War Secretary Pete Hegseth is set to announce plans to cut the number of generals and admirals by 20 percent during his State of the Force address that will take place on Wednesday, according to a report from Fox News.
The reduction of top brass will be a downgrade of some positions instead of eliminating all of them altogether. The reduction plans apply to the Army, Navy, Air Force and the military’s joint pool and were approved earlier this month. The directives will be given and will be expected to be completed by the new year.
Last year, as part of an overall reduction in general and flag officer positions, there was a 10 percent reduction goal. The order this time around doubles that reduction rate as Hegseth has started to streamline a reduction in military ranks.
He has dubbed the effort “less generals, more GIs,” and has said that the reduction of top brass allows for those troops on the ground to have more authority over decisions on the ground and closer to the fight. In the September 16 memo directing the effort, Hegseth ordered that official will establish 0-6 requirements for positions that will be downgraded.
The move from Hegseth comes after the War Secretary announced new battlefield testing for future generals and that promotions will be based on their ability to “to fight, adapt, and win.”
“While the backbone of our military is our NCOs [noncommissioned officers] and our petty officers, victory depends on the commanders who lead them,” Hegseth said in a video posted to social media earlier in September.
“This is not a slash-and-burn exercise meant to punish high-ranking officers,” Hegseth said about earlier reductions in May 2025. “This has been a deliberative process, working with the Joint Chiefs of Staff with one goal: maximizing strategic readiness and operational effectiveness by making prudent reductions in the general and flag officer ranks.”
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/War-Secretary-Pete-Hegseth.jpg330640Royal A. Brown IIIhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngRoyal A. Brown III2026-09-30 11:33:282026-09-30 11:35:47Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to cut 20% of admirals, generals in Pentagon shake-up
President Donald Trump has moved to cancel more than $800 million that Congress approved for refugee aid, migrant education and diversity programs.
The White House announced late Friday it would rescind $810 million in appropriated funds through a rare budgetary tool called a pocket rescission, according to CBS News. The largest cut, $567 million, hit Health and Human Services (HHS) accounts that funded nonprofits serving refugees and asylees, according to the administration.
Officials argued the money is no longer needed because illegal crossings have fallen sharply under Trump’s border policies. They labeled the spending wasteful and harmful to taxpayers.
The reductions also covered $70 million for programs the administration branded “Woke International Education,” $56 million in Housing and Urban Development (HUD) counseling grants and $25 million in migrant student education. The education money once paid for an LGBT youth summit and “Therapy for Latinx” workshops.
Among the groups losing support was Southwest Key Programs, which received $40 million and faced a Justice Department suit alleging its staff sexually harassed and abused unaccompanied minors, according to the White House. Another was Global Refuge, an immigration nonprofit led by a former policy director for Michelle Obama.
The cuts drew a rebuke from Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, according to CBS News. She called the package an effort to “undermine Congress’s Constitutional power of the purse” and said lawmakers received no warning, according to her statement on X.
Without warning or consultation, Congress just received an $810 million package of pocket rescissions from the Administration. This is the most recent attempt by this Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to undermine Congress’s Constitutional power of the purse.
Collins cited the Government Accountability Office, which has found pocket rescissions violate the Impoundment Control Act, according to her statement. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, accused the administration of stealing money owed to communities, according to CBS News.
The White House filed its request days before the fiscal year closes Sept. 30, which lets the funds lapse before Congress can vote, CBS News reported. The House will remain out of session through the November election, leaving lawmakers little room to respond, according to Fox News.
Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought has maintained that the Impoundment Control Act does not bar a president from canceling funds late in the fiscal year, Fox News reported.
Trump deployed the same maneuver in 2025 to withhold $4.9 billion in foreign aid, the first pocket rescission in nearly five decades, according to CBS News. The Supreme Court let that cancellation stand while declining to rule on its legality, ABC News reported.
DELIVERING FOR AMERICANS: This week, President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump hosted President Xi Jinping and Madame Peng Liyuan of the People’s Republic of China for a reciprocal State Visit. During the visit, President Trump advanced the U.S.-China relationship and put the American people first.
The United States welcomed China’s scheduling of orphines, a class of deadly drugs. The United States also noted China’s new export controls on two fentanyl precursor chemicals, while strongly encouraging the permanent scheduling of these and other substances and chemicals to help stem the flow of illicit precursors to dangerous narcoterrorists in North America.
In August 2026, acting on information from U.S. law enforcement, China arrested 21 Chinese citizens for the manufacture and distribution of precursor chemicals to illicit drug producers in North America. The United States strongly encouraged maximum sentences, including the death penalty where applicable.
President Trump urged President Xi to increase production of refined petroleum products to stabilize global supply.
The United States welcomes the arrival of two giant pandas, leased by China to the Atlanta Zoo.
OPERATIONALIZING THE BOARDS OF TRADE AND INVESTMENT: This week, the two leaders operationalized the cornerstone government-to-government mechanisms of the U.S.-China Board of Trade and the U.S.-China Board of Investment, which were chartered during the May 2026 Summit in Beijing.
Under the Board of Trade, the two countries reached consensus on recommendations for more favorable tariff treatment for $30 billion of non-sensitive goods in each direction. The Board of Trade also launched a working group focused on addressing market access barriers in the agricultural sector.
For U.S. exports, the goods include agricultural goods, fish and seafood, logs and wood products, cosmetics and medical devices.
For U.S. imports, the goods include consumer products such as small appliances, toys, holiday decorations, and children’s car seats.
Following President Trump’s revival of the U.S. coal industry, China will import at least 10 million metric tons of coal from the United States in 2027 and again 2028.
The two countries established the Board of Investment. The mission of the Board of Investment is to discuss potential investment opportunities and investment-related impediments and to provide a structured channel for the two sides to address commercially meaningful investment-related issues.
The United States and China continue to work on U.S. concerns regarding supply chain shortages related to rare earths and other critical minerals, with the goal of ensuring shipment levels return to appropriate levels.
MAKING THE WORLD SAFER FOR AMERICANS: President Trump and President Xi discussed fostering peace and prosperity to enhance confidence for businesses and consumers around the world. The two countries agreed to build a constructive relationship of strategic stability on the basis of respect, fairness, and reciprocity.
The two countries will support each other as respective hosts of G20 and APEC, with both leaders intending to attend each other’s Summit.
The two leaders discussed on-going global concerns, including Russia, North Korea, and Iran. They agreed that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon and that no country or institution can be allowed to impose tolls on international waterways.
