Sen. Josh Hawley again drew a line in the sand on proposed cuts to Medicaid benefits, and warned his colleagues to follow President Donald Trump’s lead and leave the widely used healthcare program largely intact.

Republican-led Senate committees have spent the last few weeks since the House GOP advanced its version of the president’s ‘big, beautiful bill,’ preparing their own tweaks to the colossal bill, but much of the focus has been on the work being carried out by the Senate Finance Committee.

The panel, which is responsible for health care, tax and other policy provisions, is expected to release its chunk of the budget reconciliation package Tuesday afternoon. House GOP-authored Medicaid provisions, in particular, have been a sticking point for a small group of Senate Republicans.

What those changes on the Senate side of the bill might look like could jump start or stall the momentum of the massive legislative package in the upper chamber.

Hawley, R-Mo, is among that cohort and has long been outspoken in his position that if Senate Republicans produce a version of the president’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ that strips benefits from his constituents, he won’t support the package. But his vision for Medicaid clashes with fiscal hawks who are in search of deeper spending cuts.

One of his main arguments is to listen to what Trump wants to do.

‘This is what I continue to tell my colleagues,’ he said. ‘Anybody who asks me and who’s interested is that, why don’t we just listen to the guy who won the election who said that he doesn’t want any Medicaid benefit cuts, he doesn’t want rural hospitals to close. He wants Medicare not to be touched at all.’

The lawmaker’s remarks came during a press call on Friday discussing the inclusion of his Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), which provides compensation to people who have been exposed to nuclear waste, into the ‘big, beautiful bill.’

Hawley said the addition was certainly a sweetener for his support, considering that the measure has been his ‘leading legislative priority for two years now.’ Still, Medicaid is one of his top issues in the broader reconciliation fight.

The lawmaker said that he did not have a problem with some of the marquee changes to Medicaid that his House Republican counterparts wanted, including stricter work requirements, booting illegal immigrants from benefit rolls and rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in the program that serves tens of millions of Americans.

However, he noted that about 1.3 million Missourians rely on Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and contended that most were working.

‘These are not people who are sitting around, these are people who are working,’ he said. ‘They’re on Medicaid because they cannot afford private health insurance, and they don’t get it on the job.’

‘And I just think it’s wrong to go to those people and say, ‘Well, you know, we know you’re doing the best, we know that you’re working hard, but we’re going to take away your healthcare access,’’ he continued. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is calling off his planned trip to Jerusalem this coming weekend in light of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran.

‘Due to the complex situation currently unfolding in Iran and Israel, Speaker Ohana and I have made the decision to postpone the special session of the Knesset,’ Johnson said in a statement.

‘We look forward to rescheduling the address in the near future and send our prayers to the people of Israel and the Middle East.’

Johnson had planned to address the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, this coming Sunday.

It’s a sign of the worsening situation in the Middle East after Israel, which said Iran was dangerously close to a nuclear weapon, launched preemptive strikes in Tehran that hit nuclear enrichment sites and killed top military officials.

Johnson, like most Republicans, backed Israel’s moves.

‘Israel and the United States have been united, including in our shared insistence that Iran must never obtain a nuclear weapon. President Trump and his administration have worked tirelessly to ensure that outcome,’ the speaker said in a statement on Friday.

‘Unfortunately, Iran has refused to agree and even declared yesterday its intent to build a new enrichment facility. Israel decided it needed to take action to defend itself. They were clearly within their right to do so.’

Israel’s military said Monday that it has established ‘aerial superiority’ over Iran’s forces as the conflict continues into another day.

President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social Sunday that Israel and Iran ‘should make a deal, and will make a deal.’ 

‘[W]e will have PEACE, soon, between Israel and Iran! Many calls and meetings now taking place,’ Trump wrote.

A Senate panel charged with some of the most hot-button portions of President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ unveiled its portion of the gargantuan package on Monday.

The Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over tax policy, Medicaid and a slew of other items baked into the House GOP’s version of the bill, released its text as Republicans sprint to finish work on the president’s bill ahead of a self-imposed July 4 deadline.

The committee, chaired by Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, had to walk a perilous tightrope with their legislation, given the push and pull surrounding divisive cuts to Medicaid, an increase to the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap and other provisions in the House’s version of the bill.

