protect the state’s most vulnerable communities,” Scott Rodd wrote of the findings in 2021. “Newsom has claimed that 35 ‘priority projects’ carried out as a result of his executive order resulted in fire prevention work on 90,000 acres. But the state’s own data show the actual number is 11,399.” The state pushed back on the report, saying their efforts on wildfire prevention were hampered by the pandemic, “along with an unprecedented wildfire season which pulled our already strained wildfire crews away from prevention work to firefighting work.” “The notion that the Newsom administration is retreating on wildfire response – in dollars or actions – is wholly inaccurate,” the governor’s office said after the investigation’s findings were released. The Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan has since achieved and begun working on 100% of its 99 key actions, with the state also hiring an additional 3,000 new firefighters to CAL FIRE since 2019. At least four wildfires are currently raging in Los Angeles County, tearing through the Pacific
Mexico’s president tries turning tables on Trump with ‘nice’ naming idea of her own
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum chided President-elect Trump for saying he plans to rename the Gulf of Mexico, saying she has a new name for the United States. “Mexican America. That sounds nice,” Sheinbaum quipped Wednesday in Mexico City during a press conference, Reuters reported. Sheinbaum cited a map from 1607 during the press conference and was joined by Mexico’s former culture minister, Jose Alfonso Suarez del Real. “The fact is that Mexican America is recognized since the 17th century … as the name for the whole northern part of the (American) continent,” Suarez del Real said, pointing to the map. ‘BEAUTIFUL NAME’: TRUMP ANNOUNCES GULF OF MEXICO WILL GET NEW, PRO-AMERICA REVAMP Sheinbaum’s remark followed Trump holding his own press conference Tuesday, where he made a series of announcements and further previewed his upcoming second administration, including saying he plans to rename the Gulf of Mexico. ”We have a massive deficit with Mexico, and we help Mexico a lot. They’re essentially run by the cartels, and can’t let that happen, because Mexico is really in trouble, a lot of trouble. Very dangerous place,” Trump said during the press conference. DONALD TRUMP JR. TAKES PERSONAL TRIP TO GREENLAND AFTER PRESIDENT-ELECT FLOATS PURCHASING COUNTRY “We’re going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring. That covers a lot of territory,” Trump said Tuesday. “The Gulf of America. What a beautiful name. And it’s appropriate.” The Gulf of Mexico is a partly enclosed sea that borders states such as Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, as well as Mexico and the northwestern portion of Cuba. Trump did not elaborate on how or when he will rename the body of water. Instead, he switched gears to the immigration woes in the U.S. under the Biden White House. MEXICO DISPERSES MIGRANT CARAVANS HEADING TO US AHEAD OF TRUMP INAUGURATION “Mexico has to stop allowing millions of people to pour into our country. They can stop them, and we’re going to put very serious tariffs on Mexico and Canada, because Canada, they come through Canada too. And the drugs that are coming through are at record numbers,” Trump said. Sheinbaum pushed back on Trump’s comment that Mexico is essentially “run by cartels,” responding that the “people are in charge” of the nation. Sheinbaum added during the press conference she expects the U.S. and Mexico will have a “good relationship” during the second Trump administration. “I think there will be a good relationship,” she said. “President Trump has his way of communicating.”
