Great Things in Great Falls: Sip unique mimosas, get a taste of Ireland and new

Mizzou women's golf carded an even par in the second round of the NCAA Regional Championships on Tuesday in Stanford, California, and it rose to sixth place overall at 6-over.

Senior Melanie Walker headlined the Tigers behind a 3-under par performance, and she rose 12 spots to tie for 12th overall at 2-under.

Junior Fleur van Beek went 1-under with a pair of birdies after subbing in for sophomore Alexandra Berglund to rise to 64th.

Freshman Ebba Liljeberg is tied for 28th after carding a 1-over and jumping up seven spots. Senior Jade Zamora plummeted 18 spots to tie for 23rd after posting 4-over. Senior Addie Dobson jumped up five spots after going 3-over to tie for 45th.

The top five finishing teams from stroke play, as well as the lowest individual not on an advancing team, will advance to compete in the NCAA Women's Championship on May 22-27 at Omni La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, California.

The Tigers return to Stanford Golf Course on Wednesday morning with hopes of advancing with a top-five finish.

CC softball's season ends in NAIA Opening Round

Columbia College softball saw its season come to an end Tuesday afternoon after an extra-inning 3-2 loss to No. 18 Coastal Georgia in the NAIA Opening Round in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. 

Ella Schouten worked all 11.2 innings for the Cougars, striking out 13 on 202 pitches while allowing two earned runs.

CC leapt to an early 2-0 lead. Abigail Zismer singled and Taryn Hagardt moved her to second with a sacrifice bunt before a fielder's choice and an error brought Zismer home.

In the second, Layla Underwood reached first on an error, and Kylee Page drew a walk while Eleanor Schudel hit a bunt single to plate Underwood and double the Cougars' score.

CC held that lead before Coastal Georgia knotted it at 2-2 in the seventh. Both teams traded zeros until the bottom of the 12th, when Coastal Georgia put a runner on base with a leadoff error and a walk-off sacrifice fly to send the Cougars home.

CC finished the season 27-15 with their 25th appearance in program history in the NAIA Tournament.

(The Center Square) — The U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation aimed at stopping American taxpayer dollars from helping finance foreign shrimp operations that Gulf Coast lawmakers say have undercut domestic shrimpers for decades.

The Save Our Shrimpers Act, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, would require U.S. representatives at international financial institutions to oppose financial assistance for projects supporting shrimp farming, shrimp processing or shrimp exports in borrowing countries.

The bill passed the House without a recorded vote against it, sending the measure to the Senate.

“By passing my bill, we are standing up for American shrimpers who wake up before dawn to help feed our country and the world,” Nehls told The Center Square in a statement. “This is a huge win for our Gulf Coast and coastal communities that depend on shrimping to survive, and I urge the Senate to take up my bill and pass it as soon as possible.”

The legislation targets institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, where U.S. officials exercise voting power through executive directors. The Congressional Budget Office said the bill would require those officials to oppose assistance for shrimp-related projects, with the requirement expiring seven years after enactment.

The issue is especially significant in Gulf Coast states including Louisiana, Texas and Alabama, where shrimpers have struggled with low dockside prices, rising fuel and labor costs, and competition from cheaper imported shrimp. Industry groups say imports account for more than 90% of shrimp consumed in the United States, much of it produced through aquaculture in countries such as In

In February 2025, The Center Square reported that nearly half a billion U.S. dollars had gone to shrimp-related projects overseas through international development financing, including projects in countries that compete directly with U.S. shrimpers. One project in India, the largest shrimp supplier to the U.S. market, totaled about $200 million.

Existing federal law already gives U.S. officials some authority to oppose international financial institution assistance for foreign commodity projects. Under 22 U.S.C. § 262h, the Treasury secretary must instruct U.S. executive directors at several international financial institutions to use the U.S. “voice and vote” to oppose assistance for production or extraction of an export commodity if the commodity is in surplus on world markets and if the export would cause substantial injury to U.S. producers.

