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Reuters
28 minutes ago
- Reuters
US Senate passes aid, public broadcasting cuts in victory for Trump
WASHINGTON, July 17 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate early on Thursday approved President Donald Trump's plan for billions of dollars in cuts to funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting, handing the Republican president another victory as he exerts control over Congress with little opposition. The Senate voted 51 to 48 in favor of Trump's request to cut $9 billion in spending already approved by Congress. Most of the cuts are to programs to assist foreign countries suffering from disease, war and natural disasters, but the plan also eliminates all $1.1 billion the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was due to receive over the next two years. Trump and many of his fellow Republicans argue that spending on public broadcasting is an unnecessary expense and reject its news coverage as suffering from anti-right bias. Standalone rescission packages have not passed in decades, with lawmakers reluctant to cede their constitutionally mandated control of spending. But Trump's Republicans, who hold narrow majorities in the Senate and House, have shown little appetite for resisting his policies since he began his second term in January. The $9 billion at stake is extremely small in the context of the $6.8 trillion federal budget, and represents only a tiny portion of all the funds approved by Congress that the Trump administration has held up while it has pursued sweeping cuts, many ordered by billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. As of mid-June, Trump was blocking $425 billion in funding that had already been appropriated and previously approved by Congress, according to Democratic lawmakers tracking frozen funding. However, Trump and his supporters have promised more of the "rescission" requests to eliminate previously approved spending in what they say is an effort to pare back the federal government. The House of Representatives passed the rescissions legislation without altering Trump's request by 214-212 last month. Four Republicans joined 208 Democrats in voting no. But after a handful of Republican senators balked at the extent of the cuts to global health programs, Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said on Tuesday that PEPFAR, a global program to fight HIV/AIDS launched in 2003 by then-President George W. Bush, was being exempted. The change brought the size of the package of cuts to $9 billion from $9.4 billion, requiring another House vote before the measure can be sent to the White House for Trump to sign into law. The rescissions must pass by Friday. Otherwise, the request would expire and the White House will be required to adhere to spending plans passed by Congress. Two of the Senate's 53 Republicans - Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine - joined Democrats in voting against the legislation. "You don't need to gut the entire Corporation for Public Broadcasting," Murkowski said in a Senate speech. She said the Trump administration also had not provided assurances that battles against diseases such as malaria and polio worldwide would be maintained. Most of all, Murkowski said, Congress must assert its role in deciding how federal funds were spent. Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota called Trump's request a "small, but important step toward fiscal sanity." Democrats scoffed at that, noting that congressional Republicans earlier this month passed a massive package of tax and spending cuts that nonpartisan analysts estimated would add more than $3 trillion to the nation's $36.2 trillion debt. Democrats charged Republicans with giving up Congress' Constitutionally-mandated control of federal spending. "Today, Senate Republicans turn this chamber into a subservient rubber stamp for the executive, at the behest of Donald Trump," Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said. "Republicans embrace the credo of cut, cut, cut now, and ask questions later," Schumer said. The cuts would overturn bipartisan spending agreements most recently passed in a full-year stopgap funding bill in March. Democrats warn a partisan cut now could make it more difficult to negotiate government funding bills that must pass with bipartisan agreement by September 30 to avoid a shutdown. Appropriations bills require 60 votes to move ahead in the Senate, but the rescissions package needs just 51, meaning Republicans can pass it without Democratic support.
