Ayanna Pressley Revives Reparations Bill H.R. 40 in 2025
By 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. “We 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,” Pressley, D-Mass., said in
Rep. Goldman Slams DOJ Over Dropped Eric Adams Bribery Case
By Amanda Friedman Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) disparaged the Justice Department’s dismissal of the criminal bribery case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams — expressing deep concern about what he described as the “politicization” of the federal government’s legal arm. “It is an outright extortion. … This is way, way, way outside the bounds of the Department of Justice,” Goldman said on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki” on Sunday. “It’s the, I think, the most significant event since the ‘Saturday Night Massacre’ in the Department of Justice,” referencing the 1973 firing of special prosecutor Archibald Cox during the Watergate
14 States Sue Musk, DOGE Over Federal Data and Power Grab
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, saying they aimed to cut about $500 billion in annual expenditures. Musk’s team
IRS Prepares to Grant Elon Musk Team Access to Tax Data
By Alan Rappeport, Andrew Duehren, and Maggie Haberman The Internal Revenue Service is preparing to give a team member working with Elon Musk’s 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. “Waste, fraud and abuse have been deeply entrenched in our broken system for far too long,” Harrison Fields, a White House spokesman, said. “It takes direct access to the system to identify and fix it.” Mr.
Veterans Worry as Trump Cuts Hit VA and DEI Programs
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 70,000 federal workers 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 the new wave of layoffs. Veteran Scott
WVSU Reviews DEI Amid State, Federal Executive Orders
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 Morrisey’s 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 state’s 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. “Like all institutions of higher education in
Judge Upholds Trump’s Deferred Resignation Program
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
GOP Plan Could Raise Student Loan Bills by $200 Monthly
By Annie Nova As House Republicans look for ways to slash spending to fund President Donald Trump’s tax cuts, they’ve floated proposals that could raise federal student loan bills for millions of borrowers. GOP lawmakers are expected to use the budget reconciliation process 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. It’s 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 Orders Mass Layoffs of Federal Probationary Workers
By Chris Megerian The Trump administration on Thursday intensified its sweeping efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce, the nation’s largest employer, by ordering agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees who had not yet gained civil service protection — 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 rescinded a slew of Biden-era executive orders and actions that he deemed “harmful.” In his order disbanding the initiatives, he slammed the former president for injecting diversity, equity and inclusion work “into our institutions,” calling DEI a “dangerous preferential hierarchy.” Among the programs Trump slashed were initiatives Biden created to support Hispanic-serving institutions and tribal colleges and foster greater collaboration between federal agencies and the institutions. Another initiative that included “breaking down barriers” to federal funding for predominantly Black and historically Black colleges also bit the dust. That same week, federal webpages with information about HSIs and
