Now comes the hard part. 

If you thought it was hard for President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to marshal a debt ceiling deal, wait to see if it’s even more challenging to advance the bill through Congress.

Both the president and speaker will test their powers of persuasion to line up the votes for the deal.

It’s pretty clear the wings of both parties – the far right and far left – are incensed about this pact.

No one truly knows how many yeas and nays there are for this plan until the House whip operations begin to hum as lawmakers roll back into Washington after an abbreviated Memorial Day recess. 

There have been multiple press calls, a few news conferences by the speaker outside his office, conference calls with lawmakers and remarks from Mr. Biden. But until everyone really huddles at the Capitol, the vote count is unclear. Especially after a whirlwind weekend of behind the scenes political intrigue and negotiations.

On its face, the bill should be able to pass. It earned the endorsement of the president, the speaker, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and other prominent lawmakers. There is a wide, bipartisan swath of members in the middle who could vote to pass this plan – even if no one is truly excited about the measure. In fact, Fox was told that there could be a scenario where 240-270 members could vote yes – and maybe more.

But it is a delicate balance to find the right vote mixture for this parliamentary cocktail. There is a lot of potential for things to go wrong or for there to be a dramatic miscalculation on either side when relying on those across the aisle to provide the necessary votes. 

Telephone calls over a holiday weekend are one thing. But leaders want to look fellow lawmakers in the eye to understand where they really stand on the issue and if they can count on their vote.

Here’s the lead question for the GOP: Will conservative interest groups and outraged constituents begin to light up the phones at the Capitol, tearing into middle of the road Republicans for supporting the plan? There could be attrition on the right if those lawmakers take too much heat and walk away. 

Here’s the lead question for Democrats: In fact there are two: What exactly did they get out of this deal? And why should they be called upon to bail out Republicans who are in the majority?

This is why the stakes for miscalculation are high. Both sides will expect the other side to provide a certain number of votes.

McCarthy has significantly added to his political capital and bolstered his bona fides with Republican House members since the rocky vote for Speaker in January. So, this conversation may be a little different if the vote were coming say, back in late January or February. Therefore, McCarthy should be able to deliver a sizable chunk of votes from his conference. It’s unclear how many votes House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., can deliver. But in fairness, this is not really about Jeffries. This is about President Biden. He is the President. He is the leader of the party. It’s a problem if Mr. Biden can’t deliver the requisite votes to lug this across the finish line.

But like McCarthy, President Biden has political barnacles, too. His standing is weak in the polls. In fact, one of the most compelling arguments Mr. Biden could make to reluctant Democrats is ‘don’t tank my presidency and the economy’ by voting no.

And we probably would not even be discussing the political wattage of President Biden and McCarthy to cajole members to vote yes were it not for two factors. Democrats are blasé about Mr. Biden. McCarthy endured the longest race to become Speaker since 1859. 

This takes us back to the infamous vote on TARP (the Troubled Assets Relief Program) in late September 2008. President George W. Bush and Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress reluctantly decided to spend more than $700 billion to salvage the American economy and stave off a nationwide fiscal meltdown. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., had a sizable chunk of Democrats who were willing to vote yes. But Mr. Bush could not deliver House Republicans. The GOP had fatigued of President Bush. The party abandoned their president. No one truly knew how many votes Republicans had. But they didn’t deliver their end of the bargain.

Could Democrats abandon President Biden here?

The original version of TARP was failing on the House floor. And the market cratered in synchronicity with the House vote. The Dow finally lost what was then a single-day record, down 777 points. 

Trust between the sides plummeted, too.

Yours truly asked McCarthy if he would withhold putting the debt limit bill on the floor until the market closed.

‘You spend a lot of time thinking of crazy stuff,’ responded McCarthy.

The other issue is just moving the bill from the House Rules Committee and onto the floor.

Nearly every piece of legislation which hits the House floor must first get a ‘rule’ from the Rules panel. The Rules Committee establishes how the House will handle a given piece of legislation. That includes time and if any amendments are in order. If the committee doesn’t adopt a rule – and if the House itself doesn’t approve the rule, then there’s no bill.

Most speakers have run the Rules Committee with an iron fist. But as part of his concessions to conservatives, McCarthy awarded three seats on the panel to firebrand conservatives whose views sometimes deviate from those of the Speaker: Reps. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., Chip Roy, R-Tex., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky. 

McCarthy namechecked Massie Sunday as he touted a provision to hold the line on appropriations bills pushed by Massie as an item in the legislation. In other words, if Massie scored his idea in the legislation, how could he oppose it?

