Longtime Democratic consultant James Carville says Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker could potentially be his party’s best choice to lead Democrats to victory in the 2028 presidential election.

And Carville, who first gained national attention over three decades ago as the chief strategist for former President Bill Clinton’s 1992 White House victory, argues that former Vice President Kamala Harris doesn’t have a shot at winning the next Democratic presidential nomination.

The 2028 Democratic nomination battle in the race to succeed term-limited President Donald Trump is expected to draw a crowded and competitive field.

‘If I had to say one guy… I’d take JD Pritzker,’ Carville said this week in a sit-down interview with Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo on his ‘Arroyo Grande’ podcast. Carville was asked which Democrat he could see carrying the flag into 2028.

The billionaire governor, a member of the Pritzker family that owns the Hyatt hotel chain and who has started several of his own venture capital and investment startups, is running this year for a third term to steer Illinois.

And Pritzker, who has become a leading voice in the Democrats’ opposition to Trump and has taken steps to Trump-proof his solidly blue state, has made a handful of trips in recent years to the key early voting states in the race for the White House.

Carville noted that Pritzker ‘campaigns hard.’

Asked about whether he could see Harris as the party’s standard-bearer in 2028, Carville responded, ‘She has no chance.’

Harris replaced then-President Joe Biden as the Democrats’ 2024 presidential nominee after Biden dropped his bid in July of that year, a month after a disastrous debate performance against Trump. Harris ended up losing the general election to Trump, who narrowly swept all seven key battleground states.

‘No Democrat wants anything to do with anybody that had anything to do with 2024,’ Carville emphasized, as he reasoned why Harris couldn’t win the 2028 nomination. He also questioned whether Harris, the nation’s first female and first Black vice president, had the ability to energize the Black community if she launched another White House run.

Carville said that the Democrats’ mantra heading into 2028 is ‘just win,’ and argued that ‘if we nominate two white males, nobody’s going to give a s—.’

He also doubted whether Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York would be a good 2028 nominee for the party.

Carville said the progressive champion and rising Democratic Party star ‘has talent, and she’s very smart.’

But he said that ‘the reason she is not going to work’ is because ‘there’s a large part of the Democratic Party that like to feel smug.’ Carville argued that Ocasio-Cortez and others on the progressive left of the party have alienated male voters.

‘Democratic culture became very feminized and very judgmental and that’s why we pushed so many of the males away,’ Carville said.

Asked by Fox News Digital if there’s anyone else he thinks is worth watching as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender, Carville mentioned former Louisiana Lt. Gov. and former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu.

Landrieu mulled but ultimately decided against a 2020 White House and later served in the Biden administration.

Carville, pointing to ‘two huge mistakes that the Democratic Party made,’ also blamed former President Barack Obama and Biden for Trump’s 2016 and 2024 White House wins.

Obama continued and implemented the unprecedented $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, known as TARP, which was initiated by then-President George W. Bush at the very end of his White House tenure to stabilize the nation’s financial system after the 2008-2009 crisis.

The program prevented a total economic collapse, but was widely unpopular with voters.

‘The mistake they made was not going after these bankers,’ Carville said in the podcast, as he pointed to moves by Obama and his administration. ‘We bailed them out.’

And Carville emphasized that ‘there is one person who is responsible for the election of Donald Trump in 2024, and it’s not Donald Trump, it’s Joe Biden.’

Carville argued that if Biden ‘would have gotten out in September of 2023, it wouldn’t have been close.’

House Republicans are rolling out a massive election overhaul package ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, including new voter ID requirements as well as limitations on how and when votes are cast.

The Committee on House Administration is unveiling new legislation on Thursday called the Make Elections Great Again (MEGA) Act, which would impose new federal standards on national elections across the U.S.

The sprawling bill includes key portions of the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, a measure that was led by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, in the House. It comes as the Senate sees a renewed pressure campaign led by Elon Musk and others to take up that legislation.

‘Americans should be confident their elections are being run with integrity — including commonsense voter ID requirements, clean voter rolls, and citizenship verification,’ Committee on House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., said in a statement.