But that protection is conditional. To block assistance for a foreign shrimp project under current law, federal officials would first have to treat shrimp as a surplus commodity and determine that the exports would substantially injure U.S. producers.

The Save Our Shrimpers Act removes that extra step for shrimp. The bill would create a categorical instruction: U.S. executive directors at international financial institutions must oppose financial assistance for any project supporting shrimp farming, shrimp processing or shrimp exports in a borrowing country. 

That distinction makes the bill narrower but stronger than current law. It does not rewrite trade law, impose tariffs or ban shrimp imports. Instead, it targets development financing, ensuring U.S. representatives oppose international loans, grants or other assistance that could expand foreign shrimp production.

The bill has bipartisan support from Gulf Coast and seafood-state lawmakers. Its original cosponsors included U.S. Reps. Clay Higgins, R-La., Troy Carter, D-La., Julia Letlow, R-La., Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, and several members from Texas, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and the Carolinas. The House Financial Services Committee reported the bill in March after approving it 42-1.

Tthe legislation was first introduced in the previous Congress and reintroduced in March 2025. Nehls said U.S. officials voted against an international financial institution shrimp aquaculture project for the first time in April 2025, but supporters say the bill is needed to make that posture permanent rather than discretionary.

Shrimp industry advocates have backed the measure as part of a broader push against foreign seafood imports, which they say are produced under looser standards and sold at prices domestic boats cannot match. Separate seafood legislation has focused on import inspections, country-of-origin labeling and food safety.

The Save Our Shrimpers Act would not immediately raise shrimp prices or provide direct aid to shrimpers. Its impact would depend on whether international financial institutions are considering future shrimp projects, how often Treasury uses the waiver and whether the Senate takes up the bill.

(The Center Square) – The Department of Veterans Affairs is requesting $488.2 billion for fiscal year 2027, a 7.7% increase over current spending levels, as VA Secretary Doug Collins defended a budget that expands private-sector care while trimming staffing for oversight and appeals operations.

Testifying before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, chaired by Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., Collins said the proposal prioritizes performance over bureaucracy.

"For too long, this Department measured success by how much money it spent and how many people it employed – not by how well it served veterans," he told lawmakers.

In written testimony, Collins added that the VA "is not a federal jobs program, but in the past, it acted like one."

Collins pointed to a 70% reduction in the disability claims backlog, a record 51,936 homeless veterans permanently housed in fiscal year 2025, and the rollout of a long-delayed electronic health records system in Michigan as evidence of progress. He also highlighted the opening of 35 new health care clinics, 82 million direct-care appointments completed in fiscal year 2025 and more than 125,000 new VA enrollees added in 2026.

The budget would support 443,327 full-time equivalent VA employees in fiscal 2027, according to the Budget in Brief. That's down from 452,410 in fiscal 2025 but up 6,183 from the fiscal 2026 enacted level. In March 2025, VA set an initial target of returning to 399,957 employees in partnership with the Department of Government Efficiency, but by July 2025, the department announced a large-scale reduction in force was "off the table" after attrition and voluntary departures reduced headcount by nearly 30,000 employees without forced cuts.

The VA's $180.1 billion health care request would fund inpatient and outpatient care, pharmacy services, prosthetics, mental health treatment, long-term care and readjustment counseling. The proposal's largest shift, however, is in how care would be delivered.

Funding for direct care – treatment provided by VA-employed physicians and nurses at VA facilities – would total $95.1 billion under the proposal, according to the VA. Community care, in which the VA pays private providers to treat veterans outside the VA system, would total $56.1 billion.

Senate Democrats questioned the disparity, citing VA data showing veterans' outcomes are often equal to or better within the VA system than through private-sector care.

