The House passed a once-bipartisan bill on Thursday that authorizes 63 new permanent district judgeships over the next 10 years, 22 of which President-elect Trump can fill during his next term. 

The White House released a statement earlier this week that President Biden would veto the bill if it came to his desk. 

The Senate in August passed the ‘Judicial Understaffing Delays Getting Emergencies Solved Act’ or the ‘JUDGES Act of 2024,’ which staggers the 63 new permanent judgeships the president may choose over the next 10 years. Citing how courts are burdened by heavy caseloads, the bill says the president shall appoint 11 of those permanent judgeships in 2025 and 11 more in 2027. The president would tap another 10 judges in 2029, 11 in 2031, 10 in 2033 and 10 more in 2035, the bill says. 

But now key Democrats are backing away from the bill after Trump won the presidency, decrying how it wasn’t voted on until after Election Day. 

‘Today, the House passed the JUDGES Act to authorize additional federal judges to ensure the American people receive timely and fair justice,’ House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a statement. ‘This important legislation garnered broad, bipartisan support when it unanimously passed the Senate in August because it directly addresses the pressing need to reduce case backlogs in our federal courts and strengthen the efficiency of our judicial system.’ 

‘At that time, Democrats supported the bill – they thought Kamala Harris would win the Presidency,’ he added. ‘Now, however, the Biden-Harris Administration has chosen to issue a veto threat and Democrats have whipped against this bill, standing in the way of progress, simply because of partisan politics. This should not be a political issue—it should be about prioritizing the needs of the American people and ensuring the courts are able to deliver fair, impartial, and timely justice.’

The proposal passed the House on Thursday by a 236 to 173 vote, with 29 Democrats voting in favor of it. 

The bill’s Democratic co-sponsor in the House, Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., said in a floor speech Thursday before the vote that he now opposes the measure. 

‘You don’t get to pick the horse, after that horse has already won the race. But that’s exactly what my Republican colleagues are seeking to do today,’ he said. 

On Tuesday, the White House said while ‘judicial staffing is important to the rule of law,’ the JUDGES Act is ‘unnecessary to the efficient and effective administration of justice.’ 

‘The bill would create new judgeships in states where Senators have sought to hold open existing judicial vacancies,’ the statement said. ‘Those efforts to hold open vacancies suggest that concerns about judicial economy and caseload are not the true motivating force behind passage of this bill now. In addition, neither the House nor the Senate fully explored how the work of senior status judges and magistrate judges affects the need for new judgeships.’

‘Further, the Senate passed this bill in August, but the House refused to take it up until after the election. Hastily adding judges with just a few weeks left in the 118th Congress would fail to resolve key questions in the legislation, especially regarding how the judges are allocated,’ the White House added. 

Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Todd Young, R-Ind., co-sponsored the bill in the Senate. 

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. 

The GOP-controlled House of Representatives passed its annual defense spending bill Wednesday, including a key culture-war caveat: a ban on transgender medical treatments for minor children of U.S. service members.

The provision in the 1,800-page bill states that ‘medical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria that could result in sterilization may not be provided to a child under the age of 18,’ referring to the transgender children of military personnel. 

Republicans argued that taxpayer dollars should not fund potentially experimental and harmful procedures for minors.

House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., praised the passage of the defense measure, though it now heads to the Senate for approval in the Democrat-run chamber.

‘Our men and women in uniform should know their first obligation is protecting our nation, not woke ideology,’ Johnson said in a statement after the measure passed.

While the provision was a win for Republicans that could further push President-Elect Donald Trump’s policy agenda, the measure did not incorporate several other Republican-backed provisions related to social issues. Notably absent were efforts to ban TRICARE, the military’s health program, from covering transgender treatments for adults and a proposal to overturn the Pentagon’s hotly-debated policy of reimbursing travel expenses for service members seeking abortions stationed in states where the procedure is restricted.

Democrats were largely outraged by the provision to strip TRICARE from service members’ transgender children, with the House Armed Services Committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Adam Smith, vowing to vote against the bill on Tuesday despite helping on other portions of the package. Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., did not advise his party members to vote for or against it.

The measure also drew the ire of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council (HRC), which called it an ‘attack’ on military families.

‘This cruel and hateful bill suddenly strips away access to medical care for families that members of our armed forces are counting on, and it could force service members to choose between staying in the military or providing health care for their children,’ HRC President Kelley Robinson said in a statement.