MAGAfest Destiny? Trump flexes his muscles with repeated talk of American expansionism
President-elect Donald Trump not only wants to make America great again, he appears to be angling to make America bigger. Trump has turned up the volume in recent days on his calls to acquire Greenland, regain control of the Panama Canal and make Canada the nation’s 51st state. The president-elect on Tuesday night once again trolled America’s neighbor to the north, posting on social media two doctored maps that showed Canada as part of the United States. “Canada and the United States. That would really be something,” Trump said hours earlier at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. “They should be a state.” WOULD CANADA BECOME A ‘BLUE-STATE BEHEMOTH’ IF IT JOINED THE U.S.? A day earlier, the president-elect argued in a social media post that “many people in Canada LOVE being the 51st State.” While he said he would only use “economic force” to convince Canadians to join the U.S., he would not rule out military force when it comes to Greenland, the massive ice-capped island in the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans that for centuries has been controlled by Denmark, and the Panama Canal, which the U.S. ceeded control of to Panama over 40 years ago. TRUMP POSTS MAPS OF A GREATER U.S. “They should give it up because we need it for national security. That’s for the free world. I’m talking about protecting the free world,” Trump said of his longtime ambitions to acquire Greenland. His comments came as Donald Trump Jr., the president-elect’s eldest son, made a day trip to Greenland, flying aboard Trump’s campaign airliner. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen responded, saying Greenland had made it clear that it is not for sale. “There is a lot of support among the people of Greenland that Greenland is not for sale and will not be in the future either,” Frederiksen said. Pierre Poilievre, leader of Canada’s Conservative Party, also shot back at Trump’s musings. “Canada will never be the 51st state. Period. We are a great and independent country,” he emphasized in a social media post. Additionally, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also returned fire at Trump’s threat to use “economic force” to absorb Canada, saying there is not “a snowball’s chance in hell” of Canada becoming the 51st state. Trump’s recent mocking of the longtime Canadian prime minister, repeatedly referring to him as “governor” along with his threat to impose massive tariffs on Canada, was likely a contributing factor in Trudeau’s resignation announcement earlier this week. It was not just Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal. Trump even pledged during his press conference to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.” While Trump’s efforts at American expansion – which has a prominent place in the nation’s history – may never come to fruition, they are immediately forcing world leaders to react and respond, and likely will foreshadow the blunt effect his second administration will have on the globe. “I think what he’s doing is setting the tone for the next four years, which is that America is the dominant superpower in the world. We’re the protector of freedom and democracy across the world. We’re the only country capable of pushing back against China, and it’s time we started acting like we’re that country,” veteran Republican strategist and communicator Ryan Williams told Fox News. Matt Mowers, a veteran GOP national public affairs strategist and former diplomat at the State Department during Trump’s first administration, emphasized that “Donald Trump has adapted Teddy Roosevelt’s mantra for the 21st century and ‘speaks loudly and carries a big stick’. He recognizes that to change the paradigm and repel Chinese and Russian economic expansion in our own hemisphere, he needs to speak boldly about exerting American influence in the region.” “Already, you have seen just how his mastery of the bully pulpit has expedited a political earthquake in Canada. This ensures that America remains dominant in our own backyard, which puts America’s interests first, expanding our trade and security cooperation,” Mowers argued. Not everyone obviously agrees with Trump’s muscular approach. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, America’s top diplomat in President Biden’s administration, appeared to take aim at the president-elect. “I think one of the basic propositions we brought to our work over the last four years is that we’re stronger, we’re more effective, we get better results when we’re working closely with our allies. Not saying or doing things that may alienate them,” Blinken said Wednesday at a news conference. Blinken predicted that “the idea expressed about Greenland is obviously not a good one. But maybe more important, it’s obviously one that’s not going to happen. So we probably shouldn’t waste a lot of time talking about it.”
