The GOAT: Trump Announces Trade Deal With EU — “THE BIGGEST DEAL EVER” thumbnail

The GOAT: Trump Announces Trade Deal With EU — “THE BIGGEST DEAL EVER”

By The Geller Report

Greatest president of all time. 

The US will get ten times more in revenue from tariffs on EU imports, and $600B more in direct investment from EU. Even the mentally deranged anti-Trumpers it’s a big win for the US.

Financial Times: The agreement was struck following a meeting on Sunday between US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland. The deal marks a victory for Trump, who has spent months forcing America’s trading partners into bruising negotiations by threatening steep tariffs, although the terms are in line with what Brussels had told EU member states to prepare for. “This is probably the biggest deal ever reached in any capacity, trade or beyond trade,” Trump said as he announced the agreement.

Financial Times: More from FT: There is no hiding the fact the EU was rolled over by the Trump juggernaut, said one ambassador. “Trump worked out exactly where our pain threshold is”.

Townhall: Sarah Arnold of Townhall: The move comes in response to what Trump called one of the “largest trade deficits” between the U.S. and the EU, criticizing Europe’s failure to strike a fair deal by the earlier July 9 deadline. Even before talks began, von der Leyen acknowledged Trump’s reputation, telling him directly he is “known as a tough negotiator and dealmaker”—a nod to the kind of leadership that prioritizes American interests at the bargaining table. “The European Union is going to agree to purchase from the United States $750 billion worth of energy,” Trump said. “They are going to agree to invest into the United States $600 billion more than they’re investing already”.

Axios: Europe’s economy was reeling before Trump took office. Still, White House trade policy has targeted its most dominant sectors, including auto manufacturing. German carmakers — Mercedes, BMW and Audi — have been subject to a 25% tariff rate since April, while other goods faced a blanket 10% tariff. By the numbers: As a bloc, the EU is America’s top trading partner, with more than $600 billion worth of goods imported from European nations last year. The U.S. exported slightly more than half of that sum, with $370 billion worth of goods sent to Europe in 2024. That trade deficit has been one source of Trump’s frustration with Europe since taking office.

More winning for President Trump. The POTUS is fighting ferociously for the American people. Reversing the disastrous America-last policies of his inept predecessors. Who in their right mind would vote to obstruct these successes in next year’s mid-term elections? Watch President’s Trump’s statements about this monumental trade deal below. President Trump is the GOAT!

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the deal took ‘heavy lifting’

By Fox News, July 27th, 2025

President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a trade deal between the U.S. and European Union on Sunday.

The announcement came moments after the two had addressed the media, agreeing that the likelihood of an agreement was about 50-50. Von der Leyen said the negotiations had taken some “heavy lifting,” but the two leaders agreed they were happy with the result.

“We are agreeing that the tariff straight across for automobiles and everything else will be a straight-across tariff of 15%,” Trump said.

Trump strikes ‘biggest deal ever made’ with EU: Europeans will buy $750M in US energy, invest $600B after meeting with prez
By Ryan King · Published July 27, 2025 · Updated July 27, 2025, 3:20 p.m. ET

It took just 75 minutes for President Trump to get what he wanted out of the European Union.

That’s how long he and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen were away from the cameras.

When they returned, Trump was triumphant. Europe agreed to buy $750 billion in American energy products, invest $600 billion in new money in the US and purchase additional US military equipment, according to the terms of the preliminary agreement.

Tariffs on many American exports will drop to zero. Duties on most European goods coming into the US rise to 15%.
President Trump announced a new trade deal between the United States and the European Union after a meeting with European Commission President

“I think it’s the biggest deal ever made,” Trump proclaimed.

The stated terms of the tariff deal appeared to be remarkably lopsided in favor of the US. Von der Leyen suggested that the only real concession from the Americans was that Trump would not impose 30% tariffs he had threatened.

The 27-member bloc is America’s biggest trading partner if taken together, with total trade hitting $1.97 trillion last year. The US trade deficit for goods was $235 billion.

The deal avoids a trade war between two economies that account for about 44% of the world’s gross domestic product — less than a week before steep “Liberation Day” were set to bite.

“I think we both wanted to make a deal,” the president said. “It’s going to bring us closer together. I think this deal will bring us very close together.”

Before announcing the agreement, both Trump and Von der Leyen put the odds at making a deal at 50-50. The European leader had flown to Scotland to meet Trump at his Turnberry golf course, where the president spent the morning playing with son Eric.
Donald Trump and Ursula von der Leyen in a meeting. 6
Trump touted the agreement as the “biggest deal ever made.” AP

“The starting point was an imbalance — a surplus on our side and a deficit on the US side,” the EU boss said when asked about the concessions Trump made. “And we wanted to rebalance the trade relation, and we wanted to do it in a way that trade goes on between the two of us across the Atlantic.”

Both sides also agreed to have zero-for-zero tariff rates on “a number of strategic products” such as aircraft and component parts, certain chemicals, certain generics, semiconductor equipment, specific agriculture products, natural resources and critical raw materials, according to Von der Leyen.

Part of the arrangement also involved a European agreement to “purchase a vast amount of military equipment” from the US, though Trump noted, “We don’t know what that number is” yet.

Von der Leyen and Trump both shook hands and commended each other on the deal.

European negotiators had sought to score a 10% tariff from the US, mirroring Trump’s baseline rate against foreign countries and the preliminary trade deal he inked with the United Kingdom in May.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

POSTS ON X:

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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Trump Announces EU Trade Deal thumbnail

Trump Announces EU Trade Deal

By The Daily Caller

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration reached a trade deal with the European Union Sunday after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met with Trump in Scotland, Reuters reported.

WATCH: Trump says U.S.-EU trade deal is one of the ‘biggest ever’ as tariffs drop



The deal would see the E.U. shoulder a 15% tariff on E.U. imports to the U.S. and on large-scale purchases of American energy and military equipment, according to the outlet. Trump on July 11 had written to von der Leyen that the U.S. would levy a 30% tariff on E.U. imports, decrying “long-term, persistent, and large” trade deficits.

The two leaders met in Turnberry, Scotland, according to a White House video of the two at a press conference there.



The E.U. would not impose tariffs on U.S. goods entering the supranational entity’s market, under the terms of the new deal, Trump said, according to NBC News.

Asked by a reporter if he could offer the E.U. lower than 15%, Trump said no. Europe had hoped for a deal without any tariffs imposed by both sides but European companies would still likely welcome the deal, according to Reuters.

Trump said the U.S. has had a great relationship with the E.U. “but it has been a very one-sided transaction, very unfair to the United States.”

The U.S. and the E.U. are the two largest global economies with a trade volume of $1.7 trillion between both economies and a combined market of 800 million people, von der Leyen told reporters. She expressed optimism that the new trade deal, if successful, would be the biggest deal each entity has ever made.

Trump went into the meeting only half-certain about making the deal and that there were three or four issues to address, according to the livestream. “I think the main sticking point is fairness,” he said.

The deal would be about rebalancing, von der Leyen said. “We have a surplus, the United States has a deficit, and we have to rebalance it,” she added.

The U.S. trade deficit with the E.U. stood at nearly $236 billion in 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It stood at just over $137.3 billion between January and May 2025 — up from $92,482.7 within the same period in 2024, according to the data.

The E.U. market is closed to American cars while the U.S. imports millions of cars from the E.U., according to Trump. While the U.S. imported 749,170 cars from the E.U. in 2024, the E.U. imported 164,857 cars from the U.S., according to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.

Trump praised von der Leyen for having “done a terrific job for them [the E.U.] — not for us — but she’s done a great job and she’s highly respected by us also.”

AUTHOR

John Oyewale

Contributor

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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Despite $27 Billion Surplus in June, More Fiscal Reforms Are Needed thumbnail

Despite $27 Billion Surplus in June, More Fiscal Reforms Are Needed

By Family Research Council

The U.S. Treasury Department announced Friday that the federal government ran a surplus of $27 billion in June, raising hopes that Washington may have turned a corner away from debt-bound demise. The month-in-black marked the first June surplus since 2017, the beginning of President Donald Trump’s first term, and it improved substantially upon the $71 billion deficit the government ran in June 2024. However, while the monthly surplus is a positive sign, the U.S. government is not out of the woods just yet.

Administration officials credited Trump’s tariffs for the budget surplus. “Another promise made. Another promise kept,” tweeted Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. “As President Trump works hard to take back our nation’s economic sovereignty, today’s Monthly Treasury Statement is demonstrating record customs duties — and with no inflation!” Indeed, the U.S. government collected some $27 billion in customs duties in June, a number strikingly close to the surplus.

Does this result signal that tariffs are the solution to America’s excessive federal debt?

The short answer is no, because the reality of government finances is far more complex.

To explain this, it’s helpful to begin with a definition. As many readers will already know, a surplus occurs when total income (receipts) exceeds total expenses (outlays). Last month, the federal government brought in $526 billion (a $60 billion increase, or 13%) and spent $499 billion (a $38 billion decrease, or 7%).

Right away, these figures make it apparent that the total surplus ($27 billion) was less than the decrease in outlays ($38 billion) and less than half the increase in receipts ($60 billion). Even though tariff income roughly equaled the surplus, it was not the largest factor in June’s budget result.

