The Senate confirmed billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman on Wednesday 67-30 to serve as NASA administrator, months after President Donald Trump withdrew the same nomination during his public feud with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. The confirmation places Isaacman, an investor in SpaceX and leader of two private spaceflight missions, at the helm of the nation’s space agency. Reuters reported that Isaacman becomes NASA’s 15th administrator and is known as an advocate of Mars missions. Trump had previously pulled Isaacman’s nomination in May, citing what he described at the time as "a thorough review of prior associations." Fox News Digital reported at the time that the decision came amid escalating tensions between Trump and Musk, who had recently departed his role leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and publicly criticized Trump’s "One Big, Beautiful Bill." TRUMP TEASES MUSK AT FORUM AS ONCE-FROSTY DYNAMIC SEEMS TO TAKE A TURN Isaacman later suggested the timing of the withdrawal was no coincidence. Speaking on the "All-In Podcast," he said, "I don’t need to play dumb on this. I don’t think that the timing was much of a coincidence," adding that "there were some people that had some axes to grind, I guess, and I was a good, visible target," Fox News Digital previously reported. The nomination was revisited in the fall as relations between Trump and Musk appeared to thaw. In October, NASA officials confirmed Isaacman was again under consideration after meetings with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who was tasked with vetting candidates for the permanent NASA role at Trump’s direction. Trump formally renominated Isaacman in November, praising him in a social media post. "Jared’s passion for Space, and his commitment to American Leadership in Space, make him ideally suited to lead NASA into a bold new Era," Trump wrote. DOGE VS DC: INSIDE TRUMP AND MUSK'S AMBITIOUS SWAMP-DRAINING DREAM THAT ENDED IN A BITTER FEUD Fox News Digital has extensively reported on the broader Trump-Musk feud that surrounded the nomination’s earlier withdrawal. In May and June, the two men publicly exchanged harsh words over Trump’s "One Big, Beautiful Bill." Musk accused Trump of pushing a "disgusting abomination," while Trump said Musk had gone "CRAZY" and was "wearing thin." Signs of reconciliation followed when Trump and Musk shook hands and spoke briefly at Charlie Kirk's memorial, with Trump later saying, "We had a little conversation. We had a very good relationship, but it was nice that he came over." Musk also attended a White House dinner hosted by Trump and appeared at other administration events. Trump later teased Musk publicly, telling an audience, "You’re so lucky I’m with you, Elon. I’ll tell you. Has he ever thanked me properly?" Musk responded on X by saying, "I would like to thank President Trump for all he has done for America and the world." Axios reported Tuesday that Musk has begun financially backing Republican House and Senate candidates ahead of the 2026 midterms, showing warming relations after what the outlet described as a "messy breakup" earlier this year. Politico similarly reported that Musk has said his relationship with Trump "went up in flames" in June, but has since been rebuilt. Isaacman’s confirmation brings that arc to a close, cementing his leadership role at NASA. Isaacman previously commanded Inspiration4, the first all-civilian mission to orbit Earth, and later led the Polaris Dawn mission, both in partnership with SpaceX. The White House, and representatives for Musk and Isaacman did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's requests for comment. View the full article

The Senate confirmed Jared Isaacman's appointment as the head of NASA on Wednesday, a decision that comes just months after President Donald Trump pulled his nomination before picking him yet again in November, as reported earlier by CNBC. Isaacman, the founder and CEO of a payments platform called Shift4, has flown to space twice through private missions with Elon Musk's SpaceX. After choosing Isaacman as head of NASA in December 2024, Trump pulled his nomination in May, later saying in a Truth Social post that he thought it would be "inappropriate that a very close friend of Elon, who was in the Space Business, run NASA." Isaacman attemp … Read the full story at The Verge. View the full article