The two leaders recalled that United States and China were allies in World War II and fought side by side to win the war.
Since World War II, the United States’ forward military presence has preserved a Free and Open Indo-Pacific contributing to generations of American prosperity.
The President advocated for trilateral arms control negotiations between the United States, Russia, and China.
The two leaders agreed to use the term “super intelligence” rather than “artificial intelligence” to describe the applicable emerging technologies.
The two countries established the U.S.-China Super Intelligence (SI) Dialogue to exchange views on risks and benefits related to SI. The next exchange will occur by November 2026. The United States and China also agreed to establish a bilateral communication channel for SI incidents.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/WHWIRE-GET-THE-FACTS-LOGO.jpg360640The White Househttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe White House2026-09-27 11:21:282026-09-27 11:24:51Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Advances a Fair and Reciprocal Relationship with China While Hosting Historic State Visit
All of us lead in some respect, as a big brother or sister, a boss, an advisor for a friend or as a parent. And all of us choose whom we will follow. We all participate in the shaping of our own future and produce some degree of inspiration or discouragement in the lives of others. Leadership occurs anytime one attempts to influence the behavior of an individual or group regardless of the reason. Although we may miss our chance to lead well, clearly none of us can avoid leadership altogether. We all influence others whether we are conscious of this fact, or not.
Each of us, therefore, leaves a legacy. Of all the challenges in life, I believe the challenges beneath the surface of our personal lives are those that will affect the legacy of our leadership.
A leader will inventory his learning posture frequently and invite others to “speak into” his life. A leader stops leading when he stops listening and growing. When a leader’s character is strong, people trust him, and they trust his ability to release their own potential. This not only gives followers hope for the future, but it promotes a strong belief also in themselves and their organization. Furthermore, a leader must live by his/her own convictions. He must inspire himself, trust himself, and then inspire others. A real leader (not in name only) will find ways to use his life’s experiences rather than be used by them. The leader also acquires a vision, sets a direction, and attracts people to come along side and join him.
Former Prime Minister of England, Margaret Thatcher once said, “Being in power is like being a lady. If you must tell people, you are, you aren’t.” If you see a disparity between who’s leading the meeting and who’s leading the people, then the person running the meeting is not the real leader. True leaders speak later, need only their own influence to get things done, and influence everyone in the room. A “healthy” leader makes sound decisions, admits his mistakes, and places what’s best for those following and the organization ahead of his/her personal agenda. When you choose the mantel of leadership, you lose the right to think about yourself.
The skill of leaving a legacy is the most difficult. Achievement comes to someone when he can do great things for himself. Success comes when the leader empowers followers to do great things with him. Significance comes when he develops others to do great things for him. But a legacy is created only when a person puts his organization into the position to do great things without him!
Allow me to finish with a life lesson I learned from some marvelous mentors. The only thing that walks back from the tomb with the mourners and refuses to be buried is the character of the person just buried. What a man/woman has been survives. It can never be buried.
Benny Johnson: The White House just launched “TRUMP TV: The Essentials Station” — a nonstop stream featuring President Trump’s speeches, major announcements, past highlights and administration updates, refreshed in real time.
The launch comes amid Trump’s escalating fight with CNN, MS NOW and Politico, which have sued his administration after being barred from White House access.
Americans can now watch the White House’s own selected footage and announcements DIRECTLY, 24/7.
The media landscape just changed in a BIG way.
Gray News: The White House has launched a new streaming initiative on YouTube titled Trump TV: The Essentials Station, offering 24/7 video coverage of the President’s past moments and announcements just days after he revoked access to three major news outlets over what he called fake news.
The program was launched on Monday, Sept. 21, with its official description reading:
Watch the Trump Administration’s biggest moments all in one place. Top videos, major remarks, and must-see highlights streaming 24/7 and updated in real time. Stay informed and stay up to date!
It was launched the same day that CNN, MS NOW and Politico filed a lawsuit over what they describe as a “blatant violation” of the First Amendment: getting banned from the White House.
President Trump announced the ban on Friday because of his displeasure with their reporting, which he labeled as fake news.
In the same post announcing the ban, Trump warned that other “fake news media outlets” would follow.
With CNN’s coverage pool duties stripped, major networks suspended pool service indefinitely while some print resources declined to publish photographs from the official unveiling of a new presidential helipad.
Trump acknowledged the lawsuit on Truth Social, doubling down on fake news claims and said he would “do whatever is necessary to make sure that the U.S.A. thrives.”
Copyright 2026 Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday to accelerate benefits and employment opportunities for veterans, the Daily Caller learned first.
The executive order will modernize data management and data sharing between the Departments of War and Veterans Affairs to help expedite veterans’ access to benefits, a White House official told the the Caller. Under the order, the DOW and VA will deploy new tools, including artificial intelligence (AI), to help with the process.
The DOW, VA, and Department of Labor (DOL) are also ordered to ensure they give veterans better career guidance, job opportunities, and training opportunities under the executive order. Upon leaving active duty service, the executive order requires the federal government to connect service members with a veterans specialist from federal, state, or local governments who can help facilitate their benefit applications.
A White House official told the Daily Caller that — due to outdated systems — it can take an average of 90 to 180 days to transfer transitioning service members’ profiles, delaying their move to civilian life. This delay impacts their healthcare coverage, benefits processing, educational opportunities, and job training and placement.
The Trump administration inherited a backlog of more than 70,000 transitioning service members from the Biden administration, a White House official told the Caller. At one point during the Biden administration, the VA’s backlog grew to around 378,000.
“A lot of our problem is we’re too paperwork-heavy on the initial end, which tends to get people wary of the system,” VA Secretary Doug Collins told the Daily Caller News Foundation in Jun 2025 about the backlog. “So they think it’s harder than it really is. And I think that complicates this as we go through. So I’m just looking at it from a total perspective, say, how can we make it easier for somebody to file for a claim, go through the process and not think they have to either call an attorney or call somebody else?”
Fraud amongst veterans’ benefits still remains a problem. In 2024, military retirees and veterans lost $419 million to fraud across all instances.
“That’s a problem that we’re trying to address within the system itself, to make sure that those are for valid folks who have valid needs that they are able to have that,” Collins told the DCNF at the time.
Earlier this week, the House of Representatives voted 220-192 to approve a resolution condemning socialism. Only eight Democrats joined the Republicans in voting for the measure.
