Mitch McConnell will not vote in the Senate this week as recovery continues

June 23, 2026 1:45pm EDT / Fox News

He is ‘working closely with staff on Senate business and Kentucky matters as he continues his recovery,’ the spokesperson says

By Alex Nitzberg Fox News

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Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is continuing to recover and will not vote this week, spokesman David Popp said.

“Senator McConnell is still working closely with staff on Senate business and Kentucky matters as he continues his recovery. However, he will not be voting this week,” he said in a statement.

McConnell was hospitalized earlier this month, though the reason has not been disclosed.

SEN MITCH MCCONNELL HOSPITALIZED, ‘RECEIVING EXCELLENT CARE,’ HIS OFFICE SAYS

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in the Senate Subway at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on May 19, 2026.(Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Fox News Digital reached out to request more information on Tuesday, but Popp did not provide any additional details regarding the senator’s situation.

McConnell, the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history, was hospitalized for eight days earlier this year after experiencing “flu-like symptoms.”

The long-serving lawmaker has been in office since early 1985.

FOUR SENATE REPUBLICANS AGAIN UNITE WITH DEMS TO BLOCK TRUMP’S SAVE AMERICA ACT

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on May 12, 2026.(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

McConnell is 84 years old.

He announced last year that he would not run for an eighth Senate term.

BLUEGRASS DEMOCRATS MAKE THEIR CHOICE TO REPLACE MCCONNELL, TAKE ON TRUMP-BACKED BARR

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Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., is the Republican candidate running in the Kentucky U.S. Senate general election this year, and former Kentucky state Rep. Charles Booker is the Democratic candidate.

McConnell has dealt with a series of health episodes in recent years.

He fell and sprained his wrist while walking out of a GOP luncheon in December 2024. He was hospitalized with a concussion in March 2023 and missed several weeks of work after falling in a Washington hotel. After he returned, he twice froze up during news conferences that summer, staring vacantly ahead before colleagues and staff came to his assistance.

McConnell had polio in his early childhood, and he has long acknowledged some difficulty as an adult walking and climbing stairs. In addition to his 2023 fall, he also tripped and fell in 2019 at his home in Kentucky. He had surgery for a fractured shoulder.

Fox News’ Tyler Olson and Eric Mack contributed to this report

Alex Nitzberg is a writer for Fox News Digital.

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Republicans break with Trump to rebuke Iran war — but it won’t change policy

Unlike previous Senate attempts, the House-passed resolution carries no legal binding and won’t reach Trump’s desk

June 23, 2026 3:44pm EDT / Fox News

By Alex Miller Fox News

Trump admin confident on Iran deal progress

Chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst reports after President Trump’s administration expressed confidence in Iran deal progress, while Trump issues warnings to the regime.

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Senate Democrats scored another win in pushing back against President Donald Trump’s war in Iran on Tuesday, but the symbolic victory won’t actually curb his war powers in the region.

Aided by absences from Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Dave McCormick, R-Pa., Democrats and a handful of Republicans passed a war powers resolution rebuking the conflict in Iran. It’s the same resolution that passed the House earlier this month in a rare display of House Republicans breaking with Trump.

Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Susan Collins, R-Maine, Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Bill Cassidy, R-La., joined nearly every Senate Democrat to adopt the resolution on a 50 to 48 vote.

But unlike several previous attempts in the Senate to curb Trump’s authority, the House-passed measure does not carry any legally binding weight and won’t go to the president’s desk for his signature, where it would likely be vetoed.

TRUMP SUFFERS RARE HOUSE DEFEAT AS BIPARTISAN VOTE MOVES TO WITHDRAW TROOPS FROM IRAN CONFLICT

President Donald Trump is seen during an executive order signing in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, June 3, 2026.(Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Still, after stumbling last week, Democrats notched another victory against the war.

The vote comes as Congress reels over the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between the U.S. and Iran that, for now, has allotted more time for officials to negotiate a longer-lasting peace deal.

