Former Vice President Mike Pence is speaking out against the decision by Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers to welcome an LGBTQIA+ group called the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence at the team’s annual Pride Night.

The former vice president, taking to Twitter on Wednesday, said that Dodger’s decision to honor the group after it rescinded its original invitation was ‘deeply offensive.’

Pence, who’s expected to launch a 2024 Republican presidential campaign next week, expressed his opinions as he retweeted a Fox News Digital story regarding the controversy.

‘Having been raised in a Catholic family, the Dodgers decision to invite the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a hateful group that blatantly mocks Catholicism, to their event next month is deeply offensive,’ Pence wrote on Twitter. ‘Last summer the MLB moved their All-Star Game out of Georgia over a lie about voter ID and now they are apologizing and welcoming anti-Catholic bigots back to Dodger Stadium with open arms.’

The former vice president, a social conservative who’s long been a champion to evangelical voters, argued that ‘the MLB should not be apologizing to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, they should be apologizing to Catholics across America. America’s pastime should respect the faith of every American no matter what.’

The MLB team announced that it would be honoring the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group of ‘queer and trans nuns,’ during a June 16 event, but quickly received backlash from religious groups for the decision given the history of anti-Catholic messaging and shocking performances.

The team said last week it would no longer be honoring the group during the upcoming LGBTQ event.

‘Given the strong feelings of people who have been offended by the sisters’ inclusion in our evening, and in an effort not to distract from the great benefits that we’ve seen over the years of Pride Night, we are deciding to remove them from this year’s group of honorees,’ the Dodgers said last week.

The next day, LA Pride announced it would no longer be participating in the event. 

The Dodgers reversed their decision five days later and welcomed the group back.

The Dodgers also received backlash from Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and religious advocacy group CatholicVote for allowing the group to participate in its festivities.

Longtime Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, a three-time Cy Young Award winner, said this week he disagrees with his team’s move.

The Dodgers’ decisions on the anti-Catholic group come amid a trend of well-known companies being called out for sponsoring individuals with controversial viewpoints and lifestyles.

Bud Light recently came under fire for teaming up with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, and individuals nationwide began boycotting the brand as a result of the campaign.

Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday picked a longtime ally who oversaw Texas’ elections in 2022 to temporarily serve as attorney general following Republican Ken Paxton’s historic impeachment on allegations of misconduct and crimes.

John Scott, who stepped down as Texas Secretary of State last year, takes over as the state’s top lawyer on an interim basis while Paxton awaits a trial in the state Senate that could result in his permanent removal. The trial is set to begin no later than Aug. 28.

Paxton was impeached last weekend by the Texas House of Representatives, triggering his immediate suspension from office.

Abbott has kept silent about Paxton in the week since House Republicans began impeachment proceedings. The governor announced Scott’s appointment in a statement that did not mention Paxton or comment on the accusations against him.

‘John Scott has the background and experience needed to step in as a short-term interim Attorney General during the time the Attorney General has been suspended from duty,’ Abbott said.

Scott has been a trusted hand of Abbott’s for more than a decade. He served as a state litigator when Abbott was attorney general, and when Abbott’s pick for secretary of state in 2019 was derailed after a bungled review of voter rolls, the governor turned to Scott instead.

At the time, the appointment alarmed voting rights groups over Scott’s brief stint as a member of President Donald Trump’s legal team that challenged the 2020 election results. Scott withdrew from the case after only a few days and has said he does not dispute that President Joe Biden won the election.

Paxton weathered years of scandal and maintained his party’s support to win three statewide attorney general’s races before the vote in the Republican-controlled House abruptly swept him from power.

The vote came after a monthslong House investigation into the attorney general that resulted in 20 charges alleging sweeping abuses of power, including obstruction of justice, bribery and abuse of public trust.

Paxton has criticized the impeachment as an attempt to ‘overthrow the will of the people and disenfranchise the voters of our state.’ He has said the charges are based on ‘hearsay and gossip, parroting long-disproven claims.’

Texas’ senators will serve as ‘jurors’ in Paxton’s upcoming trial — one of whom could be his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, who has not said whether she will participate in the proceedings.

