‘Answer The Question’: Sparks Fly As Trump Spars With Judge In NYC Fraud Case

Former President Donald Trump was told not to make “speeches” soon after taking the stand Monday to testify during his New York civil fraud trial.

Judge Arthur Engoron reminded the former president to stay on topic and told his lawyer “this is not a political rally,” according to The Hill. His sons and co-defendants, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., testified in the trial last week.

“I’m sure the judge will rule against me because he always rules against me,” Trump said in response to a question about his role in preparing financial statements, according to CNN.

“You can attack me, you can do whatever you want, but answer the question,” Engoron said, per the outlet.

Judge Arthur Engoron ruled before the trial started that Trump and his business exaggerated his net worth and assets, deceiving banks and insurance companies. Democratic Attorney General Letita James, who brought the case against Trump, is seeking to prevent him from doing business in the state and secure $250 million in damages.

Trump argued during his testimony that the New York Attorney General’s office underestimated Mar-a-Lago’s value. He said the value of his “brand” alone would have increased the value of his properties, according to The Hill.

“If I wanted to build up the statement, like you said I did before you found out just how rich we are, I would’ve added brand value here and I would’ve increased it by tens of millions of dollars,” Trump said, per CNN.

Engoron told Trump’s lawyer Chris Kise to “control” his client.

“I would think, respectfully — of all witnesses — your honor would want to hear everything this witness has to say,” Kise said, per The Hill. Engoron responded that he did “not want to hear everything this witness has to say.”

“I beseech you to control him if you can,” Ergoron said, according to CNN. “If you can’t I will. I will I excuse him and draw every negative inference that I can.”

Trump also said during testimony that the trial was “very unfair.”

“I hope the public is watching,” Trump said, per The Hill.

Trump Jr. testified Thursday that he relied on the company’s accountants, according to CBS News.

“These people had an incredible, intimate knowledge and I relied on them,” he said, per the outlet.

Engoron issued a gag order against Trump early October after he made a post on Truth Social referring to Allison Greenfield, Engoron’s clerk, as the “girlfriend” of Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Since then, he’s issued $5,000 and $10,000 fines against Trump for violating the order and expanded it to prevent his attorneys from making comments referring to “confidential communications” between him and his staff.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

AUTHOR

KATELYNN RICHARDSON

Contributor.

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House Passes EPA Spending Bill That Defunds Several Biden Climate Initiatives

The House of Representatives passed its sixth appropriations bill to fund certain government agencies related to the environment on Friday that would defund many of the Biden administration’s climate-change-focused initiatives.

The Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024 allocates over $25 billion to fund conservation programs, agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management(BLM) and Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) as well as cultural promotion agencies such as the national endowments for the arts and humanities. After spending over 12 hours considering amendments to the bill on Thursday and Friday morning, the House passed the bill by a vote of 213 yeas to 203 nays, with all Democrats but one voting against the bill.

“In drafting this bill, we worked very hard to rein in federal spending while prioritizing critical needs within our Subcommittee’s allocation,” said Republican Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho’s 2nd District, who introduced the bill, at a meeting of the House Appropriations Committee in July to consider the bill. “Cutting funding is never easy and it can often be an ugly, arduous process. But with the national debt in excess of $32 trillion and inflation at an unacceptable level, we must make tough choices to ensure we do not saddle our children and grandchildren with overwhelming debt.”

Amid widespread Republican opposition to the many climate change initiatives of the Biden administration, the House considered over 130 amendments on the floor to the bill, mostly from Republican members seeking to deny funds for these initiatives. Many of their amendments failed to pass due to bipartisan opposition.

Among the amendments passed by the House was a provision to deny funds for enforcing prohibitions on plastic straws, which was offered by Republican Rep. John Rose of Tennessee. Another such amendment, offered by Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, denies the government funds to prevent domestic pollutants from adversely affecting foreign countries.

One amendment, by Republican Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee, denies funds to implement a provision of the Inflation Reduction Act(IRA) that raises minimum rents and royalties for oil and gas projects. Perhaps the most narrowly passed amendment was one advanced by Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, which denies funds to implement any of President Joe Biden’s climate-change-focused executive orders, which was approved by one vote.

The bill has been opposed by Biden, whose administration released a statement indicating that he would veto it. “These levels would result in deep cuts to clean energy programs and other programs that work to combat climate change, essential nutrition services, law enforcement, consumer safety, education, and healthcare,” wrote the Office of Management and Budget about the bill’s funding levels, adding that it “include[s] billions in additional rescissions from the [Inflation Reduction Act] and other vital legislation.”

In parallel, the Senate has proposed a separate appropriations bill for these departments and agencies, which provides $19 billion more than the House bill and largely supports Biden’s environmental agenda, including $100 million for environmental justice programs, according to a press release from the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

AUTHOR

ARJUN SINGH

Contributor.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.


All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

House Passes H.R. 8126 the ‘Israel Aid Bill’ Funded by IRS Cuts

The House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday that would send military aid to Israel during its conflict with Hamas, which will be funded by cuts to funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2024 would provide funds to the Department of Defense to replace equipment provided to Israel as military aid, fund research for new air defense systems that are being developed by Israel, such as the Iron Beam aerial laser program, and fund the Department of State’s programs to evacuate U.S. citizens from the region as well as protect U.S. diplomatic missions under new threats due to the conflict. The bill was passed by a vote of 226 yeas to 196 nays, with most Democrats voting against the bill.

“House Republicans are bringing forward a bill to ensure Israel has what it needs to defend itself as it fights to eliminate the threat from Hamas,” wrote House Majority Steve Scalise in an email to the Daily Caller News Foundation ahead of the vote. “Israel has every right to defend itself against such heinous actions, and we must stand with them in their fight against our shared enemies for self-determination, democracy, and freedom.”

H.R. 6126 – Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2024 by Daily Caller News Foundation on Scribd

The bill was introduced by Republican Rep. Kay Granger of Texas, the chair of the House Appropriations Committee, along with 100 other Republican co-sponsors. It has been strongly opposed by Senate Democrats, with Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray tweeting that “[t]he House GOP’s bill is dead on arrival” in the upper chamber, and the Biden administration stating that President Joe Biden would veto the bill if presented to him.