Telegraph
40 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Trump begins removing legal migrants under new crackdown
Migrants living legally in the US are facing deportation under a new Trump administration crackdown. In an attempt to fulfil his campaign pledge to carry out the largest deportation program in US history, Donald Trump has set his sights on 1.2 million people granted temporary protection to stay in the US. Temporary Protective Status (TPS) had been granted to migrants fleeing wars and natural disasters by Joe Biden and other presidents. It allows migrants to work in the country for up to 18 months and can be extended. But in recent weeks Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, terminated protections for more than 700,000 in the TPS programme, according to Axios. Those impacted include 348,187 Haitians fleeing violence and human rights abuses, 348,187 Venezuelans, who fled Nicolás Maduro's regime and 11,700 Afghans. A Haitian granted TPS, who came to the US as a student before their country's government collapsed and was overrun by criminal gangs, told Axios: 'I didn't come here illegally and I never stayed here illegally, and I'm not a criminal by any means.' They added: 'If I need to go to Haiti, I would pray that I don't get shot.' Among those affected include 52,000 Hondurans and 3,000 Nicaraguans, who have had protections since 1999. Leonardo Valenzuela Neda, the Honduran embassy's deputy chief of mission in the US, said the country is not ready for the return of tens of thousands of migrants. The Trump administration is also targeting potentially hundreds of thousands of migrants given humanitarian 'parole' under the Biden administration. Immigration judges have been dismissing status hearings for parole cases, which grants migrants the ability to live and work in the US for a set period. 'Removalpalooza' Migrants have been detained by ICE agents and put on a 'fast track' for deportation without full court hearings, a tactic immigration rights groups have called 'Removalpalooza', Axios reported. The shift change in policy could hand Mr Trump the large numbers of deportations as the administration continues ramping up ICE raids in a bid to hit targets. The Trump administration has determined that migrants who crossed into the US illegally will not be eligible for a bond hearing while deportation proceedings are played out in court. Todd Lyons, acting ICE director, told officers in an July 8 memo that migrants could be detained 'for the duration of their removal proceedings', according to documents seen by the Washington Post. Removal proceedings can take months or years and could apply to millions of migrants who crossed the border in recent years. It comes after Congress passed a spending package to allocate $45 billion (£33.6 billion) over the next four years to spend on detaining undocumented immigrants. Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesman, said programmes such as TPS 'were never intended to be a path to permanent status or citizenship' and that they were 'abused' by the Biden administration.
Telegraph
40 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Russell Brand joins RFK Jr at ‘presidential run' fundraising event
Russell Brand joined Robert F Kennedy Jr for a fundraising event last week, stirring speculation that the comedian may support the vaccine-sceptical health secretary for a rumoured presidential run in 2028. Mr Kennedy held a super Pac (political action committee) call on Wednesday with hundreds of supporters and influencers aimed at energising his Make America Healthy Again (Maha) base. Although a bid for the White House was not explicitly discussed, insiders told Axios that the call suggested Mr Kennedy is considering another run for the White House, after pulling out of the race in 2024 to support Donald Trump. Mr Kennedy was joined on the call by several speakers including Mr Brand, who is facing charges of rape and sexual assault which he denies. The comedian backed the health secretary's previous run for president and performed at one of his campaign events. Mr Brand has since grown close to Mr Kennedy, with the health secretary sharing a photo on social media in February of him holding a lizard alongside the comedian and a topless Dr Mehmet Oz, the head of the Centres for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Other prominent figures on the call were Tony Lyons, the Maha Pac leader, Robert Malone, a vaccine scientist, and Mr Kennedy's chief adviser Stefanie Spear, sources told Axios. The participation of Mr Lyons led some to believe that the Pac, a political action committee allowed to raise large amounts of money, is ready to act as a fundraising machine for Mr Kennedy should he choose to enter the race to replace Mr Trump. Mr Lyons, who is also a close ally of former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, in May became chairman of the newly launched Maha Institute, dedicated to influencing government policy on food ingredients, agricultural inputs and overall health. During the call, financial pledges were allegedly taken, but with no information given on how much money was raised and whether it will be saved up for a 2028 campaign. Ms Spear, who worked as press secretary on Mr Kennedy's presidential campaign, is said to have highlighted changes her boss has made to the department of health and human services (HHS) so far, and urged supporters to remain patient for further policy announcements. Mr Kennedy pleased Maha supporters by persuading several food companies to remove artificial dyes from their products but has drawn criticism for his decision to form a new vaccine review board that experts fear will promote vaccine-scepticism. JD Vance, the vice-president, and Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, are widely viewed as the frontrunners in the race to succeed Mr Trump. The president has repeatedly stoked speculation about running for an unconstitutional third term, with some suggesting that his son, Donald Trump Jr, could run in his place.
