SCOOP: Key House Freedom Caucus member ‘seriously considering’ run for governor in 2026
EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., is “seriously considering” a run for South Carolina governor, he told Fox News Digital on Tuesday. “I’ve been here eight years, and I’m doing a good job,” Norman said just outside the U.S. Capitol, where he had been helping lead the debate on a government funding bill backed by President Donald Trump. Norman said he is a staunch believer in term limits in Congress but added, “I may come back. We’ll see.” “But the governor’s race has some appeal to it,” he said. 175 WILDFIRES IN NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA FORCE SOME EVACUATIONS Norman first won his House seat in 2016 during the same election that sent Trump to the White House for his first term. He is a conservative fiscal hawk and a key member of the House Freedom Caucus. Norman’s House website also touts him as a life-long resident of South Carolina’s 5th Congressional District, where he serves. MULTIPLE WILDFIRES IN THE CAROLINAS FORCE EVACUATIONS, BURN BAN ISSUED IN SOUTH CAROLINA Punchbowl News reported earlier this year that Norman was thinking about running for governor. His comments to Fox News Digital on Tuesday, however, appear to be a marked escalation in his flirtations with higher office. Norman previously mulled a primary challenge against longtime South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham. But a run for the governorship could put him on a collision course with a fellow House conservative, Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C. Mace told the Associated Press earlier this year that she was similarly “seriously considering” a run for governor. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Another name floating within the Palmetto State is South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson. Norman and Mace are both vocal Trump supporters, though both had their own public breaks from the president. Norman notably supported fellow South Carolinian Nikki Haley for president, but switched to backing Trump immediately after Haley dropped out. Trump himself has not weighed in on the race.
China ‘ripping off’ American businesses – but the DOJ can fight them, GOP lawmaker says
Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, says it’s time to give the Department of Justice the tools it needs to tackle China’s trade crimes. The congresswoman’s Protecting American Industry and Labor from International Trade Crimes Act has bipartisan support as both Democrats and Republicans look to stop threats posed by China. China-based companies have been accused of stealing American businesses’ intellectual property (IP) and flooding the market with cheaper versions of their products, which are often low quality. Chinese companies have also allegedly committed trade crimes through transnational shipping, which involves the shipping of products to another country to evade U.S. tariffs. “This is about protecting America’s bottom line, because the bottom line is China has been ripping off our businesses and our workers for decades,” Rep. Hinson told Fox News Digital. “You know, we talk a lot about the tariffs and the penalties that exist for those who go around our laws, but we also have to back that up with enforcement of our laws.” CHINA, REACTING TO TRUMP TARIFFS, PROMISES TO ‘FIGHT TILL THE END’ IN TRADE WAR ‘OR ANY OTHER TYPE OF WAR’ Hinson’s legislation would establish a DOJ task force focused on investigating and prosecuting trade-related crimes, creating a mechanism for enforcing U.S. law. One of the companies that is grappling with the effects of Chinese IP theft is CQ Medical, which focuses on radiotherapy and healthcare innovations. A China-based company with U.S. headquarters in Ohio has allegedly been undercutting CQ Medical by offering lower-quality products at two-thirds of the price. According to a statement from CQ Medical, the China-based company is using “nearly identical” product names, which has led to consumer confusion. “And this is stuff that really can help our hospitals to properly treat cancers with radiation therapy. So, when you are undercutting an American company that is doing the research and development they’re facing now, an unfair competitive advantage from a China-based company that is stealing that intellectual property,” Hinson said to Fox News Digital. CHINA SLAMS TRUMP-IMPOSED ‘ARBITRARY TARIFFS,’ VOWS RETALIATION AGAINST US Hinson says the problems facing CQ Medical are “at the heart of what we need to push back on” when it comes to tackling China’s IP theft practices and trade crimes. The Iowa congresswoman emphasized the need to “push back” on “unfair and illicit trade practices” to protect American companies and consumers. In the case of CQ Medical, the products produced by its Chinese competitor put patients at risk because of their low quality. They also put American workers at risk of not seeing job opportunities here at home. “You look at rural America and the impact that a company like CQ Medical has. They’re creating those jobs, and they’re bringing people to places like Iowa and Pennsylvania. And when you look at the footprint that they have, they want to grow and expand in places here at home,” Hinson told Fox News Digital. Hinson explained to Fox News Digital that CQ Medical is the tip of the iceberg, and Chinese trade crimes are costing America’s economy “hundreds of billions if not trillions of dollars a year” by offering products at extremely reduced prices. The Protecting American Industry and Labor from International Trade Crimes Act passed the House in December 2024. However, the congresswoman is reintroducing it in the current congressional session in the hopes of it becoming law.