He said the bill’s guardrails ‘will improve voter confidence, bolster election integrity, and make it easy to vote, but hard to cheat.’

Like the SAVE Act, the legislation would include mandatory proof of citizenship when a person registers to vote for the first time. 

Casting a ballot in federal elections would also require a photo ID. Progressive Democrats and groups like the League of Women Voters have argued that photo ID laws disenfranchise minority voters, while the Heritage Foundation pointed out that it’s shown to be popular across multiple public polls.

Steil’s elections bill would also ban ranked-choice voting in federal races, require states to use auditable paper ballots rather than electronic slips, and impose stronger requirements on voter list maintenance to ensure rolls are up to date.

New guardrails on mail-in ballots include a ban on universal mail-in ballots — meaning voters would have to specifically request one to receive it — while also requiring mail-in ballots to be received by Election Day to count and banning ‘ballot harvesting’ by third parties aiming to deliver them to poll centers.

The new legislation comes ahead of what’s expected to be a difficult midterm election season for Republicans.

Historical trends dictate that the first midterms after power changes hands in Washington normally see that party in power suffer losses, but GOP leaders are publicly optimistic that they can reverse that trend.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House to ask whether it supports Steil’s bill but did not hear back by press time.

: The electric grid kept the lights on for much of the country hit by the weekend’s massive snowstorm chiefly because the Trump administration broke from Biden-era plans, keeping five major coal-fired power plants online and allowing grid providers to draw in more fossil fuel-based energy in vulnerable areas.

The Energy Department made the claims in exclusive comments to Fox News Digital, as officials said multiple megawatts of power were made additionally available from otherwise taboo hydrocarbons.

Secretary Chris Wright issued several emergency orders over the weekend and through Tuesday that permitted power plants to operate beyond levels set by EPA regulations and considered the ceiling prior to President Donald Trump’s second term, a source familiar with the situation told Fox News Digital.

Five such plants were on track to be closed under the Biden-era push to pivot from fossil fuels to green energy, the official said, adding that the Trump administration was prepared to give energy producers leeway to push more power online to reduce risks of blackouts. The Trump administration saved 17 gigawatts of coal power that were going to be forcibly shut down as well, Fox News has learned.

‘We told grid providers: if your energy demand reaches a critical level… let us know,’ the official said, adding that there is a direct correlation between the power being saved up and what was needed to keep the lights on as states from Alabama to Vermont were hammered with wintry weather and deep freezes.

As the storm approached, Wright informed grid operators to be prepared to use more than 35 gigawatts of unused backup generation nationwide, sourced from anywhere from data centers to big-box stores, bypassing prior environmental regulations by emergency order.

That gave a wide buffer against blackouts and hundreds of millions in emergency costs for Americans — as 1 gigawatt is enough to power Wright’s hometown Denver metro area alone.

‘How power sources perform during peak electricity demand reveal their true value,’ Energy Department press secretary Ben Dietderich told Fox News Digital.

‘Across the country, wind and solar generation plummeted while natural gas, coal and oil plants did the majority of the work keeping the lights on during the storm. According to DOE data, the Biden administration’s support for forcibly closing reliable coal and natural gas plants had America on track to see blackouts increase 100 times over by 2030.’

‘Thankfully, President Trump was elected and has already prevented the forced closure of five coal plants and more than 17 gigawatts of reliable coal power,’ Dietderich added.

Dietderich said the Trump administration and Wright continue to be committed to ‘unleashing’ affordable and reliable energy that works — ‘whether the wind is blowing or the sun is shining,’ a common administration reference to the unreliability of those forms of green energy when those natural power sources aren’t present.

As the storm approached, Wright remarked that the Trump administration ‘will not stand by and allow the previous administration’s reckless energy subtraction policies and bureaucratic red tape put American lives at risk.’

The structure of the department’s emergency preparations is also meant to save American lives, he said.

In that regard, wind and solar power only accounted for 10% of the energy utilized across the storm’s path.

Hydrocarbons and coal, by contrast, provided 68% of the power in those same areas, a power source often maligned on the left.

