Transcript

6.5.25 · Washington Post

0:00
Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of Today's Washington Post for Thursday,
0:05
June fifth, of twenty twenty five. Your reader Rosales Staina
0:12
with reminder that radioized a reading service for those blinded
0:17
with difficulties holding a reading printed material. And I will
0:22
start with the front page on the far left putin
0:27
vow's retaliation for strikes in Russia. Kremlin speaks with Trump
0:33
as Key rejects its conditions for peace.
0:37
Speaker 2: This is by David L.
0:38
Speaker 1: Stern, Natalia Abra Kamova, and Ellen Francis. Then there is
0:46
a picture, a colorful picture of a manufacturing plant of
0:51
independent can It is a manufacturer near Baltimore, which already
0:57
raised prices this year and will have to do so again,
1:01
it's CEO, says, And you see lots of scrap material,
1:07
a long.
1:10
Speaker 2: Line.
1:11
Speaker 1: It looks like a roller coaster that I guess takes
1:15
down and retrieves periods yellow areas. I can't describe this.
1:24
One lady in a green vest looking down at something,
1:30
but she's the only person in the picture. A thing
1:33
that looks like a hamster wheel. It's a fan. I
1:37
suppose it's a fan anyway. That is the picture above.
1:42
An article called as Tariff's double worries multiplied.
1:49
Speaker 2: Abba Batari, and then to the far.
1:53
Speaker 1: Right, Trump revises widens entry band more than a dozen
1:58
nations affected twenty eighteen High Court ruling may give it
2:04
legal strength by David Nakamura, Emily Davies and Mary Anne Levine.
2:11
And then below the fold, President plows past warnings on
2:15
US debt budget bill would tackle on trillions, alarming some
2:21
in GOP and economists by Jacob's bogage and Theodoric Mayo.
2:28
And then in the middle of the bottom, a fighter
2:32
believed to be foreign stands guard in February at his
2:35
site overlooking Damascus, Syria. And he's standing in the very well.
2:40
It's the sunlight at that point. The lighting on it
2:44
makes it look very hazy and desolate and red red material.
2:50
But he's in battle fatigues and got a huge armor
2:54
best on.
2:56
Speaker 2: And he's the only person in this picture.
3:00
Speaker 1: And the article is in Syria a balancing act over militants.
3:05
New leader faces challenge from foreign fighters who helped him
3:08
win power by Louisa Lovelock and Zacharia Zachariah. And the
3:17
last article on the front page far right GOP Ponda's
3:21
work rules to cut spending on welfare by Rachel Siegel,
3:27
Daniel Wu, and Finit Nauupo. Our first article is Trump
3:35
Administration reinstates and expands travel band. The effort comes as
3:42
the President has pursued extraordinary measures to curtail legal and
3:48
illegal immigration. By David Nakamura, Emily Davies, and Marianne Levan.
3:57
President Donald Trump on Wednesday restricted the entry of travelers
4:01
to the United States for more than a dozen countries,
4:05
resurrecting and expanding sweeping restrictions from his first term that
4:11
are expected to draw swift legal challenges. The Presidents Tool Proclamation,
4:19
slated to go into effect June ninth, fully restricts the
4:24
entry of individuals from Afghanistan, Mayan, mar Chad, Republic of Congo,
4:34
Equatorial Guinea, Etria, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
4:44
It also partially restricts the entry of travelers from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sirira, Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan,
4:55
and Venezuela. The Trump Administration and a document circulated Wednesday evening,
5:02
cited national security concerns and said the President made his
5:07
decision after reviewing a state Department report. Authorities said the
5:14
ban was necessary to compel foreign governments to cooperate with
5:19
their agenda and enforce the country's immigration laws. Countries included
5:26
in the band were deemed to have insufficient security vetting
5:30
procedures for issuing passports or other travel documents, and had
5:35
high rates of citizens who overstayed their visas in the
5:39
United States. Authorities said the new travel restrictions include exceptions
5:45
for lawful permanent residents, existing visa holders, certain visa categories,
5:52
and individuals whose entry serves US national interest. In a
5:57
video released by the White House, the President referred to
6:01
the attack Sunday that injured a dozen demonstrators in Boulder, Colorado,
6:07
marching for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza. Federal
6:12
authorities said the attack was carried out by an immigrant
6:15
from Egypt who arrived.
6:17
Speaker 2: On a visa.
6:19
Speaker 1: Egypt is not on the list of countries whose citizens
6:22
will be restricted are borred from entering the United States.
6:27
Speaker 2: That incident.
6:30
Speaker 1: Underscores the danger posed to our country by foreign nationals
6:34
not properly vetted, as well as those who come here
6:38
as temporary visitors and overstay. They are welcome. We don't
6:42
want them, Trump said. The president added that the travel
6:47
band list could change based on whether authorities in those
6:51
countries make material improvements to their own screening procedures. Likewise,
6:58
Trump said countries can be added as threat to merge
7:02
around the world. Democrats condemned the administration's announcement and cast
7:08
van as a betrayal of American values. Senator Edward J.
7:13
Markey of Massachusetts said the move will not make Americas
7:18
safe up and Senator Adam Shift of California, both Democrats,
7:22
said the band will serve to further isolate the United
7:26
States on the global stage. Representative Yasmin and Saari of Arizona,
7:32
who is an Iranian American, said the xenophobic and racist
7:38
band will devastate my constituents and families like man. Immigrant
7:44
rights groups rebuked the new restrictions. In a statement t
7:48
Wednesday night, Sean Vandiva, president and board chairman of hashtag
7:53
Afghanistan Ebak or afghan Ebak, a nonprofit group that helps
7:59
coordinate the recent settlement of Afghans, said the travel ban
8:04
is not about national security, It's about political theater. He
8:10
suggested the administration was seeking to capitalize politically by tying
8:14
the announcement to the attack in Boulder. Let's call it
8:18
what it is, a second Muslim band, dressed up in
8:23
bureaucracy and rushed out in the aftermath of a tragedy
8:27
to disguise its intent. The administration had this policy prepared
8:33
weeks ago. It was not drafted in response to the
8:36
Boulder attack. It was delayed until a moment of public
8:40
grief and fear could be exploited from maximum political cover.
