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Senate GOP ready to go nuclear after Schumer’s ‘political extortion’ of nominees
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Senate Republicans are mulling whether to go nuclear after negotiations with Senate Democrats to ram through President Donald Trump’s nominees fell apart over the weekend.
The path to confirming dozens of Trump’s outstanding nominees was destroyed when the president accused Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., of «political extortion,» and charged that the Democratic leader’s asking price for nominees was too high.
TRUMP TELLS SCHUMER TO ‘GO TO HELL’ OVER SENATE NOMINEE DEAL FUNDING DEMANDS AFTER NEGOTIATIONS COLLAPSE
Senate Republicans are mulling whether to go nuclear after negotiations with Senate Democrats to ram through President Donald Trump’s nominees fell apart over the weekend. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Now, lawmakers have left Washington without a deal to bundle dozens of nominees that made it through committee with bipartisan support, and a change to how the Senate handles the confirmation process is on the horizon.
Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., berated Schumer and Senate Democrats for their «unprecedented» blocks of the president’s nominees, and noted that every pick had been filibustered save for Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who glided through the Senate earlier this year.
«We have been working through the list, but there is still a large backlog because of the unprecedented filibuster by the Democrats of every nominee,» Barrasso said. «And if they don’t change their behavior, we’re going to have to change how things are done here, because a president needs to have his or her team in place.»
DEMS DIG IN, TRUMP DEMANDS ALL: NOMINEE FIGHT BOILS OVER IN SENATE AS GOP LOOKS FOR A DEAL
Sen. John Barrasso speaks to reporters during the weekly luncheons on Capitol Hill on June 24, 2025. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Under normal circumstances, changing the rules in the Senate would require 67 votes, meaning that Senate Democrats would have to be on board with a change. However, there is a path that lawmakers refer to as the nuclear option, which allows for rules changes to only need a simple majority.
There is the political will among Republicans to change the rules, but doing so would open the door for Senate Democrats to do the same when they get into power once more.
«I think that way is going to happen anyways, because of what Schumer has done. He’s forced this, and it’s ridiculous that he’s doing this,» Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said. «And so, whatever, we’re at this point, and we’ll do, you know what they say, every action requires an equal [reaction], and that’s what we’re at right now.»
Some of the options on the table include shortening the debate time for nominees, getting rid of procedural votes for some lower-level nominees, grouping certain civilian nominees «en bloc» – something that is already done for military nominees – and, at the committee level, deciding whether to lower the number of nominees subject to the confirmation process.
GRIDLOCK CRUMBLES AS SENATE ADVANCES SPENDING BILLS IN RACE AGAINST SHUTDOWN
Senate Majority Leader John Thune pauses while speaking to reporters at the U.S. Capitol on July 1, 2025. (Getty Images/Andrwe Harnik)
Currently, over 1,200 positions go through Senate confirmation. Senate Republicans have been able to confirm over 130 of Trump’s picks so far, but had a loftier goal of doing at least 60 more before leaving town until September.
And there are over 140 nominees still pending on the Senate’s calendar.
«I think they’re desperately in need of change,» Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters. «I think that the last six months have demonstrated that this process, nominations, is broken. And so I expect there will be some good robust conversations about that.»
As to when lawmakers will try to run with a rules change is still in the air. The Senate is gone from Washington until early September and will return to a looming deadline to avert a partial government shutdown.
Before leaving town, the Senate did advance a trio of spending bills – a first in the upper chamber since 2018 – but those same bills are unlikely to pass muster in the House, given that they spend at higher levels than the ones greenlit by the House GOP.
Ramming a rules change through without Democrats could also come at a price for government funding negotiations. Schumer said a possible rules change would be a «huge mistake» for Republicans to do on their own.
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«Because when they go at it alone, they screw up for the American people and for themselves,» he said.
When asked if there were any possible rule changes that he and Senate Democrats could agree to, Schumer said, «We should be working together on legislation to get things done for the American people.»
«That’s the way to go, not changing the rules, because when they change the rules, they say, ‘Only we’re going to decide what’s good for the American people,’ and every time they do that, the American people lose,» Schumer said.
Still, Republicans were unhappy with the way negotiations devolved after days of back and forth.
«We actually, we wanted a deal,» Mullin said. «And these people deserve to be put in position… they’re going to say that we’re trying to do a nuclear option. The fact is, they – Schumer – went nuclear a long time.»
politics,senate,donald trump,chuck schumer
El presidente de Brasil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, denunció este martes lo que calificó como una “decisión irresponsable” por parte del gobierno de Donald Trump tras la revocación de la visa estadounidense de su ministro de Justicia, Ricardo Lewandowski. Según medios brasileños presentes en una reunión de gabinete celebrada en Brasilia, el mandatario expresó su solidaridad tanto con Lewandowski como con otros magistrados brasileños afectados por restricciones similares.
