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No Path, No Votes: Inside the GOP Revolt Threatening Trump’s SAVE America Act

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Election integrity has been a priority for President Donald Trump for years. In his second administration, that priority took legislative form in the SAVE America Act, which would require Americans to show ID to vote, along with a host of other safeguards.

But for months, the bill has stalled in the Senate, even as the president rages about it on Truth Social and to reporters in the Oval Office. Trump traveled to Capitol Hill last Thursday for a tense lunch with Senate Republicans over the legislation. It was a meeting that, according to one source, only set things back further. Around the same time, Trump shelved plans to sign a housing bill, a move some sources see as tied to his frustration with the Senate.

Now, the SAVE America Act appears to be in more limbo than ever.

Sources familiar with the situation tell the Caller that the legislation will likely never have the votes to move forward. Still, one White House official told the Caller that the administration is exploring every possible path to get it done, because for this president, it remains a priority he is determined to see through.

“…our five Republican Senate Hold Outs, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Thom Tillis, Bill Cassidy, and Mitch McConnell must vote to SAVE OUR COUNTRY,” Trump said on Truth Social of those keeping the legislation from moving forward. “There can be no more excuses!”

Multiple sources told the Caller that, as the legislation currently stands, it doesn’t have the votes, and that the senators Trump named are unlikely to come on board. Killing the filibuster, which the president has also floated as a way to force the bill through, runs into the same wall, those sources said.

The path forward doesn’t run through the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, either. If Trump vetoes that legislation, one source said, Congress has the votes to override him. But a source familiar with the president’s thinking said a veto won’t be necessary; Trump isn’t expected to reject the bill.

“It’s a yawn,” Trump said on Monday of the housing legislation. “To me, compared to the SAVE America Act, just about everything is a big yawn.”

Speaker Mike Johnson has floated putting the legislation into a reconciliation bill. The House voted down a procedural measure Tuesday that would have allowed debate on tying the bill to the National Defense Authorization Act. It is a legislation Congress is expected to take up alongside a reauthorization of FISA Section 702 and annual appropriations bills.

That FISA fight has become its own flashpoint. When Trump’s former Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, resigned to care for her husband amid his cancer diagnosis, the president temporarily installed FHFA Director Bill Pulte atop the agency.

The move that set off alarms in the Senate, with Democrats threatening to block a FISA renewal over Pulte’s appointment. Trump later nominated Jay Clayton, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, for the ODNI post, but killed a path to a quick confirmation hearing, leaving Pulte in place longer than expected.

One source familiar with Senate dynamics said the ODNI standoff and the back-and-forth over Clayton are being interpreted on the Hill as Trump’s way of making senators pay for failing to pass the SAVE America Act. A White House official pushed back on that characterization.

Even as his team searches for a way forward, the president himself seems unsure the bill will ever pass. One White House official said Trump’s passion for the issue stems from the campaign trail, where he’s heard from Americans across the country who want to see it become law.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has absorbed much of the blame for the bill’s collapse. Trump himself told the Caller he was “disappointed” in Thune for failing to either kill the filibuster or pass the legislation.

But a source familiar with the president’s thinking said that frustration isn’t really about Thune. Trump likes him and knows his members do too. The president’s irritation, the source said, is with the individual senators who won’t get on board.

“The SAVE America Act has always been a top priority for President Trump, and it remains one. This is commonsense legislation supported by the vast majority of Americans that will secure our elections for generations to come,” Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, told the Caller.

“The President knows how critical this issue is for the American people, and he will not stop fighting until it is passed,” she added.

AUTHOR

Reagan Reese

White House Correspondent

RELATED ARTICLE: EXCLUSIVE: Mike Lee Explains How LBJ Broke A Filibuster And What It Means For The SAVE America Act

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

Why Isn’t The GOP Using FISA As Leverage For SAVE America Act?

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As House Republicans debate the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a strategy has emerged: use the surveillance bill as leverage to advance the SAVE America Act.

The idea — promoted by members such as Republican Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna — would link the election integrity legislation to a FISA extension, a strategy supporters argue could improve its chances of passage.

The Senate would walk over broken glass to pass FISA, which is why FISA is the perfect vehicle to attach the SAVE America Act and force a vote.

No more excuses. No more delays. Attach it, pass it, and get voter ID done. pic.twitter.com/Ud9uonlvWR

— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) March 17, 2026

A group of Senate Republicans blocked an effort to attach the SAVE America Act to the budget reconciliation bill on Thursday. The vote took place during the Senate’s “vote-a-rama,” a marathon session where senators can offer and vote on numerous amendments regardless of their relevance to the underlying budget framework.

However, the proposal to combine the SAVE America Act with other legislative measures has exposed divisions within the Republican conference, particularly in the wake of a short-term 10-day FISA extension, over what path forward to take.

Some Republicans remain wary of packaging the bills together, arguing each should be evaluated on its own merits. Their concerns largely center on Section 702 of FISA, which critics say has been used in ways that raise civil liberties concerns and could involve surveillance of Americans.

Opponents of the pairing argue that tying surveillance authorities to election integrity reforms risks weakening support for the broader effort — especially if it is viewed as exchanging expanded intelligence authorities for policies such as proof-of-citizenship requirements and tighter voter roll standards, or as potentially losing out on getting the best of both worlds if the measures were considered and advanced separately.

Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie has also vocally opposed combining the two measures, criticizing the approach on the Free The People podcast.

“Why do you have to take the Fourth Amendment hostage and then shoot it, in order to get safe elections? I don’t buy into that.” Massie said.

Massie, alongside Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, introduced the “Surveillance Accountability Act” on Thursday. If passed, the legislation would require federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies to obtain a probable cause warrant before accessing Americans’ private digital data — including information stored with third-party service providers.

Republican North Carolina Rep. Pat Harrigan told the Daily Caller on Tuesday at the Republican Study Committee’s media row that negotiations have dragged on for months, adding Congress can’t keep “kicking the can down the road.” He said the drawn-out process shows a “clean” Section 702 reauthorization isn’t viable — and argued that’s ultimately a good thing.

“I’m more particular about what are we putting into law, what guardrails and restrictions, because if we get the right bill, I don’t care if it’s 2 years, 5 years, 10 years,” Harrigan said, emphasizing that the length of the extension matters less than ensuring strong protections are built into the statute.

