Welcome to The Hill's Defense & NatSec newsletter {beacon} Defense &National Security Defense &National Security The Big Story Trump escalates tensions with seized oil tanker near Venezuela President Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. has seized an oil tanker off the coast
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy on Wednesday said the board "vehemently opposes" one of the provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed by the House of Representatives hours earlier. She said during a press conference
Moderate and vulnerable Republicans are attempting a long-shot revolt against their leaders in the House over health care. They are trying to force a vote to extend the enhanced ObamaCare subsidies that GOP leaders are declining to bring up — and that moderates warn will cost
{beacon} Technology The Big Story Senate rushes to finish crypto market bill ahead of holiday recess Senators are trying to iron out key sticking points in legislation to regulate the cryptocurrency industry in their final working weeks of the year, as they push to get the
{beacon} Energy & Environment Energy & Environment The Big Story FEMA council expected to announce recommendations The Trump administration is set to unveil its plan this week to reform the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), a proposal that is sure to be contentious
Attorney General Pam Bondi shared a Wednesday video of U.S. forces seizing a Venezuelan oil tanker after a series of strikes on vessels in the region. “Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Coast Guard, with support
Democratic lawmakers and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) expressed concern Wednesday that the seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker by the U.S. could further increase tensions between the two countries, while other GOP senators said they were awaiting more information. “It sounds a lot
Henry Cuellar faces a vote of fellow Democratic appropriators Thursday, and some have doubts.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Wednesday accused Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) of being part of a "rioting crowd" during a mass arrest in Tucson last week. On Friday, ICE and other federal agents arrested 46 undocumented immigrants in an operation that stemmed
Presented by the Coalition to Strengthen America's Healthcare {beacon} Health Care Health Care PRESENTED BY COALITION TO STRENGTHEN AMERICA'S HEALTHCARE The Big Story Senate set to vote on competing ACA subsidy bills After a prolonged fight that saw a record-breaking
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has removed several mentions of human activity on a webpage related to the causes of climate change. Last week, the EPA quietly updated a page on its site outlining causes of global warming. Previously, the page said: “This record
The House on Wednesday easily passed the annual defense policy bill, sending the mammoth, $900 billion measure to the Senate ahead of the year-end deadline. The measure, known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), passed the lower chamber by a vote of 312-112.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) introduced legislation Wednesday to have the former Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., renamed in honor of the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The South Carolina lawmaker suggested the street adjacent to the White House be designated
A bipartisan pair of House lawmakers plan to introduce legislation Wednesday that would require federal agencies and officials to label any AI-generated content published in official government channels. The Responsible and Ethical AI Labeling (REAL) Act, put forward by Reps.
Welcome to The Hill's Business & Economy newsletter {beacon} Business & Economy Business & Economy The Big Story Federal Reserve cuts interest rates in divisive vote The Federal Reserve cut interest rates Wednesday in an unusually narrow vote, underscoring the divides among
Miles Taylor, a former Department of Homeland Security official who used the pseudonym “Anonymous,” expressed concern Tuesday about President Trump not rejecting a Venezuelan ground invasion. During MS NOW’s “Ana Cabrera Reports," a clip was played from a recent episode of
Et tu, ChatGPT? On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth unveiled his department’s new AI chatbot for military personnel, GenAI.mil . Almost immediately, the bot called a “hypothetical” situation where the government orders a strike on a suspected drug-smuggling boat and then
President Trump on Wednesday said he was happy with his Cabinet and specifically downplayed reports that he was frustrated with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. “I read these same stories that I’m unhappy with this one or that one, and
Over half of Californians both approve of Gov. Gavin Newsom's (D) performance in office and worry the state is heading in the wrong direction, according to a new study from the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) released on Monday. Newsom's job performance was backed
It’s not clear if House Democrats will coalesce behind the bipartisan two-year subsidy extension proposed by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and Jared Golden.