"The department's own public-facing data shows that outcomes for veterans are either the same or better through direct VA care compared to privatized outside care," Ranking Member Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., said at the hearing. "We have this huge imbalance in the requested funding for outsourced privatized care versus direct care through the VA."

In response to questions from The Center Square, VA Assistant Secretary Pete Kasperowicz said the allocation is required by law and reflects veteran demand. The VA Maintaining Internal Systems and Strengthening Integrated Outside Networks Act, known as the MISSION Act, requires VA to provide for both direct and community care, Kasperowicz said.

"The allocation for fiscal year 2027 reflects anticipated demand by veterans in both categories," he told The Center Square.

Republican members of the subcommittee did not directly challenge the community care allocation at the hearing.

An August 2025 VA Office of Inspector General report found that all 139 VA medical centers reported severe occupational staffing shortages, drawing additional scrutiny during the hearing.

Ossoff noted the fiscal year 2027 request would fund fewer physicians and registered nurses than the administration requested for fiscal year 2026, figures that are accurate when comparing the two budget requests.

Kasperowicz told The Center Square that, compared with enacted fiscal year 2026 funding levels, the proposal would actually fund 354 additional physicians and 1,115 more registered nurses.

Under the request, the VA projects staffing totals of 24,779 physicians and 79,674 registered nurses across the medical system, according to budget documents.

Collins said recruitment remains difficult in some specialties because VA physician salaries trail private-market compensation by $300,000 to $400,000 annually.

"They're not going to come to the VA if they can make $400,000 down the street," he said.

The proposal would also reduce funding for several oversight and adjudication offices. The VA Office of Inspector General would receive $284 million, a $12 million reduction, and lose 46 staff positions. The Board of Veterans' Appeals would see its budget cut by $12 million and staffing reduced by 137 positions, or roughly 10.5%.

Veterans groups pushed back on the administration's funding levels. In their joint Independent Budget released in March, Disabled American Veterans and Veterans of Foreign Wars recommended $223.3 billion in operational funding for the VA, compared with the administration's comparable request of $205.6 billion, and urged Congress to fully fund unmet needs such as long-term care.

Overall, VA funding has increased 58% since fiscal year 2023, driven largely by mandatory spending increases tied to the PACT Act, which expanded benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxic substances.

The fiscal year 2027 budget proposal assumes no civilian federal pay raises.

(The Center Square) – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration warned Americans Tuesday that fentanyl is increasingly mixed with a dangerous array of synthetic substances that can limit the effectiveness of naloxone, the standard overdose reversal drug, making the illicit drug supply more unpredictable and more lethal than ever.

Law enforcement and public health officials are seeing fentanyl combined with xylazine, medetomidine, nitazenes and cychlorphine – substances that either cannot be reversed by naloxone or require multiple doses to counter, the DEA said in a public safety advisory. Users typically have no way of knowing what is in the drugs they are taking.

The advisory arrives as the DEA and the Trump administration have been touting significant progress against fentanyl. Enforcement pressure drove the share of fentanyl pills containing a potentially lethal dose from 76% in fiscal 2023 to 29% in fiscal 2025, a result the agency has repeatedly cited as a win.

But the DEA's own 2025 National Drug Threat Assessment warned that the declining purity trend "does not mean that street-level fentanyl is less dangerous," pointing directly to adulteration as the compensating threat.

Congress is set to review a $3.6 billion DEA budget request for fiscal year 2027, part of more than $11.4 billion the Department of Justice is directing toward drug crimes – including $1.9 billion specifically targeting opioids such as fentanyl – as the agency now warns the threat is evolving faster than the progress it has claimed.

The DEA did not immediately respond to questions about what prompted the advisory, whether Mexican cartels are now involved in producing these combinations, or how the warning squares with the agency's recent progress claims.

