Who are America’s public universities really for? A growing backlash argues that domestic students—many with near-perfect test scores—are being edged out in favor of full-pay international enrollments. 

Steve Cortes’ new documentary, “The Foreign Student Crisis Destroying American College Admissions,” focuses on the University of Illinois where more than 6,000 Chinese nationals are enrolled at this publicly funded, land-grant school. 

Cortes emphasizes that his concern is not about race, but about citizenship. 

Stanley Zhong, an Asian American student, experienced the effects firsthand. “He had near-perfect SAT scores, 1,590 out of 1,600, and a 3.97 GPA at a highly prestigious Palo Alto High School,” Cortes said. He applied to UCLA, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Illinois, and was rejected by all three schools. Later, Zhong was hired as a Google engineer. 

Cortes poses the question, “What level of untapped talent exists in this country that a combination of DEI and immigration have basically cut out of the loop?” 

He is not only concerned about education for American citizens, but also about national security. 

He calls the influx of Chinese students “organized infiltration backed by a hostile regime masked as education,” and explained that there have been three students at the University of Michigan caught smuggling agricultural bioweapons and a Chinese engineering student at Illinois Tech convicted of espionage after being recruited by China’s Ministry of State Security. 

Marsha McClary is an Illinois native and a mother of five. She explained her frustration both as a taxpayer and as a mother. “A lot of our students cannot get into U of I … and then they have to go out of state and pay higher tuition.”  

She continued by saying, “We’re paying a lot of taxes into the university system in the state, and we should be able to take advantage of that as a priority for our students.” 

Stephen Kleinschmit, a professor at Northwestern University, explained how many foreign students come to the university with questionable credentials and are unable to speak English.  

Many of the applications are careless; applicants sometimes leave the wrong university name on their cover letters or indicate they don’t understand the program they’re applying to. 

Kleinschmit also warned of “institutionalized corruption” involving bribing test proctors and even the government itself. 

Cortes ended his documentary by giving his solution to the matter: “The total number of foreign students must be capped. One or 2% of total enrollment seems perfectly sensible. The total number of Chinese nationals should be zero, none. Not welcome here. United States schools for United States citizens.” 

The post Are US Universities Prioritizing International Students Over Citizens?  appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of today’s video from Daily Signal Senior Contributor Victor Davis Hanson. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see more of his videos.

Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for The Daily Signal. I’d like to talk about our two cold wars, the one that we won against Russia and the one that we’re de facto in against China. They’re very different. And I would argue that the 45-year Cold War with Russia was much easier to win, despite their 7,000 nukes, than it will be with China for a variety of reasons that we should all be aware of.

No. 1, Russia was Russia, kind of a pariah state. It was isolated from the so-called free world. Europe was Europe, and Asia and the United States had guardrails against it. There were no students de facto from Russia in the United States. None. Statistically, almost none. There was no conduit for espionage or the expropriation of American scientific and engineering knowledge out of our Ph.D. programs, MBA programs, you name it. There was very little espionage by students. There were very few Russian nationals in the United States. We just didn’t let them in. There was no American investor class in Russia.

Remember how controversial Armand Hammer was? He was the head of Occidental Petroleum. He had the pencil monopoly in Russia. His parents had been living in Russia. They had been pro-communist, at least his father, as I recall. And then they’d gone back to the United States. He’d grown up part of his youth in Russia. He spoke fluent Russian. And he was our de facto business liaison with the communist government. Every time there was a JFK or Nixon or Johnson administration, and they wanted a back channel, they called up Armand Hammer.

I don’t know quite what his sympathies were, but he was about the only one, and he was a pariah. People were angry at him.

Take the example with China today. It’s much different. And funny, there was a sense that Russia had very bad propaganda. People thought that Russians were crude. They thought they were cruel, that nobody liked them in the Third World when they came in.

Even today in Hollywood, have you noticed that almost every villain in every movie is a Russian? He has that kind of guttural Russian accent. He’s got a shaved head. He has a tattoo when he takes off his shirt. He’s covered with tattoos. There’s the three-bar Orthodox cross. It’s a very cruel caricature, but we don’t do that with China.

And remember that we thought we were going to be blown up by Russia. They had 7,000 nuclear weapons. They had the mother of all bombs. I think it was a 50- or 100-megaton bomb they dropped. It was all over our childhood in school. That propaganda wasn’t propaganda. Actually, it was the truth. I can remember having to do drills.

So, we were clear who the enemy was and what they were capable of. China is very different. They were an ally of ours in World War II. But unlike Russia, that we did not include in the Marshall Plan, and we stopped Lend-Lease right after, we had a much more empathetic view.

China was deindustrialized. It didn’t really have a chance. It hadn’t made a deal with Hitler as the Russians did. It had been preyed upon by Japan. And so, there had been American missionaries, not colonialists or imperialists. We never had an imperial project in China. But it was sort of a goodwill. It wasn’t even lost during the Korean War.

We had this good feeling about China, and there are 300,000 students. People in the administration, I don’t know why, are thinking of having 600,000. If you have 1% engaged in active espionage, that would mean you would have 3,000 students who are actively trying to glean information in labs, in research projects, in joint endeavors with American academics, sending that home. Almost every student who leaves the United States and goes home to China is interrogated by the intelligence arms of the People’s Liberation Army.

It’s nothing—the Russians had no such clout. There were almost no, as I said, no Russians here. Three to 5 million people are foreign-born from China. I think 3 million of them who are in the United States are not U.S. citizens. They’re residents. That would be unheard of in the Cold War with Russia.

I don’t know how much investment there is, but it seems like every American capitalist has made a fortune in China. People have suggested it might be trillions of dollars over the last 40 years. I’m not saying they have dual loyalties, but there’s an insidious idea that China’s not really an enemy because of the massive amount of money that has been invested there.

And that means, put the Chinese students, the Chinese residents, the foreign investment, and our history of empathy with China—it’s very, very hard to tell people that China is an existential enemy in the way that Russia was.

And we all know that they played the DEI, woke propaganda card. Especially, we saw that with COVID. It wasn’t just that we were supposed to believe that crazy idea that a sick pangolin or a bat 100 miles away gave the world COVID when the Wuhan lab was right there, a level 4 lab with American expertise, instrumentation, and some money provided by whom? Anthony Fauci and Peter Daszak, and others, Francis Collins, perhaps.

And so, what I’m getting at is, every time that we tried to criticize the corruption of the World Health Organization or China, they came back and said, here you go again. You’re racist. You’re racist. This is the Yellow Peril all over again. This is the Rape of Nanking, your style. It was almost as if they had studied the DEI mosaic in the United States, and they had tapped into it in a way that the Russians couldn’t.

They were lily-white, guttural-speaking enemies on the Hollywood big screen. And the result of that is, as we speak today, can you imagine if there were Russian bio labs? One was about 10 miles from here. I used to work there in high school at the packing house. It was used later by this operative of the Chinese Communist Party. There was one in Las Vegas. There may be more.

Can you imagine if the Russians bought farmland next to U.S. high-security military bases? We would have never allowed that to happen. We would have never funded a Russian lab.

So, there are so many different ways that China has infiltrated the cultural, social, economic, political life, the military life of the United States, that they are much more insidious, much more powerful. And of course, they have 1.4 billion people. The Soviet Union at its height, I think, had 240 million. So, they are a much more formidable enemy, and they’re much more adept at knowing where we are strong and especially where we are weak.

Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of today’s video from Daily Signal Senior Contributor Victor Davis Hanson. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see more of his videos.

The post China’s Quiet Infiltration of America appeared first on The Daily Signal.

“I learned a long time ago, keep your d— mouth shut if you want to stay in show business,” said the great Dolly Parton.

