Texas students singled out in Republican candidate’s racist post speak to CNN

2026-09-16 4:21 PM EDT / CNN

By Margaret Given, CNN

Texas students singled out in Republican candidate’s racist post speak to CNN

Dhairya Gupta and Rahul Kodali, University of Texas at Austin students who were singled out in a post by Bo French, Republican candidate for the Texas Railroad Commission, speak with CNN’s Brianna Keilar. Gupta says seeing their faces in the post was “very jarring.”

4:13 • Source: CNN

Judge in Kennedy Center case orders Trump administration to explain closure plans

2026-09-16T21:21:31.203Z / Reuters

By Mike Scarcella

September 16, 2026 9:21 PM UTC Updated 2 hours ago

[1/3]Fencing is erected outside the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, a day after the Kennedy Center Board voted to close the center for repairs, in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 16, 2026. REUTERS/Jessica Koscielniak

WASHINGTON, Sept 16 (Reuters) – A U.S. federal judge has ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to explain whether the ‌Kennedy Center’s plan to close the performing arts venue for up to two years for repairs violates a court order limiting its ability to shut down.

Washington-based U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper directed the administration to respond by Thursday to claims in ​a lawsuit that the board’s vote on Tuesday to proceed with the $257 million renovation project ​would violate that order.

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In a court filing on Wednesday, the plaintiff in the lawsuit, Democratic ⁠U.S. Representative Joyce Beatty, argued that the board vote ran afoul of the court’s prior ruling. The ​board is chaired by Trump and controlled by his appointees.

Beatty said the Kennedy Center, which was established by ​Congress and opened in 1971 as a memorial to John F. Kennedy, is no longer accessible to the public during normal operating hours. New barriers were visible outside the building on Wednesday.

“The board cannot simply ignore Judge Cooper’s rulings whenever it ​suits them,” Beatty’s lawyers, Norm Eisen and Nathaniel Zelinsky, said in a statement. “In this country, no one — ​including the president — is above the law.”

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The White House and Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to requests for comment. ‌The ⁠Justice Department, which is defending the Kennedy Center in court, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The closure vote marks the latest flashpoint in the lawsuit, which Beatty filed last year over Trump’s effort to rename the center after himself. Beatty is a member of the Kennedy Center’s board by ​virtue of her position in ​the U.S. Congress.

Cooper’s order ⁠in May directed the Kennedy Center to remove Trump’s name from the building’s facade, saying only Congress can change the name.

The ruling blocked the center’s earlier ​plan to shut down in July for renovation, saying its decision to do ​so “was taken in ⁠dereliction of the trustees’ duty of prudence.” Cooper said he would not block the board from trying again to close the center as long as it made a “considered, independent decision.”

Cooper in a new ruling on Tuesday rejected the ⁠center’s ​latest effort to put Trump’s name on the building to reflect ​his role in the planned renovation.

The administration has appealed, and Trump on social media said the Kennedy Center “is destined to doom” if ​it is not permitted to close for repairs.

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Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by David Bario and Aurora Ellis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

First data center bill clears House as both parties scramble for answers on affordability

2026-09-16 18:57:49 EDT / Fox News

The bipartisan bill would require large AI data centers consuming 100 megawatts or more to pay for grid upgrades they need

By Leo Briceno Fox News

Published September 16, 2026 6:57pm EDT

5 midterm races that could influence the AI BOOM

A growing local backlash against data centers threatens the artificial intelligence boom ahead of the midterm elections. Morgan Stanley highlights five key races where candidates are proposing data center regulations and moratoriums.

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The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Ratepayer Protection Act (RPA) on Wednesday evening, a bill that looks to shield local communities from higher energy electricity and grid infrastructure costs associated with data center development.

The bill, which succeeded with broad bipartisan support in a 417 to 3 vote, is likely one of the last pieces of legislation lawmakers will consider until after the Nov. 3 midterm elections. It also puts a spotlight on the data center issue, which has garnered attention as a proxy for affordability, energy and regulatory debates.

It marks the first data-center-related bill passed in the 119th Congress.