Many Republicans recoiled at the drip-feed of information coming out about the deal, with some comparing it to former President Barack Obama’s own Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker, R-Miss., shredded the MOU in a statement Thursday in which he cautioned that the agreement “negotiates away the victories of Operation Epic Fury in ways that are completely out of step with the president’s goals.”

TOP SENATE REPUBLICAN RIPS INTO TRUMP’S IRAN DEAL, SAYS $300 BILLION MAKES OBAMA DEAL LOOK LIKE ‘A PITTANCE’

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Wicker took particular issue with the proposed $300 billion reconstruction fund, which he acknowledged wouldn’t be funded by taxpayers, but “would make Iran’s payoff under President Obama’s 2015 deal look like a pittance by comparison.”

Other Republicans aren’t thrilled with sanctions on Iranian oil being lifted, even temporarily, after years of keeping their oil business in a vice grip.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said he wanted to “tie lifting sanctions or financial incentives to conditions on Iranian behavior,” and acknowledged that reopening the Strait of Hormuz was a component of that.

IRAN WAR’S PRICE TAG HITS $80B — MORE THAN DOUBLE WHAT CONGRESS WAS TOLD

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., speaks to reporters as he walks into the Senate chamber in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 11, 2025.(Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

But he also said that the “objective here is always going to be Iranian compliance” with ending their nuclear program in exchange for financial incentives. And if the final deal does include an agreement touching Iran’s nuclear program, lawmakers will get to vote on it.

Congress is also gearing up to mull an $80 billion supplemental spending request from the Pentagon to cover the costs of the war, a figure that’s more than double what War Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Pentagon comptroller told lawmakers during a hearing earlier this year.

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Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., argued that as the MOU takes hold, now is the “perfect time for Congress to step back and ask ourselves the question of what should the next chapter be, rather than allowing one man to make that decision?”

“If you have to come to us for diplomacy, and you have to come to us for money, you shouldn’t be able to end run us to initiate war on our own,” Kaine said.

Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.

Alaska’s blockbuster Senate race thrown into chaos as same-name challenger fights disqualification in court

The retired teacher recently switched to GOP and sought to use incumbent’s initials on primary ballot, official claims

2026-06-23T14:59:54-04:00 / Fox News

By Adam Pack Fox News

Published June 23, 2026 2:59pm EDT

A controversial candidate sharing the name and party affiliation of a vulnerable GOP incumbent is vowing not to go down without a fight after Alaska’s top election official blocked him from the state’s blockbuster Senate race.

Dan J. Sullivan, the same-name challenger running against Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, R-Alaska, filed a lawsuit to remain on the August primary ballot after Director of Elections Carol Beecher disqualified his candidacy last week.

Beecher determined that Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher who recently changed his party affiliation to the GOP, did not launch his campaign “in good faith,” and sought to “confuse or mislead” voters at the ballot box.

But counsel affiliated with the same-name candidate argues that his removal runs afoul of state law.

Senator Dan Sullivan, a Republican from Alaska, stands in the Senate Subway of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on June 17, 2026.(Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg)

SAME-NAME CANDIDATE DISQUALIFIED FROM KEY SENATE RACE OVER ALLEGED DEM SCHEME TO CONFUSE VOTERS

“Nothing in Alaska law regulates in any way the private motivations that draw individuals to declare or campaign for office,” a court filing from attorneys Jeffrey Robinson, Bryn Pallesen and Zoe Eisberg obtained by The Associated Press reads.

The fate of his candidacy could prove decisive in the state’s hotly contested Senate race in which Sen. Dan S. Sullivan is seeking a third term in the Republican-leaning state. Democrats are hoping that former Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, whom Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., helped recruit into the race, will unseat Sullivan in November.

Primary ballots are expected to be printed later this month.

Under Alaska’s open primary system, the top four vote-getters will advance to the November general election.

Republicans have argued that Dan J. Sullivan’s candidacy is a “sham” attempt orchestrated by Democratic operatives to potentially trip up voters and siphon off votes from the incumbent, but Democrats, including Peltola, have denied involvement.

