Latest news with #appropriations
CNN
3 hours ago
- Politics
- CNN
Live updates: Trump news on Epstein case and US withdrawing from UNESCO
Update: Date: Title: Democrats will face initial spending strategy test during procedural vote this aternoon Content: Senate Democrats are trying to find a cohesive strategy to deal with the funding fight coming to Capitol Hill this fall, and the party will focus the day's lunch meeting on the issue. The issue had badly divided Democrats earlier this year, but the party will face an initial inflection point this afternoon when Senate Majority Leader John Thune pushes forward with a procedural vote on a bipartisan appropriations bill to fund military and veterans issues. The vote will be second in a series scheduled for 2:15 p.m. ET. It's not yet clear what Democrats will do. The measure — one of several appropriations bills — passed with bipartisan support in committee, but several Democrats have warned they are frustrated and losing faith in Republicans on spending issues after their colleagues charged ahead with a $9 billion rescission package last week to claw back already appropriated congressional spending for foreign aid and public broadcasting. Update: Date: Title: DOJ plans to reach out to Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell for meeting Content: The Department of Justice said it plans to reach out to Ghislaine Maxwell for a meeting amid recent calls for the associate of Jeffrey Epstein to testify about the accused sex trafficker. 'Justice demands courage. For the first time, the Department of Justice is reaching out to Ghislaine Maxwell to ask: what do you know? At @AGPamBondi's direction, I've contacted her counsel. I intend to meet with her soon. No one is above the law—and no lead is off-limits,' Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in an X post this morning. Maxwell's attorney David Oscar Markus told CNN, 'I can confirm that we are in discussions with the government and that Ghislaine will always testify truthfully. We are grateful to President Trump for his commitment to uncovering the truth in this case.' Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for carrying out a years-long scheme with Epstein to groom and sexually abuse underage girls. More context: The Trump administration has faced increasing backlash over its handling of the Epstein files. Bondi had long promised to release as many documents in the Justice Department's possession as possible, but walked that promise back in a memo earlier this month announcing that there is no evidence Epstein kept a 'client list' or was murdered. Update: Date: Title: White House removes WSJ reporter from Trump's Scotland trip press pool over Epstein report Content: When the White House took control of the so-called 'press pool' that accompanies the president, journalists worried that the Trump administration would use that power to punish news outlets. The White House said today it will remove the Wall Street Journal from one of the coveted press seats on Trump's upcoming trip to Scotland, Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the change was made 'due to the Wall Street Journal's fake and defamatory conduct,' a reference to the publication's recent story about Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. The July 17 story described a collection of letters gifted to Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003, including a note bearing Trump's name and an outline of a naked woman. Trump filed a lawsuit the next day claiming defamation 'because no authentic letter or drawing exists.' Now the White House is using a tool at its disposal — control over access to Trump — to retaliate against the Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper. 'As the appeals court confirmed, the Wall Street Journal or any other news outlet are not guaranteed special access to cover President Trump in the Oval Office, aboard Air Force One, and in his private workspaces,' Leavitt said. The White House did not immediately respond to a followup question about which news outlet will take the Journal's place. A spokesperson for the Journal declined to comment. But in response to inquiries about the lawsuit last week, a spokesperson said, 'We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.' Update: Date: Title: US will leave UNESCO again, White House says Content: President Donald Trump is pulling the United States out of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), a White House official confirmed to CNN. 'President Trump has decided to withdraw the United States from UNESCO — which supports woke, divisive cultural and social causes that are totally out-of-step with the commonsense policies that Americans voted for in November,' White House deputy spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement. The United States was a founding member of UNESCO in 1945 but withdrew in 1984, citing concerns over financial mismanagement and a perceived bias against US interests. Nearly two decades later, in 2003, the US rejoined the organization during President George W. Bush's administration, with Bush stating that UNESCO had implemented important reforms. In a statement, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce added the US' continued participation in UNESCO is not in its 'national interest.' The withdrawal will take effect on December 31, 2026. More on the international organization: UNESCO 'promotes cooperation in education, science, culture and communication to foster peace worldwide,' its website states. The US also withdrew from UNESCO during the first Trump administration. Trump ordered a review of US participation in early February, including 'an analysis of any anti-Semitism or anti-Israel sentiment within the organization.' Bruce alleged that 'UNESCO works to advance divisive social and cultural causes and maintains an outsized focus on the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, a globalist, ideological agenda for international development at odds with our America First foreign policy.' 'UNESCO's decision to admit the 'State of Palestine' as a Member State is highly problematic, contrary to U.S. policy, and contributed to the proliferation of anti-Israel rhetoric within the organization,' she said. Update: Date: Title: Trump will welcome Philippines president to White House today Content: President Donald Trump is hosting the president of the Philippines today, as his administration continues to work on trade deals. Philippine President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. is expected to arrive at the White House around 11 a.m. ET. Trade talks will be a key focus of the visit to Washington, according to a news release from Marcos Jr.'s office. The Southeast Asian country received a letter from Trump saying he plans to impose a 20% tariff on its exports to the US. Tonight, Trump is also scheduled to meet with Republican lawmakers.
