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US-backed Israel-Morocco deal deepens Abraham Accords amid growing regional threats

September 16, 2026 5:39pm EDT / Fox News

Officials were pressed on Saudi cooperation against Iran-backed Houthis threatening Red Sea shipping lanes

By Efrat Lachter Fox News

Trump pushes Saudi Arabia to normalize ties with Israel

Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy has the latest on Saudi Arabia normalizing ties with Israel and its push to join the Abraham Accords on ‘America Reports.’

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NEW YORK — Israel and Morocco agreed Wednesday to upgrade their diplomatic missions to full embassies and exchange ambassadors nearly six years after Morocco joined the U.S.-brokered normalization drive that reshaped Israel’s relations with parts of the Arab world.

The agreement came during a trilateral meeting in New York between U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, one day after officials marked the sixth anniversary of the Abraham Accords.

The original accords were signed by Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain on Sept. 15, 2020. Morocco followed through with a separate U.S.-Morocco-Israel Joint Declaration signed in Rabat on Dec. 22, 2020, restoring official contacts and committing the countries to move toward full diplomatic relations, direct flights and expanded economic cooperation.

IS ISRAEL REALLY ISOLATED? POLLS AND DIPLOMACY POINT IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and their delegations meet at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York on Sept. 16, 2026, for a summit focused on expanding Israel-Morocco relations.(Yuval Golan/ Israeli Foreign Ministry)

Wednesday’s agreement advances several of those commitments. Israel and Morocco agreed to establish full embassies and exchange ambassadors, reinstate direct flights by both Israeli and Moroccan airlines before the end of 2026 and finalize agreements on investment protection and avoidance of double taxation.

The countries also pledged to expand cooperation in trade, finance, technology, tourism, water, agriculture, food security, energy, telecommunications and regional security, according to a Sept. 16 joint statement.

The statement also reaffirmed U.S. and Israeli recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara and support for Morocco’s autonomy proposal as the basis for resolving the territorial dispute.

But the discussion quickly widened beyond Morocco to whether the normalization framework could eventually include Saudi Arabia.

Asked by Fox News Digital whether Saudi Arabia could be the next country to join the Abraham Accords — amid reports of growing Israeli-Saudi security cooperation against the Iran-backed Houthis — Waltz focused on the regional threat posed by the Houthis and their attacks on international shipping.

“The scourge of terrorism from them is unacceptable to the entire region,” Waltz said. “They continue to act as a proxy of the Iranian regime.

NEW RISK FOR US CONSUMERS AS IRAN-BACKED ATTACKS THREATEN A SECOND MAJOR OIL CHOKEPOINT

Satellite imagery shows Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key shipping waterway and the gateway to the Red Sea, as Iran threatens using Yemen’s Houthi allies to shut the Bab el-Mandeb gateway to the Red Sea, in a handout picture dated July 12, 2026.(Nasa Worldview/Handout via Reuters)

“You cannot attempt to punish the rest of the world to achieve a political end,” he added. “The oceans, trade and international waterways must remain open.”

The comments come as the Houthis have made major gains along Yemen’s Red Sea coast near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Reuters reported Sept. 16 that the offensive has exposed new vulnerabilities for Saudi Arabia and strengthened Iran’s regional leverage.

The 18-mile-wide Bab el-Mandeb links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and carries roughly 7% of global oil output. Houthi attacks beginning in 2023 forced major shipping companies to reroute vessels around Africa, increasing costs and transit times.

TRUMP SAYS SAUDI NUCLEAR AGREEMENT WON’T MOVE FORWARD WITHOUT ABRAHAM ACCORDS: ‘THEY HAVE TO BE A MEMBER’

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar meet at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York on Sept. 16, 2026, for a summit focused on expanding Israel-Morocco relations.(Efrat Lachter/ Fox News Digital)

Sa’ar said the threats at Bab el-Mandeb and the Strait of Hormuz demonstrated why countries with shared interests should cooperate.

“What’s happening in Bab al-Mandab, like what’s happened in Strait of Hormuz, demonstrates the significance of all nations that want to respect freedom of navigation, world trade and cooperate against this kind of modern piracy,” Sa’ar said.

