House Republicans are channeling Edward Hopper this week as they try to pass President Trump’s big, ‘beautiful bill.’

Hopper is known for ‘Nighthawks,’ one of the most iconic paintings in American history. The 1942 painting depicts four people in a diner in the middle of the night. A deserted streetscape commands the foreground. Two men – heads festooned with fedoras – sit separately at the counter, nursing coffee. One of the men has a cigarette tucked between his index and middle fingers. He’s positioned next to a woman with scarlet hair and a red dress. She appears to holding a bite of a doughnut or sandwich, studying it as though it were a rare artifact. She seems to debate whether she should eat it. A young counterman – attired in white with a crisp envelope hat – leans downward in search of glassware or dishes hidden underneath.

It’s the dead of night. Everyone is distant and detached. Even the couple – even though they sit side-by-side – don’t look at each other.

In Nighthawks, everyone appears as though they’re just trying to make it through the night to dawn.

It’s kind of what House Republicans are going through this week.

The House Budget Committee convened at 10:26 p.m. ET Sunday night to advance the tax cut and spending reduction package after a hiccup stalled the measure Friday afternoon. At 10:39 p.m. ET, the committee approved the bill 17-16 – with four House Republicans voting ‘present.’

The next stop is the House Rules Committee, the final parliamentary way station before depositing a piece of legislation on the floor.

At 12:31 a.m. ET Monday, the Rules Committee announced it would prep the bill for the floor – with a meeting at 1 a.m. Wednesday morning. That session could last all day Wednesday. Literally. The Energy and Commerce panel met for 26 consecutive hours last week to prepare its section of the budget reconciliation measure. The Ways and Means Committee huddled all night long.

The group of House Republicans pushing to state and local tax for high-tax states (known as SALT) scheduled a meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., for 9 p.m. ET Monday. And it’s entirely possible that the House could be debating or even voting on the measure late Thursday, the wee hours of Friday morning or even Friday night.

This is how Capitol Hill rolls when there’s a big piece of legislation on the clock. The hours are late. The meetings are long. Lawmakers convene different sessions whenever they need to – just to get the measure across the finish line.

The only difference between the halls of Congress now and ‘Nighthawks’ is that the coffee fueled the figures in the painting until dawn. It was 1942. But this is 2025. Edward Hopper would know nothing of Celsius or Red Bull.

There’s an actual parliamentary reason as to why the Budget Committee met so late on Sunday night after its stumble on Friday afternoon. And there’s a method to the Rules Committee’s 1 a.m. madness on Wednesday.

Let’s rewind.

The Budget Committee tried to blend the various provisions from nearly a dozen House committees into one unified legislative product midday Friday. That effort came up short. A total of five Budget Committee Republicans voted nay. They groused about spending cuts, green energy tax credits and the timeframe of work requirements for those on Medicaid.

Four of the five GOP noes were truly opposed. Rep. Lloyd Smucker, R-Penn., voted nay so he could order a re-vote. Rules allow a member on the winning side of an issue (in this case, the nays), to ask for another vote later. Smucker supported the plan. But he then switched his vote to nay to be on the winning side. That teed up a possible re-vote.

‘Calling a vote moves the process forward. I think it’s a catalyst,’ said Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Tex., after the failed vote Friday.

The Budget Committee then announced it would convene at 10 p.m. ET Sunday.

This is where things get interesting:

The key here was for the Budget Committee to finish its work before midnight Friday. Once it got rolling, the process would only consume 15 or 20 minutes. The Budget Committee approved the plan 17-16 with four Republicans voting ‘present.’

‘We’re excited about what we did,’ said Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., who was one of the GOPers who voted nay Friday.

But Norman still wasn’t excited enough to vote yes on Sunday night. He voted present.

‘There’s so much more that we have to do to rein in government and rein in the costs and the deficits,’ said Norman on FOX Business Monday.

But regardless, the measure was out of the Budget Committee before the witching hour on Sunday. And then came the Rules Committee announcement – just after midnight on Monday – about a session at 1 a.m. Wednesday to ready the ‘big, beautiful bill’ for the House floor.

There are several reasons House Rules Committee Republicans decided to huddle at 1 a.m. et Wednesday. Let’s begin with the parliamentary one.

