Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Peter Welch, D-Vt., are pushing legislation that would hike the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour and provide for annual increases to account for inflation.

The proposal would implement a dramatic increase from the current $7.25 per hour federal minimum wage, which has been in place for more than 15 years.

‘For decades, working Americans have seen their wages flatline. One major culprit of this is the failure of the federal minimum wage to keep up with the economic reality facing hardworking Americans every day. This bipartisan legislation would ensure that workers across America benefit from higher wages,’ Hawley said, according to press releases from both lawmakers.

The purchasing power of the U.S. dollar has eroded significantly over the years due to inflation.

Under the proposed legislation, the yearly increases to the initial $15 per hour federal minimum wage would be based on ‘the percentage increase, if any, in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (or a successor index), as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ and would be ’rounded to the nearest multiple of $0.05, if the amount … is not a multiple of $0.05.’

‘We’re in the midst of a severe affordability crisis, with families in red and blue states alike struggling to afford necessities like housing and groceries. A stagnant federal minimum wage only adds fuel to the fire. Every hardworking American deserves a living wage that helps put a roof over their head and food on the table–$7.25 an hour doesn’t even come close,’ Welch said, according to the releases.

‘Times have changed, and working families deserve a wage that reflects today’s financial reality. I’m proud to lead this bipartisan effort to raise the minimum wage nationwide to help more folks make ends meet,’ the senator added. 

In post on X, conservative commentator Dana Loesch decried the idea of raising the federal minimum wage, pushing back against Hawley’s advocacy for the policy.

‘This is a horrible, progressive idea,’ Loesch asserted in the tweet.

A national security-focused nonprofit organization has released a comprehensive report detailing the workings of a well-funded nominally U.S.-based organization that it says is undermining American energy, pushing left-wing green initiatives, and ultimately advancing Chinese interests. 

The report, published by State Armor, outlines the money trail of Energy Foundation China, registered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that is technically headquartered in San Francisco but with employees mostly based in Beijing.

‘Energy Foundation China used to be known as the Energy Foundation before it spun off most of its U.S.-based operations in 2019 into a separate organization called the U.S. Energy Foundation,’ the report explains. ‘While still formally organized as the Energy Foundation, since 2019, the organization has used the alias ‘Energy Foundation China’ or ‘EF China’ to differentiate from the now-separate U.S. Energy Foundation. The group was founded by Hal Harvey, a climate activist and entrepreneur with deep ties to numerous left-wing organizations and to China.’

State Armor found that EFC has ‘spent millions each year to bankroll climate advocates who promote phasing out fossil fuels and implementing green energy alternatives like the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the latter of which was the target of a 2018 Congressional inquiry into whether it should register as a foreign agent based on its Chinese funding.’

The Rocky Mountain Institute produced one of the most prominent studies used by many Democrats to justify cutting down on gas stoves and was cited by President Biden’s Department of Energy. 

Earlier this year, multiple committees joined to begin an investigation into EFC, and requested files from EFC President Zi Chou about financial resources given to American organizations after Fox News Digital reporting on the group funneling millions of dollars to fund climate initiatives and environmental groups in the U.S.

The report details how EFC ‘led a U.S. state-level legislative drive’ against Bayer, the leading Western fertilizer company, that pushed for lawsuits against the company over a potentially carcinogenic pesticide with the aim of driving the company out of the U.S. and in turn forcing reliance on Chinese suppliers. 

The report goes on to outline how the organization has ‘provided millions’ to the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) to support ‘a clean energy future’ and how ICCT was an ‘active supporter’ of climate initiatives in the Inflation Reduction Act targeting increased battery electric trucking infrastructure. 

Fox News Digital reported in 2023 that The Energy Foundation sent $480,000 to the Washington, D.C.-based International Council on Clean Transportation, which advocates for widespread EV adoption and policies decarbonizing the transportation sector broadly. It also wired grants — one to the University of Maryland and another to the Jackson Hole Center for Global Affairs — worth a total of $450,000 and earmarked for projects to phase out coal power reliance.

Josh Hodges, Commissioner on the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission and former National Security Advisor to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and NSC Senior Director in the first Trump Administration, told Fox News Digital that EFC is a ‘textbook example of the CCP’s asymmetric warfare strategy and drive to deepen its dominance over American companies.’

‘Communist China is manipulating a supposed philanthropic network to steer the U.S. away from reliable domestic energy sources and into dependence on Chinese supply chains,’ Hodges said. ‘Whether it’s solar panels, mobile phones, electric vehicle batteries, or agricultural chemicals, Beijing’s fingerprints are all over the ‘green transition’ being pushed on America.’

