Over $10 billion U.S. Taxpayer Dollars Spent on Improper SNAP Payments in 2025

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Over $10 billion U.S. Taxpayer Dollars Spent on Improper SNAP Payments in 2025

(, The Center Square) U.S. states and territories made a collective $10 billion in improper payments to SNAP recipients nationwide in fiscal year 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports.

The average error payment rate, which includes both over- and underpayments, was roughly 10.6%, well above the congressionally set threshold of 6%.

“These payment error rates are further proof that state accountability is severely lacking in SNAP,” USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said Wednesday. “USDA has taken historic action to help interested states curb SNAP waste, and I hope other states, regardless of political leadership, prioritize needy families and the American taxpayer over politics.”

Alaska, the District of Columbia, New Mexico, Delaware, and Georgia had the highest average payment error rates, all surpassing 15%, with Alaska’s topping 23%.

Those same states, when removing Georgia with Oregon, also had the highest overpayment rates, with the national average hovering around 9.3%.

The findings are an early warning sign for the states and territories with average payment error rates at or above 6%. Starting in fiscal year 2027, which begins Oct. 1, states and territories that don’t get their error-rate average down will shoulder a larger percentage of the program’s administrative costs.

Unlike with other federal entitlement programs, states currently do not contribute any dollars to actual SNAP benefits. The U.S. government covers 100% of the cost of benefits and 50% of states’ administrative costs, spending $101.7 billion U.S. taxpayer dollars on SNAP in fiscal year 2025.

Under congressional Republicans’ “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which became law in July 2025, states or territories with SNAP payment error rates at or over 6% will pay 75% of the program’s administrative costs. They will also be responsible for covering up to 15% of their state’s benefits cost depending on how high the error rate is.

Currently, only 10 governors can claim average SNAP payment error rates below 6%.

South Dakota had both the lowest payment error rate overall, roughly 2%, and the lowest overpayment error rate, roughly 2.5%. Overall payment error rates and overpayment error rates were less than 4% in Idaho and Wyoming.

USDA Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden said the news “is not positive for most states.”

“If you accept federal dollars, you must administer the program with integrity and by the rules of the road,” Vaden posted on X. “Anything less than that is disrespectful to the program, its beneficiaries, and to the millions of taxpayers footing the bill.”

Record Earthquake in Northern California

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Record Earthquake in Northern California

(Headline USA) A rural area of Northern California experienced its strongest earthquake since 1940 on Wednesday morning, causing some injuries but no immediate reports of major damage, officials said.

The epicenter of the quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 5.6, was about 7 miles northwest of the agricultural town of Willits, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was widely felt, including in the coastal city of Fort Bragg. The initial quake was centered inland about 50 miles east of Fort Bragg at 8:10 a.m. PT, and the USGS said it was about 5 miles deep.

The area in Mendocino County dotted with small, agricultural towns is 140 miles northeast of San Francisco.

Heather Rose, a Mendocino County spokesperson, said that hospitals had reported some injuries but that she had no details on their nature or extent. She said officials plan to meet later Wednesday when more information could be released.

Power outages are affecting more than 6,000 residents of six towns near the epicenter, the Mendocino County Executive Office said in a statement. The office encouraged people to stay off the highways and roads to allow work crews to inspect for damage and make repairs.

Brie Leon and her colleagues had just opened Club Calpella Restaurant when the building started shaking, rattling plates and liquor bottles.

“I had just turned the open sign on and went back into the kitchen, and that’s when it happened,” she said. “It almost felt like something hit the building.”

The restaurant is in Calpella, California, a town about 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of the epicenter and in a region of Mendocino County that has been struck by smaller quakes this year.

This was the biggest earthquake in nearly nine decades in the region, which is not on a major fault, said Lucy Jones, a veteran California seismologist.

“The area is not without earthquakes, but they’re usually smaller than this,” Jones said. She added that aftershocks are likely, but they’ll “probably stay on the low side.”

Three other quakes under a 2.7 magnitude struck near the epicenter within an hour.

Leon said the quake knocked frames off the walls and bottles off the shelves in the restaurant and the stockroom next door. She and other servers were cleaning up not long after to welcome customers for breakfast.

“It wasn’t a big, big quake, but things went everywhere,” she said.

Alan Harris and his family were at home in Kelseyville, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southeast of the epicenter, when he received an earthquake alert on his cellphone. Soon after, the house began shaking.

