Latest news with #SenateHomelandSecurityandGovernmentalAffairsCommittee
Politico
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Politico
Rand Paul forces GOP into megabill runaround
Presented by IN TODAY'S EDITION:— The GOP's remarkable shunting of Rand Paul— What could get cut in next week's Byrd bath— First in IC: GOP wary of Vought's new funding trick Sen. Rand Paul is a frequent thorn in GOP leadership's side. But his recent break over border security funding in President Donald Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' has top Republicans pushing the bounds of institutional norms to rein him in, our Hailey Fuchs reports. Senior Republicans have sidelined Paul, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, in their talks with the White House over policies under the panel's purview. Budget Chair Lindsey Graham told Hailey he has taken over as the lead negotiator around how to shepherd through tens of billions of dollars for border wall construction and related infrastructure in the GOP megabill. Meanwhile, a Senate Republican aide said Sen. James Lankford — who heads the relevant Homeland Security subcommittee — will be the point person for negotiating the bill's government affairs provisions. With every other committee chair helping manage negotiations for their panels' portions of the massive tax and spending package, cutting Paul out is unprecedented. But Paul proposed funding border security at a fraction of what the administration requested and the House passed in its bill. 'Senator Paul usually votes 'no' and blames everybody else for not being pure enough,' Graham told Hailey. 'As chairman, you … don't have that luxury sometimes. You have to do things as chairman you wouldn't have to do as a rank-and-file member.' Indeed, few of Paul's own committee members appear willing to defend him. Paul lost an ally in Sen. Ron Johnson, a fellow deficit hawk, after top White House adviser Stephen Miller briefed senators on the administration's border request and made a persuasive argument. Graham said the meeting was requested by himself and Majority Leader John Thune to 'contest' Paul's offer. Paul did not attend. Sen. Josh Hawley said Paul's decision to draft his own proposal 'without any consultation of the committee' was concerning, adding that he had 'never seen that happen before.' Nonetheless, Paul still believes some pieces of his own plan unrelated to border security will end up in the final bill, he told our Jordain Carney Wednesday, and that he's involved in ongoing talks with the Senate parliamentarian. Speaking of the parliamentarian: Senate rule-keeper Elizabeth MacDonough is scrubbing the final draft of the megabill in a 'big, beautiful' Byrd bath. Her rulings on which provisions will fly under the filibuster-skirting budget reconciliation process are expected to roll in through the middle of next week, when Thune wants to schedule the first procedural vote related to the package, Jordain reports. Republicans are bracing for an answer to one consequential question they punted on earlier this year: whether they can use an accounting maneuver known as 'current policy baseline' to make it appear that extending Trump's 2017 tax cuts would cost nothing. Senate Finance Republicans and Democrats will make a joint presentation to MacDonough this weekend about which provisions to keep or scrap. And there's no shortage of GOP priorities under Byrd scrutiny — from tax cuts on certain gun silencers to a plan to raise taxes on foreign companies known as the 'revenge tax.' Other outstanding issues before the parliamentarian: whether Commerce has to tweak language to prohibit states from regulating AI over the next decade; whether Judiciary can block judges' ability to issue preliminary injunctions and whether Agriculture can use the megabill to pay for pieces of the stalled farm bill. TGIF. Have you joined the dating app being advertised outside of Cups? Email us, we have questions: crazor@ mmccarthy@ and lkashinsky@ Follow our live coverage at THE SKED The House is out but will have a pro forma session at 11 a.m. The Senate is out but will have a pro forma session at 3:15 p.m. Next week: Both chambers will be back in session on Monday. The Senate will continue taking up Trump's nominations, including Daniel Zimmerman to be an assistant secretary of Defense, and work toward a vote on the GOP megabill. THE LEADERSHIP SUITE Thune's megabill timeline troubles The Senate majority leader is ramping up efforts to quell rebellions within his conference over the megabill as he works to get it to the floor next week. That includes talking to Trump, who he frequently refers to as his 'closer,' on a near-daily basis, Thune told Jordain. Thune's got his work cut out for him. Hawley is urging GOP leaders to strike Senate Finance's language that would largely reduce the provider tax to 3.5 percent from 6 percent, warning that it won't fly with House Republicans who voted to freeze, rather than reduce, the tax that many states use to fund their Medicaid programs. Hawley told Jordain in an exclusive interview that House Republicans have told him they were 'not consulted' and it 'cannot pass.' (Read more from that conversation on our Inside Congress Live blog later this morning.) 