Latest news with #federalcuts
CTV News
08-07-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Unions warn public service will be ‘bearing the brunt' of federal government's savings plan
A sign for the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) in Ottawa on March 25, 2025. (Peter Szperling/CTV News Ottawa) Unions representing federal workers say Canadians will bear the cost of expected cuts to the public service as Prime Minister Mark Carney's government prepares to tighten the belt and find savings in day-to-day operating costs. CTV News learned Monday that federal ministers have been asked to find 7.5 per cent savings for the 2026-27 fiscal year that begins on April 1, 2026 followed by 10 per cent in 2027-28 and 15 per cent in 2028-29 in an effort to find 'long-term savings,' a promise Carney made during the election campaign. 'I'm very concerned by this announcement. The prime minister promised caps and not cuts and it definitely feels like the public service workers are going to be bearing the brunt of this,' Sharon DeSousa, president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), told CTV News Ottawa on Tuesday. 'We need to be working together. The government needs to work with its workers and unions and not around them. I think there's a better approach then the same old lazy austerity measures.' PSAC and other unions received a briefing from the federal government on Tuesday outlining the expenditure review called by the federal government. DeSousa says she wished the government had consulted with workers and unions before announcing the measures, saying workers know where gaps and efficiencies can be found to cut costs. 'There's no obligation to consult, so once again, we have department heads making decisions and that's what worries me the most is that you're not consulting people with expertise that are actually doing the jobs,' she said. Carney has pledged a slate of spending measures aimed to boost affordability and defence. It includes a middle-class tax cut and a $9.3 billion to meet NATO's defence spending target of two per cent of GDP by this fiscal year. During the federal election, Carney had promised to find savings from 'increased government efficiency' with $6 billion in savings in 2026-27 and $13 billion a year in 2028-29. A report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says $13 billion in savings will 'mostly be in personnel expenditures in non-defence departments,' amounting to a 24 per cent cut in government spending. It suggested Carney's election promises could bring about the 'worst cuts in modern history' to the federal public service. The move comes as the federal government prepares a 2025 budget set to be tabled this fall. Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE) president Nathan Prier said arbitrary austerity measures' would undermine the workers who will carry out the government's wishes to build major nation-building projects. 'When governments make big promises to Canadians, public sector employees are the ones who deliver on them. And when ideological governments directly undermine their productivity, Canadians ultimately suffer the consequences,' Prier said in a statement. 'Mark Carney's current proposals are another rehash of the last Liberal government – arbitrary austerity measures completely disconnected from the question of who is going to deliver on his promises to Canadians.' Prier said the union is advocating for cost-cutting measures that don't 'attack' the federal workforce and seeks changes to 'bloated' management ranks, dependence on private contractors and reiterated a desire to reduce the public service's real estate footprint by allowing workers to work from home. A report from the C.D. Howe Institute released last week said it projects Canada's deficit could top $92 billion this fiscal year alone, in part due to the government's defence spending commitments. William Robson, who serves as the CEO of the C.D. Howe Institute, believes it's possible the government can make savings in its operating spending without degrading the quality of public services. 'When you look at a lot of things that the federal government does and you look at the increased in spending that occurred over the last decade and the increased in headcount over the last decade, its not obvious there's any direct connection between the costs of operating the federal government and the quality of the services that we're getting,' he said. Robson is calling on the government to make steeper cuts to program spending and reduce federal transfers to provinces. 'If you're going to have these very expensive traditional defence commitments, you need to either look at a source of revenue that isn't personal or corporate income taxes or you have to look at spending cuts,' Robson said. 'Something has to give.' Statistics released by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat in the spring show 357,965 people worked for the federal government as of March 31, down from 367,772 people in 2024. With files from CTV News Ottawa's Austin Lee and CTV's Stephanie Ha
CNN
25-06-2025
- Business
- CNN
White House's DOGE spending cuts request runs into criticism, questions from some Senate Republicans
The head of the White House budget office on Wednesday defended the Trump administration's push to enact sweeping cuts to federal funding, even as some Republican senators voiced concerns and raised questions about the breadth of them. In opening remarks in front of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought said the package – known on Capitol Hill as 'rescissions' – awaiting a Senate vote was 'carefully crafted, with input from Congress, to cut funding the American people find wholly objectionable.' The package, which claws back about $9.4 billion in previously appropriated government spending, was approved by the House earlier this month. During the hearing, several Republican senators raised questions about the types of programs the Trump administration has proposed to slash or questioned how it is planning to go about implementing them. The White House sent the spending cuts request to Congress in early June as it seeks to formalize a slew of DOGE cuts to federal funding. The senators' concerns were primarily focused on proposed cuts to PEPFAR, an initiative aimed at combating HIV and AIDS enacted two decades ago by President George W. Bush's administration that has been credited with saving tens of millions of lives, and proposed cuts to public broadcasting that some senators suggested could impact how information is relayed to rural communities. GOP Sen. Susan Collins, the chair of the committee, said that PEPFAR 'remains a bipartisan priority of Congress.' The Maine senator added that cutting funding focused on preventing disease transmission 'would be extraordinarily ill-advised and short-sighted.' Vought denied funding for lifesaving programs would be affected by the package. He said it was critical that the American people 'understand that many foreign aid programs use benevolent-sounding titles to hide truly appalling activity that is not in line with American interests.' Additionally, both Collins and South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds also sought assurances from Vought that public broadcasting cuts would not affect rural public-interest stations that can include emergency communications and hyper-local public-interest programming. The cuts target the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a small chunk of the federal budget that provides some public funding for NPR and PBS. During the hearing, Sen. Mitch McConnell emphasized the importance of the US maintaining 'soft power' overseas. 'Reforming the way we invest in peace and stability is certainly worthwhile,' the Kentucky Republican said. 'And there's plenty of absolute nonsense masquerading as American aid that shouldn't receive another bit of taxpayer funding.' 'But the administration's attempt to root it out has been unnecessarily chaotic. In critical corners of the globe, instead of creating efficiencies, you've created vacuums for adversaries like China to fill,' McConnell continued. 'Responsible investments in soft power prevent conflict, preserve American influence, and save countless lives at the same time.'