WHO PAYS FOR US POWER BOOM? BLUE, RED STATES OFFER STARKLY DIFFERENT WAYS TO LOWER UTILITY BILLS AMID AI SURGE

Rep. Gabe Evans speaks during a news conference at Fort St. Vrain Generating Station in Platteville, Colo., on March 9, 2026.(Chet Strange/Bloomberg)

In its current form, the bill does not seek to ban data centers, set limitations on their expansion or really even set regulatory guidelines for them. Instead, it amends existing energy law, the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA), so states must consider a federal standard: large data centers that consume 100 megawatts or more would pay the full extra cost of the generation, transmission and distribution upgrades built to serve them.

Companies would also be required to make financial assurances in the event a project is cancelled or moved to prevent local communities from being left holding the bill.

Its sponsor, Rep. Gabe Evans, R-Colo., framed it as a needed step towards keeping data center energy costs from spilling over to local communities.

“As America races to lead the world in AI, we must build the energy infrastructure needed to support this innovation, and stay ahead of competitors like Communist China,” Evans said in a statement earlier this year.

“But Colorado families, farmers and small businesses should not be forced to cover the costs of new power generation driven by these developments. The Ratepayer Protection Act is a bipartisan, commonsense solution that protects everyday Americans and ensures our nation can continue to win the AI race,” Evans added.

The bill’s Democratic co-sponsor, Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., echoed Evans’ thinking.

AMERICA NEEDS AI TO SURVIVE. WORKING FAMILIES ALSO NEED TO SURVIVE IT

Virginia has long been at the center of America’s data center industry, with Northern Virginia now the largest data center market in the world and home to roughly 13% of global operational capacity.(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“My neighbors across Florida are grappling with skyrocketing electric bills. Ratepayers should not have to subsidize wealthy corporations’ growing energy demands, especially from AI data centers,” Castor said.

In recent months, candidates across both sides of the aisle have carefully framed their thinking around data centers. Democrats, in particular, have linked the issue to affordability.

Such is the case for Roy Cooper, former governor of North Carolina, who is now waging a bid for the seat of retiring Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.

Cooper, once having celebrated data center expansion as an avenue for job growth in the Tar Heel State, has since qualified his support.

“Roy believes local communities must have the final say on new projects coming to their area, which includes local moratoriums, and data centers must pay for all of the energy they use without passing on any of their costs to consumers,” a spokesperson for Cooper’s campaign said in a statement to Fox News Digital earlier this month.

Republicans have also navigated the political noise around data centers with care.

Cooper’s opponent, former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Whatley, also stressed letting local communities decide for themselves about whether data center expansion is right for them.

MAGA BEGINS TO CRACK AS 2026 GOP ROSTER BACKS AWAY FROM TRUMP’S TECH VISION

Michael Whatley, former chair of the Republican National Committee and Republican U.S. Senate candidate for North Carolina, arrives at the Grace Chapel Fire Department polling location during the North Carolina primary election in Granite Falls, N.C., on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. Senate candidates Roy Cooper and Michael Whatley will look for momentum from the primary vote in what looks to be one of the most expensive races of the 2026 midterms.(Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“Michael Whatley’s standard is simple: data centers pay their own way, families pay nothing and communities decide. That means Big Tech builds or buys every megawatt it needs and covers every dime of the grid upgrades to deliver it, with zero costs shifted onto residential ratepayers. It means no special subsidies and no sweetheart deals cut over the heads of taxpayers,” Whatley’s campaign said.

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Having cleared the House, the data center bill passed on Wednesday heads to the Senate for consideration, where its fate is uncertain.

Leo Briceno is a politics reporter for the congressional team at Fox News Digital. He was previously a reporter with World Magazine.

NASA spacecraft discovers moon crater bigger than Roman Colosseum

September 16, 2026 / 5:45 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Scientists have discovered a crater on the moon that’s bigger than the Roman Colosseum and is the result of a powerful impact two years ago that initially went undetected.

The steep-sided hole measured about 728 feet across, the length of two football fields, and up to 141 feet deep, equivalent to three vertically stacked yellow school buses, according to NASA. It’s the solar system’s biggest known impact crater carved out in recent times.

