A group of U.S. officials are in Syria’s capital for the first time in more than 10 years seeking information on American citizens who disappeared under the Assad regime, among other things.

The team visiting Damascus consists of US Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs (NEA) Barbara Leaf and NEA Senior Adviser Daniel Rubinstein, a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

Rubinstein, who previously served as U.S. Special Envoy for Syria and has decades of foreign affairs experience, will lead the diplomatic engagement, the spokesperson confirmed. 

His mission is to engage with the Syrian people and key parties within the country. He also seeks to coordinate with allies to advance principles laid out in a meeting between world leaders in the Jordanian city of Aqaba earlier this month.

The trio will meet with the Syrian people to uncover their vision for their country after the Assad regime fell earlier this month amid an ongoing civil war. They will also ask how the U.S. can help support them in their desired future.

‘They will be engaging directly with the Syrian people, including members of civil society, activists, members of different communities, and other Syrian voices,’ the spokesperson said, in part.

The three officials will also meet with representatives of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), a U.S.-designated terrorist group, to ‘discuss transition principles’ endorsed by the United States and regional partners in Aqaba, Jordan, the State Department said.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken previously noted that world leaders discussed ‘the need for an inclusive, Syrian-led political transition’ during the Aqaba Meetings on Syria in Jordan on Dec. 14.

‘The United States supports a future government in Syria that is chosen by and representatives of all Syrians,’ Blinken said on X.

Another goal of the visit is to determine what has happened to American citizens who disappeared under the Assad regime, including former marine turned freelance journalist Austin Tice, who was kidnapped while reporting in Syria in 2012.

Carstens has been leading the charge to locate Tice and recently shared that Rewards for Justice is offering up to $10 million for information on his whereabouts.

‘Given recent events in Syria, the FBI is renewing our call for information that could lead to the safe location, recovery, and return of Austin Bennett Tice, who was detained in Damascus in August 2012,’ the FBI said in a statement.

A bill to avert a partial government shutdown that was backed by President-elect Trump failed to pass the House of Representatives on Thursday night.

Congress is inching closer to the possibility of a partial shutdown, with the deadline coming at the end of Friday.

The bill needed two-thirds of the House chamber to pass, but failed to even net a majority. Two Democrats voted with the majority of Republicans to pass the bill, while 38 GOP lawmakers bucked Trump to oppose it.

The margin fell to 174 to 235.

It comes after two days of chaos in Congress as lawmakers fought among themselves about a path forward on government spending – a fight joined by Trump and his allies Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

Meanwhile, the national debt has climbed to over $36 trillion, and the national deficit is over $1.8 trillion.

The legislation was hastily negotiated on Thursday after GOP hardliners led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy rebelled against an initial bipartisan deal that would have extended the government funding deadline until March 14 and included a host of unrelated policy riders.

The new deal also includes several key policies unrelated to keeping the government open, but the 116-page bill is much narrower than its 1,547-page predecessor.

Like the initial bill, the new iteration extended the government funding deadline through March 14 while also suspending the debt limit – something Trump had pushed for.

It proposed to suspend the debt limit for two years until January 2027, still keeping it in Trump’s term but delaying that fight until after the 2026 Congressional midterm elections.

The new proposal also included roughly $110 billion in disaster relief aid for Americans affected by storms Milton and Helene, as well as a measure to cover the cost of rebuilding Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, which was hit by a barge earlier this year.

Excluded from the second-round measure is the first pay raise for congressional lawmakers since 2009 and a measure aimed at revitalizing Washington, D.C.’s RFK stadium.

The text of the new bill was also significantly shorter – going from 1,547 pages to just 116.

‘All Republicans, and even the Democrats, should do what is best for our Country, and vote ‘YES’ for this Bill, TONIGHT!’ Trump wrote on Truth Social.

But the bill hit opposition before the legislative text was even released.

Democrats, furious at Johnson for reneging on their original bipartisan deal, chanted ‘Hell no’ in their closed-door conference meeting on Thursday night to debate the bill.

Nearly all House Democrats who left the meeting indicated they were voting against it.

Meanwhile, members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus also said they would vote against the bill.

