Page 6 - Trump Govt

House GOP advances budget resolution, key to pushing Trump's agenda forward

With a push from President Donald Trump, House Republicans sent a GOP budget blueprint to passage Tuesday, a step toward delivering his big, beautiful bill with USD4.5 trillion in tax breaks and USD2 trillion in spending cuts despite a wall of opposition from Democrats and discomfort among Republicans. House Speaker Mike Johnson had almost no votes to spare in his bare-bones GOP majority and was fighting on all fronts against Democrats, uneasy rank-and-file Republicans and skeptical GOP senators to advance the party's signature legislative package. Trump was making calls to wayward GOP lawmakers and had invited Republicans to the White House. The vote was 217-215, with all Democrats opposed, and the outcome was in jeopardy until the gavel. On a vote like this, you're always going to have people you're talking to all the way through the close of the vote, Majority Leader Steve Scalise said before the roll call. It's that tight. Passage of the package is crucial to kickstarting the

US Senate pulls all-nighter to push GOP budget amid Democrats' objections

Senators kept chugging through an all-night budget vote-a-rama, a crucial, if dreaded, step toward unleashing a USD 340 billion package President Donald Trump's team says it needs for mass deportations and security measures that top the Republican agenda. If ever there was a time to watch Congress in action, this might be it. Or not. Senators have been voting for hours, as late Thursday night turned into early Friday, on one amendment after another, largely from Democrats trying to halt the package. The result will be a final push by the Republicans to use their majority power to pass it on a party-line vote, likely by morning. What we're doing today is jumpstarting a process that will allow the Republican Party to meet President Trump's immigration agenda, Senate Budget Committee chair Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said while opening the debate. Graham said Trump's top immigration czar, Tom Homan, told senators that the administration's deportation operations are out of money and need mo

Senate GOP budget bill back on track after Trump threw it into turmoil

Back on track, Senate Republicans pushed ahead on Wednesday with their USD 340 billion budget bill focused on funding the White House's mass deportations and border security agenda after Vice-President JD Vance gave a green light to proceed despite a morning dust-up caused by President Donald Trump. The package was in jeopardy after Trump publicly bashed the approach from the Senate Budget Committee chairman, Sen Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Trump said he favoured the "big beautiful bill" from House Republicans, a more politically fraught package that includes USD 4.5 trillion in tax cuts but slashes government programmes and services. Senators want to address those priorities later, in a second package. "We are moving forward," said Sen John Barrasso of Wyoming, the GOP whip, after a lunch meeting with Vance at the Capitol. The start-stop process is complicating what's already a heavy legislative lift for Republicans, who have a rare sweep of power with majority control of ...

Senate GOP advances budget bill that funds Trump's mass deportations

Senate Republicans pushed ahead late on Tuesday on a scaled-back budget bill, a USD 340 billion package to give the Trump administration money for mass deportations and other priorities, as Democrats prepare a counter-campaign against the onslaught of actions coming from the White House. On a party-line vote, 50-47, Republicans launched the process, skipping ahead of the House Republicans who prefer President Donald Trump's approach for a "big, beautiful bill" that includes USD 4.5 trillion in tax cuts that are tops on the party agenda. Senate Republicans plan to deal with tax cuts later, in a second package. "It's time to act," said Senate Majority Leader John Thune on social media, announcing the plan ahead as the House is on recess week. "Let's get it done." This is the first step in unlocking Trump's campaign promises -- tax cuts, energy production and border controls -- and dominating the agenda in Congress. While Republicans have majority control of both the House and Senate,

