Free Republic

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) is introducing legislation aimed at shedding light on the financial impact illegal immigration has on America’s healthcare system by requiring hospitals that receive federal healthcare funding to collect and report patients’ immigration status in aggregate form. Roy’s proposal, titled the Illegal Alien Patient Reporting Act, would require hospitals participating in federal healthcare programs to include an immigration-status question during the patient intake process and submit quarterly reports to the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Homeland Security (DHS). The legislation would also make compliance a condition of participating in federal healthcare programs, meaning hospitals...

Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought told Congress the Iran conflict has cost "about $30 billion," six days after his own agency asked lawmakers for $67.1 billion to cover the same conflict's costs.Neither Vought nor lawmakers reconciled the two figures during the June 30 hearing, even as Congress weighs a request that works out to about $412 for each of the nation's estimated 162.8 million individual income tax filers, according to IRS data. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., asked Vought during the hearing how much the conflict, formally called Operation Epic Fury, has cost. "We've spent about $30 billion,"...

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson's Office has formed a "Trans and Queer Interdepartmental Team (IDT)," a city-led initiative aimed at financially supporting so-called "transgender refugees" who have reportedly flooded into the city to flee Republican-run states amid legislation cracking down on sex change procedures, particularly for minors. Seattle taxpayers will now have to pay for the cosmetic and elective surgeries of transgender people who have relocated to the city. This includes breast implants and "facial feminization surgeries," the Daily Mail reported. Funds will also be provided for their food and housing. [embedded tweet] Seattle's LGBTQ Commission is leading the initiative, which...

The White House on Wednesday officially asked Congress for $87.6 billion in supplemental funding to pay for the Iran war, curtail the ongoing Ebola outbreak and provide aid to U.S. farmers, among other requests, according to a copy obtained by The Hill. In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought asked for $67 billion for the Defense Department, down from an expected $200 billion first floated by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in March. But even with a smaller price tag, the bill will need some support from Democrats to...

The Trump administration on Wednesday sent Congress a long-awaited supplemental funding package to help cover the cost of the Iran war. The administration is asking for about $87.6 billion to address "urgent needs" related to the Iran war, as well as other funding to respond to the Ebola outbreak in Central Africa and provide support for American farmers. The request will face an uphill battle and puts vulnerable Republicans in a politically tricky position, since backing it could be seen as support for the unpopular war. It's all but certain to face stiff opposition from Democrats, putting its passage in...

Hillsborough County Commissioners on Wednesday approved a nonbinding memorandum of understanding between the county and the baseball team for the Rays’ proposed $2.3 billion Tampa stadium. “Today is a monumental day,” said Commissioner Ken Hagan, who has supported bringing the team to Tampa for nearly two decades. “This is the closest we’ve ever come to finalizing a deal with the Rays.” Commissioners Joshua Wostal and Donna Cameron Cepeda, who voted against the memorandum, disagreed

President Trump ripped The New York Times on Tuesday morning over a report detailing the ballooning cost of his project to repair and renovate the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. “The Failing New York Times, which is one of the worst newspapers anywhere in the World, and is losing subscribers on an hourly basis, is now at it again,” Trump wrote in a lengthy, early-morning Truth Social post. “Just like they covered my Landslide 2024 Presidential Election Victory inaccurately, and without shame, constantly making major mistakes and incorrect predictions at every path along the way, they are now trying to justify...

(This is the third part of “Medicaid Millions,” a Daily Wire series exposing billions of dollars in dubious “personal services” payments where people are paid to spend time with their own family.) COLUMBUS, Ohio — After the federal government approved a waiver allowing Ohio to expand Medicaid by paying housekeepers to spend time at elderly people’s houses to help with tasks like “homemaking” and “chore services,” taxpayers across the country footed a shocking $2.5 billion worth of bills between 2018 and 2024, according to a trove of Medicaid data released for the first time by the Trump administration. The demand...

Thomasz Szabo, 27, of Romania, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 48 months in prison for his role as leader of an online swatting ring that targeted more than 75 public officials, four religious institutions, and multiple journalists in a nationwide threat spree, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro. Szabo, aka “Plank,” “Jonah,” and “Cypher,” pleaded guilty June 2, 2025, to one count of conspiracy and one count of threats involving explosives. In addition to the 48-month prison term, District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered Szabo to serve three years of supervised release. Federal prosecutors had requested...

The Brief Jonathan Dupiton was sentenced to seven years in prison for a $3.8 million unemployment fraud scheme. The Atlanta podcaster used stolen identities to file hundreds of false claims during the pandemic. Dupiton was living in a halfway house for a previous fraud conviction when the new crimes began. An Atlanta podcaster has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison after being convicted of using stolen identities to obtain millions of dollars in unemployment insurance benefits. [snip] Prosecutors say that in 2020, Dupiton was completing a federal sentence at a halfway house for a previous fraud conviction targeting...