The Senate’s response to the transgender treatment provision will be pivotal in determining the final content of the defense policy for the upcoming fiscal year. If it passes, it would align with Trump’s criticisms of the military’s ‘woke’ policies. 

The Supreme Court also heard oral arguments last week for a first-of-its-kind case involving Tennessee’s ban on transgender medical procedures for minors, which could place further restrictions on the procedures.

The $884 billion National Defense Authorization Act, which sets policies for the Defense Department, was passed in a 281-140 vote, with 124 Democrats and 16 Republicans voting against it. 

Other provisions also place limits on diversity, equity and inclusion-based recruitment and the teaching of critical race theory in military-run schools. Other policies include a 14.5% pay boost for junior enlisted troops, expanded child care access and enhanced job assistance for military spouses, reflecting a year of bipartisan focus on addressing record recruitment struggles.

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

While a majority of American voters questioned in a new Fox News poll say they are hopeful about the re-election of President-elect Donald Trump, they are divided when it comes to the president-elect’s top nominees who will likely serve in his upcoming second administration.

Fifty-four percent of respondents in the survey, which was conducted Dec. 6-9 and released on Wednesday, said Trump’s election victory last month in the White House race over Vice President Kamala Harris made them hopeful.

However, when asked about the president-elect’s cabinet selections, which include some unconventional nominees, 47% of those polled said they approved, with 50% disapproving.

It was the same response when asked about billionaire Elon Musk serving as a close adviser to the president-elect during the transition from President Biden’s administration to the Trump administration, with 47% approving and 50% disapproving.

Two other polls also conducted in recent days and released on Wednesday shed additional light on how Americans feel about the incoming administration and how Trump’s handling the process of building out his government.

According to a CNN poll, 54% of Americans say they expect Trump to do a good job as president once he takes over the White House. 

Additionally, 55% said they largely approve of how the president-elect is handling the transition.

That is a higher percentage compared to eight years ago, when Trump first won the White House, but it is still well behind other recent presidents, according to CNN polling.

Meanwhile, 47% of people questioned in a Marist Poll gave the former and future president a thumbs up when it comes to how he is handling the transition, with 39% disapproving and 14% unsure.

Not surprisingly, the polls point to a massive partisan divide on the question. In the Marist survey, 86% of Republicans approved of how the GOP president-elect is handling the transition. However, 72% of Democrats disapproved. Among independents, 43% disapproved and 38% approved.

‘Although more people support Trump’s transition than oppose it, more independents are taking a wait-and-see position than more partisan voters,’ Marist Institute for Public Opinion Director Lee Miringoff said.

Miringoff added that ‘a note of caution for President-elect Trump is that fewer voters approve of the transition than gave a thumbs up to either Biden or Obama at this point.’

The release of the polls came as Trump’s cabinet picks continued to meet with senators on Capitol Hill ahead of confirmation hearings starting next month.

Trump named his nominees for his cabinet and his choices for other top administration officials at a faster pace than he did eight years ago after his first White House victory.

However, his transition has already faced some setbacks, including his first attorney general nominee, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, ending his bid for confirmation amid controversy over allegations he paid for sex with underage girls.

Trump last weekend made his first international trip since winning last month’s election, and he was courted by world leaders during a stop in Paris.

Trump will be inaugurated Jan. 20.

Fox News’ Victoria Balara contributed to this report.

As President-elect Trump and his transition team steer his cabinet nominees through the landmines of the Senate confirmation process, top MAGA allies are joining the fight by putting pressure on GOP lawmakers who aren’t fully on board.

‘There will be no resource that we won’t use to go after those U.S. senators that vote against Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks or his other nominees,’ longtime Trump outside adviser Corey Lewandowski told Fox News this week.

Fueled by grassroots support for Trump and his nominees, the president-elect’s political team and allies are cranking up the volume.

Exhibit A: Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa.

Ernst, the first female combat veteran elected to the Senate, is considered a pivotal vote in the confirmation battle over Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for defense secretary.

Hegseth, an Army National Guard officer who deployed to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and who until last month was a longtime Fox News host, has been the focus of a slew of media reports spotlighting a series of drinking and sexual misconduct allegations, as well as a report alleging he mismanaged a veterans nonprofit organization that he once led.

