A key U.S. surveillance program is on the brink of expiring after House Democrats and a group of conservatives sank a temporary extension amid a standoff over President Donald Trump’s intelligence chief pick. 

Lawmakers voted 198-218 on Thursday to extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) for three weeks, falling well short of the two-thirds majority needed for passage.

The measure, meant to give Congress more time to negotiate a long-term renewal, faced an uphill battle amid widespread Democratic opposition. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., warned he would withhold support for extending the program until Trump reversed his decision to name Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., put the bill on the floor via suspension of the rules, a fast-track procedure that requires a higher threshold to secure passage.

WHY TRUMP PICKED BILL PULTE TO LEAD US INTELLIGENCE AS CRITICS QUESTION HIS QUALIFICATIONS

He indicated he would not keep the House in session before the spy law was scheduled to lapse Saturday at 12:01 a.m.

“I attempted to pass a short-term extension for three weeks. Clean extension, no changes to the law,” Johnson told reporters following the failed vote. And the Democrats … voted against it and applauded themselves as they left the building. What would be the point of me going through this exercise over and over?”

Reps. Jared Golden, D-Maine, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., Don Davis, D-N.C., Vicente Gonzalez and Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, Susie Lee, D-N.V., and Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., were the 7 Democrats to cross party lines and support extending the program through July 2.

Meanwhile, 19 Republicans, who were skeptical of a clean reauthorization of Section 702 without greater privacy guardrails, joined the majority of Democrats in voting down the measure.

Thursday’s vote was a notable setback for Trump, who urged lawmakers to reauthorize the program ahead of the June 12 deadline with no modifications.

Democrats and some Republicans have argued that Pulte, a Trump insider and senior housing official, is unqualified for the top intelligence post.

Trump has largely defended and refused to bow to Democrats’ demands. His comments Wednesday that he is actively looking for a permanent replacement for Pulte, who is expected to begin the job June 19, were not enough to soften Democrats’ opposition. 

The standoff over the critical surveillance tool has led to tensions erupting in the lower chamber with little time to act before the law’s expiration.

Jeffries called Pulte a “malignant clown” during a news conference earlier this week and pledged that House Democrats would probe his tenure at the Federal Housing Finance Agency if they retake power in November. As the agency’s director, Pulte launched investigations into several Trump foes over alleged mortgage fraud.

Meanwhile, Republicans have warned that letting the spy law sunset would leave the United States uniquely vulnerable amid an influx of foreigners into the country with the World Cup underway and as the war with Iran drags on. They argue that Democrats are putting the country at a grave security risk by failing to extend the program into July.

“45 countries descend upon the United States for World Cup games, which just so happens to be the week that Democrats have actively chosen to disallow this critical national security tool from being renewed to allow it to go dark,” House Intelligence Chairman Rick Crawford, R-Ark., said Wednesday. “This is unserious, very dangerous behavior on the part of congressional Democrats.”

“You cannot play politics with the security of the American people,” Johnson told reporters. “I am praying that they come to their senses.”

REPS ANDY HARRIS, KEITH SELF, SEN RICK SCOTT: FIX FISA. DON’T SPY ON US

The Section 702 program allows the U.S. government to collect intelligence on foreigners abroad who are using U.S. communication systems. The spy law also allows the government to sweep up the messages of Americans when communicating with foreign suspects, provoking the ire of privacy hawks in both parties.

The program is credited with thwarting a terrorist attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Austria in 2024, as well as gathering intelligence used to identify and eliminate a prominent Mexican cartel leader and providing information used to intercept shipments of fentanyl precursors from China. 

Congress passed two consecutive short-term extensions of the law earlier this year, but has yet to strike a deal on a multi-year fix.

Some Democrats have argued Republicans’ warnings are political theater and have pointed to an intelligence court ruling that recertified Section 702 through March 2027.

“Existing law allows Section 702 collection to continue under an order from the FISA court for another year, even without congressional reauthorization,” Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Wednesday. “Congress can and must take the time to get this right.”

But GOP lawmakers warned that allowing the government’s warrantless surveillance powers to sunset entails substantial risk, including potential legal challenges.

“If this authority lapses starting on Saturday, we move into uncharted territory,” Crawford said Wednesday. “The implications get worse every single day.”

“While the 702 database would remain available to search, the data in that database will become increasingly out of date, with the potential of provider noncompliance with orders, litigation by providers or outside groups, and even reticence by agency personnel to continue implementing an expired authority for fear of personal liability,” he added.

<!–>

A leading nonpartisan political handicapper shifted three Senate races toward the Democrats on Thursday and predicted that with just under five months to go until the midterm elections, the Democrats have a “clearer path to winning the Senate majority.”

But Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia adds that despite the shifts, “we still favor Republicans in the overall race for the Senate.”

Republicans currently control the Senate 53-47 but are battling stiff political headwinds, as the party in power in the nation’s capital traditionally loses seats in the midterms. The GOP also faces a rough political climate fueled by economic concerns amid persistent inflation, as well as rising gas prices tied to what polls show is an unpopular war with Iran and President Donald Trump’s underwater approval ratings.

THESE MIDTERM RACES WILL DETERMINE WHETHER REPUBLICANS HOLD THEIR SENATE MAJORITY

Sabato’s Crystal Ball shifted the race in battleground North Carolina from toss-up to lean Democrat. Former two-term Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is facing off against former Republican National Committee Chair Mike Whatley in the race to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Thom Tillis.

It moved the Senate showdown in Alaska, where GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan is expected to face off against former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola, from lean Republican to toss-up.

And in Ohio, where appointed GOP Sen. Jon Husted is being challenged by former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, it shifted the rating from lean Republican to toss up.

DEMOCRACY ’26: STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUB

The movement toward the Democrats in the Ohio race comes a week after a Fox News poll indicated Brown currently up by eight points, 53%-45%, over Husted.

Democrats need a net gain pickup of four seats in the midterms to win back control of the Senate they lost in the 2024 elections.

Pointing to the four races it now considers toss-ups, Sabato’s Crystal Ball said “there are now enough Toss-up races to give Democrats a clearer path to winning the Senate majority… But Republicans can block Democrats by winning just one of the Toss-ups, meaning that they’re still better-positioned to hold the majority.”

The ratings shift by Sabato’s Crystal Ball comes a month after another top nonpartisan political handicapper, the Cook Report, moved its rankings of four key Senate races in favor of the Democrats.

DEMOCRATS EYE NARROW PATH TO CAPTURE SENATE MAJORITY, BUT ONE WRONG MOVE COULD SINK THEM

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) Chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, is optimistic that Democrats can flip the chamber. Gillibrand told Fox News Digital earlier this year she sees “all the makings of a blue wave.”

Gillibrand’s rival, National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) chair Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, acknowledged in a Fox News Digital interview earlier this year that “there’s no doubt the climate has gotten more and more difficult.”

But Scott emphasized he remains “incredibly optimistic, not only about holding the majority, but still expanding the majority.”

And NRSC National Press Secretary Bernadette Breslin told Fox News Digital on Thursday that “no battleground races can be taken for granted. While Democrat candidates lurch further left to appease their radical base, Republicans are staying focused on lowering costs, investing in American workers, and doing the work required to defend the majority.”

<!–>

EXCLUSIVE — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is being asked to strip the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) of its tax-exempt status, after a Republican congressman alleged their funding of extremist groups is “an act of fraud.”

The plea from Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., makes the case that while raking in millions under the guise of fighting hate, the SPLC showed a clear pattern of targeting conservatives on its infamous “Hate Map” while funding the activities of actual extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan, as alleged in a Department of Justice (DOJ) indictment.

“The SPLC has reached a point where it’s become extremely obvious that they are certainly not the organization anymore that they were maybe even founded to be, but they’ve become a strong left-wing political organization that is really just funding groups that most Americans are absolutely and would be absolutely appalled to know,” Harris told Fox News Digital in a Wednesday interview.

The lawmaker’s letter to Bessent establishes that a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization “must be organized and operated primarily for charitable, educational, or similar purposes and cannot engage in political activity,” and explains why he thinks the SPLC is bucking that law.

CHIEF OF INDICTED SPLCE FACES HOUSE GRILLING OVER ALLEGED SECRET PAYMENTS TO KKK MEMBERS

“[T]he SPLC has consistently engaged in the partisan targeting of conservative groups by placing them on its so-called ‘hate map,’ alongside organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Brotherhood,” the letter notes.

“Meanwhile, violent left-wing groups such as Antifa and Jane’s Revenge have been widely ignored by the self-described civil rights organization.”

Harris, a pastor, referenced a major Biden-era scandal — the DOJ’s monitoring of what it called “radical traditionalist Catholics.” — in a  House Judiciary hearing in the spring. The Biden administration allegedly used the SPLC’s guidance to justify the monitoring.

HAWLEY PRESSES FBI TO PROBE ALLEGED BIDEN-ERA TARGETING OF CHRISTIANS

The Alabama-based nonprofit also lumped mainstream Christian groups, like the Family Research Council and Alliance Defending Freedom, into its “Hate Map.”

And in 2012, crazed gunman Floyd Lee Corkins II attacked the Family Research Council office in Washington, D.C., and shot a security guard after he found out they were designated as an anti-LGBT organization on the SPLC’s website.

