Politics
House Republicans Advance Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’
The House Budget Committee late Sunday night revived President Trump’s stalled bill to cut taxes and spending, after a handful of fiscally conservative Republicans relented and allowed it to advance even as they continued to press for deeper reductions to health and environmental programs.
The vote signaled a temporary resolution to a remarkable revolt from a group of hard-liners on the panel, who on Friday joined Democrats in opposing the bill in committee, tanking it over concerns that it did not do enough to rein in the nation’s ballooning debt.
On Sunday, after a weekend of intensive negotiations with House Republican leaders and White House officials, they switched their votes to “present,” allowing the measure to move forward without lending their explicit support. It sent the bill past a crucial procedural hurdle but indicated that there was still major trouble ahead for the package, which Speaker Mike Johnson has said he wants to be considered by the full House before Memorial Day.
“Deliberations continue to this very moment,” Representative Jodey C. Arrington of Texas, the chairman of the panel, said as he opened the session late Sunday night. “They will continue on into the week and, I suspect, right up until the time we put this big, beautiful bill on the floor of the House.”
Mr. Arrington added: “I don’t know anything about side deals or any deals. I just know we’re at a place where we can take a vote today.”
The vote was 17 to 16, with all four Republicans who initially voted to defeat the legislation — Representatives Chip Roy of Texas, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma, Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Andrew Clyde of Georgia — voting “present.”
In a lengthy statement on social media minutes after the vote, Mr. Roy said he and the three other conservatives had secured commitments for changes to the bill that include speeding implementation of new work requirements for Medicaid and further curtailing clean energy tax credits created by the Inflation Reduction Act. He did not offer more details about either proposal, and Republican leaders provided no information on what concessions they had promised.
But Mr. Roy did say that “the bill does not yet meet the moment,” and alluded to wanting deeper cuts to Medicaid, in a sign of the difficult path ahead.
The legislation would make the 2017 tax cuts permanent and eliminate taxes on tips and overtime pay, fulfilling the president’s campaign promise. It also would raise spending on the military and immigration enforcement. Cuts to Medicaid, food stamps, education and subsidies for clean energy would offset part of the price of the bill, though they would not cover the entire cost of $3.8 trillion over 10 years.
The four Republicans on the panel voted against the legislation the first time the budget panel met, protesting the timeline for the work requirements for Medicaid recipients — which the bill would not impose until 2029, after the next presidential election — and the provisions targeting the clean energy tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act, which the measure would partially but not completely repeal.
Work requirements are broadly popular among congressional Republicans, and even those who have balked at other cuts to Medicaid have said they could support such requirements.
In an interview on Sunday on Fox News, Mr. Johnson said Republican leaders were trying to strike a balance between moving up the implementation date for new work requirements and giving states the time they needed to update their systems and ensure that the new laws could be enforced.
“I think we’ve got to compromise on that,” he said. “We’ll get everyone in line to do it.”
Winning support across the House G.O.P. conference for rolling back the clean energy tax credits created under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in the Inflation Reduction Act could be trickier.
The bill would sharply curtail most big tax credits for clean energy, but it did not eliminate all of the provisions in the law. That was a key demand of the ultraconservatives, who said their party should have no problem repealing a statute that Democrats passed on their own through reconciliation, over unified Republican opposition.
But at least three dozen Republicans in the House, many who represent districts that have benefited from the clean energy tax credits, have called for preserving at least some of the incentives, such as for nuclear power or domestic manufacturing, to protect jobs and bolster U.S. energy security.
There are still other outstanding issues that must be resolved in order for the legislation to pass on the House floor.
One group of moderate holdouts from New York and other higher-tax states is threatening to withhold its votes unless the bill includes a substantial increase to the state and local tax, or SALT, deduction.
Some Republicans, including Representative Nick LaLota of New York, have floated the idea of paying for the larger deduction by allowing the top income bracket to revert to where it was before the 2017 tax cuts, jumping back to 39.6 percent from 37 percent.