'I don't know why we would pass something that the House can't pass and will force us into [a] conference,' Hawley said. House Republicans — including members of Speaker Mike Johnson's circle — were indeed blindsided by the Senate's move, Mia reports with our Meredith Lee Hill. Moderates in the chamber are now scrambling to undo it, working with hospitals and planning to set up calls with leadership. Hawley told Jordain he's prepared to support the House's provider-tax freeze — with minor technical clarifications that 13 states' hospital associations, including his own, asked for in a letter Inside Congress scooped Monday. GOP leaders are also pondering a fund to support rural hospitals, but Hawley says that isn't enough. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt declined in a press conference Thursday to share Trump's preference for how to break the stalemate, 'out of respect for the ongoing discussions that the White House is very much actively involved in.' Thune also has other policy disputes to resolve, including over the state-and-local-tax deduction cap critical to a cadre of moderate House Republicans. That's leaving some of his members openly doubting whether Thune can meet his party's self-imposed July Fourth deadline to send the bill to the president's desk. Sen. Tommy Tuberville put it at a '50/50 chance,' saying there could be half a dozen Senate Republicans still wavering; Thune can only afford to lose three. ICYMI: Megabill debt warnings fall on deaf ears inside the GOP FIRST IN INSIDE CONGRESS: Schumer, Dems hammer Thune on safety-net changes Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sens. Amy Klobuchar, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley — the ranking members on Agriculture, Finance and Budget, respectively — are spearheading a letter from the Senate Democratic Caucus urging Thune to work across the aisle on health care and food assistance rather than forging ahead with changes in Republicans' party-line push. That won't happen. But the letter, which Jordain obtained exclusively, is a preview for Democrats' lines of attack against two of the most controversial pieces of the GOP megabill: Changes to Medicaid and shifting part of the cost of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to states. 'If enacted, these cuts to food assistance and health care will mean widespread hardship for Americans,' Democrats wrote in the letter. 'Just because the House has acted in this regard does not mean the U.S. Senate must make the same mistakes.' Schumer and Senate Democrats will convene a Zoom call Saturday to discuss their strategy ahead of anticipated floor action next week, a person with direct knowledge told Jordain. Schumer says senators set for Iran briefing Schumer has privately confirmed there will be an all-senators classified briefing on Iran early next week, a Schumer aide told Jordain. It comes as Trump says he'll decide within in two weeks whether to strike the country amid its escalating confrontation with Israel. Trump said in a statement Thursday he set that deadline based on a 'substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place in the near future.' Top Senate Democrats are demanding more information, pushing Trump to outline a strategy on Iran before any American involvement, our Connor O'Brien reports. Sen. Tim Kaine's resolution requiring congressional approval for Trump to take military action in Iran will be eligible for a vote next Friday — within the president's two-week window — though it's not gaining much Republican support. Garcia leads Dems' Oversight race Rep. Robert Garcia is emerging as the prohibitive favorite to win Democrats' vacant top slot on House Oversight ahead of next Tuesday's vote, Nicholas Wu and Hailey report. The 47-year-old Californian has run a careful campaign, focusing on his contributions on the panel and his experience as a big-city mayor, while sidestepping the age and seniority questions that are roiling his party. 'The seniority system in Congress is not going to go away,' Garcia said as he downplayed the notion that the race is a proxy battle in a larger war over the future leadership of the Democratic Party. 'There's an opportunity here to expand who's at that table, and I bring a different kind of experience.' Top House Dems condemn incident targeting GOP rep House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar are condemning an incident in which GOP Rep. Max Miller said Thursday he was 'run off the road' by an aggressor with a Palestinian flag. They're also using the latest alleged attack on a lawmaker to bolster Jeffries' push for more resources for member security. POLICY RUNDOWN MEGABILL'S MEGA IMPACTS — As the House and Senate debate how much to slash clean-energy tax credits in the GOP's party-line bill, hundreds of investments — mostly in Republican districts — are at imminent risk of being stifled, our Kelsey Tamborrino and Jessie Blaeser report. There are 794 wind farms, solar plants, battery storage facilities and other clean electricity generation projects that have not yet started construction and could lose key tax breaks if the final bill rolls back key provisions in the Democrats' 2022 climate law. Even under the Senate's less aggressive proposal, the projects lose all of their tax breaks if they don't break ground in time. And Republicans could be at the brunt of it: Three out of four clean electricity generation projects that could benefit from the tax credits would be built in GOP districts, according to the POLITICO analysis. FIRST IN INSIDE CONGRESS: WH FLOATS NEW FUNDING TRICK — OMB Director Russ Vought's strained relationship with GOP appropriators is about to be tested once more as the White House pursues 'pocket rescissions' — the ultimate end-run around congressional funding power, our Jennifer Scholtes reports this morning. Vought has repeatedly pushed the idea of 'pocket rescissions' as a way to codify the spending cuts Elon Musk made through his Department of Government Efficiency initiative. It's a dizzying maneuver that would involve sending a list of spending cuts to Capitol Hill with less than 45 days left until the end of the fiscal year, and then withholding — or 'pocketing' — the money if lawmakers don't act on the request. But the federal government's top watchdog says it's against the law, as do some of the appropriators already frustrated with the administration's moves to run roughshod over Congress' 'power of the purse' ahead of an upcoming government-funding deadline. 