The White House News

New Democratic Rep. Gabe Amo, the first Black representative from Rhode Island in Congress, was sworn into office Monday.

Amo, a Democrat, won a special election in November to replace Democratic Rep. David Cicilline, who stepped down this summer to lead a nonprofit foundation.

RHODE ISLAND DEMOCRAT GABE AMO ELECTED, BECOMING STATE’S FIRST BLACK CONGRESSMAN

RHODE ISLAND’S HIGHLY CRITICIZED COLUMBUS STATUE RE-EMERGES IN NEARBY TOWN AFTER BEING REMOVED 3 YEARS AGO

The House chamber burst into applause as Speaker Mike Johnson swore in the new lawmaker.

The son of Ghanaian and Liberian immigrants, Amo worked most recently as a senior adviser to President Joe Biden. He previously worked in state government and in the Obama White House.

FIRST ON FOX: House Republican leaders are opening a probe into the White House over its decision to bypass environmental regulations when green-lighting a plan to house migrants on public land in New York.

In a letter sent Monday to White House Council on Environmental Quality Chairwoman Brenda Mallory, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., and Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., the top GOP member of the panel’s oversight subcommittee, warned that the federal government appeared to steamroll environmental concerns when it leased public property for migrant housing.

“Regardless of personal or political beliefs on immigration or migrant policy, there is common ground in keeping our national parks – some of America’s most treasured spaces – out of the debate,” they wrote to Mallory. “All national parks, whether in rural or urban areas, exist for visitors to experience wonder, to recreate and find joy, or to simply learn more about the great history of our nation.”

“However, national parks are not a place to house people, temporarily or permanently, who lack shelter,” Westerman and Gosar continued in the letter obtained by Fox News Digital.

BIDEN AGENCY DIVERTING MILLIONS IN BORDER FUNDS TO BLUE CITIES SAYS BORDER IS NOT ITS ‘MISSION SPACE’: EMAILS

In September, amid the ongoing migrant surge at the southern border and related influx in New York City, the Department of the Interior (DOI) agreed to lease property in Gateway National Recreation Area’s Floyd Bennett Field – property managed by the National Park Service – to the local government. Officials then constructed temporary housing structures on the land, which is located in New York’s Brooklyn borough along the shore of Jamaica Bay.

TITLE 42 EXPIRATION COULD BE AN ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE, EXPERTS WARN

However, the Republican leaders pointed out that, prior to the decision to lease the property, Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul noted the DOI had itself argued such an action would likely violate federal laws. The governor, who has called for federal assistance in dealing with her state’s migrant influx, remarked in August that officials told her office “they do not allow for use of shelter on any of their properties.”

The Republicans also expressed concern that the White House Council on Environmental Quality allowed the DOI to bypass the normal eco review process mandated under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The 1969 law requires federal agencies to review the environmental impacts of projects and proposals on federal land before approval.

“Despite concerns with the legality of housing people on national park land, the Biden administration ultimately moved forward with using national park land to establish a migrant housing encampment,” they continued in their letter to Mallory. “Alarmingly, to secure the FBF Lease, NPS requested and received alternative arrangements for National Environmental Policy Act compliance.” 

“CEQ concurred with the alternative arrangement request and allowed NPS and DOI to bypass the standard NEPA compliance process,” they added. “CEQ’s approval of the alternative arrangement request was necessary for DOI and NPS to move forward with the FBF Lease.”

Westerman and Gosar then listed a series of questions for Mallory about the legality of the decision to house migrants at Floyd Bennett Field and about the process that led to that decision.

The letter Monday comes as migrants continue to flood the southern border in record numbers and Republicans continue to call for the Biden administration to make structural reforms to secure the border.

In October, the Department of Homeland Security reported nearly 241,000 migrant encounters, the highest level ever recorded for that month. And since President Biden took office in early 2021, more than 8 million migrants have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

A Senate committee hearing appeared to be on the brink of a physical altercation on Tuesday a Republican senator stood up and threatened to fight a labor leader as Sen. Bernie Sanders tried to play peacemaker.

