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DHS chief Mullin says agency has no plan to shut down “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center

May 13, 2026 / 7:31 PM EDT / CBS News

Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin said the department has no near-term plan to shut down Alligator Alcatraz, even as he acknowledged the soft-sided Florida immigration detention facility is vulnerable to natural disasters.

“I don’t think we’ve said we’re shutting it down,” Mullin said. “That’s not been an announcement we’ve made.” The secretary told CBS News in an exclusive interview that DHS understands “there’s vulnerabilities” around the soft-sided facility in the middle of the Everglades, adding that “we have fires that are within 20 miles of it” and “Florida is pretty susceptible to hurricanes.”

Mullin’s comments follow reports that companies hired by the state of Florida to operate Alligator Alcatraz were notified Tuesday that the facility is being shut down, with roughly 1,400 remaining detainees expected to be removed in the coming weeks. One source told CBS News Miami that “the last detainee will leave in June,” amid escalating operating costs that are now estimated to total nearly $1 billion.

Pressed on whether there are any near-term plans to close the site, Mullin said DHS has contingency plans in the event of a natural disaster, but no plans to close the facility permanently.

“We have plans in case of a natural emergency such as a wildfire or hurricane, to have to be able to bring it down and pull the individuals out,” he said. But he added that DHS still needs the ability “to flex when we have a big influx” of migrants, calling the facility part of the department’s needed “surge capacity.”

On Wednesday, Gov. Ron Desantis said Florida has not received definitive notice from the federal government about whether the facility will close — or the road ahead.

Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie told reporters Wednesday, “We have received zero communication formally saying, ‘Hey, this is the path going forward. Here’s how we’re going to try to get there.’ That has not happened.”

The facility opened on a largely abandoned Florida airstrip last year. The Trump administration cast it as a cost-effective way of holding immigration detainees as it sought to ramp up arrests and deportations, but activist groups have criticized conditions at the facility, and it has drawn legal challenges from environmental groups and a Native American tribe.

A shift from warehouses to abandoned facilities

At the same time, Mullin said DHS is looking to reshape its strategy of expanding detention capacity, amid scrutiny of warehouse-style detention centers. Asked about the DHS inspector general’s probe of $38 billion in warehouse detention space within ICE, Mullin noted that some states are blocking DHS from using existing detention facilities, forcing the department to find its own space.

“We don’t have a choice but to continue that,” Mullin said, adding the department is “going to change the focus a little bit.” Instead of only looking to convert warehouses into immigration detention facilities, Mullin said DHS is exploring use of county jails as well as shuttered state and local facilities that can be purchased, repaired and brought online more quickly.

“Rather than just looking at warehouses, we’re going to look at county jails that may be in default on their grants. We’re going to be looking at facilities that have been shut down because they were too expensive to operate, because states or counties didn’t have the budget to do maintenance… where we purchase them, bring them up and immediately have beds available,” he said.

The secretary, citing his former background in construction, noted that converted warehouses can require permitting, utilities, water, gas and major build-outs — meaning some could take “18 to 24 months to bring online.” That timeline, Mullin said, “doesn’t fit today’s need.”

A temporary leader for ICE

The secretary also confirmed DHS is moving to put a temporary leader in place at ICE while continuing its search for a permanent director. Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons is planning on leaving the federal government at the end of the month, CBS News previously reported.

Asked about CBS News’ reporting that David Venturello will be the next acting ICE director, Mullin said he and Venturello have had “long conversations,” but that DHS is “still actually looking for a permanent position for the director.”

“We want to put somebody there that’s permanent,” Mullin said. “David is great. David is going to be a good placeholder, but he’ll be our deputy once we find someone to take the director’s position.”

DHS acknowledges debts owed to State, Pentagon, Interior after shutdown

The DHS secretary also addressed unpaid DHS bills to other federal agencies after a prolonged 76-day shutdown, acknowledging the department owes collective billions to the State Department, Pentagon and Department of Interior because they helped keep DHS operations running.

Earlier this week, Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, warned at a congressional hearing that the Army is facing a $2 billion readiness shortfall tied to DHS’ failure to reimburse the service branch for operations along the border.

