The Biden administration quietly acknowledged in a court filing earlier this week that it won’t issue a final decision on future offshore oil and gas leasing until the end of 2023.

Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys wrote in the briefing filed late Monday evening that the Interior Department (DOI) won’t be able to publish its highly-anticipated five-year offshore oil and gas leasing plan for at least another nine months. The filing came in response to an ongoing lawsuit from fossil fuel industry groups led by the American Petroleum Institute (API), challenging the agency’s delay in issuing the plan.

‘Interior is proceeding expeditiously to approve the next Five-Year Program in December 2023, only three months after API’s requested date,’ the filing stated. ‘API has not provided compelling reasons why the Court should accelerate Interior’s timeline.’

Under the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the federal government is required to issue plans every five years laying out prospective oil and gas lease sales. The most recent plan, which was implemented in 2017, expired in June.

On July 1, the DOI published a proposal for the five-year plan, which laid out multiple options for leasing between 2023 and 2028. The plan included an option with no lease sales during the time span and a maximum option of 11 lease sales. The plan ruled out any lease sales in the Atlantic or Pacific, mainly proposing Gulf of Mexico sales.

The delay in issuing a finalized plan represented a departure from precedent set by both Republican and Democratic administrations, which historically have finalized replacements immediately after plans expired. The option to hold no lease sales over the course of five years also represented an unprecedented departure. 

The most recent two plans, both formulated under the Obama administration, included more than 10 offshore oil and gas lease sales each. The Trump administration sought to hold a total of 47 lease sales across the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico and off Alaska’s coasts between 2022 and 2027.

‘The continued, prolonged, and unprecedented delay of the U.S. offshore oil and gas leasing program is injecting substantial and unnecessary uncertainty into the investment outlook for U.S. energy and national security,’ said National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) president Erik Milito. ‘The U.S. offshore region competes with other offshore regions throughout the world for investment in energy producing projects.’

‘Historically, the U.S. has been able to compete effectively under its statutory and regulatory framework,’ Milito added. ‘However, as certainty and predictability has continued to erode as a result of stifling energy policy decisions out of Washington, investment dollars may begin to flow to other producing regions.’

NOIA, which represents both offshore fossil fuel and wind producers, was among the groups to sue the DOI over its delays in issuing a finalized plan. NOIA and API issued a report last year showing that failure to hold more lease sales over the next five years would have a negative impact on jobs, gross domestic product and domestic oil production.

‘Beyond its legal requirement, the prompt finalization of an offshore oil and gas leasing program is critical to meeting fundamental energy realities and ensuring Americans have affordable supplies of energy for decades to come,’ Milito continued.

In addition, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee chairman, blasted the subtle admission from the administration in a scathing statement Wednesday.

‘Monday night, the Department of the Interior made it painfully clear — again — that they are putting their radical climate agenda ahead of our nation’s energy security, and they are willing to go to great lengths to do it,’ Manchin stated. ‘The earliest that Interior will release a legally required program for 2023-2028 offshore oil and gas leasing will be the end of this year. That’s 18 months late.’

‘This is the first time in our nation’s history that we haven’t had a five-year leasing program released before the old plan expired,’ he continued. ‘Every other administration, Democrat and Republican, has managed to follow the law in a timely fashion. Let me be clear — this is not optional. The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act mandates that the secretary of the Interior ‘shall prepare’ this program to ‘best meet national energy needs.”

‘What is even more terrifying is that on top of this disturbing timeline, Interior refuses to confirm if they intend to actually include any lease sales in the final plan,’ Manchin added.

A DOI spokesperson told Fox News Digital the filing speaks for itself.

A number of Democrats across the country celebrated International Women’s Day on Wednesday, despite having previously been either unwilling or unable to provide a definition of what a ‘woman’ is.

The apparent inability by many on the political left to provide a definition of a ‘woman’ became a point of contention following now-Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson refusing to define the word when asked during her confirmation hearing last year.

‘Today, on [International Women’s Day], we celebrate all the women around the world who lead the way, all while contending with the weight of parenting, cost of child care, scourge of sexism – including pay disparities – and now, for many, the loss of their right to abortion care,’ Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra wrote on Twitter Wednesday.

Last year, however, Becerra struggled to respond during a congressional hearing when asked by Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., ‘What is a woman? Can you define the word?’

‘Congresswoman, I’m looking at you, and I think you’re a woman. How much more do you want me to give you?’ he responded at the time.

Becerra was joined by Sens. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., and Michael Bennet, D-Colo., who also wouldn’t provide the definition of a ‘woman’ when asked by Fox News Digital last year.