“Even by Chuck Schumer’s low standards, this was an outrageous attempt to trick Alaska voters and rig the election,” Senate Republican Conference Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said last week.

Newly-introduced Senate candidate Dan Sullivan, left, pictured alongside Sen. Dan Sullivan, D-Alaska, right.(Sullivan for U.S. Senate; Brandon Bell-Pool/Getty Images)

GOP FIGHTS TO STOP MULTIPLE DAN SULLIVANS FROM APPEARING ON ALASKA BALLOT, CALLS CANDIDACY A ‘SHAM’

Dan J. Sullivan has dismissed Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, R-Alaska, highlighting “credible allegations” that suggested he filed to run with the intention of deceiving voters.

“The Lieutenant Governor’s job is to oversee elections fairly and impartially,” Dan J. Sullivan wrote on Facebook last week. “Instead, her actions create the impression that the state government is being used to protect an incumbent senator at the ballot box.”

“The people of Alaska are fully capable of deciding for themselves who should represent them in Washington,” he added.

The political newcomer has come under scrutiny over ties to Democratic consultant Amber Lee, who was revealed as the author of his campaign launch announcement in metadata reviewed by Fox News Digital. Lee has notably supported Peltola’s prior runs for office and expressed optimism to The Hill in January that the Alaska Democrat would unseat the incumbent Sullivan.

According to Beecher’s letter, Dan J. Sullivan requested to appear on the primary ballot under the name “Dan Sullivan” despite previously registering as “Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr.” Beecher also noted that his campaign materials are visually similar to the incumbent Republican’s campaign and that he had no affiliation with the GOP prior to jumping into the race shortly before the filing deadline.

The nascent candidate notably sought to register with the incumbent’s “S” initial at one point, according to Beecher.

“‘S’ is Senator Sullivan’s middle initial, not yours,” the election official noted.

Amid mounting scrutiny, Dan J. Sullivan has largely brushed off concerns about his name.

Rep. Mary Peltola speaks during the Capitol Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 3, 2024.(Nathan Posner/Anadolu)

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“My grandfather was Dan, and between my dad, uncle, and cousins, there were six more Dans in the family,” he wrote on Facebook recently. “Nicknames were a necessity, and mine will never be revealed.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Dan J. Sullivan campaign for comment.

Reporter’s Notebook: Senate Republicans brace for tough lunch with Trump amid legislative clashes

2026-06-23T13:56:36-04:00 / Fox News

Trump repeatedly upended his own party’s legislative plans on FISA, ICE funding and the SAVE America Act

By Chad Pergram Fox News

Published June 23, 2026 1:56pm EDT

Senate postpones Jay Clayton’s DNI confirmation hearing following President Donald Trump’s declaration that he won’t approve FISA without the SAVE America Act. Fox News chief congressional correspondent Chad Pergram reports live from Capitol Hill on the political drama.

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Hope they have Maalox and Pepto-Bismol on hand when President Donald Trump visits Capitol Hill to meet with Senate Republicans over lunch.

Senate GOP Steering Committee Chairman and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., invited Trump for the luncheon Wednesday. Some Senate Republicans may wonder if they’re the ones on the menu. Both Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, are out after the president refused to endorse them and they lost their primaries. Trump has also sparred with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., exasperated that he can’t execute his legislative agenda.

Scott is a close ally of the president. He lost to Thune and Cornyn in the race to become majority leader in late 2024. In fact, Scott didn’t even request a blessing from the top Senate GOP leadership team to invite the president.

Scott teamed up with Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, advocating that the Senate approve the SAVE America Act. It requires proof of citizenship to vote. This advocacy is driving Thune and other members of the GOP brass batty since the bill failed twice. Scott and Lee want the Senate to get onto the SAVE America Act and stay on it until the measure passes. But few understand how exhaustion somehow conjures a majority of senators to suddenly support the bill.

