Federal disaster funding has been made available to North Dakota to deal with damages caused by major spring flooding following record snowfall.

The money became available on Wednesday, when President Joe Biden approved North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum’s request for a presidential major disaster declaration.

Affected counties reported about $4.1 million in flood-related damages, but Burgum’s office estimates damage to roads, culverts and other infrastructure at more than $5 million; some counties did not meet the per-capita damage threshold to be included the disaster request, the governor’s office said.

The disaster declaration covers 21 counties in the state for the period from April 10 to May 6.

The 2022-23 winter in North Dakota was one of the snowiest, including double the average snowfall in Bismarck, which saw its second-snowiest winter on record, according to National Weather Service Senior Forecaster Jeff Schild. Bismarck’s snow reports date back to 1886.

Biden also granted the governor’s request to make federal funding available for flood mitigation projects statewide.

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Maine lawmakers failed Thursday to override the governor’s veto of a bill that would have expanded the sovereignty of Native American tribes in the state by ensuring more federal laws apply to them.

It’s a defeat for the tribes, which are bound by a land claims settlement that puts them on different footing than the nation’s other 570 federally recognized tribes.

Both chambers had voted to enact the bill with big-enough majorities to override the veto, but some House members backtracked under pressure by Democratic Gov. Janet Mills. She contends the bill was vague and would lead to lengthy and contentious litigation in coming years.

The 84-57 House vote fell short of a two-thirds majority after tribal Rep. Aaron Dana, a Passamaquoddy, implored lawmakers to vote for the tribes, saying they want the same thing that the nation’s Founding Fathers wanted.

‘We seek equality. We seek life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And we seek the liberty and the pursuit of happiness under a relationship where we have the access to the laws passed by Congress to make native communities safer and healthier,’ he said. ‘Nothing more, nothing less.’

Tribal leaders criticized the governor, calling her an impediment to progress, while offering thanks to lawmakers for their support.

‘It’s extremely disappointing that the governor insists on keeping her thumb on the tribes and the Legislature. She clearly will not be deterred from using any authority she has to oppress the tribes,’ said Chief Rena Newell of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Sipayik.

Mills, for her part, said she remains willing to work with the tribes to ensure they’re not excluded from benefits generally available to other federally recognized tribes, and called for a ‘collaborative, respectful approach’ that she said has been successful in the past.

It was an important bill for tribes in Maine who’ve long regretted trading some of their rights to the state under an $81.5 million settlement that was signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980.

The agreement for the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Maliseet, along with a 1991 agreement for the Mi’kmaq, allows them to be treated much like municipalities subject to state law instead of dealing directly with the federal government like other tribes. The agreement allowed the tribes to acquire tracts of land as long as they stayed under state law and let them receive state education dollars. But the relationship also led to disagreements, and several lawsuits.

The governor contends tribal properties complicate jurisdictional concerns because so many landowners abut tribe-owned land. The governor also says just a handful of federal laws don’t apply to the tribes in Maine — such as the Indian Healthcare Improvement Act and the federal law governing disaster response — and that those can be handled on a case by case basis.

Mills has urged the tribes, the attorney general and other parties to work together to craft a proposal that is ‘clear, thoroughly vetted, and well understood by all parties.’

But the tribes increasingly see her as standing in the way of changes they say are necessary to improve their lives. Last week, Penobscot Nation Chief Kirk Francis said he thinks the governor wants ‘to protect an old guard and old mindset’ by maintaining the status quo. And Dana, the tribal representative, said Thursday that some of the governor’s comments about the legislation were ‘dangerous and misleading.’

Supporters contend the the proposal specifically carved out certain federal laws including the Clean Water Act, Indian Mineral Development Act, Water Quality Act and Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. But the governor contends the bill’s language failed to achieve the goal.

The day started on a positive note with regards to tribal relations. The governor announced she signed a bill to ensure the later settlement with the Mi’kmaq better aligns with rights and benefits of the other tribes. The governor said it proves what can be accomplished with ‘dialogue and collaboration.’ She also signed two other tribal-related bills.

In March, tribal leaders in Maine used their first address to the state Legislature in two decades to call for greater autonomy after a broader sovereignty proposal stalled last year under a veto threat.

A bill to provide full sovereignty to the tribes this session is being held over, meaning it’ll be dealt with by lawmakers next year.

Tribal leaders were optimistic about the future.

