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Louisiana suspends House primaries for May 16 following Supreme Court ruling, other races will go on scheduled

2026-04-30 14:59 EDT / CBS News

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Updated on: April 30, 2026 / 3:17 PM EDT / CBS News

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Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry said Thursday that the state will suspend the House primaries for the upcoming elections on May 16 in the wake of the Supreme Court striking down the state’s Congressional map.

Landry said that while the U.S. House races will remain on voters’ ballots, “any votes cast in those races will not be counted.”

“Pursuant to 18:401.1(B), I have certified the emergency in light of the Supreme Court ruling. This is a mandatory step prior to the Governor issuing an executive order suspending the upcoming Louisiana U.S. House races,” Landry said in a statement on social media.

The other races, including the Senate primaries, are set to go on as planned, Landry said. She said her office will post noises at early voting sites.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a lower court ruling that found Louisiana mapmakers relied too heavily on race when they redrew the state’s voting boundaries to comply with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. In a 6-3 decision authored by Justice Samuel Alito, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority found that compliance with Section 2 could not justify the state’s use of race in redrawing its House district lines.

Florida Republicans earlier this week approved a new congressional map pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who had redrawn a Hispanic-minority district in central Florida. State attorneys also argued the recent Supreme Court ruling means provisions in the state’s Fair Districts Amendment are unconstitutional.

Melissa Quinn contributed to this report.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/supreme-court-strikes-down-louisianas-congressional-map-weakening-voting-rights-act/

Trump pulls controversial surgeon general pick and makes third nomination for the role

Apr 30, 2026, 1:06 PM ET / CNN

By Alejandra Jaramillo

Updated Apr 30, 2026, 2:24 PM ET

Dr. Nicole Saphier appears on FOX Nation’s “Love Mom The Live Show” at Fox News Channel Studios in New York, on April 3, 2024.

John Lamparski/Getty Images/File

President Donald Trump on Thursday pulled his embattled surgeon general nominee Dr. Casey Means amid questions over her vaccine views and announced his third pick for the role in Dr. Nicole Saphier.

“Nicole is a STAR physician who has spent her career guiding women facing breast cancer through their diagnosis and treatment while tirelessly advocating to increase early cancer detection and prevention, while at the same time working with men and women on all other forms of cancer diagnoses and treatments,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“She is also an INCREDIBLE COMMUNICATOR, who makes complicated health issues more easily understood by all Americans,” he added.

Saphier, a longtime Fox News contributor, is a radiologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

This is Trump’s third nominee for surgeon general in his second term. His first, Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, a New York family physician and former Fox News medical contributor, saw her nomination pulled just days before her Senate confirmation hearing was set to begin last year.

Means’ nomination had languished since her tense confirmation hearing in February. A Stanford-educated medical doctor, she’s well-connected to the “Make America Healthy Again” movement as the author of a best-selling book, “Good Energy,” and a close ally of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Even among MAHA and Trump supporters, she faced skepticism. Some in the MAHA sphere lamented her noncommittal stance on vaccines, while Laura Loomer, Trump’s self described “loyalty enforcer” frequently questioned Means’ support for the president.

And increasingly, the Means vote had looked like a proxy battle over Kennedy, who over the past year has plunged ahead on vaccine policy changes that have rankled some Republicans across the spectrum.

Shortly before announcing Saphier as Means’ replacement, Trump took to Truth Social to blast Sen. Bill Cassidy, who pressed Means on vaccine policy during her confirmation hearing before the committee he chairs.

Trump accused the Louisiana Republican, whom he’s endorsed against in his Senate reelection campaign, of standing in the way of Means, whose nomination had been championed by Kennedy.

“I nominated Casey, a strong MAHA Warrior, at the recommendation of Secretary Kennedy, who understands the MAHA Movement better than anyone, with perhaps the possible exception of ME!” Trump wrote.

“Nevertheless, despite Senator Cassidy’s intransigence and political games, Casey will continue to fight for MAHA on the many important Health issues facing our Country, such as the rising childhood disease epidemic, increased autism rates, poor nutrition, over-medicalization, and researching the root causes of infertility, and many other difficult medical problems,” he added.

But from the beginning, her nomination was trailed by criticisms of her policy positions and questions about her credentials: She did not complete her residency, and her medical license has lapsed.

CNN previously reported that prior to being withdrawn, Means had for more than a month, sought private meetings with the two Republican senators threatening to sink her nomination.

But as of earlier this month, the meetings with Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins hadn’t happened. Murkowski told CNN in mid-March she was “not enthusiastic about her.”

The surgeon general, known as “the nation’s doctor,” is a physician who focuses on educating and advising Americans on how to improve their health by issuing advisories, reports and calls to action to offer the best available scientific information on crucial issues.

The surgeon general also serves in the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, overseeing this group of uniformed officers who seek to promote the nation’s health.

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNN’s Jamie Gumbrecht, Adam Cancryn and Sarah Owermohle contributed to this report.