But Norman and Roy seethed about the legislation.

Norman called the bill ‘idiotic.’ Roy characterized the legislation with less than salivating language. 

One senior House GOP source told Fox before McCarthy touted the Massie language that they believed that ‘Massie is the most likely to vote for the rule in committee and on the floor.’ But if all three balk, Republicans will need a Democrat on the Rules Committee to vote in favor of jettisoning the measure to the floor.

No rule, no bill. 

The Rules Committee has not failed to approve a rule in its panel in recent memory. Once in a blue moon, a member of the majority has a problem with the bill at hand or the rule itself. So rather than vote nay, those members simply ‘take a walk’ or are mysteriously absent from the committee meeting.

Late House Speaker Tip O’Neill, D-Mass., sat on the Rules Committee in the 1960s. In his biography ‘Man Of the House,’ O’Neill recounts how he and future Rules Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Delaney, D-N.Y., broke ranks with their party and voted no on an education bill in the early 1960s. Such a move is rare.

No one Fox asked could track down any recent instance of any minority member ever voting to support a rule in order to help the majority put a bill on the floor. 

This all makes for a very interesting Rules Committee meeting Tuesday afternoon. 

So, will they have the votes?

This is reminiscent of the legendary Life cereal commercials in the 1970s and 1980s.

Three brothers are sitting at the breakfast table, pushing a bowl of Life cereal around, refusing to eat it. 

‘I’m not going to try it. You try it!,’ says one boy.

Finally, they push the bowl in front of the most finicky bother of all. Mikey. 

‘Let’s get Mikey,’ says one brother. ‘He hates everything.’

Suddenly, Mikey begins to devour the cereal.

‘He likes it!’ exclaims one brother. 

The taste test, complete, they all dig in.

This bill is kind of like the Life cereal commercial. Some members are reluctant to vote for the bill until they see someone else vote for it first.

The only difference is that Mikey actually liked the cereal he was eating. This legislation isn’t nearly as pleasing to the political palette.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom was fact-checked by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ spokesman after he blamed the Memorial Day shooting in Hollywood, Florida, on laws DeSantis signed that are not yet in effect. 

At least nine people, including minors, were hospitalized Monday after an altercation escalated into gunfire at the Hollywood Beach Broadwalk, police said. Police detained one person of interest in the shooting while another remains at large.

Newsom reacted to reports of the shooting on social media, blaming gun violence on a bill DeSantis signed in April that eliminates the requirement for an individual to obtain a permit to carry a concealed firearm.

He claimed the permit-less carry bill DeSantis signed ‘removes requirements’ for background checks, instruction, training and oversight. 

‘Until our leaders have the courage to stop bowing down to the NRA and enact common sense gun safety this kind of senseless violence will continue,’ Newsom tweeted.

However, DeSantis press secretary Jeremy Redfern replied shortly afterward, noting that the bill Newsom referenced is not yet in effect.

‘Hi Gavin,’ Redfern said. ‘How does a law that doesn’t take effect until July 1st change this outcome?’ 

Newsom’s claims about the constitutional carry law removing requirements for background checks are also misleading.

The law allows eligible citizens 21 years of age and up to carry without asking the government for a permit and without paying a fee. The legislation does not change who is eligible to obtain a carry permit, and those who still wish to get a permit may do so under the law. 

Under existing Florida law, people who wish to obtain a license to carry concealed weapons in public must:

Be a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United StatesBe at least 21 years old’Desire a legal means to carry a concealed weapon’ for lawful self-defensePass a fingerprint-based background checkComplete a firearms training class, among other requirements.

Though the constitutional carry bill makes getting a license — and these requirements — voluntary, the federal government still requires licensed firearms dealers to run a background check on prospective buyers. Neither federal nor state law requires private sellers to conduct background checks.

Monday’s shooting in Hollywood, Florida, happened on the Hollywood Oceanfront Broadwalk near a convenience store, a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream store and a Subway sandwich shop.

The nine people injured included six adults and three children, a spokesperson for Memorial Healthcare System told the Associated Press.

Police spokesperson Deanna Bettineschi said four children between the ages of 1 and 17 were hit, along with five adults between 25 and 65. One was in surgery late Monday while the others were stable, she said. It was not immediately clear if the hospital was counting a 17-year-old as an adult.

Several of the wounded were taken to a children’s hospital, Bettineschi said.

Police are searching for more suspects. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Tim Scott is rolling out legislation that would require app stores to display the country where apps are developed and owned before users download them amid worries some of the most popular apps in America were developed in China.