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He declined to elaborate on any operational cooperation involving Saudi Arabia but made clear Israel wants the normalization framework expanded.

“It is clear that we would like this camp to be widened,” Sa’ar told Fox News Digital.

TRUMP CALLS ON ARAB NATIONS TO SIGN ABRAHAM ACCORDS

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Yemen’s Iran-backed armed Houthi group has warned they will move to shutter the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait through missile-drone attacks if Gulf nations join the US-Israel war on Iran.(Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images)

Bourita, meanwhile, said Morocco’s experience demonstrates that relations with Israel can also give Arab governments practical tools to help Palestinians.

“We can help the Palestinians, humanitarianly, because we have these relations with Israel,” Bourita said.

During the Gaza war, Morocco used its ties with Israel to secure a land route for 40 tons of humanitarian assistance into northern Gaza in March 2024.

“Is it better to continue in the rhetorics, political positions, while sitting in our cities, our capitals or take initiatives?” Bourita asked.

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“We don’t agree with Israel 100%. Each one may have its policy,” he said, arguing that Morocco uses the “Abraham Accords spirit” to “promote peace” and “promote stability in the region.”

Bourita also pointed to Morocco’s participation in Gaza stabilization efforts.

“I think it needs courage to contribute to peace,” he said. “And it’s easier to keep on making statements and engaging in rhetorics.”

Waltz echoed that argument, praising Morocco’s humanitarian work and its role in postwar Gaza efforts.

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(L-R) Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. President Donald Trump, Foreign Affairs Minister of Bahrain Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani and Foreign Affairs Minister of the United Arab Emirates Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan wave from the Truman Balcony of the White House after the signing ceremony of the Abraham Accords on the South Lawn of the White House on September 15, 2020, in Washington, D.C.(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

“It is far more than just signing agreements or coming to ceremonies,” Waltz said. “The Moroccan government, the Moroccan people are leaning in, in very meaningful ways for a more peaceful future.”

Efrat (Effie) Lachter is a reporter for Fox News Digital with more than 15 years of experience covering conflict, global affairs, human rights and political accountability.She has directed and produced more than 200 documentary segments across more than 40 countries, documenting conflicts, humanitarian crises, corruption, human trafficking, gender-based violence and the human stories behind major world events.

Lachter’s reporting has taken her into conflict zones and crisis areas across the Middle East, Europe, Asia and Africa. Her work has included uncovering human trafficking networks, revealing an ISIS underground torture prison in Syria, documenting the war in Ukraine and interviewing senior political figures and world leaders. She was also among the Western journalists who entered Russia after the war began to bring testimonies from Putin’s opposition. Lachter is the recipient of the 2022 Peres Center for Peace Award and was a 2023–2024 Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellow at the University of Michigan. She also won two Rockower Awards for Excellence in Reporting. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communication and a master’s degree in political science.

US House advances first bill addressing economic impact of data center boom

2026-09-16 23:00:36 UTC / Reuters

By Nichola Groom and Nolan D. McCaskill

September 16, 2026 11:00 PM UTC Updated 30 mins ago

The steel frame of data centers under construction during a tour of the OpenAI data center in Abilene, Texas, U.S., September 23, 2025. REUTERS/Shelby Tauber/Pool/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

Sept 16 (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill aimed ​at protecting households from electricity cost increases tied to the expansion ‌of data centers, the first time the chamber has advanced legislation directly addressing economic concerns linked to the industry’s growth.

The Republican-majority House voted 417 to three in favor of the ​Ratepayer Protection Act, which would require state utility regulators to consider whether large electricity ​users, including data centers, should bear the incremental costs of ⁠power infrastructure built to serve them.

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The vote underscores the complicated politics surrounding ​the U.S. data center boom.

U.S. President Donald Trump strongly backs data center development ​as critical to leadership in artificial intelligence. Earlier this week he said data centers make people and states wealthy, calling them the “oil of the next 20, 25 years.”

At the same time, lawmakers ​from both parties have faced growing constituent concerns over rising electricity costs ​associated with the industry’s surging power demand.

