Schumer backs GOP funding bill, unwilling to risk government shutdown

The Pentagon is continuing its purge of photographs it considers promote DEI, and although it said historical photographs would be protected, at least three images related to the B-29 Superfortress bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, have been removed – likely because the aircraft was called the Enola Gay.

The images that have disappeared include a historical black-and-white photo of the Enola Gay “undergoing modification at Oklahoma City Air Depot to be able to drop atomic weapons,” according to a thumbnail of the photograph, which remains. Two others that mention a grandson of a member of the original Enola Gay crew flying a refurbished B-29 to honor his family have also been deleted, although their thumbnails are also still visible.

A request for comment to the Pentagon on why the Enola Gay images were removed was not immediately returned.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer relented rather than risk a government shutdown, announcing he’s ready to start the process of considering a Republican-led government funding bill that has fiercely divided Democrats as they struggle to impose limits on the Trump administration.

Schumer told Democrats his views privately during a spirited closed-door lunch and then later in public remarks ahead Friday’s midnight deadline to keep government running.

The New York senator said that as bad as the GOP bill is, a shutdown would be worse, giving Trump and billionaire Musk “carte blanche” as they tear through the government.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor Thursday evening that the choice between the GOP spending bill and a government shutdown is “no choice at all” but that a shutdown would be “a far worse option.”

It is still unclear if the legislation will pass. Republicans hold a 53-47 seat majority and need 60 votes to move forward.

Many Democrats have said they will vote against it and seemed willing to risk a shutdown Friday at midnight as they have criticized Trump’s efforts to make major cuts to government agencies.

Others have argued that the shutdown could potentially worsen the cuts across the federal government. Schumer said a shutdown could hurt veterans programs, threaten social security and slow the courts.

“I believe it is my job to make the best choice to minimize the harms” to the American people,” Schumer said.

Johns Hopkins University slashed more than 2,000 jobs due to the termination of more than $800 million in U.S. Agency for International Development funding, the Maryland school said.

The university confirmed that the funding cut has led to the loss of 1,975 positions in 44 countries internationally and 247 in the United States. An additional 29 international and 78 domestic employees will be furloughed with a reduced schedule, the university said.

The affected entities are Jhpiego, the Bloomberg School of Public Health, including its Center for Communication Programs, and the School of Medicine.

“This is a difficult day for our entire community,” the university said in a statement. “The termination of more than $800 million in USAID funding is now forcing us to wind down critical work here in Baltimore and internationally.”

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he feels the temperature in Trump’s trade war with Canada is being lowered after meeting with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick in Washington.

The leader of Canada’s most populous province says he feels positive about it despite Trump doubling down on his anti-Canada rhetoric during an Oval Office meeting earlier Thursday with NATO chief Mark Rutte.

“To be honest with you, Canada only works as a state,” Trump said before going on to say that he’s not going to change his mind on the tariffs he’s imposing on Canada. “We’re not going to bend.”

Ford backed down from a 25% surcharge on electricity to the U.S. after Lutnick called him and offered a meeting Thursday. He says there will be another meeting next week.

In his first month in office, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who vowed to “Make America Healthy Again,” touted beef tallow as a healthier alternative to seed oils and raised doubts about vaccines.

The latter message has the nation’s top infectious diseases specialists worried that his tepid recommendations will undermine access to long-proven, life-saving vaccines.

What happened during Kennedy’s first month:

• Public health agencies canceled vaccine meetings and research
  
• Kennedy rejected ‘anti-vaccine’ label but echoed the movement
  
• Supporters celebrated success on the food front

▶ Read more about Kennedy’s first month as health secretary

Columbia University says it has expelled or suspended some students who took over a campus building during pro-Palestinian protests last spring and had temporarily revoked the diplomas of some students who have since graduated.

In a campus-wide email sent Thursday, the university said its judicial board had issued its sanctions against dozens of students who occupied Hamilton Hall based on its “evaluation of the severity of behaviors.”

The university did not provide a breakdown of how many students were expelled, suspended or had their degree revoked.

The culmination of the months-long investigative process follows a tumultuous week at the New York school, which has become the most visible target of the Trump administration’s crackdown on colleges it claims are not doing enough to combat antisemitism.

▶ Read more about the Columbia University expulsions

Democratic U.S. Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva of Arizona, who championed environmental protection during his 12 terms in Congress, died Thursday from complications from cancer treatments, his office said. He was 77.