The report quotes Chinese climate envoy Liu Zhenmin who suggested that Biden’s green energy policies will remain even under a more skeptical Trump administration and said, ‘even if the new Trump administration reverses climate change policies, it is unlikely to completely change the green transition actions that have already begun in various parts of the U.S.’

‘In other words, the CCP’s penetration of the U.S.’ political and industrial systems runs so deep that CCP officials believe that not even a skeptical White House could halt America’s growing dependence upon Chinese technologies,’ the report states. 

Will Hild, Executive Director of Consumers’ Research told Fox News Digital that the report ‘exposes a disturbing truth’ that EFC is part of a broader push to undermine American energy independence and ‘stifle’ the Trump energy agenda to benefit the CCP. 

EFC is weaponizing woke ideology to pull off this scheme and force American consumers to rely on the Chinese Communist Party for energy sources,’ Hild said. ‘Americans deserve to know the truth about our foreign adversary’s campaign that is poisoning our economy and reshaping our energy future. We applaud organizations like State Armor that are working to expose these grifts against consumers.’

In addition to the EFC’s climate activism, the report focuses on how, by ‘co-opting climate activism and dominating new so-called green supply chains, Beijing converts a domestic weakness into a global strength’ while also detailing the ties between EFC and the CCP. 

For example, EFC’s CEO Zou Ji has served in previous roles at top leadership positions in China’s official National Center for Climate Change Strategy within the National Development and Reform Commission of the State Council. 

‘He was so deeply tied into CCP leadership that he was included as a part of China’s delegation to the 2015 Paris Climate Talks,’ the report says. ‘Zou’s other affiliations include a position at Tsinghua University at a center where his colleagues include a retired senior PLA officer and a former deputy director of an MSS think tank.’

Zou is not the only EFC figure with ties to the CCP, the report says, pointing to EFC Board Member and Washington, D.C. based attorney Hongjun Zhang, who serves as a member of China’s Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development and was previously a legislative director for the China National People’s Congress. 

Zhang, according to his law firm’s bio page, spent ‘many years in the Chinese government’ that included work at the ‘Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), State Food and Drug Administration (CFDA), Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), and National Development and Reform Commission.’ 

The report states that EFC’s operations in China are overseen by the CCP’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and that the organization’s Beijing headquarters are located in a building owned by a state-owned investment corporation tied to Chinese state media propaganda. 

Rep. John Moolenar, R-Mich., who is the chairman of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, sounded the alarm over the report, telling Fox News Digital ‘This report confirms what we’ve long warned: the Chinese Communist Party is using seemingly innocuous nonprofits to influence American policy and undermine U.S. interests — in this case, our energy independence.’

‘Energy Foundation China operates at the direction of the CCP and is exploiting our charitable system to push policies that benefit Beijing, not the American people,’ Moolenar continued. ‘The Select Committee continues to investigate how CCP-linked organizations infiltrate U.S. institutions, shift critical supply chains toward China, and shape environmental agendas that aim to make America weaker while China gets stronger. We will continue to expose these influence operations and work with Congress and the Administration to safeguard U.S. energy security and national sovereignty.’

The report also points to examples of EFC collaborating with U.S. entities and officials including in 2023 when it ‘provided support’ for an event that featured California Gov. Gavin Newsom during a visit to China and then hosted a forum a month later for a discussion promoting ‘low-carbon cooperation between the two nations.’

Vance Wagner, the vice president for strategic partnerships at Energy Foundation China, pushed back on the report, telling Fox News Digital that ‘Energy Foundation China (EFC) is an independent grantmaking charitable organization that provides funding for research and capacity building related to climate change and China.’

‘Climate change is one of the greatest threats facing our world. Our work is currently focused on China given the scale of its energy sector and its role in global emissions. Despite geopolitical tensions, meaningful engagement with China on climate change and emissions reductions is in everyone’s interests,’ Vance continued. ‘All grants we make support projects related to climate change and China, and are in no way related to influencing U.S. energy policy. EFC does not accept funding from any government or political party.’

‘Neither the Chinese government nor the CCP fund, direct, or control EFC or our grant-making decisions,’ he added. ‘We are compliant with all U.S. and Chinese laws and regulations and do not lobby or support electoral activities in any country.’

The report states that between 2020 and 2021, EFC gave over $1 million to the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for funding ‘green energy research’ and laboratory training increasing the efficiency of China’s industrial sectors. 

The Biden administration, according to the report, gave $60 million in grants to the Institute for Sustainable Communities, which is a group ‘frequently in collaboration with Energy Foundation China.’

