White House budget office suspends federal financial aid programs
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(WASHINGTON) — The White House’s Office of Management and Budget has instructed all federal agencies to cease spending on any financial assistance programs if they suspect it might conflict with President Donald Trump’s recent executive orders.
Agencies must comply beginning at 5 p.m. EST on Tuesday, according to the OMB memo obtained by ABC News.
However, the order does not specify which financial aid programs would have to be suspended.
Given the spate of orders issued this month — some of which have prompted lawsuits — the memo could have sweeping implications.
The federal government funds thousands of programs, including research projects, housing subsidies and educational grants.
“The use of Federal resources to advanced Marxist equity, transgenderism and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day to day lives of those we serve,” wrote Matthew Vaeth, acting director of the OMB.
Vaeth told agency chiefs they must “identify and review all federal financial assistance programs and supporting activities consistent with the President’s policies and requirements.”
They are being told they must report back by Feb. 10 on all programs that apply.
“In the interim, to the extent permissible under applicable law, Federal agencies must temporarily pause all activity related to obligation or disbursement of all federal financial assistance and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including, but not limited to financial assistance for foreign aid, non-governmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal,” Vaeth wrote.
In response to the OMB memo, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer issued a statement late Monday calling on the Trump administration to immediately “reverse course.”
“Congress approved these investments and they are not optional; they are the law,” Schumer said. “These grants help people in red states and blue states, support families, help parents raise kids, and lead to stronger communities.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump kicked off his second term with a flurry of executive actions on immigration, Jan. 6, health policy and more.
More orders are expected Tuesday amid fallout from his first moves, including his issuing pardons for more than a thousand rioters convicted in connection with the violent Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and his effort to end birthright citizenship.
Meanwhile, lawmakers will continue to question and process the president’s Cabinet picks. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been sworn in as other nominees, including Elise Stefanik for ambassador to the United Nations, face confirmation hearings.
‘For us and the whole world, it is still the Gulf of Mexico’: Mexican president
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responded to Trump’s various decrees issued after the inauguration in a point-by-point statement.
Sheinbaum said Trump’s decrees concerning the emergency zone of the southern border and the Migrant Protection Protocols were no different than the orders made during Trump’s first term.
“We will always act in the defence of our independence, the defense of our fellow nationals living in the U.S. We act within the framework of our constitution and laws. We always act with a cool head,” she said in her statement.
Sheinbaum however pushed back on Trump’s decree to rename the Gulf of Mexico.
“For us and the whole world, it is still the Gulf of Mexico,” she said.
-ABC News’ Anne Laurent and Will Gretsky
Rubio promises State Department will focus on making America ‘stronger,’ safer,’ and ‘more prosperous’
After being sworn in as the nation’s 72nd secretary of state, Marco Rubio promised that every action taken by the department would be determined by the answer to three questions: “Does it make us stronger? Does it make us safer? And does it make us more prosperous?”
Rubio gave remarks in Spanish as well, giving thanks to God, his family present and not present, including his parents, who he said came to the U.S. in 1956 — and that the purpose of their lives was that their children could realize dreams not possible for them.
“It’s an incredible honor to be the secretary of state of the most powerful, best country in the world,” he continued in Spanish, giving thanks to Trump for the opportunity.
Rubio also echoed themes from Trump’s inaugural address and reiterated the president’s agenda.
“As far as the task ahead, President Trump was elected to keep promises. And he is going to keep those promises. And his primary promise when it comes to foreign policy is that the priority of the United States Department of State will be the United States. It will be furthering the national interest of this country,” Rubio said.
– ABC News’ Shannon Kingston
Confirmation hearing begins for Trump’s VA pick
Doug Collins, Trump’s choice to lead the Veterans Affairs Department, will face questions from lawmakers as his confirmation hearing gets underway.
Collins, a former congressman, is a Navy veteran who currently serves as a chaplain in the U.S. Air Force Reserve Command.
He was the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee during Trump’s first impeachment, and had defended the president.
Rubio is sworn in by JD Vance as secretary of state
After being unanimously confirmed by the Senate on Monday night, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was officially sworn in by Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday morning.
Rubio joined ABC’s “Good Morning America” ahead of the ceremony, where he discussed Trump’s pardons for Jan. 6 rioters, TikTok and the Russia-Ukraine war.
Rubio sidestepped directly weighing on the pardons, saying his “focus needs to be 100% on how I interact with our counterparts, our adversaries, our potential enemies around the world to keep this country safe, to make it prosperous.”
When asked about Trump’s campaign pledge to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine on Day 1, Rubio contended the matter is more complex and that negotiations would not be played out in public.