“We owe money to the State Department. We owe money to the Department of War. We owe money to the Interior because they were all keeping us afloat,” Mullin conceded. He said that “as the money comes in, we’re writing the checks and sending them out the door.”

Mullin pointed specifically to the U.S. Coast Guard, noting its operations were affected by unpaid fuel and utility bills, forcing reliance on the Defense Department.

“Our gas card, literally, for the Coast Guard, got shut off,” Mullin said. “We hadn’t paid our gas bill or electricity bill or the fuel bill since February. So DOW helped the Coast Guard stand up.”

Bear kills worker at uranium mining company’s facility in Canada, forcing operations to shut down

May 13, 2026 / 12:52 PM EDT / CBS News

Toronto — A 27-year-old man was killed in a black bear attack over the weekend in northern Saskatchewan, according to local authorities and his employer.

The attack happened about 53 miles northeast of Points North Landing in central Saskatchewan, the province’s Ministry of Community Safety confirmed in a statement to CBS News.

The ministry said the regional conservation service’s Wildlife Human Attack Response Team was investigating the incident, adding: “Our thoughts are with his family, friends, and loved ones during this difficult time.”

The victim was an independent contractor working at a facility belonging to the Vancouver-based UraniumX Discovery Corp. He encountered the bear over the weekend at a remote uranium exploration site, the company said in a statement on its website.

“We are deeply saddened by this tragic loss. Our thoughts and deepest condolences go out to the family, friends, and colleagues of the deceased. The safety and well-being of our employees, contractors, and all personnel working on our projects is, and will always remain, our highest priority,” said UraniumX CEO Esen Boldkhuu in the statement.

As a precaution, all field operations at the company’s Zoo Bay property have been paused since the incident, while the investigation is underway.

An American black bear walks through a meadow at Cameron Cove, in Barnard Harbor, Princess Royal Island, British Columbia, Canada, in a file photo. Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket/Getty

CBS News’ Canadian partner CBC News, citing the victim’s brother, reported that he had come to Canada from India three years ago.

“The black bear involved in the incident was euthanized by a civilian on scene prior to officers arriving,” the provincial Ministry of Community Safety said in its statement to CBS News. The animal was then transported to a regional veterinary college for a necropsy.

On the same day as the bear attack, the government of Saskatchewan had issued a reminder to residents to be wary of hungry bears seeking easy food near homes and campsites.

“Black bears are intelligent and ruled by their stomachs. Limiting attractants is the most effective way to reduce these interactions,” the authorities warned.

Fatal bear attacks in Saskatchewan are rare, Douglas Clark, a professor at the University of Saskatchewan’s School of Environment and Sustainability, who specializes in human-bear interactions, told Canada’s public broadcaster CBC.

“The last one was six years ago,” Clark told CBC, “and you have to go quite a few years earlier before you find the next ones in the record.”

Last week, authorities said a missing hiker’s death in Montana’s Glacier National Park was likely caused by a bear attack.

As humans spread deeper into bears’ natural habitats around the world, encounters are becoming more common in some places. A Japanese company that makes ferocious-looking robotic wolves has been swamped by orders after a record number of fatal bear attacks last year.

Warsh clinches Senate approval to be Fed’s next chair as inflation intensifies

May 13, 2026 5:06 PM UTC / Reuters

By Nolan D. McCaskill and Ann Saphir

May 13, 2026 5:06 PM UTC Updated 15 mins ago

Kevin Warsh, U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to be next chair of the Federal Reserve, attends a Senate Banking Committee confirmation hearing to testify, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 21, 2026. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

• Summary
• Companies

• Warsh to take Fed chair role as rising inflation ignites rate-hike debate
• Producer prices rose 6% in April, stoking concern about broadening price pressures
• Trump picked Warsh with the expectation he would cut rates
• Warsh confirmation almost completely along partisan lines

WASHINGTON, May 13 (Reuters) – The U.S. ​Senate on Wednesday approved Kevin Warsh as chair of the Federal Reserve, putting the 56-year-old lawyer and financier at the helm as the U.S. central bank ‌grapples with intensifying inflation that may make it hard to push through the interest-rate cuts that President Donald Trump has demanded.

The vote was 54-45 in the most-partisan-ever U.S. Senate confirmation of a Fed chair. A single Democrat, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, voted with the Republican majority.

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His swearing-in to the four-year Fed chair term and a concurrent 14-year term as a Fed governor approved by the Senate on Tuesday awaits final White House signatures on paperwork sent ​by the Senate. The White House did not respond to questions about when Trump would complete the final paperwork or the timing of his swearing in.

Warsh will take the ​leadership baton from Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whose term ends on Friday but who will remain a Fed governor. Fed Governor Stephen Miran, currently ⁠the central bank’s biggest advocate of rate cuts, will vacate his spot on the board to make room for Warsh.

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Expected to be in place to chair the Fed’s next meeting June ​16 to 17, Warsh joins a central bank whose policymakers are engaged in a vigorous debate on the direction of interest rates.

Several central bankers have argued that the Fed should consider rate hikes, concerned that inflation ​is broadening even beyond the impact of the Trump administration’s tariffs and the spike in oil prices from the Iran war.

An index of producer prices, a key component of overall inflation, jumped 6% in April from a year earlier, the Labor Department reported on Wednesday. That’s the fastest pace since December 2022 when the Fed was battling a 40-year record surge in prices with sharp rate hikes.

Analysts expect the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index ​to have risen 3.8% last month, moving further from the Fed’s target of 2%.

Producer prices breakdown

In the run-up to his first meeting, Warsh may have to navigate a divided group of policymakers with growing ​support for more hawkish language indicating that a rate increase is as likely as a rate cut in coming months. At least five of the Fed’s 19 policymakers have said they wanted that change as ‌of April.

Also in ⁠June, Fed policymakers are scheduled to release fresh rate-path forecasts. March’s projections for a single rate cut this year look increasingly stale as the unemployment rate hovers around 4.3%, indicating the labor market may not need the support of a rate cut. However, inflation has continued to gain steam: a government report on Tuesday showed consumer prices rose in April at the fastest pace in three years.

Financial markets now expect no change to the Fed’s 3.5%-3.75% policy rate target this year, with a rate hike as soon as January.

Warsh is no stranger to discord within the Fed. As a ​Fed governor during Ben Bernanke’s tenure as chair, ​he expressed reservations about policy, though he ⁠left the Board in 2011 before ever casting a dissenting vote.

At his confirmation hearing he told senators he welcomes a “family fight” at the Fed as policymakers hammer out the right monetary policy response to economic conditions.

Unlike during Warsh’s first stint at the Fed, the current president has been badgering ​the central bank for rate cuts. Trump has also undertaken what Powell calls a “series of legal attacks” on the central bank, including ​an attempt to fire Fed ⁠Governor Lisa Cook last year. Trump’s Department of Justice also launched a criminal investigation of Powell which it has dropped for now but has left the door open to reviving.

Powell and others have said those attacks threaten the Fed’s ability to set interest rates according to economic fundamentals. Powell has opted to buck tradition and stay on at the Fed beyond the end of his chair term, at least until ⁠the DOJ ​probe is definitively closed.

Warsh also faces a different inflation backdrop than he did the last time he was a ​Fed governor. Then, inflation was mostly running below the Fed’s 2% target, yet Warsh argued that policymakers should tighten financial conditions with a smaller balance sheet.

Trump expects Warsh to advocate for lower rates, and Warsh had expressed support for Trump’s ​view. Still, he told senators at his confirmation hearing last month that he had not made any promises.

Reporting by Howard Schneider, Nolan McCaskill, Ann Saphir, Nandita Bose; Editing by David Gregorio

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Overdose deaths fall for 3rd straight year amid a changing drug supply and funding cuts

2026-05-13T12:13:42-0400 / CBS/AP

About 70,000 Americans died of drug overdoses last year — about 14% fewer than the previous year, according to preliminary government data.

It was the third straight annual drop, making it the longest decline in decades, according to federal data released Wednesday. The 2025 total is about the same as the tally in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Declines were seen across a number of drug types, including fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine.

Overdose deaths fell in the vast majority of states, although seven saw at least slight increases, including jumps of 10% or more in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico, the preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed.

