The White House News

Republicans are gearing up for a trifecta of control in Congress next year with a heightened focus on legislation against transgender medical procedures on minors. 

During a Senate panel on Wednesday afternoon, lawmakers discussed the future of legislative action in Congress, such as bans on biological males competing in women’s sports, restrictions on gender-related surgery on minors and cessation of taxpayer funding of these types of procedures for children, and expanding parental consent requirements.

The discussion was hosted by Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., and was led by Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project (APP). Schilling interviewed Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., and Paula Scanlan, a swimmer who shared her experience of competing alongside Lia Thomas, a transgender athlete on the women’s team at the University of Pennsylvania.

“This movement from the beginning has been about saving America, but mostly about protecting our children,” Schilling said in his opening remarks.

SPEAKER JOHNSON ANNOUNCES NEW CAPITOL BATHROOM POLICY IN RESPONSE TO CONTROVERSY OVER TRANS HOUSE MEMBER

Marshall, a former medical doctor, discussed his efforts to “shut down the gender industrial complex.”

REP. NANCY MACE WON’T BE ‘BULLIED INTO SILENCE’ AFTER TRANSGENDER BATHROOM STANCE

“Here, today, we’re protecting young ladies and men from genital mutilation, ’cause this is what this is,” Marshall told the panel. “It’s hard for me to believe we’re doing irreversible damage to these young children.”

Tuberville, who introduced the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023, said that “we’ve gotten no help from the Democratic side,” but that Republicans are going to continue working on the issue in the next Congress when Senate Republicans will likely have a majority.

“I can’t believe we’re even having to do this,” Tuberville added. “It is pure insanity and has caused irreversible damage on children. This isn’t about politics folks, this is about good and evil.”

“Title IX is the best thing to come out of this building in 50 years,” Tuberville, a former coach, said. “Biological men playing in women’s sports is not a right.”

Scanlan told the panel about her experience competing for the University of Pennsylvania’s swim team alongside a biological male, saying that she had to change in the locker room with Thomas “18 times per week.”

Marshall revealed that Congress will be introducing the Safeguarding the Overall Protection of Minors Act (STOP), which will aim to “punish people who perform surgery or mediation on minors.”

According to an APP report recently covered by Fox News Digital, total revenues for transgender drugs and surgeries in 2023 are estimated to surpass $4.4 billion. That number, according to the study, could exceed $7.8 billion by 2030.

Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump transition, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.

Here’s what’s happening…

– Speaker Johnson makes clarification after statement regarding transgender House member-elect

-Top 10 states where Trump outperformed in 2024

-Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia says with Trump’s election, ‘we’ve got a friend in the White House’

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said he would vote to confirm his former political opponent Dr. Mehmet Oz to serve as Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator if Oz plans to protect the government programs. 

“If Dr. Oz is about protecting and preserving Medicare and Medicaid, I’m voting for the dude,” Fetterman tweeted.

Fetterman defeated Oz, a Republican, in Pennsylvania’s 2022 U.S. Senate race…Read more

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‘WOMEN’S ONLY SPACES’: Speaker Johnson announces new Capitol bathroom policy in response to controversy over trans new House member…Read more

‘CLEAR DEADLINE’: Biden admin Commerce Dept seeks to exhaust CHIPS Act funding before Biden leaves office…Read more

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VISA ABUSE: Trump could seek to roll back habitually ‘defrauded’ immigration program, expert says…Read more

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THE SPRINT: Race to confirm Trump nominees kicks off in January – Chad Pergram…Read more

‘IMMEDIATE DISMISSAL’: Trump lawyers demand Bragg case be ‘immediately dismissed,’ say election ‘supersedes’ ‘political motivations’…Read more

NUCLEAR THREAT: Iran vastly increased nuclear fuel stockpile ahead of Trump return, UN agency finds…Read more

‘EXIT RAMP’: Trump’s cut to Biden’s EV tax credit, backed by Musk, may impact auto industry, experts say…Read more

HEAR HIM OUT: Lindsey Graham urges GOP not to form ‘lynch mob’ ahead of Gaetz confirmation…Read more