Scott, R-S.C., the top Republican on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, is introducing the ‘Know Your App Act.’ Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the top Republican on the Senate Committee on Armed Services, and Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., are original co-sponsors for the bill.

The bill is aimed at protecting national security and giving parents the information they need to protect their children and help them make ‘informed decisions.’

‘Americans should be able to make informed decisions about the online services they use in order to protect their data and security,’ Scott told Fox News Digital. ‘Requiring app stores to display an app’s country of origin is a common-sense solution that can help them do just that.’

Scott, who announced his 2024 presidential bid last week, said parents ‘shouldn’t fear that their family’s online privacy and security could be compromised when unknowingly using an app owned by a foreign adversary.’

The bill would require the Treasury Department and the Department of Commerce to produce a list of adversarial governments that may have undue control over application content moderation, algorithm design or user data transfers.

Under the bill, app stores would be required to provide users the ability to filter out applications from these adversarial countries and warn users about the risk of downloading one of the foreign apps on the list.

If an app developer failed to provide sufficient information to the app store about its country affiliation, the app store would be required to issue multiple warnings over a designated period. If the developer still refused to comply, the app store would be required to remove the app from its store.

The rollout of the bill comes amid findings that, as of March of this year, four of the five most popular apps in the United States were developed in China. Those apps were Temu, CapCut, TikTok and Shein.

Scott said this is ‘particularly concerning’ because China’s national security laws provide a pathway for the Chinese Communist Party to compel application developers to control an application’s content or user data.

China’s national intelligence law of 2017 compels businesses registered in China, or with operations in China, to turn over information and data to Chinese intelligence agencies. U.S. officials and lawmakers have warned that the Chinese Communist Party could compel the company to turn over American users’ data or expose them to propaganda.

Supporters of the bill say people need more information so they can opt out of supporting these apps.

‘Our adversaries will exploit every available tool, including popular apps that gather huge amounts of data on Americans, to gain an advantage over the United States,’ Wicker told Fox News Digital. ‘It is crucial for users to take steps to limit their exposure and be made aware of the risks associated with using foreign-controlled apps.’ 

Wicker added that the legislation would bring ‘much-needed transparency to app stores, empowering Americans to safeguard their families from exploitation.’

‘Seeing ‘Made in China’ on nearly any product nowadays is frustrating to Oklahomans trying their best not to prop up the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese government with their hard-earned money,’ Lankford told Fox News Digital, adding TikTok is a ‘dangerous extension of the CCP.’

‘I want the ‘Made in China’ label and labels for any other countries where apps like TikTok originate to be clearly marked when and where they are downloaded,’ Lankford said. ‘Americans should remain free to buy items from wherever they want, but the least Big Tech can do is label where Americans’ money is going when they download in the app store.’

TikTok, whose parent company ByteDance is based in Beijing, is facing an ongoing security review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), an interagency group that evaluates threats to U.S. national security posed by foreign investments or transactions.

CFIUS has been looking into TikTok since 2019. In 2020, it unanimously recommended that ByteDance divest from TikTok’s U.S. operations, and it has been threatening to ban TikTok until that happens.

TikTok has created ‘Project Texas,’ an initiative dedicated to addressing concerns about U.S. national security. The initiative creates a stand-alone version of the TikTok platform for the United States isolated in servers in Oracle’s U.S. cloud environment. It was developed with CFIUS and cost the company approximately $1.5 billion to implement.

President Biden signed a $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill last year that included a measure to ban TikTok from federal government devices.

TikTok has also been banned for use on state-owned electronic devices in more than a dozen states, both Republican- and Democrat-led.

A bipartisan group of senators unveiled a bill in March that would restrict technology — including software, hardware and social media platforms, such as TikTok — developed in adversarial nations like China and Russia from being available to users in the U.S. due to the national security risks.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, is expected to sign legislation on Tuesday that would legalize recreational marijuana in the state.

The bill is headed to the governor’s desk after passing through the state legislature on May 20. His signature would make Minnesota the 23rd state, plus Washington, D.C., to legalize recreational marijuana.

Starting Aug. 1, the bill would allow those 21 years of age and older to carry up to two ounces of marijuana in public and possess up to two pounds at home.

These adults could also grow home plants, but possessing more than those limits or selling the product without a state license could result in criminal penalties and civil fines.

The bill still does not allow public consumption, so violators could be hit with a misdemeanor. Adults may only consume the product in a personal residence, on private property where the owner has granted permission or in a place licensed for on-site consumption.