Who is Judge Amir Ali? The Biden-appointed federal judge at the center of Trump’s USAID battle
One of the newest federal judges in the U.S. has found himself squarely in the crosshairs of the Trump administration’s battle over foreign aid spending after the Supreme Court tasked him with determining how, and when, the government must pay nearly $2 billion owed to foreign aid groups and contractors. Judge Amir H. Ali, a Biden appointee, has served on the court for less than four months and is among the 25 newest federal judges confirmed by the Senate to serve on a federal district court. Despite his short tenure, Ali, a U.S. district judge in Washington, D.C., is already at the center of some of the most high-profile court cases to date, presiding most recently over the lawsuit seeking billions in unpaid invoices for USAID-funded projects. The case is the first significant case of President Donald Trump’s term to be heard by the Supreme Court – and Amir’s handling of it has brought renewed scrutiny from conservatives over his previous work as a litigator, including for progressive legal groups. SCOTUS RULES ON NEARLY $2 BILLION IN FROZEN USAID PAYMENTS Far from being a wallflower, Ali has had a prolific and high-profile career as both a professor and litigator, including arguing civil rights cases before the Supreme Court, and serving as the director of Harvard Law’s Criminal Justice Appellate Clinic. His work has earned awards or recognition from groups such as the NAACP, the American Constitution Society – where he was a finalist for the David Carliner Public Interest Award – and Bloomberg, among others. Much of Ali’s work prior to his confirmation to the bench focused closely on police and prosecutorial misconduct and civil rights protections, some of which made headlines during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee last year. In 2017, Ali helped open the Washington, D.C., branch of the MacArthur Justice Center, where he represented dozens of plaintiffs, including before the Supreme Court, where he argued and won two separate civil rights cases. The MacArthur Justice Center was formed in 1985 to challenge the death penalty in Illinois, and it has since expanded to support reductions in over-incarceration and the elimination of racial disparities in the criminal justice system, among other reforms, with offices in four states and Washington, D.C. Ali’s first case, Garza v. Idaho, expanded the constitutional right to counsel for defendants under the Sixth Amendment. His second, Thompson v. Clark, made it slightly easier for individuals who claim they were wrongfully arrested to sue police for malicious prosecution. (Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a Trump appointee, authored the 6-3 majority opinion.) He was later appointed executive director of the Washington, D.C., branch, a role he held through 2024, when he was appointed to the federal bench. During his Senate confirmation hearing last February, Ali was grilled by Republicans over remarks made by his MacArthur Justice Center colleague, Cliff Johnson – who suggested during a podcast interview in 2020 that defunding the police is the first step in a “movement toward making police departments obsolete.” Ali stressed in response that he did not share those views, and that the views were not endorsed by the MacArthur Justice Center. “Let me be very clear about this,” Ali said. “I have never advocated for taking away police funding. I would not take that position, and the MacArthur Justice Center has not taken that position.” US JUDGE ORDERS TRUMP ADMIN TO PAY PORTION OF $2B IN FOREIGN AID BY MONDAY Now, as a judge, Ali has been tasked with presiding over some of the most consequential cases to come up during Trump’s second term. Last month, he sided with foreign aid groups and contractors who sued the Trump administration for roughly $1.9 billion owed for previously completed projects that were funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID. Ali gave the Trump administration just two weeks to pay the outstanding funds, prompting Justice Department lawyers to file an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ultimately rejected the Trump administration’s request to extend the freeze in 5-4 vote, remanding it back to D.C. federal court, and Ali, to hash out the specifics of what must be paid, and when – a role Ali stressed that he takes “very seriously.” Plaintiffs sued over the Trump administration’s executive action earlier this year that froze nearly all foreign aid spending, changes made in the name of government “efficiency” and eliminating waste, according to administration officials. President Donald Trump has stated plans to cut some 90% of USAID foreign aid contracts and to slash an additional $60 billion in foreign aid spending and at issue in the case is how quickly the Trump administration must pay the outstanding invoices from completed projects. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X Monday that roughly 83% of USAID programs are slated to be canceled following a six-week review process led by DOGE. The canceled contracts, Rubio wrote, amount to “tens of billions of dollars” that were being spent in ways he alleged “did not serve” U.S. national interests. He added that the rest of the USAID programs and contracts will be transferred to the State Department to be managed. LAWSUIT TRACKER: NEW RESISTANCE BATTLING TRUMP’S SECOND TERM THROUGH ONSLAUGHT OF LAWSUITS TAKING AIM AT EOS Most recently, Ali ordered the Trump administration Monday evening to pay by March 14 all owed funds to USAID contractors and other international groups for previously completed projects. Ali said the Trump administration’s withholding of the funds, which had already been appropriated by Congress, was likely “unlawful” and a violation of the separation of powers doctrine under the Constitution. It is unclear whether the Trump administration will move to challenge that ruling in court. Last week, Ali moved expeditiously on the Supreme Court directive, ordering both parties back to court last week for an hours-long hearing to weigh plausible repayment options. He heard from both plaintiffs in the case, the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and the Global Health Council, who argued that the Trump
Israeli forces kill several people in the occupied West Bank
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled their homes since Israel’s West Bank operation began. Israeli forces have killed at least four Palestinians, including a 60-year-old woman, in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Authority (PA) says. Police special forces fought a gun battle on Tuesday with armed Palestinians barricaded in a house in Jenin, killing two and wounding another man, the Israeli military said in a statement. In another incident on Tuesday, a man who opened fire on Israeli soldiers was killed, it said. The PA said soldiers firing from a checkpoint also killed a 60-year-old woman. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. The previous evening, a Palestinian man was killed when his motorcycle was hit by an Israeli army vehicle, the PA said. Another man who was wanted over previous incidents was killed by Palestinian security forces, the PA said in a separate statement. It said the man was accused of opening fire on the headquarters of the security forces in Jenin. The latest incidents bring the number of Palestinians killed since January when Israeli forces launched a major operation involving thousands of soldiers in cities and refugee camps in the northern West Bank to more than 30 people. Advertisement Tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled their homes since the operation began at the start of a ceasefire in Gaza. Israeli troops have swept through refugee camps in Jenin and nearby cities, demolishing houses and infrastructure, including roads and water pipes. Countries including France and Germany and international groups including the United Nations have expressed alarm at the scale of Israel’s operation in the West Bank and called for restraint. Israel has repeatedly said the operation is aimed at hitting armed groups, including Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which have created strongholds in the crowded refugee camps built to house Palestinians displaced when Israel was created and their descendants. The Israeli army said in a statement on Tuesday that its troops arrested 35 people in the West Bank overnight and added that weapons were confiscated during the operations. It said one detained suspect led soldiers to an area where he had planted an explosive device, without specifying the location, and said the device has been neutralised. In the southern West Bank, Israeli settlers stormed the village of Haribat al-Nabi in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, attacking residents and their property, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. Settlers armed with clubs and batons attacked the village under the protection of the Israeli army. Mutab Rashid, a resident, was beaten, while Ali Sabah Rashid and his wife were sprayed with pepper gas, Wafa reported. Israeli soldiers arrested another resident identified by Wafa as Ahmad Abdul Mohsen Rashid. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
First on Fox: Trump voter dons MAGA hat in warning to House Republicans against Medicaid cuts
EXCLUSIVE – A self-identified nursing home employee and lifelong Republican who voted for President Donald Trump is urging House GOP lawmakers to avoid making cuts to Medicaid, as he stars in a new seven-figure ad blitz by a pro-Democrat outside group as part of its “Hands off Medicaid” campaign. The release of the ads by a group called “Protect Our Care” – which they say will run on TV, radio and digital platforms and target 10 House Republicans who may face competitive re-elections next year when the GOP aims to defend its fragile majority – comes as congressional Democrats have increasingly accused Republicans of trying to harm funding for Medicaid as well as Medicare. The $2 million ad blitz – which was shared first with Fox News Digital on Tuesday – launches as the House is expected to vote on a continuing resolution to fund the federal government in order to avoid an end-of-the-week shutdown of the government and the furlough of tens of thousands of federal workers. “I look after seniors here at the nursing home. Most of them pay for it through