Xylazine and medetomidine are veterinary sedatives with no approved use in humans. Xylazine, known as "tranq," has been linked to severe skin infections and wounds requiring amputation. Medetomidine, called "rhino tranq," is 200 to 300 times more potent than xylazine, according to the DEA. Nitazenes are synthetic opioids developed in the 1950s that were never approved for human use; some variants are estimated to be 10 times more potent than fentanyl.

The DEA has identified 22 unique nitazene compounds since 2020, with suppliers introducing new ones each time existing compounds are scheduled.

Cychlorphine, named in Tuesday's advisory, was flagged in a January 2026 public alert from the Center for Forensic Science Research and Education, a federally funded forensic research center, as a rising cause of fatal overdoses linked to confirmed deaths across eight states.

The center estimated cychlorphine to be about 10 times more potent than fentanyl. A November 2025 fatal overdose case in Illinois found cychlorphine alongside eight other substances – including multiple nitazene variants, cocaine, and alprazolam – illustrating how lethal these combinations can become, according to the CFSRE alert.

A pattern the center identified may help explain why cychlorphine is appearing more frequently. After China placed nitazene analogues under generic control in July 2025, positivity for nitazenes in fatal overdose cases declined – while cychlorphine positivity rose to fill the void, according to the CFSRE alert. The data suggests the illicit drug market is actively adapting to regulatory pressure, substituting newly emergent compounds as existing ones are controlled, according to the CFSRE alert.

As of the DEA's most recent threat assessment, Mexican cartels had not been confirmed as producers of nitazene-fentanyl mixtures – that activity was traced to mid-level and street-level dealers purchasing from Chinese chemical suppliers online. Whether cartels have since expanded into these combinations is among the questions The Center Square put to the agency.

Overdose deaths have been declining. Provisional CDC data showed roughly 84,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in the 12-month period ending October 2024, down about 25% from the prior year, the largest single-year decline ever recorded.

The DEA urged the public never to take a pill not prescribed and dispensed by a licensed pharmacy, to assume all illicit drugs may contain fentanyl or other deadly additives, and to carry naloxone while understanding it may not fully reverse all substances present.

(The Center Square) – Farmers and advocates on Tuesday called on Congress to implement transparency reporting requirements in fertilizer pricing.

The U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee held a hearing with farmers and advocates from across the country on rising fertilizer prices and supply chain solutions for the industry.

The advocates said farms have been struggling with fertilizer prices since before the U.S. conflict in Iran. Some farmers cited rising prices stemming from the conflict in Ukraine, which has kept prices high ever since 2022.

Andy Green, principal and senior advisor at Center Market Strategies, called for Congress to implement transparency requirements into fertilizer pricing. He said farmers are often unaware of what factors influence prices.

“More can be done and should be done on a bipartisan basis to enhance competition in the fertilizer sector,” Green said.

Trent Kubik, president of South Dakota Corn Growers, said consolidation of companies in the agriculture industry has yielded a negative overall effect for farmers. He said efficiency has declined while consolidation continues in the market, frustrating farmers.

“Fertilizer manufacturers are able to park barges of product and hold on to inventory,” Kubik said.

Kubik pointed to parts of the supply chain that he said do not work in favor of farmers. He said many areas of the supply chain are opaque and do not allow farmers to understand why fertilizer is priced a certain way.

Kubik called on Congress to pass the Fertilizer Transparency Act of 2026. The legislation would require the U.S. Department of Agriculture to publish weekly, rather than annually, market data on fertilizer prices from manufacturers.

“This legislation will make the market for key farm inputs more transparent and therefore represent a step toward making the market more competitive,” Kubik said. “It also may help to provide data that would aid analysis of whether market control has been used to limit the supply of fertilizer.”

U.S. Sens. John Thune, R-S.D., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said Congress needs to act on transparency requirements and investigating companies that have monopolies on the agricultural industry.

“There are a small number of manufacturers who have the lion’s share of domestic fertilizer production,” Thune said.

Joshua Westling, CEO of J. Westling & Co., touted his achievements in domestically manufacturing fertilizer. He called on Congress to invest in domestic fertilizer manufacturing to avoid problems with global supply chains.

