The White House News

A Democratic state representative in Washington state is pushing legislation that aims to make homelessness a civil right, according to a report.

State Rep. Mia Gregerson is promoting a bill that would make homeless people a protected class and shield them from “discrimination based on housing status,” according to a draft of the bill obtained by “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.

“[M]any communities within Washington are enacting and enforcing laws that disproportionately impact homelessness or make living in public a crime,” the legislation reads. “These laws are potentially unconstitutional, make it harder for people to exit homelessness, do not solve the underlying problem of homelessness, and waste precious public funds.”

The bill comes in response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Grants Pass v. Johnson, in which the nation’s high court held that the Eighth Amendment’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment does not prevent a city from enforcing public-camping ordinances against the homeless.

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The drafted legislation says it would grant the homeless “the right to survive in a nonobstructive manner” on public property, including plazas, courtyards, parking lots, sidewalks, public transportation facilities and services and room or areas within public buildings that are open to the public and during normal operating hours.

It further states the homeless would be allowed to live on public property when “that person has no reasonable alternative but to survive in public space and existing shelter facilities within the local government’s jurisdiction are inadequate in number or are functionally inaccessible.”

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Kevin Schilling, the mayor of Burien, a suburban city in Gregerson’s district, told “The Jason Rantz Show” that he was “disappointed” that the representative did not consult the City Council or city before drafting the legislation.

“My hope is the legislature this year works to offer support to cities by expanding substance use disorder programs, emergency shelter capacity, and law enforcement assistance so that each element of this issue can be tackled accordingly,” he said.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Gregerson’s office for comment but did not immediately hear back.

Donald Trump’s sentencing for 34 criminal charges in the state of New York was abruptly adjourned by the court Tuesday without explanation, giving the presiding judge additional time to weigh how to proceed. 

The delayed sentencing came on the same day that District Attorney Alvin Bragg was slated to file a recommendation to Judge Juan Merchan on how to proceed.

Trump was convicted in May by a Manhattan jury on 34 counts of falsifying business records, stemming from a case about payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels, which could have landed him a maximum sentence of up to four years in prison. 

But the presidential race — and Trump’s victory — had thrown the timeline for court proceedings into a fog of uncertainty.

The presiding judge in the New York case, Judge Juan Merchan, granted a request from prosecutors earlier this month to stay all deadlines associated with the New York case, including a planned sentencing date of Nov. 26, in wake of Trump’s election victory.

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“The People agree that these are unprecedented circumstances,” prosecutor Matthew Colangelo said in their request, which he added  would allow for prosecutors to better evaluate the impact of his election as president.

Trump’s attorneys, who have pushed to vacate the charges against him completely, also backed the stay. 

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in July that presidents should enjoy presumptive immunity from criminal prosecution for most actions taken as president, further complicating the path forward in the New York case.

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The high court ruled that presidents are entitled to absolute immunity from any actions taken within the scope of “core constitutional powers” as commander-in-chief. 

A presumption of immunity also applies to other actions taken while holding office, they said.

It is not clear whether a president is to be afforded the same level of constitutional protection for state convictions, however as the matter has never been tested in court.

Bragg’s office has insisted its case is focused solely on Trump’s personal behavior, not his actions as president. 

Trump, for his part, has repeatedly characterized the case as a politically motivated “witch hunt,” a refrain frequently used by the president-elect in an attempt to discredit his critics, political opponents, and prosecutors at the state and federal level. 

Even if Trump’s convictions were to be upheld, the president-elect has myriad ways to appeal the case or get the charges against him dismissed before the Nov. 26 sentencing hearing — making it all but certain he will face no time behind bars.

This is a breaking story. Update to follow.

A federal China commission released its sprawling yearly report to Congress on Tuesday, for the first time recommending lawmakers end China’s favored trade status and end the provision that allows goods under $800 to enter the U.S. duty-free.  

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, established by Congress as a bipartisan entity to investigate and provide policy recommendations on China, is now directly advocating for Congress to end the Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) China has enjoyed since 2004.