During his yearlong stint as Texas’ election chief, Scott was tasked with trying to give voters confidence about election results and the ability to cast a ballot after Republicans passed a sweeping new voting law. Those efforts got off to a bumpy start during Texas’ first-in-the-nation primary as voters struggled to navigate new mail voting requirements, resulting in counties throwing out nearly 23,000 mail ballots.

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FIRST ON FOX—Republican Congressman Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., will introduce legislation Thursday to prohibit universities that ‘authorize antisemitic events on campus’ from participating in student loan and grant programs.

The ‘‘Stop Antisemitism on College Campuses Act’’ was proposed in response to a recent controversial CUNY Law School commencement speech, where the speaker, student Fatima Mousa Mohammed, accused the U.S. military and Israel of ‘indiscriminate’ murder, and asked students to join a ‘revolution’ against Zionism, capitalism and racism.

Mohammed said that Israel ‘continues to indiscriminately rain bullets and bombs on worshipers, murdering the old, the young, attacking even funerals and graveyards’ and encourages ‘lynch mobs to target Palestinian homes and businesses as it imprisons its children.’

The speech drew bipartisan backlash from progressives like Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., who called the address ‘anti-Israel derangement syndrome,’ and former New York Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin, who said that taxpayer money should be pulled from the college for ‘raging antisemitism.’

Lawler is calling for CUNY to ‘face stiff penalties if they continue to let hate have a home’ through his bill, which would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to add that an institution cannot ‘authorize, facilitate, provide funding for, or otherwise support’ antisemitism. 

‘No college or university should receive a single dollar of federal education funding if they peddle in the promotion of antisemitism at an event on their campus.’ -Mike Lawler, R-N.Y.

‘CUNY should be ashamed of itself for allowing this ridiculous antisemitism to permeate on its campus,’ he added. ‘Stopping antisemitism dead in its tracks is critical for supporting our Jewish communities in New York.’

Jeffery Lax, a law professor at the university, told Fox News’ Trace Gallagher Wednesday on ‘Fox News @ Night,’ ‘In my 20 years of doing this, this is the worst, most disgusting commencement speech I’ve ever heard.’

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of New York and New Jersey tweeted, ‘We are appalled to see such an egregious display of hostility toward ‘Zionists’ (which is how many Jews see themselves) and Israel in CUNY Law’s commencement address. This is yet another example of the harm Jewish students experience on campus.’

The pro-Israel American campus group tracked 18 incidents since 2015 on CUNY law school campus where students or faculty spoke out against Israel.

According to the Jewish Virtual Library, 36 states have adopted laws, executive orders, or resolutions designed to discourage boycotts against Israel. Many, but not all of these laws have been designed to limit or discourage Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) groups on college campuses.

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Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis drew laughs from an audience in Iowa after hitting back against criticism from former President Donald Trump on his record as Florida governor.

‘He used to say how great Florida was,’ DeSantis told a reporter following a speech Tuesday night on the campaign trail in Iowa. ‘Hell, his whole family moved to Florida under my governorship. Are you kidding me?’

The Florida Republican’s comments drew a loud laugh from the crowd.

‘Look, I’m going to respond to attacks,’ DeSantis added.

‘I mean, if you say Cuomo did a better job with COVID than Florida did — first of all, that’s not what he used to say. Six months ago he would have never said that, right?’

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

Trump, who recent Fox News polling shows holds a substantial lead on DeSantis among GOP primary voters, has criticized DeSantis for weeks over his record in Florida, including attacks that DeSantis says are ‘delusional.’

‘He’s been attacking me by moving left,’ DeSantis said last week.

‘Remember, I left that decision up to the Governors!’ Trump, who moved his primary residence to Florida in 2019 after living there part-time for decades, posted on Truth Social. ‘For COVID Death Rates Per State, Ron, as Governor of Florida, did worse than New York.’