The Budget Committee wrapped up just before midnight Sunday. The rules allow Democrats two full days to file their paperwork and viewpoints after that meeting. So, they had all day Monday and all day Tuesday. The Rules Committee needs an ‘hour’ to announce its formally meeting. So, the ‘official’ announcement of the Rules Committee meeting on Wednesday will go out just after 12:01:01 a.m. ET Wednesday. That triggers a 1 a.m. ET meeting on Wednesday.

Here are the other, more practical reasons.

Republicans need all the time they can get. There is talk of trying to vote on the floor late in the day on Wednesday. We’ll see about that. But the early Rules Committee meeting time makes that a possibility.

Second of all, it’s possible the Rules Committee meeting could consume the entire calendar day of Wednesday. Streams of lawmakers from both sides will file into the Rules Committee to propose various amendments. This is a protracted process.

But by the same token, meeting at 1 a.m. ET could diminish attendance. After all, who wants to show up at 1 a.m. ET for a meeting and maybe discuss your amendment at 6:30 a.m. ET? You get the idea. 

And once the bill gets out of the Rules Committee, expect late night meetings among Republicans as they try to close the deal. It’s possible the House could vote at virtually any time of day Wednesday, Thursday or Friday to pass the bill. That could be late in the evening. Or even overnight. They will vote when the bill is ready, regardless of the time on the clock.

Such is the lot drawn this week by House Republicans for the ‘big, beautiful bill.’ Maybe they’ll have the votes. Maybe they won’t. Maybe they’ll pass more spending cuts. Maybe there’ll be a deal on SALT for state and local taxes. Maybe not. Maybe the vote comes at 3 in the afternoon. But more likely, sometime late at night.

Just like in Nighthawks, everyone on Capitol Hill is just trying to make it through the night and to the dawn.

Following news that the House Rules Committee will convene at 1 a.m. on Wednesday morning to take the next steps in advancing President Trump’s ‘big, beautiful’ budget bill, Democrats are accusing Republicans of cowardice for advancing the monumental bill ‘in the dead of night.’

The House Budget Committee reached an initial consensus to pass the bill to the Rules Committee late Sunday evening, after gaveling in at approximately 10:00 p.m. The Rules Committee must now take up the matter to set out the rules for debate and markup that are expected to take place next in the GOP-controlled House of Representatives. 

Shortly after, the House Budget Committee passed the bill in a late-Sunday night vote, the House Rules Committee announced it would be considering the One Big Beautiful Bill Act at 1 a.m. on Wednesday morning. The announcement, followed by the late-night Sunday vote, has stirred up criticism from Democrats who argue the late-night legislative sessions are the result of GOP cowardice.

‘Republicans are scheduling votes in the DEAD OF NIGHT on Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill.’ They advanced their bill last night at 10:30PM. The next vote is scheduled for 1AM on Wednesday. Why hide?’ questioned Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. ‘Maybe because this bill rips away health care from babies, new moms, and seniors.’

The legislative negotiations over the GOP’s budget bill have circulated around what federal programs, or funding, will need to be cut in order to extend the president’s tax cuts from his first term, which are set to expire. Among those cuts are new provisions to federal healthcare programs, like Medicaid, which Democrats have slammed as a move to take away public healthcare programs from those who need them the most.   

‘Republicans know that their efforts to take away health care from millions of Americans is deeply unpopular. Republicans know that the effort to enact the largest cut to nutritional assistance in American history, which will literally take food from the mouths of children, veterans and seniors, is deeply unpopular. Republicans know that providing billionaire donors with a massive tax break for people, like Elon Musk, and at the same time, exploding the deficit by trillions of dollars is deeply unpopular,’ the Democrats’ House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said during a Monday afternoon press conference. 

‘That’s why Republicans are going to try to advance this bill in the dead of night at 1 a.m. in the morning.’

Republicans, however, have indicated their hope to pass their new budget bill by Memorial Day, and, in order to do that, the lengthy reconciliation process Republicans are using to get the bill passed must move quickly as the date is fast approaching. 

As a result of the looming Memorial Day deadline, Republicans appear to be moving the bill forward as quickly as possible, and, to do so, it is reportedly requiring the House Rules Committee to convene early Wednesday morning.  

‘Under the rules, Budget Dems get two calendar days to file minority views after last night’s markup. That could take until midnight Tuesday. Rules then has a one hour notice requirement, hence starting at 1 am,’ political commentator Brendan Buck said on X, citing someone with expert knowledge of the legislative process. 

