WND

Senate Republicans on Thursday evening voted to confirm former White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director Russell Vought to helm the office for a second time.

Senators voted 53 to 47 along party lines in favor of Vought. The OMB director-designate becomes President Donald Trump’s 13th cabinet nominee to be confirmed, doubling the confirmation pace of the Biden administration and first Trump administration.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, during a press conference on Tuesday, pledged that every Senate Democrat would oppose Vought’s nomination.

Vought’s confirmation comes after Democratic lawmakers spoke for 30 hours on the Senate floor to delay the OMB director-designate’s confirmation vote for as long as possible.

I’m all for a good fight, if you can win it.@SenateDems are just wasting time, and taxpayer dollars. Here’s an update on the Trump cabinet confirmation process: pic.twitter.com/gszImLnRyS

— Markwayne Mullin (@SenMullin) February 6, 2025

Senate Republicans reminded their colleagues that Vought had the votes to be confirmed and that Democrats’ refusal to expedite the OMB director-designate’s vote was a pointless exercise.

“They’re [Democrats] over there grasping for straws,” Republican Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall told the DCNF. “They’re upset with Donald Trump. This is a barroom brawl right now, and President Trump’s really a good barroom brawler and I think this is the latest thing they can latch onto.”

“The Democrats continue to want to slow things down. Republicans are not going to allow it to happen,” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso said on the Senate floor Thursday. “This week, we will have confirmed five cabinet members in four days.”

Senate Democrats opposed Vought’s nomination with a greater level of urgency than Trump’s previous cabinet nominees that have been brought to the floor. Many Democratic lawmakers appeared to cast the OMB director-designate’s looming confirmation in apocalyptic terms and openly mused what Trump getting his cabinet might mean for the future of American democracy.

“We’re going to be speaking all night,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Wednesday. “We want Americans, every hour, whether it’s 8 p.m. or 3 a.m., to hear how bad Russell Vought is and the danger he poses to them in their daily lives.”

Early Thursday morning, Democratic Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy warned from an empty Senate chamber that “darkness has descended” on America with Vought’s imminent confirmation.

“This is an urgent moment,” Murphy said in a video posted later on X. “We have days or weeks to be able to mount an effective opposition to stop this slide away from democracy.”

“What we’ve seen over the past few days flies in the face of what it means to live in a democratic republic,” Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock told the Daily Caller News Foundation prior to the confirmation vote, appearing to allege that Vought orchestrated the administration’s executive actions related to freezing federal funds and dismantling government agencies. “Mr. Vought’s actions are illegal and they’re unconstitutional, and the fact that he’s doing it doesn’t make it legal. So we’re continuing to fight.”

Senate Republicans largely ignored their colleagues’ alarmism over Vought’s nomination, emphasizing that the OMB director-designate will execute Trump’s mandate to roll back Biden regulations and cut wasteful spending.

“As director of OMB, Mr. Vought will have the chance to address two key economic issues — cutting burdensome government regulations and addressing excessive spending,” Thune said on the Senate floor Wednesday. “Republicans are determined to alleviate that regulatory burden – for the sake of economic growth, and to improve the lives of hardworking Americans. And I know that Mr. Vought will make getting rid of burdensome regulations a priority.”

They also wondered whether their Democratic colleagues’ rush to oppose Vought’s nomination and hold overnight speeches railing against him could backfire with the American people who sent Trump to the White House and elected a GOP-controlled Congress.

“Russell Vought is going to get confirmed. Every Republican is going to get confirmed,” Republican Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno told the DCNF. “So what did you [Democrats] accomplish?”

“The security has to be here extra hours. The poor [Senate] staff has to be here extra hours for a show,” Moreno added.

Democrats continued their display of opposition on the Senate floor, speaking out of order as they cast their vote against the OMB director-designate.

Vought served in Trump’s OMB during the first administration. He started as deputy OMB director and then was promoted to lead the office in 2019.

Myles Morrell contributed reporting.

This story originally was published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Feb. 7, 2025: 10:44 a.m.:

Billions of dollars misappropriated at USAID, with kickbacks to Biden’s family

Read the article on X:

https://t.co/qYROzP70om

— Project Constitution (@ProjectConstitu) February 6, 2025

From the treacherous Panamanian jungle to the Texas-Mexico border, pipelines into the U.S. frequented by hundreds of thousands of migrants have suddenly gone quiet — just as President Donald Trump returns to office.

Immigration enforcement officials at both the U.S.-Mexico border and abroad are reporting incredible drops in illegal migrant encounters in just the past few weeks. This downward trend is largely being credited to Trump’s return to the White House and the initiatives he has put into place shoring up border security, leaving many would-be migrants to not even bother with an unlawful entry attempt.

The passage of illegal migrants through the Darien Gap, a jungle region in-between Panama and Colombia, dropped 94% in January compared to the same month last year, according to data released by Panama’s National Migration Service. A total of 34,839 illegal migrants crossed the Darien Gap in January 2024, with that number falling to just 2,158 last month when Trump returned to the White House.