Crapo lauded the bill in a statement, and noted that it made the president’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent, slashed ‘Green New Deal’ spending and targeted ‘waste, fraud and abuse in spending programs while preserving and protecting them for the most vulnerable.’ 

‘I look forward to continued coordination with our colleagues in the House and the Administration to deliver President Trump’s bold economic agenda for the American people as quickly as possible,’ he said. 

While House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., pleaded with Senate leaders to change the bill as little as possible after narrowly passing the bill in the House, particularly on the compromises he reached on SALT and Medicaid, the Senate has vowed to leave its imprint on the package. 

Crapo and Republican committee members have similarly had to navigate divisions in the upper chamber, particularly around Medicaid tweaks to provider payments and an increase to the SALT cap to $40,000 — a change needed to ram the bill through the House, but one Senate Republicans dislike. 

Ten years ago Monday, businessman Donald J. Trump launched his first presidential campaign, marking the beginning of the ‘Make America Great Again’ movement. 

Trump, beside his wife, Melania, famously came down the golden escalator at Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York City June 16, 2015, to announce his intention to run for president of the United States. 

‘I am officially running for President of the United States,’ Trump posted to his then-Twitter account June 16, 2015, along with a photo of his family after his announcement. ‘#MakeAmericaGreatAgain.’

‘Ten Years Ago Today, President Donald J. Trump came down the Golden Escalator and officially declared his candidacy for President of the United States,’ Team Trump posted to Instagram Monday to commemorate the ten-year anniversary. 

Since, Trump has changed American politics — creating the MAGA movement and serving as the 45th and 47th president of the United States, after beating former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016 and former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2020. 

Trump is the only president to serve two nonconsecutive terms other than Grover Cleveland who was elected in 1884 and again in 1892.  

‘This will truly be the golden age of America,’ Trump said, upon winning the 2024 election in a landslide. 

Israel activated a new aerial defense system – dubbed ‘Barak Magen,’ meaning ‘lightning shield’ – for the first time on Sunday night, saying it intercepted and destroyed multiple Iranian drones.

The Israeli Navy intercepted eight Iranian drones using the ‘Barak Magen’ and its long-range air defense (LRAD) interceptor, which were launched from an Israeli navy Sa’ar 6 missile ship, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement.

John Hannah, senior fellow at The Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) and the co-author of a report published earlier this month on Israel’s defense against two massive Iranian missile attacks in 2024, told Fox News Digital on Monday that the air defense system ‘significantly enhances’ the air and missile defense architecture of Israel’s navy.

‘The Barak Magen is simply another arrow in the expanding quiver of Israel’s highly sophisticated and increasingly diverse multi-tiered missile defense architecture – which was already, by leaps and bounds, the most advanced and experienced air defense system fielded by any country in the world,’ Hannah said.

The system can intercept a ‘wide range of threats,’ according to the IDF, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), cruise missiles, high-trajectory threats and shore-to-sea missiles.

Hannah said the system not only provides force protection for the Israeli fleet but also gives long-distance protection to Israel’s expanding oil and gas infrastructure in the eastern Mediterranean, along with critical infrastructure and population centers located along Israel’s coastline.

‘It allows Israel to conduct interceptions at significant distances from the Israeli homeland, both out in the eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea, and thereby adds critically important strategic depth when defending Israel’s tiny geographic area,’ he said.

The IDF said that the Israeli Navy’s missile ship flotilla has intercepted about 25 UAVs that posed a threat to Israel since the conflict with Iran escalated.

Israel and Iran traded missile strikes for the fourth day on Monday, with Iran firing a new wave of strikes that killed at least eight people and wounded dozens more.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military claimed it had achieved air superiority above Tehran, warning about 330,000 people in a central part of the Iranian capital to evacuate ahead of new strikes.

President Donald Trump said Monday that Iran would ‘like to talk’ about dialing down the Israel-Iran conflict during a quick appearance in front of reporters alongside Canada’s prime minister at this week’s G7 conference. 

The president made the comment after a reporter asked if Trump had seen or heard ‘any signals or seen any messages from intermediaries that Iran wishes to de-escalate the conflict.’

‘They’d like to talk, but they should have done that before,’ Trump responded. ‘But I’d say Iran is not winning this war. And they should talk, and they should talk immediately before it’s too late.’