Fox News
a day ago
- Business
- Fox News
Congressional Republicans face bruising battle to avoid government shutdown
Congressional Republicans are facing an uphill battle over the next two months to deliver on their promises to cut spending in the next fiscal year – while avoiding a partial government shutdown if no deal is struck."When's the last time we got 12 appropriations bills actually done, and completed in a couple of weeks? It's almost impossible to do," Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., told Fox News Digital last week. Passing 12 individual appropriations bills, each funding separate aspects of the federal government, has been Republicans' goal each time the Sept. 30 fiscal year (FY) deadline nears. But that has not happened since 1996 — FY1997 — and the partisan environment in Washington has only gotten more polarized since. Recent Republican-backed legislation has all but sidelined the once-powerful appropriations committees in both chambers. Meanwhile, House Republicans are more broadly eager to adhere to the Trump administration's request to cut $163 billion from non-defense government spending than their Senate counterparts – which could result in a standoff between the two chambers. "It's looking like it's going to be higher than what the president's budget is. And that, I'm not a fan of," Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., a member of the House Appropriations Committee, told Fox News Digital last week. Another committee Republican, Rep. Riley Moore, said, "I'm really proud of the work the committee has done so far. I do feel like we're gonna be able to get these bills done. The question is, what's the Senate going to do?" Further compounding difficulties between the two sides of the U.S. Capitol is the 60-vote filibuster threshold that most bills in the Senate must ram through. That means that any spending bills have to be bipartisan, but after Senate Republicans advanced President Donald Trump's $9 billion rescissions package, Senate Democrats have warned that they won't play ball. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said that he would like to go ahead with a regular appropriations process, but that Senate Democrats "have signaled that they don't want one." "The Democrats have been very clear," he said. "They are already conferencing the idea of a government shutdown — I don't have any idea, no idea how that is helpful for them or to anyone." Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., previously warned that if Republicans were successful in passing the rescissions package — after icing out Democrats during the budget reconciliation process — that there could be trouble down the road in generating enough bipartisan support to pass spending bills, nonetheless avert a partial government shutdown. Sen. John Hoeven, chair of the Senate Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies appropriations subcommittee, told Fox News Digital that if Democrats planned to block everything, then "what would you expect?" "By working with us, that's how they actually will get some of their priorities," the North Dakota Republican said. "But when they're going to just block us, then why should their priorities be included?" A House Appropriations Committee member who spoke with Fox News Digital on the condition of anonymity indicated that Republican lawmakers are beginning to accept the possibility of a short-term continuing resolution (CR), a stopgap measure extending the previous fiscal year's funding levels in order to keep the government open. "You could see a situation where you're in a short-term CR, and we'll try to negotiate topline numbers and all that," that House lawmaker said. It's a situation that House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., didn't rule out to reporters early last week – while agreeing with Senate Republicans' concerns about Democrats failing to work across the aisle. "I'm always worried about a shutdown, because I think the Democrats have a very hard time bargaining with Donald Trump. I mean, that's why we ended up in a CR," Cole said, referring to the last round of government funding talks that resulted in a CR from March through the end of FY2025. "We offered them a much better deal than a CR, and they couldn't do it. So I hope this time they can, but the temperature on the other side is very high, and Democratic voters are punishing their own members for cooperating on things like keeping the government open." That could create issue with members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, however, who have fiercely pushed back against CRs or "omnibus" spending bills in the past – though no such standoffs have led to a shutdown in recent years. Both House and Senate Republicans are dealing with razor-thin margins of just three votes. House Republicans scored an important victory last week in passing their $832 billion defense funding bill. That, along with the bill funding military construction and Veterans' Affairs, make up more than half of the discretionary budget requested by the White House earlier this year. But they're not expected to hold House-wide votes on any of the remaining 10 bills before early September, when Congress returns from August recess. Senate Republicans are also gearing up to consider their first spending bill, one for military construction and the VA, on Tuesday that will likely end up being a test of how the appropriations process, and likely government funding extension, will play out in the coming months. Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said after the rescissions package passed that she wanted to see the panel return to form, and in doing so, keeping the bipartisan spirit of appropriations alive. "It is unfortunate that many members of this body have voted to make that a whole lot harder," the Washington state Democrat said. One senior House GOP lawmaker who spoke with Fox News Digital ultimately downplayed concerns of a shutdown, however. "The factors of the Senate wanting more money than the House, Democrats wanting more money than Republicans – those have been in place for a generation. And most of the time, shutdowns don't happen," that lawmaker said. "It would seem to me that although the Democrats are big mad about Elon and Trump, and reconciliation, at some point, that temperature's going to fade and people are going to realize that a shutdown doesn't really serve our national interests."
