House Republican leaders are dismissing the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) latest projection that says the debt limit deal struck by President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., would actually increase the number of people eligible for federal benefits.

Tightening access to SNAP and other benefit programs has been touted as a key victory touted by Republican negotiators, part of their overall demand to slash spending in exchange for raising the federal borrowing limit.

The bill would raise the upper age limit of single American adults who must fulfill work requirements to get SNAP from 49 to 54, while providing exemptions for the homeless, veterans and young people aging out of the foster care system.

Late on Tuesday, the CBO released an updated score of the bill, The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, which said that the proposed changes would actually expand the net eligibility to SNAP by roughly 78,000 people – or about 0.2%. 

‘The simple answer is the CBO got it wrong,’ House Financial Services Chair Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., said at a late night press conference. ‘These populations are already included. And most states, under the 12% cap that they currently have, which says even if they have all these currently excluded populations, that are not required to be in work or seeking work, they can have up to 12% of their population exempted. We reduced that number down to eight.’

Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., similarly criticized the projection as ‘wrong’ and claimed the CBO did not add up its figures correctly.

‘They double-counted individuals that there were— new categories that were created, specifically veterans, the homeless, 18-year-olds that have been living in foster care,’ Thompson said. ‘I hope you’re all aware the tragic situation that happens there, many times, when a young person ages out, they put their life belongings in a garbage bag and because it all fits there and they go out to try to find a place in the world. And very frankly, those folks, most of those folks are already counted as eligible.’

‘So CBO basically, they scored this as a $2 billion costs, which is completely false,’ he added.

But the update left some GOP members, particularly those who were already opposed to the bill, even more disenchanted. 

Fox News Digital asked Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., for her reaction to the CBO update as the congresswoman was leaving a closed-door conference meeting. She replied sarcastically, ‘Yay debt.’

When asked a follow-up question about how House GOP leadership fielded dissenters’ concerns, Boebert described it as, ‘Sit down little girl, we got this.’

Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., among the first House Republicans to voice dissent, wrote on Twitter, ‘The Biden-McCarthy deal expands welfare. Heckuva negotiation, guys.’

‘Yet another example of this bill doing one thing while its proponents incorrectly claim that it does precisely the opposite,’ Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who signaled that he’s against the bill in its current form, also said.

The ‘Blacks for Trump’ founder, who said during a recent interview that he wants to ‘destroy’ Republican presidential candidate Gov. Ron DeSantis, has a decades-long past of run-ins with the law and is a devoted follower of the late cult leader Hulon Mitchell Jr.

Maurice Symonette, formerly Maurice Woodside, was interviewed by Laura Loomer, a former President Trump devotee and twice-failed GOP candidate, during a protest outside of DeSantis’ presidential campaign announcement at the Miami Four Seasons hotel last Wednesday.

In a blog post accompanying her video, Loomer described Symonette as one of the ‘real grassroots voters’ who wants to ‘make it clear that DeSantis is a fraud.’

‘I’m here to destroy DeSantis, because he’s a bastard from Hell,’ Symonette told Loomer. ‘What I’m going to do is make sure that you don’t win, and that everybody knows that you’re a RINO Republican racist.’

Neither Loomer nor Symonette are affiliated with the Trump campaign, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. Loomer reportedly met with Trump earlier this year and was being considered for a campaign position until the potential hire received backlash from some top aides and Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who called her ‘mentally unstable and a documented liar.’ 

Symonette made his comments alongside several other men wearing ‘Blacks for Trump’ shirts that also advertised Symonette’s nonprofit organization, BOSS Group Ministries, which follows the teachings of Hulon Mitchell Jr., founder of the murderous ‘Nation of Yahweh’ cult that disbanded after Mitchell landed behind bars.

Symonette is a 64-year-old Florida native who has faced several arrests dating back to the early 1980s, ranging from alleged identity theft to grand theft auto, and he has filed for bankruptcy eight times, according to public records.

In 2006, he was jailed after allegedly threatening a police officer, but he was not convicted. In 2014, he was found guilty of carrying a concealed firearm without a license.

Most recently, in May 2022, Symonette was charged with disorderly conduct. He has claimed before that he is being targeted by Miami authorities due to his political and religious beliefs.

Symonette, who publicly goes by ‘Michael the Black Man,’ was an early member of Mitchell’s ‘Nation of Yahweh,’ a sect of the Black Hebrew Israelites movement, and he went by the name Mikael Israel in the 1980s. 

