Senate approves DHS funding — but there's a catch



The Senate has partially funded the Department of Homeland Security following a 42-day stalemate — but there's a catch.

More than six weeks after DHS was first shut down in mid-February, the Senate agreed in the early morning hours on Friday to fund key agencies like the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and most notably, the Transportation Security Administration. Although the funding agreement was long overdue, the Senate continues to withhold funds for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.

'Democrats have recklessly created a true National Crisis.'

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) called the supplemental funding "unfortunate," saying it is only prolonging policy disagreements Democrats continue to move their goal posts on.

“The Dems wanted reforms," Thune said. "We tried to work with them on reforms. They ended up getting no reforms, but, you know, we’re going to have to fight some of those battles another day."

The Senate greenlit this funding bill by a voice vote around 2:00 a.m. ET and is now headed into a two-week-long recess. The spending package is now on its way to the House.

RELATED: Heroic ICE agent miraculously saves unresponsive child in TSA line

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This funding was put through just hours after President Donald Trump ordered his new DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin to "immediately pay our TSA Agents."

"Because the Democrats have recklessly created a true National Crisis, I am using my authorities under the Law to protect our Great Country, as I always will do!" Trump said in a Truth Social post on Thursday evening. "Therefore, I am going to sign an Order instructing the Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, to immediately pay our TSA Agents in order to address this Emergency Situation, and to quickly stop the Democrat Chaos at the Airports."

RELATED: Trump adds new condition to ICE airport plan in DHS shutdown fight

Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images

"It is not an easy thing to do, but I am going to do it!" Trump added. "I want to thank our hardworking TSA Agents and also, ICE, for the incredible help they have given us at the Airports. I will not allow the Radical Left Democrats to hold our Country hostage any longer."

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Biden’s COVID censorship machine takes a hit: Missouri wins landmark ban on federal threats to Big Tech



A landmark settlement delivered a blow to the censorship industrial complex that silenced Americans during the COVID era.

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) announced Tuesday that Missouri had reached a settlement agreement with the U.S. government in its Missouri v. Biden lawsuit, which accused the Biden administration of violating Americans' First Amendment rights by directing social media companies to censor speech challenging the government's COVID messaging.

'For every working Missouri family tired of being silenced by their own government: this victory is yours.'

Schmitt filed the lawsuit against the Biden administration while serving as Missouri attorney general, before securing his Senate seat.

The agreement included a 10-year Consent Decree that enforces a narrow permanent injunction on the surgeon general, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The injunction prevents them from threatening social media companies with any form of punishment if those companies fail to remove or suppress content that contains protected speech.

However, this ban applies only to posts made on Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, and YouTube by the specific plaintiffs in the case, including Missouri and Louisiana government officials and agencies acting in their official capacity. It does not extend to other social media networks or content posted by the general public.

"The Parties also agree that government, politicians, media, academics, or anyone else applying labels such as 'misinformation,' 'disinformation,' or 'malinformation' to speech does not render it constitutionally unprotected," the agreement reads.

The court must first approve this settlement agreement.

RELATED: BlazeTV's 'The Coverup' exposes how the censorship industrial complex silenced Americans during COVID

Eric Schmitt. Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

"We just won Missouri v. Biden," Schmitt wrote in a post on X. "As Missouri's Attorney General, I sued the Biden regime for brazenly colluding with Big Tech to silence Missouri families — censoring the truth about COVID, the Hunter Biden laptop, the open border, and the 2020 election. They tried to turn Facebook, X, YouTube, and the rest into their private speech police, labeling dissent 'misinformation' while they pushed their narrative on the American people."

Schmitt called the Consent Decree the "first real, operational restraint on the federal censorship machine."

He explained that it "directly binds the Surgeon General, the CDC, and CISA: no more threats of legal, regulatory, or economic punishment. No more coercion. No more unilateral direction or veto of platform decisions to remove, suppress, deplatform, or algorithmically bury protected speech."

"For every working Missouri family tired of being silenced by their own government: this victory is yours. The heartland fought back, and the heartland delivered," Schmitt concluded.

RELATED: 'Karma is a b***h': Trump taps epidemiologist targeted by Biden admin and censored online to run NIH

Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Benjamin Weingarten, a senior contributor at the Federalist, addressed the victory's narrow application.

"This decree is limited to the plaintiffs, but as precedent, and practically, its impact may prove orders of magnitude more powerful in protecting disfavored speech," Weingarten wrote, calling it "a momentous blow for the First Amendment."

National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya, who had to withdraw as a plaintiff in the case after being appointed by the Trump administration, called the settlement "a huge win for all Americans."

"Huzzah! The consent decree in Missouri v. Biden is a historic victory for free speech in the US. Though I had to switch to the government side in the case after I became NIH director, I've never been more pleased by 'losing' in my life," he wrote.

