Senate advances $174B package as Minnesota ICE shooting fuels DHS funding fight
The Senate took its first step toward averting a government shutdown, but there’s still a long way to go on an increasingly shorter path to keep the lights on in Washington, D.C. Lawmakers advanced a $174 billion, three-bill package through its first procedural hurdle on Monday evening with an 81-14 vote, teeing up a vote to send the tranche of funding bills, known as a minibus, to President Donald Trump’s desk later this week. The package, which easily sailed through the House last week, similarly cruised through the key test vote on a wave of bipartisan support — a sign that neither party wants to thrust the government into another shutdown just months after the longest closure in history. HOUSE PASSES NEARLY $180B FUNDING PACKAGE AFTER CONSERVATIVE REBELLION OVER MINNESOTA FRAUD FEARS Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., noted that Senate Democrats weren’t looking for another shutdown last week and said that “Democrats want to fund the appropriations, the spending bills, all the way through 2026.” “We want to work in a bicameral, bipartisan way to do it and the good news is our Republican appropriators are working with us,” Schumer told ABC Sunday morning. While the successful procedural vote acted as a good sign for final passage of the package, it doesn’t mean that lawmakers are completely out of the woods when it comes to preventing another shutdown. They have until Jan. 30 to fund the rest of the government, and some in the Senate believe that they won’t have time to finish their work before the deadline. That means another continuing resolution (CR) will likely be in the cards. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said a short-term funding bill is inevitable. DEMOCRATS’ LAST-MINUTE MOVE TO BLOCK GOP FUNDING PLAN SENDS LAWMAKERS HOME EARLY He noted that, so far, the Senate has only passed three funding bills. If the latest package is successful, that would put lawmakers at the halfway mark of the dozen bills needed to avert a shutdown. “Of course there’s gonna be a short-term CR,” Kennedy said. “There’s gonna be a CR, it’s just a question of how big is the CR going to be?” There is another, smaller funding package that could soon make its way through the House. But the $77 billion two-bill bundle that includes funding legislation for Financial Services and National Security still won’t be enough to prevent a shutdown. Notably, the package lacks the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations bill, which was supposed to be included. That bill is a perennial headache for lawmakers and often acts as a lightning rod for political enmity. CONGRESS ROLLS OUT $174B SPENDING BILL AS JAN 30 SHUTDOWN FEARS GROW “The DHS bill is always one of the most difficult ones,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said. “And creates more, seems like more of a kind of a political conflict of all the appropriations bills.” Following the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Minnesota last week, that political division reached another level. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Committee, argued that what happened to Good “has crystallized for the American people the real danger that exists out there in the way that ICE and [Customs and Border Protection] are operating.” Murphy suggested that he would want to see constraints built into the DHS bill that deal with CBP, such as beefed up training for officers. “I understand we have to get Republican votes,” Murphy said. “So I’m not proposing we fix this overnight, but I think it should be clear to Republicans that if they want Democratic votes for a DHS appropriations bill, they’re going to have to work with us on our concerns. That’s how the Senate works.”
