Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is leading a congressional delegation to the southern border on Thursday, marking his first visit to the border since winning the gavel last month.
Republican Reps. Juan Ciscomani (Ariz.), Lori Chavez-DeRemer (Ore.), Jen Kiggans (Va.) and Derrick Van Orden (Wis.) — all first-term lawmakers — will accompany McCarthy on the trip. The group will be traveling within the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector, and they will be briefed and receive an aerial tour from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, according to McCarthy.
Ciscomani delivered the Republicans' State of the Union response in Spanish last week.
The trip comes a little more than one month after McCarthy won the Speakership in a 15-ballot election that forced him to give up a number of concessions to shore up support among the party’s right flank, including a floor vote on border legislation.
McCarthy made securing the border a key part of his agenda during the midterm elections, and in the lead-up to the Speaker race. In November, shortly after the midterms, McCarthy traveled to El Paso, Texas, and called on Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to resign over his handling of the southern border — a gesture toward conservative Republicans who had been pushing for impeachment.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) in December said the Border Safety and Security Act would pass in the first two weeks of the new Congress, but it has not yet come to the floor because of disagreements within the party.
The legislation would allow Mayorkas to turn away migrants in an effort to reach "operational control" at the border. Some lawmakers, however, have raised concerns about the limits it would place on asylum.
Some Republicans have been adamant about impeaching Mayorkas. Earlier this month, GOP lawmakers filed a second bill to impeach the secretary. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) called Mayorkas the “chief architect of the migration and drug invasion at our southern border.”
McCarthy has on a number of occasions said he will not use impeachment for political purposes, vowing to launch an inquiry if a reason presents itself. He reiterated that stance last week.
“We will never use impeachment for political reasons. It's just not going to happen,” McCarthy said during a press conference when asked about a potential timeline for impeachment. “That doesn't mean if something rises to the level [of] impeachment, we would not do it.”
The new Congress has accomplished almost nothing so far — and conservatives are quite pleased about it.
For Republicans who want to slow President Joe Biden’s agenda and court confrontation with Democrats, the beginning of the year has played out beautifully. The House and Senate have not passed any new laws, the speaker is jostling with Biden over the debt ceiling and the new Congress’ most significant collaboration was agreeing to meet for the State of the Union.
The Democratic Senate has held just eight roll-call votes on nominees and approved only one piece of new legislation alongside a host of non-binding resolutions. The House GOP, meanwhile, has rammed through dozens of bills — few, if any, of which have a chance of coming to the Senate floor.
It’s a preview of the long slog that Washington expects during divided government. But the limping pace is also a textbook example of the strategy some Republicans hope to execute for the next two years, running out the clock on Biden’s presidency and betting on beating him in 2024.
Summing up the view of many conservatives, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said: “Every day Senate Democrats are not destroying America is a good day.”’
House conservatives extracted myriad concessions from Speaker Kevin McCarthy, winning historic sway over key levers of Congress — including the panel that sets the chamber’s floor votes. Even in the Senate, the GOP’s right flank is celebrating the sleepy six weeks since being sworn in on Jan. 3 and mounting its first-ever challenge to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Congress will assuredly have to clear legislation this year to raise the debt ceiling and fund the government. Yet there are few signs of anything else making its way to Biden's desk. The Senate spent its first three weeks in recess, and then a long GOP internal fight over committee assignments delayed Senate organization for another two weeks.
“I actually appreciate this go-slow approach,” said Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), who said the country needs a “breather” after the past two years. “It's time to slow down.”
Over in the House, McCarthy's bruising fight for the speakership gave way to a "honeymoon" period, as Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) cheekily put it. While the party then moved quickly to pass a series of bills — including two on abortion and one that aimed to rescind new IRS funding — those proposals will serve little purpose beyond political messaging, since they won’t survive the Democrat-controlled Senate or the president's veto.
It's not all sunshine for Republican leaders, who had to pull other pieces of legislation favored by conservatives. That included two police bills, one that aimed to “hold prosecutors accountable” and another that expressed support for law enforcement.
Yet their swift passage of legislation that has little chance of becoming law is allowing the narrow House majority to divide Democrats on issues like autonomy from Congress for the D.C. government, as well as to ding Senate Democrats — who one month ago watched McCarthy fight for his political life and are just now ramping up their pace.
