Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee is leading the effort to make sure our taxpayer dollars are actually working for the American people.
Blackburn introduced the United Nations Voting Accountability Act on Thursday, which would prohibit taxpayer funding or aid from going toward "foreign countries that oppose the position of the United States in the United Nations," Blaze News has exclusively learned.
'It is unacceptable for US aid recipients to use international platforms to undermine America and protect adversaries like Iran.'
Notably, America spends tens of billions of dollars on foreign aid, contributing more to the United Nations than any other country. Blackburn and many other Americans are insisting that we should not owe money to countries that oppose our interests.
"No more should American taxpayers have to question the value of foreign assistance to countries that oppose our values and interests," Blackburn told Blaze News. "The United States must be a good steward of taxpayer dollars, ensuring every dollar that we send to foreign nations drives global stability and advances American interests."
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"The United Nations Voting Accountability Act would ensure that taxpayers are not forced to fund countries that undermine and vote against the U.S. in the United Nations," Blackburn added.
The bill does allow the secretary of state, in this case Marco Rubio, to exempt countries if they make a "fundamental change" to the leadership and policies to the extent that they no longer oppose the position of the United States in the U.N.
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Following American airstrikes in Iran, adversarial countries like Russia, China, and Pakistan began circulating a resolution in the U.N. calling for a ceasefire, which "ignores Iran's support for terrorism" and "shields the Iranian regime from accountability," according to a press release from Blackburn's office obtained by Blaze News.
"While the resolution does not name the U.S. or Israel, its intent is obvious," the press release reads. "It is unacceptable for U.S. aid recipients to use international platforms to undermine America and protect adversaries like Iran."
This bill is also being sponsored in the House by Republican Rep. Warren Davidson of Ohio, who introduced the legislation in February.
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Global policymakers and consumers are weary of Big Tech monopolies. While excessive consolidation of power leads to privacy violations, price gouging, and stifling innovation, it poses a unique threat to free speech.
Trump administration antitrust enforcers understood that threat. As Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater observed, when a handful of companies control the flow of information, “someone can be disappeared from the internet quite easily.”
Digital free speech shouldn’t depend on the shifting preferences of Apple executives or Google policy teams.
Conservatives increasingly see Big Tech’s ability to distort and manipulate public discourse as a downstream effect of its market dominance. In the case of the mobile internet, it takes only two companies — Apple and Google — to control the smartphone experience of nearly every American.
Congress is beginning to respond. Two recently introduced bills would take on Apple and Google’s app store choke points directly. The Open App Markets Act, co-sponsored by Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and the App Store Freedom Act, sponsored by Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.), aim to empower users by giving them the option to download apps from sources outside of Apple and Google’s proprietary platforms, including alternative marketplaces.
Why do these technical details matter for speech? Because Apple and Google’s gatekeeper power has already been abused to silence dissent.
In 2021, Parler — a social media app popular on the right — was removed from Apple and Google’s app stores for allegedly having “inadequate” content moderation policies. The timing followed reports that the platform was used to coordinate the January 6 Capitol riot. Virtually overnight, Parler went from one of the fastest growing apps in the world to a ghost town. Internet consumers move quickly, and the app’s months in Big Tech’s doghouse became a death sentence. Parler never recovered.
Parler wasn’t an isolated case. Years earlier, Google banned Gab, another free speech-oriented platform, while Apple never allowed it to launch in the first place. Google also initially refused to approve President Trump’s Truth Social due to concerns over its moderation policies. And abroad, Apple has bowed to authoritarian regimes — removing apps used by dissidents in China and Russia at the request of those governments.
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The problem runs deeper than censorship. Apple and Google have used their dominance to dictate the design and speech choices of developers. App makers are often forbidden from communicating key information to users — such as the availability of cheaper subscription pricing outside of Apple and Google’s walled gardens.
The scope of their power is staggering. Roughly 91% of Americans own a smartphone. More than 99% of those devices run on Apple’s iOS or Google’s Android operating systems. And 88% of the time spent on those phones is inside apps — not on web browsers.
Without real guardrails, that bottleneck becomes a single point of failure. It’s a choke point ready to be exploited by governments, activist groups, or corporations that want to control speech.
Some openly defend the current system precisely because it allows Apple and Google to keep disfavored apps off the market. Even before Elon Musk acquired Twitter (now X), Apple and Google pressured the company to increase moderation. After Musk’s takeover, activist organizations lobbied Apple and Google to ban X altogether if Musk didn’t reinstate stricter content rules.
An open app ecosystem benefits everyone. Conservatives celebrating Big Tech’s apparent political shifts should remember how easily those loyalties change. Liberals worried about “tech bro” influence should support guardrails that limit partisan manipulation — regardless of who holds power.
