Iran Conflict, DHS Shutdown Raises Fears Of Threats Inside The US

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I'm Shannon Breem.

I'm Will Kane.

I'm Dana Perino and this is the Fox News rundown.

My name is March 9th, 2026, I'm like a manual.

There are concerns about the possibility of danger here at home with the US and Israel

taking military action against the Iranian regime and growing calls from leading Republicans

for Democrats to get serious about funding the Department of Homeland Security at a critical

time.

We're going to look like a third world country.

We are supposed to America and we're not looking like it right now and it's because

the lack of leadership on the Democratic side.

At least subradi, nearly halfway through tax season, refunds are rising with tax cuts

kicking in.

You know, the reason it has to working families tax cut act is because it's giving it right

back to working families.

And I'm Tommy Laren.

I've got the final word on the Fox News rundown.

The US and Israeli military operation against the Iranian regime is entering its second

week with President Trump as commander in chief seeking a decisive victory.

We're not looking to sell.

They like to sell.

We're not looking to sell.

As Iran is the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world.

There are concerns about Iranian proxies or sleeper cells attacking here in the US.

Hasen Tel Aviv's chairman Rick Crawford says Democrats must vote to fund the Department

of Homeland Security to protect the American people.

We know that that threat is there.

We know it's persistent and what that means here at home is number one.

We have to fund DHS.

We've got to get these Democrats to quit playing politics with Homeland Security because

there are threats out there and they have demonstrated a willingness to exercise on those

threats.

There's also been a shake up at the top of the Department of Homeland Security with President

Trump nominating Oklahoma Center Mark Wayne Mullen to replace outgoing secretary Kristi

Nome, House Democrat leader Hakeem Jeffries criticizing Nome.

Kristi Nome has been fired.

With what we have demanded on behalf of the American people, a change in personnel is

not sufficient.

We need a change in policy.

Nome is being reassigned as special envoy and was introduced in that role during this

weekend's shield of the America summit in Florida.

I do want to thank the president for creating this and for giving me the honor and the opportunity

to serve as a special envoy to this region to the Western hemisphere.

Soon it will be time for the Senate to take up confirmation for one of its own, Mark

Wayne Mullen to lead Homeland Security.

I thank the secretary for her service, House Homeland Security chairman Andrew Garberino.

We spoke with him on Sunday morning.

It's a very large department to run and I'm very excited to be working with Senator Mullen.

I served with Mark Wayne in the house.

We just worked together quite closely on the one big beautiful bill to make sure that

got passed.

And now I think he's going to do a great job over there at Homeland.

He has a lot of great relationships with people on the hill, both sides of the aisle.

He's a very serious legislator and I know he's very close with the president and this

is a great recipe I think here.

So I think we're going to, I think things are going to be very successful moving forward.

You recently wrote that the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security is happening

at a time of heightened threats.

What specific risk does a DHS shutdown create for the country right now?

I mean, with the shutdown, not everybody is at work.

On top of that, you have people who are at work but are not getting paid, which, you

know, that kills morale, that kills, you know, whether people are paying attention or

whether they are, you know, focused 100 percent, you know, or, you know, just like

a amount of a TSA officer, they make $45,000 a year on average.

They're not going to be paid.

They've already, they've already missed a half of a paycheck.

And then for there's, I think CISA, the cyber security information, security agency, two

thirds of its employees are out furloughed right now at a time where we are facing cyber

attacks from Iran, from Russia, from China, daily, millions of attacks a day, people in

these countries are attacking us.

And now two thirds of our cyber security employees are furloughed.

I could go down the list of why we should not be shut down right now, why we are less

safe because we are shut down.

There was some thought that Democrats were kind of holding on to this issue, trying to

know basically embarrass the president going into his state of the union address.

Some people were telling me they thought there would be a bipartisan deal after the

state of the union.

Here we are, it's lingering.

What do you think it'll take to get a deal to reopen the Department of Homeland Security?