“We're crashing through. We've passed a lot of our priorities. We split the Democrats on many of these votes,” said Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), head of the House GOP campaign arm. “What matters is: Are we going to be able to get our spending bills done? And I'm hopeful that we'll see some activity over there on their side.”
The tables could always quickly turn, particularly when the debt-ceiling negotiations ramp up this summer, given the possibility that centrist Republicans could team with Democrats to ice out the right.
For now, though, both Senate and House conservatives are emboldened. That looks different depending on the chamber you look at: 10 Republican senators opposed McConnell’s election as GOP leader, and challenger Rick Scott (R-Fla.) is among those still battling with the Kentuckian, accusing him of using panel assignments as retribution (“Of course, he tossed me off the committee, because I ran against him,” Scott said of the Commerce Committee).
In the House, McCarthy won over much of his opposition after a bruising speaker fight, leading to praise from unusual corners like Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), who said that “Kevin has kept his promises” to the right.
The House’s comparatively rapid pace, for now, is no surprise given the procedural constraints in the Senate. But at some point, roughly 18 months from now, upper-chamber Democrats will run out of floor time before the election and perhaps regret that they didn't jump in more quickly.
That’s in part due to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s decision to start the year on a three-week recess. Following that break, the chamber's Democrats contend that Republicans intentionally slowed committee organization during an internal fight over where senators like Rick Scott and a new crop of GOP freshmen would end up.
Schumer says at least having a 51-49 majority will allow them to evade some GOP roadblocks.
“Republicans want to slow-walk because they can’t stand that the Democrats are in the majority,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), the Senate Banking Committee chair. “It's always a slow start. But this has been worse.”
McCarthy seemed to enjoy watching Democrats across the building, remarking last month: “Is the Senate even in this week? What did they do this week? Oh, yeah, they haven't been in.”
The last Senate started at a similarly glacial pace, with McConnell delaying an organizing resolution and the chamber forced to immediately take up an impeachment trial for former President Donald Trump after Democrats took slim control of the chamber. But Schumer pivoted quickly to a Covid aid package, kicking off a historical period of legislating between an evenly divided Senate and a small House Democratic majority.
In a split government, any legislative goals will have to be more circumspect. Schumer is looking to bring a modest tax treaty with Chile to the Senate floor soon, along with repeal of the authorization for use of military force that cleared the way for the George W. Bush-era invasion of Iraq.
And while House Republicans joked that gridlock is good when there is a Democratic president in office, some were also optimistic about bipartisan goals, even with the 2024 presidential election looming.
“You can get big things done when you can share the blame,” said Hudson, pointing to the debt ceiling.
In the immediate term, Democrats are shifting their focus to what can be done unilaterally.
Senate Democrats just confirmed their first judge of this Congress, and Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who chairs the chamber's Judiciary Committee, said the party is “ready to roll” on dozens more.
“We want to get moving,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), the No. 3 Democrat.
But even then, a single Republican can slow down Circuit Court nominees for up to 30 hours — a gambit that adds up over time. It’s just one more example of why the right isn’t exactly upset about the halting start.
“From their perspective, yes,” it’s a problem, said Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, the No. 4 GOP leader and a more conservative member of party leadership. “From our perspective, it’s been great.”
Vice President Harris this week returned to focusing on targeting what the administration believes are the "root causes" of the migrant crisis at the southern border, announcing $1 billion in additional funding and a new initiative to direct money to Central America.
Harris’ office announced on Monday that an extra $950 million in private sector commitments has been raised from companies, including Nestle and Target, bringing the total amount of Harris’ "Call to Action" launched in 2021 to $4.2 billion.
"The investments that we have made thus far are on track to meet goals set out by the Partnership for Central America, which include the creation of 1 million new jobs by 2032 and the inclusion of 6 million people in the formal financial system by 2027," Harris said at a roundtable at the White House.
In 2021, Harris was put in charge of leading diplomatic talks to tackle "root causes" like poverty, violence, corruption, and climate change which the administration believes are driving the migrant crisis. Republicans ultimately dubbed her the "border czar," a title the White House has rejected.
The task has proved a politically tricky assignment for Harris at a time when migrant numbers at the southern border were skyrocketing. They have stayed at record number since, with over 1.7 million encounters in FY 21, more than 2.3 million encounters in FY 22 and so far every month of FY23 outpacing the prior year.
