Latest news with #RichardCowan
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump tax-cut bill could cost $2.4 trillion, less than earlier forecast
By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday lowered its estimate how much President Donald Trump's tax-cut and spending bill will add to the national debt, saying it would add about $2.4 trillion to the nation's $36.2 trillion in liabilities. The new assessment comes a day after key Trump ally Elon Musk blasted the bill as a "disgusting abomination," giving fresh support to Republican deficit hawks who have been pushing back against the measure. An earlier CBO estimate predicted the Republican bill, which passed on May 22 with no Democratic support, would add around $3.8 trillion to Washington's debt over the next decade. The measure, now awaiting action in the Senate, aims to extend Trump's 2017 tax cut law while also achieving steep spending reductions, largely on a healthcare program for the poor. The new CBO estimate takes into account late changes that were made to the bill as Republican leaders steered it to passage. The White House and top congressional Republicans tried to play down the objections of Musk, who joined Trump's team with brash promises of cutting $2 trillion in spending from the federal budget, but left last week having accomplished a small fraction of that. Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune, speaking to reporters, tried to minimize the damage, saying, "We obviously respect everything that Elon did with DOGE. On this particular issue, we have a difference of opinion." The updated analysis is expected to help guide the Republican-controlled Senate, which is now grappling with putting together its own version of the legislation in coming weeks. With Republicans holding a narrow 53-47 Senate majority, warring camps within the party are vying for changes to the House-passed bill. Some have been pushing to scale back the more than $700 billion in savings to Medicaid or to remove costly Trump-backed tax cuts for those earning overtime pay and tipped wages or income from Social Security retirement payments.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
US Head Start preschool programs hit by Trump cuts, funding delays
By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Head Start preschool programs for low-income U.S. children are scrambling to cope with funding cuts and delays, as they feel the squeeze of President Donald Trump's cost-cutting drive. Local administrators and advocates for the program that serves nearly 800,000 children and families say the closure of five U.S. Department of Health and Human Services offices that oversee the program in Chicago, Boston, New York, Seattle and San Francisco has led to delays in processing grant applications. Adding to the strain, Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency released $943 million less in congressionally-approved funding for distribution through April 15 compared with the previous year, according to congressional Democrats' most recent estimates. The delays left hundreds of families searching for costly private care for children through the age of five, according to Head Start association executives in Wisconsin, Illinois and Washington state. Administrators have sought bank loans or other lines of credit to meet their payrolls, as grant approval deadlines loomed. Congress appropriated $12.27 billion to the program in the fiscal year ending September 30. That funds 17,711 Head Start centers across the U.S., according to Tommy Sheridan, deputy director of the National Head Start Association. "The administration continues to slow-walk grants," Jennie Mauer, executive director of the Wisconsin Head Start Association, said in a telephone interview. A Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said in an email that the agency is following Trump's drive to cut spending and that the closure of regional offices in high-cost cities would not reduce services. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., added in a statement, "I will ensure that the next generation of families living in poverty have access to this vital program that offers what they need to thrive.' Head Start focuses on establishing an educational foundation for disadvantaged children and arming them with the social skills needed to succeed in kindergarten and beyond. It teaches early math and reading skills and provides dental, mental and nutritional health services to children and parents at the prenatal stage through birth. CLOSURES, DELAYS One childcare program in central Washington state closed for a few days in late April while awaiting funding, said Joel Ryan, executive director of the Washington State Association of Head Start and Early Childhood Education and Assistance Programs. A Seattle Head Start program was awaiting approval on a grant request for property improvements needed to comply with state licensing requirements, Ryan said, adding, "Nobody is getting back to them." Another Washington state pre-school program was unable to provide vision screenings while it awaited money for new equipment. Around 15% of all enrolled Head Start children have disabilities. At a Friday press conference, Democratic Representative Madeleine Dean said a program in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, submitted a grant application in January. "In five months they've received no updates. Nothing," Dean said, adding that the program runs out of money on May 31 and would result in 360 children losing access to Head Start education and care and 85 employees laid off. Asked about these problems, a HHS spokesperson blamed "outdated and inefficient systems set forth by the Biden administration." 