Such a large-scale event is estimated to occur only once every 132 years, researchers said, making this a treasure trove of information as NASA prepares to build a base for astronauts on the moon.

“This event constitutes a statistically rare, effectively once-in-a-lifetime observation,” the scientists wrote in one of two studies appearing on the subject Wednesday in the journal Science Advances.

This set of photos from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the same area on the moon’s surface before and after a newly discovered crater in May 2024. NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Intuitive Machines via AP

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted the crater on the moon’s near side sometime between April 11 and May 22, 2024, soon after it was formed when an incoming fragment of an asteroid or comet the size of a three- to six-story building hit the surface. The moon strike escaped real-time detection by telescopes on Earth and in space.

LRO’s wide-angle images were not identified in the crush of data until August 2025. The spacecraft gathered more detailed pictures last fall, followed by confirmation of the discovery early this year.

The crater — named for the late Thomas McGetchin, a former director of Houston’s Lunar and Planetary Institute — is three times bigger than the previous record-holder found by the LRO a decade ago. Pockmarked since ancient times, the moon bears some of the solar system’s largest impact craters, including one that stretches more than 1,500 miles across.

This latest impact churned the lunar surface for more than 66 miles. Dust and rocky soil were hurled away at a higher angle than expected, according to Mark Robinson, chief scientist for the LRO’s cameras who works at Intuitive Machines. Robinson was the lead author for one of the studies.

A separate study identified a 4-mile-wide cold spot around the new crater, consistent with a loosening of the moon’s topsoil. Co-author David Paige of the University of California, Los Angeles, likens it to gardening.

“We’re now thinking of impacts as a way to garden the regolith — churning the sediments and putting stuff above that’s usually below the surface,” Paige said in a statement.

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has circled the moon since 2009, providing a close-up view of the lunar surface as the space agency prepares to send astronauts back. The LRO’s numerous crater discoveries since its launch show that the moon’s top inch of soil is being overturned by ejected material every 80,000 years, faster than previously thought, according to Robinson.

Contrary to the popular belief that the Apollo moonwalkers’ dusty lunar footprints will last forever, they will “definitely be long gone in that time frame,” Robinson said in an email.

The next step is to calculate the risk of ejected crater material striking NASA’s planned moon base, he added. “That information will help engineers harden structures so one won’t have to worry about damage, or maybe worry less.”

Some Republicans privately fear Russia sanctions bill will give Trump too much power on tariffs

2026-09-16T20:32:25.685Z / CNN

By Morgan Rimmer, Sarah Ferris

Updated 1 hr 1 min ago
Updated Sep 16, 2026, 6:36 PM ET
PUBLISHED Sep 16, 2026, 4:32 PM ET

The US Capitol building in Washington, DC, is seen on August 4.

Kevin Carter/Getty Images

Congress delivered President Donald Trump one final win ahead of the midterms — a major Russia sanctions bill that critics warn will empower him to impose sweeping new tariffs that could reverberate across the economy.

The House on Wednesday gave final approval to the Russia sanctions bill named for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham. The final vote was 262-159, with dozens of Democrats voting in support of the bill. It will next go to Trump’s desk for his signature.

Most GOP lawmakers support the bill. But privately, nearly a dozen Republicans had been lobbying party leaders in recent days to take out new tariff powers included in the bill — alarmed that it could further hike prices just ahead of the midterms, according to two people familiar with the conversations.

Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team, however, rebuffed those proposed changes, those people said.

Under the new tariff authorities in the legislation, the Trump administration could impose levies of up to 100% on countries buying Russian oil and gas, including China and India — which critics say could deliver a massive shock to the economy.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer would determine the final tariff level. But that has not allayed concerns from some Democrats who have spoken out publicly – and some Republicans who have voiced fears privately – who believe the bill would ultimately empower Trump on tariffs, despite that potential guardrail.

Supporters of the bill on both sides of the aisle, however, argue that the tariff authority is limited and carefully tailored and that fears that the president would end up with more power on trade matters are unfounded.