The crazy thing is, is that the Democrats are saying, well, you know, we'll fund everything

else.

You know, they're saying, pass our bill to funds, everything else but ICE and CBP granted,

you know, CBP and ICE do have a lot of money from the one big, beautiful bill.

But they're saying, let's just, let's pass this bill instead, which actually goes against

what they're fighting for.

This negotiated bill at the House has already passed twice, has money for body cameras.

It has extra money for the Office of Inspector General DHS to investigate.

It has extra money for training of both ICE and CBP.

So all of these bipartisan wins that were already negotiated to help address the two shootings,

as well as the other issues that have occurred with ICE and CBP, those wouldn't even pass.

So they're actually, the thing they're proposing does less for them in the things that they

want that if they actually pass the bill that is sitting at the center right now.

The White House, Tom Homan, the Department, all seem willing to work.

The problem is, as I said the other day, Chuck Schumer, Kim Jeffries are playing politics.

They keep moving the goalpost.

And by doing this, they're making us less safe.

And I guarantee you something is going to happen and they're going to be the ones that should

shoulder the blame.

Speaking of that, you're a New Yorker, C&O Schumer and Jeffries.

Are they looking over their shoulders at Alexandria, Ocasio Cortez, another New Yorker,

and members of the far left wing of their party?

You know what leadership does?

Leadership should be able to manage all the factions of their parties.

Speaker Mike Johnson does a great job managing and working with the Freedom Caucus, as well

as the moderates, the people that are in the districts that Harris won.

I mean, he does a great job.

I don't understand why Jeffries and Schumer can't do the same.

Why are they only afraid of one side?

That's what leadership does.

Leadership manages the different opinions that you have in your conference.

And what they're showing is they're only listening to one side.

That is a lack of leadership and that lack of leadership is going to make us less safe.

It's probably going to cost us American lives.

So they need to grow up, tell the progressive wing of their party, grow up.

You know, this is serious business.

We got to put on our big boy pants.

And we got to make sure America is protected, and that's through funding the Department of

Homeland Security.

I mean, we are about to hold host the FIFA World Cup in less than 100 days.

And we can't even get these cities the money that we promise them for security.

These cities, as we heard in my committee hearing, are going to have to start canceling events.

We don't look like America.

If we look like we can't host the World Cup, I mean, we're going to look like a third

world country.

We are supposed to be America, and we're now looking like it right now.

And it's because of the lack of leadership on the Democratic side.

So let's dig into that a bit.

You've got the FIFA World Cup coming to cities across North America.

Many of them here in the United States of America.

You've got teams from all over the globe, fans from all over the globe coming here.

And here we are, fewer than 100 days out from the FIFA World Cup, and the Department

of Homeland Security has shut down, cutting critical preparation time, right?

Yeah, critical preparation time.

Work with the local police departments that are controlled.

Not only CBP, Border Patrol does all this work with global entry at the airports to

making sure that they're keeping track of the people that come in, all the processing

of non-citizens that are coming in, people want visas.

Like these are, there's so many different things that the department does, both with information

sharing actual training, like the counter drone, counter UAS training that's supposed to be

going on for the local police right now, preparation of, like I said, with non-citizens

coming in, people coming from all over these countries to watch their teams, you know,

making sure that the bad guys don't get in.

This is making us less safe.

Every day this goes on, it makes us less safe.

Let's talk national security in terms of the conflict trying to remove the regime in

Tehran.

There's been a great escalation in recent days from your perspective, what's the U.S strategic

objective be right now?

So right now is what we've sort of been doing for the last, you know, 20, 30 years is stop

them from attacking us daily, stop them from supporting terrorism, of course, the world,

stop them from specifically targeting United States citizens.

That is happening now.

You know, what happens next?

What happens if the regime falls and who is picked, hopefully, somebody will take over

Iran that can be an ally of us, but as well as the people in that region.

I mean, Iran has tacked all the other, all of its major neighbors in the last two weeks.