8:44
That's not leadership, it's opportunism. Van Diver said. The effort
8:51
to significantly curtail travelers from nineteen countries comes as the
8:55
Trump administration has pursued extraordinary measures to curtails illegal and
9:01
legal immigration, including efforts to enact mass deportations, ban birth
9:07
rights citizenship, suspend refugee admissions, and scrap due process rights
9:14
for alleged gang members from Venezuela. Trump pledged during his
9:18
twenty twenty four presidential campaign to reimpose an expanded version
9:23
of the travel ban, saying it would come back bigger
9:27
than before and much stronger than before. His effort to
9:31
impose ban in early twenty seventeen created chaos at US
9:36
airports and drew legal challenges from civil liberties groups and
9:40
immigrant rights advocates. The first Trump administration was forced to
9:45
amend the plans twice before the Supreme Court upheld a
9:49
third version in June twenty eighteen. Immigration lawyers said they
9:54
have fielded queries from the United States citizens and non
9:58
citizens seeking advice on how to deal with potential travel
10:02
restrictions for family members or themselves. This discriminatory policy, which
10:09
limits legal immigration not only flies in the face of
10:13
what our country is supposed to stand for, it will
10:16
be harmful to our economy and our communities that rely
10:20
on contributions of people who come to America from this
10:24
wide range of countries. Representative Pramila Jeliopol, a Democrat of Washington,
10:31
said on x the White House previewed previewed the travel
10:36
ban on inauguration Day, issuing an executive order that directs
10:41
the heads of the Departments of State, Justice, and Homeland
10:45
Security and the Director of US Intelligence Agencies to identify
10:51
countries throughout the world for which vetting and screening information
10:55
is so deficient as to warrant a partial a full
10:58
suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries. Trump's
11:04
executive order in January marked a shift in approach from
11:08
the early days of his first term, when the initial
11:12
version of his travel ban caused widespread confusion and was
11:16
immediately challenged in court. The first version suspended the refugee
11:22
program and restricted travel for the citizens of seven Muslim
11:27
majority countries Iran, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, and Libya.
11:35
Trump issued a second version of the travel ban on
11:38
March sixth, twenty seventeen, and a third version on September
11:43
twenty fourth, twenty seventeen. Amid legal challenges. The Supreme Court
11:48
upheld Trump's travel ban in twenty eighteen after lower court
11:53
struck down previous iterations. The third version applied to eight countries,
11:59
six of which had Muslim majorities. The countries included were Syria, Libya, Iran, Yemen, Somalia,
12:08
North Korea, Chad, and Venezuela. Trump issued Chad was eventually excluded.
12:19
A Migration Policy Institute analysis found that the number of
12:23
visas issued per month for nationals of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria,
12:28
and Riemen declined an average of seventy two percent between
12:34
physical year twenty seventeen. In physical year twenty eighteen, by
12:38
the third band. The key thing that convinced the Supreme
12:41
Court was they strengthened their justification for why it was needed,
12:46
said Julia Gallant, Associate director of the US Immigration Policy
12:51
Program at the Mitigation Policy Institute. At the Migration Policy Institute,
12:57
they said basically that the travel band needed to be
13:00
in place because the countries that were banned weren't sharing
13:04
good information with United States, so it was against US
13:08
national security. President Joe Biden ended Trump's first travel ban
13:14
order on his first day in office twenty twenty one,
13:18
but its effects lingered well into his presidency. Immigrant rights
13:22
groups said that biden administration was slow to resume refugee
13:25
processing due to case backlogs and a lack of resources,
13:30
in part caused by the COVID nineteen pandemic, and migrants
13:34
faced significant delays. The Supreme Court's twenty eighteen decision to
13:40
uphold the band could make it more difficult for opponents
13:43
to block Trump's new one, Some legal analysts said, still,
13:47
some immigration lawyers anticipated lawsuits.
13:51
Speaker 2: It is true they.
13:53
Speaker 1: Are on stronger ground than they were before the Supreme
13:56
Court weighed in on this particular order. Sidrahawala, Vice President
14:02
and strategy and partnerships at the National Immigration Law Center,
14:07
adding at the same time, a lesson that came out
14:11
of that is, if you're going to take actions, even
14:13
if they're justified by national security, they need to be
14:17
justified and demonstrated by the administrative record. And it's not
14:21
clear to me that Trump administration has demonstrated any justification
14:26
for expanding an already expansive travel ban. Mark Hetfield, president
14:33
of HIAS, a Refugee Resettlement Agency, express concern about the
14:40
impact the travel ban will have on potential migrants seeking
14:44
to flee dangerous countries. They are travel bans from countries
14:50
that obviously don't respect human rights and don't respect the
14:55
rule of law, and have foreign relation issues with United States.