Trump’s comments come amid an ongoing exchange of missile barrages between Israel and Iran. The battle began last week when Israel launched attacks from inside Iran targeting many of Iran’s top military commanders and the country’s nuclear facilities. 

Trump reiterated during his Monday comments from the G7 that he had provided Iran 60 days to strike a deal on a new nuclear deal that the president has suggested could have prevented the current fighting.

‘They had 60 days, and on the 61st day, I said, ‘We don’t have a deal,” Trump said while standing next to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. ‘They have to make a deal. And it’s painful for both parties.’

When asked what it would take for the U.S. to get involved in the conflict militarily, Trump said, ‘I don’t want to talk about that.’

‘We’ve always supported Israel,’ Trump added when asked what material support the United States was providing Israel amid the attacks. ‘We have, for a long period of time, strongly, and Israel is doing very well right now.’

On Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported that, according to Middle Eastern and European officials, Iran has been sending messages to Israel and the U.S. – via Arab intermediaries – signaling they are open to returning to the negotiating table under the condition the U.S. does not join Israel in its attacks.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on this story.

Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

A Senate Democrat wants to ensure that Congress can weigh in before the U.S. leaps into ‘another endless conflict’ in the Middle East, a sentiment shared by President Donald Trump.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., on Monday introduced a resolution that would require Congress to debate and vote before any U.S. force is used against Iran. Kaine said in a statement that it was ‘not in our national security interest to get into a war with Iran unless that war is absolutely necessary to defend the United States.’

‘I am deeply concerned that the recent escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran could quickly pull the United States into another endless conflict,’ he said. ‘The American people have no interest in sending service members to fight another forever war in the Middle East.’

‘This resolution will ensure that if we decide to place our nation’s men and women in uniform into harm’s way, we will have a debate and vote on it in Congress,’ Kaine continued.

Kaine’s sentiment is similar to that of Trump, his former opponent in the 2016 election, when the lawmaker ran alongside former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Trump has painted himself as the consummate anti-war president, vowing during his first term and on the campaign trail during the 2024 election cycle to cease endless wars like those started at the beginning of this century in Afghanistan and Iraq.

However, he noted on Sunday in an interview with ABC News that ‘it’s possible’ the U.S. will get involved amid reports that Israel made a plea for America to join the fray.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment for this report. 

Still, the president has made clear that he would prefer a diplomatic end, urging Iranian leaders to return to the negotiation table to hammer out a nuclear deal.

Most senators are also not keen on the idea of sending American troops onto the battlefield, with many believing that Trump, who they say would never green-light soldiers fighting in yet another war in the Middle East, will be the deciding factor.

Kaine’s resolution is privileged, meaning that the Senate is required to quickly consider and vote on it, and is meant to underscore that ‘Congress has the sole power to declare war’ under the Constitution and that any action against Iran must be ‘explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization for use of military force.’

The last time Congress formally declared war was in 1942 against Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania. Prior to that, Congress declared war on Japan in 1941.

Since then, lawmakers have green-lit the usage of military force through other avenues, including Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) resolutions, which gives the president the authority to use military force. 
One of the most notable AUMFs was approved in 2001, shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks in New York City. 

The Supreme Court has rejected a copyright lawsuit alleging that Ed Sheeran’s 2014 hit song ‘Thinking Out Loud’ copied music chords from Marvin Gaye’s 1973 classic ‘Let’s Get It On.’

The Supreme Court on Monday decided not to hear the case brought by Structured Asset Sales (SAS), which owns a portion of the rights to Gaye’s song. The decision keeps in place the lower court decision that Sheeran was not liable in the copyright infringement lawsuit.

SAS, which is owned by investment banker David Pullman, had argued that Sheeran used the copyrighted melody, harmony and rhythm of Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On.’

The case was dismissed in 2023 after U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton decided that the musical elements Sheeran was accused of copying were too common. 

The dismissal followed Sheeran’s victory in a separate copyright lawsuit over the song that was brought by the family of singer-songwriter Ed Townsend, who co-wrote Gaye’s song. 

‘It’s devastating to be accused of stealing someone else’s song when we’ve put so much work into our livelihoods,’ Sheeran said outside the courthouse following that verdict.

SAS appealed Stanton’s decision, though the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the judge’s decision last year.

The question of a ‘day after’ plan in the Gaza Strip has plagued negotiations between Israel, the U.S., Arab nations and Hamas for months and has ultimately led to the terrorist network’s refusal to release the 55 hostages still held there. 

