After getting an earful from constituents, GOP reps have a message for Trump
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(WASHINGTON) — After facing angry questions from constituents at a town hall last week, Georgia Republican Rep. Rich McCormick is back on Capitol Hill with a new message for Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency: Show a little compassion.
McCormick faced ‘boos” as he fielded questions from furious constituents in his suburban Atlanta district.
“People are concerned about what DOGE is, what it can do, what its powers are, if they’re overstepping the law. They’re concerned about the rapidity of the moves and people losing their benefits,” McCormick said.
McCormick said he is heading to the White House Tuesday afternoon for a previously scheduled meeting with President Donald Trump. If given the chance, he plans to convey some of his concerns about DOGE to the president directly.
“I think some of their actions have been too rapid to adapt to — for real people. I mean, you’re talking about Republicans, too. We’re not just talking about Democrats,” he said.
“I’m all for trimming the government; I am all for also doing it in a deliberate manner that allows people to adjust to their lifestyles … We’re talking about people who are struggling and have to make big decisions,” he added.
He said Republicans have a strong message, but it’s at risk of being lost.
“You can lose that message with just one attitude. And if nothing else, we have to be careful with how we message this so it doesn’t come across as discompassionate,” he said. “In my opinion, we have to be a little more — give people a little more to adjust, who are about lose their jobs.”
“It’s very hard for me to adjust,” he said referencing the “lightning speed” pace of changes from the new administration.
“I think we can have better coordination between the executive branch and the legislative branch … just for if nothing else — we can be one team, one fight moving forward,” he added.
Republican Rep. Cliff Bentz of Oregon also got an earful from constituents at a town hall last week. His message for Musk? Don’t leave Congress in the dark.
“I think the group is learning as it goes. You can tell this by the fact that they rehired some of the people they fired, so that’s a good thing — it shows that they’re listening and paying attention to what they’re doing,” Bentz.
“I would tell him he needs to reach out to Congress and let us know what they have in mind before they do it. So we at least have some sort of heads up.”
(WASHINGTON) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took a jab at President Donald Trump after Canada’s victory over the United States in an international hockey tournament on Thursday.
“You can’t take our country — and you can’t take our game,” Trudeau wrote on X.
Canada bested the United States 3-2 with an overtime goal to win the 4 Nations Face-Off at TD Garden in Boston. Participating teams included NHL hockey stars from Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States.
The highly-anticipated final came after a fiery clash between Canada and the U.S. in an earlier game on Feb. 15 where several fights broke out in the opening seconds of the first period. The U.S. won that game 3-1.
Tensions are boiling over on the diplomatic front between the U.S. and Canada, as Trump frequently says he wants to make Canada the 51st state. He’s repeatedly referred to Trudeau as “governor” instead of prime minister
Trump’s also threatening high tariffs on Canada, the second largest trading partner to the U.S. The implementation of a 25% tariff against Canada and Mexico was paused for a month, pulling the U.S. back from a trade war with its neighbors.
Earlier in the tournament, fans in Montreal booed the U.S. national anthem before Team USA’s first game against Finland.
Trump called Team USA before Thursday night’s championship game.
He said he wanted to “spur them on towards victory tonight against Canada, which with FAR LOWER TAXES AND MUCH STRONGER SECURITY, will someday, maybe soon, become our cherished, and very important, Fifty First State.”
Trump said because of a prior commitment — a gathering of Republican governors in Washington — he couldn’t attend the game in Boston.
“But we will all be watching, and if Governor Trudeau would like to join us, he would be most welcome. Good luck to everybody, and have a GREAT game tonight. So exciting!” he wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
Trump also shared a video on Truth Social from ESPN showing part of his call to the players.
“Just go out and have a good time tonight. I just want to wish you a lot of luck. You really are a skilled group of people. It’s an honor to talk to you and get out there, and there’s no pressure whatsoever,” Trump told them, prompting some laughs from the players.
(WASHINGTON) — The website of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency provided its third weekly update of federal government cost-cutting Sunday night, claiming total government savings of $105 billion, up from the $65 billion it claimed in last week’s update — but the figure remains unverifiable as the site still says it’s posted only a fraction of the receipts supporting this total.
In its latest update to its “Savings” page, DOGE continued to update — and in some cases delete — contracts that it had previously listed as having saved up to billions of dollars in federal funds, after media outlets, experts and others publicly questioned details of the contracts.
