FIRST ON FOX: The ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus is calling on Republican leaders to reject President Biden’s $98.4 billion disaster aid request.

In an official position staked out by the GOP group on Wednesday evening, lawmakers are demanding a slimmed-down package covering what is “absolutely necessary,” to be offset with spending cuts elsewhere.

“Congress should not pass a whopping $100 billion unpaid disaster supplemental funding bill — that Democrats will use to cement their own unrelated priorities — in the waning days of Democrat control in Washington right before Republicans take control of the White House and both Chambers,” the House Freedom Caucus statement read.

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“The House should consider only what is absolutely necessary right now to provide critical relief to hurricane victims and farmers, and pay for it with offsets from wasteful spending elsewhere in the government, then wait for President Trump to take office to better manage disaster relief.”

It comes as both House and Senate lawmakers negotiate over how large the disaster aid package should be, and whether it should be attached to an end-of-year federal funding bill that’s critical to avoiding a partial government shutdown during the holiday season.

More than 100 people were killed in North Carolina alone when Helene barreled into the Southeastern U.S. in late September.

Hurricane Milton, another deadly storm, hit Florida and Georgia roughly a week later.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told “Your World” host Neil Cavuto that a $100 billion disaster aid package may be necessary.

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U.S. President Joe Biden attends a meeting, at a Carrinho facility, near Lobito, Angola, December 4, 2024. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz (REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz)

“I believe that we need that disaster supplemental at about $100 billion. There’s nearly an estimate of $50 billion in North Carolina alone,” Tillis said. “It’s going to take years to recover and we shouldn’t be playing games with people’s lives.”

But some fiscal conservatives have balked at the prospect of granting the mammoth-sized federal request without cutting costs elsewhere.

They’ve argued that granting the Democratic administration’s request for such a hefty package would be a reckless move that would further balloon the national debt.

“I’m not going to vote for $100 billion unpaid for. Zero chance,” Freedom Caucus Policy Chair Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital last month.

Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., who is not a member of the Freedom Caucus and whose district was hit hard by Helene, told Fox News Digital that he was in touch with House leaders about a disaster aid bill but said details were still being crafted.

Meanwhile Congressional leaders are expected to negotiate on a continuing resolution (CR), a short-term extension of the current government funding levels, by the Dec. 20 partial shutdown deadline.

House Speaker Mike Johnson will need to work with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer if a disaster aid bill is to be passed this year. (Reuters)

“We’re looking at a couple of different options,” Edwards said on Wednesday morning. “It may be attached to the CR, it may run parallel to the CR, but it’s very much being constructed right now.”

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Asked about Biden’s requested total, he said, “It’s still being built. We’ve got pretty much the bones established, we’re just trying to determine proportionately, how much money we spend in each of the various areas.”

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who discussed disaster aid and government funding with the House Freedom Caucus on Tuesday evening, gave little insight into his plans during his weekly press conference.

“It’s serious, serious damage. But the initial request was $116.5 billion. And what we’re doing right now is the important, methodical job that the House has, to go through really line by line and assess those requests and make sure that they all are actually tied to disaster and not superfluous items and issues that are included,” Johnson said.

The search for the grandmother believed to have fallen into a massive sinkhole continued on Wednesday, as Pennsylvania authorities encountered unstable portions of the abandoned mine below the sinkhole.

Elizabeth Pollard, 64, was searching for her lost cat Pepper when she disappeared in Marguerite, Pennsylvania, on Dec. 2. She parked near a local restaurant with her five-year-old granddaughter in the car at the time.

Marguerite, a sparsely-populated village, is vulnerable to sinkholes due to past mining activity. Authorities believe that Pollard fell into the former Marguerite Mine, which was last operated in 1952.

Crews determined that parts of the abandoned coal mine were too unstable to safely search for Pollard but still expressed hope that the 64-year-old grandmother would be found alive.

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On Wednesday, Pleasant Unity Fire Chief John Bacha said that crews made it to the spot where Pollard is believed to have fallen, but found no sign of her. 

Bacha, the operations officer of the mission, said that mud may have moved her somewhere else in the mine.

“We did get, you know, where we wanted, where we thought that she was at. We’ve been to that spot,” Bacha explained. “What happened at that point, I don’t know, maybe the slurry of mud pushed her one direction. There were several different seams of that mine, shafts that all came together where this happened at.”

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Authorities are hoping that Pollard is still alive, though conditions have been mixed. Although nightly temperatures had lowered to freezing early this week, officials have said that parts of the sinkhole still have adequate levels of oxygen.

“All oxygen levels have been perfect,” Bacha told KDKA on Tuesday. “No carbon monoxide, no explosive gases, no anything.”

