하원, 국토안보부 자금 지원 및 기록적 셧다운 종료에 투표
LIVE House votes to fund much of Homeland Security and end record shutdown
Associated Press
· 🇺🇸 New York, US
EN
2026-05-01 03:40
Translated
미국 국회의사당이 2026년 4월 30일 목요일 워싱턴에서 보인다. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
국방장관 피트 헉스스가 2026년 4월 30일 목요일 워싱턴 국회의사당의 상원 군사위원회에서 증언한다. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
이란 테헤란에서 사람들이 2026년 4월 29일 수요일 국가가 조직한 집회에서 이란 국기를 흔들며 8번째 시아파 무슬림 이맘인 라자 이맘의 생일을 축하하고 이란 최고지도자 아야톨라 모즈타바 하메네이를 지지한다. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
국토안보부 적절예산안의 통과는 연방긴급관리청이 "생명구조 및 생명유지" 활동을 우선시하는 긴급 상태를 이행한다고 발표한 하루 후에 나왔다.
FEMA는 재해 기금이 30억 달러 미만으로 떨어진 후 즉각적인 필요 자금 상태를 촉발했으며, 이는 예산 공백 중에 그렇게 하도록 강요받은 첫 번째 경우였다. DHS 법안은 FEMA의 재해 기금을 26억 달러 이상으로 보충한다.
국방장관은 상원 군사위원회 앞에서 거의 3시간의 청문회 후 청문회장을 빠져나간다.
헉스스는 이란 전쟁, 군사 문화 개편 노력, 탄약 공급 관리, 우크라이나에 대한 미국 지원을 포함한 다양한 문제에서 상원의원들, 특히 민주당원들로부터 어려운 질문에 직면했다.
헉스스는 여러 교환에서 민주당원들에게 반박했으며, 많은 공화당원들이 그의 지도력을 지지한다는 표현으로 나왔다.
청문회가 끝날 때, 홀로 반전 시위자가 방을 빠져나가며 이란 전쟁에 대한 불만을 외쳤다.
헉스스는 상원의원들에게 펜타곤이 트럼프 행정부가 제안한 1조 5천억 달러가 필요하다고 말하고 있으며, 이는 국방비 지출에 대한 역사적 부스트가 될 것이고 펜타곤의 예산을 전년도보다 40% 이상 증가시킬 것이다.
애리조나 민주당 마크 켈리 상원의원은 그러한 증가가 정말 필요한지 의문을 제기했고 헉스스에게 "이런 것들 중 일부는 우리가 필요하지 않거나 작동하지 않을 것"이라고 말했다.
"이 예산은 우리가 살고 있는 세계의 현실과 우리가 필요로 할 능력을 반영한다"고 그는 말했다.
목요일 하원은 수주간의 지연 후 국토안보부의 대부분에 대한 자금을 승인했으나 이민 단속 작업을 제외했다.
마이크 존슨 의장은 이전에 상원을 통과한 법안을 "농담"이라고 일축했으나 장이 역대 가장 긴 기관 셧다운을 종료한 것을 칭찬했다. 그는 "이곳의 절차는 복잡하다"고 인정했지만 "공화당은 계속해서 미국 국민을 위해 성과를 내고 있다"고 말했다.
"민주당은 그들의 정치적 소동과 사기로 인해 절대적으로 아무것도 얻지 못했다"고 존슨은 말했다.
그는 이번 주의 작업이 공화당이 "성숙한 어른들이 여기에 머물 수 있도록 중간선거에서 승리할 것"인 이유를 보여준다고 덧붙였다.
민주당 마크 켈리 상원의원은 국방장관이 전 해군 조종사인 상원의원을 불법 명령에 저항하도록 군대에 요구하는 비디오 참여로 벌하려고 시도한 후 처음으로 헉스스에 공개적으로 질문을 하고 있다.
연방 판사는 2월에 임시로 펜타곤이 켈리의 공식 견책을 수행하는 것을 막았다.
미시간 민주당 엘리사 슬롯킨 상원의원도 비디오에 참여했으며 상원 군사위원회의 위원이며 헉스스에게도 질문했다.
그들은 둘 다 이란과의 전쟁에 대해 그를 질문했다. 켈리는 헉스스가 국방장관이 "우리 적에 대한 자비나 관용이 없다"고 말한 3월 13일 성명에서 거리를 두도록 압박했다.