‘We were never going to take a step backwards when it comes to our sovereignty. We’re always going to be taking a step forward,’ Dana after the vote.

Francis of the Penobscot Nation added: ‘Though today was a loss on the floor of the House, we’re confident moving forward we will only gain greater support.’

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Experts were baffled by the Biden administration invoking the Hatch Act when asked whether President Biden or his son owned the cocaine found at the White House.

The culprit behind the White House’s July snowstorm has yet to be found, and the Biden administration isn’t answering whether the president or Hunter Biden owned the Independence Day cocaine dominating the headlines this week.

White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates was asked during a Thursday press gaggle whether the president can deny that he or his son owned the cocaine found at the White House – a charge leveled by former President Donald Trump. 

Bates invoked the Hatch Act — legislation that prohibits federal employees from talking about or using federal resources for campaign purposes — to dodge the white question on former President Trump’s claim that the Colombian bam-bam belonged to the president or his son.

‘I don’t have a response to that, because we have to be careful about the Hatch Act,’ Bates responded. ‘What I will say is that I have noticed there does seem to be some increasing frustration coming from that corner in general, and I think it is probably rooted in the contrast between their substantive policy records.’

Bates then compared Biden’s policy record to his predecessor’s record.

Attorney Bradley P. Moss told Fox News Digital he is ‘candidly at a loss as to why Mr. Bates believes the Hatch Act is relevant with respect to addressing that question.’

‘I could envision other legitimate bases for declining to respond, such as respecting the integrity of the ongoing investigation, but references to the Hatch Act seem misplaced,’ Moss continued.

Former Bush administration ethics chief Richard Painter, who ran for Congress as a Democrat last cycle, told Fox News Digital that he has ‘given lectures at the White House’ and published articles on the Hatch Act, but the bill ‘does not cover snorting cocaine.’

‘What the —— does the Hatch Act have to do with cocaine?’ Painter told Fox News Digital in an email. ‘This is the most ridiculous invocation of the Hatch act I’ve ever heard.’

Painter added that even if someone on Biden’s campaign were ‘high as a kite,’ the Hatch Act would not cover the cocaine in question.

Users online also blasted the White House over invoking the Hatch Act to dodge the question.

‘Odd that Bates pivots to the Hatch Act and doesn’t deny the question…’ conservative communicator Steve Guest tweeted.

Conservative journalist Jerry Dunleavy quipped that Bates was referring to that ‘famous Hatch Act provision which doesn’t allow you to say White House cocaine doesn’t belong to the president or his son.’

‘The Hatch Act?’ conservative columnist Byron York wrote.

‘The same White House who said ‘mega MAGA’ from the briefing room podium (therefore violating the Hatch Act),’ Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) communications director Mike Joyce wrote.

‘Can’t make this stuff up folks,’ he added.

Other users bore down on the White House over the dodge.

When asked for comment by Fox News Digital, Bates pointed to his gaggle answer that Trump’s comments were a direct ‘comment from a declared candidate.’

Bookies in Las Vegas — where the younger Biden sped to in his Porche in 2018 — have already started to get in on the action and have pointed to Hunter as the likely culprit behind the hard drugs found at the White House.

Overseas sportsbook BetOnline.ag gives Hunter Biden +170 odds as the owner, placing him as the most likely wrongdoer among their listed suspects, which also appears to contain joke offenders peppered throughout the list. 

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce follows with +800 odds, while ‘One of the Jonas Brothers’ carries +1000 odds, and Angelina Jolie garners +1400 odds. President Biden and his wife, first lady Jill Biden, sit at the bottom of the pack with +15000 and +10000 odds, respectively.

Another gambling site, Sportsbetting.ag, carries the same suspects and lines as BetOnline.ag, with Hunter Biden as the overwhelming favorite. Hunter took in Washington, D.C.’s Fourth of July fireworks from the White House.

Bovada, a Costa Rica-based sportsbook, is slightly more generous to Hunter. Their favorite at -400 odds is a ‘Tour Group Guest,’ followed by Hunter at +200 odds. ‘Janitorial Staff’ is behind Hunter at +1000, followed by ‘Secret Service Special Agent’ at +2000. 

Like the other sites, Bovada contains outlandish culprits, such as the fictional character Tony Montana from the 1983 movie ‘Scarface’ at +50000 odds. President Trump is also included at +5000 odds. 

