Social Security Administration could layoff up to 50% of its workforce
The Social Security Administration is expected to lay off at least 7,000 people from its workforce of 60,000, the Associated Press reported.
The workforce reduction could be as high as 50%, according to a person who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
It’s unclear how the layoffs will directly impact benefits of the 72.5 million Social Security beneficiaries, which include retirees and children who receive retirement and disability benefits.
Advocates and Democratic lawmakers warn that layoffs will reduce the agency’s ability to serve recipients in a timely manner.
Key events
Several Republican senators have raised concerns over the Trump administration’s freeze on foreign aid and cuts to USAID, joining Democratic lawmakers, The Washington Post reported.
GOP senators Lindsey Graham, Lisa Murkowski, and Susan Collins, the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, joined their Democratic colleagues in writing a letter earlier this month to secretary of state, Marco Rubio, arguing that the State Department has failed to comply with legal requirements to notify and consult Congress during the process.
Although they acknowledged the secretary of state’s authority to review federal programs and eliminate waste, lawmakers are concerned that neither Rubio nor the State Department had followed legal requirements to notify and consult with Congress while slashing USAID funding and canceling aid programs.
Marina Dunbar
Trump administration quietly shutters online form for student debt repayment
The Donald Trump administration has taken down the online application form for several popular student debt repayment plans, causing confusion among borrowers and likely creating complications for millions of Americans with outstanding loans.
Those seeking payment plans are unable to access the applications for income-driven repayment plans (IDR), which cap what borrowers must pay each month at a percent of their earnings, as well as the online application to consolidate their loans on the US Department of Education website.
The quiet removal came after a federal appeals court decision earlier this week that continued a pause on Joe Biden’s Save program, an income-driven plan for loan forgiveness that would have forgiven debts after as few as 10 years of payments.
Biden’s Save program has been on hold since last summer after a group of Republican state attorneys general brought forward a lawsuit against the forgiveness features. As a result, about 8 million borrowers who enrolled in Save before it was halted currently have their loans in limbo as the litigation is ongoing.
It is currently unclear how borrowers who were already enrolled in income-driven plans are supposed to submit their annual paperwork to certify their incomes. It is also uncertain when or if the payment plan applications will be back up on the website.
The continued setbacks in the path towards student loan forgiveness has caused concern among those with debt, and loan forgiveness activists. Critics also point out that removing payment plan options was not a part of the previous litigation.
Read Marina Dunbar’s full report:
David Smith
The Guardian’s Washington DC bureau chief, David Smith, reports on Keir Starmer’s meeting with Donald Trump:
How the tables have turned. Once upon a time visitors had to fawn over mad King George III and maintain the great pretence that everything was normal. Now it was the British prime minister’s turn to show deference to a capricious, erratic US president who might blow it all up.
First Keir Starmer, the 58th British prime minister (does Liz Truss really count?), and Donald Trump, the 45th and 47th US president, sat side by side before the fireplace in the Oval Office. Trump stretched credulity by claiming they “get along famously”. Starmer thanked Trump for “changing the conversation” on Ukraine.
Then the prime minister reached into his jacket breast pocket and produced a letter from King Charles and handed it over (take that, Macron!)
But the theatre came unstuck as a baffled Trump asked: “Am I supposed to read it right now?” Like a schoolchild trying to impress his parents with exam results, Starmer replied: “Yes, please do!”
There was a long, agonising silence as Trump studied the letter. Oddly, he wanted to make sure it was signed.
“That’s quite a signature isn’t it – beautiful!”
Starmer told the gathering that the letter contained an invitation for Trump’s second state visit to Britain. Trump nodded at someone as if to impress them with how important it was. Starmer gushed: “This is really special. This has never happened before.”
Then, placing a hand on Trump’s right arm for effect: “This is unprecedented!”
But there was still some anxiety swimming in the prime minister’s stomach. “What I haven’t got yet is your answer.”
Trump responded: “The answer is yes!”
Rejoice! Rejoice! Corks pop, confetti swirls and fireworks explode. Prepare to bring the Trump baby blimp out of retirement.
Starmer calculated correctly that the puff and pageanty of a state visit with King Charles was bound to appeal to a man who, when he recently wrote on social media, “LONG LIVE THE KING!”, had only himself in mind.
Read the full analysis here:
Caroline Davies
King Charles invites Donald Trump for unprecedented second state visit to UK
King Charles has invited Donald Trump to make an unprecedented second state visit to the UK in a letter handed to the US president by Keir Starmer.
Queen Elizabeth II hosted Trump on a state visit in 2019. Precedent for second-term US presidents who have already made a state visit is usually tea or lunch with the monarch at Windsor Castle, as was the case for George W Bush and Barack Obama.
Trump received the invitation during a meeting at the White House on Thursday, with Starmer presenting the letter from the king.
In the letter, which Trump showed to the cameras in the Oval Office, Charles suggested he and Trump could meet beforehand at Dumfries House or Balmoral, which are near Trump’s golf courses in Scotland, to discuss the plans for the much grander visit.
