Senators Make Clashing Demands As Deadline To Pass Trump’s ‘Beautiful’ Bill Looms
'I believe we are going to change it'
GOP senator says 24-year-old Venezuelan allegedly caught posing as high school student may have had relationship with minor
Ohio police say that a 24-year-old Venezuelan migrant was caught pretending to be 16 years old in order to attend a high school and was living with a couple who housed exchange students.
Anthony Emmanuel Labrador Sierra was accepted to attend a high school in Perrysburg, Ohio, in Nov. 2023 after claiming to be homeless and an immigrant from Venezuela, according to City of Perrysburg Police.
His alleged scam began unraveling when a woman contacted the Melfreds to tell them that Labrador was 'actually a 24-year-old and he was the father of her child.'
He also claimed to be a victim of human trafficking and presented the school with a birth certificate from the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela that showed a birthdate in 2007. He started attending the school in Jan. 2024, according to police.
Then in March, Kathy and Brad Melfred agreed to house Labrador, as they accepted exchange students and had foster children as well.
The Melfreds helped Labrador obtain a Social Security number and an Ohio driver's license after being appointed his permanent guardians.
His alleged scam began unraveling when a woman contacted the Melfreds to tell them that Labrador was "actually a 24-year-old and he was the father of her child." She presented them with another birth certificate showing Labrador to be instead a 24-year-old man as well as photos from Facebook showing him and a small child.
RELATED: Trump admin revokes protected status extension for Venezuelan nationals
When police reached out to U.S. Border Patrol, the agency confirmed that Labrador had an actual birthdate from 2001 and an expired work visa. Border Patrol also said that Labrador was considered a visa overstay.
Police arrested Labrador on Monday on felony forgery charges.
Republican U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio blamed the Temporary Protection Status policies of former President Joe Biden for the incident and said that there's evidence Labrador might have had "a relationship with a minor."
"Unreal. Thanks to Joe Biden’s abuse of TPS, a 24 year old illegal alien was caught on a fake asylum claim pretending to be a teenager at a high school in Ohio," said Moreno on social media.
"Today, I am calling for a full investigation into this scandal and what is being done to keep our children safe," he added.
In a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel, Moreno called for an investigation into the incident to root out whether the migrant had committed sexual misconduct.
Online records indicate that Labrador was given a bond of $50,000.
Labrador had joined the junior varsity soccer and swim teams at the high school. The district said it reported the incident to the Ohio High School Athletic Association.
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Republicans presented with Senate pickup opportunity as Democrat announces retirement
Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire announced Wednesday that she would not seek re-election in 2026, giving Republicans another opportunity to grow their Senate majority.
Shaheen has served in the Senate since 2009, flipping the previously red seat blue. Shaheen had also previously served as governor and in the state Senate.
'New Hampshire has a proud tradition of electing common-sense Republicans—and will do so again in 2026!'
"Today, after careful consideration, I'm announcing that I have made the difficult decision not to seek re-election to the Senate in 2026," Shaheen said in a statement Wednesday. "There are urgent challenges ahead, both here at home and around the world. And while I'm not seeking re-election — believe me — I am not retiring."
Although both Senate seats have been held by Democrats for the last few elections, New Hampshire has elected Republican governors since 2016, and Republicans have held on to a majority in the state Senate. Given the strong Republican voting presence in the state, the GOP has the opportunity to flip another key Senate seat.
"Another one!" Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina said in a statement Wednesday. "Shaheen's retirement is welcome news for Granite Staters eager for new leadership. New Hampshire has a proud tradition of electing common-sense Republicans—and will do so again in 2026!"
Republicans flipped four Democrat-held Senate seats in 2024, electing Republican Sens. Tim Sheehy of Montana, Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania, Bernie Moreno of Ohio, and Jim Justice of West Virginia. This leaves Republicans with a comfortable 53-seat majority to work with.
There has also been some speculation about a potential senatorial run by Republican former Gov. Chris Sununu. Although Sununu has been a past critic of President Donald Trump, he has since warmed up to the party leader and even endorsed him in 2024.
“I have not ruled it out completely, but folks in Washington have asked me to think about it and to consider it, and that is just kind of where I am,” Sununu told the New Hampshire Journal on Tuesday.
“I like getting stuff done,” Sununu said. “I don’t think they could handle me down there. I’d be like a lion in a cage.”
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Senators Urge Colleagues, Trump To Disregard Far-Left American Bar Association
'Unfortunately, the ABA has shown itself to be an ideologically captured, leftist institution,' the letter charges.Bernie Moreno wants to give American car buyers their freedom back
Finally — a politician who knows something about the car business.
I'm talking about Sen. Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican who spent decades building a car dealership empire. That experience has led him to introduce legislation that would repeal emissions rules and give tax breaks to car manufacturers.
'Thanks to liberal bureaucrats who want to mandate what cars Americans can drive, states like mine are riddled with car lots filled with expensive EVs people simply don’t want.'
Moreno, along with a few other GOP senators, introduced bill S.711 — named the Transportation Freedom Act — to the floor on February 25, 2025.
CAFE break
This bill would repeal the multi-pollutant emissions standards for light-duty and medium-duty vehicles, repeal the next phase of heavy-duty vehicle greenhouse gas emissions standards; and repeal the Corporate Average Fuel Economy rules.
It would also eliminate vehicle emissions waivers and establish new passenger automobile standards.
This a glimmer of hope for the U.S. auto industry, which has been struggling to thrive in the face of inconsistent regulations, massive foreign competition, and misguided federal policies that hurt autoworkers, automakers, and consumers.
The Transportation Freedom Act seeks to make cars more affordable by eliminating government mandates that have caused vehicle prices to surge.