“I would say that people are less inclined to go through the Darien when they know very well that they’re going to end up shipped back home,” Allan Baitel, a life-long Panamanian citizen, said to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “So the carrot has disappeared, and there’s no reason for them to head north.”

The Darien Gap — a vast jungle region stretching roughly 40 miles wide and 100 long between Panama and Colombia — was a paramount transit area for illegal migrants headed for the United States during the height of the border crisis under President Joe Biden. More than half a million migrants crossed the Darien Gap on their northward journey in 2023, which was also the highest year in history for unlawful migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Thick jungles and the presence of organized crime have historically made the Darien difficult to police. While a majority of those crossing the region have been Latin Americans such as Venezuelans and Ecuadorians, many African and Asian migrants have also utilized the routes to unlawfully make their way to the U.S.

The organized crime syndicates smuggling migrants across the Darien all the way to the U.S southern border have made billions in the process, with smugglers pulling in as much as $14 million per day.

Venezuelan nationals had made up the vast bulk of migrants trekking across the Darien, armed with the knowledge that the Venezuelan government was refusing to accept deportation flights from the U.S. However, the prospect of repatriation for these migrants became all the more real when the Trump administration successfully pushed Caracas into once-again accepting repatriated Venezuelans.

The drop in foot traffic out of the Darien coincided with a visit Secretary of State Marco Rubio made to Panama where he secured a major infrastructure deal with President Raul Mulino that ultimately reduces Chinese influence in the region.

Mulino was elected into office in 2024 on the promise to cut migration through his country. He has since entered into an agreement with the U.S. to help repatriate the illegal migrants caught by Panamanian authorities.

“He’s always been pro-U.S.,” Surse Pierpoint, a third-generation Panamanian, said to the DCNF about Mulino. “And the fact that Marco Rubio’s first trip down here was the administration staking a claim that ‘this is Monroe Doctrine 2.0 stay out of our neighborhood’ — Marco Rubio came to state it explicitly.”

Rubio was on the tarmac in Panama City Monday and observed a deportation flight of Colombian nationals who had been stopped by Panamanian law enforcement. Such repatriation flights, the State Department argued, acts as a major deterrence for other would-be illegal migrants.

The January drop in crossings at the Darien coincide with drops in illegal migrant encounters along the U.S.-Mexico border. Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks on Jan. 29 reported a 55% drop in migrant apprehensions from the prior week.

“This trend indicates that our enhanced border security measures produce results,” Banks said of the sharp decline. “With more boots on the ground, we’re making a substantial impact to the security of our borders.”

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) is also confirming consistent drops in migrant encounters along the southern border, reporting a total of 446 illegal crossings on Monday. To put that number into perspective, there were over 12,600 unlawful border crossings in one single day in December 2023.

In Biden’s final full month in office, daily encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border averaged roughly 1,520 a day, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data.

Once-major sectors for illegal migration have seen activity drop to near zero. Border Patrol agents reported roughly 1,800 daily average crossings in the El Paso Border Patrol sector December 2023. On Monday, that figure stood at just 98 encounters. Similar drops are being reported in the Rio Grande Valley, Big Bend and every other major sector along the U.S.-Mexico border.

“The State of Texas has experienced a decrease in illegal border crossings,” Chris Olivarez, a DPS spokesperson, said to the DCNF. “In January 2024, Texas decreased illegal border crossings by 85%.”

“This is in large part due to Governor Abbott’s Operation Lone Star border mission which involves the deployment of Texas National Guard Soldiers and DPS personnel committed to constructing infrastructure along the Texas / Mexico border and interior enforcement targeting criminal smugglers, transnational criminal gangs, and criminal illegal immigrants,” Olivarez continued. “The combination of Texas’ border mission and the federal government’s implementation of stricter immigration policies and interior enforcement at the federal level, the number of illegal border crossings decreased significantly to below 500 for the entire southwest border which includes Texas, Arizona, and California.”

Since re-entering office, Trump has implemented numerous reforms and initiatives aimed at bolstering border security and establishing an infrastructure to quickly detain and deport illegal migrants residing in the country. The administration has deployed troops to the border, deputized agents across numerous federal agencies with immigration enforcement authorities and secured a massive number of detention space outside of the country.

In addition to militarizing the U.S. side of the border, Trump successfully wielded the threat of tariffs to coerce Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum into deploying 10,000 members of her own national guard to bolster border security efforts. A nearly similar victory was made at the northern border, where Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed to beef up border security to avoid sweeping tariffs on his country’s exports.

Under the auspices of the U.S.-Canada deal, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government agreed to launch completely novel initiatives to tackle border security, such as the appointment of a fentanyl czar, the designation of cartels as terrorists, $200 million in spending on organized crime and drugs and around-the-clock monitoring of the U.S.-Canada border.

Trump’s election victory in November — making his promise to get tough on illegal immigration all the more real — resulted in many migrants choosing to turn around instead of bothering to show up at the southern border.