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Bipartisan government funding is at risk of dying in Trump's Washington
WASHINGTON — For many years, final decisions over how much the U.S. government spends, and how, have required sign-off from leaders of both parties, no matter who controlled the White House or Capitol Hill or the level of polarization. Now, that last vestige of the bipartisan funding process is at risk of dying after a one-two punch by President Donald Trump and the Republican-led Congress. The 'appropriations' process, whereby both parties pass detailed funding bills for various federal agencies every year, has been in a slow decline for decades. But recent moves by the Trump-era GOP to disrupt past funding agreements have accelerated that decline — and, in the view of Democrats and even some weary Republicans, undermined Congress' power of the purse in deference to the White House. First, Republicans passed a $300 billion hike in military spending and immigration enforcement as part of Trump's megabill; and second, they cut $9 billion in domestic money and foreign aid under a rarely used 'rescission' process, allowing the GOP to cancel already approved bipartisan spending with a party-line vote. A Sept. 30 deadline to fund the government or risk a shutdown will test whether a bipartisan deal is still possible, particularly as Trump's top budget aide publicly calls for a more partisan approach. House Republicans have undermined the bipartisan path for years by slamming the resulting deals as 'swamp' creations by a 'uniparty' that is addicted to spending. Now, GOP lawmakers in both chambers are going it alone, suggesting they'll bring more rescissions packages to undo past bipartisan spending agreements because the existing process is failing. 'We don't have an appropriations process. It's broken. It's been broken for a while,' said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., who sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee. He said Congress will likely fall back on continuing resolutions, which largely maintain the status quo, and rescission packages for the remainder of Trump's presidency. Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., a senior appropriator, said the once-respected government funding process has 'disappeared,' calling the latest rescissions package 'a step backwards.' 'It's basically saying: No matter what you decide on, the president is going to be able to change the bill, even for money that's been appropriated,' Durbin said. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, insist the process is alive and well. They will test that theory this week as Thune plans to bring at least one — if not more — appropriations bills to the Senate floor. He has argued that the $9 billion cut hits a tiny portion of the federal budget and shouldn't dissuade Democrats from working toward a deal. 'I would hope, at least for the functioning of our government, that they would be willing to work with us on some things,' Thune said Wednesday on Fox News. 'They haven't been so far.' But even some GOP proponents of the bill admit it adds to the challenges. 'The rescission package — of course, I understand that could complicate things,' said Rep. Robert Aderholt of Alabama, a senior Republican on the House Appropriations Committee. Vought weighs in Just after the Senate overcame objections in both parties to approve the $9 billion spending-cut bill requested by Trump, a comment from White House budget director Russell Vought dropped like a bomb on Capitol Hill. 'The appropriations process has to be less bipartisan,' Vought told reporters at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast Thursday. 'It's not going to keep me up at night, and I think will lead to better results, by having the appropriations process be a little bit partisan.' He added that more rescission packages would be coming. The backlash was fierce. Senate Republicans responsible for crafting the government funding bills were taken aback by his candor. 'Mr. Vought's lack of respect and apparent lack of understanding of how Congress operates is baffling, because he's served in government before,' Collins told NBC News. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said Vought 'disrespects' the appropriations process in Congress with his 'dismissive' comments. 'I think he thinks that we are irrelevant,' she said. And Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Thursday called on Trump to 'fire Russell Vought immediately, before he destroys our democracy and runs the country into the ground.' The series of clashes escalates tensions leading up to the fall deadline, with top Democrats warning ahead of the vote that they would have little incentive to provide the 60 votes to cut a deal. 'It is absurd to expect Democrats to play along with funding the government if Republicans are just going to renege on a bipartisan agreement by concocting rescissions packages behind closed doors that can pass with only their votes,' Schumer warned in a recent speech. The debate over the demise of individual lawmakers getting to dictate where federal funding is allocated came to a head during a recent meeting of the Senate Appropriations Committee, with many senators arguing that the work they were doing in that moment may just be overridden by congressional leadership and the president. 