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Fed forgoes interest rate cut as inflation lingers
Are they actually going to vote on something real?

The Federal Reserve voted Wednesday to hold its interest rate target steady as inflation remains elevated.

After a two-day meeting in Washington, the Fed’s monetary policy committee announced it would hold its rate target at a range of 3.50% to 3.75%. Investors had expected that outcome, but President Donald Trump has pushed hard for more aggressive rate cuts. The central bank has not cut rates in 2026, after implementing cuts at three successive meetings to end 2025.

DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CONTENDERS EYE TAX CUTS TO WOO GOP VOTERS

Fed governor Stephen Miran, who was appointed by Trump, voted against the decision, preferring a quarter percentage point rate cut.

The Wednesday decision to hold interest rates steady comes as the labor market undergoes a slowdown that some argue should necessitate lower interest rates. Still, the softening of the labor market has not progressed to a point that would force the Fed to cut rates rapidly.

The economy shed 92,000 jobs in February, and the unemployment rate edged up to 4.4%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said last Friday.

But the Fed weighs not only the labor market, but also inflation when deciding the best course of action for monetary policy. And inflation has remained above the Fed’s 2% long-run target, something that the Fed board sees as necessitating tighter monetary policy.

In the central bank’s preferred gauge, the personal consumption expenditures index, inflation fell one-tenth of a percentage point in January to 2.8%. Inflation has been a bit lower in the more widely watched consumer price index.

While still high, inflation is lower than during the worst of the Biden administration years, when prices rose as much as 7% in one year.

The Fed also released updated multiyear projections for inflation, GDP, and unemployment, as it does every other meeting.

Fed officials said they see inflation, as gauged by the personal consumption expenditures index, running at 2.7% by the end of the year. That is an increase from the board’s last projections in December, when they predicted inflation would fall to 2.4% by the end of 2026.

The officials also projected that the unemployment rate would remain at 4.4% by the end of this year.

In terms of gross domestic product growth, they predict 2.4% GDP growth this year, an increase from December, when board participants were projecting more modest 2.3% growth in 2026.

The latest interest rate decision also comes at a tumultuous time at the Fed, which has …

Democrats move to force DHS funding vote without ICE and Border Patrol
Every delay has consequences.

House Democrats moved Wednesday to force a vote on a plan to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security — excluding border patrol and immigration enforcement — escalating their standoff with Republicans during the shutdown.

The effort, led by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and top appropriator Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), uses a discharge petition to bypass GOP leadership and bring the proposal directly to the House floor. Democrats are trying to force a vote on a spending bill that would fund DHS agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration, FEMA, the Coast Guard, and federal cybersecurity operations, but withhold funding from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.

“We have a choice: We can fund TSA, fund the Coast Guard, fund FEMA, fund our cybersecurity professionals, or continue to allow ICE to brutalize and in some cases, kill American citizens or to violently target law abiding immigrant families,” Jeffries said at a press conference on the steps of the Capitol in front of a sign that said “Pay TSA, rein in ICE.”

A discharge petition requires 218 signatories to force legislation to the House floor for a vote. The measure is a tool to circumvent the House speaker, who controls which legislation is brought to the floor. To succeed, Jeffries’ petition would need the support of at least four House Republicans, given the chamber’s narrow majority.

“Amid this continuing failure of Republican leadership, House Democrats are taking matters into our own hands, and I call on my Republican colleagues in the rank and file who know what their leadership is doing, and they know it is wrong,” said DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. “Please join us in this effort.”

Republicans swiftly rejected the approach. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) warned that stripping funding from CBP — the nation’s largest federal law enforcement agency — would weaken border defenses and disrupt travel through U.S. ports of entry.

“CBP is the largest federal law enforcement agency,” Johnson said this week. “Any bill that strips its funding weakens our defenses against terrorist plots, undermines the integrity of our borders, and disrupts lawful travel through U.S. ports of entry, including the millions of American and international travelers processed at our airports every single day.”

The discharge petition by House Democrats was introduced one day after White House officials detailed their latest …

How do state-level election results (like Illinois) end up driving national political narratives?
Confidence requires clarity.