Harris was initially hammered for failing to visit the border. She eventually did so in the summer of 2021, but has not returned. She has intermittently held events related to migration, but has continued to be dogged by questions about what work she is doing related to the beat and how effective that work has been.
"If you were given a job 2 years ago with the explicit goal of reducing illegal immigration, and then you sit around and do nothing while illegal immigration explodes to levels never seen before, you should be fired and replaced," the National Border Patrol Council said last month. "Period."
But Harris has attempted to counteract that her strategy is a long-term one that needs time to develop. Aides have also emphasized that the beat is migration causes, not border security.
At the core of this push is the public-private partnership known as the Call to Action. The funding is targeted to aim at specific goals: a reform agenda; digital and financial inclusion; food security and climate-smart agriculture; climate adaptation and clean energy; education and workforce development; and public health access; strengthening democratic governance, combating corruption, and improving security.
Despite the historic border numbers overwhelming the U.S. southern border, Harris has sought to claim that the measures are working.
"These investments have created jobs. These investments have increased access to the financial system, including to the Internet. These investments have allowed small businesses which have the potential not only in the United States but around the world, and in particular in this region, have the potential to really thrive if they have access to financing," she said.
She also linked the effort to a decline in migration from Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
"Our root causes strategy and these investments represent a long term development effort, but we are already beginning to see positive trends," she said on Monday.
The administration also announced that it would not only be continuing with the program but expanding it. The "Central America Forward" program was announced by Harris as a "new phase" of the partnership that will add good governance and labor rights as priorities into the partnership.
It will also include additional government commitments to support investments in the region, with Harris touting a program to identify clean energy projects as well as workforce development programs. Additionally private sector partners are committing to goals to combat corruption and protect labor rights -- known as the "Good Governance, Good Jobs" declaration.
The administration has been attempting to show that it is turning the corner on the crisis, particularly with the announcement this week of new border numbers, which officials say show that new border measures are working.
Those numbers for January show that there were approximately 156,000 migrant encounters in January. While still the highest January on record, it is a sharp drop from the 251,000 encountered in December -- and officials said the number of migrants caught by Border Patrol crossing illegally is the lowest since Feb. 2021.
Officials have linked the drop to a new parole program for 30,000 migrants from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti and Cuba, combined with expanded Title 42 expulsions for those nationalities.
But the administration has also been attempting to put the blame on Congress for failing to pass an immigration reform bill with extra border funding. So far, Republicans have balked at the inclusion of a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants included in the White House’s framework.
"Ultimately, we need Congress to pass legislation that both enhances border security but fixes our broken immigration system. We are a nation of immigrants," Harris said.
But Republican opposition is unlikely to slow down any time soon. Republicans have pledged to investigate the Biden administration’s handling of the crisis now they have taken control of the House. Meanwhile, multiple articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have been introduced in the chamber.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Biden and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met at the White House on Friday and reflected on how their nations were tested in their respective battles to preserve democracy, with the U.S. president declaring that democracy ultimately “prevailed” over the far-right mobs that stormed their governments’ halls of power in an attempt to overturn election victories.
Biden defeated incumbent Donald Trump in a fraught 2020 race, securing victory with thin margins in several battleground states. In Brazil’s recent election, its tightest since its return to democracy over three decades ago, Lula, the leftist leader of the Workers' Party, squeaked out a win against right-wing incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, who earned the nickname “Trump of the Tropics” and was an outspoken admirer of the former U.S. president.
Both Trump and Bolsonaro sowed doubts about the vote, without presenting evidence, but their claims nevertheless resonated with their most die-hard supporters. In the U.S. Capitol, Trump supporters staged the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection seeking to prevent Biden's win from being certified. Last month, thousands of rioters stormed the Brazilian capital aiming to oust the newly-inaugurated Lula.
“Both our nations’ strong democracies have been tested of late ... very much tested,” Biden said at the start of their Oval Office meeting. “But both in the United States and Brazil, democracy prevailed.”
Lula said that he was moving to restore Brazil on the world stage after Bolsonaro's term.
“Brazil marginalized itself for four years,” Lula said. “His world started and ended with fake news.”
Biden joked that Lula’s complaint “sounds familiar,” an apparent knock on Trump.
Both Biden and Lula sought to spotlight that Brazil’s democracy remains resilient and that relations between the Americas’ two biggest democracies are back on track.
The leaders also discussed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, insecurity in Haiti, migration and climate change, including efforts to stem deforestation of the Amazon, according to the White House.
