Evening Edition: Sen. Blackburn Experiences ICE Raid Ride Along, Talks Big Beautiful Bill
15:52 Share

Why does the United States pay higher drug prices than other countries? Because America's the only country in the world where 340B hospitals mark up drug prices, and PBM middlemen charge billions in hidden fees. Meanwhile, Americans subsidize the research and development for new cures. Other countries benefit, but don't pay their fair share.

Crackdown on the middlemen. End the free writing. Lower drug prices. Go to balancethescales.org to learn more. Paid for by Pharma.

I'm Tyrus. I'm Kaylee McEnany. I'm Brett Baer, and this is the Fox News Rundown.

Thursday, June 25th, 2025. I'm Ryan Schmelz. ICE is making a number of arrests of illegal immigrants from Iran, and Republicans in Congress are hoping to give Homeland Security a boost with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The Big Beautiful Bill is a must-pass piece of legislation on a lot of fronts. Number one, it will promote

the largest tax hike in history, and passing the Big Beautiful Bill will provide the American people with the largest tax cut in history. This is the Fox News Rundown, Evening Edition. ♪upbeat music playing♪

The spirit of innovation is deeply ingrained in America, and Google is helping Americans innovate in ways both big and small. The Department of Defense is working with Google to help secure America's digital defense systems, from establishing cloud-based zero-trust solutions...

to deploying the latest AI technology. This is a new era of American innovation. Find out more at g.co slash American innovation. Republicans are racing to get to a place where they can pass the one big beautiful bill act by President Trump's July 4th deadline. A number of issues are still outstanding, from Medicaid provisions...

to taxes. But one area of agreement seems to be Homeland Security, with over $100 billion in spending to help the department secure the border. Senator Marsha Blackburn is a part of the Senate GOP leadership's whip team, tasked with securing the votes to pass the bill. She also went on a ride-along recently with ICE agents to get a firsthand look at their detainment efforts. Riding along with ICE is so interesting.

It is just so eye-opening. I would encourage everybody to ride along with ICE. We are speaking to the Tennessee senator. And see what it is that they're actually incurring as they are surveilling and watching people, preparing to apprehend them and move them to deportation. Now, the individuals that they are surveilling are individuals who have criminal records or orders of deportation against them.

And ICE agents can't just go knock on the door and say, hey, I'm here, time to go. What they have to do, since they can't get a warrant...

is they have to wait for the individual to move into a public space. And that is where they're able to apprehend them. Also, it's important for us to realize how the local and state officials working with ICE makes their job much easier because

Taking someone into custody who is in a jail is a much easier process than apprehending them when they are out and about in the community. Also, I had the opportunity to meet with the team of agents that are there in Nashville and express my gratitude and my thanks to them.

And so you touched on kind of what you learned from the experience, though. Did you get an idea of what can be done to further make this process smoother or if there's any legislative changes that need to be made here?

Well, yes, and a couple of things we've already have legislation filed. The Remove Act is legislation I've worked on with the White House, and it would reduce the time period for deporting these criminal illegal aliens from a 90-day time period down to 15 days.

and being able to go ahead and move these individuals out of the company to free up the beds in those holding facilities so that you are able to push them through within 15 days rather than 90 days. That speeds up the process. When it comes to safety of the agents and investigators, the Protecting Law Enforcement from Doxing Act,

This is legislation that I developed after our Nashville mayor and his team made public and doxed the names of the HSI, the investigators, and also the ICE agents, and also their operations where they were working. And we realized at that point that the U.S. code that covers

revealing information of certain individuals did not include law enforcement or immigration officials and that for law enforcement you had to be working undercover. So we are adding law enforcement and immigration officials to the code in order to help protect them.

And, you know, speaking of the national mayor, since you just touched on this, obviously, Andy Ogles has introduced some legislation trying to crack down on him, I believe. And, you know, what's kind of been your experience with the national mayor and if there's any action that needs to be taken with either their cooperation or lack thereof cooperation? Yeah. And I applaud Congressman Ogles and the work he's doing with an investigation on the House side. We've called on DOJ to...

to do an investigation, which we think is the right thing to do. And also the pieces of legislation that I mentioned to you. And any of those pieces of legislation you think on track to be passed at some point this Congress? I think you will see both the protecting law enforcement and also the remove act pass. You buy in from some enough Democrats to get that across the finish line, you think?

I think that there are going to be some Democrats that will say this makes sense. Okay. And, you know, if we could kind of address, yeah, because I think, you know, what you're dealing with right now with ICE and Homeland Security in general kind of ties into what's going on with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act because, you know, the legislation has a significant amount of funding for law enforcement, especially when it comes to DHS in there. You know, when this was first being talked about, I remember, you know,

Senator Graham bringing Tom Homan in and some others to the GOP lunch and how they talked about how stretched thin right now Homeland Security is when it comes to immigration enforcement and border protection in general. Do you get the sense that this is a must pass piece of legislation because that money is needed and urgent?

