House GOP leaders are potentially staring down a new rebellion within the Republican Conference – this time from front-line moderates in New York and California.

Republicans who represent the politically fickle suburbs outside major cities there and elsewhere are frustrated that Congress’ tax bill does not touch state and local tax (SALT) deductions.

Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., who represents part of Long Island, suggested to reporters on Tuesday morning that he and his colleagues would even consider deliberately taking down GOP bills by voting against procedural measures known as ‘rule’ votes.

‘We’re gonna assess all of our options,’ LaLota said. ‘I want to be in a conference where I live on a two-way street, where my input is valued, my constituents’ input is valued. I voted for a lot of things over the last 13 or 14 months, helped out a lot of my teammates.’

He said his coalition was currently in talks with the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, which has weaponized rule votes several times this Congress to protest GOP leadership’s handling of government spending.

‘There’s an odd coalition that’s formed between Freedom Caucus members and the SALT caucus members,’ he said. ‘Like me, they’re frustrated about the process. We want this to be a member-driven conference, the speaker promised us that.’

That opposition to the tax bill is likely to prompt Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to bring it for a vote under suspension, which bypasses the procedural rule vote in exchange for raising the threshold for passage to two-thirds rather than a simple majority. With the GOP’s two-seat majority, that means they’ll need Democratic votes.

Many SALT Republicans were quick to point out that they represent moderate districts, including those won by President Biden in 2020, and argued that a failure to address SALT – specifically raising the current $10,000 deduction cap – could cost Republicans the majority.

‘Yeah, very much so,’ one source close to SALT discussions told Fox News Digital when asked if those members were angry at being sidelined.

‘There have been meetings, we’ve had conversations, and effectively what we’re hearing from the speaker’s office is, we would love to help you, but you know, effectively having SALT in there would kill the bill,’ the source said. ‘But the reality is, is that the guy is most affected by this issue or this tax bill and with this issue out of it are the swing seats.’

Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif., another lawmaker in SALT discussions, said he disagreed with tanking rule votes but understood the frustration.

‘As a team, we should be passing rules, letting things come to the floor for a vote,’ he said. ‘But I understand the frustration that the New Yorkers are feeling obviously on this issue.’

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., was blunt with his anger despite indicating support for the existing parts of the tax bill.

‘To not include a SALT fix is idiotic, and it’s political malpractice,’ Lawler said. ‘The failure to include that provision in this tax bill was foolish.’

Three sources told Fox News Digital late last week that Johnson intends to bring the bill to the floor this week for a vote under suspension, but so far it has not been noted in the legislative calendar.

Johnson did not say whether he intends to bring the bill for a vote this week when asked by Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

Fox News’ Tyler Olsen contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: A Republican congressman has introduced legislation that would permanently ban the United States from funding UNRWA, a United Nations agency that has funneled hundreds of millions in aid meant to help Palestinians in Gaza but has come under fire for its ties to Hamas.

New Jersey GOP Congressman Chris Smith has introduced a bill, known as the ‘‘Stop Support United Nations Relief and Works Agency Act of 2024’’, that would cut off U.S. funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

The United States may not make any voluntary or involuntary contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (referred to in this Act as ‘‘UNRWA’’), to any successor or related entity, or to the regular budget of the United Nations for the support of UNRWA or a successor entity,’  the bill states.

The Biden administration has sent hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to UNRWA, reversing a Trump decision to cut funding to the group, which it says is an effort to provide humanitarian aid while critics say the group is ‘effectively a branch of Hamas.’

Those ties to Hamas have come into focus in recent weeks after Israel  provided the Biden administration with a new dossier containing information about how staffers for a United Nations agency assisted or supported the Hamas terror attacks on Oct. 7.

The Biden administration announced last week it has temporarily paused ‘additional’ funding to UNRWA in response to the dossier. Germany, Italy, Australia, Finland, Netherlands and Switzerland have also joined the boycott following the accusations, which have already resulted in the termination of multiple staffers.

On Monday, White House national security spokesman John Kirby urged the public not to write off UNRWA’s humanitarian efforts as a whole.

‘But you’ve got 13,000 UNRWA employees,’ Kirby said. ‘You have 13,000 of them in Gaza alone, and as I said last week, let’s not impugn the good work of a whole agency because of the potential bad actions here by a small number.’

