Senators are not thrilled with a top White House official’s comments that the government funding process should become more partisan, and fear that doing so could erode Congress’ power of the purse.

Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought told reporters during a Christian Science Monitor Breakfast Thursday morning that he believed ‘the appropriations process has to be less bipartisan.’

His sentiment came on the heels of Senate Republicans advancing President Donald Trump’s $9 billion clawback package, which would cancel congressionally approved funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting, just a few hours before.

Unlike the hyper-partisan bills that have dominated the Senate’s recent agenda, including the rescissions package and the president’s ‘big, beautiful bill,’ the appropriations process is typically a bipartisan affair in the upper chamber.

That is because, normally, most bills brought to the floor have to pass the Senate’s 60-vote threshold, and with the GOP’s narrow majority, Senate Democrats will need to pass any spending bills or government funding extensions to ward off a partial government shutdown.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who alluded to issues down the line with the appropriations process if Republicans advanced Trump’s resicssions package, took a harsh stance against Vought. 

‘Donald Trump should fire Russell Vought immediately, before he destroys our democracy and runs the country into the ground,’ Schumer said. 

Members of the Senate Appropriations Committee also did not take kindly to Vought’s comments.

‘I think he disrespects it,’ Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said. ‘I think he thinks that we are irrelevant, and I wish I had actually heard the speech, because, you know, again, everything in context.’

‘But you have to admit that when you look at the quotes that are highlighted in the story this morning, it is pretty dismissive of the appropriations process, pretty dismissive,’ she continued.

Vought has no intention of slowing the rescissions train coming from the White House, and said that there would be more rescissions packages on the way.

He noted another would ‘come soon,’ as lawmakers in the House close in on a vote to send the first clawback package to the president’s desk.

‘There is no voter in the country that went to the polls and said, ‘I’m voting for a bipartisan appropriations process,’’ Vought said. ‘That may be the view of something that appropriators want to maintain.’

Both Murkowski and Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, voted against the rescissions package, and warned of the cuts to public broadcasting, lack of transparency from the OMB and the possible effect it could have on legislating in the upper chamber.

‘I disagree with both those statements,’ Collins said of Vought’s push for a more partisan appropriations process. ‘Just as with the budget that the President submitted, we had to repeatedly ask him and the agencies to provide us with the detailed account information, which amounts to 1000s of pages that our appropriators and their staff meticulously review.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the OMB for comment. 

Vought’s comments came at roughly the same time as appropriators were holding a mark-up hearing of the military construction and veterans’ affairs and Commerce, Justice and Science spending bills.

Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said during the hearing that Senate Republicans coalescing behind the rescissions package would only make hammering out spending bills more difficult, and argued that ‘trust’ was at the core of the process.

‘That’s part of why bipartisan bills are so important,’ she said. ‘But everyone has to understand getting to the finish line always depends on our ability to work together in a bipartisan way, and it also depends on trust.’

Other Republicans on the panel emphasized a similar point, that, without some kind of cooperation, advancing spending bills would become even more challenging.

Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said that finding ‘critical mass’ to move spending bills was important, and warned that people have to ‘quit saying it’s gotta just be my way or the highway,’ following threats Schumer’s threats last week that the appropriations process could suffer should the rescissions package pass. 

‘People better start recognizing that we’re all gonna have to work together and hopefully get these [appropriations] bills to the floor and see what we can move,’ he said. ‘But if somebody just sits up and says, ‘Oh, because there’s a rescission bill, then I’m not going to work on Appropriations,’ you can always find an excuse not to do something. Let’s figure out how we can work forward.’

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the United States does not support recent Israeli airstrikes on Syria and called for ‘dialogue’ between the two Middle East powers.

‘The United States unequivocally condemns the violence. All parties must step back and engage in meaningful dialogue that leads to a lasting ceasefire,’ Bruce announced at a State Department press briefing Thursday afternoon. 

On Wednesday, Israeli airstrikes in the Syrian capital of Damascus struck the country’s Defense Ministry headquarters and an area near the presidential palace, killing three and injuring dozens of others, according to reports. 

The Israeli military said it was intervening to defend the minority Druze population in southern Syria, a community that shares a border with Israel, amid armed skirmishes between local Bedouin Sunni tribes and the recently installed Syrian government.

‘We are acting decisively to prevent the entrenchment of hostile elements beyond the border, protect Israeli citizens and prevent harm to Druze civilians,’ Eyal Zamir, chief of the Israeli Defense Forces’ general staff, said during a situational assessment at the Syrian border.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday afternoon that an agreement had been reached between Israel and Syria to end the ‘troubling and horrifying situation.’

‘This will require all parties to deliver on the commitments they have made, and this is what we fully expect them to do,’ he added.

‘Thankful to all sides for their break from chaos and confusion as we attempt to navigate all parties to a more durable and peaceful solution in Syria,’ U.S. Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack added.