They said, missiles, I had constituents who were in Abu Dhabi who were in a hotel hearing

missile fire above them.

This is wild to me.

This just shows that the current regime, just more evidence that the current leaders in

Iran should not be in charge and that whoever takes over, hopefully, we can help an

assistant, whoever that is, brings Iran forward, takes them out of this state-sponsored

terrorism list and they can work together in that region to bring peace in other areas

as well.

I don't need to tell you there's a debate about whether U.S. boots on the ground will

be needed.

The commander in chief hasn't ruled it out and that's understandable because he doesn't

want to tie his own hands or the hands of his commanders.

But do you see a need for American boots on the ground?

Right now I have not been shown the evidence or the intelligence or the plans of what

the commanders have next and I wouldn't expect to see that yet.

I do believe that the president and his team understand that we would probably need congressional

authority if boots on the ground were required and if there's a need for further escalation

in the region, I believe we will get another briefing so all members of Congress can make

that educated decision.

We've seen how relatively inexpensive drones are being used in the conflict by the Iranian

side.

Are we prepared to deal with the threat of drones here domestically?

Well, just this year we do have a lot of great technology to counter these drones.

We just passed some legislation this year to help us train local police so they could

protect football games that can protect the FIFA World Cup.

The first class of those officers are down in Huntsville right now being trained.

That's for the New York City, Kansas City, Boston, all those areas that are hosting those

the World Cup games.

But again, this shutdown is affecting that.

The shutdown is affecting the half a billion dollars that we put into counter drone technology

because the money can't get out the door.

So we should be prepared for it but because of this shutdown, we can't get the money at

the door.

Half the people aren't at work and therefore no, we are not prepared.

Congressman I know an NYPD police officer died while deployed to Kuwait and supportive

operation Epic Fury as a New York congressman that hits close to home.

What's your reaction, sir?

I'm just I'm so sorry for the loss to his family.

These, you know, as the NYPD officer, he puts his life on the line every day to protect

the New Yorkers.

They have a very difficult job, especially with some of the things that the mayor and

the governor are doing in the city.

But I feel so sorry for his family for their loss.

Again, he did this as an NYPD officer.

Now he finally paid the ultimate sacrifice as the as a soldier and all the soldiers that

have lost their life in this in this conflict.

I just I pray for them and I pray for their families.

It's something we never want to happen and it's just something that I've never had to

experience.

And I don't know how they can do it, but anyway, we can help.

We have to help them because it's just it's the ultimate sacrifice and then we have another

person to honor this memorial day.

Chairman Andrew Garberino of the Great State of New York.

Grateful for your time, sir.

Have a wonderful week.

You too.

Thank you.

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This is Tommy Laren with your Fox News Commentary, coming up.

What had been a campaign rally cry?

We will pass massive tax cuts for workers, and that includes no tax on tips.

Is now in effect, passed as part of what Republicans call working families tax cuts, which Democrats

still argue benefit the wrong people.

Republicans own data now show that the gains for average Americans are much smaller than

promised, and are skewed once again to the wealthy.

Massachusetts Congressman Richard Neal, during a House hearing with the IRS CEO who disputes

that and says more than four in 10 of the tax returns filed so far, 43% have claimed

at least one of the new Trump tax benefits, which include deductions for tips, interest

on loans for U.S. made cars, and for seniors.

The tax break on overtime, a deduction capped at more than $12,000 for individuals is the

one used the most so far.

Rick Bizignano is the first CEO of the IRS, also serving as Commissioner of the Social

Security Administration.

I think at 43% that should be a large indicator of more people having a greater tax benefit

than the year before.

There was a whole bunch of things put in that also allowed permanency from everything

from small business pass through to child tax-free credit and double standard deduction.

So what you have going on is permanency on things that weren't permanence.

You have the benefit of the Working Family Tax Fed Act, and then you have going into this

year that people are going to have lower deductions.

