Over concerns that Iran is blocking vital tankers from transiting the Strait of Hormuz, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. Navy will begin escorting tankers through the area.
“Effective IMMEDIATELY, I have ordered the United States Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to provide, at a very reasonable price, political risk insurance and guarantees for the Financial Security of ALL Maritime Trade, especially Energy, traveling through the Gulf,” the president posted on his Truth Social account Tuesday afternoon. “This will be available to all Shipping Lines. If necessary, the United States Navy will begin escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, as soon as possible. No matter what, the United States will ensure the FREE FLOW of ENERGY to the WORLD. The United States’ ECONOMIC and MILITARY MIGHT is the GREATEST ON EARTH — More actions to come.”
The announcement comes after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard has threatened ships attempting to transit the Strait, which connects the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
Over the weekend, ships in the area reportedly received VHF transmissions from the IRGC instructing that no ships are allowed to pass through the Strait.
The reports come as the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration has issued an alert to vessels in the region, urging them to “keep clear of this area if possible,” citing “significant military activity.”
“Any U.S.-flagged, owned, or crewed commercial vessels that are operating these areas should maintain a standoff of 30 nautical miles from U.S. military vessels to reduce the risk of being mistaken as a threat and are strongly encouraged to maintain close contact with Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) Naval Coordination and Guidance for Shipping,” according to DOT.
Iran has been targeting Arab countries along the Persian Gulf, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in response to U.S. strikes inside Iran early Saturday.
U.S. Central Command announced Tuesday afternoon that all IRGC naval ships in the Gulf of Oman had been destroyed.

Minnesota announced Tuesday it is suing the federal government for withholding $243 million in Medicaid payments.
State officials say the move puts health care coverage for more than 1 million residents at risk while sidestepping the administrative process already underway.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and the Minnesota Department of Human Services filed the lawsuit jointly in federal court. State officials allege the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services moved forward with the deferral before completing the required review tied to its January noncompliance notice.
Under Medicaid, the federal government shares costs with the state to provide health coverage to low-income residents, seniors, and people with disabilities. The program covers families earning up to $42,759 annually for a household of four, according to the Minnesota Department of Human Services.
Ellison said the state is challenging what he called an unlawful attempt to cut funding before proving any wrongdoing.
“The Trump Administration’s M.O. is to cut first, no matter what the law says or who gets hurt, and ask questions later, if at all,” Ellison said. “These cuts are the latest in a long series of efforts to go around the law to punish Minnesotans—but just as we fought back and won when they illegally tried to cut funding for childcare, hungry families, and our schools, we are suing them again today to make them follow the law.”
Ellison also noted his office’s record on Medicaid fraud enforcement, which includes more than 300 convictions and $80 million in judgments and restitution, and said the state continues to pursue additional oversight tools.
President Donald Trump has framed the pause as part of a nationwide “War on Fraud,” with Vice President J.D. Vance leading the effort. Vance said the administration would not allow taxpayer dollars to be misused.
“We have decided to temporarily halt certain amounts of Medicaid funding that are going to the state of Minnesota,” Vance said. “Far too many people have gotten rich by taking what is best of the American spirit and getting rich off of it instead of providing services to kids who need it.”
The lawsuit follows the Trump administration’s Feb. 25 announcement that it would pause $259 million in federal Medicaid payments owed to Minnesota. Gov. Tim Walz criticized the decision.
“This isn’t a deferral, it’s a ransom note,” Walz said. “The Trump Administration is using kids as pawns in their campaign of retribution against our state.”
Technically, the pause is a deferral in payments, which Minnesota called an “unprecedented” method to audit funds.
“Deferrals have never been used to categorically deny funds to a state across entire service areas, as is being done here,” Ellison’s office said in a statement. “The unprecedented February 25 deferral is more than 15 times larger than any past deferral Minnesota has been issued.”