The big, beautiful bill is a must pass lease piece of legislation on a lot of fronts. Number one, it will prohibit the largest tax hike in history and passing the big, beautiful bill will provide the American people with the largest tax cut.

in history. The average family is going to see somewhere between a $3,000 and $5,000 a year savings by passing this bill. When it comes to DHS and border enforcement, there is money to actually construct that barrier on the southern border. Some of it is fencing. Some of it is technology.

There is money to actually expand the deportations, and that is why the Remove Act is important to speed these up so that we can more efficiently and effectively use those dollars that are appropriated. We're speaking to Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn. More after this.

With a Venmo debit card, you can Venmo more than just your friends. You can use your balance in so many ways. You can Venmo everything. Need gas? You can Venmo this. How about snacks? You can Venmo that. Your favorite band's merch? You can Venmo this. Or their next show? You can Venmo that. Visit venmo.me slash debit to learn more. You can Venmo this or you can Venmo that. Venmo this or you can Venmo that.

The Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank, and a pursuant to license by MasterCard International Incorporated card may be used everywhere MasterCard is accepted. Venmo purchase restrictions apply. And when we talk about where this bill goes right now, do you think this is still on track to pass by the end of this week? Leader Thun is expressing you think it's on track.

Yeah, we have had some good whips on this. We are united in passing President Trump's agenda. And we've got a lot of people that still have questions, but they are trying to get to a yes. And how many do you think are still out there, would you say? And what do you think is the biggest sticking point with getting them to a yes?

There are some that want to be able to cut, reduce some more spending. Of course, we are making more spending reductions than the House made in their bill. And I'll say this, when it comes to Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid, there's a lot of rumor mill out there. It's important to note what we are doing is removing freeloaders,

felons, illegal aliens from any benefits that are there for the American people, whether it is Medicaid that goes to those that deserve it, or it is Medicare and Social Security for people that have paid into those funds all their working life. And do you think with this legislation that

You know, I think the one the big one, the big concern that we hear is about these rural hospitals. And, you know, Leader Thune says that there's you're working on ways in which you can sure up those and make sure that this does not become an issue if the bill passes. Do you think that this is on track to make sure that there are assurances? We're we're working a couple of provisions there in Tennessee. Protecting our rural hospitals is very important to us.

And we have we've lost 11 rural hospitals to date. So whether it is beefing up the state directed payments for the rural hospitals or doing a fund that is a set aside for rural health care, we do have our eyes on that and are working toward a resolution on that. And

I think if we touch back on the illegal immigration aspect of this, because, you know, you have a number of Iranian people who are in the country illegally who've been arrested in the last week or so that could pose a potential threat. You know, what do you make of that? And are you confident how DHS is handling that? And does that kind of bring the importance of this legislation passing back to the forefront as well?

Well, it does indeed. When you look at the strong leadership of President Trump and the way he has handled the situation with Israel and Iran and the way he's made certain that Iran is never going to have a nuclear weapon.

That is a very good thing. And having the money to modernize our military, that is something that is vitally important. That is in the bill, making certain that we have money for a gold dome to protect us. People have watched the Iron Dome work and they realize how important it would be to have such protections for the U.S.,

So money for that military is there. People have been very pleased with how President Trump has been firm. Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. Our military needs to be modernized. We have the best fighting force on the face of the earth.

And we want to continue to provide them with what they need to innovate and to meet the mission that they are called on to deliver. And what do you make of some of the frustration from Democrats about the and this is the last question, the frustration you hear from Democrats about the postponement of this hearing today? I think that the Democrats were anxious about.

to have the briefing because they disagree with the strikes being carried out. But it is imperative to note President Donald Trump, under Article 2, Section 2 of the Constitution, is given the authority to take the actions to protect the United States and our people.

And in the past, when Democrat presidents have exercised this authority, the Democrats said absolutely nothing about it. But because it is President Donald Trump, they are now trying to say something about it.

I will tell you this, with Tennesseans, they are overwhelmingly supportive of the actions of President Donald Trump. Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn, thank you so much for joining us on the Fox News Rundown Evening Edition. Thank you.

You've been listening to the Fox News Rundown. And now, stay up to date by subscribing to this podcast at foxnewspodcasts.com. Listen ad-free on Fox News Podcasts Plus on Apple Podcasts. And Prime members can listen to the show ad-free on Amazon Music. And for up-to-the-minute news, go to foxnews.com.

Hey, I'm Trey Gowdy, host of the Trey Gowdy Podcast. I hope you will join me every Tuesday and Thursday as we navigate life together and hopefully find ourselves a little bit better on the other side. Listen and follow now at foxnewspodcast.com.