House Republican leaders moved the bill before lawmakers leave ‌Washington ⁠ahead of the November 3 midterm elections.

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U.S. Representative Robert Garcia, a California Democrat, said in advance of the vote the measure does not go far enough but would garner significant support from members who are hopeful more reforms ​will follow.

“Clearly, they’re ​trying to get ⁠in front of the data center issue, but the reality is they’ve done nothing, really, on that,” he said ​of House Republicans. “I think a lot of their base voters ​are ⁠really angry. There has to be actual real protections put in place for people, and this is not it.”

Just 11% of Americans would support construction of an ⁠AI ​data center in their community, according to a ​poll by the University of Massachusetts Amherst published this week.

Reporting by Nichola Groom in Los Angeles ​and Kanishka Singh and Nolan D. McCaskill in Washington; Editing by Chris Reese

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Afghan man sentenced to 20 years in case tied to 2021 airport bombing that killed US troops

2026-09-16T20:50:57.441Z / CNN

By Holmes Lybrand

3 hr ago

PUBLISHED Sep 16, 2026, 4:50 PM ET

The bombing area at Abbey Gate is pictured August 26, 2021, in Kabul, Afghanistan, before the blast. A review released Monday, April 15, 2024, says the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport that killed U.S. troops and Afghans in August 2021 was not preventable, and the “bald man in black” spotted by U.S. service members the morning of the attack was not the bomber.

US Central Command/AP

A federal judge handed down a 20-year sentence for the Afghan man convicted of providing material support to a terrorist organization during the August 2021 airport attack and bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, during the US military’s flawed departure.

Mohammad Sharifullah was convicted of providing support to an ISIS affiliate in April, though jurors could not agree on whether he bore responsibility for the attack that left 13 US service members and over 150 Afghans dead.

This photo shared by FBI Director Kash Patel shows Mohammad Sharifullah being escorted from a plane by two FBI officers. Editor’s note: Portions of the faces of the officers have been obscured by the FBI.

From Kash Patel/X

The Justice Department said in a press release Wednesday that Sharifullah acted as a scout for one path to the airport during the 2021 attack, where a terrorist would soon detonate a suicide-vest, killing the military members and Afghans.

Sharifullah, the department said, “participated in over a dozen ISIS-K attacks from 2016 through his eventual apprehension in 2025,” including by transporting suicide bombers, running communications and providing surveillance for the attacks.

He was detained by US officials in March of last year, after Pakistani forces, acting on CIA information, arrested Sharifullah. At the time, his arrest was touted by President Donald Trump, who had often criticized then-President Joe Biden for the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal and airport attack.

Sharifullah did not testify at his trial. At his sentencing, the judge said the defendant was a “dedicated terrorist” who expressed no remorse for the “unfathomable” grief and suffering that he had caused, the Associated Press reported.

Several parents of the US service members gave impact statements in court, describing how the attack has shattered their families, the AP reported.

Virginia fines a Microsoft data center for emissions violations

September 16, 2026 / 4:39 PM EDT / CBS News

A Virginia state agency has fined a data center nearly $2.5 million for exceeding emissions limits last year, the state’s largest civil penalty against a data center to date.

The notice published online details an event in June of 2025 when the Microsoft facility in Leesburg, Virginia, reported a failure of an electrical substation and had to operate 62 emergency engines for a seven-day period, according to the Department of Environmental Quality. The state says the facility exceeded its permitted fuel emissions limits for pollutants including CO, VOC, PM10 and PM2.5 during that time.

As part of the settlement with Microsoft, the tech giant has agreed to invest $2.4 million toward an environmental project underway in Loudoun County, where the facility is located, to monitor air quality in the areas containing the highest concentration of data centers. The department says it plans to use the funds secured from the order to deploy dozens of air quality sensors around areas of the state with the highest concentration of data centers.

“As part of our continued commitment to the communities where we operate, Microsoft will support VDEQ’s expansion of air-quality monitoring in Northern Virginia, as they work to deliver additional data and insight into regional air quality,” Microsoft said in a statement to CBS News.