UNRWA has faced scrutiny in recent years even before the Hamas attack from critics who say the group has not done enough to prevent aid from reaching the hands of Hamas terrorists. UNRWA locations have reportedly housed Hamas activities and spread Hamas propaganda in schools. 

UN Watch reported earlier this year that UNRWA schools were complicit in teaching children to hate Jewish people and glorify terrorism. UN Watch reported that UNRWA has acknowledged that teachers ‘mistakenly’ produced and distributed inciting material but promised in 2021 that it no longer circulates such material.

UNRWA acknowledged in 2014, and condemned, Hamas missiles that were found at one of its schools in Gaza twice in one week. 

‘UNRWA strongly and unequivocally condemns the group or groups responsible for this flagrant violation of the inviolability of its premises under international law,’ the group said at the time.

The New York Post reported this week that roughly 10% of UNRWA staffers have links to Hamas.

‘The United Nations—and UNRWA especially—is unquestionably the world’s foremost legitimizer of antisemitism, including in its most virulent and violent forms,’ Rep. Smith, the Chair of the House Global Human Rights and International Organizations, told Fox News Digital in a statement.

‘UNRWA—which provides education in hatred of Jews through their textbooks, curricula, summer camps, and official media—has contributed to the perversity we saw performed by Hamas during its October 7 terror attack,’ Smith added. 

‘We need a comprehensive, fact-based approach to UNRWA that stops all funding and conditions future funding on a complete head-to-toe reform and restructuring of UNRWA.’

Smith is set to host a joint subcommittee hearing on Tuesday at 2 p.m. with the goal of ‘examining the mission and failures’ of UNRWA.

‘The monstrous and genocidal atrocities we have seen pouring out of Gaza since October 7 are antisemitic hate crimes—the logical consequence of the unbridled antisemitism fomented and enabled by UNRWA,’ Smith said.

Fox News Digital reached out to UNRWA and the White House for comment but did not receive a response.

The Biden administration will begin implementing new rules laid out in the president’s executive order aimed at regulating artificial intelligence, though some experts are skeptical about how useful the new rules will be.

‘The executive order’s preoccupation with model size and computing power, rather than actual use case, is misguided. This approach risks creating compliance burdens for companies without meaningfully improving accountability or transparency,’ Jake Denton, a research associate at the Heritage Foundation’s Tech Policy Center, told Fox News Digital.

‘The order’s blurred lines and loosely defined reporting requirements will likely yield selective, inconsistent enforcement.’

Denton’s comments come after The Associated Press reported Monday that the Biden administration would start implementing new rules from the order, including a rule that requires developers of AI systems to disclose the results of safety tests to the government. 

The White House AI Council met Monday to discuss progress on the three-month-old executive order, according to the report, coming at the same time the 90-day goal laid out in the order under the Defense Production Act that AI companies begin sharing information with the Commerce Department.

Ben Buchanan, the White House special adviser on AI, told The Associated Press that the government has an interest in knowing if ‘AI systems are safe before they’re released to the public – the president has been very clear that companies need to meet that bar.’

But Denton is skeptical that the order will lead to the advertised results.

‘The order’s blurred lines and loosely defined reporting requirements will likely yield selective, inconsistent enforcement,’ Denton said. ‘Meanwhile, the substantial information asymmetry between regulators and companies will likely render oversight ineffective.’

Christopher Alexander, chief analytics officer of Pioneer Development Group, also expressed skepticism about the new rules, noting government struggles to regulate other tech industries such as cryptocurrencies and expressing fears about censorship.

WHITE HOUSE URGES CONGRESS TO ACT FOLLOWING ‘ALARMING’ AI TAYLOR SWIFT IMAGES 

‘The Biden administration’s problematic regulation of crypto is a perfect example of government dictating to industry rather than working with industry for proper regulations,’ Alexander told Fox News Digital. ‘I am also concerned that the aggressive censorship efforts with social media by the U.S. government in the past few years is very disconcerting, and I think any government oversight efforts must be carefully monitored by Congress for accountability, and it is crucial that they clearly define ‘who will watch the watchers.”

Nevertheless, Alexander argued that it is important to establish standards for the industry, noting that ‘the private sector motivations of AI companies are not always in the best interest of the general public.’

Biden’s executive order seeks to bridge that gap, putting in place a set of common standards for future AI safety.

