A measure circulating in the Republican-controlled House would block the Biden administration from spending taxpayer cash to rebuild the war-torn Gaza Strip amid mounting concerns this cash will empower Hamas to reestablish its network of tunnels beneath the territory. The measure is set to be introduced on Thursday by Rep. Brian Mast (R., Fla.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and will be offered as an amendment to the foreign supplemental funding bill currently working its way through Congress, sources told the Washington Free Beacon. The funding bill includes emergency aid ..read more

The White House is weighing an unprecedented declaration of a national climate emergency to crack down on the oil industry and advance President Joe Biden’s climate policies, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.   Declaring a national climate emergency would allow the Biden administration to more easily reduce oil exports, offshore drilling, and greenhouse gas emissions, individuals familiar with the administration’s internal deliberations told Bloomberg on the condition of anonymity.  The administration, however, will likely not make a final decision anytime soon, with the president’s ..read more

The United States on Thursday announced new sanctions on Iran targeting its unarmed aerial vehicle production after its attack on Israel, and President Joe Biden said G7 leaders were committed to acting together to increase economic pressure on Tehran. Biden said the United States and its allies had helped Israel beat back the April 13 missile and drone strike and were now holding Iran accountable with the new sanctions and export controls. "The sanctions target leaders and entities connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran ..read more

As I write, Israel has yet to respond to last week's Iranian drone and missile attack. The situation is fluid, but we do know that President Biden opposes an Israeli response. He's told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to escalate against Iran. "You got a win," Biden said to Bibi. "Take the win." By the time you read these words, Israel may have rejected Biden's demand. The IDF may have hit an Iranian proxy or targets inside Iran. Or maybe a cyberattack turned off the power in Qom. Whatever happens, it is worth reflecting on the idiocy of Biden's comments to Netanyahu. Not only do Biden's ..read more

Days after the Biden administration gave its blessing to a newly formed Palestinian Authority government in the West Bank, the PA handed out dozens of bonus payments for security forces who were involved in attacks on Israelis. According to the PA's official news outlets, the Palestinian General Intelligence Service on April 4 provided a grant to 36 families of agency officials who died or were imprisoned as a result of their involvement in anti-Israel security crimes. The reports did not identify the recipients of the grant or its amount, but the purpose was clear. "Service Director in Jenin ..read more

Columbia University president Minouche Shafik gave congressional testimony Wednesday on the explosion of campus anti-Semitism. Facing questions from the Republican-led House Education Committee, Shafik said that "anti-Jewish protests" have not taken place at Columbia—then reversed course. "You were asked, 'Were there any anti-Jewish protests?' and you said no," said Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.), noting that there have been chants of "Jews out" on Columbia's campus. "So, the protest was not labeled as an anti-Jewish protest, it was labeled as an anti-Israeli government protest … but anti-Semi ..read more

Chinese Embassy officials met with congressional staffers to lobby against a bill that would force TikTok's sale to a non-Chinese company, Politico reported Wednesday.  The Capitol Hill staffers—one working in the House and the other in the Senate—said the Chinese Embassy initiated the meetings with them, where its diplomats downplayed the national security concerns with TikTok and tried to align the Chinese-owned app with American interests, according to the Politico report.  During the meetings, embassy officials reportedly stressed that not all of TikTok parent company ByteDance's ..read more

Virginia Democratic congressional candidate Eugene Vindman called to change the Virginia state flag while apologizing for posing with the flag of Virginia's Civil War-era Confederate government. "The buck stops with me," Vindman said in his apology. Vindman issued the apology after posing with a Civil War-era flag, used by the Confederate Virginia state government from 1861 to 1865, at a pro-Ukraine event over the weekend. Vindman is seeking to replace Democratic representative Abigail Spanberger in Virginia's Seventh Congressional District, which covers parts of the central and northern porti ..read more

The Biden administration on Monday confirmed that the Afghan suicide bomber who killed more than a dozen U.S. service members at the Kabul airport in 2021 had been freed from a prison abandoned during the U.S. military's withdrawal from Afghanistan. House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Michael McCaul (R., Texas) in a Monday statement said a Defense Department report revealed that the suicide bomber who detonated an explosive belt at the airport’s Abbey Gate and killed 13 U.S. service members and injured 45 more in August 2021 was "Abdul Rahman al-Logari, an ISIS-K terrorist who was freed f ..read more

Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson has a dirty little secret that, if exposed, could destroy what's left of his credibility and undermine the crime-plagued city's efforts to avert widespread lawlessness at the Democratic National Convention in August. Johnson, the radical "defund the police" advocate who succeeded Lori Lightfoot in 2023, recently hired Joe Calvello as chief strategy officer. It's a significant development for several reasons. Last year the Washington Free Beacon exclusively reported that Calvello, who was working for Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.) at the time, played lacrosse in hig ..read more