The $1.7 trillion omnibus spending package has increased funding for a Homeland Security case management program that aids illegal immigrants facing deportation — just as it is facing scrutiny from Republicans who have raised questions about how it is being overseen.

The omnibus spending package, which has now passed through both chambers of Congress, includes $20 million for the Alternative to Detention Case Management Pilot Program (CMPP) through to September 2024. The spending bill comes while the U.S. national debt remains well over $31 trillion. 

The program, which had first been given $5 million in the FY 2021 DHS Appropriations Act, provides ‘voluntary case management and other services’ to those in immigration removal proceedings, including mental health services, school enrollment, legal aid, ‘cultural orientation programs’ and connections to social services — as well as human trafficking screening and departure planning for those being deported.

The services are for those enrolled in Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program, which involves more than 300,000 illegal immigrants who are awaiting asylum hearings being tracked by GPS monitoring via ankle bracelets, phone check-ins and/or smart-phone apps. Participants in the pilot will remain part of the ATD monitoring program.

The initial congressional authorization said the pilot program was being established ‘in recognition of ICE’s significant lack of referral approvals for enrollment into existing case management services provided by [NGOs] and community partners’ and said explicitly that it was to be executed by nonprofits and ‘local communities.’

The CMPP raised concerns from Republicans due to the involvement of a nonprofit that has previously backed calls for the defunding and abolition of ICE.

Church World Services (CWS) is one of the three members that met congressionally set criteria and was selected to sit on the board — along with two other non-profits — and has also been designated as its secretariat and fiscal agent. According to documents on the program, CWS ‘will be substantially involved in the oversight, implementation, monitoring and reporting of the program outcomes.’

CWS has a history of immigration activism. During the Obama administration, CWS demanded that ICE end immigration operations, slamming ‘the structural sin of raids and deportations that tear families and communities apart.’ In 2021, it tweeted ‘#AbolishICE’ and ‘#FreeThemAll’ about a report that claimed ICE had threatened hunger strikers in facilities with deportation. It has also taken part in events to oppose ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) funding. 

CWS told Fox News Digital in October that it has ‘long advocated for humane alternatives to detention and against the cruel and inhumane treatment of migrants seeking safety.’

‘CMPP is an important step toward the federal government providing the trauma-informed, wholistic case management services that all families seeking safety deserve,’ the group said.

Sens. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, and Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., have since called for more information from the Biden administration over the program.

‘It is well-past time that the Case Management Pilot Program (CMPP) be subject to the oversight that it so sorely needs,’ the Republican senators wrote in a letter to top DHS officials. ‘Congress has a duty, including a fiduciary duty, to ensure that taxpayer money is spent correctly and that a congressionally directed pilot program has not been usurped as a means of funneling money to NGOs espousing rhetoric aimed at frustrating and dismantling immigration enforcement and our nation’s borders.’

The lawmakers sought information about the specifics of the program, including the selection of board members, copies of documents related to the governance of the program, the number of migrants enrolled in it and details about the services provided under the program. They also asked how the program supplements and guides the ATD program, which involves illegal immigrants being monitored by a cellphone app or other methods as their cases proceed.

It was a bad year in 2021 at the U.S. southern border with more than 2 million migrant encounters and a political crisis that engulfed much of the administration’s first year in office. 

In 2022, that crisis only escalated.

A massive surge in migration hit the southern border just as President Biden was taking office and didn’t let up. Numbers dropped slightly throughout the winter but were still significantly higher compared to the previous year, bringing enormous political pressure on the administration that reportedly enraged Biden.

In January, the border registered 154,874 migrant encounters, compared to just 78,414 in January 2021. And it set a trend for months to come. All but two months of 2022 (July and August) would outpace 2021’s already historically high numbers.

Mayorkas faces agents’ ire

The year started out particularly rough for embattled Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who received a rough reception from Border Patrol agents with sinking morale and anger toward the administration’s policies.

Mayorkas was present at a gathering where agents reportedly turned their back on him, and he watched as agents accused the administration of ‘releasing criminal aliens into the country.’

Mayorkas described the visit as a ‘tough trip.’