Trump admin gives schools deadline to end DEI or risk losing federal money

The Trump administration is giving America's schools and universities two weeks to eliminate diversity initiatives or risk losing federal money, raising the stakes in the president's fight against "wokeness" and sowing confusion as schools scramble to comply. In a memo on Friday, the Education Department gave an ultimatum to stop using "racial preferences" as a factor in admissions, financial aid, hiring or other areas. Schools are being given 14 days to end any practice that treats students or workers differently because of their race. Educators at colleges nationwide were rushing to evaluate their risk and decide whether to stand up for practices they believe are legal. The sweeping demand threatens to upend all aspects of campus operations, from essays on college applications to classroom lessons and campus clubs. It's meant to correct what the memo described as rampant discrimination in education, often against white and Asian students. "Schools have been operating on the prete

Trump admin lays off probationary govt workers, warns more cuts to come

The Trump administration has intensified its sweeping efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce, the US' largest employer, by ordering agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees who had not yet gained civil service protection potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of workers. In addition, workers at some agencies on Thursday were warned that large workplace cuts would be coming. The decision on probationary workers, who generally have less than a year on the job, came from the Office of Personnel Management, which serves as a human resources department for the federal government. The notification was confirmed by a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss it publicly. It's expected to be the first step in sweeping layoffs. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that told agency leaders to plan for large-scale reductions in force. Elon Musk, whom President Trump has .

Elon Musk faces legal challenge over role in Donald Trump's government

A pair of lawsuits filed in federal courts in Washington and Maryland accuse the Tesla Inc. and SpaceX chief executive of exercising authority to reshape and dismantle federal agencies

Donald Trump's third-term musings seem more tease than serious pledge

President Donald Trump has just started his second term, his last one permitted under the US Constitution. But he's already started making quips about serving a third one. Am I allowed to run again? Trump joked during the House Republican retreat in Florida last month. Whether teasing or taunting, it seems to be part of a pattern. Just a week after he won election last fall, Trump suggested in a meeting with House Republicans that he might want to stick around after his second term was over. "I suspect I won't be running again unless you say, He's so good we got to figure something else out,' Trump said to laughs from the lawmakers. Over the years, Trump and his supporters have often joked about him serving more than his two constitutionally permitted terms. But his musings often spark alarm among his critics, given that he unsuccessfully tried to overturn his 2020 election loss and has since pardoned supporters who violently attacked the US Capitol on Jan 6, 2021. But Trump, who w

Elon Musk's X agrees to pay about $10 million to settle Trump's lawsuit

That makes X the second social media platform to settle with Trump over the suspension of his accounts following the storming of the US Capitol by his supporters in January 2021

US SC that Trump helped shape could have last word on his executive orders

President Donald Trump will need the Supreme Court, with three justices he appointed, to enable the most aggressive of the many actions he has taken in just the first few weeks of his second White House term. But even a conservative majority with a robust view of presidential power might balk at some of what the president wants to do. The court gave Trump major victories last year that helped clear away potential obstacles to his reelection, postponing his criminal trial in Washington, D.C., then affording immunity from prosecution for official actions. But Trump's first term was marked by significant defeats as well as some wins at the court. "It will be an extraordinary test for the Roberts Court whether it's willing to stand up for constitutional principles it has long embraced, said Michael Waldman, the president of New York University's Brennan Center and the author of a book that is critical of the court. Some of the things we have seen are so blatantly unconstitutional tha

Trump admin orders Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to stop work

The Trump administration has ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to stop nearly all its work, effectively shutting down an agency that was created to protect consumers after the 2008 financial crisis and subprime mortgage-lending scandal. Russell Vought, the newly installed director of the Office of Management and Budget, directed the CFPB in a Saturday night email confirmed by The Associated Press stop work on proposed rules, to suspend the effective dates on any rules that were finalised but not yet effective, and to stop investigative work and not begin any new investigations. The agency has been a target of conservatives since President Barack Obama pushed to include it in the 2010 financial reform legislation that followed the 2007-2008 financial crisis. The email also ordered the bureau to cease all supervision and examination activity. Since the CFPB is a creation of Congress, it would require a separate act of Congress to formally eliminate it. But the head of

