: Democrats are planning to make Republicans in the Senate go on the record on Medicaid during Thursday evening’s ‘Vote-a-Rama’ as potential cuts to the program become a sore point in budget discussions, especially for Republicans in states that rely on it. 

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., who just won re-election in a state that also swung for President Donald Trump, is introducing several amendments to the Senate GOP’s budget resolution, all aimed at preserving Medicaid, her office shared with Fox News Digital exclusively. 

Among her tranche of amendments will be several to protect Medicaid access and funding for senior citizens, children, people suffering from drug addiction, Americans in rural areas and for pregnant women. 

‘Americans want us to lower the cost of their health care, not rip it away from new moms, seniors in long-term care, and poor kids,’ Baldwin told Fox News Digital in an exclusive statement. ‘Republicans have claimed they would protect Medicaid – despite their budget telling us otherwise – but tonight, they will have the chance to put their money where their mouth is: will they prevent Medicaid from being cut or will they put it on the chopping block to fund their billionaire tax break?’

Her amendments will get votes after others that are teed up by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Democrats. The first amendment of the evening, per a Senate Democratic source, will be aimed at stopping Republicans from renewing the tax cuts in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which is a priority for Trump. 

If passed, the amendment would bar ‘handouts’ to millionaires or billionaires in new tax legislation. Specifically, it would stop a reconciliation bill from providing a tax cut to people earning more than $1,000,000,000.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., recently sounded off on potential Medicaid cuts. ‘I don’t like the idea of massive Medicaid cuts. We should have no Medicare cuts of any kind,’ he said in an interview with the Huffington Post. 

Such cuts could prove unpopular in Republican states with significant Medicaid coverage, such as Louisiana, Arkansas, Kentucky and West Virginia, which each reported more than 25% of their populations covered by either Medicaid or Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) as of last year, per KFF. 

After Senate Republicans cleared a procedural vote on their budget last week, it triggered a 50-hour debate clock that will end on Thursday evening. Then, a marathon of votes, known as a ‘Vote-a-Rama’ will begin. 

Senators are able to introduce an unlimited number of amendments, which will then all get votes on the Senate floor. The process will force Republicans to take a large number of potentially uncomfortable votes teed up by their Democratic counterparts. 

Going forward with the marathon of votes appears to be a calculated risk for Senate Republicans after Trump endorsed the House GOP’s budget resolution on Truth Social over theirs. However, Vice President JD Vance gave GOP senators a green light on Wednesday to continue with their budget despite this, a source told Fox News Digital. 

Two buses in a parking lot reportedly exploded in Israel Thursday night in what appears to have been a terrorist attack. No one was injured. Several other bombs were reportedly discovered on other buses, according to TPS-IL, an Israeli news agency.

Israeli officials have ordered all bus and train services halted while all vehicles are inspected for bombs following the three bus explosions. Three public buses exploded on Thursday night at around 8:30 PM as they sat at a bus depot in Bat Yam, a city located just south of Tel Aviv. 

Firefighters arrived on the scene and put out the fires. The buses were empty at the time and no one was wounded.

Two other explosive devices were found under other buses after the police and Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, asked drivers to stop buses and check for devices. 

The explosions took place just hours after Hamas released the bodies of four Israeli hostages held in Gaza. The hostages were the first eight that Israel believes are dead and to be returned during the current phase of the ceasefire.

‘We need to determine if a single suspect placed explosives on a number of buses, or if there were multiple suspects,’ Police spokesman Haim Sargrof said. 

The buses had finished their routes and were in a parking lot, said Tzvika Brot, mayor of Bat Yam. He said one of the unexploded bombs was being defused in the nearby town of Holon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been receiving updates from his military secretary on the incidents and is expected to hold a security assessment, his office said. 

Israel has conducted multiple military offensives against Palestinian militants in the West Bank following a Jan. 19 ceasefire. 

Following the bus bombings, Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to ramp up operations in the West Bank, the Times of Israel reported. 

‘In light of the severe terror attack attempts [in the Tel Aviv area] by Palestinian terror organizations against the civilian population in Israel, I instructed the IDF to increase the intensity of the counterterrorism activity in the Tulkarem refugee camp, and all the refugee camps in Judea and Samaria,’ he said in a statement where he used the West Bank’s biblical name. 

‘We will hunt down the terrorists to the bitter end and destroy the terror infrastructure in the camps used as frontline posts of the Iranian evil axis,’ he added. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Amidst a war of words between President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Sen. Josh Hawley is pitching legislation that would install a special inspector general for Ukraine aid.

Hawley, R-Mo., is reintroducing legislation he sponsored along with Vice President J.D. Vance, when Vance was in the Senate, for an independent watchdog to audit the more than $174 billion that Congress has appropriated for Ukraine aid.