CNN
25-06-2025
- Business
- CNN
White House's DOGE spending cuts request runs into criticism, questions from some Senate Republicans
The head of the White House budget office on Wednesday defended the Trump administration's push to enact sweeping cuts to federal funding, even as some Republican senators voiced concerns and raised questions about the breadth of them. In opening remarks in front of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought said the package – known on Capitol Hill as 'rescissions' – awaiting a Senate vote was 'carefully crafted, with input from Congress, to cut funding the American people find wholly objectionable.' The package, which claws back about $9.4 billion in previously appropriated government spending, was approved by the House earlier this month. During the hearing, several Republican senators raised questions about the types of programs the Trump administration has proposed to slash or questioned how it is planning to go about implementing them. The White House sent the spending cuts request to Congress in early June as it seeks to formalize a slew of DOGE cuts to federal funding. The senators' concerns were primarily focused on proposed cuts to PEPFAR, an initiative aimed at combating HIV and AIDS enacted two decades ago by President George W. Bush's administration that has been credited with saving tens of millions of lives, and proposed cuts to public broadcasting that some senators suggested could impact how information is relayed to rural communities. GOP Sen. Susan Collins, the chair of the committee, said that PEPFAR 'remains a bipartisan priority of Congress.' The Maine senator added that cutting funding focused on preventing disease transmission 'would be extraordinarily ill-advised and short-sighted.' Vought denied funding for lifesaving programs would be affected by the package. He said it was critical that the American people 'understand that many foreign aid programs use benevolent-sounding titles to hide truly appalling activity that is not in line with American interests.' Additionally, both Collins and South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds also sought assurances from Vought that public broadcasting cuts would not affect rural public-interest stations that can include emergency communications and hyper-local public-interest programming. The cuts target the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a small chunk of the federal budget that provides some public funding for NPR and PBS. During the hearing, Sen. Mitch McConnell emphasized the importance of the US maintaining 'soft power' overseas. 'Reforming the way we invest in peace and stability is certainly worthwhile,' the Kentucky Republican said. 'And there's plenty of absolute nonsense masquerading as American aid that shouldn't receive another bit of taxpayer funding.' 'But the administration's attempt to root it out has been unnecessarily chaotic. In critical corners of the globe, instead of creating efficiencies, you've created vacuums for adversaries like China to fill,' McConnell continued. 'Responsible investments in soft power prevent conflict, preserve American influence, and save countless lives at the same time.'