Medicaid. So if Congress goes through with these big cuts to Medicaid, some of our residents will probably have to leave. Most of them will have nowhere else to go,” a man identified in the ad as John B., a certified nurse practioner, says in the TV spot. REPUBLICANS CHARGE DEMOCRATS WEAPONIZE MEDICAID ANXIETY John, who proceeds to place a red “Make America Great Again” cap on his head, says, “look, I’m a Republican. I voted for Donald Trump. But Medicaid should not be a political thing. They need to know cutting it will hurt all of us.” He then says to the House Republican targeted in the ad that “we’re all counting on you to stop these cuts to Medicaid.” FIRST ON FOX: TRUMP PRESSURES HOUSE GOP REBELS AS FUNDING VOTE NEARS Protect Our Care says their ads will run in the districts of Republican Reps. David Schweikert (AZ-01) of Arizona, David Valadao (CA-22), Young Kim (CA-40), and Ken Calvert (CA-41) of California, Nick LaLota (NY-01), Andrew Garbarino (NY-02), and Mike Lawler (NY-17) of New York, Ryan Mackenzie (PA-07), and Rob Bresnahan (PA-08) of Pennsylvania, and Dan Newhouse (WA-04) of Washington State. House Democrats argue that the Republicans’ government funding bill “does nothing to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.” Protect Our Care President Brad Woodhouse charged that “if Republicans in Congress move forward with Medicaid cuts, they are turning their backs on their constituents.” “Republican lawmakers need to look their constituents, and even their own voters like John, in the eye to defend this indefensible plan. Americans across the country and across the political spectrum are depending on Republicans to do the right thing and abandon these cuts to Medicaid,” Woodhouse added. WHERE THINGS STAND AS POTENTIAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN NEARS The left-leaning Protect Our Care was created to protect the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, and this year is targeting GOP lawmakers over the possibility of Medicaid cuts. Woodhouse, the group’s president, is a longtime well-known Democratic Party strategist and operative who has previously steered other prominent pro-Democrat groups and who has done multiple tours of duty at the Democratic National Committee. The group’s latest blitz is part of what Protect Our Care says is a $10 million “Hands Off Medicaid” campaign. As congressional Republicans aim to reduce the nation’s massive budget deficit and enact Trump’s domestic agenda, some conservative members have mulled changes to Medicaid, the nearly 60-year-old federal government program that provides health insurance for adults and children with limited incomes. However, Republicans have repeatedly denied that they are aiming for major cuts to Medicaid. Additionally, a senior House GOP aide, speaking with Fox News Digital, accused House Democrats of “intentionally misleading the American people.” While the president is heavily lobbying House Republicans to stay united and support the government spending plan, he has also repeatedly – on the campaign trail last year and since taking over the White House – said that he does not want Congress to touch Medicaid. On Tuesday, the White House communications office released an email headlined “President Trump Will Always Protect Social Security, Medicare.” However, Trump has also repeatedly left the door open to cutting “waste, fraud and abuse,” a line that has been repeated by Republican lawmakers. Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report
Newsom’s ‘unfair’ remark on girls’ sports belies record as governor: ‘Absolute bulls—‘
California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom sparked controversy last week by breaking from his party’s stance on transgender women in sports, but his pro-transgender legislative record suggests his comments were “calculated” to appear more moderate for a potential 2028 presidential bid, according to a prominent parental rights activist. “This is all very calculated on his part to sort of pave the way for his presidential run,” Julie Hamill, a California attorney and Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District trustee, told Fox News Digital in an interview. “He obviously wants to be president, and if you want to be president, you have to convince the majority of the country that you’re a moderate,” said Hamill, who previously worked as a law clerk in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice for Victims of Overseas Terrorism. NEWSOM CALLS BIOLOGICAL MEN IN WOMEN’S SPORTS ‘DEEPLY UNFAIR’ IN PODCAST WITH CONSERVATIVE ACTIVIST While protections for transgender athletes were signed under previous Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown in 2013, Newsom has carried that torch since taking office in 2019 and passed several pieces of legislation codifying certain protections for transgender people and procedures in the state. “And he’s going to try to sell himself to Democrats across the country in less liberal states that he is someone who can lead their party, and he’s someone who’s moderate, and he’s going to hope that people like me and people who are frustrated in California aren’t going to get our facts out about how he has governed this state,” Hamill said. In 