The White House News

Opponents of a defeated California ballot measure to raise the state’s minimum wage said voters made the right call in pushing back against a proposal that would otherwise have resulted in higher inflation. 

Proposition 32, which would have raised California’s minimum wage to $18 per hour, was narrowly beaten back as only 49.2% of voters supported the proposed hike. The current minimum wage in the state is $16 per hour.

Fast-food restaurants with 60 or more locations are already mandated to pay their employees at least $20 per hour.

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“Basic economics shows that raising the minimum wage ultimately drives up inflation and unemployment, predictably hurting workers and families,” Republican State Sen. Brian Jones, the upper chamber’s minority leader, told Fox News Digital. “More inflation and higher costs are the last things we need right now. Californians made the right call to reject Prop 32 and protect financial stability.”

Business groups, including the California Chamber of Commerce, California Restaurant Association and California Grocers Association opposed the measure, saying high labor costs would hurt small businesses. 

Chamber of Commerce CEO Jennifer Barrera told The Associated Press that the economy and personal costs were top of mind in the election, a message that resonated with the voters.

John Kabateck, the California director for the National Federation of Independent Business, said minimum wage hikes amid a period of inflation would have added to the current economic woes many residents already face. 

“At the end of the day, this really came down to affordability for Californians already struggling,” Kabateck told Fox News Digital. “People realized a higher minimum wage was not going to make their bad situation that much better.”

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Prop 32 was authored by startup entrepreneur Joseph Sanberg, an anti-poverty advocate and major investor in Blue Apron, the ingredient-and-recipe meal kit company.

“The time is now, because the pandemic has heightened the people’s understanding of the realities so many Californians face,” Sanberg said in his official ballot argument. “Cost of living is rising faster and faster… but wages haven’t increased commensurately.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to Sanberg and various trade groups. 

Sanberg was heavily involved in spearheading Prop 32.

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Jones called the measure a failed “publicity stunt” hatched by Sanberg that was part of “his pattern of misleading Californians.”

“Known for posing as an environmentalist while facing scrutiny for dubious claims, Sanberg shifted tactics by pushing a minimum wage hike and falsely branding himself as a champion of the working class,” he said. “Californians saw through his deception and rightly rejected his Prop 32 that would have decimated our economy.”

Kabateck said policymakers in Sacremento didn’t seem to be in touch with small business owners and voters struggling to get by.  

“At the end of the day, who doesn’t want a few dollars in their pocket? But at what cost?” he said. 

A House Republican whose name has been floated for Secretary of Labor is traveling to Mar-a-Lago at the end of this week, two sources told Fox News Digital.

Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore., who recently lost re-election in a close race against Democrat Janelle Bynum, is in consideration to lead the Labor Department, according to Politico.

Her travel down to President-elect Trump’s Florida home could mean that she is a serious contender for the role.

Chavez-DeRemer’s candidacy is backed by the Teamsters Union, who Trump allies had been trying to court earlier this year in their bid to broaden the Republican base ahead of the 2024 election.

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She would be the fourth current House Republican selected for the new Trump administration after House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Reps. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., and Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. 

But unlike the others, her elevation to Trump’s Cabinet would not take away from the GOP’s razor-thin House majority.

When reached by Fox News Digital, Chavez-DeRemer’s spokesperson did not comment directly on the congresswoman’s travel plans but shared her statement on the Teamsters’ endorsement for the role.

“I’d be honored to have the opportunity to support President Trump’s mission to empower and grow our nation’s workforce. Hardworking Americans finally have a lifeline with the president, and I’d work tirelessly to support his impressive efforts to remake the Republican Party into the Party of the American worker,” she said.

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Multiple House Republican allies of hers have also lauded her as a potential Trump Cabinet pick on social media.

Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, a former Trump 2020 campaign staffer, wrote on X that she “would be a fantastic Labor Secretary.”

Reps. Anthony D’Esposito, R-N.Y., and Pete Sauber, R-Minn., shared similar praise on the platform, among others.

“She is a champion for workers; she is a problem solver, and she is a no nonsense leader,” Rep. Marc Molinaro, who a source said is also being considered for a high-ranking role in the Department of Transportation, wrote on X.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump transition team for comment.

House Republicans grilled Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra on Wednesday over his agency’s failure to account for thousands of unaccounted migrant children and the process used to vet their sponsors amid concerns of exploitation and abuse. 

Speaking before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, Becerra testified about his department’s Refugee Resettlement Office, which is charged with caring for and placement of unaccompanied migrant children.

Republican subcommittee members accused the Biden administration of rushing migrant children out of HHS custody and into the hands of unvetted sponsors who sometimes exploit and abuse them while not conducting adequate background checks. 

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“How can you say that the No. 1 priority is the safety of these unaccompanied children when you’re placing them in sponsors’ homes that occasionally have had criminal gang affiliations because there are no proper background checks?” Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., asked. 

Becerra said his agency follows “child welfare best practices” that include “extensive” background checks. 

“No sponsor would be allowed to take a child if we have information that shows that they are engaged in criminal activity,” he said. 

Lawmakers, however, said thousands of violent criminal illegal immigrants and unaccompanied migrant children have been released across the United States under the Biden administration’s watch.

They cited the murder of Laken Riley, a Georgia college student killed by an illegal immigrant, and the 2022 killing of Kayla Hamilton in Maryland by Walter Javier Martinez, who was in the country illegally from El Salvador. 

Martinez was taken to the ORR as an unaccompanied child despite a previous arrest in his home country.

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“One call to Salvadoran authorities would have confirmed this and an association with MS-13,” said subcommittee Chair Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif. “Instead, Martinez was released into our country with no questions asked. He has since admitted to four murders, two rapes and additional other crimes.”

Other cases include the killing of 11-year-old Maria Gonzalez, who was found by her father last year sexually assaulted and strangled in her home.

Her alleged killer, Juan Carlos Garcia-Rodriguez, illegally entered the U.S. from Guatemala in 2023, but was allowed to stay in the country via a sponsor in Louisiana.

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In the case of vetting unaccompanied children, the Department of Homeland Security performs that task, Becerra said. HHS vets potential sponsors once the child is in its care, he said. 

“HHS’s custodial responsibility and overnight for unaccompanied children through ORR ends once we place the child with an appropriately vetted supervisor,” the secretary stated. 

Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas., noted that the Biden administration admitted more than 100,000 refugees in the past year alone, compared to 12,000 in 2020 under President-elect Trump. 

“Under the Biden-Harris administration, Americans are left behind while the needs of ‘new’ Americans are pushed to the front of the line,” said Hunt. “Americans are sick and tired of being treated like second-class citizens in our own country.”

When asked what he would do differently after four years, Becerra failed to answer the question.

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“Do you understand how this affects the lives of a population that you’ve placed that is approaching the size of the state of Wyoming?” asked McClintock. “Some of them: innocent, defenseless children. Others: gang members who are 17-years-old or pretending to be 17.”

“Mr. Secretary, when the history of this administration is written, I would not want to be you looking back at what historians say about your tenure,” he said before adjourning the hearing.

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.

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

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“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.

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