Harrigan also suggested there is growing agreement among some lawmakers that the core concerns with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) stem from how the agency has exercised its surveillance authorities, rather than from the broader intelligence community — arguing that reforms should focus on preventing future misuse of those tools.

Republican Tim Burchett weighed in on a separate proposal to combine the two bills, expressing skepticism about both the policy and the legislative strategy.

“Yeah, I don’t like FISA, but if we’re going to pass it, that’d be the only way I could see supporting it,” Burchett said. “I think the Senate’s going to wait to the last minute, and if they do — so they can say, ‘Oh, we passed it’ — it’ll be a disaster in the implementation of it.”

Similarly, Republican Mark Harris described ongoing negotiations over attaching the SAVE America Act to a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) extension as filled with “political maneuvering” and “political gymnastics.”

“There’s so much political maneuvering — so many political gymnastics around this,” Harris said, adding that as a freshman lawmaker, he prefers to focus directly on the issues and move forward.

While reiterating that the SAVE America Act “needs to be passed,” Harris called it “unfortunate” that the Senate has yet to act. He acknowledged the measure could ultimately be attached to FISA, but framed that possibility as a political calculation.

“At the end of the day, when you look at FISA, my number one concern is that we have the guardrails in place to make sure Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights are not violated,” he said, emphasizing that strong safeguards remain his top priority in the broader debate.

On Thursday, House Republicans released a new FISA proposal that would extend current authorities for three years while pairing the reauthorization with a series of reforms. The plan includes tighter restrictions on FBI queries of U.S. person data, mandatory attorney approval for those searches, and expanded oversight through enhanced reporting requirements to the Intelligence Community’s Civil Liberties Protection Officer and the Inspector General. A legislative alert issued by the Project for Privacy and Surveillance Accountability (PPSA) — a nonprofit civil liberties advocacy group — contends that “the proposal is a diversion that restates existing law as a reform, the policy equivalent of fool’s gold.”

Importantly, the version sent to the House Rules Committee stops short of including a comprehensive warrant requirement — a key demand from several lawmakers. A spokesperson for Republican North Carolina Rep. Pat Harrigan told the Caller that the congressman “wants to see a warrant requirement and real accountability measures in place,” adding that “when that happens, he is ready to vote yes.”

It would further include new criminal penalties for misuse of surveillance authorities, a GAO audit of targeting practices, and expanded congressional access to FISA court proceedings — alongside a short-term reauthorization extending Section 702 through 2029.

Meanwhile, Republican John Rose, a vocal advocate for FISA reform, has put forward three proposals aimed at strengthening oversight. His amendments would require a full congressional briefing and public report on FBI abuses tied to an “advanced filtering tool,” allow members of Congress to attend FISA court proceedings, and establish a program for security-cleared public witnesses to observe and review Section 702 activities.

Rose told the Caller that Section 702 raises serious privacy concerns, arguing it violates Fourth Amendment protections, warning the FISA court cannot be fully trusted, and calling for stronger safeguards — including a warrant requirement — to protect Americans from unwarranted surveillance.

“I think we’re a ways off from having an answer here, because I think that 702 is an affront to the Fourth Amendment right to privacy,” Rose told the Caller Tuesday. “I think Americans deserve to know when they’re being spied on. I think it’s very clear that the FISA court, including the judges, cannot be trusted. And so I think there have to be more robust protections. I personally favor a warrant requirement, but I think there needs to be other safeguards around FISA.”

The Caller reached out to House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office for comment regarding combining the two bills, but did not receive a response in time for publication.

AUTHOR

Ashley Brasfield

Reporter

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

21 Democrats Buck Hakeem Jeffries To End Four-Day Government Shutdown

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Nearly two dozen Democrats broke with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to pass a sprawling funding package on Tuesday afternoon, ending the four-day partial government shutdown.

Lawmakers voted 217-214 to approve the Senate-passed deal that funds nearly 80% of the federal budget through Sept. 30, including the Departments of War, Treasury and State among other agencies. The House also signed off on a two-week extension of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding while Senate Democrats and the White House continue to negotiate reforms to immigration enforcement.

More than 190 Democrats — including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his leadership team — voted “no” on the funding deal brokered between Senate Democrats and the White House. Top House Democrats insisted Tuesday that there is no antagonism toward their Democratic colleagues in the upper chamber despite opposing the spending framework negotiated in part by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Among the 21 Democratic lawmakers who voted for the funding deal is Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the lead Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, who lauded the “bipartisan” negotiations that crafted the five appropriations bills.

“Did we get everything we wanted, hell no,” DeLauro said Monday. “Did the Republicans get everything they wanted, hell no.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson ripped Democrats for opposing the spending deal to end the partial shutdown.

“What they’ll be shutting down is FEMA operations as we’re cleaning up from the winter storms. They’ll be shutting down TSA, which is obviously necessary to keep the country moving through our airports, Coast Guard operations,” Johnson said Tuesday at a GOP leadership press conference. “So many important functions in the Department of Homeland Security is what will be adversely affected by these partisan games.”

Twenty-one Republicans voted against the funding package, citing concerns about hundreds of earmarks included in the appropriations bills and the failure to fund DHS for the entire fiscal year.

The funding package now heads to the White House for President Donald Trump’s signature. The president urged the House to quickly pass the spending agreement on Monday, arguing that Republicans must avoid “another long, pointless and destructive” shutdown.

Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, a fiscal hawk, was the lone GOP lawmaker to oppose a rule teeing up the funding package for a vote on final passage. Given House Speaker Mike Johnson’s razor-thin majority, just two defecting GOP lawmakers could have defeated the procedural vote and prolonged the funding lapse.

Massie’s opposition to the spending agreement comes after Trump attacked Massie’s wife, Carolyn Moffa, in a Truth Social post on Monday, calling her a “Radical Left ‘flamethrower.’” Massie noted that Moffa has voted for Trump every time he has appeared on the ballot since 2016. Trump is backing a GOP primary challenger to Massie ahead of November’s midterm elections.

House GOP leadership also successfully flipped Tennessee Rep. John Rose’s vote to advance the funding package.

Rose, who is mounting a longshot bid against Trump-endorsed Republican Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn in the state’s 2026 gubernatorial primary, initially said he could not vote to advance the funding package without the SAVE Act attached.

The election integrity legislation, which passed the House in April 2025, faces strong headwinds in the Senate due to the 60-vote threshold. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has vowed that Democrats will use the filibuster to prevent the SAVE Act from clearing the upper chamber.