‘I really appreciated the openness with which the agents expressed their views,’ he said in an interview. ‘A couple of guys might have expressed them what I felt was unprofessionally, which was surprising to me because it’s something I’ve never seen in the Border Patrol in my … eight years of person-to-person exposure.’

Title 42 becomes Catch-22

The controversy over the border deepened into the spring months as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced in April it was ending the use of the Title 42 public health order to expel migrants at the southern border. That order, implemented in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, allowed for the rapid expulsion of migrants at the southern border and had been used by both the Trump and Biden administrations.

The looming end to that order immediately raised fears among both Democrats and Republicans that it would encourage even more migrants to flood to the border, knowing that they would have a greater chance of being released into the U.S. 

The Department of Homeland Security outlined its six-point plan to cope with the ending of the order, a plan that included more resources and a greater use of alternative expulsion authorities. However, it sparked alarm with predictions of up to 18,000 migrant encounters a day once the order ended. Republicans and Democrats united behind legislation to extend the order.

Eventually, a federal judge blocked the administration from ending the order, finding it unlawful in response to a lawsuit from Republican states. However, that only stalled the Title 42 dilemma until later in the year.

The spring and summer of 2022 saw historic numbers that were even greater than 2021, with the border recording over 200,000 encounters each month from March on. Fox News reported later in the year that there were nearly 600,000 ‘gotaways’ who slipped past Border Patrol for the fiscal year.

Mayorkas drew criticism as one of a number of Biden officials who claimed, on multiple occasions, that the border was ‘secure.’

Republicans eye probes, impeachment

As numbers remained high through the fall and winter months, the Biden administration faced two new issues related to the border. The first was the midterm elections, which will usher in a Republican House in January.

GOP leadership immediately made it clear it would focus in on the border crisis, passing legislation and investigating the administration’s handling of the crisis. House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy says he will hold hearings on the border and warned that, unless Mayorkas resigned, he could face impeachment hearings.

Title 42: Part 2

Title 42 would also become an issue once again after a federal judge in early November ruled that the use of the order was unlawful, mirroring a ruling made by another judge earlier in the year. The judge reluctantly gave the administration five weeks to end the order, expiring on Dec. 21.

Again, the administration claimed it had a plan in place to deal with the end of the order, just as migrants began camping out in Mexico ahead of the expected end of the order.

This time, the Supreme Court stepped in. In response to a last-ditch effort by Republican states, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts put a temporary hold on the order’s expiration while the court considers the request.

The hold puts the crucial order in limbo. It remains unclear how long the order will be extended, with the status quo potentially extending into the spring of 2023.

So far for fiscal year 2023, migrant encounters have exceeded fiscal 2022’s, suggesting calendar year 2023 could be as tumultuous as the past year.

NASHVILLE – Americans in Nashville shared the one thing they want from President Biden for Christmas, ranging from brokering peace to fixing the economy. But many said their Christmas wish was for the president’s resignation. 

‘I’d tell him to retire — now,’ Ray, visiting from Pennsylvania, told Fox News.

Kathy, from Massachusetts, said: ‘I would hope he would resign.’

AMERICANS SHARE THEIR CHRISTMAS WISH TO BIDEN: WATCH HERE 

‘Work harder,’ another man, Tom, said. 

During his first two years in office, Biden faced a number of challenges, including the Afghanistan withdrawal, the Russia-Ukraine war and record-high inflation.

Some had hopeful Christmas wishes, like Jeannette, who said she sought ‘peace’ above all.

Bill, from New Hampshire, said he would ask Biden ‘to try to do everything possible to stop the war in Ukraine and come to a resolution somehow.’

AUSTIN LOCALS GRADE BIDEN’S 2022 PERFORMANCE: WATCH HERE

‘Get Whelan,’ Mike, from New York, said, referring to the former Marine imprisoned in Russia since 2018, Paul Whelan, who was left out of a recent prisoner exchange between the U.S and Russia. 

‘Get him home from Russia, now,’ he said. 

Several people’s Christmas wishes to the president involved ongoing economic woes. 

‘Stop giving all our money away,’ one man, Joe, said. 