“The atmosphere has been perfect at this point, so we still have some hope that there’s a void and we’ll be able to get there.”

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This Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. image provided by the Pennsylvania State Police shows the top of a sinkhole in the village of Marguerite, Pa., where rescuers were searching for a woman who disappeared. (Pennsylvania State Police via AP)

Authorities are actively investigating the incident. No additional details are known at this time.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

First son Hunter Biden was spotted on camera for the first time since his father pardoned him, smiling for the cameras as he picked up a fast-food order in California. 

Hunter Biden was seen Wednesday afternoon in Santa Barbara sporting a T-shirt, jeans and baseball cap while picking up food from an Arby’s. 

The photos come after Biden announced Sunday evening that he would spare his son from being sentenced in a pair of separate court cases in which he was found guilty of illegally purchasing a gun and failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes. Biden cited in his statement that Hunter Biden’s convictions were politically motivated and a “miscarriage of justice.”

“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” Biden wrote in a statement. “From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.”

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He went on to say: “It is clear that Hunter was treated differently. The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election. Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the court room – with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases,” he continued. 

BIDEN PARDONS SON HUNTER BIDEN AHEAD OF EXIT FROM OVAL OFFICE

Hunter Biden flashes a big smile as he leaves an Arby’s  in Santa Barbara on Wednesday, December 4, 2024. This is the first time that the son of President Joe Biden has been photographed since he was pardoned by his father. (The Image Direct for Fox News Digital)

“I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice – and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.” 

The pardon stands in stark contrast to what the president said earlier this years, vowing he would not pardon his son both before and after Hunter was found guilty in a June gun trial. 

WHO ELSE MIGHT BIDEN PARDON AFTER HE SPARED HUNTER FROM SENTENCING?

“I am not going to do anything,” Biden said after Hunter was convicted in the gun case. “I will abide by the jury’s decision.”

Hunter Biden flashes a big smile as he leaves an Arby’s in Santa Barbara on Wednesday, December 4, 2024. This is the first time that the son of President Joe Biden has been photographed since he was pardoned by his father. (The Image Direct for Fox News Digital)

Hunter Biden was found guilty June 11 of lying about his drug use when buying a gun in 2018. He was found guilty on three charges — making a false statement in the purchase of a gun, making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federally licensed gun dealer and possession of a gun by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance. 

Hunter Biden had an extensive and well-documented history with addiction, which was best captured in his 2021 memoir “Beautiful Things,” which walked readers through his spirals of crack cocaine use. 

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Hunter Biden faced another trial regarding three felony tax offenses and six misdemeanor tax offenses over his alleged failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes in a California court in September. As jury selection was about to kick off in Los Angeles federal court, Hunter entered a surprise guilty plea. 

Martina Navratilova has long been outspoken about transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports.

In a new post on X, the tennis legend said she was “mad” that Republicans have tackled the nationwide controversy, rather than Democrats, the party which she has aligned with.

Navratilova shared a photo of Congresswoman Nancy Mace, R-S.C., with members of Gays Against Groomers, holding up a shirt that read “Save Girls’ Sports.”

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

“And I am so mad that the Republicans captured this issue – shame on all the elected Democrats who keep silent on this!!! #whataboutthewomen,” she wrote on X.

This is not the first time Navratilova has ripped the left for their different views on the issue. The tennis legend appeared at the Independent Women’s Forum’s “Take Back Title IX” rally in June as she and other prominent women athletes pushed back on the Biden administration’s Title IX rewrite.

Navratilova said that she and her fellow Democrats tried to make the playing field fair for transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports. However, when she did more research, she determined it was an impossible task.

Martina Navratilova gives a thumbs up after being honored during the Internazionali BNL D’Italia at Foro Italico on May 21, 2023, in Rome. (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

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“Initially, being the Democrats and the women that we are for the most part, we in this group were trying to find every single possible way to include trans-identified men, males who identify as women, into women’s sports,” she said. “And the more we try to find a way to mitigate the advantage, to handicap, to somehow to include, the more we figured out it’s not possible. It’s not possible to do it in a fair way and here we are in a much different position.

“As I got deeper into the issue, I also saw the connection between women’s sex-based spaces and women’s sports – they are totally interconnected, and I’m sure the swimmers at Penn could tell you all about that. You heard about Lia Thomas, right?”

“Now, it’s, ‘Oh, you’re a homophobe.’ Go figure. I’ve been out since ’81, yeah, I’m a homophobe,” she said, rolling her eyes. “‘You’re a bigot, you’re a transphobe, you’re a Nazi, you’re a fascist, you’re a communist,’ everything and everything in between. And this is coming from the left. I am the left! My people are turning on me. They’re turning on us, women, who speak up for women’s sex-based rights.”