15:00
But those are exactly the kinds of countries that produce
15:04
the refugees, and in particular produce refugees that the United
15:10
States should have an interest in resettling, Hetfield said. Article
15:17
number two, the latest GOP push to cut waste and
15:22
spending work requirements plans for a range of welfare programs,
15:28
including food stamps, medicaid, and rental assistance, reflect a shifting
15:34
view of who should receive federal benefits By Rachel Siegel,
15:40
Daniel Rue, and Finnante nar appeal. The Trump administration and
15:47
congressional Republicans are increasingly turning to work requirements as part
15:53
of a wide ranging effort to sh spending on welfare benefits,
15:57
extending GOP messaging around waste and fraud to argue that
16:02
many people who get federal aid don't deserve it. In
16:07
late May, the host passed a sweeping tax and budget
16:10
bill that would impose new work requirements as part of
16:14
a plan to cut Medicaid. The Agriculture Department is poised
16:19
to broaden work requirements that already condition access to the
16:23
nation's largest food assistant program, and the Department of Housing
16:28
and Urban Development seeks work requirements as an absolute priority
16:35
for rental assistance programs, possibly within President Donald Trump's first
16:40
year in office. According to an official briefdown the matter,
16:44
who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans
16:47
that aren't finalized, specific policies would change as the bill
16:52
heads to the Senate, where multiple Republicans have expressed concerns
16:57
of a work requirements for Medicaid. Yet the proposals reflect
17:02
a shifting view among Republicans in Washington about who should
17:06
receive federal benefits. In a New York Times op ed
17:11
last month, four top Trump officials overseeing housing, health and
17:16
food programs wrote that welfare programs were created to help
17:20
the neediest, but have deviated from the original mission by
17:25
both drift and by design. Even able bodied adults should
17:31
look to welfare as a short term hand up, not
17:35
a lifetime handout, wrote Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy,
17:40
Junior centers from Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator met Oz,
17:46
Agricultural Secretary Brooke Rawins, and Department of Housing and Urban
17:51
Development Secretary Scott Turner. Meanwhile, Republican House leaders are also
17:57
linking work requirements to broader effort to redo fraud and
18:01
abuse and prevent undocumented immigrants from accessing public benefits. There
18:08
are vulnerable citizens of this country who depend on the
18:11
safety net, host Budget Committee Chairman Jody Arrington, Republican of Texas,
18:18
told The Washington Post last month, this safety net is
18:22
weakened and is less sustainable when you are allowing these
18:26
moneies to go to people or to stakeholders and used
18:29
in other ways outside of supporting those who need it.
18:32
Depend on it and qualify for it. The proposals have
18:37
drawn sharp criticism from Democrats and left leaning economists, who
18:41
argue that work requirements are wrong tool for this economy.
18:46
They say the policy's risk dropping some of the most
18:49
vulnerable benefits and recipients, such as people who work inconsistent
18:54
hours and go through votes of unemployment, struggle with health
18:58
issues that don't qualify as disabilities, or due unpaid work
19:02
caring for relatives. We have never required a sixty four
19:07
year old single widow who's taking care of her grandchild
19:11
to work in order to be able to receive snap benefits,
19:16
said Lauren Bowa, a fellow in the Economic studies at
19:20
the Bookings Institution, referring to the Food Assistant Program for
19:24
low income of families. And I guess that's going to change.
19:29
Work requirements for benefits programs have been pushed at various
19:33
times over decades. President Bill Clinton campaigned on a promise
19:38
to end welfare as we know it in nineteen ninety six,
19:42
worked with the Republican controlled Congress to overhaul benefits in
19:45
the Landmark Law. The measure ended aid to families with
19:49
dependent children, which effectively entitled the poorest Americans to federal
19:54
health and introduced Temporary Assistance for Needy Families no more
20:00
commonly as tank capital TANF. The number of people receiving
20:07
federal welfare payments fell by half in four years to
20:11
six point three million in two thousand and for the
20:15
past few decades, have given rise to debates over whether
20:18
the change is work, especially since measures of poverty fluctuate
20:23
with receptions and other economic forces. The new policies under
20:28
consideration could even be more far reaching. Under the Affordable
20:33
Care Act, adults with low incomes and no children or
20:36
disabilities qualified for Medicaid for the first time, making a
20:41
significant expansion of the safety net insurance program. The new
20:46
Republican plan would require beneficiaries to spend at least eighty
20:50
hours a month working, training for a job, in school,
20:54
or volunteering to qualify for Medicaid. In May, the Health
21:00
and Human Services Secretary told the Senate that the changes
21:04
would primarily affect people fraudently receiving benefits and able body
21:11
mail workers males who refuse to get a job. Work
21:16
requirements are meant to reduce the number of people on
21:19
the program, roughly a third of the eight hundred billion
21:23
dollars in health care savings in the GOP sweeping tax
21:27
bill would come from the work rules, which will result
21:31
in four point eight million people becoming uninsured, according to
21:36
an estimate from the non partisan Congressional Budget Office reported
21:41
by the Washington Post backed checker, SNAP, the nation's largest
21:47
food assistance program, already carries work requirements. Able bodied adults
21:52
between eighteen and fifty four who don't have dependents must
21:56
work at least eighty hours a month to be eligible.
22:00
Those who don't qualify can only receive food assistance for
22:03
three months in a three year period. People can be
22:07
exempt because of homelessness, being enforced care, or for other reasons,
22:12
or states can apply for waivers if there aren't enough
22:16
jobs in the region. Researchers split on whether snaps existing
22:21
work requirements have the intended effects power The booking spellar
22:27
cited a twenty twenty one study of Virginia food stamp
22:30
recipients that found work requirements caused a large decline in
22:35
SNAP participation without a corresponding boost in employment. The food
22:40
staff benefits are not binding disincentives against labor force participation
22:47
for a population that overwhelmingly has no income. The researchers wrote.