Hegseth has denied allegations that he mistreated women, but did reach a financial settlement with an accuser from a 2017 incident to avoid a lawsuit. He has vowed that he won’t drink ‘a drop of alcohol’ if confirmed as defense secretary.

Ernst, a member of the Armed Services Committee, which will hold Hegseth’s confirmation hearings, took plenty of incoming fire after last week publicly expressing hesitance over Hegseth’s nomination.

While Trump publicly praised Hegseth late last week, as the nomination appeared to be teetering, top allies of the president-elect took aim at Ernst, who is up for re-election in 2026 in red-state Iowa.

Donald Trump Jr., the president-elect’s oldest son and MAGA powerhouse, took to social media to target Ernst and other potentially wavering Republican senators.

‘If you’re a GOP Senator who voted for Lloyd Austin [President Biden’s defense secretary], but criticize @PeteHegseth, then maybe you’re in the wrong political party!’ he posted.

Top MAGA ally Charlie Kirk quickly took aim at Ernst with talk of supporting a primary challenger to her.

‘This is the red line. This is not a joke.… The funding is already being put together. Donors are calling like crazy. Primaries are going to be launched,’ said Kirk, an influential conservative activist and radio and TV host who co-founded and steers Turning Point USA.

Kirk, on his radio program, warned that ‘if you support the president’s agenda, you’re good. You’re marked safe from a primary. You go up against Pete Hegseth, the president, repeatedly, then don’t be surprised, Joni Ernst, if all of a sudden you have a primary challenge in Iowa.’

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, a top Trump supporter in last January’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses, wrote a column on Breitbart urging Hegseth’s confirmation.

While she didn’t mention Ernst by name, Bird took aim at ‘D.C. politicians’ who ‘think they can ignore the voices of their constituents and entertain smears from the same outlets that have pushed out lies for years.’

And longtime Iowa-based conservative commentator and media personality Steve Deace took to social media and used his radio program to highlight that he would consider launching a primary challenge against Ernst.

Ernst, who stayed neutral in the Iowa caucuses before endorsing Trump later in the GOP presidential primary calendar, may have gotten the message.

After meeting earlier this week for a second time with Hegseth, Ernst said in a statement that her meeting was ‘encouraging’ and that she would ‘support Pete through this process.’

But Ernst’s office told Fox News that ‘the senator has consistently followed the process, which she has said since the beginning, and doing her job as a United States senator.’

It’s not just Ernst who has faced the fire from Trump allies and MAGA world.

Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, one of four remaining GOP senators who voted in the 2021 Trump impeachment trial to convict him, is also up for re-election in 2026 in a reliably red state. Cassidy is now facing a formal primary challenge from Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming, a senior adviser in the first Trump administration.

Sen. Mike Rounds, another Republican up for re-election in two years in GOP-dominated South Dakota, has also been blasted by Kirk, as well as by top Trump ally and billionaire Elon Musk.

And staunch Trump supporter Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama had a warning for Republican Senate colleagues who may oppose the president-elect’s nominees.

‘Republicans: If you’re not on the team, get out of the way,’ he told FOX Business.

Whether these early threats from Trump allies turn into actual primary challenges in the next midterm elections remains to be seen. And ousting a senator is no easy feat. It’s been a dozen years since an incumbent senator was defeated during a primary challenge.

But Trump’s team and allies are playing hardball in the wake of former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., the president-elect’s first attorney general nominee, ending his confirmation bid amid controversy.

There has been a full-court press by Trump’s political orbit to bolster Hegseth — in order to protect him and some of the president-elect’s other controversial Cabinet picks.

‘If Trump world allowed a couple of establishment senators to veto a second nominee, it would have led to a feeding frenzy on Trump’s other nominees, and so the thinking in Trump world was we have to defend Pete not just for the sake of defending Pete, but also for the sake of defending our other nominees,’ a longtime Trump world adviser, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, told Fox News.

Fox News’ Emma Colton, Cameron Cawthorne, Julia Johnson, Tyler Olson and Chad Pergram contributed to this report.

President-elect Donald Trump nominated a few more candidates on Wednesday night to serve in various positions during his second term.

He tapped Kari Lake as the next director of the Voice of America, a state-funded U.S. government broadcaster. Lake was a longtime Arizona broadcaster who ran unsuccessfully for public office in 2022 and 2024.