Hegseth fires back at Warren’s insider trading comments tied to Iran war: ‘No one owns me’

April 30, 2026 3:54pm EDT / Fox News

‘No one owns me. No one owns this department, no one owns this president,’ Hegseth said

By Morgan Phillips Fox News

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War Secretary Pete Hegseth forcefully denied allegations that he or others may have profited from the war with Iran during a heated Senate exchange Thursday, telling Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., that “no one owns me” as she pressed him on what she said was suspicious trading activity tied to the conflict.

Warren pointed to what she described as a pattern of large, well-timed oil trades occurring minutes before public announcements by President Donald Trump related to the war, suggesting the possibility that insiders were using nonpublic information to profit.

The exchange reflects growing scrutiny in Washington over whether sensitive information tied to the Iran conflict could be used for financial gain, as well as broader concerns about ethics rules governing senior officials and lawmakers.

War Secretary Pete Hegseth forcefully denied allegations that he or others may have profited from the war with Iran during a heated Senate exchange Thursday.(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“In just the space of minutes, it looks like insiders have been making out like bandits, using secret information about the war,” Warren said.

She pressed Hegseth repeatedly on whether he had any explanation for the activity “other than insider trading.”

Hegseth declined to engage directly with the premise, saying the department had operated “completely aboveboard” and emphasizing that his focus remained on military operations rather than financial markets. He added that safeguarding sensitive information is taken “very seriously.”

“What happens in markets … is not something we’re involved in,” Hegseth said.

The exchange escalated when Warren referenced reporting about Hegseth’s own financial dealings, including a claim that a broker attempted to invest in a defense-related fund ahead of the conflict.

“That entire story is false,” Hegseth responded. “Any insinuation that I have ever profited … I don’t do it for money. I don’t do it for profit. I don’t do it for stocks.”

He added: “No one owns me. No one owns this department, no one owns this president.”

Warren’s line of questioning follows recent reporting that raised questions about Hegseth’s financial dealings ahead of the Iran conflict. The Financial Times reported that a broker working on Hegseth’s behalf contacted BlackRock in February about making a multimillion-dollar investment in a fund tied to major defense contractors, including Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, in the weeks before military action began.

According to the report, the investment ultimately did not take place because the fund was not available to the broker at the time.

The Pentagon has strongly denied the reporting, calling it “entirely false and fabricated,” and Hegseth reiterated that denial during Thursday’s hearing.

Hegseth and Warren(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“In just the space of minutes, it looks like insiders have been making out like bandits, using secret information about the war,” Warren claimed.(Heather Diehl/Getty Images)

Federal law places strict limits on defense officials’ investments to prevent conflicts of interest. Presidential appointees at the Pentagon generally are barred from owning or buying stock in top defense contractors that receive the largest government contracts, with narrow exceptions such as diversified funds. Ethics rules also require senior officials to avoid even the appearance of self-dealing and to disclose or seek approval for certain financial activity.

Warren’s comments come amid a recent high-profile case involving a U.S. service member accused of profiting from nonpublic military information.

Federal prosecutors charged Army Special Forces Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke with using classified intelligence about a covert operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro to place bets on a prediction market, allegedly earning more than $400,000.

Authorities allege Van Dyke was involved in planning the operation and used that knowledge to wager on its outcome before it became public, prompting charges including wire fraud and unlawful use of government information.

Critics have pointed to a perceived double standard, noting that while a U.S. service member faces potential prison time for insider trading, enforcement of similar rules governing members of Congress historically has been less aggressive.

Federal prosecutors charged Army Special Forces Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke with using classified intelligence about a covert operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro to place bets on a prediction market, allegedly earning more than $400,000.(Gannon Ken Van Dyke/AP)

“This man is facing decades in prison,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., told Fox News’ Ingraham Angle Saturday. “Meanwhile, every single day on Capitol Hill, there are many members of Congress on both sides that are currently engaging in insider trading.”

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Trump weighed in Saturday, comparing the case to baseball legend Pete Rose.

“That’s a little like Pete Rose,” Trump said when asked about the case. “Pete Rose, they kept him out of the Hall of Fame for betting on his own team. Now, if he bet against his team, that would be no good, but he bet on his own team. I’ll look into it.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Warren and Hegseth for comment.

Senate rejects Democrats’ 6th Iran war powers resolution ahead of 60-day deadline

April 30, 2026 / 3:13 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington — The Senate rejected Democrats’ sixth attempt to limit President Trump’s authority to wage war on Iran, with Republicans continuing to stand behind the administration as the conflict approaches a key 60-day deadline.

A procedural vote to advance a war powers resolution brought by California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff failed 47 to 50 on Thursday. The measure would have directed the president to remove American forces from hostilities with Iran.

Republican Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Susan Collins of Maine voted in favor of the measure. Collins had voted against prior Iran war powers resolutions. The only Democrat to vote against the measure was Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania.