The resolution read in part:
“Whereas socialist ideology necessitates a concentration of power that has, time and time again, collapsed into communist regimes, totalitarian rule, and repressive dictatorships…[Socialism] has repeatedly led to famine and mass murders, and the killing of over 100,000,000 people worldwide;”
It then turns to the rise of Democratic Socialists of America, and the DSA policy positions such as voting by noncitizens and incarcerated criminals, abolishing the U.S. Senate, and replacing the two-party system. It then denounces socialism in all its forms, declaring it incompatible with American values and the Constitution.
Is this a solution in search of a problem? Hardly.
According to the Brookings Institution, 282 candidates ran with some level of DSA endorsement in the 2026 election cycle; so far, 123 have won their primaries.
The rise in socialist candidates comes as a generation that never saw the Iron Curtain increasingly sees socialism as nothing more than a government-provided safety net. But history warns that when government becomes powerful enough to guarantee equality, the safety net can become a net from which there is no escape.
I remember when Americans didn’t have to debate whether socialism worked. We watched people escape from it.
In 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell, I was working with the U.S. Department of State managing one of its Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program sites. Within months of the fall of the wall, we began training police officers and other security officials in the United States from former Eastern Bloc countries. I vividly recall greeting one of the groups and taking them to the grocery store on the way to the dormitories where they would be staying.
When they entered the Albertsons, they froze. Some of them began to cry, and I asked the interpreter what was wrong. He said they had never seen so much in one place, and they asked who was allowed to come into the store. I said whoever wanted to, but that there were stores like this all over. They said they had been told Americans were living just like them, waiting hours each day for a loaf of bread or whatever was available.
Totalitarian systems don’t merely control economic production; eventually they must control information, because people inevitably begin asking why the promised equality has produced scarcity.
To many young Americans, socialism doesn’t mean empty shelves, bread lines, government propaganda, and repression. It means Social Security, socialized medicine, free college, and a bigger safety net. But for the government to have the economic power to provide so-called “free stuff,” it must possess the coercive power and authority to impose the promised economic outcomes. History shows that the equality socialism ultimately provides is equality of misery.
Thirty-seven years ago, people who had lived under socialism came to America and wept when they saw an ordinary grocery store. Today, a generation with no memory of the repression behind the Iron Curtain increasingly votes for candidates promising socialism.
The problem isn’t that socialism has changed. The problem is we’ve forgotten what socialism is and where it leads.
The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Promise-of-Socialism-Is-Misery-for-All.jpg336640Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2026-09-08 15:23:032026-09-08 15:26:13PERKINS: The Promise of Socialism Is Misery for All
Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for the Daily Signal.
We’re nine weeks from the midterm election, and we’re starting to see a lot of anxiety, frustration on the part of the Republicans. They fear the historical precedent will be the same in November, that the in-party loses seats in the House and Senate, and maybe both of them, and the Left is very triumphant.
And we’re getting a picture that I think is inaccurate. But one way to test whether that suggestion is accurate or inaccurate is just take a deep breath and look at the world, let’s say, at the beginning of the Biden administration compared to now.
Let’s just start with Canada. Canada is very angry. We’re in a trade dispute. Is Canada now making a serious effort? Does it promise that it will meet its NATO commitments? It hasn’t yet, or it barely has, but it’s making progress. It better do it. Is it trying to address, in a haphazard fashion, the idea that it can just dump product, or it can have these high tariffs and run $50 billion to $80 billion tariffs with impunity, as Mexico did? No.
Our relationship with Canada is changing for the better for us. It’s changing for the better for Mexico. Do they like it? No. Why don’t they like it? Because they had a pretty good deal at our expense.
Is the border closed? Yes. Is illegal immigration plaguing us at 10,000 a day? No.
How about Venezuela? Is it importing terrorism and narcotics to North America? No. We just signed a deal that will essentially allow the United States, for 100 years, to have access to 65 billion barrels of high-sulfur, thick, but very valuable Venezuelan oil. They get $19, no matter what, without spending a dime, off every barrel that the oil companies try to extract.
And if you do the math, the cost in Venezuela is not Saudi Arabia, not the United States. It’s not light sweet crude. It’s not easy. It’s a politically difficult place. It’s a geographically and climate-challenged place, and it will cost those oil companies anywhere from $30 to $40 to $50. And if oil goes below $65, it’s going to be hard to see how they make a profit.
It’s good for Venezuela. That’s why they agreed to it.
But more importantly, all of South America and all of the Caribbean and all of Central America is unrecognizable from five years ago when Joe Biden entered office. There is no problem now with the Panama Canal. Cuba is on the ropes. There’s only five governments in Latin America that are anti-American. The vast majority are capitalist, democratic, pro-American.
Go to the Middle East. One of the biggest problems we’ve had the last 50 years in the Middle East, one of the biggest, the biggest, is Iran. But not just Iran, its proxies: the Houthis, Hamas, Hezbollah. There was no Lebanon. It was kidnapped by Hezbollah.
You heard the Lebanese prime minister the other day. He said, for the first chance, there’s real opportunity in Lebanon. Why? Because Hezbollah has been defanged by Israel, but more importantly, it has no money. Why? Because we have the strictest sanctions, embargoes, that we’ve ever seen on Iran.
And as Iran, as we hear, is winning the war, they’re just about kaput. They’re strangled. We talked about an Anaconda program. Their military has been degraded by about 90%, but more importantly, they have no oil. No oil is getting in. They even have gas lines in their own country. Their currency is worthless. They’re the pariah of the world.
I heard not long ago a prominent political scientist say everybody was rooting for Iran and not for us. They may have said that, but they’re going to be delighted to see that country implode, which it will.
It’s not that the war is going bad or going good. It’s that the war is irrelevant. In other words, our life goes on and Iran’s doesn’t, and time is on our side. Maybe it’s going to be six weeks. Maybe it’s going to be six months. But it cannot survive the economic sanctions that are now in place.
And the entire Middle East is starting to wake up and see that there’s a really good chance to go to a normal regional atmosphere without that pernicious, toxic government.
The Strait of Hormuz is going to be irrelevant in two or three years. Pipelines are already in progress that will bypass the Strait of Hormuz.
And when you look at the oil situation in the world, everybody says, “Well, China has got the largest storage capacity of oil and it’s full.” Yes, but it’s finite. They’re not producing it. They’re storing it.
And in fact, they’re helping us out in an indirect way because the price of oil has not gone up because China is not on the market now, because it can’t get its hands on Venezuelan and Iranian oil.