GOP TRIGGERS MARATHON SENATE FIGHT TO EXPOSE DEMS’ OPPOSITION TO TRUMP-BACKED VOTER ID BILL

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on June 10, 2026.(Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)

Moreover, the president demands that they eliminate the filibuster. If the SAVE America Act doesn’t have the necessary votes to pass, there’s no way it commands 60 yeas to break a filibuster.

Simple solution, right?

Not really. Thune has said repeatedly that there aren’t the votes to alter the filibuster, either.

It’s about the math.

So expect some intense discussions Wednesday over what the president wants the Senate to do. Thune has tried to tell the president repeatedly what the Senate is capable of, based on the various parliamentary equations.

And there’s fear among Republicans that the president may attempt to sow discord about the midterm election outcomes if Democrats flip the House and/or Senate — and Republicans never passed the SAVE America Act.

Trump sports plenty of supporters in the Senate, but he’s frustrated Senate Republicans by repeatedly yanking the legislative rug out from under his own party for weeks now.

The Senate was on the precipice of beginning a “vote-a-rama” to finally pass funding for ICE and Border Patrol in May. Then the administration announced its weaponization fund. A meeting between acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and GOP senators devolved into pointed conversations. Blanche continued to defend the fund. Some Republicans threatened their own amendments during the vote-a-rama to either block the fund or shield themselves from political fallout.

Thune pulled the bill from the floor and sent everyone home for more than a week.

SENATE GOP ERUPTS OVER TRUMP DOJ ‘ANTI-WEAPONIZATION’ FUND, PUNTS ICE, BORDER PATROL FUNDING

Jay Clayton, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, speaks next to Jessica S. Tisch, New York Police Department commissioner, during a press conference at NYPD headquarters in New York City on March 9, 2026.(Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

Then there was a carefully crafted bipartisan agreement to renew FISA Section 702, the nation’s most effective program to track terrorists. Its authorization ran out after the president sidetracked the nomination of Jay Clayton, his own pick to become director of national intelligence (DNI).

Republicans couldn’t pass the FISA authorization on their own, so they engineered a bipartisan compromise with Democrats. But Democrats withdrew their support for the bill once the president announced that housing czar Bill Pulte would take over as acting DNI for Tulsi Gabbard, who resigned. Democrats viewed Pulte as a partisan who had no experience in intelligence. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., quickly scheduled a confirmation hearing for Jay Clayton once Trump tapped him as the nominee.

It was believed that the Senate may be able to confirm Clayton within a matter of days after his confirmation hearing. That would limit time on the job by Pulte. So, once Clayton was in place, the Senate could prospectively return to the bipartisan FISA deal and pass it.

But Trump detonated all of that last week. He insisted that Senate Republicans cancel Clayton’s confirmation hearing and not advance his nomination until it has confirmed Jamie McDonald as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. That’s the position Clayton held. The president made those demands at 3:59 a.m. ET Wednesday — all without consulting Thune.

He then made his signature on the FISA renewal conditional on passage of the SAVE America Act.

“That tells me he’s not very serious about FISA or intelligence,” said one senior congressional Republican about Trump. “And Pulte is a big middle finger to the intelligence community.”

So Senate Republicans aren’t enamored with all of these demands. Some began to lose faith in the president once he ditched support for Cassidy and Cornyn. Now they believe he’s being unreasonable, jerking around Thune, moving the goalposts for critical national security legislation and expecting the impossible on the SAVE America Act and the filibuster.

For his part, Scott believes he and the president can change minds.

Trump has criticized Senate Republican leaders generally of late. But he’s tiptoed around potentially calling out Thune by name. Thune is well-liked by his GOP colleagues and, like most congressional leaders, has an impossible job. That is why former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., likened the job to that of “herding cats.”

THUNE ‘ADAMANT’ ABOUT TRUMP SUPPORT, DRIVING MAGA AGENDA DESPITE TENSE PAST RELATIONSHIP

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Republican senators speak at a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on March 24, 2026.(Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

It’s clear that the president has better relations right now with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., compared to Thune. But turning on Thune by name would truly infuriate many of the president’s best allies in the Senate.