The male-dominated insular group lived communally, wore white robes and worked 18-hour days at Mitchell’s so-called ‘Temple of Love’ in Miami, the Miami New Times reported in 2011, but the movement had multiple temples across the country.

In 1990, Symonette, Mitchell and 14 other Nation of Yahweh members were accused of murdering more than a dozen White people and dissidents, some by bombing and beheading, as part of the cult’s initiation process. Witnesses reported members would gift Mitchell the ears of their victims as sacrifices. All 16 members were charged with one count of murder and one count of attempted murder, but Symonette and six others were acquitted after devotee Robert Rozier, a former NFL player, confessed to seven of the murders. 

Symonette’s brother, Ricardo Woodside, who reportedly left the Nation of Yahweh several years earlier, testified against Mitchell and his brother for a reduced sentence and served five years in prison. At the trial, Ricardo testified that he and his brother tried unsuccessfully to kill a cult dissident, and that his brother helped beat a man who later died, the New Times reported.

Meanwhile, Mitchell, known by his followers as Yahweh Ben Yahweh, was convicted of conspiracy to murder and sentenced to 18 years in prison, and his Temple of Love was disbanded soon after.

Mitchell was released on parole in Miami in 2001 after serving 11 years in prison, and he died six years later of cancer.

Symonette, who legally changed his name from Woodside soon after his acquittal, claimed that Mitchell’s conviction was politically motivated because the group supported Republicans, ‘and the Democrats were very frightened about that,’ the New Times reported.

In 2019, Symonette told local media that Mitchell had been instructing his devotees to support Trump as far back as 1984.

‘Yahweh Ben Yahweh told us in 1984 that Trump was Cyrus,’ Symonette told Local 10 News, referring to the ancient Persian king. ‘He said one day he is going to run for president.’ 

Symonette told a similar story to The Washington Post in 2018. 

‘Ben Yahweh said, ‘That’s the man, that’s the one who will fight for you,” he said at the time.

Symonette made headlines during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign after he was spotted behind the former president at multiple rallies across the country holding ‘Blacks for Trump’ signs that also advertised his nonprofit religious organization, BOSS Group Ministries, which stands for ‘Brothers of Superior Status’ and appears to be a continuation of the Yahweh cult.

‘I love the signs behind me: Blacks for Trump. I like those signs,’ Trump said during an October 2016 rally in Sanford, Florida. ‘Blacks for Trump, you watch. You watch. Those signs are great, thank you.’

After Trump’s inauguration, on Jan. 20, 2017, Symonette posted a Facebook picture of himself and other supporters ‘onstage at the inaugural ball.’

During a Pennsylvania rally later that year, Trump saw the Black for Trump sign and said, ‘Thank you for that sign — Blacks for Trump — I love that guy. Thank you, man. That’s really great. I really appreciate it,’ CBS News reported.

Symonette and other Blacks for Trump members also appeared behind Trump during his October 2020 campaign rally in Ocala, Florida.

Most recently, Symonette and his group set up camp near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago on Palm Beach, holding daily demonstrations in support of the former president as he faced an indictment in New York City over alleged campaign finance violations.

In March, Symonette gave a sermon-like interview to FreedomNewsTV in Palm Beach, with his supporters emphatically agreeing with him that ‘when our day comes, we will be arresting your stinking a–.’ 

‘I’m going with Trump, because if Yahweh Ben Yahweh tells me that is our savior … I’m going with Cyrus, baby,’ Symonette preached to News2Share as his followers nodded along and punctuated his words with clapping and, ‘That’s right!’

During the protests, Symonette and his followers wore shirts that read, ‘BlacksForTrump2020.com,’ which leads to a blog belonging to Symonette’s BOSS Group Ministries called ‘Limitless Truth,’ which declared the group would not support DeSantis in the general election if he won the Republican primary.

Symonette, who is listed as the president of BOSS Group Ministries, has also donated at least $750 to Save America Joint Fundraising Committee, the primary fundraising apparatus for Trump’s 2024 campaign and his leadership PAC.

BOSS Group Ministries regularly posts the late Mitchell’s phrases and teachings on its website and YouTube channel.

The ministry, however, appears to have at least partially abandoned the Black supremacist teachings of the Yahweh cult in favor of a form of racial separatism, with Trump at the helm.

Symonette is also vehemently anti-LGBTQ. In a video posted last month, he appeared to threaten ‘homosexuals’ who did not soon repent and support Trump.