The department noted that in New England — where renewable and green energy sources are often put on the proverbial pedestal — nearly two-thirds of the energy utilized was sourced from hydrocarbon-based or coal-fired power.

American coal power itself provided enough electricity for 30 million homes across the storm’s path, the department said.

Fox News Digital reached out to President Biden’s representatives for comment.

Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst is introducing legislation Thursday targeting fraud in federal programs — a proposal that would set early-warning tripwires to flag suspected scams and push agencies to claw back taxpayer dollars, Fox News Digital has learned.

‘It’s absolutely unacceptable that the fraud running rampant in Minnesota could end up costing taxpayers more than $9 billion,’ Ernst told Fox News Digital. ‘My Putting an N to Learing about Fraud Act will ensure this never happens again by putting more safeguards in place to detect scams early and require the recovery of any money ripped off from taxpayers.’

Ernst’s office said the bill is designed to hit fraud on two fronts: tightening rules around childcare payments and creating new spike alerts in healthcare programs to flag suspicious surges early, while also pushing the federal government to recover improper payments.

If passed, the bill would force state plans tied to federal childcare dollars to pay providers based on documented attendance — not just enrollment — to prevent taxpayer money from going out for care that never happened.

It also underlines that states can reimburse providers after services are delivered rather than paying upfront. Providers taking federal funds would have to track attendance and keep those records for seven years, making them available for audits by the Department of Health and Human Services, the attorney general and the comptroller general.

On the healthcare front, the legislation would create new notification requirements tied to abrupt jumps in health billings and costs. States would be required to notify Health and Human Services when the amount being paid for a service increases by more than 100% in a year, or if the number of providers seeking payment increases by 100% in a year. 

Beyond early detection, the bill aims to force agencies to claw back funds either swindled from taxpayers or received in error.

It would direct the Office of Management and Budget to issue guidance to federal agencies to ensure improper payments are recovered and require inspectors general to report annually the amount of improper payments recovered by each agency.

The legislation follows the sweeping fraud scandal that continues to plague Minnesota. Dozens of arrests have been made, most of whom are from the state’s large Somali population, as investigators uncover hundreds of millions of dollars in alleged fraud swindled from taxpayers through welfare and social services programs. 

Federal prosecutors have said the fraud could total $9 billion. 

‘The swindlers in Minnesota and everywhere else soon are going to ‘lear’ the hard way that in the era of DOGE, crime no longer pays,’ Ernst added in a comment to Fox News Digital, referring to the viral ‘Quality Learing Center.’ 

The misspelled Quality ‘Learing’ Center daycare sign became a focal point of the fraud scandal after YouTube journalist Nick Shirley dug into alleged fraud in Minnesota. 

Fox News Digital learned that Ernst will also name Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as the January recipient of her office’s ‘Squeal Award’ for ‘failing to stop the runaway fraud in his own backyard.’ Ernst awards various lawmakers and government fraud scandals themselves the Squeal Award each month to spotlight ‘out of control waste.’

The governor dropped out of his re-election effort earlier in January amid the fallout of the fraud scandal. Walz, who has served as governor since 2019, took ownership of the fraud as it occurred under his watch, but argued multibillion-dollar figures were ‘sensationalized’ by Republicans. 

‘Whoever is in charge. Unlike the president, I’m governor now (and) whether these programs happen before we got here or afterwards, it doesn’t matter. We’re here now. We’re the ones fixing it. You have my guarantee on this, that I certainly will have this thing fixed,’ Walz said earlier in January. 

Fox News Digital reached out to his office on Thursday morning for additional comment. 

Ernst has long positioned herself as a leading Senate watchdog on waste and fraud, working with both Congress and the Trump administration to flag questionable spending. 

She launched and leads the Senate Department of Government Efficiency caucus as President Donald Trump readied to reclaim the Oval Office, which works to snuff out government spending, reduce bureaucracy and enforce transparency, producing more than $15.1 billion in real savings.

China executed 11 people convicted of intentional homicide, fraud and other crimes linked to a cross-border scam operation, after the country’s top court approved their death sentences, authorities said Thursday.

