President Biden on Wednesday vetoed the bill that would have scrapped his $400 billion student loan handout and vowed he was not ‘going to back down’ when it came to forgiving the college debt of millions across the country.

‘Folks, Republican in Congress led an effort to pass a bill blocking my administration’s plan to provide up to $10,000 in student debt relief and up to $20,000 for borrowers that received a Pell Grant. Nearly 90% of those relief dollars go to people making less than $75,000 a year,’ Biden said in a video posted on Twitter. 

‘I’m not going to back down on my efforts to help tens of millions of working and middle class families. That’s why I’m going to veto this bill,’ he said. 

Amid his railing against Republicans, Biden made no mention of the two Democratic senators, Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Jon Tester, D-Mont., who joined all Republicans in voting to advance the bill last week. Independent Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema also voted in favor with the final tally coming to 52-46.

Biden also made no mention of Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, and Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., who joined Republicans in voting for the bill in the House of Representatives. The final House vote tally was 218-203.

The president went on to say that some of the members who voted for the bill had ‘personally received loans to keep their small business afloat during the pandemic,’ and supported ‘huge tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy.’ 

‘But when it comes to hardworking Americans trying to get ahead, dealing with student debt relief, that’s where they drew the line. I think it’s wrong,’ he said.

‘Let me make something really clear, I’m never going to apologize for helping working and middle class Americans as they recover from this pandemic. Never,’ he added before signing his veto of the bill.

Biden’s veto of the bill marks his fifth veto since taking office.

Under the program announced last year, Biden said he would cancel up to $10,000 in student loans for people making less than $125,000, and up to $20,000 for students who received Pell Grants. That program was expected to cost the government more than $400 billion in lost debt repayment, but the program was put on hold after a court blocked it.

The resolution approved by the House and Senate was written under the Congressional Review Act, which lets Congress reject an executive branch policy as long as both the House and Senate pass a resolution disapproving of that policy.

Given the mostly partisan nature of the votes in the House and Senate, it’s unlikely Congress will be able to find the two-thirds majority needed in each chamber to override Biden’s veto.

Fox News’ Peter Kasperowicz contributed to this report.

The United Kingdom should prohibit technology developers from working on advanced artificial intelligence tools unless they have a license to do so, according to the British Labour Party.

Lucy Powell, a spokesperson for Britain’s main left-wing political party, told the Guardian this week that much stricter rules should be imposed on companies regarding the training of their AI products on large datasets similar to those used by OpenAI to build ChatGPT.

‘My real point of concern is the lack of any regulation of the large language models that can then be applied across a range of AI tools, whether that’s governing how they are built, how they are managed or how they are controlled,’ said Powell, who suggested AI should be licensed similarly to both the medical field and nuclear power. Both fields are tightly regulated by British government bodies.

‘That is the kind of model we should be thinking about, where you have to have a license in order to build these models,’ she told the Guardian. ‘These seem to me to be the good examples of how this can be done.’

Powell emphasized that the government’s focus should be on regulating technological development rather than banning certain technologies outright, as the European Union as done with facial recognition tools.

‘This technology is moving so fast that it needs an active, interventionist government approach, rather than a laissez-faire one,’ she said. ‘Bias, discrimination, surveillance — this technology can have a lot of unintended consequences.’

Experts have expressed concern about the potential of AI being weaponized to manipulate information and promote certain ideologies. Another concern is the datasets themselves on which products such as ChatGPT are based containing biased or discriminatory information having downstream effects, such as if AI tools are used to help make hiring and firing decisions.

Powell’s comments came on the same day that Matt Clifford, an adviser to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, warned in an interview that AI could have the power to be behind advances that ‘kill many humans’ in just two years’ time. Clifford also cited the potential for AI to create dangerous cyber and biological weapons that could lead to many deaths.

‘It’s certainly true that if we try and create artificial intelligence that is more intelligent than humans and we don’t know how to control it, then that’s going to create a potential for all sorts of risks now and in the future,’ said Clifford. ‘So, I think there’s lots of different scenarios to worry about, but I certainly think it’s right that it should be very high on the policymakers’ agendas.’