‘To all of my gay brothers out there … You can be saved,’ he said in the video. ‘If you don’t want to be saved, I’m here to wipe your a– off the planet Earth. And it’s real. This ain’t no joke.’

‘Those who don’t repent, you think you strong enough to stand against me, Trump and the Black Elamites and Hebrew Israelites, the greatest warriors on Earth? N—-, stand up!’ he continued. ‘Watch what happens, boy. We’re gonna stomp your a–.’

In the video, Symonette referred to the late Mitchell as his ‘father’ and as the son of God.

In April of last year, multiple people were shot, one fatally, during one of Symonette’s weekly Jet Ski parties at his ministry’s headquarters in North Miami. 

Last week, Symonette bragged in a video that his all-ages parties at the ministry often include a mix of White and Black gang members and that everyone gets along and has a ‘ball.’

‘Blacks mixing with the White European gentiles who are called the deplorables, the blessed ones — but only I can achieve that,’ he said in the May 24 video. ‘Only I can explain to Black people who you are, and that you’re our true blood brother. Yahweh Ben Yahweh taught me that we have to fight for you.’

Symonette did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

Fox News Digital reached out to the DeSantis campaign but did not receive a response.

Connecticut voters will have 14 days to cast their general election ballots early and in person under a bill that cleared the state Senate early Wednesday and now heads to the governor’s desk.

The Senate approved the bill by a 27-7 vote. The action comes six months after voters approved a state constitutional amendment that essentially gave the Democratic-controlled General Assembly the go-ahead to create a new, in-person early voting system. The legislation, which affects general elections, primaries and special elections held on or after Jan. 1, 2024, already cleared the House of Representatives earlier this month.

‘Connecticut is finally catching up with 46 other states that currently have early voting,’ said state Sen. Mae Flexer, the Democratic co-chair of the Government Administration and Elections Committee. She said the average number of early voting days in those other states is currently 22.

Connecticut’s bill also allows seven early voting days for most primaries and four for presidential primaries and special elections.

On Tuesday, the Senate passed a separate elections matter, in the form of a resolution, that places a question on the November 2024 ballot about whether the state constitution should be further changed to allow for no-excuses absentee voting. Absentee ballots are currently limited to specific excuses in Connecticut, such as being out of town on Election Day, active military service or sickness, a provision added during the pandemic.

Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont has expressed support for both proposals.

State Sen. Rob Sampson, the top Senate Republican on the elections committee, voted against the two election bills, criticizing the early voting proposal in particular for being crafted without Republican input.

Sampson offered multiple amendments he said would improve the legislation and help restore voter confidence, including limiting the number of early voting days and ensuring people don’t wait longer than a half-hour to vote.

Each amendment failed along partisan lines, including a much-debated proposal to require that voters present a photo identification at the polls.

‘The glaring issue is this is not a bipartisan product,’ Sampson said of the bill. He questioned whether a l4-day stretch of early voting was really what voters had in mind when they originally agreed to amend the constitution six months ago. He criticized the original ballot question for being too broad.

Connecticut’s constitution for years has dictated the time, place and manner of elections, essentially requiring voters to cast ballots at their local polling place on Election Day unless they qualified for absentee ballots. Advocates for early voting say busy people want options for when they can cast ballots. But some critics have questioned whether the state’s 169 cities and towns can find enough staff to offer 14 days of early voting.

The legislation requires every municipality to establish at least one early voting location. They may establish more if they choose.

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Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, is planning to resign from Congress before the end of the year, according to multiple reports.

Stewart, a six-term lawmaker, is expected to announce his intent to leave the House of Representatives Wednesday due to his wife’s illness, The Associated Press reported. His resignation would leave open a Republican seat on the House Appropriations and Intelligence committees — and reduce an already narrow GOP majority to just four seats.

Utah law states that the governor must call for a special election in the event of a House vacancy. Once Stewart makes his resignation official, Republican Gov. Spencer Cox will have seven days to set the time for a primary and special election. The law requires those dates to be the same as municipal primary and general elections scheduled for this year, unless the state legislature appropriates funds to hold a separate election.

A Republican candidate is heavily favored to fill the vacancy. Stewart represents Utah’s 2nd Congressional District, a reliably GOP constituency in western Utah that stretches from the Salt Lake City metro area to St. George. In the 2022 midterm election, Stewart easily defeated Democratic challenger Nick Mitchell, winning re-election with a landslide 63.4% vote share. 