The War Powers Resolution of 1973 says the president must remove armed forces from hostilities after 60 days if Congress has not authorized the war. The 60-day clock starts once the president sends formal notification to Congress. Mr. Trump notified lawmakers of the hostilities with Iran in a letter on March 2, meaning the 60-day window closes on Friday, May 1. The president can extend the deadline by 30 days to allow for the removal of troops.

Democrats in both the House and Senate have said they plan to keep forcing votes on the Iran war and have introduced a wave of resolutions in recent weeks in preparation. Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus have been rolling out one each day since last week.

The fighting between the U.S. and Iran has been mostly paused for weeks during an ongoing ceasefire, but Democrats have continued to bring votes on whether to limit the president’s authority to wage war. Most Republicans have declined to join their efforts, but some have indicated that they might change their tune at the end of 60 days. A handful of GOP senators have said they are working on drafting legislation that would explicitly authorize the use of force against Iran, which would bypass the war powers debate entirely.

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told the Senate Armed Services Committee at a hearing on Thursday that the administration considers the 60-day window to be paused given the cessation of active fighting.

“We are in a ceasefire right now, which in our understanding means the 60-day clock pauses or stops in a ceasefire,” he said.

Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine cast doubt on that assertion, saying, “I do not believe the statute would support that.”

“That’s going to pose a really important legal question for the administration,” Kaine said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson told NBC News that Congress doesn’t need to act because the U.S. is “not at war.”

“I don’t think we have an active, kinetic military bombing, firing or anything like that. Right now, we are trying to broker a peace,” Johnson said. “I would be very reluctant to get in front of the administration in the midst of these very sensitive negotiations, so we’ll have to see how that plays out.”

Hegseth spars with lawmakers about Iran, Pentagon policies
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/hegseth-spars-with-lawmakers-about-iran-pentagon-policies/

FEMA reinstates whistleblowers as Trump administration reverses Noem’s policies

2026-04-30T19:13:29.516Z / CNN

By Gabe Cohen

16 min ago

PUBLISHED Apr 30, 2026, 3:13 PM ET

Federal agencies Donald Trump Hurricanes Storms

Then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem speaks during a news conference in the National Response Coordination Center at the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Washington, DC, on January 24.

Al Drago/Getty Images

FEMA has reinstated a group of whistleblowers who signed an open letter to Congress last August warning that the Trump administration’s dismantling of the federal agency was setting the stage for a disaster-response breakdown on the scale of Hurricane Katrina, according to five FEMA officials with knowledge of the matter.

Officials at the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which it oversees, also brought back multiple senior officials who were polygraphed and placed on paid administrative leave more than a year ago, three of the officials told CNN.

The reversals are part of a broader reset unfolding just weeks into Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s tenure at DHS, partly in an effort to stabilize the agency ahead of hurricane season. He has been rolling back some of the most contentious changes made under former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was fired by President Donald Trump last month.

Trump floated eliminating FEMA early in his term, and Noem embraced the idea — vowing to dismantle the agency and shift more responsibility for disaster response to the states.

Noem’s heavy-handed overhaul – which gutted the senior leadership, drove out more than 20% of the workforce, and sent morale into a sleep slide – left many inside FEMA warning the agency was increasingly unprepared for a major, multi-state disaster. Her rhetoric softened in the months before her ouster when it became clear many Republicans — including GOP lawmakers — did not support abolishing FEMA.

But in a striking pivot, Mullin, as Trump’s new pick to run the department, has begun unwinding staffing cuts and easing strict spending approval processes that slowed disaster operations. During a trip to North Carolina this month, Mullin praised FEMA and said he would get aid out more quickly and cut red tape that can bog down recovery.

In another remarkable twist, Trump is expected to nominate Cameron Hamilton to serve as FEMA administrator less than a year after he was abruptly fired from that role — which he held in an acting capacity — after breaking from the administration’s script and telling Congress he did not support eliminating the agency.

“As we approach the 2026 hurricane season and the FIFA World Cup, FEMA is taking targeted steps to stabilize our workforce and strengthen readiness,” a FEMA spokesperson told CNN in a statement. “Under new leadership, FEMA is addressing outstanding personnel actions to ensure workforce stability and a strong, deployable surge force for upcoming national events and potential disasters.”

Whistleblower staffers reinstated

More than 180 current and former FEMA staffers signed the open letter to Congress last August, warning of the growing turmoil inside the agency, though most did so anonymously. Fourteen current FEMA staffers put their names on the document, and Noem’s team promptly placed them on administrative leave and opened an investigation into their conduct.

In December, CNN learned FEMA had cleared the workers to return — but after CNN asked about it, DHS reversed course and put them back on leave.

“Once alerted, the unauthorized reinstatement was swiftly corrected by senior leadership,” a DHS spokesperson wrote at the time. “This Administration will not tolerate rogue conduct, unauthorized actions, or entrenched bureaucrats resisting change.”

Democratic lawmakers and whistleblower rights attorneys argued the employees were being illegally targeted. During Mullin’s confirmation hearing, Sen. Andy Kim, a Democrat from New Jersey, pressed Mullin to reinstate the workers, calling Noem’s actions “unlawful.”