Trump routinely excoriated former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for not ditching the filibuster. But it was McConnell who delivered Trump three of the most lasting legacies: Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.

McConnell established a new Senate precedent for the method he used to confirm Gorsuch. Gorsuch would have faced an unprecedented filibuster for an associate justice on the high court and never scored confirmation.

McConnell stuck by Kavanaugh during his raucous confirmation process in the fall of 2018. And he rammed through Coney Barrett’s confirmation days before the 2020 election. Yet McConnell refused to hold a confirmation hearing for President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, future Attorney General Merrick Garland, for nearly 11 months — because it was an election year. Blocking confirmation of Garland held the seat open for Gorsuch. Yet Trump railed against McConnell at every turn.

Thune passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year. But through no fault of his own, Thune hasn’t delivered any wins as enduring as the Supreme Court for Trump yet. However, the president has extended some grace to the South Dakota Republican — despite his criticism of the Republican Senate.

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We’ll see if that continues after Wednesday’s luncheon.

The legislative contretemps between the president and Senate Republicans over the past few weeks has just been an appetizer. Anguish and frustration are on the bill of fare Wednesday. And if the meeting doesn’t go well, some Republicans may yell “Check, please!” to get out of there as fast as they can.

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.

Trump signs landmark executive order investing in quantum computing and cryptography security

June 23, 2026 2:27pm EDT / Fox News

IBM and Alphabet executives joined the president in the Oval Office as he outlined a national quantum strategy

By Robert McGreevy, Fox News

President Donald Trump announced a pair of executive orders investing in quantum computing Monday, moving forward an unprecedented partnership between government and industry while simultaneously moving to secure the U.S. from cryptographic threats.

The first executive order, titled “Ushering In The Next Frontier Of Quantum Innovation,” outlined a strategy to update the National Quantum Strategy by “promoting commercialization and deployment of” quantum technologies and partnering with industry leaders.

To drive that point, Trump signed the order in the Oval Office alongside executives from technology companies with vested quantum interests, including IBM and Google parent company Alphabet.

Furthermore, the directive mandates administration officials from the Departments of Energy and War, the director of national intelligence (DNI) and the director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) to submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) “a summary of steps taken to align their processes, policies, and programs with” the National Quantum Strategy.

DETAILS OF TRUMP’S HIGHLY ANTICIPATED AI PLAN REVEALED BY WHITE HOUSE AHEAD OF MAJOR SPEECH

President Donald Trump signed executive orders related to quantum computing in the Oval Office of the White House on June 22, 2026.(Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

It also kickstarts a national effort to develop a working quantum computer to be delivered to the Department of Energy for use and, “to the extent possible, make it available to the scientific community.”

Furthermore, Trump’s order directed NASA and other agencies to probe the development of quantum-enabled sensors, a technology that, if successfully adopted, could have significant military and defense applications.

Quantum computers can perform exponentially greater amounts of calculations at one time when compared to even the most advanced modern supercomputers today. This application makes them a potential threat to cryptographically secure information involving global finances, state secrets and digital communications.

An operating superconducting quantum computer chip is seen inside a white metal tank at QuantumCtek Co LTD in Hefei, China, on Feb. 7, 2023.(Costfoto/NurPhoto)

PROTECTING AMERICANS’DATA FROM CHINA IS CENTRAL TO AN AMERICA FIRST AGENDA

This fact underscores the second executive order Trump signed Monday, “Securing the Nation Against Advanced Cryptographic Attacks.” This order directed OMB and the national cyber director to “lead an accelerated, nationwide migration to post-quantum cryptography (PQC), ensuring our Nation and our data stay secure as quantum technology evolves.”

Joining Trump in the Oval Office, in addition to Alphabet President Ruth Porat and IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, were Nobel Prize-winning physicist John Martinis, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

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President Donald Trump delivers remarks before signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on June 22, 2026.(Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Lutnick highlighted the administration’s late May move to direct $2 billion from the CHIPS and Science Act to quantum computing companies.