Biden had previously proposed a supplemental appropriations bill worth over $100 billion to fund aid not only to Israel but also to Ukraine during its war against Russia as well as provide funds for border security and immigration processing at the U.S. border with Mexico. That request was widely criticized by House Republicans, who indicated that the proposal would not receive support in their chamber, where they hold a majority.

A nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) review of the bill’s budgetary effects estimated that it would increase the fiscal deficit by nearly $12.5 billion over ten years until 2033. The CBO noted that funds cut from the IRS are intended to support enforcement actions against delinquent taxpayers, which “would result in fewer enforcement actions over the next decade and in a reduction in revenue collections,” according to the office’s report to Congress.

“Speaker Johnson and House Republicans released a totally unserious and woefully inadequate package that omitted aid to Ukraine, omitted humanitarian assistance to Gaza, had no funding for the Indo-Pacific, and made funding for Israel conditional on hard-right, never-going-to-pass proposals. What a joke,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday.

National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Will Reinart criticized Democrats in a statement to the DCNF for opposing the bill “as terrorists continue their barbaric attacks.”

Ahead of the bill’s consideration by the House, several House Republicans indicated to the DCNF that they would not have voted for a bill providing military aid unless it was offset by corresponding spending cuts.

“We are in the worst fiscal crisis our country has ever faced,” said Republican Rep. Bob Good of Virginia to the DCNF. “We ought to require offsets, cuts to … the IRS expansion in order to fund [the bill]. We shouldn’t be borrowing from China, borrowing from our kids’ and grandkids’ future to fund the Israeli funding. Even though it’s good policy, we literally don’t have the money.”

“We need to have the offsets,” Good said when pressed on whether he’d support a bill to aid Israel without offsetting cuts. This point was echoed by Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus.

“Funding for many of those things needs to be offset because we are running trillion-dollar deficits at this point,” Perry told the DCNF. “Since the president refuses to be the adult in the room … that’s going to be the House of Representatives,” he added.

“I do not believe we should write another blank check to anyone, including ourselves, we must pay for it. And the American people must see that it’s going to cause something if we’re going to give another $14 billion to Israel,” said Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas in comments shared with the DCNF. “If you see me in the end having to vote against Israel funding, just make sure you heard it here first, right? I support Israel. But I am not going to continue to go down this road where we bankrupt our country.”

Schumer and the Israeli Mission to the United States did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

AUTHOR

ARJUN SINGH

Contributor.

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Biden ‘Depleted’ Israeli Weapons to Back Ukraine: Congressman

Before Hamas launched a terrorist attack on Middle Eastern Jews, the Biden administration had weakened Israeli defenses by diverting hundreds of thousands of artillery shells out of Israel to support the war in Ukraine. A Republican congressman says it is “unclear” Biden’s actions fully complied with U.S. law.

The New York Times revealed in January that the Biden administration had begun transferring “hundreds of thousands” of 155-millimeter artillery shells from the War Reserve Stocks for Allies–Israel (WRSA-I) to Ukraine. The military stockpiles pre-positioned weapons, as well as critical equipment and supplies, in strategic locations “for rapid response in a global operation,” the Defense Department notes, but these weapons may also be given to a host nation — or transferred to another. “It’s their ammunition, and they don’t really need our permission to take it,” said one Israeli official. Some in Tel Aviv felt helpless to prevent the Democratic president from making a strategic decision that put their security at risk. “We can’t really say no without creating a big crisis with the Biden administration,” stated a former senior Israeli official.

But the U.S. Congress, which has oversight over the munitions cache, can ask how the Biden administration’s foreign policy priorities have impacted Israeli defense, not to mention U.S. security. “As Congress is slated to consider legislation in support of Israel’s defense, it is important for Congress to be fully informed as to what munitions are available in WRSA-I and the extent to which the Biden administration has depleted this stockpile to support Ukraine’s war effort,” wrote Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) in a letter to the Biden administration last Thursday. Roy requested that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin provide a full “inventory assessment of United States defense articles currently located” in WRSA-I, either publicly or in a classified hearing, due to the sensitive nature of the report.

Roy is not the only one asking the Biden administration to account for its stewardship of U.S. munitions; federal law (10 U.S. Code § 2229a) mandates that the Pentagon provides a “list of major end items of equipment drawn from the prepositioned stocks during [each] fiscal year and a description of how that equipment was used and whether it was returned to the stocks after being used.” When the administration submits its budget, it must also detail “any strategic plans affected by changes to the levels” of the stockpiles “and a description of any action taken to mitigate any risk that such changes may create.”

But Roy found it “unclear whether this reporting requirement has been consistently applied” to WRSA-I.

Numerous politicians in the Capitol have complained the Biden administration has refused to provide meaningful details about any aspect of its foreign policy. When Biden administration officials testify before Congress about Ukraine, “They don’t give you any kind of substance” about “the war’s prosecution or alleged progress,” Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) told Laura Ingraham on Wednesday, shortly after Defense Secretary Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The Biden officials asked senators to pass a $68.3 billion “emergency” bill appropriating $10.6 billion for Israel — and $44.4 billion for Ukraine. In all, Biden has asked Congress for an “unprecedented” $106 billion package granting $14.3 billion to Israel, $61.4 billion to Ukraine, $9.1 billion in “humanitarian” aid bound largely for Hamas-controlled Gaza, and $7.4 billion for the Indo-Pacific region. It also includes $14 billion often described as “border defense” but that critics point out will expedite the processing and release of illegal immigrants into the interior of the United States.

