GOP senator advocates for opportunity to 'see' Trump's agenda through
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CBS News
23 minutes ago
- CBS News
Trump signs rescissions bill clawing back foreign aid, NPR and PBS funding
Washington — President Trump signed legislation to claw back $9 billion in foreign aid and public broadcasting funding, the first time in decades that Congress has approved a president's request to rescind previously approved funding. White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said Thursday that the package was "officially signed." Both the Senate and House passed the legislation, known as a rescissions request, in overnight votes last week before a July 18 deadline. Each chamber ran into different hurdles in getting it over the finish line ahead of the deadline, after which the funds would have had to be spent as Congress originally intended. The bill targets roughly $8 billion for foreign assistance programs, including the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID. The package also includes about $1 billion in funding cuts for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports public radio and television stations, including NPR and PBS. Though all but two Republican senators ended up supporting final passage in the upper chamber, some said they had reservations about doing so, especially because they had not received details from the administration about how the broader cuts would impact specific programs. Two major points of contention were funding for a global AIDS prevention program and radio and broadcast stations in rural and tribal areas, which play a critical role in communicating emergency alerts and other information to residents. The final version of the package removed $400 million in cuts to the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, also known as PEPFAR, in an effort to appease some critics. The administration promised to find funding elsewhere to alleviate the cuts to the rural stations to win over others. Two House Republicans also opposed its passage in the lower chamber. Republicans said they expect it will be the first of multiple packages to claw back funding that they have characterized as "waste, fraud and abuse." Any future request is sure to spark another battle with lawmakers, some of whom have criticized the legislative body for giving up its budget oversight and ceding to the president's demands.
The Hill
25 minutes ago
- The Hill
Bipartisan senators seek to prevent Trump from cutting EPA science research office
A bipartisan Senate appropriations bill seeks to prevent the Trump administration from cutting the EPA's scientific research office. Text of the appropriations bill, which advanced 26-2 on Thursday, was not immediately available. However, a summary posted online states that the bill 'requires EPA to maintain its Office of Research and Development to ensure cutting-edge research, such as research into the risks from hazardous chemicals like PFAS or contaminated water, continues.' This bipartisan pushback comes as the Trump administration said last week that it wants to eliminate the EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD). It did announce previously that it wanted to create a different science office known as the Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions (OASES). OASES will be within the office of the administrator while ORD is its own office within EPA. Critics of this restructure have warned that it creates the potential for more bias and political influence in what should be independent science. The Trump administration has billed the changes as improving 'the effectiveness and efficiency of EPA operations.' Every year, Congress needs to pass an appropriations bill to fund the government. Doing so requires at least some degree of bipartisan consensus because of the Senate's 60-vote threshold to clear the filibuster. It's not entirely clear whether this provision or any others will remain in a bill that ultimately passes, as both the House and the Senate need to agree. However, its inclusion in the bipartisan Senate legislation shows it has a strong chance of passing. In addition, the Senate proposal appears to reject some cuts proposed by the Trump administration. It also maintains funding levels at the National Park Service, where the Trump administration has proposed 30 percent operations and payroll cuts. A Senate aide told The Hill that the bill includes requirements for staff to carry out the mission of the agency, but does not have an explicit minimum staffing level. Senators rejected an amendment from Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) that would require the Interior Department, National Park Service and Forest Service to maintain 2020 staffing levels in a 15-14 party-line vote.
Miami Herald
25 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
In usual self-sabotage, Florida Democrats argue over gubernatorial candidate
The Democratic Party already has an uphill battle to retake the Florida governor's office after more than 30 years of Republican dominance. Debating whether the party's only main candidate so far is pure in his support for abortion rights seems like a waste of time for a party that hasn't won any statewide elections in years. And, yet, you can always count on liberals to shoot themselves in the foot with purity and ideological tests, as it's happening with a debate surrounding David Jolly, the former Tampa-area Republican congressman who's running for governor as a Democrat. The infighting has been playing out this month on the opinion pages of the Miami Herald and elsewhere. It began with an op-ed by Anna Hochkammer, executive director of the Florida Women's Freedom Coalition political committee, who urged Democratic voters to be skeptical about Jolly's abortion stance. Jolly, the son of a Baptist pastor, did cast anti-abortion votes when he was in Congress, including signing onto the Life at Conception Act that would have given full legal rights to a fertilized egg. He has said he's evolved on the issue and now supports abortion up to the point of viability, usually at around 24 weeks of gestation, and is against onerous abortion regulations such as waiting periods and mandatory ultrasounds. Many Democrats are upset by Hochkammer's op-ed and her political committee's fundraising calls on the topic — one them says, 'We're not going to let 'moderate' men like David Jolly posture as reasonable,' Politico reported. Party figures fear the controversy could motivate somebody else to jump in the Democratic primary and drag Jolly into a costly intra-party battle before the 2026 general elections happen. The debate over Jolly's support for abortion rights ignores that he still is vastly more supportive of reproductive rights than any Republican he's likely to face if he's the Democratic nominee in November 2026. U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, whose gubernatorial bid has been endorsed by President Trump, supports banning abortions in most cases after six weeks, according to Politico. A group of high-profile, pro-life women from Miami and Florida penned an op-ed in response to Hochkammer. On Jolly's evolution on abortion, they wrote: ...'when faced with the tangible and tragic harms resulting from restrictive abortion policies, his view changed,' and that he vowed to try to put into law Amendment 4, a ballot initiative that got over 57% voter support last year but failed to meet a 60% threshold for passage. Abortion rights are obviously an important issue in Florida after Republicans passed an extreme six-week ban. But, as a political issue, Democrats learned last year that reproductive rights did not help them win seats as they expected. Trump carried Florida easily even though Amendment 4 got majority support. Democrats, if they still have a chance to win a gubernatorial election in Florida — and that's a big if — should focus on the issues that are top of mind for voters, mainly the state's housing, affordability and property insurance crises, issues that Jolly's campaign says he would focus on. It's clear that some Democratic heavyweights are trying to clear the field for Jolly and avoid a primary, something that could backfire if progressives feel party leaders are engaging in the type of kingmaking that cost Hillary Clinton support in 2016, when many felt the party sidelined U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders. A column posted on the Daily Kos website called Jolly 'Charlie Crist 2.0' in reference to the former Republican-governor-turned Democrat who lost to Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022 by a landslide and failed to motivate the Democratic base. The real problem isn't Crist or Jolly, but the lack of a Democratic bench of strong candidates who can run statewide. Republicans, on the other hand, have a vast roster of proven political candidates. There's still the possibility of a bloody primary between Donalds and First Lady Casey DeSantis if she decides to run. But we know that, once a nominee is chosen, Republicans will fall in line, as they did when Trump became the presidential nominee in 2016. As the underdog, the Florida Democratic Party has a lot more to lose by engaging in ideological fights with each other. Click here to send the letter.
