President Donald Trump’s executive order increasing fees at National Parks for foreign tourists could soon be made permanent by a new bill led by Indiana Senator Jim Banks.

The Patriot Parks Act looks to address the U.S. National Park Service’s (NPS) $23 billion maintenance backlog that threatens repairs to visitor facilities, trails, roads, and NPS conservation needs.

‘Americans already pay for our parks through federal taxes on top of standard admission fees, so it’s fair to ask foreign visitors to chip in more,’ Banks told Fox News Digital. ‘This bill codifies President Trump’s executive order and helps protect our national treasures for future generations.’ 

Some factors that contributed to the major deferred maintenance shortfall in funding include aging infrastructure of equipment and facilities, federal budget restraints and cuts, and a steadily increasing number of visitors to parks across the US. 

The fight to erase the roughly $23 billion backlog has been a key issue in Congress for a number of years.

The landmark Great American Outdoors Act, which was introduced in 2019 by then-Senator Cory Gardner, R-Colorado, and sitting Senator Steve Daines, R-Montana, included $6.5 billion for NPS from 2021-2025. As that funding is set to expire and foot traffic at national parks increases, the Patriot Parks Act could play a new role in reining in the maintenance backlog.

The NPS recorded 331.9 million visits in 2024 alone, with roughly one-third of those visitors from outside the US. There are more than 400 national parks in the US, which include landmarks like the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and Yosemite.

On July 3, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled: ‘Making America Beautiful Again by Improving Our National Parks,’ which established an increased fee for international travelers.

The NPS operates under the US Department of Interior, led by Secretary Doug Burgum, who posted to X that the executive order ‘will ensure our parks stay accessible, sustainable, and protected for generations to come.’ 

A House version of the legislation is expected to be introduced by Congressman Riley Moore, R-West Virginia, making the bill a bicameral effort to back up President Trump’s executive order. 

‘From the New River Gorge in my home state to Shenandoah, the Great Smoky Mountains, the Everglades, and the Grand Canyon – God blessed our nation with a tremendous natural heritage,’ Moore told Fox News Digital. 

‘We owe it to future generations to ensure these natural marvels are protected.’

Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News Digital covering breaking news. Story tips can be sent to Preston.Mizell@fox.com and on X @MizellPreston

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired two of his top aides. 

The biographies of Heather Flick Melanson, his chief of staff, and Hannah Anderson, deputy chief of staff of policy, are no longer pictured on the department’s leadership page. 

‘Secretary Kennedy has made a leadership change within the Immediate Office of the Secretary,’ an HHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital. ‘Effective immediately, Matt Buckham will serve as Acting Chief of Staff.’ 

‘Mr. Buckham currently serves as the Kennedy’s White House liaison at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he oversees the recruitment and onboarding of political appointees across the agency. He brings valuable experience in personnel strategy and organizational management to this new role,’ the spokesperson added. 

‘Secretary Kennedy thanks the outgoing leadership for their service and looks forward to working closely with Mr. Buckham as the Department continues advancing its mission to Make America Healthy Again,’ the spokesperson also said. 

Melanson is a lawyer who previously served in multiple top roles at HHS during the first Trump administration. 

She previously was HHS’ acting general counsel before becoming its acting secretary for administration and then eventually a senior adviser to then-HHS Secretary Alex Azar. 

Prior to joining HHS for the first time, Flick was an attorney at Dhillon Law Group, a firm founded by Harmeet Dhillon, who Trump has tapped this time around to be his assistant attorney general. 

‘Heather Flick is outstanding and will most definitely help soon to be Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,’ former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn said in a post on X after news of Flick’s new role. 

Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel contributed to this report. 

A recently expelled D.C. Council member has won the seat from which he was removed five months ago after being charged with accepting cash bribes.

Trayon White is set to reclaim the seat he vacated back in February when members of the D.C. Council voted unanimously to remove him from the position, a first in the city’s history.

In August 2024, the FBI arrested White after he was accused by federal authorities of agreeing to accept $156,000 in bribes. His trial is scheduled to begin in January 2026. White denies any wrongdoing and is pleading not guilty in the federal case, despite apparent video of him pocketing allegedly cash-stuffed envelopes. 