‘I am pleased to announce that Kari Lake will serve as our next Director of the Voice of America. She will be appointed by, and work closely with, our next head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, who I will announce soon, to ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media,’ Trump wrote in a release.

Voice of America is an influential broadcast channel that provides news, information and cultural programming in over 40 languages on the Internet, mobile and social media, radio and television.

Trump also named Dr. Peter Lamelas, a physician, philanthropist, and businessman, as the next U.S. Ambassador to Argentina. Lamelas immigrated to the U.S. from Cuba and founded MD Now Urgent Care in Florida, the state’s largest urgent care system.

‘As a child, Peter and his family fled communist Cuba and LEGALLY immigrated to the USA, starting with nothing, and achieving the American Dream,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Lamelas was previously appointed to the Department of Justice’s Medal of Valor Review Board during Trump’s first term and has served as a town commissioner in Manalapan, Florida, and on the state’s Board of Medicine.

Also on Wednesday evening, Trump announced Daniel Newlin, a law enforcement veteran and personal injury attorney, as the next U.S. Ambassador to Colombia. 

In addition to a 28-year career with the Orange County (Florida) Sheriff’s Office where he worked as a fugitive detective, Newlin is also a business executive and entrepreneur who founded Dan Newlin Personal Injury Attorneys – the second-largest firm of its kind in the country.

‘With his Law Enforcement expertise enabling him to navigate complex international issues, and his business insights fostering economic partnerships, Newlin stands as a powerful advocate for U.S. interests, and a Champion for strengthening ties, and making a difference in the World,’ Trump wrote.

The picks announced Wednesday night are the latest in a long string of nominations the president-elect hopes the Senate will approve.

President-elect Trump tapped Kari Lake as the next director of the Voice of America, a state-funded U.S. government broadcaster.

‘I am pleased to announce that Kari Lake will serve as our next Director of the Voice of America. She will be appointed by, and work closely with, our next head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, who I will announce soon, to ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media,’ Trump wrote in a release on Wednesday night.

Lake was a longtime Arizona broadcaster who ran unsuccessfully for public office in 2022 and 2024. 

Voice of America is an influential broadcast channel that serves news, information, and cultural programming through the Internet, mobile and social media, radio, and television. 

The broadcaster serves in over 40 languages.

The House voted to pass its yearly defense bill Wednesday, adding about another $1 trillion to the $36 trillion national debt.

The 1,800-page bill known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), details how $895.2 billion allocated toward defense and national security will be spent.

On Wednesday, the bill passed 281-140, with 16 Republicans voting no. Only 81 Democrats voted yes, while 124 voted no.

The legislation now heads to the Senate for passage before heading to President Biden’s desk for his signature.

The bill’s passage comes as the U.S. national debt continues to climb at a rapid pace and shows no signs of slowing down.

As of Dec. 11, the national debt, which measures what the U.S. owes its creditors, fell to $36,163,442,396,226.61, according to the latest numbers released by the U.S. Treasury Department. The debt represents a decrease of $8.8 billion from the figure released the previous day.

By comparison, 40 years ago, the national debt hovered at about $907 billion.

The latest findings from the Congressional Budget Office indicate the national debt will grow to an astonishing $54 trillion in the next decade, the result of an aging population and rising federal health care costs. Higher interest rates are also compounding the pain of higher debt.

Should that debt materialize, it could risk America’s economic standing in the world.

The spike in the national debt follows a burst of spending by President Biden and Democratic lawmakers.

As of September 2022, Biden had already approved roughly $4.8 trillion in borrowing, including $1.85 trillion for a COVID relief measure dubbed the American Rescue Plan and $370 billion for the bipartisan infrastructure bill, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), a group that advocates for reducing the deficit.

While that is about half of the $7.5 trillion that President-elect Trump added to the deficit while he was in office, it’s far more than the $2.5 trillion Trump approved at that same point during his first term. 

Biden has repeatedly defended the spending by his administration and boasted about cutting the deficit by $1.7 trillion. 

‘I might note parenthetically: In my first two years, I reduced the debt by $1.7 trillion. No president has ever done that,’ Biden said recently. 

That figure, though, refers to a reduction in the national deficit between fiscal years 2020 and 2022. The deficit certainly shrank during that period, though it was largely because emergency measures put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic had expired.