UK navigates rough transatlantic waters as Trump shakes up special ties

Ever since Winston Churchill coined the phrase in the wake of World War II, politicians have extolled the special relationship between the United States and Britain. Under President Donald Trump's second administration, Britain will settle for a merely functional relationship with its former colony turned most important ally. As Trump threatens to slap tariffs on America's neighbors, mulls buying Greenland and suggests the US could take over and reconstruct Gaza. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government is racing to bolster its diplomatic and economic defences for a turbulent new transatlantic era. We're in such uncharted waters that anyone who claims to know what in the hell is going on is just lying, said Kathleen Burk, emeritus professor at University College London and an expert on US-UK relations. High stakes for Britain's Washington envoy British officials say Starmer hopes to visit Washington in the coming weeks, but he has yet to receive an invitation from Trump. In the .

Trump rules out deporting Prince Harry, says he's got enough problems

This statement comes amid legal challenges involving Harry's visa, particularly from the Heritage Foundation

Working for Trump's 'mission' to restore biological truth: US housing secy

Turner's remarks are in line with policies announced by Trump shortly after his inauguration

Donald Trump sued by Democrat states over Musk's access to treasury data

Trump and Bessent violated federal law by allowing Musk's newly established efficiency team access to Treasury Department information

Trump admin plans to slash all but fraction of USAID jobs, say officials

The Trump administration presented a plan Thursday to dramatically cut staffing worldwide for US aid projects as part of its dismantling of the US Agency for International Development, leaving fewer than 300 workers out of thousands. Late Thursday, federal workers associations filed suit asking a federal court to stop the shutdown, arguing that President Donald Trump lacks the authority to shut down an agency enshrined in congressional legislation. Two current USAID employees and one former senior USAID official told The Associated Press of the administration's plan, presented to remaining senior officials of the agency Thursday. They spoke on condition of anonymity due to a Trump administration order barring USAID staffers from talking to anyone outside their agency. The plan would leave fewer than 300 staffers on the job out of what are currently 8,000 direct hires and contractors. They, along with an unknown number of 5,000 locally hired international staffers abroad, would run t

Will continue to counteract any scheme aimed at evading US sanctions: Rubio

Rubio emphasised that the seizure of Venezuelan aircraft demonstrates the US's determination to hold Nicolas Maduro's regime accountable for its illegal activities

Protests erupt across cities against Trump's policies, Project 2025, Musk

Demonstrators gathered in cities across the US on Wednesday to protest the Trump administration's early actions, decrying everything from the president's immigration crackdown to his rollback of transgender rights and a proposal to forcibly transfer Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. Protesters in Philadelphia and at state capitols in California, Minnesota, Michigan, Texas, Wisconsin, Indiana and beyond waved signs denouncing President Donald Trump; billionaire Elon Musk, the leader of Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency; and Project 2025, a hard-right playbook for American government and society. I'm appalled by democracy's changes in the last, well, specifically two weeks but it started a long time ago, Margaret Wilmeth said at a protest outside the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. So I'm just trying to put a presence into resistance. The protests were a result of a movement that has organized online under the hashtags #buildtheresistance and #50501, which stands for 50 .

Trump's demand that US aid workers return home sparks outrage, anxiety

Frustration boiled over Wednesday among supporters of the United States' lead aid agency at a Washington rally, and anxious aid workers abroad scrambled to pack up households after the Trump administration abruptly pulled almost all agency staffers off the job and out of the field. The order issued Tuesday followed 2 1/2 weeks that have seen the Trump administration and teams led by billionaire ally Elon Musk dismantle much of the US Agency for International Development, shutting down a six-decade mission intended to shore up US security by educating children, fighting epidemics and advancing other development abroad. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has been touring Central America on his first visit in office, defended the administration's broad shutdown of aid funding and other actions while saying, Our preference would have been to do this in a more orderly fashion. But, Rubio said, the administration faced a lack of cooperation in an attempt to review the worth of each agenc

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