A Justice Department statement from August 2024 alleges that White agreed to accept the bribes in exchange for ‘using his official position to pressure renewal’ of contracts valued at $5.2 million.

White was allowed to run in the special election because he had not been convicted of a felony.

‘So we sent a message loud and clear to D.C. City Council that Trayon White is here to stay,’ White said in his victory speech, according to the Associated Press, which called the race. The outlet added that the troubled ousted council member told the story of his return to office as one of resilience and redemption. 

Now, D.C. Council members are facing a choice: Do they allow White to take back his seat or do they expel him again, effectively disregarding the will of Ward 8 voters? They still have time to decide as White will not be sworn into office until after the election results are certified in August. However, according to Axios, the council has the ability to preemptively block White from taking office due to the corruption scandal.

White’s story echoes that of controversial former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry in more ways than one. Barry famously staged a historic political comeback after the FBI caught him on camera smoking crack cocaine. 

White is being represented by Frederick D. Cooke Jr., who also served as Barry’s defense attorney, according to the Associated Press. Furthermore, after his two mayoral terms, Barry served as the Ward 8 representative on the D.C. Council, first winning the seat in 2005. He held the position until his death in 2014.

Late-night dramatics and surprise defections capped off the push to advance President Donald Trump’s multibillion-dollar clawback package through procedural hurdles, but now lawmakers are nearing the finish line.

Lawmakers cruised through hours of debate on Trump’s $9 billion rescissions package Wednesday morning and are now entering into another vote-a-rama, where both sides of the aisle can offer an unlimited number of amendments to the package. 

At stake are clawbacks that would yank back congressionally approved funding for foreign aid programs and public broadcasting, which Senate Democrats, and some Republicans, have admonished.

The president’s rescissions package proposed cutting just shy of $8 billion from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and over $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the government-backed funding arm for NPR and PBS.

Republicans have broadly lauded the targets, arguing that they are scraping back funding for ‘woke’ programs that do little more than to gird the government’s spending addiction.

Like the preceding debate, Senate Democrats are expected to push numerous amendments intended to derail the legislation that are unlikely to succeed, but will drag out the process for several hours. 

Ahead of the vote-a-rama, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Democrats would highlight several areas of the bill that cut funding through the amendment process, and accused Republicans of having ‘no idea how the [Office of Management and Budget] plans to apply the cuts.’ 

‘Senate Democrats, however, know that our job in this chamber is to govern, is to legislate, not simply eat dirt from the executive and ask for more, which is unfortunately what my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are doing,’ he said. 

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., fired back that Senate Democrats were doing nothing more than defending their penchant for wasteful government spending. 

‘I’ve heard Democrats fearmonger about this bill. Let me set the record straight. Republicans are protecting emergency alert systems here at home,’ he said. ‘Democrats are protecting and promoting electric buses in Africa. In November, Americans rejected wasteful Washington spending. This week, Republicans are delivering on that mandate.’

Before the vote, Senate Republican leaders agreed to carve out $400 million in cuts in global HIV and AIDS prevention funding that leaders hoped would win over holdouts. But it didn’t work for all.

A trio of Senate Republicans defected – Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. – forcing Vice President JD Vance to cast his sixth and seventh tie-breaking votes of the year to keep the package alive.

He will likely be needed again later Wednesday to pass the bill, once lawmakers complete another vote-a-rama, where both sides of the aisle can offer unlimited amendments to the bill. 

Murkowski argued on the Senate floor that the rescissions package was effectively usurping Congress’ duty to legislate.

‘We’re lawmakers, we should be legislating,’ she said. ‘What we’re getting now is a direction from the White House and being told, ‘This is the priority we want you to execute on it. We’ll be back with you with another round.’ I don’t accept that.’

Collins contended that lawmakers actually knew little about how or where the clawbacks would come from, and accused the Office of Management and Budget of not painting a clearer picture on the issue.

‘I recognize the need to reduce excessive spending and I have supported rescissions in our appropriations bills many times, including the 70 rescissions that were included in the year-long funding bill that we are currently operating under,’ she said in a statement. ‘But to carry out our constitutional responsibility, we should know exactly what programs are affected and the consequences of rescissions.’