The decrease in outlays was primarily due to “calendar adjustments,” which happen when payments are made a few days earlier or later than normal, the Treasury Department acknowledged. Since June began on a Sunday, any payments due by June 1 would have been paid on the previous business day, Friday, May 30; these payments would therefore count towards May’s total, instead of June’s. Without these calendar adjustments, June would have registered a $70 billion deficit, the Treasury Department noted. (That’s a remarkably high discrepancy of $97 billion, or roughly 20% of all outlays, but there is also a remarkably high percentage of payments due on the first day of the month.)

The increase in receipts was also due primarily to non-tariff-related factors. While customs duties in June totaled $27 billion, they also brought in $23 billion in May, resulting in an increase of $4 billion. That means most of the $60 billion increase in revenue was raised from other sources, likely quarterly tax payments. “June is one of Treasury’s biggest revenue months of the year,” wrote The Wall Street Journal editors, “because it’s a month when companies and individuals file their quarterly estimated tax payments.”

This raises another essential point, which is that balancing the budget requires responsible spending across all 12 months of the fiscal year, not just a surplus in certain high-revenue months. Before the June surplus of $27 billion, the U.S. federal government ran a deficit of $316 billion in May, with nearly as much income from tariffs. For the current fiscal year, which began in October, the government has run a deficit of $1.34 trillion. In comparison, June’s surplus is little more than a rounding error (technically, $0.027 trillion).

“June was the highest monthly level so far [for customs duties],” the WSJ editors allowed, “but even on an annual basis that’s about $300 billion a year. That’s not nothing, but it won’t balance a $7 trillion spending budget.”

However, the effort to relate tariff revenue to the budget surplus does underscore one obvious point: the path to balancing the budget requires both more taxes and less spending. (Tariffs are a tax on imported goods.) Politicians don’t like to talk about this reality because both items are unpopular, but there’s no way around it, just like a family may be forced to both cut expenses and produce extra income (perhaps through a side hustle) to make ends meet.

Unfortunately, taxes have other ill effects. In economic terms, all taxes reduce efficiency by driving prices way above the supply-demand equilibrium, resulting in lost productivity known as “Dead Weight Loss.” Of course, taxes are necessary to support government, which God instituted as a means of common grace, and Scripture instructs Christians to pay their taxes (Matt 22:15-22; Romans 13:7). Nevertheless, taxes siphon off economic resources, making it beneficial to keep them as low as possible.

Already, the effect of tariffs may be slipping into U.S. inflation statistics. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 0.3% in June, after increasing 0.1% in May, for a 2.7% increase over the past 12 months, reported the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Tuesday. Subtracting the volatile categories of food and energy, the “core” CPI increased 0.2% in June and 2.9% over the past 12 months.

While overall inflation numbers were only slightly higher than average, prices increased sharply in categories that are heavily dependent on foreign imports. For instance, apparel prices increased 0.4% in June, while household furnishings and appliances increased a whole 1.0% in a single month. Even pro-Trump Breitbart News attributed these increases to tariff pressures.

(In fairness to the administration, Trump’s tariffs have caused far less inflation than some critics have predicted, as Bessent recently pointed out. However, this is partly due to the fact that the higher tariff rates have yet to take effect for many countries.)

In addition to fueling inflation, tariffs (like all taxes) will also reduce economic activity. Even when taxes are beneficial, such economic downsides are inevitable. Thus, the simplest solution is for the government to avoid spending money it doesn’t have in the first place.

Alas, such warnings have gone unheeded for decades. Given the depth of the fiscal hole the U.S. government has dug for itself, there are no easy ways out — not tariffs, not DOGE cuts, not rescissions. Only hard, deep, and painful cuts — such as serious entitlement reform — can set the nation on the path to fiscal sustainability. And that is unlikely to happen until voters, like they did in Argentina, are willing to listen to real solutions.

AUTHOR

Joshua Arnold

Joshua Arnold is a senior writer at The Washington Stand.

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The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

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U.S. Posts $27 Billion SURPLUS Thanks to Record Tariff Revenues thumbnail

U.S. Posts $27 Billion SURPLUS Thanks to Record Tariff Revenues

By The Geller Report

The U.S. government posted a surplus in June as tariffs drove a sharp increase in receipts, the Treasury Department said Friday.

June saw a surplus of just over $27 billion, following a $316 billion deficit in May.

Customs duties totaled about $27 billion for the month, up from $23 billion in May and a 301% gain from June 2024.

The Democrat media axis and Jerome Powell was wrong about everything.

U.S. posts surprise $27 billion budget surplus in June, boosted by tariffs

Frank DeMatteo, Investing.com, July 11, 2025:

— Just one week after President Trump signed the “Big Beautiful Bill” into law, the administration is celebrating again. The U.S. government posted a budget surplus for June, driven in large part by Trump’s aggressive tariff policies.

The June 2025 budget recorded a surplus of over $27 billion, the first monthly surplus since 2017. Economists had expected a deficit of $41.5 billion for the month. A key factor was the surge in customs duties, which totaled roughly $27 billion for the month. That’s up from $23 billion in May and a staggering 301% increase compared to June 2024.

So far this year, tariff collections have reached $113 billion, up 86% from the same period last year. Much of the increase is tied to the across-the-board 10% import tariffs Trump implemented in April, in addition to the targeted reciprocal tariffs on individual countries.

Despite the strong June surplus numbers, the broader fiscal picture remains challenging. The federal deficit for the year stands at more than $1.34 trillion.

Interest payments on the national debt continue to be a major burden. Net interest totaled $84 billion in June alone, and $749 billion year-to-date, making it the second-largest federal expense after Social Security. Interest payments are on track to hit $1.2 trillion for the full fiscal year.

President Trump has repeatedly called on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to cut interest rates, arguing that lower rates would reduce debt servicing costs and “save billions.”

Continue reading.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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Senate Passes Trump’s ‘Beautiful’ Bill After Holdout Supplies Critical Vote thumbnail

Senate Passes Trump’s ‘Beautiful’ Bill After Holdout Supplies Critical Vote

By The Daily Caller

The Senate approved President Donald Trump’s landmark bill largely along party lines Tuesday morning after senators took dozens of votes on amendments and procedural motions in a marathon session that lasted more than 24 hours.

Senators voted 51 to 50 with Republican Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Susan Collins of Maine opposing the president’s sweeping domestic policy legislation. The bill’s passage is a massive victory for Senate GOP leadership who were able to keep defections to a minimum and convince one holdout, Republican Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, to supply a critical vote to pass the president’s tax and immigration bill.

Vice President JD Vance, who arrived in the Capitol shortly after 6 a.m. Tuesday, cast the tie-breaking vote. The Senate-amended bill now heads to the House for consideration where lawmakers are racing to meet Trump’s July 4 deadline.

Given Senate Republicans’ 53-47 majority, Thune could afford to spare just three votes. Every Senate Democrat, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, voted no on the Senate version of the president’s “big, beautiful” bill.

The “vote-a-rama” that preceded the vote on final passage was one of the longest voting sessions in American history. Senators cast more than 45 votes in a session that started at 9 a.m. Monday as Senate GOP leadership lobbied holdouts to support the bill.

The Senate agreed to pass just a handful of amendments to the bill during the course of voting. Senators overwhelmingly backed a measure offered by Republican Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn to eliminate a provision freezing state and local AI regulation.

The Senate also approved a “wrap-around amendment” immediately preceding to a vote on final passage that incorporated last-minute changes to the bill. Vance cast the tie-breaking vote.

Tillis and Collins justified their opposition to the president’s domestic policy bill, citing the proposal’s aggressive reforms to Medicaid.

Paul, a fiscal hawk who almost never supports bills that increase budget deficits, also voted against the president’s budget bill. He said he could not support the legislation given a provision that would raise the debt limit by $5 trillion.

The president notably criticized Tillis and Paul for voting against starting debate on Trump’s megabill Saturday.

“Thom Tillis has hurt the great people of North Carolina,” Trump wrote on the social media platform Truth Social Tuesday. “Even on the catastrophic flooding, nothing was done to help until I took office. Then a MIRACLE took place! Tillis is a talker and complainer, NOT A DOER! He’s even worse than Rand ‘Fauci’ Paul!”

Congressional Republicans are using the so-called budget reconciliation process to circumvent Democrat’s opposition and pass tax and spending legislation by a simple majority vote.

The upper chamber’s bill combines a staggering number of Trump’s policy priorities into one budget package. It would permanently extend the president’s 2017 tax cuts, temporary eliminate taxation on tipped wages and overtime pay for certain Americans and restore several business tax breaks sought by the private sector

The budget package would also boost immigration enforcement and defense spending by hundreds of billions of dollars while achieving the largest cut to mandatory spending in American history, including slowing the rate of federal Medicaid spending by roughly $1 trillion over a decade.

The final bill is the product of Republicans’ legislative ambition that was years in the making. The last time Republicans had a trifecta in Washington to pass a budget reconciliation bill was nearly a decade ago during the start of Trump’s first term in office.

“This is Republicans fulfilling our promise of growth and prosperity for the American people,” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, the second-ranking Senate Republican, said Monday on Fox News. “It’s more money in people’s pockets for gas, groceries, for rent. All of those things, and as the president said, we need to stop this $4 trillion tax increase, which would be the biggest increase in taxes in the history of our country.”

The combined effects of these tax provisions are projected to result in $7,800 to $13,000 higher take-home pay for the average family with two children, according to a White House report analyzing the initial House-passed bill that was published in May.