켈리는 그 입장이 항복한 전투원을 다루기 위한 펜타곤의 전쟁 법칙 매뉴얼을 위반할 것이라고 지적했다.
그러나 헉스스는 "우리는 승리하기 위해 싸우고 법을 따른다"고 대응했다.
"당신의 지금의 대응"이라고 켈리는 "미국 국민에게 정확히 당신이 이 직책에 적합하지 않은 이유를 명확하게 한다"고 말했다.
국방장관은 분노하게 민주당 엘리자베스 워렌 상원의원의 이란과의 전쟁 직전에 국방 제조업체에 투자했는지 여부에 대한 질문에 반박했다.
"나는 그것을 큰 부정이라고 주겠다"고 헉스스는 되받아쳤다.
여전히 워렌은 펜타곤에서 국방 관리자들이 계획된 군사 행동에 대한 그들의 지식에서 이익을 얻는 것을 방지하기 위해 어떤 한계가 마련되어 있는지에 대해 그를 압박했다.
"나는 돈을 찾지 않고 있다. 나는 돈을 위해 하지 않는다"고 헉스스는 말했다. "나는 이익을 위해 하지 않는다. 나는 주식을 위해 하지 않는다. 그리고 그것이 부분적으로 내가 이 직책에서 효과적일 수 있는 이유이다. 누도 나를 소유하지 않기 때문이다."
수주간의 지연 후, 하원은 목요일에 국토안보부의 대부분에 자금을 지원하기 위해 투표했으나 그 이민 단속 작업은 투표하지 않았으며 양당 패키지를 트럼프에게 서명하도록 보냈으며 역대 가장 긴 기관 셧다운을 종료했다.
백악관은 트럼프가 운송보안청 및 기타 기관 인원에게 급여를 지불하기 위해 활용한 임시 자금이 "곧 떨어질 것"이라고 경고했으며, 이는 공항 혼란의 새로운 위협을 촉발했다.
DHS는 2월 14일 이후 일상적인 자금이 없어 근로자들의 고통을 야기했으나, 분쟁의 중심인 트럼프의 이민 의제의 대부분은 별도로 자금을 지원받고 있다.
"정말 때가 됐다"고 하원 예산위원회의 최고 민주당원인 코네티컷의 로사 델라우로 대표는 2개월 이상 전에 법안을 제안했다.
하원은 정식 투표 없이 음성 투표로 신속하게 조치를 통과시켰다.
민주당 팀 케인 상원의원은 군 관리자들에게 카리브해와 태평양 동쪽에서 혐의 마약 보트를 공격하는 데 사용되는 법적 정당성에 대해 심각한 우려가 있다고 말했으며, 그들이 반드시 명확한 증거를 가지고 있지 않을 때 마약을 운반하고 있다.
그는 작업이 수행되는 방식과 트럼프 행정부가 공격을 정당화하기 위해 사용하고 있는 법적 의견 사이에 "깊은 불일치"가 있다고 말했다.
합참의장 댄 케인 장군은 군부대가 캠페인의 법적 경계를 밀접하게 따르고 있다고 말하면서 질문에 대응했다.
그러나 헉스스도 "마약 보트에 대한 무분별한 표적 설정은 없다. 우리는 이 사람들이 누구와 제휴하고 있는지 정확히 안다"고 말하며 뛰어들었다.
트럼프 행정부는 1973년의 전쟁 권한법으로 제정된 이란 전쟁의 60일 제한에 대항하고 있다. 법은 의회가 전쟁을 선언하거나 무력 사용을 승인해야 하지만, 의회에 통지한 경우 적대행위를 조정하기 위해 30일 연장을 할 수 있도록 대통령에게 제공한다.
이란 전쟁의 60일 제한은 금요일에 도달할 것이다. 그러나 헉스스는 상원의원들에게 "우리는 현재 휴전 중이며, 이는 우리의 이해에 따르면 60일 시계가 휴전에서 멈추거나 멈춘다는 의미이다"고 말했다.
민주당 팀 케인 상원의원은 "나는 법령이 그것을 지지하지 않는다고 믿지 않는다"고 대응했으며, "심각한 헌법적 우려"가 있다고 덧붙였다.
아이오와의 공화당 조니 에른스트 상원의원은 장군 랜디 조지의 전역이 "서둘러"진 것을 본 것에 "실망했다"고 말하며, 그 장교가 "군대를 베트남 전쟁 이후 최악의 모집 위기에서 빼냈으며" "불필요한" 육군 직책을 다듬었다고 지적했다.