“I mean, we could go on and on and list those groups, but they all have in common that they happen to be just conservative groups in this country that stand on conservative principles,” Harris told Fox News Digital.

The North Carolina representative also tore into the SPLC over allegations the group funneled $4 million donor dollars into shell companies to fund the KKK and other extremist organizations, all while claiming to fight hate.

Harris claimed in his letter to Bessent this was “an act of fraud” rather than charity, and needs to be addressed as such.

NEO-NAZIS, ‘SADISTIC’ BIKERS AND CHARLOTTESVILLE ORGANIZER: 5 OF THE MOST SHOCKING SPLC INFORMANTS

“Through what we’re learning in this indictment by the Department of Justice that even points out how this $4 million has been misused or used, that one example was that they actually funded a Ku Klux Klan rally and funded the cross burning and paid for the gas to burn the cross,” he said.

He accused the SPLC of creating the racism it claimed to fight.

Harris referenced claims from this week’s congressional hearing that the SPLC saw a spike in contributions after the deadly 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The group is accused of paying an informant to help plan the rally.

“That’s the way these groups work because, again, it becomes a money-making machine,” said Harris. “If they can keep things stirred up, if they keep things with people fighting, if they could keep people divided … then they accomplish what they want to accomplish, which at the end of the day, is all about the almighty dollar.”

DOJ SAYS SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER FUNNELED $3M+ TO WHITE SUPREMACIST AND EXTREMIST GROUPS

Harris’ letter concluded: “The evidence is clear: the SPLC does not operate as a charitable organization and should therefore lose its tax-exempt status. I respectfully ask that you direct the IRS to examine the SPLC’s Section 501(c)(3) status and take appropriate action to revoke their tax-exempt status.”

The SPLC has denied the DOJ’s allegations.

The group did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

<!–>

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin accused the Biden administration of turning a “blind eye” to widespread reports of sexual abuse targeting migrants during a Thursday press conference. 

“We’re going to enforce our nation’s laws, and we’re going to right the wrongs that the Biden administration turned a blind eye to,” Mullin said. “It’s horrific to what’s happening right in our own country because of four years of a blind eye that allowed unvetted sponsors to come pick up 450,000 kids on our borders … their own reports [were] reporting that over a third of the females, regardless of age, was sexually assaulted before they made it to their border.”

In May 2025, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, obtained Department of Health and Human Services data showing that 65,605 reports regarding migrant children were ignored or dismissed under President Joe Biden, including 7,346 reports of human trafficking. Within 100 days of assuming power, the Trump administration had opened dozens of legal investigations from the previously inactive reports.

NOEM SAYS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION HAS LOCATED 127K MISSING MIGRANT CHILDREN LOST UNDER BIDEN

During the press conference, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that three individuals, all purportedly illegal immigrants from Guatemala, had been indicted in the Northern District of Ohio for allegedly conspiring to smuggle more than a dozen children into the United States by “exploiting the loopholes created by the last administration.”

“This is one example, one indictment, but it is not unique. There are over 15,500 super-sponsor cases that we have identified, along with DHS. And again, these sponsor cases are when somebody sponsors more than three children, unrelated,” Blanche said. 

Mullin took an emotional tone later in the press conference.

“What’s inhumane about taking care of our kids?” he asked. “As a father of six with three young girls, I’ll do whatever I have to do, I will. I will move heaven and hell to go find these kids.”

“We’re going to bring you to justice. We’re going to charge you, and we’re going to work side by side with Todd Blanch and DOJ to make sure you pay for your crimes,” Mullin added.

HUNDREDS OF JAILED ILLEGAL ALIENS RELEASED BACK ONTO BLUE-STATE STREETS DESPITE ICE DETAINERS, RECORDS SHOW

A 2021 HHS Office of Inspector General report found that large numbers of child migrant sponsors were not properly vetted before minors were released to them, including 19% of sponsors who authorities never received FBI fingerprint or state child abuse and neglect registry checks.  

ICE SWEEPS UP CHILD PREDATORS, RAPISTS ACROSS US AS MULLIN TAKES HELM OF DHS

While internal government probes uncovered problems in the Biden administration’s processing of migrant children, the administration did take some action in response to abuse concerns and sponsor-vetting failures.

In July 2024, for instance, the Biden administration sued Southwest Key, a company that operated a processing facility for unaccompanied migrant children, alleging that employees sexually abused and harassed the minors in their care. The administration also accepted recommendations for reform following the 2021 HHS OIG report.  

The DOJ and Biden’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

DHS directed Fox News Digital to Mullin’s comments during the press conference when approached for additional comment. 