“The number of people arriving at the border is less, and I think Colombia, Venezuela, realize they have to reorganize themselves, and that there’s a new sheriff in town in the United States, and things are going to change,” Baitel said.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Democratic Michigan Rep. Laurie Pohutsky, during a protest Wednesday against President Donald Trump, announced she decided to sterilize herself as a way to challenge the new administration.

At a protest at Michigan’s state capitol, demonstrators gathered on the capitol lawn to support the national “50501 Movement,” a grassroots anti-Trump initiative that seeks to organize people to “hit the streets” and “resist Project 2025,” according to the Michigan Advance.

“Just under two weeks ago, I underwent surgery to ensure that I would never have to navigate a pregnancy in Donald Trump’s America,” Pohutsky said. “I refuse to let my body be treated as currency by an administration that only sees value in my ability to procreate.”

“If you know people who are questioning how serious this is, I’m going to repeat myself: A sitting government official opted for voluntary sterilization because she was uncertain she would be able to access contraception in the future.”

Republican Michigan Rep. Matt Maddock posted footage on X showing some protesters waving LGBT flags and American flags. Others held signs that read “Deport Elonia and arrest Donalf Sh*tler!!” and “It’s treason.”

“This is what real Americans look like, c*nt!” another protester yelled at the representative as he could be seen walking through the crowd.

During Trump’s campaign, the then-GOP presidential candidate repeatedly said he was not in favor of a national abortion ban, adding the issue should be left to each state. At a campaign rally, Trump said that he would be a “protector” of women, adding, “You will no longer be abandoned, lonely or scared. You will no longer be in danger … You will no longer be thinking about abortion.”

On Jan. 25, Trump signed an executive order to enforce “the Hyde Amendment and similar laws that prevent Federal funding of elective abortion, reflecting a longstanding consensus that American taxpayers should not be forced to pay for that practice,” reversing policies from the Biden-Harris administration. In an additional move to protect women, Trump signed another executive order on Wednesday banning biological men from competing in women’s sports nationally.

Since the announcement of her surgery, Pohutsky posted to X on Thursday, writing, “The fact that so many conservative men take personal offense to a decision that I made with my husband about my health care and future just proves the point that we shouldn’t assume that right is secure.”

Pohutsky’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Feb. 6, 2025: 9:40 p.m.:

Argentina follows Trump’s lead, leaves WHO over ‘profound differences’ in covid response

Could this be the start of a train of countries that decide the WHO needs to get out of the healthcare of their citizens? When trump withdrew America’s membership with the WHO, he cited that the way the organization handled the covid pandemic was one of the reasons for his withdraw, according to Fox Business.

Argentine President Javier Milei apparently also took issue with the WHO regarding covid. His spokesman cited “profound differences” regarding the WHO’s advice during the pandemic, which brought on the most massive shutdowns “in the history of mankind.”

Feb. 6, 2025: 9:00 p.m.:

Senate Republicans confirm Russell Vought as budget chief

Another Senate confirmation that was a long time coming: Russell Vought. He’ll be leading the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). This was not someone the Democrats wanted to see taking this position. Their crazy efforts to delay the confirmation included a protest that was 30 hours long during which they delivered speeches long into the night on Wednesday. But in the end, Vought was confirmed, 53 to 47, according to Fox News.

“My view of the position is that you come into an administration and you do what the president ran on, what the president’s viewpoints are, and you take that view point and you dispense it throughout the agency,” said Vought during the hearing. 

No wonder the leftists are terrified of him and put up a 30-hour fight.

Feb. 6, 2025: 8:25 p.m.:

Trump creating task force that will ‘eradicate anti-Christian bias’

President Trump has called on Attorney General Pam Bodi to oversee a task force that will “eradicate anti-Christian bias.” More specifically, President Trump said the overall purpose of the task force is to prevent “all forms of anti-Christian targeting and discrimination within the federal government,” according to The Hill.

During his address at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, he also said, “While I’m in the White House, we will protect Christians in our schools, in our military, in our government, in our workplaces, hospitals and in our public squares. And we will bring our country back together as one nation under God.”

He added that he’ll be creating a presidential commission that’s designed to protect religious freedom, and that the commission “will work tirelessly to uphold this most fundamental right.”

Feb. 6, 2025: 7:30 p.m.:

Russia challenges Trump to ‘take the first step’

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov challenged President Trump to “take the first step” regarding resolving the war that Russia levied on Ukraine, and attempting to make amends in the strained relationship between the U.S. and Russia, according to the Huffington Post.

Shortly after that, Trump’s plan for a cease fire by April 20, 2025 was leaked. The plan isn’t exactly in favor of Ukraine. It bars them from NATO membership, forces them to accept Russian control over annexed Ukrainian territories, and requires Ukraine to withdraw from Russia’s Kursk region. Russia would be forced to accept that Ukraine will have continued military support from the U.S., and Ukraine will be able to take steps to join the EU by 2030, according to GB News.

Sadly, if Trump truly follows through with this, it’s a similar ending after Russia invaded the country of Georgia back in 2008. Russia has no intention of stopping with Ukraine and Georgia. Below is a review of Putin’s plans to acquire the Baltic nations and eventually rebuild the Soviet Union.