'The only winner is China'
In introducing the bill, Moreno said: “Thanks to liberal bureaucrats who want to mandate what cars Americans can drive, states like mine are riddled with car lots filled with expensive EVs people simply don’t want and dormant factories that once employed millions of American workers. The only winner is China.”
Moreno says his bill would lower vehicle prices by “slashing onerous mandates that have made cars unaffordable to everyday Americans, like the EPA ‘tailpipe rule’ and California’s zero-emission vehicle mandate.”
The bill would revoke the California rule to ensure that "all Americans — not just California politicians — have a say in our country’s transportation future."
He says it would also end “arbitrary” CAFE fuel economy standards that require manufacturers to build vehicles "consumers simply do not want," and it provides a six-month window for their replacement with tough but achievable standards.
Higher wages
It would also give carmakers a 200% tax deduction for wages paid to U.S. autoworkers, up to $150,000 per worker, and block companies from using the money they save for stock buybacks.
Deductions would be limited to producers of vehicles with at least 75% U.S. content and those that did not transfer production outside the United States in the past taxable year. To get the deduction, carmakers would also have to offer health insurance, profit-sharing plans, and retiree benefits to workers and remain neutral in labor organizing campaigns.
The bill is cosponsored by three other freshman Republican senators: Indiana’s Jim Banks, Montana’s Tim Sheehy, and West Virginia’s Jim Justice. It is backed by General Motors, Stellantis, Toyota, the National Automobile Dealers Association, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, and American Trucking Associations.
'A commonsense approach'
His bill is likely to face opposition from environmental organizations that said the fuel efficiency and emissions standards set during the Biden administration would fight climate change and protect public health.
A statement from Toyota executive Mark Templin called Moreno’s bill a "commonsense approach that will provide regulatory predictability" and allow the auto industry to invest in emission-reduction technology while providing affordable choices for consumers.
"The auto industry has been whipsawed by shifting emission regulations for decades. These swings have hurt auto companies, auto dealers, and autoworkers, ultimately driving up the cost of automobiles in America."
A statement from Mark Stanton, NADA trade group president and CEO, said his group strongly supports Moreno’s proposed national fuel economy standard as something "achievable, affordable, and maintains consumer vehicle choice."
Meet the dealership owner turned senator out to save the auto industry
"At the end of the day, the $7,500 incentive is catastrophically stupid."
Republican Senator Bernie Moreno of Ohio isn’t pulling any punches when it comes to government support for electric vehicles.
'If China is dramatically ahead of us on EVs, good for them. But we’re dramatically ahead of them in combustion and hybrids.'
Elected last year, Moreno immigrated from Colombia with his family when he was 5. Before entering politics, he worked in auto sales, eventually building an empire of luxury car dealerships.
Dealer's choice
Moreno is the first-ever senator with experience in automobile sales, which he says makes him the perfect person to be president Trump's "car czar."
One of his main targets is the $7,500 tax credit for EV purchases and leases, which has been a major driver of EV sales. Trump himself has agreed with removing the tax credit and the mandates.
The tax credit, says Moreno, is a way for the government to do what it has no business doing: “tell companies what to do and how to have a strategy.”
The results of this meddling speak for themselves.
The tax credit, along with other incentives and benefits included in president Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, has forced automakers to sell EVs at a loss, as well as to increase their investments in EV-related technology.
Fuel me once ...
Needless to say, this has been very bad for the bottom line.
Take Ford Motor Co., which took a $1.22 billion loss in its EV division last quarter.
Removing the incentive should help manufacturers in the long term by allowing them to focus on what their customers want: gas-powered vehicles. As Moreno puts it, "There’s never been a case in time where consumers have been more clear about what they want and don’t want."
Still, this change may be painful in the short term, as unsold inventory piles up.
In October, industry trade association the Alliance for Automotive Innovation asked Congress to keep the EV tax credits to help them sell the EVs they've already produced.
Hyundai Motor Co. recently accelerated its plans to build a new factory in Georgia to take advantage of the tax credits. Now the company will pivot to hybrid, plug-in hybrids, and gas-powered cars.
Like many Republicans, including Trump, Moreno also supports scrapping Biden’s rules on tailpipe emissions, which opponents say amount to a de facto EV “mandate."
And while it is true that there has been a bump in EV sales, the rate of growth is winding down. In the face of that, many automakers have pulled back or delayed investments in order to lower costs and develop more profitable vehicles.
Hybrid theory
Several automakers, including Ford, see a major benefit in investing heavily in new hybrid vehicles and plan to keep both hybrid and traditional gas-powered cars as part of their sales mix for the next several years.
Moreno says this is good for the automakers — and good for the country, as it plays to our strategic advantages.
“If China is dramatically ahead of us on EVs, good for them. But we’re dramatically ahead of them in combustion and hybrids.”
Not that China isn't trying to close the gap — especially with the emergence of European tariffs on EV imports.
Hybrid vehicle exports made up 18% of China’s total to Europe last quarter, compared to 9% in the first quarter of 2024. Several companies, including Geely and BYD, have developed new hybrid cars, with Tesla rival XPeng planning to launch its first hybrid in early 2025.
Chinese carmakers are also still selling a lot of gas-powered vehicles, especially abroad in countries where EVs aren’t popular yet.
Will Tesla create a range extender for its vehicles or remain a purely electric car company? In order to increase market share, Tesla may pivot to compete. We shall see.
As the industry adapts, automakers are shifting focus toward diversified lineups, including hybrids, rather than adhering to aggressive all-electric mandates of going all electric by 2035.
Additionally, Moreno advocates for reducing government intervention in the automotive market. He stated, “We will establish a favorable environment for car companies with good taxes, regulations, and skilled workers. Let the marketplace operate without government interference.”
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