But that hasn’t stopped Democrats from claiming Republicans are engaging in late-night votes to somehow keep the budget bill process out of the limelight.

‘Remember when Republicans said late-night sessions were ‘not what the country needs or deserves’ during the American Rescue Plan? Now they’re getting ready to make dramatic cuts to Medicaid and SNAP so they can give tax breaks for billionaires – in the dead of night,’ Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., said following news of the Wednesday morning Rules Committee session. ‘Hypocrisy on full display.’

New Jersey real estate developer Charles Kushner was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Monday for the ambassadorship to France and Monaco.

He was confirmed in a 51-45 vote. 

Kushner, the father-in-law of Ivanka Trump, was previously pardoned by President Donald Trump for federal tax evasion and Federal Election Commission violations from 2005, during the mogul’s first term.

In 1985, he founded the Kushner Companies and has long been a philanthropist, particularly to Jewish causes and institutions like Yeshiva University in Washington Heights, Manhattan.

He has also donated to St. Barnabas Hospital in Essex County, New Jersey, which has a wing bearing his family name.

During his May 1 confirmation hearing, Kushner acknowledged his past legal missteps, claiming they sharpened his judgment and better prepared him for both the ambassadorship and life.

‘I think that my past mistakes actually make me… better in my values to really make me more qualified to do this job,’ he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Kushner, who just celebrated his 71st birthday, was nominated in November after Trump called him a ‘tremendous business leader, philanthropist, & dealmaker, who will be a strong advocate representing our country & its interests.’

‘He was recognized as New Jersey Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young, appointed to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, & served as a commissioner, & chairman, of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, as well as on the boards of our top institutions, including NYU,’ Trump said.

‘Congratulations to Charlie, his wonderful wife Seryl, their 4 children, & 14 grandchildren. His son, Jared, worked closely with me in the White House, in particular on Operation Warp Speed, Criminal Justice Reform, & the Abraham Accords.’

Trump added that Kushner will help strengthen America’s partnership with ‘our oldest ally and one of our greatest.’ 

President Donald Trump spoke candidly about former President Joe Biden’s recent prostate cancer diagnosis on Monday, expressing sympathy while also suggesting that the situation should be investigated.

Biden’s team announced the diagnosis on Sunday afternoon, saying that the former statesman ‘was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms.’

‘On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone,’ the statement added.

‘While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management,’ Biden’s team concluded. ‘The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.’

Speaking to reporters on Monday afternoon, Trump called the news ‘very sad, actually.’ 

‘I’m surprised that…you know, the public wasn’t notified a long time ago because to get to stage nine [sic], that’s a long time,’ Trump said. ‘I just had my physical… We had the doctors at the White House and over at Walter Reed, which is a fantastic hospital. I did a very complete physical, including cognitive tests.’

Trump also referenced Biden’s cognitive decline during his presidency, stating that ‘anybody running for president should take a cognitive test.’

‘They say it’s unconstitutional. But I would say in that particular case, having a cognitive test wouldn’t be so bad,’ the Republican said.

Trump also posited that the general public ‘wasn’t informed’ about Biden’s medical situation, and suggested that the situation should be investigated.

‘I think somebody is going to have to speak to his doctor if it’s the same, or even if it’s two separate doctors,’ Trump said. ‘Why wasn’t the cognitive ability, why wasn’t that discussed? And I think the doctor said he’s just fine. And it’s turned out that’s not so. It’s very dangerous.’

The president concluded by saying that the cancer diagnosis is ‘a very, very sad situation and I feel very badly about it.’

‘I think people should try and find out what happened, because I’ll tell you….I don’t know if it had anything to do with the hospital,’ Trump added. ‘Walter Reed is really good. There’s some of the best doctors I’ve ever seen.’

‘Somebody is not telling the facts,’ he concluded. ‘It’s a big problem.’

News of Biden’s aggressive cancer diagnosis shocked the country over the weekend. After receiving bipartisan messages of sympathy, the 82-year-old thanked his supporters on social media on Monday.

‘Cancer touches us all,’ Biden wrote on X. ‘Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support.’

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was ripped on social media over the weekend for suggesting President Donald Trump was partially to blame for a Mexican Navy ship losing control and crashing into the Brooklyn Bridge.