The announcement was published on the webiste for the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, China’s highest state body responsible for criminal prosecution and oversight.

The executions followed a ruling and execution order from the Supreme People’s Court, which upheld lower court judgments against members of the so-called Ming family criminal group.

They were accused of running large-scale telecommunications fraud and gambling operations from northern Myanmar that involved more than 10 billion yuan, roughly $1.4 billion.

Authorities said the group colluded with criminal organizations led by ‘financial backers’ to operate telecom fraud schemes, illegal casinos, drug trafficking and prostitution operations.

‘The Ming family criminal group also colluded with the online fraud criminal group of Wu Hongming and others to deliberately kill, intentionally injure, and illegally detain people involved in fraud, resulting in the death of 14 Chinese citizens and injuries to many others,’ the Supreme People’s Procuratorate said.

Ming Guoping, Ming Zhenzhen, Zhou Weichang, Wu Hongming, Wu Senlong, and Fu Yubin were among those sentenced to death in September by the Wenzhou Intermediate People’s Court of Zhejiang Province.

Some of the defendants appealed, but the Zhejiang Higher People’s Court on Nov. 25 rejected the appeal, upheld the original verdict and submitted the case to the Supreme People’s Court for mandatory review.

Authorities said the prisoners were allowed to meet with close relatives before the executions were carried out.

Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois fired back at Vice President JD Vance after he likened her sparring session with Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing about America’s Venezuela policy to an argument between the fictional character Forrest Gump and Isaac Newton.

‘Watching Tammy Duckworth obsessively interrupt Marco Rubio during this hearing is like watching Forest Gump argue with Isaac Newton,’ Vance quipped in a Wednesday post on X.

Duckworth responded, ‘Forrest Gump ran toward danger in Vietnam. Your boss ran to his podiatrist crying bone spurs. Petty insults at the expense of people with disabilities won’t change the fact that you’re risking troops’ lives to boost Chevron’s stock price. It’s my job to hold you accountable.’

Other Democrats also responded to Vance.

Democratic Rep. Shri Thanedar of Michigan shared Vance’s post and wrote, ‘Imagine watching Forrest Gump and your takeaway is to mock people with disabilities.’

‘That’s a U.S. Senator doing her job. This is a random troll tweeting at her,’ Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker wrote in a post on X.

‘Comparing @SenDuckworth to Forrest Gump is classless and disgraceful. She’s a veteran who lost her legs fighting for this country. If you had any honor, you’d take this post down. But you work for Trump, so clearly you have none,’ Democratic Rep. John Garamendi of California declared in a post.

Duckworth served in the Illinois Army National Guard and was deployed to Iraq in 2004, according to a biography on her Senate website, which notes that ‘On November 12, 2004, her helicopter was hit by an RPG and she lost her legs and partial use of her right arm.’

She noted in 2022 social media posts that an RPG ‘tore through the cockpit of the helicopter I was co-piloting. The blast cost me my legs, partial use of my right arm and nearly my life,’ she noted.

Vance added in another post, ‘Thank God we have a Secretary of State who knows his facts AND has the patience of Job. Great job, @SecRubio.’ 

A former staffer for Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., is launching his own congressional bid on Thursday, Fox News Digital has learned.

Republican Austin Rogers is formally jumping into the race for Florida’s 2nd Congressional District, a solidly Republican seat encompassing part of the Sunshine State’s panhandle. It’s currently being represented by Rep. Neal Dunn, R-Fla., who is retiring at the end of this year.

Rogers invoked both President Donald Trump and Scott in a statement announcing his candidacy in a testament to the district’s conservative lean.

‘As President Trump and Senator Scott have shown, strong leadership matters,’ Rogers said. ‘I was raised right here in the 2nd District, fishing these bays, hunting these woods, and competing on these fields. I was taught to love this country, respect hard work, and stand up for what’s right. I’ve seen firsthand how broken Washington is. Our nation needs more fighters who will fearlessly root out waste, fraud, and abuse in government.’

Rogers previously worked as general counsel for Scott’s Senate office, which he argued helped him learn ‘how Congress actually works.’

‘I have drafted legislation, conducted congressional hearings, and led investigations holding the left accountable,’ Rogers said.

Scott’s campaign team told Fox News Digital that he has no current plans to make an endorsement in the race, however.

Rogers’ statement notably did not mention Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, another central Republican figure in the Sunshine State, despite the district including the capital city of Tallahassee.

Rogers, a father of two with a third child on the way, was born and raised in his district and moved back there with his wife after a brief stint in Washington, D.C.

Meanwhile, a crowded field is forming to replace Dunn, a surgeon and retired Army major who first won his seat in 2016. 

Three Republicans and three Democrats have already filed to run for the district, with Rogers becoming the fourth GOP hopeful in the race.

Among the GOP candidates in the race is Evan Power, Florida’s Republican Party state chairman, and Keith Gross, a businessman who previously mounted a long-shot bid against Scott in 2024.

Dunn is part of a record number of House lawmakers announcing their departures from the lower chamber in the 119th Congress. Twenty-eight Republicans and 21 Democrats have announced retirements between this year and last year, more than during any other congressional term.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday nominated federal prosecutor Colin McDonald to serve in the newly formed role of assistant attorney general for national fraud enforcement.

McDonald is currently serving as an associate deputy attorney general at the Department of Justice.

‘I am pleased to nominate Colin McDonald to serve as the first ever Assistant Attorney General for National FRAUD Enforcement, a new Division at the Department of Justice, which I created to catch and stop FRAUDSTERS that have been STEALING from the American People,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social.

‘My Administration has uncovered Fraud schemes in States like Minnesota and California, where these thieves have stolen Hundreds of Billions of Taxpayer Dollars,’ he continued.

Trump praised McDonald as a ‘very smart, tough and highly respected America First federal prosecutor who has successfully delivered justice in some of the most difficult and high-stakes cases our country has ever seen.’

‘Together, we will END THE FRAUD, and RESTORE INTEGRITY to our Federal Programs. Congratulations Colin — STOP THE SCAMS!’ the president wrote.

McDonald has been serving in the office of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who said McDonald was ‘instrumental’ in the federal government’s efforts to curb crime across the country.

‘Colin is a rockstar, who was instrumental in our team’s mission of Making America Safe Again,’ Blanche wrote on X. ‘He is a consummate prosecutor who loves God, family, and country and will serve the President and the American people well.’

Vice President JD Vance announced the new role and the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division at the Department of Justice during a White House press briefing earlier this month, as the administration seeks to pursue a crackdown on alleged systemic fraud in federal programs, including in Minnesota and California.

‘Colin McDonald is widely regarded as a thorough and highly competent attorney. He has an exceptional prosecutorial track record, which we look forward to seeing him put to use in his new role as Assistant Attorney General,’ Vance said at the time ahead of McDonald’s formal nomination.

Shipping in the Persian Gulf dipped sharply Wednesday as tensions with Iran intensified amid signs the U.S. was positioning military forces for a potential strike, according to maritime intelligence assessments.

The U.S. Navy’s USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group entered the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility Monday, a U.S. official confirmed to Fox News Digital, as President Donald Trump continued to keep military options on the table.

‘At this stage, it remains ambiguous, and probably intentionally ambiguous, what the objectives and desired outcomes are of any U.S. military action,’ Ambrey Intelligence’s Robert Peters told Fox News Digital.

‘This means that there are a wider range of possibilities and retaliatory scenarios under consideration,’ he added.

‘That said, there are five U.S.-flagged merchant vessels, tankers and cargo ships, in the Gulf today — two transited the Strait of Hormuz earlier without any apparent issues — but those already in the Gulf and destined for the U.S. are at heightened risk,’ he added.

Trump, who earlier this week indicated ‘numerous’ calls were received from Iran, also posted about the situation on Truth Social Wednesday morning.

‘A massive Armada is heading to Iran. It is moving quickly, with great power, enthusiasm, and purpose. It is a larger fleet, headed by the great Aircraft Carrier Abraham Lincoln, than that sent to Venezuela,’ he wrote.

