Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and her DOGE subcommittee are launching an investigation into Planned Parenthood on Friday.

Greene is sending a letter to Planned Parenthood CEO Alexis McGill Johnson, questioning whether the nonprofit is commingling ‘federal funds and using them for unpermitted purposes.’

Federal funds are barred from being used for abortions under a measure called the Hyde Amendment. President Donald Trump has also taken executive action toward affirming the Hyde Amendment and blocking federal dollars from organizations that provide transgender healthcare to youth.

However, Greene’s letter suggested she is accusing Planned Parenthood of doing both.

‘Despite receiving 39 percent of its annual revenue from federal funds intended for essential health services, such as cancer screenings and wellness exams, Planned Parenthood is increasingly using its resources to offer abortions to its patients,’ Greene wrote.

Greene said the data show that the ‘latest Planned Parenthood annual report shows that it performed more than 400,000 abortions, an increase of 23 percent over the last 10 years.’

The letter also accused Planned Parenthood of providing ‘gender-affirming care’ with ‘allegedly little to no medical or psychological evaluation.’

An annual report by Planned Parenthood, cited by Greene, showed 45 ‘affiliate health centers’ providing hormone therapy for so-called ‘gender-affirming care.’

However, Greene said other gender transition services were reported as ‘other procedures,’ including pediatric care and infertility services as well, which she said obscured the ‘true number of transgender services provided.’

‘Planned Parenthood’s official policy varies by state, but some Planned Parenthood health centers will provide cross-sex hormones to minors as young as 16 years old with parental consent,’ Greene wrote, while also accusing the group of ‘not consistently adhering to its own parental consent policies.’

To assist her probe, Greene is seeking Planned Parenthood’s non-public financial statements from between January 2020 through June 2025, as well as a list of its independent affiliate health centers, informed consent documents, and other documentation.

Notably, that period includes when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and sent the issue of abortion back to the states in June 2022.

Republicans have long targeted Planned Parenthood, accusing the nonprofit of misusing federal dollars despite the longstanding anti-abortion funding measure.

The group’s supporters, meanwhile, have held it up as a key nationwide provider of women’s healthcare – which they believe has only gotten more critical after the high court’s June 2022 decision.

Greene’s panel, which is under the House Oversight Committee, is opening the probe weeks after House Republicans passed their version of Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill,’ which includes a provision to block federal funds from organizations that provide abortions.

Fox News Digital reached out to Planned Parenthood for comment but did not immediately hear back.

Far-left House Democrats are hammering Israel for its Thursday night strikes on Iran.

Members of the House’s progressive ‘Squad,’ already critical of Israel’s war on Gaza, are denouncing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a ‘war criminal’ after his government launched attacks on Tehran and surrounding areas.

‘Israel has once again bombed Iran, a dangerous & reckless escalation. The war criminal Netanyahu wants to ignite an endless regional war & drag the US into it,’ Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., wrote on X. ‘Any politician who tries to help him betrays us all. The American people do not want this.’

Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., claimed Israel would drag the U.S. into war in the Middle East.

‘The Israeli government bombing Iran is a dangerous escalation that could lead to regional war. War Criminal Netanyahu will do anything to maintain his grip on power,’ Tlaib wrote.

‘We cannot let him drag our country into a war with Iran. Our government must stop funding and supporting this rogue genocidal regime.’

Omar said, ‘Regardless of what [President Donald Trump] thinks, Israel knows America will do whatever they want and feels confident about their ability to get into war and have the American government back them up. Israel also knows they can always rely on getting America to protect and serve its needs.’

‘Everyone in America should prepare themselves to either see their tax dollars being spent on weapon supplies to Israel or be dragged into war with Iran if this escalates,’ Omar said.

Washington and Tehran have been engaged in talks about a new Iran nuclear deal aimed at reining in the Islamic republic’s uranium enrichment.

Trump posted on Truth Social Friday morning that Iran now had a ‘second chance’ to come to the table after Israel’s strikes.

Democrats, meanwhile, were more concerned.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said on MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’ that he thought Israel’s strikes, which it called preemptive, were a bid to scuttle those talks.

