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Washington Post
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Texas flooding, and politics around it, underscore the challenges Trump faces in replacing FEMA
Just weeks ago, President Donald Trump said he wanted to begin 'phasing out' the Federal Emergency Management Agency after this hurricane season to 'wean off of FEMA' and 'bring it down to the state level.' But after months of promises to overhaul or eliminate the federal agency charged with responding to disasters, Trump and his administration are touting a fast and robust federal response to the devastating Texas floods . In doing so, they are aligning more closely with a traditional model of disaster response — and less with the dramatic reform the president has proposed.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Sen. Markey presses the Small Business Administration for flying an extremist flag
After an 'Appeal to Heaven' flag — a Revolutionary War–era symbol that's been adopted by Christian nationalists — was hoisted over the Small Business Administration's headquarters during its flag day ceremony on June 11, Democratic Sen. Ed Markey is demanding answers. In a letter to SBA chief Kelly Loeffler, Markey, the ranking member on the Senate's Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, asked for written responses as to how the decision was made to fly the flag and whether Loeffler signed off on its use. (Loeffler posted photos to X of the event at which the 'Appeal to Heaven' flag was featured.) Markey wrote: In recent years, extremist movements that reject the legitimacy of our democratic institutions have co-opted the Appeal to Heaven flag. These include supporters of Donald Trump's 'Stop the Steal' campaign, which falsely claimed President Biden's 2020 electoral victory was fraudulent. On January 6, 2021, insurrectionists carried the Appeal to Heaven flag, and it has become a favored emblem of Christian nationalist and anti-government factions. Flying such a symbol at a federal agency on a day meant to honor the shared ideals represented by the American flag risks endorsing the messages of groups such as the Proud Boys and other white Christian nationalists, which seek to undermine the rule of law. Jon Lewis, a research fellow at Georgetown University's Program on Extremism, told Wired magazine that the SBA waving the Christian nationalist symbol should be 'shocking to anyone who doesn't want to live in a theocracy.' Lewis said the incident amounted to a clear success for extremists: Those who carried the Appeal to Heaven flag to the Capitol on January 6 did so because they truly believed they had the opportunity to inject Christian fundamentalism into the very foundation of our democracy, and the image of the same flag on the SBA will give them ample evidence they succeeded.' While the Appeal to Heaven flag originated during the American Revolution, it has since been repurposed — largely through the efforts of Christian nationalist figure Dutch Sheets — as a modern-day symbol for extremist Christians, as well as neo-Nazis and other extremist groups. Notably, the flag has also flown at a home of Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito and outside lawmakers' offices (Alito has said his wife raised the flag, and some, like Speaker Mike Johnson, have claimed to be unaware of its contemporary associations). Yet the flag flying above the SBA headquarters suggests that the upper echelons of the Republican Party are unafraid of being associated with Christian nationalists or election deniers who stormed the Capitol. This article was originally published on
ABC News
19-06-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Federal politics live: Technology to ban teens from social media ready to deploy, early report finds
An organisation tasked with testing the technology behind the federal government's social media ban says a preliminary report has found age verification is ready to deploy in Australia. Follow all the updates in our live blog.
The Independent
23-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
‘I'm one of the great Googlers on the East Coast': New head of Social Security had to look up his job when offered
Donald Trump 's new head of the Social Security Administration admitted that, prior to accepting his position, he had had to look it up online. Frank Bisignano boasted to a town hall meeting that he was 'one of the great Googlers on the East Coast,' and had used his 'skills' to quickly look up the role he was being offered. Bisignano, a former Wall Street executive, was sworn in for the top SSA job earlier this month. The SSA is one of the largest federal agencies, and is responsible for the distribution of retirement, disability, and survivor benefits to more than 70 million U.S. citizens. In an audio recording of the town hall, obtained by ABC News, Bisignano reportedly told agency staffers that he had not been looking for a role in the Trump administration before being offered one. "So, I get a phone call and it's about Social Security. And … I'm really not, I swear, I'm not looking for a job," he said, according to the outlet. "And I'm like, 'Well, what am I going to do?'' So 'I'm Googling Social Security. You know, one of my great skills, I'm one of the great Googlers on the East Coast … I'm like, 'What the heck's the commissioner of Social Security?'" Lambasting media leaks, Bisignano added jokingly: "Put that as the headline for the Post: 'Great Googler in Chief. Chief in Googler' or whatever.' According to ABC, he later sought to calm concerns about the future of the agency amid the recent crackdown by Elon Musk 's so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has sought to slash the federal workforce. Bisignano told the managers in the meeting that Social Security was "not going away.' An SSA official said Bisignano was 'clearly' making a joke about needing to Google the details and responsibilities of his new role. The Senate confirmed him to the position May 7, despite Democrats citing his reputation for slashing workforces in the private sector, as well as accusing him of previously having improper contact with SSA officials about operations amid accusations that he was helping DOGE. 'Commissioner Bisignano's proven success in the financial services industry uniquely positions him to lead the Trump administration's commonsense efforts to modernize the agency and improve its efficiency,' Liz Huston, a White House spokesperson, told Nextgov/FCW.