Martina Navratilova attends the official draw ceremony and gala before the Akron WTA Finals Guadalajara on Nov. 8, 2021, in Zapopan, Mexico. (Hector Vivas/Getty Images for WTA)

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Navratilova recently called Italian sprinter Valentina Petrillo, who competed in the Paralympics as a trans woman, a “pathetic cheater.” In March, she made a plea to “keep women’s sports female.”

Fox News’ Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

EXCLUSIVE: Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens says he is “excited” by the prospect of incoming Trump border czar Tom Homan leading the charge of deportations and border security – as he pointed to violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua as one of the top threats facing the country.

Owens, who took the position of chief last year, spoke to Fox News’ Griff Jenkins in San Antonio, Texas, in his first interview since the election. He was asked what he thought of the appointment of Homan, a former Border Patrol agent and former head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“I’m excited because Tom Homan is a brother Border Patrol agent. He served time in this uniform. And so I’m excited to see any of our green family make good,” he said. “And I’m excited to see what he’s going to do.” 

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“I can tell you that the interior enforcement and the deportations, what they represent is a consequence. They represent a consequence of not following our laws and coming into our country the right way,” he said.

There have been tensions between the Biden administration and Border Patrol agents over the handling of the crisis at the southern border. The Border Patrol union has been deeply critical of the administration and backed the Trump campaign during the presidential election. 

Owens came into the role as chief in a year that saw record encounters at the southern border. He said “it’s been exhausting” for agents to deal with the last four years at the border. Numbers have dropped sharply recently due in part to a proclamation limiting asylum signed by President Biden in June, but it is unclear if those numbers will remain low for long. 

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Owens warned that cartels are adjusting their tactics to get around the new challenges, including increased technology, and he pointed to fentanyl and the violent Venezuelan migrant gang Tren de Aragua as two of the top threats on the agency’s radar.

“It’s a very serious threat for us,” he said of Tren de Aragua (TdA). “It is one of our top priorities, just like fentanyl. Tomorrow it may be something else, but today it’s TdA and fentanyl that they represent some of the biggest threats to our people in this country.”

The gang has been linked with a number of high-profile crimes across the U.S. and has expanded its presence and criminal activities into multiple states, including Colorado, where it has reportedly taken over a number of apartment buildings. 

Owens also points to the unknowns facing agents, including 250,000 gotaways at the border.

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“We need to make them come to the front door. It’s that unknown, and what the intent is that scares me the most and probably any other law enforcement and border security professional that you’re going to ask out there. It’s why are they coming in, and why aren’t they using the front door? And what are they planning on doing that could potentially harm our country and our people?” he said.

He noted that it’s harder to vet migrants from countries where there are no diplomatic relations, meaning it’s much harder to know who is coming into the U.S. He says that what keeps him up at night is the possibility of failure in apprehending threats coming into the U.S.

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“What keeps me up at night is not being successful, knowing that for every person that we miss, for every drug load that we miss, people’s lives are forever impacted. And in some cases, people can die. That’s something that none of us wants to see,” he said.

It is that in politics, people are policy. 

So President-elect Trump’s “policies” descended on Capitol Hill this week. 

Thus begins the quadrennial tradition of various Cabinet nominees parading around the Senate. They’re here to meet with senators, answer questions, press the flesh, get a sense of what senators want to know about them in a confirmation hearing – and where the pitfalls lie.

We got a sliver of this before Thanksgiving. That’s when former attorney general nominee and former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., huddled with a handful of Republican senators. Then Gaetz bowed out, so it was on to Trump’s second pick for attorney general – Pam Bondi.

Bondi arrived at the Capitol Monday to meet with incoming Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, but her first meeting was postponed because Grassley’s flight was delayed. They finally chatted later in the afternoon.

“I look forward to working with you and leading your nomination through the United States Senate,” said Grassley once he finally made it to his office in the Hart Senate Office Building.

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“Should I earn the trust and the nomination from all of the senators, I will do my best every day to work tirelessly for the American people. And I will make you, the President and our country proud,” added Bondi.

“Is this going to be easier than Mr. Gaetz?” asked yours truly.

“No questions. No questions,” ordered Grassley.

Bondi soon headed to the Russell Senate Office Building to caucus with the current top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

“She’s a great choice. Been a long time friend. I think right person at right time,” said Graham.

Bondi may have an easier path to Senate confirmation than the other nominee roaming the Senate corridors, Defense Secretary pick Pete Hegseth.