The measure would also automatically expunge low-level cannabis convictions and set up a board to consider expungement or re-sentencing of felony crimes. 

People previously convicted of marijuana-related crimes would be given priority when it comes to obtaining a license to sell marijuana, though lawmakers say it will likely take more than a year to issue licenses to retailers for selling marijuana as a new state agency works to set up the legal market.

Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura will join Walz for Tuesday’s signing, according to FOX 9. Ventura, a vocal advocate of marijuana legalization, advocated for the bill during the legislative session. 

Last year, Ventura said Walz had promised to invite him to the signing after a marijuana legalization bill was passed through the legislature.

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President Biden mourned his late son Beau in Memorial Day remarks at Arlington National Ceremony, sharing the pain of loss with those who’ve had family members die in service to the nation.

‘We must never forget the price that was paid to protect our democracy. Must never forget the lives these flags, flowers and marble markers represent. A mother or a father, a son or a daughter, a sister, a spouse, a friend, an American,’ Biden said. Monday. ‘Every year we remember and every year it never gets easier.’

Biden’s eldest son, Beau, died of brain cancer in 2015 at the Walter Reed military hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. Beau Biden was a major in the Delaware Army National Guard and served in the Iraq War. The president has often times said Beau’s death from cancer was caused by ‘burn pits’ in Iraq, for which he signed the PACT Act to expand health care benefits for veterans exposed to deadly toxins. 

The president observed that tomorrow will be the eighth anniversary of his son’s death and he empathized with Gold Star families. 

‘To all those here and across the nation who are grieving, loss of a loved one who wore the uniform, our Gold Star families, for all those with loved ones still missing, unaccounted for: I know how painful it can be, how it can reopen that… rip open that black hole in the center of your chest. You feel like you’re just sinking in,’ Biden said. ‘The hurt is still real. It’s still raw.’  

‘Tomorrow marks eight years since we lost our son, Beau. Our loss, we are not the same. He didn’t perish on the battlefield. It was cancer that stole him from us a year after he deployed as a major in the United States Army National Guard in Iraq. As it is for so many of you, the pain of loss is with us every day, but particularly sharp on Memorial Day,’ he continued.

‘Still clear – tomorrow’s his anniversary – so is the pride Jill and I feel in his service. It’s why I can still hear him saying, ‘Dad, it’s my duty, Dad. It’s my duty.’ Duty. That was the code my son lived by and all those you lost live by. It’s the creed that millions of service members have followed.’

In his speech, the president called on Americans to ‘reflect, to remember, but above all to recommit to the future our fallen heroes fought for.’ He said those who live today because of the service of those who died must continue to fight for freedom, democracy, equality and justice. 

‘This is more important than just our system of government,’ Biden said. ‘It’s the very soul of America, a soul that was forged by our nation’s first patriots. A soul that triumphed over trials and testing less than a century later. A soul that endured because of the sacrifice of generations and generations of service members ever since. Together, we’re not just the fortunate inheritors of their legacy. We must be the keeper of their mission, the bearers of the flame of freedom that kept burning bright for nearly 241 years.’ 

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is a wanted man in Russia for comments he made while visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday. 

Russia’s Interior Ministry put out a warrant for Graham’s arrest on Monday in response to an edited video released by Zelenskyy’s office in which Graham praised U.S. support for Ukraine’s defense and noted that Russians are dying as Ukraine fights for its freedom. 

In the video, Graham noted that ‘the Russians are dying’ and described the U.S. military assistance to the country as ‘the best money we’ve ever spent.’ 

While Graham appeared to have made the remarks in different parts of the conversation, the short video by Ukraine’s presidential office put them next to each other, causing outrage in Russia.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented Sunday by saying that ‘it’s hard to imagine a greater shame for the country than having such senators,’ according to the Associated Press. 

Russia’s Investigative Committee moved to open a criminal investigation against Graham and the Interior Ministry followed up with a warrant for his arrest. 

Graham considers the arrest warrant to be a ‘Badge of Honor.’ 

‘To know that my commitment to Ukraine has drawn the ire of Putin’s regime brings me immense joy.  I will continue to stand with and for Ukraine’s freedom until every Russian soldier is expelled from Ukrainian territory,’ Graham said in a statement Monday. 

‘Finally, here’s an offer to my Russian ‘friends’ who want to arrest and try me for calling out the Putin regime as being war criminals: I will submit to jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court if you do,’ he added. ‘Come and make your best case. See you in The Hague!’