Do you know where she stands on immigration enforcement, veganism, or Gaza? Me neither. 

Uninformed virtue signaling is a staple of the U.S. entertainment industry. Freeing Tibet, global warming, masking and vaccines, all had their day. Now, the performers have collectively agreed to honor the First Woke Commandment: You Shall Have No Borders.

The woke swarm has collectively decided that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal sub-agency charged with enforcing immigration law, should not enforce immigration law.

In practice, this means that the U.S. should admit anyone who wants to come here, and that we should not expel them under any circumstances once they are in. That used to be a radical, ultra-Left, or even anarchist view.

Paid athletes and performers now pretend ICE agents are unsanctioned storm troopers in President Donald Trump’s private army, rather than federal agents carrying out valid law enforcement to the best of their ability–in the teeth of deliberate, organized disruption by paid activists. You’d think that creative artists would be more imaginative, but comparisons to Nazi Germany are their usual go-to.

At last September’s Emmy awards, which are for television shows I don’t watch, Hannah Einbinder of HBO’s “Hacks” skillfully mixed sports with domestic and foreign policy by saying “go Birds, f— ICE, and free Palestine.” Einbinder, who is Jewish, wants to boycott Israel, to persuade them to–I think–allow Hamas to rearm and continue their benevolent rule in Gaza.

Einbinder’s co-star Jean Smart sported a “Be Good” badge, a reference to Minneapolis resident Renee Good who was killed last month while obstructing federal agents in an organized campaign. Smart, Mark Rufalo, Wanda Sykes, and other actors wore the same badge. None of them, as far as I know, ever wore a badge in memory of an American killed by an illegal alien.

At the recent Grammy music awards, a musician called Bad Bunny said “ICE out” and rambled about love. Two of my favorite singers, Carole King and Joni Mitchell, sported anti-ICE badges. Yet I won’t be burning my vinyl of “Tapestry or Court and Spark,” just like I didn’t burn Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young’s “Carry On” because Neil took his music off Spotify in 2022 when Joe Rogan critiqued Covid vaccine mandates. I expect musicians to let their freak flags fly. But I bought their product and I’ll keep it.

Someone named Shaboozey also sported an anti-ICE badge. I won’t burn his album either, because I don’t have it, and also I don’t think the medium he uses to publish his music is flammable. Justin Bieber did not wear a badge on the boxer shorts he wore to perform, nor was an anti-ICE message part of his body-encompassing tattoo collection. Probably an oversight.

Performers Billie Eilish, SZA, and Kehlani reportedly took precious award-stage time to criticize ICE. Eilish reassured us that “no one is illegal on stolen land,” though she seems intent on keeping people off hers.

Last weekend, Mr. Bunny presented the half-time show at the Superbowl. Though not wearing a dress, he presented a message about Latin American solidarity to whatever portion of the audience was fluent in both Spanish and mumbling.

“The only thing more powerful than hate is love,” summarized the Jumbotron in English. How profound.

In the sports world, we now have the winter Olympics. The temptation for our athletes to signal virtue as well as talent is strong. Team USA changed the name of their hospitality house from Ice House to Winter House. Did they imagine Italians confused it with a detention center?

The gist seems to be to equate enforcing federal immigration laws with “hate and fear” and law-breaking activism with “peace and love.” Some athletes want to represent only part of America.

This summer, we’ll endure the FIFA World Cup of soccer. Gary Lineker, a retired player and long-time television commentator from England, sold his podcast to Netflix and will want to be in the USA to cover the games.

Lineker is a leftist who dislikes our president. He favors mass migration, and in 2023 compared the former Conservative government’s attempt to stem asylum fraud as “immeasurably cruel,” likening the home secretary’s choice of language to–wait for it–Germany in the 1930s.

Back in 2018, journalist Laura Ingraham asked basketball star LeBron James to “shut up and dribble” and stop talking politics. She caught hell for it but coined a neat catchphrase.

So Gary, if you shut up and dribble, you are welcome to come to America to talk about soccer. I doubt President Trump knows who you are, and I don’t think he’s a big footie fan so you should be under his radar.

And to Team USA, please just shut up and slip, slide, and jump. The less you say, the more we’ll marvel at your talent.

As for the acting, music, and entertainment crowd, we’ll never be that lucky. They are so used to speaking the words of great writers that they arrogate profundity to their own opinions.

The post Shut Up and Slide, Team USA appeared first on The Daily Signal.

It’s hard to wrap your head around the massive news President Donald Trump and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced Thursday.

Trump and Zeldin estimated that the EPA will save taxpayers over $1.3 trillion by eliminating the 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding, which served as the bedrock for a host of greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles in model years 2012 to 2027.

The Clean Air Act of 1970 directed the EPA to regulate “any air pollutant” that could “endanger public health or welfare.”

In 2006, Massachusetts and eleven other states sued the agency, demanding that it regulate greenhouse gas emissions on the theory that the emissions contribute to climate change and therefore endanger public health. The Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that the EPA must consider “whether greenhouse gas emissions contribute to climate change,” and the Obama administration issued the Endangerment Finding in 2009.

Trump and Zeldin gave two strong reasons for reversing course on the finding.

The Climate Data

They noted that the climate alarmist predictions of harm from the burning of fossil fuels “did not materialize.”

“Using the same types of models utilized by the previous administrations and climate change zealots, EPA now finds that even if the U.S. were to eliminate all GHG emissions from all vehicles, there would be no material impact on global climate indicators through 2100,” the agency’s press release notes.

Indeed, various studies have shown that the burning of fossil fuels does not pose the existential threat that alarmists have repeatedly claimed. Climate models from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change significantly overestimated warming trends, in part because they neglect to consider natural factors that play substantial roles in climate variability.

Contrary to alarmist claims, climate change is not making hurricanes worse. Historical records of major river systems reveal patterns of variability, rather than consistent trends linked to human emissions. Furthermore, moderate warming and elevated carbon emissions can yield net benefits, such as reducing cold-related mortality and extending growing seasons.

The Endangerment Finding Was Illegal

Trump and Zeldin also weighed the legal foundation of the Endangerment Finding and found it wanting.

Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act “does not provide statutory authority for EPA to prescribe motor vehicle and engine emission standards in the manner previously utilized, including for the purpose of addressing global climate change,” the press release argues.

“A policy decision of this magnitude, which carries sweeping economic and policy consequences, lies solely with Congress.”

A Huge Blow to the Climate Industrial Complex

Climate activists have long used the federal bureaucracy to push their agenda, often circumventing Congress.

As I describe in “The Woketopus: The Dark Money Cabal Manipulating the Federal Government,” climate alarmist groups fed staff and ideas into the Biden administration, pulling the levers of power while the president was asleep at the wheel.

The EPA is often ground zero for this grift. Climate groups would sue the EPA, claiming that it did not regulate enough of the economy. EPA staff, who largely supported the regulation, would settle the lawsuits, agreeing to implement the alarmist policy and pay the activist group in a settlement.

Under Biden, the EPA managed the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a $27 billion fund administered through CitiBank as part of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The EPA rushed $20 billion to eight nonprofit groups after Trump won the 2024 presidential election. Zeldin has fought to claw back some of this money, and he confronted left-leaning journalists for repeatedly claiming that he had no evidence of waste, fraud, or abuse.

A Win for Affordability

Democrats talk a great deal about “affordability,” but they seem not to be concerned about how regulating oil and gas makes travel, electricity, and goods and services more expensive.

According to the Energy Information Administration, 60% of American energy comes from fossil fuels, with 18.6% coming from nuclear energy and another 21.4% from wind, hydropower, and solar.