However, until a special election happens, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., will have even less room for error when whipping votes. Assuming united Democratic opposition, McCarthy can only afford to lose three Republican votes on any given legislation. Intra-party fighting between hard-line conservatives and moderates already threatened to tank a Republican border security bill this year, and current GOP disagreements on the debt ceiling deal demonstrate plenty of Republican lawmakers are willing to buck the party line. 

Stewart’s retirement would also reshape Utah politics, as he was widely believed to be considering a run for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah., or the governor’s mansion. His wife’s illness would put those plans on hold, creating opportunities for other ambitious Republicans.

Stewart, a U.S. Air Force veteran and author, was first elected in 2012 and collaborated with Utah’s Elizabeth Smart on a memoir about her kidnapping. The 62-year-old Stewart was raised as a potential nominee for U.S. director of national intelligence during former President Trump’s administration. Little is known about Stewart’s wife’s health.

The Salt Lake Tribune first announced Stewart’s plans to resign. His resignation would mark the second time a Utah congressman has left office early in the past six years. Former U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz resigned from office in 2017, stepping away from his role as chairman of the House Oversight Committee and prompting a special election.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries suggested Tuesday that ‘MAGA Republicans’ are attempting to ‘crash’ the United States economy via debt ceiling negotiations because it is in their political interest to do so. 

‘Right now we’re focused on making sure that we avoid a catastrophic default, that we don’t allow the extreme MAGA Republicans to crash the economy and trigger a job killing recession, which to this day, many of them clearly want to do because they believe that it is in their political interests in 2024,’ the New York Democrat told reporters on Tuesday as Republicans and Democrats continue to debate raising the debt limit on Capitol Hill.

‘That is incredibly irresponsible, is unpatriotic, and it’s un-American and I’m thankful for President Biden’s leadership and making sure that he protects the U.S. economy.’

Jeffries was responding to a question about whether Democrats would step in and help vote McCarthy out of the speakership if conservatives move to hold a vote forcing him to vacate the speakership.

Jeffries’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital regarding what specific Republicans he believes are attempting to intentionally tank the economy for political gain.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has been attempting to gin up Republican support for a deal with President Biden that is facing strong opposition from conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus, including Rep. Chip Roy, who said the agreement doesn’t make meaningful cuts and violates the agreement between McCarthy and caucus members to secure his speakership. 

‘It’s not a good deal,’ Roy tweeted Tuesday. ‘Some $4 Trillion in debt for – at best – a two year spending freeze and no serious substantive policy reforms.’

‘I’ll debate this bill with anybody,’ McCarthy said over the weekend. ‘Is it everything I wanted? No, because we don’t control all of it. But it is the biggest rescission in history. It is the biggest cut Congress has ever voted for in that process.’

The agreement between Biden and McCarthy would keep nondefense spending roughly flat in the 2024 fiscal year and increase it by 1% the following year, as well as provide for a 2-year debt-limit increase.

The agreement would also rescind about $30 billion in unspent coronavirus relief money that Congress approved through previous bills, with exceptions made for veterans’ medical care, housing assistance, Indian Health Service and some $5 billion for a program focused on rapidly developing the next generation of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.

McCarthy has said the House will vote on the legislation Wednesday evening, giving the Senate time to consider it before June 5 – the date when Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the U.S. could default on its debt obligations if lawmakers did not act in time.

The House Rules Committee is set to meet on Tuesday afternoon to prepare the debt ceiling bill for floor debate on Wednesday.

Republicans and Democrats have traded barbs in recent days pointing to the other party as being responsible for the debt ceiling impasse.

‘It’s pretty obvious who to blame here – the extremist Republicans who control Kevin McCarthy. I mean, they’re the ones who made him go through 17 votes to get elected Speaker. They’re holding the country hostage,’ said Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass. ‘We didn’t like Donald Trump, we didn’t like his tax cuts. It’s created much of this deficit. And yet we raised the debt limit three times under Trump because it’s the right thing to do for the country.’

Asked if Americans would feel the same, Moulton said, ‘Look I hope they do, because that’s the truth.’

‘President Biden waited 97 days to speak with Kevin McCarthy about this debt ceiling stuff, so if anything untoward happens, this is 100% the Biden-Schumer shutdown,’ said Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. Asked if he believes Americans would feel the same way, he added, ‘I think if more media outlets report it honestly like you’re doing, they would, if they’re told the truth.’