The bill was first introduced in April 2025, and — over the course of more than a year of painstaking negotiations — Graham led the charge to get the White House on board. His last public appearance, only one day before he died, was in Ukraine. During the visit, while standing in front of tanks on the streets of Kyiv, he announced that Trump would back the bill.

For many Democrats, it was a difficult vote: Most in the party were eager to support the package, which places mandatory sanctions on top figures in the Russian government, including President Vladimir Putin, as well as Russian oligarchs, state-owned enterprises and foreign companies supporting Russia’s defense industrial base.

But it caused deep tensions within the party, with prominent Ukraine allies like senior Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland delivering an impassioned defense on a bill that his own leadership had voiced concerns over. A day earlier, a pair of centrist Democrats even flouted their party leaders to help Republicans bring the bill to the floor when GOP votes fell short.

The Senate passed the bill in a broad bipartisan vote in August.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the lead Democratic cosponsor of the bill in the Senate, told reporters this week that he was “very hopeful that the House will recognize that we have a profound responsibility.”

“There’s an urgency here. In my last meeting with President Zelensky, he was insistent that we should pass the Russia sanctions bill,” he added.

But many Democrats in the House opposed the bill. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced during debate on the bill that he would not support the measure, citing the additional tariff authority that his colleagues have objected to including in the package.

“Why in the world would this Congress give this president additional authority to visit that kind of economic harm on the American people?” he asked.

A trio of prominent Democrats — who all sit atop committees relating to foreign affairs or trade — warned the bill would “do more harm than good,”

“This bill would dramatically expand presidential tariff authorities while failing to mandate sanctions on Russia, both of which are unacceptable,” Reps. Gregory Meeks of New York, Richard Neal of Massachusetts and Don Beyer of Virginia said.

Meeks is the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Neal serves as the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Beyer is the senior House Democrat on Congress’ Joint Economic Committee.

“These flaws would raise Americans’ prices while undermining support for Ukraine in the long term,” they said.

This story has been updated with additional details.

Conservatives warn of growing antisemitism in the GOP

2026-09-16 7:01 PM EDT / CNN

By Jake Tapper, CNN

Conservatives warn of growing antisemitism in the GOP

The Lead

Jake Tapper reports on The Lead.

5:11 • Source: CNN

Nebraska Senate candidate responds to leaked audio criticizing Trump voters: ‘We’re all angry right now’

2026-09-16 5:34 PM ET / CNN

By Aleena Fayaz

Updated 2 hr ago

Updated Sep 16, 2026, 5:35 PM ET

PUBLISHED Sep 16, 2026, 5:34 PM ET

Dan Osborn, nonpartisan candidate for US Senate, participates in a debate with US Sen. Pete Ricketts at the Nebraska State Fair in Grand Island on September 1.

Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald/Getty Images

Nebraska independent Senate candidate Dan Osborn on Wednesday appeared to confirm the authenticity of a leaked recording in which he is purported to criticize voters who support President Donald Trump.

“Billy Bob in fking Red Cloud, Nebraska, who lives next door to the fking Trump store as you pull into town and is waving the Trump flag … all he knows is he’s like on the winning team,” a speaker said in audio obtained by the Omaha World-Herald. “He’s been so effective at taking Billy Bob and his wife Mary Jane or Mary Jo and telling them, look we’re winning. You’re on the winning team. And that’s all they care about, because their lives probably suck so f**king.”

Asked by CNN’s Dana Bash on “Inside Politics” if he was the speaker, Osborn replied, “It sure sounds like me.”

“I don’t remember the context of this one particular conversation, but it certainly does sound out of character for myself,” he said, adding, “I would apologize to those people that might be offended, but I gotta tell them, I feel their pain. I absolutely feel their pain. We’re all angry right now and sometimes when you’re angry you say some things.”

‘We’re all angry right now’: Dan Osborn explains leaked audio of him saying some Trump voters’ ‘lives probably suck’
5:00 • Source: CNN

‘We’re all angry right now’: Dan Osborn explains leaked audio of him saying some Trump voters’ ‘lives …
5:00

Osborn, running as an independent in ruby red Nebraska, is challenging Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts. Democratic party leaders decided to stand down and support Osborn, leaving no Democrat on the ballot, in hopes of ousting the incumbent in a state Trump carried by roughly 20 points in 2024.

