Until he does, it'll keep him out of national security briefs.
Axios: Tom Cotton Has Votes to Be Senate GOP No. 3
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/tom-cotton-senate-leadership/2024/11/10/id/1187448/
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., has reportedly locked down the votes to be elevated to the No. 3 spot in Republican leadership, the GOP Conference chair in Congress' upper chamber.
Cotton has been bandied about as a potential member of President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet, but he has decided to remain in the Senate and serve as a bridge between the establishment Republicans, the more conservative GOP senators, and the Trump orbit.
A source with knowledge of Cotton's Senate GOP support says he has secured the majority of votes to serve as the Republican Conference chair, Axios reported.
That role is pivotal in GOP messaging, particularly on a day-to-day basis, and Cotton has a wide swath of support, according to the report.
Cotton vowed to fight for the senators' agenda priorities and lead their message in televised interviews, where Cotton had become a burgeoning voice and force in recent years, including on Newsmax.
Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, a frequent Newsmax Senate GOP guest, would be locked out of leadership roles if she loses the GOP Conference chair spot to Cotton, and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., takes Ernst's current No. 4 spot.
"Kamala thought she had it locked up too," an Ernst spokesperson told Axios in a statement. "Anyone who assumes the world's most deliberative body has made up its mind before closing arguments takes their colleagues for granted."
The top spot in the Senate majority figures to be a well-fought battle this week to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in carrying out Trump's agenda in the upper chamber.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla. — the likely Trump choice for long-held close ties — is challenging establishment forces Sens. John Thune, R-S.D., and John Cornyn, R-Texas. Thune and Cornyn have at times been tepid in backing all of Trump's agenda.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., is unopposed in keeping the Senate majority whip No. 2 Senate GOP position.
FEMA Workers 'Afraid' to Call Out Politicized Work
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/fema-relief-hurricane/2024/11/10/id/1187439/
The complaints directed at FEMA leadership keep coming weeks after Hurricane Helene ravaged North Carolina and the 2024 presidential election flipped U.S. leadership.
Savage Operations founder Adam Smith, whose group assisted hurricane relief, claimed FEMA led with a culture of "fear" under President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris amid the reported skipping of homes with Donald Trump campaign signs.
"And one of the interesting thing was, is it was stated that, Hey, we can't have our fingerprints on this, which I think leads back to the actual question, which is, What sort of culture and what sort of fear is there in place at some of the lower levels of FEMA personnel where they're afraid they're going to lose their job if they don't speak up against actions that are blatantly not aligned with what the organization is supposed to be doing?" Smith said in a TV interview, as reported my Mediaite.
"To say that I was surprised would be a lie — I don't necessarily want to demean or demonize every FEMA employee or worker that’s out there; I think there are a lot of them that have a good heart that want to help people," he said.
"The question that it leads me to is to ask the question of what sort of culture has been established in order for, you know, FEMA personnel on the ground or leadership, for that matter, to provide this sort of instruction to FEMA personnel that want to provide help."
Even local FEMA workers had the mission of helping all people at heart, he added.
"I had an interaction with local FEMA officials as well, and they wanted to help people, help people," he concluded.
They'll cooperate, you'll see.
Cuccinelli to Newsmax: States Will Lose Federal Money Over Fighting Deportations
https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/ken-cuccinelli-donald-trump-deportation/2024/11/10/id/1187445/
States refusing to work with the federal government to enforce deportation orders under incoming President-elect Donald Trump will face the loss of federal funding, former deputy Department of Homeland Security Secretary Ken Cuccinelli told Newsmax Sunday.
"Do they stop receiving money for their law enforcement organizations, or do they comply and cooperate?" Cuccinelli told Newsmax's "Wake Up America Weekend."
Last week, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat, told MSNBC that she will not allow state police to help the incoming administration with mass deportations of immigrants from her state.
Likewise, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, another Democrat, said that his state will continue to be "a refuge for those whose rights are being denied elsewhere" and will continue protections for asylum seekers, as well as those seeking reproductive healthcare and for LGBTQ+ communities, reported NBC News.
"So you look at the governor of Massachusetts there and of course, she's defiant and Pritzker is defiant," said Cuccinelli Sunday. "That's lovely. What matters here is your cooperative, friendly Congress using the appropriations process to require state and local participation in all aspects of federal law enforcement, including immigration enforcement, as a condition of receiving money."
That means states must make a choice whether to refuse to assist in deportations or stop getting money from agencies like the Department of Education or for transportation and infrastructure, as well as for their law enforcement agencies, he said.
Cuccinelli pointed out that there were several lawsuits during Trump's first term in office that addressed most of the legal questions concerning immigration.
"So for example, the emergency use of military money for building a wall that's already been litigated, he can declare a national emergency and dip into that money on day one," he said. "The reason he can do that is because of all of the work done in the first term."
Cuccinelli added that the choice will be put up to states about cooperating with the federal deportation mandate.
"They don't have to cooperate, but they're going to have to give up federal money if they're going to avoid cooperation, and I can tell you as a former state legislator, there is nothing state legislators want to do less than give up federal money that other states are getting."