“I’m cautiously optimistic that this represents really a fundamental change in the arc of the overdose crisis,” said Brandon Marshall, a Brown University researcher who studies overdose trends.

But the number of Americans dying from overdoses is still high, and deaths declined at a slower pace last year. A number of things could cause deaths to rise again — including government policy changes or a shift in the drug supply, Marshall and other researchers say.

“If deaths are going down rapidly, that means they can increase just as rapidly if we take our foot off the gas,” Marshall said.

Overdoses rose during the height of the pandemic

U.S. overdose deaths were generally rising for decades, but they shot up dramatically during the pandemic, peaking at nearly 110,000 in 2022. The pandemic spike was associated with social isolation and difficulties accessing addiction treatment.

Deaths declined as the pandemic waned. Researchers have pointed to numerous possible factors: an increase in the availability of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone, expanded addiction treatment, shifts in how people use drugs, and the growing impact of billions of dollars in opioid lawsuit settlement money.

Some research also suggests the number of people likely to overdose has been shrinking, as fewer teens take up drugs and many illicit drug users have died. Another theory suggests regulatory changes in China a few years ago appear to have diminished the availability of precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl.

The nation’s decades-long overdose epidemic has played out at different paces in different parts of the country, due at least in part to differences in the illicit drug supply and what people are using. The death increases last year in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico could stem from more combined use of fentanyl and methamphetamine recently in those places, Marshall guessed.

Health and law enforcement officials in recent months have been sounding alarms about newer drugs that were increasingly detected in 2025.

New substances are showing up in U.S. drug supply

Alex Krotulski is director of the Center for Forensic Science Research and Education, a federally funded toxicology lab in Horsham, Pennsylvania, that is an important part of a national illicit drug early warning system.

In all of last year, the lab identified 27 new drugs. Less than five months into 2026, the lab already has identified 23, he said.

Among the drugs on the lab’s radar is cychlorphine, a potent synthetic opioid described as up to 10 times stronger than fentanyl. Experts say it is being used as a cutting agent, added to other illicit drugs, without the buyer’s knowledge.

“The drug supply continues to change and evolve,” Krotulski said.

Veterinary sedatives like xylazine and medetomidine have also appeared in the drug supply. They are not as fatal as synthetic opioids like fentanyl, but they can depress breathing and make users black out unexpectedly. They can also cause damaging side effects. For example, xylazine can cause severe wounds that can become infected or necrotic.

A vial of xylazine. CBS News Detroit

Trump administration cuts some programs

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has been cutting programs designed to reduce overdose deaths and infections tied to drug use. In a letter last month, the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration notified federal grant recipients that the government would no longer pay for test strips and kits that help drug users see if their drugs contain highly lethal additives including fentanyl and xylazine.

Shreeta Waldon, the executive director of the Kentucky Harm Reduction Coalition, told CBS News that her organization lost a $400,000 grant that it used to distribute tens of thousands of fentanyl test strips.

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

Officials say they are shifting away from services that facilitate illicit drug use, including programs that provided clean syringes and hotlines that people can dial into while they use drugs. The purpose of these hotlines is to ensure emergency services can be called in case of an overdose.

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

A nearly 200-page drug strategy plan from the White House suggests using methods like wastewater testing to try to determine illegal drug use in real time, and using AI to search for smuggled substances or “identify patients at high risk of overdose.”

“We’re still in the midst of the overdose crisis,” Maritza Perez Medina, director of federal policy at the Drug Policy Alliance, told CBS News earlier in May. “Federal funding cuts, coupled with taking away the real tools to help people … could very well lead to more drug use harms, including overdose.”

US Justice Department drafts legal opinion backing demands for state voter rolls

2026-05-13 4:54 PM UTC / Reuters

By Luc Cohen

May 13, 2026 4:54 PM UTC Updated 3 hours ago

United States Department of Justice logo and U.S. flag are seen in this illustration taken April 23, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

• Summary

• DOJ opinion not binding, many states resist sharing unredacted voter rolls
• Federal judges in six states have blocked DOJ demands for voter lists
• Voting rights advocates warn DHS checks could wrongly flag naturalized citizens
• Read the opinion:

May 13 (Reuters) – The Department ​of Justice has issued a formal legal justification for the federal government’s demands that states share their ‌unredacted voter rolls, even though half a dozen federal courts have already ruled that states have no obligation to provide those lists.

The May 12 opinion from the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel – which provides advice to the White House and federal agencies – is not binding on states, ​dozens of which have resisted the Trump administration’s demands that they hand over lists including sensitive information such ​as voters’ partial social security numbers and driver’s license numbers.

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But it signals that the Justice Department ⁠does not intend to back down from its push for the data, even after federal judges in California, Oregon, ​Michigan, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Arizona have blocked it from forcing states to share their lists. The department says it needs ​the unredacted lists to oversee states’ processes for ensuring that ineligible people, including noncitizens, are not registered to vote.

The opinion comes as President Donald Trump’s Republicans are battling to maintain control of both houses of Congress in the November midterm elections. Trump and his allies have falsely ​asserted that his loss in the 2020 presidential election was due to fraud. Trump also frequently states that voting by ​illegal immigrants is rampant, even though state audits and independent studies have shown that the practice is rare.

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LISTS COULD BE SHARED WITH ‌DHS

In its opinion, opens new tab, ⁠the OLC said the Justice Department would be authorized to share the lists with the Department of Homeland Security, which enforces immigration laws, to check whether noncitizens were improperly registered to vote.

Voting rights advocates have raised concerns that the plans to run states’ voter rolls against DHS data could wrongly flag naturalized citizens as ineligible to vote.

The opinion also concluded ​that the voter rolls were ​subject to a civil rights ⁠law allowing the Justice Department to compel states to provide it with certain election-related documents, and that the department’s collection of such data would not run afoul of federal privacy ​laws.

DOJ SUES DOZENS OF STATES

The U.S. Constitution assigns individual states the role of administering ​federal elections, though ⁠the Justice Department has some oversight authority.

Since last year, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division has sent letters to nearly every state demanding access to their unredacted rolls. Dozens of states, including several governed by Republicans, have resisted. The Justice Department has sued ⁠30 states ​and the District of Columbia seeking to force them to hand over ​their rolls.

The judges who have ruled against the Justice Department include three appointed by Democratic presidents and three appointed by Trump during his first term.

The ​Justice Department is appealing its losses in California, Oregon and Michigan.

Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York Editing by Rod Nickel

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Senate takes major first step to prevent future shutdowns with painful accountability play

May 13, 2026 1:17pm EDT / Fox News

Kennedy says he’s ‘very concerned’ Democrats will try to shut down the government again before midterm elections

By Alex Miller, Fox News

The Senate is one step closer to adding painful consequences for lawmakers who choose to shut down the government.

The upper chamber on Wednesday unanimously advanced a resolution from Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., that, if passed, would prevent lawmakers from getting paid during future shutdowns. It comes after the once-rare occurrence became a political cudgel wielded by Democrats time and again in the last year.

Despite having spurred the two longest shutdowns in history, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Democrats joined Republicans to move the measure along for a final vote.

SCHUMER BACKS GOP’S PLAN TO BRING THE PAIN DURING FUTURE SHUTDOWNS: ‘I’M GOING TO VOTE FOR IT’

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., arrives at a Senate Republican policy luncheon in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 28, 2025.(Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

But its success through the first hurdle has not quite sated concerns that Democrats will again try to force another shutdown before the midterm elections in the fall.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Fox News Digital that its success “helps” but suggested that the move from Democrats was more political than not.

“I think it’s, they realize, I mean, that’s a really bad posture to be in if you’re opposing something like that at a time when you got a lot of government employees who aren’t getting paid, and, you know, people up here are voting against depriving themselves of pay when everybody else is not getting paid,” Thune said.

SENATE REPUBLICANS BALK AT $1B WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM REQUEST: ‘YOU MADE THAT NUMBER UP’

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer returns to the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., on March 20, 2026.(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“So I just think that’s a very difficult political vote for Democrats,” he continued. “I think they’ve recognized it, and I’m guessing they had a fairly robust conversation at their lunch yesterday.”