조지는 트럼프가 복직한 이후 해임된 여러 최고 군 장교 중 한 명이다. 4월 초 펜타곤은 조지가 "육군 제41대 참모총장으로서의 직책에서 즉시 전역할 것"이라고 말했다.
조지는 일반적으로 4년을 실행하는 육군 참모총장의 직책을 2023년 8월 이후 보유했다.
"그는 38년의 명예로운 복무를 했다. 그는 세대에 최고의 육군 모집 및 현대화 노력을 달성했다"고 에른스트는 말했다. "그래서 나는 그의 봉사에 감사하고 싶다."
상원의원들은 국방부가 민간인 사망을 방지하기 위해 무엇을 하고 있는지 알고 싶었으며, 특히 구식 정보가 미국이 이란의 초등학교를 공격하고 165명 이상을 죽인 후였다.
민주당 커스틴 길리브랜드 상원의원은 헉스스에게 "학교, 병원, 민간 장소의 파괴로 인한 표적에 대한 당신의 대응은 무엇인가? 왜 민간인을 표적으로 하지 않기 위해 당신을 도와야 하는 부서를 90%나 잘라냈는가?"라고 물었다.
뉴욕 민주당 커스틴 길리브랜드 상원의원이 국방장관 피트 헉스스에게 질문하고 있으며, 코네티컷 민주당 리처드 블루멘탈 상원의원이 2026년 4월 30일 목요일 워싱턴 국회의사당의 상원 군사위원회를 보고 있다. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
헉스스는 펜타곤이 민간인 사망을 방지하기 위해 다른 국가보다 더 많이 할 수 있는 "철저한 약속"을 가지고 있다고 대응했다.
여전히 사우스 다코타 공화당 마이크 라운즈 상원의원은 길리브랜드의 질문 라인을 계속했다. 그는 헉스스에게 펜타곤이 여전히 민간인을 보호할 필요한 자원을 가지고 있는지 물었다.
헉스스는 그것이 "모든 필요한 자원"을 가지고 있다고 말했으며 인공지능이 군사 결정에 관여할 때 인간이 루프에 유지된다고 말했다.
뉴햄프셔 민주당 진 샤헌 상원의원은 헉스스 및 다른 국방 관리자들에게 펜타곤이 우크라이나를 위해 의회가 할당한 4억 달러를 사용할 계획에 대한 세부 사항을 강요했다.
헉스스는 수요일에 상원의원들에게 자금이 출시되었다고 말했다. 그의 행동은 전 상원 공화당 지도자 미치 맥코넬이 자금 출시 지연을 비난하는 논평을 썼을 때 나왔다.
그러나 샤헌은 펜타곤이 의회에 돈을 어떻게 사용할 계획인지에 대한 세부 사항을 제공하지 않았다고 지적했다. 헉스스는 그것이 먼저 NATO 동맹국에 군사 장비를 판매하는 프로그램의 일부로도 사용될 것이라고 말했다.
샤헔은 "그것은 그 4억 달러를 제공한 의회의 의도가 아니었다"고 반박했다.
국방부의 현재 예산 요청에는 우크라이나를 위한 자금이 포함되지 않는다.
합참의장 댄 케인 장군은 상원의원들에게 러시아 블라디미르 푸틴 대통령이 이란의 전쟁 노력을 도왔다고 말했다.
그는 청문회의 공개적 성격을 이유로 세부 사항을 들어가기를 거부했지만, "확실히 거기에 어떤 조치가 있다"고 말했다.
위원회의 의장인 공화당 로저 위커 상원의원은 "블라디미르 푸틴의 러시아가 이란에서 우리의 성공 노력을 훼손하기 위해 심각한 조치를 취하고 있다는 것에는 의문의 여지가 없다"고 동의했다.
"어제 말했듯이, 그리고 나는 오늘 다시 말하겠다, 우리가 이 시점에서 직면한 가장 큰 적은 무분별한 회의론자들과 의회 민주당원들의 패배주의적 말과 일부 공화당원들"이라고 헉스스는 상원 패널에 대한 그의 개시 성명에서 말했다.
트럼프의 예산 요청을 방어하면서, 헉스스는 대통령이 "미국 우선 정책에 의해 관통된 방어 산업 기반을 물려받았으며, 이는 강력한 힘을 투사할 수 있는 능력의 감소로 인해 결과했다"고 말했다.