‘America’s energy security is national security,’ Jason Isaac, CEO of American Energy Institute, told Fox News Digital. 

‘The State Armor report lays bare how the Chinese Communist Party has co-opted climate activism to shift the U.S. onto so-called ‘green’ technologies that are manufactured, mined, and controlled by China. From solar panels to EV batteries and rare earth minerals, our supply chains are increasingly entangled with a foreign adversary that uses forced labor, ignores environmental safeguards, and openly aims to dominate the global energy future. This isn’t progress—it’s dependence. Real energy dominance means leveraging America’s vast domestic energy resources, not outsourcing our future to Beijing.’

Along with the report, State Armor has sent letters to Republican committee chairs in Congress, including Chairmen Grassley, Lee, Moolenaar, Comer, and Guthrie, that call for prompt oversight on the matter. 

‘Congress must act,’ the letter, authored by Lucci, implores. ‘Oversight is urgently needed to expose the full extent of this operation, beginning with Energy Foundation China. The EFC is not a passive observer; it is an active player in a geopolitical contest where America’s energy security and global leadership hang in the balance.’

Fox News Digital’s Thomas Catenacci and Joe Schoffstall contributed to this report

An Iowa congressman is taking a major step toward running for governor on Wednesday.

Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, is launching a finance committee comprised of 47 top donors and business leaders in the Hawkeye State, Fox News Digital is learning first.

‘I am grateful for the overwhelming support that our campaign has received from Iowans who believe in our mission to take our state to new heights,’ Feenstra said in a statement.

‘Our finance committee will ensure we have the resources necessary for victory. I cannot thank our supporters enough for their support and confidence in our campaign.’

Feenstra has not formally announced a campaign for governor, but he’s now taken several steps in the process ahead of the 2026 elections.

He revealed last month that he is exploring a run for the role after the current governor, Republican Kim Reynolds, said she was stepping aside after serving two terms in Des Moines. 

Feenstra also filed a ‘Feenstra for Governor’ organizing committee.

It’s not clear when the official kickoff will be, but Feenstra is all but certain to join an increasingly crowded field of candidates for the open seat.

Members of the campaign committee include Kurt Croell, the owner of a concrete company who’s donated to both Reynolds and President Donald Trump, and members of the Doll family, who own beer company Doll Distributing.

West Des Moines Mayor Russ Trimble is also on the list, as are Nutratech executives Andy and Russ Kosky, among others.

Feenstra has represented Iowa’s 4th Congressional District since 2021, and serves key roles in the House as a member of both the Agriculture and Ways & Means Committees.

Other Republicans running to lead the state include state lawmaker Eddie Andrews and Brad Sherman, a former state representative.

The GOP primary could turn into a high-profile political clash if Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird enters the race. 

Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley, grandson of U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is also publicly toying with a bid.

On the Democratic side, Iowa auditor Rob Sand is among the declared candidates, as is Julie Stauch, who served as Pete Buttigieg’s 2020 presidential campaign Iowa political director.

The Justice Department says President Donald Trump has the right to abolish national monuments established by former President Joe Biden at the request of Native American tribes.

In the final days of his presidency, Biden established the Chuckwalla National Monument and the Sáttítla Highlands National Monument to protect hundreds of thousands of acres of land in California. According to Reuters, the Chuckwalla National Monument protects over 624,000 acres, while the Sáttítla Highlands National Monument protects 224,000 acres.

The monuments could lose their status after a Trump DOJ legal opinion reversed a 1938 determination that presidents did not have the power to abolish monuments designated by previous presidents under the Antiquities Act of 1906. 

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lanora Pettit argued in the opinion that ‘for the Antiquities Act, the power to declare carries with it the power to revoke.’

In his first term, Trump reduced the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments in Utah, according to the Associated Press. The outlet noted that Trump claimed the monuments were a ‘massive land grab.’ However, Biden later restored them during his term in office.

The DOJ’s opinion, which was released on Tuesday, has already drawn backlash as Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., slammed the Trump administration.

‘At Donald Trump’s order, his Justice Department is attempting to clear a path to erase national monuments,’ said Heinrich, who serves as the ranking member of the Senate Natural Resources Committee. ‘Here’s what they don’t understand: Our national monuments are about who we are. They tell the story of our ancestors, support jobs and our rural economies, and connect Americans to our history and the land itself. No president can erase that.’

Heinrich also vowed to oppose Republican efforts ‘to rip away our national monuments.’

In the legal opinion, Pettit wrote that Biden’s designation of the new monuments was part of a larger effort to create an environmental legacy for himself. She also appeared to discredit Biden’s reasons for designating the sites as national monuments, including the creation of more places for outdoor recreational activities, like biking, hiking, hunting and camping.

