Federal agencies have until 13 March to formulate staff reduction plans as allies and critics react to Trump’s marathon Congress speech
Welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of US politics and the Donald Trump administration. I’m Tom Ambrose.
We start with news that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is considering reducing its workforce by as much as 50%, according to reports. The agency has already laid off about 7,000 of its 90,000 employees since Donald Trump came to power.
Donald Trump on Tuesday declared that his administration was “just getting started” as Democratic lawmakers protested with placards that read “lies” and “false” during his a marathon address to Congress
The president’s speech was littered with false claims he has previously been corrected on but continues to repeat – here are some of those “facts” checked
He doubled down on his expansionist rhetoric, saying the administration was in the process of “reclaiming the Panama canal” and repeating his threat to take control of Greenland: “One way or the other, we’re going to get it”. The president has also recently stated that the US will “own” the Gaza Strip
The dollar has fallen to the lowest level since November, after Trump said his new tariffs will cause “a little disturbance” in his Congress speech
Responding to Trump’s speech, Sen Elissa Slotkin of Michigan said that Ronald Reagan “must be rolling in his grave” after last week’s Oval Office spat with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Trump “cozying up to dictators like Vladimir Putin”, and asserted that Trump would have “lost” the cold war
Democratic Rep Al Green of Texas was ejected for an outburst during Trump’s speech. He later told the media “It’s worth it to let people know that there are some of us who are going to stand up against this president”
The Trump administration has listed over 300 federal buildings for sale. It describes the properties as “not core to government operations”
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Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/mar/05/donald-trump-congress-speech-federal-workers-ukraine-tariffs-us-politics-news-live
Author : Tom Ambrose
Publish date : 2025-03-05 10:54:00
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