‘VERY PLEASED’: House passes bill to bolster geothermal energy production by increasing lease sale frequency…Read more

BATHROOM BATTLE: Nancy Mace’s effort to ban transgender Delaware Democrat from Capitol women’s restrooms gains support…Read more

STILL WAITING: 5 uncalled House races to determine size of Republican majority…Read more

‘GO THE WAY OF THE DODO’: Incoming Senate Dem Elissa Slotkin torches identity politics in 2024 autopsy…Read more

WATCHERS ON THE WAY: Congressional election observers deploy to Iowa for recount in uncalled House race…Read more

TOLEDO TOSSUP: Democratic Ohio Rep. Kaptur narrowly wins re-election, keeping Republican majority at 218 seats…Read more

NEVER AGAIN: DePaul University student assaulted by anti-Israel agitator seeks legal action: ‘I will never apologize’…Read more

HISTORIC REJECTION: Calif rejects minimum wage hike…Read more

‘OPEN TO MEETING’: Elon Musk wants to meet Alex Soros — and Soros says he’s open to it…Read more

HITTING HOME: Illegal with suspected Tren de Aragua ties robbed Manhattan prosecutor in her apartment building: police…Read more

EX-POLL WORKER INDICTED: Ex-Georgia poll worker indicted for mailing bomb threat to polling place: FBI..Read more

AMENDMENT: Louisiana lawmakers weighing constitutional amendment that would send more juvenile offenders to adult jails…Read more

‘THIS IS THE RESULT’: Democrat mayor slams his own party after deadly hours-long stabbing spree…Read more

Get the latest updates on the Trump presidential transition, incoming Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

EXCLUSIVE – Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp says justice was served after a judge gave the 26-year-old migrant from Venezuela who was convicted of murdering Laken Riley a life sentence.

“I’m glad that justice was served, and it was swift and severe,” the governor said in a Fox News Digital interview on Wednesday soon after a judge in Athens County, Georgia, convicted and then sentenced Jose Antonio Ibarra, a migrant who had entered the U.S. illegally.

Kemp said the conviction and sentencing were “no surprise” and emphasized that Riley’s murder was “a really tragic set of circumstances. Tragic for that family and I’ve certainly had them in my thoughts and prayers. I know that people in Georgia and around the country have.”

JUDGE ANNOUNCES SENTENCE IN LAKEN RILEY MURDER TRIAL

The 22-year-old Riley, a nursing student, was attacked in February while running on a trail on the University of Georgia campus in Athens. Ibarra was charged in connection with the killing a day later.

The judge, H. Patrick Haggard of State Superior Court in Athens-Clarke County, rather than a jury, decided the case following a request from Ibarra’s lawyers after they unsuccessfully worked to move the case out of Athens.

Riley’s killing was repeatedly spotlighted by President-elect Trump during this year’s presidential campaign, as he argued for the mass deportation of millions of undocumented migrants in the country.

Kemp, taking aim at President Biden’s border security actions, argued that “the policies are outrageous. They’ve gotten people killed not only in Georgia but around the country and that’s why our people elected Donald Trump to be our president, or at least a big reason for that. So we look forward to working with the administration like we did in their first term to secure the border and make sure these things aren’t happening in our local communities.”

And Kemp emphasized that “it is just literally heartbreaking for this family, for her fellow students that she was in school with, for her friends, for local communities and really for the whole state.”

Kemp was interviewed by Fox News Digital in Marco Island, Florida, minutes after he was elected chair of the Republican Governors Association. 

Senate Republicans are preparing to probe Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on his pro-choice stance after the former presidential candidate was selected by President-elect Trump to be his nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services. 

Kennedy, a former Democrat, has concerned a number of Senate Republicans over his espoused views on abortion. His former presidential campaign reportedly said he believed it “should be left up to the woman and her doctor.” 

Over the summer, Kennedy shared a video on social media, writing in a post, “I support the emerging consensus that abortion should be unrestricted up until a certain point.” 

He suggested that this limit should be “when the baby is viable outside the womb.” Viability is understood to occur around 24 weeks gestation. 