Jeffries says DHS Secretary Noem ‘should be run out of town’ amid ICE shooting backlash
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., directed some heated remarks at a Trump administration Cabinet official whose department has been dominating headlines in recent weeks. “What is clear is that Kristi Noem is completely and totally unqualified. She should have never been confirmed by Senate Republicans,” Jeffries said of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary during a Monday press conference. “It’s disgraceful that she’s there. She should be run out of town as soon as possible.” Criticism against Noem, DHS, and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has intensified on the left in the wake of a deadly ICE-involved shooting in Minneapolis last week. An ICE agent shot and killed a U.S. citizen, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, who allegedly presented a threat to ICE agents as they attempted to conduct enforcement operations. Partisan fissures have since erupted over which side was acting improperly when the deadly incident occurred. ANTI-ICE AGITATORS THREATEN AGENTS IN CHAOTIC MINNESOTA PROTESTS: ‘YOU’RE GOING TO F—ING DIE’ “Kristi Noem, the Department of Homeland Security and ICE, they’re totally out of control. And the American people want these extremists to be reined in,” Jeffries said on Monday. He said Good “should be alive today” and accused both Noem and the ICE agent who shot Good of a “depraved indifference toward human life.” A DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital in response, “How silly during a serious time. As ICE officers are facing a 1,300% increase in assaults against them, Rep. Jeffries is more focused on showmanship and sewing division than cleaning up his crime-ridden New York district.” “Rep Jeffries has the power to make change as the Minority leader and we hope he would get serious about doing his job to protect American people, which is what this Department is doing under Secretary Noem. We won’t hold our breath,” they said. HOUSE REPUBLICAN CALLS FOR HEARING AFTER DEADLY ICE SHOOTING IN MINNEAPOLIS Video of last week’s incident appears to show Good’s car making contact with the ICE agent who shot her before he opened fire. Arguments have since raged over whether she was deliberately getting in the way or even weaponizing her car, or whether she was trying to drive away. Federal officials like Noem have defended the agent as acting in self-defense while accusing Good of trying to actively impede ICE activity in the Democrat-controlled city. Democrats, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, have accused ICE and Republican officials of stoking fear and tension in the city while demanding the federal government cease current operations there immediately. Now Democrats in Congress have been threatening to withhold support from funding DHS unless significant reforms are made — a threat Jeffries alluded to during his press conference. “What’s in front of us right now is a spending bill that will go either one of two ways. Either Republicans will continue their my-way-or-the-highway approach as it relates to the Homeland Security bill — and if that happens, then it’s going to be on them to figure out a path forward,” Jeffries began. “Alternatively, particularly in the face of the tragedy…there’s some commonsense measures that need to be put in place so that ICE can conduct itself in a manner that is at least consistent with every other law enforcement agency in the United States of America, at the state, local and federal level.” The deadline to finish federal funding and avert a partial government shutdown is at the end of day on Jan. 30. Fox News Digital reached out to DHS for a response.
Fox News Politics Newsletter: Trump declares himself Venezuela’s ‘acting president’
Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content. Here’s what’s happening… -Conservative group targets CFPB rule forcing race, sex disclosure in mortgages -In 2026, energy ‘wars’ new frontier is AI, and US must win that battle, API chief says -Dems who praised cop for killing J6 protester now condemn ICE for shooting MN agitator President Donald Trump branded himself as the “president” of Venezuela in a social media post Sunday night, after signaling that the U.S. would oversee Caracas, Venezuela, for years. Trump shared a doctored image that looked like a Wikipedia page that identified him as “Acting President of Venezuela” since January 2026, after the U.S. conducted strikes in Venezuela and seized its dictator, Nicolás Maduro. Trump said Jan. 3 that the U.S. would run Venezuela until a safe transition could occur, and he told The New York Times in an interview published Wednesday that he anticipated that the U.S. would oversee Venezuela “much longer” than six months or a year. Even so, he did not share a more detailed estimated timeline…READ MORE. ‘NO BASIS IN STATUTE’: Arizona Sen. Kelly sues War Secretary Hegseth over military pension cuts following video message CHARGED: DOJ charges illegal immigrant with Tren de Aragua ties after Border Patrol shooting in Portland FOLLOW THE MONEY: Trump pledges to uncover leftist groups countering ICE FED UP: Powell reveals what it would take to step down from the Fed as pressure mounts GROWING THE UNION: Trump’s Greenland push escalates as GOP lawmaker moves to make it America’s 51st state FACTS FIRST: WATCH: House Republican calls for hearing after deadly ICE shooting in Minneapolis MIDTERM MESSAGE: Democrats ‘doomed to fail’ without populist economic message, Warren warns YOUTH SHAKEUP: Record number of Americans identify at political independents, rejecting 2 major parties, poll finds ‘ASTOUNDING’: Oregon election system faces scrutiny as state moves to address 800,000 inactive voters: ‘Astounding’ CHASING ‘INFLUENCE’: Delegate-heavy New York moves to shake up voting primary schedule, chasing ‘influence’ ‘ONLY US CITIZENS’: Texas sends voter rolls to DOJ to look for ineligible registrations LOOKING TO STEP UP: Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins jumps into Sunshine State gubernatorial race to succeed Gov. Ron DeSantis RED FLAGS: Minnesota fraud scandal sparks push to scrutinize billions in Biden-era energy grants Get the latest updates on the Trump administration and Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.
