Reparations bill returns to Congress as Trump leads charge against racial equity in government
ByĀ Michela Moscufo Rep. Ayanna Pressley will reintroduce H.R. 40, federal legislation to study reparations for slavery, on Wednesday as the Trump administration leads a wide-scale rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the federal government. The bill, which had 130 co-sponsors in the last session, is not likely to advance under the Republican-controlled Congress, and the White House has previously been opposed to any reparations efforts. āWe find ourselves in a moment of emboldened white supremacy and anti-Black racism, and a weaponized Supreme Court that is actively gutting protections and progress that has been made,ā Pressley, D-Mass., said in
Rep. Daniel Goldman on DOJās dismissal of Eric Adams case: āOutright extortionā
By Amanda Friedman Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) disparaged the Justice Departmentās dismissal of the criminal bribery case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams ā expressing deep concern about what he described as the āpoliticizationā of the federal governmentās legal arm. āIt is an outright extortion. ā¦ This is way, way, way outside the bounds of the Department of Justice,ā Goldman said on MSNBCās āInside with Jen Psakiā on Sunday. āItās the, I think, the most significant event since the āSaturday Night Massacreā in the Department of Justice,ā referencing the 1973 firing of special prosecutor Archibald Cox during the Watergate
More than a dozen state attorneys general file lawsuit challenging Musk and DOGE’s authority
A lawsuit filed on Thursday by attorneys general from 14 states challenges the authority of billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency to access sensitive government data and exercise “virtually unchecked power.” The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., argues President Trump violated the appointments clause of the Constitution by creating a federal department without congressional approval. DOGE, which isn’t an official government agency, was tasked by Mr. Trump to produce recommendations on trimming federal outlays, with billionaires Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, before he departed, Ā saying theyĀ aimed to cut about $500 billionĀ in annual expenditures. Musk’s team
Musk Team Seeks Access to I.R.S. System With Taxpayersā Records
ByĀ Alan Rappeport, Andrew Duehren,Ā andĀ Maggie Haberman The Internal Revenue Service is preparing to give a team member working with Elon Muskās so-called Department of Government Efficiency access to sensitive taxpayer data, people familiar with the matter said. The systems at the I.R.S. contain the private financial data tied to millions of Americans, including their tax returns, Social Security numbers, addresses, banking details and employment information. āWaste, fraud and abuse have been deeply entrenched in our broken system for far too long,ā Harrison Fields, a White House spokesman, said. āIt takes direct access to the system to identify and fix it.ā Mr.
Some veterans concerned over benefits following federal worker layoffs at VA
By Bianca Holman With daily executive orders and changes from the White House, some veterans are concerned about the impact on the military. More than 70,000Ā federal workersĀ are taking President Trump’s buyouts. As the new administration focuses on reducing the government workforce, some veterans are worried about what that means for their benefits and services at the VA hospital. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins addressed concerns that veterans’ benefits might be targeted for cuts. The Department of Veterans Affairs said in a statement more than 1,000 new workers were dismissed as part of theĀ new wave of layoffs. Veteran Scott
West Virginia State University, an HBCU, reviewing programs following Morriseyās anti-DEI order
By Amelia Ferrell Knisley West Virginia State University, in Institute, was one of 19 Historically Black Colleges and Universities designated as land-grant institutions to receive funding from the United States Department of Agriculture. Gov. Patrick Morriseyās anti-diversity, equity and inclusion executive order is prompting West Virginia State University to review its programs. WVSU, located in Institute, is one of the stateās historically Black colleges and universities. The university does not have a dedicated DEI office, which Morrisey has said must not exist in state government or within entities receiving state funds, like universities. āLike all institutions of higher education in
Judge allows federal worker “buyout” plan to proceed, and Trump administration announces it’s closed
By Robert Legare, Mellissa Quinn A federal judge in Massachusetts allowed the Trump administration’s bid to offer “deferred resignations” to federal workers who voluntarily leave government service to continue and lifted a previous court order pausing the program’s deadline. Shortly after the ruling, Office of Personnel Management spokesperson McLaurine Pinover said in a statement that the office was “pleased” with the court’s decision and that the deferred resignation program was closed as of 7 p.m. Wednesday. Roughly 75,000 federal workers have accepted the offer to leave their government positions, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. The White House
To pay for Trumpās tax cuts, House Republicans could raise student loan bills for millions of borrowers
By Annie Nova As House Republicans look for ways to slash spendingĀ to fund President Donald Trumpās tax cuts, theyāveĀ floated proposalsĀ that could raiseĀ federal student loan billsĀ for millions of borrowers. GOP lawmakers are expected to useĀ the budget reconciliation processĀ to make major cuts to the federal budget. The savings from the student repayment plan overhaul would be $127.3 billion over 10 years, according to their estimate. The timing is uncertain on when any of these changes could surface. Itās also possible that the final Republican plan will be different than those proposed. But the average student loan borrower could pay nearly $200 a
Trump administration begins sweeping layoffs with probationary workers, warns of larger cuts to come
By Chris Megerian TheĀ Trump administrationĀ on Thursday intensified its sweeping effortsĀ to shrink the sizeĀ of theĀ federal workforce, the nationās largest employer, by ordering agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees who had not yet gained civil service protection ā potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of workers. In addition, workers at some agencies were warned that large workplace cuts would be coming. The decision on probationary workers, who generally have less than a year on the job, came from the Office of Personnel Management, which serves as a human resources department for the federal government. The notification was confirmed by a person
A Tenuous Moment for Minority-Serving Institutions Under Trump
By Sara Weissman On his first day in office, President Donald Trump rescindedĀ a slew of Biden-era executive orders and actions that he deemed āharmful.ā In his order disbanding the initiatives, he slammed the former president for injecting diversity, equity and inclusion work āinto our institutions,ā calling DEI a ādangerous preferential hierarchy.ā Among the programs Trump slashed were initiatives Biden created to supportĀ Hispanic-serving institutionsĀ andĀ tribal collegesĀ and foster greater collaboration between federal agencies and the institutions.Ā Another initiativeĀ that included ābreaking down barriersā to federal funding for predominantly Black andĀ historically Black collegesĀ also bit the dust. That same week, federal webpages with information about HSIs and