Much of that aid seems destined to be misappropriated. Senate Republicans say Hamas will steal any humanitarian aid intended for Palestinian civilians. “This is not speculation — just last week, we saw reports that Hamas stole fuel and medical equipment from UNRWA, which the organization initially admitted but then subsequently denied. UNICEF medical kits were even found on the bodies of Hamas terrorists from the horrific October 7th attack,” wrote Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and numerous colleagues on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the extent of Ukraine’s theft of U.S. aid has come to light. “People are stealing like there’s no tomorrow,” a top Zelensky aide told Time magazine, which reported “corruption has grown rife” within the government.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) has agreed to bring up aid for Israel separately from Biden’s requested Ukrainian aid package, which is 4.3 times larger. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he is “conceptually” in “the same place” as Biden and his Democratic counterpart, Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), opposing Speaker Johnson’s plan to split up the aid package. Yet McConnell has said “providing assistance for Ukrainians to defeat the Russians, that’s the number one priority of the United States right now, according to most Republicans.”

The House proposal would offset the $14.3 billion in Israeli aid by cutting an equivalent amount of money from the IRS budget. White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre accused the measure of “[t]hreatening to undermine American national security unless House Republicans can help the wealthy and big corporations cheat on their taxes” and undermining “the source of funding for Israel’s self-defense.”

The Biden administration has repeatedly shown its preference for the war in Ukraine over Israel. While Joe Biden promised to stand with Ukraine “today, tomorrow, and for as long as it takes,” he has already pressed Israel for a humanitarian “pause” in retaliating against Hamas.

Critics say Biden is waging “one of the most ruthlessly effective proxy wars in modern history” against Russia in Ukraine. “The key to the strategy is to find a committed local partner — a proxy willing to do the killing and dying — and then load it up with the arms, money and intelligence needed to inflict shattering blows on a vulnerable rival,” wrote Hal Brands, a professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. “That’s just what Washington and its allies are doing to Russia today.”

A Gallup poll released Thursday finds the American people tiring of Biden’s priorities. Forty-one percent of Americans believe the United States is doing “too much to help Ukraine,” and 61% oppose an open-ended flow of U.S. money and materiel to the Zelensky government.

“If we don’t support Ukraine, then Putin wins,” Austin testified on Halloween.

“These people have no clue what they’re doing,” said Senator Tuberville. “We’d better get back to worrying about the problems of this country first. We’re declining as a nation.”

AUTHOR

Ben Johnson

Ben Johnson is senior reporter and editor at The Washington Stand.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.


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Job Gains Fall Short Of Explanations As Unemployment Ticks Up

The U.S. added 150,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in October as the unemployment rate ticked up to 3.9%, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data released Friday.

Economists had anticipated that the country would add 180,000 jobs in October compared to the 336,000 jobs that were added in September and that the unemployment rate would remain at 3.8%, according to Reuters. On Wednesday, at the conclusion of its Federal Open Market Committee meeting, the Federal Reserve announced that it would be keeping its federal funds rate steady in the range of 5.25% and 5.50%, a 22-year high, after a series of 11 rate hikes that started in March 2022 in an effort to tame inflation.

The healthcare sector reported the largest increase in jobs, adding 58,000 for the month of October, with the government following closely behind, adding 51,000 for the month, according to the BLS. Employment in manufacturing fell by 35,000 in October, reflecting strike activity in the sector, particularly from the United Auto Workers, who engaged in a partial strike against Ford, Stellantis and General Motors.

The number of jobs added in previous months was once again revised down, with August adding 165,000 jobs instead of 227,000 and September adding 297,000 jobs instead of 336,000, according to the BLS. The U.S. economy added 101,000 fewer jobs than previously thought due to these revisions.

The economy grew at a blistering pace in the third quarter of 2023, with Gross Domestic Product rising 4.9% year-over-year. The gain was driven by consumer and government spending, while average Americans drain their savings, boosting consumption.

Inflation remained elevated in September, rising 3.7% year-over-year, the same as in August, far from the Fed’s 2% target. Inflation has decelerated since its peak of 9.1% in June 2022.

“Last month’s jobs report was nowhere near as rosy as the headline numbers made it appear, as the hiring in September was essentially all part-time jobs and disproportionately public sector,” Antoni told the DCNF. “Also, real weekly earnings fell, both month-over-month and year-over-year. The broader economic outlook remains soft, with a recession likely in early 2024. Slower job growth, and then eventual job losses, will assist in determining precisely where we are on that timeline.”

While September’s job report showed higher-than-expected growth, the number of Americans employed in full-time jobs dropped by 22,000. In that same time period, the number of Americans employed in part-time positions increased by 151,000 as more Americans took part-time jobs and even second or third jobs to make ends meet.

AUTHOR

WILL KESSLER

Contributor.

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All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

HAMAS OFFICIALS: Iran Has Given Our Organizations $ Billions, Paying For ‘Every Weapon’ And Funding Our Jihad

Over the past few years, MEMRI has translated top officials from Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and even the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) talking openly about how Iran is funding their organizations’ military activity.

MEMRI has compiled these clips into a video exposing these leaders discussing the weapons, funding, training, and “guidance” that Iran has given to their organizations for terrorism and for waging jihad. Among other things, they describe their “strategic relationship” with Iran, assess Iran’s funding of the Palestinian resistance at billions of dollars, and explain how IRGC Qods Force commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in January 2020, had personally overseen the arming, equipping, and training of the Palestinian resistance factions.

The clips in this compilation, from Iranian and Arabic-language television channels, feature Hamas leaders Yahyah Sinwar, Ismail Haniya, and Khalil Al-Hayya; PIJ leader Ziyad Nakhalah and senior official Muhammad Shalah; PFLP secretary-general Talal Naji, and Iranian analyst Emad Abshenas, and others.


Below are the MEMRI TV clips included in this compilation.

