Welcome to The Hill's Defense & NatSec newsletter {beacon} Defense &National Security Defense &National Security The Big Story Pentagon set to sell GOP lawmakers on funding goals Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth plans to give a classified briefing to a group of House
The Senate on Monday overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan bill aimed at lowering housing costs, sending the legislation to the House. The rare show of near-unanimous support comes as lawmakers hustle to score wins on affordability that they can trumpet back home during a midterm
The former GOP leader's absence is prompting the postponement of Senate Appropriations markups.
Comedian Bill Maher during his latest show mocked the Obama Presidential Center, which opened in Chicago last week. “It looks like something aliens built in Dubai,” Maher remarked on the Friday episode of HBO’s “Real Time" while talking with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and
Democratic strategist James Carville on Sunday encouraged Trump administration staffers to start leaking details about closed door dealings within the White House in an effort to save their careers. Carville has shared numerous predictions that President Trump and Republicans
Presented by Planned Parenthood {beacon} Health Care Health Care PRESENTED BY The Big Story Lawmakers raise alarms about NIH grant changes A group of House Democrats is calling on the Trump administration to rescind a sweeping new proposal to overhaul the federal
Vice President Vance said on Monday that Iran will allow nuclear inspectors back into its country as negotiations between Washington and Iran continue to end the conflict in the Middle East. Iran has not confirmed the arrangement. "Letting in the inspectors is a big deal,"
A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crashed in Alaska on Monday during a training flight with four people aboard, the U.S. Coast Guard announced. The helicopter, a search and rescue twin-engine aircraft, crashed near Harbor Mountain in Sitka, near the state capital Juneau.
The Iran peace train is, for now, still on the tracks after an initial meeting in Switzerland involving Vice President Vance and high-level officials from the Islamic Republic. There are massive perils ahead that will require painstaking navigation, however, including
Rep. Joyce Beatty's (D-Ohio) lawyers on Monday said the tarp covering the exterior of the Kennedy Center, installed after President Trump's name was removed, is an "act of petty defiance." Beatty, an ex officio board member, filed the original lawsuit against the
President Trump signed a pair of executive orders Monday aimed at boosting research into quantum computing and strengthening security practices in preparation for a post-quantum world. Quantum computing relies on quantum physics to solve complex problems much faster than
{beacon} Energy & Environment Energy & Environment The Big Story US, Iran send mixed messages on Hormuz Mixed messages from the U.S. and Iran on the Strait of Hormuz are injecting further uncertainty into the future of the waterway and global oil supplies. © Will Budkins,
Voters in Maryland are weighing in on a slate of House primary elections Tuesday. Rep. Steny Hoyer's (D-Md.) retirement has opened the seat representing the 5th Congressional District for the first time since 1981. Expected to stay in Democratic hands this fall, state delegate
On the morning of Father’s Day, seven cars of ICE agents barreled through Santa Barbara, California, and detained anywhere from nine to 11 people, including one U.S. citizen. The Santa Barbara Independent reported that three of the people detained were mariachi musicians,
Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) said that leaders in Tehran “want to wipe our civilization off the map" — comments that follow recent U.S.-Iran peace talks. “I hope that Vice President Vance and Kushner and Witkoff are successful in convincing Iran to be a normal country and to open
The Trump administration is trying to fund “critical” military efforts along “entirely separate tracks,” lawmakers lament.
Planned Parenthood is on the path to having its funding restored thanks to Republican chaos in Congress. The nonprofit health care organization could regain access to federal funds as soon as July 4, exactly one year after the Senate parliamentarian allowed Republicans to pass
More than 220 troops have contracted influenza at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, up from 160 reported last week in a major outbreak that comes less than two months after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared that flu vaccinations would no longer be mandatory for service
More states are pulling out of President Trump’s “Great American State Fair,” citing financial constraints. Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon, and North Carolina—the last of which Trump won in 2024—have each declined to send a representative to the festival,
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday launched a new initiative to speed up early-stage clinical trials as part of an effort to reduce development timelines and reverse a growing trend of companies moving overseas, primarily to China. The pilot program, part of a
The bipartisan housing package could be signed into law in the next couple of days.
