GOP HAILS MUSK, ASSAILS FEDERAL JUDGES: Members of a Republican-led House subcommittee joined Trump on Wednesday in praising the work of billionaire Elon Musk, the face of the president's campaign to shrink spending and purge tens of thousands of civil servants.
"Billions and billions of dollars being thrown away illegally," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Wednesday while praising Musk and his team. The president criticized judges' decisions to temporarily halt his orders and actions taken by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
"We're being hindered by courts," Trump added. "I have to follow the law. All it means is that we appeal, but that gives people time to cover their tracks."
"DELETE ENTIRE AGENCIES": Musk, during a video Q&A today with a conference held in Dubai, said the U.S. federal overhaul he and his team are engineering can outlast the Trump administration.
"I think we do need to delete entire agencies, as opposed to leave part of them behind ... It's kind of like leaving a weed," Musk said. "If you don't remove the roots of the weed, then it's easy for the weed to grow back. But if you remove the roots of the weed — it doesn't stop weeds from ever going back, but it makes it harder."
Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), chair of the new House Oversight Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, praised Musk's efforts at a hearing Wednesday and warned that those who throw up hurdles, including federal judges, are in the GOP's crosshairs.
"Federal judges were not elected," Greene said. "The Treasury [Department] bureaucrats were not elected, and they have failed to fix the problem that is enabling American taxpayers to be robbed."
BUYOUTS MOVE FORWARD: Later on Wednesday, a federal judge ruled the administration's buyout program for federal workers could move forward, allowing the White House to advance a critical part of its plan to reduce the federal workforce with voluntary resignations. The judge did not rule on the legality of the administration's "Fork in the Road" program but said the plaintiffs in a lawsuit did not have standing to sue. The signup for the deferred resignation program closed Wednesday with about 75,000 participants who agreed to leave government service while being paid through September, the White House said.
Democrats accuse Musk of being an ominous figure with a tangle of conflicting business interests who bulldozes illegally into federal databases and government functions. They defend affected federal employees and targeted programs, such as the U.S. Agency for International Development, now effectively shuttered, and the watchdog Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, also dismantled by the president's allies.
"We should in no way be cooperating with House Republicans who want to shut down the Department of Education and destroy Medicare and Medicaid. And [we] should not stand by as the richest man on the planet gives himself and his companies huge tax cuts while the American people can [do] absolutely nothing," said Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) during Wednesday's hearing.
▪ The Hill's Niall Stanage in The Memo: Musk rivals Trump as most controversial figure on the political stage.
▪ The New York Times: Many groups promised federal aid still have no funds and no answers, despite judges' orders to the administration to unfreeze previously approved loans and grants.
✂️ MEDICAL RESEARCH: Efforts by the Trump administration to reduce federal spending on medical research will render ongoing scientific advancements "non-viable," researchers warn. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced last week it would curb funding. A federal judge temporarily stayed the reductions, leaving university medical researchers uneasy about the future, The Hill's Joseph Choi reports.
The Hill: Trump would like to see Musk's savings embedded in new law and Republicans may try to make that happen next month as part of a measure needed to avert a possible shutdown before March 14. One big hurdle: Democrats, whose votes are key to keeping the government's lights on, also oppose Musk's efforts to permanently turn them off in some agencies and departments. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) left the door open on Wednesday to a one-year stopgap spending bill.
🎭 TRUMP STEPS INTO THE ARTS: The president, who named himself chairman of the Kennedy Center board in Washington this week, appointed a new board, which fired the center's president, Deborah Rutter, on Wednesday. A cascade of resignations among artists and entertainers who had served as Kennedy Center advisers followed.
The president's criticisms of what he calls "woke" culture, familiar from his campaign, has sent shudders through the arts world, especially where federal funding potentially invites Trump's direct influence. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts receives federal funds for building and grounds maintenance but not for programming.
Rutter said last month she planned to step down as president at the end of this year after serving for more than a decade at the Kennedy Center. Television producer and screenwriter Shonda Rhimes quit as board treasurer on Wednesday. She endorsed former Vice President Kamala Harris for president last year and supports diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. Trump banned DEI in the government and among federal contractors.
No comments:
Post a Comment