The legal dispute comes as fraud investigations across Minnesota continue, with independent and federal investigators estimating potential schemes totaling between $9 billion and $20 billion. The White House described fraud in Minnesota as “pervasive and disturbing.”
The $243 million at issue is part of a broader dispute over more than $2 billion in annual Medicaid funding flagged by the Trump administration in January, pending the completion of the state’s administrative appeal. Minnesota officials say the larger threat underscores what they see as an “unprecedented” approach to addressing fraud.
State officials say withheld payments represent roughly 7% of Minnesota’s quarterly Medicaid funding and warn the loss—even temporarily—could force reductions in healthcare services for low-income families or require lawmakers to shift money from other parts of the state budget.
Minnesota is seeking a temporary restraining order to immediately block the funding pause while the legal challenge proceeds in federal court.
While an initiative of the federal government, state lawmakers are also looking to address fraud.
In the past few weeks, Republicans have renewed calls for a statewide independent Office of the Inspector General, arguing broader oversight is needed amid ongoing probes into alleged fraud in taxpayer-funded programs. Walz has also introduced his own “comprehensive anti-fraud package.”

U.S. Senators grilled Kristi Noem, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, over alleged misuse of taxpayer dollars on Tuesday.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., questioned Noem over her agency’s approval processes for multimillion dollar contracts. He specifically brought up an investigation over a $220 million DHS advertising campaign. A review of documents from ProPublica appeared to find that a firm closely linked to Noem was awarded taxpayer dollars for the campaign.
Noem said she approves all DHS contracts that exceed $5 million. She said this policy has saved more than $13.2 billion as the agency negotiates lower price contracts and cancels other contracts.
Noem defended the ad campaign as “extremely effective” and said President Trump tasked her with putting out the materials. She also denied that the ad campaign funds were given to an agency that was closely linked to the secretary.
“It puts the president in a terribly awkward spot,” Kennedy said. “I’m not saying you’re not telling the truth, it’s just hard for me to believe.”
Kennedy said Safe America Media, the company awarded an ad contract from DHS, was formed 11 days before Noem picked it to run the ad campaign. Safe America Media, reportedly funneled large portions of its ad contract to Strategy Group, an organization run by Ben Yoho, husband to DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin. McLaughlin resigned from DHS on Feb. 17.
“Look, we all have friends who are qualified,” Kennedy said. “It troubles me a fifth to a quarter of a billion dollars of taxpayer money when we’re scratching for every penny and we’re fighting over rescission packages, I just can’t agree with Madam Secretary.”
Noem denied she picked the specific contractors who were awarded funds in the ad campaign process.
The Department of Homeland Security has been left without funds by Congress since Feb. 14. The Transportation Security Administration, Coast Guard, Secret Service and Federal Emergency Management Agency are among the few organizations without full funding until Congress reaches an agreement.
TSA and FEMA employees have already started to receive partial paychecks or will receive them starting this week.
Democrats on the committee also accused Noem of misusing taxpayer dollars in the purchase of luxury jets and planes for the department’s purposes. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., pointed out two jets that were purchased by DHS for $172 million. Noem reportedly has plans to purchase a third jet for $70 million.
Noem said the purchase of jets in the department has saved taxpayer dollars and helped to speed up deportation processes. She said the department spent $1.42 billion on deportation flights in 2025.
She said luxury jets are being refurbished to comply with the law and allow greater savings for taxpayers. Congress provides funding for DHS to purchase jets at their discretion. Recently, Congress appropriated $140 million to DHS specifically for the purchase of jets.
“We are saving the taxpayer 40% by purchasing our own aircraft and operating them rather than being susceptible to the contracts that they have today,” Noem said.
Other senators pointed out fraud schemes happening across the country. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., called for further extensive investigation into Minnesota fraud, which she said totaled up to $18 billion.