However, foreign policy leaders and security experts based in Washington may have the key that could provide a solution to help rebuild the war-torn Gaza Strip where others cannot: private security contractors (PSC).

PSCs, which have heavy experience in the Middle East and decades of lessons learned to draw from, could be used as non-state actors to provide stability and a path forward for the Palestinians, but they would have to start with humanitarian aid, John Hannah, former national security advisor to Dick Cheney and current Randi & Charles Wax senior fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), told Fox News Digital.

In a plan hatched out following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel and the subsequent outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip, a group of eight members with JINSA and the Vandenberg Coalition comprised a report that detailed how the handling of humanitarian aid could completely change security in the region. 

The plan, in part, initially looked similar to the mechanism known as the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is backed by the U.S. and Israel, and which launched last month to distribute aid to Palestinians. 

However, the plan comprised by Hannah and the team took it a step further and argued that these aid actors should also be involved in rebuilding Gaza.

‘We thought humanitarian issues was the best way [forward],’ Hannah said. ‘It was the common denominator that would allow all of the major stakeholders that want to get to a better ‘day after’ – Israel, the United States, the key pragmatic Arab states – they all could agree that we can’t agree on a political vision for Palestine 10 years from now, and the issue of a Palestinian state, but we can all agree on this apple pie and motherhood issue that we don’t want to see starving, suffering Palestinians.’

The Israel Defense Forces had already detailed the need to eliminate Hamas following the deadliest-ever attack on Israel, but the group of eight experts also identified that aid, long used by Hamas to maintain power by using it to incentivize support and recruitment, and to punish opposition, needed to be the key to cementing actual change. 

‘We needed a solution on humanitarian aid,’ Hannah said. ‘And when we looked around the world, who could do this, take over the humanitarian aid? We were left with one option.’

‘We didn’t think it should be the Israel Defense Forces. Israel lacks legitimacy with the Palestinian population, and frankly, it had its hands full doing the military job of defeating Hamas,’ he added.  ‘American forces weren’t going to do it. We didn’t think Arab forces would step up and do this. And the U.N. system as it existed under UNRWA was illegitimate in the eyes of Israel.’

The group not only briefed the Biden and Netanyahu administrations on the proposal, but held numerous discussions with Israeli officials in 2024 on how such a plan could work. 

Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Michael Barbero – who served as deputy chief of staff, Strategic Operations for Multinational Forces-Iraq for 2007-2008 and who was tasked by Gen. David Petraeus to create a system of accountability over PSCs in Iraq following the Blackwater incident in September 2007 known as the Nisour Square massacre – also briefed Israeli officials on how a PSC mechanism could work in the Gaza Strip.

Progress on the proposal appeared to stall by summer last year as then-President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were at increasing loggerheads over humanitarian concerns and mounting civilian Palestinian death tolls. 

However, Hannah questioned whether the seed had been planted with Israel by the time the Trump administration re-entered office, enabling the GHF to come in and start distributing aid. 

The GHF, though it has distributed over 16 million meals since it began operations in late May, saw a chaotic start with starving Palestinians rushing certain sites and reports of violence unfolding. 

Though the reports of the level of chaos have reportedly been exaggerated by Hamas – which ultimately would benefit from the GHF’s failure as experts have explained – the group initially drew some criticism over transparency concerns, though the group has been looking to remedy this with regal updates.

The group, which saw its third leadership in as many weeks earlier this month, told Fox News Digital that despite some frustration among world leaders and aid groups, its goal is to work with major organizations like the United Nations and others to better distribute aid across Gaza where those programs are still flagging.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee confirmed last month that the GHF’s distribution centers would be protected by private security contractors.

Though while Washington backs the effort, State Department spokeperson Tammy Bruce has repeatedly made clear that the GHF is ‘an independent organization’ that ‘does not receive U.S. government funding.’ 

However, she has also refused to confirm whether any U.S. officials are working for the program. 

PSCs have a storied history in the Middle East, and not only the U.S. war on terror. They have been used by nations like Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which could lend them a level of acceptance that would not be attainable by another force. 

The proposal issued by Hannah and his colleagues took the use of PSCs one step beyond humanitarian aid and argued they could make a positive impact in the actual reconstruction of the Gaza Strip – an idea that was also presented to the Trump administration this year. 