“Estas actitudes son inaceptables, no sólo contra el ministro Lewandowski, sino también contra magistrados del Tribunal Supremo o cualquier autoridad brasileña”, declaró Lula durante el encuentro transmitido en directo, en referencia también a otras restricciones impuestas anteriormente por Washington a miembros clave del poder judicial brasileño.
Hasta la noche del martes, el Departamento de Estado estadounidense no emitió ninguna respuesta oficial a las consultas realizadas sobre la revocación de la visa del ministro de Justicia ni de otras autoridades brasileñas. Según las informaciones difundidas, la decisión de Estados Unidos se produce en el marco de una serie de sanciones y restricciones que la administración de Donald Trump ha implementado en los últimos meses, principalmente en respuesta al proceso judicial por intento de golpe de Estado contra el ex presidente Jair Bolsonaro, quien gobernó el país entre 2019 y 2022.
Durante la reunión ministerial, Lula expresó públicamente su respaldo a Lewandowski y calificó la revocación como “una vergüenza para ellos, no para” el ministro. “Debería estar orgulloso de lo que ha hecho, que ha llevado a estos tipos a odiar tanto a Brasil”, agregó el mandatario. El jefe de Estado también hizo referencia a la última política estadounidense de incremento de aranceles, asegurando que Brasil no admitirá “insultos de nadie” y exhortó a sus ministros a defender la soberanía nacional de manera firme.
“Estamos dispuestos a sentarnos a la mesa en igualdad de condiciones. Lo que no estamos dispuestos es a que nos traten como si fuéramos subordinados. No aceptaremos eso de nadie. Es importante saber que nuestro compromiso es con el pueblo brasileño”, enfatizó Lula.
En las últimas semanas, Washington retiró la visa y sancionó también al juez del Supremo, Alexandre de Moraes, quien está a cargo del proceso judicial por el intento de golpe contra Bolsonaro. Estas medidas incluyeron la aplicación de la denominada ley Magnitsky, que supone el bloqueo de activos en territorio estadounidense y la prohibición a ciudadanos o empresas de ese país de mantener relaciones comerciales con los funcionarios sancionados. Sin embargo, fuentes judiciales brasileñas aseguraron que Moraes no posee bienes en Estados Unidos.
El contexto de las sanciones estadounidenses incluye presiones ejercidas por figuras de la oposición brasileña radicadas en Estados Unidos, como Paulo Figueiredo y Eduardo Bolsonaro, hijo del ex presidente. Según destaca la información, ambos lideran esfuerzos de lobby ante el ejecutivo estadounidense para lograr acciones más contundentes contra las autoridades judiciales de Brasil. Lula denunció estos hechos: “Es probablemente una de las peores traiciones que ha sufrido la patria”, afirmó durante la misma reunión, y apuntó directamente contra quienes, según sus palabras, “infunden mentiras e hipocresía en otro estado contra Brasil”.
Además de la cancelación de visas, la administración Trump impuso recientemente aranceles punitivos de hasta el 50% a variados productos brasileños, argumentando la existencia de una “caza de brujas” contra el ex presidente Bolsonaro y sus aliados. Bolsonaro se encuentra actualmente bajo prisión domiciliaria preventiva, acusado de conspiración y obstrucción de la justicia en el caso relacionado con el fallido intento de golpe de Estado en 2022. El Supremo Tribunal Federal de Brasil tiene previsto anunciar su veredicto definitivo sobre Bolsonaro a partir del próximo 2 de septiembre.
La escalada de tensiones se da en un contexto de fuerte polarización política, donde el bolsonarismo mantiene apoyo de sectores de la comunidad brasileña en Estados Unidos. En el transcurso de la última semana, la Policía Federal brasileña recomendó la imputación de Jair Bolsonaro y su hijo Eduardo por supuesta obstrucción del proceso penal.
Durante la reunión referida, Lula y algunos de sus ministros lucieron gorras azules con el lema “Brasil es de los brasileños”, en lo que pareció ser un gesto simbólico de reafirmación nacionalista ante las presiones externas.
El retiro de los visados y la imposición de sanciones han puesto de manifiesto la compleja relación bilateral bajo la administración Trump, así como la defensa de la soberanía y la independencia judicial por parte del gobierno de Lula da Silva.
(Con información de AFP, EP y Reuters)
INTERNACIONAL
Trump ignites conservative backlash after opening door to 600,000 Chinese students: ‘What is this madness?’
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President Donald Trump’s plan to allow 600,000 Chinese student visas to be issued sparked backlash from the right on Monday and Tuesday.
«I hear so many stories that we’re not going to allow their students,» Trump told reporters as trade talks with China are ongoing.