'The one thing we all agree on is the appropriations process is broken,' former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., lamented, describing how during his 18 years leading the GOP conference he helped oversee a shift away from government funding levels being decided by committees and instead being negotiated by only the highest levels of leadership and the White House. 'I concluded our failure to pass our bills empower every president, regardless of party, because I've been in those discussions at the end, the big four and the guy with the pen, and that makes all of our requests irrelevant,' McConnell said. Collins has repeatedly blamed the decline of the process on Schumer's refusal to put appropriations bills on the Senate floor. That has also been a slow-moving trend: McConnell and former Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., also short-circuited the process on the floor when in charge. Rising partisanship has weakened committees broadly and placed more power in the hands of leadership. In the context of government funding, that led to 'omnibus' spending bills and continuing resolutions — or CRs — negotiated by party leaders and jammed through Congress, often with an impending deadline to pressure holdouts to fall in line quickly. But House Republicans raised hell, torching the massive bills negotiated behind closed doors as a betrayal to their constituents. In recent years, they have successfully steered their leadership away from that approach. And it leaves few options going forward. 'What the math tells us' Durbin, who is retiring after a 30-year Senate career, reminisced about when the process was at the peak of its powers — last century. The last time Congress completed it through 'regular order' was in the 1990s. 'There was a time when we called 12 appropriation bills to the floor, open for amendment! Can you imagine that?' Durbin said. 'I remember. And you had to do your job in the committee. You had to have a subcommittee lined up on a bipartisan basis, a full committee lined up on a bipartisan basis. And the committee stood together. And you could find enough to support it to pass something. That, I think, really reflected the best of the Senate.' He attributed the change to the growing discord between the parties and the declining 'reputation of the Appropriations Committee,' although he credited Collins and Vice Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash., with trying to restore the bipartisan spirit of the panel. Collins, notably, is on an island as the only GOP senator who voted against both attempts to rewrite government funding — in the megabill and rescissions package. Collins is also up for re-election next year in a Democratic-leaning state that Trump lost in 2024. Sarah Binder, a political scientist at George Washington University and the Brookings Institution, said the megabill's changes to GOP spending priorities 'undermines the rough parity between defense and nondefense discretionary spending that until recently made bipartisan deals possible.' She added, 'The Trump OMB's aggressive impoundments of enacted appropriations severely threatens Congress' power of the purse and with it the authority and expertise of and oversight by appropriators.' Yet even as Republicans find new ways to go around the Senate's 60-vote threshold, Thune has promised he won't abolish the filibuster. He distanced himself from Vought's remarks. 'Well, that runs contrary to what the math tells us around here,' he said. 'So, we need 60 on approps bills. And it's going to take 60 to fund the government.' The path to a new funding law is murky, at best. And Collins, for now, maintains confidence in the bipartisan appropriations process. When asked if she has any concerns about its future, Collins told NBC News, 'None whatsoever.' This article was originally published on
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Murkowski: Vought ‘disrespects' the government funding process
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) on Thursday said she thinks White House budget chief Russell Vought 'disrespects' Congress's annual funding process after he said it should be 'less bipartisan.' 'I think he disrespects it,' Murkowski said. 'I think he thinks that we are irrelevant, and I wish I had actually heard the speech.' Vought drew attention Thursday for remarks he made at an event hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, at which he said 'the appropriations process has to be less bipartisan.' 'There is no voter in the country that went to the polls and said, 'I'm voting for a bipartisan appropriations process,'' he said. 'That may be the view of something that appropriators want to maintain, and I want to have very good relationships with all Republican appropriators.' As for Democratic appropriators, Vought said he's 'willing to work with' them 'if they conduct themselves with decorum.' 