Russian forces pummeled the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv with ‘Kamikaze’ drone attacks Saturday night as the city prepared to celebrate the anniversary of its founding Sunday.

Russia launched 54 Iranian-made drones at Kyiv and elsewhere in Ukraine, but air defenses shot down 52 of the drones, according to Ukrainian officials. Two people were killed during Saturday night’s attack, with falling debris landing on one 41-year-old man and another person dying of unspecified causes, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a statement.

Ukraine has been largely successful in warding off Russian missile and drone attacks in recent weeks thanks to the deployment of U.S.-made Patriot missile systems. The defense system has proven more than a match for Russia’s long-range attacks, with the vast majority of their explosives being shot down mid-flight. 

Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Atlanta’s proposed police and fire training center will cost taxpayers more than double the $31 million previously estimated by Mayor Andre Dickens’ administration.

City officials on Friday confirmed that there is a provision in the city’s lease with the Atlanta Police Foundation that will add about $36 million to the public cost of the $90 million complex, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

The provision, called a ‘lease back,’ requires the city to pay $1.2 million a year for use of the facility over 30 years. That is in addition to the $31 million city taxpayers are contributing toward construction.

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ administration in 2021 said the city would pay either $30 million or agree to the lease back. However, the lease approved by Atlanta City Council holds the city responsible for both.

The Atlanta Community Press Collective first reported the additional cost on Wednesday.

Atlanta Police Department spokeswoman Chata Spikes called the lease payments ‘budget neutral’ because it is money the city already set aside to have police and firefighters trained.

‘The City currently pays other entities to use facilities that are not designed for public safety training,’ Spikes told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ‘The Atlanta Public Safety Training Center will provide an opportunity for AFRD and APD to conduct joint training, an Emergency Vehicle Operations Course, adequate classrooms and community access to include quality greenspace. At the conclusion of the lease payments, the City of Atlanta will own the facilities.’

The facility will be located on the site of Atlanta’s old prison farm in unincorporated DeKalb County. The site is a flashpoint of ongoing conflict between authorities and left-leaning protesters protesting a variety of issues, including against militarization of the police, in favor of environmental protections and opposition to corporations perceived to be helping fund the project through donations to the police foundation.

DaVinci Development, the project management company hired by the police foundation to build the facility, said a soft opening is scheduled for the end of 2024.

Members of the Atlanta Police Department, city officials and others involved in the project on Friday gave media a tour of the site, showing some of the areas where pre-construction has already taken place.

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President Joe Biden on Monday responded to Republican criticism of the defense spending included in the deal he reached with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy over the weekend to avert a potentially catastrophic default in the nation’s debt.

Speaking with reporters on the South Lawn of the White House as he departed for Delaware, Biden brushed off the concerns and suggested that if any further defense spending was needed, he had ‘no doubt’ it would have bipartisan approval.

‘Look, whatever the fighting force needs, if there’s another – first of all, they’ve passed my budget. What I asked for in defense, they passed it. Obviously if there’s any existential need for additional funding, I have no doubt we’d be able to get it because we’d jointly do it,’ Biden said when questioned about Republicans’ complaints.

Biden’s comments come as Republican rhetoric continues to heat up over concern about the defense budget included in the agreement. Earlier on Monday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., vowed he would do everything within his power to ‘undo’ the bipartisan debt ceiling bill and the ‘disaster’ he said it would be for America’s defense.

‘I will use all powers available to me in the Senate to have amendment votes to undo this catastrophe for defense,’ Graham wrote on Twitter. ‘I support raising the debt limit for 90 days to give us a chance to correct this disaster for defense.’ 

‘Have total disgust for political leaders’ decision to make it remotely possible to gut our national security apparatus at a time of great peril. Take this absurd idea off the table,’ he added.

Biden and McCarthy reached an agreement on the debt ceiling late Sunday, just days ahead of the expected June 5 deadline to avoid a debt default. They released the House version of the bill later in the evening.

The deal includes a 3% rise in defense spending next year, less than the current annual inflation rate of more than 4%. It would also keep nondefense spending roughly flat in the 2024 fiscal year and increase it by 1% the following year, as well as provide for a 2-year debt-limit increase.

The House Rules Committee will meet at 3 p.m. on Tuesday to prepare the debt ceiling bill for a debate on the floor Wednesday.

Fox News’ Danielle Wallace, Chad Pergram and Bradford Betz contributed to this report.

The Texas House of Representatives on Monday delivered articles of impeachment against Attorney General Ken Paxton to the state Senate. 