‘Such activities are entirely expected in a park, but they are wholly unrelated to (if not outright incompatible with) the protection of scientific or historical monuments,’ Pettit wrote.

There is no clear indication if or when Trump would revoke the status of the two sites established by Biden—or the status of any other monuments. However, according to Reuters, White House spokesperson Harrison Fields spoke about the need to ‘liberate our federal lands and waters to oil, gas, coal, geothermal, and mineral leasing’ when asked about the opinion.

A national security-focused nonprofit organization has released a comprehensive report detailing the workings of a well-funded nominally U.S.-based organization that it says is undermining American energy, pushing left-wing green initiatives and ultimately advancing Chinese interests. 

The report, published by State Armor, outlines the money trail of Energy Foundation China (EFC), registered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that is technically headquartered in San Francisco but with employees mostly based in Beijing.

‘Energy Foundation China used to be known as the Energy Foundation before it spun off most of its U.S.-based operations in 2019 into a separate organization called the U.S. Energy Foundation,’ the report explains. ‘While still formally organized as the Energy Foundation, since 2019, the organization has used the alias ‘Energy Foundation China’ or ‘EF China’ to differentiate from the now-separate U.S. Energy Foundation. The group was founded by Hal Harvey, a climate activist and entrepreneur with deep ties to numerous left-wing organizations and to China.’

State Armor found that EFC has ‘spent millions each year to bankroll climate advocates who promote phasing out fossil fuels and implementing green energy alternatives like the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the latter of which was the target of a 2018 Congressional inquiry into whether it should register as a foreign agent based on its Chinese funding.’

The Rocky Mountain Institute produced one of the most prominent studies used by many Democrats to justify cutting down on gas stoves and was cited by President Joe Biden’s Department of Energy. 

Earlier this year, multiple committees joined to begin an investigation into EFC, and requested files from EFC President Zi Chou about financial resources given to American organizations after Fox News Digital reporting on the group funneling millions of dollars to fund climate initiatives and environmental groups in the U.S.

The report details how EFC ‘led a U.S. state-level legislative drive’ against Bayer, the leading Western fertilizer company, that pushed for lawsuits against the company over a potentially carcinogenic pesticide with the aim of driving the company out of the U.S. and in turn forcing reliance on Chinese suppliers. 

The report goes on to outline how the organization has ‘provided millions’ to the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) to support ‘a clean energy future’ and how ICCT was an ‘active supporter’ of climate initiatives in the Inflation Reduction Act targeting increased battery electric trucking infrastructure. 

Fox News Digital reported in 2023 that The Energy Foundation sent $480,000 to the Washington, D.C.-based International Council on Clean Transportation, which advocates for widespread EV adoption and policies decarbonizing the transportation sector broadly. It also wired grants – one to the University of Maryland and another to the Jackson Hole Center for Global Affairs – worth a total of $450,000 and earmarked for projects to phase out coal power reliance.

Josh Hodges, commissioner on the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission and former national security advisor to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and NSC senior director in the first Trump administration, told Fox News Digital that EFC is a ‘textbook example of the CCP’s asymmetric warfare strategy and drive to deepen its dominance over American companies.’

‘Communist China is manipulating a supposed philanthropic network to steer the U.S. away from reliable domestic energy sources and into dependence on Chinese supply chains,’ Hodges said. ‘Whether it’s solar panels, mobile phones, electric vehicle batteries, or agricultural chemicals, Beijing’s fingerprints are all over the ‘green transition’ being pushed on America.’

The report quotes Chinese climate envoy Liu Zhenmin, who suggested that Biden’s green energy policies will remain even under a more skeptical Trump administration and said, ‘even if the new Trump administration reverses climate change policies, it is unlikely to completely change the green transition actions that have already begun in various parts of the U.S.’

‘In other words, the CCP’s penetration of the U.S.’ political and industrial systems runs so deep that CCP officials believe that not even a skeptical White House could halt America’s growing dependence upon Chinese technologies,’ the report states. 

Will Hild, executive director of Consumers’ Research, told Fox News Digital that the report ‘exposes a disturbing truth’ that EFC is part of a broader push to undermine American energy independence and ‘stifle’ the Trump energy agenda to benefit the CCP. 

EFC is weaponizing woke ideology to pull off this scheme and force American consumers to rely on the Chinese Communist Party for energy sources,’ Hild said. ‘Americans deserve to know the truth about our foreign adversary’s campaign that is poisoning our economy and reshaping our energy future. We applaud organizations like State Armor that are working to expose these grifts against consumers.’