‘In Education, Florida ranks among the worst in the Country and on crime statistics, Florida ranked Third Worst in Murder, Third Worst in Rape, and Third Worst in Aggravated Assault,’ Trump said. ‘For 2022, Jacksonville was ranked as one of the Top 25 Major Crime Cities in the Country, with Tampa and Orlando not doing much better…’

DeSantis returned to Iowa for the first time as a declared presidential candidate this week for two days of campaigning while Trump is also headed to the state on Wednesday afternoon to campaign at various events, including a sit-down with Fox News’ Sean Hannity for a town hall in Clive, Iowa, which will air on the Fox News Channel at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

The California State Legislature’s LGBTQ Caucus is poised to honor a member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the controversial group at the center of a backlash engulfing the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who identify as a group of ‘queer and trans nuns,’ are known for mocking Christian beliefs, including holding an annual ‘Foxy Mary’ and ‘Hunky Jesus’ contest, pole dancing on crosses, and using the saying, ‘Go forth and sin some more!’

Michael Williams, a member of the group known as ‘Sister Roma’ who runs a podcast covering pornographic movies and LGBTQ issues, is on the honoree list for the California Senate’s upcoming Pride recognition night. 

‘For more than three decades, Sister Roma has been one of the most outspoken and globally recognized members of San Francisco’s Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence,’ the LGBTQ Caucus’ announcement said.

‘Honoring the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group whose sole mission is to sexualize nuns and mock Jesus, reveals the true depth of hatred California’s elected officials have for the millions of Catholics residing in the state,’ Mark Trammell, the executive director of the Center for American Liberty, told Fox News Digital. 

Despite the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence recently facing serious backlash from religious advocates who refer to the group as a ‘blatantly perverted, sexual and disgusting anti-Catholic hate-group,’ the California lawmakers proceeded to extend an invitation to one of its members for the June 5 event.

‘It’s disgusting that the California Senate is choosing to honor an anti-Catholic hate group. Would Democrats still embrace this group if they mocked Jews or Muslims? Bigotry and discrimination against any religious group are wrong and have no place being honored in the State Capitol,’ California Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

The Dodgers recently came under fire after announcing their plan to honor the L.A.-based branch of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence with the ‘Community Hero Award’ before their June 16 game.

After Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and religious groups like CatholicVote voiced their concern over the award, the team announced it would no longer be honoring the group at the Pride event ‘given the strong feelings of people who have been offended by the sisters’ inclusion in our evening.’ 

Just days after their decision to uninvite the group, the Dodgers apologized to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and reinvited them to the event, an announcement that garnered even more backlash from the religious community and players within the baseball league. 

‘I am disappointed to see the Sister’s [sic] of Perpetual Indulgence being honored as heroes at Dodger Stadium. Many of their performances are blasphemous, and their work only displays hate and mockery of Catholics and the Christian faith,’ Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen said in a statement after the announcement.

Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw also responded to the decision to reinvite the group: ‘This has nothing to do with the LGBTQ community or Pride or anything like that. This is simply a group that was making fun of a religion, that I don’t agree with.’

Members of the group, formed on Easter Sunday in 1979, are known for attending left-wing protests dressed up in mock nun outfits to advocate for anti-Catholic messaging, including on abortion.

The LGBTQ Caucus didn’t immediately return a request for comment. 

Fox News’ Scott Thompson contributed to this report.

House Republican leaders are dismissing the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) latest projection that says the debt limit deal struck by President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., would actually increase the number of people eligible for federal benefits.

Tightening access to SNAP and other benefit programs has been touted as a key victory touted by Republican negotiators, part of their overall demand to slash spending in exchange for raising the federal borrowing limit.

The bill would raise the upper age limit of single American adults who must fulfill work requirements to get SNAP from 49 to 54, while providing exemptions for the homeless, veterans and young people aging out of the foster care system.

Late on Tuesday, the CBO released an updated score of the bill, The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, which said that the proposed changes would actually expand the net eligibility to SNAP by roughly 78,000 people – or about 0.2%. 

‘The simple answer is the CBO got it wrong,’ House Financial Services Chair Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., said at a late night press conference. ‘These populations are already included. And most states, under the 12% cap that they currently have, which says even if they have all these currently excluded populations, that are not required to be in work or seeking work, they can have up to 12% of their population exempted. We reduced that number down to eight.’

Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., similarly criticized the projection as ‘wrong’ and claimed the CBO did not add up its figures correctly.