“Look this is a complex, tragic conflict, one that was started by Vladimir Putin that’s inflicted a tremendous amount of damage on Ukraine and also on Russia, I would argue, but also on the stability of Europe,” Rubio said. “So the only way to solve these things, we got to get back to pragmatism, but we also get back to seriousness here, and that is the hard work of diplomacy. The U.S. has a role to play here. We’ve been supportive of Ukraine, but this conflict has to end.”
White House signals Trump will make announcement on infrastructure
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said this morning that Trump will be making a a major announcement on infrastructure at 4 p.m. ET.
“I can confirm that the American people won’t be hearing from me today,” she wrote, indicating she would not hold a press briefing. “They’ll be hearing from the leader of the free world,” Leavitt said during an appearance on “Fox & Friends.”
“Once again, President Trump will be speaking to the press later this afternoon at the White House, and we will have a big infrastructure announcement,” she added.
(WASHINGTON) — The United States is going to ban Russian and Chinese software in vehicles, according to the Department of Commerce, due to national security concerns.
The final rule, posted on the federal register Tuesday morning, comes after the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security previewed the rule months ago.
During the rulemaking process, the Bureau of Industry and Security found that certain technologies originating from China or Russia present an undue and unacceptable risk to U.S. national security.
“Cars today aren’t just steel on wheels – they’re computers,” outgoing Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a news release Tuesday. “They have cameras, microphones, GPS tracking, and other technologies that are connected to the internet. Through this rule, the Commerce Department is taking a necessary step to safeguard U.S. national security and protect Americans’ privacy by keeping foreign adversaries from manipulating these technologies to access sensitive or personal information.”
The software bans will apply to Model 2027 cars, while the hardware bans will apply to Model 2030 vehicles.
The final rule, which only applies to passenger vehicles, establishes that hardware and software integrated into the Vehicle Connectivity System (VCS) and software integrated into the Automated Driving System (ADS), the systems in vehicles that allow for external connectivity and autonomous driving capabilities, present an undue and unacceptable risk to national security when designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied by persons with a sufficient nexus to the PRC or Russia, the department said.
The department says it will issue a separate rule addressing commercial vehicles in the near future.
A senior administration official told reporters on a conference call that the automotive industry largely agreed with these recommendations, which were based on national security concerns.
“Malicious access to these critical supply chains could allow our foreign adversaries to extract sensitive data, including personal information about vehicle drivers or owners, and remotely manipulate vehicles,” according to a release from the Commerce Department.
The rule also prohibits manufacturers with a sufficient nexus to the PRC or Russia from selling new connected vehicles that incorporate VCS hardware or software or ADS software in the United States, even if the vehicle was made in the United States.
Another senior administration official said that the dangers of Chinese and Russian software extend beyond the car. If mobile phones are connected to this software, it could give China an easy way to extract user data.
“Recent malicious cyber activity, particularly activity that they do that was volt typhoon has really heightened the urgency of preempting even more risk to our critical infrastructure, and we’ve seen not just volt typhoon, but really mounting evidence of the PRC pre-positioning malware in our critical infrastructure, solely for the purpose of sabotage and disruption,” a senior administration official said. “With potentially millions of connected vehicles coming on the road, you know, each with 10-to-15-year lifespans, the risk of sabotage really increases substantially. The second set of risks, as was alluded to as well, are this data security risk given the massive amount of sensitive personal data, including geo location data, audio, video recordings and other live data that’s collected connected by these vehicles.”
(WASHINGTON) — Congress is gathering for a joint session to certify the results of the 2024 election, the final step before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, after some major changes to security for the ceremony and the law that dictates how it’s carried out.
Before 2021, the Congress’ constitutionally mandated responsibilities to count electoral certifications from the states and certify the results on Jan. 6 often passed in less than an hour with little notice from the public.
But the events of four years ago make this a more closely watched affair.
Washington, D.C., is under heightened security — not only for the certification of the vote, but also for the state funeral of former President Jimmy Carter at the end of this week and Trump’s inauguration in two weeks.
There are no known threats to the certification of the electoral votes, authorities say, but police are preparing for the possibility.
And the Washington area is forecast to get its heaviest snowfall in a few years on Monday, which could impact government operations, but it isn’t expected to prevent certification.
Here’s what we expect to happen on Monday:
Security
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s request to designate Washington a National Security Special Event for the counting and certification of the vote, which was approved in September. This allows for significant resources from the federal government, as well as state and local partners, to be utilized in a comprehensive security plan, with the U.S. Secret Service as the lead agency.