The updated legislation would require proof of citizenship and voter ID to vote in federal elections.

Republican Reps. Troy Nehls of Texas, Byron Donalds of Florida, Andy Ogles of Tennessee and Victoria Spartz of Indiana also withheld their votes until they flipped to “yes.” The conservative cohort had similar concerns about the SAVE Act’s passage in the Senate.

The funding deal appeared to be on smooth sailing Monday after several GOP holdouts, who had demanded leadership attach an updated version of the SAVE Act, stood down following a meeting with the president at the White House on Monday.

Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, a leading proponent of the SAVE Act, said she received commitments that the Senate would begin consideration of the legislation outside of the appropriations process.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune clarified Tuesday that he did not commit to put the SAVE Act on the floor and steer around the Senate’s 60-vote threshold by using the rarely-deployed “talking” filibuster.

Thune, who has publicly endorsed the SAVE Act and pledged a floor vote, said he would continue to have conversations with his conference about how to proceed.

AUTHOR

Adam Pack

Reporter

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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.

EXCLUSIVE: Mike Johnson Says Hakeem Jeffries Is ‘Terrified’ As ‘Marxists’ Jockey For More Power In Democratic Party

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House Speaker Mike Johnson sees growing leadership challenges on the horizon for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries as the far-left flank of the Democratic Party jockeys for more power.

Jeffries and his counterpart, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, fully embraced a federal government shutdown following pressure from their party’s base, who have been demanding a prolonged fight with congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump. Johnson told the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF) in a recent interview Jeffries’s decision to align himself with the far-left forces in his party could ultimately prove untenable and risks turning off the handful of moderates who remain in the party’s coalition.

“He’s trying to appeal to the less-progressive, more-moderate people, the small handful of them that remain in the Democratic Party and in Congress while also trying to appease the radical Marxist progressive left, and that’s an impossible assignment,” Johnson told the DCNF. “So he finds himself in these terrible positions saying and doing things that he knows are not true, that he doesn’t personally believe, but he’s trying to lead a fractured caucus.”

“Hakeem is establishment and the Marxists are taking over the party,” Johnson continued. “It’s a tough, tough position to be in.”

Jeffries and the majority of his Democratic House colleagues have cheered a politically-risky government shutdown which, among other impacts, is forcing troops to temporarily report for duty without pay and potentially jeopardizing Americans’ access to federal nutrition programs and certain healthcare services.

This hardball strategy follows the lead of left-wing activist groups, who have waged a months-long campaign to urge Democratic lawmakers to fight Republicans over funding government programs.

Johnson told the DCNF he sees considerable irony in the current shutdown fight with Democrats — who support big government — effectively giving the Trump administration an opening to further cull the federal workforce and slash agency programs by keeping the government closed.

Republicans also called out the hypocrisy of House Democrats’ embrace of shutdown. Jeffries and other top Democrats previously railed against shutting down the government, predicting dire consequences for Americans that could occur with a funding lapse.

“Hakeem Jeffries has always said that shutting the government down is dangerous,” Johnson said. “He knows that, but he voted, and he led his entire caucus to vote against it [funding the government] two weeks ago, except for one who broke ranks.”

Maine Rep. Jared Golden was the lone House Democrat to vote for the GOP’s spending bill, which would fund the government at current levels and does not feature any partisan policy riders favored by Republicans.

Golden issued a veiled critique of Jeffries’s shutdown strategy, arguing top Democrats were currying favor with far-left activist groups “to put on a show of their opposition to President Donald Trump.”

Jeffries was asked Wednesday about Golden’s criticism during a press conference by a Fox News reporter. Jeffries did not directly respond to the question, but argued the Democrats’ demands to add $1.5 trillion in policy demands to any spending measure were not partisan.

“You must disagree with Mr. Golden?” the reporter followed up.

Jeffries immediately moved on to the next question.

Johnson also pointed to Jeffries’s apparent hesitancy to endorse avowed socialist and Democratic New York City mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani’s campaign as a prime example of the difficult choices the minority leader is facing within a divided party.

Though Mamdani has notched recent endorsements from top New York Democrats, Jeffries has thus far declined to weigh in on the contest despite being asked about the race during nearly every press availability he holds in the Capitol. Jeffries’s silence on the race has led to a revolt from the left flank of the party, with Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez excoriating Jeffries and Schumer for dragging their feet on endorsing the party’s nominee.

Several New York Democrats notably went out of their way to distance themselves from Mamdani and blast the democratic socialist as “too extreme” to lead New York City.

“Both Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are running scared from AOC and the far-left in their party — they have outsize influence — and they’re terrified,” Johnson said.

It’s also not clear that Jeffries’s combative shutdown strategy will land with or appease intraparty critics — who torch his messaging as too scripted — as well as the party’s left-wing base.

House Democrats’ government shutdown livestream struggled to attract viewers — amounting to just a few dozen at certain hours — and was cut short in the eleventh hour after being widely mocked by the media and even some Democratic strategists. Conversely, a three-minute video released by Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders starring Ocasio-Cortez garnered 1.5 million views on X.

Jeffries also lashed out after Trump posted an AI-generated video depicting the minority leader in a sombrero with a mustache. Johnson told the DCNF the move played right into Trump’s hands.

“He’s making himself appear unserious when he’s arguing about a sombrero meme while the government is shut down and people are losing healthcare and vital services,” Johnson said. “They are doing this to themselves. This is not Republicans —  these are self-inflicted wounds.”

A spokesperson for Jeffries declined to comment.

AUTHOR

Adam Pack

Reporter

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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.

58 Democrats Vote Against Resolution To Honor Charlie Kirk’s Life

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Nearly five dozen House Democrats voted against a resolution honoring the life and legacy of assassinated Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk on Friday morning.

Lawmakers voted 310 to 58 to approve the resolution introduced by House Speaker Mike Johnson and 165 GOP lawmakers. House Democrats, including Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, rejected the measure celebrating Kirk’s life by citing their disagreement with his political views.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his leadership team voted for the measure. Thirty-eight House Democrats voted “present” on the resolution and 22 Democratic lawmakers did not vote.

“Such acts of politically motivated violence are antithetical to the principles of a free republic, in which differences of opinion are to be debated—not silenced—with civility, reason, and mutual respect,” the resolution reads in part.