‘They double-counted individuals that there were— new categories that were created, specifically veterans, the homeless, 18-year-olds that have been living in foster care,’ Thompson said. ‘I hope you’re all aware the tragic situation that happens there, many times, when a young person ages out, they put their life belongings in a garbage bag and because it all fits there and they go out to try to find a place in the world. And very frankly, those folks, most of those folks are already counted as eligible.’

‘So CBO basically, they scored this as a $2 billion costs, which is completely false,’ he added.

But the update left some GOP members, particularly those who were already opposed to the bill, even more disenchanted. 

Fox News Digital asked Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., for her reaction to the CBO update as the congresswoman was leaving a closed-door conference meeting. She replied sarcastically, ‘Yay debt.’

When asked a follow-up question about how House GOP leadership fielded dissenters’ concerns, Boebert described it as, ‘Sit down little girl, we got this.’

Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., among the first House Republicans to voice dissent, wrote on Twitter, ‘The Biden-McCarthy deal expands welfare. Heckuva negotiation, guys.’

‘Yet another example of this bill doing one thing while its proponents incorrectly claim that it does precisely the opposite,’ Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who signaled that he’s against the bill in its current form, also said.

Connecticut voters will have 14 days to cast their general election ballots early and in person under a bill that cleared the state Senate early Wednesday and now heads to the governor’s desk.

The Senate approved the bill by a 27-7 vote. The action comes six months after voters approved a state constitutional amendment that essentially gave the Democratic-controlled General Assembly the go-ahead to create a new, in-person early voting system. The legislation, which affects general elections, primaries and special elections held on or after Jan. 1, 2024, already cleared the House of Representatives earlier this month.

‘Connecticut is finally catching up with 46 other states that currently have early voting,’ said state Sen. Mae Flexer, the Democratic co-chair of the Government Administration and Elections Committee. She said the average number of early voting days in those other states is currently 22.

Connecticut’s bill also allows seven early voting days for most primaries and four for presidential primaries and special elections.

On Tuesday, the Senate passed a separate elections matter, in the form of a resolution, that places a question on the November 2024 ballot about whether the state constitution should be further changed to allow for no-excuses absentee voting. Absentee ballots are currently limited to specific excuses in Connecticut, such as being out of town on Election Day, active military service or sickness, a provision added during the pandemic.

Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont has expressed support for both proposals.

State Sen. Rob Sampson, the top Senate Republican on the elections committee, voted against the two election bills, criticizing the early voting proposal in particular for being crafted without Republican input.

Sampson offered multiple amendments he said would improve the legislation and help restore voter confidence, including limiting the number of early voting days and ensuring people don’t wait longer than a half-hour to vote.

Each amendment failed along partisan lines, including a much-debated proposal to require that voters present a photo identification at the polls.

‘The glaring issue is this is not a bipartisan product,’ Sampson said of the bill. He questioned whether a l4-day stretch of early voting was really what voters had in mind when they originally agreed to amend the constitution six months ago. He criticized the original ballot question for being too broad.

Connecticut’s constitution for years has dictated the time, place and manner of elections, essentially requiring voters to cast ballots at their local polling place on Election Day unless they qualified for absentee ballots. Advocates for early voting say busy people want options for when they can cast ballots. But some critics have questioned whether the state’s 169 cities and towns can find enough staff to offer 14 days of early voting.

The legislation requires every municipality to establish at least one early voting location. They may establish more if they choose.

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The ‘Blacks for Trump’ founder, who said during a recent interview that he wants to ‘destroy’ Republican presidential candidate Gov. Ron DeSantis, has a decades-long past of run-ins with the law and is a devoted follower of the late cult leader Hulon Mitchell Jr.

Maurice Symonette, formerly Maurice Woodside, was interviewed by Laura Loomer, a former President Trump devotee and twice-failed GOP candidate, during a protest outside of DeSantis’ presidential campaign announcement at the Miami Four Seasons hotel last Wednesday.

In a blog post accompanying her video, Loomer described Symonette as one of the ‘real grassroots voters’ who wants to ‘make it clear that DeSantis is a fraud.’

‘I’m here to destroy DeSantis, because he’s a bastard from Hell,’ Symonette told Loomer. ‘What I’m going to do is make sure that you don’t win, and that everybody knows that you’re a RINO Republican racist.’