“Besides investing in the companies we’ve also invested in fabs to build quantum for others so we can manufacture these quantum in America,” Lutnick said, pointing to the decision to invest directly in an IBM fab, a machine that can manufacture quantum-capable chips.

“We’re already the leader by a lot. We’re gonna be, now, the leader by a lot more,” Trump also said during the signing.

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Iran war’s price tag hits $80B — more than double what Congress was told

June 23, 2026 12:10pm EDT / Fox News

The Pentagon is expected to request roughly $80 billion in supplemental funding to cover the cost of the war in Iran

By Morgan Phillips, Alex Miller, Fox News

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The Trump administration is prepping a long-awaited, multibillion-dollar request to resupply munitions drained during the Iran war as Congress wrestles with another eye-popping funding request from the Pentagon.

The Pentagon is expected to request roughly $80 billion in supplemental funding to cover the cost of the war in Iran, a source familiar confirmed to Fox News Digital. That figure is double what War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Pentagon Comptroller Jay Hurst testified before lawmakers earlier this year.

Lawmakers have been waiting since the war began for a request from the administration with little insight on what the actual price tag would be.

TRUMP’S PUSH FOR $350 BILLION ‘ARSENAL OF FREEDOM’ HITS GOP SKEPTICISM

The Pentagon is requesting $80 billion in supplemental funding from Congress to pay for the Iran war.(Stoyan Nenov/Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters)

Whether the request can pass muster in the upper chamber remains to be seen, especially with the backlash among several Democrats and Republicans over President Donald Trump’s memorandum of understanding (MOU) that has temporarily paused the war.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.,contended, “We need to make sure we’re doing everything we can to replenish, resupply a lot of our munitions that have been depleted, not only just with what’s happening in Iran but prior to that.”

“I think there’s a good interest in doing some things that would help ensure that, from a National Security standpoint, we’re prepared to deter and defeat any threat that comes up,” Thune said. “And so we’ll see if and when it gets here, we’ll work through it. We’ll see where the votes are at some point.”

The expected request comes after Hegseth made the rounds on Capitol Hill last week, pitching senators for more funding for the Pentagon, and after Deputy War Secretary Steve Feinberg spoke with lawmakers pushing for an $80 billion supplemental, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

HEGSETH TESTIFIES AT SENATE AS IRAN WAR’S $25B PRICE TAG AND 60-DAY WAR POWERS DEADLINE LOOM

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Hegseth and Hurst recently told Congress that the war had cost $29 billion, but many lawmakers believe that figure underestimates the cost given the number of SM3, Patriot, THAAD missiles and Tomahawks used to bomb Iran.

Trump is set to meet with top executives at defense contractors at the White House on Wednesday, following up on a March 6 meeting where Lockheed Martin, Raytheon parent RTX, BAE Systems, Boeing, Honeywell Aerospace, L3Harris and Northrop Grumman promised to quadruple production on their “exquisite” munitions systems.

On June 16, Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to speed up production due to “systemic constraints in the munitions industrial base, including limited production capacity, fragile supply chains, long-lead dependencies, and related production bottlenecks.”

Analysts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies have warned that inventories of several key weapons systems used during the war could take years to restore to pre-war levels. Their analysis found that Patriot and THAAD missile interceptors, as well as Tomahawk cruise missiles, could require three or more years to fully replenish under current production rates.

Defense industry officials and outside experts have argued that substantially increasing output would require Congress to appropriate additional funding, allowing the Pentagon to place large replenishment orders and provide manufacturers with the long-term demand signals needed to expand production.

“The United States Military has more than enough munitions, ammo, and stockpiles to serve all of President Trump’s strategic goals and beyond, and Operation Epic Fury has exposed what happens when you mess with the United States,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said.”Even still, the president has urged our defense contractors to constantly produce more ‘made-in-America’ weapons, which are the best in the world. Democrats destroyed our military, but President Trump rebuilt it.”