Kirk was assassinated on Sept. 10 during a speaking event at Utah Valley University. Authorities have charged suspected assassin Tyler Robinson, 22, with aggravated murder, a capital offense. Robinson has been reported to have ties to far-left ideology.

At the time of his death Kirk was 31. The slain conservative activist leaves behind a widow and two young children.

House Democratic leadership broadcast their support for the bill in a closed-door meeting, but did not issue a recommendation to their members on how to vote, Axios first reported.

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), House Republicans’ campaign arm, torched Democrats for voting against the resolution honoring Kirk’s legacy and denouncing political violence.

“The modern Democrat Party is simply too radical and unhinged to condemn a politically motivated assassination and honor a man and father of two whose only crime was loving America, winning the debate in the proper fashion, and inspiring others to do the same,” NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella said in a statement.

The Senate passed a similar resolution by unanimous consent earlier in the week. The upper chamber also passed a resolution to establish a “National Day of Remembrance” for the slain activist on Thursday. The commemorative day will be on Oct. 14, Kirk’s birthday.

AUTHOR

Adam Pack

Reporter

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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.

Speaker Johnson: Judea and Samaria Belong to Israel

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While much of the world prattles on about a “two-state solution” that will supposedly bring about a permanent peace between Israel and the Palestinians, in America, influential Republicans recognize that Judea and Samaria, as a matter of historic right and of international law, must belong to Israel. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, in a recent visit to the city of Ariel, which lies beyond the 1949 armistice lines (known as the Green Line), repeated his support for Israel retaining these territories, and deplored the use of the term “West Bank,” which was invented by the Jordanians in 1950 in order to efface the Jewish connection to the land that the toponyms Judea and Samaria made clear. More on Mike Johnson’s visit, and the increasing support in the Republican Party for Israel to retain all of Judea and Samaria, can be found here: “Republican recognition grants Israel historic chance to cement West Bank sovereignty – editorial,” Jerusalem Post, August 5, 2025:

US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s decision to stand in the Samaria city of Ariel on Monday and declare that “Judea and Samaria… must remain an integral part” of Israel was far more than a private photo op. It marked the clearest sign yet that today’s Republican leadership is steadily erasing the Green Line from United States policy toward the Jewish state.

Johnson’s visit capped a string of high-level steps taken since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January. On his first afternoon back in the Oval Office, Trump revoked Executive Order 14115 and lifted financial sanctions that the previous administration had imposed on a handful of what they called “extremist settlers” accused of West Bank violence.

Less than two weeks later, Sen. Tom Cotton introduced the RECOGNIZING Judea and Samaria Act, a bill that would bar federal agencies from using the term “West Bank” in official documents, replacing it with the biblical term favored by Israel’s settler movement.

People who try to undermine the use of the place names “Judea and Samaria” scoffingly refer to them as “biblical terms,” but surely that long usage, going back thousands of years, does not weaken, but strengthens the Jewish claim to those territories. And curiously, those who decry use of the terms “Judea and Samaria” because they are “biblical” have no problem with using the place name “Gaza,” which is no less “biblical” a toponym.

In February, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) adopted a resolution urging Washington to “recognize Israel’s sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.”

On the same day, House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Brian Mast circulated an internal memo instructing Republican staffers to follow suit in all committee correspondence.

The place names Judea and Samaria were in continuous use for 3,500 years until 1950, when Jordan, which had seized those territories in the 1948 war, stopped using those terms so redolent of Jewish history, and instead concocted a new term — the “West Bank.” Their aim was the same as that of the Romans some 2,000 years before, when they renamed the Kingdom of Judah as “Palestine.” Now House Speaker Johnson, Senator Tom Cotton, and Congressman Brian Mast all say “West Bank” should be abandoned and the historic names of “Judea and Samaria” be brought back into circulation.

Diplomats followed politicians. In a June interview with Bloomberg, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee abandoned the long-standing American goal of an independent Palestinian state, suggesting instead that any eventual Palestinian entity be established “elsewhere in the Arab world.”…

The Israelis are prepared to give the Arabs in Judea and Samaria the freedom to rule themselves, but not to rule over the 700,000 Jewish Israelis who live there, on state and waste lands, as well as on lands bought from Arab landowners at exorbitant prices. Nor would the Palestinian Arabs possess a military that could threaten Israel. They would have a “state-minus.” As Prime Minister Netanyahu has repeatedly said, “I think Palestinians should have all the powers to govern themselves, but none of the powers to threaten us.”

AUTHOR

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EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Thomas Massie Reveals What Would Get Him To ‘Yes’ On Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill

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Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie revealed in an exclusive interview with the Daily Caller that he could vote “yes” on President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” if a “skinny” version of the legislation materializes.

Massie has said he will not support the bill in its current form because it does not cut government spending substantially enough. Massie’s opposition to the bill is one reason Trump and his political allies have threatened to primary him in the 2026 midterms. Pro-Israel lobbying group American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is also trying to primary Massie, according to a source who spoke to the Caller.

There is a version of the bill, though, Massie said he could support. In a group text with about ten other congressmen, called “Budget Hawks,” Massie said they have floated the idea of splitting the bill in two.

“I can tell you the conservatives in the house are getting antsy with every change that happens in the Senate, and there’s a concern that maybe they need to just skinny this thing down and try to do just a few things,” he asserted, adding that they may try to do “two bills instead of one.”

“The first one should be just the absolute essentials to the president’s priorities, which would be, secure the border and extend the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” he explained.

Massie said he could theoretically support that bill depending on its impact on the deficit.

“It would be a lot of speculation to say that’s where we’re going to end up. But if we did end up there, and there was a repeal of the Green New Deal subsidies, I could be for that, possibly — I’d have to see the total budget impact in the House,” he told the Caller.

There have been several changes to the Senate version of the bill that have raised red flags for Massie. They stripped the REINS Act Provision — something Massie personally lobbied for in the House version — which requires congressional approval for major federal regulations before they take effect. The Senate is also mulling over a longer phaseout of renewable energy tax credits and whether to reduce the income cap for State and Local Tax (SALT) deductions. Massie said that lowering the threshold would benefit blue states more than red states.

“If they make that tweak, let’s say they limit the SALT deduction to people who make less than $400,000 a year, that means that more of the benefit of that tax provision will go to blue states instead of red states, because to be under whatever the threshold is — let’s just say $400,000 a year annual income and have $40,000 of state and local taxes or property taxes — means that you’re probably in a blue state,” he explained.