‘I think the government is setting the tone for the future. There really isn’t a standard yet for testing safety with these models yet. Because of that, this order doesn’t have much teeth – yet,’ Phil Siegel, founder of the Center for Advanced Preparedness and Threat Response Simulation (CAPTRS), told Fox News Digital. 

‘If the administration fails to meet the moment, by creating stifling regulations, America will see its global edge in AI technology wither away.’

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‘But there are some consensus processes emerging. Eventually, there will probably be several prompts generated either randomly or not to test the models. There will be some sophisticated AI models that will be used to converse or test new models. In addition, ‘red teaming’ will become a method that is used where teams of people and technology try to ‘break’ these models.’

Siegel likened the process to the current rules for drug approval, which he argued is now well understood and followed by drug developers.

‘We will eventually have that for testing AI models and honestly should have had that in place for social media applications,’ Siegel said.

Ziven Havens, policy director at the Bull Moose Project, argued that the administration has reached a critical juncture in the regulation of AI, one that will require them to balance safety standards while taking care not to stifle innovation.

‘If the Biden administration aims to be successful with AI regulation, they will use the information provided to them to create reasonable standards, ones that will both protect consumers and the ability of companies to innovate,’ Havens told Fox News Digital. 

‘If the administration fails to meet the moment, by creating stifling regulations, America will see its global edge in AI technology wither away. Waving a white flag on American innovation would be a disaster, both for our economy and national security.’

The White House did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

The Pentagon does not see the Israel-Hamas war as having spread to the wider Middle East despite a new round of attacks by Iran-backed militias that killed three U.S. soldiers and injured dozens more at a military base in Jordan over the weekend.  

Since Oct. 17, a loose coalition of Iran-backed militia groups have perpetrated more than 160 attacks on U.S. targets in Iraq and Syria. The groups say the attacks are in retaliation for U.S. support of Israel in its ongoing offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza. 

The latest attack in Jordan marked a major escalation of violence, as it was the first time U.S. soldiers have been killed, as well as an expansion of reach. 

On Monday, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said it was not the Pentagon’s view that the Israel-Hamas war is spreading beyond Gaza.

‘I wouldn’t say that the conflict is spreading in that we’ve seen … over 100 attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria. And of course, now in Jordan,’ Singh said. ‘We don’t want to see a widening of this conflict. We don’t see this conflict widening as it still remains contained to Gaza.’ 

She conceded that the attack was ‘escalatory’ in that it killed three American service members. 

‘We don’t want to see a … widening of a regional war. But we will respond at a time and place of our choosing,’ Singh said. 

During a stop in South Carolina on Sunday, President Biden said the U.S. ‘shall respond.’ 

‘We had a tough day last night in the Middle East,’ Biden said. ‘We lost three brave souls in an attack on one of our bases.’ 

In a written statement, the president said the U.S. ‘will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner (of) our choosing.’ 

Earlier Monday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. has ‘been very clear in warning that anyone looking to take advantage of the conflict in the Middle East and try to expand it: don’t do it.’ 

‘We’ve taken steps to defend ourselves and to defend our partners as well as prevent escalation,’ Blinken said. ‘The president’s been crystal clear: we will respond decisively to any aggression. And we will hold responsible the people who attacked our troops. We will do so at a time and a place of our choosing.’ 

Per the DOD, there have been 165 attacks in Iraq, Syria, and now Jordan since Oct. 17. Of these, 66 were in Iraq, 98 were in Syria, and one was in Jordan. 

Fallout from the Israel-Hamas war has spread to the Red Sea where Houthi militants based in Yemen have for months been firing on commercial vessels, forcing them to reroute at exorbitant costs. The militants say their actions are in defense of Palestinians under siege in Gaza. 

The ongoing attacks in the Red Sea prompted the U.S. and its allies to strike Houthi targets in Yemen. 

Singh said there was nothing ‘different or new’ about the attack in Jordan compared to previous attacks in Iraq and Syria. 

‘We can’t discount the fact that other attacks, whether it be Iraq or Syria, were not intended to kill our service members,’ she said. 

Singh reiterated that the U.S. was not seeking war with Iran, nor did it wish to widen the conflict. 

‘We have said and will continue to call out the fact that Iran does fund and equip these groups and provide them the capabilities that they use to attack our service members, whether it be Iraq, Syria, or Jordan,’ she said. ‘So, we’re not going to hesitate in calling that out.’ 