Matt Gaetz mulls Florida gubernatorial bid
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican, told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that he is “reviewing the opportunity” of possibly mounting a gubernatorial bid. The former House lawmaker noted that if he ultimately decides to throw his hat into the ring, he would need to engage in “active steps toward a run” toward the end of 2025. Gaetz, who recently started hosting a One America News Network program, said that many Floridians have encouraged him to run, and while he believes it is a bit early to decide, he will pray about the prospect and discuss it with his wife. He noted that he is “deeply concerned” about increasing prices for people in Florida, including property and casualty insurance. “I know how to fight the special interests who’ve increased prices in my home state,” he said, noting that if he believes he could “make a positive change,” then he will “significantly” contemplate the move. TRUMP-BACKED CANDIDATE AIMING TO REPLACE MATT GAETZ WANTS FLORIDA TO ADOPT GOLD AND SILVER AS LEGAL TENDER Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who took office in early 2019 and was resoundingly re-elected in 2022, cannot seek re-election in 2026, which means the field will be wide open for candidates interested in vying for the job. Responding to the Tampa Bay Times’ report when Gaetz said he was “starting to think about running for governor,” Florida state Sen. Jason Pizzo, a Democrat, responded by declaring, “And I will kick his ass.” On the heels of a 2024 re-election victory in Florida’s 1st Congressional District, Gaetz swiftly resigned from Congress after President-elect Donald Trump announced the lawmaker as his nominee for U.S. attorney general. Later that same month, however, Gaetz withdrew himself from consideration for the role. “There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General. Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1,” he said in a post on X. HOUSE REPORT ACCUSES MATT GAETZ OF PAYING WOMEN FOR SEX, USING ILLEGAL DRUGS, ACCEPTING IMPROPER GIFTS Trump has endorsed Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis to fill Gaetz’s former House seat — the GOP primary is later this month. A House Ethics Committee report alleged that “the Committee determined there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress.” Gaetz declared in a post on X, “There is a reason they did this to me in a Christmas Eve-Eve report and not in a courtroom of any kind where I could present evidence and challenge witnesses.” TRUMP HAILS FLORIDA DEM’S DECISION TO DITCH PARTY, JOIN GOP: ‘THANK YOU HILLARY!’ Gaetz instigated the ouster of then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy from the speakership in 2023.
FEMA to pay for more firefighters as California blazes burn beyond capacity
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will reimburse California for costs associated with hiring more firefighters and controlling the raging wildfires that have ripped through Southern California. News of the Fire Management Assistance Grants trickled in Tuesday, and by the evening the White House put out a statement from President Biden confirming the move. FEMA confirmed the measures on Wednesday, in an announcement laying out some details about the grants. The funding will provide federal reimbursements for up to 75% of “eligible firefighting costs” incurred by the state, as California seeks to shore up its firefighting force and put out the wildfires that have killed at least two people and driven thousands from their homes. Eligible costs include expenses for field camps, equipment, materials, supplies and mobilization or demobilization efforts attributed to fighting the fires. HUNDREDS OF LA HOMES EXPECTED TO BURN IN WILDFIRES “My Administration will do everything it can to support the response,” Biden said Tuesday, announcing news of the grant. “I am being frequently briefed on the wildfires in west Los Angeles. My team and I are in touch with state and local officials, and I have offered any federal assistance that is needed to help suppress the terrible Pacific Palisades fire.” EX-NFL QUARTERBACK SHOWS MASSIVE SCOPE OF CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES: ‘MUCH WORSE THAN PEOPLE THINK’ Firefighter shortages in California have been an ongoing problem for several years in California. In advance of the news about FEMA’s grant, the Los Angeles Fire Department was compelled to request that all off-duty firefighters in the area volunteer to help. The U.S. Forest Service this summer boosted its staffing levels in California for the first time in five years, but the total number of federal wildland firefighters remains greatly diminished from what it used to be despite the state seeing an uptick in the number and severity of wildfires in recent years, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Meanwhile, in October, the U.S. Forest Service announced an end to prescribed burning to control wildfires as a result of staffing shortages. California’s decision to end prescribed burns came after Biden’s opposition to a bipartisan bill aimed at streamlining the process for implementing forest management projects, like prescribed burns, in California. In a September statement explaining the opposition to the bill, the Biden administration said that certain provisions served to undermine crucial environmental protections. PLANE PASSENGER REACTS TO LA WILDFIRES: ‘THIS IS PURE DEVASTATION’ FEMA’s grants aimed at bolstering the state’s firefighting force amid the raging wildfires were initiated following requests from California. FEMA indicated that at the time of the requests the wildfires had burned an excess of 700 acres of private and public lands around the Pacific Palisades, San Fernando Valley and Santa Calrita Valley areas. FEMA added that more than 45,000 homes in the area were being threatened by the fire. A spokesperson for the agency told Fox News Digital that its regional office is in constant contact with local authorities in California, and that the agency has also deployed a FEMA liaison officer to the area to help monitor the evolving situation. The spokesperson added the agency is urging residents to listen to local officials and has provided a phone number for them to text if people are in need of safe shelter.