Loudoun County, in northern Virginia outside Washington, D.C., is nicknamed “Data Center Alley” and is home to more than 250 facilities, according to Loudoun County. Community members have voiced growing concern about potential environmental and health impacts.

The nine-member Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted 7-1 with one abstention on Tuesday night to move forward with pausing the panel’s approval of new applications for a period of one year, effective Sept. 15, as allowed by Virginia law. The county attorney argued an outright moratorium is against state law. Data center applicants can still submit proposals, but the board will not take action during the yearlong pause.

The board is also debating more stringent standards and locations for data centers moving forward. A monthslong review process of recommendations is underway.

“The community must be involved in setting up the new standards and guardrails to guide data center development and to mitigate the damage that has already been done to the environment and well-being of our community,” said resident Greg Pirio of Sterling. Pirio lives across the street from a data center with its own power plant.

He was among those who spoke during around 90 minutes of public comment. Pirio has long raised concerns about noise pollution, health impacts and potential decline of property values in the area.

Opponents of the proposed pause argue the data centers have provided what they call transformative economic benefits, pointing to a projected $1.3 billion in local tax revenue. Supporters of the data center growth say that will fund public education, parks, law enforcement and other services.

“Moratoriums and other anti-competitive policies send a signal that an area is closed for business, for data centers, for the many local businesses that provide goods and services that support the data center industry, for the trade unions and schools that are training and growing the construction and operational workforce, and for other significant economic development projects,” said Nicole Riley of the Data Center Coalition in a written statement delivered to the board.

The moratorium will affect future development, but will not have any impact on current data centers and those already in construction.

ISIS-K member sentenced to 20 years in prison in case tied to deadly 2021 Kabul airport suicide bombing

2026-09-16 17:49 EDT / CBS/AP

A member of an Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in prison for aiding the terrorist organization, which took credit for a suicide bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members and about 160 Afghans at the Kabul airport five years ago during the American military’s chaotic withdrawal from the country.

A federal jury in Virginia had convicted Mohammad Sharifullah in April of providing material support to the affiliate, known as ISIS-K. But jurors could not agree whether he bore some responsibility for the airport bombing on Aug. 26, 2021.

U.S. troops were conducting an evacuation operation at the airport when a lone suicide bomber detonated an improvised explosive device near an entry point known as Abbey Gate. Sharifullah’s role in the attack was scouting a route to Hamid Karzai International Airport, prosecutors said.

Sharifullah, 28, received the maximum sentence for his one-count conviction in an international terrorism case that President Trump heralded last year during a speech to a joint session of Congress. Sharifullah was captured in early 2025 by Pakistani intelligence and the CIA near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, and was extradited to the United States.

A photo posted to social media by FBI Director Kash Patel on March 5, 2025, shows Mohammad Sharifullah, a suspect in the 2021 Abbey Gate suicide bombing, in FBI custody.

Sharifullah did not testify at his trial and declined to address the court before U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga imposed the sentence. The judge said the defendant was a “dedicated terrorist” who expressed no remorse for the “unfathomable” grief and suffering that he had caused.

Trenga heard victim impact statements from several parents of the U.S. service members. From a podium only a few feet from where Sharifullah sat, they took turns paying tribute to their children’s sacrifices and describing how the attack has shattered their families. Mark Schmitz of Missouri asked Sharifullah to turn and look at him as he spoke about the life and death of his 20-year-old son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz.

“They may have taken his life, but they’ll never take his legacy,” Schmitz said. “A bomb killed my son. It did not kill what he stood for.”

Paula Knauss-Selph, whose son, Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss, was killed in the Abbey Gate bombing, said the family was “forever changed” by the attack.

“No justice will ever be enough to mend my broken heart,” she said.

Sharifullah requested a 17-year prison sentence, while prosecutors sought 20 years. His lawyers say he was never an ISIS-K leader and has not been convicted of any conduct related to the airport suicide bombing.

“He was brought here because the government believed he participated in the Abbey Gate attack, a theory which it was unable to prove at trial,” defense attorneys wrote.