Sunak recently met with leading AI researchers and acknowledged the potential ‘existential threat’ posed by AI.

‘The PM and CEOs discussed the risks of the technology, ranging from disinformation and national security, to existential threats,’ the participants said in a joint statement. ‘The PM set out how the approach to AI regulation will need to keep pace with the fast-moving advances in this technology.’

Weeks earlier, the outgoing British chief scientific adviser warned that AI could prove as transformational as the Industrial Revolution, urging politicians to act immediately to prevent significant job loss.

‘There will be a big impact on jobs, and that impact could be as big as the Industrial Revolution was,’ Sir Patrick Vallance told the House of Commons’ science, innovation and technology committee. ‘There will be jobs that can be done by AI, which can either mean a lot of people don’t have a job or a lot of people have jobs that only a human could do.’

Powell similarly told the Guardian that she believed the disruption to the British economy could be as drastic as the deindustrialization of the 1970s and 1980s. 

Sunak arrived in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday for a two-day visit. During their meeting, the British prime minister is reportedly hoping to pitch the United Kingdom as a world leader in artificial intelligence governance.

Meanwhile, the Labour Party is working to finalize its own policies on advanced technology. Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, is reportedly expected to give a speech on the subject next week.

FIRST ON FOX: Democratic Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, one of the Biden campaign’s national co-chairs and a likely Senate candidate, thanked Hunter Biden in 2016 for his ‘generous contribution’ to her campaign and asked if he could brief her ‘on the Ukraine,’ emails show.

Blunt Rochester, who was named co-chair along with several others, including Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., previously served in the same role for Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign. She is expected to launch a run for the open Senate seat in Delaware this month, Politico reported.

Fox News Digital previously reported that Hunter served as an outside adviser to Coons during his successful 2010 Senate bid, making Blunt Rochester at least the second campaign co-chair with ties to the embattled first son.

Months before winning her election against Republican Hans Reigle, Blunt Rochester sent an email to Hunter thanking him for donating to her campaign.

‘I just told Brian that I saw your contribution online,’ she wrote Feb. 5, 2016. ‘I can’t thank you enough. You know that it’s not easy running for any office.  It means a lot to have you on my team.

‘By the way, I’m sure Brian will tell you that I will be in DC next Tuesday and Wednesday.’

Hunter replied less than an hour later, writing, ‘Let me know what more I can do- lets do a fundraiser in the second quarter down here in DC.’

Ten days later, on the evening of Feb 15, 2016, Blunt Rochester thanked Hunter again for the donation and asked if he could brief her ‘on the Ukraine.’

Hunter made four donations to Blunt Rochester’s campaign in 2016, totaling $3,000, according to FEC records.

‘Thank you again for your generous contribution to my campaign,’ she wrote. ‘Your support means so much to me. Brian suggested I reached out to you to see if you could brief me on the Ukraine. Is there someone who manages your calendar or should I give you a few times for a phone call?’

‘Let me know when you have time,’ Hunter responded.

‘Are you free tomorrow after 2:00 or anytime on Friday?’ Blunt Rochester asked Feb. 17, 2016.

Hunter replied an hour later, saying he’d be available to discuss Ukraine the following week.

‘I am at my World Food Program Board retreat through Friday,’ he wrote. ‘Let’s look for sometime next week. More than Ukraine I’d love to talk to you about the Syrian Refugee Crisis. I just returned from the refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon and it is dire circumstances. Let me know.’

‘FYI,’ Blunt Rochester responded, ‘I worked in Jordan for three months in 2002 on a USAID funded project. I am very interested in what is happening in the region.’

Hunter then forwarded the email chain to Joan Mayer, an executive of Hunter’s now-defunct investment firm Rosemont Seneca Advisors, and asked her to schedule a call with Blunt Rochester.

The Biden and Blunt Rochester campaigns did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

The email thread with Blunt Rochester started one day after Hunter thanked the president of Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings for ‘extravagant’ birthday gifts. 