Neither Loomer nor Symonette are affiliated with the Trump campaign, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. Loomer reportedly met with Trump earlier this year and was being considered for a campaign position until the potential hire received backlash from some top aides and Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who called her ‘mentally unstable and a documented liar.’ 

Symonette made his comments alongside several other men wearing ‘Blacks for Trump’ shirts that also advertised Symonette’s nonprofit organization, BOSS Group Ministries, which follows the teachings of Hulon Mitchell Jr., founder of the murderous ‘Nation of Yahweh’ cult that disbanded after Mitchell landed behind bars.

Symonette is a 64-year-old Florida native who has faced several arrests dating back to the early 1980s, ranging from alleged identity theft to grand theft auto, and he has filed for bankruptcy eight times, according to public records.

In 2006, he was jailed after allegedly threatening a police officer, but he was not convicted. In 2014, he was found guilty of carrying a concealed firearm without a license.

Most recently, in May 2022, Symonette was charged with disorderly conduct. He has claimed before that he is being targeted by Miami authorities due to his political and religious beliefs.

Symonette, who publicly goes by ‘Michael the Black Man,’ was an early member of Mitchell’s ‘Nation of Yahweh,’ a sect of the Black Hebrew Israelites movement, and he went by the name Mikael Israel in the 1980s. 

The male-dominated insular group lived communally, wore white robes and worked 18-hour days at Mitchell’s so-called ‘Temple of Love’ in Miami, the Miami New Times reported in 2011, but the movement had multiple temples across the country.

In 1990, Symonette, Mitchell and 14 other Nation of Yahweh members were accused of murdering more than a dozen White people and dissidents, some by bombing and beheading, as part of the cult’s initiation process. Witnesses reported members would gift Mitchell the ears of their victims as sacrifices. All 16 members were charged with one count of murder and one count of attempted murder, but Symonette and six others were acquitted after devotee Robert Rozier, a former NFL player, confessed to seven of the murders. 

Symonette’s brother, Ricardo Woodside, who reportedly left the Nation of Yahweh several years earlier, testified against Mitchell and his brother for a reduced sentence and served five years in prison. At the trial, Ricardo testified that he and his brother tried unsuccessfully to kill a cult dissident, and that his brother helped beat a man who later died, the New Times reported.

Meanwhile, Mitchell, known by his followers as Yahweh Ben Yahweh, was convicted of conspiracy to murder and sentenced to 18 years in prison, and his Temple of Love was disbanded soon after.

Mitchell was released on parole in Miami in 2001 after serving 11 years in prison, and he died six years later of cancer.

Symonette, who legally changed his name from Woodside soon after his acquittal, claimed that Mitchell’s conviction was politically motivated because the group supported Republicans, ‘and the Democrats were very frightened about that,’ the New Times reported.

In 2019, Symonette told local media that Mitchell had been instructing his devotees to support Trump as far back as 1984.

‘Yahweh Ben Yahweh told us in 1984 that Trump was Cyrus,’ Symonette told Local 10 News, referring to the ancient Persian king. ‘He said one day he is going to run for president.’ 

Symonette told a similar story to The Washington Post in 2018. 

‘Ben Yahweh said, ‘That’s the man, that’s the one who will fight for you,” he said at the time.

Symonette made headlines during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign after he was spotted behind the former president at multiple rallies across the country holding ‘Blacks for Trump’ signs that also advertised his nonprofit religious organization, BOSS Group Ministries, which stands for ‘Brothers of Superior Status’ and appears to be a continuation of the Yahweh cult.

‘I love the signs behind me: Blacks for Trump. I like those signs,’ Trump said during an October 2016 rally in Sanford, Florida. ‘Blacks for Trump, you watch. You watch. Those signs are great, thank you.’

After Trump’s inauguration, on Jan. 20, 2017, Symonette posted a Facebook picture of himself and other supporters ‘onstage at the inaugural ball.’

During a Pennsylvania rally later that year, Trump saw the Black for Trump sign and said, ‘Thank you for that sign — Blacks for Trump — I love that guy. Thank you, man. That’s really great. I really appreciate it,’ CBS News reported.

Symonette and other Blacks for Trump members also appeared behind Trump during his October 2020 campaign rally in Ocala, Florida.