Prosecutors said in their sentencing memo that “from his teenage years, when he pledged an oath of allegiance to ISIS-K, Sharifullah’s carnage was driven by hate. Hate towards Americans.”

Jurors convicted Sharifullah of providing material support to ISIS-K, but did not reach a unanimous decision on whether any deaths at the airport “resulted from” that conspiracy. Sharifullah could have faced a possible life sentence if the jury had decided that question.

In a statement Wednesday, Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg said Sharifullah “spent nearly a decade at the heart of a horrific campaign of terror, providing critical support for attacks against civilians around the world and, ultimately, contributed to the deaths of 13 U.S. servicemembers and dozens of others at Abbey Gate.”

According to prosecutors, Sharifullah told a journalist that he wanted to “catch and kill the crusaders” from the United States for invading his country after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. They said Sharifullah aided in dozens of other attacks, including a March 2024 assault on a Moscow concert hall that killed roughly 140 people, and a 2016 suicide bombing that targeted security guards at the Canadian embassy in Kabul.

His role in those ISIS-K attacks, the Justice Department said, included providing surveillance, transporting suicide bombers or weapons and communicating with attackers.

Ahead of the 2021 Kabul airport bombing, Sharifullah surveilled a route to the airport to watch out for Taliban checkpoints, prosecutors said. He “communicated to ISIS-K leadership that the route was clear,” and hours later, an ISIS-K operative named Abdul Rahman al-Logari detonated the suicide bomb, the Justice Department said.

Defense lawyers argued that prosecutors failed to present any evidence tying Sharifullah to the Kabul bombing besides his own words during hours of FBI questioning. His team said Sharifullah told FBI agents what he thought they wanted to hear, possibly because he was afraid of being tortured in Pakistani custody before he was brought to the U.S.

His lawyers also said in a sentencing memo that Sharifullah was not an ISIS-K leader, but was instead a “conduit for messages passed between different actors in the organization.”

“No evidence at trial linked Mr. Sharifullah to the Abbey Gate attack, besides his own statements made while his family was detained by Pakistani authorities known to torture detainees,” his attorneys said.

House passes Russia sanctions bill, overcoming opposition from Democratic leaders

2026-09-16T18:33:00-0400 / CBS News

By Caitlin Yilek Politics Reporter
Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter at CBSNews.com, based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked for the Washington Examiner and The Hill, and was a member of the 2022 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship with the National Press Foundation.

Read Full Bio

Updated on: September 16, 2026 / 7:09 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington — A sweeping Russia sanctions bill overcame opposition in the House on Wednesday, after many Democrats expressed concern that it would expand President Trump’s tariff authorities.

The House passed the bill in a 262 to 159 vote on the final day that the lower chamber is in session before lawmakers leave Washington until after Election Day. Some 58 Democrats voted in favor of the bill, while seven Republicans voted in opposition.

The Senate passed the legislation with overwhelming bipartisan support in August after more than a year of negotiations that were spearheaded by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. It now heads to Mr. Trump’s desk.

“This bill sends a powerful message of American unity and gives the administration every tool in the toolbox to help bring this war to a just end, and we are proud to send it to the president’s desk,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement after its passage.

The effort to penalize top Russian figures and the biggest buyers of Russian oil over the war in Ukraine gained fresh momentum after Graham’s sudden death in July. Graham died shortly after returning from a trip to Kyiv and announcing that a deal had been reached with the White House to move forward on an updated version of the legislation.

The bill, titled The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, allows the president to impose tariffs of up to 100% on the top five purchasers of Russian oil or natural gas. There are exceptions for countries that import less than 15% of their natural gas from Russia and are taking “significant” steps to reduce the imports. It also includes sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin, officials within his government, oligarchs and Russian banks and financial institutions.

China and India are the largest buyers of Russian crude oil, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air think tank. Europe has historically been Russia’s largest natural gas customer, though the European Union has cut its imports significantly in recent years, and sales to China have grown.

At the request of Mr. Trump, the bill also extends sanctions on Iran’s energy and weapons sectors.

It gives the president authority to waive the sanctions if he certifies to Congress that it’s in the national interests of the U.S.

