Latest news with #EducationandWorkforce
Miami Herald
28-04-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
This week: Trump to huddle with speaker before reconciliation markups begin
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet at the White House Monday afternoon with Speaker Mike Johnson, beginning the first of several key legislative weeks for the president's immigration, economic and tax policy agenda. The legislating all starts Tuesday, when the House Armed Services and Education and the Workforce committees get to work on their portions of the broader House reconciliation bill, dubbed by the president and supportive Republicans as "one big, beautiful bill." Johnson, R-La., has been aiming to get the measure to the president's desk before the Memorial Day recess - just four weeks away. To keep on schedule, House Republicans will need to be in Washington on Tuesday, and Trump said over the weekend said they should not travel to Michigan for his scheduled rally marking the first 100 days of his second term. "It is much more important that everyone stay in Washington this week to work hard and fast on all of it – IT MUST BE DONE. We will unleash Economic Prosperity, and accelerate into the Golden Age of America," Trump posted on Truth Social. "You will be missed, but your work is far too important to take any time off. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" Among the Michigan Republicans who have reconciliation-related business to attend to on Capitol Hill is Education and Workforce Chair Tim Walberg. He said on Fox News over the weekend that his panel's portion of the bill would "help our educational policy moving forward." "When you look at the numbers of students [who] have huge student loan debt, and then the past administration requiring general taxpayers pay off those debts for those students who made those contracts - that's a concern," Walberg said, referring to student debt forgiveness programs under President Joe Biden. At least five committees are expected to hold their budget reconciliation markups this week, though not all of the legislative text was yet available as of Monday morning. The biggest pieces of the broader bill, which is essentially a compilation of work from committees subject to the instructions from the budget resolution, could come later. That includes language from the Ways and Means Committee designed to extend the 2017 tax cuts. Once all of the panels complete their drafts, they can be combined and eventually sent to the House floor. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., joined with Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and other lawmakers on Sunday to lead a sit-in on the Capitol steps to protest the GOP budget plans. They specifically contested any potential cuts to Medicaid. "As Democrats, we're going to continue to stand on the side of the American people, and we will not rest until we bury this reckless Republican budget in the ground," Jeffries said. Along with committees, the House floor will be busy this week as well. Headlining the floor agenda is another set of disapproval resolutions under the Congressional Review Act, intended to terminate Biden administration regulations. The list includes Park Service, EPA and Fish and Wildlife Service rules. But there's also some popular bipartisan measures due for floor votes under suspension of the rules, an expedited process that requires a two-thirds majority. That includes a consumer-oriented bill that would require transparency in hotel fees and a Senate-passed measure that would require social media platforms to take down nonconsensual intimate imagery of other persons, including those that are AI-generated, and make the knowing publication of such images illegal. That bill, sponsored by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, most recently passed the Senate by unanimous consent in February. Also among the items on the House agenda: a bill that would provide for awarding congressional gold medals to the 1980 Team USA Olympic men's hockey team, which prevailed over the Soviet Union in a game that came to be known as the "Miracle on Ice." Senate on ambassador nominations The Senate could be flying under the radar this week as Congress returns to session. While there is the possibility that more CRA resolutions will be added to the Senate agenda as well, the focus will be once again on confirming Trump nominations. Up first is former Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., the nominee to be ambassador to China. A cloture vote on his nomination is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Monday. Once Perdue is confirmed, likely on Tuesday, the Senate is expected to turn to the remaining ambassador nominees that Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., filed cloture on before the two-week spring recess: •Warren Stephens to be ambassador to the United Kingdom. •Thomas Barrack to be ambassador to Turkey. •Tilman Fertitta to be ambassador to Italy and San Marino. Barrack, a billionaire real estate investor who was chair of Trump's first inaugural committee, was tried and found not guilty in 2022 of being an unregistered foreign agent for the United Arab Emirates. "For three decades, Tom successfully managed a global private equity firm. He is a well respected and experienced voice of reason to a wide range of thought leaders in both political and business circles," Trump said in his December 2024 statement announcing his intent to nominate Barrack. ---------- David Lerman contributed to this report. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ohio Republicans propose citizenship tracking with threat of future budget cuts
