By KEVIN FREKING and MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press
Updated
The House has approved President Donald Trump's request to claw back about $9 billion for public broadcasting and foreign aid. Democrats argued that the Republican administration's animus toward foreign aid programs would hurt America's standing in the world and create a vacuum for China to fill. The White House argued that the cuts best served the taxpayer and would incentivize other nations to do more to address humanitarian crises. The cancellation of $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcast represents the full amount it is due to receive during the next two budget years. Some lawmakers voiced concern about what the cuts could mean for local public stations in their state.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth created another Signal messaging chat that included his wife and brother where he shared similar details of a March military airstrike against Yemen's Houthi militants that were sent in another chain with top Trump administration leaders. The New York Times on Sunday reported the second chat, and a person familiar with the contents and those who received the messages confirmed it to The Associated Press. That person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said the unclassified chat included 13 people. The White House late Sunday dismissed the report as a "non-story," insisting that no classified information was shared.
The Senate has produced the quickest top-level Cabinet confirmation process in the last 20 years under new Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota. At the outset, it wasn't clear that would be the case. President Donald Trump was making demands the new Senate leader be ready to put the chamber into recess so he could skip over the Senate confirmation process. Thune has been successful in showing the Republican president the confirmation process can work. But the decision to push forward on even the most unconventional Cabinet nominees has come at a cost. Arizona Democrat Mark Kelly says the damage Trump is doing to America's international reputation isn't something it easily recovers from.