McConnell similarly blamed the Office of Management and Budget, but noted that he might not be against the package when it came to a final vote. 

‘I’m not going to predict where I am at the end, but I want to make it clear, I don’t have any problem with reducing spending,’ he said. ‘We’re talking about not knowing that they would like a blank check, is what they would like. I don’t think that’s appropriate. I think they ought to make the case.’

House Oversight Committee Republicans are not ruling out potentially compelling former President Joe Biden and former First Lady Jill Biden to appear before Congress as part of an investigation into whether signs of Biden’s mental decline were covered up during his time in the White House.

‘Every option’s on the table. We’re going to try to get answers. We’re going to try to do this rapidly,’ House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., told reporters when asked if the former president could be brought in for questioning.

‘We’ll decide as a committee what steps to take next and who to bring in. But I think right now every option is on the table.’

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., was more forceful in his demands for more high-profile witnesses – noting he was speaking for himself, rather than the committee.

‘As far as I’m concerned, every member of the Biden administration at this point needs to be subpoenaed. I don’t care if they were a secretary. I don’t care if they were a janitor working in there. They’ve all got to come in and answer questions,’ Donalds said.

When asked if that meant the former first lady as well, Donalds responded, ‘Of course.’

He and Comer were both present for the closed-door deposition of Anthony Bernal, a longtime aide to Jill Biden who was subpoenaed in the Oversight Committee’s probe.

‘Her right-hand man – listen, Anthony Bernal was the right-hand man. That’s her guy, her chief of staff,’ Donalds said. ‘If he came in here and pleaded the fifth, I’m sorry, the former first lady, she’s got to come in here and answer questions.’

Comer is investigating allegations that Biden’s former top White House aides covered up signs of his mental and physical decline while in office, and whether any executive actions were commissioned via autopen without the president’s full knowledge. Biden allies have pushed back against those claims.

In an interview with The New York Times on Thursday, Biden affirmed he ‘made every decision’ on his own.

Bernal is the fourth former White House aide to sit for questioning in Comer’s Oversight probe. He and his lawyer left the committee room less than an hour after entering.

Comer and Donalds said Bernal argued that invoking the Fifth Amendment was not an admission of guilt, though the GOP lawmakers pushed back on the assertion.

Donalds said it was a ‘stunning’ move.

So far, three Biden aides have been subpoenaed in the investigation. Like Bernal, former White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor invoked the Fifth Amendment. Former deputy Chief of Staff Annie Tomascini was also subpoenaed at her lawyer’s request. 

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Republicans fixated on Jeffrey Epstein are getting ‘duped’ by Democrats, further defending Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the case. 

During an Oval Office meeting with the crown prince and prime minister of Bahrain, Trump said his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, reversed his first-term energy policies, leading to higher inflation. 

‘What Biden did is he ended our policies,’ Trump told reporters. ‘He doesn’t have a policy. Some lunatic around the desk had a policy. Whoever operated the autopen had a policy which is, by the way, I think the biggest scandals – that’s the scandal they should be talking about, not Jeffrey Epstein, the scandal you should be talking about is the autopen because I think it’s the biggest scandal, one of them, in American history.’ 

In early June, Trump directed Bondi and the White House counsel to investigate whether Biden’s aides used an autopen to sign official documents – such as pardons, executive orders, and judicial appointments – without his personal awareness. Biden has denied the claim. The House Oversight Committee is also investigating the conspiracy and has issued letters and subpoenas for testimony from several former White House aides, as well as Biden’s former White House physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor. 

Trump said Wednesday that Bondi could release ‘whatever’s credible’ related to the Epstein case before addressing Republican infighting about what some categorize as an about-face on transparency by the administration. 

‘He’s dead. He’s gone,’ Trump said of Epstein. ‘And, all it is, is the Republicans, certain Republicans got duped by the Democrats, and they’re following a Democrat playbook and no different than Russia, Russia, Russia and all the other hoaxes.’

Trump said he couldn’t speak to FBI Director Kash Patel’s comments on the case but further defended Bondi.

‘I really think that she’s done very good. She says, ‘I gave you all the credible information,’ and if she finds any more credible information, she’ll give that too. What more can she do than that?’ Trump said. ‘I mean, honestly, what more can she do?’

His comments come after FBI deputy director Dan Bongino reportedly had a heated argument with Bondi over the Epstein case last week and took a day off from the job to cool down, sources previously told Fox News. 

A growing list of Republicans have demanded greater transparency from the Justice Department on the case. Trump earlier Wednesday said on social media that Democrats had come up with another ‘hoax,’ this time on Epstein, after previously being responsible for the widely discredited ‘Steele dossier’ during the Trump-Russia probe, as well as the cover-up of Hunter Biden’s laptop story ahead of the 2020 presidential election. 

‘Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bull—-’ hook, line, and sinker,’ Trump wrote on TRUTH Social. ‘They haven’t learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years.’ 

In the Oval Office, Trump said the Justice Department, and administration more broadly, are dealing with ‘bigger problems.’ 

‘We have problems with millions of illegal people that came in here, and they’re killers and murderers. We have 11,888 murderers that were allowed into our country by Biden. Sleepy Joe Biden, stupid Joe Biden, he allowed them into our country. And you know what we got to do something about? She’s got a lot of things she’s working on,’ Trump said. ‘It’s very sad that somebody can be waylaid, just get waylaid… I think she’s doing a great job.’ 

Trump said he has ‘lost faith’ in certain people in his own party regarding the Epstein case. 

‘I lost that because they got duped by the Democrats. The Democrats are good for nothing. They’ve done a terrible job. They almost destroyed our country,’ Trump said, championing how the passage of his ‘big, beautiful bill’ ensures ‘the biggest tax cut in history’ and the ‘biggest regulation cuts in history.’ 

‘These are the things that they should be talking about,’ Trump said. ‘The ‘big beautiful bill’ is one of the greatest pieces of legislation ever in this country, and the Democrats have nothing to combat it.’ 

Iran has until the end of August to agree to a nuclear deal with the United States and its allies, Fox News has learned. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the foreign ministers of France, Germany and the United Kingdom set the de facto deadline, according to three sources with knowledge of a call Wednesday among the officials. 

If Tehran fails to agree to a deal, it would trigger the ‘snapback’ mechanism that automatically reimposes all sanctions previously imposed by the United Nations Security Council. 

The sanctions were lifted under the 2015 Iran deal. 

The Trump administration has tried pressuring Iran to accept a deal to walk back its nuclear program after U.S. and Israeli strikes targeting nuclear sites. 

United Against Nuclear Iran, a nonprofit that opposes Tehran’s effort to develop a nuclear weapon, applauded Wednesday’s news. 

‘Tehran has learned that, for the Trump administration, a deadline means a deadline,’ UANI Chairman and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace said in a joint statement. 

‘After failing to agree to a deal within 60 days of diplomacy, the United States and Israel undertook targeted military action against the regime in June. Consequently, Tehran should take this new deadline seriously.’

On Monday, Iran warned it would retaliate if the U.N. Security Council imposes the snapback sanctions. 

‘The threat to use the snapback mechanism lacks legal and political basis and will be met with an appropriate and proportionate response from the Islamic Republic of Iran,’ Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei claimed during a press conference, according to a Reuters report.

Baghaei didn’t specify how Tehran would retaliate. 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, has made several comments in recent days pointing out President Donald Trump’s ties to deceased sex predator Jeffrey Epstein, as the president seeks to shut down questions about his administration’s refusal to release documents surrounding Epstein’s case and its claims that there is no ‘client list.’

Earlier this week, Newsom made an appearance on the Shawn Ryan Show, in which he was asked about Trump’s administration not releasing Epstein files after vowing during his campaign to release such documents.

‘The whole thing has, to me, always been a side show,’ Newsom said. ‘But I thought it got real interesting when Elon [Musk] put out that tweet and then all of a sudden a few weeks later, ‘what file?”

Newsom was referring to a since-deleted post on X in which Musk said last month that Trump ‘is in the Epstein files’ and that ‘is the real reason they have not been made public.’ Musk, a former close ally of Trump before their recent spat, has since made several more posts criticizing the administration for not releasing any Epstein ‘client list’ or making any arrests in connection to the Epstein case.