TRUMP UNVEILS $1.5T DEFENSE SURGE, DEEP DOMESTIC CUTS — WHAT’S ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., says the U.S. must replenish depleted munitions stockpiles amid ongoing tensions with Iran.(Nathan Posner/Anadolu)

The bombing campaign against Iran, known as Operation Epic Fury, began on Feb. 28. A tenuous ceasefire has been in place since April 7, and now senior officials from both countries are negotiating on a longer-term peace deal after signing an MOU last week that established a framework for talks.

Meanwhile, it’s not the only eye-popping request the Pentagon and Trump have asked of lawmakers.

Trump earlier this month demanded that Republicans immediately begin work on a third budget reconciliation package loaded with $350 billion in defense funding tied to his highly sought-after Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act.

The figure, in part, is to make up the difference between his initial $1.5 trillion defense budget request, which lawmakers aren’t anywhere close to in their funding negotiations.

“This is a GENERATIONAL Investment in our Military, even bigger than President Reagan’s! Recon 3.0 is the ONLY path to the full $1.5 TRILLION DOLLAR Military Budget our Warriors need in order to build THE ARSENAL OF FREEDOM,” Trump said on Truth Social.

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But the request has already hit early roadblocks among Republicans in the upper chamber, and it comes as few Republicans want to circumvent the typical appropriations process to fund the Pentagon.

Earlier this month during a contentious Senate Appropriations hearing, Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., agreed that another reconciliation bill was unlikely to happen, particularly as a dumping ground for billions in additional defense spending.

Collins, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said, “Reconciliation is not the best approach.”

“It would be very difficult to get the reconciliation bill approved,” Collins said.

Fact Check: Covid-19 documents Gabbard released don’t prove her claims about Fauci

2026-06-23T19:32:40.450Z / CNN Politics

By Margaret Given, CNN

Published 3:32 PM EDT, Tue June 23, 2026

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CNN’s Daniel Dale joins Boris Sanchez for a fact check of claims made by now-former DNI Tulsi Gabbard about Dr. Anthony Fauci and the Covid-19 pandemic.

03:51 • Source: CNN

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Trump administration can’t block SNAP recipients in 5 states from buying soda and candy, judge rules

June 23, 2026 / 12:28 PM EDT / CBS News

A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s effort to let states bar SNAP recipients from using their food benefits to buy soft drinks and candy, ruling the Agriculture Department lacked the authority to approve the restrictions.

Earlier this year, multiple states received approval from the Agriculture Department to enact the ban, with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins backing the efforts as a way to strip foods regarded as unhealthy from the $100 billion federal program.

However, SNAP recipients in five states — Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee and West Virginia — sued the agency in March, alleging the move would “destabilize food access” for people on food stamps. They also argued that the ban makes it difficult for people with chronic illnesses to access food or drinks needed to maintain their health, including items used to manage blood sugar.

In her Monday ruling, Judge Amy Berman Jackson sided with the plaintiffs, writing that the Agriculture Department exceeded its authority when it allowed states to issue the ban.

“Congress defined what ‘food’ is supposed to be, and it did not authorize the agency to amend or waive the definition it enacted,” she wrote in her opinion. “It did not authorize the agency to cut types of food out of SNAP entirely.”

SNAP provides monthly benefits to help low-income Americans pay for groceries. While it’s a federally funded program, food stamps are administered by each U.S. state.

The Agriculture Department defended the effort and vowed to continue pursuing the “Make America Healthy Again” initiative.

“The idea that taxpayer funds should not be used to purchase junk food should not be controversial,” a USDA spokesperson said in a statement to CBS News. “We will not be backing down from the fight to Make America Healthy Again, including for families and communities reliant on SNAP.”

While the ruling only applies to the five states where the plaintiffs live, it could have implications for the remaining 18 states with similar bans, according to the Food Research & Action Center, or FRAC, an anti-hunger advocacy group.

