Latest news with #Mike Johnson
The Independent
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Watch: Mike Johnson claims Trump's approval rating is at 90%
This is the moment Mike Johnson claimed Donald Trump 's approval ratings are 'skyrocketing'. The House Speaker made the remarks during an interview with CNBC on Friday (July18). Johnson declared that while Trump is 'the most attacked political figure in the history of American politics,' he is also the most 'resilient'. 'And you see at the same time, his approval ratings are skyrocketing,' the Speaker continued. 'CNN had a story, I think a day or two ago, he was at a 90% approval rating. There's never been a president that high.' Trump's current approval rating stands at 44%, according to a Morning Consult poll released Monday (14 July).
The Guardian
7 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
What are rescissions – and why does Trump want Congress to approve them?
Congressional Republicans are pushing for passage of a rescissions package, legislation requested by Donald Trump that will claw back $9bn in funding intended for foreign aid programs and public broadcasting. The bill, which is part of the president's campaign to slash government spending, passed the House last month, and is now being debated in the Senate. Congress controls the power of the purse by approving a budget and then appropriating money. But under the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, the president may request the rescission of previously authorized funds, and Congress has 45 days to approve it, otherwise the money must be spent. The 45 days on Trump's package of rescissions requests expires on Friday, hence the reason why the GOP is moving to quickly pass the bill. It also explains why the House speaker, Mike Johnson, on Tuesday pleaded with the Senate to 'pass it as is' – meaning the version of the bill that passed his chamber last month. The White House has proposed cancelling a total of $9bn in authorized funding, including $1.1bn budgeted for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds NPR and PBS, and about $8bn meant for foreign assistance programs. On the chopping block is money meant for organizations affiliated with the United Nations and other international organizations, including the World Health Organization and the UN Human Rights Council, as well as for refugee assistance and some USAID programs. No. It initially proposed a rescissions package totaling $9.4bn, but the Senate decided to preserve $400m in funding for Pepfar, a program credited with saving millions of people from infection or death from HIV that was created in 2003, under the Republican president George W Bush. Fairly controversial. Four Republicans voted against it in the House of Representatives, and in the Senate, three Republicans opposed it, requiring the vice-president, JD Vance, to show up and break the 50-50 tie vote that resulted. The Republican senators who opposed it were Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, along with Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the party's former Senate leader who will retire after next year. All three complained that the White House did not provide enough details of exactly what funding would be canceled, while Collins and Murkowski, both moderates, also oppose slashing funding for public broadcasters. It returns to the House for a final vote, due to the changes made in the upper chamber's version. No. Further cuts to government departments and initiatives are expected in the forthcoming budget for the 2026 fiscal year, which begins on 1 October.
