Senate clears key procedural hurdles on Trump DOGE cuts as deadline looms
CNN
The Senate cleared two procedural hurdles Tuesday/TK day to move closer to a final vote on the GOP effort to codify Department of Government Efficiency spending cuts as a deadline to act on the White House priority looms.
The Senate narrowly cleared two procedural hurdles Tuesday to move closer to a final vote on the GOP effort to codify Department of Government Efficiency spending cuts as a deadline to act on the White House priority looms. The package to claw back billions in federal funds Congress already approved for foreign aid and public broadcasting programs must pass the Senate and the House by Friday, under an obscure presidential budget law used to circumvent the filibuster. It got a boost when Senate Republicans appeared to have resolved sticking points related to a key global health initiative and rural radio access. Three GOP senators joined Democrats in voting against advancing the package: top Senate appropriator Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, former Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. The final tally for both votes was 51-50, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie breaking votes. The Senate is set to reconvene Wednesday morning for debate on the bill before proceeding to a marathon voting session on amendments, expected to start in the afternoon, followed by a final vote. It’s not yet clear when a final vote will take place. Earlier on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune confirmed that a controversial cut of $400 million that senators believed would impact the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, had been removed from the bill, known as a “rescission package.” With the change, the package clocks in at roughly $9 billion in cuts. The provision had faced criticism from a number of GOP holdouts. “We’re fine with adjustments. This is still a great package,” White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought told reporters on Tuesday after meeting with GOP senators at a closed-door lunch.
The CIA carried out a drone strike earlier this month on a port facility on the coast of Venezuela, sources familiar with the matter told CNN, marking the first known US attack on a target inside that country.
The US military conducted a strike against an alleged drug-trafficking vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Monday, killing two people, according to US Southern Command.
President Donald Trump’s Monday meeting in Florida at Mar-a-Lago with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu generated plenty of warm words — but no clear progress in their peace plan for Gaza.
Rosario Olmos spent this Christmas without one of her greatest gifts. Her 19-year-old daughter, Camila Mendoza Olmos, had gone missing the day before just outside San Antonio, Texas.
On a day meant for family and rest, a father’s holiday joy turned to fear in Texas when his 15-year-old daughter didn’t come back from walking her dog, authorities said.
The United States on Monday announced a $2 billion pledge for UN humanitarian aid as President Donald Trump’s administration continues to slash US foreign assistance and warns United Nations agencies to “adapt, shrink or die” in a time of new financial realities.
President Donald Trump said the United States had taken out a “big facility” last week as part of a pressure campaign against Venezuela but did not provide further details on the reported US action.
CNN’s 5 Things AM brings you the news you need to know every morning.
In the year 1998 – when Bill Clinton was president, most households still had landline phones, and CNN’s website looked like this – Gallup and USA Today called up 1,055 Americans on those landlines and asked them for their best predictions about a year in the distant future: 2025.
Repeatedly this year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has flown to the United States to praise President Donald Trump as Israel’s greatest champion — and to quietly press him on taking more aggressive action against Israel’s enemies.
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has a remarkable record of transforming his old dissenting opinions into the new majority view and setting the direction of the law in America.
(CNN) — One person was killed and another was left critically injured after two helicopters crashed in southern New Jersey on Sunday, officials said.
Pipe bomb suspect told FBI he targeted US political parties because they were ‘in charge,’ memo says
The man accused of placing two pipe bombs in Washington, DC, on the eve of the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol told investigators after his arrest that he believed someone needed to “speak up” for people who believed the 2020 election was stolen and that he wanted to target the country’s political parties because they were “in charge,” prosecutors said Sunday.