22:53
Republicans have said current policies allow states to exempt too
22:57
many people from work requirements. The GEOP bill would alter
23:02
the rules, raising the cutoff age to sixty four. It
23:06
also newly subjects parents with dependent children ages seven or
23:11
older to work requirements, though I suppose in a two
23:14
parent household can still be exempt. The bill would also
23:19
restrict place based waivers to counties with an unemployment rate
23:24
of over ten percent, a bar many areas receiving waivers
23:28
would not meet. A CBO analysis estimates the changes would
23:34
reduce direct spending for SNAP by ninety two billion over
23:38
ten years and push three point two million.
23:41
Speaker 2: People out of the program.
23:44
Speaker 1: Work requirements are the right policy at the right time
23:48
for those in need, and will stop able bodied adults
23:52
from being idle and disengaged rollins, the Agricultural Secretary said
23:57
in a statement, the plan for shifting housing policies is
24:01
left clear. Most of the nation's thirty six hundred public
24:05
housing agencies do not have work requirements, but about one
24:10
hundred and forty are part of a narrow program called
24:14
Moving to Work that gives local authorities room to test
24:18
a range of rules that are not usually permitted, including
24:22
those to do self sufficiency. Housing authorities, nonprofit groups, property managers,
24:29
and tenants are eager for details on whether the work
24:32
requirements will be mandatory, how many hours of work would
24:36
be required, and who would be exempt. The HUT official
24:40
briefed on the matter told the Post that everything is
24:44
on the table, and noted that the White House's proposal
24:48
for a new two year cap on rental assistance was
24:52
another way of preventing long term dependency. In twenty twenty four,
25:00
nearly half of non elderly, non disabled households receiving HUT
25:04
assistants did not include anyone who worked, said the official,
25:09
citing internal data other research differs. The Center on Budget
25:16
and Policy Priorities found that they based on twenty twenty
25:20
two data, sixty percent of working age, non disabled households
25:25
receiving rental assistance in twenty twenty two included at least
25:30
one worker. The HUT officials said the administration also supports
25:36
policies that shift power to local authorities and lets them
25:40
decide which approaches the best Within the Moving to Work cohort,
25:46
The officials said around four public housing agencies already have
25:51
work requirements are implementing them or planned too soon, and
25:56
that such requirements often improve household incomes and employment. Opponents
26:03
say an increase in work requirements would fall heavily on
26:07
people who already have a hard time getting work, keeping
26:11
steady housing, or accessing health care. They say the loss
26:16
of benefits would be even more extensive, giving planned cuts
26:20
to major services. For example, the White House budget proposal
26:25
would significantly cut rental assistant programs for the physical year
26:29
beginning in October, in part to shift more power to
26:32
the states. It is unclear whether those cuts would be
26:36
achieved through work requirements, since HUD's plans are still in flux.
26:41
That could amount to millions of people losing aid whether
26:44
they work or not, since many states won't be able
26:47
to cover those losses. What this indicates is that the
26:51
driver behind this policy isn't this goal of helping people
26:55
to advance economically. The driver is there trying to cut
27:01
out what they are spending on those programs, said Will Fisher,
27:06
Senior Fellow and Policy of Housing Policy and Director of
27:10
Housing Policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
27:15
A large share of welfare recipients have jobs, About thirty
27:19
two million people who worked in twenty twenty three got
27:22
health coverage through Medicaid or food assistance through SNAP, according
27:27
to a CBPP analysis of census data. In theory, new
27:32
work requirements shouldn't jeopardize benefits for those recipients, but advocates
27:38
and left leaning economists say such requirements do sometimes have
27:42
that effect, in part because enforcing the rules means through
27:47
new administrative verdens that people fall through the cracks. In Georgia,
27:53
for example, just twelve thousand of nearly two hundred and
27:56
fifty thousand newly eligible recipients received Medicaid after the state
28:01
imprependent work requirements. That was in part because people who
28:05
work had a tough time proving it to state officials,
28:08
or their work didn't meet certain qualifications. Finally, those against
28:13
the policies say even people with jobs sometimes need help
28:17
making ends meet, so pushing recipients to work wouldn't necessarily
28:22
solve their household budget problems. Homelessness is worsening among the unemployed.
28:28
Among the employed, and inflation often falls hardest on poorer people.
28:34
At Los Angeles' Downtown Women's Center, which works to end homelessness,
28:40
regular job training programs are some of the most popular
28:43
offerings Chief executive Amy Turk's head, but even those with
28:48
jobs need help or report found that in twenty twenty two,
28:52
nearly thirty percent of homeless women in Los Angeles County
28:56
were working for pay. Monthly incomes averaged eleven hundred and
29:01
eighty six dollars in Los Angeles County, though the average
29:05
rent is more than two thousand dollars. Analysis at left
29:10
leaning think tanks and some researchers who have studied work
29:14
requirements say supporters of the policy have it backwards. Health
29:18
insurance stabilizing, and access to food make it possible for
29:22
people to find work and remain employed. They point to Arkansas,
29:27
the first date to enact work requirements for Medicaid, as
29:31
a key example. In twenty eighteen, the state implemented its
29:35
work mandate, which led to eighteen thousand people losing insurance
29:39
before a judge in twenty nineteen struck down the requirements
29:43
in a lawsuit brought about three nonprofits on behalf of
29:47
some Medicaid recipients. One forty year old man lost health
29:51
coverage after incorrectly reporting the details of his employment and
29:56
could no longer afford his medication. He suffered compli occasions
30:00
from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lost his job and struggled
30:05
to find work again. Others worked odd jobs that did
30:09
not always allow them to meet the eighty hour a
30:12
month requirement, like a landscaper who struggled to get work
30:16
in rainy months. You cannot conclude that work makes people healthier,
30:22
said Mary Beth Musumichi, an associate professor of health policy
30:27
and management at George Washington University's Milken Institute School of
30:32
Public Health. You need to be physically and mentally healthy
30:36
enough to work, and particularly for poor people, the types
30:40
of jobs they are doing can create health problems. Leaders
30:44
of Opportunity Arkansas, a conservative policy group, said the state's
30:50
data shows that most people who lost insurance did so
30:53
because their incomes rose, exactly the goal of requiring work.