Fox News’ Patrick Hauf contributed to this report

Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., dismissed House Republicans’ victory lap on the new debt limit bill on Tuesday, telling reporters that there was ‘no meaningful debt reduction’ in the deal struck by President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

‘First things first: you have all heard me say that Republicans never cared about reducing the deficit, and were just using the debt ceiling as a way to force through their priorities. This deal proves that point,’ Jayapal told reporters on a press call. ‘There is no meaningful debt reduction here. Some pieces will actually raise the deficit. The chief thing they claimed to care about, they are not getting in this bill.’

Her comments mirror those made by several conservative Republicans who said they won’t support the legislation because it doesn’t cut enough.

Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., one of the first House Republicans to break away from the conference and oppose the bill, noted a report that said Jayapal praised the agreement as one that minimized GOP demands. She said the bill makes some improvements to the federal food stamp program, avoids a shutdown and gave the GOP no ‘major concessions.’

‘Fellow members of the Republican Conference: Jayapal. Think. You won’t ever be able to live this one down,’ he wrote on Twitter.

House leaders are working to survey members on both sides of the aisle to see if McCarthy has the 218 votes necessary for the bill to pass their chamber. Both Republican and Democratic leaders have acknowledged that they will need bipartisan support.

Jayapal signaled on the call that progressives still had deep reservations about the bill, despite the recognition that GOP goals were minimized.

‘You will all remember that last week we did a whip of the CPC, and the overwhelming majority of our members said that they would not be able to support a deal that includes bad permitting policies, work requirements on social safety net programs, and harmful spending cuts. All of those are in this deal,’ Jayapal said.

House Republican leaders and McCarthy allies have pointed out that the bill follows through on the GOP’s pledge to cut spending and tighten work requirements for federal benefits, as well as clawing back some IRS and COVID-19 funding.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer is taking steps to hold FBI Director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress after the Bureau notified the panel it will not comply with its subpoena related to a possible criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Joe Biden.

The FBI, though, said Tuesday evening it remains committed to cooperating with Congress, and will provide access to the document ‘in a format and setting that maintains confidentiality and protects important security interests and the integrity of FBI investigations.’ 

Comer, R-Ky., has subpoenaed the FBI for a document that allegedly describes a criminal scheme involving Biden and a foreign national and relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions. The document is an FBI-generated FD-1023 form.

Comer first subpoenaed the document earlier this month. The FBI did not turn it over and instead explained that it needed to protect the Bureau’s confidential human source program.

Comer set another deadline last week, giving Wray until Tuesday, May 30, to turn over the document. After the deadline was set, Wray set up a call with Comer for Wednesday, May 31.

However, the FBI notified the panel it would not provide the document to the committee by the Tuesday afternoon deadline.

‘Today, the FBI informed the Committee that it will not provide the unclassified documents subpoenaed by the Committee,’ Comer said Tuesday. ‘The FBI’s decision to stiff-arm Congress and hide this information from the American people is obstructionist and unacceptable.’ 

‘While I have a call scheduled with FBI Director Wray tomorrow to discuss his response further, the Committee has been clear in its intent to protect Congressional oversight authorities and will now be taking steps to hold the FBI Director in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a lawful subpoena,’ Comer said.

He added, ‘Americans deserve the truth, and the Oversight Committee will continue to demand transparency from this nation’s chief law enforcement agency.’

In response, the FBI told Fox News Digital that the bureau ‘remains committed to cooperating with the Committee in good faith.’ 

‘In a letter to Chairman Comer earlier today, the FBI committed to providing access to information responsive to the Committee’s subpoena in a format and setting that maintains confidentiality and protects important security interests and the integrity of FBI investigations,’ the FBI said. ‘Last week, Director Wray scheduled a telephone call for tomorrow to provide additional details of the FBI’s extraordinary accommodation to satisfy the subpoena request.’ 

The FBI added: ‘Any discussion of escalation under these circumstances is unnecessary.’

The document is being sought after a whistleblower approached Comer and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, alleging that the FBI and the Justice Department were in possession of it and that it would reveal ‘a precise description of how the alleged criminal scheme was employed as well as its purpose.’

‘Chairman Comer and I have been more than patient with the FBI,’ Grassley told Fox News Digital. ‘The bureau’s failure to comply with our constitutional oversight duty comes with consequences.’ 

Grassley added: ‘I hope to hear a different tune from Director Wray tomorrow, but if not, Congress must defend its oversight prerogatives. The American people deserve an accountable government.’