The Senate bill now heads to the House where it faces uncertain prospects. A flank of House conservatives have pledged to tank the upper chamber’s proposal for violating a framework in the House to pair tax cuts with dollar-for-dollar spending reduction. A cohort of moderate GOP lawmakers have signaled they will vote “no” on the Senate bill, citing opposition to aggressive reforms to Medicaid.

Any changes the House makes to the Senate’s bill would have to pass the upper chamber for a second time before Trump can sign the measure into law.

AUTHOR

Adam Pack

Congressional Reporter.

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All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

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EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Thomas Massie Reveals What Would Get Him To ‘Yes’ On Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill thumbnail

EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Thomas Massie Reveals What Would Get Him To ‘Yes’ On Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill

By The Daily Caller

Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie revealed in an exclusive interview with the Daily Caller that he could vote “yes” on President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” if a “skinny” version of the legislation materializes.

Massie has said he will not support the bill in its current form because it does not cut government spending substantially enough. Massie’s opposition to the bill is one reason Trump and his political allies have threatened to primary him in the 2026 midterms. Pro-Israel lobbying group American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is also trying to primary Massie, according to a source who spoke to the Caller.

There is a version of the bill, though, Massie said he could support. In a group text with about ten other congressmen, called “Budget Hawks,” Massie said they have floated the idea of splitting the bill in two.

“I can tell you the conservatives in the house are getting antsy with every change that happens in the Senate, and there’s a concern that maybe they need to just skinny this thing down and try to do just a few things,” he asserted, adding that they may try to do “two bills instead of one.”

“The first one should be just the absolute essentials to the president’s priorities, which would be, secure the border and extend the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” he explained.

Massie said he could theoretically support that bill depending on its impact on the deficit.

“It would be a lot of speculation to say that’s where we’re going to end up. But if we did end up there, and there was a repeal of the Green New Deal subsidies, I could be for that, possibly — I’d have to see the total budget impact in the House,” he told the Caller.

There have been several changes to the Senate version of the bill that have raised red flags for Massie. They stripped the REINS Act Provision — something Massie personally lobbied for in the House version — which requires congressional approval for major federal regulations before they take effect. The Senate is also mulling over a longer phaseout of renewable energy tax credits and whether to reduce the income cap for State and Local Tax (SALT) deductions. Massie said that lowering the threshold would benefit blue states more than red states.

“If they make that tweak, let’s say they limit the SALT deduction to people who make less than $400,000 a year, that means that more of the benefit of that tax provision will go to blue states instead of red states, because to be under whatever the threshold is — let’s just say $400,000 a year annual income and have $40,000 of state and local taxes or property taxes — means that you’re probably in a blue state,” he explained.

“I think the ultimate bill that the Senate passes, if they can pass one, is going to have an even worse impact on the deficit than the House bill,” he said.

Massie speculated that the president’s July 4 deadline is unlikely to be met by Congress and that House Speaker Mike Johnson’s promise to force Congress to meet over the holiday is likely an empty threat meant to appease Trump. The real deadline, Massie alleged, is sometime in August.

“I think they’ll use the threat of canceling the August recess … they’ll take a week off the August recess and say we’re in session, and then they’ll give it back to us if this bill passes,” he said.

Another sticking point for Massie is that he is using a shorter window to score the bill’s impact on the deficit. While the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) typically scores bills on a ten-year timeline, Massie is only looking at the next three or four years. Trump’s plans for no tax on tips and overtime, and tax reform for seniors, for example, are set to expire after three years in the bill.

“The deficit impact is great over the next three years in the Big Bill that passed the House, and it’s only five years out when it starts to go in the other direction because they plan on having those tax cuts expire, and they plan on having that military spending expire,” he told the Caller. “But what will happen four years from now … is they’ll say, oh my gosh, that Congress four years ago and that president set up this fiscal cliff, and the impact to our military is going to be too great [if they let] the spending expire.”

“So we’ve got to use the current policy as the baseline,” he said.

Massie alleged that the House is effectively doing nothing while they wait for the Senate to deliver its version of the Big Beautiful Bill.

“The House is just sort of over here … treading water,” he asserted. “We’re just not doing much in the House. Where the speaker has the House looking like it’s busy … it’s not really that busy.”

AUTHOR

Amber Duke

Senior Editor. Follow Amber on Twitter.

RELATED ARTICLE: EXCLUSIVE: Massie Warns AIPAC, Trump’s War Against Him Could Backfire

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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Obama-Appointed Senate Parliamentarian Blocks Major Changes in Big Beautiful Bill thumbnail

Obama-Appointed Senate Parliamentarian Blocks Major Changes in Big Beautiful Bill

By The Geller Report

So sick of these underminers. This bill should have been passed weeks ago. Congress is useless.

We know who is telling this maidservant what to do.

“Meet the Democrat singlehandedly blocking key provisions in President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill. Elizabeth Macdonough, a close ally to Obama serves as the Senate Parliamentarian. There is a solution to her efforts to stop the president’s agenda – JD Vance – he could overrule her as President of the Senate.”

She’s trying to require Trump to obtain 60 votes in the Senate instead of 50+1.

Senate Parliamentarian Blocks Major Medicaid Changes in Big Beautiful Bill

The Senate parliamentarian on Thursday advised the Medicaid provider tax could not be included in the Big Beautiful Bill, which could upend how the bill could offset the Trump tax cuts.

By: Sean Moran, Breitbart, 26 Jun 26, 2025:

The Senate parliamentarian on Thursday advised the Medicaid provider tax could not be included in the Big Beautiful Bill, which could upend how the bill could offset the Trump tax cuts.

Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled the Medicaid provider tax would require 60 votes in the Senate to be included in the Big Beautiful Bill. The Senate parliamentarian’s ruling complicates the offsets for enhancing and extending the Trump tax cuts.

The potential loss of the Medicaid provider tax would force Senate Republicans to find other potential spending cuts to pay for the Big Beautiful Bill. The parliamentarian also struck down provisions that would bar the use of Medicaid funds for transgender healthcare services and to prevent illegal aliens from receiving Medicaid or CHIP healthcare coverage.

However, it remains possible that Senate Republicans could change the language of the Medicaid provider tax to be eligible in the Big Beautiful Bill.

Senate Majority Leader Thune explained to Breitbart News Saturday host Matthew Boyle how the “Byrd Bath” process works: “We’re going through the Byrd bath, this Byrd test, which our bill has to run through that filter, and the parliamentarian is the sort of referee — determines what’s in, what’s out. But we kind of anticipated a lot of this stuff, and knew, in most cases at least what we were doing, what had a good chance of getting through, and what didn’t. And we worked closely with the House to coordinate when they were passing their bill over there, to minimize the number of things that would get knocked out under the Byrd rule. So we have been working from the very beginning on this, but that said, there are some things that are getting knocked out. What we’re intending, however, is when it’s done in the Senate, that it’ll be in a condition and a shape that can go back to the House, consistent with what the House passed, but hopefully improved upon by what we did in the Senate, and then be able to pass it on the floor there and send it to the president. So that’s the process.”

On the Wall Street Journal podcast All Things with Kim Strassel, Thune signaled that Republicans would work to find alternatives to things that may get struck down by the parliamentarian.

He said:

Well, in most of those cases, we have a plan B and a plan C… we’ve had contingency plans, we’re going back at her, and we think we’ll get a lot of that restored… And even the Democrats, when they were doing this, when they had unified control of the government, had things knocked out… But we’re still going to get a ton of what we wanted in this, and this is the president’s agenda, and so this will be the fulfillment and implementation of that. And we’re going to, we’re full speed ahead in trying to get it done.

“Democrats are continuing to make the case against every provision in this Big, Beautiful Betrayal of a bill that violates Senate rules and hurts families and workers,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, said in a statement.

“Democrats are fighting back against Republicans’ plans to gut Medicaid, dismantle the Affordable Care Act, and kick kids, veterans, seniors, and folks with disabilities off of their health insurance,” the Democrat added.

Republicans are using budgetary reconciliation to pass the Big Beautiful Bill through the Senate using only a simple majority, or 51 votes. While it can avoid the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold, a reconciliation bill cannot make policy changes or things that are considered “extraneous” to spending.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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PODCAST: Democrat Socialist Zohran Mamdani wins NYC primary election — What is his economic agenda? thumbnail

PODCAST: Democrat Socialist Zohran Mamdani wins NYC primary election — What is his economic agenda?

By Conservative Commandos Radio Show and AUN-TV

Mamdani pushes for $30 minimum wage, corporate tax hikes and government-owned grocery stores.

New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the Democratic Party’s primary for the New York City mayoral nomination has put his economic policies in the forefront as he aims to run the nation’s most populated city.

Mamdani, 33, is a Democratic member of the state assembly representing Queens who is also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America as well as the Working Families Party.

Mamdani’s platform focused on a number of issues that have animated socialists in the Democratic Party, including raising the minimum wage, hiking taxes on corporations and wealthy Americans, cracking down on delivery apps, as well as investing in affordable housing and creating city-owned grocery stores.

His campaign proposes a new minimum wage law that would raise the wage floor for jobs in the city to $30 an hour by 2030, which would then be automatically increased based on changes in the cost of living.

Mamdani has proposed raising the corporate tax rate in New York City to match the state of New Jersey’s tax rate of 11.5%, which his campaign believes will bring in $5 billion.

He also called for imposing an additional flat tax of 2% on New York households earning more than $1 million annually. To bring in additional funding for his plans, Mamdani’s campaign calls for hiring more tax auditors, collecting fines from landlords and reforms to procurement and contracting processes to raise $1 billion in revenue.