“I yelled downstairs immediately to my wife and daughter to make sure they were hanging on,” Harris said. “It was scary. You could hear things crashing, mostly on the third floor of the house.”

A security camera inside Harris’ home shook vigorously as the quake struck. A few loud, crashing sounds can be heard on the video footage before Harris calls out: “Is everyone OK?”

It lasted only about 30 seconds. Framed photos fell off the walls and a computer monitor was knocked over, Harris said. Nothing appeared badly damaged, he added, noting he found no structural damage to the house.

Nearly 657,000 earthquake early warning alerts were sent by the MyShake App throughout Northern California, the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services said. Cal OES had not received any reports of damage or injuries, but it was coordinating with authorities to evaluate impacts, the office said in a statement.

Hundreds of thousands more people received alerts through other public safety alert systems, but those numbers have not been finalized, said Robert de Groot, a scientist with the ShakeAlert operations team.

“The alert deliveries for this are going to be well over a million,” Groot said.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Ex-Mayor Adams Aide Charged in Bribery Probe

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Ex-Mayor Adams Aide Charged in Bribery Probe

(Headline USA) A chief of staff to former New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been charged with accepting more than $100,000 in bribes to steer a lucrative migrant shelter contract to a Queens hotel, according to a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday.

Frank Carone’s arrest Wednesday was the latest in a string of corruption allegations that have rocked the one-term mayor and his inner circle. And it came the same day federal authorities executed search warrants related to a separate bribery investigation involving high-ranking police officials under Adams, the latest sign that prosecutors are continuing to hone in on the previous administration.

The indictment accuses Carone of leveraging his position as Adams’ chief of staff to commit multiple acts of bribery, wire fraud and money laundering. His brother, Anthony Carone, as well as the Queens hotel owner, Yan Po Zhu, and Crystal Chen, an employee of the hotel, were also charged.

“I asked my partners to pay you for a year,” Zhu told Carone in a text message, according to prosecutors. Carone, who is also charged with obstruction of justice, deleted the message after learning he was under investigation, prosecutors said.

The defendants are expected to be released after their arraignments Wednesday afternoon in Brooklyn federal court. They each face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors said Carone accepted a series of bribes from Zhu and Chen to steer a multimillion dollar shelter contract to their hotel, which city officials had said was smaller than two other proposed hotels and could house fewer migrants. The contract was awarded amid an influx of migrants to New York that overwhelmed the city’s homeless shelters.

Frank Carone’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, said the indictment was “not worth the paper upon which it is printed.”

“Today’s indictment is a sad day for our criminal justice system,” Aidala said in a statement. “It epitomizes the government first finding a target and then spending three years and enormous taxpayer resources to find a crime.”

Carone, a longtime Brooklyn power broker, is widely credited as one of the architects of Adams’ political rise. Among the wider public, he is perhaps most notorious for his role in an episode that led to a Brooklyn pastor being stripped of his duties partly for allowing pop star Sabrina Carpenter to film scenes for a provocative music video at his Roman Catholic church.

The church was later subpoenaed by federal investigators seeking information about business dealings between Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello, who approved the video, and Carone.

Adams himself was indicted on bribery charges in 2024 for allegedly accepting illegal campaign contributions from Turkish officials and others in exchange for political favors. The case was tossed by the Justice Department, which said it was distracting Adams from assisting in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Adams has denied wrongdoing but abandoned his campaign for a second term last year.

The former mayor was not accused of wrongdoing in Carone’s indictment.

A lawyer for Zhu, Stephen Scaring, said the hotel owner “will be entering a plea of not guilty and is anxious to establish his innocence.”

Chen’s lawyer declined to comment. Messages were left for Anthony Carone’s lawyer.

In total, Frank Carone was paid around $120,000 by Zhu and Che for the emergency shelter contract, prosecutors said. The money was passed through a law firm owned by his brother, Anthony Carone, according to the indictment.

The city’s Social Services Department had initially rejected the hotel’s application to house migrants due to growing resistance to the high number of shelters already operating in the neighborhood, the indictment said.

Carone then interceded on the hotel’s behalf, prosecutors allege. In one text exchange in September 2022, Zhu wrote: “Thank you my big guy,” according to the indictment.

Zhu’s hotel received $6.8 million from city shelter contracts, prosecutors said.

The Carones and Zhu socialized frequently and attended gatherings at Zhu’s Long Island home, the indictment said.

