Senate confirms Trump nominee for chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff in overnight vote
WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan 'Razin' Caine to become the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Friday, filling the position almost two months after President Donald Trump fired his predecessor.
Trump nominated Caine to become the top U.S. military officer in February after abruptly firing Gen. CQ Brown Jr., the second Black general to serve as chairman, as part of his administration's campaign to rid the military of leaders who support diversity and equity in the ranks. The Senate confirmed Caine 60-25 in an overnight vote before heading home for a two-week recess.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Florida's long-awaited budget cuts spending, saves money for future downturns
TALLAHASSEE — After weeks of infighting and stalled negotiations, Florida's legislative leaders released a slimmed-down budget for the next fiscal year on Friday. The $115.1 billion spending plan is supposed to limit what lawmakers say has been a trend of runaway spending in Tallahassee and counter uncertainty over federal funding from Washington. Lawmakers are slashing more than 1,700 vacant positions across state government and stashing millions of dollars for the state's rainy day fund, but are still funding priority projects with millions of dollars. 'We thought this day would never come, but it did,' Senate budget chairperson Ed Hooper said Friday. Lawmakers are set to vote on the budget Monday evening, ending one of the most contentious legislative sessions in recent memory and setting up a potential clash with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. Unlike a typical year, where lawmakers produce a budget within Florida's usual 60-day session, lawmakers took 102 days to put together their final product. That's partly because legislators have been feuding with DeSantis since January, when he called lawmakers in for a special session to address immigration without any clear goals or proposed legislation. The three special sessions ate up critical time that would have been used to work on the budget. 'There were contributing factors that largely were out of the control of either chamber,' said Republican Rep. Lawrence McClure, the House budget chairperson. DeSantis, who has been ruthless in cutting lawmakers' projects in happy times, has until the end of this month to issue vetoes. Earlier this year, amid the feud with DeSantis, the House overrode some of his budget vetoes from last year. The Senate did not. Although lawmakers didn't give DeSantis everything he wanted in the amounts he wanted — including money for his priority Hope Florida program — they still gave him millions for the Florida State Guard and the Florida Job Growth Grant Fund. Millions also stayed with first lady Casey DeSantis' cancer research fund. The idea that 'the governor's priorities are being funded at a lower rate' is wrong, McClure said. Overall spending was smaller across the board, he said. Despite producing a smaller budget than the year prior, Florida's budget has still grown by more than 26% since DeSantis came into office in 2019. The budget's growth has outpaced population increases and often outpaced inflation. House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, pushed for a leaner budget this year, saying state government spending had swollen and run afoul of conservative values. 'We spend every new dime of recurring revenue while congratulating ourselves for giving easy-to-fund, non-recurring sales tax holidays,' Perez said on the opening day of the session in March. McClure blamed too much federal money in previous years for Florida's 'not sustainable' spending habits. About a third of the state's budget is federal money. But lawmakers are now facing a potentially abrupt reversal from the feds. Under President Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress, federal lawmakers could pass major cuts to Medicaid, food assistance and other social programs. There are also discussions about ending the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Senate President Ben Albritton said that if the federal government cuts costs, he thinks Florida wouldn't be able to avoid shouldering some of the burden. State lawmakers are also preparing for a potential recession, socking away at least $750 million for the state's rainy day fund and proposing making the annual funding permanent through a constitutional amendment next year. The last time the fund was used was during the Great Recession, prompting lawmakers at the time to consider raising taxes. 'I never want a future Legislature to have to be in that position,' Perez said last week. But some Democrats have raised concerns about this year's budget tying the state's hands. 'I think that the state actually should be preparing to help carry its people through that tough time, not looking for ways to cut funding,' said House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell. House lawmakers this year took particular interest in DeSantis' spending habits and governance, focusing in part on the thousands of vacant positions across state agencies. To slim the budget, they're slashing many of those positions for the next year, including more than 1,000 in Florida's health care agencies, including the Department of Children and Families and the Department of Health. Lawmakers also set aside a smaller amount of money than usual for teacher and school employee raises — $100 million instead of previous years' roughly $250 million. And they're also not funding $2 million for DeSantis' Hope Florida program, which is supposed to steer constituents in need from state services to local churches and nonprofits. Lawmakers' scrutiny has caused DeSantis to rage