‘Old bill: $110BB in deficit spending (unpaid for), $0 increase in the national credit card. New bill: $110BB in deficit spending (unpaid for), $4 TRILLION+ debt ceiling increase with $0 in structural reforms for cuts. Time to read the bill: 1.5 hours. I will vote no,’ Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, wrote on X.

House Republicans have struck a deal on a backup plan for averting a government shutdown by Friday’s deadline.

Multiple sources told Fox News Digital the deal would extend current government funding levels for three months and also suspend the debt limit for two years, something President-elect Trump has demanded.

Trump praised the deal minutes after Fox News Digital reported its contents.

The deal also includes aid for farmers and roughly $110 billion in disaster relief funding for Americans affected by storms Helene and Milton.

It would also include certain health care provisions, minus reforms to the Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) system that some Republicans and Democrats were pushing for but that others vehemently opposed.

‘Speaker Mike Johnson and the House have come to a very good Deal for the American People,’ Trump wrote of the deal. ‘The newly agreed to American Relief Act of 2024 will keep the Government open, fund our Great Farmers and others, and provide relief for those severely impacted by the devastating hurricanes.

‘All Republicans, and even the Democrats, should do what is best for our Country, and vote ‘YES’ for this Bill, TONIGHT!’.

Meanwhile, the national debt has recently exceeded $36 trillion and continues to grow. The national deficit is over $1 trillion.

Shortly after Fox News Digital’s report, House leaders released the legislative text of the bill. It came in at about 116 pages, a far cry from their original 1,547-page legislation.

It comes after conservatives led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy torpedoed Speaker Mike Johnson’s initial government funding plan Wednesday, prompting fears of a partial government shutdown right before the holidays.

GOP hardliners were furious about what they saw as unrelated measures and policy riders being added to the bill at the last minute.

House Republicans began negotiations for a ‘clean’ bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), but those were also upended when Trump urged GOP lawmakers to pair a CR with action on the debt limit, which was expected to be a contentious battle in the first half of next year.

Musk and Ramaswamy also lent their voices to the fight, with Musk calling on any Republican who supported the deal to lose their House seats.

The original plan, which was bipartisan, was declared ‘dead’ by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., as he left the U.S. Capitol Wednesday night.

In addition to averting a partial government shutdown through March 14, the bill also included a provision to allow for the revitalization of RFK stadium in Washington, D.C.; permits to sell ethanol fuel year-round; and the first pay raise for lawmakers since 2009.

House lawmakers may vote on the new bill as early as Thursday evening.

But it’s not immediately clear if it would pass. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who also led opposition to the initial bill, also blasted the new deal.

‘More debt. More government. Increasing the Credit Card $4 trillion with ZERO spending restraint and cuts. HARD NO,’ Roy wrote on X.

And House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters on the way into a closed-door meeting of the House Democratic Caucus, ‘The Musk-Johnson proposal is not serious. It’s laughable. Extreme MAGA Republicans are driving us to a government shutdown.’

Fox News’ Kelly Phares contributed to this report

The House of Representatives is set to imminently vote on a bill backed by President-elect Trump to avert a government shutdown.

It comes after two days of chaos in Congress as lawmakers fought amongst themselves about a path forward on government spending – a fight joined by Trump and his allies Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

Meanwhile, the national debt has climbed to over $36 trillion, and the national deficit is over $1.8 trillion.

The legislation was hastily negotiated on Thursday after GOP hardliners led by Musk and Ramaswamy rebelled against an initial bipartisan deal that would have extended the government funding deadline until March 14 and included a host of unrelated policy riders.

The new deal also includes several key policies unrelated to keeping the government open, but the 116-page bill is much narrower than its 1,547-page predecessor.

Like the initial bill, the new iteration extended the government funding deadline through March 14 while also suspending the debt limit – something Trump had pushed for.

It proposed to suspend the debt limit for two years until January 2027, still keeping it in Trump’s term but delaying that fight until after the 2026 Congressional midterm elections.

The new proposal also included roughly $110 billion in disaster relief aid for Americans affected by storms Milton and Helene, as well as a measure to cover the cost of rebuilding Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, which was hit by a barge earlier this year.

Excluded from the second-round measure is the first pay raise for congressional lawmakers since 2009 and a measure aimed at revitalizing Washington, D.C.’s RFK stadium.