During his 2020 run for the White House, Biden proposed working with global partners to create a $20 billion fund that would encourage Brazil to change its approach to the Amazon, and there was speculation that the U.S. administration would use the visit to announce a major contribution. But following the meeting, the leaders said in joint statement that the Biden administration only “announced its intent to work with Congress to provide funds for programs to protect and conserve the Brazilian Amazon, including initial support for the Amazon Fund.”
The Amazon Fund is the most important international cooperation effort to preserve the rainforest, raising donations for efforts to prevent, monitor and combat deforestation and promote sustainability.
The fund has mostly been financed by Norway, and has received a total $1.29 billion. In 2019, Bolsonaro dissolved the steering committee that selects sustainable projects to finance. He argued the rainforest is a domestic affair. In response, Germany and Norway froze their donations. After Lula took office, Germany’s government announced a fresh donation.
Climate was a prominent topic in two recent phone calls between the leaders since Lula's October victory, according to the White House.
After their meeting Friday, reporters asked Lula whether the U.S. would join the initiative. Lula responded that he believes so and that its participation is necessary.
“I didn’t specifically discuss an Amazon Fund. I discussed the need for rich countries to assume the responsibility of financing all the countries that have forests,” he said, specifically noting Brazil then listing its South American neighbors.
But Lula’s biggest objective going into the visit was securing ringing support for the legitimacy of his presidency as unease continues at home. It remains unclear how the animus Bolsonaro generated will be channeled going forward, and some opposition lawmakers allied with the former president are already calling for Lula’s impeachment. Lula sacked the army’s commander, with the defense minister citing “a fracture in the level of trust” in the force’s top levels.
“You have the environment and other stuff, but Lula sitting down with Biden is an exercise in coup-proofing Brazil’s democracy,” said Oliver Stuenkel, an international relations professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a university and think tank. “There is still genuine concern in the Brazilian government about the armed forces, and the biggest partner in containing the armed forces is the United States.”
Bolsonaro, who is facing several investigations in Brazil, traveled to Florida during the final days of his presidency and has remained there since. He applied late last month for a six-month tourist visa to extend his U.S. stay. A group of Democratic lawmakers urged Biden to expel the former president on the grounds that the U.S. shouldn’t provide safe harbor to would-be authoritarians.
The White House and State Department have declined to comment on Bolsonaro’s visa status, citing privacy concerns.
Analysts have noted that Bolsonaro’s absence from Brazil is a welcome change for Lula, and he told CNN earlier Friday that he didn't plan to discuss the former president with Biden.
Lula also met with several lawmakers, including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, and union officials before his meeting with Biden.
“It is enormously important for the future of this planet that we stop the deforestation of the Amazon," Sanders said after his meeting. "Bolsonaro encouraged that in a terrible way. Lula has turned that around, but Brazil is going to need help globally. The issue of the Amazon is not just a Brazilian issue. It’s a global issue.”
Ukraine marked a divergence between the Lula and Biden. Lula previously said the country was as much to blame for the war as Russia, though he more recently clarified that he thought Russia was wrong to invade.
Lula has declined to provide Ukraine with munitions, and he told reporters Friday night that he had proposed to Biden the creation of a group of nations to negotiate peace.
“I am convinced that we need to find a way out to put an end to this war,” he said. "The first thing is ending the war, then negotiating what will happen."
Asked about Lula's proposal, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said it is up to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to determine “if and when negotiations are appropriate, and certainly under what circumstances.”
There were more than 156,000 migrant encounters in January, the Biden administration announced Friday -- claiming that the numbers show that the new border measures are "working," despite the numbers being higher than last January.
The 156,274 encounters are slightly higher than the 154,874 encountered in January last year, and significantly higher than the 78,414 encountered in Jan 2021.
However, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) noted that the new numbers are a sharp drop from the record 251,978 encounters in December -- which marked a new record at the besieged southern border. It is the first month in 10 months where encounters were below 200,000 encounters.
Officials also said that the number of migrants encountered by Border Patrol entering illegally between ports of entry (128,410) was the lowest number seen since Feb. 2021. There were 21,661 processed by CBP at ports of entry, with 9,902 having scheduled an appointment on the new CBP One application the administration has promoted. 70% of those encountered overall were single adults.
