Staggering price tag ex-‘Squad’ reps claim Dems wanted for signature Biden policy
Ex-Squad Reps. Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman claimed that Democrats had originally wanted to pass $10 trillion in spending as part of former President Joe Biden’s doomed Build Back Better (BBB) Act.
“We were at ten [trillion] and then it went down to six and down to three and down to 1.7, I believe,” Bush said on the “Bowman and Bush” podcast on Mar. 14.
The two were reflecting on the collapse of Biden’s ambitious Build Back Better Act, which called for hundreds of billions of dollars of investments in “social infrastructure” programs such as universal childcare, an expansion of the child tax credit, climate change initiatives, and low-cost housing.
“We wanted to make sure that the climate investment was there because many of the groups were saying this isn’t enough on climate… so I was getting attacked for not asking for more,” Bush said.
The former members of Congress each lost Democratic primaries to more moderate opponents prior to the 2024 general election. They said they held out on voting for Biden’s infrastructure bill for “months” in order to couple it with Build Back Better so that one couldn’t pass without the other. But according to the two ex-reps, the federal investments in the BBB Act kept going “down, down, down.”
The progressives’ efforts ultimately failed, in their telling, with the Democrat-controlled House voting to pass the infrastructure bill separately from Build Back Better, and no vote scheduled for the latter bill. The House passed Biden’s infrastructure bill in November 2021.
Bush recounted a tense meeting of the House Progressive Caucus in which Biden called in to plead with the lefty reps to pass his infrastructure bill despite their demands for a vote on BBB not being met.
MUSK THREATENS TO SUE AFTER DEMOCRAT EX-REP JAMAAL BOWMAN CALLS HIM A ‘NAZI’ AND ‘THIEF’ DURING TV APPEARANCE
“Mr. President, I’m a no. I’m not going to vote for this if we don’t have the infrastructure bill, if we don’t have Build Back Better being voted on at the same time,” Bush allegedly told Biden.
When Biden implored her to “trust your president” that the Build Back Better Act would one day be passed, Bush claimed she gave the president a flat “no.” BBB, which was valued at nearly $2 trillion, ultimately failed to pass due to objections from centrists such as then-Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.
Bowman, who lost his primary to Rep. George Latimer, D-N.Y., faced controversy in his district, which encompasses parts of Westchester, for numerous anti-Israel statements which critics alleged crossed the line into antisemitism.
BIDEN’S ‘BUILD BACK BETTER’ IS THE VERY DEFINITION OF CRADLE-TO-GRAVE, BIG-GOVERNMENT DEPENDENCY
Bowman at one point said there was “no evidence” Hamas raped Israeli women during their barbaric Oct. 7 attacks (he later reversed course on that claim), and has frequently referred to Israel’s war against the terrorist group as a “genocide.” He was also censured by the House for pulling the fire alarm during a 2023 spending vote.
Bush, whose husband was recently charged with defrauding the government to the tune of $20,000 in fraudulent PPP loans, blamed the American-Israeli activist group AIPAC for her congressional loss and lashed out at pro-Israel groups during her concession speech, saying they “radicalized” her and vowing to take revenge.
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“As much as I love my job, all they did was radicalize me — and so now they need to be afraid,” Bush said.
Democrats win 5th straight special election with state House race
The Democratic Party will re-take control of the state house in battleground Pennsylvania after securing an additional seat in a special legislative election on Tuesday that grabbed national attention.
Democrat Dan Goughnor, a police officer, won out over Republican Charles Davis, a fire chief, in a landslide 63-to-35-point victory in a district southeast of Pittsburgh.
And Democrats appear to be headed for victory in a special election to fill a vacant Republican-controlled state Senate seat on the other side of Pennsylvania. But the GOP, which held a 27-22 advantage in the state Senate heading into the election, will keep their majority in the chamber.
The Pennsylvania State House had been deadlocked, with Republicans and Democrats both controlling 101 seats prior to Tuesday’s election.