INCOMING SENATE DEM ELISSA SLOTKIN TORCHES IDENTITY POLITICS IN 2024 AUTOPSY: ‘GO THE WAY OF THE DODO’

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., a staunch pro-life advocate, told Fox News Digital, “It’ll come up in the hearing 100%. There’s no question that this will be an issue. I will raise it if no one else does.” 

He explained that his office is compiling a list of “all of the things that the first Trump administration did for life through HHS, because they were very active in that area.” 

RICK SCOTT OUTLINES CONSENSUS FOR ‘DRAMATIC CHANGE’ TO SENATE OPERATION IN POST-MCCONNELL ERA

Lankford pointed to HHS’ work when it came to conscience protections for abortion and taking on Planned Parenthood as examples. 

“There’s a lot of things that they did during the first Trump administration through HHS. So, we’re compiling that list, and that’ll definitely be my list of questions,” he said. 

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said, “There’s several questions I want to talk to him about.”

He explained he wanted to see exactly what RFK Jr.’s position is — “How far? What month?”

MATT GAETZ ‘WORKING THE PHONES,’ SPEAKING TO GOP SENATORS DESPITE DIFFICULT CONFIRMATION ODDS

HELP committee ranking member Bill Cassidy, R-La., said, “We’ll do our due diligence, but I’m sure somebody will ask that. How could they not?” 

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told Fox News Digital abortion was a concern of his when it comes to RFK Jr.

While several Republicans are wary about Trump’s pick for HHS, some expressed confidence that he would act in line with the administration. 

SENATE GOP INITIATES THUNE-ENGINEERED SLOW DOWN AS SCHUMER LOOKS TO STACK JUDICIAL VOTES

“I would fully expect any of Trump’s nominees to be pro-life, as is President Trump,” said Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C.

But, he said, “It does need to be addressed.”

“I believe what he’s going to do is do the right thing,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said of RFK Jr.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told Fox News Digital “he’ll be asked a question, and we’ll see how he answers. And we’ll take it from there.”

Katie Miller, a Trump-Vance transition spokesperson, told Fox News Digital in a statement, “Mr. Kennedy has every intention of supporting President Trump’s agenda to the fullest extent. This is President Trump’s administration that Robert F. Kennedy has been asked to serve in, and he will carry out the policies Americans overwhelmingly voted for in President Trump’s historic victory.” 

The concerns aired by Senate Republicans come as some conservative and pro-life groups have already sounded the alarm bell on the HHS pick. 

“I believe the nomination of RFK Jr. to serve as secretary of HHS is an abrupt departure from the pro-life record of our administration and should be deeply concerning to millions of pro-life Americans who have supported the Republican Party and our nominees for decades,” former Vice President Mike Pence said in a statement from his organization, Advancing American Freedom, last week.

The president of top pro-life group Susan B. Anthony Pro Life America, Marjorie Dannenfelser, expressed her own worry, saying in a statement, “There’s no question that we need a pro-life HHS secretary, and, of course, we have concerns about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.”

But she signaled confidence in Trump’s administration to uphold pro-life values. 

“I believe that no matter who is HHS secretary, baseline policies set by President Trump during his first term will be reestablished,” Dannenfelser said. 

EXCLUSIVE: Two high school cross-country runners and their families are suing a California school district, alleging their “Save Girls Sports” T-shirts were likened to a swastika.

Plaintiffs Kaitlyn and Taylor, two athletes at Martin Luther King High School in ninth and eleventh grade, respectively, wore T-shirts bearing the messages “Save Girls’ Sports” and “It’s Common Sense. XX ≠ XY.” 

The girls wore the shirts after a transgender athlete, who didn’t consistently attend practices or meet key varsity eligibility requirements, was placed on the varsity team, displacing Taylor from her spot, the complaint alleged.

“My initial reaction was like, I was really surprised, because it was like, why is this happening to me?” Taylor told Fox News Digital. “There’s a transgender student on the team. Why am I getting displaced when I worked so hard and gone to all of the practices, and this student has only attended a few of the practices.”