The letter, partially obscured by Trump’s hand, read: “I can only say that it would be … pleasure to extend that invitation once again, in the hope that you … some stage be visiting Turnberry and a detour to a relatively near neighbour might not cause you too much inconvenience. An alternative might perhaps be for you to visit Balmoral.
“There is much on both estates which I think you might find interesting, and enjoy – particularly as my foundation at Dumfries House provides hospitality skills-training for young people who often end up as staff on your own establishments!”
The letter continued: “Quite apart from this presenting an opportunity to discuss a wide range of issues of mutual interest, it would also offer a valuable chance to plan a historic second state visit to the United Kingdom.
“As you will know this is unprecedented by a US President. That is why I would find it helpful for us to be able to discuss, together, a range of options for location and programme content.
Read the full story:
Social Security Administration could layoff up to 50% of its workforce
The Social Security Administration is expected to lay off at least 7,000 people from its workforce of 60,000, the Associated Press reported.
The workforce reduction could be as high as 50%, according to a person who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
It’s unclear how the layoffs will directly impact benefits of the 72.5 million Social Security beneficiaries, which include retirees and children who receive retirement and disability benefits.
Advocates and Democratic lawmakers warn that layoffs will reduce the agency’s ability to serve recipients in a timely manner.
A federal judge has ordered Trump administration officials involved in Elon Musk’s “opaque” department of government efficiency (Doge) to testify under oath in a lawsuit regarding the agency’s access to sensitive government databases.
US District Judge John Bates ruled on Thursday that limited questioning of officials connected to Doge could help clarify the group’s activities and assess whether it poses the data security risks that government employees have raised concerns about.
The judge’s order allows unions and liberal groups suing the agency to depose four officials: one from Doge’s White House headquarters and one each from the labor department, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Doge’s aggressive push to streamline bureaucracy has triggered over a dozen lawsuits, and this order marks the first time that people involved in the project will be required to answer questions from lawyers outside the government.
Today so far
Here’s where the day stands so far:
-
Donald Trump suggested Vladimir Putin can be trusted in the peace talks with Ukraine because “we had to go through the Russian hoax together”. “I’ve known him for a long time now, and I don’t believe he’s going to violate his word,” Trump said during his Oval Office meeting with Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister. For more updates from Trump’s press conference with Starmer, follow the UK politics live blog.
-
Trump announced he would move forward with imposing 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada next week, after he initially delayed that policy by one month. In a post on Truth Social, Trump blamed Mexico and Canada for allowing illegal drugs to flow into the US, writing: “We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA, and therefore, until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled.”
-
The top Democrat on the Senate finance committee warned that Trump’s tariffs threats are “driving the US economy straight into a wall”. “Slapping tariffs on everything Americans buy from Canada, Mexico, and China will mean higher prices on groceries, gas and cars, with fewer jobs and lower pay when our closest trading partners respond to Trump’s trade war by buying fewer American products,” senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat of Oregon, said in a statement.
-
Democrats on the Senate foreign relations committee slammed the Trump administration over a decision to eliminate as much as 90% of USAid’s foreign aid contracts. “It is clear that the Trump Administration’s foreign assistance ‘review’ was not a serious effort or attempt at reform but rather a pretext to dismantle decades of US investment that makes America safer, stronger and more prosperous,” the Democrats said in a joint statement.
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Senator Ruben Gallego, a freshman Democrat of Arizona, has introduced a resolution condemning the Trump administration’s rejection of a United Nations resolution denouncing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
On Monday, the US joined Russia, Belarus and North Korea in voting against the EU-Ukrainian resolution, which was intrdouced to coincide with the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
“Let’s be clear on this: this is a war that Russia started. Ukraine did not ask for it. They did not ask to go to war with a nuclear superpower, and they did not ask for their cities to be reduced to rubble,” Gallego said in a speech today on the Senate floor.
“They didn’t ask for their children to be displaced and families to be torn apart. If Ukraine had its way, this war would have ended years ago.”
He warned that the US position on the UN resolution “puts us on the same side as Russia and North Korea,” adding, “That’s not just embarrassing, it is dangerous.”
Trump expresses trust in Putin because ‘we had to go through the Russian hoax together’
Donald Trump made some eyebrow-raising comments about Russia during his Oval Office meeting with Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister, just a few moments ago.
Trump suggested that Vladimir Putin could be trusted to follow through on the terms of any peace agreement signed with Ukraine, saying he expected the Russian leader to “keep his word”.
“I’ve spoken to him. I’ve known him for a long time now,” Trump said.
“You know we had to go through the Russian hoax together [the claim that Russia colluded with Trump to rig the 2016 election]. That was not a good thing …
“I’ve known him for a long time now, and I don’t believe he’s going to violate his word.”
For more updates and analysis from Trump’s press conference with Starmer, which is expected to get underway soon, follow the Guardian’s UK politics live blog:
Kash Patel, the controversial new FBI director, has proposed teaming up with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) as a way to improve agents’ physical fitness, ABC News reported.