“I think the ultimate bill that the Senate passes, if they can pass one, is going to have an even worse impact on the deficit than the House bill,” he said.

Massie speculated that the president’s July 4 deadline is unlikely to be met by Congress and that House Speaker Mike Johnson’s promise to force Congress to meet over the holiday is likely an empty threat meant to appease Trump. The real deadline, Massie alleged, is sometime in August.

“I think they’ll use the threat of canceling the August recess … they’ll take a week off the August recess and say we’re in session, and then they’ll give it back to us if this bill passes,” he said.

Another sticking point for Massie is that he is using a shorter window to score the bill’s impact on the deficit. While the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) typically scores bills on a ten-year timeline, Massie is only looking at the next three or four years. Trump’s plans for no tax on tips and overtime, and tax reform for seniors, for example, are set to expire after three years in the bill.

“The deficit impact is great over the next three years in the Big Bill that passed the House, and it’s only five years out when it starts to go in the other direction because they plan on having those tax cuts expire, and they plan on having that military spending expire,” he told the Caller. “But what will happen four years from now … is they’ll say, oh my gosh, that Congress four years ago and that president set up this fiscal cliff, and the impact to our military is going to be too great [if they let] the spending expire.”

“So we’ve got to use the current policy as the baseline,” he said.

Massie alleged that the House is effectively doing nothing while they wait for the Senate to deliver its version of the Big Beautiful Bill.

“The House is just sort of over here … treading water,” he asserted. “We’re just not doing much in the House. Where the speaker has the House looking like it’s busy … it’s not really that busy.”

AUTHOR

Amber Duke

Senior Editor. Follow Amber on Twitter.

RELATED ARTICLE: EXCLUSIVE: Massie Warns AIPAC, Trump’s War Against Him Could Backfire

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

‘Next’: Schumer Dodges Simple Question About Medicaid For Illegal Immigrants

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sidestepped a question about whether he supported states giving illegal migrants taxpayer-funded health insurance at a press conference Wednesday.

The House-passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act included a provision to penalize 14 states and the District of Columbia who enroll illegal immigrants in state health insurance programs by reducing their federal Medicaid funding for the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion population. The Daily Caller News Foundation asked Schumer about the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) preliminary projections that 1.4 million illegal immigrants would lose health coverage as a result of this provision in the House-drafted bill.

Schumer immediately reacted by slamming the president’s tax and spending bill before offering a word salad on his opposition to congressional Republicans’ proposed crack down on states who give illegal migrants free healthcare.

“The bottom line is the overall bill is so awful,” Schumer said. “If they want to aim — if they got some specific issues aim it, don’t just do just do a ‘meat axe,’ chainsaw, across the board and cut everything, everything, everything.”

“This goes way beyond what they’re talking about and hurts everybody,” Schumer added.

The DCNF’s Andi Shae Napier attempted to ask a follow-up regarding Schumer’s opposition to the Medicaid reform provision before he declared “next question.”

The Democratic leader also incorrectly said the CBO projections were “GOP numbers” and questioned the accuracy of the congressional scorekeeper’s estimates.

The Medicaid provision specifically lowers the Federal Medicaid Assistance Percentage (FMAP) — the Medicaid match rate the federal government pays to states that expanded Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act — from 90% to 80%. The proposal would force certain blue states to cover 20% of the cost themselves, putting billions of dollars in Medicaid funding they depend on at risk.

GOP lawmakers and Trump administration officials have defended their Medicaid reforms as preserving the entitlement program’s benefits for those who need it most while eliminating waste, fraud and abuse. Savings generated from reforming Medicaid contributed in part to more than $1.5 trillion in spending cuts over a decade in the president’s landmark bill.

“We’re not cutting Medicaid,” Speaker Mike Johnson told “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker on Sunday. “What we are doing is reducing the program wrought with fraud, waste and abuse to make sure that that program is essential to so many people and ensure that it is available for the most vulnerable, and it’s intended for young, single pregnant women, the disabled and elderly.”

Johnson added that 7.6 million people “will supposedly be affected by this,” referring to preliminary CBO projections. “When you look at the numbers and break them down, this is high on public opinion. You are talking about [removing] 1.4 million illegal immigrants.”

A spokesperson for Schumer did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment seeking clarification on the Democratic leader’s position.

AUTHOR

Adam Pack

Congressional Reporter

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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 GOP Looks To Set $9.4 Billion DOGE Cuts In Stone

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Speaker Mike Johnson suggested Wednesday that the next agenda item on House Republicans’ calendar could be passing legislation aimed at slashing more government spending.

Johnson said Wednesday that House Republicans are “eager” to codify cuts to congressionally-appropriated funding made by President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) following the House’s passage of the president’s “one big, beautiful bill” on May 22. The White House will send a $9.4 billion rescissions package to Congress to codify some of DOGE’s work as early as next Tuesday, a spokesperson for the White House Office of Management and Budget told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The rescissions package will include $1.1 billion in cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting which partly funds the National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in addition to an $8.3 billion spending reduction to foreign aid agencies, including the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Though the cuts represent a small amount of discretionary spending, GOP lawmakers have sharply criticized these programs, alleging they have recklessly spent taxpayer money and propagated left-wing ideology.

Axios was first to report the White House’s plans to transmit the rescissions package to Congress.

Both chambers of Congress can pass the rescissions package by a simple majority vote, allowing GOP lawmakers to effectively bypass Democratic opposition. Once the White House sends the DOGE cuts to the House and Senate, lawmakers will have 45 days to vote on clawing back the funding.

Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune will need virtually every Republican to get behind the rescission effort due to both conferences’ slim majorities.

“The House is eager and ready to act on DOGE’s findings so we can deliver even more cuts to big government that President Trump wants and the American people demand,” the House Speaker wrote on X Wednesday morning.

Johnson also argued that House Republicans’ passage of the president’s sweeping tax and spending package builds on DOGE’s work to eliminate wasteful spending. The bill notably achieves more than a $1.6 trillion decrease in mandatory spending over a ten-year period in part by reforming Medicaid and food assistance programs.

The House-drafted bill notably bars notably 1.4 million illegal migrants from receiving Medicaid coverage at the state level and implements work requirements that require certain able-bodied, childless adults to work or volunteer 20 hours a week in order to enroll in the program.