Hamas Leader In Gaza Al-Sinwar: “Our Complete Gratitude Is Extended To The Islamic Public Of Iran – They Have Provided Us With Money, Weapons, And Expertise” – May 26, 2021

PIJ Leader Nakhalah: Iran Has Paid The Palestinian Resistance Billions Of Dollars – It Pays For Every Weapon Used By The Resistance – April 17, 2023

Iranian TV Report About PIJ Leader Nakhalah’s Tehran Visit: IRGC Qods Force Commander Says “At Least 15 Operations Against Israel Are Carried Out Every Day Under Iran’s Guidance”; IRGC Says Iran Will “Exhaust All Means To Support The Palestinian Militias” – August 6, 2022

Senior Hamas Official Khalil Al-Hayya: Iran “Supports Hamas And The Resistance Forces… With Money And Weapons” – March 19, 2023

Senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad Official Muhammad Shalah: “Iran Supports Us With Rockets” – April 24, 2022

Senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad Official Muhammad Shalah: “Iran Supports Us With Rockets” – April 24, 2022

PFLP Secretary-General Talal Naji: Iran “Has Made A Great Contribution And Invested A Lot Of Effort In Developing The Military Capabilities Of The Palestinian Resistance”; IRGC Qods Force Commander Soleimani Personally Supervised Weapons Development – August 11, 2021

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EDITORS NOTE: This MEMRI column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.

Dozens Of GOP Reps Urge Speaker Johnson, Mitch McConnell To Repeal Biden Natural Gas Tax

Several dozen Republican lawmakers wrote to the newly-elected Speaker of the House asking him to repeal an emissions reduction program from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), according to a copy of the letter obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Rep. August Pfluger of Texas wrote the letter, which urges House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to repeal the IRA’s Methane Emissions Reduction Program (MERP) natural gas tax before the year’s end by including the MERP repeal in a possibly forthcoming legislative package. Pfluger and other prominent Republican signatories, such as Reps. Dan Crenshaw of Texas, Byron Donalds of Florida and Jeff Duncan of South Carolina, slammed the MERP as an excessive and unwieldy regulation that would stymie innovation and drive up costs for the American energy industry.

“The MERP is an inappropriate and highly unworkable tax on methane emissions,” the letter states. “If implemented, the ill-conceived natural gas tax will handicap technological innovation, reduce supplies of affordable energy, and increase both costs and emissions,” the letter continues, adding that “in order to lower costs for American families, we must repeal burdensome regulation, secure supply chains and unleash American energy.” 

The MERP imposes a tax on emissions beyond 25,000 annual tons of carbon dioxide or an equivalent amount of pollution, according to the letter. Companies will be forced to collect the relevant data and pay a fee of $900 for every metric ton above 25,000 starting in 2024, which increases to $1,200 per extra metric ton in 2025 and then $1,500 per extra ton in 2026 and beyond.

“Through Congress’s historic investments in America, the Methane Emissions Reduction Program provides significant resources to states and stakeholders to reduce releases of harmful methane pollution, particularly in overburdened communities, to protect public health and slow the rate of climate change,” an EPA spokesperson told the DCNF. “The Biden-Harris Administration through EPA is implementing the program as Congress intended, working closely with states and industry to deploy resources and develop solutions that will cut emissions at their source.”

The tax is a “statutory codification” of the forced collection of emissions data under a specific sub-section of the Clean Air Act, according to the letter. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is looking to overhaul that particular section of the Clean Air Act such that the agency can increase the scope and costs of the MERP.

New fees or taxes on energy companies will raise costs for consumers, creating a burden that will fall most heavily on lower-income Americans,” the letter states. “In fact, this tax alone will drive up the cost of household energy bills for the 180 million Americans and 5.5 million businesses that rely on natural gas. At a time of persistent inflation and record energy prices, this increase is unthinkable for consumers.”

The White House did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

AUTHOR

NICK POPE

Contributor.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.


All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Biden’s $110 Billion Fiasco

Now that the US House of Representatives has finally, after four tries, elected a Speaker, business can resume in that chamber.

As all money bills by law must originate in the House and not in the Senate, one of the first pieces of business will be to take up President Joe Biden’s aid “package” that covers money for Ukraine and Israel as well as money for illegals in the United States and for other purposes.

It makes sense to scuttle the Biden aid package and break it into separate parts. Some of it can be funded (after careful review and clarification); some of it is dangerous and should be dropped by Congress.

The Biden proposal covers only one year of funding for Ukraine (and is in addition to hundreds of millions already in the pipeline for that country).

The Biden package is for an astonishing $110 billion. In one way or another, $61.4 billion will go to Ukraine or be used for operations supporting the Ukraine war, such as more funding for the Pentagon and additional money for intelligence.

An astonishing $16.3 billion would go for what the administration calls “economic security and operational assistance.” This money is earmarked to pay the ongoing salaries of Ukrainian civilian and military officials and to pay for their retirement.  Nearly half a billion will go to pay for settling Ukrainians in the United States.

Biden is counting on support for Israel as the catalyst to carry Ukraine aid over the top on Capitol Hill. He is asking for $14.3 billion for Israel, although it isn’t clear how this amount was arrived at or what it covers. Furthermore, since the Gaza war continues and trouble is brewing on the West Bank, on the Lebanese border, and in Syria, needs are changing almost on a daily basis. It may be too soon to project what Israel will need.

It is worth noting that Israel never made an official request for money from the United States. It did ask for more Iron Dome interceptor missiles and for additional ammunition. The Israeli request was unclear whether it would be funded from existing foreign-assistance legislation, or directly paid for.

Biden is also asking for $10 billion for “humanitarian” assistance including $850 million for migration and refugee assistance. It isn’t clear what refugees the money is supposed to cover, nor is it self-evident why the United States should support refugees from Gaza or elsewhere in the Middle East.

No one has explained why it is in the US interest to take these people in, given the terrible track record of refugees from the Middle East in Europe.  No doubt other Arab countries, or Iran, could take Palestinian refugees, but none of them are willing and none want the trouble that would result, sooner or later, after their arrival.

The truth is if the US takes Palestinian refugees in, many will turn out to be terrorists. Their bosses in Gaza and Iran will make sure that happens.

Read more.

AUTHOR

Stephen Bryen

Senior Fellow.

EDITORS NOTE: This Center for Security Policy column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Biden is Sanctioning Hamas While Funding Hamas

Is USAID still operating under a terrorism funding exemption license?

The Biden administration has rolled out some new sanctions on Hamas and other terrorist groups.