“We found 146,000 kids so far. Some of these kids claimed that they were raped over 600 times. I don’t care who you are. If you can’t stand for law enforcement to go find these kids, who are you?” Mullins said during the press conference. 

<!–>

FIRST ON FOX: The Department of the Interior is cutting 43 partnerships with outside groups it says no longer align with the Trump administration’s priorities, eliminating more than $4 million in planned funding for programs tied to DEI, environmental justice and support services for illegal immigrants.

Led by Secretary Doug Burgum, the department determined the agreements were “operating in direct opposition” to its mission, according to a press release obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital.

“Under Secretary Burgum, the Department of the Interior is ending partnerships with groups that no longer represent the priorities of the American people,” the department said. In response, DOI said it is terminating all agreements with the identified groups and removing references to them from its websites.

The terminated agreements supported internship programs, conservation initiatives, research projects and cooperative partnerships.

BURGUM SAYS INTERIOR DEPARTMENT ‘COMPLETELY EMBRACING THE DOGE EFFORT’

A department-wide review launched in March uncovered nearly 3,000 active agreements with about 2,000 outside groups, ranging from NGOs and nonprofits to private entities and educational institutions.

The review later found multiple groups “did not appear to provide a clear benefit” or “did not align with the department’s mission,” according to the department.

ICE SHUTS DOWN PROGRAMS OFFERING SERVICES TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, CITING ‘IMMENSE’ COSTS

Among the groups targeted were the Hispanic Access Foundation, which offers scholarships for illegal immigrant Latino students, and Latino Outdoors, which the department said provided instructions on avoiding detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Latino Outdoors has advocated against oil and gas development, while the Hispanic Access Foundation has worked with the National Park Service “to conduct a variety of educational and cultural support activities,” according to the department.

The department cited the American Alliance of Museums, which it said had a contract with the NPS to build DEI programs across national parks as part of the agency’s Community Engagement initiative. The department pointed to the group’s previous Facing Change initiative, which promoted DEI efforts at museums.

EXCLUSIVE: TRUMP HUD SECRETARY CANCELS $4M IN DEI CONTRACTS AFTER LAUNCHING DOGE TASK FORCE

Conservation International, an environmental group that the department said advocates for a “total phase out of fossil fuels,” was also flagged. The department noted the organization’s statements describing fossil fuels as the “leading culprit” of planet-warming carbon emissions, as well as its support for environmental justice and equity-focused climate policies.

Another group on the department’s list was The Cultural Landscape Foundation, which it said has a master cooperative agreement with the NPS “to conduct a variety of educational and cultural support activities.” The organization has opposed several administration initiatives, including suing over changes at the Kennedy Center, criticizing plans for a White House ballroom and highlighting cultural landscapes and historic sites it says are threatened by administration actions through its Landslide 2026: Erasing American History initiative.

“Under President Trump and Secretary Burgum, the Department of the Interior is taking decisive action to ensure its partnerships and resources support the priorities of this administration and the interests of the American people,” Matthew Middleton, principal deputy communications director and director of research, told Fox News Digital.

“As part of that commitment, the Department is ending relationships with organizations whose advocacy for phasing out baseload energy, defunding law enforcement services, and promoting racially preferential programs directly conflicts with this administration’s priorities. Interior will continue to invest in partnerships that expand access to public lands, promote responsible stewardship, and deliver tangible benefits to the American people.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Hispanic Access Foundation, Latino Outdoors, the American Alliance of Museums, Conservation International and the Cultural Landscape Foundation for comment.

Other groups the DOI is cutting ties with include: The Green Schools Alliance, Doris Duke Foundation, Hispanic Access Foundation, National Wildlife Federation, California Native Plant Society, American Alliance of Museums, Clean Ocean Action and the National Geographic Society.

The move is the latest in a series of administration actions, including efforts to roll back DEI initiatives, strengthen immigration enforcement and expand energy development. The department said it will ensure future partnerships align with the agency’s mission.

<!–>

Democrats’ “suicidal empathy” on immigration will “destroy our country,” a Republican senator warned after his proposal targeting sanctuary city policies was included in the reconciliation package funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

In a Tuesday interview with Fox News Digital, Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., argued that Democrats’ approach to immigration is also driven by political self-interest and not entirely by the desire for moral high-ground. 

“There’s an electoral play here. It’s about raw power,” he said.

Schmitt’s provision, which was included in the House-passed funding package Tuesday, would provide $350 million for ICE agents to arrest criminal illegal immigrants after their release from state or local custody. It comes as law enforcement in sanctuary states and cities continue to refuse to cooperate with federal officials.

Schmitt also warned that failing to deport illegal aliens is a threat to the West itself.