‘It appears as if this was an attempt by Israel to scuttle Donald Trump’s negotiations with Iran. Of course, our preferred pathway here to keep Iran from getting a nuclear weapon is diplomacy,’ Murphy said.

U.S. officials have been warning Iran not to respond to what Israel has said will be a multi-strike operation.

President Donald Trump promised that Israel’s next round of attacks on Iran would be ‘even more brutal’ in a Truth Social post pressuring Iran to cut a deal on its nuclear activity. 

‘There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end,’ Trump said. 

‘Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire. No more death, no more destruction, JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.’

Trump said he warned Iran that ‘the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come – And they know how to use it.’

‘Certain Iranian hardliner’s spoke bravely, but they didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!’

The U.S. and Iran have another round of nuclear talks scheduled for this weekend in Muscat, Oman, while the two sides remain on opposite ends over whether Iran should have the capacity to enrich uranium at all, even for civil energy purposes. 

It is not clear whether those negotiations will carry on in light of the attack. Trump had urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to let talks play out before launching any strikes. 

 ‘I think it would blow it,’ Trump said earlier yesterday of the prospect of a premature Israeli attack. But then, he mused, it ‘might help it actually, but it also could blow it.’ 

After the attack, Secretary of State Marco Rubio put out a statement insisting the U.S. had no part in the strikes and urged Iran not to attack U.S. positions. Earlier, non-essential embassy staff in Iraq had been evacuated in light of the prospect of an attack. 

Tehran fired over 100 drones toward Israel on Friday morning in a counter-move, which Israel intercepted. 

Netanyahu revealed the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) struck a key nuclear site, Natanz, during the attack on the regime.

Among those killed were top nuclear scientists and top military leaders: General Hossein Salami, the commander-in-chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Iran’s highest-ranking military official and chief of staff of the IRGC, along with most of the IRGC air force high command, who were convened in an underground bunker at the time. 

The first wave of strikes hit over 100 targets with 200 Israeli fighter jets dropping ‘330 different munitions,’ the IDF said, adding the strikes will carry on for days. 

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., expressed staunch support for Israel’s assault against Iran, calling for the U.S. to back Israel’s efforts by providing the ally with anything it needs.

‘Our commitment to Israel must be absolute and I fully support this attack. Keep wiping out Iranian leadership and the nuclear personnel. We must provide whatever is necessary—military, intelligence, weaponry—to fully back Israel in striking Iran,’ Fetterman asserted Thursday night in a post on X.

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs reposted the senator’s post. 

It also shared a post in which U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson expressed support for the U.S. ally. 

‘Israel IS right—and has a right—to defend itself!’ Johnson declared.

Sen. Lindsey Graham suggested that if Iran targets U.S. interests, America should execute ‘an overwhelming response’ that annihilates the foreign country’s oil infrastructure.

‘People are wondering if Iran will attack American military personnel or interests throughout the region because of Israel’s attack on Iran’s leadership and nuclear facilities,’ Graham noted Thursday night in a post on X. 

‘My answer is if they do, America should have an overwhelming response, destroying all of Iran’s oil refineries and oil infrastructure putting the ayatollah and his henchmen out of the oil business.’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement on Thursday night that the U.S. was ‘not involved in strikes against Iran’ and declared that ‘Iran should not target U.S. interests or personnel.’

President Donald Trump issued a Truth Social post on Friday morning in which he urged Iran to agree to a deal, apparently referring to a nuclear deal.

‘I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them, in the strongest of words, to ‘just do it,’ but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn’t get it done. I told them it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come – And they know how to use it. Certain Iranian hardliner’s spoke bravely, but they didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!’ Trump warned in his post.

‘There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end. Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire. No more death, no more destruction, JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. God Bless You All!’

When it comes to the nation’s federal government, GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin is ‘not a fan.’ 

He believes that it ’causes or exacerbates more problems than it actually solves,’ telling Fox News Digital during an interview on Wednesday that the bulk of his oversight is ‘to expose how awful government is’ in order to obtain ‘public support for reducing it, limiting its size, limiting its cost, limiting its influence over our lives.’

‘As our federal government grows, our freedoms recede,’ he said. ‘You see what the federal government does, how it wastes money.’