2020, Newsom signed legislation allowing transgender prison inmates to be housed in facilities that align with their gender identity, instead of their biological sex. The law also requires inmates to be addressed by their preferred pronouns and searches conducted by individuals matching the inmates’ gender identity. In September 2022, California became the first state to declare itself a sanctuary for transgender youth, offering legal protections to out-of-state minors seeking surgical and hormonal treatments. After launching several lawsuits against California school districts who were pushing back against notification policies that hid students’ gender identities from parents, Newsom signed a law last year prohibiting school staff from being mandated to inform parents about a student’s transgender status. GAVIN NEWSOM ASKS CHARLIE KIRK TO GIVE HIS PARTY ‘ADVICE’ IN ONE-ON-ONE PODCAST INTERVIEW “The rates of suicide for kids who identify as trans are very high, and they get higher after procedures are done,” Hamill said of the Support Academic Futures and Educators for Today’s Youth (SAFETY) Act. “So, you know, his claim to care about these kids is absolute bulls—,” she said. “You cannot conceal information, critical information about what a child is going through at school from that child’s parents.” TRANS SURGERIES INCREASE RISK OF MENTAL HEALTH CONDITIONS, SUICIDAL IDEATIONS: STUDY In a federal lawsuit against the Department of Education, Hamill is representing fifth-grade girls who “are being told that they have to accept a room assignment on their overnight science camp with someone who identifies as female but may not actually be female.” She said Newsom “has the ability as the leader of the party in California to push to repeal or amend” these laws. “And if he doesn’t do that, what’s going to happen is these schools that are the subject of my Title IX complaint are going to lose their federal funding,” she said. “And then when that happens, we’re going to see Newsom and the Democrats blame the evil Republicans for depriving schools of federal funding.” KAROLINE LEAVITT ADDRESSES DEMOCRATS DEFYING TRANS ATHLETE BAN DEMAND: ‘CAN’T SAY YOU ARE THE PARTY OF WOMEN’ Newsom told conservative activist and TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk in the debut episode of his new podcast, “This is Gavin Newsom,” that he agrees biological males in sports is “deeply unfair” last week. His comments set off outrage among his LGBTQ supporters and progressive flank. Kirk asked Newsom, “You, as the governor, should step out and say no. Would you do something like that? Would you say no men in female sports?” “Well, I think it’s an issue of fairness,” Newsom replied. “I completely agree with you on that. It’s deeply unfair.” Trump signed an executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” in February, which said transgender athletes in women’s sports is “demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls.” The order requires institutions receiving federal funding to abide by Title IX and follow the definitions of biological sex. A day later the NCAA, which oversees college sports, instituted a ban. And more than two dozen states now prevent transgender athletes from school sports. Newsom noted he has four children, including two daughters, and highlighted that both he and his wife played college-level sports. “I revere sports, so the issue of fairness is completely legit,” Newsom said. Fox News Digital has reached out to Newsom’s office for comment.
Vance pitches GOP rebels on DOGE, border in 11th-hour plea for unity against shutdown
Vice President JD Vance told House Republicans that putting a government funding bill up for a vote today was critical to President Donald Trump keeping the lights on for his border security goals and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Two lawmakers present at the closed-door meeting on Tuesday morning said DOGE and the border were part of Vance’s pitch to Republicans who were still undecided about the bill. One lawmaker said Vance also signaled that future federal spending cuts could be on the table at a later date, a similar pitch House Freedom Caucus leaders have been making to fellow fiscal conservatives. “Vance basically said this is what we need to keep DOGE and border operations going,” the lawmaker said. “And we will have much more flexibility for DOGE cuts once we’ve had more time to identify and quantify them.” TOP CONSERVATIVE GROUP VOWS TO WORK CLOSELY WITH PRESIDENT AFTER PAST CLASHES WITH TRUMP The House and Senate must pass a federal funding bill and send it to Trump’s desk by the end of Friday to avert a partial government shutdown. Trump has endorsed a House Republican-led measure, a rough extension of fiscal year (FY) 2024 funding levels called a continuing resolution (CR), that will keep government spending largely flat for FY 2025, until the beginning of FY 2026 on Oct. 1 – something House GOP leaders claim as a victory. “Pass the bill,” said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who declined to elaborate further on the meeting. House Republicans are largely expected to shoulder the burden of passing the bill themselves, despite Democrats historically voting in droves to avoid government shutdowns. However, House Democratic leaders have accused Republicans of trying to use the legislation to allow Elon Musk and Trump to continue upending the federal bureaucracy – a point that is not dissimilar to what conservatives support about the bill. A senior source involved in negotiations on the CR told Fox News Digital they were optimistic about where it was going. “There were people who would say ‘I don’t like CRs, but I trust the administration, so I think I can move forward on this one,’” the source said of the House Republicans’ conference meeting. Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., a fiscal hawk who is generally opposed to CRs, said as much in a brief back-and-forth with Fox News on Tuesday morning, after announcing he would “barely” support the bill. “The ‘barely’ is Donald Trump,” Burlison said. “He is the difference maker. I would never support this language, but I do trust Donald Trump.” RON AND CASEY DESANTIS TEE OFF WITH TRUMP AS FLORIDA GOVERNOR’S RACE HEATS UP The vote is expected to take place late Tuesday afternoon. Trump and his allies spent Monday calling potential holdouts and are expected to do so again on Tuesday. At least one Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., is staunchly opposed to the bill. In a sign of confidence, House GOP leaders announced they would send lawmakers back to their districts early, canceling a planned day of votes on Wednesday. Fox News Digital reached out to Vance’s office for comment but did not hear back.
‘Back to basics’: Top Trump agency turns tables on Biden-era memos pushing ‘equity initiatives’
The Department of Transportation (DOT) scrapped two memos from the Biden administration that the agency said misaligned priorities to serve a “social justice and environmental agenda.” The two memorandums issued during the Biden administration under Secretary Pete Buttigieg listed objectives such as “reconnecting communities and reflecting the inclusion of disadvantaged and under-represented groups in the planning, project selection, and design process” and “accommodating new and emerging technologies like electric vehicle charging stations,” according to DOT. “Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Transportation is getting back to basics — building critical infrastructure projects that move people and move commerce safely,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement. “The previous administration flouted Congress in an attempt to push a radical social and environmental agenda on the American people. This was an act of federal overreach. It stops now.” SEAN DUFFY LAYS OUT PLANS TO STREAMLINE AIR TRAVEL INDUSTRY DESPITE SHORTAGES, SAFETY CONCERNS Specifically, the department took issue with the memos’ efforts when it came to cutting back on “greenhouse gas emissions” and “equity initiatives.” The memos centered on how to best use the billions in funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 across the country. Neither memo is currently available on the Federal Highway Administration website. However, this is not the first time the memos have faced scrutiny. The United States Chamber of Commerce in Jan. 2023 asked the Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt to get rid of the “Policy on Using Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Resources to Build a Better America” memo in order to avoid over-complicating the overall mission of taxpayer-funded infrastructure investments. BLUE STATE WORKERS RALLY AROUND TOP TRUMP OFFICIAL TARGETING CONGESTION PRICING: ‘BORDERLINE STEALING’ “We supported the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) because it represents the most significant infusion of investment in our infrastructure since the enactment of the Interstate Highway System in the mid-1950s,” the chamber wrote with various other groups, including the American Trucking Associations and the Association of American Railroads. “It is also a carefully negotiated and balanced package of policy reforms and targeted national investments that will make Americans’ lives better. However, the Dec. 16 memo elicited significant confusion within the transportation community as the guidance intended to serve as an overarching policy framework that prioritizes IIJA resources towards certain projects, which was inconsistent with what was laid out under the legislation President Biden signed into law the month before,” the letter added. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY SEAN DUFFY TO ‘STREAMLINE’ FAA HIRING PROCESS AMID AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SHORTAGE DOT has taken aim at various liberal policies in the early days of Duffy’s tenure in office, including ordering a compliance audit of the California High-Speed Rail project and is asking for the Manhattan congestion tolls program to end. In Congress, other transportation-related efforts are being scrutinized, such as wanting to get rid of electric-vehicle efforts in the United States Postal Service.
Diego Maradona’s medical staff go on trial for negligent homicide
[unable to retrieve full-text content] Medical staff that treated Diego Maradona have gone on trial in Argentina over what prosecutors say was negligence.