NEW DEM PROPOSAL WOULD RESTRICT ICE’S KEY TOOL TO DETAIN CRIMINAL ILLEGAL ALIENS

“I think it’s a very important time for Western civilization, honestly, to stand up and say, ‘no, we actually believe in sovereignty. We believe that a country can decide who can come and who has to go,’ and that this is our moment,” he said. “And the easiest of low-hanging fruit is to say that when you’re here illegally and you’ve committed a violent act, when you’re released from prison, we’re actually going to send you back home, and that’s what this legislation does.”

In sanctuary cities and states, officials often flout federal immigration law and refuse to coordinate with ICE to ensure criminal illegal aliens are deported after they’re freed, Schmitt explained.

“And I know that sounds crazy, but that’s the practical implication,” said Schmitt, adding that there were 18,000 such cases in 2025 alone.

ICE WARNS ILLINOIS IS RELEASING VIOLENT CRIMINAL ILLEGAL ALIENS DESPITE DETAINERS, RISKING PUBLIC SAFETY

“These violent rapists or other violent criminals are just being let loose into the community,” said Schmitt, who argued that being in the country illegally — even without committing a violent crime — is justification enough for deportation.

“But these sanctuary jurisdictions have decided that they would rather let these criminal illegal aliens back in the community than have them deported. That’s how inverted the morality is on all this,” he continued. “And so this sets to right that wrong. It says that these sanctuary jurisdictions… you don’t want to cooperate? Okay, well we’re going to have the resources to go do it on our own with ICE.”

Schmitt’s successful provision and the larger debate on the funding bill comes as criminal illegal aliens continue to make headlines. Just last week, four members of the barbaric Venezuelan Tren de Aragua street gang pleaded guilty to murdering two Americans by gunning them down in cold blood.

WAVE OF ALLEGED MIGRANT MURDERS IGNITES FURY ACROSS US AS OFFICIALS WARN OF MORE CARNAGE, CRACKDOWN NEEDED

Another illegal alien in California, accused of killing a two-month-old baby, grinned in court during a pretrial hearing on June 2.

Yet another illegal alien was sentenced at the end of May to 25 years in prison after raping and impregnating a 12-year-old girl in Missouri.

“I can’t explain why they wanted an open border,” Schmitt said of the opposition party. “I can’t explain why they don’t want criminals deported from this country. I can’t explain why they don’t want people denaturalized who have, you know, committed terrorist acts in this country.”

“That’s on them, but we’ve got a job to do, which is to make the American people more safe.”

Schmitt noted that arresting criminal illegal aliens when they’re released from jail is also much safer than arresting them in immigration raids and operations, and expressed disbelief that such a policy has not yet been implemented.

“I can’t believe it hadn’t happened before, but I also don’t know that we’ve really been confronted with political leaders on the other side here who just don’t believe in the sovereignty of our country, and that’s kind of where we’re at. I mean, they wanted to defund ICE,” he told Fox News Digital.

“They don’t really want enforcement of our federal immigration laws, and I think the American people do.”

<!–>

EXCLUSIVE: A top Trump agency is cutting off funding to the Los Angeles agency responsible for coordinating billions in homelessness spending after accusing it of “obvious fraud,” “wanton mismanagement” and repeated failures to safeguard taxpayer dollars, Fox News Digital has learned.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which is a member of the White House fraud task force led by Vice President JD Vance, is immediately suspending the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s (LAHSA) federal funding while HUD’s inspector general investigates potential offenses by the agency and its leadership, according to a letter sent to LAHSA’s board chair Wendy Greuel and its CEO Gita O’Neill, which was obtained and reviewed by Fox News Digital. 

The letter detailed conflicts of interest, financial mismanagement, fraud, lack of oversight, and more from the homelessness agency, which has faced efforts by the city and county to take it over.

The move puts one of the country’s biggest homelessness bureaucracies under direct federal scrutiny after years of criticism that billions have gone into homelessness programs in Los Angeles while the crisis remains entrenched on the streets. LAHSA receives funding at the city, county, state and federal level, with the group getting nearly $1 billion from just the federal government since 2021, according to HUD.

CALIFORNIA MAN ARRESTED FOR ALLEGEDLY STEALING MILLIONS IN HOMELESS FUNDS

“Suspending LAHSA’s participation in federal government programs is a necessary step in accomplishing that critical mission in Los Angeles,” HUD wrote in the letter. “LAHSA’s failures have been so severe and pervasive that Los Angeles County has withdrawn its funding for the agency, and the City of Los Angeles is considering doing so as well.”

LAHSA’s former top executive, Va Lecia Adams Kellum, resigned last year after she was found to have been a party to directing $2.1 million in federal funds under LAHSA’s control to her husband’s Santa Monica-based nonprofit employer.