Several House Democrats in leadership positions have been opposed to the measure in its current form, arguing it “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. These flaws would raise Americans’ prices while undermining support for Ukraine in the long term,” Democratic Reps. Gregory Meeks of New York, Don Beyer of Virginia and Richard Neal of Massachusetts said in a statement Friday after GOP leaders added the legislation to this week’s floor schedule. “The President has ample authority to expand sanctions on those fueling Russia’s war machine, including those targeted by this bill, and we renew our call on him to do so without further delay.”

Meeks said after the vote he hopes Mr. Trump proves him wrong and implements the bill as intended.

“But, in the likely event he doesn’t, I will do everything in my power to make sure Congress holds him to account, the American people do not get further crushed by his inflationary tariffs, and that Ukraine receives real support,” he said in a statement.

In a floor speech ahead of the vote Wednesday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said that he would not support the legislation because “there are so many loopholes written into the bill” that he had doubts about whether the sanctions “will ever see the light of day.”

Republicans noted during floor debate on the measure that it had the support of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“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,” Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas said on the House floor. “Tariffs are a powerful way to amplify the impact of sanctions. That’s why they are the teeth of this bill.”

The legislation narrowly avoided a potential hurdle Tuesday during a procedural vote to tee the bill and several unrelated measures up for debate as a small group of conservatives voted in opposition or withheld their support. Two moderate Democrats — Reps. Jared Golden of Maine, who is retiring, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, who holds a competitive seat — split with Democrats in what is typically a party-line vote to help propel it forward.

“This is our last week in session until November. The stakes for Ukraine are too high to let this good bill — which already passed the Senate with overwhelming, bipartisan support — die as a result of a procedural vote,” Golden said in a statement about the defection.

Gluesenkamp Perez pointed to her Ukrainian constituency, saying, “I’ll always stand with my community’s values.”

Trump administration can proceed with homelessness program overhaul, US court rules

2026-09-16T22:06:15.063Z / Reuters

Summary

• Appeals panel lets Housing Dept reserve $1.3 billion for transitional housing and supportive service-only grants
• Panel says administration likely to win appeal of Rhode Island judge’s decision
• Housing Department says it has until December 1 to award ​Continuum of Care funds

BOSTON, Sept 16 (Reuters) – A US appeals court cleared the way on Wednesday for President ‌Donald Trump’s administration to reshape a $4 billion homelessness program by shifting funding away from permanent housing assistance toward temporary housing and supportive services.

A three-judge panel of the Boston-based 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals

put on hold
a Rhode Island judge’s ruling that barred the Department of Housing and Urban Development from ​imposing changes to grant funding awarded through the Continuum of Care program.

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That program has provided resources since 1987 for ​states, local governments and nonprofits to deliver support services to homeless people, with a focus on veterans, ⁠families, and people with disabilities.

It has long operated under a housing-first model that prioritizes placing people in permanent housing without preconditions ​such as sobriety or employment. Grants also support services including childcare, job training, mental health counseling and transportation.

The administration has criticized the ​housing-first approach and sought to redirect funding, but US District Judge Mary McElroy in Providence blocked it from making changes in 2025 and again last month.

22 STATES FILED LAWSUITS

McElroy’s latest decision came in lawsuits brought by 22 mostly Democratic-led states, the District of Columbia and a coalition of homelessness and housing advocacy ​groups.

They challenged HUD’s plan to set aside $1.3 billion of the more than $4 billion that Congress appropriated for the program in the ​2026 fiscal year for transitional housing and supportive service-only grants.

The plaintiffs argued the change would unlawfully reduce funding for permanent housing projects and put tens ‌of ⁠thousands of formerly homeless people at risk of losing their housing.

McElroy, a Trump appointee who was initially nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama, concluded the move violated the Administrative Procedure Act.

But the three-judge 1st Circuit panel said the administration was likely to succeed on appeal in establishing that its decision to set aside the $1.3 billion for those purposes was not subject to notice-and-comment requirements.

“We further conclude that ​HUD would suffer irreparable injury ​absent a stay, given that ⁠HUD only has until December 1, 2026 to make awards to applicants for Continuum of Care funds,” the panel ruled.