‘After being fully briefed on last night’s Brooklyn Bridge accident, one thing is predominantly clear: there are more questions than answers as it relates to exactly how this accident occurred,’ Schumer said in a press release after a 150-foot-tall Mexican Navy training ship, Cuauhtémoc, reportedly experienced a mechanical issue before its masts crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge, killing two cadets on the ship. 

‘Bridges serve as critical transportation arteries for commerce, emergency response, and daily travel, and many span key waterways that are vulnerable to both natural and man-made threats. The Coast Guard plays a crucial role in monitoring and securing these areas, deterring potential terrorist attacks, preventing illegal activities, and responding quickly to emergencies,’ Schumer wrote. ‘At the same time, maintaining the structural integrity and safety of America’s bridges is critical to the economy and the well-being of communities. A failure or attack on a major bridge could disrupt supply chains, endanger lives, and cause massive economic losses. It is unacceptable that the Trump administration is potentially jeopardizing our national and economic security – as well as American lives.’

Schumer went on to point to the DOGE-implemented hiring freeze at the Coast Guard, arguing it could have impeded the Coast Guard’s Vehicle Traffic System, which works in a similar fashion to the air traffic control system.

Schumer’s claim drew immediate criticism from conservatives on social media as well as the Department of Homeland Security.

‘Minority Leader Schumer’s accusations that a hiring freeze led to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Vessel Traffic Services not being adequately staffed are FALSE,’ the official DHS account posted on X. 

‘The US Coast Guard has been fully supported and been exempt from hiring freezes. Additionally, this incident had nothing to do with Vessel Traffic Services— when a ship loses propulsion in a high current area, the vessel needs to engage all capabilities to stop and ideally tugs are nearby to support. We encourage Minority Leader Schumer to get his facts straight before he misleads the American people.’

‘Mexican vessel: Loses control, hits bridge,’ Fox News contributor Guy Benson posted on X. ‘Schumer: I’ll never forgive Drumpf for this!’

‘Schumer is a stupid, evil man,’ conservative radio host and Fox News host Mark Levin posted on X. 

‘I, too, question Donald Trump’s leadership of the Mexican Navy,’ substack writer Jim Treacher posted on X. 

‘Elon and Trump Derangement Syndrome is out of control,’ conservative communicator Steve Guest posted on X. ‘Schumer is trying to pass the blame from the Mexican Navy onto them…’

‘He is an idiot,’ senior counsel to Trump’s assistant AG Leo Terrell posted on X. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Schumer’s office for comment.

‘The U.S. Coast Guard’s New York Vessel Traffic Service was fully functional during the incident, operating in accordance with established procedures to manage commercial traffic and facilitate safe navigation,’ a Coast Guard spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

Michael A. Ledeen, a major American historian and intellectual, died after suffering a series of small strokes on Sunday at his residence in Maryland. He was 83 years old. Ledeen was a vigorous participant in contributing to the demise of the communist Soviet Union and its Iron Curtain allies in Eastern Europe.

Ledeen served as a special advisor on terrorism to President Ronald Reagan’s secretary of state, Alexander Haig, and later worked as a consultant for the National Security Council. Writing for the Asia Times, author and journalist David P. Goldman argued that Ledeen’s ‘personal contribution to America’s victory in the Cold War is far greater than the public record shows.’ 

Goldman noted that the Reagan administration, in 1983, sent Ledeen, a scholar of Italian history and fascism, to meet Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi to convince the Italian leader to allow the U.S. to deploy Pershing missiles to counter rising Soviet jingoism. Goldman added, ‘The incident reflects the high trust that Ledeen commanded in the Reagan administration and the strategic role that he played.’ 

After Italy accepted the Pershings, the then-Social Democratic German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, who was reluctant for his nation to be first to house Pershing missiles, agreed to Reagan’s demand. 

Leeden was a fan of former anti-communist American philosopher Sidney Hook, who declared during the Cold War that ‘Freedom is a fighting word.’

Ledeen would take his hard-charging world view against a new set of U.S. enemies after the ground zero of communism was defeated: radical Islamism in Iran, North Korea’s totalitarian regime, and Arab and Latin American despots bent on the eradication of the U.S.