But when Iran is out of the question, oil prices will not just drop, I think they’ll crash. And who’s going to control most of the oil in the world? The United States, because it’s got this good deal with Venezuela, and it’s already the largest producer of natural gas.
If you look at Russia, Russia’s a shadow of its former self. If you look at NATO, it’s rearming in a way that no one had thought would ever be possible.
You add it all up, and the EU model, if you look at the EU model of open borders, low fertility, 1.3%, radical green ideology trumping the use of fossil fuels, disarmament, it’s been thoroughly repudiated.
You’re going to see governments not just in Italy and Eastern Europe, but you’re going to see soon in France and probably in the U.K., governments that are going to look a lot more like the conservative government of the United States than they do their past liberal traditions.
In other words, the socialist model has failed all over the world, and it’s starting to implode. And it’s not gaining ground in the United States. It’s a last gasp of a frustrated urban elite and partly due to radical immigration.
Add it all up, and the United States is in a preeminent position. And the world today has nothing in common with the world just five years ago. That could be very bad.
But when you look systematically in a disinterested, rational fashion, and you look at the power of China vis-à-vis the United States, you look at Russia vis-à-vis the United States, you look at Latin America vis-à-vis the United States, you look at the Middle East vis-à-vis the United States, you look at Europe vis-à-vis the United States, you come up with either two conclusions, and they’re not incompatible.
No. 1, the United States is much stronger and in a much better position than those countries and regions I just mentioned.
And No. 2, whether they like us or not, they’re moving toward the United States, not because they want to necessarily, but because our system is producing spectacular growth economically, militarily, socially, culturally, and, more importantly, in the technologies to come in the future: AI, software, space exploration, satellites, bioengineering. We’re preeminent.
So, do not listen before these midterms that we’re in crisis, the loss of war. We’re in a world that is completely unrecognizable to the one five years ago. And the fact that we haven’t been able to appreciate it is largely because we’re right in the middle of the storm. We’re in the eye of the hurricane.
But the storm is passing, and it’s going to be very advantageous for the United States in the next decade.
We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of the Daily Signal.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/America-Looks-Nothing-Like-She-Did-5-Years-Ago-2.jpg376640The Daily Signalhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Signal2026-09-03 06:15:152026-09-03 06:23:35Victor Davis Hanson: America Looks Nothing Like She Did 5 Years Ago—And That’s a Good Thing
California’s “monumental problem” with rampant fraud is about to get significantly worse, according to Republican state Assemblyman Carl DeMaio, after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill that he warns will crack down on people investigating scammers.
Officially titled “Privacy for immigration support services providers,” the new law creates privacy protections for immigration support service providers, employees and volunteers, including shielding their addresses and imposing penalties on those who publish their images on social media. DeMaio told Fox News Digital the bill amounts to criminalizing investigative journalism and works to “silence citizen journalists and shield taxpayer-funded organizations from public scrutiny.”
“What does the Stop Nick Shirley Act do? It basically makes it illegal for a citizen journalist to document fraud of taxpayer money and post that on the internet in the form of an internet video,” he said.
Newsom signed the bill into law last week, and it is set to take effect Oct. 1. DeMaio told Fox News Digital that he and a “coalition of civil liberty protectors” are prepared to file a lawsuit challenging the law.
“We have a plaintiff and are putting together the legal briefs,” he said, adding, “It is a matter of time before we’re going to get before a judge to stop this act.”
“It is our hope,” he continued, “that the U.S. Department of Justice will file to intervene in that case, because this is an open-and-shut infringement on our First Amendment rights.”
DeMaio said California’s fraud scandal makes the Minnesota fraud look like “garden variety government mismanagement.”
“If you were worried about Somali daycare centers in Minnesota not having children in the daycare, take a look at California government NGOs receiving taxpayer funds and not having any sort of public services that they’re delivering,” he said. “They say they provide public services to immigrants when, in fact, they organize rallies, they harvest ballots, they endorse candidates and ballot measures during campaigns, and they are an extension of the Democrat Party.”
DeMaio said the planned lawsuit follows discussions with the Justice Department’s Office for Civil Rights.
Republican Assemblyman Carl DeMaio speaks during a California State Assembly meeting at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Aug. 21, 2025. (
“I have asked the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Civil Rights to look at the Stop Nick Shirley Act … to see if they can do anything to intervene to prevent the implementation of this law. We have been dialoguing with the Department of Justice, and now we have a game plan as to how we will proceed forward in the courts to overturn this unconstitutional law,” he said.
Addressing Newsom directly, DeMaio said, “Gavin Newsom, once again, you’re a bully trying to silence citizen watchdogs into not exercising their First Amendment rights and exposing your fraud, the billions of dollars that you’ve allowed to be wasted of precious taxpayer funds, all because you want the benefit of these left-wing NGOs to help you politically.”
DeMaio said Newsom and California’s Democratic supermajority “created such a monumental problem with fraud of taxpayer money being abused that it’s clear that it is intentional.”
“You’re going to be exposed as a bully,” he told Newsom. “You’re going to be exposed as the fraud ringleader.
In response, Newsom spokesperson Diana Crofts-Pelayo told Fox News Digital that “this law has nothing to do with Nick Shirley” and that “the real controversy here is that MAGA Republicans are either lying to create up fake conspiracy theories, or none of them know how to read.”
Crofts-Pelayo said the law does not affect Shirley’s journalism, which Newsom’s office previously referred to as “grifting” and “lying,” and does not hide fraud.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/Trump-to-Intervene-as-Newsom-Hit-With-Lawsuit-Threat.jpg360640The Geller Reporthttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Geller Report2026-08-31 06:46:372026-08-31 06:52:40‘Monumental’ California Fraud Bombshell: Whistleblower Begs Trump to Intervene as Newsom Hit With Lawsuit Threat
U.S. Central Command confirmswhat Democrats and the Fake News have spent months denying: the United States — not the Islamic Republic of Iran — controls the Strait of Hormuz. American forces are keeping energy moving to the world while denying Tehran the revenue it needs to threaten global commerce.
Here are the facts:
Iranian mines have been cleared from the Strait’s international shipping lanes.
Nearly 1,500 commercial vessels have moved through under U.S. protection, carrying 750 million barrels of crude to the world.
Iran has exported zero oil from its shores since the blockade resumed in July.
75 vessels that tried to break the blockade were turned around.
Gulf oil exports have recovered to two-thirds of pre–operation levels — and continue to rise.
President Trump was right — again:
August 10: “The only one that has control of the Strait of Hormuz right now is the United States Navy. We have a blockade that’s been infallible. It’s a steel wall… We control the Strait, 100%.”