Grijalva had risen to chair the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee and was the top Democrat on the committee until earlier this year. He had been absent from Congress as he underwent cancer treatment in recent months.

“From permanently protecting the Grand Canyon for future generations to strengthening the Affordable Care Act, his proudest moments in Congress have always been guided by community voices,” Grijalva’s office said in a statement.

The federal government’s nonprofit steward of funding for public broadcasting stations sued the Trump administration on Thursday over its pause in grant payments for upgrading the nation’s emergency alert system.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s federal lawsuit says a recent hold on grant funds for modernizing the alert system hampers the ability of federal, state and local authorities to issue real-time emergency alerts.

The CPB sued the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Washington, D.C., to challenge its Feb. 18 hold on the $40 million grant program for the Next Generation Warning System.

FEMA didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The lawsuit says FEMA hasn’t attempted to explain a basis for suspending the grant payments.

The national Emergency Alert System helps government officials issue alerts about disasters, including flash floods, blizzards, tornados and hurricanes.

Democrat Gretchen Whitmer issued a statement afterward saying they discussed bringing “good-paying jobs” to Michigan.

They also talked about tariffs, keeping the Great Lakes clean and safe, and defense investments in Michigan. Trump won the state on his way to reelection last November.

“I’m grateful for his time today, and I’ll always work as hard as I can with anyone for the state of Michigan and its people,” Whitmer said.

Trump on more than one occasion has called Whitmer a “radical-left Democrat governor.” The White House hasn’t commented on the meeting.

Fresh off a commemoration of the 60th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, members of the Congressional Black Caucus said efforts to counter the new Trump administration brought to mind the fight against slavery.

“We are in the backlash now, but we, as the conscience of Congress, understand that the discrimination that our parents, in some cases, our members, our grandparents and our great grandparents faced, the impact of over 300 years of slavery and Jim Crow did not go away with a magic wand,” said Rep. Jennifer McClellan of Virginia.

Rep. Maxine Waters of California said lawmakers will “fight” and “peacefully protest” the administration and made a striking claim about the intentions behind Trump’s government cuts: “I believe he’s working toward a civil war.”

The S&P 500 fell 1.4% to finish more than 10% below its record set last month. A 10% drop is a big enough deal that professional investors have a name for it — a “correction” — and this was the first for that index since 2023.

The losses came after Trump upped the stakes in his trade war by threatening huge taxes on European wines and alcohol. Not even a double-shot of good news on the U.S. economy could stop the bleeding.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 537 points, or 1.3% Thursday, and the Nasdaq composite fell 2%.

The Trump administration is demanding U.N. humanitarian agencies that receive or disburse U.S. funding to fill out a questionnaire disclosing any ties to communism, socialism or anti-American beliefs.

That’s according to U.S. and U.N. officials and a copy of the survey obtained by The Associated Press.

UNICEF and the U.N. Refugee Agency joined the remaining offices and bureaus at the recently dismantled U.S. Agency for International Development in receiving the questionnaire.

It probes several Trump administration concerns, including whether any of the programs are promoting diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

It was unclear how widely the administration sent the survey, which was verified by a current USAID staffer, a U.S. official and three U.N. officials.

Pete Hoekstra was speaking before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on his nomination.

Asked by Democratic Sen. Chris Coons if he agrees that Canada is a sovereign state and shouldn’t be “even jokingly referred to as the 51st state,” Hoekstra replied:
“Canada is a sovereign state, yes.”

Trump has rankled Canadians by insisting that their country would be better off as the newest member of the United States. Both countries are also embroiled in a trade war initiated by Trump.

Hoekstra is a former congressman from Michigan who was U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands in Trump’s first term.

The administration’s emergency applications filed at the high court on Thursday ask the justices to narrow court orders entered by district judges in Maryland, Massachusetts and Washington that have blocked Trump’s order nationwide.

Three federal appeals courts have rejected the administration’s pleas.

The order Trump signed shortly after being sworn in for a second time would deny citizenship to people born after Feb. 19 whose parents are in the country illegally. It also forbids U.S. agencies from issuing any document or accepting any state document recognizing citizenship for such children.

Rep. Brad Schneider of Illinois, chair of the New Democratic Coalition, told reporters that Trump is “gutting federal programs that millions of hard-working people rely on just to give billionaires like Elon Musk a free ride. We see the cost of Trump’s chaos economy in virtually every facet of life.”