“There are already laws in place to protect whistleblowers, and I’ve said multiple times, I’ll work within the law and the requirements of me as Secretary,” Mullin responded.

The 14 staffers were directed to return to work on Thursday**.

“The past eight months have not been easy, and being able to come back to this work means a great deal to me,” Virginia Case, a reinstated external affairs officer, told CNN. “Moving forward, I hope our agency will address the concerns we raised in the Katrina Declaration. My focus now is getting back to work and doing everything I can to support communities impacted by disaster.”

At least two senior officials who were swept up in Noem’s hunt for leakers are also back on the job. They were polygraphed last spring, then abruptly put on administrative leave without explanation, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter. This week, after more than a year on the sidelines collecting a paycheck, they were told to report back to work.

“There’s your tax dollars at work,” a senior FEMA official told CNN in response to the reinstatements.

This week, FEMA also reinstated a staffer who was put on leave in September for a social media post criticizing Charlie Kirk after his murder.

Staffing cuts and spending rules

In addition, FEMA is reversing staffing cuts first reported by CNN in January, when DHS began terminating disaster workers as their contracts expired, the agency confirmed.

Roughly 200 workers were pushed out before a major winter storm prompted Noem’s team to pause the cuts and start extending workers for 90 days. Some of the cut staff will now have a chance to get their jobs back, three sources said. And going forward, most expiring contracts will be extended for one year — a stopgap move as FEMA braces for hurricane season with staffing already stretched thin.

After a yearlong hiring freeze, DHS is planning to greenlight FEMA to fill another 400 vacant disaster-worker jobs, two sources told CNN – a fraction of the thousands of staffers who left over that time.

“Don’t oversell it,” another senior official said. “It’s simply not possible to hire that many that quickly given the losses to our human capital staffing. And hurricane season is 30 days away.”

Thousands of temporary disaster responders who deploy during catastrophic storms were also offered extensions with their contracts set to expire in the coming weeks.

Mullin has already eliminated one of the most consequential Noem-era policies: a spending rule requiring her personal approval for any expenditure over $100,000. Noem said it was meant to root out waste, fraud and abuse. But it created a major bottleneck and a massive backlog — billions of dollars in contracts, grants and disaster-related spending that stalled inside FEMA.

The policy also triggered blowback from Republicans. North Carolina Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd, at one point, blocked DHS nominees, accusing Noem of withholding aid needed for communities hit by Hurricane Helene in 2024.

In his confirmation hearing, Mullin told lawmakers he planned to scrap the $100,000 rule, calling it “micromanagement.” On his first trip as DHS secretary, he went to North Carolina, where Sen. Budd joined him for a roundtable and praised the rollback — saying it was already helping get money flowing to the state faster.

Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin attends a Cabinet meeting at the White House on March 26.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Concerns remain heading into a high-risk season

The rollbacks are unfolding as FEMA insiders remain deeply concerned about the agency’s response capabilities with a demanding stretch ahead: hurricane season, widespread drought conditions that could worsen wildfire risk, and preparations tied to the World Cup — planning that was slowed by delayed funding during Noem’s tenure, even as officials raised national security concerns.

FEMA still isn’t allowing travel for hurricane readiness training and exercises, according to two senior officials. While DHS leaders have cited the recent shutdown, that work is typically funded through the unaffected Disaster Relief Fund.

Senior officials warn FEMA is not the same agency it was at the start of Trump’s second term. The leadership exodus and staffing losses could take years to rebuild. Noem-era policies also disrupted training and strained communication with state and local partners.

“It’s all new people in new positions that haven’t been properly exercised, so everyone is going to be just figuring things out mid-disaster when efficiency and effectiveness are critical,” another high-ranking official said. “We are completely screwed if there is a bad disaster.”

Trump names Nicole Saphier as Surgeon General pick, withdraws Means

April 30, 2026 4:41 PM UTC / Reuters

节点运行失败

Casey Means, nominated to serve as the next U.S. Surgeon General, testifies before a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 25, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

• Withdrawing Means deals a setback to Health Secretary Kennedy
• Trump attacks Cassidy for blocking Means’ nomination
• Saphier known for breast cancer advocacy, Fox ​News contributions

WASHINGTON, April 30 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump named radiologist and Fox News contributor Dr. Nicole Saphier as his pick ‌for U.S. Surgeon General on Thursday, his third nominee for the post, after withdrawing the nomination of Casey Means.

The move sets up a standoff between Trump and Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, whom he accused of blocking Means’ nomination and called “a very disloyal person.”

The Reuters Iran Briefing newsletter keeps you informed with the latest developments and analysis of the Iran war. Sign up here.

Means was a key ally of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. but lacked the ​votes to advance from the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, which Cassidy chairs.

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She is not a practicing doctor and is ​an integral part of the Make America Healthy Again movement that has undermined vaccines. Her brother Calley Means works ⁠for the White House.

Cassidy’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Trump’s accusation or Saphier’s nomination.

Means was not immediately reachable.

FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR ​TAPPED FOR ROLE

As the nation’s doctor, the surgeon general provides Americans with the best scientific information available on how to improve their health and reduce ​risk of illness and injury.

Saphier, who works at Memorial Sloan Kettering, is the author of books including “Make America Healthy Again: How Bad Behavior and Big Government Caused a Trillion Dollar Crisis.”

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“Nicole is a STAR physician who has spent her career guiding women facing breast cancer through their diagnosis and treatment while tirelessly advocating to increase early cancer detection and ​prevention,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

He said in an earlier post that Means would continue to fight for the Kennedy-led Make America ​Healthy Again movement despite Cassidy’s opposition to her nomination.

“Despite Senator Cassidy’s intransigence and political games, Casey will continue to fight for MAHA on the many important Health issues ‌facing our ⁠Country,” Trump said.

Kennedy praised Means as one of his movement’s “most powerful evangelist” in a post on X and accused Cassidy of “doing the dirty work for entrenched interests” by stalling her nomination. He said Means would remain a close partner.

THIRD ATTEMPT TO FILL POST

Means was Trump’s second nominee for the role after he withdrew his prior pick, Janette Nesheiwat, in May. Both nominations faced opposition from far-right activists, including Laura Loomer, who is known to have Trump’s ear.

Means ​faced pointed questioning from Democrats and some ​Republicans, including Cassidy, at a contentious ⁠February confirmation hearing over her views on vaccines, birth control and other areas of public health policy, as well as potential financial conflicts of interest.

She said vaccines are “a key part of any infectious disease public health strategy” but ​declined to directly reject a long-discredited claim linking vaccines to autism promoted by Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activist.

​Lisa Gilbert, co-president of ⁠watchdog Public Citizen, called the withdrawal of Means’ nomination a “clear-cut victory for public health.”

“Casey Means is unqualified and unfit to be Surgeon General and the withdrawal of her nomination is a win for the American public,” she said in an emailed statement.

Saphier, unlike Means, holds an active medical license. She is director of ⁠breast imaging ​at Memorial Sloan Kettering, with a doctor of medicine degree from Ross University School of ​Medicine in Barbados and fellowships at the Mayo Clinic.

She shares some commonalities with the Kennedy-led movement; her book discusses preventing chronic diseases through lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise.

Reporting by ​Ahmed Aboulenein; Additional reporting by Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago, Susan Heavey and Ryan Patrick Jones in Washington; Editing by Caitlin Webber, Caroline Humer and Andrea Ricci

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Senate passes another short-term FISA extension, hours before deadline

April 30, 2026 / 3:23 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington— The Senate on Thursday passed an extension of a key surveillance authority that allows U.S. intelligence agencies to spy on foreigners without a warrant, the latest in a back-and-forth with the House over the expiring program.

The program, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, is set to expire at 12 a.m. Friday without an extension by both chambers. The Trump administration and members of both parties in Congress argue that Section 702 is a key national security tool, and that its lapse would leave intelligence agencies in the dark about threats around the world.

Senators unanimously approved a bill that would extend the program for 45 days. The extension now goes to the House.

Section 702 was initially set to expire on April 20, but both chambers agreed to push the deadline back 10 days shortly before the authority lapsed.

The House passed a three-year extension on Wednesday, but the bill included a provision that would ban a central bank digital currency. House leaders added that language to placate conservative holdouts, many of whom oppose extending Section 702 without reforms to the program. Proponents of reforms have demanded a requirement that law enforcement obtain a warrant to search U.S. citizens’ communications that get swept up in foreign intelligence collection.

But the ban on a central bank digital currency is a nonstarter in the Senate, where Majority Leader John Thune has called it a “poison pill.” Instead, the upper chamber moved forward with the 45-day extension to buy time to reach a broader agreement.

The Senate’s move means the House must also approve the short-term extension before midnight to prevent Section 702 from lapsing. Both chambers are on recess next week, adding to the pressure to get a deal done.

House Speaker Mike Johnson indicated earlier in the day that the lower chamber would wait to see what the Senate produces.

“We have done our job. The Senate needs to do theirs,” Johnson said, while acknowledging attendance could become difficult as lawmakers leave town. “This is our last legislative day,” he added, warning that he “will have a jailbreak” if the issue isn’t resolved before the end of the day.

Patrick Maguire and Alan He contributed to this report.

Biden admin used abortion group dossiers, including photos of minors, to target Christians, DOJ report reveals

Report alleges abortion groups sent DOJ personal addresses, drivers’ license numbers, and photos of activists’ children

2026-04-30T14:13:29-04:00 / Fox News

By Elaine Mallon, Fox News

Published April 30, 2026 2:13pm EDT | Updated April 30, 2026 2:32pm EDT

Kash Patel: A FACE Act violation is a federal charge

FBI Director Kash Patel details ongoing investigations into Minneapolis and new arrests on ‘Hannity.’

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The Trump administration is accusing President Joe Biden’s Justice Department of colluding with pro-abortion organizations to create personal “dossiers” on Christian pro-life advocates that included personal information and photographs of their children as part of a wider campaign by Biden officials to prosecute them under the FACE Act.