As the federal government drops restrictions on the largest sources of energy in the country, that won’t just make it cheaper for you to fill up your gas tank—it will also decrease the cost of transporting goods and services, and it will decrease the cost of energy production, in general.

Meanwhile, fewer government handouts for “clean energy” companies also means one less driver of inflation.

The market will adjust for more companies to meet consumer demand, and if solar and wind truly are the way of the future, they should be able to compete on a level playing field.

President Trump’s all-of-the-above energy strategy will likely make Americans wealthier, and give us more options for how to spend our money. Repealing the Endangerment Finding will spread positive ripple effects throughout the economy, and I, for one, am excited about what the future holds.

The post MONUMENTAL: Trump Admin Unleashes American Energy by Rejecting Obama-Era Endangerment Finding appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Four days later, the Super Bowl halftime debate appears to be outlasting memories of the game itself. Turning Point USA’s “All-American Halftime Show”—staged in response to the NFL’s selection of Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny as the Super Bowl halftime act—triggered viral reactions, celebrity criticism, and extreme online responses—exposing deep cultural divides. 

The Final Numbers 

Bad Bunny’s performance drew over 128 million viewers, according to audience measurement firm Nielsen. That’s 5.3 million less than last year’s halftime performer Kendrick Lamar.

Turning Point’s show peaked at about six million concurrent views and 21 million views total. 

Crucially, Nielsen data indicates overall Super Bowl viewership dropped by approximately 7.7 million viewers during halftime. With 30-second Super Bowl ads costing millions, halftime retention is crucial for advertisers who pay premium rates for both halftime and second-half placements. 

The TPUSA alternative option to the Super Bowl halftime show, headlined by Kid Rock, was intended to reflect Turning Point USA’s view of American culture, featuring country music performances and themes centered on faith and patriotism.  

Bad Bunny’s performance was an early valentine to Puerto Rico and the Latino countries in North, Central and South America. The Grammy winner made his intentions clear from the moment of his selection. 

Bad Bunny announced on “Saturday Night Live” that he would perform his Super Bowl halftime show in Spanish, also arrogantly suggesting Americans learn the language if they had a problem with that. 

Riley Gaines, Turning Point USA Contributor, wrote on X, “Bad Bunny told Americans they had 4 months to learn Spanish if we wanted to understand the Super Bowl halftime show. No thanks. We’ll just have our own. Enjoy your low-rated halftime show.” 

These divisive performances, providing two visions of America, stirred mixed reactions from celebrities, social media, and even colleges. 

The Case for Bad Bunny 

Katy Perry, who herself has performed at the Super Bowl halftime show, praised Bad Bunny on X, writing: “You got this @sanbenito [Bad Bunny], remind the world what the real American dream looks like.” 

Country singer Kacey Musgraves joined Bad Bunny’s team: “Well. That made me feel more proudly American than anything Kid Rock has ever done.” 

Major news outlets practically fell over themselves to respond, rushing out positive coverage of Bad Bunny’s performance with unmistakable eagerness. The Washington Post, for example, described the performance as “wholesome,” despite rows of derrieres wiggling for the cameras, men grinding on men, and obscene lyrics.

The Case for Kid Rock 

Influencer Amanda Vance went viral for posting a video of herself watching the “All-American Halftime Show” at the Super Bowl while Bad Bunny was performing. She said she lost 1,000 followers in two minutes on Instagram and even received violent threats. 

Vice President JD Vance promoted Turning Point’s halftime show on X. “Fantastic lineup for the TPUSA halftime show, including the great Bob Ritchie AKA KID ROCK.”  

While Turning Point supporter @jackunheard posted: “Now THAT! Is how you do a halftime show. This needs to happen EVERY SINGLE YEAR.” 

Kid Rock’s single—a cover of Cody Johnson’s “’Til You Can’t”—overtook Bad Bunny on the Apple charts after the show, a surprising post-Super Bowl twist. 

Turning Point has confirmed they will be hosting another halftime performance in 2027 due to the success they saw this year. The NFL has not officially commented on either show’s performance or advertiser reactions. 

During the TPUSA show, Hillsdale College launched its “Learn Like Charlie” campaign, encouraging viewers to take the same free online courses Charlie Kirk completed, including “Constitution 101: The Meaning and History of the Constitution” and “The Genesis Story: Reading Biblical Narratives.”  

A 60-second commercial aired during the show, highlighting moments when Kirk recommended the courses, such as when a caller to The Charlie Kirk Show said, “I listen to your podcast, I’m taking Hillsdale online courses,” to which Kirk replied, “Now that’s what I’m talking about. I love it.” 

While the game itself is already fading from memory, both halftime shows will be leaving a lasting cultural footprint. 

The post Bad Bunny vs. Turning Point USA Super Bowl Halftime Shows Still Sparking Viral Reactions, Highlighting Cultural Divide  appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Border Patrol agents in California have arrested 23 individuals in a human smuggling bust, according to Customs and Border Protection.  

Four of the individuals arrested are believed to be human smugglers, and 19 are Mexican nationals, the agency reported.  

Border Patrol agents spotted a vehicle on Jan. 31 in the El Centro Sector of the U.S. border with Mexico, which they believed was being used for smuggling activity. 

An investigation led agents to an apartment complex in Seeley, California, about 100 miles east of San Diego, where they saw individuals being transferred between vehicles.  

Seven individuals attempted to flee the scene when agents approached, but officials pursued them. In addition to the 23 arrests, federal agents seized six vehicles that are connected to the investigation.  

“El Centro Sector was the most secure section of the entirety of the 2,000-mile Southwest Border for fiscal [year] 2025, a fact that this transnational criminal organization must have overlooked,” acting Chief Patrol Agent Joseph A. Remenar says.  

“Our agents are dedicated to ensuring that El Centro Sector retains this level of security moving forward, as evidenced by this noteworthy interdiction,” he said. “This criminal organization found out the hard way that El Centro is not a conducive environment to conduct their illicit activities.” 

Those arrested face federal prosecution, according to the agency.  

Encounters with illegal aliens at the southern border have declined significantly over the past 12 months. 

CBP agents reported encountering 4,633 illegal aliens in the El Centro Sector in fiscal year 2025, down from over 17,000 in 2024 and over 50,000 in 2023. 

Since returning to office in January 2025, President Donald Trump has taken a number of actions to discourage illegal immigration, including reinstating the Remain in Mexico policy, ending the “catch and release” policy, installing more border walls, and launching a large-scale deportation operation across the U.S.  

The post EXCLUSIVE: Border Patrol Stops Large Human Smuggling Attempt in California   appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The Justice Department is missing out on collecting $10 billion from convicted criminals to go to crime victims, according to federal prosecutors. 

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, led a letter with four other Republican senators telling Attorney General Pam Bondi that “there appears to be billions of dollars right at the DOJ’s finger tips that could be collected.”  

Congress created the Crime Victims Fund in 1984 as a resource for survivors of crime. The fund is intended to be self-sustaining through collecting criminal penalties and fines from federal convictions.

The theory, as noted in the senators’ letter, was “criminals, not innocent taxpayers, will pick up the tab for the havoc they force on victim’s lives.”  

The senators’ primary concern is the 2024 United States Attorneys’ Annual Statistical Report, the most recent published, noting that $10 billion in outstanding fines remained uncollected.  

The Government Accountability Office opened an inquiry into the fund after senators found in 2024 that the Biden administration was using money collected from criminal penalties to offset more than $1 billion in spending rather than directing it to the victims fund, according to the letter.

The Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General also opened a review into the fund. 