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

Athletic department school officials allegedly forced the students to remove or conceal the shirts, claiming they created a “hostile” environment and comparing wearing these shirts to wearing a swastika in front of Jewish students.

“It was definitely hard to hear because we’re by no means trying to be hateful,” Kaitlyn told Fox News Digital. “We’re just wearing a shirt that expresses what we believe in trying to raise awareness to a situation.”

The transgender athlete, however, has been allegedly allowed to wear “trans pride” bracelets, and the school allows other forms of social messaging around campus, including a LGBTQ pride flag, the complaint noted.

“The biological male transgender athlete who displaced T.S. on the girls’ varsity team had recently transferred from another local high school after breaking that school’s all-time cross-country record for the girls’ cross-country team,” the complaint said.

TRANSGENDER WOMEN TO BE BANNED FROM CAPITOL HILL FEMALE BATHROOMS UNDER NEW HOUSE GOP PROPOSAL

“T.S., who had held a position on the girls’ Varsity Top 7 since August 2024 was removed from the girls’ Varsity Top 7 to make room on the girls’ Varsity Top 7 for an eleventh-grade transgender student and T.S. was relegated to the junior varsity team for one of the most important meets of the season for college recruitment,” the complaint said.

According to the girls’ Advocates for Faith and Freedom attorney, Julianne Fleischer, the lawsuit claims there were violations of their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights and their Title IX protections.

In October, according to the complaint, the district’s Title IX coordinator, Bethany Scott, informed Taylor’s mother of a formal investigation into her complaint. Scott also conveyed that Taylor would not be disadvantaged by running on the junior varsity team at a key upcoming cross-country meet, but her mother argued it would harm her chances of being noticed by college scouts. By Nov. 1, after follow-ups, the district reclassified the Title IX complaint as a confidential personnel matter, claiming it did not meet the criteria for sex-based discrimination.

JOHNSON DECLINES TO SAY IF TRANSGENDER REP-ELECT IS MAN OR WOMAN, SAYS HOUSE TO TREAT EVERYONE WITH ‘RESPECT’

Typically, multiple factors, beyond race times, are considered for varsity selection on the cross-country team They complaint alleges that Taylor’s dedication and hard work were overlooked, and the school district failed to provide a clear explanation, forming the basis of the Title IX complaint, Fleisher said.

“We’re seeing more and more women and young girls speak up and challenge these policies that are allowing biological boys to join and participate in these sports,” Fleischer told Fox News Digital. “And so there’s lawsuits that are popping up all around the country. We’re hopeful that even with the incoming administration and Congress that we’re going to see real positive change to Title IX that actually upholds and safeguards the rights of women to participate in their sports and to be safe and to be able to compete amongst one another.”

Under the Biden-Harris administration, Title IX was amended to include discrimination against gender identity and sexual orientation. The Supreme Court ruled against one of Biden’s requests in August that would have permitted biological men in women’s bathrooms, locker rooms and dorms in 10 states where there are state-level and local-level rules in place to prevent it. 

On the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump said he would roll back Biden-Harris policies on gender treatments for minors and protect women in sports.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Riverside Unified School District and Martin Luther King High School for comment.

Nearly 200 migrant advocacy groups crafted a letter to President Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas demanding they close ICE detention centers and consider releasing detainees ahead of the Trump administration’s plan to reverse current policy. 

The letter, which was also “cc’d” to ICE Deputy Director Patrick Lechleitner and ICE chief of staff Michael Lumpkin, called for “immediate action to protect immigrant communities while [they] still can” before their administration’s term comes to a close.

“In your remaining months in office, you have an opportunity to honor your stated commitments to the dignity and humane treatment of all people, including those who immigrate to our nation…”

Without naming President-elect Trump, the groups warned the next administration is likely to follow “through on his mass deportation plans.”

‘IT’LL UPEND THE COMMUNITY’: PA TOWN ROILED BY TALK OF MIGRANT HOUSING IN CIVIL WAR-ERA ORPHANAGE

The groups warned that the move would separate families and “upend the lives of millions.”