1960S ROOTS An outgrowth of 1960s civil strife, Head Start aimed to provide opportunity for disadvantaged Black families. The program, which celebrated its 60th anniversary on Sunday, has served 40 million racially diverse children and parents now at or below the $32,150 federal poverty line for a family of four living in the continental U.S. The program also is accessible to children who are homeless or in foster care. U.S. Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the senior Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said regional office closures hinder "investigating child health and safety incidents and providing training and technical assistance." Illinois Head Start Association Executive Director Lauri Morrison-Frichtl said the administration requirement that anything related to "diversity, equity and inclusion" be scrubbed from federal grant applications was proving particularly onerous. "DEI is core to our mission," she said in a phone interview, adding that federal regulations require hiring teachers who reflect classroom children. "If it's a majority of Latinos we need to have a Spanish-speaking teacher in that classroom." 'MONEY WE DIDN'T HAVE' Parents with Head Start children fret over program funding going forward. Maria and Omar Castro of Chicago have one biological son and are guardians to two brothers, all of whom are aged between three and five and are enrolled in Head Start. An eight-year-old biological daughter attends public school. Maria, 33, said the two brothers experienced developmental delays, requiring speech and other Head Start assistance. "Obviously that was money we didn't have," Castro said. "I just needed support." The conservative Heritage Foundation urged the termination of Head Start in its "Project 2025" blueprint for a second Trump administration, saying the programs "have little or no long-term academic value for children." The National Head Start Association disputes that claim, noting that participants are 12% less likely to live in poverty as adults and 29% less likely to receive public assistance. Congress is weighing Head Start funding for the next fiscal year. A partial White House budget detailing major spending increases and reductions across the federal government made no mention of Head Start. Castro, whose children are enrolled in the program, said that cuts "would be a blow to the family." While the two older boys will be transitioning to kindergarten, the youngest who is continuing in Head Start "would have nowhere else to go."
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US House looks to move forward on Trump tax cuts in face of Republican disagreements
By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. House of Representatives aims to move forward on Wednesday on a measure that would extend President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts, but first the majority Republicans must overcome internal divisions about whether they are cutting spending sufficiently. Members of Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson's caucus are pushing for about $2 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years, far more than was mandated in the budget passed by the Republican-controlled Senate early Saturday. This is to partly offset the $5.7 trillion that nonpartisan analysts say the measure would add to the national debt over that time. The proposed spending cuts would be coupled with around $5 trillion in tax cuts. The stakes are high, as the U.S. economy has been rocked by Trump's move to impose sweeping new tariffs on imports, sparking Wall Street's worst selloff in five years and raising fears of surging prices and possibly a recession. Success on Wednesday would set off what is expected to be a lengthy, perhaps months-long, series of negotiations before the two chambers can agree on the specifics of the tax and spending plan. In addition to extending Trump's tax cuts - his primary first-term legislative achievement - the measure would stiffen border enforcement and could be used to enact the Republican president's promises to eliminate taxes on overtime pay and tips. Congressional Republicans huddled with Trump at the White House on Tuesday afternoon to try to iron out differences, including deficit hawks' concerns about the measure's toll on the nation's $36.6 trillion national debt. Trump told Republican lawmakers on Tuesday night to get in line, saying, "let me tell you, you don't negotiate like I negotiate." The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said the measure would "allow twice as much borrowing as the House, while requiring only 0.2 percent as much in spending cuts and reforms." Further complicating matters in the House, some moderate Republicans are squirming over prospects of $880 billion in cuts to health and energy programs that Democrats and health advocates say could take a heavy toll on Medicaid, the federal healthcare program for the poor and disabled. "Passing the Republican budget will be a death-blow to the American economy" when coupled with the Trump tariffs, Representative Pete Aguilar, a member of House Democratic leadership, said at a press conference on Tuesday. Aguilar highlighted the proposed Medicaid cuts in particular. The budget resolution under debate on Wednesday is a fiscal outline that is not enacted into law. It does, however, trigger work on a set of specific tax and spending policies that are supposed to adhere to its goals. These likely will take months for Congress to craft. Failure to approve this early step would be a setback for the centerpiece of Trump's agenda, as both chambers of Congress are set to begin a two-week recess on Friday. Johnson called the effort "an historic once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver relief to hard-working families and set our country back on the path of prosperity." Citing analysis by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said that extending the 2017 tax cuts "would increase the size of the economy by an average of 0.3% through 2027" but would "begin subtracting from growth in 2028 and overall shrink the economy in 2034 and beyond."