He met with Sens. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska.

“We’re taking it meeting by meeting,” said Hegseth.

Hegseth faces a host of questions about whether he’s qualified to lead such a massive organization as the U.S. military. There’s been a blanket of allegations lodged against Hegseth.

“Were you ever drunk while traveling on the job?” asked Nikole Killion of CBS.

“I won’t dignify that with a response,” replied Hegseth.

He then proceeded to a series of sessions with Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Mike Lee, R-Utah. Hegseth appears to have earned the support of some of the most conservative members of the Senate.

“We don’t need a general officer, admiral or a person of high command,” said Tuberville. “We need a drill sergeant in the military. We need somebody to straighten the military out. Get the woke, the DEI affiliation out and go from there.” 

Hegseth was back at it Tuesday morning, meeting with Sens. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V., Ted Budd, R-N.C., Jim Risch, R-Idaho, and Eric Schmitt, R-Mo. 

Wednesday meant meetings with Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and the next chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss. 

Hegseth has also expressed reservations about women serving in combat. 

Colleague Aishah Hasnie pressed Hegseth on this very point as he toggled between Senate offices. 

“We have amazing women who serve in our military. Amazing women,” said Hegseth. 

“Do you think they should be in combat?” asked Hasnie.

“I think they’re already in combat,” replied Hegseth.

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be defense secretary, is joined by his wife Jennifer Rauchet, as they walk through the basement of the Capitol, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Amid all the focus on Bondi and Hegseth, United Nations Ambassador nominee and Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., snuck in a meeting with Grassley. And Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent is also slated to meet with Thune and newly tapped Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo. 

Out of the middle of nowhere, Education Secretary nominee Linda McMahon materialized for a session with Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., Tuesday. 

You think things are hitting a fevered pitch now? Wait until FBI pick Kash Patel and Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. begin making their office calls. 

And we haven’t even gotten to the prospective confirmation hearings of Hegseth, Kennedy and Patel in early January. Cable TV channels will likely carry those hearings wall-to-wall. And depending on the day, it may be a challenging programming decision on which hearing to take live – especially if two or three all come around the same time. 

A dynamic duo arrives at Capitol Hill later this week – who don’t require confirmation. And in fact, their visits may command more attention than any of the nominees for the next cabinet. 

President-elect Trump tapped former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk to run the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. They’re set to meet with House and Senate Republicans about their plans to pare back the government. They begin with meetings with Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who is leading the Senate’s DOGE Caucus.

“We have a lot of waste that exists in the federal government,” said Ernst. “We have over $1 trillion of savings already identified for the DOGE.”

Left: Elon Musk speaks during an America PAC town hall on Oct. 26, 2024, in Lancaster, Pa.; Right: Vivek Ramaswamy speaks during the Republican National Convention (RNC) at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Tuesday, July 16, 2024.  (Left: Samuel Corum/Getty Images; Right: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Even Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., became the first Democrat to join the House DOGE Caucus. 

“I believe that streamlining government processes and reducing ineffective government spending should not be a partisan issue,” said Moskowitz. “The caucus should look at the bureaucracy that DHS has become and include recommendations to make Secret Service and FEMA independent federal agencies with a direct report to the White House.”

When it comes to confirmations, Democrats insist that Republicans do things by the book. They want background checks on nominees, and they’re also imploring the GOP not to allow Trump to bypass the Senate if there are problems and install people temporarily via recess appointments. 

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., took issue with the speedy meetings Republican senators had with nominees. Some of those sessions resulted in GOP senators then proclaiming they would vote to confirm.

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“You can’t do a speed dating process for the Cabinet of the President of the United States without ending up embarrassed and with things that are discovered only through a deep investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” said Durbin, “I can tell you privately, many Republicans senators have spoken to me and said ‘For goodness sakes, we can’t do away with the FBI check.’ That is something that’s just integral to the system.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote to Thune, imploring him to preserve the Senate customs for confirming nominees.

“The advise and consent authority is a cornerstone of the Senate’s constitutional mandate. A power central to preserving America’s system of checks and balances. The Founding Fathers knew firsthand the great danger of allowing unchecked executives to appoint individuals to positions of power without any guardrails,” said Schumer. “Hopefully this doesn’t become an issue. But nevertheless, it will be the responsibility of the incoming Republican majority to protect the Senate against any attempt to erode its authority.”

So this is going to be quite a few weeks. 

Lots of meetings. Lots of hearings. Lots of votes. All surrounding staffing the next administration.

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Outgoing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is fond of saying that the Senate is “in the personnel business.” 

It’s also in the “policy” business, and those “policies” are now walking around the halls of Capitol Hill.