‘It’s not at all foreign to these Arab parties that you might employ PSCs for certain critical missions,’ Hannah said. ‘Our idea was, let’s scale it up. Let’s unify the effort. Let’s have America and the Arabs lead it. 

‘The Arabs would put in most of the humanitarian aid workers, a lot of the financing, and then they would hire some of these international PSCs with a lot of experience to come in and protect those operations,’ he explained. ‘You’d have the Arabs engaged, which we thought was absolutely critical.’

The plan also included bringing in other international aid organizations that would work with these PSCs to expand developments like housing projects, community development and infrastructure repair to restore electricity and water.

‘And eventually, hopefully, begin to identify new leadership, local leadership in Gaza, who would be prepared to cooperate with the operations of this nonprofit entity,’ Hannah said. ‘Local Gazans of goodwill, who wanted to be rid of Hamas, who this entity could provide some support to, some protection to so they can, could begin rebuilding Gaza civil administration.’

The plan also addressed the perpetual question of how to deter the next generation of Hamas terrroirsts, particularly amid Israeli military operations.

Hannah argued this issue could be addressed by simultaneously training a ‘non-Hamas new Palestinian, local Palestinian security force’ that would not only have the trust of the local population but could also gain the trust of Israel.  

Hannah said he still believes this plan could be a tenable next step to securing the Gaza Strip but urged the Trump administration to take a more direct diplomatic role by leaning on Arab, European and Israeli partners to make it happen.

The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital’s questions about this reporting. 

In quite possibly the sharpest regulatory U-turn thus far in 2025, the Trump Department of Energy (DOE) is proposing to roll back home appliance regulations as aggressively as the Biden administration created them. Homeowners will benefit greatly if this effort is successful. 

Dialing back the appliance red tape ought to be a slam dunk given the consumer dislike of government meddling on everything from stoves to light bulbs to furnaces. Even so, total repeal won’t be easy. The underlying statute, the 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA), specifically requires the agency to impose certain energy use restrictions, thus any attempts to undo these mandatory provisions are unlikely to withstand the inevitable court challenges. 

However, the Trump DOE is wisely focusing on the many instances where Biden’s appliance regulations went beyond the law, and it is this regulatory freelancing that is ripe for correction.  

Reversing the bureaucratic excess could make a significant dent in the more than 100 appliance restrictions Trump inherited from the previous administration.  

The targets include dishwashers and washing machines, both of which rank high on the list of DOE’s most over-regulated appliances. Washington’s heavy hand has led to longer cycle times, compromised cleaning performance, and reduced reliability. The problems stem from the fact that DOE regulates both the amount of energy and the amount of water these appliances are allowed to use, though EPCA only authorizes the agency to set standards on energy.  

For this reason, DOE is now proposing to rescind the agency’s water requirements for both, which could go a long way towards fixing the problems.

Similarly, the agency is going after other superfluous appliance provisions, including those for stoves, showers, faucets, dehumidifiers and portable spas. Regulation of these appliances won’t go away completely, but it would revert to the minimum the law requires and no more. 

DOE plans to go even further with other appliances that were never mentioned in EPCA and should have been entirely excluded. This includes microwave ovens, gas fireplaces, outdoor heaters, air cleaners, portable air conditioners and wine chillers. These products would no longer be subject to any DOE efficiency regulations whatsoever.

At the same time it is repealing or revising past regulations, DOE has proposed reforms discouraging unnecessary future measures. Similar reforms were first enacted during the Clinton administration and later expanded under the first Trump administration, but they were later cut back by the Biden administration. They include many commonsense safeguards against over-regulation, such as ensuring any new rules don’t affect product features and performance or impose unnecessary costs.

Perhaps most importantly, the proposed reforms align with Trump executive orders reversing the Biden administration’s near-obsession with climate change in regulatory matters.  The Biden DOE routinely used climate change as a justification for tighter appliance rules, despite provisions in the law prioritizing consumer utility over environmental considerations. The Trump DOE is again putting consumers first, which almost always leads to less regulation rather than more.

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright summed up the goal of these deregulatory efforts when he said ‘the people, not the government, should be choosing the home appliances and products they want at prices they can afford.’ Those words are quite a reversal from the previous administration which boasted of its many appliance crackdowns, but they represent a welcome change for American homeowners.