Transcript

1.25.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of the Washington Post for Saturday,
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January twenty fifth of twenty twenty five. Your readers are
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you Dale, I am Alice Stayner, with the reminder that
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RADIOI is reading service for those blind or with difficulties
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making it hard to hold and reprinted material. So we
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will start with the front page of the Washington Post.
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Above the fold, big bold headlines in black Hegseth confirmed
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as Pentagon chief. Vance steps in for tie breaking boat
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for Trump. A whirlwind week of sweeping change by Abigail Houseloiner,
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Liz Goodwin and Meryl Cornfield. That is on the far
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right side because in the middle of the front page
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is a picture of the backs of President Donald Trump
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and First Lady Milania Trump on Friday, and they are
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heading towards Marine one, the helicopter outside the White House,
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and that is above headline on disaster tour Trump proposes
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ditching FEMA by Kat Zarzuski, Matt Weiser, Brandy Dennis and
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Mae Reston. On the left side of the front page,
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to the left of the picture of the President and
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First Lady and the far background, there is a Washington Monument.
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Far left side of the front page US shared Intelligence
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with serious new leaders Trees have mutual interest in preventing
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Islamic state resurgence by Warren P. Strobel, Ellen Nakashima and
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Missy Ryan. Just below the fold and below the article
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on Trump proposes ditching FEMA is one called picked a
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head Budget Office aims to upend Washington by Tony Rahm
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and Jeff Steen. And to the right of that, pledged
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deportation sweeps underway, jolting US cities. And this article is
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about Marla Soschetti, Nick Mernoff, Dan rosenwig Ziff, and Tail Armada.
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I'm sorry for watching those names. And then one we
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probably won't have a chance to read. It says, all right,
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all right, all right, commanders, give celebrity fans something to
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cheer for. And there's a picture of Matthew McConaughey, which
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is the all right, all right, all right, and Henson
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and this is a celebrity I don't know anyway. The
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article is by Candace Buckner. And then my favorite, it
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is a picture of panda hats, panda hats, panda hats,
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panda hats, strollers, scarves. Walker is actually people heading to
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the National Zoo and this is a picture of Matt
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Milhouse of Delaware and many others going to the National
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Zoo to see the panda's debut on Friday. Miss Milhouse
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joked that she would use her walker to plow over
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anyone in her way. And there she is in the
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very lead with her panda hat on, leading a crowd
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behind her to go see the new pandas so Gary ojos,
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all right.
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Speaker 2: The lead article that we're going to start with is
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Pete Hesseyth, confirmed its Defense secretary after vance break's tie.
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The Senate's fifty to fifty vote for the controversial former
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Fox News host marked the second time in history that
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the Vice president was called upon to break the tie
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to confirm a cabinet official. The article is by Abigail House, Sloaner,
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Liz Goodwin, and Merril Cornfield. The Senate on Friday confirmed
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President Donald Trump's nomination of Pete Hesseyth, former Fox News personality,
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to become the country's next defense secretary. The appointment of
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heswith a Trump Wells was called for a frontal assault
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to rid the Pentagon of bing, he has said is
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a leftist ideology marked the dramatic political shifts in the
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United States National Security Policy and Leadership. Hexath the security
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his post Friday night in a vote to fifty to
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fifty after Vice President JD. Vance cast the tie breaking vote.
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It marks the second time in US history the vice
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president's vote was necessary to confirm a cabinet official, and
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Republicans Applot Advance. As Vance advanced with the chain entered
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the chamber, three Republicans Senators Lisa mccouth of Alaska, Susan
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Collins and Maine, and Mitch mcconwell Kentucky, joined the chambers
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Democrats and Independence in opposing Hexath. Following a heated confirmation
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process that centered on allegations of alcohol abuse, sexual misconduct,
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and financial mismanagement, Hexath steadily and vigorously denied any wrongdoing.
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Trumpet worried, allowed to reporters earlier on Friday, might not
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have the votes to get confirmed of the speculation that
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McConnell and Senator Tom Tillis North Carolina might vote against
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his nominee. Tillos, who had told reporters he was conducting
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his own research into the allegations against Hesketh, said that
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he met with Hesgin for two hours on Friday and
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concluded he would support him. The uncertainty made from a
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suspenseful role call on vote fighting on the Senate floor
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as Heath, in an unusual move for nominee, watched the
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vote of his confirmation play out from a separate private
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room inside the Capitol. Winning is what matters, right, Trump
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told reporters in Los Angeles upon hearing the news of
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his confirmation. The combat vector, who was an officer in
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the Army National Guard, Hexath has spoken and written extensively
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about his desire to fire leaders across the military, and
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he has railed against the left as a threat to
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the United States and its armed forces. His nomination provoked
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a wave of dissents from Democrats, who highlighted this minimal
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management experience has previously held US and women don't belong
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in combat units, and its pronouncements that international law and
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human rights are a hindrance to the US war fighters,
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and a contentious confirmation hearing last week Senate Democrats interrogator
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has about those views and the raft of misconduct claims
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he has faced, ranging from allegations that he raped the
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woman at the twenty seventeen Political Conference to accusations of
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financial mismanagement. And previous leadership roles excepts of drinking, sexism,
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and racism. Hexast is valid to carry out an ambitious
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and disruptive agenda on behalf of Trump. In his first
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week back in office. The President and administration have already
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stopt the institute sweeping changes or in thousands of military
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service men to the border with Mexico to fort illegal crossings,
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directing Pentagon officials to review and potentially abolish approach design
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to minimize civilian casualties and war zones, and firing the
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head of the US Coast Guard, admal Linda Pagan, the
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first woman to lead a US military service. As Defense Secretary,
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Hexton forty four will oversee more than three million military
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and civilian personnel, the vast US nuclear arsenal, and an
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annual budget of more than eight hundred billion dollars, responsibilities
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that McConnell, the Senate's former republic and leader, said Hexith
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was unfit to take on. Hexith had failed during his
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confirmation hearing to articulate any strategic vision for addressing the
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United states most pressing national security threats, including an increasingly
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aggressive China, oconnell said in a statement Friday night, Mere
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desire to be a change agent is not enough to
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fill the issues, and dust On Boose fails even to
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distinguish this nominee from multiple adecessors of the last decades,
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he said. But while he is an unconventional leader to
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run the Pentagon, following man who had previous experience overseeing
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sprawling organizations before taking over the federal government's largest agency,
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he is consistent in many other ways with the personalities
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Trump has selected for top jobs in his administration, like
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Secretary of State Marco Ruby, CIDA Director John Ranklin, National
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Security Advisor Michael wall to Lucy Gabber, and at last
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Stefaning Trump's nominees for Director of National Intelligence in US
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and Advassorship respectively. Tsith Exeth has warned of what he
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deems the existential leaders facing the United States is culture
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and constitution from the radical and he has proposed ways
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to retake the United States to retake the United States
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government and institution. Trump has picked Stephen Stephens Feinberg, a
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billionaire political supporter who has been involved in the defense
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contracting business, to serve as the Pentagon's Deputy Defense Secretary.