Trump announces ‘final’ 25% tariff on countries doing business with Iran regime
President Donald Trump announced what he described as an immediate and “final” trade order targeting Iran and its global partners. In a post shared on Truth Social, Trump said any country that continues doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran would be hit with a 25% tariff on all trade with the U.S. The president wrote: “Effective immediately, any Country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran will pay a Tariff of 25% on any and all business being done with the United States of America. This Order is final and conclusive. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” The post came amid heightened tension with Iran as the country entered its fifteenth day of spiraling protests in which hundreds of people have been reported to have been killed since Dec. 28. IRAN PROTESTS PROMPT NEW TRUMP WARNING OVER DEADLY GOVERNMENT CRACKDOWNS According to the Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA), the deaths of 544 people have been confirmed so far and “dozens of additional cases remain under review.” Trump’s trade tariff announcement, which could impact China, Brazil, Turkey and Russia, also came as U.S. officials urged citizens to consider leaving Iran, according to a Department of State statement. “U.S. citizens should expect continued internet outages, plan alternative means of communication, and, if safe to do so, consider departing Iran by land to Armenia or Türkiye,” the statement said. Officials also urged citizens to avoid demonstrations, keep a low profile, and remain aware of their surroundings. The statement confirmed that protests across Iran were intensifying and may turn violent, resulting in arrests and injuries. KEANE WARNS IRANIAN REGIME TO TAKE TRUMP ‘DEAD SERIOUS’ ON PROTEST KILLING THREAT AMID ONGOING DEMONSTRATIONS “Protests across Iran are escalating and may turn violent, resulting in arrests and injuries,” the statement said. “Increased security measures, road closures, public transportation disruptions, and internet blockages are ongoing. The Government of Iran has restricted access to mobile, landline, and national internet networks. Airlines continue to limit or cancel flights to and from Iran, with several suspending service until Friday, January 16,” the statement read. As previously reported by Fox News Digital, Iran may also already have over eight American citizens and residents in its captivity based on information from sources outside the Trump administration who are well-versed with Tehran’s hostage-taking policy system. Monday also saw Tehran say it was keeping communication channels with Washington open as Trump weighed how to respond to its deadly crackdown. Trump had said Sunday that Iran “wants to negotiate.” TRUMP’S IRAN BRIEFING MAY BE ‘DECEPTION CAMPAIGN’ TO MASK MOVES ALREADY UNDERWAY, EXPERT SAYS “We might meet with them. A meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what is happening before the meeting, but a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday. While airstrikes were one of many alternatives open to Trump, “diplomacy is always the first option for the president,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. “What you’re hearing publicly from the Iranian regime is quite different from the messages the administration is receiving privately, and I think the president has an interest in exploring those messages,” Leavitt said.
Former Dem Rep. Mary Peltola announces U.S. Senate run: ‘Put Alaska first’
Former Rep. Mary Peltola on Monday announced her intent to run for a U.S. Senate seat to represent Alaska, in a race to unseat two-term GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan. In a two-minute video, Peltola cited “scarcity” and inflation as problems Alaskans currently face. “Growing up, Alaska was a place of abundance. Now, we have scarcity,” Peltola said. “The salmon, large game, and migratory birds that used to fill our freezers are harder to find. So we buy more groceries, with crushing prices.” ALASKA NATIVES DEFY DEMOCRATS, CHAMPION PUSH TO REVIVE ARCTIC DRILLING THAT BIDEN SHUT DOWN Peltola previously served in the House as Alaska’s lone representative. She won a special 2022 election and full term later that same year in which she defeated four other candidates, including former Gov. Sarah Palin. She lost her House seat in 2024 to Republican challenger Nick Begich III. Peltola pointed to the state’s two late Republicans as examples of what happened to lawmakers with agendas in Washington who put politics over the needs of the state. “Our delegation used to stand up to their party and put Alaska first,” Peltola said. “Ted Stevens and Don Young ignored Lower 48 partisanship to fight for things like public media and disaster relief because Alaska depends on them.” TRUMP ADMIN ANNOUNCES BIG STEP TOWARD ‘ENERGY DOMINANCE’ WITH MASSIVE ALASKA LNG PROJECT ALLIANCE “Ted Stevens often said, ‘to hell with politics, put Alaska first’,” she added. “It’s about time Alaskans teach the rest of the country what Alaska First and, really, America First looks like.” Peltola’s announcement comes as Democrats are getting ready to try and take back both chambers of Congress in November’s midterm elections. In a video last month posted online by the Democratic-aligned super PAC Senate Majority PAC, the group chided Sullivan for voting for higher costs for health care and other essentials. In response, Sullivan, while standing on skis, boasted about tax cuts and railed about Democrats and the Biden administration for policies he said didn’t benefit Alaska. “They want what Democrats always want when they’re in charge in D.C.,” Sullivan said, referring to at least 70 executive orders signed by Biden that he said negatively impacted Alaska.
Democrats’ own words back up Trump action in Venezuela, top intel lawmaker says
FIRST ON FOX: House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rick Crawford, R-Ark., will submit a resolution on Monday praising the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro — relying entirely on past comments made by Democrats to do so. Crawford observed that calls to end Maduro’s tenure in Venezuela used to carry ample bipartisan support and had been the focus of at least eight bills sponsored by Democrats in recent years. “All this resolution does is reiterate the overall consensus of Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives, evidenced by the legislation introduced over the last [four] years, that Nicolás Maduro was a threat to the national security of the United States and the well-being of the people of Venezuela, and therefore President Trump’s decisive action should be applauded,” Crawford said in a statement. TRUMP DECLARES HIMSELF VENEZUELA’S ‘ACTING PRESIDENT’ IN ONLINE POST AFTER MADURO OUSTER The text obtained by Fox News Digital listed out the many reasons Democrats had included in their bills. One such piece of legislation, introduced by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., called for ‘‘ending Nicolás Maduro’s usurpation of presidential authorities,” citing Maduro’s undermining of his own country’s electoral process. Another, authored by Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., slammed the Venezuelan government’s kidnapping practices, demanding Maduro’s regime be designated a “state sponsor of wrongful detention.” Crawford’s resolution comes as Democrats in Congress have blasted the Trump administration’s operation in Venezuela, characterizing the capture of Maduro earlier this month as an act of war that should have required congressional approval. Republicans have pushed back, arguing Trump used narrowly tailored force to bring a well-known criminal to justice. Crawford’s resolution highlights comments that illustrate how Democrats used to share a similar understanding. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., framed Maduro as a threat to the United States in a bill from 2024. “Elissa Slotkin introduced legislation in the 118th Congress that defined ‘Venezuelan politician Nicolás Maduro’ as a person of concern who has engaged in a ‘long-term pattern or serious instances of activity adverse to the national security of the United States,’” the bill reads. GOP EYES VENEZUELA’S UNTAPPED OIL WEALTH AS DEMOCRATS SOUND ALARM OVER TAXPAYER RISK Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., included almost identical language in a bill of her own. “[DeLauro] introduced legislation that similarly redefined Maduro’s regime as one that had ‘a long-term pattern of serious instances of conduct significantly adverse to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of United States persons,’” Crawford’s bill pointed out. Crawford believes those comments fly in the face of the way Democrats are framing the attack now. He pointed to a post on X made by the top Democrat in the House. “In the aftermath of Nicolás Maduro’s arrest, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, ‘This wasn’t a law enforcement action. They’re lying to the American people when they say that,’” the bill states. MARCO RUBIO EMERGES AS KEY TRUMP POWER PLAYER AFTER VENEZUELA OPERATION Crawford included more comments in Monday’s resolution. “Representative Delia Ramirez posted to X, ‘under the guise of liberty, an administration of warmongers has lied to justify an invasion and is dragging us into an illegal, endless war,’” the text reads. Crawford believes Trump has done exactly what Democrats had demanded. “Democrats have introduced numerous pieces of legislation condemning the Maduro regime, declaring Maduro an illegitimate president, and urging the U.S. to take decisive action,” Crawford said. “Under President Trump’s leadership, the U.S. took control of the situation to secure our Western Hemisphere neighborhood, sending a powerful message to adversaries around the world, even contemplating nefarious moves in our neighborhood,” Crawford said.
Powell reveals what it would take to step down from the Fed as pressure mounts
As political pressure and legal scrutiny intensify, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has made clear what would force him to step down. Powell, who holds one of the most influential posts in U.S. economic policymaking, has made clear he won’t step aside absent a legal violation. That stance is detailed in an excerpt from “Trillion Dollar Triage,” in which Wall Street Journal economic correspondent Nick Timiraos chronicles Powell’s measured public responses and more candid private reactions to Trump’s ongoing threats to fire him. A LOOK AT THE UNFOLDING BATTLE BETWEEN TRUMP AND POWELL OVER FED POLICY Powell’s commitment to the Fed, amid Trump’s mounting criticism, became apparent in 2019 during a House Committee on Financial Services hearing. When asked by California Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters what he would do if Trump fired him, Powell said he would continue to serve his four-year term. According to Timiraos, in private, Powell was more forthright about his determination to continue leading the world’s most influential central bank. “I will never, ever, ever leave this job voluntarily until my term ends under any circumstances. None, whatsoever,” Powell said. “You will not see me getting in the lifeboat,” he said, invoking a metaphor to signal his resolve to stay the course. “It doesn’t occur to me in the slightest that there would be any situation in which I would not complete my term other than dying,” Powell said, according to Timiraos. TRUMP CALLS FED CHAIR POWELL A ‘CLOWN’ AND SLAMS FED RENOVATION Powell’s long-standing insistence on finishing his term, which ends in May, now comes amid a Justice Department criminal investigation into his congressional testimony on the Federal Reserve’s headquarters renovation. Powell confirmed the investigation and said he respected the rule of law and congressional oversight, but described the action as “unprecedented” and driven by political pressure. “This new threat is not about my testimony last June or about the renovation of the Federal Reserve buildings,” Powell said in a video statement Sunday evening. “The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President,” he added. The White House referred questions to the Department of Justice. The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIR POWELL UNDER CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION OVER HQ RENOVATION The project to update the Federal Reserve’s two main Washington, D.C., office buildings in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood is expected to cost $2.5 billion and is being paid for by the central bank, not taxpayers. The Fed funds its operations without congressional appropriations, drawing revenue primarily from interest on government securities and fees charged to financial institutions. In June 2025, Powell told members of the Senate Banking Committee that “There’s no new marble. There are no special elevators. They’re old elevators that have been there. There are no new water features. There are no beehives, and there’s no roof garden terraces.” Powell also told lawmakers that no one “wants to do a major renovation of a historic building during their term in office.” “We decided to take it on because, honestly, when I was the administrative governor, before I became chair, I came to understand how badly the Eccles Building really needed a serious renovation,” Powell said, adding that the building is “not really safe” and not waterproof. He also said that the cost overruns are due, in part, to unexpected construction challenges and the nation’s inflation rate. The project is expected to be completed in the fall of 2027, with Washington-based employees expected to begin working on the building in March 2028.
Trump pledges to uncover leftist groups countering ICE
President Donald Trump said that he believes the woman fatally shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis last week may have been a professional agitator, and indicated that the government will uncover the funding sources behind such anti-law enforcement agitation. “The woman and her friend were highly disrespectful of law enforcement,” Trump said during a Sunday gaggle aboard Air Force One. “They were harassing,” he said, noting, “I think frankly, they’re professional agitators.” The president added that he would “like to find out, and we are gonna find out, who’s paying for it, with their brand-new signs, and all the different things.” “But these are professional agitators. And law enforcement should not be in a position where they have to put up with this stuff. What that woman, and what her friend, and what their other friends were doing to law enforcement — not just ICE — law enforcement, is outrageous,” he said. TRUMP DEFENDS ICE AGENT, SHOWS NYT REPORTERS VIDEO OF DEADLY MINNEAPOLIS SHOOTING The U.S. Department of Homeland Security retweeted a post in which Republican Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas asserted that anti-ICE protesters are being funded. CELLPHONE VIDEO RELEASED IN DEADLY MINNEAPOLIS ICE AGENT SHOOTING “The anti-ICE mobs are anything but organic. Dark money is bankrolling far-left groups like ICE Watch and lighting the fuse. Americans deserve to know who’s cutting the checks!” the lawmaker asserted in the post. A person “weaponized her vehicle” against law enforcement in Minneapolis, DHS announced last week. DHS DEPLOYING HUNDREDS MORE FEDERAL AGENTS TO MINNEAPOLIS, NOEM ANNOUNCES CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “This individual was impeding law enforcement and weaponized her vehicle against @ICEgov. The officer dutifully acted in self-defense,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin noted in a post on X last week.