Recent trends show significant spikes in attention around state-level election results, such as those coming out of Illinois. Despite being localized events, these elections often receive nationwide coverage and generate broader political discussion.
In many cases, analysts and media outlets interpret these results as indicators of larger political shifts, voter sentiment, or potential outcomes in future national elections. At the same time, voter turnout, regional dynamics, and local issues can differ significantly from national conditions.
To what extent should state election results be viewed as meaningful signals of national political trends?
And what factors determine whether a state-level result gains wider national attention compared to others?

Virginia Republican bucks blue wave in special election
We're watching the same failure loop.

Republicans earned a sweeping special election win in a Virginia state House race, defying the Democratic wave of victories in similar special elections across the country.

Andrew Rice took 62.5% of the vote in Tuesday’s election compared with Democrat Cheryl Smith’s 37.5%, with 95% of votes counted in the state’s 98th District. The development breaks the Democratic run of special election victories in Iowa, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Georgia, and Texas. And it marks an improved performance for the GOP, as the Republican candidate who won the district in 2025, Barry Knight, secured the election with under 57% of the vote.

Smith said she plans to concede, and Rice declared victory, saying he “can’t wait” to work in Richmond for his district’s residents. 

“I am thrilled to welcome Andrew Rice to our Caucus as the newest Delegate from the 98th District,” Virginia House GOP Leader Terry Kilgore said in a statement. “The road back starts here.”

The Virginia Beach district is solidly red. But conservatives celebrated the results as a “big overperformance,” arguing that it marked “backlash against our insane governor and the left-wing nuts in the General Assembly.”

Rice had a far better outcome in the district on Tuesday than GOP gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears saw in November, advocates said, with Kilgore reposting that Tuesday marked “a 22 point swing to the GOP.”

The special election was called after Knight died in February following a battle with cancer. The latest election results shown are unofficial until they are certified. Rice, the deputy commonwealth’s attorney in Virginia Beach, is set to serve the remainder of Knight’s two-year term.

“We didn’t even have time to grieve — the canvass was before the funeral, so it was very emotional,” Rice told 13 News Now, saying he had a long friendship with Knight’s family and sought their blessing before entering the race.

NOT JUST TONY GONZALES: BRANDON HERRERA DOGGED BY CONTROVERSY IN TEXAS HOUSE RACE

Smith told WHRO that she planned to concede the election to Rice, marking her second loss in the district after challenging Knight last year.

“I hope he sees these people,” Smith said of Rice. “I hope he listens to them and tries to be open-minded.”

NYC spends more per homeless person than a typical household earns in a year, data shows
This is performative politics again.

New York City has more than tripled spending on unsheltered homelessness since 2019, shelling out nearly $368 million even as the number of people living on the streets continued to rise, according to a state comptroller’s report.
The city’s own numbers show the unsheltered population grew from 3,588 in fiscal year 2019 to 4,504 in fiscal year 2025, a 26% increase from pre-pandemic levels. Over that same period, spending on services for the unsheltered jumped 262%, from $102 million to nearly $368 million. 
That works out to roughly $81,700 per unsheltered person in FY 2025 — slightly more than the city’s median household income, though the comparison is only a broad benchmark since public spending and household earnings are not directly comparable.
The numbers show the city is pouring in more money while the street homeless population continues to grow — and taxpayers are footing the bill.
FROM FREE BUSES TO CITY-OWNED GROCERY STORES, HERE ARE MAMDANI’S KEY ECONOMIC PROMISES
Still, the report notes that New York’s shelter system remains unusually large by national standards. 
Los Angeles, the city with the next-largest homeless population, has about 71,000 homeless people, roughly half of New York City’s 2024 total, and about 70% of them are unsheltered. In New York City, by contrast, nearly 97% of the homeless population is in shelters.
The findings are likely to add fuel to the broader debate over housing affordability, as soaring rents and a shortage of low-cost housing remain central to New York City’s homelessness crisis — and a key issue for Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
While Mamdani has proposed freezing rents on roughly 2 million stabilized apartments, many economists argue that rent freezes may shield current tenants in the short term while worsening the city’s long-term housing shortage — doing little to solve the supply crisis at the root of New York’s homelessness problem.
MAMDANI BUDGET POURS MILLIONS INTO DEI OFFICES AND CUTS 5,000 NYPD JOBS
More broadly, his $127 billion budget proposal calls for higher taxes on wealthy residents and corporations, along with a possible 9.5% property tax increase if state lawmakers decline to act.
Whether that approach will ease the affordability crunch or further disrupt the housing market remains an open question, with critics warning that rent freezes and higher taxes could discourage investment and strain supply.
In the nation’s largest city and a global financial capital, the stakes of Mamdani’s agenda extend far beyond local politics. The success or failure of his housing and tax proposals could shape not …