The Special Inspector General for Ukraine Assistance Act was voted down by the then-Democratic-controlled Senate when Hawley first introduced it in 2023. But with Republican control of both chambers of Congress and President Donald Trump’s increasing frustration over Ukraine aid, Hawley believes it now has a chance of becoming law. 

‘American taxpayers shouldn’t have to wonder where their billions in aid to Ukraine went and what they’re funding there now. They deserve an accounting of every penny Congress shipped over there,’ Hawley said in a statement. 

The watchdog would be similar to those created for Afghanistan reconstruction, known as SIGAR, and one created to investigate CARES Act fraud during the COVID-19 pandemic, known as SIGPR, and another created after the 2008 financial crisis to audit the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP). 

Under Hawley’s bill, an inspector general’s office for Ukraine would conduct oversight of aid programs run by the Department of Defense, State Department, and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). 

The legislation would siphon dollars from the Ukraine Economic Assistance Fund for the office, and the inspector general would be required to submit quarterly reports to Congress on the office’s findings. 

And as Congress hashes out a budget blueprint, Hawley has issued a warning to Senate leaders not to try to ‘slip in’ Ukraine aid. ‘We shouldn’t be giving a dime more to Ukraine. We should be auditing the billions we’ve already given them,’ he said. 

Hawley’s action comes as tensions between Trump and Zelenskyy reached a fever pitch this week after Trump called the Ukrainian leader a ‘dictator’ who ‘never should have started’ the war. 

Zelenskyy in turn said Trump is operating in a ‘​​disinformation space.’ 

This week, Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz sat down with their Russian counterparts and agreed to increase their diplomatic presences in each other’s nations. 

Hawley, while veering away from calling Zelenskyy a ‘dictator,’ backed up Trump’s assertion that Ukraine needed to hold elections, even in a time of war. 

‘We held elections during World War II,’ Hawley said. ‘If they’re a democracy, they should hold elections. I don’t think that’s difficult.’ 

‘[Zelenskyy] is the elected leader of the country,’ said Hawley. ‘But, you know, at a certain point you’ve got to hold elections.’

Trump has been pushing Zelenskyy to pay up for past U.S. support. Last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent traveled to Ukraine to hand the Ukrainian president a draft deal entitling the U.S. to hundreds of billions worth of its minerals. 

National security adviser Mike Waltz said on Thursday that Ukraine needs to ‘tone it down’ and sign the mineral deal. 

‘We presented the Ukrainians really an incredible and historic opportunity to have the United States of America co-invest with Ukraine, invest in its economy, invest in its natural resources and really become a partner in Ukraine’s future in a way that’s sustainable, but also would be – I think – the best security guarantee they could ever hope for, much more than another pallet of ammunition,’ he said. 

: The cafeteria in a top federal department resembles a ghost town after remaining empty and closed for years under the Biden administration, Fox News Digital has learned.

‘You have federal workers showing up to protest President Trump’s plan to make government work for the people on a federal holiday, but they refuse to show up to work when they are collecting a paycheck courtesy of American taxpayers. It’s just nuts,’ a source close to the situation told Fox News Digital.

The Department of Interior (DOI) cafeteria was initially closed during the coronavirus pandemic, but the lunchroom remained shut down for several years because the Biden administration did not require federal employees to work in person.

A photo taken on Feb. 20, 2025, reveals that five years after the pandemic, the lunchroom remains empty and unmanned, which ‘shows you exactly what’s wrong with the mindset of far too many federal workers,’ the source tells Fox.

‘President Trump is keeping his promise to the American people about having a government that works hard and responsibly for the people. Under the Biden administration, there were so few people in the Interior office that the cafeteria closed!’ Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement. 

‘The American people elected President Trump because they want results,’ the secretary said. ‘Getting the workforce back to the office will help accelerate America’s sprint to Energy Dominance.’

President Donald Trump, in January, took aim at Biden’s policies on remote work, warning that federal employees must return to in-person work by early February or ‘be terminated.’

 Burgum is requiring that all federal employees return to the office to comply with the return to work order issued by the president.

‘It’s understandable that the cafeteria would close during the pandemic, but the pandemic has been over for years,’ the source told Fox. ‘Why did the Biden administration let everyone continue to work from home when there is real work to be done for the country?’ 

Fox News Digital also recently found that the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) headquarters in Washington, D.C., was left relatively untouched since the first Trump administration, with an official saying it felt like a ‘taxpayer-funded ‘Spirit Halloween” store.

The Trump administration has been conducting a sweep of federal departments over the past month, slashing spending, as well as making cuts to the workforce in an effort to downsize the government.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management offered more than two million federal civilian employees buyouts in January to leave their jobs or be forced to return to work in person. 