30:59
If Congress is serious about restoring Medicaid as a safety
31:03
net for the truly needy, not a long term program
31:06
for able bodied adults, then policies that encourage work and
31:11
self sufficiency, like the one Arkansas implemented, need to be
31:15
part of the conversation. Jay Robinson, the organization's public affairs director,
31:21
said in an email, Trump proposes policies that would increase
31:27
the soaring national debt. The White House's One Big Beautiful
31:33
Bill would cost trillions, and other administration moves likely wouldn't
31:38
fill the budget gap. By Jacob Boggage and Theo Doric Mayo,
31:44
President Donald Trump is pursuing an agenda that would add
31:48
trillions of dollars to the soaring national debt, ignoring warnings
31:52
from Wall Street Republicans, deficit hawks, and his outgoing cost
31:58
cutting champion. Though Trump ran for office in part on
32:03
pledges to slash the size of the federal government and
32:06
reign in the debt, his record so far has been
32:09
less physically disciplined. His administration this week asked Congress to
32:15
counsel a little more than nine billion dollars in spending
32:19
in the current physical year, a fraction of the federal
32:23
budget that has grown to nearly seven trillion dollars. The
32:28
government has already spent nearly one hundred and seventy billion
32:32
more in the physical year that began in October than
32:35
it did by this point in the previous year. The
32:39
tariffs that the White House has said would produce a
32:42
gusher of new revenue face an uncertain future. Challenged in
32:46
court and subject to revision as Trump negotiates with foreign
32:50
trading partners. And while Trump has proposed cutting agency spending
32:55
by one hundred and sixty three billion dollars in the
32:58
coming physical year, in that reduction in some programs would
33:03
have little effect on overall spending, which is driven primarily
33:07
by social safety net programs. The national debt now sits
33:12
at thirty six point two trillion dollars after sharp increases
33:17
under Trump and President Joe Biden. The nonpartisan Committee for
33:21
a Responsible Federal Budget, which advocates for deficit reduction, estimates
33:27
that Biden approved four point seven trillion dollars in new
33:31
tenure borrowing, while Trump approved eight point four trillion during
33:36
his first term, including three point six trillion dollars in
33:40
emergency pandemic relief. Now, Trump and congressional Republicans are racing
33:46
to approve his One Big, Beautiful Bill, which would extend
33:50
his expensive twenty seventeen tax cuts and taxes on tips
33:54
and overtime wages, increased deductions for state and local taxes,
34:00
and increase spending on immigration enforcement. This debt wave coming
34:06
looks almost insurmountable. I'm not sure why the Trump administration
34:12
is pushing it. They're trying to do too many things
34:16
at the start of the administration win With the deficit
34:19
they inherited, there's just no room to increase it, said
34:23
Chris Rupkey, chief economist at FWD Bonds. The White House
34:30
says those policies will usher in a golden age of
34:34
economic growth that will reduce the best deficit despite the
34:38
loss of tax revenue. This bill is a remedy to
34:43
physical futility because we have historic reforms that are on
34:47
the verge of being enacted at a size and a.
34:50
Speaker 2: Level that is historic.
34:52
Speaker 1: White House Budget Director Russell Vault total reporters Wednesday, adding
34:58
I think it is a response directly to the credit
35:00
agencies saying and arguing that this town can produce nothing
35:05
other than debt and deficits. But many independent economists find
35:10
that projection implosable, arguing that arising national debt threatens to
35:15
dampen economic growth and crowded private sector investment. On Wednesday,
35:21
the non partisan Congressional Budget Office projected that the legislation
35:26
would require two point four trillion dollars in additional barring
35:30
over the next decade. The measures price tag has provoked
35:34
increasing worry among some economists, investors, GEOP lawmakers, even Elon Musk,
35:41
the billionaire who until last week led the Whitehouse's cost
35:45
cutting effort the US Doze Service. Musk on Tuesday called
35:51
Trump's bill a disgusting abomination that would burden the country
35:56
with crushingly unsustainable debt. He later wrote on x, his
36:01
social media platform, that a new spending bills should be
36:05
drafted that does it massively grow the debt ficit, and
36:09
complained that the measure would increase the legal cap on
36:12
borrowing by five trillion dollars. The trillion dollars is in
36:18
all caps. Musk is not alone. Wall Street bankers and
36:22
executives have privately warned the Trump administration that that tax
36:26
bill could stoke investa anxiety about rising deficits, push up
36:32
US baring costs, and damage the broader economy. In late May,
36:37
the CBO warned that the debt is spiraling toward dangerous levels.
36:42
If annual discretionary spending and federal revenue remain at historical
36:47
avid historical averages, the debt would exceed two hundred and
36:52
fifty percent of economic outpit by twenty fifty five, far
36:56
outstripping the nation's record debt to GDP ratio from the
37:01
aftermath of World War II. Federal spending is mostly driven
37:05
by social safety net programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid,
37:11
and veteran care. The recent run up in the debt
37:14
is largely the result of those programs colliding with years
37:18
of tax cuts. As increasing numbers of Americans retire, Government revenue,
37:24
mostly from income and payroll taxes, is far from enough
37:29
to make good on benefit payments, forcing the government to
37:33
borrow to make up the leftover cost. Democrats in Congress
37:38
and Trump have pledged not to reduce benefits in many
37:41
such programs, leaving little room to slow spending. After the
37:46
US entered two wars in the Middle East and passed
37:49
tax cuts under the Bush, Obama and Trump administrations, debt skyrocketed.