“Sir this is a time, this is a place, you want to run your mouth we can be two consenting adults and we can finish it here,” GOP Sen. Markwayne Mullin told Teamster President Sean O’Brien during a Senate Health Committee hearing on Tuesday after reading a tweet where O’Brien said he could take the senator “any time” or “any place.”

“Ok, that’s fine, perfect,” O’Brien responded.

“You want to do it now?” Mullin asked?

BERNIE SANDERS REFUSES TO CONDEMN TLAIB COMMENTS DEEMED ‘ANTISEMITIC’

“I would love to do it right now,” O’Brien said, prompting Mullin to say, “Well, stand your butt up then.”

“You stand your butt up, big guy,” O’Brien said at which point Mullin stood up in his chair and seemed to be trying to make his way over to the teamster president.

UPS AND TEAMSTERS UNION REACH AGREEMENT ON NEW CONTRACT TO AVOID POTENTIAL STRIKE

“Stop it, hold it, no, no, sit down,” Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the chairman of the committee, said in an attempt to calm the pair down. “You’re a United States senator. Sit down.”

Both Mullin and O’Brien asked permission from Sanders to respond to each other after Mullin sit down but Sanders denied the request. 

The two continued to go back and forth for several minutes.

“You challenged me to a cage match acting like a 12-year-old,” O’Brien said after Mullin accused him of being “quiet” in the face of a challenge.

“Excuse me, hold it,” Sanders finally said, shouting over the Oklahoma senator. “Sen. Mullin, I have the mic.”

“We’re not here to talk about physical abuse,” Sanders said.

Mullin then pointed a finger at O’Brien and called him a “thug” which caused O’Brien to call Mullin “disrespectful.”

The two then told each other that they both don’t respect one another causing Sanders to interject again.

“Hold it,” Sanders said while banging his gavel. “This is a hearing to discuss economic issues…we’re not here to talk about fights or anything else.”

The two continued to bicker despite the pleas from Sanders until the hearing eventually moved on to the next line of questioning from other members of the panel. 

O’Brien and Mullin have a contentious history dating back to March when the two sparred in a heated Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing over O’Brien’s salary compared to that of his union members.

Sen. Sanders was forced to intervene in that argument as well.

The two ignored Sanders and continued talking over each other, appearing to grow increasingly frustrated, before Mullin said, “Sir, you need to shut your mouth because you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’re going to tell me to shut my mouth?” O’Brien responded, before mocking Mullin’s opening statement in which he said he wasn’t “afraid” of a physical altercation.

Sanders eventually quieted the two and made Mullin provide O’Brien time to speak.

Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of Mullin and Sanders as well as the Teamsters but did not immediately receive a response.

Fox News Digital’s Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report
 

EXCLUSIVE: House Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry, R-Pa., is warning that House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., may have to “reassert some authority” in Congress after his plan to avoid a government shutdown got a rocky reception from GOP lawmakers. 

“You have one opportunity to make a first impression. And while our colleagues in the Senate…want to continue the unbridled spending and the policies that are destroying my constituents’ lives, this is the one opportunity the speaker has to make an impact on that and say, ‘We’re just not going to do that,’” Perry told Fox News Digital in an interview on Tuesday morning.

“He could have sent, I think…something that’s reasonable that the Senate would not be able to resist, but that’s not going to be the case here. And so, I think in that circumstance going forward, he’s going to have to somehow reassert some authority that hasn’t been asserted now.”

HOUSE GEARS UP FOR VOTE TO AVOID GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN IN JOHNSON’S FIRST BIG TEST AS SPEAKER

Perry is part of the growing Republican opposition to Johnson’s plan, a simple extension of last year’s funding priorities known as a continuing resolution (CR). His “laddered” approach would set two different funding deadlines for Congress’ 12 individual appropriations bills – a Jan. 19 date for four of the less traditionally controversial bills, and Feb. 2 for the others.

The “ladder” was initially championed by members of the Freedom Caucus, but Perry explained, “We were for the ladder approach, but don’t confuse the ladder with the fact that this changes no policy and no spending.”