Top conservative group takes parents' rights fight to Capitol Hill
Are they actually going to vote on something real?

FIRST ON FOX: A top conservative organization advocating parents' rights is descending on Capitol Hill Wednesday to meet with both Republicans and Democrats on the subject of transgender issues and other agenda items.
Moms for Liberty is taking its "parents pledge" to Congress, with group members expected to sit down with lawmakers in a bid to grow support for its movement to define what rights parents have over their children while in school and other places outside their immediate control.
"Moms for Liberty brought 100 members from across 20 states to Capitol Hill," the group's co-founder and CEO Tina Descovich told Fox News Digital.
CHLOE COLE ACT AIMED AT BLOCKING MINORS FROM UNDERGOING LIFE-ALTERING TRANSGENDER SURGERIES, GOP LAWMAKER SAYS
She said members of Congress would join President Donald Trump in signing their pledge, which Descovich called "a commonsense promise to the American people that you support their rights."
The pledge states, "I pledge to honor the fundamental rights of parents, including, but not limited to the right to direct the education, medical care, and moral upbringing of their children. I pledge to advance policies that strengthen parental involvement and decision-making, increase transparency, defend against government overreach, and secure parental rights at all levels of government."
Among the group's legislative priorities, Fox News Digital was told, are to eliminate school-based health clinics, oppose any policy that circumvents parental authority in schools, and require schools to give parents full access to curriculum, lesson plans, evaluations and learning standards.
On the issue of transgender policies, Moms for Liberty is pushing to maintain sex-specific spaces like school sports and restrooms, as well as the biological definition of sex and promoting pronoun usage consistent with students and staff members' sex.
Moms for Liberty was established in 2021 to fight COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on students.
Since then, it's ballooned into a nationwide group with multiple chapters across the country.
And their meeting with Johnson on Wednesday is notable in that it's a sign of their influence and Republicans' focus on culture war issues like parental rights, even as they fight an uphill battle to keep control during the November midterms.

We Lost Our Foster License for Christian Views on Gender. We Fought Back and Won.
Every delay has consequences.

Editor’s note: The following commentary is a lightly edited excerpt from remarks presented before the Presidential Religious Liberty Commission on March 16, 2026.

We have dedicated many years to serving our community in Vermont. Together, we’ve tried to live by God’s call to do justice, love mercy, and care for the orphaned.

In 2014, we saw a growing crisis in Vermont. The opioid epidemic had hit our state hard, and there were more children in foster care than available loving homes. Our church had started a recovery group, but we felt called to do even more.

So we stepped forward, and our family had the privilege of fostering and ultimately adopting two brothers.

Foster care is partnership with the state—working together to bring children safety, stability, and, whenever possible, reunification with their biological parents. For years, our relationship with Vermont’s Department for Children and Families was a success.

But in 2022, that changed.

When we sought to renew our foster-care license, the state introduced a new policy. It required foster parents to promote gender ideology, including telling children they can change their sex and using inaccurate pronouns if a child desired.

We told the state that we will love any child who walks through our door. And loving a child means telling them what is true.

We believe every child is wonderfully made. We would never tell a child that God made a mistake and that he or she was born in the wrong body.