37:56
As Trump ran against Biden for a second term during
37:59
the worst price inflation in generations, He promised to reduce
38:03
federal spending, dramatically, ending treatiums of dollars in spending on
38:09
pandemic response and the other economic stimulus measures. Investors cautiously
38:15
cheered Trump's selection with the hope that widespread government iregulation
38:20
and tax cuts would boost private sector benefits and leads
38:24
of growth, but many any expansion has been tempered. Economists
38:29
say since the GOP has opted to finance the tax
38:33
and spending policy by borrowing more, and Trump's tariffs have
38:37
depressed consumer demand. Financial markets have shown some cheetors of
38:43
the US debt burden. Yields on ten and thirty year
38:46
treasury bonds have neared alarming benchmarks, signaling investor anxiety over
38:52
the country's financial health moties. A leading credit rating firm,
38:57
delongraded the federal government's rate last month, citing Washington's failure
39:04
to detain growing deficits. Some Republicans, too, are Senator in
39:09
the alarm. Representatives Thomas Massey of Kentucky and Warren Davidson
39:15
of Ohio voted against the tax legislation last month because
39:19
of physical concerns. It narrowly passed the Hosts over objections
39:24
from deficit hawks, many of whom ultimately backed the measure.
39:30
The Senate is now haggling over the legislation's price tag,
39:35
while hoping to pass it in time for Trump to
39:37
sign it into law before Independence Day. Senator Ron Johnson,
39:43
Republican of Wisconsin, has lowly opposed the measure, asserting that
39:48
it does not do enough to reduce the deficit. He
39:51
said it recently texted the charge to Trump, showing how
39:54
much average deficits have risen since President George W. Bushes
39:59
had mentdministration and how much CBO projects they will rise
40:03
in the future. He also showed him a copy in
40:07
person Wednsday during a White House meeting with other Republicans
40:10
on the Senate Finance Committee, he said. Senate Majority Leader
40:15
John Tune, Republican of South Dakota, told reporters after the
40:19
meeting that there was quite a bit of discussion on
40:23
the deficit. In the meeting. Johnson said he was not
40:27
a real fan of the CBO's estimates, but that he
40:30
was relying on its projections. We'd have to have some
40:34
based numbers we agree on, Johnson sin. Philip Swagel, the
40:39
CBO's director, wrote Wednesday in the letters to Senate Democrats,
40:44
that the Budget Officer estimates that Trump's tariff policies as
40:48
of May thirteen would cut the deficit by two point
40:51
eight three in over ten years. The estimate takes into
40:55
account that CBO's finding that the tariffs would shrink the
40:59
size of the economy, but it does not consider how
41:02
much Trump and his success sexes are likely to revise
41:07
the on again, off again tariffs over the next decade,
41:11
or whether the courts will allow them to stand. White
41:15
House officials and Republican leaders in Congress have argued that
41:19
Trump's bill were reduced deficits by encouraging economic growth. The
41:24
legislation economists have found probably will spur market expansion, but
41:29
far from enough to pay for the guard Gantulan cost
41:33
of the package. All the modeling that we've seen suggests
41:39
that the changes that are being made in the tax policy,
41:43
particularly making permanent bonus depreciation, interest deductibility R and D expensing,
41:51
are going to lead to significant growth.
41:54
Speaker 2: Truon told reporters, adding, and you couple.
41:58
Speaker 1: The growth with the biggest spending reduction in American history,
42:01
and you will see a reduction, not an increase, in
42:04
the deficit. Maya McGinnis, president of the Committee for a
42:09
Responsible Federal Budget, told The Washington Post that his outlook
42:15
was like opposite day. By all serious accounts and under
42:21
all credible dynamic growth estimates, this bill would add massively
42:27
to the already out of control national Debt MCGAHANUS said
42:33
next article, business is braced for steel and aluminum tariffs
42:39
which double today. Cars, cans, and coffee tens are all
42:43
poised to get more expensive as US manufacturers adust fifty
42:48
percent import taxes.
42:52
Speaker 2: Bah Abba Battari.
42:56
Speaker 1: Tariffs on steel and aluminum doubled to fIF two percent Wednesday,
43:01
adding higher cost and new uncertainty for businesses across the
43:06
country that rely on dettle imports for machinery, construction, and manufacturing.
43:14
In the order doubling the tariffs, President Donald Trump wrote
43:18
that the higher levees will provide greater support to these
43:22
industries and reduce or eliminate the national security threat posed
43:27
by imports of steel and aluminum articles and their derivative articles.
43:33
But for American companies that rely on specialized metals that
43:37
aren't available domestically, the order set off a fresh scramble
43:42
to raise prices and rethink hiring and investment. It's a
43:47
big eye catching tariff. Fifty percent is a high number,
43:52
said Gary Clive Huffbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson
43:56
Institute for International Economies. Aluminum goes into all kinds of products,
44:03
aircraft's autos, construction, and steel is used to route the economy,
44:08
so you're talking higher prices and lost jobs across the
44:12
United States manufacturing industry. The ratcheting up of steel and
44:17
aluminum tariffs is just the latest in a string of
44:21
trade related policies the Trump administration has delivered in rapid
44:26
succession this year in hopes of shoring up US manufacturing.