The assemblyman campaigned on building 200,000 new units of “permanently affordable, union-built, rent-stabilized homes” over the next decade – as well as immediately freezing rents for all stabilized tenants.

His campaign also features a plan to “implement free childcare for every New Yorker aged 6 weeks to 5 years,” while also providing “baby baskets” to new parents and guardians that include items like diapers, baby wipes, nursing pads, post-partum pads, swaddles, and books,” at no cost to the new parents.

Mamdani has criticized delivery app platforms, with his campaign website stating that “deliveristas – 80,000 Black, brown and immigrant workers – are exploited by app companies who demand they complete deliveries at a dangerous pace.”

“Moreover, app companies have misclassified delivery workers as independent contractors, instead of employees, so that they can avoid providing them with the rights and benefits all workers deserve,” Mamdani’s website said. Delivery apps typically classify delivery workers as independent contractors, which gives them the flexibility to set their own hours and decide which deliveries they want to handle.

To address what he sees as the risks created by delivery apps, Mamdani’s platform calls for strengthening licensure requirements for such apps while also working to “expand capacity and resources to support deliveristas, and improve street infrastructure including expanding DOT e-bike programs and investing in deliverista hubs.”

His campaign platform has also called for eliminating fares on city buses while expanding priority lanes and bus queue jump signals with dedicated loading zones for passengers.

Mamdani also proposed creating city-owned grocery stores by redirecting funds from corporate grocery stores, claiming that the city stores would be focused on “lower prices, not price gouging.”

The grocery stores wouldn’t pay rent or property taxes, which would allow them to reduce overhead and pass on savings to shoppers, according to Mamdani’s website. They will also buy and sell at wholesale prices, centralize warehousing and distribution, and partner with local neighborhoods on products and sourcing.

©2025 . All rights reserved.

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Universities Sit On Billion-Dollar Endowments While Jacking Up Tuition thumbnail

Universities Sit On Billion-Dollar Endowments While Jacking Up Tuition

By The Daily Caller

Several universities are hiking tuition prices and cutting jobs despite sitting on massive endowments.

Universities are largely blaming the Trump administration’s federal funding cuts for the price increases, but many schools have seen steady rises in tuition for decades and overall increased revenue all while nursing their ever-growing endowments. 

Cornell University is raising its tuition rate by over 4%, bringing the cost to $71,266 for out-of-state students and $48,010 for in-state students, while Duke University’s tuition will jump by nearly 5% to $92,042.

Duke’s price hike marks a 123% increase over the past two decades, despite its endowment steadily increasing over time to about $5 billion. The university’s 2023-2024 fiscal year financial report admitted that the school’s “growth in revenue outpaced expenses.”

At the time, Duke was charging students $83,263 in tuition and other fees and collecting a total of approximately $1 billion in gross tuition and fees even after accounting for financial aid deductions, making up 15% of its total revenue.

Duke is also working to reduce its workforce, offering voluntary buyout agreements to employees. The packages include financial incentives and healthcare in exchange for a three-year separation from the university, in which they can reapply after that period.

Duke did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

Weighing similar staffing cuts, Cornell blamed the Trump administration’s federal research grant terminations, saying the university now faces “profound financial challenges.” Cornell announced it was pausing hiring as it reviewed its “programs and headcount.”

As of 2024, Cornell brings in over $900 million from tuition costs and student fees every year, according to its financial records. Cornell’s endowment is valued at approximately $10.7 billion as of 2024, returning about 10% every year.

Cornell did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

Several public universities like the University of Michigan (UM) and the University of Minnesota (UMN) are also raising costs by as much as 7.5% for some students while cutting programs and student services.

UMN is raising its rates by 6.5% for in-state and 7.5% for out-of-state students, also pointing to federal cuts. The school operates on a budget of over $5 billion, with a total systemwide endowment of $6 billion.

UMN did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

Tuition costs at the University of Michigan (UM) will rise by over 3% for in-state students and just under 5% for out-of-state students while sitting on a nearly $18 billion endowment. The university is blaming ” budgetary impacts of federal actions” and “economic and legislative uncertainty,” according to a June announcement.

A UM spokesman directed the DCNF to the university’s public statement.

College tuition costs have been on the rise for decades, with price increases mostly outpacing inflation. Increased federal financial aid to students has been attributed by some studies to the inflated costs.

The Trump administration has cut billions in grants and contracts to universities, targeting programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) topics or universities that allegedly fail to comply with federal civil rights laws.

AUTHOR

Jaryn Crouson

Education Reporter.

RELATED ARTICLE: Harvard, MIT Use Law To Limit Legal Payouts While Sitting On Endowments Worth Billions

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

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USAID Official and Three Corporate Executives Plead Guilty $550 Million in Fraud, Bribery Using DEI thumbnail

USAID Official and Three Corporate Executives Plead Guilty $550 Million in Fraud, Bribery Using DEI

By The Geller Report

USAID official and three company executives plead guilty in fraud and bribery scheme involving at least 14 contracts worth over $550 million

USAID Official Roderick Watson took bribes, was showered with lavish gifts— including cash, laptops, thousands of dollars in tickets to a suite at an NBA game, a country club wedding, down payments on two residential mortgages, cell phones, and jobs for relatives.

In exchange for the bribe payments, Watson influenced the award of contracts by manipulating the procurement process at USAID.

Watson faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.

Imagine how much more fraud there is…

USAID Official, Three Contractors Plead Guilty To Half-Billion Dollar Bribery Scheme

By  Luke Rosiak

Three government contractors and a USAID official have pleaded guilty to a scheme involving paying bribes in order to steer more than half a billion dollars in foreign aid contracts, the Department of Justice said Friday.

Roderick Watson, a USAID contracting officer, admitted to steering money to multiple companies in exchange for more than $1 million in bribes.

“Watson exploited his position at USAID to line his pockets with bribes in exchange for more than $550 million in contracts,” Guy Ficco of IRS Criminal Investigation said in a statement. “While he helped three company owners and presidents bypass the fair bidding process, he was showered with cash and lavish gifts.”

The scheme was possible because of the federal government’s racial “set-aside” laws known as 8(a) contracting, which allow contracting officers to give contracts to companies owned by minorities, women, or veterans without the usual competitive process.

Walter Barnes III, the founder of a Baltimore-area company predicated on taking advantage of those laws, admitted to paying bribes, including a country-club wedding, cash, and a trip to Martha’s Vineyard.

Barnes’s company is called Vistant, previously known as PM Consulting Group. It was awarded contracts on the pretense that it was “disadvantaged” because Barnes is black, even as it took in tens of millions of dollars. Barnes used a public defender in his court case, drawing a rebuke from the judge that he presumably had ample resources to pay for his own lawyer.

Also pleading guilty was Darryl Britt, the founder of 8(a) contracting firm Apprio Inc., which is received $271 million in federal contracts since 2004. Both companies also admitted criminal liability.

Beginning in 2013, Britt — a member of Carnegie Mellon University’s Business Board of Advisers — bribed Watson to award contracts to Apprio. When an 8(a) firm becomes too large, it “graduates” from its “disadvantaged” status. But minority contracting laws are notoriously exploited, with minority-owned firms existing simply to win contracts, then subcontracting out the work to other firms. That is often done openly, and above board, with “joint ventures.”

Continue reading.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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President Trump: China Trade, Tariff Deal ‘DONE’ thumbnail

President Trump: China Trade, Tariff Deal ‘DONE’

By The Geller Report

President Trump confirmed early Wednesday that the US reached a “deal” with China following intense, marathon trade negotiations in London.

“Our deal with China is done, subject to final approval with President Xi and me,” Trump announced on Truth Social Wednesday in full capitalization. “Full magnets, and any necessary rare earths, will be supplied, up front, by China.”

“Likewise, we will provide to China what was agreed to, including Chinese students using our colleges and universities (which has always been good with me!). We are getting a total of 55% tariffs, China is getting 10%. The relationship is excellent! Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

How are we vetting these students?

Trump says China trade, tariff deal ‘done,’ awaits his and Xi Jinping’s approval

“FULL MAGNETS, AND ANY NECESSARY RARE EARTHS, WILL BE SUPPLIED, UP FRONT, BY CHINA,” President Trump said.

By Natalia Mittelstadt, Just The News, June 11, 2025:

President Trump on Wednesday announced that the deal with China “is done,” and is awaiting his and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s approval.

“OUR DEAL WITH CHINA IS DONE, SUBJECT TO FINAL APPROVAL WITH PRESIDENT XI AND ME,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

“FULL MAGNETS, AND ANY NECESSARY RARE EARTHS, WILL BE SUPPLIED, UP FRONT, BY CHINA. LIKEWISE, WE WILL PROVIDE TO CHINA WHAT WAS AGREED TO, INCLUDING CHINESE STUDENTS USING OUR COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES (WHICH HAS ALWAYS BEEN GOOD WITH ME!). WE ARE GETTING A TOTAL OF 55% TARIFFS, CHINA IS GETTING 10%. RELATIONSHIP IS EXCELLENT! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!”

The U.S. and China reached a framework for a looming trade deal on Tuesday, which came on the second day of negotiations in London.

Continue reading.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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Supreme Court Approves DOGE Access To Social Security Data thumbnail

Supreme Court Approves DOGE Access To Social Security Data

By The Daily Caller

The Supreme Court gave the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) the greenlight to access Social Security Administration (SSA) data on Friday.

The Trump administration asked the justices in May to pause a district court judge’s preliminary injunction preventing the SSA DOGE team from accessing certain records.

“We conclude that, under the present circumstances, SSA may proceed to afford members of the SSA DOGE Team access to the agency records in question in order for those members to do their work,” the court’s order states.

Justices Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor would have denied the request.

Jackson, in a dissent joined by Sotomayor, wrote that the majority is “jettisoning careful judicial decisionmaking and creating grave privacy risks for millions of Americans in the process.”

“I would proceed without fear or favor to require DOGE and the Government to do what all other litigants must do to secure a stay from this Court: comply with lower court orders constraining their behavior unless and until they establish that irreparable harm will result such that equity requires a different course,” Jackson wrote.

In a separate order, the Supreme Court also halted a lower court’s discovery order that would have required DOGE to turn over some material to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), which sued to force DOGE to comply with its Freedom of Information Act request.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

AUTHOR

Katelynn Richardson

Investigative Reporter.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing @dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

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VIDEO: AEI Housing Market Indicators, May 2025 thumbnail

VIDEO: AEI Housing Market Indicators, May 2025

By Edward Pinto

AEI Housing Market Indicators May 2025 Briefing

You don’t want to miss this update! This month, we highlighted the following hot housing topics:

  • Recent movements in rates, demand, and supply: Mortgage rates remained elevated at 6.75%, while purchase rate lock volume dropped to a multi-year low—down 24% from the same week in 2019 and 5% year-over-year.
  • Home price appreciation (HPA) and months’ supply trends through March 2025: HPA slowed to 3.0%—its second lowest April rate in the series—while months’ supply declined to 3.2 months, just below pre-pandemic levels as inventory grows faster than seasonal trends
  • FHA appears not to be properly tracking its partial claims, costing taxpayers: FHA is not and collecting partial claims in about a quarter of cases, and taxpayers will be providing free money to certain FHA borrowers. Assuming an average partial claim amount of $23,000-$27,000 and 1.3 million unique claims since 2020, the taxpayer could lose $6.75 billion—not including partial claims completed before 2020.
  • An update on Bureau of Land Management sales to build starter homes: Making just 250 sq. miles of developable BLM land available for sale in 12 Western states would enable the private sector to add 1.75 million homes, a much of which would be family-sized starter homes for the working class. The 2025 Budget Reconciliation process provides an opportunity to address the Western region’s housing and development needs by expediting the disposal of target Federal lands for competitive sale at market prices.
  • Preview: The AEI Housing Success Playbook: The AEI Housing Center’s Housing Success Playbook provides five straightforward, proven policies to build an additional 1.6 million homes annually, and without subsidies. These include allowing smaller lots in new subdivisions, legalizing conversions of single-family homes, permitting backyard cottages and ADUs, enabling residential overlays in commercial zones, and developing starter homes on BLM land.
  • The surprising role of large developers in solving the housing crunch: The nation’s largest home builders have engineered a dramatic shift toward serving first-time homebuyers, with 51.2% of their new construction sales going to FTBs in 2024, up from 38.6% in 2014. This transformation has been driven by building smaller homes and offering financial tools like rate buydowns, while median lot sizes declined by 1,050 sq. ft., enabling greater affordability and access to starter homes.

The AEI Housing Market Indicators (HMI) provide accurate and timely metrics for the housing market. These include mortgage risk/leverage (with a particular focus on agency first-time buyer volume and risk), house prices and appreciation trends, housing sales (new and existing sales whether institutionally financed, cash, or other-financed), and inventory levels. Since the housing market is influenced by many different factors, all need to be considered together to better understand market trends.

WATCH: AEI Housing Market Indicators May 2025 Briefing

Monthly Update of the AEI Housing Market Indicators: Download this month’s slides

©2025 . All rights reserved.

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Critics of the Big Beautiful Bill ‘Are Going to Be Wrong,’ Johnson Warns thumbnail

Critics of the Big Beautiful Bill ‘Are Going to Be Wrong,’ Johnson Warns

By Family Research Council

For months, the bright lights have been on the House, capturing the made-for-TV drama of the Republicans’ Houdini-like wins. And while people have come to appreciate House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) as a sort of consensus whisperer, no one is quite sure what to make of his Senate counterpart. But now that Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is in the reconciliation hot seat, America is about to see what Mitch McConnell’s replacement is made of. And as far as first tests go, this is a biggie.

Thune, who’s had a front-row seat for the House debate, knows that the job that awaits is no picnic. Like the speaker, he understands a thing or two about small margins. With just three votes to spare and 53 different opinions on next steps, corralling his caucus will require a mix of patience and thick skin. After listening to his caucus pick apart the draft passed by Johnson’s chamber, Thune’s early message is one of caution. “It’ll have to track very closely to the House bill,” he warned Monday, “because they’ve got a fragile majority and struck a very delicate balance.”

That in itself is a shift from earlier weeks, when Thune seemed to agree with the Republicans eager to make sweeping changes. Now, the South Dakotan says more reservedly, “[T]here are some things that senators want to add to the bill or things we’d do slightly differently.” Based on the soundbites coming out of his caucus, that’s putting it mildly. Goldilocks herself would go mad trying to find the sweet spot between the five factions of senators with competing goals.

There’s the group demanding more spending cuts (Ron Johnson, Wis.; Mike Lee, Utah; Rick Scott, Fla.), and another worried they go too deep (Susan Collins, Maine; Lisa Murkowski, Alaska). There are the pro-Medicaid reform Republicans and the not-so-pro-overhaul Republicans (Josh Hawley, Mo.; Murkowski; Jerry Moran, Kan.; and Jim Justice, W.Va.). While some cheer the end of Biden’s “clean energy credits,” others pan them (Murkowski; Moran; Thom Tillis, N.C.; John Curtis, Utah). While Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) rages against the debt ceiling hike, the more rural state senators are fighting the other chamber’s changes to health and supplemental nutrition programs (Chuck Grassley, Iowa). And remember the SALT caucus of the House? Well, Senator Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) admitted, “There’s not one Republican in the United States Senate” who cares about the state and local tax deduction cap.

And that’s to say nothing of the give-and-take on tax levels, ranges of defense and border spending, and a million other flashpoints tucked in the 1,100-page draft. Add that to the Byrd Bath, which will decide what belongs in reconciliation and what doesn’t, and you have the makings of four long, stress-filled weeks. “There’s always some who think it’s too hot, some [who] think it’s too cold,” observer Neil Bradley shook his head. “Where do you find the point where a majority think it’s just right?”

Great question — one that Thune will be losing his share of sleep over. In the end, he told reporters, “We’ve got to do what we can get 51 [votes] for.”

Johnson can sympathize. In his weekend sit-down with Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, he spoke knowingly. “… [A]s all our friends in the Senate know, it took us over a year to reach that equilibrium point in the House,” he said on Saturday’s “This Week on Capitol Hill.” The most important takeaway, the speaker reminds Thune’s disgruntled Republicans, is that “we’re going to achieve over $1.5 trillion in savings. … It’s the largest amount of savings of any government that would ever be achieved in the history of mankind. It’s a good start. It’s not enough, but it’s a good start. And I think the Senate’s got to recognize that.”

One of the greatest misunderstandings — even with people in Washington — is that the reconciliation package was never meant to be the vehicle for all of the president’s spending cuts. When Elon Musk and others complain that the bill doesn’t reduce the deficit, there’s a fundamental disconnect about several things, the speaker underscores. For starters, he reminded everyone, “This is just the beginning of a long process. We’re going to have another reconciliation bill, possibly two additional bills, coming up in the near future.”

Secondly — and just as importantly — “you have to remember how the process works,” the speaker stressed. When Americans (including Musk) wonder why there aren’t more Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts in the “one, big, beautiful bill,” it’s simple. “There are two categories of federal spending,” Johnson pointed out. “One is mandatory spending, one is discretionary. The reconciliation package [deals] with the first category, not the latter. So it was not possible — literally, under the rules of the Senate — for us to put DOGE cuts in large measure in the reconciliation package. That has to be a separate instrument.”

And that “separate instrument” is what the White House is working on right now: a rescissions package to roll back discretionary spending that was already approved. Thanks to the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, presidents can permanently cancel funding to executive agencies if it’s within a 45-day window and if a simple majority of Congress approves. As we speak, Donald Trump is teeing up the first “of many” rescission proposals, worth about $9.4 billion of waste, fraud, and abuse.

That, Johnson reiterated, is what Congress has been waiting for. “I mean, there was no playbook for what Elon Musk and DOGE were doing. They didn’t have a set of procedures to follow. They had to create them as they went.” And now, he continued, Republicans are ready to make those recommendations a reality. Nothing that Musk’s team did will go to waste, the speaker assured Americans.

“The work will go forward and continue, because what he’s done is he’s brought a spotlight into these agencies — into these bureaucracies that we were never able to see. We got a perspective on it that Congress was never allowed because the bureaucracy was hiding so much data. I mean, we didn’t know, obviously, that Congress was funding transgender operas in Peru and all these other crazy things that were happening under USAID,” Johnson said, shaking his head. Elon found it because he cracked the code. He got inside the belly of the beast with his algorithms, and he uncovered it, and we’ve got to wipe it out.”

But the headlines that the House is adding to an already ballooning deficit are baloney, the speaker argued. “I sent a long text message to [Musk] to explain to him and make sure that he understands that he was looking at [an] analysis of the bill that was not accurate.” He pointed to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis of the bill and emphasized, “CBO is historically inaccurate. It’s run by Democrats. … They’re not going to give us a fair score. But the important thing to remember about this is that they do not use dynamic scoring. They use static scoring. In layman’s terms, all that means is they don’t give us any credit for the growth. The Big Beautiful Bill is going to be jet fuel to the U.S. economy. It is a pro-growth economy builder. It’s going to lower tax rates, lower regulations, [and] incentivize U.S. manufacturing again. When that happens, we know what [the effect will be].”

Let’s not forget, the speaker reminded Perkins, “We already did this in the first Trump administration, [and we] had the greatest economy in the history of the world after the first two years, because we cut taxes and cut regulations. Now we’re doing it on steroids. So the tremendous growth that will be achieved by this is being totally discounted by CBO. They’re saying it will add to the deficit. It’s not true,” he declared. “By our calculations, we are going to reduce the deficit because of all the growth that we stimulated. Just watch and see that the critics are going to be wrong.”

AUTHOR

Suzanne Bowdey

Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2025 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

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White House Sends Congress $9.4 Billion Rescissions Package thumbnail

White House Sends Congress $9.4 Billion Rescissions Package

By The Daily Caller

The White House sent a $9.4 billion rescissions package partly aimed at codifying work done by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to Congress late Tuesday.

The House Oversight Committee confirmed that Congress had received the package in a post to X.

“The White House just sent Congress a $9.4B rescissions package—including $1.1B in CUTS to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds NPR and PBS. These outlets ATTACK the America First agenda on the taxpayers’ dime. We’re ready to STOP this propaganda machine,” the post read.

The news comes after Russell Vought, Director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB), announced May 28 that the White House would be sending a rescissions package to Congress this week.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said May 28 in an X post that he is “eager and ready to act” on the measure. “When the White House sends its rescission package to the House, we will act quickly by passing legislation to codify the cuts,” he wrote.

The upcoming rescissions package is set to include $1.1 billion in funding cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the organization that helps fund National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). It also proposes an $8.3 billion reduction in funding for foreign aid, such as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), NBC News reported.

The package can be approved in both the House and Senate with a simple majority, enabling Republican lawmakers to move it forward without Democratic backing.

Lawmakers will have 45 days to act on the proposal to rescind previously appropriated funding.

Although Elon Musk has departed DOGE and turned his attention to his various business ventures, the agency is expected to remain active through July 4, 2026.

Editor’s note: A quote has been altered to better reflect the original statement.

AUTHOR

Ashley Brasfield

Reporter.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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EXCLUSIVE: Social Security Fraud Just Tip Of The Iceberg, Trump’s New Commissioner Says thumbnail

EXCLUSIVE: Social Security Fraud Just Tip Of The Iceberg, Trump’s New Commissioner Says

By The Daily Caller

Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Frank Bisignano said Social Security numbers are vulnerable to exploitation and fraud across multiple government agencies, from the DMV to Medicare.

The former Wall Street executive, confirmed earlier this month after the agency cycled through five leadership changes in five months, said the problem extends far beyond Social Security benefit fraud to encompass the entire federal system where the numbers are used for identification.

“Fraud can happen in many ways. It doesn’t just have to be through Social Security,” Bisignano said in an exclusive interview with the Daily Caller News Foundation. “It could be on the many ways people use a Social Security number to get access …  the Social Security number needs to be a lockdown number.”

Bisignano also warned that because social security numbers are used by multiple federal agencies, fraud risks can balloon beyond the social security system. He said he would be trying to find coordinated solutions to head off fraud.

“The job is about building the largest level of integrity, the highest accuracy rate,” he said.

The commissioner said he is implementing artificial intelligence systems and operational overhauls to address these vulnerabilities across the agency’s 500 million annual interactions with Americans. He said current systems fall short of acceptable security standards.

The agency currently operates with a 1% error rate, he said, but Bisignano aims for “five nines” accuracy — 99.999% — comparable to private sector standards.

“If you’re running at something below that, it will give way to mediocrity at best, and will give way to failure and opportunity for bad things to happen,” he said.

Bisignano has been visiting field offices nationwide to assess operations firsthand, including recent trips to New Jersey locations. He emphasized the importance of understanding ground-level operations before implementing changes.

“I always believed that I need to go see the word to understand the work,” he said. “My job is to help them do their job better and bring the tools.”

In addition, Bisignano rejected Democratic criticism that the Trump administration seeks to cut Social Security benefits, citing his personal background as the son of a World War II veteran and federal agent.

“The idea that I’d be doing anything other than trying to bolster it up is just crazy,” he said.

The commissioner also announced the agency expects to complete Fairness Act payments by the end of June, delivering benefits to 3.2 million Americans ahead of the initially projected timeline of one year.

“This organization will learn how to execute with excellence,” Bisignano told the DCNF.

AUTHOR

Thomas English

DCNF Technology Reporter.

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Trump Puts Anti-Fraud Expert In Charge Of Social Security After Acting Chief Quits In DOGE Clash

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

The post EXCLUSIVE: Social Security Fraud Just Tip Of The Iceberg, Trump’s New Commissioner Says appeared first on Dr. Rich Swier.

YOUR TRUST IS BEING WEAPONIZED: The New Wave of Scams Preying on the Elderly, the Innocent, and the Faithful thumbnail

YOUR TRUST IS BEING WEAPONIZED: The New Wave of Scams Preying on the Elderly, the Innocent, and the Faithful

By Majority Report

When Ryan Last took his own life, it broke something inside me.

Ryan was a 17-year-old straight-A student. A kind soul. Preparing for college. A young man full of promise. But all it took was a single online scam to unravel his world. Someone pretending to be a girl convinced him to send a private photo. Then came the blackmail: Pay up, or we show everyone.

He panicked. He paid what he could from his college fund.

But they wanted more.

Humiliated. Terrified. Alone.

Ryan took his life and left behind a note apologizing for “not being smarter.”

No teenager should feel that kind of shame. And no parent should ever have to bury their child because of a scam.

But this nightmare isn’t a one-off. It’s a rising national epidemic.

This hit close to home for us. Our granddaughter’s boyfriend, a Liberty University student, fell for the same scam. Praise God, he didn’t take his own life—but the emotional toll was real and lasting.

Every day, more and more scams flood this nation, including dozens of Social Security scams, check scams, billing scams, and too many more to mention here!

And it’s hitting those we love the most: our children… and our elderly.

🎯 The New Targets of Evil: Christians, Grandparents, Children and the Kindhearted

Scammers are no longer just sleazy roofers or shady mechanics. Those old-school con games have evolved into something far more dangerous—and far more evil.

Now, scammers use artificial intelligence to clone the voice of your grandchild begging for help.

They impersonate your pastor.

They pose as federal agents, Social Security reps, or even your bank.

They come in emails, pop-ups, text messages, and robocalls.

They don’t just want your money.

They want to weaponize your trust.

They want to exploit your compassion—especially if you’re a Bible-believing Christian.

Why? Because they know our hearts.

We’re generous. We believe the best in people.

We love. We give. We help.

They see that as weakness. But it’s not weakness—it’s righteousness. And it’s time we defend it.

🧭 What We’re Doing About It — And How You Can Help

At Christian Action Network, we’re launching a national initiative to demand the creation of a Federal Anti-Scam Bureau — a dedicated agency focused solely on ending this epidemic of deception.

This campaign includes:

✅ A national “Stop Lethal Scam Attacks NOW!” survey

✅ A call for mandatory sentencing for repeat scammers

✅ A free educational tool: our Top 15 Targeting Scams, full-color flyer

✅ A push for state governors to issue regular scam alerts to all households

We’re not asking the FBI to stop doing its job. In fact, even FBI Director Kash Patel recently said:

“We want to work at the FBI because we want to fight violent crime and be sent out into the country to do it.”

Exactly. Let FBI agents track down murderers and terrorists—not spend their days chasing phone, email, and text scammers. We need a dedicated team focused on fraud—and we need it now.

📬 How You Can Take a Stand

You can help fight back today by:

📝 Filling out the “Stop Lethal Scam Attacks NOW!” survey

Share

I’m sending this survey to our nationwide network of supporters, and I would like to include your answers when I submit the results to Congress.

Your voice matters.

Your life matters.

Your money matters.

And your compassion doesn’t deserve to be turned into a weapon.

Let’s make sure no more Ryans fall.

Let’s protect our seniors, our families, and our churches.

Together, we can stop the scams—and strike back against this rising wave of digital evil.

📎 Click here to fill out the survey ➤

Why America Needs a Federal Anti-Scam Bureau

FBI agents, trained to handle violent criminals, are increasingly burdened by investigating widespread scams that drain their resources and focus.

This diversion leaves violent crimes less thoroughly addressed and scam victims inadequately protected.

A dedicated Federal Anti-Scam Bureau would change that.

With specialized agents solely focused on stopping scams, educating the public, and swiftly bringing scammers to justice, we could significantly reduce scam-related losses and tragedies.

Protecting our families, seniors, and communities from ruthless predators demands specialized attention.

Without immediate and focused intervention, scammers will continue to thrive, causing devastating emotional and financial harm across our nation.

Your completed survey sends a strong message to Congress and government leaders:

Americans demand action.

We must demonstrate widespread public support to ensure lawmakers prioritize creating this critical agency.

Now is the time for collective action and a united voice.

Please complete and return your survey today—your participation is crucial in this fight for justice and safety.

📎 Click here to fill out the survey. ➤

AUTHOR

MARTIN MAWYER

Martin Mawyer is the President of Christian Action Network and host of the “Shout Out Patriots” podcast. Follow him for more action alerts, cultural commentary, and real-world campaigns defending faith, family, and freedom.

©2025 . All rights reserved.

Please visit the Majority Report substack.

The post YOUR TRUST IS BEING WEAPONIZED: The New Wave of Scams Preying on the Elderly, the Innocent, and the Faithful appeared first on Dr. Rich Swier.

20 Reasons Why Congress Must Unite Behind the One, Big, Beautiful Bill thumbnail

20 Reasons Why Congress Must Unite Behind the One, Big, Beautiful Bill

By The White House

Congressional Republicans MUST unite to pass President Donald J. Trump’s One, Big, Beautiful Bill and take advantage of the once-in-a-generation opportunity they were given by voters.

Here are 20 reasons why Congress must unite behind the One, Big, Beautiful Bill:

  1. It delivers the largest tax cut in American history. This means an extra $5,000 in Americans’ pockets with a DOUBLE-DIGIT percent DECREASE to their tax bills. Americans earning between $30,000 and $80,000 will pay around 15% less in taxes.

  2. It includes NO TAX ON TIPS and NO TAX ON OVERTIME. This makes good on two of President Trump’s cornerstone campaign promises and will benefit hardworking Americans where they need it the most — their paychecks.

  3. It delivers Big, Beautiful Deportations. The bill permanently secures our borders by making the largest border security investment in history, funding at least one million annual removals of illegal immigrants and ramping up “mass deportation operations to a level never before seen in American history.”

  4. It finishes President Trump’s border wall. As a result, 701 miles of primary wall, 900 miles of river barriers, 629 miles of secondary barriers, and 141 miles of vehicle and pedestrian barriers will be constructed — stopping deadly fentanyl from flowing into our communities and securing the border from dangerous illegal immigrant murderers and rapists.

  5. It boosts Border Patrol and ICE agents on the frontlines. It empowers immigration authorities to carry out their mission by hiring 10,000 new ICE personnel, 5,000 new customs officers, and 3,000 new Border Patrol agents — and gives $10,000 bonuses in each of the next four years to agents on the frontlines.

  6. It protects Medicaid for Americans by kicking 1.4 million illegals off the benefits. This bill eliminates waste, fraud, and abuse by ending benefits for at least 1.4 million illegal immigrants who are gaming the system.

  7. It requires able-bodied Americans to work if they receive benefits. With 4.8 million able-bodied adults choosing not to work, The One, Big, Beautiful Bill puts work requirements in place and supports them as they find dignity through employment.

  8. It reverses the spending curse plaguing Washington, D.C. The legislation delivers the largest deficit reduction in nearly 30 years, with $1.6 trillion in mandatory savings.

  9. It ends taxpayer-funded sex change for minors. It reverses the Biden-era mandate that Medicaid cover so-called “gender transition” procedures for minors — ending the taxpayer-funded chemical castration and mutilation of American children.

  10. It provides historic tax relief to Social Security recipients. It slashes taxes on seniors’ Social Security benefits.

  11. It will give Americans PERMANENT tax relief through the Trump Tax Cuts. If the bill doesn’t pass, Americans will see the largest tax increase in history.

  12. It finally modernizes air traffic control, fulfilling President Trump’s plan to completely overhaul the systems that keep Americans flying safely and efficiently. This will allow President Trump to update our air traffic control systems and act where the Biden Administration failed (despite repeated warnings).

  13. It ends the taxpayer-funded Green New Scam. The legislation repeals or phases out every “green” corporate welfare subsidy in Democrats’ so-called “Inflation Reduction Act,” immediately stops credits from flowing to China and saves taxpayers $500+ billion every year, and reverses electric vehicle mandates that let radical climate activists set the standards for American energy.

  14. It incentivizes MADE IN AMERICA. It rewards companies that build their products in America with lower taxes — and allows Americans who buy an American-made vehicle to fully deduct their auto loan interest.

  15. It is pro-family. The One, Big, Beautiful Bill increases the child tax credit, establishes MAGA Accounts for newborns to start saving, and strengthens paid family leave.

  16. It repeals Democrats’ insane attack on the gig economy. It repeals the requirement that Venmo, PayPal, and other gig transactions over $600 be reported to the IRS.

  17. It protects family farmers. The bill prevents the greedy death tax from hitting two million family-owned farms who would otherwise see their exemptions cut in half and cuts taxes on farmers by over $10 billion.

  18. It’s a once-in-a-generation chance to revolutionize our nation’s defense capabilities and protect the homeland against new threats. It funds President Trump’s Golden Dome, invests in American shipbuilding, and modernizes our military.

  19. It unleashes American energy dominance. The legislation increases onshore and offshore oil and gas leases, which provides certainty for energy producers, spurs job growth, and makes energy more affordable for American consumers.

  20. It boosts American mineral development. This bill increases mining of domestic minerals and makes America less dependent on foreign adversaries for critical minerals.

©2025 . All rights reserved.

The post 20 Reasons Why Congress Must Unite Behind the One, Big, Beautiful Bill appeared first on Dr. Rich Swier.

EXCLUSIVE: Massive Telecom Merger Champions Workers In A Way Biden Admin Never Could, FCC Chair Says thumbnail

EXCLUSIVE: Massive Telecom Merger Champions Workers In A Way Biden Admin Never Could, FCC Chair Says

By The Daily Caller

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) greenlit Verizon’s $20 billion acquisition of Frontier Communications on Friday — but only after Chairman Brendan Carr insisted on a slate of labor protections he said there was “no way” the Biden administration would have pursued.

The deal requires Verizon to adopt sweeping reforms benefitting tower climbers, trench diggers and fiber splicers — a class of “unsung heroes” he said the previous FCC ignored in an interview with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“I don’t envision a world in which the prior administration would have looked out for America’s tower crews and blue-collar workers in this way,” Carr told the DCNF. “It comes down to the priorities of the administration and what types of deals are struck — and we didn’t see any of these types of deals. We saw deals at the FCC, specifically designed to benefit different progressive stakeholder groups, but there was nothing along these lines happening out of the prior administration.”

Carr, who negotiated the agreement alongside the National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE), made labor reforms a non-negotiable prerequisite for regulatory approval. The chairman emphasized his years of experience embedding himself with telecom crews, scaling towers alongside workers to gain firsthand insight into the risks and realities they face.

“I’ve spent a lot of time with them,” Carr said. “I’ve been on top of several 2,000-foot broadcaster towers with them, on top of water towers — basically every type of pole — and it’s real work. It’s hard work. And it’s important that we make sure they’re being treated fairly.”

The agreement — outlined in Verizon’s letter to the FCC — cracks down on persistent industry pain points, limiting Verizon’s reliance on 1099 workers, creating hotlines to report illegal laborers and ending the “turf vendor” model. Under that system, local firms were routinely shut out by middlemen who parceled out contracts to low-cost subcontractors, driving down wages and weakening safety standards on site, according to a NATE press release from January. The trade organization didn’t respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

Verizon will also scrap its matrix pricing structure, a flat-rate payment scheme NATE criticized for ignoring regional cost variations and the real-world complexities of certain projects.

NATE, which represents over 1,000 businesses in the telecom construction sector, lauded the agreement as a “breakthrough” in a Monday press release — specifically thanking Carr for his role.

“Chairman Carr has invested a lot of time and sweat equity visiting sites and conducting tower climbs with some of America’s best contractor firms and technicians,” CEO Todd Schlekeway said. “These tangible field experiences have provided the Chairman with a deep understanding of the prominent role that NATE members play daily conducting the tough, gritty work on the frontlines to enable connectivity.”

Smaller contractors also scored practical financial wins under the deal. Verizon agreed to accelerate audits — ending long payment reviews by capping them at six months after project completion — and committed to covering third-party compliance software fees, removing a costly headache for firms forced to buy expensive reporting tools just to collect payment. New joint working groups between Verizon and NATE will keep tabs on implementation, ensuring the changes stick.

“Most people, when they turn on their smartphone or turn on their TV — if they think about it at all — maybe they think it’s magic or pixie dust,” Carr said. “But it’s some of the best people you’ll ever meet. Just real, salt-of-the-earth American workers.”

To secure FCC approval, Verizon also agreed to scrap its company-wide diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs “effective immediately,” according to a letter filed with the commission Friday. The telecom giant dropped its workforce diversity targets, ended bonus incentives linked to demographic quotas, and folded multiple employee resource groups into a single compliance-focused office. Verizon didn’t respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

Carr described this change as a “good step forward for equal opportunity, nondiscrimination and the public interest” in an X post Friday.

Hours later, the FCC announced its approval of the Verizon-Frontier merger, with Carr casting the included protections as part of the broader pro-worker posture of the Trump administration.

“Usually when you see large transactions, they have a way of taking care of Wall Street interests and Main Street can get left to the sidelines,” the chairman explained. “But one of the things President Trump has been very clear about is that his administration is looking out for the blue-collar worker. You can certainly see that in this particular FCC decision.”

AUTHOR

Thomas English

Contributor.