President Trump indicated he'd like to see CNN be sold off as its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, prepares to undergo a megamerger with either Netflix or fellow conglomerate Paramount. "It's imperative that CNN be sold," the president told reporters at the White House
Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats are demanding that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI turn over all documents and communications related to its investigation into six lawmakers who reminded members of the military they have the right to refuse illegal orders. The FBI
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), the ranking member on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, sent a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday, asking him to clarify his use of the phrase “G2” to describe the U.S. and China. In the letter,
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Wednesday he’s glad Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) entered the race for Senate in Texas, arguing it’s good for the GOP to have her emerge as a face of the Democratic Party. At a press conference at the Capitol on Wednesday, the Speaker rubbed
Eileen Higgins is set to become Miami's first Democratic mayor since 1997 and the first woman ever to lead the city, after Tuesday night's victory over Trump-backed Republican candidate Emilio Gonzalez to replace term-limited incumbent Mayor Francis Suarez (R). Higgins and
The Department of Homeland Security just paid nearly $140 million to be in charge of managing its own deportation flights. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has signed a multimillion-dollar contract to purchase six Boeing 737 aircrafts from Daedalus Aviation Corporation,
The House on Wednesday advanced the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), teeing it up for a final vote after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) managed to win over several holdouts in a dramatic vote. The vote on the rule, which sets up debate and final passage of the bill, was
The chair of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Mike Rogers (Ala.), will end the panel’s inquiry into the U.S. military’s controversial Sept. 2 alleged drug boat attack in the Caribbean, where the two survivors were killed in a follow-up strike. The classified briefings
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) fiercely defended Democrats’ push to redraw congressional maps in Maryland — saying he expects the issue to take on new importance if Republicans succeed at redistricting in Indiana. In a podcast interview on The New Republic’s “The Daily Blast With
A machine-learning analysis found Texas border cities carry the highest migrant risk scores.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) on Wednesday introduced a bill that would pull the United States out of the NATO alliance. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) said she would co-sponsor the bill, while Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) has introduced companion legislation in the upper chamber.
Now that the 2025 elections are over, we can definitively say: This was a very good year for Democrats. According to an analysis by Daniel Nichanian for Bolts , Democrats flipped 21 percent of Republican-held state legislative seats—a huge upset and a harbinger of midterm doom
President Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, the latest escalation in what has become an increasingly tense relationship between the two countries. "We’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela. A large tanker, very
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered U.S. embassies and consulates to use Times New Roman font for diplomatic communications, reversing the Biden administration’s switch to Calibri. “Typography shapes how official documents are perceived in terms of cohesion,
President Trump on Wednesday afternoon welcomed business leaders to the White House for a roundtable discussion. The event comes a day after Trump touted his economic agenda in Pennsylvania. It was scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. EST. Watch live above.
The feds worked for a year to extradite a Belarusian woman accused of smuggling millions of dollars of U.S. aviation equipment into Russia for its war on Ukraine. But now that she’s finally in the United States, where she can face charges, the Department of Homeland Security is
CNN host Jake Tapper pressed Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) on Tuesday about remarks made last year in a Vanity Fair article, when she said the way Latinos talk about immigration reminds her of the “slave mentality.” “The immigration thing has always been something that has
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is investigating whether the COVID-19 vaccines were associated with any deaths across all age ranges. "FDA is doing a thorough investigation, across multiple age groups, of deaths potentially related to COVID vaccines," Health and Human
The Trump administration is set to unveil its plan this week to reform the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), a proposal that is sure to be contentious but is not expected to go as far as earlier calls to eliminate the agency completely. Earlier this year, President
The Federal Reserve cut interest rates Wednesday in an unusually narrow vote, underscoring the divides among bank officials over the effect rate cuts will have on inflation and employment. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the panel of Fed officials responsible for
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is giving remarks Wednesday afternoon after the nation's central bank made its final interest rate decision of 2025. The committee responsible for setting borrowing costs cut the baseline interest rate to a range of 3.5 to 3.75 percent, a
Emboldened Democrats are expanding their target lists for the House and state legislatures after a series of notable wins and overperformances on Tuesday. The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) both
The Federal Reserve cut interest rates Wednesday in an unusually narrow vote, underscoring the divides among bank officials over the effect rate cuts will have on inflation and employment. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the panel of Fed officials responsible for
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) will host a Menorah lighting ceremony Wednesday afternoon to commemorate Hanukkah. The Jewish holiday begins on Dec. 14 and runs through Dec. 22. The
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman is making electability the focus of his gubernatorial campaign message.
Only one American woman in politics, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, made Forbes's 2025 list of most powerful women. Wiles, the White House's first female chief of staff, is ranked 66th on the Forbes list, behind figures like pop star Taylor Swift, television host Oprah
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed Wednesday that it reached an agreement to purchase Boeing 737 planes for deportation proceedings. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said on the social platform X that the planes will allow Immigration and Customs
Health professionals are noting a surge in a norovirus called “winter vomiting disease,” which spreads through contaminated food and water. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) wastewater surveillance testing has indicated that the virus is spreading earlier
The coughing, sneezing and sniffling is all around us, as both influenza and COVID-19 start to spread.