US oil inventories fall 5.8M barrels last week
Crude oil inventories decreased by about 5.8 million barrels last week, compared to expectations for a fall of about 1.3 million barrels.
Meanwhile, gasoline inventories declined by 2.1 million barrels, and distillate stocks—including diesel and heating oil—fell by 4.1 million barrels.
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Arab News
8 hours ago
- Arab News
With gavel in hand, Trump chisels away at the power of a compliant Congress
WASHINGTON: 'Mr. President, this is the gavel used to enact the 'big, beautiful bill,'' House Speaker Mike Johnson said at a White House signing ceremony on the Fourth of July. 'I want you to have it,' he said. Handing over the gavel delighted President Donald Trump who, seated behind a desk outdoors, immediately tested it out with a few quick thumps. The moment left a memorable mark on a historic day. The gesture reflected a traditional nod of honor, from one leader to another, a milestone of the Republican Party's priority legislation becoming law. But the imagery also underscored a symbolic transfer of political power, from Capitol Hill to the White House as a compliant Congress is ceding more and more of its prerogative to the presidency. Congress gives Trump what he wants Since Trump's return to the White House in January, and particularly in the past few weeks, Republicans in control of the House and Senate have shown an unusual willingness to give the president of their party what he wants, regardless of the potential risk to themselves, their constituents and Congress itself. Republicans raced to put the big package of tax breaks and spending cuts on Trump's desk by his Independence Day deadline. Senators had quickly confirmed almost all of Trump's outsider Cabinet nominees despite grave reservations over Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary, Pete Hegseth as the Pentagon chief and others. House Republicans pursued Trump's interest in investigating his perceived foes, including investigating Democratic President Joe Biden'suse of the autopen. But at the same time, Congress hit the brakes on one of its own priorities, legislation imposing steep sanctions on Russia over its war on Ukraine, after Trump announced he was allowing President Vladimir Putin an additional 50 days to negotiate a peace deal, dashing hopes for a swifter end to the conflict. This past week, Congress was tested anew, delivering on Trump's request to rescind some $9 billion that lawmakers had approved but that the administration wanted to eliminate, including money for public broadcasting and overseas aid. It was a rare presidential request, a challenge to the legislative branch's power of the purse, that has not been used in decades. The pressure on Republicans is taking its toll 'We're lawmakers. We should be legislating,' said a defiant Sen. Lisa Murkowksi, R-Alaska, as she refused to support the White House's demand to rescind money for National Public Radio and others. 'What we're getting now is a direction from the White House and being told, 'This is the priority. We want you to execute on it. We'll be back with you with another round,'' she said. 'I don't accept that.' Congress, the branch of government the Founding Fathers placed first in the Constitution, is at a familiar crossroads. During the first Trump administration, Republicans frightened by Trump's angry tweets of disapproval would keep their criticisms private. Those who did speak up — Liz Cheney of Wyoming in the House and Mitt Romney of Utah in the Senate, among others — are gone from Capitol Hill. One former GOP senator, Jeff Flake of Arizona, who announced in 2017 during Trump's first term that he would not seek reelection the next year, is imploring Republicans to find a better way. 'The fever still hasn't broken,' he wrote recently in The New York Times. 'In today's Republican Party, voting your conscience is essentially disqualifying.' Seeking a 'normal' Congress But this time, the halls of Congress are filled with many Republicans who came of political age with Trump's 'Make America Great Again' movement and owe their ascent to the president himself. Many are emulating his brand and style as they shape their own. A new generation of GOP leaders, Johnson in the House and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, have pulled closer to Trump. They are utilizing the power of the presidency in ways large and small — to broker deals, encourage wayward lawmakers to fall in line, even to set schedules. Johnson, R-Louisiana, has openly pined for what he calls a 'normal Congress.' But short of that, the speaker relies on Trump to help stay on track. When Republicans hit an impasse on cryptocurrency legislation, a Trump priority, it was the president who met with holdouts in the Oval Office late Tuesday night as Johnson called in by phone. The result is a perceptible imbalance of power as the executive exerts greater authority while the legislative branch dims. The judicial branch has been left to do the heavy lift of checks and balances with the courts processing hundreds of lawsuits over the administration's actions. 'The genius of our Constitution is the separation of power,' said Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the former speaker, in an interview on SiriusXM's 'Mornings with Zerlina.' 'That the Republicans in Congress would be so ignoring of the institution that they represent, and that have just melted the power of the incredibly shrinking speakership' and Senate leadership positions, 'to do all of these things, to cater to the executive branch,' she said. Confronting Trump comes with costs Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., endured Trump's criticism over his opposition to the tax and spending cuts bill. The senator raised concerns about steep cuts to hospitals, but the president threatened to campaign against him. Tillis announced he would not seek reelection in 2026. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, voted against that bill and the rescissions package despite Trump's threat to campaign against any dissenters. One Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, appears to be pressing on, unphased. He recently proposed legislation to force the administration to release the Jeffrey Epstein files, something the president had been reluctant to do. 'Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that if the president wants something, you must do it,' said Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, in a Senate speech. 'We don't have to do this. We don't have to operate under the assumption that this man is uniquely so powerful.'