“These programs are there to care for individuals and give services to some of our most vulnerable in society,” Noem said. “[Minnesota leaders] have stolen that from them, allowed individuals to abuse those programs and have done it to the detriment of not just their families there, but also the businesses there and the educational entities and even their credibility to speak.”

Nearly 3,000 Americans have been in contact with the U.S. State Department seeking to leave the Middle East after a “depart now” was issued for American citizens in the region, as American embassies and consulates in the region are being targeted.
“The State Department is actively securing military aircraft and charter flights for American citizens who wish to leave the Middle East,” according to an X post from Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs Dylan Johnson.
There are multiple reports that the U.S. consulate in Dubai, UAE, has come under attack in a suspected Iranian attack. Videos circulating on social media show a fire coming from the consulate.
On Monday evening, the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was attacked by two Iranian drones. The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Defense reported “limited fire and minor material damage to the building.”
Several U.S. embassies, consulates and military bases in the region have been under attack since Operation Epic Fury began early Saturday morning.
On Monday evening, the State Department issued a “depart now” list for over a dozen Middle Eastern countries, where a majority have seen some attacks from Iranian forces since the strikes began. The countries include: Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel (the West Bank and Gaza), Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, announced that “due to regional tensions,” it will be closed until further notice. A Beirut neighborhood has been subject to Israeli retaliatory attacks from the Iranian proxy terror group, Hezbollah, which is headquartered in Lebanon.
As of Tuesday afternoon, six U.S. service members have been killed in Iranian attacks since the U.S.-Israeli operation began.

Democrats are pitching a new wealth tax on billionaires to be used to send $3,000 payments to those making $150,000 or less, but the measure faces long odds in the Republican-controlled legislature.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., introduced the Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act, which would establish a 5% annual wealth tax on U.S. billionaires.
Sanders and Khanna said the 938 billionaires in America are collectively worth $8.2 trillion. Two economists from the University of California at Berkeley, Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, estimated the measure would raise about $4.4 trillion over a decade.
The bill would use the 5% annual wealth tax to send a $3,000 direct payment to every person in a household with an income of $150,000 or less. That’s $12,000 for a family of four. The rest of the money would be used for other spending. That includes reversing spending changes under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act; expanding Medicare; affordable housing; capping childcare costs; and establishing a $60,000 minimum annual salary for public school teachers.
Under the bill, Tesla boss Elon Musk would owe $42 billion in taxes, Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg would owe $11 billion and Amazon boss Jeff Bezos would owe about $11 billion, Sanders and Khanna said.
Kyle Pomerleau, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said the $4.4 trillion estimate was overly optimistic.
“The revenue estimate is too high by nearly a factor of two,” he wrote in an analysis.
Pomerleau said the Berkley estimate “ignores baseline avoidance due to existing taxes.”
“Under current law, many wealthy taxpayers already use legal structures to avoid capital income taxes,” he noted. “A taxpayer who has already hidden an asset from the income tax is not going to voluntarily report that same asset for a new wealth tax.”
Tax Foundation senior fellow Jared Walczak was also skeptical of the $4.4 trillion estimate.
“To accept this revenue estimate as credible, you must believe that a 5% annual wealth tax on billionaires – on their investments and their closely-held businesses – will have no economic ramifications worth mentioning,” he wrote on X.
Sanders said the measure will help Americans.
“This legislation demands that the billionaire class in America finally pay their fair share of taxes so that we can create an economy that works for all of us, not just the 1%,” he said in a statement. “We can no longer tolerate a corrupt tax code that enables billionaires to pay a lower tax rate than the average worker.”
Republicans control both the U.S. House and Senate with slim majorities.

Israel and the U.S. launched new missile attacks into Iran on Tuesday as the Trump administration is set to brief members of the U.S. House and Senate on the fourth day of the conflict.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and others will update members of Congress Tuesday as six American soldiers have been killed in the operation so far.
President Donald Trump is meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Ahead of the meeting, Trump said the bombings have “knocked out” Iran’s Navy and Air Force.