44:32
The administration has maintained that the fifty percent steel and
44:36
aluminum tariffs in particular, was for more US production and
44:40
create jobs while protecting national security. Nobody is going to
44:47
be able to steal your industry, Trump told steel workers
44:51
in Pennsylvania as he announced the new tariffs Friday. At
44:55
twenty five percent, they foreign competitors can sort of get
44:59
over that fence. At fifty percent, they can no longer
45:02
get over that fence. But US manufacturers say the sudden
45:07
onslaught of tariffs is making it harder to operate. Many
45:12
rely on foreign sources of steel and aluminum to make
45:16
their products, and say it's been tough to find domestic suppliers.
45:21
For independent can near Baltimore, the heightened tariffs will make
45:26
it costlier to manufacture it tends for Formula coffee popcorn
45:31
and dog treat says its plants in Maryland and Ohio.
45:36
The company, which sells its packaging to food giants including
45:40
Canagra Brands and Smuckers, has already raised prices this year
45:44
to offset some of the twenty five percent steel and
45:48
aluminum tariffs that were announced in February. Now, with import
45:53
taxes rising to fifty percent, CEO Rick Huthi says he'll
45:58
have to pass on even more of those expensives. We've
46:02
been telling customers, here's our price, and here's that price.
46:06
With tariffs, he said, We've absorbed a fair amount of
46:09
these costs, but we can't absorb anymore. Economists also cautioned
46:15
that the fallout of higher tariffs could drag down other
46:18
parts of the economy. Research is found that Trump's twenty
46:23
eighteen rounds of twenty five percent steel and aluminum tariffs
46:27
helped add about one thousand steel production jobs, but also
46:33
contribute to the loss of seventy five thousand jobs in
46:36
US manufacturing. The US imports more steel than any other country,
46:43
with two point six million metric tons of imports in
46:47
twenty twenty four, according to the International Trade Administration. By comparison,
46:53
the country exported less than one third of that, or
46:57
about eight million metric tons of steel that Canada is
47:02
the top foreign supplier of steel to the United States, Valadber, Brazil,
47:06
and Mexico, while the US imports far less steel from China.
47:11
China dominates the global steel industry, influences prices worldwide, and
47:17
is a target of the tariffs. In our ideal scenario,
47:22
we would have a fully US source supply chain, but
47:26
we keep coming up empty, said Danny Hin, vice president
47:31
of operations at Heritage Steel, a company in Clarksville, Tennessee,
47:36
that makes stainless steel. Cookwaar. There just aren't any viable
47:41
US options. The auto industry, which has already been hit
47:46
hard by Trump's tariffs, is likely to face even more
47:49
dramatic cost increases in the coming weeks. Steel is a
47:54
major component of cars, making up about fifty four percent
47:58
of the average vehicle, according to the American Iran Iron
48:03
and Steel Institute. Those higher cost are likely to be
48:07
passed on to shoppers, resulting in markups of about two
48:11
thousand to four thousand per new vehicle. According to estimates
48:15
from Bill Hawk, an economics professor at the University of
48:19
South Carolina, we're in uncharted territory. Fifty percent across the
48:26
board on steel and aluminum is huge, and it really
48:29
puts automakers in a bind. We'll probably see slow downs
48:34
and perhaps layoffs in the auto industry if all of
48:37
this goes through, Hawk, said. Ford Motors CEO James Farley
48:43
cautioned in February that new steel and aluminum tariffs would
48:48
add cost and chaos for US automakers. Although Ford gets
48:53
ninety percent of its steel from the United States, he
48:56
noted that heightened tariffs would still have an effect. Our
49:00
suppliers have international sources for aluminum steel, so that price
49:05
will come through, he said, We'll have to deal with it.
49:10
Independent can, a ninety six year old family business, has
49:14
had to delay upgrades to aging machinery. About seventy five
49:19
percent of its metal comes from abroad, in part because
49:23
the small company is often up against much larger competitors
49:27
for domestic deals. After years of trying, have the finally
49:31
secured a contract with US deal a few months ago
49:34
for some of its needs. These tariffs have been very
49:39
disruptive because we don't know from one day to the
49:41
next what the heck.
49:42
Speaker 2: Is going on.
49:43
Speaker 1: Ruth said, we live in diet stability and predictability, and
49:48
right now we have neitha. Trump says Putin to retaliate
49:56
over Ukraine attacks as peace remains distant. Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky
50:03
rejected Russian terms to end the wall, while Vladimir Putin
50:08
dismissed any meetings with what he called a terrorist regime
50:13
by David L. Stern, Natalia Abba Kumova, and Ellen Francis Kiev.
50:21
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin
50:25
is planning to retaliate against Ukraine for drone strikes against
50:30
Russia's strategic bomba fleet, as progress in US sponsored peace
50:34
negotiations still appears distant. Following the a roughly seventy five
50:39
minute call with Putin, Trump said on social media that
50:43
they had a good conversation, but not a conversation that
50:47
would lead to immediate peace. President Putin did say and
50:52
very strongly, that he will have to respond to the
50:54
recent attack on airfields. The call comes as Putin and
50:59
Ukrainian pleasure Volodimir Zelensky traded barbs and accucation accusations just
51:05
days after heavy strikes by both sides, as well as
51:08
a second round of peace talks on Monday, Zelensky rejected
51:13
Russian proposals to end the fighting in Ukraine, calling them
51:17
an ultimatum that Russia sought to impose on Kiev, which
51:21
he said demonstrated that Putin is not interested in peace.
51:26
Zelensky said that the proposals were simply theater from the Russians,
51:30
aimed at postponing additional Western sanctions for as long as possible. Instead,
51:37
the Ukrainian leader proposed that both sides introduced an unconditional
51:41
ceasefire in the period leading up to a meeting among
51:45
the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, and the United States. Speaking
51:49
to his cabinet ministers an hour later, Putin said Ukraine
51:53
is run by a terrorist regime that targeted civilians and
51:57
is still losing the war. He dismissed the idea of
52:00
a meeting. How to hold such meetings in these conditions?
