Lawmakers are demanding the National Science Foundation stop dismantling the Ocean Observatories Initiative, a $386 million ocean monitoring network being wound down under President Donald Trump's administration. House Democrats on two committees call the action illegal. Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley says he's drafting legislation to freeze the removal of instruments until a full scientific review is completed. The National Science Foundation directed the removal of most of the system’s instruments from waters off Oregon, Washington, Alaska, North Carolina and Greenland by 2027. Monday’s pushback against the Republican administration’s actions comes as scientists are set to remove instruments from the Pacific and as an El Niño event is predicted to arrive this summer.
The Trump administration has put up $750,000 to charter a private yacht to evacuate a single American citizen from a remote South Pacific island after she had been aboard a cruise ship at the center of a deadly hantavirus outbreak. That's according to two U.S. officials and an internal government document obtained by The Associated Press. The woman, who may have been exposed to the virus while aboard the cruise liner in April, had gotten off the ship and flown to San Francisco before traveling to isolated Pitcairn Island through Tahiti. The costly evacuation has added strain to the State Department budget for unforeseen emergencies. Its balance is at the lowest level in seven years.
President Donald Trump is accusing the Democratic Party of hypocrisy for supporting Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner despite his own history of misconduct against women. The Republican president called Platner a “thug” and a “pig” on Wednesday in the Oval Office while signing an immigration and deportation funding bill. The president also called Platner “worse than any human being that's ever run for office, probably.” Trump himself has faced a laundry list of misconduct allegations, was caught on audio bragging about grabbing women by the genitals and was found liable by a New York jury for sexual abuse. Trump also has endorsed a parade of Republicans with their own deep personal baggage.
House Republicans have passed a nearly $70 billion bill to fund immigration enforcement agencies for the next three years and the rest of President Donald Trump's term in office. The bill now goes to Trump who is expected to sign it into law Wednesday. Democrats oppose the measure, with Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries saying the money would further fund Trump's “violent mass deportation machine.” Meanwhile, Republicans said they were fulfilling their duty to safeguard the nation and support the men and women charged with enforcing the law. The funding comes on top of the nearly $140 billion that the Republican-controlled Congress gave ICE and Customs and Border Protection last year as part of Trump’s massive tax and spending cuts bill.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has claimed victory in a general election seen as a test of Russia’s influence. Preliminary results show his party leading with more than double the votes of the next contender. Pashinyan seeks a mandate to distance Armenia from Moscow and deepen ties with the West. His main opponent, Samvel Karapetyan, is under house arrest, accused of advocating for the government’s overthrow. Full results are expected later. The EU has congratulated Pashinyan, while Russia warns of economic consequences if Armenia moves toward the EU.
The Senate has passed legislation to fund President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agencies, sending it to the House. The Friday morning passage came after weeks of delays and fierce backlash to an unrelated $1.776 billion settlement fund that threatened to derail the bill. Senators voted for the $70 billion legislation to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol for the next three years, through the end of Trump’s term. The final vote came after Republicans narrowly defeated multiple attempts to add language to the bill that would permanently ban Trump’s settlement fund to compensate allies who believe they've been politically persecuted. The House is expected to take up the bill next week.
Senate Republicans are working toward passage of legislation to fund President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agencies. The action in the Senate Thursday included a vote to turn aside a Democratic effort to permanently block Trump from creating a $1.776 billion settlement fund to allies who claim they were persecuted by the government. But Republicans still face a gauntlet of amendments before the bill can advance. It's created a test of party unity that could go late into the night. The bill would provide roughly $70 billion to fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol. Democrats say any funding bill should place restraints on federal immigration authorities.
A standoff between the White House and the Senate remains unresolved as Republicans return to Washington after defiantly leaving town 10 days ago without passing legislation to fund President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agencies. Senate Republicans say they won’t have the votes for the immigration spending bill until the White House works with them to put some parameters on a new $1.776 billion settlement fund designed to compensate Trump’s allies — or scrap it altogether. But Trump has shown little interest in doing so, even as a judge has temporarily halted any payouts. It’s unclear how they will settle the dispute.
The world is getting more uptight about lending money to President Donald Trump’s government. The energy price spike triggered by the Iran war has seeped into the price of bonds that help fund the U.S. government. That's caused interest rates to climb in ways that are worsening affordability pressures, creating a new risk for Republicans in November’s midterm elections. Trump says a task force on fraud could find enough savings to balance the budget. Economists say that's probably unrealistic because of the magnitude of the deficit. Voters are already concerned about high costs for food and gas, and higher interest rates make it harder to buy or renovate a home, afford a new car or manage credit card debt.
FACT FOCUS: Trump says Obama and Biden spent 'hundreds of millions' on reflecting pool. They did not
President Donald Trump has claimed that the Obama and Biden administrations spent “hundreds of millions of dollars” to fix the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and alleged that renovations he is currently overseeing will be much more economical. This is false. The Obama administration spent at least $34 million on a massive, two-year reconstruction project that ended in 2012. No major repairs to the pool were done during the Biden administration. Trump has repeatedly said that his administration’s work on the pool will cost only $1.5 million, but records show that at least $14.8 million in contracts have been awarded for the project so far.