Congress must not allow a snow storm to delay the certification of President-elect Donald Trump‘s Electoral College victory, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said on Sunday. “Well, I hope we have full attendance. We’ve got a big snow storm coming to D.C. and we encourage all of our colleagues, ‘Do not leave town. Stay here.’ Because, as you know, the Electoral Count Act requires this on January 6 at 1 p.m. So, whether we’re in a blizzard or not we’re going to be in that chamber making sure this is done,” Johnson told Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo during a “Sunday Morning Futures” interview. Speaker Johnson on certifying the 2024 election: "Whether we're in a blizzard or not we're going to be in that chamber making sure this is done." pic.twitter.com/Krhg1DU2j1 — Bobby LaValley (@Bobby_LaVallley) January 5, 2025 Forecasters have issued a Winter Storm Warning for the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and expect up to up to 10 or more inches of snow through Monday, when the House and Senate are slated to meet for a joint session of Congress to affirm the 2024 results. Punchbowl News co-founder Jake Sherman noted on X that the House needs a quorum of 218 — a simple majority of all the sitting House lawmakers — to conduct business and most members stayed in town for a weekend session to discuss plans for budget reconciliation at Fort McNair. “Listen, President Trump had a mandate — a landslide, you know — so many electoral votes and we get to count them all. We cannot delay that certification,” Johnson added. “He deserves that; 77 million Americans voted for President Trump and this agenda — almost 75 million for the House. That’s our highest number ever. So, we call it a mandate. I believe it is. And we’ve got to get to work beginning immediately on Monday.” Other House Republicans posted to social media about showing up on Monday. “Unless [Elon Musk] has figured out how to control the weather it looks bad. If you are a Republican member of Congress I’d get to Washington. We have a President [Trump] to certify,” quipped Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN). “Jan 6th at 1:00 pm Congress must certify President Trump’s historic election,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). “Washington has a winter storm warning for Jan 5-7th expecting possibly a foot of snow. Many members of congress left town this weekend even though they were told to stay. I’m here and will walk to the Capitol if I have to.”

The past few years have seen Americans roundly reject the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) ideology universities have long pushed on faculty and students alike. Even before the Supreme Court ruled against affirmative action at universities, a majority of Americans, 62%, opposed race-based college admissions. At least a dozen states, including one with a Democratic governor, have cracked down on DEI at their higher education institutions in the past few years. In 2024, seven states signed legislation against DEI or stripped funding for it at universities — Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Utah, and Wyoming. Those states join Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and North Dakota, all of which moved against DEI before last year. In April, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly, a Democrat, allowed the legislature to enact a new law that fines public universities $10,000 if they use DEI policies in hiring faculty or accepting students. “While I have concerns about this legislation, I don’t believe that the conduct targeted in this legislation occurs in our universities,” Kelly said of the bill. In Utah, Governor Spencer Cox, a Republican, signed a bill prohibiting universities from having “diversity, equity and inclusion” programs, practices, or required trainings. The law says such “discriminatory” practices include asserting that “meritocracy is inherently racist or sexist” or “that an individual, by virtue of the individual’s personal identity characteristics, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other individuals with the same personal identity characteristics.” Alabama’s new law banning DEI offices from public universities, K-12 school systems, and state agencies took effect in October. The Alabama law also prohibits pushing certain “divisive concepts” in public settings, including that a person can be “inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or subconsciously” due to his race, sex, or religion. In response, the University of Alabama’s three campuses shuttered their DEI offices. The Alabama law also addresses the transgender bathroom issue. It requires restrooms at public universities to be designated on the basis of biological sex with “penalties for violation.” Indiana passed a law in March banning universities from requiring diversity statements from employees or students. The law also requires universities to have policies where faculty cannot get tenure if they have not encouraged “free expression and intellectual diversity” or have taught students political views unrelated to their classes. It also orders universities to explore ways to promote recruitment of “underrepresented” students, not just minority students. Iowa passed a law in May barring its three state universities from having DEI offices or requiring anyone to submit a DEI statement. And Wyoming defunded the DEI office at the University of Wyoming, which had been getting $1.73 million. A number of other states banned certain DEI policies before last year. Florida now has several anti-DEI laws, including a 2023 law that prohibits public universities from requiring a “political loyalty test” from employees or students or giving them preferential treatment based on race or ideology. Another Florida law from that year bans using state or federal funds for DEI at public universities. Last month, Idaho’s state education board unanimously voted to ban race and gender policies and cultural centers at its public universities. In 2021, Idaho barred public colleges and K-12 schools from DEI statements, or compelling “students to personally affirm, adopt, or adhere to” certain concepts related to sex, race, and religion. The same year, the state cut $2.5 million from state funding for social justice programming at its three public universities. In 2023, North Dakota enacted a new law banning DEI statements at universities as well as mandatory DEI training. A student or school employee may not be required to agree with concepts like “race or sex scapegoating” or that an individual “should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or another form of psychological distress solely because of the individual’s race or sex,” the law says. The same year, Texas enacted a law requiring public universities to confirm that they do not require DEI statements or have a DEI office before they can spend any state money. In 2022, Tennessee passed a law saying public university students and employees cannot be penalized for not agreeing with certain “divisive concepts” including that “the rule of law does not exist, but instead is a series of power relationships and struggles among racial or other groups.” The state doubled down in 2023 with another law banning mandatory implicit bias training and inviting students and employees to report violations. North Carolina passed a law in 2023 making it illegal to force state employees, including those at public universities to give their opinion about “matters of contemporary political debate or social action.” The state’s Democratic governor vetoed the bill, saying it would get rid of training to help people understand “the unconscious bias we all bring to our work and our communities.” However, the legislature overrode the governor’s veto. A slew of other states have proposed anti-DEI legislation as well, but so far they have not been successful.