Trump’s Greenland push escalates as GOP lawmaker moves to make it America’s 51st state
FIRST ON FOX: A House Republican is pushing for Greenland to become the country’s 51st state as President Donald Trump publicly pushes for the Danish territory to come under U.S. rule. Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., is introducing a bill on Monday aimed at authorizing Trump “to take such steps as may be necessary” to acquire Greenland and set it on the pathway of becoming part of the United States. “I think it is in the world’s interest for the United States to exert sovereignty over Greenland,” Fine told Fox News Digital in an interview. “Congress would still have to choose to make it a state, but this would simply authorize the president to do what he’s doing and say the Congress stands behind him. And then it would expedite it into becoming a state, but it would still be up to Congress about whether to do that.” TOP CANADIAN OFFICIALS TO VISIT GREENLAND AMID INTERNATIONAL FEARS AS TRUMP EYES NATO-LINKED TERRITORY Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that he would be meeting with officials from Denmark this week to discuss Greenland. Trump has publicly pushed for the idea of the U.S. buying the Arctic island territory since his first term in the White House. He and other Republican officials have pointed out its strategic importance, including Greenland’s proximity to Russia and the critical minerals located within its borders. GREENLAND LEADERS PUSH BACK ON TRUMP’S CALLS FOR US CONTROL OF THE ISLAND: ‘WE DON’T WANT TO BE AMERICANS’ Fine agreed with those points while also arguing U.S. rule would be better for those living in Greenland as well. “Their poverty rate is high. Denmark hasn’t treated them well,” Fine said. “When war came to town, Denmark couldn’t protect them. Guess who protected Greenland during World War II? We did.” And while a majority of Republicans have conceded they understand Trump’s argument for why owning Greenland would benefit the U.S., GOP lawmakers were somewhat rattled after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not rule out using military force to acquire the island during a recent press conference this month. TRUMP SAYS GREENLAND’S DEFENSE IS ‘TWO DOG SLEDS’ AS HE PUSHES FOR US ACQUISITION OF TERRITORY Asked if he would support using military force, Fine said, “I think the best way to acquire Greenland is voluntarily.” “The poverty rate in Greenland is much, much higher than it is in Denmark. The country is run by socialists, and it is not in America’s interests to have a territory that large between the United States and Russia run by socialists,” Fine said. The U.S. Constitution grants Congress the power to admit new states into the Union. It typically requires Congress to pass a bill authorizing the new state after a territory is formed, after which that territory must draft a state constitution approved by people who live there. Congress must then vote again to admit that new state before it’s made final with the president’s signature.