“They have no Navy, it’s been knocked out. They have no Air Force, it’s been knocked out. They have no air detection, that’s been knocked out,” Trump said. “Their radar has been knocked out, and just about everything has been knocked out.”

A number of U.S. representatives like to be driven in style, billing taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars for limo service from their office accounts, an investigation by The Center Square found. Six U.S. representatives charged taxpayers nearly $30,000 to hire chauffeured limousines in the latest twelve months for which figures are available. Since January 2019, U.S. representatives spent more than $160,000 out of their office accounts with companies that had the word limo or limousine in their name, according to figures come from the U.S. House’s quarterly disbursement reports.
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, a California Democrat, spent the most on limo services, according to the data. She charged taxpayers $25,950 for transportation from Limousine House LLC from July 1, 2024, to June 30, according to House disbursement reports. A spokesperson did not immediately return requests for comment.Since 2019, Waters spent $111,000 on limo services. U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, a Colorado Democrat who retired in 2023, came in second with nearly $20,000 in rides from limousine services. The records do not indicate the type of vehicle the lawmakers used for transportation, such as a Lincoln Town Car, Cadillac Escalade, or stretch limousine.While Waters regularly hired the company, five other lawmakers charged taxpayers $3,963 to hire a driver of a limousine service once or twice.U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, a Connecticut Democrat, took the two most expensive trips.Himes billed taxpayers $1,100 for the use of Elite Limousine Service on May 30. That came two days after he spent $850 to hire the same company. Cara Camacho, Himes’ chief of staff, did not return requests for comment.Daniel Schuman, executive director of American Governance Institute, a non-profit, said the spending totals raise questions.“Some of those trips are more expensive than airfare,” Schuman said in an interview. “It’s hard to imagine how that makes sense even in an expensive place like D.C. Are they ferrying staff around to an event?”Water’s service, Limousine House LLC, which House records show she has paid since August 2021, has little readily available information.The company has no identifiable official website, no established online presence, and does not appear in corporate registries in California, Washington, D.C., Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. Its principal address is a residential apartment unit in Alexandria, Va.In 2014, the company was granted passenger carrier authority by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Commission. Three years later, WMATC suspended the company’s operating certificate and began revoking it because Limousine House LLC failed to maintain required filings and fees. In September 2024, the company was deemed inactive or defunct for lack of payment, according to records from the Virginia State Corporation Commission, an independent state agency.Limo company officials could not be reached for comment. A reporter knocked on the door and rang the doorbell twice on Monday afternoon at the condominium owned by Omar Bouzid, the former company’s director, in Springfield, Va., but no one answered.Growing budgetsThe 440 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and delegates receive roughly $2 million a year for travel, staff, equipment, and the operations of their offices in Washington, D.C., and their home districts through the Members’ Representational Allowance. Lawmakers are required to disclose their use of taxpayer dollars.