‘Today, we celebrate the invaluable contributions and accomplishments of women in Georgia and around the world. Happy International Women’s Day!’ Warnock said on Twitter, while Bennet thanked ‘every woman’ who he said taught him to stand up for the ‘rights of all.’

Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who also refused to answer Fox’s questions on the definition of a woman tweeted, ‘This [International Women’s Day], we honor the women who blazed the path of equality before us and celebrate the women leaders of today and tomorrow! Together, we will work to carry the torch left to us – and will make it glow even brighter.’

Multiple Biden administration agencies also celebrated International Women’s Day despite previously refusing to answer, ‘What is a woman?’

The U.S. Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Services and National Institutes of Heath also each recognized International Women’s Day even though they were unable to provide a definition of a ‘woman’ when asked by Fox last year.

A number of Republican women have sharply pushed back on Democrats’ seeming unwillingness to define what a woman is, including Sens. Katie Britt, R-Ala., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.

‘Many of the same people who want to destroy Title IX and who can’t even define what a woman is are now celebrating Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day. The irony is certainly not lost on me,’ Britt told Fox News Digital. 

‘Throughout history, Alabama women have strengthened their communities, our state and our nation through everyday deeds and landmark achievements. These incredible women should be honored – not erased by a radical leftwing agenda,’ she added.

Blackburn echoed Britt’s sentiment, describing the left’s push for ‘equality’ as a ‘full scale war on women.’

‘Men and women are already equal under the law, but they have real biological differences that we must respect and celebrate,’ Blackburn told Fox. ‘By insisting that men can become women, the left is destroying what it means to be a woman and is pushing women and girls out of sports, public life, and positions of leadership.’ 

‘Instead of promoting and supporting real women, this administration is fixated on promoting folks that used to be men. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson showcased this absurdity for the American people and proved how far the left will go to promote their anti-women agenda,’ she added.

Fox News’ Timothy H.J. Nerozzi and Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: The Department of Homeland Security has removed just 409 unaccompanied child migrants (UAC) encountered at the southern border since the beginning of the 2021 fiscal year despite a massive surge in encounters that has seen over 345,000 UACs at the border, according to government data obtained by a conservative legal group.

America First Legal (AFL) obtained data from the administration through a lawsuit against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The data show that there have been 409 unaccompanied children returned since October 2020, when FY 21 began, up until the 10th week of FY 2023.

The first three months of FY 2021 took place under the Trump administration, but the majority of the returns occurred during the Biden administration — which has been in charge amid a historic migrant crisis at the southern border.

The number of UACs encountered at the border jumped from just 33,239 in FY 2020 to 146,925 in FY 2021 and 152,057 in FY 2022. So far in FY23, there have been more than 46,000 UAC encounters.

But according to the data obtained by AFL, which has repeatedly sued over a number of administration policies, there were just 151 removals in FY 2021, 220 in FY 2022 and 38 in the first ten weeks of FY 2023.

Typically, UACs who are encountered at the border are processed and transferred into the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which seeks to unite the minors with parents or sponsors already in the country. There have been a number of high-profile instances of children being handed over into the hands of smugglers, who then abandon the children at the border.

Recently, the New York Times published a story on how migrant children are being forced to work in dangerous jobs across the U.S.

AFL noted that the 345,000 total population of UACs encountered in the timeframe is roughly the size of Honolulu, Hawaii, and challenged prior claims by Biden administration officials that the border is ‘not open.’

Stephen Miller, president of AFL and a former senior Trump White House official, pointed to the decision by the Biden administration to exempt minors from expulsions under the Title 42 public health order.

The Trump administration included UACs in Title 42 expulsions but was temporarily blocked toward the end of the administration by a federal judge.

‘When President Trump initiated Title 42 for UAC the smuggling of minors hit record lows. Numbers plummeted,’ Miller said. ‘Agents couldn’t remember a time so few UAC were in custody. Biden’s decision to unilaterally and categorically exempt UAC from Title 42 triggered the largest wave of child smuggling in known world history for which he is solely responsible.’

Miller said the move was aggravated by the ending of other Trump-era border policies and prosecution initiatives by the Biden administration.

‘The UAC catastrophe is arguably Biden’s single most ignominious open borders crime in a list of open borders wrongdoing almost without end and certainly without equal,’ he said.

AFL is also behind a lawsuit currently before the courts that seeks to block a humanitarian parole program announced by the Biden administration in January which allows for up to 30,000 migrants from four countries each month to enter the U.S.

Separately, the Biden administration has recently unveiled a rule automatically making migrants ineligible for asylum if they have crossed the border illegally and failed to claim asylum at a previous country through which they traveled. The proposed rule would, however, exempt unaccompanied children.

Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday voted against legislation that would permanently classify both fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances (FRS) as Schedule 1 drugs that carry the toughest penalties for trafficking and possession.

Republicans say the growing fentanyl problem in America means the U.S. should permanently treat those drugs as Schedule 1 substances in the hopes of boosting penalties and stopping their spread. In 2018, the Trump administration temporarily scheduled FRS as a Schedule 1 drug in light of the growing number of fentanyl-related deaths, and Congress has extended that temporary status a few times since then.

House Republicans argue that it’s time to permanently reclassify fentanyl and FRS, and they called up a bill to do so in the Energy and Commerce health subcommittee on Wednesday to stop what several Republicans called the poisoning of tens of thousands of American citizens.

The subcommittee approved the bill in a 17-10 vote in which every Democrat voted against it except for Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn. Other Democrats rejected the bill after arguing that the change should be coupled with an end to mandatory minimum sentences for FRS charges.

Specifically, Democrats said FRS cases that don’t lead to death or serious bodily harm should not carry mandatory minimum sentences, and they broadly argued that Republicans need to treat the matter more like a health crisis and less like a criminal crisis.

‘Mandatory minimums should take into account whether the cases involve overdoses or serious bodily harm,’ said Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif.

Another Democrat, Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, said Democrats support the Biden administration’s plan to only apply mandatory minimum sentences for FRS unless an offense results in serious harm or death, and to let people sentenced to seek lower sentences if an FRS is later classified as a less-harmful drug.

‘Republicans have refused to work with us’ on those and other provisions, Pallone said.

Groups that normally support Democrats, such as the ACLU and Human Rights Watch, argued in 2021 that maintaining tough penalties related to fentanyl would ‘exacerbate pretrial detention, mass incarceration and racial disparities in the prison system, doubling down on a fear-based, enforcement-first response to a public health challenge.’

But law enforcement groups have called for tougher penalties — in 2021, the National Fraternal Order of Police called on the government to address the ‘growing illicit fentanyl overdose epidemic that has gripped this country.’

Republicans said Wednesday that the deaths of tens of thousands of people due to fentanyl mean Congress must take swift action to ensure tough penalties against fentanyl and FRS. The government attributed 106,000 fentanyl-related deaths in 2021, and Rep. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, one of the sponsors of the bill, said fentanyl and FRS have become ‘weapons of mass destruction’ that must be policed.

‘This should not be a political issue,’ Latta said. ‘It’s about addressing the largest poisoning of Americans in the history of our country and taking steps to end the scourge.’

Republicans also rejected the idea from Democrats that tough fentanyl penalties are creating unfair sentences. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, said the growing number of fentanyl deaths of Americans is ‘murder at this point,’ and Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., said that making fentanyl and FRS riskier to bring into the country will both reduce the deaths and lower the number of fentanyl sentences.

‘The point is you can’t die from ingesting something that was never created, nor can you be incarcerated for selling something that doesn’t exist,’ he said.

Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., added that because there are tens of thousands of fentanyl analogues already in existence, it makes no sense for Congress to try to analyze each one and assess which ones might pose no harm to people. He also said the GOP meets one demand being made by Democrats, which is to make it easier for researchers to access FRS in order to study these drugs.

GOP Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer of Kentucky are planning to visit Jan. 6 defendants being held in the Washington, D.C. jail. 

A spokesperson for Comer has confirmed reports saying Greene is leading the effort, though concrete details are still being worked out. 

Greene and Comer told The Hill a letter to start the process of the visit is expected to be released on Thursday. 

‘We’re going to be addressing the human rights abuse, such as the fact that they’ve been held in solitary confinement up to 23 hours a day, denied the ability to see their families,’ Green told the outlet. 

Greene previously visited the defendants in November 2021. During an appearance on Steven Bannon’s ‘The War Room’ on Real America’s Voice, the Republican lawmaker claimed the prisoners were being kept in conditions worse than Guantanamo Bay. 

‘Last night I finally got into the deplorable jail, the D.C. jail where these people are being held for months on end in conditions like I’ve never seen in my life,’ Green said. ‘It’s beyond anything I’ve ever seen and every American in this country should be outraged at what’s happening. I don’t care how you vote.’ 

That same week, the U.S. Marshals Service completed an inspection of the jail complex where 30 Jan. 6 defendants were being held. The Marshals’ inspection determined the defendants were being held in sufficient conditions. 

It was not immediately clear which other Republicans will accompany Greene and Comer on the visit. 

The news comes after U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg denied a request from a Jan. 6 defendant to push back the start of her trial to allow time to review about 44,000 hours of Capitol riot footage from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.