On Sunday, a member of the Secret Service found the cocaine in the West Wing of the White House in an area used by guests and staff, leading to an evacuation of the building and an emergency response. President Biden was away at the time.

Fox News Digital’s Joe Schoffstall contributed reporting.

Top Republicans on Capitol Hill are demanding that the Office of Special Counsel investigate claims IRS whistleblowers were removed from the probe into Hunter Biden. 

In June, the House Ways and Means Committee released transcripts of two IRS whistleblowers who alleged that the Justice Department and IRS investigation into the president’s son’s business dealings were ‘influenced by politics.’ Those whistleblowers claimed they were removed from the investigation into Hunter Biden after they made those allegations.

In a letter sent Wednesday to Henry J. Kerner in the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and others asked the Office of Special Counsel to ‘immediately investigate all allegations of retaliation against these IRS whistleblowers.’

They also asked the office to ‘immediately seek the appropriate disciplinary actions against all who engaged in unlawful conduct against these whistleblowers.’

Others signing the letter included Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis.; House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo.; Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky.; and Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.

OSC handles disclosures of wrongdoing within the executive branch of the federal government from current federal employees, former federal employees and applicants for federal employment.

‘The DOJ and IRS must be held accountable for all instances of whistleblower retaliation and misconduct, and federal agencies cannot conceal their wrongdoing behind illegal nondisclosure directives and related documents,’ they wrote.

The lawmakers noted that an internal IRS email was sent to supervisors, including one of the whistleblowers, from IRS Acting Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) Kareem Carter, saying ‘no information involving the investigation can leave the field office without first going through the chain of command directive by seeking approval from a supervisor.’

That email, the lawmakers say, lacked a lawfully required ‘anti-gag provision’ that should have included whistleblower protections to report wrongdoing.

‘The anti-gag provision prohibits the use of appropriated funds and the enforcement of a nondisclosure agreement or other restrictive policy, form, or agreement that does not specifically allow for lawful, protected disclosures and that each policy, form, or agreement must use specific language apprising the employee of their rights to make such disclosures,’ the lawmakers wrote.

The lawmakers said they have also been made aware of an IRS email sent by Deputy IRS Commissioner for Services and Enforcement Doug O’Donnell to IRS employees regarding the lawful reporting of allegations of wrongdoing and protected whistleblower disclosures.

‘In this email, the Deputy Commissioner states that he is writing because of concerns related to the reporting of allegations of wrongdoing and the lawful reporting of misconduct,’ the letter states.

‘While the email states the ‘IRS is deeply committed to protecting the role of whistleblowers,’ it fails to inform IRS employees of their Constitutional and statutory right to make protected disclosures to Congress,’ the Republicans said.

‘The importance of protecting whistleblowers from unlawful retaliation and informing whistleblowers about their rights under the law cannot be understated. After all, it is the law,’ they wrote.

The lawmakers asked for a briefing and advisement of next steps by the OSC no later than July 19.

Arkansas State Treasurer Mark Lowery has been hospitalized after suffering another stroke, his office said.

In a statement Wednesday, Lowery’s spokeswoman, Heather McKim, said Treasury Chief of Staff Stephen Bright was notified June 30 that Lowery had been admitted into the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences Hospital and was currently in stable condition. Further details were not released.

‘The treasurer’s staff is in contact with his family and will provide additional updates as we receive more information,’ the statement said. ‘Please keep him and his family in your prayers.’

Lowery had an ischemic stroke in March.

Lowery, a Republican, was elected state treasurer in November and took office in January. The Arkansas treasurer oversees the state’s investments. Before being elected treasurer, Lowery had served 10 years in the state House.

The treasurer’s office said its daily operations are under the direction of Bright and Chief Deputy Treasurer Eric Munson pending Lowery’s recovery.

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New Hampshire followed dozens of other states Thursday in prohibiting state contracts or investments involving companies that boycott Israel and its trade partners.

The executive order signed by Gov. Chris Sununu makes New Hampshire the 37th state to enact such regulations, according to the Israeli-American Coalition for Action. Shawn Evenhaim, the coalition’s chairman, praised Sununu for ‘standing up against national origin discrimination and defending the deep cultural and commercial ties between Israel and New Hampshire.’

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, however, condemned the order as ‘a total assault on our First Amendment rights.’ CAIR, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, has successfully challenged similar regulations in other states.