‘When Elon put that out, I thought it was a big tell,’ Newsom said.

The California governor added that Trump and Epstein knew each other, citing the images and videos of the two men together.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said earlier this year that an Epstein ‘client list’ was on her desk before the Justice Department and FBI recently claimed that Epstein killed himself and that there is no evidence he kept such a list. Bondi also walked back her earlier comments, saying she was referring to the Epstein case file, not a ‘client list.’

Trump has sought to avoid the Epstein topic as of late, repeatedly arguing the issue does not matter anymore. He also said he no longer wants the support of ‘weaklings’ who continue to press the Epstein case.

‘Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bulls—,’ hook, line, and sinker,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday.

‘I have had more success in 6 months than perhaps any President in our Country’s history, and all these people want to talk about, with strong prodding by the Fake News and the success starved Dems, is the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax,’ he added. ‘Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore!’

Trump said at the White House on Wednesday that Bondi could release ‘whatever’s credible’ related to the Epstein case as he defended her work on the matter and criticized Republicans who are still pushing for Epstein material to be released.

‘He’s dead. He’s gone,’ Trump said of Epstein. ‘And, all it is, is the Republicans, certain Republicans got duped by the Democrats, and they’re following a Democrat playbook and no different than Russia, Russia, Russia and all the other hoaxes.’

Newsom made a series of social media posts in recent days about Trump and Republicans declining to make information on the Epstein case public.

‘Why try so hard to block a list that ‘doesn’t exist’…?’ Newsom said on Tuesday, responding to news that House Republicans blocked an effort by Democrats to force the release of Epstein files.

The Golden State Democrat also wrote ‘Retweet’ in reply to a 2019 post from conservative commentator Charlie Kirk calling on Trump in his first term to order an investigation into Epstein for sex trafficking.

In another post, the governor wrote that Trump ‘calls his base ‘bad people” in response to a recent clip of the president saying he does not understand why the Epstein case would be of interest to anybody.

‘It’s pretty boring stuff,’ Trump told reporters in the clip. ‘I think only bad people want to keep something like that going.’

Newsom jokingly said he forgot about the Epstein files in response to a post Trump made announcing that Coca-Cola agreed to use real cane sugar.

‘Oh thank god! I’ve totally forgotten about the Epstein files now!’ Newsom said on Wednesday.

The governor posted a clip later on Wednesday with a picture of Trump and Epstein together, along with lyrics from the Nickelback song ‘Photograph’ that says ‘Look at this photograph.’

‘Nickelback said it best,’ Newsom wrote.

The global race to harness the power of artificial intelligence (AI) has begun. President Donald Trump got it right from the start when he issued an executive order in January to strengthen America’s AI – the next great technological forefront. 

From Day One as Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator, it was clear that EPA would have a major hand in permitting reform to cut down barriers that have acted as a roadblock so we can bolster the growth of AI and make America the AI capital of the world. 

In fact, it’s an endeavor so important, it is a core pillar of my Powering the Great American Comeback initiative. 

Those looking to invest in and develop AI should be able to do so in the U.S., while we work to ensure data centers and related facilities can be powered and operated in a clean manner with American-made energy.

Let’s put this into perspective. The global AI manufacturing market is valued at about $7 billion, but it’s expected to explode to $48 billion by 2030. Already industries across every sector are integrating AI into their operations, and in order for this growth to continue, AI needs massive data centers, and data centers need electricity that is always on. Lots of it.

Power demand for data centers that support AI, which only use 3% to 4% of U.S. electricity, will eat up nearly 10% of U.S. electricity supply in 10 years according to the Energy Information Administration. To support this rapid growth, states need to be able to build more baseload power generation, and that’s where EPA comes in. 

EPA wants to increase certainty for owner-operators in the permitting process, making it clear what kind of permits are needed for new and modified projects.

Policies inherited from the Biden administration have been criticized by many as making EPA a brick wall that impedes the growth of the AI industry. 

In addition, much of current Clean Air Act (CAA) requirements for building data centers dates back to the 1990s, when technology was practically prehistoric compared to modern advancements. These rules require companies to install pollution control equipment when they build new facilities or make a change that increases emissions significantly.