The text of the new bill was also significantly shorter – going from 1,547 pages to just 116.

‘All Republicans, and even the Democrats, should do what is best for our Country, and vote ‘YES’ for this Bill, TONIGHT!’ Trump wrote on Truth Social.

But the bill hit opposition before the legislative text was even released.

Democrats, furious at Johnson for reneging on their original bipartisan deal, chanted ‘Hell no’ in their closed-door conference meeting on Thursday night to debate the bill.

Nearly all House Democrats who left the meeting indicated they were voting against it.

Meanwhile, members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus also said they would vote against the bill.

‘Old bill: $110BB in deficit spending (unpaid for), $0 increase in the national credit card. New bill: $110BB in deficit spending (unpaid for), $4 TRILLION+ debt ceiling increase with $0 in structural reforms for cuts. Time to read the bill: 1.5 hours. I will vote no,’ Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, wrote on X.

As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House next month, what sort of foreign policy can Americans expect during his second stint in the Oval Office?

Trump will pursue an ‘America first foreign policy,’ J. Michael Waller, senior analyst for strategy at the Center for Security Policy, suggested during an interview with Fox News Digital, describing Biden’s approach as ‘America last.’

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is advocating for the soon-to-be commander in chief to significantly increase military spending in a bid to build up the nation’s ‘hard power.’

The long-serving lawmaker is also warning against an isolationist approach to foreign policy, asserting in a piece on Foreign Affairs that ‘the response to four years of weakness must not be four years of isolation.’

‘Trump would be wise to build his foreign policy on the enduring cornerstone of U.S. leadership: hard power. To reverse the neglect of military strength, his administration must commit to a significant and sustained increase in defense spending, generational investments in the defense industrial base, and urgent reforms to speed the United States’ development of new capabilities and to expand allies’ and partners’ access to them,’ McConnell contended.

‘To pretend that the United States can focus on just one threat at a time, that its credibility is divisible, or that it can afford to shrug off faraway chaos as irrelevant is to ignore its global interests and its adversaries’ global designs,’ he argued.

Waller, who authored the book ‘Big Intel,’ explained that America-first foreign policy does not mean isolationism. 

‘It means for the United States to define its national interests very strictly,’ without suggesting that every crisis around the globe is ‘of vital, existential interest to our country,’ he noted.

Waller opined in Foreign Affairs that McConnell was seeking to ‘maintain the uniparty consensus for the United States’ present global commitments that are stretching us beyond our means … without even stepping back to reassess what is really in our national interests and how can we best marshal our resources to ensure them.’

Fox News Digital attempted to reach out to request comment from McConnell, but did not receive a response.

Trump has tapped Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., for secretary of state, a choice Waller graded as a ‘really good pick.’ 

Regarding the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict, Rubio has said that the U.S. is funding a ‘stalemate war.’

Trump has called for a ceasefire.

‘There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin. Too many lives are being so needlessly wasted, too many families destroyed, and if it keeps going, it can turn into something much bigger, and far worse,’ he declared in a post on Truth Social.

Trump has also called for the release of hostages in the Middle East, warning in a post on Truth Social that if they are not released by when he assumes office, ‘there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity. Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America,’ he declared.

Some House Republicans are privately fuming after Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy got involved in congressional talks on government funding, leading the charge to tank a bipartisan deal.

Several GOP lawmakers granted anonymity to speak freely about a sensitive situation were either frustrated about the pair getting involved or believe they exacerbated long-standing weaknesses within the House Republican Conference.

‘Musk and Vivek should not have jumped in at the 11th hour and should have handled it directly with the speaker. Folks on the same side shouldn’t act like these two,’ one House Republican said. ‘They’re more about the clicks and bright lights than getting the job done. I’ll have nothing to do with them after watching them publicly trash the speaker.’

A second GOP lawmaker said, ‘If Elon and Vivek are freelancing and shooting off the hip without coordination with [President-elect Trump], they are getting dangerously close to undermining the actual 47th President of the United States.’

A third lawmaker accused Ramaswamy of distorting facts.

‘He didn’t read the entire [continuing resolution] and the vast majority of what he was talking about is misinformation,’ they said.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was gearing up to hold a vote on a bipartisan, 1,547-page deal to extend current government funding levels through March 14 – known as a continuing resolution (CR).