“Today’s action underscores the United States’ commitment to dismantling Hamas’s funding networks by deploying our counterterrorism sanctions authorities and working with our global partners to deny Hamas the ability to exploit the international financial system,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in a statement.

“We will not hesitate to take action to further degrade Hamas’s ability to commit horrific terrorist attacks by relentlessly targeting its financial activities and streams of funding,” he added.

Among the individuals targeted includes Khaled Qaddoumi, described as Hamas’s liaison to the Iranian government, as well as a number of Iranian military members who trained Hamas militants.

Also sanctioned was the Al-Ansar Charity Association, which the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said funds the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a Hamas-affiliated militant group.

The Biden administration and Democrats have been reluctant to sanction the IRGC, these sanctions target some IRGC figures. And while this is good, Biden announced $100 million in aid to Gaza going through USAID. which, according to a statement by Samantha Power, will work with “our trusted UN, International Committee of the Red Cross, and Red Crescent partners are ready to distribute to those in need.”

The Red Crescent locally has a history of terror ties. There’s nothing trusted about it. Or the UN.

Rep. James and the House Oversight Committee are asking some tough questions.

In a letter to USAID administrator Samantha Power, Republicans on the oversight panel led by chair James Comer (R-Ky.) requested that by Nov. 7 the agency provide materials showing how it has assessed the risks that aid could be diverted.

“It is vital to fully account for U.S. funds intended for humanitarian purposes to ensure they do not directly or indirectly fund terrorism,” the GOP lawmakers wrote in the letter, which was first obtained by Axios.

Among the documents requested are any reports since 2020 detailing aid that was or could be diverted by terrorist groups and the assessments of a USAID body that oversees risk management.

That is crucial because, documents have revealed that the State Department knew already that it’s high risk.

In 2021, State Department officials warned that “there is a high risk Hamas could potentially derive indirect, unintentional benefit from U.S. assistance to Gaza” and asked for a special exemption from sanctions on funding terrorists.

In 2022, Biden met with Palestinian Authority terror leader Mahmoud Abbas and boasted that, “I reversed the policies of my predecessor and resumed aid to the Palestinians — more than a half a billion dollars in 2021.”

Samantha Power and USAID aren’t denying that Hamas can benefit, only offering a toothless warning.

We have been clear that any interference by Hamas will jeopardize the continuation of that life-saving assistance,” a USAID spokesperson told Axios.

Note the language carefully. Not ‘cut off’, “jeopardize”. What does jeopardize mean? Absolutely nothing. Biden has made it clear that Gaza aid is a priority. It’s not going to be cut off. Samantha Power offers no meaningful and clear consequences for cutting off the aid. And you can’t sanction Hamas and fund Hamas at the same time.

The real tell will be the information that Rep. Comer is searching for and the question of whether USAID to Gaza is still operating under a special terrorist funding exemption license.

If it is, that’s an admission that we’re still funding Hamas.

AUTHOR

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.

THE WAR ON X: WW III • The Global War Against Islamic Terrorism — Day 16

Today October 23rd, 2023 we are now seeing the violence that Hamas began 16 days ago is now spreading like wild fire across the Middle East, Europe and in America.

Demonstrations, some violent, are being led by supporters of Hamas. This is the global Islamic jihad we have been predicating for years.

Here are some of the top headlines for today:

These tweet on X say it all.

This interview with Brother Rachid was taped on Friday, October 21st for RAIR Foundation and the story can be read here. Brother Rachid has a wildly popular TV show in the Arabic World where be brings people out of Islam and into Christianity.

WATCH: EXCLUSIVE With Hunted Islamic Expert Brother Rachid: ‘Muslims Will Be the Majority, They Will Govern the West’

WW III • The Global War Against Islamic Terrorism

©2023. Dr. Rich Swier. All rights reserved.

Biden’s Billions For Hamas

“The U.S. is working round the clock to resupply Hamas.”


Biden Asks Billions for Victims of Hamas Attack… To Be Sent to Hamas

By: Daniel Greenfield, Oct 21, 2023

“Biden’s Deputy National Security Advisor couldn’t explain how the US can prevent Hamas from taking control of the goods”

The Biden administration is widely broadcasting that it’s made a budget request of almost $106 billion for Israel and Ukraine. In reality, most of that, $61.4 billion, is going to Ukraine. There’s $14 billion to hire more border patrol officers, asylum processors and judges, $4 billion for foreign aid in the Pacific and an official figure of $14 billion for Israel, but in reality it’s smaller than that because the Biden administration has also rolled in embassy security costs across the Middle East into that package. The actual aid package for Israel is probably closer to $9 billion or so.

But that’s not the really troubling part.

The Biden request asks for $9.15 billion in “humanitarian assistance”. It phrases this as providing “life-saving humanitarian assistance and support for innocent civilians devastated by Putin’s unjust war in Ukraine, Hamas’ attack on Israel, and the numerous other natural and man-made crises around the world. This includes life-saving humanitarian assistance in Gaza and support for Palestinian refugees in the West Bank and surrounding areas.”

The incredible chutzpah here is that Biden is asking Congress to fund “life-saving humanitarian assistance and support for innocent civilians devastated by… Hamas’ attack on Israel” that’s not going to the actual Israeli orphans who have lost their families, but to “humanitarian assistance in Gaza and support for Palestinian refugees in the West Bank”.

That is to say a bunch of this money will be going to Hamas.

Biden is soliciting money for the victims of the “Hamas attack” that will go to Hamas.

If you think I’m exaggerating, the administration has already admitted it twice.

In 2021, State Department officials warned that “there is a high risk Hamas could potentially derive indirect, unintentional benefit from U.S. assistance to Gaza” and asked for a special exemption from sanctions on funding terrorists.

In the first days of October, Secretary of State Blinken overrode a hold by Senator Jim Risch on $75 million in funding for UNRWA, which is largely staffed by Hamas. Risch had imposed a hold along with other Republican senators, requiring that Blinken certify every 180 days that UNRWA meets accountability criteria because of its “long history of employing people connected to terrorist movements like Hamas” and “using its schools to store Hamas weapons.”

