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The State Department has announced a sweeping pause on immigrant visa processing for applicants from 75 countries, effective January 21. This decision comes as the administration ramps up efforts to enforce long-standing rules against admitting individuals likely to depend on public benefits. Officials cite the need to overhaul screening processes that have allowed potential abusers of taxpayer-funded programs to slip through in the past. *** The affected nations include Somalia, Russia, Afghanistan, Brazil, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Nigeria, Thailand, and Yemen, among others. Consular officers have been directed to deny visas under existing law, with only narrow exceptions after thorough public...

Illinois leaders and lawmakers spoke out on Friday about the Trump administration's move to withhold billions of dollars in federal childcare funds for Illinois and four other states run by Democrats. The move will freeze nearly $2.4 billion for the Child Care Development Fund, and billions more in funding for other social service programs in Illinois, Minnesota, New York, California, and Colorado. However, on Friday, a federal judge in New York issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from freezing those funds for now. The order will last for 14 days, while the court considers a request for...

A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration on Friday from cutting off more than $10 billion in social services and child care funding to five Democrat-led states over fraud concerns. New York District Judge Arun Subramanian, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, issued the 14-day temporary restraining order in response to a lawsuit filed by state attorneys general in California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York – the states targeted by the Trump admin’s funding freeze. “This relief is preliminary in nature and is designed to protect the status quo while plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction is...

Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) said Tuesday on CNN’s “News Central” that President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees could face holds until Attorney General Pam Bondi provides “answers” to Congress on the $400 million jet from Qatar. Shaheen said, “With respect to Qatar and the plane, I think there are serious constitutional questions about this, but there are also questions about national security. Sadly, the president doesn’t seem to be too concerned about national security. He’s been willing to allow his secretary of defense to engage in classified discussions over unclassified channels. He has, again, looking at accepting this plane without thinking...

Alarmists are crying to heaven for vengeance after President Trump slashed taxpayer funding of climate change research. The comically named Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed by Democrats in 2022 “directs hundreds of billions of dollars worth of investments to climate and environmental justice projects,” notes Grist, a green advocacy publication, and activists fear that the river of free money may dry up under Trump. “What it looks like to me is an absolute full-on brakes moment for any further climate advances at least in the short term,” said Gabriel Filippelli, the executive director of the Environmental Resilience Institute at Indiana...

The federal judge who suggested Trump administration officials could face criminal contempt over the spending freeze on Monday is a Democrat donor... McConnell donated hundreds of thousands to Democratic campaigns and political action committees, including 2008 presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Barack Obama, according to Federal Election Commission records. He also donated over $8,000 to Democratic Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s 2006 senate campaign. McConnell volunteered as director of the Rhode Island branch of Planned Parenthood for four years, according to Roll Call.

Feb 10 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Monday ordered the Trump administration to fully comply with a previous order lifting its broad freeze on federal spending, after a group of 23 Democratic state attorneys general last week said that some funds remained frozen. U.S. District Judge John McConnell in Providence, Rhode Island, ruled that, opens new tab all funding must be restored at least until he can hold a hearing on the states' motion for a longer-term order. The Trump administration had told states that it believed the order did not apply to certain environmental and infrastructure spending, and...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)’s rescission of its funding freeze memo President Trump’s “first major loss” of his second White House term. “This is Trump’s first major loss. When we fight, we win. We may not have majorities in the House and the Senate, but we DO have the power to loudly educate and mobilize against the mass looting the Trump admin is attempting against our veterans, healthcare, education, and more,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a Wednesday post on X, less than an hour after the news about the reversal broke. The Office of...

Per the X account of Trump's Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt: The spending freeze has NOT been rescinded.The media is reporting it as recission of the federal funding freeze in order to build their narrative that President Trump's actions are confusing. They're not. The media is puprosely making it seem that way. https://x.com/PressSec/status/1884672871944901034

The Trump’s administration’s Office of Management and Budget released a memo Wednesday rescinding a controversial order that froze a wide swath of federal financial assistance, which had paralyzed many federal programs and caused a huge uproar on Capitol Hill. The decision came amid strong behind-the-scenes pushback from Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill, according to a GOP senator who was apprised of the decision to reverse the policy order. The reversal was signed by Matthew Vaeth, the acting director of the White House budget office. One GOP senator expressed relief over the decision. “Chaos is never good,” the lawmaker said.