August 11: “We totally control the Strait of Hormuz. We have control over it. Nobody else — only us.”
August 14: “In the true sense, we own the Hormuz Strait, and we only allow boats to come in if we want them to come in.”
August 17: “We have total control over the Strait… The Strait is open.”
August 19: “Right now, the Strait is open. A lot of boats are coming through. People aren’t reporting that… The naval blockade has been extremely effective.”
August 21: “We have total control of that entire region having to do with the Strait of Hormuz.”
August 26: “The Strait is open. We take a lot of ships through the Strait now… It’s a very functioning Strait. A lot of oil is pouring out.”
August 27: “The Strait of Hormuz is open. We have control, and we have the blockade. Iran is not getting anything; nothing is going through.”
Here’s what they’re saying:
Former Deputy National Security Advisor KT McFarland: “Iran overplayed its hand by closing Strait. Countries developed work-arounds w/ pipelines, US exports, and then reopened Strait. For 50 yrs Iran blackmailed world. No longer. That card is dead.”
West Point Chair of Urban Warfare Studies John Spencer: “Despite all the rhetoric coming out of Tehran, the reality is clear: the U.S. blockade of Iran is effective. Iran’s claims that it has closed the Strait of Hormuz are false. It has neither closed the strait nor effectively stopped maritime traffic.”
United Against Nuclear Iran Policy Director Jason Brodsky: “Tehran can hoot, holler, and threaten, but its hold over the Strait of Hormuz is being eroded, while its economy is deteriorating and its revenue streams are drying up.”
Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Rebeccah Heinrichs: “There is a demoralization campaign to make people think we’ve lost this war. But the evidence just doesn’t support that. USF have been clearing the Strait and are successfully getting oil through while degrading the IRGC’s weapons and cutting off its resources.”
Institute for National Security Studies Iran and Shiite Axis Program Director Raz Zimmt: “Significant statements from Tehran today point to a growing recognition among the Iranian leadership of the severity of the economic situation and the erosion of Iran’s ability to use the Strait of Hormuz as leverage in light of U.S. military gains in opening a corridor through the strait.”
Former Deputy National Security Advisor Victoria Coates: “By far Trump’s most devastating tool was the imposition of the U.S. blockade on Iranian exports through the Strait of Hormuz last April. Iran is now losing an additional $13 billion a month and is also cut off from critical imports. … The sanctions Bessent announced Monday are going to accelerate economic decline into a collapse.”
Analyst Adolfo Franco: “Six months into the conflict between the United States and Iran, the situation is not the humiliating quagmire that critics of the Trump administration insist upon. Instead, President Trump has charted a new and far more patient strategy that is making steady progress towards his objectives. The quick victory that some initially envisioned by destroying the regime’s military power has given way to a slow and consistent tightening of the noose aimed at denying the Iranian regime the economic oxygen it needs to survive. Although the conflict is far from over, the evidence is that this new focus is working and will continue. The reflexive opposition of critics at home and abroad has not dissuaded the Trump administration. Instead, what we are witnessing is a grinding contest of attrition in which the pressure is compounding over time, steadily narrowing the Iranian regime’s resources and options.”
FDD CEO Mark Dubowitz: “Those of us who stood firmly against the regime in Iran did so because we had supreme confidence in @CENTCOM leadership—and in the extraordinary courage, skill, and professionalism of the remarkable men and women of the U.S. military. That confidence has been more than justified. Profound gratitude to everyone who is making it possible.”
FDD Senior Advisor Richard Goldberg: “The blockade is working. Project Freedom is still going. We are getting 5mpbd out even with IRGC threats. Alternatives are accelerating. IRGC knows its financial sector is a house of cards.”
Commentator Scott Jennings: “Iran has exported no oil since resumption of US blockade in July. The US Navy has helped move 750 million barrels of oil out of the Gulf. Incredible.”
The economic pressure on the Iranian regime is only tightening. Operation Economic Outcast is now cutting off every remaining lifeline to the regime as a domestic fuel crisis, collapsing currency, and crushing inflation starves the regime of its ability to project power.
President Trump has been clear: he will keep the pressure on the Islamic Republic until it can no longer threaten the world.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/Trumps-Actions-on-Iran.jpg354640The White Househttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe White House2026-08-29 13:33:482026-08-31 12:02:37President Trump Was Right: America Controls the Strait of Hormuz
The Wall Street Journalwants you to shed a tear for Gen. Chris Donahue. “Storied career cut short,” they wail, as if the man was some untouchable war hero yanked from the battlefield mid-fight instead of a four-star whose time in a European command had run its course.
Spare me the soap opera. This is what civilian control of the military looks like when it actually works.
Pete Hegseth didn’t wake up one morning and decide to ruin a good officer’s day. He’s executing the president’s mandate to shrink the flag officer ranks — 10% overall, 20% at four stars — and restore a military that fights and wins instead of one that manages diversity quotas and worries about hurt feelings.
Donahue’s retirement papers were requested as part of that broader, long-overdue housecleaning. His deputy steps in, the command gets right-sized, and life goes on. That’s how it’s supposed to work.
I wore the uniform for over 32 years. Enlisted EOD, B-1 squadron commander, wing commander, nuclear ops, 9/11 survivor at the Pentagon, leading troops in combat. I know how the system works.
For every officer who pins on a star, there are 10 others just as qualified, often more so, who never get the nod because the old boys’ network and the political weather vane protected the insiders.
Pretending Donahue is irreplaceable is the kind of nonsense that got us into this mess in the first place.
Yes, the general has a long résumé. West Point, Delta Force time, last American out of Afghanistan in that famous photo. But let’s not pretend that the 2021 withdrawal was some flawless masterpiece of planning. It was a humiliating disaster that left 13 Americans dead, billions in equipment in enemy hands, and our credibility in the dirt.
Donahue was the Joint Force Land Component Commander in that operation; it’s his failure. Not to mention Donahue is on the record stating that woke DEI policies weren’t affecting readiness when he knew better, as we now know.
Hegseth has been clear from day one that he’s not going to protect officers whose careers were advanced under the previous administration’s failed policies. That’s not “punishing” anyone. That’s accountability.
The real story the Journal doesn’t want to tell is why these cuts are necessary.
For years, we watched the Pentagon grow top-heavy while recruitment cratered, readiness suffered, and “diversity, equity and inclusion” became more important than lethality.
Senior leaders spent more time worrying about pronouns and climate than about China and Russia.