'Pocket rescissions are illegal, in my judgment,' Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins said in an interview this week. GOP TIFFS OVER TIKTOK — Trump's latest move to keep TikTok alive is frustrating congressional Republicans who object to China's continued involvement in the popular app and want a divestment deal finished, our Anthony Adragna reports. Trump on Thursday signed another 90-day delay of a law that would require TikTok to divest from ByteDance, the app's Beijing-based company, after repeated extensions since January. Lawmakers passed this law with bipartisan support in the previous Congress, and it was upheld last year by the Supreme Court. 'The law is clear - TikTok can only be used in the U.S. if ByteDance divests its foreign ownership, with only one permissible extension of the compliance deadline,' Rep. Dan Newhouse said Thursday in a post on X. He added he believes the law should be 'implemented as written.' CRYPTO CHALLENGES AHEAD — Trump is urging House Republicans to send a 'clean' version of the Senate-passed stablecoin regulatory framework to his desk 'LIGHTNING FAST' — dialing up the pressure on congressional Republicans as they mull changes to the bill, including potentially packaging it with broader digital-assets market structure legislation. Trump doesn't seem too keen on that approach as he looks to score a big crypto win, fast: 'NO DELAYS, NO ADD ONS,' he posted on Truth Social. Senate Banking is set to hold a hearing next week on its version of that separate, market-structure legislation. Best of POLITICO Pro and E&E: THE BEST OF THE REST ICE Imposes New Rules on Congressional Visits, from Michael Gold at the New York Times This Former Congressman Survived Political Violence. He Carried a Gun 'To Fire Back.', from Ben Jacobs for POLITICO Magazine Amid change, Roll Call endures, from Nathan L. Gonzales for Roll Call (Opinion) JOB BOARD Jacob Downs is now press secretary for Rep. David Kustoff. He most recently was press assistant for Rep. Nancy Mace. Athena Hood has been promoted to deputy press secretary for the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee. She most recently was a press assistant for the committee. Hannah Hussey has been promoted to director of operations for Rep. David Kustoff. Blake Nolan has been promoted to chief of staff for Rep. Vern Buchanan. Heather Smith has been promoted to chief of staff for Rep. William Timmons. Ben Nichols is now comms adviser at the FDA's office of external affairs. He was previously deputy comms director for House Ag Committee Republicans. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Sen. Eric Schmitt (5-0) … Reps. Don Beyer, Deborah Ross and Ralph Norman … Adrienne Elrod … former Rep. Phil English… POLITICO's Josh Gerstein and Mackenzie Wilkes… Ian Prior … Brandon Arnold of the National Taxpayers Union … Tom Zigo of the MPA … Brad Howard of Corcoran Street Group … Ryan Walker of Heritage Action … Ginger Loper … Gisselle Reynolds of Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart's office … Emma Tenery … Chris Grieco TRIVIA WEDNESDAY'S ANSWER: Brian Caudill correctly answered that John Scott Harrison was the lawmaker who was the only person to be the son and father of a U.S. president (son of William Henry Harrison and father of Benjamin Harrison). TODAY'S QUESTION, from Mia: Happy belated Juneteenth! In what year was the first congressional resolution recognizing Juneteenth Independence Day introduced? The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Inside Congress. Send your answers to insidecongress@
Politico
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Politico
How Rand Paul got sidelined by fellow Republicans
As chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Sen. Rand Paul technically has jurisdiction over a central plank of President Donald Trump's 'big, beautiful bill.' But the Kentucky Republican's desire to aggressively cut the administration's request for border security spending has sidelined him in negotiations. In an interview this week, Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham said that he has taken over as the lead negotiator in talks with bicameral leadership and the White House over how to deploy tens of billions of dollars to strengthen border security and reduce the flow of migrant encounters at the southern border into the United States. Graham, a South Carolina Republican who released his own border security funding plan shortly after Paul introduced his, said he offered himself up to the Trump administration as the point person on the border security provisions of the megabill. 'Senator Paul usually votes 'no' and blames everybody else for not being pure enough,' said Graham, who has a long history of clashing with Paul over federal spending and foreign policy. 'As chairman, you … don't have that luxury sometimes. You have to do things as chairman you wouldn't have to do as a rank-and-file member.' 'Senator Paul's reducing the amount [for border security] didn't withstand scrutiny,' Graham added. 'The analysis was shallow.' At the same time, the office of Senate GOP Conference Vice-Chair James Lankford of Oklahoma — also the chair of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border Management, Federal Workforce and Regulatory Affairs — is planning to work directly with Senate leadership staff on the government affairs provisions, said a Senate Republican aide granted anonymity to describe internal party dynamics. Paul has made clear repeatedly he isn't planning to vote for the party-line tax and spending bill anyway, giving leadership few reasons to try and play nice. Yet the decision by senior Senate Republicans to undermine a committee chair in such a way marks a dramatic departure from standard Senate procedure. It also reflects the extent to which Paul has become an ideological island, despite him holding a committee gavel thanks to the chamber's rules around seniority. And in another break with precedent, few of Paul's own members on the Homeland Security panel, if any, appeared supportive of the chair's approach or willing to back him up against leadership's attempts to undermine him. Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, said it was concerning that Paul would draft his own proposal 'without any consultation of the committee.' Hawley added he had 'never seen that happen before.' Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), who sits on both the Homeland and Budget panels who described Paul as 'well-meaning' and 'principled,' said if Paul's goal was to change people's minds, the Kentuckian would have been better off working with fellow members of his conference. 'If your objective is just to have a point of view, that's one thing you can do; but if your objective is to rally support, then you have a different path,' Moreno said. Paul has even lost an ally in Sen. Ron Johnson, another steadfast fiscal hawk who leadership hopes will ultimately support the megabill. Johnson said last week he will support the administration's border security funding request after hearing directly from Stephen Miller, a top White House adviser and architect of the president's immigration platform. Graham said he and Senate Majority Leader John Thune requested that Miller brief Senate Republicans on the administration's border security needs to 'contest the analysis of Senator Paul.' Paul did not attend the briefing, nor has he spoken to Graham about their differences, according to Graham. In a statement, Abigail Jackson, a spokesperson for the White House, had no direct comment on Paul's exclusion from the process. 'The administration is profoundly grateful for Senator Graham and the Budget Committee's excellent work on the Homeland Security Text,' said Jackson, adding that it would aid Trump's actions to crack down on illegal border crossings by 'funding at least one million removals, adding new ICE and border personnel, expanding detention capacity, and giving bonuses to hardworking Border Patrol and ICE agents.' The framework put forward by Graham, which Senate GOP leadership is expected to draw from in the final package they hope to vote on next week, would mirror the House-passed funding levels by allocating about $46.5 billion for the border wall and surrounding infrastructure and $5 billion for Customs and Border Protection facilities and checkpoints. In contrast, Paul's proposal would allocate just $6.5 billion in border wall and related infrastructure funding, with only $2.5 billion for CBP facilities and checkpoints. When asked about concerns he was operating without consulting his fellow Republicans on the panel, Paul emphasized that no committee is holding a markup on their contributions for the megabill. 'There were no committee votes on what the product would be,' Paul said. 'All of the drafts were done by the chairman of each committee.' Paul also said he thought some of the provisions of his proposal unrelated to border security would end up in the final bill, and that he was involved in talks with the parliamentarian about what provisions would be germane under the strict rules governing the filibuster-skirting budget reconciliation process Republicans want to use to pass the megabill. A Paul spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment about whether he still expected to have a say in negotiations with the parliamentarian. Jordain Carney contributed to this report.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Wisconsin doctor makes wild measles claims
Pierre Kory testifies in front of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. | Screenshot via CSPAN This story was published in partnership with the Center for Media and Democracy. Last month, Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary and longtime anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attended the funeral for the second unvaccinated child in Texas to have died in the ongoing measles outbreak. While in Texas, he met with the two grieving families — along with two local doctors promoting unproven measles treatments, whom he called 'extraordinary healers.' Following the first death, Children's Health Defense (CHD), the anti-vax organization Kennedy led until recently, pushed its own narrative claiming that the 6-year-old Mennonite girl did not actually die from the measles. In this effort, CHD has relied heavily on Pierre Kory, a Wisconsin doctor who has both amplified that assertion and claimed that the measles virus has been weaponized by unknown conspirators. Kory is a Kennedy ally who has been widely criticized for spreading Covid misinformation during the pandemic, including pushing the use of ivermectin as a 'miracle drug' for treating that virus. For years, CHD and Kennedy have promoted the debunked claim that the standard measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine given to almost all children in the U.S. is tied to autism. With an upsurge in the pandemic-era, right-wing embrace of the anti-vax movement — and of Kennedy himself — there has been a notable decrease in routine pediatric vaccinations in the U.S. Now that measles immunization rates have fallen below thresholds to maintain herd immunity in certain parts of the country, outbreaks such as the one in West Texas are expected to become more common. In February, Texas reported the country's first measles death in a child in the more than two decades since the disease was classified as eradicated in the U.S. In response to this death, CHD posted a video on March 19 featuring Kory and Ben Edwards, another Texas doctor Kennedy applauded, discussing the girl's medical records, which her parents released to the organization. Despite having no training in pediatric medicine and having had his board certifications in internal medicine and critical care revoked last year, Kory claimed the child's death was due to incorrect antibiotic management of a bacterial pneumonia infection that had 'little to do with measles.' Edwards — a family doctor who has been treating measles-stricken children in Texas with medications not indicated for measles and was accused of seeing pediatric patients while actively infected with measles himself — concurred with Kory. Without being able to examine the medical records themselves, pediatricians consulted for this article were limited in their critique of Kory's assessment. But they did question his understanding of empiric antibiotic recommendations for pediatric pneumonia. Secondary bacterial pneumonia infections following viral diseases are common, and pneumonia is a well-documented complication of a measles infection. These doctors also questioned the strong personal bias underpinning Kory's assessment and pointed to his history of extreme claims about Covid made online and to right-wing media outlets as evidence against his reliability as an 'expert.' Furthermore, Kory has been inconsistent in his messaging around this measles death when addressing various audiences. When Alex Morozov, founder of the counter-misinformation group Eviva Partners, confronted Kory about his statements regarding the young girl's cause of death at the so-called 'Summit for Truth & Wellness' on March 29, the answer he got was very different. At that event, Kory suggested this was a case of the measles being 'weaponized.' In an audio recording of their conversation published by Morozov, Kory said: Do you want to know the real story on this case? Quite a few of us believe that they weaponized the measles virus. And this measles is more. They're doing this on purpose. She got sicker from the measles probably because they monkeyed with the measles virus…. Do you know how many bioweapons labs there are and what they can do? Like the unfounded claim of an error in medical treatment, this 'weaponized measles' narrative has spread rapidly throughout the online crankosphere. However, this conspiratorial rhetoric has not been accompanied by urgent recommendations for increased vaccinations to prevent infection from a supposedly more virulent strain. Kennedy, who promoted pandemic conspiracy theories along with ivermectin as an alternative to Covid vaccines, has called Kory 'honest, brave, and sincere' and 'a brave dissident doctor.' The doctor appeared with him at various campaign-related events in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election, both before and after RFK Jr. suspended his own campaign and joined forces with Trump to launch the 'Make America Healthy Again' (MAHA) movement. As ivermectin proved to be ineffective against Covid, Kory turned on the life-saving mRNA vaccines while cozying up to Kennedy and CHD. Kory and the ivermectin group he co-founded — the Frontline COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC), now called the Independent Medical Alliance following a pro-MAHA rebrand — have rallied with Kennedy and CHD on multiple occasions, including against Covid vaccine mandates during the deadly Omicron wave in late 2021 and early 2022. Kory has not just turned on Covid vaccines, but routine childhood immunizations in line with Kennedy's and CHD's established anti-vax rhetoric as well. In 2023, Kory appeared in an FLCCC webinar about pediatric vaccines titled 'Your Child, Your Choice.' The same year, despite his lack of pediatric credentials, he served as an 'expert' on the issue of childhood vaccinations for Republicans in Wisconsin. That same year, Kory testified at the Wisconsin Capitol as part of a GOP-led effort to block adding the meningitis vaccine as a state requirement for school-aged children, which is required in many other states and has been recommended by the Center for Disease Control's Advisory Council on Immunization Practices since 2005. (While Kory and company were initially successful, the meningitis vaccine was eventually added to Wisconsin's requirements as of the 2023/24 school year.) During this measles outbreak, both Kennedy and Kory have once again promoted 'alternative' treatments. Kennedy has drawn heavy criticism for pushing vitamin A as a treatment for measles while simultaneously failing to provide a sorely needed, full-throated endorsement of the MMR vaccines. Following the second death, while the HHS secretary correctly called the vaccines the 'most effective way' to prevent measles, he quickly undermined his own statement. In his tweet about the funeral, Kennedy included a shoutout to doctors Edwards and Richard Bartlett, his other 'extraordinary healer' from Texas, for their use of unproven treatments on infected children in the local community. On March 31, Kory appeared in another CHD video about the first Texas child's death, claiming she should have received intravenous vitamin C, which is not indicated for measles-related pneumonia. Of note, prior to his co-authorship of questionable papers on the use of ivermectin to fight Covid, Kory co-authored a since-retracted paper on a Covid hospital protocol that featured vitamin C. Given his past statements on Covid and routine pediatric vaccines as well as his ties to Kennedy and CHD, Kory would have a vested interest in distancing himself from children's deaths from vaccine-preventable illness. But this is dangerous, experts warn, during a measles outbreak where vaccines play a vital role in stopping the spread of disease. A representative for the hospital that treated the first child spoke out against 'misleading and inaccurate claims' about this case being circulated online. 'Our physicians and care teams follow evidence-based protocols and make clinical decisions based on a patient's evolving condition, diagnostic findings, and the best available medical knowledge,' the spokesperson said. CHD did not back down in the wake of the second pediatric measles death early last month. The organization requested hospital records for this case while offering a free e-book — featuring a foreword by Kennedy — on 'secrets the government and media aren't telling you about measles and the measles vaccine.' The book accuses the mainstream media of weaponizing outbreaks 'for political gain.' In an email to their followers on April 7 — the day after the second child's funeral — CHD announced an April 17 webinar event called 'Inside the Measles Deception' featuring Kory, Booker, and Edwards. The restricted event was available only to their donors. On April 8, CHD tweeted, 'Our mission hasn't changed. The MMR vaccine is dangerous and has caused more deaths than measles,' a claim that is totally unsubstantiated. The next day, Kory returned for another CHD video claiming to have reviewed the medical records for the second case and, unsurprisingly, again maintained that the 8-year-old girl did not die from the measles. He said: 'This is just getting exhausting, this constant fear-mongering by the media. I've already lost so much trust in the institutions of society. But to see them rampage like this on inaccuracies and peddling falsehoods and just distortions, it's terrible. It's terrible for our health. They are scaring people into getting what I think is a very dangerous vaccine.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The fired inspectors general look a lot better at saving money than Elon Musk
President Donald Trump fired inspectors general across 18 federal agencies in his first week in office, and then another IG in February, in a systematic ousting of the independent watchdogs who monitor the federal government for waste, fraud and abuse. Now a new report released by Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee says the potential savings the IGs had identified before being fired exceeds what Elon Musk claims he has saved with his so-called Department of Government Efficiency. As Musk reduces his involvement in the Trump administration, the report's numbers help hammer home just how poorly and foolishly he has pursued 'efficiency.' He rode into Washington with his DOGE cowboys, confident that their rogue outsider status gave them a unique ability to drain 'the swamp' of excess spending. But they not only failed to come anywhere close to hitting their goals — they may have underperformed compared with the personnel who were already in the government to help them achieve their purported goal. Musk's promised pot of savings began at $2 trillion, before shrinking to $1 trillion and then to $150 billion. His estimated savings have ticked up again slightly to an estimated $170 billion, or 8.5% of his initial promise. The Senate Democrats' report crunched the numbers and found that the 19 fired IGs had identified and recommended $175 billion in potential savings through audits, investigations and efficiency proposals. That's $5 billion more than Musk's estimate after months of chaotic hacking away at the administrative state. (While the offices of inspectors general still exist, the firings of the IGs had a demoralizing and chilling effect on the offices, according to the report, and the main duties of rooting out waste, fraud and corruption appear to have been given to Musk.) Granted, the report's calculation of the IGs' potential savings wouldn't necessarily end up hitting its topline number. But the source of its estimates for cost-cutting is far more reliable than Musk's estimates. Inspectors general are independent, nonpartisan professional watchdogs. They report to