“The faster strategic federal support becomes real and deployable, the faster new domestic capacity comes online three years from now,” Westling said. “This committee has the opportunity to help ensure that projects like ours move fast enough to matter.”

Kubik said he has not experienced a significant shift in purchasing prices due to the U.S. conflict in Iran, because he purchased before the conflict broke out. However, he said he is concerned about next year’s farming season due to the prolonged conflict.

“A lot of this stuff was in place and in [the] country long before the events around the world happened,” Kubik said. “We're starting to get concerned about what do do as our crop is growing and need[s] more fertilizer, and as we look towards 2027, it’s a real concern.”

(The Center Square) – The Trump administration continues to crack down on violent Tren de Aragua Venezuelan prison gang members after they flooded the country during the Biden administration. 

By December 2024, TdA members were reported to be committing crimes in at least 22 states, The Center Square exclusively reported. TdA is known for violence, murder, kidnapping, extortion, bribery and human and drug trafficking and are linked to hundreds of law enforcement investigations nationwide. 

The Trump administration was the first to designate TdA as a foreign terrorist organization. Since the president’s been in office, the Department of Justice has charged more than 260 members and associates nationwide.

The DOJ announced more than 25 additional TdA members have been charged, primarily citizens of Venezuela, Colombia and Honduras. 

They were caught through multi-agency undercover operations spearheaded through a DOJ Joint Task Force Vulcan. Multiple charges were filed in six U.S. Attorney offices, in the districts of Colorado, Southern Florida, Northern Indiana, Middle Tennessee, Western Tennessee and Eastern Washington. 

More than 80 firearms and 18 kilograms of drugs were seized in these cases, including fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, ecstasy, ketamine, MDMA, and Tusi, a mixed substance containing ketamine and/or MDMA. Law enforcement also seized more than $100,000 in U.S. currency, according to the charges.

Prosecutors argue TdA activities are being coordinated across state lines and with leaders in Venezuela and Colombia.

In Tennessee, five people, including two alleged Anti-Tren members were charged with multiple firearms and drug trafficking offenses. Anti-Tren are current and former TdA members “operating without or against the authority of TdA leadership in South America,” the DOJ said. 

They were arrested in Nashville, Louisiana and Washington state. Three charged were illegally living in Nashville; one was a lawful permanent and Honduran national; one was illegally living in Kennewick, Washington. One, a Venezuelan national illegally living in Nashville, was arrested while wearing what appears to be a Fuerzas de Acciones Especiales de la Policía Nacional Bolivariana (FAES) uniform, according to the charges.

In this case, HSI, ATF, FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, U.S. Secret Service, and other law enforcement agencies conducted multiple undercover operations leading to their arrests. Law enforcement also seized 25 firearms, including eight reported as stolen and two connected to other crimes. They also seized hundreds of rounds of ammunition, extended magazines, a drum magazine, more than $8,000 in cash and methamphetamine, MDMA and ketamine, and cocaine. 

In Florida, three illegal foreign nationals, alleged associates of those charged in Tennessee, were charged with intent to distribute a controlled substance. In Tennessee, TdA members have been selling large amounts of narcotics and firearms, investigators have found. Undercover ATF agents working in Broward and Miami-Dade counties arrested them and seized 500 MDMA pills, two firearms, cocaine, ketamine, and methamphetamine, according to the charges.

In Colorado, two Venezuelan nationals have been indicted on charges of illegal firearms trafficking; one with distributing tusi. According to the criminal complaint and indictment, they illegally entered the U.S. and subsequently sold numerous firearms in Colorado. They allegedly “obliterated serial numbers and several high-capacity firearms and magazines and ammunition,” according to an ATF undercover agent. 