Another, Michael, said he would ask Biden to ‘give me my 401(k) back.’ 

‘Get the market going. Get the economy going,’ he said. ‘We pay top dollar for everything, and it’s just getting ridiculous.’  

However, Ray, said his Christmas wish would be to ‘stop the arguing between the parties.’

To watch the full video of people’s Christmas wishes to Biden, click here. 

The 2022 midterms were nothing short of a spectacle as Republicans and Democrats battled it out in what ended up being a surprisingly close series of races. 

There was no shortage of gaffes this cycle and here are some of the year’s most noteworthy: 

Not the white gaffe for this year

In late June, the Supreme Court overturned their prior decision, Roe v. Wade, in a landmark ruling that rocked the political world. Republicans and Democrats of all stripes waded into the media circus to fundraise, campaign, and take shots at one another. 

One of those shots came from U.S. Representative Mary Miller (R-Ill.) who, while stumping with former President Donald J. Trump said the decision was a ‘historic victory for White life in the Supreme Court.’ 

Miller’s team immediately issued a statement saying it was an error, and she meant to say ‘a historic victory for right to life by the Supreme Court.’

A fairly understandable slip of the tongue given some of the gaffes on our list but definitely not a mistake you want to make in today’s politically charged climate. 

Let them eat crudités

The race for the Pennsylvania Senate was a close one with any perceived weakness being viciously exploited by the other side. One such gaffe came from Republican Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz. From the beginning of the race John Fetterman’s campaign worked hard to paint Oz as an out of touch carpetbagger and this was not helped by Oz’ most infamous gaffe. 

Filming at a local grocery store to highlight price increases due to inflation, Dr. Oz said he and his wife need to purchase some vegetables for crudités. While Dr. Oz was correct in identifying crudités as a vegetable platter, it was his calling it ‘crudités’ instead of the more blue collar ‘veggie platter’ that Fetterman exploited. 

Hearkening to his blue collar persona, Fetterman release a video making fun of the incident and released mech off the gaffe, raising over one million dollars off it alone. 

Dr. Oz would go onto lose his Senate race.

Fetterman’s Follies

While Dr. Oz had his fair share of mishaps it is hard to compare them to the quantity of Fetterman’s. Never a particularly polished politician, Fetterman suffered a stroke four days before the primary that set a long road to recovery in the midst of a political campaign. 

There were small gaffes, like saying ‘The [Philadelphia] Eagles are so much better than the Eagles,’ to nonsensical sentences like, ‘And make sure you take advantage of this amazing opportunity to, the only thing you have… stand… to lose is your record.’

The Fetterman campaign defended the Senator-elect’s health, ‘As we’ve said over and over again, John is healthy and he also still has a lingering auditory processing issue that his doctors expect will go away,’ while the Oz campaign repeatedly called it into question.  

This controversy ultimately spilled out into the debate between Fetterman and Oz where, put on a live stage for a prolonged period of time, the hit to Fetterman’s health really began to show. Despite having aids such as teleprompters, Fetterman struggled to answer questions from the moderators and the majority of the post debate conversation was around his health and performance. 

Biden Unchained

While plenty of politicians this year have had their fair share of goofs, none can ever really match the pure volume and absurdity that has come from President Joe Biden. Long characterized as perpetually ‘putting his foot in his mouth’ Biden has not changed in the past year. 

Some of these include asking ‘Where’s Jackie?’ two months after the Representative, Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) was killed in a car accident and calling Kamala Harris ‘a great president’. This has not merely been limited to slips of the tongue. Biden has often wandered off after giving speeches and has been prone to giving nonsensical answers. When asked if First Lady Jill Biden supported a 2024 run he responded with ‘Dr. Biden thinks that uh, my wife thinks that uh, that I uh, that, that we’re, that we’re doing something very important.’

Gaffes are an inevitability on any campaign trail. Whether they are slips of the tongues, slips of the body, or just plain confusion it always makes following politics a little more entertaining. 

House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy blasted the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill after it passed on Friday, calling it a ‘stain’ on this Congress. The United States is currently more than $31 trillion in debt. 

