Congress returns facing looming deadlines, unfinished business and internal Republican divisions as the midterm elections draw closer.

Lawmakers left Washington ahead of Memorial Day on the cusp of passing a massive immigration enforcement funding package. Doing so would have allowed Republicans to tackle other outstanding priorities.

Instead, the budget reconciliation process — which Republicans planned to use to funnel roughly $72 billion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol — stalled after a surprise move by the Trump administration exposed deep divisions within the GOP. 

SENATE GOP ERUPTS OVER TRUMP DOJ ‘ANTI-WEAPONIZATION’ FUND, PUNTS ICE, BORDER PATROL FUNDING

Now, the setback in the reconciliation process threatens to further push back other key agenda items, including the fast-approaching deadline to reauthorize a critical spy law, a colossal defense policy bill and a potential affordability-focused legislative package.

The Senate is currently stuck on the reconciliation package after the Department of Justice unveiled its nearly $2 billion «anti-weaponization» fund geared to provide payouts to those who feel wronged by the government. 

Senate Republicans erupted over the fund during a closed-door meeting with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, demanding answers on whether people convicted of assaulting police officers during the riots of Jan. 6, 2021, would be allowed to get access to the taxpayer-funded money. 

Little has changed between the Senate GOP and administration since then, with Republicans putting the onus of dealing with the issue onto the White House.

«The administration appreciated last week’s conversation and feedback,» a White House official told Fox News Digital. «We look forward to additional conversations as needed.»

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The House is expected to take up the budget reconciliation bill upon Senate passage. 

But with no clear path forward, other pressing issues are beginning to crowd the congressional calendar.

Congress will soon have to address the looming June 12 deadline to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). It’s a fight that lawmakers have punted on twice now over bipartisan demands for reforms to the program, despite the Trump administration pushing for a clean reauthorization. 

The spy law fight is one of the few horseshoe issues in Congress that blends Democrats and conservatives in a push for stronger privacy protections. While Section 702 allows the government to spy on foreign nationals abroad, there’s nothing in the law to prevent it from collecting data on Americans if they’re ensnared in those communications. 

House conservatives are seeking reforms that would require warrants to surveil Americans’ communications, close loopholes allowing the government to buy sensitive data from brokers without a warrant, and curb overly broad authorities permitting the incidental collection of information, according to a source familiar with the discussions.

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: CONGRESS PASSES SHORT-TERM FISA 702 FIX, DELAYS LONG-TERM RENEWAL

Congress returns facing looming deadlines, unfinished business and internal Republican divisions as the midterm elections draw closer. (Heather Diehl/Getty Images)

GOP privacy hawks in the Senate, including Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rick Scott, R-Fla., are expected to push for similar priorities in the upper chamber.

Meanwhile, in the House, Democrats are likely to force a vote to rein in the president’s Iran war powers that could pass with modest GOP support. House GOP leadership shelved a war powers vote last week amid poor attendance from Republicans.

Democrats are also expected to trigger a vote on legislation authorizing $1.3 billion in military aid to Ukraine and levy new sanctions on the Russian war effort. The measure faces an uphill battle to become law due to expected opposition from Republican leadership and the Trump administration.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is also facing pressure from a swath of House Republicans to get the ball rolling on a third budget reconciliation package ahead of the midterm elections.

Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital that GOP lawmakers are having «great meetings» and he expects the conference to pass another budget reconciliation package by the end of July. 

Pfluger’s Republican Study Committee has consistently advocated for a package focused on affordability issues across the housing, energy and healthcare sectors. Enthusiasm for a third reconciliation bill has been less pronounced in the Senate. 

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Congress is also beginning to make moves with the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the colossal package that would open up $1.15 trillion to fund the Pentagon. It’s an annual must-pass piece of legislation that could be slowed by the more pressing fights on the Hill.

Several lingering issues facing Congress come as time is dwindling to complete work before the midterm elections. Lawmakers will be gone for their typical August recess, but will also have almost the entirety of October off to campaign. 

That means that the next few weeks will be crucial, particularly for Republicans, who are trying to pass any outstanding parts of President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Con su irreverencia y un discurso de mano dura, Abelardo de la Espriella sacudió el tablero político de Colombia.

El candidato “outsider” del ultraderechista Partido Defensores de la Patria parte como favorito para el balotaje del 21 de junio frente al candidato izquierdista Iván Cepeda, heredero del presidente Gustavo Petro.

A los 47 años, este admirador de Donald Trump, Javier Milei y Nayib Bukele ganó de manera sorpresiva las elecciones del domingo en su país, aunque no le alcanzó para ser electo en primera vuelta.

