Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., met with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) employees on Friday who were fired as a result of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) federal workforce reductions. CFPB has provided over $21 billion in consumer relief, according to the agency’s latest data from Dec. 3. 2024. Kaine accused Musk of targeting the CFPB with DOGE cuts for his own gain. ‘The fact that the Trump administration would target these guys at...
Democrats are accusing Republicans of trying to gut federal health care programs with their plan to avert a partial government shutdown. The bill, a rough extension of current federal funding levels called a continuing resolution (CR), is expected to get a House-wide vote on Tuesday. It will need to pass the Senate and be signed by President Donald Trump by the end of Friday, March 14 to avoid federal programs getting shuttered and tens of...
America’s defenses will not be able to keep up with its peer adversaries if the Pentagon continues to take years to innovate its weapons systems, experts agreed at a security summit last week. The Pentagon’s modernization was given a ‘D’ by the National Security Innovation Base Summit this week, a near-failing letter grade that national security leaders in Congress agreed was a fair assessment. ‘Progress lives in the private sector, and we’re not seeing enough...
The Trump administration ended a waiver that allowed the Iraqi government to buy Iranian electricity in a renewed effort to choke off Iran’s profits. National security advisor Mike Waltz told Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani that the end of the waiver was consistent with President Donald Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ campaign on Iran as the administration goes all-in on trying to prevent the regime from acquiring a nuclear weapon. ‘Waltz welcomed the Iraqi Prime Minister’s efforts to...
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that 83% of USAID programs will be canceled following the conclusion of a six-week review by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). In total, 5,200 contracts are being terminated, Rubio wrote in his early Monday morning post on X announcing the new reforms. He said the canceled contracts amounted to ‘tens of billions of dollars’ being spent ‘in ways that did not serve,’ or even harmed, the national...
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is gearing up for a vote on Tuesday on a bill, which, if approved, will avert a partial government shutdown during the first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s term. Given the lack of support from Democrats, Johnson is betting Republicans can muscle through largely by themselves on the 99-page piece of legislation that would keep federal agencies funded until Sept. 30. Congress must act to avoid a partial government...
Growing up under Soviet rule, Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė was not allowed to celebrate Christmas. Her mother was born in a Siberian prison camp. The crime? Her teenage brother was caught handing out leaflets that said, ‘Lithuania is free.’ After 50 years of Soviet occupation during the Cold War, many Lithuanians today are wary of any negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and are watching the Kremlin’s next moves closely. ‘In my opinion, the...
Health and Human Services Department (HHS) employees have been offered up to $25,000 to part ways with the agency in order to help it downsize under President Donald Trump’s plans to shrink the federal workforce. In the email sent on Friday, the HHS, which is led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., said it has received authorization from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to offer Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments. The OPM ‘allows agencies that...
Health and Human Services Department (HHS) employees have been offered up to $25,000 to part ways with the agency in order to help it downsize under President Donald Trump’s plans to shrink the federal workforce. In the email sent on Friday, the HHS, which is led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., said it has received authorization from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to offer Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments. The OPM ‘allows agencies that...
Romania’s central election authority has banned Calin Georgescu, a populist candidate and frontrunner, from running in May’s presidential election re-run. ‘Europe is now a dictatorship, Romania is under tyranny!’ Georgescu said in a post on X, following the decision. ‘I have one message left! If democracy in Romania falls, the entire democratic world will fall!’ Trump’s administration has taken an interest in Romania’s presidential election since it was canceled in May because of Russian collusion allegations...