Rep. Marc Veasey of Texas said Trump “would rather turn the White House into a cheap used car lot than put food on the table and clothes on your back.”

Rep. Marilyn Strickland of Oregon said the moderate lawmakers don’t blame those who voted for Trump or didn’t vote at all. But she said Trump’s recent actions send a clear message: “This administration does not care about you.”

The president said they’d discuss several topics, including construction of an underground pipeline going through a “small section” of New York state that may eventually lower energy prices.

Hochul said she wants to continue an Oval Office conversation they had on infrastructure and Penn Station, and raise “our concerns about energy in light of the tariffs.”

Also, “he knows I want to talk about congestion pricing,” Hochul said. The Trump administration has halted congestion pricing tolls in New York City.

The environmental law nonprofit argues that the administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture is unlawfully withholding funds appropriated by Congress through the Inflation Reduction Act.

Earthjustice is representing five farms and three nonprofits that were awarded USDA grants funded by the IRA. The projects that were promised funding include improving energy efficiency, planting trees in historically underserved communities and providing technical assistance to farmers.

The freeze “erodes the trust that the USDA worked so hard to build,” said Brien Darby, Executive Director of Cultivate KC, one of the organizations.

The USDA has not responded to a request for comment.

That’s if Trump follows through on his threat to impose 200% tariffs on European liquor and wine in response to Europe’s tax on American bourbon, itself a retaliation to Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs.

“This ongoing tariff war doesn’t just harm importers — it weakens domestic brands, disrupts distributors, and squeezes retailers who rely on global selections,” said Holly Seidewand, owner of First Fill Spirits in Saratoga Springs, New York. “In the end, consumers will bear the brunt of it all.”

Gabriel Picard, who heads the French Federation of Exporters of Wines and Spirits, said 200% tariffs would be “a hammer blow” to a U.S. market worth $4.3 billion annually for French exporters alone. “All exports to the United States will come to a total, total, halt,” Picard told The Associated Press.

▶ Read more about Trump’s trade war

Demonstrators from Jewish Voice for Peace filled the Trump Tower lobby to denounce the immigration arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist who led Columbia University protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.

They carried banners, wore red shirts reading “Jews say stop arming Israel” and chanted “Bring Mahmoud home now!”

The NYPD said 98 of them were arrested on charges including trespassing, obstruction and resisting arrest.

The protesters included actor Debra Winger. She accused the Trump administration of having “no interest in Jewish safety” and “co-opting antisemitism.”

“I’m just standing up for my rights, and I’m standing up for Mahmoud Khalil, who has been abducted illegally and taken to an undisclosed location,” Winger told The Associated Press. “Does that sound like America to you?”

▶ Read more on the Trump Tower protests

The team is tasked with working with the White House and the Department of Government Efficiency “to identify savings and cost cutting measures” in the law enforcement agency, according to an email sent to Justice Department employees this week.

It will be led by officials including Assistant Attorney General for Administration Jolene Ann Lauria, according to the email reviewed by The Associated Press.

“The JUST-DOGE team will lead directed reviews and identify cost savings and other potential efficiencies in DOJ’s budget,” the email said. “We have much work to do in this area and we sincerely appreciate your cooperation in advance of this critical Administration priority.”

Trump says “Denmark’s very far away” from Greenland, despite being part of that country’s kingdom.

“A boat landed there 200 years ago or something. They say they have rights to it,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “I don’t know if that’s true. I don’t think it is, actually.”

He noted that the U.S. already has a military presence in Greenland and, “Maybe you’ll see more and more soldiers going there.”

Trump also suggested that Greenland’s election was very good “for us” and “the person who did the best is a very good person as far as we’re concerned.”

▶ Read more on Greenland’s election

The president said to reporters: “We inherited that problem: eggs.”

Wholesale egg prices have dropped this month as demand has dropped, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, after surging 28% from January to February, according to the Labor Department’s Producer Price Index.

But it’s not clear yet if consumers will benefit. Egg prices remain higher than they were at the start of 2025, according to Federal Reserve Economic Data.

“If there’s a shutdown, it’s only because of the Democrats,” Trump said.

The Republican-controlled House passed legislation this week to keep the government funded through the end of the budget year in September.

The Republican-controlled Senate needs to act on the measure by midnight Friday to keep the government operating.

The Social Security Administration has announced plans to lay off at least 7,000 workers, and has cut entire departments and temporarily shut off information sharing with Maine.

