Lawmakers have long shied away from serious discussions about entitlement reform, but the issue appears to be coming back into focus for Republicans who are wary about the growing national debt.

‘I definitely have noticed it,’ veteran GOP strategist Doug Heye told Fox News Digital of the uptick in GOP-led discussions on the issue. ‘Republicans have talked about this for a long time, not always with specifics. But what tends to happen is, they talk about it, they get attacked, they fall back.’

Congress just ended the fiscal year 2024 government-funding fight with President Biden signing a $1.2 trillion spending package into law last week and averting a partial government shutdown. But the ugly battle, which took six additional months after the end of fiscal year 2023, only accounted for the government’s discretionary spending – which makes up just over a quarter of annual federal funds.

The vast majority of federal funding is classified as mandatory spending, which includes entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), known colloquially as ‘food stamps.’

Discussions about raising the Social Security eligibility age or cuts to Medicare are always politically fraught. But economists are now warning that without changes, those programs are headed for forced cuts anyway, due to insufficient funds – with Medicare expected to become insolvent in 2028, and Social Security in 2033.

‘I do think we should be willing to have real conversations about this, but I wouldn’t say this is a new issue,’ Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., chair of the pragmatic House Main Street Caucus, told Fox News Digital.

Johnson noted that ‘every ten years’ or so, Washington officials assemble task forces and commissions to discuss the national debt or the solvency of programs like Social Security and Medicare.

‘I think what is maybe ripening this issue a bit more now is the [threat of insolvency],’ he said. ‘It is closer than ever.’

Johnson himself has led the charge in pushing for work requirements for federal food benefits, something Democrats have used as a political cudgel, despite the programs’ ballooning costs. But in recent months, more Republicans are declaring their support for curbing entitlements.

Meanwhile, House Rules Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., openly called for entitlement reform in his announcement that he would be running for House Appropriations chair.

‘You cannot solve the U.S. deficit problem exclusively in the Appropriations Committee, as discretionary spending only amounts to roughly 28 percent of U.S. expenditures,’ Cole said earlier this month. ‘If we are going to produce a balanced budget, which I strongly believe we should be striving to do, we should be having serious discussions on how to fund and reform our entitlement programs, which makes up approximately 60 percent of all spending.’

The Republican Study Committee, a 175-member House GOP group led by Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., recently released a budget proposal that called for raising the ‘retirement age for future retirees to account for increases in life expectancy’ as well as restructuring Medicare to compete with private options.

Democrats up to the White House pounced on the proposal, accusing Republicans of trying to gut Social Security and Medicare. Seizing on the looming November election as well, Biden’s campaign has sought to link any Republican victory to deep cuts to the programs.

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good, R-Va., told Fox News Digital that he expects that Republicans will take on entitlement reform if they win the White House, House and Senate.

‘My hope would be that if we have full control of government that we will take the steps necessary to preserve and protect Social Security and Medicare for the current retirees who are depending on it, those nearing retirement, depending on the next few years, [and] so that it’s there also for people like you,’ Good said.

Former President Donald Trump, the presumed GOP nominee for 2024, has not been explicit about his stance regarding entitlement reform. 

He told CNBC earlier this month that ‘there is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting.’ His spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, later told NBC News, ‘President Trump will continue to strongly protect Social Security and Medicare in his second term.’

But Paul Winfree, Trump’s former White House budget policy director and current president of the Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC), backed entitlement reform to reduce the national deficit and save the programs themselves.

‘Interest rates are significantly higher and so too are debt service payments. At the same time, the Fed has had a hard time getting inflation fully under control,’ Winfree told Fox News Digital. ‘Those are market signals that the deficit really needs to come down. And the sooner policymakers begin to confront the biggest drivers of the deficit, specifically what is spent on federal health programs, the more likely it will be that they can protect programs for the most vulnerable.’

The federal government spent $2.2 trillion on Social Security and Medicare in 2023, according to the Congressional Budget Office, out of $3.8 trillion in mandatory spending.

Strategist Doug Heye, who’s pessimistic about the talk becoming action, suggested that it was precisely because reforms seem too out of reach that Republicans are able to be vocal.

‘Entitlement reform, depending on who you talk to, is – it’s a tool to show either voters or portions of conservative media that you’re fighting, and it doesn’t mean that any of this is going to happen. In fact, that’s sort of irrelevant to the process, showing the willingness to fight becomes paramount,’ Heye explained.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ahead of surgery for a hernia on Sunday, vowed that Israel would invade Rafah, despite twin pressures from Ramadan and Washington.  

Netanyahu, 74, said he had approved the IDF’s ‘operational plan’ for Rafah, saying the force was ‘prepared for the evacuation of the civilian population and for the provision of humanitarian assistance.’ 

‘This is the right thing both operationally and internationally,’ he said. ‘This will take time but it will be done. We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there for one simple reason: There is no victory without entering Rafah and there is no victory without eliminating the Hamas battalions there.’ 