The delivery came after the GOP-led House named the board of managers – comprising five Democrats and seven Republicans – who will oversee the impeachment proceedings. Rep. Andrew Murr, R-Junction, is leading the board, The Dallas Morning News reported.  

The House approved 20 articles of impeachment on sweeping allegations of wrongdoing against Paxton that have trailed the state’s top lawyer for years, including abuse of office and bribery. The vote immediately suspended Paxton from office.

The House needed just a simple majority of its 149 members to impeach Paxton, and the final 121-23 vote was a landslide. But the threshold for conviction in the Senate trial is higher, requiring a two-thirds majority of its 31 members.

If that happens, Paxton would be permanently barred from holding office in Texas. Anything less means Paxton is acquitted and can resume his third term as attorney general.

Paxton bitterly criticized the chamber’s investigation as ‘corrupt,’ secret and conducted so quickly that he and his lawyers were not allowed to mount a defense. He also called Republican House Speaker Dade a ‘liberal.’

The AG’s office tweeted Saturday that the impeachment was based on ‘totally false claims.’ 

‘After an internal investigation, the OAG retained an outside law firm to further investigate, which culminated in a report. The OAG offered it to the House, but they refused,’ the AG’s office said. 

The impeachment charges include bribery related to one of Paxton’s donors, Austin real estate developer Nate Paul, allegedly employing the woman with whom he had an extra-matrial affair in exchange for legal help.

Another Republican senator with a potential conflict is Sen. Bryan Hughes. The House impeachment articles accuse Paxton of using Hughes as a ‘straw requestor’ for a legal opinion used to protect Paul from foreclosure on several properties.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is expected to set a trial date in the Senate and name committee members to establish rules that will govern the impeachment proceedings. The Senate will ultimately decide whether Paxton stays in office. Patrick, who is president of the Senate, will preside as judge.  

Fox News Digital has contacted Phelan, Murr, and Paxton for further comment. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., vowed Monday he would do everything within his power to ‘undo’ the bipartisan debt ceiling bill and the ‘disaster’ he said it would be for America’s defense.

‘I will use all powers available to me in the Senate to have amendment votes to undo this catastrophe for defense,’ Graham wrote on Twitter. ‘I support raising the debt limit for 90 days to give us a chance to correct this disaster for defense.’ 

‘Have total disgust for political leaders’ decision to make it remotely possible to gut our national security apparatus at a time of great peril. Take this absurd idea off the table,’ he added.

Earlier in the afternoon, he repeated criticism he leveled against the defense spending aspects of the deal on Sunday, calling it ‘welcome news to China,’ and suggested it ran counter to Democrats’ and Republicans’ ‘screaming about the rise and growing threat of China.’

‘How far the Party of Ronald Reagan has fallen. The Biden defense budget has been ridiculed by Republicans for over a year,’ he wrote on Twitter. ‘As to the share of GDP spent on defense, the Biden budget matches and eventually dips below the lowest level in modern history. Nothing in this bill provides weapons or technology to help Ukraine defeat Putin and make the world more stable.’

‘To Biden, McConnell, and McCarthy, what are we going to do about our own national defense as well as our support of Ukraine? We need to know,’ he added.

During an appearance on ‘Fox News Sunday,’ Graham warned House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., against slashing the defense budget in order to reach a deal on the debt ceiling. His comments came prior to the release of the full details of the deal.

‘Number one, I respect Kevin McCarthy. I want to raise the debt ceiling. It would be irresponsible not to do it. I want to control spending. I’d like to have a smaller IRS. I’d like to claw back the unused COVID money. I know you can’t get the perfect – but what I will not do is adopt the Biden defense budget and call it a success,’ Graham said. 

‘Kevin said that the defense is fully funded. If we adopt the Biden defense budget, it increases defense spending below inflation – 3.2% increase in defense is below inflation,’ he added.

Biden and McCarthy reached an agreement on the debt ceiling late Sunday, averting a potentially catastrophic U.S. default just days ahead of a June 5 deadline. They released the House version of the bill later in the evening.

The deal includes a 3% rise in defense spending next year, less than the current annual inflation rate of more than 4%. It would also keep nondefense spending roughly flat in the 2024 fiscal year and increase it by 1% the following year, as well as provide for a 2-year debt-limit increase.

The House Rules Committee will meet at 3 p.m. on Tuesday to prepare the debt ceiling bill for a debate on the floor Wednesday.

Fox News’ Danielle Wallace, Bradford Betz and Chad Pergram contributed to this report.