The Pentagon said more than 40 people were injured in the weekend attacks on a small desert installation known as Tower 22 in Jordan. At least eight were medically evacuated and the most seriously hurt service member is in critical but stable condition.  

The judge overseeing the federal weapons cases against the president’s son, Hunter Biden, has ordered that search warrants used in two investigations of the embattled first son must be made public.

Delaware District Judge Maryellen Norieka granted a request Friday to unseal four search warrants used in special counsel David Weiss’ investigation of unlawful firearm possession and tax fraud cases against the younger Biden, the New York Post reported.

The warrants are likely to shed light on the feds’ legal basis for seizing Biden’s electronic devices, as well as the evidence used to build the two criminal cases against him, the outlet said. 

The warrants were referenced in court papers earlier this month by Weiss’ office as it argued against Hunter’s bid to throw out the charges – prompting an independent journalist, Marcy Wheeler, to seek their unsealing.

Neither Biden’s defense team nor Weiss’ office objected to the records being unsealed. It is not immediately clear when the documents will be accessible, the Post reported. 

Two warrants date from Aug. 29, 2019, and July 10, 2020, and were obtained by tax authorities and the FBI to look into Hunter Biden’s Apple iCloud account. A third search warrant was obtained on Dec. 13, 2019, to examine the first son’s now-infamous laptop.

The fourth warrant was obtained Dec. 4 last year and used to collect electronic evidence in connection with the gun case – nearly three months after the indictment against the first son was unsealed.

Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty in October to three federal gun charges brought by Weiss. The president’s son has been charged with lying about his drug use in October 2018 on a form to buy a gun that he kept for about 11 days. He could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

Defense attorney Abbe Lowell said in court the defense will file a motion to dismiss the charges, challenging their constitutionality. An appeals court previously found that a federal ban on drug users having guns violates the Second Amendment under recent Supreme Court precedent.

Earlier this summer, Hunter Biden agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax charges and would have also avoided prosecution on the gun charges had he stayed out of trouble for two years. It was the culmination of a years-long investigation by federal prosecutors into the business dealings of the president’s son, and the agreement would have dispensed with criminal proceedings and spared the Bidens weeks of headlines as the election loomed.

But the deal fell apart after a judge raised several questions about the arrangement.

In December, Hunter Biden’s lawyers filed a motion in federal court in Delaware to dismiss the indictment against him over gun charges, saying it ‘violates’ the collapsed plea agreement, and maintain it is ‘still in effect’ between the president’s son and federal prosecutors. 

Earlier this month, federal prosecutors said a brown leather pouch used by Hunter Biden to store a gun had cocaine on it.

Prosecutors had asked a judge to reject Hunter Biden’s efforts to dismiss gun charges because investigators found cocaine residue on the pouch used to hold his gun.

Prosecutors told the judge that ‘the strength of the evidence against him is overwhelming,’ rejecting Hunter Biden’s claims that he was being singled out for political reasons.

Hunter Biden previously made incriminating statements about his drug use in a 2021 memoir, but now investigators are saying the cocaine was found on the gun pouch after it was pulled from a state police vault last year.

A chemist with the FBI determined the residue was cocaine, prosecutors said.

Fox News Digital’s Chris Pandolfo and Greg Whener contributed to this report. 

The Pentagon on Monday identified the names of three U.S. soldiers killed in an Iran-backed militia attack in Jordan over the weekend. 

Those killed were Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Ga.; Spc. Kennedy Landon Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Ga.; and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Ga.

The soldiers were assigned to the 718th Engineer Company, 926th Engineer Battalion, 926th Engineer Brigade, Fort Moore, Ga. 

Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said the ‘fallen’ heroes had been deployed to Jordan in support of Operation Inherent Resolve and the international coalition working to ensure the lasting defeat of ISIS. 

‘These brave Americans and their families are in our prayers, and the entire Department of Defense mourns their loss,’ Singh said. 

‘We are deeply saddened by the loss of our three Army Soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving their country in Jordan. Our prayers are with these loyal and courageous Soldiers’ families, friends, and the entire 718th Engineer Company – we honor their selfless service and dedication to duty,’ USCENTCOM Commander General Michael Erik Kurilla said in a statement. 

