According to Fox News:
The executive order — which senior administration officials are calling a first of its kind and an attempt to ensure the government isn’t weaponized against the American people — will require agencies to submit a list to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) within the next 60 days of all regulations that could violate the Constitution or could cause harm.
OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) and the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will spearhead the effort and evaluate regulations across the federal agencies, senior administration officials told Fox News Digital on Wednesday.
DOGE officials at federal agencies will gather an inventory of regulations that could violate the Constitution and then share them with OMB. After the 60 days, the OIRA will go through the list of regulations and make individual decisions on which are unconstitutional and will launch the process of repealing the regulations on a case-by-case basis, the senior administration officials said.
OIRA oversees executive branch regulations, while the newly created DOGE aims to eliminate government waste, fraud and spending.
Legacy media is, of course, trying to paint this as a power grab by the administration. But the argument is dramatically weakened by the fact that Democrats have exerted similar control over “independent” agencies for decades without a peep left-leaning media. Moreover, the control leveled by Democrats has always been to increase the scope of the “Nanny State” whereas President Trump’s order is to rein it in.
]]>The Pandemic Unemployment Fraud Enforcement Act would provide a five-year extension on the statute of limitations for criminally prosecuting those who stole unemployment benefits.
During a recent Ways and Means Work and Welfare Subcommittee hearing, Work and Welfare Chairman Darin LaHood, R-Ill., shared details of the recent conviction in Pennsylvania of a man who stole $59 million in public benefits, including unemployment, and funneled the funds to his co-conspirators in China.
“This is a must pass bill,” said LaHood. “Federal law enforcement agencies are in the middle of litigating hundreds of cases with hundreds more yet to be litigated.”
According to the Department of Justice, there are still 157,000 open UI fraud complaints and 1,648 open investigations. The current statute of limitations is scheduled to expire on March 27, 2025, without Congressional action.
An estimated $100 billion to $135 billion of UI benefits from the pandemic were lost in the greatest theft of taxpayer dollars in American history. Of that, only $5 billion has been recovered.
LaHood said the same people who stole pandemic unemployment benefits are still at work.
“The same groups doing the same thing are happening now,” said LaHood. “This time, criminals are stealing disaster benefits owed to the Los Angeles fire and North Carolina hurricane victims.”
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, over 1,400 people have been convicted of unemployment insurance fraud since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The measure passed out of committee and is headed to the U.S. House floor. Similar legislation which extended the statute of limitations for PPP fraud was passed by Congress.
]]>“I don’t listen to the ACLU—I listen to my district, how it feels on the ground,” Gonzalez told Politico.
Gonzalez, whose district borders Mexico, was boasting about how he voted for the high-profile Laken Riley Act—legislation that requires federal immigration authorities to detain illegal immigrants accused of theft, burglary, or assaulting a law enforcement officer—even though the ACLU opposed it. But Gonzalez has flip-flopped on border issues in ways that align with the liberal nonprofit: Just last week, he voted against another bipartisan border bill and criticized Texas governor Greg Abbott’s (R.) border security measures.
The ACLU gave Gonzalez a perfect grade on its most recent legislative scorecard. The ranking, from 2021, noted that “9 out of 9 votes matched ACLU positions.” Alongside the ACLU, the congressman supported statehood for Washington, D.C., the second articles of impeachment against Donald Trump, and the American Dream and Promise Act, a bill that would create a path to citizenship for more than 2.5 million Dreamers and other immigrants.
Gonzalez—who represents 1 of just 13 congressional districts that supported Trump for president and a Democrat for Congress—voted against the Agent Raul Gonzalez Officer Safety Act on Thursday. The bipartisan bill, named after a border patrol officer killed less than 15 miles from Vicente Gonzalez’s district while pursuing illegal immigrants, would make it a federal crime to flee from law enforcement. The ACLU said the legislation puts border residents, especially people of color, in danger of “vigilante attacks.” […]
]]>— Read More: freebeacon.com
Many of the initiatives that the Trump administration seeks to undertake—such as constructing a wall along parts of the U.S. border with Mexico, removing illegal immigrants from the United States, and extending the lower income tax rates enacted in 2017—will require Congress to grant new funding.
Due to near-unanimous opposition from the Democratic Party, Republicans are seeking to use a budgetary process known as “reconciliation” to approve such funding, which would allow them to overcome procedural difficulties such as the Senate’s 60-vote cloture requirement that normally impedes most bills.
A reconciliation bill will only require a simple majority in both bodies of Congress to pass, which the Republicans currently hold.
“[The budget involves] securing the border, rebuilding our defense, and unleashing American energy. That starts this week with passing Chairman [Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)]’s budget,” wrote Thune on X, referring to the resolution sponsored by Graham, who chairs the Senate Budget Committee.
The reconciliation process requires each house of Congress to concurrently pass an identical “budget resolution” that establishes which areas of policy will see funding increases and, correspondingly, where spending will be cut. The Senate’s resolution calls for at least $325 billion in new spending on the U.S. military and homeland security matters, the latter of which includes immigration enforcement.
The reconciliation process cannot proceed unless either house capitulates and passes the other’s resolution, or a compromise is reached and a new resolution drafted.
]]>Republican senators have expressed strong support for Patel, 44, citing his background as a prosecutor and national security aide in the first Trump administration. They have also praised his commitment to addressing concerns about political “weaponization” within the FBI and refocusing the agency on its core law enforcement responsibilities.
During Patel’s confirmation hearings, he vowed to end the weaponization of the FBI as well as censorship coming from the agency and said, “If confirmed I will work with congress to expose any corrupt activities the FBI has participated in, especially involved in the censorship of free speech.”