SPEAKER JOHNSON ROLLS OUT PLAN TO AVOID GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN, PREVENT ‘SPENDING MONSTROSITY’

Johnson’s plan is expected to get a vote late on Tuesday afternoon. House leaders are planning to skirt normal procedures to pass the bill under suspension of the rules, meaning it will not need to go through a preliminary procedural vote but, in exchange, will need two-thirds of the House to pass. 

“Unfortunately, what that might result in is more Democrat votes than Republican votes,” Perry said. 

He did not say if such a result would lessen his confidence in Johnson’s leadership, but he suggested the new leader would have ground to make up.

“What I hope it will do is inform the speaker, the rest of the conference, that the approach that we initially offered, that I thought was being considered, that I hoped would be considered, was actually the way to go,” Perry said. 

“So moving forward, instead of surrendering on first down, we can actually run a couple of plays.”

SPEAKER JOHNSON DRAWS BATTLE LINES AHEAD OF GOVERNMENT SPENDING SHOWDOWN

Multiple sources told Fox News Digital that one of the measures in a recent conservative CR proposal was to separate funding for the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security to put added pressure on lawmakers to reckon with those spending priorities specifically.

Current government funding runs until this Friday. Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., narrowly avoided a government shutdown on Sept. 30, the end of fiscal year 2023, by passing a “clean” 45-day CR – a move that ultimately cost him the gavel. 

Perry said he did not believe Johnson’s plan would cause him to be ousted like McCarthy was, and that the ex-leader was voted out of the job because of “an accumulation of infractions.”

“It’s unfortunate that he has been placed in this position at this point in history,” Perry said. “Unfortunately, a lot of this is out of his hands and not of his doing, and I think that there’s going to be some grace provided because of the circumstances.”

President Biden defined on Tuesday what success would mean for his upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, emphasizing that America cannot “decouple” from China. 

The president said his goal for Wednesday’s meeting is a return to a “normal course” of communication between the U.S. and China. 

“We get back on a normal course of corresponding, being able to pick up the phone and talk to one another in a crisis. Being able to make sure our military still have contact with one another,” Biden said in response to a reporter’s question at an event announcing the release of the fifth National Climate Assessment. 

“We’re not trying to decouple from China, but what we’re trying to do is change the relationship for the better,” he continued. “From my perspective, if in fact the Chinese people – who are in trouble right now economically – if the average homeowner, if the average citizen in China was able to have a decent paying job, that benefits them, it benefits all of us.

BIDEN, XI MEETING WILL BE FORUM FOR ‘INTENSE DIPLOMACY’ AMID TENSIONS BETWEEN US, CHINA: OFFICIALS

“But I’m not going to continue to sustain support for positions where if we want to invest in China, we have to turn over all our trade secrets,” he added. 

Biden is set to meet with Xi in California on Wednesday as the two leaders seek to ease tensions between their countries. 

The White House has said Biden and Xi are expected to discuss the relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China, including the importance of maintaining “open lines of communication.”

A senior administration official previously said the two leaders will also discuss “managing competition responsibly,” along with a range of regional, global and transnational issues, including Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Israel-Hamas war and the growing conflicts in the Middle East.

WH OFFICIALS CONFIRM DATE, LOCATION FOR BIDEN’S US MEETING WITH CHINESE PRESIDENT XI

Additionally, they will broach “potentially contentious” topics, including election interference, with Biden planning to warn Xi about potential election influence operations. 

Wednesday’s meeting will be the second in-person meeting between Biden and Xi since the U.S. president took office in January 2021, but the “seventh interaction,” the official said. 

CHINA ADOPTED ‘MORE DANGEROUS’ TACTICS IN 2022 AS ‘ONLY COMPETITOR’ TO US, PENTAGON WARNS IN NEW REPORT

They previously met in Nov. 2022 at the G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia, where they mutually agreed it would be better to have more direct communication between the U.S. and Chinese leadership.