A Navy veteran and former union leader, Osborn is running on a populist, working-class message, blending support for labor and some abortion rights with backing for gun rights and tougher immigration enforcement.

Osborn defended his outreach to voters across the state, including those who support Trump. He told CNN he’s visited 55 counties on his tour with less than two months until Election Day.

Related article Independent Senate candidate Dan Osborn speaks at a coffee shop in O’Neill, Neb., October 14, 2024. Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc./Getty Images As union leader, Democrat-backed Senate candidate Dan Osborn helped alert ICE to claims of undocumented workers 6 min read

“I talked to a lot of Trump voters and … I’m talking about people are pissed off, people are disenfranchised, especially, and that’s what Trump captured in Nebraska. He captured people who are angry about the political system and Trump ran outside of that as an outsider,” he said. That’s what people like about Trump. It’s why I’m running again as an independent running outside the political system, because I’m tired of the two-party doom loop.”

While Osborn has said he will not caucus with either party if elected, Democrats believe a unified challenger could put the seat in play, as their party fights to break Republicans’ narrow Senate majority.

Party leaders sought to clear the primary field for Osborn after his surprisingly competitive performance in 2024, when, running as an independent, he lost a closer-than-expected race to Republican Sen. Deb Fischer.

Two years later, Osborn is hoping to capitalize on voter frustration with both the right and the left and cost of living concerns that have only grown since the start of the Iran war.

“That’s why people are angry. That’s why I’m angry. And I think you know anybody who hears this and knows me understands that’s where it’s coming from,” he told Bash on Wednesday.

US House votes to hold billionaire Leon Black in contempt of Congress

2026-09-16T21:02:12.336Z / Reuters

By Isla Binnie

September 16, 2026 9:02 PM UTC Updated 2 hours ago

Leon Black, Chairman, CEO and Director, Apollo Global Management, LLC, speaks at the Milken Institute’s 21st Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S. May 1, 2018. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo

NEW YORK, Sept 16 (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to find billionaire Leon Black in contempt of Congress and refer the case to the ​Justice Department, after he declined to comply with subpoenas as part of ‌a probe into late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Black, who co-founded private capital firm Apollo Global Management (APO.N), is among several political and business figures who have been called to testify about their ties ​to the financier.

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The Justice Department can now decide whether to prosecute. Contempt of ​Congress is a misdemeanor offense that carries up to a year in ⁠prison and a fine of up to $100,000.

The Justice Department said, in a statement, ​that it takes allegations of contempt of Congress seriously.

“The US Attorney’s Office for the District ​of Columbia will review the referral of Mr. Black carefully and will not hesitate to pursue additional cases where the evidence supports,” the department said.

Black sued the House Oversight Committee earlier this month ​and refused a summons to appear at a deposition and to hand over some ​non-disclosure agreements.

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He had appeared voluntarily in front of the committee in June, and told them he had ‌never ⁠abused women, engaged in sex trafficking, or had sex with underage women. He denies he knew about Epstein’s conduct.

Black walked out during the June interview, according to members of the committee.

Black’s lawyers said on Wednesday that “Mr. Black provided the Committee with the only ​confidentiality agreement that Jeffrey ​Epstein knew about as ⁠part of Mr. Black’s cooperation with the Committee’s efforts to ferret out the truth about Epstein,” but “the Committee has continued to ​insist on looking for information that does not exist.”

They have asked ​the Office ⁠of Congressional Conduct to investigate committee Chairman James Comer, a Kentucky Republican.

Black stepped down from his chief executive role at Apollo in 2021 after an external law firm found he ⁠had ​paid Epstein $158 million for tax and estate planning.

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Epstein was ​found dead in a New York City jail cell in 2019, and his death was ruled a suicide.