This issue is deeply personal for our family. As a child, I, Katy, struggled with gender dysphoria. That experience confirmed what research shows now: the majority of children who experience these feelings will find peace with their bodies if they are given time, support, love, and the freedom to grow. There is nothing compassionate about confusion. Love requires truth.

When we told Vermont that we would love and care for any child but could not harm them in this way, the state revoked our foster license.

Vermont also revoked the license of another remarkable family, Bryan and Rebecca Gantt, for similar reasons. The Gantts specialize in caring for children with special needs and have adopted three children from the foster system. At the time their license was revoked, they had just agreed to welcome a soon-to-be born baby boy whose mother struggled with addiction.

That baby needed a home. But instead of putting the child’s interests first, the state turned away a loving family that was waiting for him. This was heartbreaking—especially in a state where children have slept on police station floors because there were not enough foster families.

Vermont excluded families like ours and the Gantts—not because we did anything wrong—but because the government did not like our beliefs.

And Vermont is not alone. Kids are suffering in other states that have enforced similar policies, including Massachusetts, Oregon, and Washington. These policies label families like ours “unfit,” even though many of us have spent years successfully caring for foster children.

That raises a troubling question: If the government can declare families unfit to foster a child because we believe sex can’t be changed, …

Gabbard and Patel deny knowledge of Trump emergency election order plans
Are they actually going to vote on something real?

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and FBI Director Kash Patel told senators Wednesday that they were unaware of any draft executive order tied to reported plans for President Donald Trump to invoke emergency powers over elections ahead of the midterm elections.

The exchange came during the Senate Intelligence Committee’s worldwide threats hearing, where Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA) pressed both officials over reports that Trump allies are circulating a draft order citing Chinese interference in the 2020 election as grounds for declaring a national emergency.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe testify before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. (Graeme Jennings / Washington Examiner)

“There were reports that in 2020 the president was preparing an executive order potentially seize ballots or bring in federal forces,” Warner said, citing a recent Washington Post report about conservative legal advocates pushing the president to craft such an order. 

Warner said, “There is a published report that there is a similar EO being drafted right now about 2026 citing China. Director Patel, do you have any knowledge of that draft EO?”

Patel replied, “Thank you, vice chairman. I do not, sir.”

Kash Patel speaks before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. (Graeme Jennings / Washington Examiner).

Warner then turned to Gabbard, asking whether she had any knowledge of such a draft. “I do not,” she said.

The exchange added to an already tense start to the hearing in which Warner accused Gabbard of failing to provide the committee with legally required reports on foreign interference threats tied to U.S. elections. The conversation later turned to Warner’s concerns about her surprise January appearance in Fulton County, Georgia, during an FBI operation to seize 2020 election ballots.

Warner argued that the ballot seizure involved no demonstrated foreign nexus and was instead rooted in “conspiracy theories that have already been examined and rejected repeatedly.” He asked Gabbard what authority allowed her to insert herself into what he described as a domestic law enforcement matter.

Gabbard, who was spotted at the raid scene sporting a black baseball cap and dark coat, pushed back against the chairman’s assertion, saying his characterization was false.

WARNER: Where is the authority for you to involve yourself in a domestic law enforcement activity in Georgia?

TULSI GABBARD: I did not …

Transportation Lobbyists Have Donated Thousands to Sean Duffy’s Son-in-Law as He Runs for Congress
Who benefits from this decision?

The $16 billion Hudson Tunnel Project, under construction between Manhattan and New Jersey, will improve passenger rail service, an important issue for New York City commuters. It would seem to have nothing to do with what’s happening in northern Wisconsin. 

But after the White House froze federal grant funding for the project in the fall, citing concerns about diversity and equity measures, lobbyists with an interest in the tunnel donated $2,500 to a political novice running in the Republican primary in Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District. 

The young candidate, Michael Alfonso, has no sway over the matter. However, his father-in-law does: Sean Duffy is secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The contributions are among dozens to Alfonso’s campaign from lobbyists, business executives and political action committees tied to industries — from rails and highways to shipping and air travel — that Duffy’s department funds and regulates. His department also oversees the Federal Aviation Administration.