When asked Thursday what prompted the Israeli strikes and whether the U.S. suspected any foreign fighters, like ISIS, of being involved in the conflict in Syria between the Bedouins and the Druze, Bruce said there will need to be continued investigation to figure out exactly why this Israeli airstrike occurred.

Rubio said Wednesday he believed Israel’s strike on the Syrian capital of Damascus was ‘likely’ due to ‘a misunderstanding.’

Bruce on Thursday responded to reporters’ questions about what U.S. officials meant when they said ‘confusion’ and ‘misunderstanding’ from Israel were what led to their involvement. 

‘This is an ancient rivalry between the Druze and the Bedouins and violence ensued, the Syrians moving to that area to quell and stop that violence. And the Israelis, who see that occurring to the Druze community and their concerns, then entered what they assessed was something larger than what, or even not what it was at all,’ Bruce said at Thursday’s briefing. 

‘The good news is, the story is, it stopped, as within the management of that larger conflict. Again, there’s still skirmishes and other issues. … The Syrian government is going to have to lead — obviously, there will be other involvement — but lead in to this de-escalation and to the stability.’

Fox News Digital’s Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is applauding a letter sent Thursday by Republican lawmakers to National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, urging the agency to stop using taxpayer dollars for experiments on animals conducted in foreign laboratories. 

The letter, signed by Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., highlights concerns about the lack of oversight and inadequate standards in certain foreign facilities. 

The bipartisan Cease Animal Research Grants Overseas (CARGO) Act—led by the Republicans along with Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.—seeks to end NIH funding for animal experiments outside the U.S. and ensure taxpayer dollars are not misused for the unnecessary suffering of animals.

Between 2011 and 2021, the NIH issued more than $2.2 billion in grants for controversial research in 45 countries.

According to the letter, the ‘research’ included genetically altering cats to be born with deformed legs, infecting bats with diseases that were transmissible and fatal to humans, and force-feeding mice human feces.

Nehls and Scott noted there are little to no inspections at the facilities where research is conducted or where the animals are housed, and there is inadequate auditing of foreign NIH-funded animal studies, resulting in significant gaps in oversight and accountability of how taxpayer dollars are being used. 

‘It is deeply concerning that American taxpayer dollars have been used to fund harmful and abusive animal experiments overseas that lack the same oversight and accountability as labs here in the United States,’ Nehls and Scott wrote in the letter. ‘…It is a waste of resources that should be allocated to more ethical and effective research practices that do not involve animals.’

PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo said the organization is grateful to Nehls, Scott, Titus and Booker for serving as the lead sponsors of the CARGO Act.

‘This effort represents a significant step in halting cruel and wasteful animal experimentation abroad, and it aligns with the Trump Administration’s broader shift toward more relevant, non-animal research methods,’ Guillermo wrote in a statement to Fox News Digital. ‘We are excited to continue working alongside these dedicated lawmakers to pass the CARGO Act and ensure that taxpayer money is no longer used to support pointless and unethical research.’

The CARGO Act was introduced following a PETA investigation into Caucaseco Scientific Research Center, a discredited Colombian laboratory with a history of violating animal care standards. 

Caucaseco Scientific Research Center received more than $17 million in U.S. funding, and the Biden administration’s NIH encouraged additional funding, even after it was caught confining monkeys in filthy conditions, leaving them to die from infected wounds, and starving mice to the point of cannibalism, according to PETA.

The PETA investigation reportedly led to multiple investigations by local authorities, the rescues of 108 monkeys and 180 mice, and the retraction of a research publication.

‘The letter’s request for NIH to immediately cease funding animal experiments in foreign labs is a crucial step toward protecting animals and ensuring taxpayer dollars are used responsibly,’ Guillermo wrote. ‘PETA remains committed to advocating for legislative and policy changes that prioritize ethical, practical, and non-animal research.’

Sen. Ron Johnson is demanding the National Archives turn over all records related to former President Joe Biden’s ‘mental and physical health and cognitive decline,’ Fox News Digital has learned.

Fox News Digital exclusively obtained a letter Johnson, R-Wis., sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is serving as the acting archivist of the United States.

Johnson, who leads the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said he is now conducting an investigation into ‘the cover-up of former President Biden’s health and cognitive decline.’

‘My office has been reviewing the allegations that former President Biden, cabinet members, and his staff covered up his declining mental and physical health over the course of his presidency,’ Johnson wrote to Rubio, adding that the allegations ‘raise serious questions about who was making key presidential decisions if the former president was incapable of doing so.

‘One of these key decisions may have involved the presidential power to grant clemency or pardons — a matter that the White House Counsel’s Office, among other entities, are currently investigating,’ Johnson wrote.