“In addition to holding criminals accountable, the collection of outstanding fines and penalties would allow DOJ to provide critical resources to support victims and survivors of crime nationwide, as these funds are statutorily required to be deposited into the CVF, with very limited exceptions,” the senators state.  

Joining Grassley in the letter were Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine; Joni Ernst of Iowa; and Mike Crapo and Jim Risch of Idaho.  

Grassley launched oversight efforts of the Crime Victims Fund in 2023, and the fund’s balance increased from $1 billion to $3.5 billion.  

“While the CVF balance sits at $3.5 billion and appears trending in the right direction, DOJ still has a lot of work to do,” the senators say in the letter.

“Specifically, there appears to be billions of dollars in outstanding criminal fines and penalties that are available for deposit into the CVF that DOJ has yet to collect.” 

“According to reports, victim advocacy groups have been in search of additional funds to help shore up the CVF and to stave off potential cuts to the services they provide in our hometowns,” the letter states.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to inquiries for this story.  

The senators gave a deadline of Feb. 25 to respond with “rolling updates” on the status of collecting criminal fines.  

The post GOP Lawmakers Want to Know Why DOJ Hasn’t Collected $10 Billion for Crime Victims appeared first on The Daily Signal.

A congressional task force soon plans to release a compromise between corn farmer and oil refiner interests that could reshape the American energy industry.

“They’re going great,” Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., told The Daily Signal on Wednesday of talks to secure nationwide authorization for the year-round sale of E15, a gasoline whose composition is 15% ethanol—an alcohol which can be derived from corn. The default for regular gasoline is 10% ethanol.

To resolve disagreements between oil refiner and farm interests, Republicans have formed the “E-15 Rural Domestic Energy Council,” an all-Republican effort spearheaded by Reps. Stephanie Bice of Oklahoma and Randy Feenstra of Iowa

Under a deal with House leadership, the council has a Feb. 15 deadline to submit legislative proposals, and leadership has until Feb. 25 to put it on the floor for a vote.

“We’re going to have a draft product out here very soon. We’re still negotiating, and it is imprudent to discuss negotiations,” Van Orden said.

E15

Currently, E15 is effectively forbidden by the Clean Air Act from being sold in the summertime. This is due to concerns about smog, as the E15 blend evaporates more quickly into the atmosphere than regular gas.

The Environmental Protection Agency regularly provides summertime waivers to allow for its sale, but pro-corn members are seeking to codify the gas’ availability to provide market certainty and an expanded market to corn farmers.

“E15 is an important public policy choice,” Rep. Derek Schmidt, R-Kan., told The Daily Signal on Wednesday.

“It doesn’t cost the taxpayers or the government a nickel. It is not a mandate. To the contrary, it is the elimination of a government regulation which is precluding the market from functioning in the manner that consumers want it to function,” he added.

Disagreements

Recently, midwestern members sought to eliminate the E15 prohibition with a provision in a package of spending bills. 

But pro-ethanol language was ultimately scrubbed from the package after some members complained of its potential effects on refiners in their districts.

Under law, refiners are obligated to blend biofuels, such as ethanol, with petroleum. 

This President George W. Bush-era policy, known as the Renewable Fuel Standard, was originally meant to promote American energy independence and support the biofuel industry. 

One way of getting around non-compliance penalties is a “small refinery exemption,” under which a small refinery can prove the standard is causing them economic hardship.

The more refineries that manage to use this exemption, the less demand there is for ethanol.

Rep. Harriet Hageman, a Republican representing Wyoming’s at-large Congressional District, took issue with a provision that would have narrowed the definition of small refineries in addition to allowing for annual E15 sales.

Since Wyoming only has small refineries, this redefinition would be a problem for businesses in Hageman’s state, which could lose their exemption.

“Any changes to the definition of ‘small refinery’ will structurally disadvantage refineries in Wyoming and across the country,” Hageman warned at the inception of the task force. “We do not need to destroy small refineries in the pursuit of E15. … I need to fight for my businesses.”

The Council

“It’s unfortunate that what was widely believed to be an agreement turned out to not be a universal agreement,” Schmidt told The Daily Signal on Wednesday of Congress’ failure to codify year-round E15.

But Schmidt added that “this extension of time gives more opportunity to make sure everybody is engaged.”

Some members have made their goals known.

Van Orden made clear from the beginning of the task force that he would be seeking changes to the definition of small refineries.

“These larger conglomerates have been getting a bunch of smaller refineries and operating them under a large umbrella and saying that they’re separate, independent small refineries, which they’re not,” Van Orden said in a late January interview with a midwestern agricultural news outlet.

“We need to lay out exactly … how the large refineries compare to the small refineries,” said Van Orden, who recommended that the definition factor in geography, profit, and employees rather than just the number of barrels produced a day.

Blending Mandates

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a member of the task force, told The Daily Signal on Tuesday that his major contention in the E15 talks involved the blending mandates.

“The process is working as it should, and good people are having good conversations,” said Roy. “I still have a very strong objection to going year-round E15 without peeling back the Renewable Fuel Standard.”

Roy continued, “I don’t think you can have your cake and eat it too. If the market’s good, and you think the market’s working, and you think you should be able to have E15 year-round, then let’s let the market work. You don’t need mandates, and you don’t need the Renewable Fuel Standard, which is messing things up for small refiners.”

Schmidt, who says he has been involved in E15 talks, told The Daily Signal that calls to change the standard are “legitimate discussions to have,” but his north star is “to get the government’s thumb off the scale with respect to E15, and let the market sort out whether you use it year-round or not based on consumer choice.”

He said a workable agreement “may include [Renewable Fuel Standard] as it is” or “the [Renewable Fuel Standard] in a slightly different way.”

The post House Reps. Try to Reconcile Farm and Oil Interests in E15 Talks appeared first on The Daily Signal.

All the parenting books in the world five years ago could not have fathomed the ubiquitous presence of artificial intelligence in our children’s lives today.  

If parents remain ignorant of AI’s true power, we risk surrendering our children to the deepest, darkest psychological abyss humanity has ever encountered. 

With hindsight, we can see the true devastation new technologies like smartphones and social media have had on our kids’ mental health. In 2025, the National Institute of Health reported that nearly 25% of adolescents “meet the criteria for social media addiction,” and that “compulsive engagement with digital platforms has been associated with increased symptoms of anxiety, depression, and attention disorders, raising concerns about the long-term consequences of excessive screen time.”  

Can social media have benefits? Sure.  

Can artificial intelligence? Of course.  

Simply put, technology is like fire. When used appropriately, it can sustain and assist life. But when treated recklessly, it is wildly destructive. AI has the potential to help address America’s education crisis, but only after clear guardrails are in place for its use.  

Unfortunately, human nature lacks inherent self-control. Our society has allowed the wildfire of emerging technologies to run rampant among our children. Parents can no longer afford to be ignorant of the rise of AI; either we take the time to understand the technology, or we watch our children pay the price for unfettered access.  

A few weeks ago, I joined the White House Artificial Intelligence Education Task Force meeting in Washington. It was an honor to have a seat at the table. I’m so grateful this administration recognizes that artificial intelligence holds enormous power and that the next generation of Americans must be introduced to this technology strategically. 

During the meeting, I emphasized that policymakers in Washington must do everything within their power to ensure parents have the keys to the AI toolbox. That requires a few practical steps that businesses, families, and governments must work together to implement: 

1. Mandate that platforms adopt strong safety protections, including crisis response protocols and mechanisms that limit addictive design features. Our children should not become algorithmic robots just to pad a company’s bottom line, and businesses need to fund research on the long-term developmental impacts of AI usage among children while governments establish clinical trial and licensure requirements. 
2. Establish clear data protection standards for platforms that collect information from minors, with meaningful penalties for noncompliance.Minors cannot consent to their data being collected, and without real-world consequences for companies that violate the privacy of minors (in their pursuit of higher profits), no real change will ever materialize. 