Despite adding to the national debt, the NDAA was strongly bipartisan, but some Democratic lawmakers were against the inclusion of a ban on transgender medical treatments for children of military members if such treatment could result in sterilization.

The bill also included a 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted service members and a 4.5% increase for others as key to improving the quality of life for those serving in the military.

The defense act also includes measures to strengthen deterrence against China and calls for an investment of $15.6 billion to bolster military capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region. The Biden administration had only requested about $10 billion.

Fox News’ Eric Revell and Morgan Phillips, as well as The Associated Press, contributed to this report.

Republicans and conservatives on social media are taking a victory lap after Senate Democrats failed in a last-minute attempt to keep control of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Wednesday after narrowly losing a vote to end debate on re-appointing the board’s chair, Lauren McFerran.

Outgoing Democrat Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had hoped to confirm McFerran, a President Biden pick, to a new five-year term that would have given Democrats control of the influential agency until at least 2026, but the vote failed, 50-49, with independent Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona voting against it. 

The vote, which conservatives had railed against for days by arguing that President-elect Trump should decide the pick after his November election victory, was celebrated by conservatives.

‘Working Americans just delivered a massive victory for President Trump and his pro-worker polices, so why on earth would we let Biden choose more NLRB nominees?’ Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital in a statement. ‘I’m glad we didn’t, and I look forward to working with President Trump to support policies and nominees that are good for working families and all Americans.’

‘Lauren McFerran’s abysmal record running the Biden-Harris NLRB includes undermining freelancers, crushing businesses of all sizes, and greenlighting vulgar union harassment of American workers,’ Tom Hebert, director of competition and regulatory policy for Americans for Tax Reform, told Fox News Digital in a statement.

‘Chuck Schumer tried to put the Trump-Vance NLRB under Democrat control by sneaking McFerran’s renomination through the Senate, anticipating Republican absences. Fortunately for American workers and businesses, Republicans showed up and blocked Schumer’s scheme, ensuring the Trump-Vance NLRB is controlled by pro-worker Republicans instead of anti-worker Democrats.’

‘I am glad the Senate rejected Democrats’ partisan attempt to deny President Trump the opportunity to choose his own NLRB nominees and enact a pro-America, pro-worker agenda with the mandate he has from the American people,’ Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., posted on X.

‘Outstanding work @SenateGOP and free thinkers @SenatorSinema and @Sen_JoeManchin!’ Independent Women’s Voice senior policy analyst Carrie Sheffield posted on X. ‘Another antagonist of @elonmusk and free speech collapses. Paving the way for @realDonaldTrump to fix harmful policies. Great work.’

A point of frustration for Republicans was the fact that Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chair Bernie Sanders denied a request from Cassidy to hold a public hearing on McFerran before advancing her. McFerran’s nomination has been waiting for consideration since August.

In 2021, McFerran’s NLRB ordered Tesla to direct Musk to delete a tweet they said was damaging to a unionization effort at Tesla in a move that was eventually overturned by the U.S. Appeals Court. 

‘The current administration is doing everything possible to prevent government efficiency, but @DOGE is inevitable,’ Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk posted on X before the vote in response to a post lamenting the Democrat push to advance McFerran. 

Unlike most similar agencies, members of the NLRB cannot be removed by the president at will simply based on policy goals or changing administrations. 

‘Any member of the Board may be removed by the President, upon notice and hearing, for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office, but for no other cause,’ the NLRB website states.

In response to the McFerran vote, Democrats pulled the cloture vote for Republican NLRB nominee Joshua Ditelberg, giving Trump the opportunity to fill two seats if nothing changes before inauguration day. 

Schumer filed cloture on McFerran’s nomination on Monday, setting up a vote on Wednesday. In floor remarks, the New York Democrat did not acknowledge the lame-duck nature of the vote, telling his colleagues, ‘If you truly care about working families, if you care about fixing income inequality in America, then you should be in favor of advancing today’s NLRB nominees. You can’t say you are for working families, then go and vote ‘no’ today, because the NLRB protects workers from mistreatment on the job and from overreaching employers.’

In a statement after the vote, Schumer said, ‘It is deeply disappointing, a direct attack on working people, and incredibly troubling that this highly qualified nominee – with a proven track record of protecting worker rights – did not have the votes.’

Fox News Digital’s Julia Johnson contributed to this report.