‘The government cannot tell Americans how to spend their money or who to financially support,’ the group’s senior litigation attorney Gadeir Abbas said in a statement. ‘Boycotts have been a part of American political life since the founding of our nation, and no state order attempting to ban or limit our right to boycott can be legitimate.’

Sununu was joined at the signing by Israel’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Gilad Erdan.

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Former Vice President and current presidential candidate Mike Pence on Wednesday defended his actions during the certification of the results of the 2020 presidential election when pressed by a supporter of former President Donald Trump over whether he had the constitutional authority to reject a state’s electoral votes.

In a video first shared by liberal network MSNBC, a woman in attendance at a Pence campaign stop in Sioux City, Iowa blamed the presidency of Joe Biden on Pence’s refusal to abide by Trump’s wishes and reject the certification of some electoral votes during the joint session of Congress held on January 6, 2021.

‘If it wasn’t for your vote, we would not have Joe Biden in the White House. Joe Biden shouldn’t be there, and all those wonderful things that you and Trump were doing together would be continuing, and this country would be on the right path,’ the woman said. 

‘Do you ever second guess yourself? That was a constitutional right that you had to send those votes back to the states,’ she added.

Pence responded firmly, saying the issue was one that continued ‘to be misunderstood,’ and argued the Constitution didn’t afford him, or any previous vice president, the authority to reject votes and return them to the states.

‘I’m sorry ma’am, but that’s actually what the Constitution says. No vice president in American history ever asserted the authority that you have been convinced that I had. But I want to tell you, with all due respect, I said before – I said when I announced, President Trump was wrong about my authority that day, and he’s still wrong,’ Pence said.

Trump’s legal team filed a number of challenges to the 2020 election results, but all were rejected. Congress ultimately certified the results in the early hours of Jan. 7 after supporters of the former president stormed the U.S. Capitol building, disrupted the proceedings and forced Pence to be evacuated.

The rift between Pence and Trump caused by the former’s rejection of the arguments he could stop the certification has resurfaced on the 2024 campaign trail as both seek the Republican presidential nomination. Prior to his campaign launch, Pence spoke out about the historical day, calling Trump ‘wrong,’ and declaring ‘history will hold’ him ‘accountable.’

According to a recent Fox News poll, Trump maintains a solid lead with 56%, well ahead of Pence’s 4%.

Health officials in Wisconsin have dropped a fine against a dance studio that staged a performance of ‘The Nutcracker’ in December 2020 despite COVID-19 restrictions on mass gatherings.

Public Health Madison and Dane County canceled the penalty pending against A Leap Above Dance on June 22, the Wisconsin State Journal reported Thursday. The studio is located in Oregon, a Madison suburb.

The health department has alleged that 119 people attended the performance even though the department had banned mass gatherings to slow COVID-19’s spread.

It’s unclear how much the fine totaled. With each of the 119 counts in the department’s complaint punishable by $200, it could have come to $23,800. But Morgan Finke, a spokesperson for the health department, told the State Journal on Wednesday that the maximum would have been $3,200.

Studio owner Natalie Nemeckay said fewer than 100 people were involved in the performance and they were divided into groups of 10 at the most. Photos show performers also wore masks.

The studio joined a lawsuit in February 2021 in which two parents alleged the health department’s order limiting mass gatherings inhibited their children’s ability to participate in indoor sports. The department’s gathering restrictions ended a few months later in June 2021.

The state Supreme Court upheld the health department’s ability to limit gatherings in July 2022 and sent the case back to Dane County Circuit Court. Finke said the court didn’t receive the case until last month after the department’s restrictions had expired and the national COVID-19 emergency had ended. She said it wasn’t in the public interest to continue pursuing the fine.

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Decades before the Supreme Court caused an uproar last week by rejecting affirmative action in higher education, the state of Florida unilaterally banned the use of race as a factor in college admissions, potentially providing an instructive forecast of what to expect in other parts of the country moving forward.

The Supreme Court ended affirmative action in a landmark 6-3 decision last Thursday. The case combined lawsuits brought against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina with the student activist group Students for Fair Admissions, arguing that the schools’ admissions programs discriminated against Asian applicants in violation of, respectively, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

‘A benefit to a student whose herit­age or culture motivated him or her to assume a leadership role or attain a particular goal must be tied to that student’s unique ability to contribute to the university,’ Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the court’s majority opinion.

In other words, the student must be treated based on his or her ex­periences as an individual — not on the basis of race.