“Other approved SNAP restriction demonstrations relied on the same USDA process, the same statutory authority and many of the same legal and procedural assumptions the court rejected,” Gina Plata-Nino, SNAP director for FRAC, said in a Tuesday blog post. “For that reason, the decision may provide a roadmap for future challenges.”

Setback for “Make America Healthy Again”

The ruling is a setback for the “Make America Healthy Again” campaign championed by Kennedy and Rollins, who have argued taxpayers shouldn’t foot the bill for foods and drinks that fuel obesity, diabetes and chronic disease epidemics.

“We cannot continue a system that forces taxpayers to fund programs that make people sick and then pay a second time to treat the illnesses those very programs help create,” Kennedy said in a December statement.

So far, the Agriculture Department has permitted 23 states to implement restrictions through waivers that allowed them to block SNAP recipients from buying certain food and beverages that are normally allowed under federal law.

The Food and Nutrition Act, which governs SNAP, allows food stamps to be used for “any food or food product intended for human consumption,” except for alcohol and ready-to-eat hot foods. The law also bars SNAP recipients from using benefits to buy tobacco.

The National Center for Law and Economic Justice, a nonprofit representing the plaintiffs, argued the different state-by-state definitions led to confusion for retailers and SNAP recipients.

“This decision makes clear that the USDA cannot bypass the legal guardrails that establish how SNAP must operate across the country,” Katie Deabler, senior attorney at the National Center for Law and Economic Justice, said in a statement.

Edited by Aimee Picchi

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Senate votes to limit Trump’s Iran war powers in rare rebuke

2026-06-23T19:44:05.356Z / CNN

By Morgan Rimmer

16 min ago

PUBLISHED Jun 23, 2026, 3:44 PM ET

The US Capitol building in Washington, DC, on June 18, 2026.

Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters

The Senate adopted a resolution on Tuesday directing the president to remove military forces from the conflict with Iran, a significant rebuke to Donald Trump and a strong message that the war lacks support in Congress.

Democrats have repeatedly forced votes to limit Trump’s war powers in both the House and the Senate – a campaign that has gradually picked up more GOP support in recent weeks, drawing the president’s ire.

GOP Sens. Rand Paul, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Bill Cassidy joined Democrats in voting for the resolution, while Democratic Sen. John Fetterman voted against it. The final tally was 50-48**.

The measure passed the House earlier this month. But because it is what’s known as a concurrent resolution, it does not require the president’s signature and, by definition, does not carry the force of law.

A House Democratic aide who has been involved in the effort to pass the war powers resolution told CNN earlier this month, however, that they believe the measure would be binding and it would be a legal matter to work out.

This is the 10 th time the Senate has voted on an Iran war powers measure since the beginning of the year. An earlier Senate-led resolution advanced last month, but has not had a follow-up vote yet as Democrats work to ensure they have the support needed to pass it.

The House passed the concurrent resolution 215-208, with four House Republicans voting with Democrats and immediately facing the president’s anger. Trump called the four members “GRANDSTANDERS” and their action “unpatriotic” in a post on Truth Social after the vote.

Some Democratic senators, including Tim Kaine, have argued that passage of a war powers resolution is necessary, even after the US reached an agreement with Iran and amid ongoing negotiations with Tehran.

“I think it’s a good time to have the vote to say, ‘Hey, if we’re really in a period of maybe some stability here, let’s not just allow it to start up again without Congress being involved in that decision,” he told reporters last week.

Frank Luntz: Democrats will move to impeach Trump ‘on day one’ if they take both chambers

2026-06-23T19:37:43.298Z / CNN Politics

By Blake McGill, CNN

Published 3:37 PM EDT, Tue June 23, 2026

https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/23/politics/video/cncpm-frank-luntz-midterms

Frank Luntz: Democrats will move to impeach Trump ‘on day one’ if they take both chambers

As primary contests take place across the country and President Donald Trump visits the swing state of Pennsylvania, pollster & communication strategist Frank Luntz joins CNN’s Brianna Keilar and Boris Sanchez.

4:49 • Source: CNN

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