Here’s Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer explaining to CNN that nothing has changed.

We’re going to take the word of rapists and killers that they’re not going to misuse foreign aid.

As Caroline Glick notes at JNS,

When questioned by CNN, Biden’s Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer couldn’t explain how the United States can prevent Hamas from taking control of the goods entering Gaza.

Resupply of Hamas is an operational disaster for Israel.

Hamas’s military infrastructure is almost entirely located in a warren of underground tunnels. An estimated 40,000 terrorist fighters and Hamas’s military leadership are living and operating from within the tunnels. To defeat Hamas, Israel needs to fight those forces above ground, not below ground where their tactical advantage is decisive.

Biden has already promised $100 million in “humanitarian aid” to Gaza. What does the $9.15 billion package offer?

There’s $3.4 billion to assist refugees from Ukraine and “provide life-saving humanitarian assistance in Israel, and in areas impacted by the situation in Israel. These resources would support displaced and conflict affected civilians, including Palestinian refugees in Gaza and the West Bank, and to address potential needs of Gazans fleeing to neighboring countries.”

While an estimated 300,000 Israelis have been displaced by the war (you’ve heard about that in the media, right?) the emphasis here seems to be on the Arab Muslim “refugees”.

The war isn’t even in the West Bank, but they’re still preparing to spend money there anyway.

There’s $5.6 billion in “International Disaster Assistance” again for Ukraine and “life-saving humanitarian programming in Israel and areas impacted by the situation in the West Bank and Gaza” and beyond to “Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and Egypt.”

How much of that money will be spent in Gaza? Who knows. Whatever money is spent will benefit Hamas.

How literally? On Oct 4, a few days before the attacks, USAID was bragging that it was helping upgrade water and sanitation systems in Gaza. People noted that Hamas has openly bragged about repurposing pipes for rockets.

But Biden will help the “innocent civilians devastated by… Hamas’ attack on Israel” by sending money to Hamas.

AUTHOR

 

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EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

THE WAR ON X: WW III • The Global War Against Islamic Terrorism — Day 14

On this the 14th day of The Global War Against Islamic Terrorism we are learning more and more about the barbary of Hamas.


To read WW III • The Global War Against Islamic Terrorism — Days 1 to 14 click here.


We are also learning about how the media, e.g. the New York Times, is pushing Hamas propaganda in its publication and on social media.

Its gotten so bad that Elon Musk pulled the New York Times’ Verification Badge following the flood of Hamas propaganda.

Each and every day we are learning that Islam is the religion of rape of babies, women and grandmothers, beheading, burning people alive, and beheadings.

We are also learning who are with them in America and across the world. For example climate activist Greta Thunberg. Birds of a feather?

Some of the most alarming news is coming from Israeli forensic scientists who have examined the bodies of those brutally assaulted by Hamas.

WATCH: Israeli Morgue: ‘Evidence of mass rape so brutal that they broke their victims’ pelvis —children, women, grandmothers alike. Including people whose heads have been cut off. Faces blasted off. Heads smashed and their brains spilling out. A baby was cut out of a pregnant woman and beheaded and then the mother was beheaded.

Hamas-Massacre.com reports, “More Jews were killed on October 7, 2023, than on any other single day since the Holocaust. Beginning early that morning, thousands of Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israeli communities and neighborhoods near the Gaza Strip, savagely murdering, raping, and kidnapping innocent babies, children, elderly, and entire families. Burning people alive and setting their homes on fire, while taking videos to post on their social media.Warning: Graphic images posted by Hamas on social media.

WW III • The Global War Against Islamic Terrorism — Day 14

©2023. Dr. Rich Swier. All rights reserved.

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Pro-Al-Qaeda Media Outlet Publishes Booklet Calling To Attack Jews Around The World; Burn Their Houses, Stores, Cars; Attack Jewish Facilities, Governmental Facilities in U.S, Europe; Arm And Equip Individuals For Committing Suicide Operations Against Jews

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Hamas, Popular Front For The Liberation Of Palestine Call On Supporters Around The World To ‘Besiege’ U.S. Embassies, Hold Sit-Ins Near Them

Islamic State (ISIS) Weekly Infographic Calls For Attacks Against Jewish Communities, Synagogues, Interests Worldwide, As ‘Means Of Support To Muslims In Palestine’; Supporter Calls For Mass Dissemination On X Platform

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Congress Can End the Nonprofit Status of Pro-Hamas Groups

The IRS has allowed Pro-Hamas groups to benefit from tax-exempt status.

“We give our heart, we give our life, we give our blood to the Palestinian people,” Manolo De Los Santos of The People’s Forum declared at a pro-Hamas rally in Manhattan. “Continue to resist. We stand with you. By any means necessary.”

“By any means,” the crowd chanted. A code phrase for violence and terrorism.

“We will use whatever we have in our hands,: De Los Santos continued. “A rock or something else. We will defend the Palestinian people.”

DeSantos had previously tweeted a celebratory Hamas video using paragliders and then armed terrorists attacking Israel with the message, “Long Live the Palestinian Resistance!”

In an official statement, The People’s Forum described the Hamas attacks that murdered over 1,000 Israeli civilians, the elderly, women and children, as an “unprecedented liberation struggle” by “Palestinian resistance factions”.

When it isn’t supporting the rape of women and the kidnapping of children, it’s promoting North Korea, Venezuela, and Cuba, and celebrating the “hopes and aspirations of more than a million people who joined the American Communist Party.”

And The People’s Forum is also a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit approved by the IRS.

If the name sounds like a Chinese Communist front group, that’s because it’s funded by a Maoist millionaire named Neville Roy Singham who operates out of China and funds a network of organizations like The People’s Forum. Singham’s office faces “a red banner that reads, in Chinese, ‘Always Follow the Party.’ Resting on a shelf is a plate depicting Xi.”