Last week, Comer attempted to ‘narrow the breadth of the subpoena’ in response to FBI staff criticisms, and the committee determined ‘additional terms based on unclassified legally protected whistleblower disclosures that may be referenced in the FD-1023 form.’ The terms included ‘June 30, 2020’ and ‘five million.’

The back-and-forth came after Comer and Grassley notified Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland this month about the ‘legally protected and highly credible unclassified whistleblower disclosures.’

Comer and Grassley said that based on ‘the alleged specificity within the document, it would appear that the DOJ and the FBI have enough information to determine the truth and accuracy of the information contained within it.’

‘The FBI’s mission is to protect the American people. Releasing confidential source information could potentially jeopardize investigations and put lives at risk,’ the FBI said in a statement. ‘The FBI remains committed to cooperating with Congress’s oversight requests on this matter and others as we always have.’

The White House has maintained that the president never spoke to his son, Hunter Biden, about his business dealings and that the president was never involved in them. Officials also say the president has never discussed investigations into members of his family with the Justice Department.

The White House unexpectedly withdrew President Biden’s nomination of Ann Carlson to lead a Department of Transportation safety subagency late on Tuesday.

In a surprise release, the White House said it had informed the Senate that Carlson’s nomination had been withdrawn. Biden nominated Carlson in February to be the administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the nomination had been transmitted to the Senate Commerce Committee a month later.

The nomination withdrawal represents the third to die after being sent to the Senate Commerce Committee — Gigi Sohn, Biden’s nomination for the Federal Communications Commission, and Phillip Washington, Biden’s pick to lead the Federal Aviation Administration were both recently withdrawn. Committee Ranking Member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, had led opposition to all three nominees.

‘Based on your record, we are deeply concerned that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will follow the EPA’s lead and propose similarly radical vehicle fuel economy standards that run contrary to the law, diminish vehicle choice, impose higher costs on American families, and undermine our national and energy security all while benefitting China,’ Cruz and every other Commerce Committee Republican wrote in a letter to Carlson on May 1.

In January 2021, the Biden-Harris transition team hired Carlson, then an environmental law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), to serve as NHTSA’s chief counsel. While the position didn’t require Senate confirmation, Carlson has overseen key agency initiatives like the modification of fuel economy standards and has served as acting administrator since September.

According to emails reviewed in April by Fox News Digital, Carlson told her colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles, that she had been selected to serve at NHTSA in a climate-focused role. She even said in one email that her selection was ‘evidence that the Biden Administration is truly committed to a ‘whole of government’ approach to addressing climate change.’

‘NHTSA has authority over fuel economy for cars and trucks and has been at the center of the standards to reduce [greenhouse gas emissions] from the transport sector,’ she wrote in one of the emails on Jan. 19, 2021. ‘I’m being appointed along with the deputy administrator as the first NHTSA appointees ever with serious climate expertise.’

NHTSA, though, states its mission as ‘save lives, prevent injuries and reduce economic costs due to road traffic crashes, through education, research, safety standards and enforcement activity.’ The agency was established by Congress in 1970 to improve the safety of passenger cars amid a surge in traffic accidents and deaths.

As a result of the emails and other comments Carlson had previously made, numerous stakeholders had called for Senate Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., to reject Carlson’s nomination over her past climate activism.

Earlier this month, 43 influential oil and gas industry groups including the Western Energy Alliance, American Petroleum Institute and National Ocean Industries Association called on Cantwell and Cruz to block Carlson’s nomination. 

And on Tuesday, the American Farm Bureau, National Corn Growers Association and several other major agriculture groups similarly announced they opposed her nomination.

‘Regulations that impose an aggressive, unrealistic EV mandate are unworkable for farmers and ranchers. When given the choice most farmers and ranchers do not purchase EVs, and with good reason,’ the agriculture groups wrote in a letter to Cantwell and Cruz obtained by Fox News Digital.

‘NHTSA needs a leader who will focus on road safety and sensible vehicle standards, not imposing regulations that will cause substantial and widespread harm to American farmers and
ranchers. We urge the Senate to reject her nomination.’

In addition, in 2017 and 2018, Carlson helped coordinate high-profile climate nuisance lawsuits filed by a dark money-fueled law firm against fossil fuel companies. The firm, California-based Sher Edling, has filed more than a dozen such lawsuits on behalf of cities, counties and several states.

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