The agency is run by Leland Dudek, a department worker who is friendly to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. Former Acting Commissioner Michelle King stepped down after voicing concerns about DOGE access to Social Security systems.

“When combined with SSA providing inexperienced individuals unfettered access to the agency’s sensitive systems, there is a profound risk of causing irreparable harm to the agency’s systems and Americans’ financial security,” the Senators wrote to committee chair Mike Crapo.

Social Security is the largest source of income for retirees. Musk recently told the Fox Business Network that “most of the federal spending is entitlements.”

“That’s the big one to eliminate,” he said.

A threatened 200% tariff would deal “a hammer blow” to the multibillion dollar French alcohol export industry and impact hundreds of thousands of people in France, according to the president of France’s Federation of Exporters of Wines and Spirits.

“Not a single bottle will continue to be expedited if 200% tariffs are applied to our products. All exports to the United States will come to a total, total, halt,” Gabriel Picard says.

Picard concedes Europe had no choice but to respond to Trump’s tariffs on steeland aluminum imports but that the EU shouldn’t have threatened to retaliate against U.S.-produced whisky and wines.

Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday that he’s not going to change his mind on the tariffs he’s imposing on Canada.

“We’ve been ripped off for years,” Trump said. “We’re not going to bend.”

Acknowledging the economic impact, he said, “There’ll be a little disruption. But it won’t be long.”

Government watchdogs are asking the new leaders of the U.S. Agency for International Development to explain what they’re doing to safeguard stranded USAID offices and other assets overseas as they gut the agency.

“Assets still in-country without active U.S. control are at risk of looting, terrorism or being seized,” Gabriele Tonsil, the acting inspector general for USAID, said in a memo notifying deputy USAID administrator Pete Marocco that her office was launching an audit of the matter.

Tonsil became acting inspector general when the White House fired her predecessor, Paul Martin, one day after his office warned that the Trump administration’s sudden shutdown of USAID programs and mass idling of USAID workers was risking oversight of billions of dollars in U.S. foreign assistance.

The president spoke during a White House meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte as his envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian officials, shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he agrees in principle with a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine if certain conditions are met.

Putin’s statement stressed that certain conditions must be met. Trump reiterated that he stands ready to speak with Putin, but underscored that it is time to end the war.

“He put out a very promising statement but it wasn’t complete,” Trump said. “Now we’re going to see whether or not Russia’s there. And if they’re not, it’ll be a very disappointing moment for the world.”

Government watchdogs want the new leaders of the U.S. Agency for International Development to explain how they’re safeguarding stranded USAID assets overseas as they gut the agency.

“Assets still in-country without active U.S. control are at risk of looting, terrorism or being seized,” Gabriele Tonsil, the acting inspector general for USAID, said in a memo notifying deputy USAID administrator Pete Marocco that her office was launching an audit.

Tonsil became acting inspector general when the White House fired her predecessor, Paul Martin, the day after his office warned that Trump’s sudden shutdown of USAID programs and workers risks oversight of billions of dollars in U.S. foreign assistance.

Trump says Rutte is doing a “fantastic job” as head of the 32-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization and that “I got to know him very well” when Rutte was prime minister of the Netherlands.

“We had a great relationship,” Trump says.

But Thursday’s meeting comes at a pivotal moment for Europe and NATO.

The Trump administration is moving forward with talks with Russia on a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Trump has been ratcheting up his anti-NATO rhetoric, expressing an unwillingness to defend members who don’t meet defense spending targets.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup found the firings didn’t follow federal law.

He required that immediate offers of reinstatement be sent by agencies including the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, the Interior and Treasury.

The order from the San Francisco-based judge came in a lawsuit filed by a coalition of labor unions and other organizations as the administration moves to dramatically downsize the federal workforce.

▶ Read more on the probationary workers challenge

The White House hasn’t provided any details about why the president is visiting the department that charged him with illegally retaining classified documents and trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat.

The DOJ, which is now led by his former defense attorneys and allies, abandoned the cases against Trump, citing longstanding Justice Department policy that sitting presidents cannot face criminal prosecution.

Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on X that she is “looking forward to welcoming” Trump to the department. It will be his first agency visit since his return to the White House.

They wrote to the acting director of the Office of Government Ethics slamming Trump’s apparent violation of federal ethics laws. They asked for an immediate investigation and possible disciplinary action.