TdA and Anti-Tren members have so far been identified and arrested nationwide with key operations in Colorado, Tennessee, New York, Florida, Illinois, New Mexico, Washington, Georgia, Nebraska and Texas, the DOJ said. They have been indicted on weapons and drug trafficking charges, ATM burglaries (jackpotting) and coordinated criminal activities across state lines and with South American leaders in Venezuela and Colombia, the DOJ said. 

One large bust occurred earlier this year with 87 indicted in a Colombian and Venezuelan jackpotting scheme in Nebraska, The Center Square reported. In another, 27 TdA and Anti-Tren members were charged in New York for violent sexual crimes, kidnapping and sex trafficking, The Center Square reported.

The first Trump administration launched JTFV in 2019 to target MS-13, which was expanded under the second Trump administration to target TdA. 

JTFV includes the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, Eastern and Western Districts of North Carolina; Western District of Virginia; Southern District of Florida; Eastern District of Texas; Western District of Oklahoma; Northern District of Indiana; District of Nevada; and the District of Arizona; Bureau of Prisons, FBI, DEA, HSI, ATF, U.S. Marshals Service, among others.

After star Mizzou football running back Ahmad Hardy was injured in a shooting Sunday morning in Laurel, Mississippi, ESPN's Pete Thamel provided a positive update Tuesday.

Hardy is being released from the hospital and plans to head to Missouri’s campus immediately. He will begin the rehab process with hopes of competing in the 2026 season.

The news is optimistic, as Hardy was shot just two days ago. While attempting to leave a concert, he was hit by a bullet in the upper leg at around 2 a.m. at Kamakazy Biker Club on Masonite Drive, according to WDAM-TV.

Hardy underwent surgery later Sunday at Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He was reported to be in stable condition.

If the running back can play in 2026, that would be huge lift for the Tigers. Hardy headlined the offense in 2025 with 1,649 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Missouri men's basketball added another experienced piece to its backcourt Tuesday, landing South Dakota transfer Jordan Crawford out of the transfer portal.

Crawford announced his commitment after visiting Columbia earlier this week, giving coach Dennis Gates another veteran guard as Missouri continues to reshape its roster for the 2026-27 season.

The 6-foot-3 guard is coming off the best season of his college career with South Dakota, averaging 14.4 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.2 steals per game while starting all 32 games. He also shot 36.8% from 3-point range and earned All-Summit League second-team honors.

Missouri fans already got a close look at Crawford last season when South Dakota traveled to Mizzou Arena in November. Despite the Coyotes falling 102-68, Crawford stood out offensively, leading South Dakota with 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting against the Tigers.

That performance likely helped put him on Missouri’s radar long before he officially entered the portal.

Crawford brings experience from three different programs after beginning his career at College of Charleston and later spending a season at Eastern Kentucky before transferring to South Dakota. Across his career, he has developed into a reliable perimeter shooter and active defender. His steals average last season ranked among the better marks in the Summit League and showcased the defensive activity Missouri values in its guard rotation.

While Crawford may not arrive as a projected star, he gives Missouri an experienced option capable of contributing immediately off the bench. His shooting ability should help space the floor, and his defensive instincts provide another versatile guard for Gates to use in different matchups.

The Tigers needed additional depth in the backcourt after several offseason roster changes, and Crawford fills an important role as a veteran presence behind Missouri’s expected top guards. His experience at multiple levels of college basketball could also prove valuable for a roster that continues to add younger talent through both recruiting and the portal.

Crawford becomes the latest addition in a busy offseason for Missouri, joining transfers Jamier Jones (Providence), Bryson Tiller (Kansas), Jaylen Carey (Tennessee) and Kennard Davis Jr. (BYU) in the Tigers’ transfer class.  

They join five-star recruits and McDonald’s All Americans Jason Crowe Jr. and Toni Bryant and fellow incoming freshman Aiden Chronister, a four-star prospect, as new Tigers.