As The Center Square reported, spending on lawmakers’ office accounts jumped to $810 million in 2024 from $360.5 million in 1996.Many lawmakers press junior staff members into service as their drivers in and around the Capitol, Schuman said.“It’s an unpoliced area, so members can largely do what they want,” he added.Rank-and-file members earn $174,000 a year. Their annual salary has been frozen for 17 years, resulting in a 31% drop in income when adjusted for inflation.One-day tripsLawmakers’ transportation spending varied.U.S. Rep. Timothy M. Kennedy, a New York Democrat, billed taxpayers for the use of a limousine rather than a limousine service. Kennedy spent $220 for an unspecified limousine on Thursday, August 22, and $848 on Friday, September 6. Congress was out of session both days.Kennedy spokeswoman Jala Hooks did not immediately return an email for comment.Rep. Kevin Mullin, a California Democrat, billed taxpayers for $209 for Premiere Limousine on March 12, 2025. Communications Director Samantha Weigel did not respond to an email request for comment.Two Florida lawmakers charged taxpayers for out-of-state limousine services.U.S. Rep. Scott Franklin, a Republican, spent $442 for the use of New Orleans-based Fleur De Lis Limousine LLC on August 10. Franklin’s chief of staff, Melissa Kelly, said he used a recommended car service, a limousine company, because Uber services were not available late at night.“It wasn’t a limo, it was a Honda Odyssey van,” Kelly said in an interview. “He had just gotten back at 2 a.m. from a Codel (Congressional delegation trip), and at that hour from the Tampa airport, you can’t get an Uber back to his home in Lakeland. It definitely cost a lot, but it was a one-off thing.”U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Democrat, spent $294 for Echo Limousine, a Chicago-based company, on August 18, 2024. Her chief of staff, Naomi Pierre-Louis, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In late January, the House Ethics Committee released a 59-page report that concluded “there is substantial reason to believe” that Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick violated criminal laws by laundering money from a $5 million overpayment the federal government gave to her family business in 2021 to her congressional campaign. She denies the charges.

Academic achievement in U.S. public schools continues to fall behind pre-pandemic levels, with national test data showing a persistent decline in math and reading scores years after COVID-19.
Test results from the National Center for Education Statistics show that average scores on 12th-grade math and reading assessments dropped three points from 2019. Among fourth graders, average math scores were also three points lower than before the pandemic, while eighth graders saw math scores decline by eight points over five years. Reading scores for fourth and eighth graders dropped five points between 2019 and 2024.
With this overall decline, students are performing below basic proficiency levels. Thirty-two percent of high school seniors scored below the National Assessment of Education Progress basic level in reading, up from 20% in 1992. In math, 45% of 12th graders fell below the basic benchmark, compared to 40% in 2005.
In September 2022, former Commissioner Peggy G. Carr of the National Center for Education Statistics said the pandemic impacted more than just students’ grades. Mental health services, school violence and disruption, cyberbullying and nationwide teacher and staff shortages increased.
Acting Commissioner Matthew Soldner said the declines are concentrated among the nation’s lowest-performing students.
“These results are sobering,” Soldner said in a statement. “The drop in overall scores coincides with significant declines in achievement among our lowest-performing students, continuing a downward trend that began even before the COVID-19 pandemic.”
With these academic declines, total nationwide school district debt rose more than 2.1% from $532.5 billion in 2021 to $543.9 billion in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Now it is nearing $1 trillion.
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said the results highlight the need for changes in how education funding is managed.
“Despite spending billions annually on numerous K-12 programs, the achievement gap is widening, and more high school seniors are performing below the basic benchmark in math and reading than ever before,” McMahon said, adding that the Trump administration supports giving states more control over education spending.
House Education Committee Chairman Tim Walberg, R-Michigan, warned that the long-term implications extend beyond the classroom.
“Low academic skills don’t just hurt grades. They weaken our economy, workforce, and national security,” Walberg said. “Without strong foundations in these core subjects, America’s freedom and economic competitiveness will be in jeopardy.”
Rusty Brown, director of special projects at the Freedom Foundation, said bureaucratic growth and union influence have reduced efficiency and academic rigor.
“You have to strive for excellence, and if you fall short and hit very good, I mean, that’s a lot better than where we are right now,” Brown told The Center Square. “Where we’re trying to make failing, not failing anymore; not by getting better, but by lowering standards. I think that is an absolutely disastrous way to look at our education system.”
A report from the Brookings Institution found that the expiration of federal pandemic aid and declining school funding could threaten ongoing recovery efforts, underscoring the need for sustained investment in evidence-based interventions.
During the pandemic, many colleges and universities adopted test-optional or test-free admissions policies.
Some institutions have since reinstated standardized testing requirements, including Harvard University, Yale University, Brown University, Dartmouth College, Georgetown University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and California Institute of Technology, along with the public university systems in Florida and Georgia.