Codifying the DOGE cuts, on the other hand, would reduce discretionary spending, which Congress votes on every year through the appropriations process. Johnson said House Republicans will “swiftly implement” Trump’s budget request for the fiscal year 2026 process, which also outlined more than $160 billion in cuts to discretionary spending.

Musk, who recently announced a step back from overseeing DOGE, has conversely suggested that the deficit increases in the president’s landmark bill far outweigh the floated spending cuts and will add to the national debt over a ten-year window.

“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” Musk told CBS News in an interview that is slated to air in full Sunday.

Both Trump administration officials and congressional proponents of the president’s legislation have panned this view, arguing that a combination of economic growth generated by the bill’s tax cut provisions and undoing Biden-era regulations will shrink budget deficits.

Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has championed clawing back funding through her purview on a DOGE-focused House oversight panel, said Wednesday that the initial rescissions package should be one of many that House Republicans ultimately pass.

“Personally I want to pass DOGE cuts every single week until the bloated out of control government is reigned back in,” Greene wrote on X. “As a country, we cannot survive our national debt and honestly, we may be past the point of return. We should be aggressively attacking our debt and aggressively, cutting all waste fraud, and abuse and unnecessary programs.”

“Our future literally is in peril,” Greene added.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the confirmation from the White House Office of Management and Budget.

AUTHOR

Adam Pack

Congressional Reporter.

RELATED ARTICLE: ‘Whipping Boy’: Musk Says DOGE Fought Massive ‘Uphill Battle,’ Ended Up Getting Blamed For Everything Bad

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.

‘Make The Changes They Want’: Trump Gives Senate Go-Ahead To Take Red Pen To ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’

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President Donald Trump gave Senate Republicans permission to make major changes to the House-passed “one big, beautiful bill” Sunday evening, throwing a wrench in Speaker Mike Johnson’s efforts to persuade his upper chamber colleagues to refrain from significantly rewriting the legislation.

Trump’s approval of Senate Republicans making “the changes they want” in the sweeping tax and spending bill comes as some GOP senators are warning that the package is dead-on-arrival without major reforms. Johnson has been urging the Senate to alter the legislation as little as possible given the “delicate” consensus House GOP leadership crafted on the president’s landmark bill, which passed the House by a narrow one-vote margin Thursday.

“I want the Senate and the senators to make the changes they want,” Trump told reporters Sunday evening. “It will go back to the House and we’ll see if we can get them. In some cases, the changes may be something I’d agree with, to be honest.”

“We’ve had a very good response from the Senate and I don’t know how Democrats can’t vote for it,” Trump continued. “I think they [Senate Republicans] are going to have changes. Some will be minor, some will be fairly significant.”

Congressional Republicans are moving quickly to meet the White House’s July 4 deadline to pass Trump’s domestic policy agenda in the budget reconciliation bill. Assuming the Senate modifies the House-passed legislation, House Republicans will have to vote on the bill for a second time before sending the package to the president’s desk.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Johnson in a May 9 letter that GOP lawmakers have little time to waste to pass the president’s tax and spending bill because Congress must raise the statutory debt limit by mid-July to avert the government defaulting on its $37 trillion debt. House and Senate Republicans are incorporating a debt ceiling hike in the bill, but disagree over the amount Congress should borrow thus far.

Senate Republicans are suggesting they will take a red pen to major portions of the House-drafted bill, including provisions that significantly raise the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap, aggressively phase out tax breaks for green energy projects and fail to make certain tax cuts permanent.

Republican Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, a leading deficit hawk, is also warning that he has the votes to stop the momentum on quickly passing a Senate-amended package if the upper chamber does not consent to steeper spending cuts.

However, Speaker Johnson is warning that significantly changing the legislation’s text could jeopardize the amended-bill’s passage in the House.

“I think we reached a good equilibrium point over more than a year of discussion and negotiation and planning for our big reconciliation bill,” Johnson told Fox News’ Shannon Bream on Sunday morning. “We balanced the interest of a very diverse Republican caucus.”

“We’re one team here — House and Senate Republicans —working together because we must. We have small margins in both chambers,” Johnson added. “I encourage them to modify the package that we’re sending over there as little as possible, because we have to maintain that balance, and it’s a very delicate thing.”

Several groups in the House Republican conference, including the House Freedom Caucus, claimed they only supplied the votes to pass the budget reconciliation bill after House GOP leadership signed off on last-minute changes to the package incorporating key conservative policy wins. The conservative flank is signaling that they “will not look kindly” on the Senate stripping those provisions out of the bill.

Trump has remained publicly upbeat about his landmark bill’s advancement through Congress, even as lawmakers engage in heated debates over the granular details of the legislative package.

“I think it’s going to get there,” Trump told reporters Sunday.” [Senate Majority Leader] John Thune and Mike Johnson have done a fantastic job.”

AUTHOR

Adam Pack

Congressional Reporter.

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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.

EXCLUSIVE: House GOP’s Medicaid Reform Would Force Millions Of Able-Bodied Americans To Get Back To Work

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House Republicans’ proposal to impose work requirements on Medicaid would force millions of Americans to meet new eligibility conditions or lose coverage, the Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.

At least 3.5 million individuals will be removed from Medicaid rolls due to House Republicans’ proposal to require most able-bodied Americans to work, volunteer or be in school for at least 20 hours a week to qualify for the entitlement program, according to a source familiar with an estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office that could be released as early as Friday. GOP lawmakers have justified the imposition of work requirements among other reforms to Medicaid by arguing that the entitlement program should prioritize Americans who need coverage the most, not able-bodied adults or illegal migrants.

“We are protecting Medicaid for the people who need and deserve it,” Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday at the House GOP leadership press conference. “This program is an essential lifeline for our most vulnerable Americans: pregnant women, single mothers, low-income seniors, the disabled. That’s who Medicaid is intended to be for and that’s who we’re protecting while we’re eliminating fraud, waste and abuse.”

“These are reforms to ensure to restore and preserve the system so that it doesn’t collapse on itself,” Johnson continued. “That means ensuring illegal aliens don’t get coverage meant for Americans in need. It means implementing work requirements to ensure that adults who can work but refuse to cannot keep cheating the system”

House Republicans are proposing to expand Medicaid work requirements by mandating that able-bodied, childless adults aged 19 to 64 years-old prove they are working, seeking employment, volunteering or in school for at least 80 hours a month. GOP lawmakers’ proposal to tighten eligibility standards would save roughly $300 billion over seven years, according to a partial CBO estimate released by House Republicans.