In addition to the EFC’s climate activism, the report focuses on how, by ‘co-opting climate activism and dominating new so-called green supply chains, Beijing converts a domestic weakness into a global strength’ while also detailing the ties between EFC and the CCP. 

For example, EFC’s CEO Zou Ji has served in previous roles at top leadership positions in China’s official National Center for Climate Change Strategy within the National Development and Reform Commission of the State Council. 

‘He was so deeply tied into CCP leadership that he was included as a part of China’s delegation to the 2015 Paris Climate Talks,’ the report says. ‘Zou’s other affiliations include a position at Tsinghua University at a center where his colleagues include a retired senior PLA officer and a former deputy director of an MSS think tank.’

Zou is not the only EFC figure with ties to the CCP, the report says, pointing to EFC board member and Washington, D.C. based attorney Hongjun Zhang, who serves as a member of China’s Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development and was previously a legislative director for the China National People’s Congress. 

Zhang, according to his law firm’s bio page, spent ‘many years in the Chinese government’ that included work at the ‘Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), State Food and Drug Administration (CFDA), Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), and National Development and Reform Commission.’ 

The report states that EFC’s operations in China are overseen by the CCP’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and that the organization’s Beijing headquarters are located in a building owned by a state-owned investment corporation tied to Chinese state media propaganda. 

Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., who is the chairman of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, sounded the alarm over the report, telling Fox News Digital, ‘This report confirms what we’ve long warned: the Chinese Communist Party is using seemingly innocuous nonprofits to influence American policy and undermine U.S. interests – in this case, our energy independence.’

‘Energy Foundation China operates at the direction of the CCP and is exploiting our charitable system to push policies that benefit Beijing, not the American people,’ Moolenaar continued. ‘The Select Committee continues to investigate how CCP-linked organizations infiltrate U.S. institutions, shift critical supply chains toward China, and shape environmental agendas that aim to make America weaker while China gets stronger. We will continue to expose these influence operations and work with Congress and the administration to safeguard U.S. energy security and national sovereignty.’

The report also points to examples of EFC collaborating with U.S. entities and officials, including in 2023 when it ‘provided support’ for an event that featured California Gov. Gavin Newsom during a visit to China and then hosted a forum a month later for a discussion promoting ‘low-carbon cooperation between the two nations.’

Vance Wagner, the vice president for strategic partnerships at Energy Foundation China, pushed back on the report, telling Fox News Digital, ‘Energy Foundation China (EFC) is an independent grantmaking charitable organization that provides funding for research and capacity building related to climate change and China.’

‘Climate change is one of the greatest threats facing our world. Our work is currently focused on China given the scale of its energy sector and its role in global emissions. Despite geopolitical tensions, meaningful engagement with China on climate change and emissions reductions is in everyone’s interests,’ Vance continued. ‘All grants we make support projects related to climate change and China, and are in no way related to influencing U.S. energy policy. EFC does not accept funding from any government or political party.’

‘Neither the Chinese government nor the CCP fund, direct, or control EFC or our grant-making decisions,’ he added. ‘We are compliant with all U.S. and Chinese laws and regulations and do not lobby or support electoral activities in any country.’

The report states that between 2020 and 2021, EFC gave over $1 million to the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for funding ‘green energy research’ and laboratory training increasing the efficiency of China’s industrial sectors. 

The Biden administration, according to the report, gave $60 million in grants to the Institute for Sustainable Communities, which is a group ‘frequently in collaboration with Energy Foundation China.’

‘America’s energy security is national security,’ Jason Isaac, CEO of American Energy Institute, told Fox News Digital. 

‘The State Armor report lays bare how the Chinese Communist Party has co-opted climate activism to shift the U.S. onto so-called ‘green’ technologies that are manufactured, mined, and controlled by China. From solar panels to EV batteries and rare earth minerals, our supply chains are increasingly entangled with a foreign adversary that uses forced labor, ignores environmental safeguards, and openly aims to dominate the global energy future. This isn’t progress – it’s dependence. Real energy dominance means leveraging America’s vast domestic energy resources, not outsourcing our future to Beijing.’

Along with the report, State Armor has sent letters to Republican committee chairs in Congress that call for prompt oversight on the matter. 

‘Congress must act,’ the letter, authored by Lucci, implores. ‘Oversight is urgently needed to expose the full extent of this operation, beginning with Energy Foundation China. The EFC is not a passive observer; it is an active player in a geopolitical contest where America’s energy security and global leadership hang in the balance.’

Fox News Digital’s Thomas Catenacci and Joe Schoffstall contributed to this report