Also there at the pro-Hamas rally in Manhattan was Nodutdol: a pro-North Korean organization demanding the “reunification” of Korea. South Korea has accused Nodutdol of being controlled by North Korea. The organization has claimed that North Korean defectors who risked their lives to escape are guilty of “imperialist propaganda” and that claims of atrocities are fictional. Despite that Nodutdol is embedded within the DSA and often takes part in pro-terrorist rallies.

On the same day as the Hamas attack, Nodutol tweeted “power to every Palestinian fighting for their freedom, and glory to every martyr who dies fighting. For every martyr that falls, a new one will rise.” Like The People’s Forum, Nodutol is a 501(c)(3) IRS approved tax-exempt charity.

The David Horowitz Freedom Center had previously profiled the IRS decision to continue providing tax-exempt status to the Alliance for Global Justice, a Marxist organization, which uses that status to sponsor Black Lives Matter chapters, the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition in support of a cop killer, as well as bail funds whose mission is freeing rioters and criminals.

Among the organizations AFGJ sponsors is the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network which was banned by Israel as a subsidiary of the PFLP terrorist organization.

Germany has announced that it’s also banning Samidoun as part of its crackdown on all Hamas activities in Germany. Despite that the IRS has yet to pull AFGJ’s tax-exempt status.

Samidoun responded to the Hamas attacks by promoting banners featuring “solidarity with Al Aqsa Flood”, the name of the Hamas operation, a rally calling for “solidarity with the heroic resistance”, and another one urging “let’s celebrate”.

Samidoun’s support for Hamas atrocities, including the kidnapping of Israeli women and children, was made clear in its Instagram post boasting that, “the resistance” is “seizing occupation settlers” and hailed the “resistance operation, titled the Al-Aqsa Flood by Mohammed Deif, commander in chief of the Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas”.

There is no ambiguity whatsoever about Samidoun’s support for even the worst crimes of Hamas. Despite that it continues to benefit from AFGJ’s tax-exempt status which allows its fiscal sponsor to take in money from George Soros, the Ben and Jerry’s Foundation, and others.

The David Horowitz Freedom Center also exposed the support for Hamas by chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine. The national organization of Students for Justice in Palestine praised the Hamas attacks as a “historic win for the Palestinian resistance” and put out a ‘toolkit’ which explained that the Jewish victims were “not civilians” and could be freely targeted. Its poster for a ‘Day of Resistance’ featured an image of the paraglider that Hamas terrorists had used to massacre and rape young Israelis at a music festival.

Despite its support for terrorism, Students for Justice in Palestine enjoys nonprofit status.

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization, a Marxist-Leninist group, which promotes pro-terror content through its Fight Back News, celebrated the Hamas attacks, including the attacks on civilian communities which it cheered as “Palestinians have taken over the armed settlements that surround Gaza.”

“The Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and so many others represent the aspirations of a free people, Palestinians who insist on the end to occupation. Freedom Road Socialist Organization rejects the notion that freedom fighters are terrorists. We are proud to stand with the resistance,” it concluded.

The Communist group is funded through the Lucy Parsons Center, a radical bookstore in New York City named after a Communist activist, which enjoys nonprofit status. also issued a statement to “celebrate Palestinian Resistance!”

These are only a few of the examples of IRS approved 501(c)(3) nonprofit groups or those funded by them celebrating Hamas atrocities. This is in clear violation of the tax code which bars such activities.

IRS regulations specifically state that “exempt purposes may generally be equated with the public good, and violations of law are the antithesis of the public good”. They clearly lay out that, “violation of constitutionally valid laws is inconsistent with exemption under IRC 501(c)(3)” and that “planned activities that violate laws are not in furtherance of a charitable purpose”.

But the IRS has refused to enforce the rules and regulations against Islamic terrorists.

When Lori Lowenthal Marcus, a journalist, applied for tax exempt status for her pro-Israel group, the IRS informed her that it “has to give special scrutiny to organizations connected to Israel.”

Lori Lowenthal Marcus told Front Page Magazine that, “One of the excuses given to Z Street by an IRS official was that the IRS had to make sure we were not ‘engaged in terrorism’ because we mentioned ‘terror’ in our mission statement. The part of Z Street’s mission that mentioned terror? ‘We will not engage with, negotiate with or appease terrorists.’”

Offered clear examples of organizations that actually support terror, the IRS has done nothing.

Congress however could change that by regulating nonprofit groups that support terrorism. Taxpayers should not be subsidizing terrorists and their propagandists. And the tax code on this matter should not consist of general guidelines, but clear and unbreakable laws.

The IRS has failed to act. Congress can hold the IRS and pro-Hamas nonprofits accountable.

AUTHOR

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

With U.S. Distracted, Biden Admin Quietly Funds Open Borders Allies

Amid the prospect of a possible government shutdown over the fiscal 2024 budget, the Biden administration’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced $22 million in grants for organizations to “help prepare lawful permanent residents for naturalization.”

The announcement drew little attention. After all, helping legal immigrants become citizens hardly seems scandalous, compared with the crises Biden’s Department of Homeland Security has created. However, several organizations receiving money from USCIS through these grants actively prioritize the push for further dismantling of American immigration law over any sort of meaningful teachings of becoming an American citizen.

Under the guise of providing support for potential future U.S. citizens, the Biden administration is funding organizations that advocate for an immigration free-for-all.

The conflict of interest is clear. This open borders administration seems to be funding support for open border policies.

Naturalization for qualified permanent legal residents is a noble pursuit. However, in the middle of a tense debate on government funding, money ostensibly intended to help in the naturalization process going to organizations whose primary focus seems to be dismantling whatever is left of order in our immigration system ought to halt any future funding of such grants.

One of the organizations, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (formerly the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, but still known as CHIRLA) received $450,000 from USCIS. In 2020, it relied on government grants for about 68% of its total revenue.

While CHIRLA received almost half a million dollars to aid lawful permanent residents in the citizenship pipeline, it’s tough to figure out how exactly it helps in that process. Its website lists citizenship-preparation workshops as a service offered, but does not show any upcoming workshops. Past events listed on CHIRLA’s website do not mention any citizenship workshops, either.