Ethics laws against misusing government positions exist to make sure “finite taxpayer resources” address public concerns instead of “helping the world’s richest man get richer,” said the letter signed by Senators Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Richard Blumenthal and Adam Schiff.

Shares in Tesla have taken a beating as Elon Musk leads Trump’s campaign to slash federal spending. Trump had five Tesla automobiles parked at the White House and bought one to show his support.

“We agree with the proposals to halt the fighting, but we proceed from the assumption that the ceasefire should lead to lasting peace and remove the root causes of the crisis,” Putin said.

Putin’s statement noted that Ukrainian troops are encircled in their last foothold in Russia’s Kursk region, and it’s necessary to determine before a ceasefire whether they will surrender.

He also noted that it’s necessary to develop a mechanism of control over possible breaches of the truce.

And he questioned whether Ukraine could use the 30-day ceasefire to mobilize and rearm.

▶ Read more on US-Russia-Ukraine ceasefire efforts

Senate Democrats are mounting a last-ditch protest to a Republican-led government funding bill that already passed the House without slapping any limits on the Trump-Musk DOGE efforts to gut federal operations.

The Democrats are pushing a stopgap 30-day funding bill as an alternative, but its prospects are dim in the Republican-controlled chamber.

And it’s unlikely the Democrats would allow the government to shut down at midnight Friday, worried about the further chaos they say Trump and Musk could cause.

“We will not take a lecture on decorum from a party that incited an insurrection,” said Rep. Sarah McBride, the first openly transgender person to serve in Congress.

McBride’s speaking out at the Democratic strategy meeting is a departure — she has often declined to push back on her Republican colleagues’ taunts and bathroom use restrictions.

“I wish that they would spend even a fraction of the time that they spent thinking about me thinking about how to lower the costs for American families,” said McBride. “The Republican Party is obsessed with culture war issues. It is weird and it is bizarre.”

Leading Democrats are huddling at the Democratic Issues Conference, where the party navigates its identity and messaging strategy.

And they’re not holding back when asked whether Democrats should dialogue with Republicans over decorum.

“Their focus on our decorum or our behavior while they are burning down things for people at home, just makes me livid,” said Rep. Katherine Clarke, the Democratic Whip, during a press conference for freshmen Democratic women.

The revenue service demoted William Paul because he disagreed with the Department of Government Efficiency’s alleged push to share tax information with multiple agencies, according to two people familiar with the plans, who were not authorized to speak publicly.

Paul will be replaced by Andrew De Mello, an attorney in the chief counsel’s office who is deemed supportive of Elon Musk and DOGE, they said.

Paul is not the first government official to be demoted after voicing concern about access to sensitive systems and taxpayer data.

“The series of IRS officials who have put the law above their personal job security join a line of public servants, stretching back to Treasury and IRS leaders during the Nixon era, who have resisted unlawful attempts by elected officials to weaponize taxpayer data and systems,” Chye-Ching Huang, the executive director of New York University’s Tax Law Center, said in a statement.

Shelley C. Lowe, the first Native American to lead the NEH, was appointed by President Joe Biden in 2021 and confirmed by voice vote in the Senate the following year.

Her ouster is Trump’s latest move to assert more control over the country’s cultural institutions.

An NEH spokesperson said Thursday that Lowe had departed “at the direction of President Trump,” and that Michael McDonald, who had been the NEH’s general counsel, will serve as acting chair.

The National Endowment for the Arts, also is operating under interim leadership: NEA chair Maria Rosario Jackson resigned shortly before Trump took office in January.

Then-Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida was Trump’s first choice to be attorney general, but withdrew when scrutiny over a federal sex trafficking investigation cast doubt on his ability to win Senate confirmation. Trump then turned to ally and former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi, who was confirmed.

Chad Chronister withdrew quickly as Trump’s first pick to run the Drug Enforcement Administration, saying he decided to back away after the “gravity of this very important responsibility set in.” Trump said he was the one who pulled that plug, and tapped Terry Cole, Virginia’s public safety and homeland security secretary, to fill the post.

A coalition including 20 states and the District of Columbia says the Trump administration’s sweeping Education Department layoffs are illegally dismantling an agency created by Congress.

The Trump administration cut the department’s workforce in half, and the president has said he wants it shut down.

The federal lawsuit filed Thursday in Massachusetts says the layoffs make it impossible for the department to comply with its statutory requirements, will result in lost or delayed federal funding for public schools and leave the agency unable to administer college financial aid or enforce civil rights laws.