Hegseth is doing exactly what the voters elected this administration to do: drain the swamp in uniform and put warriors back in charge.
Critics like Sen. Jeanne Shaheen call it “unfortunate” and “makes no sense.” Of course, they do — she’s a Democrat who thinks the military exists to advance progressive social policy.
Even some Republicans wring their hands about “optics” for junior officers. Here’s the truth those junior officers need to hear: the job isn’t about protecting your career or currying favor with the last administration. It’s about executing the commander-in-chief’s orders and winning America’s wars. If that makes some people uncomfortable, good. Comfortable generals lose wars.
The same people clutching their pearls over Donahue had no problem when the previous crowd sidelined officers who wouldn’t toe the line on Afghanistan, COVID mandates, or woke training.
Civilian control isn’t a one-way street that only applies when Democrats are in charge.
Hegseth isn’t picking “loyalists” over “merit.” He’s picking leaders who understand the mission has changed.
We don’t need more four-star bureaucrats managing NATO PowerPoint slides while China builds ships and hypersonics. We need officers focused on deterrence, lethality, and results. There are plenty of colonels and one-stars who have spent their careers in the dirt, not in Brussels or the E-Ring, ready to step up.
The Pentagon has too many generals and admirals for the size of the force we actually need. That bloat costs money, slows decisions, and creates a protected class that answers to itself instead of to the American people. Trimming it isn’t cruelty. It’s common sense.
Gen. Donahue served his country. No one is disputing that. But service doesn’t come with lifetime tenure at four stars, especially when the civilian leadership decides the organization needs fresh direction. That’s not a “purge.” That’s leadership.
The Wall Street Journal can keep writing elegies for the old guard. The rest of us will keep supporting the men and women actually trying to fix what years of failed leadership broke.
Hegseth has the president’s back. He has the mission’s back. And he has America’s back.
That’s the only “storied career” that matters right now.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/Pete-Hegseth-cuts-the-fat-out-of-a-bloated-politicized-Pentagon.jpg332640Stand Together Against Racism and Radicalism in the Services (STARRS)http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngStand Together Against Racism and Radicalism in the Services (STARRS)2026-08-22 05:34:502026-08-22 05:38:03Pete Hegseth cuts the fat out of a bloated, politicized Pentagon
New Jersey recently exposed a problem poised to change the national conversation about election administration. State officials disclosed a so-called processing error at the Motor Vehicle Commission that resulted in approximately 6,600 people who identified themselves as noncitizens registering to vote between June 2023 and June 2024.
The numbers are troubling, but they are not the most important part of the story. Those individuals reportedly did not falsely claim to be citizens. They told the government they were not U.S. citizens, yet they were registered anyway.
Election officials often assure the public that such incidents are isolated anomalies, clerical mistakes, or software glitches. One case, standing alone, may deserve that description.
But Virginia recently removed more than 6,500 voter registrations associated with declared noncitizens, while North Carolina is investigating nearly 1,600 registrations flagged by the federal SAVE system. Alabama, Iowa, and Ohio have reported similar findings, including documented voting histories among some noncitizen registrants.
At what point does a “glitch” become a systemic vulnerability?
A responsible election system should protect eligible citizens from erroneous removal while also identifying registrations that do not belong on the rolls. Those objectives are complementary, not contradictory.
This is not simply a matter of imperfect databases. Federal prosecutors have recently brought cases in Texas, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and New Jersey involving noncitizens who registered or voted unlawfully. In Texas, British citizen Ada Ngozi Otuka pleaded guilty after prosecutors said she voted in multiple elections over more than a decade despite never becoming a U.S. citizen.
The evidence is no longer hypothetical. Noncitizens do make it onto voter rolls, many have cast ballots, and election officials sometimes do not discover the problem until years later—if at all.
Removing ineligible registrations protects future elections, and prosecuting those who knowingly violate election law punishes offenders, but neither can retrieve an unlawful ballot after it has been counted and incorporated into a certified election result.
Every unlawful ballot counted dilutes the weight of ballots lawfully cast by eligible American citizens.
At the same time, voters themselves are demanding stronger safeguards. This November, voters in Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, and West Virginia will decide on measures explicitly reaffirming that voting is reserved for U.S. citizens. Those initiatives reflect growing public recognition that citizenship should be verified, not simply assumed.
States deserve credit for conducting citizenship audits and for removing ineligible registrations, all while protecting the rights of eligible citizens. Every audit to discover ineligible entries improves voter confidence in future elections. But the current push exposes a prior weakness: Noncitizen voters should never get on American voter rolls at all.
The SAVE America Act can shore up these weaknesses. Existing law already limits voting to U.S. citizens. Thus, the issue is not whether noncitizen voting is legal, but whether citizenship is verified before someone is added to the voter rolls. The SAVE America Act would move that safeguard to the beginning of the registration process rather than relying primarily on audits, database comparisons, and criminal investigations years later.
Reasonable people can debate the details of how that verification should work and how best to protect naturalized citizens from erroneous removal. But ensuring only citizens are able to vote should not be controversial.
Election officials should know whether an applicant is eligible before adding that person to the voter rolls, not years later after another audit, another prosecution, or another election “glitch.”
States are proving that voter-roll maintenance works because they are finding invalid registrations. They deserve credit for doing so.
But cleanup is not prevention.
The real measure of election integrity is not the number of post-hoc removals for ineligible registrations but whether such ineligible registrations are prevented in the first place.
The SAVE America Act offers the preventive answer: Citizenship verification before registration, rather than prosecution after an illegal ballot has already been cast.
Ken Cuccinelli is chairman of Heritage Action’s Election Transparency Initiative, which recently joined The Heritage Foundation and Heritage Action to strengthen and expand their election integrity work. ETI equips policymakers with rigorous research, legal analysis, and practical solutions to emerging challenges in election administration. Follow on X KenCuccinelli.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/New-Jersey-Gov.-Mikie-Sherrill.jpg360640The Daily Signalhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Signal2026-08-14 15:34:302026-08-14 15:43:07Why Are Noncitizen Voters Only Found After They’re Registered?
According to administration officials, the website called “Fraud Ledger” is intended to give taxpayers a public view of fraud investigations, enforcement actions and fraud prevention efforts
The White House’s new fraud tracking website is spotlighting billions of dollars in government losses prevented, with healthcare programs administered by the Department of Health and Human Services among the largest areas of focus.