HUD says a federal judge last year also concluded that LAHSA had committed “obvious fraud” after it allegedly kept requesting funding for an 88-bed shelter even though it knew the shelter was operating at roughly half-capacity.

EX-NONPROFIT BOSS ALLEGEDLY SWIPED $1.2M MEANT FOR HOMELESS PROGRAMS TO FUND LAVISH LIFESTYLE, DA SAYS

HUD noted in its letter that the judge considered placing LAHSA into receivership as well.

LAHSA’s inability to verify the existence of nearly 2,300 housing sites for which it was responsible is another recent issue that has plagued the homelessness provider, according to HUD, which said 70% of the contracts for those sites did not disclose any expenses over the prior year.

Public audits of LAHSA, meanwhile, found a pattern of routinely paying service providers late and poor record keeping preventing it from monitoring contracts, including $5 million in cash advances sent to five different service providers, according to the Associated Press. In November 2024, the City Controller’s Office found that LAHSA failed to spend $513 million in public funds budgeted in fiscal year 2024, blaming a lack of staff and old technology, according to HUD.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, HUD will fund results, not corrupt failure or the homeless industrial complex,” HUD Secretary Scott Turner said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Year after year, hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars were funneled to LAHSA with little accountability. Meanwhile, homelessness skyrocketed. Taxpayers will no longer bankroll an organization that puts its own self-interests ahead of the Americans it was created to serve.”

Other audits concluded that LAHSA’s poor record keeping made it unable to accurately identify or calculate how well its spending has been benefiting the homeless population in Los Angeles.

KAREN BASS GRILLED OVER BROKEN HOMELESSNESS PROMISE, BLAMES BUREAUCRACY FOR SLOWED PROGRESS

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson, who is the vice chair of the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, praised the leadership on this issue from HUD Secretary Scott Turner, President Donald Trump and Vance, who serves as the chairman of the fraud task force that was established earlier this year. 

“Los Angeles didn’t care about helping the homeless, but the Trump Administration does,” Ferguson told Fox News Digital. “It is unconscionable that Los Angeles has wasted billions of taxpayer dollars that was supposed to be used on housing our nation’s most vulnerable. Instead of providing a roof and care for the homeless, Los Angeles has used these funds to line the pockets of left-wing NGOs. Such a disgrace ends today.”

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Los Angeles officials have pointed to recent homeless-count data as evidence that the crisis has begun to improve, with LAHSA reporting that countywide homelessness fell for a second straight year in 2025 and Bass saying it marked the first time in the city’s recent history that homelessness had declined two years in a row.

But the numbers still showed more than 72,000 people experiencing homelessness across Los Angeles County, and critics have continued to argue that modest declines do not erase years of runaway spending, encampments and repeated audit findings that the region’s homelessness system has failed to adequately track whether taxpayer dollars are producing results. 

The federal action from HUD comes after Los Angeles city and county officials had already begun backing away from LAHSA, the Associated Press reported last year.

The city council moved to explore bypassing the agency and contracting directly with providers, while the county moved to redirect hundreds of millions of dollars in annual homelessness funding away from LAHSA and into a new county department, citing the need for stronger accountability after a series of audits.

“HUD cannot ignore LAHSA’s wanton mismanagement of public funds. HUD’s mission is to reduce the plague of homelessness in America,” the agency’s letter to LAHSA leadership on Thursday stated. “Turning over billions of dollars from American taxpayers to an organization under investigation and suspected of gross misuse of federal funding and “obvious fraud” does nothing to reduce homelessness. Indeed, diverting dollars from worthy programs to LAHSA merely makes the homeless crisis worse.”

Fox News Digital reached out to LAHSA for comment.

<!–>

Texas isn’t just getting more populated, its residents are getting richer.

For years, critics have argued that Texas’ economic success is mostly a numbers game: more people move in, businesses follow, and the economy naturally gets larger. But the latest federal data suggest there’s more to it.

Even after accounting for one of the nation’s biggest population booms, the Lone Star State is generating more wealth for the average resident than it did just a few years ago, a sign that the state’s economy is getting stronger, not just larger.

For decades, California and New York have dominated America’s economic landscape through centers of power like Silicon Valley, Hollywood and Wall Street. Yet Texas has increasingly emerged as a challenger to the traditional economic order.

ONE SOUTHERN CITY YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF IS GROWING FASTER THAN ANYWHERE ELSE IN AMERICA

Texas has started garnering more corporate relocations, investment and residents at a pace few states can rival. Supporters argue the state’s growth offers an alternative economic model built around lower taxes, lighter regulation and business-friendly policies.