HUD Secretary Scott Turner called the ruling a “win for taxpayers.”

“This is a step in ​the right direction to deliver real and lasting results that serve our most vulnerable — not a ​failed ideology and ⁠those who profit from it,” he said on X.

The 1st Circuit panel included two Democratic appointees, U.S. Circuit Judges Lara Montecalvo and Seth Aframe, and one Trump-appointed judge, Joshua Dunlap.

The advocacy groups that had sued over the policy, including National Alliance to End Homelessness, in a joint ⁠statement expressed ​disappointment in the ruling and said they are evaluating potential next steps.

“Despite our ​coalition’s repeated triumphs in the lower court, today’s decision will give new life to HUD’s attempt to radically upend this critical program by defunding permanent housing solutions, which ​threatens to push 100,000 Americans into homelessness,” the plaintiffs said.

Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Rod Nickel and Lincoln Feast

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Massie saying Johnson is sending the House home early to prevent Hegseth impeachment

2026-09-16T16:33:30-04:00 / Fox News

Rep Thomas Massie argued that an early House adjournment blocked a potential vote on his eight articles of impeachment against War Secretary Pete Hegseth

Chad Pergram
By Chad Pergram Fox News

Published September 16, 2026 4:33pm EDT

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., filed eight articles of impeachment against Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth.

Under House rules, the House would have to consider Massie’s articles by tomorrow.

But House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is sending the House home early today.

There will be no session tomorrow. That means the House won’t reconvene for business until after the midterms in mid-November.

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s decision to send lawmakers home early could prevent the House from considering Rep. Thomas Massie’s impeachment articles against War Secretary Pete Hegseth.(J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)

Massie contends that Johnson sent everyone home early to avoid a vote related to Hegseth.

If the House had brought up Massie’s impeachment articles, Republicans would likely have offered “a motion to table.” This is an effort to kill Massie’s gambit.

Thus, the vote would not have been on impeaching Hegseth, but whether or not to set aside Massie’s plan.

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: HOUSE CONTROL COULD HINGE ON WHETHER THE OLD POLITICAL RULES STILL APPLY

If the House were to table Massie’s articles of impeachment, the gig is up. It’s done.

The House never even considered the actual impeachment resolutions.

Rep. Thomas Massie has argued that the House adjourned early to avoid a potentially consequential vote related to his impeachment effort against Hegseth.(Jon Cherry/Getty Images)

But if the motion to table fails, the House then considers the articles of impeachment.

The motion to table inoculates members from having to take a tough vote on the actual issue.

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: CONGRESS MEETS AI AS FEARS OF HUMAN EXTINCTION JOLT CAPITOL HILL

I asked Massie the following:

Pergram: That would have put them in a tough spot because they would have had to vote on it. Would it have passed?

Massie: “A vote on a motion to table. He may not have survived that vote.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is the subject of eight articles of impeachment filed by Rep. Thomas Massie.(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

In other words, Massie believes the House could have defeated the motion to table.

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That would have triggered votes on actually impeaching Hegseth.

And, from Massie’s viewpoint, that’s why Johnson sent the House home.

Chad Pergram currently serves as Chief Congressional Correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). He joined the network in September 2007 and is based out of Washington, D.C.

Scientists challenge US NIH grant screening as unconstitutional

2026-09-16T22:49:09.189Z / Reuters

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during an event on screen time harm in children at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 1, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

WASHINGTON, Sept 16 (Reuters) – A group of scientists filed a class-action lawsuit on Wednesday against the U.S. National Institutes of Health, alleging the agency is unconstitutionally screening research ​grants to suppress viewpoints the Trump administration disfavors on topics like diversity, ‌gender identity and climate change.

The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, names NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and DOGE as defendants. ​It is backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for ​Science in the Public Interest and other groups.

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The plaintiffs say NIH, ⁠the world’s largest public funder of biomedical research, uses a list of 235 keywords, including “gender,” “Latinx” ​and “climate change” to flag grants for termination, denial or forced renegotiation. Researchers who refuse ​to scrub flagged terms risk losing funding, the complaint says.