Easy to find, however, are CHIRLA’s legal services for illegal immigrants, as well as its principles, which include “immediate immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for all undocumented people.”

CHIRLA’s social media accounts do not seem to provide resources for legal permanent residents seeking citizenship, either. On the same day USCIS announced CHIRLA’s citizenship grant, the organization posted on Twitter and Instagram from Washington, D.C.

CHIRLA participated in a rally at the White House and appeared to meet with at least two members of Congress, advocating for citizenship for illegal aliens and an end to the deportation and detention of illegals.

One must wonder why an organization that seems more concerned with keeping the border open and free-for-all citizenship is receiving significant government money to provide a service that seems at best to be on the periphery of what it does.

Another organization present at the rally for illegal-immigration-for-all in Washington was CASA. CASA received $250,000 through the USCIS grant, but nothing on the organization’s website’s homepage mentions naturalization or citizenship preparation.

Its actual policy agenda is detailed on its website, which calls for extreme policy changes, including abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement — a proposal so extreme that even Democratic lawmakers have failed to defend it.

Michigan United, which received $300,000 from USCIS, also appears to do very little in supporting legal immigrants seeking naturalization, while prioritizing advocacy for a range of radical changes in Michigan and across the country.

According to events listed on the organization’s website, it has not held any citizenship classes since February. It does, however, seem to be very active in promoting open border policies.

Among victories the organization claims is preventing the requirement of E-Verify for Michigan employers. The organization also openly seeks to block Michigan law enforcement from cooperating with the enforcement of immigration law. No organization that seeks to obstruct federal law should receive federal grant money.

These groups represent just a fraction of the 65 organizations that received $22 million in total from Biden’s USCIS. This administration’s willingness to shovel money to left-wing activist groups under the guise of humanitarian support is well-documented, and USCIS’ citizenship-preparation grants are just another source of taxpayer funds used to reward the administration’s leftist allies.

The House took an important step in ending the misuse of grant money to support radical activism by leaving funding for these grants out of its appropriations bill for fiscal year 2024. However, as additional appropriations bills make their way through the Congress and to the White House, the many pots of grant money that Biden’s departments of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, State, Justice, and more have given to pro-open borders nongovernmental organizations should be defunded.

This article was originally published by The Daily Signal.

AUTHOR

Matthew Kuckelman

Matthew Kuckelman is a research associate with The Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.


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.

Another Shameless Pentagon Policy: Cutting Overseas Cost-of-Living Allowances to Fund Abortions

The shame of this is that the DOD is rolling in $ – over $820 Billion and you can bet there is a ton of fraud, waste and abuse going on.

So many examples including:

  • The Afghanistan withdrawal;
  • Cost overruns in F-35 program;
  • Unaccounted for billions in aid and equipment going to Ukraine;
  • Money being spent on Trans surgeries/procedures;
  • Money being spent to transfer military seeking abortions from Red to Blue state postings.

And now this.


The Pentagon Would Rather Fund Troops’ Abortions Than Their Overseas Living Expenses

BY: SHAWN FLEETWOOD, OCTOBER 18, 2023

The Pentagon is reportedly planning to cut overseas service members’ cost-of-living allowances next month, even as it continues to subsidize travel for its employees to get abortions.

According to Military.com, the Defense Department “announced in May that service members stationed overseas, including troops in Alaska and Hawaii, would see cuts to their cost-of-living allowance.” While the first cut in allowances occurred on May 15, the second is slated to happen on Nov. 15 and will be reflected in service members’ Dec. 1 paychecks. More than 230,000 military members receive these payments, according to the outlet.

The purpose of overseas cost-of-living allowances, or OCOLA, is to help service members stationed in remote locations offset costs of basic necessities that are typically more expensive due to their base’s distance from the contiguous United States. Increased inflation and changing currency rates, however, have supposedly resulted in “the gap … diminish[ing], leading to the cuts.”

“OCOLA is based on a service member’s spendable income and does not consider money a spouse earns,” Military.com explained. “It’s calculated by comparing the price of goods and services overseas with the average cost for equivalent products in the States, which creates an index for the cost-of-living allowance. Service members receive an increase only if costs are higher overseas compared to prices stateside.”

Unnamed senior defense officials tried to justify the cuts, claiming in May that an “across-the-board” pay raise for service members this year will result in a “higher take-home pay even with OCOLA reductions than what they had in 2022.”

While the Pentagon seemingly can’t find enough funds to support service members in acquiring basic needs, it’s been more than willing to spend countless U.S. taxpayer dollars for its female employees to get abortions.

In February, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that the agency would financially cover abortion-related travel expenses for service members and their dependents. This prompted Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville to launch a protest of the policy the following month. Using his position on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Tuberville has been slow-walking military promotions requiring Senate confirmation.

To be clear, Tuberville is not blocking votes, but is forcing the Armed Services Committee to vote on each nomination individually rather than voting “en masse on large numbers of nominations.”

The Alabama Republican has since come under a barrage of attacks from Austin, top-ranking military officials, and Democrats (I repeat myself), who have baselessly claimed Tuberville’s protest is harming U.S. “military readiness” and “national security.” Former CIA Director Michael Hayden — a Trump-Russia collusion hoaxer who joined more than 50 former intelligence officials in signing a letter claiming Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation — took his unhinged criticisms a step further by apparently calling for Tuberville’s assassination.

Despite Democrats’ hysteria, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer tacitly admitted he had the power to bring military promotions to the Senate floor the entire time last month after he filed cloture on several Biden nominees. Meanwhile, Tuberville has since doubled down, reaffirming in a Tuesday tweet that he’ll continue his protest until the Pentagon lifts its abortion policy.

“To be clear, I don’t care if Senate Republicans break with me or not. I’m not dropping my holds until the policy is revoked,” Tuberville wrote. “The DOD should be worried about defending our nation instead of forcing the taxpayers to fund elective abortions.”

Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter: @ShawnFleetwood

©2023. Royal A. Brown. All rights reserved.