Bigger doesn’t always mean better — states can add people to the rolls without seeing residents become more prosperous in the process.

But Texas, the largest state of the lower 48, has continued to generate more economic output per resident even as its population surges, suggesting its growth is being driven by quality residents and more than individual migration.

According to the Census Bureau’s newest population estimates, Texas added nearly 419,000 residents between 2024 and 2025, the largest numeric increase of any state. For comparison, New York added roughly 135,000 residents during the same period, while California’s population declined by nearly 76,000.

At the same time, the Lone Star State’s economy continued to grow alongside that influx. Preliminary Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates show Texas generated roughly $2.9 trillion in economic output in 2025. With a population of 31.7 million, that amounts to about $91,500 in economic output per resident and suggests that economic growth has outpaced population growth.

AMERICA’S NEXT ECONOMIC POWERHOUSE MAY BE RISING IN RED-STATE TERRITORY

The labor market has remained resilient as well.

Texas added more than 82,000 jobs over the previous year while maintaining an unemployment rate of 4.3%, roughly in line with the national average. The combination of population growth, job creation and rising economic output has helped Texas attract additional investment, according to business leaders.

“Capital follows where there is confidence,” Texas Association of Business Chief Policy Officer Gabriela von zur Muehlen told Fox News Digital. “And right now there is a tremendous amount of confidence in Texas.”

She said Texas’ tax structure and predictable regulatory environment continue to draw businesses and capital from other states.

Even among fast-growing Sun Belt states that have benefited from migration, Texas has stood out by pairing rapid population growth with rising economic output per resident.

THE KEY STRATEGY RED STATES ARE USING TO LOWER HOUSING COSTS REVEALED

That distinction carries political significance heading into the 2026 midterms.

Republicans frequently point to Texas as evidence that lower taxes and lighter regulation can support sustained economic growth.

Democrats counter that headline economic gains do not always translate into broadly shared prosperity and argue that affordability, housing costs and infrastructure demands remain significant challenges.

THE RED STATES RACING AHEAD IN AMERICA’S POWERFUL WEALTH BOOM — AND THE STATES FALLING BEHIND

Still, the latest Census, BEA and labor-market data doesn’t lie, and indicates beyond population booms, Texas is prospering. It continues to generate more economic output, create jobs and increase wealth on a per-resident basis.

To that end, the state is, once again, proving that everything is bigger in Texas — including its economy.

<!–>

Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas has fielded a proposal to cut off pay and power from House and Senate lawmakers once they’ve served 12 years in their respective legislative chamber.

“A Member of Congress (including a Delegate or Resident Commissioner to the Congress) who has served 12 or more cumulative years in the House of Representatives or in the Senate, as the case may be, may not, on and after the date that the Member reaches 12 years of service in the Member’s respective House of Congress, be eligible for any covered benefit described in subsection (b),” the text states.

Under the proposal, such long-serving lawmakers would no longer be eligible for pay and would no longer be eligible to serve in House and Senate leadership posts or as the chair or ranking member of standing or select committees.

FIRST ON FOX: SPLC’S TAX-EXEMPT STATUS UNDER THREAT AFTER FIERY CAPITOL HILL HEARING

“For too long, Washington has rewarded longevity with greater power, higher pay, and deeper entrenchment. If members of Congress want to serve beyond 12 years absent a constitutional amendment limiting them, they should do so without taxpayer-funded salaries and without monopolizing committee chairs and leadership positions,” Roy said, according to a press release.

“This bill helps ensure that public service remains exactly that: service to the people, not a lifelong career in politics,” he said, according to the release.

Roy, who has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2019, lost the Texas attorney general Republican primary runoff contest last month to Lone Star State Sen. Mayes Middleton.

SENATORS AGREE TO FORGO SHUTDOWN PAYCHECKS — BUT MANY WON’T FEEL THE PAIN

The text of Roy’s proposal indicates that the restrictions would be enacted by the legislature “as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the Senate and House of Representatives, respectively, and as such are deemed a part of the rules of each House, respectively … ” and that the restrictions would be enacted “with full recognition of the constitutional right of either House to change the rules (so far as relating to the procedure of that House) at any time, in the same manner, and to the same extent as in the case of any other rule of that House.”

“The prohibition under this section shall apply with respect to the One Hundred Twenty-First Congress and each succeeding Congress,” the measure states.

The 121st Congress will start in early 2029.

TEXAS MAGA BATTLE ENDS WITH MIDDLETON VICTORY AS CHIP ROY FALLS SHORT IN AG RACE

The U.S. Constitution stipulates that “Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings,” but also states that “The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States.”