The national debt has ballooned to the eye-watering sum of more than $36 trillion, with lawmakers and presidents from both parties presiding over the deficit spending that has led the nation to this point. 

Johnson said he’s ‘trying to force reality’ upon everyone in the nation’s capital, regardless of whether they want to face that reality.

He said for decades the nation has been suffering a ‘chronic debt crisis,’ illustrating the dramatic decline in the value of the U.S. dollar by noting that ‘the dollar you held back in 1998 is now only worth $0.51 cents,’ while ‘a dollar you held in … 2019 is only worth $0.80 cents.’

The senator referred to inflation as ‘the silent tax.’

But he’s certainly not staying silent.

Johnson indicated that the elected leaders are mortgaging the future of American children, but ‘don’t talk about it.’

‘I’m forcing everybody to look at it,’ he said, noting that his ‘primary role’ is to force ‘acknowledgment of our problem.’

But as keenly as Johnson advocates the idea of slashing the sprawling tentacles of the massive federal bureaucracy, right now he’s just pushing to pare spending down to pre-pandemic levels.

The conservative fiscal hawk has been making headlines for taking a stand against the Trump-backed One Big Beautiful Bill Act that cleared the GOP-controlled House of Representatives last month. 

But Johnson told Fox News Digital that he actually likes a lot of the measure.

‘I’m really not critical of the bill as far as it goes,’ Johnson explained, noting that he’s a ‘big supporter’ of much of what’s in it, though he noted that has not read all of it — the measure is more than 1,000 pages long. 

‘My main beef is it just doesn’t go far enough,’ he said, noting that after the COVID-19 pandemic Democrats failed to return to pre-COVID spending and deficit levels.

The Congressional Budget Office’s estimated budgetary impact for the measure indicates that the net effect on the deficit would be a more than $2.4 trillion increase over the fiscal years 2025-2034.

But White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought has said the measure would decrease deficits.

‘The bill REDUCES deficits by $1.4 trillion over ten years when you adjust for CBO’s one big gimmick–not using a realistic current policy baseline. It includes $1.7 trillion in mandatory savings, the most in history. If you care about deficits and debt, this bill dramatically improves the fiscal picture,’ Vought said in a post on X.

Johnson also noted during the interview that there has not been a ‘reckoning’ regarding the ‘abuse’ at all levels of government during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He noted that he does not refer to the COVID-19 jab as a vaccine. Instead, he referred to it as an ‘injection,’ asserting that it is ‘not a vaccine,’ and that it caused injuries and death.

The senator said that he thinks the shots should have ‘black box warnings.’ 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website states that the ‘CDC recommends a 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine for most adults ages 18 and older’ and claims that the ‘vaccine helps protect you from severe illness, hospitalization, and death.’

Johnson, who has served in the Senate since 2011 and won election to a third term in 2022, said he’d prefer not to seek another term in office.

‘I don’t covet this job,’ he said, noting that he wants to leverage his post to help save America and aid those who are ‘ignored by the system.’

While he’s not ruling out another run, Johnson, who turned 70-years-old earlier this year, said he’d ‘be happy’ to return to Oshkosh and ‘live a nice, peaceful life.’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that one of Iran’s top nuclear facilities had been hit in Thursday night’s strike against the regime.

‘Iran has produced enough highly enriched uranium for nine atom bombs, nine,’ Netanyahu said. ‘In recent months, Iran is taking steps that it has never taken before, steps to weaponize this enriched uranium. And if not stopped, Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time.’

The Natanz Nuclear Facility – one of Tehran’s key nuclear sites and which has been flagged by security experts that in coordination with the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, could produce enough weapons-grade uranium to produce 11 nuclear weapons within a month – has been hit in the strikes, though the extent of the damage remains unknown. 

‘We struck at the heart of Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. We struck at the heart Iran’s nuclear weaponization program,’ Netanyahu said in live remarks. ‘We targeted Iran’s main enrichment facility in Natanz. 

‘We targeted Iran’s leading nuclear scientists working on the Iranian bomb,’ he added. 

