Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer revealed that the Department of Labor will be sending more than $1 billion in unused pandemic-related funds back to taxpayers. The move aligns with the Trump administration’s broader efforts through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to curb excess spending and improve accountability across federal agencies.
According to a press release from the department, $1.4 billion in leftover COVID-19 relief funds will be “returned to taxpayers through the U.S. Department of Treasury’s General Fund,” while steps are underway to retrieve the additional $2.9 billion that remains.

New Jersey Senator Cory Booker wrapped up a marathon speech criticizing the Trump administration, bringing it to a close 25 hours and five minutes after he first took the floor Monday evening.
“I believe that there is an urgent crisis in our country that we are not talking about. It’s not a left-right crisis, it’s a right-wrong crisis,” he declared, shortly after announcing his intention to end his lengthy remarks.
In his closing moments, Booker returned to the testimonies he had shared throughout the previous day—accounts from Americans who have depended on programs like veterans’ services and Medicaid, which now face reductions under President Trump’s proposed budget cuts.

Republican Jimmy Patronis is projected to win the special election for Florida’s 1st Congressional District, according to Decision Desk HQ.

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Housing Minister and UTJ chairman Yitzchak Goldknopf came out with a sharp condemnation Tuesday after footage emerged of a group of Chareidi youths shouting at IDF soldiers touring the streets of Bnei Brak earlier in the day. The video, which quickly spread on social media, shows a few bochurim yelling at soldiers as they walked through the mostly Chareidi city. However, not all present displayed such behavior. One young man was seen stepping forward to shake a soldier’s hand respectfully, even as others shouted from the sidelines. “I strongly condemn the criminal behavior of fringe youths who attacked IDF soldiers in the city of Bnei Brak today,” Minister Goldknopf wrote on X. “This is not the derech of Torah Yidden.

Republican Randy Fine has won Florida’s 6th Congressional District special election, holding off a surprisingly strong challenge from Democrat Josh Weil. NBC News projected Fine’s win in the district, a Republican stronghold for years.
The race to replace Michael Waltz—who stepped down from Congress to become national security adviser to Trump—proved to be far more contentious than initially expected. Republican officials grew concerned when Weil, a schoolteacher by profession, managed to dramatically out-raise Fine, who serves in the Florida state Senate. While early voting numbers appeared to show a surge in Democratic participation, such statistics are often a poor predictor of final turnout.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has taken steps to bolster American military strength in the Middle East by sending additional aircraft to support naval operations, the Pentagon announced on Tuesday.
While the official announcement did not detail which aircraft were deployed, several U.S. officials speaking anonymously to Reuters revealed that four B-2 stealth bombers had been flown to the joint U.S.-UK base on Diego Garcia, an island in the Indian Ocean positioned within operational range of both Iran and Yemen.
In addition, Hegseth has directed the Carl Vinson carrier strike group to head toward the Middle East. According to a Bloomberg report, the strike group will make its way to the region after it wraps up training drills in the Indo-Pacific.

The Trump administration announced Monday a major federal review of $9 billion in grants and contracts at Harvard University, citing the school’s failure to protect Jewish students from antisemitic discrimination.  The review, conducted as part of the Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, will involve audits by the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, along with the U.S. General Services Administration. Federal officials will scrutinize over $255.6 million in contracts between Harvard and the U.S. government, in addition to more than $8.7 billion in multi-year grant commitments. U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon delivered a sharp rebuke of Harvard’s handling of antisemitic incidents on campus, warning that the university’s reputation is at stake.

BREAKING: Sen. Cory Booker has broken the Senate’s record for longest floor speech set in 1957 when Strom Thurmond spoke against the Civil Rights Act. Booker began speaking at 7 p.m. yesterday and has just passed the 24 hour mark.