‘For the first time in history, a bill in the House was passed without a physical quorum present—more people voted by proxy than in person,’ McCarthy tweeted. ‘The omnibus will damage our country, & the blatant disregard for Article I, Section 5 of our Constitution will forever stain this Congress.’

The bill passed by a vote of 225-201, with nine Republicans voting in favor of the omnibus. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., voted against the bill and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich. voted present.

McCarthy also said in the tweet that Republicans will ‘change the direction’ of America after taking control of the House of Representatives in January, adding that proxy voting will be repealed.

‘We will also return the House back to a functioning constitutional body by repealing proxy voting once and for all,’ McCarthy said.

The bill, which funds the government through September 2023, has $858 billion in funding for defense, $787 billion for domestic programs that are non-defense, and close to $45 billion for military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

Many Republicans, including McCarthy, worked to pass a short-term government funding bill lasting until mid-January, which would give the party more control of what is in the bill.

In total, the omnibus contains 7,200 earmarks that add up to over $15 billion.

The bill drew complaints from Republicans and some Democrats, with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., saying that ‘The process stinks.’

‘It’s an abomination. It’s a no good, rotten way to run your government. $6 trillion entity. And they want 24 hours to process this and then they want to go forward,’ Paul said.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said that the government funding process is ‘unacceptable.’

‘In reality… this bill should have been passed in September of this year,’ Hoyer said. ‘Why? Because the fiscal year ends on September 30th, and fiscal year ’23 begins on October 1st of this year.’

Fox News’ Haris Alic contributed to this report.

New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pushed for spending pork in the House’s omnibus appropriations bill before voting ‘no’ on the package due to its increase in homeland security funding.

The House passed the massive $1.7 trillion package Friday, with the national debt sitting well above $31 trillion, before leaving Washington for Christmas break.

Ocasio-Cortez was the lone Democrat to vote against the 4,000-page bill, citing her campaign promise to ‘oppose additional expansion and funding’ of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

‘I campaigned on a promise to my constituents to oppose additional expansion and funding for ICE and DHS — particularly in the absence of long-overdue immigration reform,’ Ocasio-Cortez said in a lengthy statement published Friday. ‘For that reason, as well as the dramatic increase in defense spending which exceeds even President Biden’s request, I voted no on today’s omnibus bill.’

The New York Democrat claimed that her Bronx and Queens-based district in the Big Apple ‘particularly bears the brunt of an immigration system that criminalizes, detains, separates and traumatizes families.’

‘The dramatic increase in DHS and ICE spending — especially in light of the lack of progress on DACA, TPS and expanding paths to citizenship — cut against the promises our party has made to immigrant communities across the country.

‘From the beginning of this negotiation, we made clear to Democratic leadership that we must keep the practice of voting on funding bills by agency — particularly controversial agencies like DHS — so that Members would not be forced to betray one part of their district in service of expediency.’

The Democratic congresswoman then touted the spending provisions she added to the bill via earmarks that she ultimately voted against.

In the bill for the departments of labor, health and human services, education and related agencies, Ocasio-Cortez set aside $500,000 for ‘new immigrant community empowerment’ in Jackson Heights, New York; $3 million for ‘clean energy workforce development and supportive services;’ and $400,000 to progressive immigration nonprofit Make the Road New York, among other spending.

In the Department of Transportation bill, Ocasio-Cortez backed even more spending, including $1 million to Westchester Square Plaza for highway infrastructure, $1 million to the New York City Department of Transportation for ‘Astoria Boulevard safety improvements,’ and $1 million to the New York Botanical Garden for a ‘worker’s operation center.’

Ocasio-Cortez also earmarked $2.4 million to the nonprofit Neighborhood Housing Services of Queens for ‘Casa Neighborhood Housing Services of Queens.’

The New York Democrat did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Substack writer and journalist Matt Taibbi responded to Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., after he accused the Twitter Files author of ‘gaslighting’ Americans by tweeting emails detailing the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s communication with the social media giant.

‘.@elonmusk @mtaibbi @ShellenbergerMD are gaslighting you with their misleading ‘Twitter Files’ posts. Here’s the truth: 1. FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force does threat indicator sharing with companies. That’s a good thing. 2. Companies decide what to do with that information,’ Lieu said on Wednesday.

