TheTrump administrationis considering cuts worth $163bn to departments including health and education as well as environmental schemes while increasing spending on defense, according to a White House budget blueprint.
In contrast to the squeeze on discretionary social programmes, the administration is planning a 13% rise – to more than $1tn – in the Pentagon budget, a commitment at odds with Donald Trump’s frequent vows to end the US’s involvement in “forever wars” in the Middle East and elsewhere.
The budget draft was circulated as reports emerged of a huge military parade planned to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the US army as well as Trump’s birthday.
Here are the key stories at a glance:
Donald Trumpis proposing huge cuts to social programmes like health and education while planning substantial spending increases on defense and the Department of Homeland Security, in a White House budget blueprint that starkly illustrates his preoccupation with projecting military strength and deterring migration.
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Detailed army plans for a potentialmilitaryparade on Trump’s birthday in June call for more than 6,600 soldiers, at least 150 vehicles, 50 helicopters, seven bands and possibly a couple of thousand civilians, the Associated Press has learned.
At the same time, Fox News reported that the parade was a definite go-ahead and would happen on 14 June, the250th birthdayof the US army as well as Trump’s own birthday, when he will turn 79.
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The US supreme courtjustice Ketanji Brown Jacksonhas condemned the Trump administration’s attacks on the judiciary in a cutting speech at a judicial conference.
Without mentioningDonald Trumpby name, Jackson spoke of “the elephant in the room” and rhetoric from theWhite House“designed to intimidate the judiciary”.
“ Across the nation, judges are facing increased threats of not only physical violence, but also professional retaliation just for doing our jobs,” Jackson said on Thursday evening, according to theNew York Times. “And the attacks are not random. They seem designed to intimidate those of us who serve in this critical capacity.”
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The US president has signed an executive order that seeks to cut public funding for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, accusing them of leftwing bias. The order, signed late on Thursday, directs the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which sends funds toNPRand PBS, to “cease federal funding” for the two outlets.
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TheTrump administrationhas agreed not to freeze funds to Maine schools, a win for a state that was targeted by the president over its support of transgender rights.
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The justice department’s pardon attorney, who wasrecently fired, has claimed on social media that Trump’s recent wave of pardoning white-collar criminals has erased more than “$1bn in debts owed by wealthy Americans” to the public purse.
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Hiring in the US slowed in April, according to official figures, with the workforce adding 177,000 jobs as Trump’s aggressive trade strategy clouded the economic outlook. As the White House pressed ahead with sweeping tariffs on overseas imports, claiming this would revitalize theUS economy, employers across the country continued to add jobs at a steady pace.
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Marco Rubio is slated to keep his dual roles as secretary of state and national security adviser for at least six monthsand the positions could even become permanent,according to Politico. Rubio’s placement was not meant to be a temporary slot-in, reports Politico, which cites three senior White House officials.
Photographs taken at Trump’s cabinet meeting this week have revealed that top White House officials are now communicating usingan even less secure version of the Signal messaging appthan was at the center of ahuge national security scandallast month.
TheTrump administrationhas ordered theclosure of 25 scientific centers that monitor US waters for flooding and drought, and manage supply levels to ensure communities around the country don’t run out of water.
Trump said again on Friday that he would be“taking away” Harvard’s tax-exempt statusas a non-profit in a legally questionable move that escalates his ongoing feud with the elite university.
A mother deported toCubareportedly had to hand over her 17-month-old daughterto a lawyer while her husband, a US citizen, stood outside unable to say goodbye.
Catching up?Here’s what happened on1 May 2025.