In a separate statement, Todd Shapiro, a spokesperson for Adams, said Frank Carone “dedicated decades of his life to public service, the legal profession, and helping countless individuals, businesses, and charitable organizations throughout New York.”

Carone played a key role in Adams’ campaign for mayor in 2021 and served as Adams’ chief of staff in 2022. In 2023, he formed a political consulting firm. He also was a one-time lawyer for the Brooklyn Democratic Party.

Separately Wednesday, federal agents searched the homes of current and former New York Police Department leaders as part of a bribery investigation that grew out of an inquiry into Jeffrey Maddrey, the chief of department under Adams, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the searches.

As part of that inquiry, the FBI and the NYPD executed warrants on the home of NYPD Chief of Manhattan South James McCarthy and former Deputy Commissioner Tarik Sheppard, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation.

Maddrey’s home was also searched by federal agents, the person said.

The searches were not related to the arrest of Frank Carone, according to another person familiar with the matter who also spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the case. There is no public indication of any arrests as part of those searches.

Once the highest-ranking uniformed officer in the department, Maddrey resigned in late 2024 over allegations that he demanded sex from a subordinate in exchange for opportunities to earn extra pay.

An inquiry to his attorney was not immediately returned. Attorney information for Sheppard and McCarthy was not immediately available.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

 

Vegan Cult Member Charged in Parents’ Murders

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Vegan Cult Member Charged in Parents’ Murders

(Headline USA) A member of the cultlike group known as Zizians has been charged with murder in the shooting of her parents at their Pennsylvania home on her 30th birthday, and a prosecutor said Wednesday that authorities don’t believe she was acting alone.

Michelle Zajko, who has been jailed in Maryland on other charges since February 2025, has been charged with murder, burglary and conspiracy charges in the deaths of Rita and Richard Zajko, Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse said at a news conference. The prosecutor said she did not act alone.

Rouse said that Zajko is known to have been among those who killed her parents “to the extent that if she wasn’t the one who actually pulled the trigger, she was certainly aligned with those who did.”

Online court records didn’t immediately indicate whether Zajko had an attorney in the Pennsylvania case as of Wednesday. An attorney representing her in Maryland did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment, and the Delaware County Public Defender’s office declined to comment.

The couple was shot to death in their home on New Year’s Eve after police say a neighbor’s doorbell camera captured video of a car pulling up to their home in Chester Heights, a voice shouting “Mom!” and another voice exclaiming, “Oh my God! Oh, God, God!”

Michelle Zajko has denied any involvement, and in court filings suggested her father might have killed her mother and then himself.

“I didn’t murder my parents,” she wrote in an April 2025 “ Open Letter to the World.”

Authorities, however, had long described Zajko as a person of interest in the double homicide, two of the six deaths linked to a group of young, highly intelligent computer scientists who appear to share radical beliefs about veganism, animal rights, gender identity and artificial intelligence.

Since 2022, members have been tied to the death of one of their own during an attack on a California landlord, the landlord’s subsequent killing, the Zajkos’ deaths in Pennsylvania, and a highway shootout in Vermont that left a border agent and another Zizian dead.

Zajko, who is charged with providing the gun used to kill U.S. Border Patrol Agent David Maland in January 2025, was arrested in Maryland a few weeks later along with Daniel Blank and Jack “Ziz” LaSota, whom authorities describe as the group’s leader. Police who responded to a landowner’s complaint about suspicious people parked in box trucks on his property described them as having “ties with the Zizians Cult” and said they would be questioned about crimes across the country.

All three face state charges of trespassing and illegal gun and drug possession, while LaSota faces a federal charge of illegal gun possession by a fugitive. A judge recently granted a defense request for a competency evaluation in the federal case.

In court filings, LaSota’s attorneys said their client eschews the term Zizian and denies that she and her friends have formed a cult. Zajko has claimed authorities arrested the group in Maryland to prevent them from exonerating Teresa Youngblut, who has pleaded not guilty in Vermont to murder and could face the death penalty if convicted.

Zajko was living in Vermont at the time of her parents’ deaths and was questioned there by police shortly after they died. A few weeks later, officers briefly took her into custody at a Pennsylvania hotel but released her without charges. LaSota, staying at the same hotel, was charged with obstructing the homicide investigation and disorderly conduct.

Zajko had been estranged from her parents in the year leading up to their deaths, the prosecutor said. They were killed hours after Rita Zajko texted her daughter in an attempt to reconcile. “Her mother reached out and explained that she was sorry for the rift that had grown between them,” the prosecutor said. “That text went unanswered.”