“It’s a fiscally responsible move that reflects the priorities of the new Republican Party,” Mr. LaLota wrote in a social media post. “Protect working families, address the deficit, fix the unfair SALT cap, and safeguard programs like Medicaid and SNAP, without raising taxes on the middle class.”
Maya C. Miller and James C. McKinley Jr. contributed reporting.
Politics
Video: President Trump Reclassifies Marijuana With Executive Order
new video loaded: President Trump Reclassifies Marijuana With Executive Order
transcript
transcript
President Trump Reclassifies Marijuana With Executive Order
Marijuana was downgraded from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug on Thursday. The reclassification does not legalize cannabis, but it does ease restrictions on the substance and allows for more research.
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Today, I’m pleased to announce that I will be signing an executive order to reschedule marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III controlled substance with legitimate medical uses. We have people begging for me to do this. I want to emphasize that the order I am about to sign is not the legalization or it doesn’t legalize marijuana in any way, shape, or form, and in no way sanctions its use as a recreational drug — has nothing to do with that.
December 18, 2025
Politics
Trump quietly signs sweeping $901B defense bill after bipartisan Senate passage
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President Trump signed into law a nearly $1 trillion defense policy bill Thursday and approved what looks to be the largest military spending package in U.S. history.
The fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act authorizes $901 billion in military spending, roughly $8 billion more than the administration requested, according to Reuters.
It also delivers a nearly 4 percent pay raise for troops, provides new funding for Ukraine and the Baltic States, and includes measures designed to scale back security commitments abroad.
In a release shared online, Rep. Rick Allen said: “With President Trump’s signature, the FY2026 NDAA officially delivers on our peace-through-strength agenda with a generational investment in our national defense.”
TRUMP ADMIN ANNOUNCES $11B TAIWAN ARMS SALES DEAL
U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S. December 11, 2025. (Al Drago/Reuters)
“Not only does this bipartisan bill ensure America’s warfighters are the most lethal and capable fighting force in the world, but it also improves the quality of life for our service members in the 12th District and nationwide,” he added.
As previously reported by Fox News Digital, the Senate passed the NDAA on Wednesday, sending the compromise bill approved with bipartisan support to the president’s desk.
Trump signed it quietly Thursday evening, according to Reuters.
The NDAA includes $800 million for Ukraine over the next two years as part of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which pays US firms for weapons for Ukraine’s military.
It also includes $175 million for the Baltic Security Initiative, which supports Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
TRUMP TOUTS BRINGING COUNTRY BACK FROM ‘BRINK OF RUIN’
President Donald Trump announced his proposal for a ‘Golden Dome’ missile defense system in the United States on May 20, 2025. (Reuters/Leah Millis/File Photo; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The bill prohibits reducing U.S. troop levels in Europe below 76,000 for more than 45 days without formal certification by Congress.
The legislation also restricts the administration from reducing U.S. forces in South Korea below 28,500 troops.
Trump ultimately backed the bill in part because it codifies some of his executive orders, including funding the Golden Dome missile defense system and getting rid of diversity, equity and inclusion programs, per Reuters.
TRUMP TO HAND OUT $2.6B IN ‘WARRIOR DIVIDENDS’ — AND THE SURPRISING POT HE’S PULLING THE MONEY FROM
The seal of the Department of War is displayed inside the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. (elal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“Under President Trump, the U.S. is rebuilding strength, restoring deterrence, and proving America will not back down. President Trump and Republicans promised peace through strength. The FY26 NDAA delivers it,” House Speaker Mike Johnson had said in a statement Dec. 7 on the new measures.
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Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.
Politics
State regulators vote to keep utility profits high, angering customers across California
Despite complaints from customers about rising electric bills, the California Public Utilities Commission voted 4 to 1 on Thursday to keep profits at Southern California Edison and the state’s other big investor-owned utilities at a level that consumer groups say has long been inflated.