DEMOCRATS FAR FROM THRILLED ON POSSIBLE BIDEN POLITICAL REEMERGENCE
Democrats had lost their razor-thin majority in January after the death of state Rep. Matt Gergerly.
The House race is the fifth straight special election that Democrats have won so far in 2025, despite the party performing dismally in public opinion polling since losing control of the White House and Senate, and failing to win back the House majority in the 2024 elections.
POLL POSITION: DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S NUMBERS PLUNGE TO ALL-TIME LOWS
The party’s favorable rating sank to all-time lows in separate national polls conducted this month by CNN and NBC News. Those numbers followed a record low for Democrats in a Quinnipiac University survey in the field in February.
Additionally, the latest Fox News National poll, which was released last week, indicated that congressional Democrats’ approval rating at 30%, near an all-time low. And Democrat activists are irate over their party’s inability to blunt President Donald Trump’s agenda.
While Democrats were heavily favored in Tuesday’s state House race, they had less of an advantage in the state Senate race, in a district Trump carried by 15 points last November.
In the state Senate election, Democrat James Andrew Malone, the mayor of East Petersburg, Pennsylvania, held a razor-thin lead over Republican Josh Parsons, a Lancaster County commissioner, as of early Wednesday morning.
“Obviously we are disappointed in the numbers. We are still reviewing them, but it appears we will come up a little short. We will have a further statement tomorrow,” Parsons wrote in a social media post late on Tuesday night.
The race was to fill the red-leaning seat in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, that was left vacant when GOP state Sen. Ryan Aument stepped down in December to work as state director for newly elected U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, a fellow Republican.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, a leader among the Democratic Party’s progressive base, took to social media Tuesday night to celebrate the victories.
“This is how it’s done. Run everywhere. Run down ballot. Focus on local elections ASAP – from school board to councils to state legislatures. We build from there,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote.
Heather Williams, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, wrote Tuesday night that “Democrats are on a roll in state legislative races in 2025, from flipping red seats to defending one-seat majorities. Republicans should be on edge.”
And Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin characterized the victories as voter pushback against the sweeping and controversial moves made by Trump in his opening weeks back in office.
Martin called the wins “a shockwave to the system and the way Republicans have run our government. Republicans everywhere should be afraid.”
But Republicans note that Democrats enjoyed a slew of special election victories in 2023 and 2024 before suffering serious setbacks in last November’s elections.
“Democrats are motivated and Republicans need to make sure our voters get out in the midterms, but the idea that a state legislative election is a direct harbinger of the midterm elections is a ludicrous idea,” Matt Gorman, a seasoned Republican strategist and veteran of numerous presidential campaigns, told Fox News.
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Veteran Republican consultant Dave Carney told Fox News that “past elections have no impact on future elections.”
“It’s happy talk. if we had won, we’d be bragging too,” Carney, a veteran of numerous presidential and statewide campaigns for over four decades, said.
But he warned that “Democrats on the left spend so much more money on special legislative elections, particularly in the off-years, than we do, that they have a built-in advantage…Our party needs to wake up and take these special elections as seriously as we do the ones in November.”
Regardless of their predictive value, the contests in Pennsylvania will likely give the Democrats a much-needed boost ahead of next week’s more high-profile showdowns – a statewide Supreme Court election in battleground Wisconsin and two special congressional elections in bright red districts in Florida.
Controversial climate group hit with $660,000,000 fine — the latest in costly consequences
One of the leading global environmental networks has been drained of hundreds of millions over the years as a result of several lawsuits filed against their involvement in anti-oil protests.
Greenpeace, an international environmentalist group, has been at the center of several highly controversial environmental cases over the years and has been accused of hiring protesters and rioters to advance their cause.
Most recently, Greenpeace was found liable for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages resulting from a pipeline protest. The group recently said that such a ruling could “shut down Greenpeace USA.”
Here are some of the top cases that got Greenpeace to the dire straits it is in right now.
1. Greenpeace hit with $660 million fine for pipeline protest
More than 800 people were arrested in 2016 during a monthslong protest, led by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, opposing construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), an oil pipeline that runs from North Dakota to Illinois.
JURY FINDS GREENPEACE LIABLE, ORDERED TO PAY HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OVER DAKOTA ACCESS OIL PIPELINE PROTESTS
Energy Transfer, the developer of the pipeline, sued Greenpeace USA and Greenpeace International for $300 million on claims the climate groups orchestrated the protests by providing resources to the activists and, therefore, were liable for the expenses that resulted from construction being postponed.
In March 2025, a North Dakota jury found Greenpeace liable for about $660 million resulting from the protest.
GREENPEACE VOWS MORE LEGAL ACTION AFTER GETTING HIT WITH $660M RULING THAT WOULD ‘SHUT DOWN’ ORGANIZATION
“Our lawsuit is about recovering damages for the harm Greenpeace caused our company. It is not about free speech. Their organizing, funding, and encouraging the unlawful destruction of property and the dissemination of misinformation goes well beyond the exercise of free speech. We look forward to proving our case, and we trust the North Dakota legal system to do that.”
The weekslong Morton County trial, which began in late February, heard testimony that claimed that Greenpeace not only trained the DAPL protesters, but purchased supplies to aid their resistance.
Greenpeace described the battle as “one of the most consequential free speech cases in recent history.”
2. Pirate-style protest leads to another massive fine
Greenpeace settled a lawsuit with Shell after four individuals affiliated with the group boarded and occupied a Shell oil company vessel for two weeks in 2023.
The activists “unlawfully scaled” a moving vessel in the North Sea while carrying a banner reading “Stop Drilling. Start Paying.”
Because of this incident, Greenpeace was ordered to make a payment of 300k pounds to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, and the group was barred from going within 500 meters of a Shell platform in the North Sea.
3. ‘People vs. the Arctic’ lawsuit falls flat
In 2020, the Norwegian Supreme Court ruled against Greenpeace’s attempt to block new oil exploration in the country.
Greenpeace was joined by Young Friends of the Earth Norway in a 2016 lawsuit filed against the Norwegian Government after several new oil and gas leases were granted in the Balian Sea.
The lawsuit, known as “People vs. the Arctic,” was the first case to challenge the country’s constitution on environmental rights. The environmental groups claimed that the Arctic drilling would violate Section 112 of the Norwegian Constitution, which states that everyone has the right to a healthy environment.
Despite extensive appeals, Greenpeace failed to secure a single victory in the Norwegian court system, which found at every level that the government in that they did not violate the country’s constitution.
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4. Another environmental group bites the dust?
Commenting on the North Dakota ruling, a representative for Energy Transfer told Fox News Digital it was “very pleased that Greenpeace has been held accountable for their actions against us and that the jury recognized these were not law-abiding, peaceful protests as Greenpeace tried to claim.”
The representative said their victory was shared with the local native tribe and people throughout North Dakota who “had to live through the daily harassment and disruptions caused by the protesters who were funded and trained by Greenpeace.”
“It is also a win for all law-abiding Americans who understand the difference between the right to free speech and breaking the law,” said the representative, adding, “that Greenpeace has been held responsible is a win for all of us.”
Sushma Raman, a representative for Greenpeace USA, told Fox News Digital that the group will be appealing the decision, saying, “we will not back down from this fight, and we will not be silenced.”
GREENPEACE CO-FOUNDER: NO SCIENTIFIC PROOF HUMANS ARE DOMINANT CAUSE OF WARMING CLIMATE
Raman said that Energy Transfer “knows we don’t have $660 million” and claimed “they want our silence, not our money.”
“This case should alarm everyone, no matter their political inclinations,” she said. “It’s part of a renewed push by corporations to weaponize our courts to silence dissent. We should all be concerned about the future of the First Amendment, and lawsuits like this aimed at destroying our rights to peaceful protest and free speech.”
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A representative for Greenpeace International pointed out to Fox News Digital that the ruling does not impact Greenpeace’s 24 other national and regional organizations. The representative said these groups will “continue functioning as normal even in the worst case scenario.”
The representative also pointed out that Greenpeace is counter-suing Energy Transfer in a Netherlands court to recover all fines lost in the North Dakota case.
‘Coffee with a Cop’ event canceled after liberal outrage over Christian shop owner
A Seattle suburb canceled its upcoming “Coffee with a Cop” event after it faced protests because of the coffee shop owner’s Christian beliefs.
Seattle radio host Jason Rantz reported that the city of Shoreline, Washington, canceled the community event, which aims to strengthen the relationship between police officers and residents, after the city’s Facebook page was flooded with negative comments from liberals upset that Pilgrim Coffeehouse would host the event.
Pilgrim Coffeehouse is owned by Keith Carpenter, head pastor of Epic Life Church. The church states it believes marriage is between “one man and one woman” on its website.
Commenters vowed to hold a protest and one even called for the coffee shop to leave the city, saying that Carpenter’s views on marriage did not align with the progressive city’s ideals.
PRO-POLICE COFFEE SHOP OWNER WINS $4 MILLION IN FREE SPEECH SUIT AGAINST UNIVERSITY OFFICIALS
“Picked the Christian homophobic coffee house!” an account called “Sounder Sam” posted under the city’s venue announcement. The same person alerted the community that a “pro LGBTQIA2S+ protest” was planned outside the coffee house the morning of the event.
Other comments accused the city of picking a “bigoted” and “anti-LGBTQIA+” venue and demanded it be hosted elsewhere.
In response to the backlash, Shoreline abruptly canceled the event, Rantz reported.
“It was neither the department’s nor the City’s intent to make any community member feel unwelcome based on the selection of the event venue and the values that the venue may or may not hold. When planning future events, we will be more intentional with our venue selection,” Shoreline City Hall wrote in a March 12 statement posted to Facebook.
The cancelation announcement was met with mostly positive comments.
“Thank you, Shoreline!!!! My family feels a little bit safer in our neighborhood now thanks to this decision,” one comment under the City Hall Facebook post read. Another said, “Thank you for listening and doing the right thing.”
Carpenter also responded to the cancelation post by outlining all the ways his church helps the needy in the community and pledging that everyone would be treated with respect and dignity at his coffee shop.
He also spoke out against the cancellation in an interview with Rantz.
“It is a form of discrimination, for sure,” Carpenter told the radio host, adding that he didn’t want to play “the victim card.”
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Carpenter said he could deal with online backlash but that there were also “blatant lies” being spread about his church and coffee shop.
“We serve anybody who walks in the door. I don’t even know (if they’re LGBT). We don’t ask questions. So it’s like a non-starter for us, because nobody’s asking questions at the door. Anybody who walks in that space will get the same exact beautiful, generous, generously hospitable treatment. And probably the best cup they’ll have all month or all year,” he told Rantz.
He said it didn’t “make a lot of sense” that the city would exclude his business from participating in the event while at the same time touting its inclusive values.
“It basically says, ‘We don’t want Pilgrim Coffeehouse in our city,’ and putting it out there publicly,” Carpenter told Rantz.
“It’s completely opposite than [the]message they’re trying to say about inclusivity. It’s the opposite of that, and it’s hard. It’s hard as a business,” he added.
A spokesperson for the City of Shoreline told Fox News Digital, “The City is committed to being a welcoming place for all people, no matter who they are or what they believe.”
“The work of local government is mostly focused on the basics—it is potholes, sidewalks, and public safety. Coffee with a Cop is supposed to be a place where law enforcement can talk with residents about law enforcement in Shoreline. When the March 26 event got caught up in issues other than public safety, it could no longer serve its purpose and was canceled. Moving forward, we will only host these events at public facilities,” the spokesperson added.
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Carpenter did not immediately return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Disney closing decades-old ride this summer to revamp with new tech
A nearly 30-year-old ride at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom is closing this summer so it can get a new show scene, updated ride vehicles and gameplay enhancements.
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin will close in August and reopen some time next year, a Walt Disney World executive said Tuesday.
“We’re not just, you know, sitting on our laurels and saying, ‘Well, let’s just kind of keep it running,'” Michael Hundgen, Creative Portfolio Executive Producer with Walt Disney Imagineering, said. “This is a great update to a classic attraction.”
One of the biggest upgrades to the iconic Tomorrowland ride will be the addition of handheld blasters, so guests of all ages can have better aim and potentially score more points. Disney Imagineers will upgrade the blasters with new lighting, sound and vibration effects, so Space Rangers will no longer wonder if they have hit specific targets.
DISNEY REVEALS DETAILS FOR NEW THEME PARK RIDES BASED ON BELOVED FRANCHISES
Imagineers recently participated in a play test of the improvements, which Disney said in a media release is critical to “delivering an out-of-this-world experience for our guests.”
“Everyone had a great time, and our team learned a lot,” project creative director Justin DeTolla said in a statement. “We’ve been working on this project for quite some time now, so it was exciting to see it all come to life for the first time in the field.”
DISNEY GRANTS PRINCESS BALLGOWN MAKING WISH FOR 10-YEAR-OLD GIRL BATTLING CANCER
The dark, slow-moving ride is considered suitable for all ages and allows for some family or friend competition. Its storyline battling Zurg comes from 1999’s , which was produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIS | THE WALT DISNEY CO. | 101.61 | +1.43 | +1.43% |
Walt Disney World is preparing for the summer travel season with new family deals on tickets, dining and hotels. Two new shows featuring and Disney Villains premiere on May 27, just days after Universal Epic Universe opens.
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A new nighttime parade is also coming to Magic Kingdom later this summer.
Spring break trip takes dangerous turn at popular tourist attraction
A popular spring break activity landed a Tennessee woman in the hospital after a freak accident left her feeling as though she had been struck by a car.
Cierra Stockard was enjoying a tropical vacation with friends on March 16 when she purchased a dolphin-encounter excursion at Dolphin Cove, Jamaica, the mother of two told “Good Morning America.” The experience, known as the “Dolphin Royal Swim,” allows visitors to have a hands-on encounter with the marine mammals, according to the organization’s website.
The excursion allows visitors to interact with the dolphins as they “foot-push you to then splash into the water at maximum speed,” the website states. Tourists are given the opportunity to stand on the backs of dolphins for a photo opportunity.
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Stockard was enjoying her visit when she slipped and fell off the dolphin, landing on the animal’s fin, she told GMA.
“The dolphin on my left side was kind of swimming a little bit faster than the dolphin on my right side, so it made me unbalanced,” Stockard said.
The impact of the dolphin’s fin felt like Stockard had been hit by a car, she said, terrifying her as she tried to regain her footing in the water.
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“It felt like I was in a car accident because it hit me super hard,” Stockard told GMA. “I started panicking. It did knock the wind out of me.”
Stockard believes the pair of dolphins appeared to try to help her after the fall.
“They came and rubbed against me, and stopped their bodies from swimming to be right beside me,” Stockard said.
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Stockard was rushed to a Montego Bay hospital, where she suffered from a “grapefruit-sized hematoma” and required emergency surgery. Stockard told GMA she has sickle cell anemia, a disorder of the blood that affects a person’s hemoglobin, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Stockard traveled home to Tennessee on March 24 – eight days after the incident – and required additional treatment from a nearby hospital.
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“Luckily, I’m in stable condition and [I’m not] all the way on my deathbed,” Stockard said.
Dolphin Cove did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.