Digital free speech shouldn’t depend on the shifting preferences of Apple executives or Google policy teams. Congress must act to restore balance and ensure pluralism. The Open App Markets Act and the App Store Freedom Act offer real, durable solutions. They deserve bipartisan support.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency fired three more supervisors tied to a political bias scandal involving workers who were instructed not to offer disaster relief assistance to some Florida homeowners.
Cameron Hamilton, FEMA's acting administrator, wrote in a letter dated March 4 that the agency conducted an "exhaustive investigation" after it was revealed that disaster relief workers were told to bypass the homes of those who support President Donald Trump. The directive was given to some staffers responding in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton in Florida.
'Political affiliation should never be a consideration in the rendering of assistance.'
Marn'i Washington, a former FEMA hurricane relief supervisor, was previously terminated after she admitted to instructing workers to skip homes with pro-Trump signs. However, she claimed she was a "scapegoat" and that the practice was "not isolated" to her instruction.
Former FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell rejected Washington's claims, insisting that the incident was isolated.
Hamilton explained that three additional supervisors had recently been terminated because they failed to "meet our standards of conduct," according to the letter obtained by the New York Post.
"It is essential that the entire workforce understand that this incident was reprehensible, and this type of behavior will not be tolerated at FEMA," he wrote.
"Further, in accordance with my commitment, and that of President Trump and [Homeland Security] Secretary [Kristi] Noem, to ensure that Americans receive impartial assistance from FEMA, I have directed a comprehensive additional training for FEMA staff to reinforce that political affiliation should never be a consideration in the rendering of assistance," Hamilton continued.
He noted that the investigation did not find any evidence of "a systemic problem, nor that it was directed by agency or field leadership."
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) stated that she would not allow FEMA "to be weaponized by the left to target Trump supporters."
"We are making certain that FEMA is treating all Americans the same, that they are here to help all Americans," she said in a video posted on X. "I wrote a letter and called out these FEMA workers that were not stopping at what they perceived to be Trump-supporting homes. I'm happy to let you know they have been fired."
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) expressed his confidence that the Trump administration would "root out egregious examples of political bias like this at FEMA."
"After back-to-back hurricanes devastated Florida and left many in our area with nothing, it's incomprehensible that FEMA relief workers were skipping over those in need," Buchanan said. "FEMA has the responsibility to serve every American equally, regardless of their politics."
Buchanan noted that FEMA reportedly skipped over at least 20 homes between October through November.
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Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) introduced a resolution on Tuesday celebrating America's achievement in creating the Panama Canal and calling for measures to safeguard it from China's growing influence in the region.
Senators Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) co-sponsored the resolution, which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
'It would require the United States to take measures necessary to protect its rights under the Treaty.'
Lee noted the canal's "vital importance" to the United States, particularly regarding trade, national security, and geopolitics.
The resolution explained that the U.S. government "funded, pioneered, and built" the Panama Canal from 1904 to 1914, adding that it cost $375 million and 10,000 lives.
Former President Jimmy Carter turned over control of the Panama Canal to Panama in 1977.
"The Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal, signed at Washington September 7, 1977, otherwise known as the 'Neutrality Treaty,' reserved the right of the United States to use armed force to defend the permanent neutrality of the Panama Canal," Lee's resolution read.
However, despite the Neutrality Treaty, China's influence in the Panama Canal has grown substantially over roughly the past decade, "pos[ing] a high risk of intelligence-gathering and surveillance."
The U.S. is allowed to regain control of the canal if the neutrality agreement is violated.
"Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Senate," the resolution continued, "recognizes the ingenuity and labor of Americans that made the Panama Canal possible for future generations, with special regard for those Americans who lost their lives in pursuit of the Panama Canal project"; "expresses that the Panama Canal is vital to United States regional security, hemispheric hegemony, and economic interests"; "assesses that a pattern of Chinese-backed investment in port infrastructure and canal operations in Panama constitutes a violation of the Neutrality Treaty"; and "urges the Trump administration to ensure that the canal remains neutral and to take all appropriate measures to enforce the Neutrality Treaty."
Lee wrote in a post on X, "The Panama Canal is a great American achievement, and President Trump is right to re-assert the Monroe Doctrine and American dominance of our hemisphere's vital waterways."
Over the weekend, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that he met with Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino "to make clear that the United States cannot, and will not, allow the Chinese Communist Party to continue with its effective and growing control over the Panama Canal area."
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce stated, "Secretary Rubio made clear that this status quo is unacceptable and that absent immediate changes, it would require the United States to take measures necessary to protect its rights under the Treaty."
Following Rubio's visit, Mulino declared that Panama would leave the Belt and Road Initiative, a Chinese global infrastructure project.
The State Department claims the initiative "preys on other countries via unsustainable and corrupt lending while ignoring global labor and environmental standards."
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'Unfortunately, the ABA has shown itself to be an ideologically captured, leftist institution,' the letter charges.
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