The commission vote will slightly decrease the profit margins of Edison and three other big utilities beginning next year. Edison’s rate will fall to 10.03% from 10.3%.
Customers will see little impact in their bills from the decision. Because the utilities are continuing to spend more on wires and other infrastructure — capital costs that they earn profit on — that portion of customer bills is expected to continue to rise.
The vote angered consumer groups that had detailed in filings and hearings at the commission how the utilities’ return on equity — which sets the profit rate that the companies’ shareholders receive — had long been too high.
Among those testifying on behalf of consumers was Mark Ellis, the former chief economist for Sempra, the parent company of San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas. Ellis estimated that the companies’ profit margin should be closer to 6%.
He argued in a filing that the California commission had for years authorized the utilities to earn an excessive return on equity, resulting in an “unnecessary and unearned wealth transfer” from customers to the companies.
Cutting the return on equity to a little more than 6% would give Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric, SDG&E and SoCalGas a fair return, Ellis said, while saving their customers $6.1 billion a year.
The four commissioners who voted to keep the return on equity at about 10% — the percentage varies slightly for each company — said they believed they had found a balance between the 11% or higher rate that the four utilities had requested and the affordability concerns of utility customers.
Alice Reynolds, the commission’s president, said before the vote that she believed the decision “accurately reflects the evidence.”
Commissioner Darcie Houck disagreed and voted against the proposal. In her remarks, she detailed how California ratepayers were struggling to pay their bills.
“We have a duty to consider the consumer interest in determining what is a just and reasonable rate,” she said.
Consumer groups criticized the commission’s vote.
“For too long, utility companies have been extracting unreasonable profits from Californians just trying to heat or cool their homes or keep the lights on,” said Jenn Engstrom at CALPIRG. “As long as CPUC allows such lofty rates of return, it incentivizes power companies to overspend, increasing energy bills for everyone.”
California now has the nation’s second-highest electric rates after Hawaii.
Edison’s electric rates have risen by more than 40% in the last three years, according to a November analysis by the commission’s Public Advocates Office. More than 830,000 Edison customers are behind in paying their electric bills, the office said, each owing a balance of $835 on average.
The commission’s vote Thursday was in response to a March request from Edison and the three other big for-profit utilities. The companies pointed to the January wildfires in Los Angeles County, saying they needed to provide their shareholders with more profit to get them to continue to invest in their stock because of the threat of utility-caused fires in California.
In its filing, Edison asked for a return on equity of 11.75%, saying that it faced “elevated business risks,” including “the risk of extreme wildfires.”
The company told the commission that its stock had declined after the Jan. 7 Eaton fire and it needed the higher return on equity to attract investors to provide it with money for “wildfire mitigation and supporting California’s clean energy transition.”
Edison is facing hundreds of lawsuits filed by victims of the fire, which killed 19 people and destroyed thousands of homes in Altadena. The company has said the fire may have been sparked by its 100-year-old transmission line in Eaton Canyon, which it kept in place even though it hadn’t served customers since 1971.
Return on equity is crucial for utilities because it determines how much they and their shareholders earn each year on the electric lines, substations, pipelines and the rest of the system they build to serve customers.
Under the state’s system for setting electric rates, investors provide part of the money needed to build the infrastructure and then earn an annual return on that investment over the assets’ life, which can be 30 or 40 years.
In a January report, state legislative analyst Gabriel Petek detailed how electric rates at Edison and the state’s two other biggest investor-owned electric utilities were more than 60% higher than those charged by public utilities such as the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The public utilities don’t have investors or charge customers extra for profit.
Before the vote, dozens of utility customers from across the state wrote to the commission’s five members, who were appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, asking them to lower the utilities’ return on equity.
“A profit margin of 10% on infrastructure improvements is far too high and will only continue to increase the cost of living in California,” wrote James Ward, a Rancho Santa Margarita resident. “I just wish I could get a guaranteed profit margin of 10% on my investments.”
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