Activists protest the agenda of President Donald Trump during a rally near the water tower on the Magnificent Mile on Jan. 25, 2025, in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by) Two Ohio Republicans have introduced a measure directing state agencies to track the number of people they interact with who aren't in the country legally. The bill, sponsored by state Reps. Josh Williams, R-Sylvania Twp., and Tex Fischer, R-Boardman, requires an annual report from law enforcement, education and health officials among others. Backers describe it as simply 'adding a box to a form,' but make it clear they want to leverage that information to restrict benefits. 'This information is going to come to the legislative body who has the power of the purse,' Williams told committee members. 'That's where the teeth are. ' Under the proposal, four state agencies — the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, Job and Family Services, Education and Workforce, and Medicaid — as well as every Ohio law enforcement agency, are directed to 'collect and maintain' citizenship status for the people they serve. Each year the agencies must report their figures, broken down by the citizens who are lawfully present, and those who aren't here legally. Agencies in charge of benefits like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food assistance or cash assistance have to report data based on household — whether all members are legal citizens, or if at least one member is not, with information about their specific immigration status. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The agencies are also directed to report the monetary value of the benefits given to households with individuals who are not citizens. However, the proposal doesn't indicate how agencies are supposed to verify an individual's status or how the reports will avoid counting individuals multiple times. There's also no effort to quantify what immigrants contribute to the state. A recent American Immigration Council report, for instance, estimates in 2023 Ohio immigrants paid $7.3 billion in taxes — $2.5 billion of that to state and local governments. Williams and Fischer introduced their bill last week. Fischer noted agencies throughout the state already collect several kinds of demographic data, 'but there is currently no provision in Ohio law to require these entities to collect data on citizenship status.' 'The citizens of Ohio have a right to know where their tax dollars are being spent,' Fischer said, 'and this bill allows us to take a step forward in painting the full picture of where our public funds are going.' Under federal law, unauthorized immigrants are generally barred from access to benefit programs like SNAP, Medicaid and various forms of cash assistance. Even lawful permanent residents (green-card holders) have to wait five years before getting access to those benefits. 'I think ultimately our hope is that this data will come in over the next couple years, and we will see that we don't have a widespread problem with people who are unlawfully present in the country collecting these benefits,' Fischer said. But his co-sponsor, Williams, thinks benefits definitely are going to unauthorized immigrants. The Toledo-area lawmaker criticized the city for becoming a 'Welcoming City.' One element of that designation is that programs supporting entrepreneurs don't discriminate based on immigration status. Williams said that means 'our local tax dollars are definitely going towards illegal immigrants.' 'This claim is patently false,' City of Toledo Communications Director Rachel Hart said in a text message. She described the designation as an affirmation that the city is a place where immigrants 'can pursue the American Dream' and that it does not 'dictate funding decisions.' 'This kind of ludicrous rhetoric is a waste of time and a distraction from the real challenges Toledoans face,' she added. 'Once again, Rep. Williams is more interested in pandering to the extremes of his party than in serving the real needs of Northwest Ohio.' And while the sponsors pitched the changes as minor record-keeping updates, Williams has long-term plans for the information. 'We're going to get into a budget cycle where we're going to have those department heads come and answer to us in (the) Finance (committee) and to our individual standing committees, and we're going to be able to say 5%, 3%, 10% of your budget went towards this — here's the data.' Williams said. '… It's the legislators that have the teeth when it comes to the budget, right? We're able to strip that funding out.' Across the aisle, Democratic lawmakers wondered if the sponsors had adequately thought through their bill. Rep. Tristan Rader, D-Lakewood, said he's sensitive to the limits on eligibility after working with the Cleveland Food Bank to sign people up for SNAP benefits. He noted the five-year waiting period for permanent residents, and that officials need to collect applicants' social security numbers. 'So, I'm wondering if you had conversations with (Job and Family Services) if this is not information in some way, shape or form, they already have, and if this isn't sort of, at least in this respect, a little bit redundant,' Rader said. The sponsors said they had not spoken with the agency. State Rep. Latyna Humphrey, D-Columbus, asked if they'd reached out to school officials or superintendents? Again, no. ACLU of Ohio Chief Lobbyist Gary Daniels said 'there appears to be a lack of knowledge' about what data are collected and what services immigrants are eligible to receive. Referencing limits on SNAP, he noted the bill requires state officials collect citizenship information about an entire household while remaining 'silent about how this is to be accomplished to the satisfaction of the bill's sponsors.' Daniels added that collection of data from schools is particularly revealing. The sponsors have argued these data could be the premise for budget cuts, but federal law and U.S. Supreme Court precedent requires public schools enroll undocumented kids. 'So, if/when the data reveals how many undocumented students are attending Ohio's public schools, what do the sponsors anticipate the legislature's response will be,' he asked, 'keeping in mind schools have no choice in this matter regarding enrollment?' Practically speaking, he added, carving out private entities like charter schools or hospitals from the data collection requirements would likely leave whatever report their legislation does produce, 'skewed and perhaps entirely unreliable, no matter what side of this issue one takes.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