With Crawford now in the fold, Missouri’s backcourt continues to take shape heading into next season as the program looks to build on last year’s NCAA Tournament appearance and compete again in the Southeastern Conference.

(The Center Square) – A bipartisan group of Pennsylvania lawmakers has signed on to an immigration reform proposal that is dividing House Republicans.

U.S. Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-1st District; Chrissy Houlahan, D-6th District; Mike Kelly, R-16th District; and Lloyd Smucker, R-11th District, have signed on as co-sponsors of the DIGNIDAD (Dignity) Act of 2025.

“America is a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants—not one or the other, but both. That principle has guided our work on immigration reform, and it is the standard any serious solution must meet,” Fitzpatrick said. “For too long, Washington has turned a broken system into a political weapon.” 

“The Dignity Act offers a responsible bipartisan path forward: securing the border, restoring order, protecting American workers, and ensuring legal status is earned through accountability and respect for the law,” he continued. “This is not amnesty; it is common sense, compassion, and the rule of law working together. The American people know this problem can be solved. Now it is time for Congress to finally get it done.”

Fitzpatrick and Kelly are original cosponsors of the proposal in July, while Smucker signed onto the effort in November, and Houlahan added her name in January. The proposal, as of Tuesday, has 39 co-sponsors. Twenty of them are Democrats, while 19 are Republicans.

Punchbowl News reported on Tuesday that the bipartisan U.S. House Problem Solvers Caucus has also endorsed this proposal.

They argue that the bill has five key components, which include “permanently securing the border; modernizing our outdated asylum system; providing legal pathways for undocumented immigrants living in America; protecting American workers; and ensuring the United States remains prosperous and competitive in the future.” 

“Together, these policies provide a practical, bipartisan path toward a more secure, orderly, and fair immigration system,” the Problem Solvers Caucus wrote. “Crucially, the legislation would not require any taxpayer funding and would reduce the national debt by up to $50 billion.”

In addition to Fitzpatrick, U.S. Reps. Rob Bresnahan, R-8th District; Ryan Mackenzie, R-7th District; and Dan Meuser, R-9th District, are also members of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. 

Despite being members of the caucus, Bresnahan, Mackenzie, and Meuser are not listed as co-sponsors of the Dignity Act. No one from the lawmakers’ offices responded to a request from the Center Square for comment on whether they support the proposal. 

Punchbowl News reported that this effort is the first time the Problem Solves Caucus has backed the bill under President Donald Trump. At the same time, the news outlet noted that “House GOP hardliners have been railing against the Dignity Act,” including the conservative House Freedom Caucus, which has “bashed it and said the proposal “must die in the cradle” and “undermines the agenda the American people want.”

At least one member of the state’s congressional delegation has also been a vocal critic of the bipartisan proposal: U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, R-10th District. 

“NO to Amnesty. NO to the Dignity (Dignidad) Act. No one who enters our Nation illegally should be rewarded with the same legal rights and benefits due a U.S. Citizen,” Perry wrote in a social media post on April 15.

Outside of Congress, over 95 national organizations are also backing the effort, including the American Bakers Association, American Business Immigration Council (ABIC), Americans for Prosperity, the Anti-Defamation League, the Center for American Progress, the National Hispanic Construction Alliance, and U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

(The Center Square) – As the U.S.-Iran conflict continues with no end in sight, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth dodged questions from U.S. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in congressional hearings Tuesday.

Hegseth, General Dan Kaine, and Under Secretary of War Jules Hurst appeared before House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees to defend the Trump administration’s $1.5 trillion military budget request for 2027.

The total cost of the 74-day conflict has now topped $29 billion, Hurst said, and the military currently faces $24 billion in material replacement costs – an expense not accounted for in the Department of War’s massive budget request.

Hegseth said the $1.5 trillion proposal “reflects the urgency of the moment…addressing both the deferment of longstanding problems as well as positioning our forces for the current and future fight.”