Most recently, Symonette and his group set up camp near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago on Palm Beach, holding daily demonstrations in support of the former president as he faced an indictment in New York City over alleged campaign finance violations.

In March, Symonette gave a sermon-like interview to FreedomNewsTV in Palm Beach, with his supporters emphatically agreeing with him that ‘when our day comes, we will be arresting your stinking a–.’ 

‘I’m going with Trump, because if Yahweh Ben Yahweh tells me that is our savior … I’m going with Cyrus, baby,’ Symonette preached to News2Share as his followers nodded along and punctuated his words with clapping and, ‘That’s right!’

During the protests, Symonette and his followers wore shirts that read, ‘BlacksForTrump2020.com,’ which leads to a blog belonging to Symonette’s BOSS Group Ministries called ‘Limitless Truth,’ which declared the group would not support DeSantis in the general election if he won the Republican primary.

Symonette, who is listed as the president of BOSS Group Ministries, has also donated at least $750 to Save America Joint Fundraising Committee, the primary fundraising apparatus for Trump’s 2024 campaign and his leadership PAC.

BOSS Group Ministries regularly posts the late Mitchell’s phrases and teachings on its website and YouTube channel.

The ministry, however, appears to have at least partially abandoned the Black supremacist teachings of the Yahweh cult in favor of a form of racial separatism, with Trump at the helm.

Symonette is also vehemently anti-LGBTQ. In a video posted last month, he appeared to threaten ‘homosexuals’ who did not soon repent and support Trump.

‘To all of my gay brothers out there … You can be saved,’ he said in the video. ‘If you don’t want to be saved, I’m here to wipe your a– off the planet Earth. And it’s real. This ain’t no joke.’

‘Those who don’t repent, you think you strong enough to stand against me, Trump and the Black Elamites and Hebrew Israelites, the greatest warriors on Earth? N—-, stand up!’ he continued. ‘Watch what happens, boy. We’re gonna stomp your a–.’

In the video, Symonette referred to the late Mitchell as his ‘father’ and as the son of God.

In April of last year, multiple people were shot, one fatally, during one of Symonette’s weekly Jet Ski parties at his ministry’s headquarters in North Miami. 

Last week, Symonette bragged in a video that his all-ages parties at the ministry often include a mix of White and Black gang members and that everyone gets along and has a ‘ball.’

‘Blacks mixing with the White European gentiles who are called the deplorables, the blessed ones — but only I can achieve that,’ he said in the May 24 video. ‘Only I can explain to Black people who you are, and that you’re our true blood brother. Yahweh Ben Yahweh taught me that we have to fight for you.’

Symonette did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

Fox News Digital reached out to the DeSantis campaign but did not receive a response.

Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, is planning to resign from Congress before the end of the year, according to multiple reports.

Stewart, a six-term lawmaker, is expected to announce his intent to leave the House of Representatives Wednesday due to his wife’s illness, The Associated Press reported. His resignation would leave open a Republican seat on the House Appropriations and Intelligence committees — and reduce an already narrow GOP majority to just four seats.

Utah law states that the governor must call for a special election in the event of a House vacancy. Once Stewart makes his resignation official, Republican Gov. Spencer Cox will have seven days to set the time for a primary and special election. The law requires those dates to be the same as municipal primary and general elections scheduled for this year, unless the state legislature appropriates funds to hold a separate election.

A Republican candidate is heavily favored to fill the vacancy. Stewart represents Utah’s 2nd Congressional District, a reliably GOP constituency in western Utah that stretches from the Salt Lake City metro area to St. George. In the 2022 midterm election, Stewart easily defeated Democratic challenger Nick Mitchell, winning re-election with a landslide 63.4% vote share. 

However, until a special election happens, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., will have even less room for error when whipping votes. Assuming united Democratic opposition, McCarthy can only afford to lose three Republican votes on any given legislation. Intra-party fighting between hard-line conservatives and moderates already threatened to tank a Republican border security bill this year, and current GOP disagreements on the debt ceiling deal demonstrate plenty of Republican lawmakers are willing to buck the party line. 

Stewart’s retirement would also reshape Utah politics, as he was widely believed to be considering a run for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah., or the governor’s mansion. His wife’s illness would put those plans on hold, creating opportunities for other ambitious Republicans.