In 2003, while working as the resident scholar in the Freedom Chair at the American Enterprise Institute, Ledeen wrote about former President George W. Bush’s Axis of Evil (Iran, North Korea and Iraq), ‘Most commentators ridiculed the very idea of the Axis of Evil, just as they laughed at Reagan’s description of the Soviet Union as an Evil Empire. The deep thinkers laughed at Reagan, and then somberly warned that such language was not only misguided but provocative, as if the Kremlin would be more aggressive as a result of the president’s speech.’

Ledeen stressed the importance of American leadership breeding inspiration among dissidents trapped in totalitarian systems: ‘The greatest of the Soviet freedom fighters, from [Vladimir] Bukovsky to [Natan] Sharansky, have since written about the surge of hope they felt when they saw that the American president understood why they were fighting.’ 

He would bring his same intellectual freedom toolkit to his principal worry in this century: the Islamic Republic of Iran. Ledeen garnered enormous respect and praise from Iranian dissidents seeking to dissolve the theocratic regime in Tehran, the world’s worst state-sponsor of terrorism, according to the U.S. State Department.

His wife, Barbara, told Fox News Digital about her late husband, ‘My only regret is that he didn’t outlive the regime.’

Leeden did not advocate military intervention in Iran. He was in the business of replicating Reagan’s anti-Soviet playbook for Iran’s clerical regime. 

He told Fox News Brit Hume in 2005 that ‘the Western world, and in particular the United States’ needs to support political prisoners in Iran and demonstrations against the regime. 

He told Hume, ‘We should be giving money to the various … Farsi-language broadcasters, some here, some in England, some in Sweden and so forth, some in Germany, to go on the air and share with the Iranian people the now-demonstrated techniques for a successful, nonviolent revolution.’

He coined the phrase ‘Faster, please!’ for his widely read blog at PJ Media to denote the great urgency to dismantle America’s enemies and stop Islamist-animated terrorism.

Ledeen was born in Los Angeles in 1941 and authored numerous books on national security, including ‘Perilous Statecraft: An Insider’s Account of the Iran-Contra Affair.’ He earned a Ph.D. in history and philosophy from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His academic advisor at Wisconsin was the prominent historian George Mosse, who fled Nazi Germany because of antisemitism. 

Ledeen cultivated a new generation of academics, journalists, think tank scholars and authors at his Chevy Chase home. His residence became a kind of informal salon for intellectuals and foreign policy types who had freshly arrived in Washington, D.C.

He was also a top-level bridge player and won a national championship, the Truscott/U.S.P.C. Senior Teams. He is survived by his wife, a daughter, Simone, who served as a deputy assistant secretary of defense during the first Trump administration, and his two sons, former Marine Corps officers Gabriel and Daniel.

President Donald Trump is considering Justice Department official Emil Bove, his former defense attorney, for a U.S. appeals court vacancy — a controversial nomination that would come as he continues to attack so-called ‘activist’ judges for blocking his agenda.

Bove, 44, is among those Trump is considering for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which covers Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.

There are currently two vacancies on the court — increasing the odds that Bove’s name could be floated by Trump. If confirmed, he would serve a lifetime appointment on the federal bench.

Bove’s name is not the only one being considered, familiar sources say, and conversations are believed to be in the early stages.

Prior to his installation at the Justice Department, Bove spent nearly 10 years as a U.S. prosecutor for the Southern District of New York.

He also defended Trump in two of his criminal trials following his first term in the White House.

In each of these roles and at DOJ, Bove’s hard-charging tactics have solidified his reputation as a fierce, loyal and, at times, aggressive leader. 

At the Justice Department, Bove has emerged as the man behind some of the administration’s most contentious actions — prompting some officials to resign rather than carry out his marching orders.

Shortly after taking office, he sent a memo threatening state and city officials with criminal charges or civil penalties if they failed to comply with the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration or slow-walked their orders on enforcement. 

‘Federal law prohibits state and local actors from resisting, obstructing and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands,’ Bove said in the memo.

It was Bove who ordered federal prosecutors for the Southern District of New York to file a motion to dismiss charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. 

That order prompted a string of resignations from personnel, including acting U.S attorney for the section Danielle Sassoon to leave DOJ rather than drop the case.

Bove, along with Edward Sullivan from the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, eventually signed on to the motion themselves. 