The committee will pitch its 83 policy recommendations to lawmakers on Tuesday, along with a report on China’s military capabilities, its threats to U.S. allies in the region and how it is exploiting U.S. policy for its own advancement. 

“For decades we have engaged in whack-a-mole policy working within international organizations and guidelines to address the increasing and ambitious efforts by China to skirt laws or take advantage of trade loopholes,” commission chair Robin Cleveland said. 

“In our hearing on the threats to American consumers this year we heard from administration and expert witnesses who were starkly clear: U.S. agencies do not know if the majority of packages coming from China include a baby toy painted with a toxic chemical—a counterfeit piece of clothing made with slave labor—or a pin head amount of fentanyl which is enough to kill the average citizen.”

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“While the administration has existing authority to shut down this flood of troubling products, we have a strong recommendation on legislative action that should strengthen safety and legal protections for consumers and manufacturers.”

The commission also identified an urgent need for AI advancement in the U.S., calling on Congress to establish and fund a “Manhattan Project-like program” to acquire Artificial General Intelligence (AG) capability, defined as systems that would “surpass the sharpest human minds at every task.” 

The prospect of eliminating PNTR, which allowed low-cost Chinese goods to flood U.S. markets throughout the 2000s by giving the CCP the same trade benefits as U.S. allies, faces increasingly likely odds with Republican control of the House and Senate.

Eliminating it would grant the president authority to assess and review whether greater tariffs are needed. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to drastically increase tariffs on Chinese-made goods. 

The report found that Chinese goods increasingly evade regulatory inspection and tariffs by coming in shipments valued under $800, taking advantage of the “de minimus” exemption in tariff law. 

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Eliminating “de minimus” on e-commerce shipments would require Customs and Border Patrol to institute far greater oversight over small-dollar shipments, prompting a request for more resources in Congress. But the report found these shipments are often used to sneak fentanyl into the U.S. 

The U.S. has brought in around $4 million in Chinese goods shipped under “de minimus” per day this year, up from $3 million last year. 

Congress should also consider legislation to eliminate federal tax expenditures for investments in Chinese companies that are on the Commerce Department’s trade blacklist known as the Entity List, per the report. 

Such legislation could eliminate the preferential capital gains tax rate, the carried interest loophole or capital loss carry-forward provisions for companies that are believed to run afoul of U.S. interests or suspected to be stealing intellectual property.  

The report also recommended the U.S. bolster its export controls to deny China access to critical dual-use goods and technologies and ban imports of certain technologies controlled by Chinese entities, like autonomous humanoid robots and energy infrastructure products. 

It urged Congress to direct the administration to create an outbound investment office to oversee dollars flowing to investments in countries of concern and to amend laws to allow the Consumer Product Safety Commission mandatory recall authority over Chinese products. 

Throughout the year, China has increasingly tried to crack down on dissent and “sanctions proof” its economy, in preparation for a future of potential military or economic warfare with the West, the report noted. It conducted violent attacks on Philippine personnel operating within their own exclusive zone, tried to influence Taiwan’s democratic elections and incurred into Taiwanese air space over 2,300 times. 

It launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile test into the South Pacific in more than 40 years. 

Trump has begun to fill out his Cabinet with China hawks. On the campaign trail this year, Trump has proposed a 10% tariff on all U.S. imports and 60% on Chinese-made products.

If Trump successfully raises tariffs to 60%, it could reduce China’s exports by $200 billion and cause a one percentage point drag on GDP, said Zhu Baoliang, a former chief economist at China’s economic planning agency, at a Citigroup conference. 

Last year, China exported about $500 billion worth of goods to the U.S., about 15% of all of its exports. 

EXCLUSIVE: A Republican lawmaker has launched a new congressional caucus aimed at working hand-in-hand with President-elect Trump’s soon-to-be DOGE – Department of Government Efficiency.

Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., said he dispatched a “Dear Colleague” letter overnight Tuesday seeking other lawmakers to join him. The practice is standard for members seeking co-sponsors of legislation.

“Taking on Crazytown is no easy task,” Bean said.

“Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will need partners in Congress to accomplish many of the cuts necessary to rein in the unelected bureaucrats who have had unchecked power for far too long.”

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Earlier this month, Trump tapped Musk and Ramaswamy to lead the “DOGE,” which the Tesla CEO has widely touted and begun soliciting civilian help for.

Trump said last week he hopes DOGE will become the “Manhattan Project of our time” – in reference to J. Robert Oppenheimer’s secretive atom bomb endeavor during World War II.

“Republican politicians have dreamed about the objectives of ‘DOGE’ for a very long time,” Trump said.

In his letter to colleagues, Bean lamented the $6 billion per day the U.S. has borrowed during the Biden-Harris administration, and added that interest accruals on the debt currently exceed the nation’s entire Defense Department budget.

“Republicans must live up to our principle of fiscal responsibility by reining in the spending that is driving both inflation and our unsustainable debt. The DOGE Caucus will bring together members from across our conference who are ready to rein-in unelected bureaucrats and end the over-regulation that has crippled American Main Street.

“When Republicans stick together, we win,” Bean said. “Join us in reclaiming our country and Making America Great Again.”

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In the immediate aftermath of his solicitation being circulated, a representative for Bean’s office said they are still waiting for other lawmakers to take part.

Musk continued sharing examples of government waste he would like to see his new department take on, captioning “Drop the DOGE hammer” on X, formerly Twitter, above a retweet of a Washington Post headline reading “New report estimates U.S. fraud losses exceed $233 billion annually.”

Musk also shared a clip Monday of Sen. Rand Paul, R–Ky., speaking about government waste and describing a National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism study that reportedly fed different types of booze to fish, captioned with a furrowed-brow emoji:

“Gin to a sunfish versus tequila – which would make the sunfish more aggressive?”

“Nearly a million dollars spent studying whether or not Japanese Quail, if you give ‘em cocaine… are more sexually promiscuous,” Paul added.

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“Sounds like a job for DOGE!” the future department head said over the weekend of a report the Pentagon failed its seventh audit and was unable to account for part of its $824 billion budget.

Trump recently said Musk and Ramaswamy’s work will help the next generation have a solvent future.

“They will work together to liberate our Economy, and make the U.S. Government accountable to ‘We The People’,” he said on Nov. 12.

Trump added at the time that his aspiration is for the department’s collaborative efforts to culminate on July 4, 2026, in concert with the celebration of America’s 250th birthday.

Fox News Digital reached out to Trump, Musk and Ramaswamy via the transition team for additional comment.

A state judge knocked down two laws restricting abortion in Wyoming on Monday, ruling that they violated protections in the state’s constitution that allow patients to determine the health care choices that are best for them. 

The first law prohibited abortion entirely, with an exception for instances where the life of the mother is in jeopardy, or in cases involving rape or incest. The second law that was shot down was a first-of-its-kind ban on medication-induced abortions. 

Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens said that the two statutes “impede the fundamental right to make health care decisions for an entire class of people, pregnant women.”

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“The Defendants have not established a compelling governmental interest to exclude pregnant women from fully realizing the protections afforded by the Wyoming Constitution during the entire term of their pregnancies, nor have the Defendants established that the Abortion Statutes accomplish their interest,” Owens wrote. “The Court concludes that the Abortion Statutes suspend a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions during the entire term of a pregnancy and are not reasonable or necessary to protect the health and general welfare of the people.”

Owens previously put a hold on Wyoming’s bans last year while she heard arguments from both sides about the measures’ constitutionality, or lack thereof.

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The bans were challenged by a group of women, including two obstetricians and two nonprofit organizations.

“This is a wonderful day for the citizens of Wyoming — and women everywhere who should have control over their own bodies,” said Julie Burkhart, the president of Wellspring Health Access, one of the lawsuit’s plaintiffs.  

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The ruling comes after voters in seven states, earlier this month, passed ballot measures in support of reducing restrictions on abortions. Meanwhile, three states voted to keep their restrictions in place.

Currently, 13 states are enforcing abortion bans with limited exceptions, while four states have bans that begin six weeks into a woman’s pregnancy, according to ABC News.