Even as US slashes jobs, ‘it is the calm before the storm’, economists warn
The first major set of economic reports last week reflect the state of the United States economy during President Donald Trump’s first full month in office. The data reveal a spike in layoffs and slower hiring growth across both the public and private sectors, with looming cuts suggesting larger economic woes in the months ahead. The US economy added 151,000 jobs, according to the Labor Department report, which came out on Friday – well short of economist expectations showing a stall in economic growth. Approximately 7.1 million Americans are currently receiving unemployment benefits compared with 6.5 million this time last year. “I think the real risk here is that if Trump doesn’t reverse course on what he’s doing, it could be his last boring report, which I think would be really damaging to the economy. If you look under the hood, I think we are starting to see pretty foreboding cracks,” Elizabeth Pancotti, the managing director of policy and advocacy at the economic think tank Groundwork Collective, told Al Jazeera. Advertisement The White House painted an alternative picture. “In one month under President Trump, the American economy is soaring back to greatness after the economic calamity left by Joe Biden,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. Former President Biden, however, was lauded as leading the best economic recovery in the world following the global economic downturn amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said that last week’s numbers are probably the best we will get in a while amid looming layoffs and tariff fears. “This is the calm before the storm, before we start to see the fallout in the job market from the trade war and the DOGE cuts, and other economic policies from Trump,” Zandi told Al Jazeera. DOGE is the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, which is led by ardent Trump supporter, billionaire Elon Musk. Those concerns, coming on the back of comments that Trump made over the weekend declining to rule out an impending US recession, reverberated through the stock market on Monday when the S&P 500 lost 155.21 points, or 2.69 percent, to end the day at 5,614.99 points. This is the first time it finished below its 200-day moving average – a closely watched support level – since November 2023. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 726.01 points, or 3.99 percent, to 17,470.21 – its biggest single-day decline since September 2022, according to CNN. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also fell 890.63 points, or 2.08 percent, to 41,911.09. Advertisement Cuts on the horizon There are key indicators that point to this getting worse in the months to come. The index which shows how many people took on part-time work including because they were unable to find full-time work or have had their hours reduced, increased by 460,000 from the month prior, to 4.9 million people. “This is the shortest honeymoon period we’ve ever seen if you are 50 days on the job. He inherited on paper a pretty stable, pretty solid economy and it is already deteriorating after 50 days. I don’t think that that’s ever happened,” Pancotti added. Since Trump took office, DOGE has cut almost 33,000 people across the federal government, according to Layoff.fyi, which tracks federal government and tech sector layoffs. Because of ongoing court cases, the official count from the Labor Department is 10,000 jobs. The layoffs include employees at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the National Park Service, the National Institutes of Health, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Department of Energy, among many other government agencies. The number of public sector cuts is expected to increase as many of the recent DOGE cuts came after the end of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (a division of the Labor Department) reporting period for the month closed. Earlier this month, the Trump Administration announced its plans to cut 80,000 employees from the Department of Veteran Affairs. The president has also called for the dissolution of the Department of Education, even though that can only be done by an act of Congress. Advertisement The global investment firm Apollo forecasts that when considering federal contractors on top of full-time employees, the federal workforce cuts could account for close to 1 million jobs lost. In last week’s jobs report from the Labor Department, the biggest gains were in the healthcare sector, which added 52,000 jobs. However, looming healthcare cuts could make those gains very short-lived. “If we’re looking at massive Medicaid cuts – we’re already seeing [National Institutes of Health] NIH and health research cuts – Medicare cuts are on the table. All of those really could threaten the sector that is driving a lot of those job gains,” Pancotti continued. The downstream effect has already hit the private sector, which relies on federal funds. A private sector worker in Texas, who spoke to Al Jazeera under the condition of anonymity, said that the company they worked with had clients who were largely dependent on federal funds because of which business had dried up. “We went from having a very busy-looking Q1 of 2025 to having absolutely nothing on the books within about a week of the inauguration,” the source told Al Jazeera. “Now that I am having to not spend any money whatsoever and do nothing but look for jobs, I’m not spending money in the economy. I’m not doing things like making improvements to my house. I would have paid contractors to do that. I’m within a couple of months of paying off the last of my student loans and now those are going to be paused until I find something new. Now, I have to worry if I can make the necessary trip to take my cat to the vet,” the source added. Advertisement According to data from the Commerce Department, US consumers have cut back on spending for the first time in nearly two years. Others are worried about how they’re going to get