Fox News also reported earlier this year that Bove was behind an exhaustive questionnaire sent to FBI agents detailing their roles in the Jan. 6 investigations. 

Questions ranged from agents’ participation in any grand jury subpoenas to whether the agents worked or responded to leads from another FBI field office or if they worked as a case agent for investigations.

Former Justice Department officials have cited concerns that the probe or any retaliatory measures carried out as a result could have a chilling effect on the work of the FBI, including its more than 52 separate field offices.

The group cited in particular the order from acting then-Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove to terminate the entire FBI senior leadership team and the assistant director in charge of the Washington Field Office. 

Bove would face a highly uncertain path to confirmation if nominated. The news comes at a time when Democrats have sharply excoriated what they argue are Trump’s attempts to install loyalists to head up the DOJ and FBI. 

The White House and Justice Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

A conservative Republican said he’s opposed to his moderate colleague’s proposal for a modest tax hike on high-income earners, as GOP lawmakers continue to navigate divisions over President Donald Trump’s ‘one big, beautiful bill.’

‘Well, think about that — higher taxes to pay for something that is pretty much self-inflicted by all the states that don’t have their financials in order,’ Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told Fox News Digital on Sunday.

It comes as various House Republican factions are locked in high-stakes debates on taxes, Medicaid, and green energy subsidies while crafting Trump’s wide-ranging bill.

Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., suggested over the weekend that increasing the top tax bracket to a 39.6% income tax rate rather than 37% could help pay for higher deduction caps for state and local taxes (SALT).

The 39.6% rate refers to the top income tax bracket before it was lowered by Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).

SALT deduction caps primarily benefit people living in high-cost-of-living areas like New York City, Los Angeles, and their surrounding suburbs.

Republicans representing those areas, including LaLota, have argued that raising the SALT deduction cap is an existential issue — and that a failure to address it could cost the GOP the House majority in the 2026 midterms.

Several of the Republicans vying for higher SALT deduction caps have pointed out that their victories are critical to the party retaining control of the House in 2024.

SALT deduction caps did not exist before TCJA, which notably instilled a $10,000 ceiling for married and single tax filers.

‘The One Big Beautiful Bill has stalled—and it needs wind in its sails. Allowing the top tax rate to expire—returning from 37% to 39.6% for individuals earning over $609,350 and married couples earning over $731,200—breathes $300 billion of new life into the effort,’ LaLota wrote on X.

‘It’s a fiscally responsible move that reflects the priorities of the new Republican Party: protect working families, address the deficit, fix the unfair SALT cap, and safeguard programs like Medicaid and SNAP—without raising taxes on the middle class.’

But Republicans in lower-tax states are largely wary of significant increases to those caps, believing them to incentivize blue states’ high-tax policies.

‘People with money invest, and to tax them more — history has been, when you tax the other upper 1% more, you know, the economy does worse,’ Norman argued. ‘More taxes don’t make sense to me.’

The current legislation would increase the SALT deduction cap from $10,000 to $30,000, but a majority of Republicans in the House SALT Caucus rejected the deal.

LaLota and others have contended it’s not enough for middle-class families in their districts.

‘My party’s $30K cap proposal only makes 4 in 5 households whole. That’s not enough. On [Long Island], $250K isn’t rich—it barely covers the basics. Too many families pay over $15K in property taxes & get left out. I’m fighting for a higher cap. Wish me luck,’ he said on X.

But while tax hike proposals targeting wealthy Americans were part of Republicans’ negotiations at an earlier point, any such effort appears to have been all but definitively stamped out. 

House GOP leadership aides signaled to reporters on Monday morning that such a tax hike would not be in the final bill, pointing to Speaker Mike Johnson’s comments on the matter.

Johnson, R-La., said on The Will Cain Show late last month that he was ‘not in favor of raising the tax rates, because our party is the group that stands against that, traditionally.’

But nevertheless, the differing viewpoints underscore the divisions that Republicans still have to navigate ahead of their planned House-wide vote on Trump’s bill later this week.

Republicans are using the budget reconciliation process to advance Trump’s priorities on taxes, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt via one massive bill.

Budget reconciliation lowers the Senate’s threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51, thereby allowing the party in power to skirt the minority — in this case, Democrats — to pass sweeping pieces of legislation, provided they deal with the federal budget, taxation or the national debt.