While the numbers are historically high for January, which is typically a quiet month for the border, the Biden administration has been tying the significant drop since December as proof that border measures it introduced last month are working. The cornerstone of those measures is the expansion of a humanitarian parole program for Venezuelans introduced last year to include Nicaraguans, Cubans and Haitians. The program allows 30,000 nationals in each month if they did not cross illegally, had a sponsor already in the U.S. and met other conditions.
That was accompanied by an expansion of Title 42 expulsions to include those nationalities. The administration is also expected to introduce a rule that would make migrant ineligible for asylum if they had passed through another country without claiming asylum.
At his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Biden said the measures are working and said there had been a 97% drop in encounters of those nationalities. On Friday, CBP again attributed the drop since December to those measures.
"The January monthly operational update clearly illustrates that new border enforcement measures are working, with the lowest level of Border Patrol encounters between Ports of Entry since February of 2021," CBP Acting Commissioner Troy Miller said in a statement. "Those trends have continued into February, with average encounters of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans plummeting."
However, those border measures face pushback from the left, who say the expansion of Title 42 is unjust and harms migrants' right to claim asylum. Meanwhile, on the right, 20 GOP states have sued the administration over the parole program, saying it breaches congressional limits on the use of parole -- which is to be used on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit."
Conservative critics dismissed the new numbers. RJ Hauman, head of government relations at the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), said the plan is "one big shell game."
"They finally realized the crisis was beginning to become a political liability, so what was their solution? Unlawful parole abuse and processing at ports of entry through an app. This is the end result — lower numbers. It’s all a sham and it’s illegal," he told Fox News Digital.
Other critics have also expressed skepticism that the measures will have anything more than a short-term effect. Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, told Fox News Digital that cartels will likely replace migrants from those countries with other nationalities, as he said that had after the Venezuela program was introduced last year.
"So now all the cartels have to do is just go advertise services in other countries and replace the Nicaraguans, Cubans, Haitians and Venezuelans with a different population. And they always adapt. They're very good at adapting. If you do not enforce Title 42 across the board with every single country, we're never going to get out of this rut. The cartels will just adapt to our policies," he said.
Biden himself has said the measures by themselves will not solve the ongoing surge at the southern border, and has pushed Congress to pass a sweeping immigration bill unveiled on his first day in office.
Biden used his State of the Union to not only tout the recent measures, but also to call on Congress to pass parts of that bill -- includes more funding to the border as well as a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants already in the U.S.
"America’s border problems won’t be fixed until Congress acts. If you won’t pass my comprehensive immigration reform, at least pass my plan to provide the equipment and officers to secure the border. And a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, those on temporary status, farm workers, and essential workers," he said.
Republicans, who have blamed the Biden administration’s policies for the ongoing crisis and called for the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, have largely balked at the idea of an amnesty for illegal immigrants. On Tuesday they were similarly unreceptive to Biden’s plea.
The bill easily cleared the Senate on a 31-0 vote to advance to the House. The action reflects a growing push among American lawmakers to block the social media platform from government devices, based on cybersecurity concerns.
In Kentucky, the measure is a "prudent" step in responding to those security concerns, said Republican state Sen. Robby Mills, the bill’s lead sponsor.
"We need to protect the data that exists on state government devices," Mills said. "And one very practical way of doing this is to remove a known data mining app from all the state of Kentucky’s digital devices and computers, as this bill does."
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear recently took executive action to prohibit the use of TikTok on executive branch devices. The bill would place the ban into state law.
TikTok has become a globally popular domain, known as a platform of choice for catchy videos. But there’s long been bipartisan concern in Washington that Beijing would use legal and regulatory power to seize American user data or try to push pro-China narratives or misinformation.
EXCLUSIVE: Former President Trump called former Vice President Pence a "very honorable man" after Special Counsel Jack Smith subpoenaed Pence as part of his investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and into Trump’s handling of classified documents after leaving office.
Pence was subpoenaed by Smith after months of negotiations between Pence’s legal team and federal prosecutors.
"Mike Pence is an honorable man," Trump told Fox News Digital on Friday in an exclusive interview, but he laid out a number of areas he hopes Smith will consider and look into as part of his investigation.
"Are they going to look for the people that spied on my campaign?" Trump asked, referring to the FBI’s original investigation into whether Trump and his campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election.
That investigation was taken over by then-Special Counsel Robert Mueller in 2017. After nearly two years, the investigation yielded no evidence of criminal conspiracy or coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the 2016 election.