The Secret Service is deploying agents and specialists from field offices across the country to supplement staffing. D.C. Police will be fully activated beginning Sunday morning and are bringing in nearly 4,000 additional officers from across the country to assist with policing for the special events. Drones will be in use for both events and training preparations.
U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger told reporters, “The United States Capitol Police [are] better staffed, better trained, better equipped than ever before, to protect our Capitol and protect our Congress.”
“The legislative process will proceed without disruption, and our government will have a peaceful transfer of power,” he said.
Capitol Police has completed more than 100 recommendations its inspector general made after the Jan. 6 attack, including increasing staffing, training, and building a new intelligence operation.
The D.C. National Guard confirmed to ABC News that it has been activated and will assist with events this month. Some 500 members of the Guard are on standby for Jan. 6 and Carter’s funeral. A request for 7,800 members of the military for Trump’s inauguration is pending approval.
Fencing is installed around a perimeter that goes beyond the office buildings on both sides of the Capitol, and there’s an inner perimeter that surrounds the immediate Capitol complex. The fencing was implemented for the first time after the 2021 insurrection and will be similar to what was installed for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress last summer.
The fencing on Capitol Hill and near the White House is expected to remain through February, sources told ABC News.
No major groups have applied for permits or announced any protests for the election certification.
Snow day
D.C. is expected to get between 8 to 12 inches of snow through Monday but members are expected to get to the Capitol.
House Republican leaders urged members to stay in Washington over the weekend and Speaker Mike Johnson is plowing ahead with Monday’s certification.
In an appearance on Fox News on Sunday, Johnson said he’s hoping for full attendance.
“Whether we’re in a blizzard or not, we are going to be in that chamber making sure this is done,” Johnson said.
The role of the vice president
Vice President Kamala Harris will preside over the certification, putting her in the unenviable position of certifying the victory of her 2024 opponent. Congress enacted a law in 2022 to define the role of the vice president as purely ceremonial.
The Electoral Count Reform Act modified some of the provisions that Trump attempted to use to challenge the electoral count on Jan. 6, 2021.
The law also makes it harder harder for Congress to challenge a state’s electoral votes. The law raised the threshold required to object to a state’s electoral votes from one senator and one representative to one-fifth of each chamber and it takes one half of each chamber to sustain objections.
Though there were objections to states’ electors that led to the dissolution of the joint session in 2021, none were sustained by a half-chamber vote in either the Senate or the House.
The law also cleaned up vague language about what date states must select their electors and created an expedited procedure for federal courts, or the Supreme Court when necessary, to hear cases with over state executives’ duty to issue and transmit to Congress the certification of appointed electors.
Certifying the vote
Procession of the ballots: The sealed votes arrived at the Capitol addressed to the vice president in her role as president of the Senate. The votes are placed in ceremonial leather-bound boxes and processed from the Senate to the House by a group of Senate pages.
Procession of senators to the House: Senators follow the electoral boxes to the House to convene the joint session.
Members convene for joint session: Federal law stipulates that members must convene at 1 p.m. for the opening of the presidential election results. The House sergeant at arms announces the president of the Senate (Harris) and senators as in the State of the Union address, and then the president of the Senate takes the dais and becomes the presiding officer of the ceremony. The speaker of the House usually sits behind the vice president.
“Tellers” come to the dais: Two House members and two Senate members who have been selected by the speaker and Senate majority leader help shepherd the ceremony by reading out the votes alphabetically by state. This is typically the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Rules and House Administration committees.
Harris reads the votes by each state in alphabetical order: Starting with Alabama, Harris will open the certificates and hand them down to one of the tellers. After the teller announces the result, Harris will ask if there are any objections. If there are objections as there were in 2021, this would be when they’re heard.
If the threshold for an objection is reached: Harris would announce that the two chambers will deliberate separately on the pending objection and report its decision back to the joint session. The Senate would withdraw from the joint session and return to its chamber. Both chambers would get up to two hours to debate whether to uphold the objection. It requires the vote of half of each chamber to sustain an objection.
Never in their history has either chamber sustained an objection.
Completing the process: The vice president will announce the whole number of electoral votes (538) and what constitutes a simple majority (217) and announce how many electoral votes each candidate got, then do the same for vice president.The vice president will declare the joint session dissolved. Usually there is applause, and the certification is complete.
How long does all this take?: There have been instances in which certification has taken less than half an hour. In 2017, the certification of President Trump’s first term, presided over by then-Vice President Joe Biden, took 41 minutes.
In 2021, Congress convened at 1 p.m. in a joint session and, because of both a prolonged recess due to the breach of the Capitol and multiple state objections, did not complete its work certifying the election until 3:39 a.m. on Jan. 7.
ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson contributed to this report.