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Congress Keeping Lights On At Agency That Worked To Discredit Hunter Biden Laptop

A new Congressional spending package includes billions of dollars for an arm of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that previously collaborated with private entities to censor online speech, including suppression of the validity of Hunter Biden’s laptop in 2020. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) would receive $2.2 billion for 2026 funding as […]

How a Government Agency You've Never Heard of Censored Everyday Americans

On Oct. 7, 2020, a Twitter account by the name of "nodrog danarb" issued a warning about the coming election. "All conservatives vote in person," the individual tweeted, tagging the official Twitter account of the Washington Office of the Secretary of State. "Don't trust the mail." Such posts were a dime a dozen in the lead up to the 2020 election, as concerns about the COVID pandemic fueled an unprecedented spike in mail-in voting. This tweet, though, caught the attention of the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), whose remit includes election infrastructure.

The post How a Government Agency You've Never Heard of Censored Everyday Americans appeared first on .

Army Secretary Orders Removal Of Biden Censorship Czar From West Point

On Wednesday, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll ordered West Point to terminate the employment of President Biden’s recently hired censorship czar. The revelation came following a now unavailable Tuesday announcement from the academy that Jen Easterly, the former director of the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), would be serving as the new Robert F. McDermott […]

Mike Waltz faces personal attacks, called a 'coward' during confirmation hearing



Mike Waltz is in the hot seat as the Senate kicks off his contentious confirmation hearing to serve as ambassador to the United Nations.

Waltz, who previously served as national security adviser to President Donald Trump, was removed from the role following a string of scandals. Most notably, Waltz accidentally added the editor in chief of the Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, to a private Signal group chat with other administration officials where they discussed and coordinated an imminent airstrike against the Houthis in Yemen.

'I was hoping to hear you had some sense of regret.'

Although Waltz has taken full responsibility for the "embarrassing" slipup, "Signalgate" was the Democrats' cannon fodder of choice on Tuesday.

Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware pressed the nominee over the use of Signal to communicate about ongoing military operations, saying it is "not an appropriate, secure means of communicating highly sensitive information." Coons also asked Waltz if he had been investigated over the incident.

"The use of Signal, as an encrypted app, is not only authorized, it was recommended by the Biden-era CISA guidance," Waltz said in defense of the chat.

RELATED: Scott Jennings shreds media's narrative around Trump admin Signal group chat

Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images

"Of course, there was no classified information exchanged," Waltz added.

Coons reiterated his concerns over the "demonstrably sensitive information" that was leaked by the chat, asking Waltz again if he had been investigated for it.

"The White House conducted an investigation, and my understanding is that the Department of Defense is still conducting the investigation," Waltz said.

"At the time, you took responsibility for adding a journalist to the Signal chat," Coons said in response. "But it doesn't seem to me that the administration's taken any action to make sure this doesn't happen again. ... I was hoping to hear you had some sense of regret."

RELATED: Senate Democrats set to grill Mike Waltz over 'Signalgate' during confirmation hearing

Photographer: Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) also grilled Waltz over the alleged sharing of sensitive information on Signal. Waltz confirmed when pressed that “Signal has not been approved for use by U.S. government officials for the sharing of classified information."

Senator Kaine didn’t stop there. He pressed Waltz on the ongoing investigations surrounding the alleged Signal leak of classified information. Waltz responded: "I shouldn't and can't comment on an ongoing investigation, but what I can do is echo Secretary [Pete] Hegseth's testimony that no names, targets, locations, units, routes, sources, method … no classified information was shared."

Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) accused Waltz of avoiding responsibility, saying that it was not an acceptable excuse to say that Jeffrey Goldberg was "sucked in" to the message group.

Booker continued, "Instead, in a moment when our national security was clearly compromised, you denied, you deflected, then you demeaned and degraded those people who objectively told the truth and criticized your actions."

"It shows profound cowardice. ... Even after weeks, if not months, of reflection, you couldn't sit before this committee and take some responsibility."

Waltz faced pressure from his own party as well. Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) questioned Waltz on where his loyalties exactly lie: "I guess it just worries me that you come more from the Liz Cheney wing of the party than the Donald Trump wing of the party."

Waltz, a former U.S. representative from Florida, affirmed his loyalty to President Trump, citing his voting record in Congress: "Senator, I am squarely with the president. I've been with him in every single election I've participated in."

Mike Waltz needs a majority vote in the 53-47 Republican-controlled Senate to be confirmed as the new U.N. ambassador. A vote on his nomination is expected before the U.N. General Assembly opens on September 9.

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Judge Admits ‘Substantial Concerns’ About ‘Security’ Of Georgia’s Voting System But Refuses To Address Them

'A system where a voter has no way to know whether their ballot reflects their true selections is fundamentally incompatible with the constitutional right to vote.'