So they're getting more money in their pocket now, calling an average of $3,800 that's

a fundamentally 10% plus or minus from what we were, and the fact that people have more

money from their paychecks.

So I think it's been powerful.

I think we're 40% through, so it's no longer a good start.

We're almost halfway through the season.

The stats have always argued that the president's tax cuts benefit the wealthy more than others.

What do the numbers show?

Well, I think, you know, if you think about all these things, have caps at some level,

and you say 43% of the people filing or getting it, that would be one set of stats.

And other set of stats, we wait until the other dates is the largest benefits are going

to under 100Ks, and if you look at the totality of what's going to happen, you know, hiring

come people are going to pay a larger percentage this year's tax bill than those 100K and under.

So it's just numbers, it's fact-based.

Right.

And when you say 100K, you mean, you mean filers earning under 100,000?

Yes.

Yes, ma'am.

The IRS has shed thousands of workers in the second Trump term so far, though.

And I'm wondering, is that having any impact on tax season or on the ability to go after fraud,

which is a prominent theme for the administration right now?

We've always talked about fraud, waste, and abuse, and the way I like to think about it is,

the reduction in hate count was all voluntary retirements.

And so we never had a piece of paper that had told us 100,000 people or the right number

of people to run the IRS.

So we've evaluated it, we've reallocated staff.

But when you think about tax season, you know, what we're seeing is single-digit wait times

on the phones.

The power-fighting is what we've done through technology and the tech crowd has really delivered

superbly well.

We're having 40 million more online user inquiries than we did the year before.

And we're having last phone calls.

And that is the way, you know, we always say we want to meet clients where they want

to be met.

We have tax payer assistance centers.

We have a digital presence that you hear how well it's being used.

And then we have technology on the phones and we have thousands of people prepared to

answer the phones.

But all that got done.

And I think if you look at across the board and one of the places to look at is possible

in criminal investigation units, we had more collections last year, I think collections

are strong.

You know, we made this about technology.

These are really financial services orgs that are driven by investment in technologies.

I call it a transformation to a digital first agency that allows us to have a platform

to be able to scale up and actually create a better set of tools for our workforce.

Awesome.

The modernization I know is something that you're kind of put in place to focus on being

the first CEO of the IRS, which is separate from the commissioners role, right?

It's not easy being the first at anything.

You know, I have to talk more about transformation and modernization.

The programs under transformation will be newer technology and different uses of technology.

And you know, I'll really use AI to make us that much more and to me, AI is just the

technology.

I have the honor to be commissioners of social security and the similarities of service

in the American public and financial services, so a lot of what I learned in coming into that

job and we made tremendous progress on that as a digital first agency with over a hundred

million digital clients.

But the real point thing is, you know, making it easier for the American people to be able

to interact with us and that's true at both SSA and IRS.

Well, social security solvency is of course something that a lot of Americans are always

concerned about.

What would you say to reassure people about that at this point?

Well, I think multiple things.

I'd say first, not foremost, the president had it continues to make it very clear that

our job is to protect and preserve it.

And he said it in the state of the union and he said it and we went by that man trying

the first thing we could do to protect and preserve is for, you know, a root out fraud

waste and abuse because those are all those are all in the trust fund, those dollars,

you know, we come out of it.

So I think we're maniacal about that.

We've seen billions and billions.

I also say the second thing is building a better way to operate so the American public

could have more confidence.

And that's what we see right now.

We see it as a result across the board that they're feeling our investments in making

a digital versus good.

And then ultimately, you know, this will be a congressional decision, but the residents

within 100% committed to protect and preserve and we're 100% committed to continue doing

and stopping fraud waste and abuse and all that comes together and a really good outcome

for Americans.

I know you've also been kind of leading the charge to make people more aware of how to

avoid scams.

What are some of the ways that they can do that?

If you think about the government, we're never going to call up at IRS or Social Security

someone and say, you have to send us money now or some form of service is going to be

critized.

And the way the scammer's operate is they want to panic you.

