The Interior Department announced Tuesday it is testing autonomous lawnmowers on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in an effort by the Trump administration to use artificial intelligence to ‘boost operational efficiency.’

In an order obtained by Fox News Digital, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said AI will ‘drive smarter decision-making, boost operational efficiency, and better deliver on our core mission of advancing American energy dominance, protecting our natural resources, partnering with Tribal Nations, and enhancing internal services.’ 

The Interior Department is working with a private company, the name of which was not shared, to develop its AI technologies for use by the agency. 

Video shared with Fox News Digital shows a demonstration of the AI-controlled lawnmowers on the National Mall, each carrying an American flag. Visitors scanned a QR code on the technology to view a map tracking their progress.

In the video, Jeff Gowen, division manager of the National Park Service’s Technical Services Division, said the new machines will ‘allow us to get more work done with the same amount of people.’

Gowen added that six AI-controlled lawnmowers are being tested at six national parks with a grant provided by the National Park Foundation. 

‘Wild time to be alive,’ he said.

In his order, Burgum said AI will strengthen relationships with state and tribal lands while pushing federal agencies to adopt AI faster and more responsibly.

‘To fully unlock the potential of AI, we must scale intelligently, govern responsibly, and enable our workforce to lead with confidence and clarity,’ he said. ‘As AI becomes more accessible to the DOI workforce, it offers real opportunities to modernize how we serve, strengthening coordination with stakeholders, including State and Tribal partners, across the Nation’s lands.’

In addition to the lawnmowers, Burgum said the Interior Department is already using AI for wildfire response and environmental reviews.

‘AI is reshaping how industries operate and government must not be left behind, and must adapt to private sector standards,’ he said in the order.

‘AI offers a strategic advantage across all facets of the Department’s mission, enabling an advanced workforce with well-trained employees to strengthen domestic resource development and operational efficiency, allowing for the best management of public lands,’ he added. ‘AI adoption shall be pursued in ways that strengthen Interior’s ability to serve the American people through safe, responsible, and outcome-oriented innovation.’

The lawnmowers come after the Trump administration released its ‘America’s AI Action Plan’ in July, a plan aimed at securing U.S. dominance in AI. The plan highlights AI’s role in economic competitiveness and national security.

‘Winning the AI race will usher in a new golden age of human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security for the American people,’ the White House said.

Senate Democrats again blocked Republicans’ short-term funding extension Tuesday afternoon, further increasing the odds of a partial government shutdown and thousands of federal workers going without paychecks.

Democratic lawmakers in the upper chamber, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., banded together to vote against the GOP’s continuing resolution (CR), a move that marked the second time Democrats impeded the legislation’s progress this month.

Congress has until midnight Wednesday to pass a CR or else the government will shut down. However, the possibility of that happening became increasingly unlikely throughout the day as Republicans and Democrats huddled behind closed doors in separate meetings hours before the vote. 

The bill, which was passed by the House GOP earlier this month, failed on a largely party-line vote, 55-45. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was the lone Republican to vote against the bill, while Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Angus King, I-Maine, crossed the aisle to vote for the funding extension.

Democrats also tried to advance their own counter-proposal, but that bill was similarly blocked by Senate Republicans.

There is still time to avert a partial shutdown, but the window is closing fast. If Schumer and Thune are unable to find a path forward, it would mark the third shutdown under President Donald Trump.

When asked if he believed a shutdown was inevitable, Trump said, ‘Nothing is inevitable.’ 

‘But I would say it’s probably likely, because they want to give healthcare to illegal immigrants, which will destroy healthcare for everybody else in our country,’ he told reporters in the Oval Office. ‘And I didn’t see them bend even a little bit when I said we can’t do that.’ 

Shortly after the vote, however, the Office of Management and Budget released a memo that the appropriations for Fiscal Year 2025 would run out at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, making a shutdown official. 

‘It is unclear how long Democrats will maintain their untenable posture, making the duration of the shutdown difficult to predict,’ the memo read. 

Republicans want to pass a ‘clean’ short-term extension until Nov. 21 that would give appropriators time to finish spending bills, while Democrats want to extend expiring Obamacare premium subsidies, among multiple other demands.

But the chances of a deal materializing, particularly one that meets Democrats’ demands, are slim. Both Senate leaders traded barbs throughout the day, first on the Senate floor and then in back-to-back press conferences. 

Thune panned Democrats’ push for an extension to the expiring tax credits, which aren’t set to sunset until the end of this year, as well as their other demands to repeal the healthcare portion of Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ and clawback canceled funding for NPR and PBS. 

