The Department of Education (ED) announced on Tuesday that it is transferring oversight of special education and civil rights to other agencies as part of the Trump administration's goal of winding down the department.

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President Donald Trump's endorsement is put to the test in three crucial statewide Deep South races Tuesday as voters from Alabama and Georgia go to the polls.

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California accounted for more than 80% of all federal welfare cash assistance provided to households headed by illegal immigrants in 2024, according to a new report from the Department of Health and Human Services.

The report found that $759 million in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families cash assistance was provided to 85,277 households nationwide in which a child qualified for benefits while a parent was living in the United States illegally. 

No state came close to California’s share of spending, with $617.5 million. The second-place recipient, New York, received just $47.5 million—less than one-tenth of California’s total.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, was created to provide temporary assistance to low-income families. TANF recipients are generally required to work and are limited to 60 months of benefits over a lifetime.

Because parents living in the country illegally are generally ineligible for TANF benefits, assistance in these cases is provided on behalf of eligible children living in the household.

Unlike traditional TANF recipients, these child-only cases are not subject to federal work requirements or the program’s five-year lifetime limit, allowing benefits to continue until a child turns 18.

The report’s authors noted that the arrangement creates a disparity between American families receiving TANF and immigrant households receiving child-only benefits.

“The result is a striking disparity: needy American families are held to TANF’s central work and time-limit rules, while households headed by immigration-status-ineligible parents can receive child-only cash assistance under a structure that bypasses those rules and can allow support to continue from birth through age 18.”

The report estimated that affected households received an average of roughly $742 per month, or about $8,900 annually. 

Between 2001 and 2024, approximately $18.3 billion in TANF assistance was distributed through these child-only cases, while their share of the total TANF caseload increased from 5.8% to 10%.

The report further noted that the current structure conflicts with Congress’ original intent for welfare reform, citing language stating that “aliens within the Nation’s borders [should] not depend on public resources to meet their needs.”

Despite that policy goal, TANF has continued to provide child-only benefits on behalf of eligible children living with parents who are ineligible because of their immigration status.

The report also found that, of the 85,277 affected households receiving TANF assistance in 2024, approximately 91.4% were also enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

“In most cases, TANF cash assistance is layered on top of additional taxpayer-funded support and can even serve as a qualification for SNAP,” the report said. 

The United States has gone four days without congressional authorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Section 702, a key component of America’s national security. The federal government relies on it to surveil foreigners without a warrant, looking for potential threats to the country.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune suggests that confirming a director of national intelligence could be the key to unlocking FISA.

“Jay Clayton is an imminently qualified individual to become the new director of national intelligence,” Thune told members of the press Tuesday afternoon. “We are looking forward to processing him this week.”

Senate Democrats previously blocked the FISA extension after President Donald Trump named Bill Pulte as the acting director of national intelligence, claiming he was not up for the job and unfit to oversee FISA.

Since Democrats seem warmer to the idea of Clayton over Pulte, it is not impossible Clayton will be officially confirmed by the end of the week.

Thune noted that Clayton’s “vision, experience, judgement, and competence” are all characteristics that qualify him for the job, even though Clayton has no experience or official background in intelligence.

As a former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Clayton did deal with some intelligence matters, Thune said.

However, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer did not sound as convinced. Even though some Democrats, including Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, have been optimistic about Clayton, Schumer said they are “waiting for the hearing” to see if he is qualified.

“You can ask any Democrat; there are lots of questions about Clayton that have to be answered,” Schumer said.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is responsible for overseeing the intelligence community. The United States Intelligence Community includes 18 independent federal agencies and departments, including the Department of Defense and every branch of military intelligence, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Thune said FISA “needs to be fixed quickly” and he is “hopeful the Democrats will cooperate.”

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, stood next to Thune for roughly 10 minutes but did not answer a single question regarding FISA or Clayton’s confirmation hearing.

Clayton will appear before the committee for his confirmation hearing Wednesday; the committee will have an opportunity to vote on his confirmation Thursday. If the committee moves the nomination along, he could be confirmed by unanimous consent in the Senate by the end of the day, leaving a more realistic FISA opportunity for the following week.

Thune highlighted the “unprecedented” situation congressional Democrats have put the country in. “Trump is the first president in history not to have a civilian nominee confirmed either by voice vote or by a unanimous consent,” he said, adding that it is the “Democrat process” to drag on confirmations.