Fox News Digital reported Wednesday that, in addition to the more than $50,000 a month Hunter received while serving on Burisma’s board from April 2014 to April 2019, the then-vice president’s son apparently received lavish gifts from the company’s founder, Mykola Zlochevsky, less than two months before the top Ukraine prosecutor investigating Burisma was infamously fired.

On Feb. 4, 2016, Hunter wrote that he was thankful for the ‘beautiful birthday gifts’ that he described as ‘far too extravagant but much appreciated.’

The Obama administration pushed for the prosecutor investigating Zlochevsky at the time, Viktor Shokin, to be removed from his post. Less than two weeks after Hunter expressed gratitude for the gifts from Zlochevsky, the Obama White House released a readout of Vice President Biden’s call with Ukraine’s president at the time, saying, ‘The Vice President also commended President Poroshenko’s decision to replace Prosecutor General Shokin, which paves the way for needed reform of the prosecutorial service.’

On the same day as the readout, Hunter Biden’s longtime business partner, Eric Schwerin, emailed him an article that mentioned Poroshenko calling for Shokin’s resignation in his statement.

At the end of March 2016, Schwerin forwarded another article to Hunter with the headline ‘Ukraine’s parliament sacks corruption-tainted prosecutor,’ referring to Shokin. 

Shokin was fired in late March 2016, and the case was closed by the prosecutor who replaced him. Joe Biden later boasted on camera in 2018 that when he was vice president he successfully pressured Ukraine to fire Shokin.

‘I said, ‘I’m telling you, you’re not getting the billion dollars.’ I said, ‘You’re not getting the billion. I’m going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours.’ I looked at them and said, ‘I’m leaving in six hours.’ If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money,’ Biden said, according to a transcript of Biden’s remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations. 

‘Well, son of a b—-. (Laughter.) He got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time.’

Biden allies, though, maintained that his intervention had nothing to do with his son but was rather tied to the administration’s concerns of corruption in Ukraine. At the time, as vice president to former President Obama, Biden was running U.S.-Ukraine policy and anti-corruption campaigns. 

Fox News’ Haley Chi-Sing contributed to this report.

Instagram’s algorithms connect and promote a ‘vast network’ of pedophiles interested in ‘underage sex content,’ a bombshell new report found.

The Meta-owned social media company’s algorithms promote illicit content to accounts ‘openly devoted to the commission and purchase’ of the material, according to investigations by the Wall Street Journal and researchers at Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

‘Instagram connects pedophiles and guides them to content sellers via recommendation systems that excel at linking those who share niche interests,’ the WSJ and academic researchers found.

‘Though out of sight for most on the platform, the sexualized accounts on Instagram are brazen about their interest,’ the report says.

The researchers reportedly found that Instagram enabled people to search explicit hashtags such as #pedowhore and #preteensex and connected them to accounts that used the terms to advertise child-sex material for sale. Such accounts often claim to be run by the children themselves and use overtly sexual handles incorporating words such as ‘little slut for you,’ the report claims.

According to the WSJ, Instagram accounts offering to sell illicit sex material generally do not publish it openly, instead posting ‘menus’ of content.

Researchers at the Stanford Internet Observatory found that certain accounts invite buyers to commission specific acts, WSJ reported. Some menus include prices for videos of children harming themselves and ‘imagery of the minor performing sexual acts with animals.’ At the right price, children are available for in-person ‘meet ups,’ the researchers found.

The promotion of underage-sex content violates Meta’s own rules, in addition to being illegal under federal law. 

In response to questions from WSJ, Meta ‘acknowledged problems within its enforcement operations and said it has set up an internal task force to address the issues raised.’ ‘Child exploitation is a horrific crime,’ the company told the Journal, adding, ‘We’re continuously investigating ways to actively defend against this behavior.’

Meta said it has in the past two years taken down 27 pedophile networks and is planning more removals, according to the report.

Since receiving queries from the newspaper, the platform said it has blocked ‘thousands of hashtags that sexualize children, some with millions of posts, and restricted its systems from recommending users search for terms known to be associated with sex abuse.’ 