Kennedy’s resolution, which he described as a resolution of “shared sacrifice,” can’t take effect until after the upcoming election cycle, adding more concern that Democrats may be tempted to repeat the cycle.

“If I were king for a day — I’m not, I don’t aspire to be — but if I were, I’d make this resolution effective immediately,” Kennedy said.”Because I’m … very concerned that my Senate colleagues on the Democratic side are going to try to shut down the government yet again right before the elections to try to create chaos to affect the midterm elections.”

Kennedy’s resolution would direct the secretary of the Senate to withhold lawmakers’ pay until a shutdown is resolved. A rank-and-file senator earns $174,000 per year, while a leader of either party can earn over $193,000 per year.

SENATE WEIGHS NEW, PAINFUL LEVERAGE TACTIC AS FEARS OF ANOTHER GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN GROW

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks at a press conference with Senate Republican leadership at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 16, 2025, after a last-minute block from Senate Democrats halted a government funding package.(Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

And it would only pertain to the Senate — a point he made clear on the Senate floor just before the vote.

Kennedy’s push isn’t the only one that’s brewed in the Senate following the 43-day shutdown over enhanced Obamacare premium tax credits and the latest 76-day Department of Homeland Security shutdown.

That’s because shutdowns have become a common tool over the last year and a half that Democrats have turned to as a negotiating counterpoint. In Trump’s second term alone, Congress has been on the precipice of a closure four times.

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Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., has been pushing his Shutdown Fairness Act, which would require that working federal workers are paid during a shutdown.

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., has the Prevent Government Shutdowns Act, which would automatically fund the government for two-week stretches until Congress lands on a compromise funding deal.

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

Trump administration pauses Medicare enrollments for hospice providers amid fraud investigations

May 13, 2026 / 3:06 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington— The Trump administration is enacting a six-month moratorium on new Medicare enrollments by hospice and home health agencies to target fraud, effectively putting a hold on new hospice and home health agencies.

“There will be no new hospices or home health care open in this country,” said Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz in a press conference on Wednesday alongside Vice President JD Vance. “If you have the program now, you can keep it. You can go to ones that already exist. We’re not taking away any services. But there will be no new ones, licenses granted, until we can figure out a better way of working across government.”

The moratorium will entail targeted investigations, advanced analysis of data, and a swifter removal of providers that are suspected of committing fraud, CMS said.

Nationwide, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General reported in 2023 that suspected hospice fraud amounts totaled an estimated $198.1 million.

Vance also announced Wednesday that the Trump administration will be deferring $1.3 billion in reimbursement payments for California’s Medicaid anti-fraud unit, and warned all 50 states to crack down on Medicaid fraud or risk losing funding for their anti-fraud units. California, he said has “not taken fraud very seriously.” Vance clarified that Medicaid recipients in California will continue to receive funding.

The latest developments follow a CBS News investigation, based on state and federal data, that raised concerns about potentially fraudulent hospice companies and charges, notably in California, where an outsized number of companies offer hospice services.

The investigation found that over 700 of the roughly 1,800 hospices in LA County trigger multiple red flags for fraud as defined by the state.

In response to the CBS News reports, Oz announced in March an initiative to decertify any hospice providers that are found to be defrauding taxpayers by stealing the identities of people not in hospice or by overbilling for those who are dying.

“If they do not aggressively prosecute Medicaid fraud, we are going to turn off the money that goes to these anti-fraud units,” Vance said in a press conference in Washington Wednesday.

Vance insisted this isn’t a red state or a blue state issue, and that there are also Medicaid fraud issues in Ohio, a red state. But, Vance said, it’s generally blue states that aren’t aggressively pursuing Medicaid fraud. President Trump picked Vance to head up the White House’s anti-fraud task force.

Medicaid generally provides health care for low-income Americans, while Medicare is for seniors, although there are many exceptions.

On Thursday, Vance heads to Bangor, Maine, for an address on the administration’s efforts to combat fraud.

In a social media post on Wednesday announcing the freeze on enrollments, the White House’s anti-fraud task force noted that states had to “fight fraud too.”