In all, DOGE listed a total of 2,334 canceled contracts on its latest “Wall of Receipts,” with the savings from those contracts amounting to $8.8 billion.
The amount is actually lower than the $9.6 billion in claimed savings from 2,299 contracts posted on its “Wall of Receipts” last week, reflecting the difficulty in pinpointing exactly what DOGE is cutting and by how much.
Similar to last week, DOGE claims in this week’s update that the $105 billion figure is based on a “combination of asset sales, contract/lease cancellations and renegotiations, fraud and improper payment deletion, grant cancellations, interest savings, programmatic changes, regulatory savings, and workforce reductions.”
The site, however, only provides receipts for a fraction of that number. In addition to the $8.8 billion alleged savings in canceled contracts, the new data on the site lists $660 million worth of real estate leases under the GSA that were canceled, and, for the first time, it lists federal government grants that have been terminated, totaling $10.3 billion.
Among the contracts that have been deleted from DOGE’s latest “Wall of Receipts” is the biggest contract it had listed as having canceled last week: a seven-year blanket purchase agreement from the IRS with $1.9 billion cap for “IT strategy and modernization.”
The website removed this contract from its “Wall of Receipts” after the vendor, financial management and IT company Centennial Technologies, told the New York Times last month that the contract was actually canceled last fall, under the Biden administration.
The previous week, DOGE had to revise down its largest claimed savings contract from $8 billion to $8 million after the contract’s vendor explained that the $8 billion listed on it procurement record was likely a clerical error.
Another contract that was removed from DOGE’s “Wall of Receipts” in the latest updated was a five-year $150 million USAID contract under the Asia Futures Activity initiative, aimed at serving the USAID’s Asia Bureau to solve “interconnected challenges of economic growth, democratic governance, and resilience in the face of increasing health, climate, and food security threats.”
Representatives for the Cadmus Group, which had received that contract, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
DOGE also deleted from its latest “Wall of Receipts” what appeared to be a $149 million National Institute of Health contract awarded to software company Advanced Automation Technologies.
Last week, the DOGE website listing that contract linked to a different NIH contract for leasing and maintaining refrigerated gas tanks. An NIH contract with Advanced Automation Technologies that shares the same contract ID is capped at just $1.4 million — not the $149 million figure that had been listed by DOGE.
Other terminated contracts listed in this week’s data include a USAID contract for the Ukraine Confidence Building Initiative with a $256 million ceiling, from which DOGE claims to have saved $170 million that has yet to be obligated to the contractor.
Another newly listed canceled contract is the USAID’s Global Health Training, Advisory, and Support Contract program, a multi-year program that started in 2021 and was capped at $682 million through 2029. DOGE claims to have saved $284 million by terminating this program.
The single biggest contract listed this week is a seven-year IT services contract from the USAID to the vendor Salient CRGT Inc., with a $597 million ceiling.
Similar to last week’s data, DOGE now lists more than 940 contracts where contract obligations have already been fully delivered — meaning that 40% of the contracts they claim to have terminated will not actually result in saving any money.
Asked about contracts that list $0 in savings last week, a White House official told ABC News that they’re using a conservative methodology of calculating savings because they subtract the contracts’ obligated dollars from the ceiling amounts. However, for many contracts the ceiling dollars are much higher than what is actually expected to be spent.
For the $10.3 billion in federal grants the sites says it’s terminated, DOGE lists each of the 3,389 grants with the name of the awarding agency and the amount of each grant, but does not lists the grant’s name or purpose.
So far, much of the claimed savings from these grants have come from the USAID — totaling $8.7 billion — followed by $1.1 billion from the State Department, $472 million from the Education Department and $61 million from the EPA.
DOGE has also updated its list of real estate leases that have been terminated, totaling $660 million. But much of the data is now missing information regarding which agency the leases were under, whereas the site previously listed leases from across more than 40 agencies.
The current data shows $143 million worth of real estate leases under the GSA that were terminated, and the rest of the terminated leases– totaling $516 million — do not list their agencies.
DOGE said last week that it would begin updating its website twice a week, but the current update, like the first two, came after a week.
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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump, six weeks into his historic return to the White House, delivered the longest joint address to Congress in history on Tuesday night.
Trump triumphantly took the dais to thundering applause from Republican majorities in the House and Senate, but the mood changed within minutes as he faced heckles from some raucous Democrats.
The president, though, signaled he is forging full steam ahead with his agenda (however divisive) as he claimed a “mandate” from American voters.