Arab News
a day ago
- Arab News
‘Frightening': Trump's historic power grab worries experts
WASHINGTON: Donald Trump has spent six months testing the limits of his authority like no other modern US president, say analysts — browbeating Congress and the courts in a power grab that may come to define his second term. Since January, the Republican leader has repeatedly pushed to secure more power for himself, calling for judges to be axed, firing independent watchdogs and sidestepping the legislative process. Barbara Perry, a University of Virginia professor and an expert on the presidency, called Trump's successes in shattering the restraints on his office 'frightening.' 'All presidents have been subject to Congress's and the Supreme Court's checks on their power, as well as splits in their own political parties,' she said. 'Trump has faced almost none of these counterpoints in this second term.' It is all a far cry from his first stint in office, when Trump and his supporters believe he was hamstrung by investigations and 'deep state' officials seeking to frustrate his agenda. But those guardrails have looked brittle this time around as Trump has fired federal workers, dismantled government departments and sent military troops into the streets to quell protest. He has also sought to exert his influence well beyond traditional presidential reach, ruthlessly targeting universities and the press, and punishing law firms he believes have crossed him. Checks and balances The US system of checks and balances — the administration, the courts and Congress as equal but separate branches of government — is designed to ensure no one amasses too much power. But when it comes to Trump's agenda — whether ending diversity efforts and birthright citizenship or freezing foreign aid — he has largely dodged the hard work of shepherding bills through Congress. Policies have instead been enacted by presidential edict. Six months in, Trump has already announced more second-term executive orders than any American leader since Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s. He has even sought to bend the economy to his will, escalating attacks on the chief of the independent central bank in a bid to lower interest rates. Once a robust restraining force against presidential overreach, the Republican-led Congress has largely forsaken its oversight role, foregoing the investigations that previous presidents have faced. That has left the judiciary as the main gatekeeper. But Trump has managed partly to neuter the authority of the federal bench too, winning a Supreme Court opinion that mostly reduces the reach of judges' rulings to their own states. In his first term the high court made Trump immune from prosecution for actions taken as part of his official duties — no matter how criminal. And almost every time Trump has turned to the country's highest legal tribunal to rein in the lower courts in his second term, it has obliged. 'Project 2025' His long shadow has extended far beyond Washington's institutions, pushing into private realms his predecessors avoided. Trump has picked fights with elite universities, prestigious law firms and the press — threatening funding or their ability to do business. The arts haven't escaped his clunking fist either, with the 79-year-old taking over the running of the Kennedy Center in Washington. Trump has claimed falsely that the US Constitution gives him the right to do whatever he wants as the ultimate authority over government activities. This so-called 'unitary executive theory' was pushed in the 'Project 2025' blueprint for government produced by Trump's right-wing allies during last year's election campaign. Although he disavowed 'Project 2025' after it became politically toxic, Trump's own platform made the same claims for expansive presidential powers. Pessimistic about the other branches' ability to hold the administration to account, the minority Democrats have largely been limited to handwringing in press conferences. Political strategist Andrew Koneschusky, a former senior Democratic Senate aide, believes the checks on Trump's authority may ultimately have to be political rather than legal or constitutional. He points to Trump's tanking polling numbers — especially on his signature issue of immigration following mass deportations of otherwise law-abiding undocumented migrants. 'It's not entirely comforting that politics and public opinion are the primary checks on his power,' Koneschusky said. 'It would be better to see Congress flex its muscle as a co-equal branch of government. But it's at least something.'
Al Arabiya
2 days ago
- Al Arabiya
Epa eliminates research and development office, begins layoffs
The Environmental Protection Agency said Friday it is eliminating its research and development arm and reducing agency staff by thousands of employees. The agency's Office of Research and Development has long provided the scientific underpinnings for EPA's mission to protect the environment and human health. The EPA said in May it would shift its scientific expertise and research efforts to program offices that focus on major issues like air and water. The agency said Friday it is creating a new Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions that will allow it to focus on research and science more than ever before. Once fully implemented, the changes will save the EPA nearly 750 million, officials said. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement that the changes announced Friday would ensure the agency is better equipped than ever to deliver on our core mission of protecting human health and the environment while Powering the Great American Comeback. The EPA also said it is beginning the process to eliminate thousands of jobs following a Supreme Court ruling last week that cleared the way for President Donald Trump's plans to downsize the federal workforce despite warnings that critical government services will be lost and hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be out of their jobs. Total staffing at EPA will go down to 12448, a reduction of more than 3700 employees or nearly 23 percent from staffing levels in January when Trump took office, the agency said. 'This reduction in force will ensure we can better fulfill that mission while being responsible stewards of your hard-earned tax dollars,' Zeldin said, using a government term for mass firings. 'Heart and brain of EPA' The research and development office is the 'heart and brain of the EPA,' said Justin Chen, president of American Federation of Government Employees Council 238, which represents thousands of EPA employees. 'Without it, we don't have the means to assess impacts upon human health and the environment,' Chen said. 'It's destruction will devastate public health in our country.' The research office – EPA's main science arm – currently has 1540 positions excluding special government employees and public health officers, according to agency documents reviewed by Democratic staff on the House Committee on Science Space and Technology earlier this year. As many as 1155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists, and other scientists could be laid off, the documents indicated. The research office has 10 facilities across the country stretching from Florida and North Carolina to Oregon. An EPA spokeswoman said Friday that all laboratory functions currently conducted by the research office will continue. In addition to the reduction in force or RIF, the agency also is offering the third round of deferred resignations for eligible employees including research office staff, spokeswoman Molly Vaseliou said. The application period is open until July 25. Declaration of dissent The EPA's announcement comes two weeks after the agency put on administrative leave 139 employees who signed a declaration of dissent with agency policies under the Trump administration. The agency accused the employees of unlawfully undermining Trump's agenda. In a letter made public June 30, the employees wrote that 'the EPA is no longer living up to its mission to protect human health and the environment'. The letter represented rare public criticism from agency employees who knew they could face retaliation for speaking out.