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Reporting ​by Isla Binnie; additional reporting by Andrew Goudsward; editing by Andy Sullivan and Rod Nickel

Democrats begrudgingly hand Trump victory on tariffs in sprawling sanctions bill

2026-09-16 18:29 EDT / Fox News

The legislation allows up to 500% tariffs on Russian imports and targets oligarchs, banks and the shadow fleet

By Elizabeth Elkind , Alex Miller, Fox News

Published September 16, 2026 6:29pm EDT | Updated September 16, 2026 6:33pm EDT

Russia sanctions bill stalls over Trump tariff concerns

A Senate-passed Russia sanctions bill faces resistance in the House as Democrats raise concerns about granting President Trump expanded tariff authority, while supporters argue tougher economic pressure could help force Moscow toward negotiations.

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Several Democrats voted with Republicans to pass a sweeping sanctions package targeting Russia Wednesday, handing President Donald Trump a key authority the left has long raged against.

The House of Representatives passed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, named after the late Republican senator who was one of Ukraine’s biggest champions in Congress until his sudden death in July.

The legislation passed in a 262 to 159 vote. Fifty-three Democrats voted with 203 Republicans to pass the bill. Seven Republicans and 152 Democrats opposed it.

It comes despite opposition from key Democrats over a provision giving Trump tariff authority over countries fueling Russia’s war in Ukraine.

HOUSE DEMS FACE TRUMP TARIFF DILEMMA AS MAJOR RUSSIA SANCTIONS BILL HEADS TO FLOOR

President Donald Trump takes the stage to speak on the second day of the 2026 Republican National Convention at the American Airlines Center Sept. 10, 2026, in Dallas, Texas.(Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“What we’re not for is giving more tariff authority to this president,” Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., said during debate on the bill.

“There is no guarantee in this legislation that the president could not use these tariffs against Ukraine if he decided to do so. There is no guarantee in this legislation that the president can impose these tariffs on Russia, with the enthusiasm that our friends on the other side have offered.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said, “The manner in which this bill has been written doesn’t require the president of the United States to impose sanctions on Russia. In fact, there are so many loopholes written into the bill, I believe that it’s very unlikely that the sanctions relief contemplated in the legislation will ever see the light of day.”

LINDSEY GRAHAM’S FINAL MISSION TO PUNISH PUTIN CLEARS SENATE AFTER YEARLONG FIGHT

The bill was led in the House by Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, a longtime supporter of Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, meets with Sen. Lindsey Graham in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 18, 2024.(Ukrainian Presidency/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“This is a critical time in history, a time my friend Lindsey Graham described as a magic moment, a moment that we cannot afford to waste,” McCaul said during debate. “We shared a fundamental belief that America is strongest at home when it projects strength abroad. This legislation does exactly that.

EUROPE BANKROLLS PUTIN’S WAR MACHINE EVEN AS NATO RACES TO BOLSTER DEFENSES

“It targets the money that fuels Russia’s war machine. It sanctions Russian officials and oligarchs, banks and financial institutions and the shadow fleet that helps cheap Russian energy moving and through precisely targeted tariffs. It also punishes countries providing financial support for the deadliest war in Europe since World War II. Why? Because, as we’ve heard from President Zelenskyy’s team, you can evade sanctions, which the Russians have done for years. But you cannot evade tariffs.”

The bill, which has gone through several iterations, still primarily focuses on kneecapping Putin’s war machine in Russia’s ongoing fight with Ukraine.

US TARGETS CHINESE REFINERY IN SWEEPING IRAN OIL CRACKDOWN, SANCTIONS ‘SHADOW FLEET’ TANKERS

But tweaks were needed to get sign-off from the White House. However, it reinserted sanctions targeting Iran’s weapons and energy sectors in the hopes of incentivizing a lasting peace deal as the war in the Middle East marches on.

Key components of the legislation allow for up to 500% tariffs on Russian imports, and tariffs of up to 100% on the top five countries buying Russian energy. And it provides Trump flexibility for when to turn off some aspects of the sanctions.

The tariff authority has proven a hard sell for House Democrats, though their colleagues in the Senate largely bought in.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., helped create the bill and largely spearheaded Democrat support in the Senate.