He also vowed to help expose the Epstein client list during the hearing, promising to Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) “I will do everything, if confirmed as FBI director, to make sure the American public knows the full weight of what happened in” the Epstein case, and “how we are going to countermand missing children and exploited children going forward.”
After Trump was elected, many in the GOP pushed him to nominate Patel for FBI Director, and when he announced the nomination, touted Patel’s experience, saying, “Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People. He played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution.”
]]>Also, PPFA is a media darling about whom reporters can never say a disparaging word.
Until now.
In its February 15, 2025, edition, the New York Times ran a long feature story, written by Katie Benner, revealing some of the organization’s seamier side :“Botched Care and Tired Staff: Planned Parenthood in Crisis.”
The surprise isn’t so much that Planned Parenthood has problems – many which pro-lifers have known and shouted about to deaf ears for years — or that the organization has made abortion politics a priority over patient care – something else we’ve brought up repeatedly. It’s rather that the media, and, in particular, even the ever-so-august New York Times, is finally acknowledging that the nation’s premier abortion factory has feet of clay. […]
]]>— Read More: www.lifenews.com
According to the General Services Administration, the Trump administration is directing federal agencies to no longer consider a company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion practices when deciding whether to procure its goods or services.
The Wall Street Journal reports that this reverses Biden’s policy of pushing companies to consider DEI when purchasing goods and services.
The GSA is also ending a federal effort to replace plastic straws with paper straws in federal operations, bringing procurement policy in line with President Trump’s executive order.
The Biden administration aimed to phase out federal procurement of single-use plastics from all federal operations by 2035.
Additionally, the GSA is overhauling federal procurement practices. The regulations grew to more than 2,000 pages.
“It’s burdensome, outdated, and doesn’t allow agencies to buy at the speed of need,” said Josh Gruenbaum, commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service.
It’s not clear how much can be done without Congress. Congress sets many preferences for certain types of companies, such as those owned by people with disabilities or Native American tribes.
]]>The bill, known as HB2703 or SB1101, would have made several changes to the Arizona election process, such as allowing ballots dropped off by voters in Maricopa County to be counted on-site, if the ballots were dropped off at an early voting location after 7:00 p.m. on the Friday before Election Day. For the state’s other 14 counties, voters would be required to show identification if they drop off their mail-in ballot at a polling location after the Friday before Election Day. They would also have the choice to drop off their ballot at the Country Recorder’s Office.
In addition, the legislation would have added three additional days of early voting that were previously limited to emergency voting only. It was modeled after similar bills that were enacted in Florida and Georgia, both of which actually increased the number of early ballots cast.
“When Florida was a swing state, Florida still, with their larger population, had their results in far ahead of Arizona,” said Arizona Republican Party Chair Gina Swoboda.
“After the election, we heard from our constituents who were extremely frustrated after waiting days and days to find out who won the election,” said State Senate President Warren Petersen said when announcing the legislation. “The first bill to hit the Governor’s desk is a bill that will give us election results the night of the election.” […]
]]>— Read More: trendingpoliticsnews.com
The Democrat attorneys general argued that Elon Musk is operating with unchecked power since he is not Senate-confirmed.
Blue states such as Arizona, Michigan, Rhode Island, New Mexico, California, Massachusetts, and others filed a lawsuit arguing President Trump violated the Appointments Clause of the Constitution when he created DOGE and gave Elon Musk ‘unchecked power.’
The attorneys general argued that since Elon Musk is not senate confirmed, he should be barred from issuing orders to anyone inside of the executive branch.
They argued that the Trump Admin’s creation of DOGE with Elon Musk at the helm violates the Appointments Clause of the Constitution. […]
]]>— Read More: www.thegatewaypundit.com
(DCNF)—A male high school student dominated a girls’ pole vaulting competition in Maine after the state refused to comply with President Donald Trump’s order to separate sports by gender.
The student, who goes by Katie Spencer, jumped the highest out of his team at 11 feet, winning Greely High School a state championship but drawing outrage from women’s sports advocates. The Maine Principals’ Association announced three days earlier that it would continue allowing males who identify as transgender to take women’s sports titles despite the White House’s policies against it, WMTV8 reported.
Photos posted online and media coverage of the event confirm Spencer’s identity. He currently ranks in the top 10 for girls’ pole vaulting in the state.
“The decision by the Maine Principals’ Association to continue allowing male athletes to compete against female athletes in school athletic competitions is outrageous,” Maine State Rep. Laurel Libby, a Republican, said in a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Not only does their decision violate President Trump’s February 5 Executive Order but it jeopardizes the safety and privacy of female athletes, all while allowing male athletes to take medals, trophies, and podium spots away from women, effectively erasing them.”
“I urge the Trump Administration to move swiftly to ensure that female athletes in Maine can once again compete on a level playing field, preserving the integrity of women’s sports,” Libby said.
Maine awards the girls’ state pole vault title to a male athlete competing in the girls’ division.
Greely High School’s male star vaulter, Katie Spencer, not only won the event but also helped secure his girls’ team the overall state championship by just one point. https://t.co/gORzzNp7Xt pic.twitter.com/kEEUH8k3kc
— ICONS (@icons_women) February 18, 2025
“Parents across Maine—and the country—are fed up with being ignored while their daughters are forced to compete against biological males,” the conservative American Parents’ Coalition told the DCNF. “The Maine Principals’ Association’s decision isn’t just unfair; it’s an affront to every parent who expects their child to have a level playing field and is at odds with President Trump’s Executive Order protecting girls’ sports.”
“Schools should be working alongside the Administration and supporting parents, not prioritizing politics,” the coalition said.
The Maine Principals’ Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment.