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The House narrowly voted Thursday to cut about $9.4 billion in spending already approved by Congress as President Donald Trump‘s administration looks to follow through on work by the Department of Government Efficiency when it was overseen by Elon Musk. The package targets foreign aid programs and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides money for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, as well as thousands of public radio and television stations around the country. The vote was 214-212. Republicans are characterizing the spending as wasteful and unnecessary, but Democrats say the rescissions are hurting the United States’ standing in the world and will lead to needless deaths. Cruelty is the point, Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said of the proposed spending cuts. The Trump administration is employing a tool rarely used in recent years that allows the president to transmit a request to Congress to cancel previously appropriated funds. That triggers a 45-day clock in which the funds are frozen pending congressional action. If Congress fails to act within that period, then the spending stands. This rescissions package sends $9.4 back to the U.S. Treasury, said Rep. Lisa McClain, House Republican Conference chair. That’s $9.4 billion of savings that taxpayers won’t see wasted. It’s their money. The benefit for the administration of a formal rescissions request is that passage requires only a simple majority in the 100-member Senate instead of the 60 votes usually required to get spending bills through that chamber. So, if they stay united, Republicans will be able to pass the measure without any Democratic votes. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said the Senate would likely not take the bill up until July and after it has dealt with Trump’s big tax and immigration bill. He also said it’s possible the Senate could tweak the bill. The administration is likening the first rescissions package to a test case and says more could be on the way if Congress goes along. Republicans, sensitive to concerns that Trump’s sweeping tax and immigration bill would increase future federal deficits, are anxious to demonstrate spending discipline, though the cuts in the package amount to just a sliver of the spending approved by Congress each year. They are betting the cuts prove popular with constituents who align with Trump’s America first ideology as well as those who view NPR and PBS as having a liberal bias. In all, the package contains 21 proposed rescissions. Approval would claw back about $900 million from $10 billion that Congress has approved for global health programs. That includes canceling $500 million for activities related to infectious diseases and child and maternal health, and another $400 million to address the global HIV epidemic. The Trump administration is also looking to cancel $800 million, or a quarter of the amount Congress approved, for a program that provides emergency shelter, water and sanitation, and family reunification for those forced to flee their own country. About 45% of the savings sought by the White House would come from two programs designed to boost the economies, democratic institutions, and civil societies in developing countries. Democratic leadership, in urging their caucus to vote no, said that package would eliminate access to clean water for more than 3.6 million people and lead to millions more not having access to a school. Those Democrats saying that these rescissions will harm people in other countries are missing the point, McClain said. Its about people in our country being put first. The Republican president has also asked lawmakers to rescind nearly $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which represents the full amount its slated to receive during the next two budget years. About two-thirds of the money gets distributed to more than 1,500 locally owned public radio and television stations. Nearly half of those stations serve rural areas of the country. The association representing local public television stations warns that many of them would be forced to close if the Republican measure passes. Those stations provide emergency alerts, free educational programming, and high school sports coverage, and they highlight hometown heroes. Advocacy groups that serve the world’s poorest people are also sounding the alarm and urging lawmakers to vote no. We are already seeing women, children, and families left without food, clean water, and critical services after earlier aid cuts, and aid organizations can barely keep up with rising needs, said Abby Maxman, president and CEO of Oxfam America, a poverty-fighting organization. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) said the foreign aid is a tool that prevents conflict and promotes stability, but the measure before the House takes that tool away. These cuts will lead to the deaths of hundreds of thousands, devastating the most vulnerable in the world, McGovern said. This bill is good for Russia and China and undertakers, added Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN). Republicans disparaged the foreign aid spending and sought to link it to programs they said DOGE had uncovered. Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) said taxpayer dollars had gone to such things as targeting climate change, promoting pottery classes, and strengthening diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Other Republicans cited similar examples they said DOGE had revealed. Yet, my friends on the other side of the aisle would like you to believe, seriously, that if you don’t use your taxpayer dollars to fund this absurd list of projects and thousands of others I didn’t even list, that somehow people will die and our global standing in the world will crumble, Roy said. “Well, let’s just reject this now. By Kevin Freking, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
Women athletes who want to start a family have often received little to no support or faced repercussions. Remember when, back in 2019, Olympic runners Allyson Felix, Alysia Montao, and Kara Goucher shared that Nike, their sponsor, said it would stop paying them if they werent runningeven during pregnancy and postpartum. It wasn’t until after the women called out the company in The New York Times that Nike instituted a new maternity policy. Women basketball players, soccer players, and other athletes across sports have also shared their negative experiences as expecting or new mothers and their fight for change. So its deeply heartening when progress occurs, like a new policy championed by players at the Womens Tennis Association (WTA). The organizing body for womens tennis has announced the Fertility Protection Special Entry Ranking Rule, which protects the ranking of women who undergo procedures like embryo or egg freezing. After hearing from players that the option of fertility protection offers a proactive way to balance family goals and career ambitions, were delighted that this new measure, alongside the fertility grant offered by the PIF WTA Maternity Fund, will contribute to enabling our athletes to realize their full potential and become parents at a time of their choice, said Portia Archer, CEO of the WTA, in a statement. (PIF stands for Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.) How the new rule will work Athletes will qualify if they leave for at least 10 weeks to undergo the treatment and are ranked between Nos. 1 and 750 in singles or doubles. They will then receive a special entry ranking (SER) based on the 12-week average of their WTA ranking from eight weeks prior to the start of their out-of-competition period, the WTA states. Players can use the ranking for up to three tournaments. The WTA, founded by Billie Jean King, already offers ranking protection for pregnant individuals or those pursuing another form of parenthood. In March, the organization introduced 12-month paid maternity leave for athletestechnically independent contractorsand two months for adoption, a partners pregnancy, or surrogacy. The WTA claims its the first instance in womens sports history that comprehensive maternity benefits are available to independent, self-employed athletes. However, they must meet specific qualifications, such as participating in a certain number of tournaments. The WTA simultaneously introduced grants for fertility treatments.
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E-Commerce
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who heads the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has announced eight new members to the CDC’s independent vaccine advisory committeesome who are critical of vaccinesafter firing the entire group, prompting questions and concerns. Kennedy said the new members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) will be at ACIP’s upcoming meeting on June 25 to June 27, which is slated to discuss vaccine recommendations for the HPV vaccine (which the CDC has deemed safe, and prevents cervical cancer and 90% of cancers caused by HPV in females), and of course the COVID-19 vaccine. Those new members are: Joseph R. Hibbeln, Martin Kulldorff, Retsef Levi, Robert W. Malone, Cody Meissner, James Pagano, Vicky Pebsworth, and Michael A. Rosssome of whom are either close allies of RFK Jr. or vaccine skeptics, according to the BBC. Kulldorff, an epidemiologist and biostatistician, helped write the Great Barrington Declaration, which questioned lockdowns and other public health measures early in the COVID-19 pandemic, per National Public Radio; while Malone worked on mRNA technology for the COVID-19 vaccine early on, then became a critic and made false claims about the shot, also per NPR. Wednesday’s move comes just days after Kennedy fired all 17 sitting members of the ACIP, which makes recommendations on the safety, efficacy, and clinical need for the shots, advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the vaccine schedule and required coverage of immunizations. While Kennedy justified the firings, saying in a Wall Street Journal op-ed the panel of esteemed pediatricians, epidemiologists, immunologists, and other physicians was plagued with conflicts of interest, that’s questionable. As Fast Company has previously reported, Kennedy has a long history of repeatedly making false claims that have been debunked, and railing against or ranting about vaccines, medical drugs, the health system, and our nations food. RFK Jr. also has no medical degree, breaking with long-standing tradition for the health secretary post, and his nomination was the latest in a string of controversial picks by Trump for his second term.
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E-Commerce
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