“We are rebuilding a military that the American people can be proud of,” Hegseth added, saying the budget will “reverse the underinvestment and mismanagement” of the previous Biden administration.

Unconvinced, Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., pointed out that $1.5 trillion “is an extraordinary sum of money,” particularly in light of a national debt approaching $40 trillion and the dubious constitutionality of U.S. military actions in Iran.

“Congress and the American people have concerns about what you plan to do with this money,” DeLauro told the defense officials. “This was only supposed to last six weeks. We have thus far been unable to get any reliable information as to the true cost of this war.”

She also lambasted the “consistent lack of transparency since this war began,” as well as the Trump administration’s shifting rationales and objectives.

“Every additional day this war goes on, brings with it additional costs,” DeLauro said. “This administration has not presented Congress with any kind of clear or coherent strategy.”

Only Congress has the power to declare war, but Congress still hasn’t authorized U.S. military actions against Iran. The War Powers Act of 1973 gives the president only 60 days to conduct military operations without congressional approval, and that deadline has passed.

The Trump administration has skirted the requirement by temporarily declaring a ceasefire, a move which Hegseth argued resets the 60-day clock.

Both Republicans and Democrats, however, expressed skepticism that the declaration truly reflects reality.

“I think reasonable people have disagreed about the boundaries of the presidential war powers for a long time, but the War Powers Resolution is pretty clear here: it requires the president to terminate hostilities within 60 days, absent congressional authorization,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said.

“I think where there is confusion is, while the president says hostilities have ended, we still have 15,000 troops that are forward, more than 20 warships and an active naval blockade [in the Strait of Hormuz]...In other words, it doesn’t appear that those hostilities have ended.”

Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., asked Hegseth point-blank whether the ceasefire was “just to evade the War Powers Act.”

Hegseth called the ceasefire is “a very dynamic situation,” but praised the U.S. military’s tactical successes, saying it has “degraded almost completely [Iran’s] defense industrial base” and destroyed Iran’s three aircraft carriers and 11 submarines.

“We’ve had more leverage than we’ve ever had,” he claimed.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., however, appeared dubious of this assessment when Hegseth appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee later.

“As I look at the achievements, Iran [is] to date led now by an even more extreme Supreme Leader, the global economy is held hostage to the standoff in the Strait of Hormuz, our munitions stockpiles are dangerously depleted, and Iran is no further from a nuclear weapon than before our invasion,” Durbin said.

Lawmakers in both committees also expressed concern over the conflict’s impact on American citizens. Fuel and fertilizer prices have spiked as commercial vessels have faced uncertain, disrupted, and treacherous passage through the critical strait.

“If this goes on for another thirty days, there will be thousands more farms that will go bankrupt, there are going to be families that are going to be ruined, and so time is not on our side,” Sen. Chris Coons, D-Conn., said.

“And I just don’t believe that Iran is ready to capitulate yet, and if they capitulate in a year, there’s going to be a whole lot of families and businesses that are ruined in the United States.”

But defense officials evaded questions on whether they had a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping, as well as questions on Iran’s remaining current drone and missile capabilities and a timeline for when the conflict will end.

“Our military objectives have been clear the whole time around targeting Iran’s ballistic missile systems, preventing them from threatening U.S. forces in the region, destroying the Iranian navy, degrading its capacity and capability, and ensuring that they can't rebuild by focusing on their defense industrial base,” Kaine parried.

When asked, Kaine was also unable to break down how the War Department is spending the over $1 trillion Congress allocated to it last year. The Pentagon has failed eight consecutive audits and remains the only federal agency to never pass an audit.

“You’re coming up and asking for another significant supplemental, and before we can reasonably appropriate additional money, we have to find out how existing appropriated dollars have been spent. That’s critically important,” Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., told Hegseth.

“We’re not getting the detailed spending plan, the detailed obligation plan for this. And without it, it’s very difficult to say ‘just take the money and run.’”