3. Ban artificial intelligence from being used in mental health services and social-emotional learning. The psychological consequences of replacing human interaction with technology are chilling, and mental health counseling by an algorithm threatens to exacerbate any preexisting struggles a young child may have. 

Our conversation with the administration was extremely productive. 

Following our meeting, Moms for Liberty signed the AI Education Pledge, committing to help shape expectations for the responsible advancement of AI in American education.

That pledge included a promise to develop tools and resources that empower parents to support innovation in AI education while ensuring children are protected and parental rights are upheld.

This week, Moms for Liberty is fulfilling that promise by releasing our Artificial Intelligence Education Initiative, a comprehensive resource designed to help parents, lawmakers, educators, and families navigate the rapidly expanding use of artificial intelligence in K-12 education while defending parental rights, student privacy, and academic integrity. 

The resources within this initiative function as a toolkit for parents, and include model legislation, school board policies, parental rights pledges, and guidance documents that establish guardrails to ensure AI remains a tool under human oversight, not an authority over children’s education. 

AI has the potential to be a helpful supplement, but it must never be given the authority to replace educators, override parents, or shape the worldview and mental health of America’s children.  

This is a new frontier, and parents cannot be complacent about its existence. Your child will encounter artificial intelligence at home and in school. But as their parent, you get to define the relationship. As you navigate this new challenge and fight to guard your children, remember that Moms for Liberty is fighting alongside you, and that artificial intelligence is no match against parental instinct.

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. 

The post Artificial Intelligence Is Here for Your Children appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Last Friday, Florida began administering English-only driver’s license exams, only the fourth state to do so. English-only driving exams make the roads safer for all drivers, and every other state should follow suit.

Recently, the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles office announced that all driver license exams will be administered in English only, including all knowledge exams, Commercial Learner’s Permit, and Commercial Driver License exams. All road signs are in English, so it’s common sense for all driving exams to only be administered in English.

In April, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order to strengthen laws ensuring English proficiency for commercial drivers. Before Trump took office, English proficiency requirements were not enforced to obtain a commercial driver’s license.

In 2016, under the Obama administration, commercial drivers who failed to prove proficiency in English, including reading and speaking English and understanding the road signs in English, were not prohibited from operating commercial vehicles.

The Biden administration launched the Commercial Motor Vehicle Operator Safety Training Grant Program in 2024, which included expanding commercial driving opportunities to refugees. Multiple people have died because of the lack of English language proficiency enforcement.

In August, Harjinder Singh, a 28-year-old alien from India who illegally crossed the U.S./Mexico border in 2018, killed three Floridians. He tried to make an illegal U-turn across all lanes of a highway, causing an SUV to crash into the truck.

Singh had obtained a commercial license in Washington state and California. The Department of Transportation revealed that he failed to prove proficiency in English, both on paper and reading road signs. Singh was issued his Washington state commercial license in July 2023 and his California license in July 2024.

In December, Yisong Huang, a 54-year-old Chinese national who illegally entered the U.S. in 2023, killed a woman and injured two others in Tennessee when he crashed into a tractor-trailer while distracted by his phone.

Huang obtained a Class B license in New York under the Biden administration because he was provided with a social security card and work authorization papers.

According to Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, Huang “failed a basic English test” but was issued a license earlier in 2025 anyway because he was given a Social Security card and work documents–both necessary to obtain a license–when he was released from U.S. Border Patrol after crossing illegally.

Last week, Bekzhan Beishekeev, a 30-year-old illegal alien from Kyrgyzstan, killed a family of four in Indiana. He obtained his commercial license in Pennsylvania.

If someone is incapable of taking a driving exam in the same language as the road signs, then that person should not be allowed to drive. Doing so puts American drivers at risk, which has unfortunately already happened.

Florida follows Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wyoming as the fourth state to administer driving exams in English only. California offers its regular Class C driver’s license exam in 10 languages including Chinese, Farsi, Punjabi, and Spanish. New York also offers its driver’s license exam in multiple languages including Arabic, Bengali, Haitian Creole, and Urdu.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ move to make driver’s license exams in English only follows the Trump administration’s efforts to hold trucking companies accountable for hiring non-English-speaking drivers, which would also aid in preventing illegal aliens from being hired.

The Trump administration also arrested over 140 illegal alien truck drivers in Operation Midway Blitz, and thousands of truck drivers and commercial driver’s licenses have been affected for failing English proficiency.

Illegal aliens who enter our country are not authorized to work. Nor should they receive ill-gotten benefits subsequent to illegally entering the U.S., including a driver’s license or a commercial driver’s license.

To save lives, it is imperative that the Department of Transportation continue to remove every illegal alien driving with a commercial license from our roads. And states should ensure that all types of drivers can pass English only road safety exams to receive a license.

The post Florida Becomes Only the Fourth State to Offer English-Only Driver’s License Exams appeared first on The Daily Signal.

It is a journalist’s duty to report the truth, yet so many news outlets covered themselves in shame by bowing and scraping to honor the “transgender identity” of the man who carried out one of the deadliest mass shootings in Canadian history.

Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, was born a man and he died a man. He spent his last day on Earth killing his 39-year-old mother, his 11-year-old stepbrother, a 39-year-old teacher, three 12-year-old girls, and two boys, 12 and 13, before taking the coward’s way out and turning the gun on himself. He reportedly wounded about 25 others at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, and critically injured two more.

Initial reports on the shooting described Van Rootselaar as appearing female, but the Royal Canadian Mounted Police erased all doubt Wednesday at a press conference.

“I can say that Jesse was born as a biological male who approximately six years ago began to transition to female and identified as female, both socially and publicly,” Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald said.

I understand the impulse to treat people with respect when they claim to identify as the gender opposite their sex. Many consider it common courtesy to refer to a person by preferred pronouns, rather than insisting on biological truth. In some circles, it is a faux pas—if not sacrilege—to state the naked truth that a man is still a man, regardless of what gender he claims to adopt.

But, if ever there were a situation where common courtesy need not apply, it would be here.

Do you really want to extend “common courtesy” to a school shooter? Do you really want to say, “I know he slaughtered children, and his own mother, but we’ve got to be nice and call him a girl, now”?

For crying out loud, let’s stop this insane charade.

The vast majority of mass shooters are male, so the initial news reports that the shooter was a woman immediately invited skepticism.

When the RCMP’s update clarified that the shooter was really a man dressed up as a woman, every journalist following the story learned the truth. There is no excuse, at that point, for calling the shooter a woman or using female pronouns for him.

Yet, outlet after outlet did it.

News Outlets Gaslight Readers

CNN “reported” that “the suspect is an 18-year-old woman.” The very next sentence? “She was born biologically male and transitioned about six years ago, police said.” CNN also referred to the shooter as “an 18-year-old female resident of the town.”

The New York Times used female pronouns for the shooter, stating that “she killed her mother and stepbrother before fatally shooting several others, and later herself.”

The Associated Press merely referred to the shooter using female pronouns, without even disclosing to readers that police identified him as male.

Reuters’s headline ran, “Canadian police identify 18-year-old woman as suspect in mass school shooting.” Reuters did acknowledge that the shooter had been “born male,” but not until the eleventh paragraph, and only after describing Van Rootselaar as a “woman” and using female pronouns for him throughout.

USA Today acknowledged the transgender identity in the second paragraph of the story, but still used female pronouns for the shooter throughout.

Why the Pervasive Bias in Favor of the Shooter’s ‘Identity?’