Special Counsel John Durham has been investigating the origins of that probe since 2019.
"Are they going to look at Special Agent Charles McGonigal who was in charge of the Russia probe and just arrested for taking large amounts of money from Russia?" Trump asked, referring to McGonigal, who was recently indicted on charges of money laundering and other counts stemming from his "collusion" with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
McGonigal, who was a former special agent in charge of the New York FBI Counterintelligence Division, was charged for working on behalf of and taking money from Deripaska, who has ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Deripaska was the same Russian oligarch who was working with Christopher Steele — the author of the infamous anti-Trump dossier that served as the basis for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.
As for the former vice president, it is unclear what prosecutors will seek from him, or whether Pence will invoke executive privilege.
In November, after Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith as special counsel, Trump told Fox News Digital that he "won’t partake" in the investigation against him, calling it "the worst politicization of justice in our country."
"I have been going through this for six years — for six years I have been going through this, and I am not going to go through it anymore," Trump told Fox News Digital Friday. "And I hope the Republicans have the courage to fight this."
"I have been proven innocent for six years on everything — from fake impeachments to [former special counsel Robert] Mueller who found no collusion, and now I have to do it more?" Trump said. "It is not acceptable. It is so unfair. It is so political."
Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., will announce later this month she is running for U.S. Senate in California to replace fellow Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein, according to a new report.
Lee, whose political career began in the California State Assembly in 1990, will launch her campaign to become the Golden State's next U.S. senator by the end of February, according to a report from The Washington Post.
The timing of the move from Lee, according to a source the Post says is familiar with her plans, will come in accordance with Black History Month.
Lee, who has represented three of California's Congressional Districts in the House since 1998, told the outlet, "Currently, there are no Black women in the U.S. Senate, and there have only been two in our almost 250-year history. Our voices are sorely missed in the Senate.
"My lived experience as a Black woman making true progressive change for Californians will give a voice in the U.S. to those who are currently voiceless."
Lee's campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital about her plans for 2024.
Last month, Lee reportedly told her colleagues who serve on the Congressional Black Caucus she intended to run for Senate.
Other Democrats have also announced their intentions to seek the seat held by Feinstein in 2024, including Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., who both announced their bids for the Senate last month.
Those announcements come as Feinstein, who has represented California in the Senate since 1992 and is the oldest serving senator at age 89, has yet to announce whether she will seek re-election in 2024. From October to December 2022, filings from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) revealed Feinstein raised a mere $558.91.
Should she announce her candidacy in the race, Lee could face an uphill battle when it comes to fundraising.
Porter, a progressive rising star and former pupil of Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, raised a whopping $25 million in political donations last cycle, making her the second-highest fundraising House member behind House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Porter's fundraising total even beat out that of her boss, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a renowned fundraiser in her own right.
Similarly, Schiff was the fourth-highest fundraising member of the House among members up for re-election last year, taking in just over $23 million from 2021 through November 2022.
Despite attempts to position herself as a progressive "warrior," Porter and her political ambitions may be impeded by accusations of racist remarks and promoting a toxic work culture.
An ex-staffer for the California Democrat alleged that the congresswoman had made rude and racist comments to staff and said that she had "ridiculed people for reporting sexual harassment." The accusations came to light in December, but the news was mostly ignored by major news outlets.
Schiff, a figurehead of the impeachment investigations into former President Trump, faces his own share of intra-party backlash. A progressive group attacked the congressman for his record on Trump only hours after Schiff announced his run for U.S. Senate.
"Adam Schiff plays the role of Trump antagonist on TV, but a recent book details how he stalled and undermined leaders trying to hold Trump accountable in Congress. And he never challenges corporations or the Democratic establishment," Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), said Thursday in a statement.
Fox News' Sophia Slacik contributed to this article.
The Department of Homeland Security is bringing on a private law firm to assist with potential impeachment proceedings against Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.
"The Department of Homeland Security has retained outside counsel to help ensure the Department’s vital mission is not interrupted by the unprecedented, unjustified, and partisan impeachment efforts by some Members of Congress, who have already taken steps to initiate proceedings," a DHS spokesperson told Fox News.
The spokesperson continued, "DHS will continue prioritizing its work to protect our country from terrorism, respond to natural disasters, and secure our borders while responding appropriately to the over 70 Congressional committees and subcommittees that have oversight of DHS."
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.