The floated work requirements are not expected to kick in until 2029. Conservative lawmakers have criticized the implementation for being far too late.

Four Trump administration officials called on Congressional Republicans to impose new work requirements on Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), in a New York Times essay Wednesday.

House Energy and Commerce chairman Brett Guthrie defended work requirements and other Medicaid reforms Tuesday, calling them “common sense policies that will return taxpayer dollars to middle-class families.”

“Let me be clear – these work requirements would only apply to able-bodied adults without dependents who don’t have a disqualifying condition, encouraging them to re-enter the workforce and regain their independence,” Guthrie added.

Despite House Democrats blasting the Republicans’ proposal, work requirements are popular with a majority of Americans, per recent polling.

More than six in ten Americans, including 47% of Democrats, favor implementing work requirements that would require “nearly all adults” to be working or looking for work in order to be enrolled in the entitlement program, according to a February 2025 poll by KFF, a health policy research and polling firm.

Support for work requirements increased to 77% among all voters when participants were told that implementing the measure would allow health insurance from the entitlement program to be reserved for vulnerable groups, such as seniors, low-income children and Americans with disabilities, according to KFF.

About 7.6 million people are projected to go uninsured in 2034, including 1.4 million illegal immigrants, according to the CBO’s preliminary estimate on coverage changes resulting from House Republicans’ draft budget.

“President Trump and Republicans are protecting Medicaid — and that starts with kicking 1.4 million illegal immigrants off the program to prioritize the Americans who need it,” White House Spokesman Kush Desai told the DCNF Wednesday.

House Republicans have torched their Democratic colleagues for allegedly “fighting to protect Medicaid for able bodied adults who refuse to work.”

When asked by Republican Texas Rep. August Pfluger if Congress should institute any work requirements in order to qualify for Medicaid benefits, Democratic California Rep. Raul Ruiz unequivocally answered “no.”

“That’s an easy one,” Ruiz said.

AUTHOR

Adam Pack

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 Republicans Seek To Repeal More Biden Green Energy Regulations

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The House of Representatives will seek to overturn several Biden administration climate regulations limiting consumer choice later this week.

Speaker Mike Johnson is slated to bring two joint resolutions of disapproval to the House floor to repeal green energy standards for home appliances including refrigerators and freezers. The regulations were issued by the Department of Energy (DOE) during the final weeks of President Joe Biden’s term, allowing congressional Republicans to repeal the Biden regulations using the Congressional Review Act (CRA).

“Republicans are getting the country back on track,” GOP House Conference Chair Lisa McClain said at a leadership press conference Tuesday. “House Republicans are securing the border. We are protecting women, and we are passing legislation to lower costs for American families.”

Congress can rescind recently issued regulations from the prior administration by a simple majority vote under the CRA.

Republican Reps. Stephanie Bice of Oklahoma and Craig Goldman of Texas are the lead sponsors of the joint resolutions of disapproval — H.J. Res. 24 and H.J. Res. 75 — taking aim at the DOE green energy standards for walk-in coolers and freezers and commercial refrigerators and freezers.

“The Biden administration has done everything it can to regulate all aspects of our homes and businesses,” Bice told Fox News Digital on Jan. 16. “Walk-in coolers and freezers are used everywhere; from pharmacies, convenience stores, food processing facilities, food banks, restaurants, and more.”

“President Biden’s DOE consistently abused their authority to push a radical energy agenda on American consumers, attempting to implement conservation standards that are neither economically justifiable nor significantly more energy efficient for several household appliances like refrigerators and washing machines,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise wrote in a statement Sunday. “These overreaching rules take away consumer choice, burden American families, and force Americans to use expensive appliances that do not perform as well.”

The House also passed a joint resolution of disapproval repealing the Biden EPA’s tax on the methane emissions of oil and gas operators on Feb. 26. President Donald Trump signed the resolution overturning the methane tax on March 17.

AUTHOR

Adam Pack

Contributor.

RELATED ARTILE: Climate Activists Want To Blame Americans’ Soaring Utility Bills On Anything But Green Energy

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 Lawmakers Overwhelmingly Pass Legislation To Crack Down On Illegal Migrant Criminals

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The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed legislation Tuesday to require federal immigration authorities to detain illegal migrants who commit theft-related crimes in the United States.

The legislation passed decisively 264-159 with every Republican lawmaker that voted supporting the bill, which would give Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and state governments more authority to curtail illegal immigration. Nearly 160 Democratic lawmakers opposed the bill’s passage.

The bill, known as the Laken Riley Act, is sponsored by Georgia Republican Rep. Mike Collins and seeks to honor the memory of Laken Riley, a University of Georgia nursing student who was murdered by an illegal immigrant while out on a run near her college campus in February 2024.

“An illegal criminal came into my district and killed Laken Riley because our law enforcement did not have the tools to stop him,” Collins told the Daily Caller News Foundation Monday. “Laken fought until her last breath, and so will I until this bill crosses the finish line and lands on the President’s desk.”

Speaker Mike Johnson’s decision to make the Laken Riley Act the first bill the House voted on during the 119th Congress signals addressing border security and cracking down on illegal immigration will be a top priority for House Republicans this year.

The Laken Riley Act seeks to address a policy failure regarding ICE and local law enforcement’s failure to detain illegal migrant criminals that commit low-level crimes that became glaringly obvious to lawmakers in the wake of Riley’s murder, Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters during a House GOP press conference Tuesday.

“There are real consequences to policy decisions, and this one was deadly,” Johnson told reporters.”

Riley’s killer, Venezuelan national Jose Antonio Ibarra, had a criminal record in the United States prior to murdering Riley. Ibarra was arrested in October 2022 for allegedly shoplifting at a Walmart in Athens, Georgia, but was ultimately released because the shoplifting charge was a misdemeanor.

If the Laken Riley Act passes the Senate and is signed into law by President-elect Donald Trump, ICE would be required to detain illegal migrants like Ibarra who commit theft-related crimes in the United States, according to the bill text.

“Right now, ICE is unable to detain and deport these illegal criminals who commit these minor level crimes, but the Laken Riley Act will fix this and give ICE and our local law enforcement the tools to get these criminals out of our country and make our communities safer,” Collins said during floor debate on the bill.