The online “Fraud Ledger” said the administration has uncovered nearly $230 billion in fraud and stopped approximately $56 billion in fraudulent payments through its efforts to identify waste, abuse and improper spending across federal programs.
According to administration officials, the website is intended to give taxpayers a public view of fraud investigations, enforcement actions and fraud prevention measures carried out as part of President Donald Trump’s broader push to combat fraud in federal benefit programs. The White House has described the effort as a way to “root out” fraud and recover taxpayer dollars.
Administration officials said the administration stopped $46 billion of fraud in HHS-related programs, uncovered $96 billion and enforced $30.5 billion in recovery actions.
The Department of Health and Human Services reported more than $90 billion identified in improper payments
“Each partner agency reported three figures to the Task Force. Fraud uncovered represents total estimated fraud identified through data analysis. Fraud stopped counts the dollars saved annually through administrative actions such as provider suspensions and rule changes,” read the website. “Fraud enforced covers dollars recovered through indictments, settlements, and civil monetary penalties. All figures reflect the period since January 2025.”
Healthcare spending represents a major portion of the government’s fraud and improper payment problems.
HHS also reported more than $90 billion in improper payments across its programs in its fiscal year 2025 financial report. The largest categories included Medicare and Medicaid, with Medicaid accounting for tens of billions of dollars in estimated improper payments.
The tracker rated Medicaid fraud as its “highest-impact” anti-fraud action since January 2025.
“CMS held states accountable for the first time for Medicaid fraud, deferring federal financial participation of over $2 billion from California and over $500 million from Minnesota,” read the website.
Federal auditors caution that improper payments are not automatically evidence of fraud. The Government Accountability Office defines improper payments as funds that “shouldn’t have been made or were made in the incorrect amount,” which can include administrative errors, eligibility mistakes or insufficient documentation.
The GAO estimated that federal agencies made approximately $186 billion in improper payments government-wide in fiscal year 2025, bringing the total estimate since 2003 to roughly $3 trillion.
The Trump administration has argued that stronger data-sharing and enforcement tools can prevent taxpayer losses before money leaves government programs. The White House previously announced efforts to eliminate information barriers between agencies, saying better access to government data would help detect and prevent fraud.
HHS officials have also expanded the use of data analytics and other screening tools to identify questionable billing patterns and payment risks before funds are distributed, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Investigators have targeted Medicare and Medicaid fraud schemes involving false medical claims, phantom providers, unnecessary procedures and improper billing, while watchdog agencies continue to stress that reducing improper payments requires fixing administrative problems in addition to fraud prevention efforts.
The White House said the new tracker will continue to be updated as federal agencies report additional enforcement actions and taxpayer savings.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/WHITE-HOUSE-FRAUD-TRACKER.jpg360640The Geller Reporthttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Geller Report2026-08-10 07:36:062026-08-10 09:09:57WHITE HOUSE FRAUD TRACKER: Blows the Lid Off Nearly $300 Billion in Government Waste and Fraud
At the first-ever live-streamed Cabinet meeting from Camp David, Vice President JD Vance, leader of the administration’s new anti-fraud task force, announced record-breaking levels of fraud against the American people.
“We have identified $230 billion of fraud that’s being perpetrated against the American people, and we have halted $56 billion,” Vance announced at Friday morning’s Cabinet meeting led by President Donald Trump.
“The level of corruption and fraud that took place under the Biden administration was unprecedented,” Trump said following Vance’s announcement.
While Vance confirmed they identified $230 billion in fraud, he said it’s hard to get it back or track it down once it’s “out the door.” But now that it is identified, Vance said they can stop it from happening again.
“This really has required a whole administration approach to try to tackle fraud,” Vance continued. He thanked Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler, and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Douglas Collins for their help uncovering fraud.
“The level of corruption is incredible,” Trump continued. He cited Minnesota, California, and Maine as the states with the highest levels of corruption.
“We’re going to keep on working at it because we believe the American people deserve to have their money spent as you, the Congress, have directed,” Vance said to Trump.
In addition to the $230 billion in fraud already uncovered, Vance also announced that Trump is set to announce 17 new anti-fraud actions later Friday. Vance said these actions will total more than $300 million saved for the American people.
On Thursday, as first reported by the Daily Caller, the Department of Justice uncovered $350 million in alleged Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program fraud across the southeastern United States. Vance thanked Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald and the National Fraud Enforcement Division at the DOJ.
“My message to the fraudsters is this: Our team is getting bigger, our resolve is getting stronger, and your time is getting shorter,” McDonald said at the announcement.
Just last week, the Treasury Department and Secretary Scott Bessent, working with Vance, implemented new guardrails to prevent fraud. The department created a new screening system to detect federal payments being sent to dead people. Already, the system has stopped almost $100 million that had been marked to be sent to those who are deceased.
Camp David, the presidential retreat center, is one of the most private facilities in the country and is rarely, if ever, seen by the public. This was the first Camp David Cabinet meeting livestreamed to the American public, highlighting the administration’s promise of transparency.
It wasn’t easy, but Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) managed to go three-for-three on some of the heaviest lifts the House GOP has faced this year: the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the framework for reconciliation 3.0, and a short-term government funding bill. In just 48 hours, the Louisianan ran the table on bills that the media had written off as impossible. But, as Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) pointed out, “House Republicans, we almost always get our work done,” even, he added, if it isn’t always a “pretty journey.”
The trio of proposals adds to the mountain of business piling up in Majority Leader John Thune’s (R-S.D.) Senate, where he’s trying to game out which pieces of the House’s legislation he’ll actually pursue and which he’ll either punt or switch out for his own chamber’s version. All the while, the president sits impatiently, wondering whether his agenda items will actually make it out of Congress alive. “It’s like the Senate is a place that you send things when you want them to die,” Donald Trump told reporters.
While the House and Senate leaders seem to have a good working relationship, there’s no mistaking the tension over the two chambers’ gameplans. Right now, most observers point out, “Johnson and Thune seem to be on completely different planets.” And while the Senate is in session a week longer than the House, it still might not be enough to tie up what are turning out to be very critical loose ends.
Stopping a Government Shutdown
To foil the Democrats’ plans to shut down the government before the elections, Johnson managed to muscle through a continuing resolution that would keep the agencies funded through December 4 — well after the midterms. Six Democrats and Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-Calif.) joined the GOP in pushing the bill across the finish line (220-205). “This clean, short-term [CR] simply keeps the government open, protects the progress we’ve made, and preserves the path to full-year appropriations,” Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) explained on the floor.