The goal was to give congressional negotiators more time to cobble together an agreement on how to fund the government for the remainder of fiscal year (FY) 2025, while also kicking the fight into a term where Republicans control the House, Senate and White House.

But GOP hardliners were furious about what they saw as unrelated measures and policy riders being added to the bill at the last minute.

In addition to averting a partial government shutdown through March 14, the bill also includes provisions on health care and ethanol fuel, plus more than $100 billion in disaster aid funding, measures to fund the rebuilding of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge and the first pay raise for lawmakers since 2009.

Musk and Ramaswamy soon joined the opposition, with Musk even threatening to back primary challengers to Republicans who supported the CR.

Less than 24 hours after the legislation was released, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told reporters the bill was dead.

House GOP leaders have been working toward a plan B, but it’s unclear they’ll get much, if any, Democratic support. 

A fourth House Republican who spoke with Fox News Digital said of Musk’s involvement, ‘I think he influenced weak members who didn’t have direction until he tweeted.’

‘He’s just highlighting bad governance and indirectly a weak legislative branch,’ they said.

Trump, meanwhile, threatened to primary Republicans who supported a ‘clean’ CR without an increase of the debt limit – which expires January 2025.

The issue threw a wrench into negotiations on Wednesday night, given the months-long and politically brutal talks that normally accompany a debt limit increase or suspension.

One Republican bristled at his threat: ‘Trump threatening to ‘primary’ us also reduces his standing with many of us. I don’t want anything to do with him.’

The chaotic collapse of the continuing resolution spending bill is putting House Speaker Mike Johnson’s leadership under the spotlight and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has floated the idea of replacing him with Elon Musk, President-elect Trump’s pick to co-chair his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Paul took to Musk’s X Thursday morning to pitch the idea of the tech billionaire taking the House Speaker’s gavel, noting that the Speaker does not need to be a sitting member of Congress.

‘The Speaker of the House need not be a member of Congress… Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk… think about it… nothing’s impossible. (not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka ‘uniparty,’ lose their ever-lovin’ minds),’ wrote Paul, a staunchly libertarian conservative on fiscal matters.

Musk, an outspoken critic of government waste, has weighed in on the spending bill debate and led a conservative revolt against the latest plan due to its bloated spending provisions – calling for lawmakers who supported the bill to lose their seats.

‘Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!’ Musk wrote on X. The legislation has angered conservatives, including President-elect Trump who also called for it to be scrapped. 

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., confirmed to reporters that the deal was dead while leaving the Capitol on Wednesday night. It came after GOP critics of the spending bill spent much of the day attacking Johnson’s handling of the issue.

It’s unclear if Paul was serious in his suggestion or if the post was made with tongue-in-cheek.

Democratic political strategist Jimmy Williams balked at the idea.

‘Senators should stick to Senating and House Members should stick to their Chamber,’ Williams wrote on X. ‘No House Member gives a damn what a Senator thinks about who should be Speaker.’

However, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., backed the idea.

‘I’d be open to supporting @elonmusk for Speaker of the House,’ Greene wrote on X replying to Paul. ‘DOGE can only truly be accomplished by reigning in Congress to enact real government efficiency. The establishment needs to be shattered just like it was yesterday. This could be the way.’

Johnson ascended to the speakership after former House Speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was ousted late last year in a move initiated by eight Republican rebels, becoming the first House speaker to be voted out of the position in U.S. history.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D- N.Y., said last week that no Democrats will vote for Johnson’s bill, scheduled for Jan. 3. 

With Republicans set to hold a four-seat majority, Johnson retaining the gavel is not guaranteed.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said Wednesday that he won’t vote for Johnson, barring a ‘Christmas miracle.’ Earlier this year, Massie supported Greene in pushing to remove Johnson from the speakership, but the vast majority of members in both parties ultimately voted to spike the ouster effort. 

With Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., saying she will no longer caucus with Republicans while remaining a registered Republican, that may reduce Johnson’s support to a single vote.

Paul is not the only senator to weigh in on Johnson’s leadership.

On Wednesday, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo, took aim at the House Speaker for the chaotic situation playing out on Capitol Hill and suggested change.