“States aren’t entitled to taxpayer money for fraudulent Medicaid services,” the task force said. “Americans shouldn’t have to pay fraudsters and states to waste your hard-earned money. This administration and the Fraud Task Force are fighting for accountability.”

Senate confirms Kevin Warsh as Fed chair as Trump’s economic vision comes into focus

May 13, 2026 2:48pm EDT / Fox News

The Federal Reserve is grappling with persistent inflation and economic fallout from the war in Iran

By Amanda Macias, Fox News

The Senate cleared Kevin Warsh on Wednesday to lead the Federal Reserve, ushering in a new era at the central bank under President Donald Trump’s nominee.

The Senate confirmed Warsh, 54–45, concluding a monthslong search that began last summer for a successor to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell as his term neared its end. The vote was largely along party lines, with only Pennsylvania Democrat Sen. John Fetterman crossing over in support.

Earlier in the week, Warsh was confirmed to the Fed’s Board of Governors, a 14-year appointment and a required step before serving as chair. He previously served on the board as its youngest member at age 35 and now returns to lead the central bank at a pivotal moment.

FROM MORTGAGES TO CAR LOANS: HOW AFFORDABILITY RISES AND FALLS WITH THE FED

Though the Federal Reserve operates largely out of public view, its decisions shape borrowing costs, job growth and interest rates for millions of Americans, making Warsh’s confirmation a pivotal moment for how that influence will be wielded.

Warsh, a lawyer and financier, steps into the role at a particularly volatile time.

Kevin Warsh is a former Morgan Stanley banker who became the youngest member of the Fed’s Board of Governors in 2006.(Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The central bank is grappling with persistent inflation, the economic fallout from the war in Iran, and a looming Supreme Court decision involving Fed Governor Lisa Cook, all while political pressure builds ahead of the midterm elections in November.

The 56-year-old multimillionaire has already signaled a clear break from the central bank’s current approach.

In testimony before lawmakers on April 21, Warsh pledged to keep monetary policy “strictly independent” and said he intended to keep the central bank “in its lane,” warning that the Fed had become too involved in social policy.

He has also taken aim at what he sees as a complacent central bank, warning that large institutions are prone to inertia and that clinging to the “status quo” in a fast-moving economy is not just outdated, but dangerous.

WATCH: SEN. WARREN UNLOADS ON TRUMP’S FED NOMINEE KEVIN WARSH IN EXPLOSIVE HEARING SHOWDOWN

Kevin Warsh, incoming chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, has called a government-issued digital currency a “bad policy choice.”(Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

At the same time, he has signaled openness to closer coordination with elected leaders and to work with the White House and Congress on non-monetary matters — an approach that could reshape how the Fed operates in Washington.

How that balance is struck could define not only Warsh’s tenure, but the future direction of the institution that plays a major role in the financial lives of millions of Americans.

Warsh will take the reins from Powell, whose eight-year tenure as Fed chair concludes Friday. Powell, widely considered the most crisis-tested Fed chair, is not leaving the central bank entirely.

Powell’s term on the Fed board runs through 2028, and he has indicated he plans to remain in place until all investigations into a renovation project at the Fed’s headquarters are complete.

POWELL WILL REMAIN AT THE FED FOR NOW, SETTING UP POTENTIAL CLASH WITH TRUMP

Powell, who holds one of the most influential posts in U.S. economic policymaking, has made clear he won’t step down until his term is up in May 2026.(Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

If Powell stepped aside entirely, it would have opened a seat for Trump to fill, giving him another opportunity to shape the Fed’s leadership. By staying on, Powell retains influence over U.S. monetary policy, potentially intensifying tensions with the president.

“I plan to keep a low profile as a governor. There is only ever one chair of the Federal Reserve Board. When Kevin Warsh is confirmed and sworn in, he will be that chair,” Powell told reporters at a news conference at the Federal Reserve on April 29.

Powell said that decision ultimately depends on the outcome of the investigation.

“I will not leave the board until this investigation is fully resolved with transparency and finality,” Powell said. “I’m encouraged by recent developments, and I am watching the remaining steps in this process carefully. My decisions on these matters will continue to be guided entirely by what I believe is in the best interest of the institution and the people we serve.”