A few hours later, at least two people entered the home. “The lights go on in the home, and Richard and Rita Zajko are executed,” he said.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

Top Army General is Suddenly Leaving his Post

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Top Army General is Suddenly Leaving his Post

(Headline USA) The Army’s commander of its forces in Europe and Africa — who was famously the last American soldier to leave Afghanistan in 2021 — is unexpectedly stepping down from his post after just 18 months in the job, the Army confirmed late Tuesday.

Gen. Christopher Donahue, commanding general of U.S. Army Europe and Africa and commander of NATO’s Allied Land Command, will relinquish his command on July 2, according to an Army statement provided to The Associated Press. He is the latest in a line of nearly two dozen top military leaders to either retire or depart their jobs early under the leadership of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has undertaken an effort to thin the ranks of the military’s top brass with the mantra “less generals, more GIs.”

Donahue’s deputy, Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie, will perform his duties in the meantime, the statement added.

A West Point graduate and a career special operations commander, Donahue commanded Delta Force units in Iraq and Afghanistan before leading the 82nd Airborne division from July 2020 to March 2022.

It was during that period that he was brought in to restore security at Hamid Karzai International Airport during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from the country in 2021. On Aug. 30, 2021, Donahue became the last U.S. soldier to depart the country after nearly 20 years of war sparked by the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The moment was documented in an iconic photo taken through night vision goggles that showed the general boarding the last C-17 cargo plane to depart the country.

Hegseth and President Donald Trump had made the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan — an operation that was set in motion by a treaty negotiated with the Taliban by the Trump administration in its first term — a regular political punching bag and the subject of a new Pentagon review.

Last May, Hegseth ordered the new examination of the withdrawal despite there having already been multiple reviews of the operation by the Pentagon, U.S. Central Command, the State Department and Congress, which have involved hundreds of interviews and studies of videos, photographs and other footage and data. It’s unclear what specific new information the new review is seeking.

Donahue’s leadership during the evacuation had nonetheless drawn bipartisan praise. Within the Army, he was widely seen as a top officer who could have led the service or been chosen to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

An Army official who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to talk about sensitive discussions told The Associated Press that Donahue’s departure comes as the Army is discussing downgrading U.S. Army Europe and Africa from four-star to a three-star command.

This move would come as Hegseth has been criticizing European allies.

Last week, Hegseth told NATO allies he would be conducting a six-month Pentagon review of American forces in Europe that is “designed to ensure that NATO is moving fast and irreversibly toward Europe leading, stepping up to take primary responsibility for the defense of Europe.”

“It’s a review that some countries will fail and others will pass with flying colors,” he added.

The Pentagon did not immediately comment on the news of Donahue’s departure, which was first reported by The Atlantic.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

Congress Passes War Powers Resolution To End Iran War

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Congress Passes War Powers Resolution To End Iran War

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) The Senate on Tuesday approved a House-passed concurrent War Powers Resolution directing President Donald Trump to end hostilities against Iran, marking the first time Congress has approved a concurrent resolution under the 1973 War Powers Act directing the termination of an unauthorized war.

In previous years, Congress has passed joint resolutions directing the president to end wars, such as the 2019 bill to end US support for the Saudi war in Yemen, which President Trump vetoed at the time, but a concurrent resolution doesn’t require the president’s signature.

Section 5(c) of the 1973 War Powers Act states that “at any time that United States Armed Forces are engaged in hostilities outside the territory of the United States, its possessions and territories without a declaration of war or specific statutory authorization, such forces shall be removed by the President if the Congress so directs by concurrent resolution.”

The bill passed the Senate on Tuesday by a 50-48 vote, with four Republicans — Senators Rand Paul (KY), Lisa Murkowski (AK), Susan Collins (ME), and Bill Cassidy (LA) — voting in favor. Senator Jon Fetterman (PA) was the only Democrat to oppose the effort, and Republican Senators Mitch McConnell (KY) and Dave McCormick (PA) were not present for the vote.

Trump administration officials will likely claim that the vote is meaningless since there is currently a ceasefire between the US and Iran as they negotiate a deal under the Memorandum of Understanding, but proponents of the War Powers effort say the passage of the concurrent resolution means the administration is now legally bound not to restart the war without congressional authorization.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who sponsored the legislation in the House, told The Lever earlier this month that if the resolution passed the Senate, he would work with “House counsel to urge leadership to bring a court case to enforce the Iran War Powers Resolution.”