수요일 하원 위원회에 대한 그의 발언과 유사하게, 댄 케인 장군은 합참의장으로서 그의 의무가 "우리의 민간 지도력이 포괄적인 범위의 군사 옵션과 국가의 가장 어렵고 복잡한 결정을 내리기 위해 필요한 관련 위험을 갖도록 하는 것"이라고 말했다.
미국 비밀경호국 요원들이 2026년 4월 25일 토요일 워싱턴의 백악관 기자 만찬 무대에서 대응한다. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
콜 토머스 알렌은 미국 판사관 모질라 우파디야야 앞에서 목요일에 간단히 나타나는 동안 항소를 제출하지 않았다.
검사들은 앨런이 자신의 공격을 계획하고 토요일 밤 장총을 들고 워싱턴 힐튼의 금속탐지기를 통해 달렸기 전에 온라인에서 트럼프의 움직임을 추적했다고 주장하며 국가 수도에서 가장 높은 프로필 연례 행사 중 하나를 방해했다.
앨런은 공격 중에 부상을 입었지만 총을 맞지 않았다. 비밀경호국 장교가 총을 맞았지만 방탄 조끼를 입고 있었고 생존했다고 관리자들은 말한다. 검사들은 앨런이 최소한 한 번 산탄총을 발사했으며 비밀경호국 요원이 5발을 발사했다고 믿는다. 그들은 앨런의 총알이 요원의 조끼를 친 것이 아니라고 공개적으로 확인하지 않았다.
중국 외교부장 왕이는 목요일에 미국 국무장관 마르코 루비오와 통화했으며 지도자 수준의 외교를 중국-미국 관계의 "지도별"이라고 불렀으며 중국 외교부는 말했다.
이 통화는 트럼프 대통령이 2017년 이후 처음으로 중국을 여행할 계획이고 중국 지도자 시진핑과 담판을 나눌 약 2주 전에 나왔다.
왕은 "전략"
국방장관 피트 헉스스가 2026년 4월 30일 목요일 워싱턴 국회의사당의 상원 군사위원회에서 증언한다. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
이란 테헤란에서 사람들이 2026년 4월 29일 수요일 국가가 조직한 집회에서 이란 국기를 흔들며 8번째 시아파 무슬림 이맘인 라자 이맘의 생일을 축하하고 이란 최고지도자 아야톨라 모즈타바 하메네이를 지지한다. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
국토안보부 적절예산안의 통과는 연방긴급관리청이 "생명구조 및 생명유지" 활동을 우선시하는 긴급 상태를 이행한다고 발표한 하루 후에 나왔다.
FEMA는 재해 기금이 30억 달러 미만으로 떨어진 후 즉각적인 필요 자금 상태를 촉발했으며, 이는 예산 공백 중에 그렇게 하도록 강요받은 첫 번째 경우였다. DHS 법안은 FEMA의 재해 기금을 26억 달러 이상으로 보충한다.
국방장관은 상원 군사위원회 앞에서 거의 3시간의 청문회 후 청문회장을 빠져나간다.
헉스스는 이란 전쟁, 군사 문화 개편 노력, 탄약 공급 관리, 우크라이나에 대한 미국 지원을 포함한 다양한 문제에서 상원의원들, 특히 민주당원들로부터 어려운 질문에 직면했다.
헉스스는 여러 교환에서 민주당원들에게 반박했으며, 많은 공화당원들이 그의 지도력을 지지한다는 표현으로 나왔다.
청문회가 끝날 때, 홀로 반전 시위자가 방을 빠져나가며 이란 전쟁에 대한 불만을 외쳤다.
헉스스는 상원의원들에게 펜타곤이 트럼프 행정부가 제안한 1조 5천억 달러가 필요하다고 말하고 있으며, 이는 국방비 지출에 대한 역사적 부스트가 될 것이고 펜타곤의 예산을 전년도보다 40% 이상 증가시킬 것이다.
애리조나 민주당 마크 켈리 상원의원은 그러한 증가가 정말 필요한지 의문을 제기했고 헉스스에게 "이런 것들 중 일부는 우리가 필요하지 않거나 작동하지 않을 것"이라고 말했다.
"이 예산은 우리가 살고 있는 세계의 현실과 우리가 필요로 할 능력을 반영한다"고 그는 말했다.
목요일 하원은 수주간의 지연 후 국토안보부의 대부분에 대한 자금을 승인했으나 이민 단속 작업을 제외했다.