‘Congressman, why is a ‘Foreign Influence’ task force sending Excel spreadsheets full of joke tweets from low-follower accounts in Maryland, Kentucky, and Ohio? Why does the FITF spend so much time reviewing domestic speech?’ Taibbi said on Saturday.

Taibbi’s response comes after he released a new version of the Twitter Files, outlining Twitter’s previous communication with ‘other government agencies.’

‘Other government agencies’ can stand for the Central Intellegence Agency, according to Taibbi.

‘The files show the FBI acting as doorman to a vast program of social media surveillance and censorship, encompassing agencies across the federal government – from the State Department to the Pentagon to the CIA,’ Taibbi said in a tweet.

Previously, Taibbi tweeted multiple internal files between Twitter workers and FBI employees as part of the sixth installment of the Twitter Files. 

‘Hello Twitter contacts, FBI San Francisco is notifying you of the below accounts which may potentially constitute violations of Twitter’s Terms of Service for any action or inaction deemed appropriate within Twitter policy,’ one email FBI employee wrote in an email on Nov. 10.

In the email, an FBI employee listed several Twitter accounts which might violate the social media company’s terms of service.

A Twitter employee responded that three of the four accounts were suspended, and asked someone else at the company to review the fourth account flagged by the FBI for ‘possible civic misinformation.’

Taibbi said that one of the accounts tweeted on Nov. 8, ‘I want to remind republicans to vote tomorrow, Wednesday November 9.’

One of the emails shared by Taibbi shows the ‘Public Sector Engagement Squad’ at FBI’s San Francisco office notifying Twitter employees of ‘account activities’ that ‘potentially constitute violations of Twitter’s Terms of Service.’

Another tweet flagged by the FBI states, ‘Americans, Vote today. Democrats you vote Wednesday 9th.’ 

FBI officials told Fox News that the agency didn’t ask Twitter employees to ‘take action’ based on the information provided, and said the information was provided so that Twitter employees can make a determination on whether to take action.

‘We are providing it so that they can take whatever action they deem appropriate under their terms of service to protect their platform and protect their customers, but we never direct or ask them to take action,’ the FBI officials said.

In a statement shared with Fox News, an FBI spokesperson said, ‘The correspondence between the FBI and Twitter show nothing more than examples of our traditional, longstanding and ongoing federal government and private sector engagements, which involve numerous companies over multiple sectors and industries. As evidenced in the correspondence, the FBI provides critical information to the private sector in an effort to allow them to protect themselves and their customers.’

‘The men and women of the FBI work every day to protect the American public. It is unfortunate that conspiracy theorists and others are feeding the American public misinformation with the sole purpose of attempting to discredit the agency,’ the spokesperson added.

Fox News’ Jake Gibson contributed to this report.

An Arizona judge has ruled against Republican Kari Lake’s challenge to the result in the November gubernatorial race where Democrat Katie Hobbs was declared the winner by roughly half a percentage point. 

In a decision Saturday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson, who was appointed by then-Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, found that the court did not find clear and convincing evidence of the widespread misconduct that Lake had alleged had affected the result of the 2022 general election.

The judge rejected Lake’s claim that problems with ballot printers at some polling places on Election Day were the result of intentional misconduct.

The judge said Lake’s witnesses didn’t have any personal knowledge of intentional misconduct.

‘The Court cannot accept speculation or conjecture in place of clear and convincing evidence,’ Thompson said.

In the ruling, the judge acknowledged the ‘anger and frustration’ of voters who were inconvenienced in the election and noted that setting aside the results of an election ‘has never been done in the history of the United States.’

Lawyers for Lake focused on problems with ballot printers at several polling places in Maricopa County, home to more than 60% of Arizona’s voters. The defective printers produced ballots that were too light to be read by the on-site tabulators at polling places. Lines backed up in some areas amid the confusion.

Lake’s attorneys also claimed the chain of custody for ballots was broken at an off-site facility, where a contractor scans mail ballots to prepare them for processing. They claim workers at the facility put their own mail ballots into the pile, rather than sending their ballots through normal channels, and also that paperwork documenting the transfer of ballots was missing. The county disputes the claim.