'I think it will lead to better results by having the appropriations process be a little bit partisan, and I don't think it's necessarily leading to a shutdown, I think we will be able to get to a good result,' he said, while criticizing how the appropriations process has been carried out in Congress thus far. He also said the power of the purse remains with Congress, but he added, 'It's a ceiling. It is not a floor. It is not the notion that you have to spend every last dollar of that.' 'Two hundred years of presidents had the ability to spend less than appropriations and did,' he argued. 'It was not only precedent, but it was a part of how the original founders understood what they were separating, the powers between the executive and the legislative branch.' Murkowski said later on Thursday that quotes she's seen in coverage of Vought's comments appear 'pretty dismissive of the appropriations process.' She was also asked about the administration's plans to send Congress additional requests for cuts to funding previously approved by lawmakers. Congress is on the verge of passing legislation that cuts roughly $9 billion in foreign aid and public broadcasting funds ahead of a looming Friday deadline. The Senate passed the rescissions package early Thursday morning, with Murkowski voting against it. 'I do not think that should be our path,' Murkowski, a senior GOP appropriator, said. 'It's not legislating. It's basically the White House saying this is what we want you to do. Take it or leave it.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
House advances $832 billion military budget plan for next fiscal year
House lawmakers advanced their $832 billion defense appropriations plan for fiscal 2026 early Friday morning despite strong objections from Democrats over missing budgetary details and social issue fights. The bill's passage — by a 221-209 margin, with only five Democrats backing the measure — sends the national security budget debate over to the Senate, where appropriators still have not unveiled the parameters of their spending plans for next year. The Defense Department is currently operating this fiscal year under a modified continuing resolution, with some additional funding for military programs and purchases. Lawmakers are hopeful that won't happen again next year, but the slow pace of budget work thus far leaves only about six weeks of session work left before a possible partial government shutdown if the appropriations bills aren't finalized. The House spending plan was largely drafted before Pentagon leaders unveiled their detailed budgetary requests for fiscal 2026 just last month. President Donald Trump has touted that outline as a '$1 trillion defense budget,' but that total includes additional one-time funds approved by Congress as part of a separate reconciliation measure. House appropriators OK rebukes to recent DOD scandals in budget bill As such, the House plan for the base defense budget represents a small decrease over current fiscal year military spending, a point that Democrats and some Republican lawmakers have lamented. But Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee's defense panel, praised the funding plan as 'providing our men and women in uniform with the resources they need to keep America safe.' The bill supports a 3.8% pay raise for servicemembers next year, matching the federal formula for the annual prescribed pay boost. It includes $2.6 billion for hypersonics programs and $13 billion for missile defense programs in support of Trump's Golden Dome effort. The measure sets aside $8.5 billion for 69 F-35 fighters, $3.8 billion for B-21 procurement, $2.7 billion for 15 KC-46s and $1.2 billion for four E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft. Another $37 billion would go to Navy shipbuilding efforts, including procurement of one Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine and two Virginia-class fast attack submarines. Under the plan, the Defense Department civilian workforce would be cut by about 45,000 individuals at a savings of $3.6 billion, a provision that drew strong objections from Democratic lawmakers. Critics also attacked the bill's social issue provisions, including language prohibiting military health care facilities from providing abortion services, bans on transgender medical care and surgeries, and elimination of diversity and equity programs. 'These poison pill riders will not go unnoticed by our troops,' said Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., ranking member on the appropriations committee's defense panel. 'They will impact recruitment and retention.' Passage of the defense budget bill was delayed for much of the week by unrelated legislative floor fights in the House, and could be complicated in the Senate by similar, broader fights over federal spending and program cuts. House lawmakers are expected to shift focus in coming days to the annual defense authorization bill — legislation which sets Defense Department policy and spending priorities for the upcoming year, but does not actually appropriate the funds for those goals — but a full floor debate on that measure is unlikely to happen before the chamber's August recess.