Duffy held the 7th Congressional District seat for nearly a decade before resigning in 2019. He was succeeded by Tom Tiffany, who is now running for Wisconsin governor, leaving the seat open again. Alfonso, 26, who has worked in construction and podcasting, has been endorsed by  President Donald Trump. 

A ProPublica analysis found that many of the Alfonso donors with transportation interests had never given to Duffy or Tiffany. While legal, such donations set up the appearance that helping Alfonso might assist the donors with issues influenced by Duffy. (Politico has reported on some of these contributions.)

“The law, as it stands, provides very little constraint,” said Daniel Weiner, director of the Elections and Government Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, a law and policy institute based in New York. “There’s a very large gulf between what is legal and what is ethical. Obviously, this raises numerous ethical questions.”

This is not the first time a Cabinet secretary’s relative has created thorny ethical issues. During the first Trump administration, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao made headlines for appearing to give preferential treatment to Kentucky officials for millions of dollars in infrastructure grants. Kentucky is the home state of her husband, Mitch McConnell, then Senate majority leader. At the time, Chao’s office denied showing any favoritism, saying that Kentucky’s share was not out of the ordinary.

And in 2012, under President Barack Obama, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, an Iowa Democrat, fielded questions about the separation between U.S. Department of Agriculture business and the campaign of his wife, Christie, who was running for Congress. Christie Vilsack told ProPublica in an interview that the couple was careful about making sure her husband was not involved in the campaign, other than to support her at some debates and on election night. He “never did any fundraising at all,” she said.

An influential member of Trump’s Cabinet, Duffy has been openly assisting his son-in-law’s campaign. The notice for a November “meet and greet” with Alfonso in Wausau, Wisconsin, mentioned that Duffy …

Progressive influencer erupts after Illinois primary loss, drops profane Anti-Trump and Anti-ICE rant
This affects the entire country.

Progressive influencer Kat Abughazaleh closed out her failed Illinois congressional bid Tuesday night with an expletive-laced tirade against President Donald Trump and federal immigration authorities, telling supporters, "F--- Trump, f--- ICE, free Palestine."
The comments came at the end of her concession speech after losing the Illinois 9th Congressional District Democratic primary on Tuesday.
"I don’t know if you heard, but we didn’t win, and it really f------ sucks. We came really close," Abughazaleh told the crowd, adding that her campaign was "something that no one in power even expected would be possible at all."
Abughazaleh lost the primary to Daniel Biss, the current mayor of Evanston, Illinois.
ILLINOIS LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR SEEKING US SENATE SEAT RELEASES VIDEO OF PEOPLE SAYING 'F--- TRUMP'
She received about 26% of the vote, compared to Biss's nearly 30% support, according to a report from The Associated Press. 
"There are progressives all over the country who are taking a chance just like we did, and we have to help them win," Abughazaleh said. "No matter how hard it is, we have sent a message to this administration and anyone who enables it. … You and your jobs are not safe. This is the start and not the end."
The Democrat, a Palestinian American, went on to claim the administration was "kidnap[ping] and kill[ing]" citizens, and "start[ing] illegal wars."
HOUSE DEM EXPLODES ON TOP TRUMP IMMIGRATION OFFICIAL, SAYS HE ‘BETTER HOPE’ FOR PARDON FROM PRESIDENT
"When I said, when I said I would spend every single waking moment of the rest of my life to hold this administration accountable, win or lose, I f------ meant it," Abughazaleh said. "I'm sorry that this sucks. But, f--- Trump, f--- ICE, free Palestine, I love you all."
Biss will face Republican pastor John Elleson in November's general election to replace Rep. Jan Schakowsky, a Democrat who is retiring after nearly 30 years in office.
Abughazaleh is still facing federal charges after she was accused of interfering with ICE operations outside the Broadview, Illinois ICE processing center last fall.
'SQUAD' MEMBER WEARS 'F--- ICE' PIN ON HOUSE FLOOR DURING TRUMP ADDRESS
Federal prosecutors allege Abughazaleh and a group of others scratched the word "PIG" on an ICE agent’s vehicle. 
She pleaded not guilty and criticized the charges as an "attempt by the Trump administration to criminalize protest and punish those who dare to speak up."
The influencer also went viral after video showed an agent throwing her to the ground during the incident, footage she later used in her campaign ads for …

Why the ruling in a women’s spa case marks a turning point in transgender lawfare
Ask who never gets charged.