The digital revolution has ushered in new needs and new industries which demand new permitting rules that help, not hamper development.

Under President Trump’s leadership, the permitting reform we are looking to undertake, if finalized, will help clear the way for data center and AI development across the U.S., while ensuring that human health and the environment are protected. 

If a power company wanted to restart a plant that had been out of service to meet increased grid demand, under the Biden EPA they had to go through the entire permitting process all over again. 

Under our upcoming proposed rules, if finalized, utilities would be allowed to restart plants much faster, especially in times of emergencies like storm recovery. Anyone who has lost power during or after a weather event knows how critical it is to get back on the grid. 

Through the CAA permitting process, EPA will seek to address the minimum requirements for public participation when it comes to minor emitters so the protest of a few does not unnecessarily thwart progress for all Americans. 

Our permitting reforms will also help expedite construction of essential power generation and industrial facilities. EPA will be a partner to state, local and Tribal air agencies instead of a hindrance.

At EPA, we are also working on redefining preconstruction, which would, if finalized, only require a company to obtain an air permit when the company actually breaks ground.

A company looking to build an industrial facility or a power plant, should be able to build what it can before obtaining an emissions permit. For example, companies could install cement pads or conduct other construction activities that aren’t related to regulated air emissions.

Other countries are racing to be number one. America’s AI leadership depends on our ability to build the infrastructure that powers innovation.

Senate Republicans blasted through Democratic and internal opposition to pass President Donald Trump’s multibillion-dollar clawback package early Thursday morning.

The final vote tally was 51-48, with Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joining every Democrat in voting against it. The package will now be sent to the House, which has until Friday to pass it. 

The $9 billion rescissions bill tees up cuts to ‘woke’ spending on foreign aid programs and NPR and PBS that Congress previously approved. Republicans have pitched the bill as building on their quest to root out waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said that it was a mission shared by the GOP and Trump, whose Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) identified many of the cuts included in the package.  

‘I appreciate all the work the administration has done in identifying wasteful spending,’ Thune said. ‘And now it’s time for the Senate to do its part to cut some of that waste out of the budget. It’s a small but important step toward fiscal sanity that we all should be able to agree is long overdue.’

The president’s rescissions package proposed cutting just shy of $8 billion from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and over $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the government-backed funding arm for NPR and PBS.

It’s likely the first of many to come from the White House.

Unlike the previous procedural votes, Vice President JD Vance was not needed to break a tie. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., voted against the preceding procedural votes to advance the package on Tuesday night, but ultimately backed the bill. 

It now heads to the House, where Republicans have warned the Senate to not make changes to the package. But just like during the budget reconciliation process earlier this month, the warnings from House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and fiscal hawks fell on deaf ears in the upper chamber.

The Senate GOP’s version of the bill is indeed smaller, by about $400 million, after Senate leaders agreed to make a carveout that spared international Bush-era HIV and AIDS prevention funding.

Other attempts were made during a marathon vote-a-rama process to make changes to the bill, but none were able to surmount the 60-vote threshold in the upper chamber.

Senate Democrats tried to kneecap the bill with amendments that targeted what they argued were cuts that would diminish emergency alerts for extreme weather and disasters, erode America’s and isolate rural Americans by creating news deserts with cuts to public broadcasting, among others.

‘Why are we talking about cutting off emergency alerts,’ Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash, said. ‘That’s 1,000 times these stations were warned to tell people that their lives were in danger.’

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, contended that much more was at stake than the spending cuts.

The Washington Democrat charged that lawmakers were also ‘voting on how the Senate is going to spend the rest of this year, are we just going to do rescission after rescission, because we know Russ Vought is just itching to send us more.’

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., rebuked Democrats’ assertions against the bill, and pitched the legislation as a way for lawmakers to ‘course-correct’ wasteful spending that shouldn’t have ever been green-lit.

He told Fox News Digital that what Democrats want to do is ‘keep as much of this money for their woke pet projects as they can.’ 

‘They were able to do that for four years,’ he said. ‘That’s how you got to, you know, DEIs in Burma and Guatemalan sex changes and voter ID in Haiti, which is ironic, because Democrats don’t support voter ID here, but they’re willing to pay it for it in another country.’

Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz contributed to this report.