The Department of Education announced Thursday that it has saved American taxpayers more than $1 billion by aggressively eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse within federal student aid programs. The department’s new report takes aim at previous policies, claiming that while citizens must present identification to board a flight or rent a car, the Biden administration had required identity verification for less than 1% of students applying for federal financial aid. "That ill-informed decision created a prime opportunity for fraudsters to exploit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) form and steal taxpayer funds," the department stated in a press...

Taxpayers are yet again helping fund disruptive activism in Los Angeles — this time the radicals planning to chaos across the city and county for Saturday’s “No Kings” protests, which organizers claim will be the biggest yet. One the leading groups participating in the event is the Liberty Hill Foundation, a social justice nonprofit that receives $14 million in Los Angeles city funding for tenant outreach and housing programs. Public filings show the group has donated tens of thousands of dollars to the ACLU of Southern California, raising further questions about taxpayer-supported organizations being used for radical political advocacy. ACLU...

Los Angeles homeless people are being put up in brand new apartments in ritzy neighborhoods that cost taxpayers up to $1.5 million per room, the California Post can reveal. At least $2.6 billion of taxpayers cash has been spent buying and renovating hotels, motels and dorms for the huge unhoused population in the city and county since 2020. The properties were all purchased with $1.3 billion from Governor Gavin Newsom’s Homekey initiative, which then renovated with another $1.3 billion in funding from the city and county of Los Angeles. Some of the suites, which are staggered across neighborhoods such as...

Eunisses Hernandez has been called a hypocrite for repeatedly calling for police to be abolished — then using taxpayers’ money to pay for own her security in public. The socialist Los Angeles councilmember has built her political brand crusading against cops, winning election on an abolish-the-police platform and even voting ”no” to the city’s budget three years running because she claims the $2.4 billion needed to keep them takes funding from her priorities. But when it came time to securing the 36-year-old’s own public event, Hernandez turned to the LAPD — despite just months earlier voting against the use of...

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth appeared to confirm Thursday that the Trump administration is contemplating asking Congress to approve $200 billion in supplemental defense funding amid the war in Iran.On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that the Pentagon had asked the White House to make the $200 billion request to lawmakers in order to replenish America’s munitions stockpile, though it was not clear when or whether the Trump administration would decide to do so. “As far as the $200 billion, I think that number could move, obviously,” Hegseth told reporters. “It takes money to kill bad guys. So we’re going...

Kamala Harris is cutting California loose from her book tour, cancelling the remainder of her currently scheduled stops in the state. On Tuesday, the former presidential candidate pulled out of book tour stops for her memoir “107 Days” in Sacramento, San Diego and Anaheim. The appearances had been scheduled for next month. Ticketing company Ticketmaster refunded ticketholders and explained that the cancellations of “A Conversation with Kamala Harris” were due to a “scheduling conflict.” Harris’ last event had been in Oakland on March 3. She remains scheduled for an event in Denver, Colorado, on April 2, but her subsequent stops...

FIRST ON FOX: Former President Barack Obama once declared that his presidential center would be a "gift" to Chicago, but taxpayers are on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in hidden costs related to the beleaguered project. A Fox News Digital investigation shows taxpayers are now stuck footing the bill for surging public infrastructure costs required to support the project — and no government agency can provide an accounting of the total public cost, despite months of queries and FOIA requests. "Illinois Republicans saw this coming a mile away. Now, right on cue, Illinois Democrats are leaving taxpayers...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) ordered all public housing authorities and owners receiving department-funded housing Friday to verify tenant citizenship and eligibility after an audit conducted with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) flagged tens of thousands of deceased and ineligible tenants nationwide. HUD said the audit identified nearly 200,000 tenants requiring eligibility verification, including nearly 25,000 deceased tenants and nearly 6,000 ineligible non-American tenants across federally funded housing programs. Under the directive, HUD said all public housing authorities and participating owners have 30 days to take corrective action or face potential sanctions.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is investigating whether Colorado providers helped nearly 3,000 people swindle taxpayer money from Uncle Sam, The Post has learned. The investigation comes after an internal HUD audit found that benefits were granted to 221 dead people, while another 87 were otherwise ineligible. The department also said that another 2,519 beneficiaries will need to undergo additional verification. “From deceased tenants to individuals receiving HUD housing benefits who were never supposed to, the Department has questions for HUD-supported housing providers in Colorado, and we expect prompt answers and enforcement action,” a HUD spokesperson told...

A member of the city council in New York recently outlined a plan to allocate almost $200 million in taxpayer funds to be used to legally defend illegal immigrants from ICE and the Trump administration.If you watch the video below, it is crystal clear that this woman and the people like her believe that their power supersedes the power of the federal government and federal immigration laws.It’s almost like these people think that New York City is a country within the country and that it belongs to them.From Stu Smith on Twitter/X:NYC Council Member Tiffany Cabán, a Democratic Socialists of...