A judge’s dissenting opinion in a transgender case regarding access to female-only facilities ignited uproar within the federal judiciary last week over the intentionally provocative language he used to describe the crux of the legal fight.

Judge Lawrence VanDyke, an appointee of President Donald Trump, declared in an opinion on Thursday that the appellate case out of Washington state is really about the government allowing, as he put it, “swinging d**ks” in women’s spaces.

VanDyke’s colleagues on the bench reacted with outrage, many of them taking offense that a fellow member of the U.S. judiciary would utter such obscenity into the court record.

To VanDyke, that was the point.

“You may think that swinging d***s shouldn’t appear in a judicial opinion,” VanDyke wrote. “You’re not wrong. But as much as you might understandably be shocked and displeased to merely encounter that phrase in this opinion, I hope we all can agree that it is far more ​jarring for the unsuspecting and exposed women at Olympus Spa — some as young as 13 — to be visually assaulted by the real thing.”

In conversations with the Washington Examiner, women’s rights advocates agreed that VanDyke’s dissent, though coarsely worded, aptly conveys the crude reality that many women and young girls face because of state-mandated “transgender inclusion” policies.

Those feminist leaders expressed hope that his opinion signals that some judges now have a better understanding of the safety concerns at issue in similar bodily privacy cases. Judges, feminist leaders hope, are increasingly recognizing the plight of vulnerable women forced to share intimate spaces with naked men in the name of transgender affirmation.

Elspeth Cypher, the president of the Women’s Liberation Front and a retired Massachusetts Supreme Court judge, said VanDyke opened with the “perfect” first sentence.

“In six words he summed up the problem in a vivid manner that crystallizes the problem,” Cypher told the Washington Examiner. “And it shows us what the impact of the opinion will be on women and girls.”

A traditional, immigrant-owned spa

The appeals case, Olympus Spa v. Armstrong, stems from a civil rights complaint filed by Caleb “Haven” Wilvich, then a fully intact biological man who identified as a woman.

Wilvich was denied entry to Olympus Spa, a fully nude wellness facility near Seattle designed specifically for female customers, including girls as young as 13 years old.

Olympus Spa, the state’s only …

FBI director ticks off terror threats foiled by agents
Are they actually going to vote on something real?

FBI Director Kash Patel on Wednesday said the bureau thwarted four terrorist attacks across the U.S. last December — including three inspired by ISIS — by tracking suspects both online and in person.
Patel was testifying at the Senate Intelligence Worldwide Threats hearing on Capitol Hill when Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, asked about what measures the FBI was taking to stop foreign terrorist organizations from recruiting and influencing Americans online.
Patel testified that foreign terrorist organizations, including ISIS, have become "all the more powerful" by moving their recruitment capabilities online.
"What we have done is extended and expanded resources to environments like the Threat Screening Center, which allows us to collect biometric capabilities from all over the world," Patel said, noting double-digit increases in those resources and the bureau’s intelligence production.
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Patel said the FBI has also increased its manpower to detect such threats online.
"But what we've also done in the [counterterrorism] space specifically is expand the number of agents and intel analysts that go online and detect based on our biometric capabilities and intelligence that we have from the interagency," he said.
4 INDICTED IN FOILED NEW YEAR'S EVE TERROR BOMBING PLOT TARGETING SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BUSINESSES
Patel said that led the bureau to foil four terrorist attacks in California, Texas, North Carolina and Pennsylvania in December. He said three of those attacks were inspired by ISIS.
"We were able to detect these individuals, both online and in person, using our covert platforms," Patel said. "And we shuttered a bombing campaign in Southern California and two mass casualty events for New Year's Eve."
Patel testified at the Senate hearing alongside Defense Intelligence Agency Director James Adams, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Acting Commander of the U.S. Cyber Command William Hartman and CIA Director John Ratcliffe.