52:05
What to talk about it? Who even negotiates with those who.
52:08
Speaker 2: Bet on terror?
52:09
Speaker 1: With terrorifts, Putin said, adding that today they suffer one
52:14
defeat after another on the battlefield.
52:16
Speaker 2: Apparently we are dealing with people.
52:18
Speaker 1: Who not only lack any meaningful competence in anything, but
52:22
also elementary political culture. In a Russian briefing on the call,
52:28
presidential a Yuri yu Shahkov made no mention of retaliation
52:33
for the Ukrainian drone strikes, but said that Putin and
52:37
Trump did discuss the matter and that Trump had said
52:40
he was not informed about the attacks ahead of time.
52:44
The leaders agreed to continue further contacts on the Ukrainian issue,
52:49
including at the highest level and through other channels, Yusharkov said.
52:54
Asked about the stunning drone attacks that damaged Russian aircraft,
52:59
Yshikov said, our presidents spoke at some length about them,
53:03
and I think it was very helpful for Trump to
53:06
listen to their assessments of what happened. Ukrainian and Russian
53:10
delegations meant met Monday to exchange terms for peace talks.
53:16
Russia's terms, made public after the meeting, repeated longstanding Criminin
53:21
demands to end the war, such as Ukraine surrendering more
53:25
territory to Russia, promising not to enter any military alliances,
53:30
and accepting severe restrictions on the size of its military.
53:35
Ukraine's memo called for an immediate, unconditional cease fire, the
53:40
return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia, no international recognition
53:46
of lands conquered by Russia in freedom for Ukraine to
53:50
join Western organizations. Zeleinsky said Russia's demands were unacceptable. The
53:57
Russians understood that this was an ultimatum that the Ukrainian
54:01
side or no one would take it seriously, Zelensky told
54:06
journalist in Kieva on Wednesday. He added that if the
54:09
demands had been made public before the meeting at Istanbul,
54:13
Ukrainian officials would have been in their full.
54:16
Speaker 2: Rights not to attend.
54:19
Speaker 1: One of the only results of the talks was a
54:21
prisoner exchange, which Zelensky said will take place this weekend,
54:25
allowing some five hundred Ukrainian troops to return home. Later,
54:30
the two sides will exchange the corpses of fallen service members,
54:34
but this will take longer to allow for proper identification
54:38
of the bodies. On Sunday, Ukraine took responsibility for a
54:43
series of drone attacks against far flowing Russian airfields that
54:47
disabled several Russian strategic bombers in a shocking attack against
54:52
assets believed to be far out of range of Ukrainian weapons.
54:57
Two bridges also collapsed in the Bryanski cursed regions of
55:03
incidents that Russians are calling terrorist attacks. On Tuesday, there
55:08
are also explosions on the Crimean Bridge connecting the illegally
55:13
annexed Crimean Penunsula with Russia. Despite these Ukrainian successes, to
55:19
Tanya Sannova of the Carnegie Russian Eurasia Center warned that
55:26
rather than bringing Putin to the negotiating table, they would
55:29
instead inspire him to escalate.
55:32
Speaker 2: The conflict even further.
55:35
Speaker 1: Based on years now decades of observing Putin's decision making,
55:40
I believe such a tax will only reinforce this determination
55:44
to dismantle the Ukrainian state in its current form, she
55:48
wrote on x he will respond by becoming more hardline
55:52
and less compliant. In addition to Russia's nightly drone and
55:58
missile strikes, its force had been gaining around in the
56:01
northeastern Sumi region, taking a number of villages. Zelenski dismissed
56:07
the recent Russian advances in Sumi as nothing new and
56:11
said that Russian forces were not achieving any success. He
56:15
maintained that Ukrainian forces were well aware of and in
56:19
prayer prayer for the attacks. The Ukrainian Military Analysis website
56:25
Deep State, however, painted the darker picture, writing in a
56:28
post on Wednesday that the situation remains critical due to
56:32
the enemy's rapid advance, coming within a distance of twelve
56:36
to fifteen miles from the regional capital, also called Sumi.
56:41
On Tuesday, Russian forces shelled the city's center from multiple
56:45
rocket launchers, killing five people local officials, said. A senior
56:50
NATO official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss
56:54
the sensitive matter, said that while there was no major
56:57
change on the front lines over the past month, Russian
57:01
forces have been making small but steady advances. Ukraine's Russian
57:06
backers met at NATO headquarters to rally more pledges of
57:09
weapons and money for Kiev in the hope of strengthening
57:12
its hand in any negotiations, but the Pentagon chief did
57:16
not attend the meeting of the pro Ukrainian group, which
57:19
the United States itself were created and led for years.
57:24
Defense Secretary Pete Hexas was not expected in Brussels until
57:28
after the meeting on Ukraine. While NATO's Secretary General Mark
57:33
rut downplayed his lack of attendance, his absence even virtually
57:38
only added to morning questions about the future of US
57:41
military aids in Ukraine. Britain, which chaired Wednesday's meeting alongside Germany,
57:47
said it would provide Ukraine one hundred thousand frondes by
57:50
April next year. Ukraine's chief European backers have sought to
57:54
drum up billions in pledges to keep the stream of
57:57
military aid flowing at least through twenty twenty five, still
58:02
with no promises from the Trump administration. The looming end
58:06
of Biden era deliveries in the coming months has fueled
58:09
concerns about sustaining the fight in the longer term. And
58:15
that concludes the reading of Today's Washington Post for the
58:19
fifth of June of twenty twenty five. Have a good
58:24
afternoon and keep listening to continue programming on Radio I bye.