«We’re going to allow their students to come in. It’s very important, 600,000 students. It’s very important. But we’re going to get along with China,» he continued.
Trump expanded on his comments during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Tuesday.
«I think it’s very insulting to say students can’t come here because they’ll go out and start building schools and they’ll be able to survive it. But I like that their students come here. I like that other countries’ students come here. And you know what would happen if they didn’t? Our college system would go to hell very quickly. And it wouldn’t be the top colleges, so it’d be colleges that struggle on the bottom. And you take out 300,000 or 600,000 students out of the system,» Trump said.
«I like having, and I told this to President Xi that we’re honored to have their students here. Now, with that, we check in with careful and we see who’s there,» he added.
TRUMP OPENS DOOR TO 600,000 CHINESE STUDENTS AMID BEIJING TRADE TALKS
Donald Trump says 600,000 Chinese students could be allowed into the U.S. to study at its colleges pending a potential trade agreement with China. (Fox News)
Some immigration groups and conservative voices on social media voiced their opposition to the proposal.
«We should not let in 600,000 CHINESE students to attend American colleges and universities that may be loyal to the CCP,» Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., posted on X late Monday night. «If refusing to allow these Chinese students to attend our schools causes 15% of them to fail then these schools should fail anyways because they are being propped up by the CCP.»
«Granting 600,000 student visas to Chinese nationals threatens to put foreign students ahead of U.S. graduates,» Joe Chatham, director of government relations at the Federation for American Immigration Reform, told Fox News Digital in a statement.
«The focus now must be on reforms to limit access to sectors crucial to our economy and national security that have repeatedly been the target of corporate espionage and intellectual property theft—not expanding access to hostile countries. Educating foreign nationals should never be put before the interests of U.S. citizens and ensuring that our nation thrives,» he continued.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick delved further into the Trump administration’s view on the matter when pressed on «The Ingraham Angle.»
TRUMP SUSPENDS FOREIGN STUDENT VISAS AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY AMID NATIONAL SECURITY CONCERNS
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in the Oval Office of the White House on Aug. 6, 2025. (Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
«The president’s point of view is that what would happen if you didn’t have those 600K students is that you’d empty them from the top, all the students would go up to better schools, and the bottom 15% of universities and colleges would go out of business in America.»
«He’s taking a rational economic view, which is classic Donald Trump,» Lutnick added.
Many suggested that the free market should come into play with these colleges that could be at a potential financial risk.
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«Let them go under, then! What is this madness? NO. WE DON’T WANT MORE CHINESE STUDENTS. We actually don’t want any,» conservative commentator Kira Davis wrote.
«15% going under isn’t a bad thing,» writer Ryan Girdusky posted to X.
«Trump’s team is not capable of defending his Chinese student visa program,» conservative lawyer Marina Medvin posted on X. «That’s because they don’t actually want it either. It’s hard to sell something you don’t like.»
TRUMP SAYS HE WANTS FOREIGN STUDENTS WHO DON’T ‘CAUSE TROUBLE,’ SLAMS HARVARD FOR BEING ‘A BIG SHOT’
Banners on the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 27, 2025. (Sophie Park/Bloomberg)
«So this is essentially a subsidy for academia. Got it. American universities shouldn’t need an influx of foreign students in order to stay afloat. If they can’t survive on American enrollment, then let them go under. Plus, Chinese students steal our research and send it home,» Josh Peterson, a full stack developer and investigative journalist, posted.
Conservative commentator Liz Wheeler unleashed on the Trump White House, saying these Chinese students should be banned.
«Chinese ‘students’ are all spies for the Chinese Communist Party. They’re forced to be. They steal our intellectual property. They steal our tech. They steal our intel. They cozy up to our military,» Wheeler posted on X. «Trump should ban all Chinese students from U.S. universities. Deport them all.»
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«This is the dumbest explanation I’ve heard. By all means, put colleges & universities out of business!» Wheeler said in response to Lutnick’s defense of Trump’s policy. «Their business is indoctrinating students into hardened revolutionary Marxists. If you want to save America, you’ll have to raze the university system. Perfect chance to start.»
Others agreed with Lutnick’s perspective on the issue, saying that it could actually help the United States bring in more talent domestically.
«This is not as horrible as people are making it out to be. Chinese students on U.S. visas aren’t average kids. They represent the top tier of China’s youth,» podcast host Joshua Reid posted to X.
«On the other side, we are hosting China’s future leaders, scientists, and innovators. Which also means that American culture returns home with them. When you start to think about emergent tech, this is actually a great idea. Bring the top level students over the US. This is talent that is pulled away from China and now becomes a national asset,» Reid added.
Fox News Digital’s Emma Bussey contributed to this report.
immigration,china,education
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A United Nations-backed report declaring famine in areas of Gaza has sparked a war of words over the conditions in the enclave.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) released a report on Friday in which it declared for the first time that the Gaza Governorate is experiencing a famine. Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis are meanwhile in severe crisis. Conditions in Northern Gaza are estimated to be as severe as those in the Gaza Governorate or worse. The IPC report does not touch on conditions in Rafah, as it is largely considered to be depopulated.
The IPC, a U.N.-backed initiative involving U.N. agencies, NGOs and technical experts, has been widely considered to be the global standard for classifying food crises.
Israel has fiercely pushed back against the report’s findings, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office saying it was «an outright lie.» While Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Oren Marmorstein claimed the report was «tailor-made» based on «Hamas lies laundered through organizations with vested interests» and denied that a famine exists in Gaza.
DEIR AL BALAH, GAZA – AUGUST 10: Palestinians wait with pots in their hands as a charitable organization distributes food.
ISRAEL SAYS UN MISLEADS WORLD AS GAZA AID STOLEN AND DIVERTED FROM CIVILIANS
«Israel does not have a policy of starvation. Israel has a policy of preventing starvation,» the prime minister’s office wrote in a thread on X that included Israeli data on the situation in Gaza.
Marmorstein also claimed that IPC «twisted its own rules and ignored its own criteria just to produce false accusations against Israel.»
In its Aug. 22 report, the IPC projected that by the end of September the famine will expand to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis, leaving 641,000 people in famine conditions. The report predicts that the number of people in IPC Phase 4 (emergency) conditions will rise to 1.14 million while 198,000 will be in crisis.
In its recommendations, the IPC calls for an immediate ceasefire, a guarantee of unconditional and safe humanitarian access, protection of civilian infrastructure and large-scale humanitarian assistance.
APP USERS READ THE IPC REPORT HERE
GAZA HUMANITARIAN FOUNDATION: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE US-BACKED AID GROUP
After the report was released, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the Jewish state on X.
«This is not a mystery — it is a man-made disaster, a moral indictment and a failure of humanity itself. Famine is not only about food; it is the deliberate collapse of the systems needed for human survival,» Guterres wrote on X. «As the occupying power, Israel has unequivocal obligations under international law — including the duty of ensuring food and medical supplies of the population. We cannot allow this situation to continue with impunity.»
Guterres ended his message with calls for a ceasefire, unfettered humanitarian access and the return of the hostages.
Smoke rises to the sky following an Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Aug. 25, 2025. (Leo Correa/AP Photo)
UNICEF OFFICIAL SAYS GAZA MALNUTRITION REACHES ‘FAMINE LEVELS’ AS HUMANITARIAN AID TRICKLES IN
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), UNICEF, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO), all of which participate in the IPC, reiterated their call for an immediate humanitarian response and ceasefire.
Israel’s Coordination for Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), slammed the IPC for relying on Hamas-run entities, UNRWA assessments and «unverifiable sources,» while ignoring the data from Jerusalem.
A Palestinian carries a box of food from the World Food Program as others carry sacks of flour unloaded from a humanitarian aid convoy that reached Gaza City from the northern Gaza Strip, Aug. 24, 2025. (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo)
AS ISRAEL FACES BLAME FOR THE HUNGER CRISIS IN GAZA, UN’S OWN DATA SHOWS MOST OF ITS AID IS LOOTED
Richard Goldberg, a senior advisor to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a former White House and National Security Council official during both Trump administrations, took issue with the report’s findings, calling them politically motivated.
«The ideology of destroying Israel and saving Hamas is widespread within the U.N. and far-left NGOs, leading them to change their own guidelines for declaring a famine in Gaza while they ignore an actual famine in Sudan. The data doesn’t support a famine declaration in Gaza, but that doesn’t matter when the conclusion is politically pre-ordained,» Goldberg told Fox News Digital.
Palestinians run towards parachutes carrying aid packages, in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip Aug. 18, 2025. (Ramadan Abed/Reuters)
Goldberg also noted the timing of the report, which came just days after Israel said it would enter Gaza City — which is in the Gaza Governorate — was «the most telling part of it all.»
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee shared a statement from Netanyahu’s office and said that «tons of food has gone into Gaza but Hamas savages stole it, ate lots of it to become corpulent, sold it on the black market but they didn’t give it to the hostages.»
Hamas terrorists carrying clubs and firearms secure humanitarian aid trucks in the northern Gaza area of Jabaliya on June 25, 2025. (TPS-IL)
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Fifty hostages have been held in Gaza for nearly 700 days. Of those, 20 are believed to be alive while the rest are confirmed dead. Hamas is holding onto their remains. Earlier this month, the terror group released a video of hostage Evyatar David who appeared extremely thin and said he had not eaten in days.
israel,terrorism,united nations,human rights united nations
Inversores en alerta por el salto del riesgo país: cuáles son las acciones y bonos más afectados
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