respective agency heads, but those agency heads can't alter their reports, which must be shared with Congress. They have a track record of rooting out waste — in fiscal year 2024, all IGs in the federal government had "over $71 billion in combined monetary impact" through their efficiency initiatives, audits and investigations, according to the Democrats' report. These efforts include things like questioning unnecessary spending, finding and cracking down on illegal federal contracts, sniffing out public officials inappropriately using money and tracking down actors trying to defraud the government through illicit procurement schemes. By contrast, Musk's savings estimates aren't trustworthy, given the long record of Musk's exaggerating savings using incorrect calculations, such as double-counting canceled federal contracts, claiming savings over already canceled contracts and not accounting for the added cost of revived contracts. Musk's website for tracking DOGE savings doesn't acknowledge or account for errors when they're identified by the media. Those errors are simply deleted. Moreover, the durability of Musk's cuts is also far more questionable, since they've often been implemented with such brute force and speed that they're often overturned. Many have been reversed by the courts. Others, such as Ebola prevention efforts, were reversed after Musk admitted they were dangerous and 'accidentally' canceled. (Along the way, a number of federal agencies have simply ignored or declined to enforce his efforts to cull employees through efficiency efforts.) Musk also clashed with many of Trump's Cabinet secretaries over cuts that they didn't want to implement. Some watchdog estimates suggest that Musk's efforts might end up costing the federal government more than it saves, in part because of lost productivity, the high costs of rehiring and lost revenue collection capacities. "So it's, like, it's not easy," Musk said when reflecting on his progress after 100 days. Many of Musk's cuts have been so controversial and politically risky — such as his attacks on Social Security and medical research funding — that Republican lawmakers have objected to codifying them into law. Which is to say that many of the savings DOGE has under its belt could be ephemeral and overturned by Congress or another administration. Perhaps more important than comparing the saving numbers is noting how Trump and Musk have tried to sideline effective tools for rooting out waste and good government. As Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., the ranking member of the committee that produced the report, said in a statement: 'If the Trump Administration were serious about eliminating waste, it would rely on the proven track record of independent Inspectors General. Instead, President Trump's decision to fire them will not only undermine efforts to reduce waste — it sends a message of intimidation to anyone who wants to hold this administration accountable.' This article was originally published on
NDTV
21-05-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
Migrant Detentions At Guantanamo Bay Cost $100,000 Per Person Daily
Washington: President Donald Trump's use of the Guantanamo Bay naval base to house migrants appears to cost $100,000 per day for each detainee, U.S. Senator Gary Peters said during a hearing on Tuesday, decrying what he described as a prime example of wasteful government spending. Peters, the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, questioned Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about the high cost, far more than the $165 per day in U.S. immigration detention facilities. Peters also asked why detainees have been sent to the American naval base in Cuba but then shuttled back to the United States at taxpayer expense. "We're spending $100,000 a day to keep someone at Guantanamo," Peters said. "We keep them there awhile, then we fly them back to the United States, or we could keep them here for $165 a day. I think that's kind of outrageous." The White House has requested a huge increase in funding for immigration enforcement as it tries to achieve Trump's goal of mass deportations. The administration asked Congress this month for an additional $44 billion for the Department of Homeland Security in fiscal year 2026, which begins on Oct. 1. Noem, appearing before the committee to defend the budget request, said she did not know the daily cost to house migrants at Guantanamo Bay. Her department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there were roughly 70 migrants currently detained there. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in March to prevent 10 migrants from being transferred to the base. In the suit, ACLU alleged that migrants at Guantanamo had been held in windowless rooms for at least 23 hours per day, subjected to invasive strip searches, and unable to contact family members. Some had attempted suicide, the ACLU said. Senator Rand Paul, the Republican chairman of the committee, also raised concerns with spending for additional barriers at the U.S.-Mexico border since the number of migrants caught crossing illegally has plummeted since Trump took office. A sweeping U.S. House of Representatives budget plan would devote $46.5 billion to the border wall alone. "I'm not saying no new money is needed," Paul said. "I think you need more Border Patrol, and you're going to need more money for that, but I think it should be within reason." (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