The Justice Department published “The 2026 Report by the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias,” which details in more than 200 pages incidents that occurred under and policies from the Biden administration alleging that Biden Justice Department officials “zealously pursued” prosecuting Christians.

“The Biden Administration’s policies regularly clashed with a Christian worldview and burdened traditional religious practices,” the report stated. “These conflicts frequently arose over abortion, gender ideology, and sexual orientation. Ultimately, the Biden Administration penalized Christians who lived in accordance with their beliefs.”

The report, compiled based on an executive order signed by President Donald Trump, alleged that former Attorney General Merrick Garland “weaponized” the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE Act) against pro-life protesters and activists through the revival of the National Task Force on Violence Against Reproductive Health Care Providers.

FAITH RETURNS TO THE PUBLIC SQUARE DURING TRUMP’S SECOND TERM, CHRISTIAN LEADER SAYS

Anti-abortion rights demonstrators march to the Supreme Court for the 52nd annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 24, 2025.(Bryan Dozier/Middle East Images/AFP)

The FACE Act makes it illegal to obstruct or block entrances to reproductive health care centers, including both pregnancy resource centers and abortion clinics, but the report alleged that Biden Justice officials worked closely with abortion clinics and advocacy groups to prosecute pro-life protesters.

The report alleged that Garland’s Task Force would ask abortion groups about the travels and advocacy work of pro-life individuals, which prompted a warning from the FBI. The bureau told the Justice Department that pro-choice groups were tracking pro-life activists engaged in “1st Amendment protected activity.”

Despite the warning, the Task Force “monitored” pro-life activists who were flagged by abortion groups, which alleged the activists were in violation of the FACE Act for participating in protests outside clinics.

CLINTON-ERA LAW ‘WEAPONIZED’ BY BIDEN AGAINST PRO-LIFERS MUST GO, PENCE GROUP URGES HOUSE GOP

Planned Parenthood is shown on Newtown Road in Virginia Beach on Thursday, April 24, 2025.(Kendall Warner/The Virginian-Pilot/Tribune News Service)

Garland’s Task Force would monitor suspected FACE Act violators for years, and abortion groups allegedly sent the Justice Department “security reports” or “dossiers” detailing the activities of pro-life activists, including their addresses and their driver’s license numbers, as well as photos of their families and minor children.

In 2021, a pro-choice group sent the Task Force and the FBI a 137-page memorandum detailing a pro-life conference, including the schedule, lodging, and several dossiers on numerous “anti-choice individuals.” Many of the individuals included in the dossiers were later prosecuted by the Justice Department.

The report said abortion groups repeatedly complained to the task force about a particular female pro-life activist.

TRUMP’S ‘TWO SEXES’ EXECUTIVE ORDER COMES ON HEELS OF SCOTUS ACCEPTING ANOTHER CHALLENGE TO LGBT AGENDA

Anti-abortion demonstrators hold a banner in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building during the annual March for Life rally in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 24, 2025.(Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)

“The Biden DOJ investigated this woman’s conduct around the country until one of the United States Attorney’s Offices brought charges,” the report stated. “After her conviction and lengthy sentence, the NGOs stopped complaining about her.”

The report alleged that the Task Force director would text with the National Abortion Federation’s security team and was in regular communication with Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Feminist Majority Foundation. NAF’s security team was dubbed the “MVP” by the Task Force for its ability to flag protests for the Justice Department “often in real-time, which usually result[ed] in an investigation/prosecution.”

The report suggests that in many instances the Task Force was alerted before local law enforcement could respond.

DOJ TASK FORCE FINDS ‘NUMEROUS INSTANCES’ OF ANTI-CHRISTIAN GOVERNMENT BIAS UNDER BIDEN

President Joe Biden speaks in the White House Rose Garden as Attorney General Merrick Garland looks on during an event highlighting state and local leaders investing American Rescue Plan funds to improve community safety on May 13, 2022, in Washington, D.C.

In January 2025, Trump issued full and unconditional pardons to 23 pro-life activists and protesters who were prosecuted under the FACE Act.

The report comes just weeks after the Justice Department published an 800-page report revealing 700,000 internal records from the Biden administration that showed how the SAVE Act was unfairly used against conservative activists.

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“This Department will not tolerate a two-tiered system of justice,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “No Department should conduct selective prosecution based on beliefs. The weaponization that happened under the Biden Administration will not happen again, as we restore integrity to our prosecutorial system.”

A source close to Biden declined to comment. Fox News Digital reached out to the National Abortion Federation for comment.

Elaine Mallon is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business covering national politics.

Congress votes to reopen key parts of DHS, after House GOP caves on ICE funding

Apr 30, 2026, 1:13 PM ET / CNN

By Sarah Ferris, Manu Raju, Annie Grayer, Lauren Fox
Updated Apr 30, 2026, 1:33 PM ET

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson walks to the House chamber on Wednesday, April 29, 2026.

Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc./Getty Images

Congress voted to reopen key parts of the Department of Homeland Security — including the Transportation Security Administration — Thursday after weeks of GOP infighting that prolonged a record shutdown of the critical agency.

The bill to fund the department, which has gone unfunded for 75 days, now goes to President Donald Trump for his signature.

House GOP leaders conceded in a weeks-long DHS funding fight in a major retreat by Speaker Mike Johnson as he faced a growing revolt from centrists in his party, multiple sources told CNN. The House abruptly passed the package — which includes no money for federal immigration enforcement, in a major win for Democrats — by a voice vote Thursday afternoon.

The move brings an end to a historic shutdown that led to long lines at airports across the country and comes just before paychecks were about to stall out once again for DHS employees. The Trump administration had warned the department would run out of emergency funds that had been tapped to pay staffers impacted by the shutdown.

It caps weeks of drama on Capitol Hill, with Republicans choosing not to take a recorded vote on the measure that has sharply divided their party. Some House Republicans had been adamant that House GOP leaders should not cave, though leadership argued that their members took a key step a day earlier toward unlocking immigration enforcement money — which paves the way to end the funding impasse over the rest of DHS.

“I think it’s asinine that we’re funding the government this way,” Rep. Chip Roy of Texas said just before the vote.

Related article House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks with reporters as he emerges from the House chamber at the US Capitol on Wednesday, April 29. Francis Chung/Politico/AP Inside the GOP’s barely functioning Congress 9 min read

And it’s not the end of the drama for Congress this week. GOP leaders also need to convince those same disgruntled members to back another unpopular bill — a short-term extension of government warrantless foreign survillence powers. The dueling issues of spending and spy powers have underscored that Johnson and his GOP have effectively lost their ability to govern in a House rife with divisions and infighting.

For nearly a month, Johnson has refused to pass that same partial funding measure already passed by the Senate because of members like Roy. House Republicans broadly detest the Senate’s partial DHS funding bill, which they fear sets a precedent that Democrats can exploit in future funding fights.

Even Florida Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a senior spending leader who rarely picks fights with his own party, was firm that the House should not allow Senate Democrats to decide simply not to fund one piece of a department outside of the annual spending process.

“The Senate is more concerned about preserving the filibuster than they are about preserving the Constitution. The filibuster is not in the Constitution. The appropriations bills are,” he said, also noting that it is “really really dangerous” that DHS remains shut down.

Many in the House GOP take specific issue with one aspect of the bill: it includes language that specifically zeroes out money for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which many Republicans fear sets them up for primary challenges at home, facing attacks that they defunded ICE. (Johnson has privately sought to tweak the language, but has run into resistance from Senate GOP spending leaders, according to people familiar with the discussions.)

But as the House prepared to leave for a week-long recess, Johnson and his leadership team decided in a private leadership meeting earlier Thursday that they had little choice but to move the bill. It’s not just their own members warning them to act, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, a former House member, has stressed publicly that he is almost out of money.

Johnson has also been under intensifying pressure from centrist Republicans, including key chairmen and vulnerable members, to resolve the standoff before the House leaves town for next week’s recess. Many believed that voters are likely to blame their party for further chaos, including with TSA.

GOP Rep. Zach Nunn, a centrist who represents a battleground seat, was direct with his leadership about not leaving town until DHS funding is passed.

“This should have been done a long time ago,” Nunn told CNN. “I want to see a resolution today to make sure these guys are paid.”

Until now, Johnson had refused to put the Senate’s DHS compromise bill on the floor, arguing that members would not fund certain parts of the department without assuring money for ICE and border patrol.

Instead, Johnson pressured Senate GOP leaders to move quickly toward unlocking a special power to pass certain budget-related bills without Democratic votes. House Republicans have insisted that they will only advance the partial DHS funding measure once they have money for ICE and border patrol ready to go — even as they acknowledge the process, known as budget reconciliation, would likely take weeks.

Underscoring the difficult task at hand, a senior House Republican told CNN earlier this week that the votes simply didn’t exist to partly end the DHS shutdown this week without having money “in hand” for immigration enforcement.

“No one is going to vote to fund Homeland without money for ICE and CBP,” Rep. Jodey Arrington of Texas, who leads the House Budget Committee, said Tuesday when asked about when the House would move on the partial DHS funding bill that has been sitting in the chamber for weeks.

Arrington — a retiring Republican who is respected among the party’s ultraconservative wing — was not alone.

But GOP Rep. Nick Langworthy urged his colleagues on Wednesday to not “screw around” as the path to ending the record-breaking DHS shutdown remains unclear.

“There needs to be a sense of urgency,” he told CNN when asked about Johnson’s handling of the issue.

Johnson had expressed a reluctance to bring a bipartisan Senate-passed bill to fund critical DHS agencies, like FEMA and TSA, to the floor, citing disagreements with the “language” in the bill. But Langworthy, a centrist who is not typically outspoken about leadership, said Johnson needs to act.