RELATED ARTICES:

Major Cell Company Vows To Kill DEI Day After Board Member Says It’s ‘Alive And Well’

Trump Says He’ll Work With Farmers To Not Immediately Deport Key Laborers

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

The post EXCLUSIVE: Massive Telecom Merger Champions Workers In A Way Biden Admin Never Could, FCC Chair Says appeared first on Dr. Rich Swier.

Trump 2.0 Takes Chainsaw To The Deep State With Historic Cuts Of Staff, Budgets thumbnail

Trump 2.0 Takes Chainsaw To The Deep State With Historic Cuts Of Staff, Budgets

By The Daily Caller

The intelligence community is quietly undergoing structural changes as agencies tackle government bloat, reorganize departments and dismantle the Biden administration’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies.

One of Trump’s first directives targeted weaponization in the federal government, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) — which oversees the IC — is focused on uprooting the politicization of the agency.

DNI Tulsi Gabbard launched the Director’s Initiatives Group (DIG) in April to end government weaponization and increase transparency, and she recently announced that the agency is now 25% leaner.

“The 25% reduction in the staff includes both permanent ODNI cadre officers and detailees from other IC elements, who will be returned to their home agencies as ODNI streamlines its mission space,” a source familiar told the Daily Caller.

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Ratcliffe is also eying politicization and potential waste in his agency.

“Director Ratcliffe has made it clear that the CIA will pursue President Trump’s national security priorities with laser-like focus,” CIA spokeswoman Liz Lyons told the Daily Caller. “The Agency is determined to provide the President with an unparalleled intelligence advantage and, under Director Ratcliffe, we are aggressively doing just that.”

Ratcliffe vowed to restructure the CIA to “eliminate” politicization during a recent cabinet meeting with the president.

Similarly, Deputy Director Michael Ellis warned against politicization in a February message to CIA staff, noting their work needs “to be free from politics, bias, or any other distraction.”

Conservatives have accused the IC of politicization for years.

The FBI relied on the since since-debunked Steele dossier to accuse former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page, of being a Russian agent. The bureau also reportedly surveilled school board parents and raided the homes of pro-life protesters.

Fifty-one former officials signed a letter casting doubt on the New York Post’s reporting on Hunter Biden’s emails, falsely claiming it had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation, even though when Ratcliffe served as DNI during Trump’s first term, he determined there was no evidence Hunter Biden’s laptop was a “Russian disinformation campaign.”

Now, the IC is dealing with “deep state actors” leaking classified information to the press. Sources leaked to the The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in May about the IC’s plans to surveille Greenland.

Gabbard slammed the leakers as “deep state actors” who are “politicizing and leaking classified information” in a statement to WSJ.

The CIA is being revamped, but Ratcliffe has not made the “kind of broad cuts” required of other agencies, a Thursday report from CNN claimed.

Although Trump’s federal workforce directives can include national security exemptions, Lyons told the Caller that Ratcliffe is zeroing-in on ways the agency can be more efficient.

“Under Director Ratcliffe, the CIA is implementing President Trump’s Executive Orders to ensure that the workforce is responsive to the Trump Administration’s national security priorities,” she stated. “Even if exemptions are available for national security reasons, the Director believes that CIA can improve efficiency, which is why he invited Mr. Musk to headquarters earlier this year for his insight.”

Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), visited the CIA and met with Ratcliffe in April to discuss DOGE’s efforts to improve government efficiency.

While the agency’s operations are often shrouded in secrecy, Ratcliffe fired officers involved in DEI and dismissed a CIA official who played a key role in Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for members of the military.

The Trump administration plans to reduce the CIA’s workforce by about 1,200 people over multiple years, The Washington Post reported, citing a source familiar.

Ratcliffe emphasized “meritocracy” in an unclassified March 31 CIA memo obtained by the Caller.

“Moving forward, you will be part of a smaller, more elite and efficient workforce,” he wrote. “We will need everyone at CIA to prioritize efforts that add the greatest value and reduce those we can no longer afford to do.”

He added that “the years of growing budgets and resources are behind [CIA].”

The CIA is also reorienting its focus toward Latin America, specifically the drug cartels. This is a shift from the past two decades, where the CIA has been primarily concerned with Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, the New York Times (NYT) reported in 2021.

Trump designated the cartels “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” in one of his first executive orders.

The CIA merged the Western Hemisphere Mission Center (WHMC) and the Counternarcotics Center (CNC) into one unit — the Americas and Counternarcotics Mission Center (ACMC), according to an unclassified April 14 CIA memo obtained by the Caller.

Trump expects the agency to “play a prominent role” in targeting transnational cartels, the memo noted.

The CIA has reportedly been operating a covert drone program to identify fentanyl laboratories in Mexico, anonymous officials told the NYT.

The agency is considering using “lethal force” against Mexican drug cartels, a U.S. official and three people familiar told CNN in April. The CIA is reviewing its authorities and assessing the potential risks of targeting the cartels, according to the outlet.

The agency has also recently made efforts to improve intelligence collection on Russia and China.

The National Security Agency (NSA) is reportedly also facing cuts under Trump’s new vision for the IC. The agency has been ordered to slash “up to 2,000 civilian roles,” three people familiar told Recorded Future News.

The NSA is a signals intelligence (SIGNT) agency within the Department of Defense (DOD). Trump fired Biden-appointed NSA Director Timothy Haugh in April.

The NSA referred the Daily Caller to DOD for questions about restructuring.

“NSA is focused on carrying out the priorities of the President, Secretary of Defense, and Director of National Intelligence, which include evaluating and making strategic adjustments to its civilian workforce,” a DOD spokesperson told the Caller.

“As a combat support agency, NSA is working with the Department to meet [DOD’s] goals and ensure that workforce adjustments are conducted while we continue to execute NSA’s SIGINT and Cybersecurity missions,” the statement continued.

The DOD intends to target its “bloated headquarters,” Hegseth announced in early May.

He introduced the General and Flag Officer Reductions Policy, or the “Less Generals More GIs” directive in a video.

Hegseth ordered at least a 20% reduction of 4-star positions in the Active Component, 20% reduction of the National Guard’s general officers and a minimum 10% reduction in general and flag officers, according to a DOD memo.

“We’re going to shift resources from bloated headquarters’ elements to our warfighters,” Hegseth stated in the video.

He also directed $5.1 billion in “wasteful spending” cuts in accordance with DOGE’s findings in April.

However, the Trump administration has proposed a record $1 trillion defense budget — even though the Pentagon has yet to pass an audit.

The law enforcement arm of the IC is also not immune to restructuring.

Trump’s proposed Fiscal Year 2026 budget includes a $545 million cut to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), citing a reduction in “DEI programs, pet projects of the [Biden] administration, and duplicative intelligence activities,” according to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

The proposal’s recommendations concern discretionary funding.

The Caller reached out to the FBI for comment on the budget proposal and examples of any waste, fraud or abuse the bureau has eliminated. The bureau referred the Caller to Patel’s comments during committee hearings.

FBI Director Kash Patel testified in May before the House Appropriations Committee and said the bureau was “trying to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse.”

Patel is reorganizing the agency to “streamline operations,” according to his May 8 opening statement. The FBI is “ensuring that the Bureau is a good steward of taxpayer dollars,” his statement added.

However, Patel pushed back against the OMB’s proposal to slash funding during his hearing. He told congressmembers the budget cuts were not what the FBI had requested.

“The proposed budget that I put forward is to cover us for $11.1 billion which would not have us cut any positions … we need more than what has been proposed,” he told Democrat Connecticut Rep. Rose DeLauro.

Patel appeared to reverse his comments the following day, and he expressed support for OMB’s budget when testifying before the Senate Appropriations Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee.

“We will make and agree with this budget as it stands and make it work,” he told Democratic Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen during the senate hearing.

“I was simply asking for more funds because I can do more with more money,” Patel added.

Rep. DeLauro asked what positions would be cut due to the funding reduction, and Patel said he is not looking to cut positions.

“Ma’am, at this time, we have not looked at who to cut,” he answered. “We are focusing our energies on how not to have them cut.”

In addition to restructuring the intelligence community’s workforce, Trump has sought to eliminate DEI from federal agencies.

The CIA, ODNI, FBI and NSA have made efforts to comply with Trump’s executive orders, including by removing DEI language from government websites.

Notably, the FBI closed its DEI office in December 2024.

DNI Gabbard told Trump during a cabinet meeting that she closed the IC Human Capital Office, deeming it a “DEI slush fund.”

Additionally, Gabbard fired over 100 intelligence staffers who were in sexually explicit NSA chats.

Former President Biden’s CIA Director William J. Burns prioritized DEI, a CIA official told the Caller.

Under the Trump administration, however, the agency has scrapped its DEI office.

“Director Burns made it clear that strengthening diversity and inclusion at CIA was one of his highest priorities,” the official said. “Under Director Ratcliffe, there has been a significant change — the DEI office has been shut down and mission objectives are prioritized instead.”

AUTHOR

Eireann Van Natta

Associate Editor.

RELATED ARTICLES:

‘It’s A Big Deal’ — John Ratcliffe For CIA Director Could Be One Of Trump’s Most Important Picks

‘Steal Secrets’: CIA Releases Videos In Mandarin To Recruit Chinese Officials

Trump Admin Wants A Record $1,000,000,000,000 Pentagon Budget — But Does America Need It?

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

The post Trump 2.0 Takes Chainsaw To The Deep State With Historic Cuts Of Staff, Budgets appeared first on Dr. Rich Swier.

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