It said it is also working on preventing its systems from recommending that potentially pedophilic adults connect with one another or interact with one another’s content, the report states.

FIRST ON FOX: GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley plans on cutting down President Biden’s ‘disastrous’ energy policies as well as bringing oil production back to the United States, if she is elected to the Oval Office in 2024.

Haley, who previously served as the governor of South Carolina, shared her energy plan with Fox News Digital ahead of her formal announcement in Texas on Thursday.

In her list of five main promises, Haley said she would work to ’empower American producers’ to boost oil production in the U.S. while fighting against the demonization of the oil and gas industry. She also said the government would have a more hands-off approach in energy production and spending while also ensuring the speedy permission and building of interstate pipelines. 

The former ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump administration honed in on the Environmental Protection Agency and ‘radical environmental groups,’ promising she would not allow them to halt any new energy projects on the horizon.

The GOP candidate also slammed Biden’s green energy policies, saying she would ‘roll back Biden’s wasteful green energy subsidies and regulations.’ Haley specified that a number of subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act could cost as much as $1.2 trillion along with a number of ‘Biden administration rules and regulations that would hamstring our oil and gas industries,’ citing Biden’s power plant regulations and his crackdown on gas-powered cars.

Finally, Haley said she would ‘stand up to Russia and Iran’ in an effort to halt their energy imports and establish a strong foreign policy. 

Biden and his administration have come under fire for his energy and oil policies since taking office, including canceling the Keystone XL pipeline during his first week, the overall increase in gas prices, and his environmental, social and corporate governance agenda.

The president’s most recent energy crackdown comes as the administration is expected to finalize regulations that restrict which home gas-powered furnaces consumers are able to buy in the future. Some officials say the regulations would ultimately restrict consumer choice, drive prices higher and most likely have a low impact on greenhouse gas emissions.

Biden’s decision to revoke the Keystone XL pipeline’s permits in 2021, effectively shutting down the project, received much backlash from Republican lawmakers and energy industry representatives who argued it would have helped keep gas prices down and ensure energy security. However, a congressionally mandated report released in January says the Keystone XL project would have created between 16,149 and 59,000 jobs and would have had a positive economic impact of between $3.4 billion and $9.6 billion, citing various studies.

Likewise, the president has come under fire for touting low gas prices in the wake of record-high prices in 2022.

‘Gas prices are down around $1.60 a gallon from their peak this summer – and my Administration will keep working to lower costs for American families,’ Biden tweeted in late January.

The White House has repeatedly put blame on the COVID-19 pandemic, the supply chain crisis and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for high gas prices. Many rushed to Twitter at the time to call the president out on his hastiness to claim credit.

Most recently, the debt ceiling deal – titled the Fiscal Responsibility Act – included a provision to fast-track a 303-mile West Virginia-to-Virginia natural gas pipeline project for approval. The pipeline, which is 94% complete, is projected to create 2,500 construction jobs, $40 million in new tax revenue for West Virginia, $10 million in new tax revenue for Virginia and up to $250 million in royalties for West Virginia landowners.

Fox News’ Thomas Catennaci contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators on Capitol Hill expressed concerns over the PGA Tour’s merger with Saudi-backed LIV Golf, particularly over human rights in the Middle Eastern nation.

‘I was really sickened by it. I thought the PGA was taking a principled stand,’ Sen. Tim Kaine told Fox News. ‘When I saw the news yesterday, I was really disappointed because it seems they set aside all the human rights objections that they had and just decided ‘okay, well, we can make more money if we go a different direction.”

WATCH: SENATORS SOUND OFF ON SAUDI ARABIA’S HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD AFTER PGA-LIV MERGER

‘Values don’t have price tags, and you out to stand for your values,’ the Virginia Democrat added.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal called ther merger ‘craven, blatant sportswashing.’

‘I am disappointed and even outraged by the PGA’s sellout,’ the Connecticut Democrat said. ‘The PGA out to be ashamed, and it’s leadership, frankly, has lost all credibility, certainly all moral authority.’