In a tweet following the ruling, Lake said she will file an appeal.

‘My Election Case provided the world with evidence that proves our elections are run outside of the law,’ Lake tweeted. ‘This Judge did not rule in our favor. However, for the sake of restoring faith and honesty in our elections, I will appeal his ruling.’

Associated Press contributed to this report

Believe it or not, despite weeks of machinations, a 4,100-page bill and a House roll call vote on December 23rd, Congress still missed its deadline to fund the government. 

What?

The government didn’t shut down in the wee hours of Christmas Eve morning – even though Congress managed to approve the bill before the 11:59:59 pm et deadline on the 23rd. Lawmakers dithered for weeks – dragging out the final vote on the omnibus spending bill until nearly the last moment. 

The Senate okayed the final version on Thursday afternoon. The House, on Friday afternoon.

So what gives?

Congress just doesn’t run down to Staples, buy a couple of reams of computer paper off the shelf and then print the bill out on a Xerox Phaser 3610, sending that version to the President to sign into law.

A big, complicated bill like the omnibus must be ‘engrossed’ and ‘enrolled.’ Engrossment refers to the final version of legislation when passed by one body or other – but before it’s sent to the other chamber. In other words, the Senate passed the omnibus and then altered the legislation on the fly, adopting a host of amendments. So, upon passage, the Senate sent the tweaked version to the House to pass.

Once the House approved the bill, both bodies were in sync. But, it would take time for Congressional enrollment clerks to finalize the bill for President Biden’s signature. 

This is not an easy process. In fact, it was likely the enrollment clerks would need a couple of days to get the bill into proper parliamentary form as it was – even if they worked Christmas Eve and Christmas day.

Federal law requires Congress to print the legislation on parchment. That’s a practice which dates back to the beginning of the republic. Printing the bills on parchment was a method to protect Congress against forgeries. Plus, the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate need to sign the bill. So, the technical process of getting the omnibus to the President to sign before the Friday night deadline was out of the question. This was going to take until a few days after Christmas at the earliest.

Despite the sturm and drang about ‘funding the government before the deadline,’ Congress punted. Again. 

Very quietly – with nary a creature stirring – both the House and Senate approved yet another interim spending bill. This would just keep the lights on for a few days, giving the enrollment clerks time to prepare the bill. It would only run through December 30.

So, while Congress approved the omnibus, the government operated on the third Band-Aid bill okayed by Congress since September. 

‘It’s just managing risk,’ said Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Eighteen Senate Republicans – including Shelby – voted for the omnibus bill. Only nine House Republicans voted aye. But the omnibus served as a case study in the growing schism in the Republican party – between MAGA conservatives and other ‘mainstream’ GOPers.

‘We had 18 Republicans who joined with Democrats in the Senate, get on their fancy planes and go home. And we’re sitting here trying to do the work of the people, not spend money we don’t have,’ thundered Rep. Chip Roy, R-Tex., in the House chamber.

Roy’s face reddened as he hollered and gestured, his oratory audible in a Capitol hallway one floor up from the House chamber – even though the doors were closed. 

‘I want to remind the members that the microphones are working,’ sniped House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern, D-Mass., at Roy. ‘People don’t have to shout.’

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., later took the floor to chastise Democrats – and some Republicans – who supported the omnibus.

While McCarthy may have railed against the bill, the legislation may actually have done him two favors.

First, it funds the government into next September. That way, the House Republican majority won’t need to wrestle with government funding when it takes control next year. Secondly, you always need a foil in politics. McCarthy is struggling to find the votes to become Speaker. So McCarthy ranted against the omnibus in a lengthy floor speech.

‘This is a monstrosity that is one of the most shameful acts I’ve ever seen in this body. The appropriations process failed the American public, and there’s no greater example of the nail in the coffin of the greatest failure of a one party rule of the House, the Senate and the presidency,’ pronounced McCarthy.

A number of McCarthy’s most ardent supporters filled in the seats behind him in the House chamber, eager to create a visual on camera that they backed the California Republican for Speaker. Among them, Reps. Stephanie Bice, R-Okla., Clay Higgins, R-La., and David Kustoff, R-Tenn.