The NIH and the Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The suit is the latest challenge to ​the research funding cuts, which the administration says are necessary to ensure the ​government funds only solid science and to reverse years of misguided priorities.

The suit says that the screening applies ‌to ⁠grants that have already cleared scientific peer review, representing an added layer of ideological review that departs from NIH’s longstanding practice and congressional mandates barring politicization.

“Scientists should not have to scrub their research to receive federal funding,” Arghavan Salles, a surgeon and clinical associate ​professor at Stanford University, said ​in a statement. ⁠She said her grant on sexual harassment in biomedical research was terminated as “DEI-related,” referring to diversity, equity and inclusion.

The complaint alleges First ​Amendment violations and breaches of statutes governing grant terminations. It asks ​the court ⁠to vacate the policies and restore terminated grants.

In June 2025, a federal court ruled NIH’s DEI-related grant terminations were unlawful, but in August 2025 the Supreme Court allowed the ⁠agency ​to proceed with cutting $783 million in such grants.

A federal ​appeals court ruled in May 2026 that such terminations likely violated the First Amendment. The administration has ​asked the Supreme Court to review that decision.

Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Jonathan Spicer

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House passes bill to shield Americans from data center energy costs

Updated on: September 16, 2026 / 7:13 PM EDT / CBS News
By Caitlin Yilek Politics Reporter
Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter at CBSNews.com, based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked for the Washington Examiner and The Hill, and was a member of the 2022 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship with the National Press Foundation.

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Washington — The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed legislation aimed at protecting Americans from shouldering the potential costs of data centers on their electricity bills.

The bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act cleared the House in a 417 to 3 vote. House GOP leaders fast-tracked the bill, which required two-thirds majority support for passage. It now heads to the Senate.

Its passage comes as lawmakers are under pressure to address soaring energy costs that have been partly attributed to the data center boom driven by the AI race.

The bill was introduced by GOP Rep. Gabe Evans of Colorado, who is running in a competitive race. Several Republicans facing tough reelection bids signed on as cosponsors in recent weeks, as affordability and AI issues are central themes in the 2026 campaign.

Evans’ measure seeks to force tech companies to pay for the costs of the new energy infrastructure that serves the data centers, instead of passing costs on to consumers. It would encourage the state agencies that regulate utility companies to establish standards ensuring any “large-load customers” — including large-scale data centers — are billed for the cost of new electricity generation.

“AI companies have a serious responsibility to earn the trust of the communities they invest in and to be good neighbors. The Ratepayer Protection Act guarantees hardworking American families won’t foot the bill for the buildout of AI infrastructure — or see their energy costs rise to pay for it,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said in a statement Wednesday night.

As the data center industry grows at a faster clip than the U.S.’ capacity to generate electricity, fears have mounted about the pressure it could put on the power grid. The International Energy Agency estimated last year that electricity consumption by U.S. data centers could more than double from 2024 levels by the end of the decade. Other estimates have found the facilities could gobble up more than 10% of U.S. power demand by 2030.

Those worries have prompted backlash against data center development at the state and local level and political headaches for both parties nationally — adding to broader political uncertainty about the AI boom.

President Trump, who has largely backed the AI industry, has urged data center developers and tech firms to sign a pledge to build or purchase their own power supply. The White House says hundreds of utility companies have signed on to the pledge, along with dozens of data center operators and major AI companies.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, on Monday called the legislation “a step forward” but said “more clearly needs to be done.”

GOP Rep. Brett Guthrie of Kentucky, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said Tuesday that the legislation “takes action on behalf of our constituents so we may keep costs low while ensuring the U.S. leads in the next-generation economy.”

“As this industry continues to develop, I want to be absolutely clear that we need it to develop here at home and not in China,” Guthrie said during floor debate.

Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the committee’s ranking member, called the legislation “imperfect” and argued it “only addresses one small part of the puzzle.”

“Americans across the country are furious about the unchecked development of data centers and artificial intelligence. Furious about what it means for their communities, for their jobs, or even for their lives. And I want to promise that this bill is not the end of our focus on these issues. It’s only the beginning,” Pallone said on the floor.