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The Senate cleared Kevin Warsh on Wednesday to lead the Federal Reserve.(Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Powell’s tenure at the central bank dates back to 2017, when he was selected by Trump to succeed Janet Yellen. He was reappointed to a second four-year term by President Joe Biden in 2022, which expires on May 15.

The White House and Federal Reserve did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Amanda covers the intersection of business and politics for Fox News Digital.

US Senate blocks latest bid to rein in Trump Iran war powers, support grows

2026-05-13T18:31:14.633Z / Reuters

By Patricia Zengerle

May 13, 2026 6:31 PM UTC Updated 53 mins ago

[1/2]An American flag flies outside the U.S. Capitol building at sunset, as members of Congress work to resolve a dispute over immigration enforcement and avert a looming partial government shutdown, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 30, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper

• Iran resolution was seventh blocked in Senate this year
• Vote was first since 60-day war powers law deadline
• Trump declared on May 1 that ceasefire ‘terminated’ conflict

WASHINGTON, May 13 (Reuters) – U.S. Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked the latest Democratic-led effort to end the Iran war until it is authorized by Congress, but the measure edged closer to passage as a third Republican voted to advance the bill.

The Senate voted 50-49 not to advance the war powers resolution, nearly along party lines. Three Republicans joined every Democrat but one in backing the measure sponsored by Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon.

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It was the seventh time this year that President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans in the Senate had blocked similar resolutions.

Republicans Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted in favor of moving ahead, while Democrat John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voted with Republicans to block it.

The vote was the first in the Senate since the conflict hit a 60-day deadline on May 1 for Trump to come to Congress about the war. Trump declared then that a ceasefire had “terminated” hostilities against Iran.

Under a 1973 U.S. war powers law passed in response to the Vietnam War, a U.S. president can wage military action for only 60 days before ending it, asking Congress for authorization or seeking a 30-day extension due to “unavoidable military necessity regarding the safety of United States Armed Forces” while withdrawing forces.

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Democrats disputed Trump’s assertion that the deadline did not apply because of a ceasefire, saying the conflict is ongoing.

“There’s not a cessation of war hostilities,” Merkley told reporters before the vote, citing the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and strikes on Iranian ships and Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on U.S. ships and tankers.

“Both sides are still engaged in hostilities, and so I don’t accept that the 60-day clock is suspended,” he said.

Merkley and other Senate Democrats said they planned to bring up another war powers resolution next week, and every week until the war ends or Trump comes to lawmakers for authorization.

Democrats in the House have also introduced war powers resolutions, also blocked by Republicans.

Democrats have called on Trump to come to Congress for authorization to use military force, noting that the U.S. Constitution says that Congress, not the president, can declare war. They have warned that Trump may have pulled the country into a long conflict without setting out a clear strategy.

Republicans – and the White House – say Trump’s actions are legal and within his rights as commander-in-chief to protect the U.S. by ordering limited military operations.

Some congressional Republicans have accused Democrats of filing the war powers resolutions only because of their partisan opposition to Trump.

Reporting by Patricia Zengerle in Washington Editing by Bill Berkrot

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Justice Department investigating oil market trading, sources say

2026-05-13T12:11:00-0400 / CBS News

By Jennifer Jacobs, Jennifer Jacobs Senior White House reporter

Jennifer Jacobs is a senior White House reporter at CBS News.

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Jennifer Jacobs, Sarah N. Lynch

Sarah N. Lynch Senior Justice Department Reporter

Sarah N. Lynch is the senior Justice Department reporter for CBS News, based in Washington, D.C.

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Sarah N. Lynch

Updated on: May 13, 2026 / 12:30 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington — The Department of Justice is investigating suspicious trading timed to swings in the oil market, according to two sources familiar with the investigation.

Reuters first reported the trading and the fact the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission was investigating the trade.ABC News was the first to report the Justice Department’s role in investigating the trade.

The oil market has been volatile amid the war with Iran. Tehran has effectively closed the strategic Strait of Hormuz to Gulf oil and gas exports, sending prices soaring and forcing nations to scramble for alternative supplies.

The average national price for a gallon of gas Wednesday was $4.51, according to AAA.