Republican leaders want to have a final bill on the president’s desk by Fourth of July.

Fox News Digital reached out to LaLota’s office for comment on Norman’s remarks but did not immediately hear back.

President Donald Trump will descend on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning where he’s expected to meet with House Republicans on his ‘one, big, beautiful bill.’

Trump is attending the House GOP’s weekly conference meeting, three House GOP sources and two White House officials confirmed to Fox News Digital and Fox News Radio, respectively. It’s normally an hour-long session behind closed doors where Republicans discuss the week’s agenda and any outstanding issues.

The president is expected to rally Republicans around the massive piece of legislation designed to advance his agenda on tax, immigration, defense, energy, and raising the debt limit.

It’s a significant escalation in the president’s involvement in the process so far.

House Republicans, meanwhile, have several critical differences to resolve before their self-imposed deadline to pass the bill by Memorial Day.

Conservatives are pushing for the bill to be more aggressive on cutting waste, fraud, and abuse in the Medicaid system, including a faster timeline for implementing work requirements for able-bodied recipients. Currently, the legislation has work requirements kicking in in 2029.

Moderates, meanwhile, have been wary of making significant cuts to the program.

Fiscal hawks are also pushing for a total and near-immediate repeal of the former Biden administration’s green energy subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), noting it was a Trump campaign promise – while other Republicans have pointed out businesses in their districts are benefiting from the tax relief.

There’s also disagreement over raising the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap, a critical issue for blue state Republicans representing high-cost-of-living districts. GOP lawmakers in lower-tax states have dismissed it as a giveaway to high-tax Democrat-controlled areas, however.

News of Trump’s likely appearance on Capitol Hill comes after Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said on a lawmaker-only call on Monday morning that the president is ready and willing to play an active role in discussions.

‘He wants to be involved as much as we need him,’ Johnson told House GOP colleagues.

The speaker also said he spoke with Trump by phone on Monday morning, and the president was ‘very excited, very encouraged.’

Republicans are working to pass Trump’s policies on tax, immigration, energy, defense, and the national debt all in one massive bill via the budget reconciliation process.

GOP lawmakers also see it as an opportunity to put the country on a better fiscal path, with the national debt already having surpassed $36 trillion.

Budget reconciliation lowers the Senate’s threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51, thereby allowing the party in power to skirt the minority – in this case, Democrats – to pass sweeping pieces of legislation, provided they deal with the federal budget, taxation, or the national debt.

House Republicans are hoping to advance Trump’s bill through the House by the end of this week, with a goal of a final bill on the president’s desk by Fourth of July.

The House Rules Committee, the final gatekeeper before a House-wide vote, is set to take up the bill at 1 a.m. on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump said the cooperation he witnessed to get the Take It Down Act into law was one of the greatest moments of bipartisanship he has seen. 

The president signed the bill, which punishes internet abuse involving nonconsensual, explicit imagery, during an outdoors ceremony in the White House Rose Garden Monday afternoon, joined by first lady Melania Trump, who has been championing the issue since her husband’s inauguration.

‘This legislation is a powerful step forward in our efforts to ensure that every American, especially young people, can feel better protected from their image or identity being abused through non-consensual, or intimate imagery of NCII,’ the first lady said from the rose garden Monday afternoon. ‘Artificial intelligence and social media at a digital candy for the next generation,’ she added. ‘Sweet, addictive and engineered to have an impact on the cognitive development of our children. But unlike sugar, these new technologies can be weaponized to shape beliefs, and sadly affect emotions and even be deadly.’

Trump reiterated the importance of the new legislation during the signing ceremony Monday afternoon from the White House. He also touted ‘a level of bipartisanship’ he’s never seen before to get the legislation across the finish line, citing the work of the first lady as a big catalyst. 

‘We’ve shown that bipartisanship is possible,’ Trump said shortly before he signed the new act. ‘I mean, it’s the first time I’ve seen such a level of bipartisanship, but it’s a beautiful thing to do. I’m not even sure you realize, honey, you know, a lot of the Democrats and Republicans don’t get along so well. You’ve made them get along, and she didn’t even know about that. She didn’t know we had a problem. She didn’t know we had a problem. She got it.  