Why did news outlets do this?

First, Deputy Commissioner McDonald set the stage for it by saying that police would refer to the shooter as a woman because the shooter had presented himself that way. Apparently, accuracy about biological sex takes a backseat to political correctness, even when it means honoring the ravings of a mass murderer.

Second, the Associated Press Stylebook, which many outlets use as a benchmark for how to report the news, has taken an aggressively pro-transgender activist position.

The stylebook urges journalists to “identify people as transgender only when relevant, and use the name by which they live publicly.” It recommends avoiding “mention of a person’s gender transition or gender-affirmation surgery in news coverage” unless “it is central to the story.” Why? Because this might be “intrusive and insensitive.”

This guidance helps explain why the Associated Press appears to have considered the shooter’s transgender identity irrelevant enough to be excised from the coverage entirely. The AP, you see, didn’t want to be “insensitive” to Mr. Van Rootselaar.

Forgive me if I don’t care about being insensitive toward a mass murderer.

The AP Stylebook goes out of its way to silence dissent against transgender orthodoxy. While the “guidance” on transgender issues is steeped in transgender ideology, it flatly declares that journalists should “not use the term transgenderism, which frames transgender identity as an ideology.”

The Daily Signal appreciates the clarity of the AP Stylebook on matters such as spelling protester with an “er,” but we emphatically reject its “guidance” on issues like this where it takes a leftist partisan stance.

A Reckoning on Transgender Insanity

This horrific shooting comes shortly after a jury ordered doctors to pay $2 million to a detransitioner who regretted having her breasts removed. It comes after the American Society of Plastic Surgeons recommended against transgender surgeries for minors, and even said the data doesn’t support hormones for minors.

The tide is turning against transgender orthodoxy, and this moment should shame news outlets into reconsidering their near-religious devotion to it.

The post Canadian Mass Shooting Shows It’s High Time for News Outlets to Stop Bending the Knee to Transgender Orthodoxy appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is likely when the clock strikes midnight on Friday, due to a lack of agreement with Democrats on funding the agency.

“We don’t have a solution yet,” Thune, R-S.D., told reporters outside the Senate floor Thursday afternoon. “The Democrats, at least at the moment … have no interest in funding the Department of Homeland Security.”

Thune said leadership had been seeking unanimous consent to pass yet another funding extension for the department, but Democrats would not provide the votes.

At the end of the week, funding from the current short-term stopgap funding extension will expire, leaving the Coast Guard, national disaster response teams, and cybersecurity infrastructure unfunded.

The budget reconciliation bill passed in July 2025 has already provided billions in funding for border security and deportation operations under DHS’ umbrella.

Democrats have demanded restrictions on immigration law enforcement officers in the wake of the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

The White House and Senate Republicans have engaged with Senate Democrats’ demands for concessions such as prohibiting mask-use and requiring judicial warrants for deportations.

“The White House made, I think, what was a good faith effort … to try to get to an answer here … that will allow the government to stay open, and that was rejected by Democrats today,” said Thune. 

“The idea of not even allowing us to have an extended amount of time to negotiate this suggests to me, at least, that there isn’t a high level of interest in actually solving this issue.”

Thune added that the White House had provided legislative text the night before to Democrats that attempted to address their concerns, but “so far they’re not getting any kind of response from Democrats, even allowing us to continue this and allow the government to stay open.”

The Senate will recess next week, but Thune says he has told senators to “be available to get back here if there’s some sort of a deal they strike.”

On an optimistic note, Thune added, “I’m encouraged to hear that they [Democrats] are actually going to put together … a counterproposal” for DHS funding.

The post THUNE: DHS Shutdown Very Likely appeared first on The Daily Signal.

A partial government shutdown appears imminent as Democrats are standing firm and refusing to provide funding to the Department of Homeland Security.

There is only one day left to fund the Department of Homeland Security, the lone department awaiting appropriations from Congress through the rest of the fiscal year. The White House has attempted to negotiate but the proposal doesn’t seem to be enough for Democrats. 

The department encompasses TSA, FEMA, and ICE, whose deportation efforts are funded under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.  

The Senate Homeland Security Committee hosted the second DHS hearing of the week on Thursday morning. The White House sent Democrats a proposal to fund the department on Wednesday night.  

Many senators on the committee told The Daily Signal they had not yet seen the official proposal, but from what they know about it, the deal is not sufficient. 

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told The Daily Signal he hasn’t yet seen the text, but it has been described to him.  

“I think they’re just more of the same window dressing and cosmetic proposals,” said Blumenthal. “They [The White House] failed to do the kind of rigorous, far reaching, overhaul that is necessary to rein in and reform this out of control agency,” Blumenthal claimed.  

Last week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced a series of demands that needed to be met for Democrats to vote to keep the government open. The extensive list included items such as requiring judicial warrants for immigration enforcement and banning identity-protecting masks for immigration officers.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters Thursday that the offer “falls short” of Democrats’ demands.

“My preliminary assessment of it is that it falls short of the type of dramatic changes necessary in order to change ICE,” Jeffries said in a press briefing of the “so-called offer.”  

Schumer echoed this messaging on the Senate floor claiming that “the administration doesn’t actually want to reform ICE.”  

Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky., told reporters as he left Thursday’s hearing that he doesn’t know where he stands on negotiations with Democrats on the funding bill, “because even some of the reforms that are going to be proposed by the Democrats, I think, aren’t concrete enough for me to know yet exactly what those reforms are.”

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told The Daily Signal outside the hearing room that he has also not seen the proposal from the White House.  

“Chuck Schumer wants to shut down ICE, and he doesn’t care that TSA is not going to get paid, and the Coast Guard is not going to get paid,” Scott said.

“It seems like all the Democrats want to do is support criminals that are coming into this country,” Scott continued.

“They want open borders, and then whenever ICE or CBP, and Border Patrol wants to do their job, all the Democrats do is attack them,” the Florida Senator concluded.

Democrat Sens. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Ruben Gallego of Arizona also said they have not seen the White House proposal.

Slotkin told the Daily Signal that while she is not on the negotiating team, she is aware conversations are still happening.

“I am not supporting additional money for ICE until and unless they have significant reforms, and we haven’t seen that,” said Slotkin.

“From the top lines we’re seeing, it’s not sufficient, at least for me to have to vote for it,” Gallego confirmed.  

The post Democrats Stand Firm on ICE Demands as FEMA, TSA, and Coast Guard Funding in a Lurch appeared first on The Daily Signal.

A federal judge stopped War Secretary Pete Hegseth–at least temporarily–from censuring Sen. Mark Kelly for his role in a video telling American soldiers to refuse illegal orders.

Judge Rich Leon, an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush, on Thursday ruled in favor of Kelly, D-Ariz., a retired Navy captain, who had joined five other Democrat members of Congress telling service members to refuse “illegal” orders, without giving a clear definition of illegal.  

Hegseth had moved to reduce Kelly’s Navy rank and retirement pay as a consequence. Judge Leon issued the order in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., blocking the move.

“Today a federal court made clear Pete Hegseth violated the Constitution when he tried to punish me for something I said,” Kelly said in a post on X.

“This is a critical moment to show this administration they can’t keep undermining Americans’ rights. I also know this might not be over yet, because Trump and Hegseth can’t admit when they are wrong.”

President Donald Trump slammed the Democrat video as “seditious behaviors, punishable by death.” He called them “traitors.” 

Leon’s opinion said Kelly had the First Amendment right to make the comments in the video.  

Leon acknowledged, “military service members enjoy less vigorous First Amendment protections given the fundamental obligation for obedience and discipline in the armed forces.” 

