5 things to know for May 22: Embassy shooting, Budget cuts, Trump-Ramaphosa meeting, Qatar jet, Police reform
Should the Department of Government Efficiency be required to release public records under the Freedom of Information Act, or can it keep such files hidden due to executive privilege? That's the question the Trump administration wants the Supreme Court to decide. What is known is that in the past four months, DOGE has fired more than 120,000 federal workers, slashed agency budgets, accessed sensitive computer systems and cut billions in research grants, prompting a wave of federal lawsuits.
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Two Israeli Embassy staff members were shot and killed while standing outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, last night. Authorities say the suspected gunman was observed pacing back and forth outside the museum before opening fire on a group of people. He then entered the building and waited to be detained. Police said the 30-year-old man showed officers where to find the weapon and chanted 'Free Free Palestine' while in custody. The victims, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, were a young couple who soon planned to get engaged, according to Israel's ambassador to the US. 'I am devastated by the scenes in Washington D.C.,' Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in a statement on X. 'This is a despicable act of hatred, of antisemitism, which has claimed the lives of two young employees of the Israeli embassy.'
The House voted early this morning to pass President Donald Trump's sweeping tax and spending cuts package, a major victory for the president and Speaker Mike Johnson after GOP leaders won over key holdouts. The legislation still faces major challenges ahead. It will next go to the Senate, where Republicans in the chamber have signaled they plan to make their own changes to it. Although all of the details about the massive legislative package have not yet been released, it does include:
Nearly $1 trillion in cuts from Medicaid and food stamps
Work requirements for Medicaid starting at the end of 2026
Raising the debt ceiling by $4 trillion
Spending $150 billion on defense programs
Limiting judges' power to hold the Trump administration in contempt
Phasing out Biden-era energy tax credits sooner than planned
Increasing the state and local tax deduction
Making trillions of dollars of income tax breaks permanent
Allocating $45 billion to build new immigration detention facilities
Allowing certain taxpayers to deduct income from tips on tax returns
The Congressional Budget Office said the bill will increase the budget deficit by $3.8 trillion between 2026-2034.
Fans of President Trump's reality TV show 'The Apprentice' will likely not be surprised by how he's been treating world leaders in televised Oval Office meetings. In a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump and his staffers berated him for not wearing a suit and for not thanking Trump enough for the money the US has given to the war effort. When Trump met with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, he went on a tirade about defending Canada militarily and then told the press to leave before Carney could respond. In his latest Oval Office event this week, Trump ambushed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa — who once served as Nelson Mandela's chief negotiator during talks to end White minority rule — with false claims about White South African farmers being victims of genocide. For his part, Ramaphosa pushed back gently whenever he could, but he didn't raise his voice or show anger, displaying his decades of negotiation experience.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has accepted a Boeing 747 from Qatar that President Trump plans to use as the next Air Force One. The controversial transfer has sparked a political furor, with both Democrats and Republicans opposing the luxury jet on ethical grounds. While details about its transfer have not yet been released, Trump told reporters on Wednesday that Qatar was 'giving the United States Air Force a jet, okay, and it's a great thing.' Earlier this week, sources said it was the Trump administration that had first approached Qatar about acquiring the Boeing 747. It's also unknown how much it'll cost to strip down the entire aircraft for surveillance and safety checks and then retrofit it to the required security specifications.
The Trump administration is moving to dismiss federal oversight agreements with several major US police departments. The agreements, called consent decrees, are used as a monitoring system at police departments where the Justice Department has found a pattern of misconduct. In court filings on Wednesday, the DOJ asked judges in Minnesota and Kentucky to dismiss the consent decrees reached with the police departments in Louisville and Minneapolis. They were approved by a federal judge and enacted following the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor and the police killing of George Floyd.
Double-checking the calendarMemorial Day weekend may mark the unofficial start of summer, but the Northeast and parts of the mid-Atlantic will be experiencing a rare May nor'easter. Some areas of New Hampshire and Vermont may even see snow.
Rare side effect to be highlighted on vaccine packagingThe FDA is now requiring some Covid-19 vaccines to use expanded warning labels detailing a small risk for myocarditis. The vaccines' old labels already provided a warning about the heart condition.
No NFL ban for controversial 'tush push'The nearly unstoppable running play was used to great success by the Philadelphia Eagles last year.
Manny Pacquiao: I'm backThe Filipino will come out of retirement this summer to face Mario Barrios for the WBC welterweight championship. In 2019, Pacquiao became the oldest welterweight world champion in history at the age of 40.
She knew him whenPeruvian TikToker Luciana Marquez traveled to Rome last year to meet a family friend. They recorded a TikTok video. Now, he's Pope Leo XIV.
10That's how many minutes a Lufthansa flight carrying 205 people went without a pilot last year after the co-pilot fainted while he was alone in the cockpit.
'These staff cuts and the potential budget cuts make the United States more at risk for a tsunami and earthquake, and they will have devastating impacts for coastal populations and the US economy.'
— Corina Allen, who, like thousands of other probationary federal employees, was recently fired from her job as a manager at NOAA's National Weather Service Tsunami Program.
Check your local forecast here>>>
Oh baby, baby! Britney Spears' album, 'Oops! … I Did It Again,' turns 25 this year. To celebrate, Sony Music will release an expanded edition.
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