마이크 존슨 의장은 이전에 상원을 통과한 법안을 "농담"이라고 일축했으나 장이 역대 가장 긴 기관 셧다운을 종료한 것을 칭찬했다. 그는 "이곳의 절차는 복잡하다"고 인정했지만 "공화당은 계속해서 미국 국민을 위해 성과를 내고 있다"고 말했다.
"민주당은 그들의 정치적 소동과 사기로 인해 절대적으로 아무것도 얻지 못했다"고 존슨은 말했다.
그는 이번 주의 작업이 공화당이 "성숙한 어른들이 여기에 머물 수 있도록 중간선거에서 승리할 것"인 이유를 보여준다고 덧붙였다.
민주당 마크 켈리 상원의원은 국방장관이 전 해군 조종사인 상원의원을 불법 명령에 저항하도록 군대에 요구하는 비디오 참여로 벌하려고 시도한 후 처음으로 헉스스에 공개적으로 질문을 하고 있다.
연방 판사는 2월에 임시로 펜타곤이 켈리의 공식 견책을 수행하는 것을 막았다.
미시간 민주당 엘리사 슬롯킨 상원의원도 비디오에 참여했으며 상원 군사위원회의 위원이며 헉스스에게도 질문했다.
그들은 둘 다 이란과의 전쟁에 대해 그를 질문했다. 켈리는 헉스스가 국방장관이 "우리 적에 대한 자비나 관용이 없다"고 말한 3월 13일 성명에서 거리를 두도록 압박했다.
켈리는 그 입장이 항복한 전투원을 다루기 위한 펜타곤의 전쟁 법칙 매뉴얼을 위반할 것이라고 지적했다.
그러나 헉스스는 "우리는 승리하기 위해 싸우고 법을 따른다"고 대응했다.
"당신의 지금의 대응"이라고 켈리는 "미국 국민에게 정확히 당신이 이 직책에 적합하지 않은 이유를 명확하게 한다"고 말했다.
국방장관은 분노하게 민주당 엘리자베스 워렌 상원의원의 이란과의 전쟁 직전에 국방 제조업체에 투자했는지 여부에 대한 질문에 반박했다.
"나는 그것을 큰 부정이라고 주겠다"고 헉스스는 되받아쳤다.
여전히 워렌은 펜타곤에서 국방 관리자들이 계획된 군사 행동에 대한 그들의 지식에서 이익을 얻는 것을 방지하기 위해 어떤 한계가 마련되어 있는지에 대해 그를 압박했다.
"나는 돈을 찾지 않고 있다. 나는 돈을 위해 하지 않는다"고 헉스스는 말했다. "나는 이익을 위해 하지 않는다. 나는 주식을 위해 하지 않는다. 그리고 그것이 부분적으로 내가 이 직책에서 효과적일 수 있는 이유이다. 누도 나를 소유하지 않기 때문이다."
수주간의 지연 후, 하원은 목요일에 국토안보부의 대부분에 자금을 지원하기 위해 투표했으나 그 이민 단속 작업은 투표하지 않았으며 양당 패키지를 트럼프에게 서명하도록 보냈으며 역대 가장 긴 기관 셧다운을 종료했다.
백악관은 트럼프가 운송보안청 및 기타 기관 인원에게 급여를 지불하기 위해 활용한 임시 자금이 "곧 떨어질 것"이라고 경고했으며, 이는 공항 혼란의 새로운 위협을 촉발했다.
DHS는 2월 14일 이후 일상적인 자금이 없어 근로자들의 고통을 야기했으나, 분쟁의 중심인 트럼프의 이민 의제의 대부분은 별도로 자금을 지원받고 있다.
"정말 때가 됐다"고 하원 예산위원회의 최고 민주당원인 코네티컷의 로사 델라우로 대표는 2개월 이상 전에 법안을 제안했다.
하원은 정식 투표 없이 음성 투표로 신속하게 조치를 통과시켰다.
민주당 팀 케인 상원의원은 군 관리자들에게 카리브해와 태평양 동쪽에서 혐의 마약 보트를 공격하는 데 사용되는 법적 정당성에 대해 심각한 우려가 있다고 말했으며, 그들이 반드시 명확한 증거를 가지고 있지 않을 때 마약을 운반하고 있다.
그는 작업이 수행되는 방식과 트럼프 행정부가 공격을 정당화하기 위해 사용하고 있는 법적 의견 사이에 "깊은 불일치"가 있다고 말했다.