The post Judge Weighs in on War Department Censure of Sen. Mark Kelly Over Video appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Sen. Josh Hawley accused Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison of having knowledge of massive welfare fraud in his state yet enabling the fraud to continue.

“I should call you prisoner because you ought to be in jail,” Hawley, R-Mo., told Ellison in a heated exchange during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing Thursday.

Hawley specifically pressed Ellison on an alleged conversation the attorney general had with leaders of the Minneapolis nonprofit Feeding Our Future, which orchestrated a massive fraud scheme.

The organization claimed to be working with caterers and restaurants to provide meals to schoolchildren during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the group was found to have submitted fake invoices and meal count sheets while receiving more than $250 million in federal child nutrition assistance.

In November 2025, the Department of Justice announced one of the individuals involved in the fraud scheme had been sentenced to 10 years in prison “for his role in the $300 million Feeding Our Future case, the largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the United States.”

Hawley claimed the leaders of Feeding Our Future met with Ellison at the end of 2021 and asked the attorney general for “help in getting investigators off their backs.”

“They complained to you for upwards of an hour about state investigators going after them, and they begged you to help them, and you agreed to it, amazingly, and we know you did because it’s all caught on tape,” Hawley said.

Hawley proceeded to read a portion of what he claimed was a transcript of the meeting between Ellison and the representatives of Feeding Our Future.

“You said to them, ‘Send me the names of all these folks who are investigating [Feeding Our Future] … and I’ll take that list, and I’ll call the person over at Education who’s investigating them,’” Hawley read.

Ellison accused Hawley of “cherry-picking quotes” from the conversation.

Hawley repeatedly asked Ellison why he helped Feeding Our Future.

“I didn’t help them,” Ellison responded, adding, “my team assisted with the information that led to the prosecution and conviction of these people.”

“No, you didn’t, you didn’t lift a finger to prosecute them,” Hawley retorted.

“Yes, we did,” Ellison responded, noting it was a federal prosecution, which Hawley called “BS.”

Hawley also accused Ellison of taking $10,000 from Feeding Our Future, referring to reports that Ellison received $10,000 in contributions from members of the organization.

“That’s a lie,” Ellison shot back.

The exchange continued before Hawley told Ellison he should resign.

The Daily Signal contacted Ellison’s office for a response to Hawley’s accusations. Brian Evans, Ellison’s press secretary, told The Daily Signal that Ellison already addressed the meeting Hawley referred to in an op-ed for the Star Tribune published in April 2025.

In the op-ed, Ellison wrote that his “door is always open” to his constituents. The attorney general explained that in 2021 he “took a meeting in good faith with people I didn’t know and some turned out to have done bad things. I did nothing for them and took nothing from them.”

The explosive exchange between Hawley and Ellison comes after fraud cases in Minnesota made major headlines at the end of December and into January.

Content creator Nick Shirley released a 42-minute video over the Christmas holiday claiming to show day cares in Minnesota that had no children but had received millions of dollars in government funding. Following the release of the video, the Trump administration devoted additional resources to Minnesota to investigate fraud. Federal investigations remain ongoing in Minnesota.

One federal prosecutor estimated the amount of welfare fraud in the state to have exceeded $9 billion.

The post ‘You Ought to Be in Jail’: GOP Senator Accuses Minnesota Attorney General of Enabling Fraud   appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Republicans can “win big” in midterm elections if they “unwrap the gift of MAHA” that President Donald Trump has handed them, according to a new memo from Tony Lyons, president of MAHA Action.

Four to six percent of former non-Trump voters cited the “Make America Healthy Again,” or MAHA, movement in explaining their decision to switch their support to him and the Republican party in 2024, according to Trump’s go-to pollster, Tony Fabrizio.

But the Republican party is just “renting” those voters, Lyons said, adding that every Republican needs to buy into the MAHA movement in order to keep those votes.

“The MAHA movement is here to strategically support President Trump,” Lyons wrote. “We’re eager to help cement this new coalition. We’re looking for Republicans who share the same vision.”

In the Fabrizio survey, Democrats hold a 5-point lead in the generic ballot, 46-41%. Fabrizio estimates that 14% of voters could be won over by MAHA policies, and doing so could close the 5-point gap between Democrats and Republicans.

“The ‘MAHA Winnable Middle’ group chose the generic Democrat by a 5:1 margin,” the memo says.

“But, when given a choice between a Republican who ‘focused on things like removing harmful toxins from our food, limiting pesticides in agriculture, and making sure our kids are not overmedicated’ and a generic Democrat, the group chose the Republican by nearly a 2:1 margin.”

To win these voters, Lyons encouraged Republicans to focus on the tenets of the MAHA movement: getting Americans to eat real food instead of ultraprocessed food; making it more affordable to live a healthy life; removing toxins from food; limiting pesticides in agriculture; and addressing overmedicalization in children.

“We intend to convince Republicans of the importance of understanding, embracing, and articulating the MAHA agenda as a way to increase the likelihood of their winning in the midterms,” Lyons said.

“The choice before you and the Members of Congress you lead is simple: Unwrap the gift of MAHA that President Trump has handed you and win big in the midterms,” he continues.

The memo warns Republicans to approach policies related to vaccines with nuance.

“That’s because, overall, a slim majority of voters are not convinced there are negative health impacts from vaccines,” Lyons wrote.

However, the majority of voters believe families should have a choice about what vaccines to give their children.

As a result, “Congress should focus on promoting choice and individual liberty around vaccine policies,” Lyons said.

The post Republicans Should ‘Unwrap the Gift of MAHA’ to Win Midterms, Health Advocacy Group Says appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Six weeks after surgery to remove lung cancer, Victor Davis Hanson shared in his most recent podcast about his recovery and the hope he has gained from well-wishers.  

“I never expected so many people to be so nice. … I knew they were nice. I didn’t know there were so many of them,” said Hanson, a senior contributor to The Daily Signal, during a podcast. “I’m getting letters, emails every single day from the nicest people.” 

“We get all of these distractions of [New York Mayor Zohran] Mamdani, and Bad Bunny, and all the ICE stuff, and you get depressed,” Hanson said.

“Then you get these letters from people, from a kind of a lost generation we don’t even think about, and they write in the most beautiful cursive handwriting. It’s amazing. I’ll get people that will write a whole page in just beautiful calligraphy, and they all mention God, they talk about prayer, they talk about their lives, they talk about all the tragedies. I read every one of them.” 

He opened the program with details of his recovery.  

The surgeon “got the lymph nodes,” and once he awoke, “I thought everything was going great,” he noted.  

“I’m 72, so one of my arteries and two of my veins, I don’t know what happened. I guess they’re old, but they started bleeding pretty heavily,” he said.  

He said his surgeon “didn’t hesitate.” 

“They put me out, and reopened the lung, and started all over again, and he found them,” he said. “I lost, I don’t know, two or three liters and five transfusions.” 

Though he is taking a positive outlook, he noted frustration, and wishes he felt better than he did.  

“So, I just feel like I’m too wobbly, I can’t drive yet. I’d like to get back full time to work,” he said.  

He mentioned the cancer was uncommon. 

He said his one of his doctors said, “This is the sideshow, the real problem is making sure that cancer doesn’t come back.” 

The post 6 Weeks After Surgery, Victor Davis Hanson Inspired by Fans’ Messages appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Republican lawmakers on Wednesday accused Democrats of being “anti-American” and wanting to “disenfranchise” American voters by “allowing non-citizens to vote.”

Their remarks come after Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, became the sole House Democrat to vote in favor of legislation that would require voters to provide proof of citizenship and voter identification before casting a ballot.