Spearheaded by the Detention Watch Network, the letter included 192 other signatories, including the American Friends Service Committee, Americans for Immigrant Justice, the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law, Human Rights Watch, Make the Road and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.

The latter group is run by Kerry Kennedy – not her brother, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

By closing detention centers now, the consortium claims, it will put a stop to alleged “inhumane and abusive conditions” that purportedly include inadequate food and water, negligent medical care and deaths.

FLASHBACK: PA REPUBLICANS DRAFT BILL DIVERTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM SECRETIVE BIDEN-DHS FLIGHTS TO DE

“No one should be detained in these conditions. You [Biden and Mayorkas] promised to end the use of for-profit detention centers by the federal government and with over 90% detained at facilities run by private companies, this is your final chance to follow through on that promise,” the letter reads.

The second of the three prongs is halting detention facility expansion efforts by way of freezing or rescinding RFPs (Requests for Proposal).

The consortium said the incoming Trump administration should not be gifted an expanded system through which to institute their countervailing goals.

“To protect families and prevent separations, you must take all possible action to prevent the incoming administration from being able to easily expand detention capacity, including by pressuring Congress to pass a reduced appropriation for immigration detention.”

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Third, the groups pleaded for release proceedings to begin with “vulnerable populations” like migrants with physical or mental health concerns and those that have been deemed eligible for parole or Temporary Protected Status.

“People can and should be able to go through their immigration proceedings in community with the support of their loved ones and access to legal support.”

“Now is the time to take decisive action to prevent catastrophe for millions of people and avoid handing the keys to an expanded and inhumane detention and deportation system to the next president,” they wrote.

Other officials across the country have also warned against Trump’s immigration policy proposals, with Chicago Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson calling Trump a “threat” against “new arrivals and undocumented families… and Black families.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and Mayorkas for comment.

The House Ethics Committee has not reached an agreement to release its report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., the panel’s chairman told reporters on Wednesday.

The bipartisan panel met behind closed doors for over two hours. Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., the last to leave the room, said, “There was not an agreement by the committee to release the report.”

Other members who left said little, with Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., telling reporters that deliberations were ongoing but he “can’t discuss” them.

The Wednesday meeting comes the same day that Gaetz is visiting Senate offices on Capitol Hill to kick off the confirmation process to lead the Department of Justice (DOJ).

MATT GAETZ FACES GOP SENATE OPPOSITION AFTER TRUMP SELECTION FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL

The House Ethics Committee’s inquiry into Gaetz abruptly ended last week when he resigned from Congress hours after being named President-elect Trump’s nominee for attorney general.

“Matt will end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and restore Americans’ badly-shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department,” Trump said in his announcement last Wednesday.

The probe began in 2021 and stems from accusations of illicit drug use and sex with a minor. 

MIKE JOHNSON WINS REPUBLICAN SUPPORT TO BE HOUSE SPEAKER AGAIN AFTER TRUMP ENDORSEMENT

The DOJ, which Gaetz has been tapped to lead, ultimately did not press charges. Gaetz himself has consistently denied all wrongdoing.

But pressure has been building on the normally secretive ethics panel to release its report, with senators who will be key to Gaetz getting the attorney general role expressing interest in seeing it before making their judgments.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., notably, has said he does not believe the report should be released.

JOHNSON BLASTS DEM ACCUSATIONS HE VOWED TO END OBAMACARE AS ‘DISHONEST’

“The Speaker of the House is not involved with those things. I am reacting to media reports that a report is currently in some draft form and was going to be released on what is now a former member of the House,” Johnson said Friday.

“I do not believe that that is an appropriate thing. It doesn’t follow our rules and traditions and there is a reason for that. That would open up Pandora’s box and I don’t think that’s a healthy thing for the institution, so that’s my position.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., announced he plans to introduce a privileged resolution to force a House vote on releasing the Gaetz report.

“The allegations against Matt Gaetz are serious. They are credible. The House Ethics Committee has spent years conducting a thorough investigation to get to the bottom of it,” Casten said in a statement. “This information must be made available for the Senate to provide its constitutionally required advice and consent.”