The Biden administration has sought to restore diplomatic relations with China after years of escalating tensions over the status of Taiwan, the coronavirus pandemic and the Trump administration’s threats of new tariffs on Chinese goods. The U.S. has also accused China of stealing American technology and trade secrets, and relations reached a low point earlier this year when the Biden administration announced a Chinese spy craft had drifted into U.S. airspace and was shot down over the Atlantic Ocean. 

China has taken offense to U.S. strategic ambiguity on the Taiwan Independence issue, refusing to acknowledge the island’s claim to sovereignty while still sending diplomatic missions to meet with the Taiwanese leadership.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the violent conflict between Hamas and Israel have also complicated relations as the U.S. and China jostle for strategic diplomatic positions on the conflicts.

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman and Timothy H.J. Nerozzi contributed to this report. 

Migrant encounters at the southern border hit the highest ever number for October last month, with more than 240,000 people encountered, officials announced on Tuesday — despite a slight decrease in numbers from September.

There were 240,988 encounters at the border in October, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said. That’s higher than the 231,529 recorded in October last year and the 164,837 encountered in 2021. In Oct 2020, there were just 71,929 encounters.

The number is down from the 269,735 encounters in September, which marked the highest monthly total ever. FY 23 saw a record 2.4 million encounters overall. 

STATE AGS URGE SPEAKER JOHNSON TO EXPEDITE BILL GIVING STATES POWER TO TACKLE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION 

The latest numbers show that, despite a broad strategy in place from the Biden administration after the end of Title 42 in May that it says combines “consequences” for illegal entry with expanded lawful pathways, numbers remain stubbornly high.

In a release, CBP said it remains “steadfast” in enforcing immigration laws, including with new technology and resources, as well as greater use of authorities like Expedited Removal and an asylum rule which limits asylum claims for those who have crossed illegally. The administration also started deportation flights directly to Venezuela last month, a move it says is already having an effect.

“In conjunction with our resumption of removal flights to Venezuela consistent with delivering consequences for those who cross the border unlawfully, CBP saw a 65 percent decrease in southwest border encounters of Venezuelans in the second half of October, compared to the second half of September,” acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller said in a statement. 

He also pointed to a 14% decrease in illegal entries between ports of entry between September and October, and an overall decrease in family units. 

GOP LAWMAKER SOUNDS ALARM ON ‘DANGEROUS’ THREAT TO US COMING FROM POROUS BORDER, AND IT’S NOT FROM MEXICO

Republicans have blamed the ongoing migrant crisis on the Biden administration’s border policies — particularly its rolling back of Trump-era border wall construction, a greater use of humanitarian parole and a reduction of interior enforcement. The Biden administration has said it needs comprehensive immigration reform and more funding to fix a “broken” system. Most recently the White House requested $14 billion for border operations.

“The President’s supplemental budget request is critical to funding the frontline, and would provide much-needed personnel, resources, and technology to go after transnational criminal organizations, enhance border security – including the enforcement of consequences for those who break the law – and support state and local partners, all to keep Americans safe,” Miller said.

The call for more funding and immigration reform is one that Republicans have dismissed. In an interview with Fox News Digital on Tuesday, House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green called it “the biggest lie I have ever heard.”

“The resources were the same in the previous administration. The dollars were the same, and the immigration laws were the same. The problem is that they broke the system by undoing the policies that had been implemented by the previous administration,” he said, pointing to the rollback of policies like the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP). “So it is a big lie to say they need more resources or that immigration laws need to be fixed–they’re not even following the immigration laws that are in place right now, so why would Congress just pass more law if they’re not going to follow it anyway? So that is a fallacy, it is a talking point so that they can continue their open border.”

In terms of the greater use of parole by the administration, the agency says that 44,000 migrants were paroled into the U.S. in October using the CBP One app, which allows migrants to schedule appointments at ports of entry. There have been nearly 324,000 appointments scheduled on the app since January. 

Meanwhile, there were 13 Border Patrol arrests of people on the terror watchlist in October, 12 at the southern border and one at the northern border.

The numbers come a day after Republicans in the House failed in an attempt to impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Eight Republicans joined with Democrats in voting to table the measure to impeach the secretary for his handling of the border crisis.