Trump administration cancels federal funding freeze

MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace claimed Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Deadline” that President Donald Trump’s executive order freezing federal loans and grants just “resuscitated” the Democrats. Wallace said, “An observation i’ve had in the last 24 hours from pinging Democrats and frankly, inviting them on this show. What Trump has done, again, wittingly or unwittingly, is to completely resuscitate the Democratic Party. They were flatlined spiritually, politically basically, since the election night. And what he has done is — they have suddenly woken up. They remember why they’re there. They’re there to make the government work the way it’s supposed to work....

Connecticut's Attorney General claimed Tuesday that the Trump administration's actions to freeze Federal spending were an "unprecedented and blatantly lawless and unconstitutional attack." Other Democrats also blasted other orders from the president. William Tong, Connecticut's Attorney General, said in a statement, “This is a full assault on Connecticut families-- an unprecedented and blatantly lawless and unconstitutional attack on every corner and level of our government and economy. Attorneys general across the country are preparing imminent legal action to protect our states. Connecticut and my team are front and center in this fight and will provide updates in real time to...

NY AG Letitia James sues the Trump administration after freeze on federal funding

One week in, the Trump administration is broadening its assault on the functions of government and shifting control of the federal purse strings further away from members of Congress. President Donald Trump’s budget office Monday ordered a total freeze on “all federal financial assistance” that could be targeted under his previous executive orders pausing funding for a wide range of priorities — from domestic infrastructure and energy projects to diversity-related programs and foreign aid. In a two-page memo obtained by POLITICO, the Office of Management and Budget announced all federal agencies would be forced to suspend payments — with the...

American officials at the State Department are striving to maintain aid to Ukraine despite the announcement of a freeze on foreign aid by the new Secretary of State, reports the "Financial Times." It remains unclear what impact this decision will have.High-ranking diplomats in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs have appealed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio to exclude support for Ukraine from the memorandum suspending foreign aid for 90 days, issued by him on Friday. Rubio has already made exceptions for Israel and Egypt, as well as emergency food programs, but Ukraine was not included.SNIPThe Ukrainian edition of...

The Department of Justice is rescinding job offers for the Attorney General’s Honors Program amid President Donald Trump’s federal hiring freeze, according to a new report. The Attorney General’s Honors Program, established in 1953, hires graduating law students or recent law school graduates from top law schools such as Harvard, Duke, Georgetown, Stanford and the University of Virginia. But the Department of Justice notified those who had been selected for the program, which serves as a pipeline to recruit top legal talent into the public sector, that their offers were being revoked, several people familiar with the decision told the...

President Joe Biden sparked concerns Monday night when he appeared to freeze for the better part of a minute before his speech became slurred past the point of comprehension during a lively Juneteenth celebration at the White House. During the event ahead of the national holiday next week, the Commander-in-Chief seemed to short-circuit as the rest of the crowd, including Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, grooved along to the lively band. Philonise Floyd, brother of the late George Floyd, flanked Biden on his left and eventually noticed the concerning pause he was taking and wrapped his...

President Biden appeared to freeze during Juneteenth celebrations at the White House, and began slurring his words when speaking to the crowd

Concerns have grown about the ages of former President Donald Trump, 77, and President Joe Biden, 81, drawing attention to a string of gaffes and rhetorical missteps. June 10Biden: The president stood awkwardly still for about 30 seconds during a White House Juneteenth concert as other guests, including Vice President Kamala Harris, danced alongside him, drawing criticism from Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee, which tweeted “why isn’t Biden moving?” June 4Biden: The president referenced Russian President Vladimir in reference to tariffs on Chinese products during an interview with Time magazine, which noted in a transcript of the interview...