The soldiers’ deaths marked a major escalation of violence in the ongoing attacks on U.S. forces in the region. The Biden administration has blamed these attacks on Iran-backed militia groups in Syria and Iraq who have struck American targets in retaliation for the U.S.’ support of Israel in its ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza that began on Oct. 7. 

Per the DOD, there have been 165 attacks in Iraq, Syria, and now Jordan since Oct. 17. Of these, 66 were in Iraq, 98 were in Syria, and one was in Jordan. 

The Pentagon says more than 40 people were injured in the weekend attacks on a small desert installation known as Tower 22 in Jordan. At least eight were medically evacuated and the most seriously hurt service is in critical but stable condition.  

An additional 80 U.S. service members have been injured since Oct. 17. 

White House national security spokesman John Kirby called for a thorough investigation into Israel’s terrorism allegations against UNRWA employees on Monday, but also said the allegations shouldn’t taint the whole organization.

Kirby made the statement during a Monday press conference at the White House. Reporters pressed Kirby about Israel’s claims that at least 13 UNRWA employees in Gaza participated in the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel.

‘Do you have any reason to believe that that might have been more widespread – that there could be that later indicates that it was beyond those 13 people?’ a reporter asked.

‘I haven’t seen any information that affirmatively makes that case, that it’s more than that 13,’ Kirby responded. ‘That’s why an investigation is so dang important here so that you can look at the scope of the problem set.’

‘But you’ve got 13,000 UNRWA employees. You have 13,000 of them in Gaza alone, and as I said last week, let’s not impugn the good work of a whole agency because of the potential bad actions here by a small number,’ he continued.

‘I am not dismissing the seriousness of the allegations against those employees,’ Kirby clarified. ‘And whether there’s gonna be more that will be found, hopefully the investigation will give us more insight.’

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on countries to continue funding UNRWA despite the news. The U.S. and a growing list of other countries have temporarily halted funding for the agency. Israel released evidence showing that at least a dozen of the organization’s employees in Gaza had participated in the massacre of 1,200 Israeli citizens by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023.

‘While I understand their concerns – I was myself horrified by these accusations – I strongly appeal to the governments that have suspended their contributions to, at least, guarantee the continuity of UNRWA’s operations,’ Guterres said in a statement on Sunday.

The Biden administration has not announced a timeline for resuming funding to UNRWA.

There have been at least 160 attacks on U.S. troops in the Middle East since mid-October, following this weekend’s attack on a base in Jordan near the Syrian border that left three American soldiers dead and dozens of others injured, U.S. officials said.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin addressed Sunday’s attack and vowed the U.S. would ‘take all necessary actions’ to keep U.S. troops in the region safe.

‘Let me start with my outrage and sorrow for the deaths of three brave U.S. troops in Jordan and for the other troops who were wounded,’ Austin said.

He added, ‘The president and I will not tolerate attack on U.S. forces. And we will take all necessary actions to defend the U.S. and our troops.’

Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin reported Austin’s return to the Pentagon on Monday. His first time working in-person since his prostate cancer surgery comes after Sunday’s attack, which was the deadliest on U.S. forces since 2021. Griffin reported that Austin is ‘actively engaged’ in talks regarding the U.S. response.

The base that was hit by a drone on Sunday is known as Tower 22. The outpost houses about 350 service members, most of whom were asleep when the drone struck the base, Griffin reported.

The service members stationed there are focused on the defeat-ISIS mission.

Several U.S. service members required serious medical treatment but are in stable condition, defense officials said. They are continuing to be medically evacuated for their injuries.

Austin’s comments Monday echoed those from the White House, which expressed its ‘deepest condolences’ for those who were killed.

‘We are mourning with Americans across the country today who are mourning the deaths of three souls, three service members who lost their lives,’ White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday. ‘As we all know, yesterday was a very dark day.’

‘Today is a very difficult day for Americans,’ she continued. ‘So our deepest condolences go out to the families, the friends and the units. You heard that from the president yesterday. He said … we shall respond. The president has always been very clear as commander-in-chief, one of the things that he focuses on is making sure that we protect our troops.’

‘We send our deepest, deepest condolences and our prayers, to the friends of families of the three service members that we lost yesterday,’ she added.

Sunday’s attack was the deadliest since suicide bombers attacked U.S. forces at the Kabul airport’s Abbey Gate in Afghanistan following the chaotic withdrawal in August 2021.