Malay Mail
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Malay Mail
They voted for Trump — most still support him, but not without reservations
Most Trump voters are pleased with his immigration policy Tariff policy and federal workforce cuts are a concern for many Some question Trump's use of executive orders and ethical issues WASHINGTON, June 25 — From her corner of the United States near Houston, Texas, stay-at-home mother Loretta Torres, 38, admires President Donald Trump's confidence and bargaining style. She has no complaints with his presidency. In Des Moines, Iowa, Lou Nunez, an 83-year-old US Army veteran, has been horrified by Trump's cuts to federal agencies, whipsaw tariff announcements, and crackdowns on protesters. Terry Alberta, 64, a pilot in southwestern Michigan, supports most of Trump's policies but he thinks some of the slashed federal spending might have to be restored and he dislikes the president's demeanour. 'I get really frustrated with him when he starts calling people names and just saying crazy things,' he said. Although they all helped elect Trump in November, Torres, Nunez and Alberta have very different reactions to his presidency so far. They are among 20 Trump voters Reuters has interviewed monthly since February about the president's dramatic changes to the United States' government, trade policy and immigration enforcement, among other issues. Nunez and one of the other 20 voters now regret casting a ballot for the president. Torres and four others say they fully support his administration. But most — like Alberta — fall somewhere in between. The 20 voters were selected from 429 respondents to a February 2025 Ipsos poll who said they voted for Trump in November and were willing to speak to a reporter. They are not a statistically representative portrait of all Trump voters, but their ages, educational backgrounds, races/ethnicities, locations and voting histories roughly corresponded to those of Trump's overall electorate. Even monthly check-ins cannot always keep pace with the breakneck news cycle under Trump. Reuters most recently interviewed the group in May, before Trump deployed US service members to Los Angeles and other cities to quell widespread protests against the administration's immigration crackdown and prior to tensions erupting with Iran. Trump's efforts to tighten border security were most popular among the group. Describing their concerns about the administration, these voters most often cited the economic uncertainty triggered by Trump's federal cuts and tariffs. That tracks with the latest Ipsos-Reuters poll findings, which show Trump polling below his overall approval rating on the economy, and above it on immigration. Recent polls also show that Americans who helped elect Trump to his second term overwhelmingly like what they see so far. In a six-day Ipsos-Reuters poll that concluded on June 16, 9 out of 10 respondents who said they voted for Trump in November also said they approved of his performance in office so far. 'I like the way he portrays himself as being a strong leader,' said Torres. 'It makes us look stronger to other countries.' White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement that Trump had delivered on his campaign promises by reducing US border crossings to historic lows and keeping inflation lower than expected. 'The Administration is committed to building on these successes by slashing the waste, fraud, and abuse in our government and levelling the playing field for American industries and workers with more custom-made trade deals,' Desai said. 'Anxiety is the buzzword' Most of the 20 voters interviewed say they now have qualms about some of Trump's most extreme measures. Brandon Neumeister, 36, a Pennsylvania state corrections worker and former National Guardsman, said he disagreed with a May request by the Department of Homeland Security for 20,000 National Guard members to help detain illegal immigrants. 'To deploy troops on American soil in American cities, I think that sends a very severe message,' he said. Neumeister voted for Trump hoping for lower prices and inflation, and said he knows it will take time for the president's economic policies to yield results. But people close to him have lost jobs as a result of Trump downsizing the federal government, and several friends of his are anxious about losing pensions or healthcare due to budget cuts at the US Department of Veterans Affairs. 'Anxiety is the buzzword for everything right now,' Neumeister said, adding that it was 'hard to say' whether he's glad Trump is president. Federal workforce reductions are also wearing on Robert Billups, 34, an accountant in Washington state currently searching for his next job. He has seen federal positions disappear from job sites, and he frequently gets worried calls from his mother, who is a contractor with the Internal Revenue Service. 'This is more than my mom has ever reached out to me. I feel like it's freaking her out,' he said. Ethical concerns Several Trump voters in the group also said they were uneasy about actions by Trump that critics say overstep his presidential authority. Don Jernigan, 74, a retiree in Virginia Beach, said he likes the outcomes of most of Trump's policies but not the way he sometimes pushes them through, such as his record number of executive orders or his imposition of tariffs on other countries, a power that Jernigan says belongs to Congress. Nor does he like the fact that Trump accepted a jet given to the United States by Qatar, which Jernigan views as an enemy nation. 'Trump works off of ideas. He doesn't work off of principles. He has no principles,' Jernigan said. Overall, however, he thinks Trump is protecting US borders and deterring threats against the nation better than the other candidates for president would have. Trump's acceptance of the Qatari jet also struck Amanda Taylor, 51, an insurance firm employee near Savannah, Georgia, as potentially unethical. 'It just seems a little like he can do whatever he wants to without repercussion,' she said. Taylor, who voted for former President Joe Biden in 2020, says it is too early to tell yet whether Trump is an improvement. She likes Trump's pledges to deport criminals and gang members. But she has been most closely watching economic indicators, especially interest rates, because she and her husband closed on a new house this month. Changes they hope to see Among Trump voters with fewer complaints about the president's second term, there are still areas where they hope to see some change. David Ferguson, 53, hoped the Trump administration would revitalise US manufacturing, and so far he is 'pleased with the groundwork' and 'at least the direction that they're communicating.' At the industrial supply company in western Georgia where he works as a mechanical engineer and account manager, Ferguson has seen Trump's tariffs drive up prices on a range of products, from roller bearings to food-processing equipment. He does not expect the prices to fall as quickly as they've risen. Ferguson would like the administration to offer tax incentives to companies like his that are making it possible for more things to be made in the United States. 