The PGA Tour, a nonprofit, and LIV announced the surprise merger Tuesday, ending months of intense litigation. Activists and a bipartisan swath of lawmakers criticized the agreement over Saudi Arabia’s human rights record, while others, including former President Trump and Phil Mickelson, praised the deal.

Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, said he wants to see the details of the agreement and ensure ‘there are no antitrust concerns.’ Blumenthal also questioned whether there was an antitrust violation and said Congress may have an oversight role.

Sen. JD Vance referenced how Trump predicted the LIV-PGA merger.

‘The real story here is that the PGA engaged in moral preening about Saudi Arabia for a year before eventually getting in bed with them because the money was good,’ the Ohio Republican said. ‘They probably cost their own players a lot of money, and they certainly made their brand look completely foolish.’

LIV has drawn criticism from human rights activists as well as 9/11 families over the golf organization’s backing from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. 9/11 Families United Chair Terry Strada said ‘PGA Tour leaders should be ashamed of their hypocrisy and greed’ since the U.S.-based golf group aligned itself with victims of the Sept. 11 terror attacks while fighting with LIV.

‘The concerns I have are centered around all of the human rights abuses from the Saudis,’ Sen. Marsha Blackburn told Fox News. ‘That should concern everyone.’

Vance pointed out that, while he doesn’t ‘like the Saudi Arabians in a lot of ways,’ the U.S. government considers the Middle Eastern nation an important ally.

‘They own a lot of oil and we can’t deny that fact,’ he told Fox News. ‘If we want to completely prevent people from doing business with the Saudi Arabians, the U.S. government should maybe be first in line.’

Click here to see more interviews with lawmakers.

Isabelle McDonnell contributed to the accompanying video.

Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry celebrated the 79th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy by likening the historic event that resulted in the deaths of thousands of American and allied service members, and the eventual victory over the Nazi regime, to the fight against climate change. 

According to a report by Recharge, Kerry made the comparison in Norway on Tuesday during an appearance at a shipping exhibition in which he was the keynote speaker.

‘Today is June 6th. D-Day. One of the most singularly important moments of history,’ Kerry told those in attendance. ‘A moment that calls to mind every single thing that defined the past half of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century.’

‘They were fighting for a set of values I would say to you are just as important today as they were then. They put their lives on the line to fight against fascism, tyranny and misinformation and the savage slaughter of innocent lives,’ he said.

‘Make no mistake, just as that was a fight for the future as much as anything we have ever faced, what we are seeing now is the same,’ he later added.

According to the report, Kerry argued that failure to address climate change could lead to greater consequences than what the world faced in 1944 when then-German leader Adolf Hitler still controlled much of Europe.

‘What is also clear right now is we can also win this fight, but it requires the same level of innovation and mobilization that was required back then by those in the greatest generation,’ he said. ‘Today’s threat comes from all of us. It comes from the result of the things we do or avoid doing.’

The report said that Kerry faulted modern generations for not acting decisively to address climate change, something he argued the generation who took on the Axis powers in World War II ‘rose to the occasion’ to do.

‘This is the fight of our times. A fight against greed, selfishness, disinformation and outright lies and a fight for that cleaner, healthier and more prosperous and safer world,’ he added.

Kerry recently came under fire for other controversial remarks he made earlier last month when he stated that ‘net-zero’ energy goals were impossible without addressing greenhouse gas emissions from the agriculture sector. He said the industry creates 33% of the world’s total carbon emissions and argued that reducing those emissions must be ‘front and center’ in the quest to defeat global warming.

He added that food emissions alone are projected to cause an additional half degree of warming by 2050, noting that the global population is increasing and recently surpassed eight billion people.

A group of Republican lawmakers later called on President Biden to disavow Kerry’s comments, referring to them as ‘deeply offensive,’ and ‘a blatant slap in the face to the hardworking individuals that spend their lives sustainably producing our world’s food, fuel, and fiber.’

Fox News’ Thomas Catenacci contributed to this report.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday defended sending migrant flights to California in recent days, arguing that states and cities with ‘sanctuary’ policies in place should bear the brunt of the ongoing migrant crisis.