The Nantaz Nuclear Facility was at least partially destroyed in 2020 following an explosion, and satellite imagery has suggested Iran began constructing deep underground tunnels to further secure and obscure their nuclear program, reported the Institute for Science and International Security earlier this year. 

It is unclear at this time if any of the underground structures were hit in the Thursday night strikes. 

‘We will not let the world’s most dangerous regime get the world’s most dangerous weapons, and Iran plans to give those weapons, nuclear weapons, to its terrorist proxies,’ Netanyahu said. ‘That would make the nightmare of nuclear terrorism all too real. 

‘The increasing range of Iran’s ballistic missiles would bring that nuclear nightmare to the cities of Europe, and eventually to America,’ he added. 

Reporting by The New York Times also said the Parchin military complex had been hit in the overnight strikes, though Fox News Digital could not independently confirm the hit.

The extent of the damage also remains unknown as it was reported in November that the Parchin military complex had been significantly damaged in Israel’s October strikes which housed a nuclear weapons research facility. 

Another five military bases surrounding Tehran were also reportedly hit. 

Israeli Defense Forces launched a sweeping strike on Iran following months of attempted, and seemingly failed, nuclear negotiations between the Trump administration and Tehran.

Fox News’ Trey Yingst reported that Israel carried out strikes in Iran, adding that explosions were heard in the capital of Tehran.

A state of emergency has been declared across Israel as the country braces for an Iranian response.

The strikes came after Israel first threatened to go after Iran’s nuclear facilities in early November following a series of back-and-forth missile attacks between April and October last year.

Direct engagement between Israel and Iran began after Tehran in April 2024 levied its first ever direct strikes against Israeli territory. Israel responded less than a week later and destroyed part of Iran’s S-300 long-range air defense system.

On Oct. 1, Iran levied a ballistic missile strike on Israel, to which Jerusalem responded with a series of hits on Oct. 26 that targeted military facilities and missile storage locations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later confirmed that Israel’s October strike partially degraded part of Iran’s nuclear program, and international concerns remained heightened that the security threat could escalate in the region. 

Some hoped that President Donald Trump’s administration would be able to make headway in nuclear negotiations where the Biden administration, and others in the international community could not. 

Negotiations between Washington and Tehran, mediated by Oman, resumed in Muscat on April 12 and Trump repeatedly called on Netanyahu not to hit Tehran and to let negotiations proceed. 

Following the first round of talks, Middle East Special Envoy Steve Witkoff told Fox News that the U.S. was looking to limit Iran’s uranium enrichment to 3.67%, a level generally used for civil nuclear energy needs. 

Under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which Trump pulled out of in 2018, Iran committed to maintaining no more than this level of enrichment until 2031 – though it has been found to have repeatedly violated this agreement. 

But the next day, on April 15, Witkoff backtracked his comments and said in a statement that ‘Iran must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponization program.’

Four days later the U.S. entered its second round of nuclear talks in Rome on April 19, before a third round was held in Muscat on April 26. Both sides expressed optimism following the talks.

Details of the negotiations were not released, but reports suggested the discussions largely focused on limiting Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanction relief.

Talks appeared to take a turn after the U.S. hit Iran with another round of sanctions in late April, which resulted in the postponement of the previously scheduled May 3 talks.

The fourth round of talks began to show signs of strain when Iran described the negotiations as ‘difficult but useful,’ and Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi made clear that Washington’s zero enrichment demand was a ‘non-negotiable.’

Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi reported that ‘some but not conclusive progress’ was made following the fifth round of talks held in Rome on May 23. 

By early June, Trump and Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei had repeatedly made clear they both would refuse to bend when it comes to the issue of enrichment, but a sixth round of talks was still set for June 15 in Oman.

It is unclear if those talks will continue following the Israeli strike.

Elmo has a friend, indeed.

Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries,D-N.Y., brought along a stuffed friend to help make a point on the House floor Thursday.

Jeffries held up a stuffed Elmo doll while accusing Republicans of targeting beloved children’s shows like ‘Sesame Street’ in their push to slash federal spending.

‘Today, we are on the floor of the House of Representatives debating legislation that targets Elmo. And Big Bird. And Daniel Tiger and ‘Sesame Street,” Jeffries said, waving the puppet as he railed against the GOP-led rescissions package.