“With Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer and the party of lawlessness out of the way, the radical left’s mission to enable criminal illegal aliens…at the expense of law-abiding Americans is no longer going to be tolerated,” Republican Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer, House Majority whip, said during a House GOP leadership press conference on the Laken Riley Act Tuesday. “The tragic and preventable murder of Laken Riley serves as a stark reminder of the consequences of failed leadership.”

Many House Democratic lawmakers, led by Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, slammed the bill for expanding the number of illegal migrants in the United States that could be required to be detained by ICE, and voiced concern that the bill’s passage would lead to illegal migrants who are wrongly accused of theft-related crimes being detained by federal immigration authorities.

“Their bill [Laken Riley Act] today is an empty and opportunistic measure,”  said during floor debate on the bill. “This is a radical departure from current law, which since 1996 has generally required mandatory detention only for persons who are criminally convicted or who admit to having committed certain serious crimes.”

The Laken Riley Act was notably backed by Riley’s family who believe the bill’s passage will prevent the deaths of additional Americans at the hands of illegal migrants.

“The Laken Riley Act has our full support because it would help save innocent lives and prevent more families from going through the kind of heartbreak we’ve experienced,” Allyson and John Phillips, Laken Riley’s mother and stepfather, told the DCNF. “Laken would have been 23 on January 10th.  There is no greater gift that could be given to her and our country than to continue her legacy by saving lives through this bill.”

“Every single member of Congress should be able to get behind this purely commonsense bill that will make our country and communities safer,” Riley’s mother and stepfather added. “We thank Congressman Mike Collins, Senator Katie Britt, and Senator Ted Budd for continuing to work to honor Laken’s legacy and get this legislation enacted into law.”

Republican Alabama Sen. Katie Britt introduced companion legislation in the Senate Tuesday with every Senate Republican supporting the bill’s passage and Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman signing on as a cosponsor. The Senate is slated to vote on the legislation as early as Friday, a senior GOP aide told the DCNF.

“Congress has an obligation to Laken, her family, and to families in every corner of our country to do everything in our power to help prevent this type of tragedy from occurring again,” Britt told the DCNF. “That’s why it’s imperative we pass the commonsense Laken Riley Act with all due haste.”

Collins originally introduced the Laken Riley Act in the House last Congress following Riley’s murder. The House passed Collins’ legislation in March 2024 with most House Democrats — 170 Democratic lawmakers in total — opposing the legislation.

Former Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer did not formally move to take up the legislation, forcing Collins to reintroduce his bill in the 119th Congress, which began Friday.

AUTHOR

Adam Pack

Contributor.

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Following Election, A Half-Dozen Dems Flip Their Votes To Support Laken Riley Act

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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.

Chip Roy Says Mike Johnson Does Not Have Votes For Speaker Despite Trump’s Endorsement

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Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy said Tuesday that Speaker Mike Johnson does not have the votes among the House Republican conference to continue serving as speaker despite President-elect Donald Trump’s endorsement of Johnson on Monday.

The House is slated to vote to select a speaker for the upcoming Congress on Friday. Given the Republican majority’s slim margins, Johnson can afford to lose only one GOP vote, assuming every representative is in attendance.

Roy’s comments claiming Johnson does not have enough support from the House Republican conference to keep the speaker’s gavel follow Trump’s endorsement of Johnson in a Truth Social post on Monday.

“The American people need IMMEDIATE relief from all of the destructive policies of the last Administration. Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man. He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN,” Trump wrote. “Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement. MAGA!!!”

Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, who committed to voting against Johnson’s speakership bid on Dec. 18, has been the only House Republican to publicly oppose Johnson.

Republican Reps. Victoria Spartz of Indiana and Andy Harris of Maryland, the leader of the House Freedom Caucus, are also noncommittal on Johnson despite Trump’s endorsement of the speaker.

“Victoria is a good friend, and Thomas is a friend, they raise reasonable concerns,” Roy told Webster. “We racked up $300 billion additional deficit spending after the election. We spent $1.7 trillion last year with more Democrat votes than Republican votes. We gave another $61 billion to Ukraine.”

Roy floated Republican Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida and Jim Jordan of Ohio, chair of the influential House Judiciary Committee, as potential contenders he would like to see run for speaker if Johnson were to withdraw his name from consideration.

Jordan’s office referred the Daily Caller News Foundation to a tweet from the congressman backing Trump’s endorsement of Johnson.

Donalds’ office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s inquiry about whether the congressman would consider running for speaker. Johnson’s office did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

AUTHOR

Adam Pack

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.

Mike Johnson Still In Jeopardy As Some House Republicans Remain Unconvinced After Trump Endorsement

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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson may not be in the clear yet despite getting a reelection endorsement from Donald Trump, with several House Republicans saying they still haven’t decided if they’ll support him.

Since Johnson mishandled a government shutdown fight two weeks ago, he’s had to gain back the trust of several members of his own party. Johnson will have a 219-215 majority for the Speaker’s election, meaning he can only lose one vote to keep his job. While he has the support of all House Republican leadership, there are still some Republican members who say Johnson will need to do more to earn their votes.

After Trump’s endorsement of Johnson Monday morning, the Daily Caller reached out to nearly a dozen House Republicans who had previously been undecided on Johnson’s future.

Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs’ office told the Caller that he is “not committing yet.” Texas Rep. Michael Cloud’s office said he had no comment at this time, and Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert’s office gave the same answer.

Meanwhile, Indiana Rep. Victoria Spartz issued a statement, saying although Trump’s endorsement is important, she still needs “assurances” that Johnson will not “sell us out to the swamp.”

“President Trump will be able to save America only if we have a speaker with courage, vision and a plan — also public commitment to the American people how he will help deliver President Trump’s agenda to drain the swamp,” Spartz added.

Spartz has claimed Johnson often doesn’t even talk to Republicans during legislative negotiations and has questioned his leadership. She recently made headlines for saying she will not participate in the House Republican Conference or be a part of its committees.

Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett, Missouri Rep. Eric Burlison, Arizona Rep. Eli Crane, Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles, Florida Rep. Greg Steube, Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde and Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry are among the other Republicans still on the fence about Johnson.

Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie publicly said Dec. 18 that he would oppose Johnson’s bid to remain Speaker and would vote for another candidate. He doubled down on the decision even after Trump’s endorsement.

If just one more House Republican joins Massie and votes against Johnson, he will not get the gavel.

AUTHOR

Henry Rodgers

Chief national correspondent. Follow Henry Rodgers On Twitter.

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