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Senate Republicans tasked with confirming the president's cabinet and helping
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him fill other scenial position have largely rallied around people
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Trump has nominated. This missing limited relevant job experience or
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alleged mists of the sort the sanct nominees under path administrations.
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Their confirmation hexas of rioting on also underscored the word
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deliberately partisan approach that Trump is adopted to staffing his
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second term, prioritizing loyalty above all and displaying a wariness
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of those he views as potentially disrupted to his political agenda.
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Republicans on Capitol Hill have taken note. At the same time, o'connill,
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unburdened with a political obligations being the GOP SENTIP leader,
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has shown he's willing to break with Trumplin nominees, potentially
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colocating path forward for other controversial picks like Gabert cash
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matel for FBI director and Robert F. Kennedy junior for
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Secretary of Health and Human Services. Democrats in the final
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hours before the vote implore their geopple counterparts to reject Texas,
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whose former colleagues, relatives, and acquaintances have described him in
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private letters, court documents, and media interviewers interviews as an
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abuser of women and a erratic, volatile person with an
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alcohol abuse problem who engages in hostile integrating behavior. But
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Republican lawmakers largely looked the other way, discounting the allegations
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delegations of as political parsing, even after Hexas' former sister
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law on Monday provided a storn app sworn affter David
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with the Senate Armed Services Committee, detailing several instances in
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which she said Hexas was verbally abusive, drunk, and sexist.
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Hexith himself has portrayed most of the claims about him
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as smears from anonymous sources. He provided Tells written responses
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Friday to questions the Senator had sent him about the affidavit,
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dismissing most of his sister in law of allegations as
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fantastical or stemming from her partisan and personal animosity. In
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response to her allegations of alcohol because, he wrote, I
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have been very open about how I've used alcohol and
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the path to deal with the demons that I experienced
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for my time in RACKED in Afghanistan, as countless of
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my fellow veterans have. However, this is something that I
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have overcome. Hexith bound not to drink alcohol if confirmed
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with the job. Hexith acknowledged this week in written responses
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to Senator Elizabeth Warren Devergrat in Massachusetts that he paid
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a fifty thousand dollars settlement to the woman who accused
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him of rape. These are the accuser, who remains unidentified
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publicly nor exit through wife, at least one of whom
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agreed to a mutual none disparagement clause in her divorce pictures,
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appears willing to speak with senators ahead of the vote.
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Tell Us, one of the Republicans last holdouts, had told
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Red Quarters he was seeking to speak with witnesses who
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could provide firsthand collaboration with misconduct allegations, but had yet
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to speak to one acid collaborating testimony. Till said he
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would confirm Hesketh, which he did Friday night.
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Speaker 1: Alice, I am going to read. Touring disaster sites, Trump
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says he wants to get rid of FEMA in the
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first official trip of his second term. Trump also threatened
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with hold disaster aide de California unless this state enacts
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of voter ID law and there is a picture of
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him alongside First Lady Milania Trump speaking Friday as he
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meets with homeowners affected by Hurricane Helene in Swanna Noah,
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North Carolina. He went there before he went to California.
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He is in a blue coat with gloves on, behind
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a podium and Milania. Trump has a hat on, sunglasses,
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a puffy grayish coat or a gray green coat and
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in a background of.
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Speaker 2: Trees.
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Speaker 1: Swanna Noah, North Carolina by Kat Zorunsky, Matt Viisa, Brady Dennis,
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and May Preston. President Donald Trump on a tour of
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two states reeling in recent months from hurricanes and wildfires,
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fledged Friday to upend how the country has respond for
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decades to natural disasters by saying he wants to eliminate
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Feena FEMA and threatening to withhold federal assistance to California
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unless it passes a new voter ID law. I think
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we're going to recommend that FEMA go away, Trump said,
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suggesting that states take the lead in responding to disasters
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then get reimbursed a percentage of their costs from the
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federal government. Rather than mobilizing federal officials who specialize in
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responding to disasters nationwide, he said individual governors would be
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responsible for overseeing disaster responses. In their respective states. I'd
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like to see the states take care of disasters, he said.
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Let the state take care of the tornadoes and the
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hurricanes and all the other things that happen. I think
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you're going to find it a lot less expensive. You'll
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do it for less than half, and you're going to
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get a lot quicker response. While the president's rhetica was sharp,
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it did not appear to reflect a well honed plan.
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Even as he raised the prospect of soon signing an
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executive order, he said things were still under discussion. He
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didn't address questions about his timeline for getting rid of
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the agency or how he would do it, and he
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did not yet appear to have a firm idea of
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how multi billion dollar disasters would be paid for. Even
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if states handle the responses, we're going to respire. We're
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going to supply the money, supply a lot of money.
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You'll chip in a little something like twenty five percent
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or whatever, he said. And even though he has repeatedly
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ridiculed California's leaders, he warmly embraced California Governor Gavin Newsomb, Democrat,
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when he landed in Los Angeles on Friday afternoon. Newsome
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whom Trump often derisively called new scum, was not included
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on the list of participants released by the White House,
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but arrived at the airport to greet Trump and what
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became a remarkable display of warmth between the two avowed
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political adversaries. I appreciate the governor coming out and meeting me.
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We're going to get it fixed, Trump told reporters as
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they stood together after embracing on the tarmac. We're going
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to need your support. We're going to need a lot
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of help. Newsom said, at one point, patting Trump on
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the back. We're looking to get something completed. The way
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you get something completed is you work together. Trump responded,
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as disasters are becoming more frequent and less predictable, Trump
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sometimes overstated rhetoric trust a new element of volatility into
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federal response during times of disaster, and disregarding attempts to
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avoid politicizing disaster responses. He said that Michael Potly, the
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chairman of the Republican National Committee, would help lead recovery
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efforts in his native North Carolina. The Ritero's visit to
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North Carolina, he repeatedly criticized FEMA and the Biden administration's
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handling of the natural disaster as he gathered with families
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whose homes had been severely damaged by the hurricane. FEMA
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has been a very big disappointment, he said. They caused
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a tremendous amount of money, It's very bureaucratic, and it's
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very slow. Trump had also ridiculed FEMA during his first term,
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and some officials appointed out that several conservative states, including Texas, Louisiana,
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and Florida, yet significant amounts of funding from the agency,
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and any effort to dismantle it would trigger a vigorous
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political debate. FEMA needs reforms, and I'm willing to work
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with President Trump on that, but to do away with
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FEMA altogether, we leave families, businesses, and communities hammered by
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disaster beyond desperate and destitute. We will never abandon our
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fellow Americans, Senator Peter Welch, democratic Vermont said in a statement.
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White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt that's ka ro l
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i E. Caroline Levitt told reporters that Trump's executive order
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would direct a council of FEMA advisors to examine the
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agency and to come up with proposals for reform and
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next steps. While Trump is considering abolishing the agency, she
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said the AUTO for now would set up a review
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of it. After finishing his trip to western North Carolina,
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an area of the state that largely supports him, Trump
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traveled on I Force one to California to tour wildfire
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damage in the Los Angeles area. In his remarks earlier Friday,
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he threatened to withhold federal assistance to California if the
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state doesn't change its voting laws in California, I have
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a condition in California. We want them to have voter
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IDs so that people have a voice, and we also
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want them to release the water. Trump has often complained
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about the state Blue State's water policies, but water experts
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have set his suggestion that California could turn on a
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valve to let the water flow from the north is incorrect.
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As to about Trump's threat to withhold aid unless California
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changes voter id laws, Newsom responded, I have all the
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confidence in the world will work that out. During his
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visit to California, Trump from that the devastation was unlike
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anything perhaps since World War Two, and like he got
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hit by a bomb. It's not even believable. He said
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while turring the damage. This is already the most expensive
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natural disaster, they say, in American history. That's pretty amazing.
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The numbers are going to be staggering. Most importantly, we
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have to get it built, and we have to hopefully
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find as few people as possible, Trump said while at
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a meeting with local leaders at a firehouse and Pacific palisades.
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Trump began by saying he was interested to hear suggestions
21:40
in even political statements, before shadowing the intense negotiations between
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federal and local officials and the month ahead. Months ahead,
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Trump at times got into tense disagreements with local leaders,
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with Republicans in the room at times loudly clapping as
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he called for more water to flow and swift building
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permits to be approved, as Democrats sat silently or sought
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to correct his statements. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass welcomed
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Trump and told him that she had signed a series
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of executive orders to cut red tape and get people
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back building as fast as possible. But Trump, where earlier
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said he would waive all federal permits and urge local
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leaders to do the same, quickly challenged Bass, telling her
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he'd heard from homeowners they won't be able to start
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rebuilding for eighteen months. That time frame, local officials say
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came from a federal estimate given to homeowners by the
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US Army Corps of Engineers for the amount of time
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to clear debris. Bass did not pinpoint a time frame,
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but noted officials would need some time to clear hazardous
22:54
waste before buildings could go up. What's hazarded waste. You're
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going to have to define that, Trump said, We're going
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to go through a whole series of questions on determining
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what hazardous waste is. Nope, nope, Bass replied, I just
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think you have to allow the people to go on
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their site and start the process tonight. Trump said, and
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we will. Bass replied, you can come back and check.
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The back and forth with Bass showcased a much different
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and more contentious tone than the meeting an hour earlier
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with Newsom, which was marked five miles and pats on
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the back, and there is a picture of the First
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Lady and the President with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass,
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and they are speaking at the fire station in Pacific Palisades.
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During the meeting, Trump also said that he is signing
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an executive order to open up the pumps and valves
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to get the water to flow down into southern California.
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We have to have that water, he said. It's unclear
24:03
what Trump meant, because the state's water delivery system already
24:07
transports water from the north to the southern part of
24:10
the state and at the rate Trump has called for,
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and the state reservoirs in southern California are full, as
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Newsom has emphasized many times in the days since the fires.
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Trump last visited the storm battered region in North Carolina
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during a brief trip in October, where he spoke nearer
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neighborhood along the Swanna Noah River that had been ravaged
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by Helene's floodwaters. On that day, the then Republican nominee
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repeated false claims that FEMA and the Biden administration had
24:43
spent a lot of money on aiding unauthorized migrants and
24:49
had little left to assist local residents suffering in the
24:53
aftermath of the hurricane. He argued that the federal government
24:57
in general and FEMA articular, had done a very poor
25:03
job responding to the unprecedented storm, and he promised that
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he would do better if elected. I will support and totally
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complete the rebuilding of every region and town and city
25:16
that was devastated by the hurricane. And I will slash
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through every bureaucratic area, he said that day, bowing to
25:24
personally recruit businesses from around the world to help restore
25:28
prosperity to the region. Every single inch of every property
25:33
will be fully rebuilt, greater and more beautiful than it
25:36
was before, he said. Trump has claimed that he is
25:41
a popular figure in the areas hit hardest by the
25:44
storm in western North Carolina, and in some places that
25:48
undoubtedly is true, but some of the most devastated parts
25:52
of the region also tend to be among the bluer
25:54
parts of the state. Former President Vice President Kamala Harris
26:00
for Instant One more than sixty one percent of the
26:03
vote in November in Buncombe County, which is home to
26:06
the population center of Asheville, compared with Trump's thirty seven percent.
26:13
In Wataga County, home to Boon, Harris won by slimmer margin,
26:18
fifty two percent to forty six percent. At the same time,
26:23
Trump prevailed easily in the surrounding counties of Henderson, Hayward, Madison, Yancy,
26:29
and MacDowell. Trump also carried North Carolina statewide by more
26:33
than three percentage points. Even as Trump again criticized FEMA's
26:38
response to Hurricane Helene on Friday, the agency itself has
26:43
said that it continues to help residents recover. In a
26:47
news release earlier this week, announcing that it would continue
26:51
to pay for hotel rooms and other transitional housing for
26:55
people displaced by the hurricane in western North Carolina, FEMA
27:00
said that it has provided more than three hundred and
27:03
sixteen million dollars in cash grants to storm survivors, including
27:08
more than six point two million in rental assistance. The
27:12
agency also said the Small Business Administration has approved more
27:17
than two hundred and thirteen million dollars in low interest loans,
27:21
which are interests free for the first year. FEMA, the
27:27
State of North Carolina, other federal agencies, and volunteer organizations
27:32
continue working with families to help them begin their recovery.
27:36
The agency said on a separate web page that the
27:41
agency has maintained for months aimed at countering misinformation surrounding
27:46
the recovery efforts. FEMA also counters claims that Trump has made,
27:52
including the one about funneling disaster aid to migrants no
27:57
money is being reverted from disaster response needs, the webpage reads.
28:03
In addition, despite claims that FEMA does not have enough
28:07
disaster funding the aid North Carolinians, the agency has said
28:12
there is adequate money for immediate response and recovery needs.
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Weiser reported from Washington, Dennis from Durham, North Carolina, and
28:22
Wrested from Los Angeles. Breanna Sachson Washington contributed to this report.
28:29
Gary back to you, Okay.
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Speaker 2: The next articles has learned Trump's budget pick Russ Lawd,
28:39
is starting to upend Washington. The President's nominee for the
28:43
Office of Management and Budget aims to slash spending and
28:46
regulations and pushed the limits of presidential power to achieve
28:51
Trump's agendas. Articles by Tony Rohm and Jeff Stein. Even
28:59
before takes the reins at the White House Budget Office,
29:03
Russell Watt has started trying to remake Washington. His promise
29:08
to pursue stark spending cuts and his signals support for
29:13
resting some powers of the purse away from Congress. He's
29:17
proposed vast changes to Medicaid and other safety net programs,
29:22
and he's redoubled his commitment to purging the federal workforce,
29:26
triggering a quiet early exodus of career civil service. The
29:31
fate of Bot's agenda ultimately rests with the Senate, where
29:36
all makers are expected to confirm the forty eight year
29:39
old Conservative hawk as the next Director of the Office
29:42
of Management and Budget. But Voss' ideas have already captured
29:47
the nation's capital and shaped some of Donald Trump's earliest
29:50
political directors. Underscoring the long time lieutenant's powerful and growing employers,
29:57
Ross brings four years of experience buying with four years
30:01
of thinking deeply about how to actually change the system
30:04
and change the bureaucracy, said King, which that Trump ally,
30:07
who served as the GOP Speaker of the House in
30:10
the nineteen nineties. To achieve the Trump agenda, we have
30:14
to control the bureaucracy because it will do everything it
30:17
can to undermine and slow walk you gain it, said
30:21
Rus is maybe the key factor in getting the bureaucracy
30:24
moving in the same direction as the American people. In
30:27
the presence of what a successful Senate vote would mark
30:32
a return to OMB the Officer Management Budget, the pivotal
30:36
White House agency also led in Trump's first term. His
30:41
original tenure was controversial, as Wat plies with Democrats over
30:45
spending blueprints he submitted to Congress and the government's handling
30:49
specific funds, particularly after the Trump administration slowed derively slowed
30:54
delivery of age to Ukraine. Soon after he departed the administration,
31:00
Lot began laying the groundwork for a second Trump term.
31:04
He chartered the Center for Renewing America, and he assisted
31:07
with Project twenty twenty five, ultimately producing two conservative policy proposals.
31:14
They called for sweeping transformation of the federal bureaucracy. In
31:18
some of his writings, playing of the United States is
31:21
under a post constitutional order, foreshadowing the combatis style. He
31:26
intends to rely to their view. Already, Trump has taken
31:30
steps to imployment policy Lot previously supported. Beginning Monday, the
31:35
President issued orders to freeze of federal funding, blocked diversity initiatives,
31:40
and make it easier to fire career government employees. Some
31:44
of the ideas remembered What's pass work, but he declined
31:47
this week to speak about his think packed prior recommendations,
31:51
and Trump has tried to distance himself from Project twenty
31:55
twenty five. Almost immediately. Trump's early directed sparkled from opponents
32:01
and triggered unrest among federal workers. Some of the White
32:04
House own career employees also appeared to revolt, leading to
32:09
an unusually large wave of staff departures ahead of Lot's
32:12
expected arrival, According to three people familiar with the situation
32:17
who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe personnel manage.
32:21
Underscoring the ferocity of Democrats opposition, Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat
32:26
of Virginia, on Wednesday sought to characterize Batts thinking as extreme.
32:32
We want to traumatize federal employees, Kane said, referring to
32:36
a comment Block Reporting made about the civil workforce, and
32:40
then went to take all these programs that help everyday
32:43
people who are struggling and cut down them because they
32:46
are woke and webinized. A spokeswoman for Vaught did not
32:50
respond to a request for comment. At the hearing, the
32:54
president's nominees and his past remarks were directed at the
32:57
weaponized bureaucraphys were shadowed the tectonic shifts underway in Washington,
33:04
where omb rarely a focus on the political side, is
33:07
said to become the foremost battleground over the nation's fiscal future.
33:12
Throughout the twenty twenty four campaign, Trump pitched voters on
33:16
dramatic budget cuts, linking federal spidning through rising inflation. His advisors,
33:22
including the tech billionaire Elon Musk, often measured the magnitude
33:26
of the preferred reduction into the trillions of dollars, raising
33:30
the potential that they could affect virtually every agency and
33:34
program accept defense. Ultimately, Trump and his GP allies hope
33:38
to produce savings that can help offset the cost of
33:41
the still evolving plan to extend and possibly expand axe
33:46
cuts adopted during Trump's first term. They also face rapidly
33:51
approaching fiscal deadlines. Republicans must act to prevent a government
33:55
shut down with funding set to aspire in March, and
33:59
raise the nation's debt ceiling to ensure that Washington does
34:02
not default on obligations this stay. Entering those fights, Trump
34:07
has turned to Vaught, who once led the staff for
34:10
the Republican Study Committee, a powerful block the House that
34:13
now includes the largest swamp of GPO awmakers in the Chamber.
34:17
She burst into the national scene first Trump administration, initially
34:22
as deputy director of the OMD before becoming its chief.
34:26
Throughout his tenure, Vaught pushed aggressively for spending reductions even
34:32
as the national debt sword of Trump. In past White
34:35
House budgets, he proposed hundreds of billions of dollars and
34:39
cuts to Medicaid and other programs that Democrats see as
34:42
critical for low income families, and Vaught sought major reductions
34:47
to the Education Department in Chariot Department in US Agency
34:51
for International Development, though some of the changes he recommended
34:55
never became law. Over two confirmation hearings this month, Lott
35:00
reprised his calls for austerity entering Trump's second term, promising
35:05
to quote begin to tackle or spending in debt, as
35:08
he said on Wednesday, but he said the new administration
35:11
is not yet that a target for fiscal year twenty
35:14
twenty six, which begins in October. He specifically pointed to
35:18
a welfare reform and programs including Medicaid, arguing the government
35:23
had set up a benefit hammer that allowed low income
35:26
Americans to obtain health insurance and other aid while unemployed.
35:31
You can get sizeable levels of savings and reforms. A
35:34
lot told the Senate Budget Committee his vision broadly delighted
35:39
Republicans to serve in Washington for years. You're going to
35:44
be challenging the status quo. You're going to be called crazy.
35:48
Since Senator John Neely kenned John Neely Kennedy, Republican of
35:52
Louisiana before invoking the Bible to some laughter in the room,
35:57
many people also called no, accrazy. And then the rains
36:01
came and all the fact checkers died. You have to persevere.
36:05
The Democrats squared off repeated with Lot over the depth
36:08
of cuts, the visions, and his views on how to
36:11
achieve them. In alignment with Trump, Lot express renewed openness
36:15
about invoking a power known as impoundment, which could allow
36:19
the president to reduce to zero, to reduce or zero
36:22
out entire funding categories even if wall nikkers vote otherwise.
36:27
The President ran on the notion that the Empowerment Control
36:31
Act is unconstitutional, Loot said, referring to the nineteen seventies
36:35
laws that limits the White House ability to withhold funds.
36:39
I agree with that, he said. Hours into a second term,
36:42
Trump signed an initial battery of executive orders that signaled
36:46
his willingness to test the limits of his spending powers.
36:49
One director this week health the disbursement of funds from
36:52
the Inflation Reduction Act. Democrats twenty twenty two Help and
36:56
Climate Law, which already had been designated to a contractor.
37:00
Saint David Super, an administrative law professor at Georgetown Law School,
37:05
that is a separate issue from impoundments, according to Super,
37:08
who noted the policy still amounts going back on an
37:12
existing commitment when the federal government breaches its contracts. It
37:16
calls the entire sanctity of contract into questions and makes
37:19
it impossible for anyone to trust the federal government. Super said,
37:23
once it starts to falling on contract obligations, vendors won't
37:27
charge it much more, and taxpayers will end up putting
37:30
the bill. But this week said some of Trump's early
37:34
action impose only a book programmatic delay on federal funds,
37:41
noting that the administration would soon begin legal review of
37:44
the issue. He and his allies who articulated the detailed
37:48
explanation for why they believe the existing spending law is unconstitutional.
37:53
But Democrats, led by Senator Patty Burd, Democrat of Washington,
37:57
still questioned the president's directors, warning bots proposed tactics threatened
38:02
to underline viewmaking in Congress. All I have to say
38:06
is that your answer to this should be this concerting
38:08
to every single member on this committee, Murray added. Even
38:12
though the Senate has not yet scheduled a vote on
38:14
bots nomination, some budget staffers have quietly departed at MB
38:19
attention that former officials attributed to friction between the incoming
38:23
leader and the career civil service dating back to Trump's
38:27
return to the Trump's term. BOT has supported efforts to
38:31
reclassify federal workers in a way that would allow the
38:34
president to fire them more easily, a designation known as
38:37
Schedule F that Trump revised one of his first action
38:40
in Congress in the office. Although those departing is Mark Sandy,
38:45
who broke ranks to testify in Trump's first impeachment inquiry
38:49
in twenty nineteen about the decision to pause congressionally improved
38:53
military and the Ukraine. Also expected to leave Ed mc
38:56
kirtin on the Budget's Officer's National Security Dision, Tyler Curtis
39:02
of its Treasury Division, and Matt o'caine in its Intelligent
39:05
Points that People said more than ten senior executive service
39:09
positions are now vacant. While part of this turnover is
39:12
due to retirements and normal attrition, numerous White House budget
39:16
staffers are also apprehensive about Block's demand to shift money
39:20
around in ways that may prove legally dubious to people,
39:24
said Bill Hoagland, senior vice president of the Bipartisan Positive Committee,
39:29
a non partisan think pang that that he has spoken
39:32
to Budget Office officials who quote are very concerned, in worried,
39:36
and some budget orders could violate federal law. There are
39:39
a number of senior service type career people who are
39:42
nerves about having to act undirected as they think could
39:45
be unconstitutional or not legal, Hopeland said, But that's what
39:49
the Trumpet did. The station wants to hope. They want
39:52
people to leave Alice back to you.
40:00
Speaker 1: Trump ramps up ICE arrests, alarming cities and immigrant communities.
40:07
The number of suspects arrested several hundred per day, has
40:12
been outpaced by the psychological impact of the attention on
40:17
ICE operations. There's a picture of a Mexican National Migration
40:23
Institute van transporting migrants deported from the United States leaving
40:29
the El Chaparral border crossing in Tijuana, Mexico, on January
40:34
twenty second by Maria Saschetti, Nick Mirov, Dan Rosenwick, ZIP
40:41
and Tao Armas. The deportation blitz. President Donald Trump promised
40:48
on the campaign trail, kicked off in US cities this week,
40:52
delighting many of his supporters and julging communities where immigration
40:57
officers appeared or whose arrival was merely rumored, sending a chill. Nonetheless,
41:04
Trump's executive orders have given immigration officers extraordinary new powers
41:09
to cast a wider net and fast track deportations. The
41:15
president has scrapped restrictions that kept sensitive locations like churches
41:22
and schools, or limits for immigration officers. Social media posts
41:27
and school mailing list have lit up with possible officers sightings,
41:32
including many false alarms. The number of suspects arrested several
41:38
hundred per day nationwide, has been outpaced by the psychological
41:43
impact of the attention on ICE operations. In Boston, a
41:49
Fox News crew broadcast live as officers knocked on doors
41:53
and pulled suspects from homes. In other cities where ICE
41:58
netted a smattering of reads guests, immigrant advocacy groups and
42:02
Democratic representatives denounced raids that gave an impression of something larger.
42:09
Chicago officials said ICE officers tried to access an elementary school,
42:15
but the agency said it wasn't true. It's going very well.
42:20
We're getting the bad, hard criminals out, Trump said, speaking
42:25
to reporters during a trip to North Carolina to view
42:28
the flood recovery from Hurricane Helene. Without evidence, he said,
42:34
these are murderers. These are people that have been as
42:37
bad as you get, as bad as anybody you've seen.
42:41
We're taking them out first. It is a sharp break
42:45
from the Biden administration, which protected most undocumented immigrants from
42:51
being deported and welcomed thousands of temporary new arrivals via
42:55
a program called parole. This week, the top Apartment of
43:00
Homeland Security official issued a memo directing agents to consider
43:06
swiftly deporting people the Biden administration allowed to enter. The
43:12
Trump administration has stopped taking appointments for migrants waiting in
43:16
Mexico to request asylum through the CPDCBP one mobile app.
43:23
Trump's efforts are likely to face legal challenges, but lawyers
43:27
say immigrants are not entitled to public defenders and therefore
43:31
will have a difficult time defending themselves in a fast
43:34
track process, especially if they are detained. Earlier in the week,
43:39
Trump officials abruptly halted some contracts that provided legal assistance
43:44
to detainees that provided legal guidance to detainees. White House
43:52
Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt said Tuesday night Thursday night that
43:59
ICE had made five hundred and thirty eight arrests that day,
44:03
and officials said Friday they arrested five hundred and thirty
44:07
ninety three more. She wrote that four of those arrest
44:11
in the sweeps were members of the Venezuelan gang Trendarragua.
44:17
Others had committed sex crimes against children, Levitt said. Levitt
44:23
posted photos Friday showing US troops loading shackle detainees onto
44:29
a military cargo plane for a flight to Guatemala. The
44:35
largest massive deportation operation in history is well underway, Levitt
44:40
wrote on x on Thursday. Deportation flights have begun. President
44:46
Trump is sending a strong and clear message to the
44:49
entire world. If you illegally enter the United States of America,
44:53
you will face severe consequences. Levitt later added, the military
44:59
flew to you see seventeen cargo planes, each carrying approximately
45:04
eighty people to Guatemala after they crossed the US Mexico
45:08
border illegally. According to a DHS official who spoke on
45:12
the condition of anonymity to discuss the operations. The flights
45:17
departed from Texas and Arizona. Official said ICE air is
45:23
continuing to operate deportation flights alongside military planes. Official said.
45:30
Tom Cartwright, who tracks ICE deportations for the immigrant advocacy
45:34
group Witness at the Borough, called the military operation theater
45:39
of the absurd in a post on x The only
45:43
thing new abate this is subjecting people to transport on
45:46
the cargo plane, Cartwright wrote. He noted that ICE carried
45:51
a five hundred and eight deportation flights to Guatemala during
45:55
the twenty four physical urine planes that averaged one hundred
45:59
and twenty five passengers. Trump's borders are Tom Homan cited
46:06
a higher number of ICE arrests than the White House
46:09
on News Nation on Thursday night, saying officials had apprehended
46:14
more than three thousand people with criminal records in the
46:17
first couple of days of the administration. ICE, which detains
46:22
and deports immigrants, did not respond to request to clarify
46:26
the numbers. Trump and his officials provided a few details
46:32
about those arrests or proof of their criminal records. Trump
46:36
has long characterized immigrants as criminals. Those studies show that
46:40
native born Americans commit a higher share violent felonies. Immigration
46:47
officials did not say precisely how many immigrants were deported
46:51
as part of the nationwide operations that unfolded this week,
46:55
or how many were criminals, but officials have said their
46:59
main target are serious offenders. Trump also conducted raids at
47:05
the start of his first term and had threatened to
47:08
deport millions of people, though he never came close to
47:12
that number. Then, as now, officials said criminals were their
47:16
top priority. Weeks later, however, Congressional aids discovered that half
47:21
of those arrested had no criminal convictions or had committed
47:25
traffic offenses as their most serious crimes, which I said
47:29
were mostly for drunken driving. The immigration sweeps hid immediately
47:35
after Trump took office in cities and states across the country,
47:39
targeting areas where Democrats have defended immigrants and urged Congress
47:44
to grant them a path to US citizenship. Trump has
47:48
called for their mass removal, and on inauguration Day, he
47:52
directed the Department of Homeland Security, Justice, and Defense to
47:57
prioritize immigration enforcement. Homan, a FOMA acting ICE director and
48:04
Fox News analyst, said in their appearance Thursday on Fox
48:09
News that agents who are arresting people in sanctuary cities,
48:13
where local officials refuse to allow agents to arrest immigrants
48:17
in their jails after police have picked them up for
48:20
alleged crimes. Many local officials say they cannot keep someone
48:25
in jail for a civil immigration violation after a judge
48:29
has ordered the person released on bail and a criminal case.
48:33
Some have expressed frustration that ICE targets minor offenders, making
48:37
the broader community afraid to report crimes to police. Trump
48:42
officials have called for rescinding federal funding to those cities,
48:46
and have threatened to prosecute any officials who obstruct immigration officers.
48:52
Sanctuary cities may get less efficient and more dangerous, but
48:56
it's not going to stop us. We're hitting every century
49:00
rare city right now, Homan said Acting Homeland Security Secretary
49:06
of Benjamin C. Huffman on January twentieth, rescinded a directive
49:11
that discouraged ICE from making arrest in sensitive areas such
49:15
as churches or schools. He also ended the broad use
49:19
of humanitarian parole, which President Joe Biden used to admit
49:24
thousands of temporary migrants from Cuba, Haiti, and other countries.
49:29
On Thursday, Huffman went further, directing immigration officials to consider
49:35
stripping an undermined number of migrants of parole and placing
49:39
them in fast track removal proceedings. Huffman declared that there
49:44
was a mass influx of migrants at the Southern Bodham
49:48
despite a sharp reduction in apprehensions in recent months. Unless
49:54
they are clearly eligible to enter, Huffman said all migrants
49:58
should be detained until they are reported or granted asylum.
50:03
In Newark, Mayo ras A Baraka said Thursday that ICE
50:08
rated a local business detaining undocumented residents and US citizens
50:14
without producing a warrant. One of the detainees is the
50:18
US military veteran who suffered the indignity of having the
50:23
legitimacy of his military documentation question, the mayor said in
50:28
a statement. He said federal agents violated the veteran strites.
50:33
Newark will not stand by idly while people are being
50:37
unlawfully terrorized. Baraka added ICE decline to provide detailed answers
50:43
about allegations, saying the investigation is ongoing, but spokesman Jeff
50:49
Carter said in an email that agents may encounter US
50:54
citizens while conducting field work and may request identification to
50:59
establish an individual's identity, which is what happened in Newark.
51:05
ICE has arrested immigrants, particularly criminals, across every administration, and
51:10
the Biden administration boasted that it was aggressively pursuing serious offenders.
51:16
Days before Biden left office, I said it had arrested
51:20
thirty three criminal non citizens in a week long operation
51:23
in December, also in Newark. As of July twenty first,
51:29
I said it was tracking nearly six hundred and fifty
51:33
thousand undocumented immigrants with criminal records who had been released
51:38
into the United States. The only four hundred and twenty
51:41
five thousand had convictions, the others were pending trial. Many
51:46
are serving criminal sentences in state prisons or jails, while
51:51
others are minor offenders who had been spared removal under
51:54
the Biden administration. Trump has said any of the estimated
52:00
eleven million immigrants who are in the United States illegally
52:04
could be deported. In the DC area, the volunteer group
52:10
Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network launched a hotline money for
52:15
area of residence to call if they believe they see
52:18
ICE offenders in public. The group has not confirmed any
52:22
wide scale raids or enforcement actions this week, but the
52:26
bones CAPERINGI, said Amy Fisher, one of the group's organizers.
52:32
What is really clear is that people are just terrified.
52:36
Fisher said. It really seems like any time there is
52:39
an unmarked cop car or something that looks like a
52:42
cop car, people call it describes the overall moment or
52:47
atmosphere that we're living in. In Montgomery County, Maryland County
52:53
officials had ICE agents arrested an immigrant with a felony
52:56
in Gaithersburg on Thursday. Not immediately respond to a request
53:02
for information about the arrest, but it sparked fears of
53:05
broader immigration sweeps at a local shopping center and high school.
53:10
Similar rumors have swept across the country since Trump took office.
53:15
Some residents have confused local law enforcement for ICE agents,
53:20
said Earl Stoddard, an assistant Chief administration officer in Montgomery County,
53:26
a sign of locals anxieties that their neighborhood could be
53:30
the agency's next target. It's been every day this week,
53:36
Stoddard said. Thursday people calling and worrying about ICE. This
53:41
was the first time it was real Jacqueline Almey, Nie
53:47
Aurelis and Hernandez, Sarah Klan, and Dan Lamoth contributed to
53:53
this report. Hey, Harry, look up that article on the pandace.
53:57
That would be a nice read after this.
54:02
Speaker 2: Uh any I do where to go? Yeah?
54:07
Speaker 1: B two? Just click on the article. I bet it'll
54:11
take you over. It's the picture on the front page.
54:14
Wait a mint. Let me see if I can get
54:16
B one. Oh, let's see.
54:28
Speaker 2: Uh yeah, you want I see it? Let me try
54:33
to get there.
54:34
Speaker 1: Section opinion. The room is Handa's back. I got it,
54:44
ah Handas crowds welcome fuzzy celebs back to National Zoo.
54:52
Hours before the sun rose, the band played and the
54:55
ceremonial gates opened. Lisa Barnum, forty six, and or five
55:00
year old son Jaden were waiting. The pair had driven
55:03
from Cleveland to d C with a single item on
55:06
their agenda, see the Pandas. They were the first in
55:11
line outside the National Zoogates, armed with handwarmers and multiple
55:15
pairs of socks, fleecelggings, and panda hats to stay warm. Jaden,
55:20
seated in a stroller, had a blanket draped over his legs.
55:24
I was here, for a Bow Bow's debut eleven years ago,
55:29
said Barnum, a social worker, referring to the female giant
55:33
panda who was born at the zoo in twenty thirteen
55:36
and moved to China in twenty seventeen. Her little boys here,
55:41
so I brought my little boy. They were among the
55:44
crowds who came to the zoo Friday for the general
55:47
public's first in person look at Queen Boo and Boo Lee,
55:53
the three year old female and male bears who arrived
55:56
in October after more than a year of deporav d
56:01
c's three most recent panda residents left in November twenty
56:05
twenty three. The city's collective sorrow over its unofficial mascot
56:10
is Oval. The celebration became early Friday. The Crash Funk
56:15
Brass band played, a children's group, danced in panda ears,
56:20
and sangabate Friendship. A person in a black and white
56:24
giant panda mascot soup greeted VIPs with high fives. Baw
56:29
Lee and Queen Bao have won air hearts. The Zoo's director,
56:33
Brandy Smith, told reporters many of the familiar markings of
56:37
the giant Pandamania also were back. Gift shops were stocked
56:42
with panda paraphernalia, and the popular Panda cam had resumed,
56:47
garnering seventy five thousand views by eleven thirty a m. Friday.
56:51
The zoo said Asia Trail, the zoo's wing of Asian
56:56
animals that had been closed for several months, was with humans.
57:02
Ah Pandas. Children from a charter school yelled as they
57:06
ran down the Zoo's Serpentine Trail to see the bears.
57:12
Teresa Mead of Annapolis was second in lind after the
57:15
Barnum family. The pandas are just such great spokes animals,
57:20
said the forty six year old vetnarian. Mead grew up
57:23
in Baltimore and remembers coming to the zoo with her
57:26
parents as a child to see Ling Ling and his
57:29
Singh His sing who arrived in Washington in nineteen seventy two.
57:34
Always thought I was so lucky to live near the pandas,
57:37
Mead said. And others came from Norfolk, Virginia, and they
57:45
express how they live. At a ceremony in the morning,
57:50
students from yu Ying Public Charter School, a dual Chinese
57:54
and English campus in North Washington were Fuzzy Panda ears
57:59
and sang a song about the flower of friendship. And
58:04
China owns and leases all giant pandas in the US zoos,
58:08
and the tense relationship between the two countries has regularly
58:12
threatened the zoo's acquisition of giant pandas. And with that, yes, say.
58:18
Speaker 2: Something helpless saying goodbye.
58:21
Speaker 1: Already, I am going to say goodbye to We depart
58:26
for the next five weeks, so we will be back
58:28
in March. Stay warm, hope the weather changes is a
58:32
little bit warmer than it has been previously. Stay tuned
58:38
for continued programming on Radio r Bahe