Sacó un inesperado 43,73% de los votos, casi tres puntos más que Cepeda, que obtuvo el 40,91%, más allá del desconocimiento del conteo oficial que anunciaron el presidente y el candidato oficialista tras los comicios.

“Hay una alta probabilidad” de que De la Espriella llegue al balotaje como el gran favorito, dijo a TN el analista Carlos Moreno, docente de la Universidad Pontificia Javeriana.

¿Por qué De la Espriella parte como gran favorito?

De la Espriella no estaba en los planes de nadie para ganar en primera vuelta. Cepeda esperaba obtener una victoria por amplio margen y arañar un 50% más uno de los votos que lo posicionara como virtual ganador en el balotaje. Pero no solo quedó lejos de ese objetivo. Además, perdió la elección.

“Los votos de Paloma Valencia y los de Santiago Botero se irán con Abelardo de la Espriella”, dijo Moreno.

“De manera personal, como Paloma Valencia, la mujer que quería ser su presidenta, anuncio mi apoyo al doctor Abelardo de la Espriella”, dijo Valencia en su primera declaración tras las elecciones.

No es poca cosa. La candidata del Partido Centro Democrático (la derecha tradicional liderada por el influyente expresidente Álvaro Uribe) obtuvo el 6,92% de los sufragios.

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Botero, con su partido Romper el Sistema, alcanzó un 0,87%.

Entre ambos suman casi 8 puntos. A De la Espriella le hacen falta poco más de 6 puntos para llegar al 50% en el balotaje. Más que suficientes, si se cumple la lógica electoral.

“Los resultados ponen a De la Espriella en posicion de favorito”, dijo a TN el analista Yann Basset, de la Universidad de Rosario de Bogotá.

Cepeda, según Moreno, podría sumar los votos de Roy Barreras, del progresista Partido Político La Fuerza, pero sacó apenas el 0,05% de los votos.

Su camino parece hoy lleno de piedras.

Quién es Abelardo de la Espriella

Con un discurso rupturista y un estilo descontracturado y populista, De la Espriella sacó del camino a la derecha tradicional que gobernó hasta hace cuatro años y en forma ininterrumpida el país.

Es un verdadero “outsider” de la política colombiana que aprovecó su impulso como abogado polémico y mediático para instalar su figura en la política nacional.

Se hace llamar “El Tigre” y promete bombardear a los numerosos grupos armados e irregulares -guerrilleros, paramilitares y narcos- que provocaron la mayor ola de violencia de la última década.

Sus credenciales son conocidas. No solo es admirador de Trump. También es donante del Partido Republicano de Estados Unidos.

A lo largo de su campaña dejó en claro que quiere ser un nuevo Milei e imitar las políticas de mano dura del presidente de El Salvador Nayib Bukele, que ayudaron a erradicar las pandillas en el país centroamericano, aunque con una estela de denuncias de violaciones a los derechos humanos.

Pero antes de lanzarse a la política, hizo fortuna a través de una controvertida carrera profesional como abogado de clientes algo flojo de papeles, como el empresario colombo-venezolano Alex Saab, acusado de ser testaferro de Nicolás Maduro y actualmente detenido en Estados Unidos.

También fue abogado de David Murcia Guzmán, un empresario acusado de urdir una de las mayores estafas piramidales en la historia de Colombia.

Sus apariciones mediáticas lo llevaron a la fama, que ahondó con posiciones radicales como cuando llamó a asesinar a Maduro en un artículo periodístico.

Ahora, en su primera experiencia electoral, quiere ser presidente. En campaña prometió varios “milagros” y predijo inversiones de su “compadre” Elon Musk, dueño de Tesla.

Sus anunciadas políticas de mano dura contra la violencia van de la mano de su tradicional saludo militar adoptado en campaña. Así, afirma que combatirá a los grupos criminales y a los corruptos “con mano de hierro”.

Leé también: Nicaragua: murió un histórico líder indígena y preso político que estaba detenido desde septiembre de 2023

Como empresario mantiene varios negocios y declara su gusto por la música con la grabación de dos discos en los que muestra sus dotes de tenor. Todo sirve para alimentar su figura de “italiano”. De hecho, posee la doble nacionalidad.

Está casado con Ana Lucía Pineda, madre de sus cuatro hijos. Así, se presenta como un hombre de familia, antiabortista y contrario a la “ideología de género”. Estos posicionamientos le valieron el respaldo de sectores católicos y conservadores.

Pero hace varios años se declaraba ateo. Ahora, dice que recuperó la fe.

EXCLUSIVE: NEW YORK CITY — A Brooklyn landlord says he has been trapped in a nearly decade-long legal nightmare that has cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid rent and legal fees, while New York courts repeatedly delay resolution as his tenant continues living in the apartment without making direct rent payments to the landlord.