‘Many universities have for too long done just the oppo­site,’ Roberts added. ‘And in doing so, they have concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin. Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.’

Liberals from various media outlets and Democrats in Congress slammed the ruling as discriminatory, with some commentators attacking Asian Americans as tools of White people and even White supremacists themselves.

Many Republicans expressed support for the Supreme Court’s decision, including Florida Gov. and 2024 presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, who touted the Sunshine State’s own approach to affirmative action when asked about the ruling.

‘Florida was one of the first states in the nation to ban race and gender preferences in college admissions. We are proud to have a system based on merit instead of woke politics,’ a DeSantis spokesperson told local ABC affiliate WPBF 25.

The Florida Board of Governors, the governing body for the State University System of Florida that includes all public universities in the state, also praised the decision, similarly noting the decision from years ago to prohibit the use of race as a factor in college admissions.

‘The U.S. Supreme Court issued a historic ruling declaring affirmative action in college admissions unconstitutional. This decision will have no impact on the State University System of Florida,’ the board said in a statement.

‘The Free State of Florida has not utilized affirmative action in our higher education system since the One Florida Initiative in 1999,’ the board added. ‘The State University System of Florida provides students equality of opportunity through color-blind admissions. In addition to being the No. 1 state in the nation for higher education, as ranked by U.S. News and World Report since 2017, Florida also has one of the most diverse systems in the country. Florida is proof that diversity can be achieved without affirmative action.’

In 1999, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush signed an executive order known as the ‘One Florida’ initiative, which was billed as an effort to increase diversity in the state without using discriminatory practices.

Among other measures, the order banned ‘racial or gender set-asides, preferences, or quotas’ in state hiring, contracting and public university admissions. Race-based university admissions were replaced with a program that guarantees admission into one of Florida’s public universities for students who graduate from high school in the top 20% of their class, irrespective of their race.

According to the Florida Board of Governors’ admissions regulations, all Florida universities must not include preferences based on ‘race [or] color’ during the admissions process.

Overall representation of Black and Hispanic students at Florida’s public universities declined relative to population in the years immediately following the implementation of One Florida, but not everywhere. Some schools, such as the University of Florida, made gains in Black and Hispanic representation. More recently, however, the gap has widened between Black and Hispanic students and their White counterparts.

Critics of One Florida and proponents of affirmative action have especially pointed to the fact that the share of Black and Hispanic college students has decreased relative to their respective populations of high school seniors.

According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics, for example, 23% of Florida public high school seniors were Black in 1999, and 18% of undergraduate university freshmen were Black. Eight years later, 22% of high school seniors were Black, but the share of freshmen had dipped to 15%, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

However, that decline was primarily driven by falling enrollment at Florida A&M University, the state’s historically Black public university. At most of Florida’s other public universities, the share of Black students actually increased. 

For example, the University of Florida, which boasts the state’s most rigorous admission standards, saw its share of Black students increase from 11% to 14% from 1999 to 2007. Meanwhile, the overall share of Black undergraduates spiked from 7% to 10%.

Some schools, such as Florida State University, experienced a slight dip in Black enrollment over the first decade in which race-conscious admissions were banned. 

More recently, from 2010 to 2021, Black and Hispanic students have become more underrepresented at Florida’s elite universities, according to National Center for Education Statistics data.

In the spring of 2021, 21% of seniors from Florida public high schools were Black. That fall, they made up just 10% of freshmen at one of Florida’s 12 public universities.

Proponents of affirmative action point to such trends as evidence that schools need to consider race in admissions to be fair and realize equality. Others who support the recent Supreme Court decision counter that true equality can only be found in a color-blind society, fluctuations are to be expected as par for the course and the overall result in Florida’s education system undermines the notion of any form of systemic exclusion in admissions based on race.

U.S. News & World Report has ranked Florida as the No. 1 state in the country for higher education every year since 2017, including this year. Florida officials have praised their top spot as a sign of the strength of their education system, while critics downplay the result, arguing U.S. News & World Report’s rankings are using flawed metrics that don’t paint an accurate picture of the education landscape.

Regardless of the rankings, Florida’s top-ranked university says it considers several factors when evaluating a candidate for admission, but race isn’t one of them. 

‘The University of Florida adheres to non-discrimination practices in admissions, and we do not consider race as a factor in our admissions decisions,’ Cynthia Roldán, the school’s director of strategic communications, said in a statement following the Supreme Court decision. 