President-elect Donald Trump tapped Morgan Ortagus on Friday for Deputy Special Presidential Envoy for Middle East Peace. “Early on Morgan fought me for three years, but hopefully has learned her lesson,” Trump wrote in a statement. “These things usually don’t work out, but she has strong Republican support, and I’m not doing this for me, I’m doing it for them. Let’s see what happens.” “She will hopefully be an asset to Steve, a great leader and talent, as we seek to bring calm and prosperity to a very troubled region,” Trump continued. “I expect great results, and soon! Ortagus responded to the appointment by saying she was “honored” to serve in the role under Steve Witkoff. “To be given the opportunity to once again represent my country and the Trump Administration in a crucial diplomatic role is dream come true,” she added. “The most important thing is that through President Trump, we bring peace and stability to a troubled region, and I’m grateful to play a small role in that endeavor.” Ortagus served as an active U.S. Navy Reserve Intelligence Officer and previously served during Trump’s first term in office as the spokesperson for the U.S State Department under former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. She previously worked at the Department of the Treasury as a financial intelligence analyst and as the Deputy U.S. Treasury Attaché to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) outlined the Republican Party’s agenda in a 19-minute speech that he delivered on Friday immediately after winning the speaker’s race. Johnson opened his speech by holding a moment of silence for the 14 people who were murdered by an Islamic terrorist this week in New Orleans. He said that the seven principles that would guide his actions as speaker were individual freedom, limited government, the rule of law, peace through strength, fiscal responsibility, free markets, and human dignity. “The American people want an America First agenda. Sadly, for the past four years of divided government, too many politicians in Washington have done the opposite,” Johnson said. “Open borders and over-regulation have destroyed our cities and stifled innovation. Inflation and weak leadership have left Americans poorer and they placed our country in a perilous position.” He said that the top priority this Congress will tackle is securing America’s borders. “In coordination with President Trump, this Congress will give our border and immigration enforcement agents the resources that they need to do their job,” he said. “We will secure the border. We will deport dangerous criminal illegal aliens, and finally finish building the border wall.” He said that Congress would also take action to address the inflation crisis that President Joe Biden and the Democrats sparked in 2021 with their American Rescue Plan. Johnson said that Republicans would also stop the Democrats’ war on energy and unleash America’s energy industry. “We’re going to drastically cut the size and scope of government,” he said. “We’re going to return the power back to the people. And in coordination with President Trump and his administration, we’re going to create a leaner, faster, and more efficient federal workforce. We need to do that.” WATCH: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) takes the speaker’s gavel and outlines the Republican Party’s agenda in his first remarks as Speaker of the 119th Congress. ?? pic.twitter.com/PyLbeyo3uZ — Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) January 3, 2025

House Homeland Security Committee Chair Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) said this week that the U.S. needed more FBI personnel to stop people from being radicalized into becoming terrorists after a man who recently converted to Islam declared his allegiance to ISIS and murdered 14 people in New Orleans this week. Green’s remarks come after 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar used a rented truck to mow down people in New Orleans’ French Quarter before he got out and opened fire on law enforcement. “What our FBI needs is more resources,” Green told CBS News on Friday morning. He said that agents need to be looking for individuals who are online and becoming radicalized inside the U.S. “The fusion centers do a pretty good job most of the time, but a situation like this where a guy gets radicalized, we don’t know exactly when, and then is turned on to do a mission like this, that’s the information that’s going to require boots on the ground all over the country, in places where people get radicalized,” he said. “And they pulled back after — initially, after 9/11, the FBI was everywhere looking, they caught those guys in upstate New York by doing that human intelligence,” he continued. “But they’ve pulled back over the past several years, and they need to put that back into place.” WATCH: