by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : US President Donald Trump announced that he intends to reduce the American federal budget deficit by cutting financing to every government agency and department by 5 per cent.
“I’m going to ask each of you to come back with a 5 per cent cut for our next meeting, I think you’ll all be able to do it… Get rid of the fat, get rid of the waste… It will have a huge impact,” Trump told the Cabinet at the White House on Wednesday, adding that he would be willing to allow “special exemptions” for one or two departments but some might have to undergo cuts larger than 5 per cent.
Trump’s proposal comes after the Treasury Department reported that the federal budget deficit increased this year to $779 billion, or by 17 per cent over last year, the largest deficit in six years, reports Efe news.
Although he did not get into specifics, Trump probably was referring to the cuts that will be in his administration’s budget proposal for fiscal 2020, which he will send to Congress at the beginning of next year.
However, although the President can ask his Cabinet members to cut their departments’ budgets, the federal funds are ultimately approved by Congress, quite apart from the wishes and desires of the president.
Lawmakers have the freedom to include their own spending plans for federal agencies and the rest of the government, although the president has the right to veto any budget they approve.
Three-quarters of the federal government’s operations have been financed through the end of September 2019, while the remaining agencies, including the Departments of Agriculture, Justice, Transportation and Homeland Security have been funded through December 7.
Congress will try to avoid a partial government shutdown and approve a budget for those agencies before the end of this year.
Trump had already asked for double-digit spending reductions for some federal departments, but this was rejected by Congress.
The president’s first budget proposal, made last year, included eliminating 62 agencies, something that legislators completely ignored.
Trump has blamed Democrats in Congress for seeking to raise spending on national programmes in exchange for fulfilling his wish to strengthen the military, but his tax reform has had one of the greatest impacts on increasing the deficit since it imposed significant tax cuts, especially on the wealthiest taxpayers.
Despite the fact that he does not want to cause a government shutdown prior to the November midterm elections, the magnate might be willing to do so in early December, before the next budget negotiation deadline.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
United Nations : President Donald Trump on Tuesday before the United Nations General Assembly demanded that changes be urgently made to the “world trading system” and defended his trade war with China, saying that the US trade deficit with the Asian giant is “not acceptable”.
“Last month, we announced a groundbreaking US-Mexico trade agreement. Yesterday, I stood with (South Korean) President Moon (Jae-in) to announce the successful completion of the brand-new US-Korea trade deal,” said the US leader in a somber and calmly forceful address to the General Assembly, Efe reported.
“This is just the beginning. Many nations in this hall will agree that the world trading system is in dire need of change,” he declared.
Trump warned that the US “will no longer tolerate it and we will not allow our workers to be victimized, our companies to be cheated, and our wealth to be plundered and transferred.”
“The United States has just announced tariffs on another $200 billion in Chinese-made goods. The total so far of $250 billion,” he said.
“I have great respect and affection for my friend, (Chinese) President Xi (Jinping), but I have made clear that our trade imbalance is just not acceptable. The market distortions and the way that they deal cannot be tolerated as my administration has demonstrated,” Trump said.
In the same vein, Trump said “We reject the ideology of globalism and accept the ideology of patriotism.”
“Sovereign and independent nations are the only vehicle where freedom has ever survived, democracy has ever endured, or peace has ever prospered,” said the US leader.
“Together, let us choose a future of patriotism, prosperity, and pride. Let us choose peace and freedom over domination and defeat,” he urged the assembled world leaders and delegates.
Trump arrived late for his scheduled speech and sparked laughter from the crowd with one of the earliest statements of hyperbole in his speech.
“In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country,” he claimed, engendering a smattering of laughter from the crowd, which then increased when he quipped, with a broad smile, “I did not expect that reaction. That is OK.”
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : US President Donald Trump’s administration has revealed a plan to block visas and green cards for immigrants to come to or stay in the the country if they or their family use certain public benefits.
The proposed rule announced by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Saturday could make immigrants seeking to enter the US ineligible for visas or green cards if they are deemed likely to receive certain public benefits once they come to the country, reports CNN.
Immigrants could also be denied a change in legal status once in the US if they received or are likely in the future to use public benefits, such as public housing and food stamps equivalent to a certain monetary threshold.
The rule is a vast expansion of existing interpretations of what is considered a “public charge”, or someone dependent or likely to become dependent on government.
If the rule survives widely expected legal changes, it could mark a sea change that allows far more immigrants to be rejected from the US or force them to choose to forgo benefits that they or family members would otherwise be eligible to receive.
“Under long-standing federal law, those seeking to immigrate to the US must show they can support themselves financially,” DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said.
“This proposed rule will implement a law passed by Congress intended to promote immigrant self-sufficiency and protect finite resources by ensuring that they are not likely to become burdens on American taxpayers,” Nielsen said.
Once the rule is formally published in the Federal Register, it will kick off a public comment period for Americans and interest groups to submit feedback, CNN said.
The DHS will, by law, have to review those comments before finalising the regulation.
Advocacy groups are also widely expected to try to challenge the rule in court.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Los Angeles : Governor of US state of California, Jerry Brown has signed bills to block the Trump administration from expanding offshore oil drilling along the western US state’s coast.
According to a statement from office of the governor on Saturday, Brown also announced the state’s opposition to the federal government’s plan to expand oil drilling on public lands in California, Xinhua news agency reported.
“Today, California’s message to the Trump administration is simple: Not here, not now,” said Governor Brown in the statement, adding that California will not let the federal government pillage public lands and destroy California’s treasured coast.
This action comes days before grassroots activists, mayors, governors, heads of industry and international leaders convene in San Francisco for the express purpose of mobilizing climate action at the Global Climate Action Summit.
Bills signed by Brown block Donald Trump administration’s plan to expand offshore oil drilling by prohibiting new leases for new construction of oil and gas-related infrastructure, such as pipelines, within state waters if the federal government authorizes any new offshore oil leases.
The bills also require new public notices and processes for lease renewals, extension amendments or modifications to authorize new construction of oil and gas-related infrastructure associated with new federal leases. There has been no federal expansion of oil and gas drilling along California’s coastline for more than 30 years.
President Donald Trump’s move for the largest expansion of offshore oil and gas drilling in US continental waters in decades is met with resistance by coastal states officials.
The 2019-2024 Outer Continental Shelf Draft Proposed Plan, unveiled by US Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, is scheduled to lease sales along the country’s coast, and will vastly expand offshore oil drilling from coast to coast.
California has been taking a tough stand to protect its coast from the offshore oil and gas development since 1994 when the state legislature passed the California Coastal Sanctuary Act. It prohibits the state from entering into any new leases within state tidelands.
In 2017, the California Senate passed a resolution opposing new oil or gas drilling in federal waters located offshore California. Earlier this year, Brown joined Oregon Governor Kate Brown and Washington Governor Jay Inslee to condemn the Trump administration’s proposal to expand oil and gas offshore drilling.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
George Papadopoulos
By Michael Hernandez,
Washington: Former Trump campaign foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos was sentenced to 14 days in prison Friday after pleading guilty to lying to federal investigators.
In addition, Papadopoulos was ordered by a Washington court to pay a $9,500 fine and serve 200 hours of community service as well as 12 months of supervised release.
He is the first aide to U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign to be sentenced on charges brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
Papadopoulos pled guilty last October to lying to the FBI. He told the court Friday that he is “deeply embarrassed and ashamed” for lying to investigators.
During sentencing, Papadopoulos’ lawyer, Thomas Breen, reportedly insisted that “the President of the United States hindered this investigation more than George Papadopoulos ever did.”
Trump earlier Friday sought to distance himself from his former advisor, telling reporters on Air Force One “I don’t know Papadopoulos.”
“I saw him sitting in one picture at a table with me. That’s the only thing I know about him,” he said. “They got him, on I guess, on a couple of lies.”
—AA