The moment, widely circulated online, came during debate over the Republican-backed Proposed Rescissions of Budgetary Resources from President Trump, which would eliminate over $9 billion in unspent or low-priority federal funds.

Among the targeted programs: $3 million in taxpayer support for an international version of Sesame Street in Iraq.

Democrats objected to what they characterized as cultural and humanitarian vandalism disguised as fiscal responsibility. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif., delivered one of the sharpest lines of the day: ‘While you all have killed off Elmo, I urge my colleagues to vote no on this trash and I yield back,’ Garcia said.

Republicans dismissed the theatrics and defended the package as a commonsense rollback of bloated, ideological spending. The bill also includes broader cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports PBS and NPR, long-time targets of fiscal conservatives who argue the taxpayer shouldn’t subsidize public media.

Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., rebutted, ‘I never realized Elmo was more important to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle than the American people.’

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., pushed back forcefully: ‘The Minority Leader held up a Sesame Street character here on the floor as if Sesame Street’s somehow going to go away,’ Scalise said. 

‘I was watching a commercial on TV yesterday where the Cookie Monster was actually doing an advertisement for Netflix because a private company is paying money to run Sesame Street. It’s not going away. It’s doing just fine. Very lucrative.’

Scalise argued the bill doesn’t threaten Sesame Street’s survival, only its taxpayer subsidy, and called out what he described as ‘far-left, radical views’ being promoted through outlets like NPR and PBS.

‘There is still going to be a plethora of options for the American people,’ he said. ‘But if they are paying their hard-earned dollars to get content, why should your tax dollars go to only one thing that the other side wants to promote?’

He concluded bluntly: ‘They can still watch Sesame Street in Iraq. But let the Iraqi people pay for it — not the taxpayers of the United States of America’s children.’

Even more eyebrow‑raising was the inclusion of taxpayer‑funded global health spending for procedures like circumcisions.

Among the line items flagged by GOP lawmakers: $3 million to subsidize circumcisions, vasectomies and condoms in Zambia, alongside similar grants for transgender surgeries in Nepal. Republicans contended that pulling back these types of low-impact or ideological slush funds was a logical first step toward returning more than $9 billion to the U.S. Treasury.

The bill passed the House Appropriations Committee earlier this week and Senate Democrats have signaled strong opposition.

The bill passed the House in a 214–212 vote. Four Republicans, Reps. Mark Amodei, R-Nev.; Mike Turner, R-Ohio; Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.; and Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., broke ranks to vote against the bill. All Democrats voted no.

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., tore into a fellow Empire State lawmaker Thursday after the latter accosted Lawler on the House floor.

Chaos briefly broke out in the House of Representatives during the chamber’s final vote series of the week, when Rep. John Mannion, D-N.Y., began shouting at Lawler that he was on the wrong side of the floor.

Democrats and Republicans traditionally sit on opposite sides of the chamber, but it’s not unusual for lawmakers of either party to enter through any door and cross to their side.

Mannion was then heard shouting at Lawler, ‘Get over there and tell them the country is falling apart.’

‘F—ing get over there and get some f—ing balls,’ Mannion could be heard shouting. ‘You know who I am. I’m a New Yorker, just like you.’

Lawler responded to Mannion on X, writing, ‘John Mannion was entirely unhinged and unprofessional. That was a shameful display that exposed his complete lack of temperament.’

‘No wonder numerous staffers have previously alleged a toxic work environment. He should go seek help for anger management — and f— off.’

Unverified accusations arose during Mannion’s campaign that he had created a toxic work environment for staffers in the New York State Senate, which the New York Democrat dismissed at the time as a ‘false political attack.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Mannion’s office for comment but did not immediately hear back.

The New York Democrat was heard shouting at reporters ahead of the confrontation, ‘We need you. We need you to hold them accountable. Media, it’s your country too.’

‘Don’t cover the distractions. Cover the actions that lead us towards authoritarianism, please,’ Mannion yelled, according to Politico.

Mannion is a first-term Democrat who unseated former Rep. Brandon Williams, R-N.Y., whose district boundaries were changed last year to include more blue-leaning areas.

Lawler’s office referred Fox News Digital to his statement on X when reached for comment.

The dust-up was brief but is a sign of the sky-high tensions in the current political climate.

Democrats were already furious over the forced ejection of Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., from a media event being held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem Thursday.

Sen. Lindsey Graham is pushing forward to fund President Donald Trump’s border security agenda despite objections from a key Senate Republican who wants to cut the spending in half.

The South Carolina Republican, who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, unveiled the Senate’s plan to fund the president’s border security desires, with billions of dollars slated to go toward building a wall at the Southern border, beefing up Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) detention capacity and hiring more Border Patrol Agents, among others.

But Graham’s decision to plow ahead with the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee’s $128.4 billion bill, which funds the lion’s share of the administration’s border security request, comes after the committee’s chair, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., proposed to cut half the funding baked into the House GOP’s bill.

Paul’s concerns mobilized White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller to hold a closed-door meeting with Senate Republicans on Thursday to justify the price tag.

‘As Budget Chairman, I will do my best to ensure that the President’s border security plan is fully funded because I believe it has been fully justified,’ Graham said in a statement to Fox News Digital. ‘I respectfully disagree with Chairman Paul’s proposal to cut the Trump plan by more than 50 percent.’

‘The President promised to secure our border,’ he continued. ‘His plan fulfills that promise. The Senate must do our part.’

The Homeland Security Committee accounts for the bulk of the White House’s $150 billion request, but not all. The remaining money is expected to come from the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees.  

Graham’s bill, which closely mirrors the House GOP’s version, includes $46.5 billion in funding to build the border wall and additional infrastructure, $4.1 billion to hire more border patrol agents, $2 billion for retention and signing bonuses for the new agents, $5 billion to improve border patrol facilities and $855 million to repair the Border Patrol’s vehicle fleet.

The measure also includes $45 billion to beef up ICE’s detention capacity, $6 billion to improve border surveillance, $6 billion to the Department of Homeland Security to ‘ensure adequate funding for border security across the board’ and $10 billion in grant funding to reimburse states for border security efforts during the Biden years.

Paul, who did not attend Miller’s meeting with Senate Republicans, said the White House ‘threw a number at the wall to see what would stick’ and that certain line items, like the tens of billions for border wall construction, could be drastically reduced to roughly $6.5 billion when breaking down the cost of construction per mile.

He presented his number to the Senate GOP on Wednesday and noted that there were ‘half a dozen senators’ who agreed with him.

When asked why Graham and the leadership opted to skip over him as chair of the committee to release the text of the bill, he said ‘because they disagree with me.’

‘I think Sen. Graham’s job, as he sees it, is to do what the president tells him to do, and my job is to do what I think is fiscally most responsible,’ he said. ‘And so we just have different agendas.’

Senate Republicans are in the midst of producing their version of the House GOP’s ‘big, beautiful bill.’ They’re using the budget reconciliation process to pass a sweeping bill advancing Trump’s agenda on taxes, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt. They are also working to use it to bring down the national debt – nearing $37 trillion – with the aim of cutting $1.5 trillion in federal spending.

But whatever comes from the Senate has to pass muster with the House before making its way to Trump’s desk.

And Miller’s meeting with the Senate GOP was meant to shore up support behind the funding detailed in the House’s bill and answer lingering concerns from fiscal hawks who are trying to find ways to further cut spending in the reconciliation process.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., lauded Miller after the meeting but noted that there were some lawmakers who ‘were upset, and some that just didn’t want to hear.’

‘I mean, Rand Paul’s solution is to cut everything in half and call it good,’ he said. ‘That’s not real budgeting.’

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said there was ‘a little frustration’ from some lawmakers who wanted to see a spreadsheet of the funding. He dismissed the notion that the meeting became tense and said ‘there’s no way to precisely calculate what the administration is going to need’ to clean up the ‘enormous mess’ left by the Biden administration.

‘If anything, we maybe ought to need more. It’s such a big problem,’ Johnson said. ‘I don’t think we’re going to move the number up, but we’re not going to shortchange it.’

‘This is a mess we have to clean up,’ he said. ‘It’s going to cost a lot of money, and we want to make sure this administration has the money to clean up.’