Minnesota fraud scandal sparks push to scrutinize billions in Biden-era energy grants
FIRST ON FOX: As a sweeping fraud scandal grips Minnesota, a conservative energy watchdog is encouraging lawmakers to scrutinize billions of dollars in Department of Energy grants they say were rushed out the door in the final weeks of the Biden administration, warning that internal red flags were ignored and taxpayer money may have been exposed to waste and political favoritism. Power the Future founder and director Daniel Turner sent a letter to Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, chair of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations United States Senate, and Republican Rep. James Comer, chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Monday, calling on lawmakers to examine grants and loan guarantees approved under the Biden administration’s Department of Energy, Fox Digital learned. “As allegations of widespread fraud among government programs in Minnesota rightly horrify the American taxpayer, on behalf of Power The Future, I write to request immediate congressional oversight of the Department of Energy (DOE) unprecedented grant and loan activity conducted during the final weeks of the Biden Administration,” Turner wrote. The letter turned lawmakers’ direction to the final months of the Biden administration, when “former Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm authorized tens of billions of dollars in so-called ‘clean energy’ grants and loan guarantees, an amount that exceeds many years of prior Department activity,” according to the letter. TREASURY SECRETARY ANNOUNCES CASH REWARDS FOR MINNESOTA FRAUD WHISTLEBLOWERS “These funds were rushed out the door, despite warnings from the DOE Inspector General that internal controls were insufficient and that the program should be paused pending further review,” the letter continued, pointing to a Department of Energy Inspector General report that recommended the department halt its $400 billion green bank over conflict of interest concerns. “Those warnings were ignored,” the letter states. “The funds were distributed anyway.” Turner pointed to a Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office granting roughly $710 million as part of a 12-state affordable energy initiative four days before President Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office. The allocation to New Jersey was “followed closely by Secretary Granholm’s acceptance of a senior role overseeing energy policy for New Jersey governor-elect Mikie Sherrill. This troubling sequence of events raises legitimate questions about whether federal resources were deployed with political or personal considerations in mind rather than objective public interest,” the letter stated. Sherrill appointed Granholm to co-lead an action team on “Making Energy More Affordable and Reliable” back in November after her gubernatorial election. USDA IMMEDIATELY SUSPENDS ALL FEDERAL FUNDING TO MINNESOTA AMID FRAUD INVESTIGATION “This episode reflects a broader pattern increasingly familiar to the American people: oversight mechanisms function, red flags are raised, and yet taxpayer dollars are still lost, only for accountability to be discussed after the money is gone. Public confidence erodes when internal warnings are dismissed and transparency is treated as optional,” Turner wrote in his Monday letter. Fox News Digital reached out to Sherrill’s transition team for comment regarding the letter, Granholm’s role and response from the former DOE chief, but did not immediately receive a reply. Fox Digital also reached out to Biden’s office for comment on the letter. Climate change was a cornerstone of the Biden administration, with the then-president repeatedly casting it as an existential danger and “the single greatest existential threat to humanity. He argued his administration was correcting the ship on the climate through laws such as the Inflation Reduction Act’s sweeping clean energy tax credits and incentives, and cracking down on EPA rules aimed at cutting emissions from power plants and oil and gas, among other initiatives. Power the Future urged Congress to conduct a full accounting of all DOE grants and loan guarantees approved during the final six months of the Biden administration, review Inspector General findings that were overridden, and examine political or financial ties between grant recipients and senior DOE officials. “Congress must not allow these funds to vanish without answers,” Power The Future said, adding that taxpayers deserve transparency and accountability for how their money is spent. After returning to office, the Trump administration moved to halt and reassess Biden-era climate spending, with Trump signing a day-one order positioning the U.S. to “unleash” domestic energy and shift away from what the White House has framed as a “globalist climate agenda.” “Under the Biden Administration, green energy spending was sold to taxpayers as transparent, accountable, and carefully scrutinized,” Turner’s letter continued. “As the episode involving former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams securing $2 billion dollars worth of grants reveals, this was not always the case. Instead, it increasingly appears to have operated as a shield for rushed, massive federal expenditures timed to avoid meaningful review and now embedded within state and political ecosystems.” BESSENT BLAMES WALZ AS TREASURY PROBES WHETHER MINNESOTA FRAUD FUNDS REACHED TERROR GROUP AL-SHABAB The Biden administration came under fire from Republicans following the IG report, using it like ammo to argue the Biden-era Loan Programs Office was pushing money out too fast without proper guardrails, while the Department of Energy discounted the 2024 IG report as based on “mistaken facts and misunderstanding of the law.” “LPO is in full compliance with both the Department’s conflict of interest rules and the Federal Acquistion Regulation (“FAR”),” the department wrote in a response letter at the time. …. “Indeed, despite a months-long audit involving over one hundred contract files, OIG has not identified any organizational conflicts of interest.” Lawmakers and voters have taken a heightened interest in fraud as it relates to taxpayer funds as a sprawling COVID-era scheme involving money laundering came to light in Minnesota in the lead up to the holiday season. Investigators speculate the fraud could exceed $1 billion and rise to as high as $9 billion. Suspects arrested in the alleged schemes are mostly from the state’s large Somali community. “The large-scale fraud in Minnesota, where federal funds intended for public benefit were systematically abused despite warning signs, underscore the risks of allowing massive sums of taxpayer money to move with limited scrutiny. Just as