DeSantis, who is running for the Republican 2024 presidential nomination, visited the border in Arizona and was asked about the pushback his state has received from California for sending two migrant flights there – the state’s sanctuary policies limit cooperation with federal immigration officials.

‘These sanctuary jurisdictions are part of the reason we have this problem because they have endorsed and agitated for these types of open-border policies,’ DeSantis said. ‘They have bragged that they are sanctuary jurisdictions.’

California officials have accused Florida of exploiting vulnerable migrants and have even raised the possibility of filing criminal kidnapping charges against the Floridian officials responsible.

‘The state of Florida needs to be held accountable for these actions,’ California Attorney General Rob Bonta said this week. ‘These actions are cruel, they’re inhumane, they’re morally bankrupt, they’re wrong.’

He said it was a ‘cheap political act to get cheap political points.’ Bonta had previously issued a statement that called the move ‘state-sanctioned kidnapping’ and that his office was evaluating criminal or civil action against those involved in the transports.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom told NBC News on Wednesday that he believes a crime has been committed ‘on the basis of all the interviews and all the facts that are now in evidence.’

The Florida Division of Emergency Management told Fox News in an email that Florida flew the migrants to California as part of a voluntary relocation.

‘Through verbal and written consent, these volunteers indicated they wanted to go to California. A contractor was present and ensured they made it safely to a 3rd-party NGO,’ the email said.

The controversy is part of an ongoing battle over migrant transports, which began last year when Texas began bussing migrants to New York City, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and other sanctuary cities. Florida has also sent migrants to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. New York City has sought to bus migrants to other parts of the state.

DeSantis shrugged off the controversy Wednesday, saying it’s right that sanctuary cities that have encouraged migrants to travel to the U.S. border should also receive the migrants.

‘They attacked the previous administration’s efforts to try to have border security. And so that’s the policies they’re staking out. And then what? When they have to deal with some of the fruits of that, they all of a sudden become very, very upset about that?’

He echoed his previous comments that the border should be ‘closed.’

‘I don’t think we should have any of this. But if there’s a policy to have an open border then I think the sanctuary jurisdictions should be the ones that have to bear that,’ he said. ‘We’re not a sanctuary in Florida.’

A federal judge on Tuesday halted two New York counties’ orders designed to block New York City from sending migrants to hotels in their jurisdictions as the Big Apple scrambles to tackle a migrant crisis.

Judge Nelson Roman of the Southern District of New York blocked the enactment of orders by Orange County and Rockland County that barred local hotels and motels from making rooms available to migrants from New York City.

The counties acted after New York City officials announced May 5 they would transport hundreds of migrants to the counties ahead of the end of Title 42 on May 11. 

Civil rights groups challenged counties’ moves, arguing that they are illegal and discriminatory.

Over 60,000 migrants flooded into the ‘sanctuary’ city in the last year, quickly overwhelming social services and homeless centers. NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ administration has tried a number of creative ways to house migrants, including using school gyms and police training facilities. He recently proposed housing migrants in private homes.

Adams declared a state of emergency May 5 and a ‘new voluntary program’ to transport migrants to other parts of New York state.

The judge found convincing the plaintiffs’ arguments that migrants were being discriminated against on the basis of national origin, alienage and race, which violates the equal protection clause under the Fourteenth Amendment.

The controversy is one of a number that arose between cities and states across the country as they seek to shift migrants to different jurisdictions. New York City’s migrant crisis was exacerbated by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s program to bus migrants to sanctuary cities including NYC, Philadelphia, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

Cities in Texas have also bussed migrants to cities deeper into the interior. It was revealed this week that Florida officials, who have previously sent migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, have also been flying migrants to California.

Those flights sparked a furious response from California officials, who accused Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis of kidnapping and exploiting the migrants involved. Florida officials pushed back, publishing video they say shows the flights were voluntary.

DeSantis on Wednesday said it was right that states and cities with ‘sanctuary’ policies bear the brunt of the migrant crisis.

‘If there’s a policy to have an open border, then I think these sanctuary jurisdictions should be the ones that have to bear that,’ he said. ‘We’re not a sanctuary in Florida.’

EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., suggested Speaker Kevin McCarthy needed to demonstrate his loyalty to House conservatives on Wednesday, after he and a group of House Freedom Caucus members derailed a procedural vote on a GOP-backed bill on gas stove access.

‘Kevin can’t choose House conservatives as his coalition partner on things that are messaging bills and facial in nature, and then choose to keep [House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries] as his coalition partner on consequential $4 trillion decisions,’ Gaetz told Fox News Digital in reference to the debt limit vote.

‘He’s got to be forced into monogamy with us as his coalition partner or Hakeem. And if Hakeem is his coalition partner, then we’re not going to play out the failure theater on stuff like we saw put on the floor this week.’

Eleven hardline Republicans banded together to tank a procedural measure, known as a vote on rules, that was meant to precede a GOP bill cementing Americans’ access to gas stoves. It was the first time a rules vote has failed in two decades.

Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus and their allies have signaled they will blockade further action on the chamber floor over anger at McCarthy for how he handled the debt limit deal struck between him and President Biden over Memorial Day weekend, which passed along bipartisan lines in both the House and Senate. Many have claimed the GOP got ‘rolled’ on the compromise, pointing out that more Democrats than Republicans had voted for it in both chambers.

The rebels also accused GOP leadership of exacting revenge against Clyde for his and others’ attempt to block the debt limit bill from coming to a vote in the House last week by stymieing legislation introduced by Clyde to roll back a Biden administration gun control provision. 

A GOP lawmaker told Fox News Digital that members of the dissenting group would be meeting with McCarthy later ‘in order to understand if he will understand how to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.’

‘We have an agreement with the Speaker. And I think that revisiting that agreement, and having an audit of compliance with that agreement, is the work ahead,’ the lawmaker said.

House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., told Fox News Digital on Wednesday, ‘I think it will stay at a standstill until there’s trust that has been reestablished.’

Buck said of the kind of guarantees members would need, ‘I don’t need commitments in writing. We’ve had those and they’ve been broken. And so I think that it’s more important that we actually see the plan implemented.’

He called for a time limit in the Senate to consider House-passed appropriations bills, and if the upper chamber fails to advance them in that time, that ‘the House doesn’t take up any Senate legislation at all.’ Buck also called for ‘personnel changes’ on the Rules Committee and others, but did not elaborate on who.

‘A lot of this could have been avoided had the Rules Committee agreed to a few amendments that members wanted. Even if the amendments didn’t pass, it still would have been appropriate to have members be able to amend a bill as significant as a debt ceiling bill,’ Buck said.

Conservatives have accused McCarthy of violating the terms of an agreement made to secure their support during the speakership vote earlier this year. 

‘We’re having to grapple with the fact that the agreement that allowed Kevin McCarthy to be speaker was violated,’ Gaetz said. ‘So now, we have to recreate the power-sharing infrastructure of the House of Representatives.’

He continued, ‘Right now, you know, we see Hakeem Jeffries as the more consequential coalition partner in Kevin’s eyes, and we don’t want that to be true. We want Kevin to be our speaker, not Hakeem’s speaker.’

Among those ‘broken promises’ made by McCarthy in January, Buck said, was a failure to tackle unauthorized spending – which he has said made up a large share of discretionary spending. 

‘They’ve been telling me that they have been trying to do things for several months now, and that the chairmen are not holding the hearings and getting things done. And they’re hoping to be able to move the chairs of the different committees,’ Buck said.

Both conservatives appeared to distance themselves from the idea of calling for a ‘motion to vacate the chair,’ which under the current terms allows just one House member to trigger a vote to take away McCarthy’s gavel. The idea had been floated by some hardliners in the conference last week amid the debt limit bill fallout. 

‘Certainly, there are groups that are meeting and talking about that at this point,’ Buck said, though he added, ‘We don’t have any plans to introduce the motion to vacate anytime soon.’

Gaetz said, ‘I’m not looking to vacate and I’m not looking to placate.’ Asked to elaborate, he answered, ‘I think those words speak for themselves.’