A federal judge has blocked the Department of Homeland Security from continuing to “haphazardly” create a database of millions of Americans it knew was “inaccurate” in order to purge noncitizens from voter rolls. U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan on Monday sided with the
Pundit Tucker Carlson says he's done with the Republican Party. "The poll numbers now tell a pretty clear story about it. I would not support the Republican Party, there's no chance," Carlson said during a recent appearance on the "Can't Be Censored" podcast. "Not because I
Alan Dershowitz, a former defense attorney for late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, will appear before the House Oversight Committee on July 20 for a transcribed interview, according to two sources familiar with the planning. Dershowitz helped secure a controversial
Soccer fans from around the world are expressing amazement and amusement at the food, customs and culture of the United States during the first two weeks of the World Cup. Supporters of countries from Europe to Asia and the Middle East are steadily posting on social media, in
Despite Vice President JD Vance’s claims, Iran’s state media says it will not allow nuclear inspectors into the country, complicating the agreement made between the U.S. and Iran. “The US Vice President’s claim regarding the return of [ International Atomic Energy Agency ]
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will give a classified briefing to a group of House Republicans on military funding goals on Wednesday, as President Trump is pushing Congress to pass a $350 billion reconciliation package for the Pentagon. The Pentagon chief will be at the
ABC is asking for its viewers to support the network as it faces scrutiny from the Trump administration challenging whether its daytime table talk program "The View" is a bona fide news program. The network this week rolled out an on-air campaign promoting the show and blasting
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating a close call between two commercial planes that occurred at Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) on Saturday. The crew of Delta Air Lines Flight 2351 executed a go-around, or aborted landing, because an American
The Iranian men’s national soccer team left a note behind at SoFi Stadium, just outside of Los Angeles, after it drew with Belgium in what was seen as a World Cup surprise. In a Sunday post on the social platform X, Iranian defender Ramin Rezaian posted a photo of a note on a
As he has done for years, President Donald Trump claims – without evidence – that the federal Right to Try law he signed in 2018 has “saved thousands of lives.” Researchers who have long studied access to investigational drugs say the president is greatly exaggerating. The
A federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration from creating a centralized database containing Social Security numbers along with information about voters' citizenship status and other sensitive data. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, an appointee of former
Mixed messages from the U.S. and Iran on the Strait of Hormuz are injecting further uncertainty into the future of the waterway and global oil supplies. Over the weekend, the Iranian military said that it would close the strait in response to Israeli strikes in Lebanon. At the
The Department of the Interior on Monday said five individuals were arrested in connection to reports of vandalism at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. “Five individuals have been arrested for vandalism. Five additional individuals were issued federal citations,” a
The White House has insisted that acquiring Greenland is necessary for America’s national security—but it seems that some Trump officials believe it would primarily benefit American seafood buffets. A Trump official and Texas venture capitalist, Thomas Dans, was identified by
Intelligence Democrats are warning acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Bill Pulte against carrying out sweeping firings or improperly declassifying intelligence as Congress braces for the controversial new intelligence chief’s full first week on the job. Pulte, who
A federal judge has killed the Trump administration’s attempt to subpoena Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and other state leaders, finding that the Justice Department used the subpoena to try to force the state to capitulate to the White House’s
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Sunday predicted President Trump will take the Strait of Hormuz "by force" from Iran if negotiations fail to result in a long-term peace deal between the two countries. He also predicted that if that happens, the U.S. will charge a fee for ships
The Department of Homeland Security has proposed a massive increase in citizenship application fees, as the Trump administration continues to upend legal immigration. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services proposed a rule Monday that would raise the fee for a paper
The briefing will take place in the House SCIF.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has opened a new front in the cognitive warfare between Ukraine and Russia, challenging Putin's authority and forcing him to respond, while Ukraine continues to disrupt Russian military logistics and recapture territory.
A federal judge in Minnesota has tossed out multiple Department of Justice (DOJ) grand jury subpoenas aimed at Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) and other officials in the state. U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz wrote there was “no doubt” the DOJ
President Donald Trump has struck out nine times in court in his quest to obtain voter registration data from states, reports Democracy Docket . On Thursday, a federal judge threw out the Department of Justice’s lawsuit seeking voter data from Maryland. “This Court joins every
Onlookers found a dead duckling in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Sunday, sparking concerns about the water conditions inside the newly renovated landmark. Photos of the dead duckling floating in the pool next to green algae surfaced online days after the Trump
National Economic Council (NEC) Director Kevin Hassett said Monday that Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh is not soliciting advice from the White House on monetary policy. “We’re very close friends,” Hassett said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” referring to Warsh. “We’ve known each
The Department of Labor has finalized a new regulation to increase union members' access to financial information about their union, which the AFL-CIO is attempting to block in court, despite the fact that it would increase transparency and accountability in the labor movement.
The Trump administration is holding millions of dollars of Homeland Security funds hostage unless states agree to stop using electronic ballots and prove voters are citizens before they vote, CNN reports . Trump is demanding that states carry out manual election audits at the
Labour Party member Andy Burnham is likely to become the next British prime minister after incumbent Keir Starmer on Monday announced that he will resign once there is a new leader in place. Starmer's resignation could have led to a divisive contest among Labour Party