The comments came after the Israeli leader met with the families of the hostages still in Gaza. He rejected accusations that he was delaying their release. 

‘Those who say I am not doing everything to return the hostages are wrong and misleading, and those who know the truth and still repeating this lie are causing unnecessary grief to the families of the hostages,’ he said.

Netanyahu alleged that Israel has ‘relaxed’ its position in negotiations while Hamas has ‘hardened’ theirs. 

‘Despite all the difficulty involved, negotiations must be conducted calmly and with level-headed determination,’ he said. ‘This is the only way to return hostages.’ 

Netanyahu has kept a full schedule throughout Israel’s nearly six-month-long war against Hamas. A hernia was discovered during a routine checkup, but his doctors have said he is otherwise in good health. Doctors acknowledged last year that he had concealed a long-known heart problem after they implanted a pacemaker.

Israeli society was broadly united immediately after Oct. 7, when Hamas killed some 1,200 people during a cross-border attack and took 250 others hostage. Nearly six months of conflict have renewed divisions over the leadership of Netanyahu, though the country remains largely in favor of the war.

Thousands of Israelis gathered outside the parliament building in Jerusalem on Sunday, marking the largest anti-government demonstration since the war began. They urged the government to reach a cease-fire deal to free dozens of hostages held by the Hamas militant group in Gaza and to hold early elections.

Roughly half the hostages in Gaza were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November. But attempts by international mediators to bring home the remaining hostages have failed. Talks resumed on Sunday with little expectation of a breakthrough.

Netanyahu has said there can be no victory without a military ground offensive in Rafah, the southern Gaza city where more than half of the territory’s population of 2.3 million now shelters after fleeing fighting elsewhere. 

Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry said Sunday that more than  32,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war. The ministry’s count does not differentiate between civilians and fighters, but it has said that women and children make up around two-thirds of those killed.

Israel has disputed these figures, saying that more than one-third of the dead are militants, and it blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the group operates in residential areas.

Fox News’ Yael Rotem-Kuriel and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Three top communication staffers in Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman’s office left for other left-leaning offices, all within the span of a month. 

The departures come as the Pennsylvania Democrat has made headlines for his stances on Israel and immigration, separating him from his fellow Democrat colleagues.

Joe Calvello formerly worked as Fetterman’s Director of Communications both in his Senate office and on his 2022 campaign. A statement released earlier this month by the City of Chicago announced that Calvello would be joining as Chief Strategy Officer in Chicago Democrat Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office. 

‘It’s an absolute honor and a privilege to come to Chicago and serve the people of this great city,’ Calvello said in the statement released. 

Fetterman’s Deputy Communication Director Nicholas Gavio shared on X on Friday that he would be joining the Working Families Party as Mid-Atlantic Communications Director. 

Gavio also worked on Fetterman’s 2022 campaign as well as in Sen. Bernie Sander’s, I-Vt., office. 

The Working Families Party is a progressive minor political party whose platforms include raising the minimum wage, increasing taxes on the rich, and environmental and educational reform. The party has previously been associated with notable Dem politicians, including ‘Squad’ member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. 

Fetterman’s Press and Digital Aide Emma Mustion also took to X earlier this month to share that she was joining Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey’s campaign office as a press secretary. Mustion worked on Fetterman’s 2022 Senate campaign as well. 

Fox News Digital reached out for additional comment. 

Fetterman has been charting a different path for himself as of late, recently telling Fox News that he does not identify as a ‘progressive’ and slamming Vice President Kamala Harris for her statement that it would be a ‘huge mistake’ for Israel to carry out an offensive without U.S. approval.

‘Hard disagree,’ Fetterman wrote in response on X. ‘Israel has the right to prosecute Hamas to surrender or to be eliminated. Hamas owns every innocent death for their cowardice hiding behind Palestinian lives.’

Fetterman has emerged as one of Israel’s staunchest allies in the Senate in the wake of the Oct. 7 massacre, distancing himself from other Democrats in Congress. 

Back in October, shortly after the massacre, Calvello posted a screenshot on X of an office-wide email addressing the office’s policies on sharing social media posts that did not align with Fetterman’s positions. 

‘However, if you want to sign onto something that is entirely anonoymous – including NOT identifying you as a Fetterman staffer in any way – that is in bounds if you so choose,’ the Oct. 20 email read. ‘The distinction here is that you cannot use your status as a current Fetterman staffer to undermine John’s position or otherwise make a public statement that is inconsistent with John’s views.’

The email went on to stress the office’s need to ‘work together as a team’ following the breakout of war in Israel and Gaza. 

Fetterman responded to criticism over his pro-Israel stance when speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper in January, saying, ‘I don’t understand why it’s controversial to anybody to decide that you’re going to stand with Israel in this situation.

Fox News’ Chad Pergram and Gabriel Hays contributed to this report. 

President Biden appealed to supporters of Nikki Haley in a new campaign ad on Friday. 

‘If you voted for Nikki Haley, Donald Trump doesn’t want your vote,’ the ad begins, showing clips of the presumptive Republican nominee Trump calling the former South Carolina governor Haley ‘bird brain’ and claiming she made an ‘unholy alliance with RINOs, Never Trumpers, [and] Americans for No Prosperity.’ 

Another clip later in the ad shows Trump telling a reporter he didn’t think ‘we need too many’ after he was asked about how to ‘bring Haley voters back into the tent.’ 

‘Nikki Haley voters, Donald Trump doesn’t want your vote,’ Biden wrote on X, linking to the ad. ‘I want to be clear: There is a place for you in my campaign.’

Haley dropped out of the presidential race after Super Tuesday earlier this month, following losses in almost every state to Trump. She had remained in the race as Trump’s last opponent for the nomination despite his almost insurmountable lead, because she felt voters deserved another choice. 

After leaving the race, Haley, who served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, didn’t endorse him. 

In just Michigan, North Carolina and Nevada — three important battleground states — Haley earned nearly 570,000 votes. 

After Super Tuesday, Trump said on Truth Social he would ‘like to invite all of the Haley supporters to join the greatest movement in the history of our Nation. BIDEN IS THE ENEMY, HE IS DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY.’ 

Before she dropped out, Trump had warned that anyone who donated to Haley’s campaign would be ‘permanently barred from the MAGA camp. We don’t want them, and will not accept them, because we Put America First, and ALWAYS WILL!’

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Trump campaign and a representative for Haley for comment. 

The Biden administration has authorized the transfer of billions of dollars in bombs and fighter jets to Israel despite concerns from Washington about a probable military operation in southern Gaza. 

The weapons package includes more than 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs, Pentagon and State Department officials familiar with the matter told The Washington Post. 

A State Department official told Fox News Digital that ‘fulfilling an authorization from one notification to Congress can result in dozens of individual Foreign Military Sales cases across the decades-long life-cycle of the congressional notification.’

‘As a matter of practicality, major procurements, like Israel’s F-35 program for example, are often broken out into several cases over many years,’ the official added.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House and the Pentagon. 

Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday that Israel hasn’t received all the military arms it has requested as its fight with Hamas intensifies. 

‘Although we’ve been supporting them with capability, they’ve not received everything they’ve asked for,’ he said. ‘Some of that is because they’ve asked for stuff that we either don’t have the capacity to provide or not willing to provide, not right now.’

News of the military assistance to Israel comes as the Biden administration has voiced concerns over Israel’s managing of the war, which has killed thousands and displaced many of the residents of the Gaza Strip, which is governed by Hamas. 

‘We have continued to support Israel’s right to defend itself,’ a White House official told the Post. ‘Conditioning aid has not been our policy.’

Some Democrats have called for Biden to withhold aid without an Israeli commitment to put measures in place to limit civilian casualties in Rafath, a Hamas stronghold in southern Gaza. 

The issue has caused a rift in U.S.-Israeli relations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a visit by a delegation to Washington this week after the U.S. refused to veto a United Nations Security Council resolution that called for a temporary cease-fire in Gaza and the release of hostages. 

The resolution did not condemn Hamas. 

Meanwhile, progressives angry with Biden’s support for Israel have voiced their displeasure with him at every turn. During his multi-million dollar fundraiser in New York City on Thursday, pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside Radio City Music Hall to call for an end to Israeli aid. 

Inside the venue, several protesters interrupted the festivities. 

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk urged European nations to step up investment in their defense, saying the continent isn’t ready for the current ‘prewar era.’ 

Tusk made the remarks during a recent interview with various European newspapers.

‘I don’t want to scare anyone, but war is no longer a concept from the past,’ he said before referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. ‘It’s real and it started over two years ago.’

Russia has intensified airstrikes against its neighbor. Recently, Russian missiles briefly breached Polish airspace during an attack on Ukraine. That prompted Warsaw to put its forces on heightened readiness. 

Moscow has escalated its attacks in recent days, launching several missile barrages on the capital, Kyiv, and hitting energy infrastructure across the country in apparent retaliation for recent Ukrainian aerial attacks on the Russian border region of Belgorod.

On Friday, Italian news agency AGI reported that Italian fighter jets at a Polish military base in Malbork intercepted two Russian spy aircraft in the Baltic Sea. The Russian aircraft were not authorized to be in NATO airspace, the report said. 

No one was harmed, and the Russian planes did not have ‘hostile intentions.’

Tusk called for urgent assistance for Ukraine to defend itself and urged more cooperation between Poland, Germany and France.

‘We are living in the most critical moment since the end of the second world war,’ he said. ‘I know it sounds devastating, especially to people of the younger generation, but we have to mentally get used to the arrival of a new era. The prewar era.’

Tusk also called out Russian President Vladimir Putin for attempting to link the terrorist attack on Moscow’s Crocus City Hall to Ukraine without evidence.

‘Evidently feels the need to justify increasingly violent attacks on civil targets in Ukraine,’ Tusk said.