Republicans argue that reversing the cuts from Trump’s megabill and undoing the public broadcasting rescission would amount to $1.5 trillion in spending tacked onto their short-term funding extension. 

‘These are things that they’re demanding as part of their so-called negotiation,’ Thune said. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, there isn’t anything here to negotiate.’

Schumer, however, countered that the decision to shut the government down was ‘in their court’ and charged that Democrats were working to solve the GOP’s ‘healthcare crisis.’

Still, despite scoring a meeting in the Oval Office with Trump and congressional Republican leaders, in addition to public guarantees from Thune and Republicans that Obamacare tax credits could be discussed after a shutdown was averted, Schumer demanded that Democrats be cut in on negotiations to craft a bipartisan bill. 

Earlier in the day, the top Senate Democrat commandeered a floor chart from Thune that showed how many times Democrats supported CRs under former President Joe Biden. He said that each time, Republicans were involved in the process. 

‘As leader, I sat down with the Republicans every one of those years and created a bipartisan bill. Their bill is partisan. They call it clean. We call it partisan. It has no Democratic input,’ Schumer said. ‘Thune never talked to me.’ 

President Donald Trump shared photos on Truth Social on Tuesday showing red ‘Trump 2028’ hats strategically displayed on the Resolute Desk during an Oval Office meeting with Democrat leaders Monday in hopes of fending off a government shutdown.

Trump’s post came late Tuesday, hours before Washington grappled with its first shutdown since 2018-19. 

‘The Trump administration wants a straightforward and clean CR [continuing resolution] to continue funding the government – the exact same proposal that Democrats supported just 6 months ago, 13 times under the Biden Administration,’ White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital. 

‘But radical Democrats are shutting the government down because they want a nearly $1.5 trillion wish list of demands, including free health care for illegal aliens. The Democrat’s radical agenda was rejected by the American people less than a year ago at the ballot box, now they’re shutting down the government and hold the American people hostage over it.’

Vice President JD Vance warned, ‘I think we’re headed to a shutdown’ after Monday’s meeting. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said at the time the sides ‘have very large differences.’ 

Late Tuesday, the Senate failed a last-ditch vote on extending funding and barreled toward a shutdown as the clock struck midnight on Oct. 1.

Trump posted the photos late Tuesday, a few hours before the shutdown was slated to begin. 

His campaign has sold ‘Trump 2028’ hats since earlier this year.

Democrat leaders downplayed the stunt. 

Schumer said Trump ‘can avoid a shutdown if he chooses to,’ while House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., added, ‘we will not back down’ in defending healthcare and spending priorities.’

Trump presided over a 35-day government shutdown in 2018–19, the longest in American history, during his first term in office.

House Republicans’ campaign arm is going after Democrats hours after the federal government entered a shutdown at midnight on Wednesday.

A new National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) ad being rolled out in 42 battleground districts is aimed at putting pressure on Democratic lawmakers to accept the GOP’s plan and end the shutdown.

‘Democrats refused to fund the government. So now military troops, police and Border Patrol lose their paychecks. Because of Democrats, veterans, farmers, small businesses lose critical funding. Disaster relief — cut off,’ a voiceover states.

‘Democrats are grinding America to a halt in order to give illegal immigrants free healthcare. Tell Democrats: Stop the shutdown.’

The ad buy came at a four-figure price tag, according to an NRCC spokesperson.

It’s being rolled out in 25 districts represented by Democrats and 17 held by Republicans.

The federal government shut down overnight after Democrats and Republicans in the Senate failed to reach a spending agreement in time for the end of fiscal year (FY) 2025 on Sept. 30.

A short-term extension of FY 2025 funding, aimed at giving Congress more time to reach a longer-term deal, failed to advance in the Senate on Tuesday evening.

The measure, aimed at keeping the government open through Nov. 21, passed the House mainly along party lines earlier this month.

Democrats were angered at being sidelined in the spending negotiations, and by the GOP bill’s exclusion of enhanced COVID-19-era Obamacare subsidies. Those subsidies, passed in 2021 under President Joe Biden, are set to expire by the end of 2025 without congressional action.

Republicans have signaled that they will not budge from their measure, citing Democrats’ past support for similar bills aimed at averting shutdowns.

‘Out of touch Democrats shut down the government to bankroll handouts for illegal immigrants and appease their radical base. Voters won’t forget who betrayed them, and the NRCC will make sure Democrats pay the price,’ NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella told Fox News Digital.