against them in news conferences and online videos this year. But he's still getting much of what he requested. For the Florida Job Growth Grant Fund, lawmakers set aside $50 million, $25 million less than he wanted. A state cancer grant fund, backed by the first lady, got $60 million. And while the Legislature put more than $500 million toward the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, it fell short of the more than $600 million DeSantis wanted, with lawmakers pointing to how much of the prior funding remained unspent. Some of the ideas in the budget popped up in the final days of negotiations, including a $3 million fund to give grants to local jails that contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for immigration enforcement. The Florida Senate also put aside $23 million to fund the Florida State Guard, which DeSantis has used as a tool in his immigration enforcement and deportation plans. But Hooper, R-Clearwater, said that the funding had more to do with the possibility of FEMA being dissolved than it had to do with immigration enforcement. Both chambers together supported more than $100 million to increase the nursing home reimbursement rate. About $28 million will go toward a farmer food share program prioritized by Albritton, along with about $104 million for another priority of his: citrus research. Lawmakers this year are cutting taxes — but mostly for businesses. Legislative leaders are eliminating the business rent tax, saving companies across the state about $900 million per year. DeSantis also proposed eliminating it in his budget. They're not taking any action to reduce property taxes, however, and the House's plan for a sweeping sales tax cut has been whittled down to a limited sales tax reduction plan, which includes making the back-to-school sales tax holiday a permanent event every August and permanently exempting taxes on some items, like sunscreen and life jackets. Though lawmakers initially billed the tax package as being targeted to benefit Florida families, the final package exempts or reduces taxes on things like NASCAR tickets, card rooms and slot machine licensing fees. The final tax bill also sets aside $1 million for Florida's Office of Economic and Demographic Research to do a study on the state's property taxes. DeSantis has proposed cutting or eliminating property taxes, which could leave local governments without a critical revenue source. But he proposed no concrete ideas for how to do that. The governor in March offered a temporary plan to use $5 billion to give people a $1,000 homestead property tax rebate. But neither the House nor the Senate took up the idea. A month into the legislative session, Perez made a surprise announcement that the House wanted to cut the state's sales tax from 6% to 5.25%. It would have been the largest state tax cut in Florida's history, saving Floridians nearly $5 billion per year. But the Senate wouldn't go along with the plan. When asked why lawmakers decided to give businesses the largest tax break this year, Perez said the ultimate goal was to cut the amount of money lawmakers could spend. 'We have become accustomed to spending recurring dollars,' Perez said, adding: 'What we are trying to do is stop that from happening into the future.' Times reporter Jeffrey S. Solochek contributed to this report.
Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Residents call for reopening of CC Augustus Pool
TUPELO — Park Hill residents, elected officials and others are pushing for the city of Tupelo to either upgrade or outright replace the popular but currently shuttered C.C. Augustus Pool. Built around 60 years ago, the public pool sits in the heart of Ward 4's Park Hill neighborhood. After two evaluations and a determination that it needed significant repairs, the city announced earlier this month the pool would not open this summer. For Ward 4 Councilwoman Nettie Davis, the pool's closure is a blow to the community. '(The pool) was very special to us," Davis said. "The people in our community feel it is a necessity.' Davis, who said she wants to see the pool completely replaced at the C.C. Augustus Center, is not alone in feeling that it needs to be prioritized. After receiving multiple calls regarding the pool's closure, Davis and Bridgett 'Miss Bam' Shelly, president of the Park Hill Neighborhood Association, called a neighborhood meeting on the topic. During the meeting, Shelly and Davis spoke with neighborhood residents and Tupelo Parks and Recreation Director Alex Farned about the situation. While some solutions were proffered, the main thrust, Shelly said, is that residents want their community pool back. '(The closure) was a big disappointment because we had plans for the children to swim,' Shelly said, adding the community had to cancel multiple events scheduled at the pool this summer. 'Children look forward to it (opening) because it is the only one where they can get there without transportation.' Farned said the previous meeting won't be the last about the pool, adding that discussion on what to do with the pool will begin with this budget session for the next fiscal year, which is already underway. He said more information will be available to the public as the details get settled. Shelly noted that the pool would have opened on June 3, the day of the municipal general election. While working the polls that day at the C.C. Augustus Center precinct, she said she had to turn away multiple children who wanted to swim. Davis and Shelly also talked about its history as a place for Black children to swim safely. Davis noted that before the pool was built, her friends and family swam in creeks in town. 'It's sentimental to me. It's been in our neighborhood since I was a child,' Shelly said. 'Residents are not going to be quiet about them closing the pool.'