‘Like with Venezuela, it is ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary. Hopefully Iran will quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal — NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS — one that is good for all parties. Time is running out, it is truly of the essence! As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL!’

The post came as the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported the death toll from nationwide protests in Iran has surpassed 6,200 since the outset on Dec. 28. 

The organization said nearly 17,100 more were under investigation, with ‘a continuation of both scattered and mass arrests,’ as internet restrictions continue.

Peters meanwhile, claimed that ‘shipping companies have been advised to reduce aggregate risk when operating in the Arabian/Persian Gulf.

‘This means limiting the number of ships that could be exposed to retaliatory action, and sometimes ships will await further instructions closer to their next port in the Gulf,’ he said. ‘At this point, it is more appropriate to wait further away, in case of an escalation.’

Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, warned Wednesday that any military action by the U.S., from any origin and at any level, ‘will be regarded as the start of a war, and the response will be immediate, all-out, and unprecedented, targeting the heart of Tel Aviv and all those who support the aggressor,’ according to Iran International.

‘Our brave Armed Forces are prepared — with their fingers on the trigger — to immediately and powerfully respond to ANY aggression against our beloved land, air, and sea,’ Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X.

With tensions rising in the region, Peters described how shipowners may be being approached by cargo charterers to load cargo in the Gulf.

‘Then they will make the decision to avoid the Gulf for the time being until the tensions reduce,’ Peters added. ‘Interestingly, last year the Iranians did not take retaliatory action in the maritime sphere: Israeli shipping was already avoiding the Gulf, and the U.S. military action was highly targeted at the nuclear capabilities.’

But Peters warned that the situation ‘may see something similar again. If there is a much broader, regime-destabilizing operation, the effects could be considerable for wider shipping.’

‘During periods like this, we tend to see greater risk aversion and inquiries from those asked to pick up cargo for U.S. charterers and destined for the U.S.,’ he added.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned Wednesday that a Supreme Court showdown over sitting Fed governor Lisa Cook could have far-reaching consequences for the central bank’s independence and the U.S. economy.

‘I would say that that case is perhaps the most important legal case in the Fed’s 113-year history. As I thought about it, it might have been hard to explain why I didn’t attend,’ Powell told reporters Wednesday at the Federal Reserve.

‘Paul Volcker famously attended a Supreme Court case in, I guess, 1985 or so, so there is precedent,’ Powell said, referring to the former Federal Reserve chair who served under Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.

Last week, the nation’s highest court heard oral arguments for two hours on whether President Donald Trump has the authority to remove Cook from the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors. The court is expected to issue a ruling in the case by summer.

Cook’s legal fight traces back to late August, when Trump said he was firing her from the board.

He alleged she misrepresented information related to a trio of mortgages she obtained before joining the central bank. Cook has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime.

She sued Trump in federal court in Washington, D.C., to block her removal. On Sept. 9, a district court judge barred Trump from firing her while the case proceeds, a decision later upheld by a federal appeals court.

Her ascent to the Federal Reserve was historic from the start. Appointed by former President Joe Biden in 2022, she became the first Black woman to serve as a Fed board governor, the seven-member panel that sets national interest rates and oversees the banking system.

Now, she stands at the center of an even more consequential moment, as Trump seeks to fire her — a step that would be unprecedented in the Fed’s history.

What’s more, Powell’s long-standing insistence on finishing his term, which ends in May, now comes amid a Justice Department criminal investigation into his congressional testimony on the Federal Reserve’s headquarters renovation.

Powell confirmed the investigation and said he respected the rule of law and congressional oversight, but described the action as ‘unprecedented’ and driven by political pressure.

Asked by reporters at the Federal Reserve for further comment, Powell declined to discuss the Justice Department investigation, pointing instead to remarks he made in a video statement on Jan. 11.

His decision to address the issue so publicly, after days of private consultations with advisors, marked a sharp departure from the central banker’s typically measured approach.

What comes next remains unclear, as the Federal Reserve navigates largely uncharted territory.