Democrats have described the voter integrity legislation, the SAVE America Act, as “voter suppression” and being “reminiscent of the Jim Crow era.” Democrats floated similar accusations about the SAVE America Act’s precursor, the SAVE Act.

“Do you know what actually disenfranchises voters? When noncitizens participate in our federal elections and counteract the votes of registered American voters,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a statement shared with The Daily Signal. “That’s what we have to stop.”

Johnson then pointed out Democrats’ use of identification for other political events.

“You even need an ID to attend the events of most Democrat politicians and even the Democrat National Convention,” the speaker continued. “So why would voting be any different from that? They can’t answer that question. And so, they come up with all these crazy excuses of why they can’t support.”

While Democrats in Washington are mostly in lockstep on opposing election integrity measures, public polling suggests that a large majority of Americans approve of SAVE America Act provisions.

A national poll from Cygnal recently showed that 70% of American voters overall, 75% of swing voters, 69% of Hispanics, 56% of Black voters, and even 46% of Democrats support voter ID.

“Voter ID is commonsense and is supported by over 80% of the American public, including a majority of Democrat voters,” Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., told The Daily Signal. “If you need an ID to board a plane, open a bank account, or even to buy certain types of cold medicine, you should need an ID to vote in federal elections.”

“Anyone who opposes voter ID to safeguard the integrity of our elections is anti-American,” the representative added.

Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., told The Daily Signal that “Democrat open-border policies invited millions of unvetted illegals, costing American lives—like Laken Riley, Rachel Morin, and Jocelyn Nungaray—and draining resources from citizens. Now they threaten election integrity to silence lawful voters.”

“That’s why radical progressive Democrats are fighting tooth and nail against the SAVE America Act to ensure non-citizens can continue to vote in our elections,” Harris continued.

The legislation is now headed to the Senate, where it remains unclear if it will be brought up for a vote.

Last week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., indicated that Senate Democrats will vote against the legislation, going so far as to say the bill is “dead on arrival.”

On Tuesday, Republican lawmakers such as Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has indicated she will vote against the bill, which has raised concerns among Republicans.

Murkowski came out against the SAVE America Act in a statement on X.

“When Democrats attempted to advance sweeping election reform legislation in 2021, Republicans were unanimous in opposition because it would have federalized elections, something we have long opposed,” Murkowski claimed. “Once again, I do not support these efforts. Not only does the U.S. Constitution clearly provide states the authority to regulate the ‘times, places, and manner’ of holding federal elections, but one-size-fits-all mandates from Washington, D.C., seldom work in places like Alaska.”

“Election Day is fast approaching. Imposing new federal requirements now, when states are deep into their preparations, would negatively impact election integrity by forcing election officials to scramble to adhere to new policies likely without the necessary resources,” Murkowski continued. “Ensuring public trust in our elections is at the core of our democracy, but federal overreach is not how we achieve this.”

Republicans were not unanimously opposed to Democrats’ election reforms in 2021, however, because Murkowski was the only Republican to vote in favor of the overhaul. Her X post quickly gained a community note pointing out her previous voting record.

“I’ll let Lisa Murkowski go to Alaska and explain to the people of Alaska why non-citizens should vote and why you shouldn’t have voter ID,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told The Daily Signal.

“Let Lisa Murkowski explain that and how that is remotely consistent with being a defender of our Constitution, the rule of law, or ensuring that we maintain a sovereign America.”

The post GOP Lawmakers Claim Democrats Look to ‘Disenfranchise Voters’ by Blocking SAVE America Act appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in Minneapolis is coming to an end, border czar Tom Homan announced Thursday.

Following increased coordination with state and local leaders, “I have proposed, and President [Donald] Trump has concurred that this surge operation conclude,” Homan said, adding that “a significant drawdown has already been underway this week.”

Within the next week, the federal immigration officers on the ground in the Twin Cities will be sent back to their home states, according to Homan.

The Trump administration deployed 3,000 federal immigration agents to Minnesota in December and January as part of Operation Metro Surge.

Homan announced an initial drawdown in Minnesota of 700 immigration agents last week, crediting the change to increased cooperation with state officials.

Trump deployed Homan to Minneapolis about three weeks ago to oversee the immigration enforcement operation there after a Border Patrol agent shot and killed Alex Pretti, 37, on Jan. 24, and an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good, also 37, on Jan. 7. 

ICE will maintain a presence in Minnesota, according to Homan, who added that the targeted operation over the past six weeks has left “Minnesota safer.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

The post BREAKING: ICE Surge Ending in Minnesota, Border Czar Homan Announces appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The House of Representatives voted to revoke President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration over the flow of drugs from Canada, his legal method of imposing tariffs on Canadian imports.

The Wednesday vote, by a 219-211 margin, is the result of a rare revolt against Trump’s tariff policies.

Six Republicans voted to deprive Trump of his emergency tariff powers: Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Don Bacon of Nebraska, Kevin Kiley of California, Dan Newhouse of Washington, Jeff Hurd of Colorado, and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania.

On the Democrat side, Rep. Jared Golden, who represents a Maine swing district, was the only member to vote against the measure.

The resolution will require approval from the Senate and president to be enacted. Congress, absent a veto-proof majority, cannot unilaterally vote to rescind a national emergency declaration, so Trump can veto successful attempts to revoke his emergency power.

Trump took to social media just moments before the vote was gaveled in to declare his displeasure with Republicans who oppose his tariffs.

“Any Republican, in the House or the Senate, that votes against TARIFFS will seriously suffer the consequences come Election time, and that includes Primaries!” Trump wrote. “TARIFFS have given us Economic and National Security, and no Republican should be responsible for destroying this privilege.”

Massie is already facing a Trump-backed primary challenger, and neither Newhouse nor Bacon are seeking reelection in 2026. After pro-Democrat redistricting in California that changed the boundaries of his district, Kiley is deciding on which district to run in for 2026.

Trump has declared national emergencies under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act as a legal justification for imposing tariffs. The Supreme Court is currently ruling on the legality of this use of a 1977 law.

In February of 2025, Trump, citing the flow of drugs into the United States from Canada, imposed tariffs on the United States’ northern neighbor.

Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the foreign affairs committee, authored the resolution to revoke Trump’s declaration of an emergency.

The resolution, which follows a process laid out by the National Emergencies Act, was “privileged,” so Republican leadership could not block it from coming to the floor.

House Republican leadership had hoped to block such anti-tariff resolutions until July, by attempting to pass a “rule” on Tuesday with language invalidating the resolutions.

However, Massie, Bacon, and Kiley joined with all Democrats this week to kill the rule by a 217-214 margin, enabling Meeks’ resolution to come to a vote on the floor on Wednesday.

A previous prohibition on anti-tariff resolutions expired at the end of January.

“What we are witnessing is one of the most astounding displays of cowardice in the modern history of Congress,” Meeks said on the House floor Tuesday of the pro-tariff language. “I’ve never seen a group of members so deeply afraid of just doing their job.”

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., explained the rationale of the attempt to shield Trump’s tariff authority to The Daily Signal on Tuesday.

“The rationale for this, for just extending this for a little bit longer to July, is to allow the Supreme Court to rule on the pending case,” he told The Daily Signal.

Johnson continued, “I think the sentiment is that we allow a little bit more runway for this to be worked out between the executive branch and the judicial branch.”

The House of Representatives voted to revoke President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration over the flow of drugs from Canada, his legal method of imposing tariffs on Canadian imports.

Before the final vote Bacon told reporters of his position, “Why doesn’t Congress stand up on its own two feet and say that we’re an independent branch and this is an Article One responsibility?”

The post House Votes to Revoke Trump’s Tariff Power appeared first on The Daily Signal.