Here’s the Latest:
OMB chief applauds rescissions package, says another will come ‘soon’
Russ Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, says the imminent passage of a new package of spending cuts shows “enthusiasm” for getting the nation’s fiscal situation under control.
“We’re happy to go to great lengths to get this thing done,” Vought said during a Thursday breakfast with reporters hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.
In response to questions about the relatively small size of the cuts — $9 billion — Vought said it’s because “I knew it would be hard” to pass in Congress, and that more are coming.
Another rescissions package is “likely to come soon,” Vought said. “But we’re not there yet.”
House tees up vote to claw back foreign aid, public broadcasting funds
The House is expected to take up Trump’s request to claw back about $9 billion for foreign aid and public broadcasting on Thursday evening.
“We can’t be spending taxpayer funds overseas, engaging in all sorts of nefarious activities. That’s what this rescissions package is about, to stop that,” Speaker Mike Johnson said. “We need to get back to fiscal sanity and this is an important step.”
The Senate approved the package in the early morning hours Thursday. If the House does the same, the bill would go to Trump’s desk for his signature. Supporters of the foreign aid spending say it’s miniscule for the amount of good it does in saving lives and enhancing the standing of the United States around the world.
Fired State Department employees say Americans aren’t being told the truth
They spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals as they remain on the payroll until September.
“The American people aren’t getting all of the facts about what the department has done,” said one officer working in intelligence. This person said their team’s work had been transferred to office that lacks capacity to handle the sensitive material.
Others were tasked with maintaining U.S. energy dominance, “a centerpiece of our foreign policy,” Rubio said at his confirmation hearing. “The fact that they got rid of all the energy experts who would promote oil and gas sales overseas clearly undermines everything that they’re saying,” the official said.
The list also includes intelligence analysts who specialize in Russia and Ukraine, and experts with deep institutional and cultural knowledge of China, leaving the U.S. exposed to a country Rubio labeled “the most significant long-term risk to the United States.”
Trump’s State Department says it needs to be nimble
The dismissals are a major concern for staffers being tasked with additional duties to make up for losses in key areas like intelligence and research, consular affairs, diplomatic security, energy, and international and educational organizations. Deeply skeptical Democratic lawmakers predict a devastating impact on U.S. diplomacy.
But Michael Rigas, the State Department official who sent employees the layoff notices, tried Wednesday to allay such concerns, denying that the cuts were made in a haphazard and irresponsible manner to the detriment of national security.
Rigas told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday that the department had grown to more than 76,000 employees worldwide and a massive reorganization was needed to keep it relevant and nimble to respond to foreign crises and policy challenges.
The department “became large and began to lose its way,” becoming “ineffectual bureaucratically,” spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters Wednesday.
Where the State Department cuts are hitting
According to a list that current and former foreign service officers compiled and sent to Congress, the layoffs include:
“There’s no one left to do what we were doing,” said a laid-off employee with more than 30 years of experience.
State Department layoffs complicate key Trump priorities
U.S. experts who coordinated intelligence activities, promoted U.S. energy interests abroad and shaped America’s strategy for
competing with China
are among the more than
1,300 State Department employees whose firings
eliminated hundreds of years of institutional knowledge and experience.
The move has America’s diplomatic workforce wondering who — if anyone — will do critical work to keep the U.S. safe and competitive on the world stage.
Many of the offices “abolished” Friday under Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s
dramatic reorganization plan
worked on Trump’s priorities such as combating visa fraud and countering China. Other cuts could delay the processing of of passport applications. Trump officials said the mass dismissals are overdue and necessary to make the department leaner and more efficient.
Wall Street steady again after Trump downplays threat to Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s job
Markets, as well as the dollar, took a quick dive Wednesday on reports that Trump was talking about terminating Powell, but calm was restored after Trump
walked back his threats
. Futures for the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq were essentially flat in early trading Thursday.
Trump has harshly criticized Powell and his Fed colleagues for the decision to stand pat on interest rates at a time when the economy is broadly healthy and unemployment is low. Now Trump said the central bank chief
could be fired
over cost overruns on a
$2.5 billion renovation project
at the Fed’s headquarters.
Wall Street loves lower rates because they goose prices higher for stocks and other investments, but Powell has
insisted
on waiting to see how Trump’s tariffs affect the economy and inflation.
▶ Read more about
today’s financial markets
Trump administration says civil rights groups are doing the discriminating
The administration has said many policies implemented by both Democratic and Republican administrations are discriminatory and unconstitutional, arguing that acknowledgments of race and federal and corporate policies that seek to address disparities between different demographics are themselves discriminatory. Trump has signed executive orders banning “illegal discrimination” and promoting “merit based opportunity.”
In response to the Urban League’s report, White House spokesman Harrison Fields said civil rights groups that oppose the administration “aren’t advancing anything but hate and division, while the president is focused on uniting our country.”
Urban League declares a ‘state of emergency’ for civil rights
One of the nation’s oldest civil rights organizations is calling for a “new resistance” to the administration’s agenda.
The National Urban League’s annual State of Black America report accuses the federal government of being “increasingly determined to sacrifice its founding principles,” according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press.
“For a long time, people saw white supremacist politics and white nationalism as on the fringe of American politics. It has now become the mainstream of the American right, whose central foundation is within the Republican Party,” said Marc Morial, president of the Urban League.
The report directly critiques
Project 2025
, condemns
major corporations
,
universities
and top law firms for reversing
diversity, equity and inclusion policies and
accuses social media companies of censoring Black voices while enabling “extremists” to spread “radicalizing” views.
▶ Read more about
the State of Black America report
Nationwide protests planned against Trump’s immigration crackdown and health care cuts
Protests against the Trump administration’s mass deportations and cuts to the nation’s health and safety nets for poor people are planned Thursday
at more than 1,600 locations
around the country.
The “Good Trouble Lives On” national day of action honors the late congressman and
civil rights leader John Lewis
. Organizers are calling for the demonstrations to be peaceful, as Lewis would have wanted.
“We are navigating one of the most terrifying moments in our nation’s history,” Public Citizen co-president Lisa Gilbert said during an online news conference. “We are all grappling with a rise of authoritarianism and lawlessness within our administration … the rights, freedoms and expectations of our very democracy are being challenged.”
Republican senators caution Trump against firing Fed chair Jerome Powell
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell
is gaining some key backing on Capitol Hill from GOP senators who fear the repercussions if Trump follows through with
threats to try and remove
the politically independent central banker.
As Trump seemingly waffled back and forth this week on trying to dismiss the Fed chair, some Republicans in Congress began to speak up and warn that such a move would be a mistake. Trump would potentially obliterate the Fed’s independence from political influence and
inject uncertainty into the foundations
of the U.S. economy if he fires Powell.
“If anybody thinks it would be a good idea for the Fed to become another agency in the government subject to the president, they’re making a huge mistake,” GOP North Carolina Sen.
Thom Tillis
said in a floor speech.
The measure of support from GOP members of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs showed how traditional Republicans are carefully navigating a presidency in which Trump often flirts with ideas — like steep tariffs or firing the Fed chair — that threaten to undermine confidence in the U.S. economy.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