PUTIN, RUSSIA PUT ON NOTICE AS SENATE TAKES CRUCIAL STEP TO GRIND DOWN THE KREMLIN’S WAR MACHINE

Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, walks off the floor after the House of Representatives failed to elect a new speaker of the House on the first round of votes at the U.S. Capitol Building Oct. 17, 2023.(Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Blumenthal defended the tariff language in the bill to Fox News Digital.

“If Donald Trump wants to break this law, he will be restrained by the courts, just as when he broke the law on tariffs previously,” he said.

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It now heads to Trump’s desk for his signature.

At least two Democrats signaled early on that they would support the bill; Reps. Jared Golden, D-Maine, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., defied their party leaders on Tuesday to help Republicans break gridlock on advancing the legislation.

Their votes rescued the sanctions package from dying on the House floor amid a conservative rebellion over an unrelated issue. A similar move by the pair earlier this month earned a public reprimand from Jeffries, who called it a “breach of trust.”

“Congressman Golden has been a consistent supporter of America’s allies in Ukraine. He didn’t want to see the Russia sanctions bill die in a rule vote after passing with overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate,” Golden’s spokesman told Fox News Digital of the vote.

Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.

Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com

Trump administration paid $9.5 billion in leave for federal employees in 2025, due to DOGE-era buyout program

2026-09-16T16:11:00-0400 / CBS News

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Aaron Navarro is a CBS News digital reporter. He covered the 2024 elections and was previously an associate producer for the CBS News political unit in the 2021 and 2022 election cycles.

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Updated on: September 16, 2026 / 6:37 PM EDT / CBS News

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The Trump administration spent $9.5 billion on employee administrative leave costs in 2025, a sixfold increase from 2023 that was spurred by the administration’s push to cut down the federal workforce.

According to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report published Tuesday, the use of paid administrative leave increased by 435% from 2023 to 2025. They calculate that $6.7 billion of this was due to employees who opted into the Deferred Resignation Program, the administration’s buyout offer to federal employees that was part of efforts by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to shrink the government.

By comparison, administrative leave salary costs for 2023 and 2024 combined were $3.2 billion, according to the GAO’s report.

The resignation program was overseen and offered by the federal Office of Personnel Management in January 2025 to incentivize federal government employees to leave various agencies. The buyout program allowed employees who opted in to resign or stop working but still receive pay through Sept. 30, 2025.

The Trump administration had projected that 200,000 federal employees would opt into the program, though the GAO estimated in their report that 144,312 employees accepted the buyout offer, according to administrative leave data.

The report states that paid administrative leave peaked in July 2025, when 2.5 million of the 3 million leave workdays reported that month were due to the DRP.

Scott Kupor, OPM director, said Wednesday’s report failed to highlight the difference between “a one-time expense ($9.5 billion) to reduce the size of the federal government by 270,000 employees and the $40 billion per year savings in taxpayer dollars that this reduction provides.”

“That 400% return on investment is a massive benefit to the taxpayer,” he said in a statement.

DOGE had claimed, through its webpage called the “Wall of Receipts,” that $215 billion of federal funding had been cut through their efforts to slash federal contracts, leases and grants. According to a different GAO report released last month, about $110 billion of this was inflated. That report said that DOGE was not transparent about how it calculated this number and could not provide “sufficient information to verify the method used” to calculate 96% of its reported savings.

Wednesday’s report said that the GAO ran into limitations with the administrative leave data reported by the agencies, and their report states that OPM “does not know the actual costs of the paid administrative leave used for workforce reduction efforts” because the DRP-associated administrative leave efforts were lumped in with the general paid administrative leave numbers.

They also said they were unable to determine if the long-term savings goals that the leave program was meant for were actually met.

“Without a mechanism to track paid administrative leave for workforce reduction efforts, federal leaders may not have the data needed to understand whether government-wide cost saving goals are being met,” the report states.

The GAO recommended the personnel office to address the transparency of their paid administrative leave data, and to create a new category for paid administrative leave used to support workforce reduction efforts.

Data from OPM states that 271,000 employees have left the federal government since President Trump began his term in January 2025.