'It would help encourage businesses that are already domesticating manufacturing and give them some relief from the tariffs, kind of reward their good behaviour,' he said. Several other Trump voters voiced support for a policy that might surprise left-leaning voters: a clearer legal immigration pathway for aspiring Americans who are law-abiding and want to contribute to the US economy. Gerald Dunn, 66, is a martial-arts instructor in New York's Hudson Valley and 'middle-of-the-road' voter who said he is frustrated by extremism in both US political parties. Dunn said he knows people who have tried to enter the United States legally but encountered 'horrendous' red tape. People with skills and stable employment offers could become 'assets to the country' instead of liabilities if it were easier for them to immigrate, Dunn said. In Charlotte, North Carolina, engineer Rich Somora, 61, said he supports Trump's efforts to deport criminals but he also recognises that immigrants are increasingly doing key jobs that US citizens don't want to do, such as building construction. 'If somebody's contributing, give them a pathway, you know? I got no problem with that,' Somora said. — Reuters
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘Far reaching consequences' — UMass Amherst sounds the alarm amid federal uncertainty
As the federal government cuts back on research and curtails foreign student enrollment, the University of Massachusetts Amherst is sounding the alarm and preparing for the worst, according to a Wednesday email from school administrators. All academic and administrative departments on campus have been asked to develop budget scenarios that include 3% and 5% reductions, according to the administrators. The departments are also being instructed to only hire for positions deemed critical to university operations. Hires that cost more than $50,000 must be approved by the vice chancellor or provost, the administrators wrote. UMass Amherst has already received $29 million less in federal research awards compared to this time last year, the university said. Read more: UMass Amherst delays maintenance projects to pay for expected federal cuts The institution receives about $180 million in annual federal research grants and contracts. With proposed cuts to a variety of federal agencies, the university could see a reduction in its annual funding by up to tens of millions of dollars, according to the university. For instance, as part of the $180 million in funding, during fiscal year 2024, the institution received around $51 million in facilities and administration costs, also known as indirect costs. However, the U.S. Department of Defense recently issued a new 15% cap on indirect costs. The university created the Research Continuity Emergency Matching Fund to support researchers who have been impacted by federal cuts. The institution has already committed more than $700,000 in salary and research continuity funding for nearly 50 graduate students, postdoctoral students and staff. However, the university warned it is 'not sustainable long-term' and that their focus 'must shift from terminated grants to those not being renewed.' UMass Amherst could also see a reduction in enrollment next academic year due to travel bans and visa terminations threatening foreign students and proposed reductions in Pell grants. 'These grants have helped nearly a quarter of our students access a world-class education while providing a direct investment by the United States in the future of its own economic, social and intellectual strength,' the institution said. 'Limiting our capacity to serve all students—regardless of means or identity — undercuts the mission of public higher education. Further, these threats compromise our ability to plan and operate effectively as a global institution in service to a community that has contributed immeasurably to our strength," the university said. The announcement from UMass Amherst comes after a Monday court order from a federal judge that told the Trump administration to restore more than 360 National Institutes of Health grants nationwide — including 20 grants previously awarded to the University of Massachusetts system. UMass Amherst is also part of a list of 60 higher education institutions under federal investigation for not protecting Jewish students from antisemitic discrimination and harassment. Columbia University is also on the list and had $400 million pulled by the Trump administration, canceling grants and contracts because of what the government describes as the Ivy League school's failure to squelch antisemitism on campus. UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester announced a hiring freeze, spending freeze and rescinded admissions for one of its biomedical science doctorate programs this week, citing ongoing uncertainty regarding federal funding. There will also be targeted furloughs and layoffs at the medical school, according to an internal announcement. The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth is requiring approval for hiring, limiting overtime and scrutinizing non-personnel expenditures, according to an internal announcement on Wednesday. Read more: As Trump cuts funding, these Harvard scholars consider leaving US — and academia 'To be clear, while these proposed cuts and actions pose a serious threat to all of UMass, they are not yet law. UMass, alongside partners across higher education, is actively working to push back on these proposals and advocate for continued support of our critical mission in service of our nation's scientific and educational enterprise,' the university said. 'That said, the proposals currently under discussion would have far-reaching consequences for universities nationwide. UMass would not be exempt, and no area of our campus would remain untouched by the effects of such cuts. Whether the cuts are as deep as described in the President's proposed budget, or are somewhat less severe, a more constrained budget is anticipated in the year ahead,' it said. MIT joins group of universities suing the DOD over funding cuts As federal funding cuts hit Harvard, a private investment firm and other donors step up 20 NIH grants restored to UMass system after judge rules against Trump admin Trump admin asks court to rule against Harvard without a trial Federal judge orders Trump admin to reinstate hundreds of NIH grants Read the original article on MassLive.