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US Senate embarks upon exhaustive budget and tax debate
By Richard Cowan and Bo Erickson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Senate on Friday was set to start a marathon session aimed at eventually handing Republican President Donald Trump sweeping legislation to extend tax cuts and achieve budget reductions in the face of staunch Democratic opposition. Late on Thursday, the Senate narrowly voted to open debate on a budget blueprint for the fiscal year beginning on October 1. The 52-48 vote was needed to unlock a fast-track procedure for pole-vaulting the costly tax cuts over blockades that Democrats normally could erect in opposition to the legislation. Republicans have been struggling with worries about whether they can approve enough spending cuts to offset what some outside experts see as a multi-trillion-dollar price tag on their tax cuts. Senate Majority Leader John Thune succeeded in keeping nearly all of his 52 Republican colleagues in line - only Senator Rand Paul voted no - in order to begin the debate. However, it could take months for the Senate and House of Representatives to get to the point of actually voting on legislation that would enact the tax cuts, which some estimate could add around $5 trillion over 10 years to a national debt that already is more than $36.6 trillion. Trump is pushing hard for Republicans, who narrowly control both chambers of Congress, to hand him what he calls "one big beautiful bill" that also would pay for additional resources for securing the southwestern U.S. border with Mexico and to deport immigrants. Democrats were expected to offer scores of amendments, all or nearly all of which Republicans will likely rebuff, that deal with stopping cuts to Medicaid, the federal healthcare program for low-income households and the disabled, as well as ones dealing with veterans, Social Security retirement benefits and trade tariffs imposed unilaterally by Trump that have put financial markets into a tailspin. The debate in what is known as a "vote-a-rama" could stretch into Saturday. "Democrats will expose the dark corners of the Republican plan," Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said in his opening arguments. "We will lay the case for how Republicans will plan to destroy Medicaid as we know it." The House of Representatives' budget outline calls for $880 billion in Medicaid cuts, which Republicans claim can be achieved without cutting benefits but by rooting out what they see as waste, fraud and abuse that they have not yet detailed. But Democrats were not the only obstacle that Thune will have to navigate. Senator Susan Collins and potentially a handful of other Republicans have expressed reservations with different aspects of the legislation. Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas told reporters late on Thursday that leadership was fielding concerns about how the Senate's parliamentarian would enforce rules for this complicated, months-long process. That has spurred Republican discussions of circumventing the parliamentarian in order to gain a more favorable cost estimate for the whole process. At stake is whether Republicans can claim to minimize the costs of their legislation. "I will just speak for myself and say that I would never vote to overturn the parliamentarian," said Senator Susan Collins. Thune told reporters that he would not have moved forward with the legislation on the Senate floor "if we didn't think we were clearly following the law." Another concerned lawmaker was Republican Senator Josh Hawley from Missouri, who said he voted to proceed after he spoke with Trump on Thursday evening on potential Medicaid benefit cuts. "The president said to me tonight that the House will not cut Medicaid benefits, the Senate will not cut Medicaid benefits, and 'I won't sign something with Medicaid benefit cuts in it,'" Hawley recounted, saying Trump's assurance was "completely unequivocal" and a "red line." Senator Rand Paul, the only Republican who voted against proceeding, questioned his party's path to more spending. "It's always been the conservative position not to add debt; not to add extraordinary amounts," Paul said in an interview. "This may well be a record amount of debt. I'm not sure we've ever voted for $5 trillion in debt."
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US Senate vote protesting Trump's tariff moves draws some Republican support
By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Senate on Wednesday is expected to vote on a measure protesting President Donald Trump's new tariffs on Canadian imports, in a move expected to draw some Republican support in that chamber but fall flat in the House of Representatives. The Democratic-sponsored bill would terminate a national emergency Trump declared on January 22, which he linked to illegal imports of the deadly fentanyl drug from Mexico, Canada and China and used to target Canada with steep new tariffs. The measure would need at least four Republican votes to pass in the chamber where Trump's party holds a 53-47 majority. In an overnight social media post he urged four fellow Republicans by name to reject the bill: Senators Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul. Collins said in a speech to the Senate on Wednesday that Trump's proposed Canadian tariffs would hurt several industries in her home state of Maine, including its paper makers, which obtain pulp via a pipeline from Canada. As the debate wore on, Paul also attacked new, steep tariffs on Canada in a Senate speech. Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, the leading sponsor of the tariff-ending bill, noted during debate of the bill that the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal negotiated during Trump's first term as president "has dispute-resolution mechanisms that would make imposition of tariffs unnecessary." Public data shows that about 0.2% of all fentanyl seized in the U.S. comes across the Canadian border. Even if the measure passes the Senate, it is unlikely to advance in the House, where Trump's Republicans also hold a majority.