Fox News Digital exclusively reported Tuesday that the White House Counsel’s Office, in conjunction with the Justice Department, is investigating Biden’s use of an autopen and already is reviewing more than 27,000 documents turned over by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

‘The reporting further suggests that these records represent only a portion of the information in NARA’s possession that may be related to the coverup of former President Biden’s alleged mental and physical decline,’ Johnson wrote to Rubio, referring to the Fox News Digital exclusive report.

Johnson is now demanding that NARA turn over all records provided to the White House Counsel’s Office referring to or relating to Biden’s mental or physical health or the alleged cover-up, including all communications.

Johnson also is demanding communications between or among any former White House officials, members of Biden’s Cabinet or their staff or other staff relating to Biden’s mental or physical health.

Specifically, Johnson is demanding records belonging to former White House chief of staff Ron Klain, former White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, former advisor Mike Donilon, former counselor to the president Steve Ricchetti, Biden personal attorney Bob Bauer, Biden senior advisor Anita Dunn, former White House Physician Kevin O’Connor and others.

Johnson gave Rubio until July 30 to turn over the records.

Trump sent a memo in June to the Department of Justice directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate the autopen use and to determine whether it was related to a decline in Biden’s mental state.

The White House Counsel’s Office is investigating Biden’s use of an autopen, a machine that physically holds a pen and features programming to imitate a person’s signature. Unlike a stamp or a digitized print of a signature, the autopen has the capability to hold various types of pens, from a ballpoint to a permanent marker, according to descriptions of autopen machines available for purchase. 

Biden used an autopen to sign a slew of documents while in office. He also used an autopen to sign final pardons, including preemptive pardons for members of his family, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Gen. Mark Milley and members and staff of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots. He only signed one pardon by hand, for his son Hunter, after vowing to the American people for months he would not pardon Hunter.

In his final weeks in office, Biden granted clemency and pardoned more than 1,500 individuals in what the White House described at the time as the largest single-day act of clemency by a U.S. president.

Biden, in a recent interview with The New York Times, defended his use of an autopen, saying he ‘made every decision’ on his own.

‘We’re talking about (granting clemency to) a whole lot of people,’ Biden said. 

However, the Times reported that Biden ‘did not individually approve each name for the categorical pardons that applied to large numbers of people,’ according to the former president and his aides.

Congressional committees, like the House Oversight Committee, are also investigating the autopen use and Biden’s health while in office. 

A senior administration official recognized the simultaneous efforts but stressed that the White House Counsel’s investigation is separate from any congressional probes. 

Officials told Fox News Digital the investigation is a ‘massive effort,’ and one that they hope to finish ‘as soon as possible.’ 

As for Trump, officials told Fox News Digital he does not use an autopen for anything that could be considered official business.

The only time Trump may use the autopen is for unofficial business, including correspondence, letters for birthdays or commissioned records for widely shared documents, his office said.  

The White House dismissed comments that the Trump administration’s efforts to yank already approved federal funds for foreign aid and public broadcasting pose a public safety threat. 

The rescissions package the Senate approved early Thursday pulls more than $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) that provides federal funding for NPR and PBS.

‘These are not honest news organizations,’ Leavitt told reporters Thursday. ‘These are partisan, left-wing outlets that are funded by the taxpayers. And this administration does not believe it’s a good use of the taxpayers’ time and money.’

PBS and NPR could not be immediately reached for comment by Fox News Digital. 

Additionally, the rescissions package revokes nearly $8 billion in already approved funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which the Trump administration dismantled amid concerns the formerly independent organization did not advance U.S. interests. The organization is not part of the State Department. 

The Senate narrowly approved the rescission measure, 51-48, which would revoke funding the Congress previously approved. Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted alongside Democrats to oppose the package. 

‘Look, $9 billion worth of crap that was in our federal funding is now being rescinded,’ Leavitt said. ‘This is a good thing for the American people and the American taxpayer.’ 

Republican lawmakers like Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., have touted the measure as a step toward ‘fiscal sanity’ as the Trump administration seeks to weed out waste, fraud and abuse. 

‘I appreciate all the work the administration has done in identifying wasteful spending,’ Thune said in a speech ahead of the vote. ‘And now it’s time for the Senate to do its part to cut some of that waste out of the budget. It’s a small but important step toward fiscal sanity that we all should be able to agree is long overdue.’

But Democrats claim that the cuts to foreign aid benefit Russia and China, and that the rescission package jeopardizes national security. Likewise, Democrats are concerned that further rescissions could spread to areas beyond foreign aid and public broadcasting. 

‘If Republicans slash more American aid, it will create a dangerous vacuum that the Chinese Communist Party will continue to eagerly fill,’ Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Tuesday on the Senate floor.

‘They’re letting Donald Trump decide for himself which programs to defund, and that puts everything at risk – healthcare, education, food assistance, public health,’ Schumer said. ‘Everything – everything – becomes at risk. That is what happens if a package like this is allowed to become law.’ 

Fox News’ Alex Miller contributed to this report.