While the US and Iran have been engaged in negotiations, President Trump has continued issuing threats against Iran and has maintained forces in the region to potentially re-impose the blockade or restart the bombing campaign.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.  

Downed US Pilot Reported Seeing Iranian Drones Swarm

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Downed US Pilot Reported Seeing Iranian Drones Swarm

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) CNN reported on Tuesday that the pilot of a US F-15 fighter jet that was shot down over Iran during the US-Israeli bombing campaign in April reported seeing a swarm of Iranian drones in a formation that resembled a jellyfish before he ejected from the aircraft.

Sources told the outlet that the pilot reported what he believed he saw to US intelligence officials, setting off a debate within US intelligence agencies about Iran’s potential drone capabilities. The report noted that the pilot was concussed during the incident, and US intelligence officials disagreed on whether he could recount what he saw clearly.

Describing the pilot’s account, one source said: “Multiple drones interconnected and moving as one with smaller drones below the bigger drones like legs. Real alien sh*t.”

If Iran is able to control multiple drones in a formation like what the pilot described, it would mean its drone capabilities are far more advanced than what the United States assessed. During the full-scale war, the Pentagon admitted to Congress that Iran’s drones were more difficult to deal with than expected and that US forces were struggling to intercept them.

The F-15 pilot who recounted the incident was one of the airmen rescued by US special forces in Iran. According to the US military’s account, the pilot quickly recovered while the weapons systems officer, who was also aboard the F-15, took much longer to find.

The US lost multiple aircraft during the incident, including two C-130s and two MH-6 “Little Bird” helicopters. Iranian officials alleged that the operation may have been a failed attempt to seize Iran’s enriched uranium.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com. 

Daily Wire Eyes $750 Million Valuation

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Daily Wire Eyes $750 Million Valuation

(José Niño, Headline USA) The Daily Wire opened discussions to secure over $100 million in fresh capital while the conservative media powerhouse grapples with vanishing subscribers and costly programming failures, Semafor reported.

Highmount Capital, a firm founded by two Koch Industries veterans, leads negotiations for an investment round pricing Ben Shapiro’s 2015 venture at $750 million, internal documents reviewed by Semafor showed.

The company recorded $48 million in adjusted EBITDA during the previous year. Yet subscriber growth stalled entirely and customer retention faltered, according to the materials.

Membership losses proved devastating. Paid subscribers, accounting for about three quarters of total revenue, plummeted by one-third year-over-year in 2025, landing near 850,000 customers. Revenue from advertising, making up 20 percent of income, shrank annually since 2022.

Investment bankers representing Daily Wire received buyout proposals topping $1 billion but noted that founders “prefer to take a minority, aligned investment to grow the business,” per the documents. Those financial advisers projected a $2 billion public offering could happen “within approximately 18 months.”

Internal dysfunction compounded business problems. The company cut ties with CEO Jeremy Boreing last year following his push into high budget scripted entertainment. Shapiro simultaneously clashed publicly with ex-employee Candace Owens alongside other right wing media personalities such as Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson, and Steve Bannon.

A marquee production bombed badly. Highmount pointed to the Pendragon Cycle, an epic medieval drama that “did not fully resonate with the core Daily Wire audience” and “consumed the majority of the 2025 content budget, leaving fewer resources for new programming that could drive subscriber acquisition and marketing.” That misfire consumed $50 million.

Corporate reorganization saw Shapiro trade podcast income for enhanced equity ownership. The company aims to recruit five “emerging talents” for podcast and social media production.

Executives intend to copy the New York Times diversification approach. “The NYT has done an excellent job of expanding the value of its subscription beyond core news by adding games, cooking, Wirecutter product reviews, The Athletic, and audio content; creating multiple daily touchpoints that justify a premium price and reduce churn,” internal materials stated. “Daily Wire has the opportunity to follow a similar playbook for its audience.”

Investment in editorial operations will surge to $6.4 million yearly from $2.4 million as headcount expands to 67 from 22. Coverage areas will broaden from politics into breaking news, investigative journalism, national security, business, sports, health, and opinion.

The advertising climate offers encouragement. “The stigma that kept many mainstream brands from advertising on conservative media platforms during the 2020–2023 period has largely dissipated,” the memo observed. “The return of Fortune 500 advertisers validates the platform’s scale and audience quality.”

