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The White House’s partial budget proposal, set to be released later today, will call for $163 billion in federal spending cuts next fiscal year for environmental, education, foreign aid, and healthcare programs, including many already targeted by Elon Musk’s DOGE, according to reports.
The fiscal 2026 budget proposal is a wish list of President Donald Trump’s spending and political priorities and does not include spending on defense, Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security.
Nevertheless, the president’s 79th birthday on June 14 may be celebrated with a massive military parade in Washington, D.C., according to new planning documents seen by the Associated Press.
Trump’s birthday falls on the same date as the 250th anniversary of the US Army, and the event calls for as many as 6,600 soldiers from 11 corps and divisions, army bands, 150 vehicles — tanks, artillery, howitzers — 50 helicopters, and more than 2,000 civilians marching from Arlington, Virginia, into the capital.
The estimated cost of a similar parade pitched by Trump in his first term was $92 million. The Army says no final decision has been made and there is no formal announcement from the White House.
In full: Trump signs executive order blocking PBS and NPR funding
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order cancelling all PBS and NPR federal funding after accusing them of “bias” in their news coverage.
The executive order, signed on Thursday night, stated that “neither entity presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens.”
The two news organizations are America’s primary public broadcasters and have received federal funding ever since President Lyndon Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act in 1967. The act led to the establishment of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for public radio and television. They receive roughly half a billion dollars in public money.
Madeline Sherratt has the details:
James Liddell2 May 2025 16:00
Plans revealed for massive military parade on Trump’s 79th birthday
President Donald Trump’s 79th birthday on June 14 could be celebrated with a massive military parade in Washington, D.C., according to newly-emerged planning documents.
Joe Sommerlad has the details.
Oliver O’Connell2 May 2025 15:46
GOP telling the White House that DOGE cuts will not be permanent
Gustaf Kilander reports from Washington, D.C.
Oliver O’Connell2 May 2025 15:29
Trump planning ‘purge of White House staff’ after ousting Waltz
Donald Trump’s decision to remove Mike Waltz as his national security adviser could be followed by a mass firing of White House staff being dubbed “The Purge,” according to a report.
The dismissals could come as soon as late next week, sources have told Politico, with one insider saying “a lot” of employees will be let go over perceived loyalty concerns, with the president preferring to announce their removal in one sweeping gesture, rather than in piecemeal fashion one-by-one.
While Trump has so far managed to avoid a repeat of the same level of staffing chaos as his first term, which saw almost as high a turnover as the average season of his NBC reality show The Apprentice, Waltz’s firing could mark the opening of the floodgates.
Joe Sommerlad has the story:
James Liddell2 May 2025 15:11
Trump fumes over Democrats who are ‘into the impeachment thing’
Donald Trump suggested that two Democrats who have filed articles of impeachment against the president should be expelled from Congress.
Trump appeared to refer to Michigan Representative Shri Thanedar, who introduced seven articles of impeachment targeting the president on Monday. The bid is being co-sponsored by Illinois Representative Jan Schakowsky. Texas Representative Al Green said last month he will present articles of impeachment against Trump.
“The Democrats are really out of control. They have lost everything, especially their minds! These Radical Left Lunatics are into the ‘Impeachment thing’ again,” Trump began his Truth Social tirade just before midnight.
“They have already got two ‘No Name,’ little respected Congressmen, total Whackjobs both, throwing the ‘Impeachment’ of DONALD J. TRUMP around, for about the 20th time, even though they have no idea for what I would be Impeached.”
He added: “The Republicans should start to think about expelling them from Congress for all of the crimes that they have committed, especially around Election time(s).”
James Liddell2 May 2025 14:59
Despite concerns over Trump’s tariffs, Jobs report defies expectations and hiring remains steady
Fresh data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that the U.S. economy added 177,000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate remains at 4.2 percent.
The report also comes with a downward revision of job numbers for the reports from February and March.
Rhian Lubin in New York and Eric Garcia in Washington, D.C., report.
Oliver O’Connell2 May 2025 14:44
White House budget calls for $163bn in federal spending cuts, reports say
The partial budget proposal the White House is set to release today will call for $163 billion in federal spending cuts next fiscal year, a person familiar with the matter told The Washington Post, confirming earlier reporting by The Wall Street Journal.
The upcoming “skinny budget” will propose cuts to a broad array of federal spending on environmental, education, foreign aid and health-care programs, including many of those already targeted for reductions by the Trump administration or billionaire Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service, the person said. Among the agencies proposed to see reductions include the Environmental Protection Agency, the Energy Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, among others, the person said.
The White House is expected to release a much lengthier, traditional budget later in the month.
The fiscal 2026 budget proposal is a largely symbolic wish list that lays out President Donald Trump’s spending and political priorities.
The budget plan will propose $557 billion in nondefense discretionary spending, officials told the Journal, reducing nondefense discretionary spending by $163 billion. The administration said that represents a 22.6 percent cut from projected spending in fiscal year 2025, which ends September 30, though it wasn’t clear how that percentage was calculated.
Nondefense discretionary spending is federal money that must be reauthorized each year to fund areas such as education, transportation, and public health, but not defense, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
Congress will spend months debating which elements of the proposed plan should be turned into law. Republicans control both the House and the Senate, but only by a slim margin, so satisfying individual lawmakers’ spending priorities to wrangle the necessary votes will be a tricky balancing act for congressional leaders.
Oliver O’Connell2 May 2025 14:35
Trump moves to block federal funding for NPR and PBS
Donald Trump signed an executive order to end public funding of National Public Radio and PBS to stop what he considered partisan coverage and “left-wing propaganda.”
The order, which the president signed Thursday evening, instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to “cease federal funding for NPR and PBS” to the extent legally allowed.
“Unlike in 1967, when the CPB was established, today the media landscape is filled with abundant, diverse, and innovative news options,” it reads. “Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.”
James Liddell2 May 2025 14:29
Watch: Trump tears into trans athletes during Alabama commencement speech
James Liddell2 May 2025 14:08
China weighs trade talks with US
Beijing announced Friday that it was weighing whether to hold trade talks with Washington after the Trump administration’s multiple attempts to kick off negotiations.
China’s Commerce Ministry said that the Asian nation was “evaluating” the U.S.’s offer to talk.
The Chinese department said it would do so under one condition: if Donald Trump cancels its hefty tariffs on Chinese goods.
“If the United States does not correct its wrong unilateral tariff measures, it means that the United States has no sincerity at all and will further damage the mutual trust between the two sides,” a ministry spokesperson said.
China and the U.S. have been engaged in a bitter trade war, throttling trade between the two nations after Trump imposed a 145 percent tariff on Chinese goods. In retaliation, China raised its tariffs on US products to 125 percent.
James Liddell2 May 2025 13:48