“There’s no time to screw around with this anymore. There’s too many people worrying about Washington score cards and who’s winning, who’s losing, whose idea things were,” he said. “I don’t see how we can leave here without passing it.”

This story has been updated with additional developments.

CNN’s Alison Main and Ellis Kim contributed to this report.

Trump administration ends funding for fentanyl test strips, baffling public health groups: “It doesn’t make sense”

April 30, 2026 / 3:35 PM EDT / CBS News

Test strips used to determine if illicit drugs contain deadly contaminants including fentanyl will no longer be covered by federal funding, reversing a position the Trump administration held as recently as July and leaving public health organizations worried that the U.S. will lose the progress it has made combatting fatal overdoses.

In a letter reviewed by CBS News, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration said that agency funding cannot be used to purchase test strips used to check drugs for dangerous adulterants like fentanyl, xylazine and medetomidine.

Test strips cost about $1 each and can be used to check drugs — from powders to pills to party drugs — for contamination. They are a “critical, life-saving tool” that can prevent fatal overdoses, said Maritza Perez Medina, director of federal policy at the Drug Policy Alliance. Medina said the sudden change in policy has left advocates scrambling.

“People are just astonished,” Medina said. “There has been a lot of confusion about where this came from.”

A fentanyl test strip. Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Letter reverses previous support

The “Dear Colleague” letter references an executive order signed by President Trump in July 2025 that declares SAMHSA funding cannot be used for programs that “only facilitate illegal drug use.” A Health and Human Services spokesperson said that the letter clarifies guidance for SAMHSA grantees and furthers the agency’s clear shift away from harm reduction and “practices that facilitate illicit drug use and are incompatible with federal laws.”

However, fentanyl test strips are not considered drug paraphernalia in 45 states and Washington, D.C. Some states, including Nevada and California, provide information on where to find them online. SAMHSA began supporting harm reduction efforts, including the use of test strips, in 2021. A July 2025 letter from the agency listed test strips as a tool that SAMHSA funding could be used to support. The SUPPORT Act, passed by Congress in 2018 and reauthorized in 2025, also protected their use.

Knowing what’s in a given substance allows people to make informed choices and potentially avoid a fatal overdose, Medina said. Cutting support for the tests and other harm reduction efforts is “stripping people of the tools we know save lives,” she said.

“It’s really a low barrier way to ensure that people know what they’re putting in their bodies,” Medina said. “Overdose deaths have come down from the peak that we saw during COVID, and that’s great, and that was done intentionally, because there was a lot of investment from the government to ensure that communities had what they needed.”

Organizations react to sudden budget cuts

Shreeta Waldon, the executive director of the Kentucky Harm Reduction Coalition, told CBS News that her organization was informed Friday that it will be losing a $400,000 grant. The organization distributed 48,465 fentanyl test strips in the first quarter of the 2026 fiscal year, Waldon said. KHRC now only has about a month’s worth of test strips before it enters a “full-blown crisis,” she said.

“It doesn’t make sense that one day something is an evidence-based protocol, and you decide, because of political climate, it is no longer evidence-based,” Waldon said. “If they follow the science and the data, we would never move in this direction.”

A’zhane Powell, the founder and CEO of Fyrebird Recovery in South Carolina, said her organization has lost a $4,000 grant. The amount is small, but Fyrebird already operates on tight margins, she said, and purchasing bulk supplies of test strips strains their budget.

Lost funding can’t be easily replaced: Fyrebird is searching for other sources of funding, including asking for donations. Waldon said she hopes to see states use money they received from opioid crisis settlements to support harm reduction organizations. Christine Minhee, who operates a database of such funds, said that such efforts are complicated by varying state policies and a debate about whether funds should be used to backfill budget gaps.

A variety of drug testing strips. Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

Lauren Kestner, a division director at the Center for Prevention Services in North Carolina, said she worries the changes will limit the organization’s access to pass-through block grant funding, where federal money is disbursed to state governments and then funneled into nonprofits, local agencies and other subrecipients. Those agencies do everything from providing medication for opioid use disorder to treating HIV.

The HHS spokesperson said that SAMHSA still prioritizes life-saving interventions, including the overdose-reversing medication naloxone. Powell said that it’s hard to have faith in those priorities after the sudden changes around testing strips.

“How far will it go until we’re back to square one again?” Powell said.

“Still in the midst of the overdose crisis”

The United States has seen a sharp decline in overdose deaths in recent years. There were 111,000 overdose deaths in 2023, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For the 12-month period ending in November 2025, the reported number of drug overdose deaths plummeted to about 68,000, according to the CDC.

The decrease in deaths can be attributed to a number of factors, including the increased availability of the overdose-reversing medication naloxone, a less potent drug supply and harm reduction efforts including the use of test strips. Medina cautioned that funding cuts could roll back the progress that has been made.

“Our fear is that if we are gutting all the things that work, that when people seek help, they won’t find any doors open,” Medina said. “We’re still in the midst of the overdose crisis. Federal funding cuts, coupled with taking away the real tools to help people … could very well lead to more drug use harms, including overdose.”