‘It’s ridiculous. It’s a horrible plan. I can’t believe that Republican leadership ever cooked it up,’ Hawley told Hannity.

‘Clearly, they didn’t talk to Trump about it, and I tell you what, we need to have a serious look at who’s leading this Congress because if this is the best they could do, I mean, it’s just it’s total incompetence, this is a disaster.’

Hawley said the latest plan would saddle the incoming administration with a ‘terrible spending bill’ and it would need to be revisited again in March.

‘Under this bill, they’d shut the government down again, have to do this all over again, have to raise the debt ceiling again later, the same year.’

‘This bill right here would add hundreds of billions of dollars to the deficit, and the worst part is, it is all for Dem priorities.’

Fox News’ Danielle Wallace and Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report. 

Members of President Biden’s staff noticed his fading stamina and increasing confusion within the first few months of him entering office, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal.

The Journal based its report on interviews with nearly 50 people, including current and former White House staffers who interacted directly with the president, as well as lawmakers.

One former aide recalled a national security official explaining why a meeting in the spring of 2021 was canceled altogether.

‘He has good days and bad days, and today was a bad day so we’re going to address this tomorrow,’ he recalled the official saying.

Democratic lawmakers in Congress reported that Biden was less available than past presidents. He had few meetings with members of Congress, and those meetings were often brief, they said.

‘The Biden White House was more insulated than most,’ Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., told the Journal. ‘I spoke with Barack Obama on a number of occasions when he was president and I wasn’t even chairman of the committee.’

‘I really had no personal contact with this president. I had more personal contact with Obama, which is sort of strange because I was a lot more junior,’ Rep Jim Himes, D-Conn., echoed.

Even members of Biden’s own Cabinet soon stopped requesting calls with the president, perceiving from interactions with staff that calls were unwelcome, WSJ reported.

A source familiar with the Journal’s reporting said the outlet had on-record interviews with a number of Cabinet members who rejected claims that Biden lacks mental acuity. Those Cabinet members included Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and EPA Administrator Michael Regan and others, the source said. The Journal did not include their comments in its report.

Biden held fewer than half as many full Cabinet meetings as his most recent predecessors. President-elect Trump held 25 such meetings and former President Obama held 19 in their first terms, but Biden had just eight.

The White House pushed back on the substance of the Journal’s report in a statement provided to Fox News Digital, saying Biden’s policy accomplishments provide ‘indisputable proof’ of his qualifications and leadership.

‘President Biden speaks with members of his Cabinet daily, and with most members multiple times a week, staying in close touch with them about implementation of key laws and strengthening our national security. During every presidency, there are inevitably some in Washington who do not receive as much time with whomever the president is as they would prefer; but that never means that the president isn’t engaging thoroughly with others, as this president does,’ said White House spokesman Andrew Bates.

‘Cabinet meetings are an important tradition, but the contemporary work environment means they can be fewer and far between. As academics who study the presidency have emphasized, every member of the Cabinet – to say nothing of the President – are busy principals and more can be accomplished on behalf of the American people speaking with the President one-on-one or in smaller settings with officials who have related portfolios,’ he added.

Fox News Digital reached out to Cabinet officials and their departments, asking them if they believed Biden was fit to serve this week, and if they stood by past statements of confidence in his ability to continue.

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, in a statement in September, said that he has ‘full confidence in President Biden’s ability to carry out his job. 

‘As I’ve said before, I come fully prepared for my meetings with President Biden, knowing his questions will be detail-oriented, probing, and exacting. In our exchanges, the President always draws upon our prior conversations and past events in analyzing the issues and reaching his conclusions,’ he said.

On Monday, DHS said that the secretary stands by those comments.

Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo has called Biden ‘one of the most accomplished presidents in American history and continues to effectively lead our country with a steady hand.’

‘As someone who is actually in the room when the President meets with the Cabinet and foreign leaders, I can tell you he is an incisive and extraordinary leader,’ Raimondo said.

A spokesperson said this week that Raimondo stands by those comments.

Sabrina Singh, deputy Pentagon press secretary, told Fox in September: ‘As Secretary Austin has said before, he has watched President Biden make tough national security decisions and seen his commitment to keeping our troops safe – he has nothing but total confidence in our Commander-in-Chief.’

This week, Singh said those comments still stand.