The Take It Down Act is a bill introduced in the Senate by Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., that would make it a federal crime to publish, or threaten to publish, nonconsensual intimate imagery, including ‘digital forgeries’ crafted by artificial intelligence. The bill unanimously passed the Senate in February, and passed in the House of Representatives in April with a vote of 409–2. 

The law would require penalties of up to three years in prison for sharing nonconsensual intimate images — authentic or AI-generated — involving minors and two years in prison for those images involving adults. It also would require penalties of up to two and a half years in prison for threat offenses involving minors, and one and a half years in prison for threats involving adults. 

The bill requires social media companies, like Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram and similar platforms, to put procedures in place to remove such content within 48 hours of notice from the victim. 

AI-generated images known as ‘deepfakes’ often involve editing videos or photos of people to make them look like someone else by using artificial intelligence. Deepfakes hit the public’s radar in 2017 after a Reddit user posted realistic-looking pornography of celebrities to the platform, opening the floodgates to users employing AI to make images look more convincing and widely shared in the following years. 

Right now, nearly every U.S. state has a law protecting people from nonconsensual intimate image violations, but the laws vary in classification of crime and penalty. 

In March, the first lady spoke on Capitol Hill for the first time since returning to the White House to participate in a roundtable with lawmakers and victims of revenge porn and AI-generated deepfakes. 

The first lady invited 15-year-old Elliston Berry, whose high school peers used AI to create nonconsensual imagery of her and spread them across social media. 

‘It’s heartbreaking to witness young teens, especially girls, grappling with the overwhelming challenges posed by malicious online content, like deepfakes,’ Trump said. ‘This toxic environment can be severely damaging. We must prioritize their well-being by equipping them with the support and tools necessary to navigate this hostile digital landscape. Every young person deserves a safe online space to express themselves freely, without the looming threat of exploitation or harm.’ 

Berry, a Texas native, told the roundtable she was just 14 years old when she realized in 2023 that ‘a past Instagram photo with a nude body and my face attached made from AI,’ was circulating on social media. 

‘Fear, shock and disgust were just some of the many emotions I felt,’ Berry said. ‘I felt responsible and began to blame myself and was ashamed to tell my parents. Despite doing nothing wrong. As I attended school, I was scared of the reactions of someone or someone could recreate these photos.’  

‘We need to hold big tech accountable to take action,’ the young woman continued. ‘I came here today to not only promote this bill, but to fight for the freedom of so many survivors, millions of people, male, female, teenage children, kids all are affected by the rise of this image-based sexual abuse. This is unacceptable. The Take It Down act will give a voice to the victims and provide justice.’ 

Another young girl, Francesca Mani of New Jersey, recounted that she also was just 14 when she and other peers found deepfake images on themselves online. 

‘Teenagers might not know all the laws, but they do know when something is wrong,’ Mani said. ‘Schools need to take immediate, serious action to ensure that AI exploitation, harassment and deepfake abuse are met with real consequences.’ 

The first lady invited the young women as her special guests for Trump’s first address to a joint session of Congress in March.  

Sharing nonconsensual and AI-generated explicit images on social media and the internet has not just affected young girls, as young boys and adults also face similar crimes. A woman named Breeze Liu told the roundtable that she worked tirelessly to remove AI-generated images of herself that landed on a pornography site in 2020 when she was 24 years old. 

And Republican South Carolina state Rep. Brandon Guffey also joined the group of lawmakers and the first lady in March, recounting how his 17-year-old son committed suicide in 2022 after he was caught up in a sextortion scam. 

‘I lost my oldest son, Gavin Guffey, to suicide,’ he shared. ‘We quickly found out that he was being extorted online. That someone pretending to be a young female at another college requested images to be shared back and forth. And as soon as he shared those images, he took his life. It was an hour and 40 minutes from the time that he was contacted until the time that he took his life.’ 

Meanwhile, during the first Trump administration, Melania Trump hosted virtual roundtables on foster care as part of her ‘Be Best’ initiative and focused on strengthening the child welfare system. The ‘Be Best’ initiative also focused on online safety. 

‘As first lady, my commitment to the ‘Be Best’ initiative underscores the importance of online safety,’ she said. ‘In an era where digital interactions are integral to daily life, it is imperative that we safeguard children from mean-spirited and hurtful online behavior.’ 

The first lady, in March, said the bill ‘represents a powerful step toward justice, healing and unity.’