His budget counterpart in the Senate, Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) — the successor to the late Lindsey Graham — has no illusions about the lengths the Democrats will go to score political points. “They’ve completely blown up the appropriations process,” he told Family Research Council President Tony Perkins on “Washington Watch” this week. “I think by and large, most of them are spoiling for a shutdown, thinking that would give them an advantage in the election.” But he’s also heard that there might be enough support from Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) caucus to pass a relatively clean CR in the hopes that Democrats take over the House and can press for big spending.
Regardless, he shook his head, “I definitely question their motives. It’s certainly not to be helpful, certainly not to be for the benefit of the American public. It’s for their own personal political power and for growing government. But it’s just possible we might get a CR because of those motivations.”
Whose CR is the better question. On Tuesday, Thune seemed to ignore the House version, opting instead to try to strike his own deal with Democrats, since he’ll need at least seven to reach the 60-vote threshold. “That is something I intend to bring to the floor for a vote before the August break,” he vowed.
The speaker seemed to give his partner latitude, telling reporters Wednesday, “I think Leader Thune believes he’ll have some reasonable Democrats in the Senate that will assist. I certainly hope that’s true and hopefully that’ll spark some in the House as well. So I think we’ll get it done.” If not, Thune has threatened to use budget reconciliation to force the government’s funding extension through on a simple majority vote.
At the end of the day, Senator Johnson wanted people to know, “Democrats are all about power. And to the extent that they can create chaos, [they will].”
Moving on Reconciliation 3.0
Speaking of reconciliation, despite a lot of hemming and hawing, House Republicans ultimately bowed to Trump’s wishes and agreed to unlock the process to a third reconciliation bill Wednesday — overcoming a lot of conservatives’ objections in the process. The budget resolution, which was an iffy prospect at best last week, squeaked through with two votes to spare after a group of hardline GOPers flipped to “yes” at the last minute.
The House’s latest gambit partially fulfills Trump’s wishes for more defense funding to fight Iran, agreeing to another $73 billion for the Pentagon, $12 billion in farm aid, and $10 billion to implement parts of the SAVE America Act. To help secure elections, Johnson’s plan would create a pot of money for states that agree to mandate voter ID and proof of citizenship at the polls.
Reflecting on the dim prospects for reconciliation earlier in the week, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) admitted that “part of what happens with these legislative journeys is at the beginning, everybody is comparing the proposal to perfect, what they want. As the week moves on, people generally understand that they need to be comparing the proposal with some other realistic option, and that perfect is never going to happen around here,” he said. “As that happens, people across the spectrum in the House understand that what’s been proposed isn’t that bad. That’s why we’ve generally won votes Wednesday, Thursday, Friday that looked pretty bleak on a Monday or a Tuesday.”
But the journey is far from over. The Senate GOP isn’t exactly chomping at the bit to launch the fraught process. Thune has already managed expectations, insisting that he won’t move the House’s blueprint until the government funding problem is solved. “That means reconciliation won’t move in the Senate anytime soon — and passing a bipartisan stopgap spending bill could still take weeks or months of additional work,” Punchbowl News cautioned.
“I think [Thune’s] looking at all contingencies,” the speaker agreed. “…[W]e’ll coordinate on strategy, but I think there’s a lot of game to be played between now and then, so we’ll see what happens.”
Part of the hesitation on the Senate’s part has to be the terrifying prospect of a vote-a-rama right before the midterm elections. As part of reconciliation, Democrats can force an unlimited number of amendment votes on any issue they want — forcing vulnerable Republicans to take positions on a number of politically dicey issues like the Iran war, for example. And, Punchbowl adds, with the narrow margins, “it’s naïve to believe that Senate GOP leaders would be able to defeat all of them.”
Look, Ron Johnson acknowledged to Perkins, “It’s never an easy task, reconciliation. I think this one will be made easier because President Trump and the White House are really taking a leading role here. It’s a more modest; it’s a skinnier version of what a lot of people want. … Everybody’s got their own ideas in terms of what they want to do in a third reconciliation package. So this one’s going to be focused on military spending. What can we do to help farmers? And what can we do to restore integrity to our elections? Those are things that most Republicans agree on,” he noted.
Yet, they’re also, Senator John Kennedy (R-La.) observed, not exactly Schumer’s priorities. “Money for the military, and money for the farmers, and a fair chance of passing the SAVE Act — you’re not going to get it in regular order,” he argued. “And if you think otherwise, you’re entitled to your opinion, but I’ve got rocks in my driveway that are smarter.”
Another reason why Thune might hold his fire on reconciliation is that he could very well end up needing that tool to keep the government’s lights on. “I hope that’s not necessary,” he said. “We’ve had conversations, productive conversations, on both sides of the aisle on a funding resolution that would carry us past the November election.” But if not, having another reconciliation bill in his back pocket may be the only way to get the agencies the dollars they need.
Defunding Planned Parenthood
One of the major grudges pro-lifers continue to hold against Congress is its refusal to carry over the defunding of America’s biggest abortion business into a second year. After Republicans accomplished that long-awaited dream in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, stripping more than $800 million from Planned Parenthood in 2024, some corners of the party have abruptly walked away from that fight in the second and third reconciliation bills — to the dismay of grassroots conservatives. Making that sting even more, the floodgates reopened July 4, the same day America celebrated its 250th birthday.
The speaker hasn’t abandoned the idea, though, telling pro-life groups that a fourth reconciliation bill might be in play to rectify this wrong. Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) echoed that thought, insisting that reconciliation 4.0 can “do the things that are left out of this one.” Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) agreed.
The fact that it’s not a part of the current budget framework is “concerning,” Rep. Mark Harris (R-N.C.) told Perkins earlier this week. “And we’re certainly continuing to add our voice to the fact that we’ve got to do something here. I was in a meeting with the speaker just yesterday, and I do believe that he is working with a number of pro-life groups [on] that and really moving strategically as we get into the fall,” he noted. There are also things on the table “that we possibly can do that would almost change the landscape of the way Planned Parenthood is viewed,” the former pastor said without revealing details.
In the meantime, Harris stressed, “This has got to happen. The fact that we passed out of the House a one-year ban in the One Big Beautiful Bill, it got to the Senate, they cut it back to one year, and that just expired on July 4th” should mean Congress can do it again, he said. “It is at the top of our list. We’re continuing to push toward that.”
The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/House-Racks-Up-Dramatic-Wins.jpg336640Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2026-07-25 08:05:302026-07-25 08:07:23House Racks Up Dramatic Wins before Recess while Senate Works to Catch Up