Stewart, a U.S. Air Force veteran and author, was first elected in 2012 and collaborated with Utah’s Elizabeth Smart on a memoir about her kidnapping. The 62-year-old Stewart was raised as a potential nominee for U.S. director of national intelligence during former President Trump’s administration. Little is known about Stewart’s wife’s health.

The Salt Lake Tribune first announced Stewart’s plans to resign. His resignation would mark the second time a Utah congressman has left office early in the past six years. Former U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz resigned from office in 2017, stepping away from his role as chairman of the House Oversight Committee and prompting a special election.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

As the debt deal reached between President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy heads to Congress this week to face votes in the House and Senate, the spotlight has shifted to which lawmakers plan to support it and whether there is enough of that support to get it across the finish line.

Already, members of the House Freedom Caucus, the most right-leaning Republican faction in the House, have expressed their desire to see the bill fail, while others, such as Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., have expressed their disapproval over specific aspects of the deal, like defense spending.

Most members from both parties have kept their views on the bill quiet, but one group is being seen as pivotal to whether it ultimately ends up back on Biden’s desk, or if the nation defaults on its debt for the first time in history: moderates.

Those down the middle votes from Democrats and Republicans not necessarily known for toeing their respective party lines could be the only chance for the bill to reach the necessary simple-majority for it to pass.

‘This deal is good for the country in that it prevents a default and subsequent financial meltdown, while also limiting spending,’ Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said in a statement posted on social media Monday. ‘While I would have preferred to see an agreement that also addressed entitlements, this represents a good-faith bipartisan compromise.’

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who helped broker the agreement, all but guaranteed his support for the legislation by touting its inclusion of a provision fast-tracking the approval of a natural gas pipeline in his home state, the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP).

‘I am pleased Speaker McCarthy and his leadership team see the tremendous value in completing the MVP to increase domestic energy production and drive down costs across America and especially in West Virginia. I am proud to have fought for this critical project and to have secured the bipartisan support necessary to get it across the finish line,’ he said in a Monday statement.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., hasn’t publicly shared her thoughts on the bill since the agreement was reached on Sunday, but was also involved in the negotiation process, according to multiple reports. 

Fox News reached out to Sinema’s office to get her view on the final agreement but did not receive a response. The offices of Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, two other well-known moderates, were also mum on the subject.

Over on the House side, members of the moderate bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus are expected to play an outsized role in the bill’s potential passage. Its leaders, Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., didn’t respond to Fox’s request for comment on the deal, but other members of the group have started speaking out.

‘I am glad that the President and the Speaker were able to come to an agreement that puts our country first,’ Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Ohio, said in a statement over the weekend before the full details of the bill were released. 

‘Speaker McCarthy championed responsible policy, incorporating key economic and permitting reforms while limiting spending,and rescinding COVID funds. The Speaker keeps making government work better for every American,’ he added.

Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, another member of the caucus, told local outlet KGNS that he was in favor of the agreement, even though it was something not supported by members further to the left and the right. He specifically praised the adjustments of entitlement benefits included in the bill.

‘They are able physically and mentally able to go work, again — some of those say it’s only the age of 49, we are going to move it for 54-55. Again with all due respect, just like my father said, if you are able to work, and you might not be willing, but if you are able to work then I think you should not stay home and receive a check. You should be out there working, I support that, I know some people don’t,’ he said.

However, not all members of the group who have shared their views on the bill are in lock step. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., said in a Tuesday statement she was ‘voting NO on the debt ceiling debacle because playing the DC game isn’t worth selling out our kids and grandkids.’

Mace argued the bipartisan debt ceiling package ‘normalizes record high spending started during the pandemic’ and ‘sets these historically high spending levels as the baseline for all future spending’ while growing the government annually at around one percent.

Fox reached out to a number of other members of Congress about their views on the bill, but did not receive responses.

The bill was taken up by the House Rules Committee on Tuesday and is expected to advance for a full House vote on Wednesday. Should it pass the House, the bill will then head to the Senate, where Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has said he will move it through as quickly as possible.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has estimated the federal government would default on its debt if a deal is not approved by June 5. 

Fox News’ Houston Keene and Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.