President Donald Trump and his administration have wide discretion over what changes occur during a shutdown.

However, it’s likely that thousands of government employees get furloughed, while others are made to work without paychecks until funding is reinstituted. A host of federal agencies and services could also be shuttered.

Some federal workers could lose their jobs permanently as well, with Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought issuing guidance earlier this month warning offices to consider plans for mass layoffs in the event of a shutdown.

A judicial consensus is forming against climate lawfare, but the U.S. Supreme Court must still end environmental extortion of American energy. In two landmark cases, the court will soon have the opportunity to reassert the federal government’s authority over questions of national energy and environmental policy. 

Environmental groups believe that energy use increases global temperatures, causes sea levels to rise and creates more destructive weather. Their campaign to curtail energy has taken many forms — including asking the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to block pipelines and the Interior Department to deny oil and gas leases — but it met a roadblock with the 2024 election and the Trump administration’s subsequent blizzard of executive orders lifting overregulation.  

Rather than pursue their interests in Congress or before the electorate, environmental extremists have now allied with bankrupt cities and trial lawyers to use the courts to shake down the energy industry. Blue cities and states have filed tort suits in state courts to extract money for allegedly causing weather-related costs in their jurisdictions. 

The Supreme Court will soon decide whether to take up one of those cases, Boulder County v. Suncor Energy, following a ruling this year from the Colorado Supreme Court that allowed the county’s case to move forward in state court. Borrowing theories of liability from tobacco and opioid litigation, Boulder alleges that energy companies sold their products without disclosing climate risks. Such claims plainly intrude on federal authority over interstate pollution. 

Other climate cases are still progressing in lower state courts. In Hawaii, summary judgment motions are pending in a case seeking damages for rising sea levels. Hawaii’s highest court allowed this litigation to move forward in 2023 with Justice Todd Eddins issuing a remarkable concurrence, declaring that litigation would proceed under the ‘Aloha Spirit,’ regardless of federal precedent.  

In Rhode Island, the state judge presiding over a similar lawsuit against the energy industry compared it to developing nations devastated by natural disasters, citing Kenya, Tanzania and the Seychelles. The suggestion that Rhode Island has suffered comparable ‘severe destruction’ is telling: judges are inflating rhetoric to justify climate claims, not grounding them in law.  

Meanwhile, other states are effectively trying to replace federal authority over environmental policy. In Louisiana, plaintiffs obtained a $750 million judgment (potentially over $1 billion with interest) against Chevron for coastal erosion that they claimed was caused by oil extraction during World War II. Those companies had been under federal contracts to supply aviation fuel for the war effort. Yet eight decades later, Louisiana claims it can punish those practices retroactively. 

The energy firms sought to move the case to federal court because of its genesis in work for the federal government. But a divided 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel refused to allow it. As Judge Andrew Oldham rightly noted in dissent, crude oil extraction plainly ‘relates to’ war production. If states can sue private businesses for their wartime work generations later, future cooperation with the federal government will be chilled, raising the costs of national defense. This coming term, the Supreme Court will review the Fifth Circuit’s decision. 

Despite some disappointing rulings from activist judges, a growing number of state courts are beginning to resist such frivolous claims. A Maryland judge rejected Baltimore’s lawsuit that alleged fossil fuels caused sea rises that have harmed the city; the Maryland Supreme Court will hear the appeal later in October. A South Carolina court dismissed Charleston’s similar claims, which blue city officials will almost certainly appeal as well. Likewise, nearly identical state and municipal lawsuits have been similarly dismissed in Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware and New Jersey. 

Notwithstanding some recent wins, climate lawfare is like Hydra — new cases are constantly being brought. Even if higher courts ultimately overturn them, simply forcing the industry to defend against these suits imposes enormous litigation costs. That alone is a victory for environmental radicals. At this stage, the Supreme Court must act to reaffirm federal authority over national energy and environmental policy.  

If climate change is producing harmful effects nationwide, then the nation should decide how to address it. As the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in a 2021 case rejecting New York City’s lawsuit against Chevron, ‘the question before us is whether a nuisance suit seeking to recover damages for the harms caused by global greenhouse gas emissions may proceed under New York law. Our answer is simple: no.’ However, they frame their aims, blue cities and states are trying to set nationwide climate policy through litigation — violating federal law and tort principles. 

As the country decides how to respond to climate change, those choices — including the possibility of not acting — must have nationwide legitimacy. Courts cannot allow a handful of blue jurisdictions, aided by trial lawyers and environmental activists, to dictate those decisions for the rest of America.