Winner's Swamp and Surfing in Gaza 02/08/25

[JohnUbele]

White House to ask Congress to cut $9bln in funds including USAID, NPR

"...On Tuesday, The Hill reported that the White House is preparing a rescission package that would seek to retrieve $9 billion in approved funding back to Congress through cuts to public broadcasting, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and agencies that President Donald Trump aimed to eliminate.

In a statement to The Hill, a White House official confirmed that Congress would receive the package, which requests to eliminate $9.3 billion in spending, on April 28.

That includes money for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which oversees PBS and NPR, money for USAID, and agencies like the US Institute of Peace, which Trump aimed to dismantle via an executive order signed in February..."

"...Last February, the Trump administration launched mass layoffs at USAID, placing most staff on administrative leave and initiating a Reduction-in-Force affecting about 1,600 U.S.-based employees. 

By March 2025, the world saw the elimination of approximately 5,200 out of the agency’s 6,200 programs. That same month, a federal judge ruled that Musk and the Trump administration likely violated the US Constitution by shutting down USAID, ordering its reinstatement, and blocking further dismantling efforts..."

Source:
https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... -including

[JohnUbele]

[JohnUbele]

Trump Signs Order Directing Investigations Into University Accreditors

"...President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday evening directing the United States Department of Education to overhaul the federal higher education accreditation system - with a specific mandate to eliminate the consideration of diversity, equity, and inclusion in accreditation processes.

The order calls for federal agencies to investigate and potentially strip recognition from accrediting bodies that promote DEI-related policies, which Trump slammed in the order as examples of "discriminatory ideology".

"Accreditors have not only failed in this responsibility to students, families, and American taxpayers, but they have also abused their enormous authority", Trump wrote in the order.

Accreditation is the process through which colleges and universities become eligible to access federal student aid and research funding - a status that Harvard’s top critics in Washington have repeatedly threatened to revoke for the University over its handling of campus antisemitism.

In October 2024, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) threatened that if Trump returned to the White House, Republicans would not be afraid of stripping Harvard of its accreditation, an outcome that the Wednesday order now makes more likely.

"Your accreditation is on the line", Scalise said in a private meeting between him and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group. "You're not playing games any more or else you're not a school any more"..."

Source:
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025 ... xec-order/