<!–>

Unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) whistleblower and former Air Force intelligence officer David Grusch accused intelligence agencies Tuesday of hiding billions of dollars in secret government spending from Congress, as lawmakers renewed demands for records they say federal officials continue to withhold.   

His investigation uncovered what he described as “slush funds” — pools of money allegedly operating outside normal congressional oversight channels — worth billions of dollars annually that were allegedly used to support activities operating outside normal oversight channels, Grusch said speaking at a Capitol Hill event alongside members of the House Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets. 

“This is also a real fraud, waste and abuse issue,” Grusch said. “During my investigation, I found slush funds to the tune of billions of dollars per annum for these activities.”

TASK FORCE TO EXPOSE ‘FEDERAL SECRETS’ ON JFK ASSASSINATION, EPSTEIN, UFOS PACKED WITH GOP REBELS

The allegations come as lawmakers and the Trump administration have intensified efforts to declassify government unidentified aerial phenomena records, releasing hundreds of pages of previously secret files and renewing pressure on agencies to disclose what they know about unexplained aerial incidents.

Grusch, who served on the Pentagon’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force and later as the National Reconnaissance Office’s representative to the task force, first gained national attention in 2023 when he testified before Congress about alleged government efforts to recover and study unidentified craft. 

The Trump administration’s fiscal year 2027 budget includes nearly $132 billion in military and national intelligence spending, much of it contained in classified programs accessible only to a limited group of cleared officials and lawmakers.

Asked what the government knows about nonhuman intelligence, Grusch claimed the government is aware of “several” different alien species. 

“It’s a continuum from corporeal bipedal type life to, you know, what I would consider is like sentient plasma life,” Grusch said. “But there are several that this government is aware of.” 

He did not elaborate on the claim or provide evidence during the event.

Grusch specifically accused the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Pentagon’s primary military intelligence agency, of obstructing congressional oversight efforts, arguing that records requested by lawmakers have not been fully provided despite what he described as lawful requests from Congress. He urged the agency to release additional documents for review and declassification.  

The DIA could not immediately be reached for comment. 

The Pentagon has consistently said investigations have not uncovered verified evidence of extraterrestrial technology, and previous government reviews have disputed claims that secret crash-retrieval programs exist.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers joined Grusch during the press conference, arguing that agencies have continued to resist congressional efforts to obtain information related to unidentified anomalous phenomena.

“We would ask questions, and they would then push back. We would ask more questions, and the pushback became more significant,” said Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla. “We would try to put language in an amendment, in a bill, and they would oppose it.”

“There must be real penalties for officials who knowingly withhold information from Congress,” added Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo.

Moskowitz also tied the debate to broader concerns about Pentagon accountability.

“There’s trillions of dollars missing at the Pentagon. Where does that money go?” he said.

The Pentagon has failed seven consecutive annual audits, though defense officials have said those findings reflect longstanding challenges tracking assets and accounting systems across the department.

REP TIM BURCHETT CONVINCED THAT ALIENS EXIST, SAYS HE’S ‘SEEN TOO MUCH’ IN GOVERNMENT BRIEFINGS

Grusch said additional witnesses remain reluctant to come forward because of concerns about retaliation and legal exposure.

Burlison called on President Donald Trump to waive nondisclosure agreements for individuals with knowledge of alleged government UAP programs and grant immunity to those willing to testify.

“Grant immunity to anyone who has already come forward, and everyone who will come forward,” Burlison said. “Open the door and let them speak.”

“Congress is requesting specific records and videos,” Burlison added. “These agencies and contractors know that we know that they exist, and we’re going to get them released.”

Burlison said lawmakers have continued pressing agencies and defense contractors for records they believe remain classified despite recent disclosure efforts.

He said his office obtained MQ-9 footage of a UAP incident off the coast of Yemen that was delivered through what he described as a “Tom Clancy-style dead drop.”

Lawmakers argued that additional disclosures may depend on persuading more witnesses to come forward.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., who chairs the House task force examining the issue, said lawmakers are discussing immunity protections for individuals with knowledge of alleged craft locations, recovered materials or advanced technologies.

The renewed push comes as lawmakers seek greater access to information tied to some of the government’s most closely held programs.

Federal investigators recently alleged that former CIA official David Rush used a fraudulent “special access program” as part of a scheme involving more than $40 million in gold bars and millions in government funds, drawing renewed attention to how highly restricted government programs can operate with limited outside visibility.

The event comes weeks after the Trump administration released a major tranche of previously classified UAP records, including military reports, sensor data and witness accounts that had long remained hidden from public view.

Lawmakers and disclosure advocates have pointed to those releases as evidence the government is becoming more transparent about UAP investigations, while arguing that significant amounts of information remain classified.

<!–>