Thomas Diana, who owns a small eight-unit building in Park Slope, told Fox News Digital he has spent the last nine years trying to remove a woman who originally moved into one of his apartments as a live-in companion for an elderly, disabled tenant.

Court records show the woman moved into the apartment in 2014 after responding to a Craigslist advertisement seeking a live-in companion for the tenant, who later died in 2016.

What followed was nearly a decade of litigation spanning multiple courts and proceedings. After the elderly tenant’s death, disputes arose over the woman’s tenancy status, rent obligations and whether the apartment remained subject to New York rent-stabilization laws as Diana sought unpaid rent and possession of the apartment.

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«This has gone on for nine years. Nothing about this is justice,» Diana told Fox News Digital. «Every time the case gets close to resolution, there’s another delay, another lawyer change, another new story.»

Diana says the tenant has changed lawyers at least eight times in the ongoing legal saga, which Diana refers to as a «9-year squatter situation,» although the case technically centers around a dispute over rent stabilization laws with the two sides disputing nearly every aspect of the case.

«It drained my daughter’s college fund,» Diana told Fox News Digital inside his home while wearing a now-outdated T-shirt that says, «Stuck with 8-year-squatter.»

«Now we’re borrowing money to pay for college while this just keeps dragging on. It gets pretty stressful. People think eviction cases are like TV where it takes two weeks. In New York it can take years, and this one has turned into almost a decade.»

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Attorneys for the tenant strongly dispute Diana’s characterization of the case, and the tenant at one point sued Diana, claiming the apartment had been improperly removed from rent stabilization protections.

«Mr. Diana’s distortion of the facts in this case is a sad attempt to harass our client out of her rent-stabilized apartment, and he will not be successful,» Casey Gilfoil, an attorney with Brooklyn Legal Services, told Fox News Digital.

Gilfoil said a judge has already ruled Diana improperly removed the apartment from rent stabilization and said the remaining issue before the court is determining the legal rent and any potential damages.

Brooklyn Legal Services also says the tenant has money set aside in escrow pending the court’s final ruling.

Diana pushed back, saying the court did not find that he committed fraud and that he followed the guidance he says he received from New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal when the apartment was deregulated years before the tenant sued. «The judge ruled there was no fraud,» Diana told Fox News Digital. «She said I incorrectly destabilized the apartment. I did it as they told me to.»

Diana also disputed Brooklyn Legal Services’ claim that the tenant has years of rent saved in escrow, saying the numbers do not add up and that, based on court communications regarding her employment history, it is unlikely she has accumulated «anywhere near» $300,000.

Diana says the occupant’s lawsuit relied on what he describes as a series of shifting and contradictory claims, including allegations that the original elderly tenant was not disabled, that the occupant had been on the lease and that the apartment was illegally deregulated.

During depositions, Diana said his attorney challenged those claims with emails, photographs, rent records and testimony. He contends the allegations did not withstand scrutiny during questioning.

«She got destroyed on all 18 claims,» Diana said. «And once those fell apart, they just made up new ones.»

WASHINGTON POST BLASTS RENT CONTROL AS ‘FAILED POLICY’ THAT LEAVES RENTERS ‘WORSE OFF’ THAN BEFORE

Court stipulations required the occupant to make monthly use-and-occupancy payments, similar to interim rent payments, of roughly $835 per month at one point, but Diana says those payments stopped years ago. He estimates total unpaid rent now ranges between $275,000 and $325,000.

In her deposition, the occupant testified she has not worked full time in years and has limited income, a factor Diana says the courts have effectively allowed to justify continued nonpayment.

Diana, who started a GoFundMe page to help with his financial struggles, says the prolonged case has left him struggling to maintain his building and cover basic expenses, including tuition for his children.

«One apartment out of eight not paying rent wipes out any profit,» Diana said. «Judges talk in terms of months. They don’t talk about what $300,000 actually does to a family.»

He also pointed to an overall problem with the system and described repeated housing court inspections that he says resulted in excessive and duplicative violations, which further delayed proceedings and increased costs.

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«They’ll cite you for a paint drip from 20 years ago and call you a slumlord,» Diana said. «Meanwhile, the tenant hasn’t paid rent in nearly a decade.»

Diana says his case highlights what he views as a systemic imbalance in New York’s housing courts that allows bad-faith actors to exploit tenant protections indefinitely.

«They tell you to sell your building. They tell you to accept a buyout, to pay the person who owes you hundreds of thousands of dollars,» he said. «That’s not justice. That’s legalized theft.»

In April, the case was adjourned again until this summer, essentially guaranteeing that the saga will extend into its 10th year.

«This court case has become a Twilight Zone Marathon,» Diana said.