The Hill
30 minutes ago
- The Hill
Our schools have a ‘boy problem' and we need to talk about it
These days it's impossible to avoid the avalanche of evidence about young men falling behind in America. Within the last month, the New York Times laid out the dismal data, the Wall Street Journal noted the rising misogyny among boys and Bloomberg documented their rising anger. One thing you won't read about the boys dilemma, this month or any other month: serious solutions to the problem. After a couple of decades as an education reporter, my first book was 'Why Boys Fail.' That was in 2011, one of several books written at the time about boys falling behind. Back then, it appeared we were on the cusp of finally doing something about it. But apparently not. Fourteen years later, all we have are more studies and op-eds. No solutions. Why? The boys dilemma has three components, and the reasons for inaction are different for each component. My focus for 'Why Boys Fail' was schooling. I traced the effects of well-intended education reforms that date back to the 1989 education summit in Charlottesville, Va., where President George H.W. Bush and 49 governors laid out a national plan for ramping up education achievement. The most notable goal was boosting early literacy skills to get all students on track for a shot at higher education. It was a noble goal, but President Bush and the governors overlooked a small but important detail: Girls are ready for early literacy challenges, but boys are not. Doubtful? Ask mothers of both boys and girls about who was the early reader. As schools pushed reading skills down by about two grades, boys faltered. They looked at the happy girls, who thrived on early reading, and concluded that school was for girls. Cue a massive school tap-out among boys, who found solace in video games. Why has nothing been done about this? Simply put, schools have no interest. Principals are overwhelmed by multiple challenges, boys being the least of them. Teachers, mostly women, have limited interest in the issue. They often see boys as discipline problems and prefer to focus on easier-to-teach girls. Groups such as the American Association of University Women (think of them as the 'thought leaders' behind the female-dominated teachers unions) see the boy problems as politically inconvenient. (It has to be a little awkward promoting women in higher education when, in fact, they are already dominating it to an almost embarrassing degree.) Second comes the problem of fatherless families, which by far hits Black males hardest. More than 70 percent of Black children grow up in families without a father. Strong mothers inspire the girls to pursue school success, but the boys appear to need more — far more. Why has nothing been done about this? That dilemma touches on issues that have long resisted solutions: race and economic inequity. Third, there's the self-image issue. Boys get thrown horribly off-track by confusing social cues. Are we supposed to be muscle-bound Jason Stathams, mowing down bad guys with punches and kicks, or sensitive Alan Aldas, whispering soothing life lessons to the ladies in his life? Why has nothing been done about this? Actually, there's been regression here. Do you really expect the current White House occupant, who brags about never having changed a diaper, praises the uneducated, bashes top universities and revels in UFC fights, to advise boys to tone down their masculinity? So, nothing gets done, and the spinoff problems fester. The biggest of those, the lack of 'marriageable mates' for women, is the little-mentioned driver behind the falling birth rate. Why would a woman take on a husband who is less likely to have a college degree than she is, and who has comparatively less to contribute to a family? Being realistic, the last two drivers of the boy problems may very well be intractable. That leaves schooling, which I would argue is the biggest factor and one that can actually be addressed. How? It all starts with convincing (in some cases, forcing) superintendents and principals to redirect schooling in boy-friendly directions. There's proof that it can be done. Roughly 15 years ago, when the alarm sounded that girls were falling behind in math and science schools engineered a turnaround for girls. Today, there's test evidence of that math-science gender turnaround everywhere. There are plenty of alarms sounding today about boys. So the question becomes: Why not do for boys what you already did for girls? Richard Whitmire is the author of six books on education issues.