House Republicans passed a bill they say will lower healthcare costs for a broad swath of Americans by roughly 11%. It's a victory for Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who has been managing deep divisions within the House GOP on the topic of healthcare as insurance premiums are set to spike across the country in a matter of weeks. One glaring issue that remains unresolved is Obamacare subsidies, which were enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic but are set to expire at the end of this year. The legislation passed 216 to 211. Just one Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., voted against it along with all House Democrats. THE SPEAKER'S LOBBY: WHAT CONGRESS' DECEMBER SCRIPT MEANS FOR HEALTHCARE NEXT YEAR The bill's passage comes hours after a group of moderate Republicans joined a Democrat-led discharge petition to force a vote on extending the subsidies for another three years. A discharge petition is a mechanism for overriding the will of House leaders to get a chamberwide vote on specific legislation, provided it has support from a majority of lawmakers. It sets up the legislation for a vote sometime in the new year. Each of the four House Republicans made clear that backing Democrats' bill was not their first choice, but they felt they were left with few options after Johnson made clear this week that there would not be a separate vote on extending the subsidies before the end of this year. But the majority of House Republicans are against extending the subsidies, at least without significant reforms. Conservatives have argued the subsidies amount to throwing more money at a long-broken system that does little to tackle the actual cost of healthcare. "Obamacare has been an unmitigated disaster for 15 years, crushing families with high premiums and rampant fraud while enriching insurance companies. It's time for conservatives to get serious about advancing policies that can become law and therefore actually reduce costs," Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, who called the House bill a "solid first step," told Fox News Digital. MODERATE REPUBLICAN ERUPTS ON HOUSE GOP LEADERS, SAYS NOT HOLDING OBAMACARE VOTE IS 'ABSOLUTE BULLS---' Republicans who are for extending them have also conceded that reforms are needed, but have positioned a short-term extension as the best course of action to buy more time to work on an off-ramp. The House GOP bill, the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act, includes provisions to codify association health plans, which allow small businesses and people who are self-employed to band together to purchase healthcare coverage plans, giving them access to greater bargaining power. Republicans also plan to appropriate funding for cost-sharing reductions beginning in 2027, which are designed to lower out-of-pocket medical costs in the individual healthcare market. House GOP leadership aides said it would bring down the cost of premiums by 12%. SENATE MULLS NEXT STEPS AFTER DUELING OBAMACARE FIXES GO UP IN FLAMES New transparency requirements for pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are also in the legislation, aimed at forcing PBMs to be more upfront about costs to employers. PBMs are third parties that act as intermediaries between pharmaceutical companies and those responsible for insurance coverage, often responsible for administrative tasks and negotiating drug prices. PBMs have also been the subject of bipartisan ire in Congress, with both Republicans and Democrats accusing them of being part of a broken system to inflate health costs. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that enacting the bill would reduce the federal deficit by $35.6 billion for a 10-year period through 2035. If the bill became law, it would also decrease the number of people with health insurance by an average of 100,000 per year between 2027-2035 and lower gross benchmark premium costs by an average 11% through 2035, CBO said. However, it's not immediately clear whether it will be taken up by the Senate. Republicans in the upper chamber failed to advance their own healthcare plan last week after also rejecting Democrats' plan to extend the Obamacare subsidies. View the full article

Meta has paused its third-party Horizon OS headset program, effectively canceling planned VR headsets from Asus and Lenovo as it refocuses on "building the world-class first-party hardware and software needed to advance the VR market." Road to VR reports: A little over a year and a half ago, Meta made an "industry-altering announcement," as I called the move in my reporting: the company was rebranding the Quest operating system to 'Horizon OS' and announced it was working with select partners to launch third-party VR headsets powered by the operating system. Meta specifically named Asus and Lenovo as the first partners it was working with to build new Horizon OS headsets. Asus was said to be building an "all-new performance gaming headset," while Lenovo was purportedly working on "mixed reality devices for productivity, learning, and entertainment." But as we've now learned, neither headset is likely to see the light of day. Meta say it has frozen the third-party Horizon OS headset program. "We have paused the program to focus on building the world-class first-party hardware and software needed to advance the VR market," a Meta spokesperson told Road to VR. "We're committed to this for the long term and will revisit opportunities for 3rd-party device partnerships as the category evolves." Read more of this story at Slashdot. View the full article

The Arizona Cardinals find themselves in another season without the playoffs, and while it was due to close games not going their way, it’s been a slog ever since. Head coach Jonathan Gannon’s team has been declining on defense, as they’ve allowed 40 or more points in four of their last six games, all of which have been losses. One of the main culprits defensively is the Cardinals’ lack of tackling prowess, ranking the lowest of any team in the NFL in that category, per Pro Football Focus. CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM But Gannon believes that NFL rules have a part to play in his team’s struggles in that field. "How the rules are set up, it’s hard to get better as a tackler being in the NFL, I’ll say that" Gannon said, per ESPN. With many missed tackles on tape in the 40-20 loss to the Houston Texans this past week, marking 11 losses in their last 12 games, Gannon told reporters tackling was a topic of conversation among his staff this week. JASON KELCE MAKES DESPERATE PLEA FOR NFL TEAMS TO DROP HALFTIME DOG ACT He added that the Cardinals have tackling drills at practice, but believes there is "no drill you can do that can mimic a game." ESPN Research found that the Cardinals have allowed 40 rushes of at least five yards after first contact, which ranks third-most in the league. The league, however, does limit padded practices to just 14 during the regular season, with 11 of them needing to be in the first 11 weeks of the season. This is per the league’s 2020 collective bargaining agreement. With players needing to hone their skills in the tackling department, and having little opportunity to do so, Gannon sees the lack of developmental opportunities with his squad. "The rules are the rules," Gannon replied when asked if he would like to see these rules changed. Gannon even said it’s like telling PGA Tour star Scottie Scheffler that he can’t practice his wedges. "It’s set up how it’s set up, that’s fine," Gannon explained. "But to get better at a skill, you have to practice the skill. You practice skill, you can scale it, you can scale the tempo, you can scale how you do it, but to practice a skill, you need to practice the skill. "So it’s a conundrum I think all defensive guys face and there’s risk-reward to trying to practice it with it however you set things up." Of course, every team is in the same position as the Cardinals with the league-wide rules. "A lot of people think you can’t practice it, you better just acquire people that can tackle because you ain’t going to help them at all," Gannon added. "That’s a thought process, too. To each their own. But it’s a challenge." With a 3-11 record and no playoffs in site, the Cardinals are evaluating everyone on their roster in these remaining three games, where Gannon and the rest of the staff hope tackling, and all phases, improve to snap their losing streak. It starts with the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, who possess one of the most explosive running backs in the league, Bijan Robinson. Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter. View the full article