José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino 

Trump Demands Faster Arms Production from Military Contractors

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Trump Demands Faster Arms Production from Military Contractors

(José Niño, Headline USA) The White House has summoned top Pentagon brass and chief executives from the nation’s premier defense firms to a Wednesday meeting focused on rebuilding American weapons reserves that shrank dramatically during combat operations, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Deputy War Secretary Stephen Feinberg contacted industry executives earlier this month instructing them prepare themselves for discussions that insiders anticipate will prove contentious. The gathering was originally slated for June 11 or 12 but shifted due to ongoing diplomacy aimed at concluding the Iran war.

Fighting with Iran rapidly consumed American missile inventories, prompting Donald Trump to demand that manufacturers speed up efforts to replenish stocks. Senior military figures expressed concerns about how quickly forces depleted missiles and interceptors throughout the campaign. Trump cautioned that airstrikes would resume should diplomatic efforts collapse.

Speaking from the Oval Office on Monday, Trump commended defense companies for building new production facilities. He disclosed that automakers have begun participating in weapons manufacturing.

“Some of the car companies, if they have any excess capacity, they’re making a deal to build missiles,” Trump said.

The Journal earlier reported that General Motors opened discussions with Lockheed Martin about supplying standard components to help defense firms ramp up munitions output.

War Department officials secured preliminary commitments from top arms producers earlier this year to substantially increase manufacturing of vital weapons systems such as Patriot interceptors and Tomahawk cruise missiles. Yet these firms continue to wait for full appropriations for the agreements while Congress and the administration wrangle over military spending legislation.

“Meetings are great, but they’re not contracts. To do contracts you have to have money and money requires appropriations,” said Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Feinberg and executives from Lockheed Martin, RTX, Boeing, L3Harris, Northrop Grumman, and Honeywell Aerospace are anticipated to participate.

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly asserted that the Pentagon has “more than enough munitions, ammo, and stockpiles to serve all of President Trump’s strategic goals and beyond.” She conceded that Trump “has urged our defense contractors to constantly produce more made-in-America weapons, which are the best in the world.”

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell stated that “America’s military is the most powerful in the world and has everything it needs to execute at the time and place of the President’s choosing.”

Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet described the appropriations logjam during a recent investor presentation. “We have to go from kind of a term sheet…to something called undefinitized contract action with the government, which enables us to start actually spending money legally in a way that will be committed to by the government,” he said. “Appropriations are required to go through Congress to get the full contract.”

The War Department’s fiscal 2027 budget submission seeks congressional approval for $52.9 billion to expand production of 12 “critical munitions” encompassing Patriot, Standard Missile, and Thaad interceptors. A significant portion of those requested funds remains trapped inside a $350 billion reconciliation bill encountering resistance in Congress.

José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino 

EXCLUSIVE: California Agency Defends Gay Certification, Says It’s Entirely ‘Voluntary’

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EXCLUSIVE: California Agency Defends Gay Certification, Says It’s Entirely ‘Voluntary’

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A California state agency is pushing back after a report spotlighted a government-run “gay certification” program tied to millions of dollars in utility contracting opportunities for businesses owned by LGBT members.

The California Public Utilities Commission, a state agency that oversees privately owned utility companies, defended its controversial “Supplier Diversity Program” in exclusive comments shared with Headline USA through agency spokesperson Terrie Prosper.

The agency confirmed that it has a certification process, but rejected the accusations that utilities are being required to award contracts based on identity.

The program has drawn fiery backlash after the City Journal reported on June 16 that the agency extends preferential contracting opportunities to LGBT-owned businesses, while excluding non-certified firms.

Some critics on the left argue that the program is overly intrusive, as the owners of the participating businesses must prove their same-sex preference to the government.

CPUC claimed that the so-called Supplier Diversity Program was mandated by state law in 1986 and that it is “voluntary” and does not include quotas. The agency said other states have similar programs.

“Certification programs are not unique to California, nor are they unique to LGBT-owned businesses,” CPUC stated. “The purpose of certification is to ensure that companies claiming eligibility meet established standards and that procurement reporting remains accurate and transparent.”

The agency added that participation in the certification program does not guarantee contracts and does not pose a threat to non-LGBT-certified businesses.

“Some critics frame supplier diversity as a system that disadvantages other businesses. This characterization misunderstands the program’s design,” the government agency said. “The Supplier Diversity Program does not prohibit utilities from contracting with non-certified businesses. Nor does it allow utilities to advantage certified businesses.”

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