Apparently McGovern portrayed the roles of both Muppet characters Statler and Waldorf, during the floor debate, heckling McCarthy at the conclusion of his remarks.

‘After listening to that, it’s clear, he doesn’t have the votes yet,’ deadpanned McGovern.

‘He’s not going to be Speaker,’ observed McCarthy antagonist Rep. Bob Good, R-Va. ‘He doesn’t have the 218 votes. I recently told him that he’s should withdraw from the race for the good of the country, for the good of the Congress and for the good the Republican Party.’

A staggering 230 members filed letters with the House Clerk, allowing them to vote remotely on the omnibus. The House implemented proxy voting in the House in the spring of 2020 for the pandemic. But the system is now rife with abuse. Technically, lawmakers are supposed to attest they’re begging off and voting from home due to COVID. But that’s rarely the case anymore.

McCarthy vowed to eliminate proxy voting in his quest to clasp the Speaker’s gavel. 

Chip Roy saved his pugnacious rhetoric for remote voting. 

‘The American people deserve us to be here over Christmas, actually fighting for them instead of trying to catch planes while half this body are going to vote by proxy,’ lectured Roy. ‘They’re lying on forms saying that they’re voting by proxy for COVID and it’s a lie. And half this body’s going to do it.’

Only one Democrat voted against the omnibus: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortex, D-N.Y. But fellow squad member, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., voted by proxy. Tlaib didn’t vote yes or no. Tlaib announced that her vote was ‘present’ – despite her absence.

Congress never hurts for irony. And the irony here is that there’s no real break between the end of the 117thCongress and the start of the 118th Congress on January 3. 

So it may look like they’re all wrapped up on Capitol Hill. But with the Speaker’s vote on January 3, in reality, things are just getting started.

Nothing is ever truly complete in Congress.

President Biden is being asked by U.S. veterans groups to intervene in an asylum case involving an Afghan soldier who previously fought against the Taliban.

Abdul Wasi Safi previously served with U.S. Special Operations Forces in Afghanistan, and after Kabul fell in August 2021, continued to fight the Taliban alongside the Northern resistance.

Wasi traveled to multiple safe houses after being forced to flee Afghanistan and relied on U.S. veteran volunteers in order to get aid and potential relocation, but was met with ‘harsh treatment and branded as a terrorist by the local community,’ when he entered Pakistan, according to a letter by U.S. veterans groups that was sent to Biden on Dec, 21.

‘He traveled on foot or by bus through 10 countries, surviving torture, robbery, and attempts on his life, to seek asylum in the United States from the threats on his life, and expecting a hero’s welcome from his American allies,’ the letter states.

While Wasi was able to find his way to America’s southern border on Sept. 30, he was detained by U.S. border patrol agents and charged with illegal entry, according to the letter. Wasi is currently being held at Eden Detention Center in Texas.

The veterans groups urge Biden in their letter to grant Wasi parolee status.

‘Given the known retaliations from the Taliban on Afghan Special Operations Forces, Lieutenant Wasi’s asylum case is certainly credible and his death is certain if he were to be deported back to Afghanistan. The Afghan Special Forces faithfully served America, and not one of them should have to endure a path like this to reach safety,’ the letter states. ‘We urge you to fulfill America’s promise to Lieutenant Abdul Wasi Safi and begin to heal the moral injury by granting him a parolee status as he awaits a hearing on his justifiable asylum claim.’

Groups such as Special Operations Association of America, Save Our Allies, Ukraine NGO Coordination Network, and Project Exodus are among those who signed the letter.

In a previous phone interview with Fox News from the Eden Detention Center, Wasi said he’s disappointed in America’s response when he crossed the border,

‘I was in a special force commando unit with the U.S. military,’ Wasi said. ‘I wanted to come to the United States. I don’t select another country to help me because I was with them. But I come here, and they put me in jail.’

‘Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico. I cross all that distance to come to United States because I was thinking and hoping the American government that they will help me,’ Wasi said.

Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin, Liz Friden, and Krista Garvin contributed to this report.