Patel reportedly floated the potential collaboration on teleconference Wednesday with the heads of the FBI’s 55 field offices. Dana White, the CEO and founder of the mixed-martial arts entertainment company, is a prominent Trump supporter and major booster of his re-election campaign.
Kash’s appointment has rattled the agency, amid widespread concern that he would use the historically independent bureau to pursue Trump’s political opponents – something he declined to rule out in his confirmation hearing.
Asked about self-styled “misogynist influencer” Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan, flying to the US, reportedly after the US urged Romania to lift the travel ban that was preventing them from leaving the country, Trump said he “doesn’t know anything about it”.
The pair, who are charged with human trafficking in Romania, arrived in Florida from Romania on Thursday by private jet, after prosecutors suspended their travel ban and a court lifted a precautionary seizure on some of their assets. The brothers, are staunch Trump supporters.
On Thursday, Ron DeSantis, the state’s Republican governor, said: “Florida is not a place where you’re welcome with that type of conduct in the air.”
The Tate brothers were arrested in Romania in 2022 and face trial on charges of rape, sex with a minor, people trafficking and money laundering.
Maya Yang
Attending the anti-war protest in solidarity with Barnard and Columbia students is Raymond Lotta, a spokesperson for Revolutionary Books in Harlem.
“We are here specifically today because we are standing in solidarity with the students here at Barona and Columbia who are being punished severely for standing in support of the Palestinian people and calling out this university for being complicit in war crimes, and now two students have been expelled…they must be reinstated. This is a just and a righteous demand,” Lotta said.
He added: “And we are here to stand in solidarity and also to help people to understand that we’re now fighting in a new situation with Trump MAGA fascism in power and their agenda is horrific. I mean, across the board, you know, terrorizing and rounding up immigrants, attempting to erase LGBTQ people. This is fascism and, you know, they are attempting to use the military to suppress protest in dissent, and the struggle here is a struggle that has inspired students across the country.”
The protesters have issued a list of four demands to Barnard president Laura Rosenbury.
The demands stated are: “Immediate reversal of the two Barnard students’ expulsions…Amnesty for all student students disciplined for pro-Palestine, action or thought…a public meeting with Dean Leslie Grinage, and president Laura Rosenbery and abolition of the corrupt Barnard disciplinary process and complete transparency for current past and future disciplinary proceedings.”
“Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will rest,” the students chant.
“Barnard College go to hell,” others yell before going into, “1, we are the students! 2, we won’t stop fighting! 3, we want divestment now now now!”
NYPD have set up more barricades outside Barnard as a verbal altercation between the student protestors and counter protestors broke out with both sides yelling at each other.
Elon Musk again criticized Verizon as the Federal Aviation Administration reportedly considers canceling a $2.4bn contract with the telecommunications company. On deck to supplant Verizon: The tech mogul’s own satellite internet company, Starlink, a subsidiary of SpaceX.
In a post on his X social media platform, Musk said the “Verizon communication system to air traffic control is breaking down very rapidly”.
Musk made the comment in a repost of a tweet linking to the Washington Post’s report that the FAA was “close to canceling” Verizon’s contract in favor of Starlink, setting up a major conflict-of-interest test for the administration as Musk leads its cost-cutting effort. Staff with Musk’s Doge have already infiltrated the aviation agency, according to multiple reports.
“The FAA assessment is single digit months to catastrophic failure, putting air traveler safety at serious risk,” Musk said on X. “The Starlink terminals are being sent at NO COST to the taxpayer on an emergency basis to restore air traffic control connectivity. The situation is extremely dire.”
On X, Musk said a “total overhaul” of the air traffic control system was needed, an assessment many at the agency would agree with. Handing the contract to Starlink, however, would compound existing conflicts of interest involving SpaceX and the FAA.
Protest erupts at Barnard University in New York
Maya Yang
The Guardian’s Maya Yang is at New York’s Barnard University, where students wearing keffiyehs in solidarity with Palestine are gathered outside on the campus, chanting a series of anti-war slogans amid a heavy New York police department (NYPD) presence.
“Free, free Palestine!” the students chant as well as some hold up handwritten signs that read: “No more Zionist occupation”‘and “Amnesty now.”
Around 100 or so students appear gathered outside the gated campus of Barnard, where only students and faculty with ID cards are allowed in.
Around eight student counter-protestors have gathered across from the Barnard and Columbia students protesting against Israel’s war on Gaza.
One student, with a shirt that says “Fuck Hamas, I stand with Israel” started playing Israeli music with others waving an Israeli and an IDF flag. Another student wore a white hoodie with the words: “Columbia University students supporting Israel.”
Since Hamas’s 7 October attacks which killed 1,200 Israelis and took over 200 survivors hostage, Israeli forces have waged a deadly war on Gaza, killing over 48,000 Palestinians while forcibly displacing nearly 2 million survivors amid severe shortages in food, fuel and medical supplies due to Israeli aid restrictions.