‘We are guided by a comprehensive, holistic review process that evaluates the academic and nonacademic criteria of applicants, in addition to requirements under federal and state laws as well as the Florida Board of Governors’ regulations.’

In 1999, when One Florida was signed, 69% of freshmen students at the University of Florida were in the top 10% of their graduating class, according to university data and an analysis by the Tampa Bay Times. That number climbed to 82% by 2020, indicating Florida schools are becoming increasingly competitive.  

Florida also plans to extend its emphasis on non-race-based admissions decisions ‘even further’ beyond just affirmative action, according to DeSantis.

‘We have eliminated ‘DEI’ from our public universities,’ DeSantis said Friday while addressing a Moms for Liberty convention in Philadelphia. ‘They say it’s ‘diversity, equity and inclusion.’ But the way it’s practiced, it’s ideology imposed on the institution.’

Over the weekend, a new Florida law recently signed by DeSantis began taking effect that prohibits colleges and universities from spending state or federal money to promote, support or maintain programs that ‘advocate for’ diversity, equity and inclusion [DEI]. Under the law, schools can’t spend money on programs or activities that ‘promote or engage in political or social activism’ as defined by the State Board of Education or the Board of Governors.

Florida isn’t alone in banning the consideration of race in college admissions. Texas, Michigan, Washington and California are among the small number of other states that have done the same.

As for California, supporters of race-conscious admissions point to studies showing the gap between the share of high school graduates who were Black and the share of college freshmen who were Black quadrupled from 1994 to 2009. Others counter by citing data indicating race-blind admissions led to higher grades and fewer dropouts at colleges and universities.

In Texas, meanwhile, Black enrollment at the University of Texas at Austin dropped significantly in 1997, when the state banned race-based criteria, according to a U.S. Commission on Civil Rights analysis.

However, that share recovered to about where it was before the ban once Texas implemented a plan similar to Florida’s guaranteeing admission for high schoolers in the top 20% of their class. The Texas version guaranteed admission for the top 10% of each high school’s graduating class.

According to the commission’s analysis, however, admissions for Black and Hispanic students outside that 10% decreased.

Leaders of education and parents rights groups across the country sounded off after first lady Jill Biden claimed that her husband, President Biden, will always be ‘the education president.’

‘I knew that Joe would always be the education president, because he knows that … the success of our nation starts with you, the educators who shape our students’ lives,’ Jill Biden told a crowd at the 2023 NEA teacher’s union’s annual meeting on Tuesday.

The first lady’s comment sparked criticism from education leaders across the country who took issue with the president’s record on education, including Sheri Few, president and founder of United States Parents Involved in Education.

‘In light of who her audience was, she was probably 100% accurate when it comes to Biden supporting the liberal NEA agenda,’ Few told Fox News Digital in a statement. ‘Biden is THE most anti-parent education president in the history of this country! And he is THE education president that carries the water for the NEA.

‘He is THE education president whose Department of Justice wanted to label parents as domestic terrorists for objecting to pornography and critical Marxist theories in schools.’

Few continued, ‘He is THE education president whose Press Secretary insisted that trans kids are ‘our kids’ and ‘belong to all of us.’ And he is THE education president who said, ‘There is no such thing as someone else’s child…Our nation’s children are all our children.’’

Jill Biden’s comment comes shortly after the ‘Nation’s Report Card’ showed that reading and math scores for 13-year-olds dipped to their lowest rate in decades exacerbated by school closures that Biden’s critics said he encouraged.

‘If being the education president means sharing a bed with the teachers’ unions, locking children out of their schools for over a year and vilifying their parents for objecting, and subsequently, presiding over the total evaporation of two decades of progress in reading and math, then yes, the title fits perfectly, and he deserves a crown,’ Erika Sanzi, director of outreach at Parents Defending Education and a former educator, told Fox News Digital.

Dr. Jameson Taylor, American Family Association senior fellow and director of policy for AFA Action, told Fox News Digital that Biden had a ‘once-in-a-generation opportunity’ to become ‘the education president’ but ultimately ‘failed America’s kids.

‘Instead, Biden took the easy way out of enabling the mediocre status quo,’ Taylor said. ‘He has also failed to prioritize the things that matter – reading, writing and math – and is preoccupied with making every school in the country comply with CRT and transgender ideologies that are compromising student safety.’

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.