About 75,000 federal employees have accepted Trump’s deferred resignation program and will retain all pay and benefits and be exempt from in-person work until Sept. 30.

Fox News’ Emma Colton and Diana Stancy contributed to this report.

Elon Musk is set to deliver his debut speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Thursday afternoon. 

CPAC organizers made a surprise announcement that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chief and close President Donald Trump confidant would give a surprise address to attendees on Thursday afternoon. 

Other CPAC speakers this year include President Trump, Vice President JD Vance, immigration czar Tom Homan and many of the nation’s leading conservative politicians and influencers. At the conference’s opening ceremony, Vance addressed a packed house and touted many of the Trump administration’s accomplishments in its first full month. 

Since Trump returned to the White House, Musk has been the center of much of Democratic and media vitriol because of his role with DOGE and work gutting wasteful government programs, many of which have been rooted in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and other favorite liberal causes.

DOGE claims that it has already cut $44 billion in previously wasted taxpayer dollars. 

Donning his ‘Dark Gothic MAGA’ hat, a black coat and sunglasses, and wielding a chainsaw, Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chief Elon Musk made a surprise appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Thursday evening.

Musk spoke on a wide range of topics, including the latest DOGE updates, the Democratic and media hatred towards him and the importance of reducing waste and abuse in the federal government.

He also mentioned that he is in talks with President Donald Trump about issuing tax refunds to U.S. citizens from the money saved by DOGE.

At the start of his speech, the DOGE chief was joined by Argentinian President Javier Milei, who is also known for dramatically slashing the size of government in his country. The two men wielded a chainsaw hearkening back to a viral video of Milei and symbolizing their shared goals of cutting down government waste.

‘I wasn’t really that interested in being political. It’s just like there was at a certain point no choice,’ Musk explained. ‘The actions that we’re taking, with the support of the president and the support of the agencies, is what will save Medicare, what will save Social Security.’ 

‘That’s the reason I’m doing this,’ he said. ‘Because I was looking at the big picture here and it’s like, man, it’s getting out of control.’ 

‘A country is no different from a person,’ he went on. ‘[A] Country overspends, a country goes bankrupt in the same way as a person who overspends usually goes bankrupt. So, it’s not like optional to solve these things, it’s essential.’

Musk confirmed he is in talks with the president about the possibility of issuing ‘DOGE dividends’ to U.S. taxpayers from the savings from cutting government waste.

‘I talked to the president, and he’s supportive of that and so it sounds like, you know, that’s something we’re going to do,’ he said. ‘So, as we’re finding savings, that’s going to translate directly to reductions in tax.’

He also criticized the Biden administration and entrenched government bureaucrats for what he called a ‘very obvious’ scheme to use taxpayer dollars for their own ideological agenda, which he said included importing voters through mass immigration.

‘You don’t actually have to assume some grand conspiracy, you just need to look at basic incentives,’ he said. ‘If the probability [is] that an illegal is going to vote Democrat at some point … then the incentive is to maximize the number of illegals in the country. That is why the Biden administration was pushing to get in as many illegals as possible and spent every dollar possible to get as many [as they could] because every one of them is a customer.’

Since Trump returned to the White House, Musk has been the center of much of Democratic and media vitriol because of his role with DOGE and work gutting wasteful government programs, many of which have been rooted in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and other favorite liberal causes.

DOGE claims that it has already cut $44 billion in previously wasted taxpayer dollars. 

‘People ask me, what’s the most surprising thing that you’ve encountered when you got to DC?’ he said. ‘Well, the most surprising thing is the scale of the expenditures and actually, how easy it is to – when you add caring and competence where it was absent before – you can actually save billions of dollars sometimes in the span of an hour. Like it’s wild.’

‘It just shows that they really lack empathy for the average taxpayer who’s working hard, paying taxes and then and then they say: ‘Oh: ‘$1 million doesn’t matter.’ I’m like: ‘I think it matters a lot to people.’’

He made light of the widespread criticism against him from the media and the left.

‘They’re always saying like ‘threat to our democracy.’ But if you just replace democracy with bureaucracy, yeah, it makes a lot of sense. It makes perfect sense, big threat to the bureaucracy,’ he said laughing. 

Musk also explained some of his personal motivations for caring about fixing government overspending. 

‘I grew up in South Africa, but my morality was informed by America. I read comic books, you know, played Dungeons and Dragons and I watched American T.V. shows, and it seemed like America cared about being the good guys, you know? About doing the right thing,’ he said. ‘So, I was like, yeah, you want to be on the side of good, you want to care about what’s right.’