Here are the key takeaways:
‘America is back’
Trump opened his address by declaring to Congress and the nation: “America is back.”
A chant of “USA” immediately broke out among lawmakers as Republicans rose to their feet.
Trump quickly turned to touting the lightning speed with which he’s sought to enact his agenda, arguing his administration’s “accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplished in four years or eight years — and we are just getting started.”
Democrats interrupt, and one gets removed
But as Trump turned to talking about the 2024 election, claiming a wide “mandate” though data shows the victory isn’t the total landslide he’s often portrayed.
When Trump said he won the popular vote by “large numbers,” Democrats began audibly pushing back. Rep. Al Green of Texas was seen out of his seat and shaking his cane at Trump as he shouted, “There’s no mandate.”
Speaker Mike Johnson was slamming his gavel to restore order to the joint session and issued a warning to members to maintain decorum. Johnson shortly after instructed Green be removed from the chamber by the sergeant at arms after telling him to take his seat several times.
The back-and-forth between Trump and Democrats continued throughout the speech. At one point, Trump lashed out at Sen. Elizabeth Warren, bringing back his 2018 taunt of calling her “Pocahontas.”
Democrats held up signs that said “false” and “Musk steals.” Several walked out of the chamber as he was speaking.
Trump continues to take aim at Biden
Trump repeatedly went after former President Joseph Biden, continuing to criticize him for issues at the border or with the economy.
“The worst president in American history,” Trump said of Biden.
Trump is only six weeks into his second term, but already Americans are expressing dissatisfaction with many of his policies. A 538 analysis of public opinion polls found his approval rating on actions related to health care, foreign policy, government funding, trade and more to be underwater.
Trump praises Elon Musk and DOGE
Elon Musk, a controversial but highly influential adviser in Trump’s orbit, was in the chamber for Trump’s remarks. He left the White House for the speech moments before Trump and, like the president, received applause upon his arrival though it was more muted.
Trump spent a considerable amount of time early in his remarks praising Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency’s work slashing government spending and the federal workforce.
“The brand-new Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. Perhaps. Which is headed by Elon Musk, who is in the gallery tonight. Thank you Elon. He’s working very hard. He didn’t need this. He didn’t need this. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. Everybody here, even this side appreciates it, I believe,” Trump said.
The president read a laundry list of the alleged “waste, fraud and abuse” he claims DOGE has identified. He made several misleading claims about Social Security in the process, including that millions of Americans over the age of 100 were receiving benefits, which has been debunked.
Trump claimed DOGE’s work will help the economy overall.
“By slashing all of the fraud, waste and theft we can find, we will defeat inflation, bring down mortgage rates, lower car payments and grocery prices, protect our seniors, and put more money in the pockets of American families,” he said.
Pocket-book issues get little attention as Trump defends tariffs After hammering Biden on the economy during the 2024 campaign and pledging to voters to bring down prices on Day 1, Trump didn’t spend much time discussing how exactly he’d lower prices as he continued to lay blame on Biden.
“As president, I’m fighting every day to reverse this damage and make America affordable again,” Trump said in one of his only mentions of grocery prices. “Joe Biden especially let the price of eggs get out of control. The egg price is out of control, and we’re working hard to get it back down.”
The comment again sparked pushback from Democrats. The price of eggs has skyrocketed under Trump amid an avian flu outbreak.
Trump said the focus on how to defeat inflation will be on reducing the cost of energy and taxpayer savings through DOGE.
Trump, meanwhile, offered a defense of his tariffs against Canada, China and Mexico — which sent markets roiling on Tuesday. He said more “reciprocal” tariffs were in store.
“Tariffs are not just about protecting American jobs they’re about protecting the soul of our country. Tariffs are about making America rich again,” he said.
Trump saved foreign policy for the end of his address. He again said his administration would “reclaim” the Panama Canal for national security reasons, and said they were trying to get Greenland for similar reasons.
After an explosive meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office last week, Trump said he received from Zelenskyy earlier Tuesday and read part of it aloud.
“I appreciate that he sent this letter, just got it a little while ago,” Trump said, appearing to signal tensions have cooled a bit.
“Simultaneously, we’ve had serious discussions with Russia and have received strong signals that they are ready for peace. Wouldn’t that be beautiful?” he said.
Trump also briefly touched on the Middle East, saying his administration is working to bring back hostages held in Gaza and that he wants to build on his 2019 Abraham Accords to bring stability to the region.