You're not going to get a phone call, you're not going to get a letter that says immediately

send us money, we're not going to threaten you ever of taking your Social Security number

away or your inability to use it.

And the first thing people have to do is hang up and report it, right?

And the inspector general and ourselves are quite committed to this.

We know the scamsters are out there.

We know they go after vulnerable populations.

We know they like to scare people and doing something immediately.

It will never be what occurs here.

And if you look at IRS, we built a refund, an online ability to come in and understand

where your refund is and when you're going to get it.

The ability for people to see where the refund is going.

The zero paper initiative was really another fraud buster.

We don't want to be sending checks to people because they get stolen from mailboxes.

And of course, we're never going to stop somebody who can only accept a check, but continuing

to drive the digital transformation is another opportunity for people, not to have people

in their mailboxes.

I just wanted to give you a chance to touch on one other concern that was raised in a

house hearing.

You got some questions about past disclosures of taxpayer data, to immigration and customs

enforcement.

I know it's a subject of ongoing litigation and it's before your time at the agency.

But what do you say to people concerned about privacy issues?

I like to say I've been blessed in the opportunities I've been given and I've had the opportunities

to oversee the largest financial institutions and then also oversee technology companies

that serve the largest financial institutions.

And personal information has always been the number one priority.

Knowing that it is secure is ensuring that it does not have access to it.

And you know, we run a large risk governance process around cyber and around data security

and it's a top priority.

In both organizations, I elevated the job of risk management to report directly to myself

and also brought in to report directly to myself the security and resiliency officer

for these purposes.

We cannot be vigilant enough and we must root out all bad actors.

IRS CEO and SSA Commissioner Frank Bizignano, thank you very much for your time.

Thanks for having me.

I'm grateful.

Here's a look at the week ahead.

Monday, the fighting Irish bid goodbye to a legend.

Lou Holtz, the college football hall of fame coach who led Notre Dame to a national championship,

will be laid to rest.

Tuesday, residents of Georgia's 14th Congressional District will be heading to the polls in a special

election to replace the seat left fake it by Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Also, Fox News Sunday anchor and New York Times bestselling author Shannon Breene releases

her new faith-based book, nothing is impossible with God, 11 heroes, one God endless lessons

in overcoming from Fox News books.

Thursday, the entertainment industry descends on Austin, Texas for South by Southwest.

This year's highlights include a conversation with Steven Spielberg about his upcoming

film and musicians John Fogerty and Tom Morello in a joint conversation about their creative

inspirations.

Friday, law enforcement across Nevada will be beginning a days-long crackdown on speeding.

It runs through March 29th, and that's a look at your week ahead.

I'm Anna Eliopoulos, Fox News

from the Fox News Podcasts Network, subscribe and listen to the Tray Gowdy Podcast, former

federal prosecutor and four-term U.S. congressman from South Carolina brings you a one-of-a-kind

podcast, subscribe and listen now by going to FoxNewsPodcasts.com.

Trayden review the Fox News rundown on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen.

It's time for your Fox News commentary.

Tommy Laren, what's on your mind?

While I'm happy for the Iranian people who have suffered at the hands of this brutal

regime, and while I'm hopeful that they too will one day live in a country blessed with

freedom and self-determination, my consideration first and mostly is for the American people

our interests are blood and our treasure.

And I'm not going to lie, being on the same side as Lindsey Graham and Nikki Haley

doesn't exactly, you know, thrill me.

And I like many of you.

I'm not interested in rebuilding Iran for the sake of Iran, but the thing that restrains

my concerns and skepticism here is the firmly held belief that President Trump,

Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary Marco Rubio feel that same way that whatever they've

got planned for Iran and what's next will be in the interest of the American people first

and perhaps even only.

And if there is one president I trust for this moment, it is Donald J. Trump because he

was built and perhaps even spared for a moment in a time such as this.

I'm Tommy Laren and you can watch my show Tommy Laren is fearless at outkick.com.

And for up to the minute news, go to FoxNews.com.

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