합참의장 댄 케인 장군은 군부대가 캠페인의 법적 경계를 밀접하게 따르고 있다고 말하면서 질문에 대응했다.
그러나 헉스스도 "마약 보트에 대한 무분별한 표적 설정은 없다. 우리는 이 사람들이 누구와 제휴하고 있는지 정확히 안다"고 말하며 뛰어들었다.
트럼프 행정부는 1973년의 전쟁 권한법으로 제정된 이란 전쟁의 60일 제한에 대항하고 있다. 법은 의회가 전쟁을 선언하거나 무력 사용을 승인해야 하지만, 의회에 통지한 경우 적대행위를 조정하기 위해 30일 연장을 할 수 있도록 대통령에게 제공한다.
이란 전쟁의 60일 제한은 금요일에 도달할 것이다. 그러나 헉스스는 상원의원들에게 "우리는 현재 휴전 중이며, 이는 우리의 이해에 따르면 60일 시계가 휴전에서 멈추거나 멈춘다는 의미이다"고 말했다.
민주당 팀 케인 상원의원은 "나는 법령이 그것을 지지하지 않는다고 믿지 않는다"고 대응했으며, "심각한 헌법적 우려"가 있다고 덧붙였다.
아이오와의 공화당 조니 에른스트 상원의원은 장군 랜디 조지의 전역이 "서둘러"진 것을 본 것에 "실망했다"고 말하며, 그 장교가 "군대를 베트남 전쟁 이후 최악의 모집 위기에서 빼냈으며" "불필요한" 육군 직책을 다듬었다고 지적했다.
조지는 트럼프가 복직한 이후 해임된 여러 최고 군 장교 중 한 명이다. 4월 초 펜타곤은 조지가 "육군 제41대 참모총장으로서의 직책에서 즉시 전역할 것"이라고 말했다.
조지는 일반적으로 4년을 실행하는 육군 참모총장의 직책을 2023년 8월 이후 보유했다.
"그는 38년의 명예로운 복무를 했다. 그는 세대에 최고의 육군 모집 및 현대화 노력을 달성했다"고 에른스트는 말했다. "그래서 나는 그의 봉사에 감사하고 싶다."
상원의원들은 국방부가 민간인 사망을 방지하기 위해 무엇을 하고 있는지 알고 싶었으며, 특히 구식 정보가 미국이 이란의 초등학교를 공격하고 165명 이상을 죽인 후였다.
민주당 커스틴 길리브랜드 상원의원은 헉스스에게 "학교, 병원, 민간 장소의 파괴로 인한 표적에 대한 당신의 대응은 무엇인가? 왜 민간인을 표적으로 하지 않기 위해 당신을 도와야 하는 부서를 90%나 잘라냈는가?"라고 물었다.
뉴욕 민주당 커스틴 길리브랜드 상원의원이 국방장관 피트 헉스스에게 질문하고 있으며, 코네티컷 민주당 리처드 블루멘탈 상원의원이 2026년 4월 30일 목요일 워싱턴 국회의사당의 상원 군사위원회를 보고 있다. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
헉스스는 펜타곤이 민간인 사망을 방지하기 위해 다른 국가보다 더 많이 할 수 있는 "철저한 약속"을 가지고 있다고 대응했다.
여전히 사우스 다코타 공화당 마이크 라운즈 상원의원은 길리브랜드의 질문 라인을 계속했다. 그는 헉스스에게 펜타곤이 여전히 민간인을 보호할 필요한 자원을 가지고 있는지 물었다.
헉스스는 그것이 "모든 필요한 자원"을 가지고 있다고 말했으며 인공지능이 군사 결정에 관여할 때 인간이 루프에 유지된다고 말했다.
뉴햄프셔 민주당 진 샤헌 상원의원은 헉스스 및 다른 국방 관리자들에게 펜타곤이 우크라이나를 위해 의회가 할당한 4억 달러를 사용할 계획에 대한 세부 사항을 강요했다.
헉스스는 수요일에 상원의원들에게 자금이 출시되었다고 말했다. 그의 행동은 전 상원 공화당 지도자 미치 맥코넬이 자금 출시 지연을 비난하는 논평을 썼을 때 나왔다.
그러나 샤헌은 펜타곤이 의회에 돈을 어떻게 사용할 계획인지에 대한 세부 사항을 제공하지 않았다고 지적했다. 헉스스는 그것이 먼저 NATO 동맹국에 군사 장비를 판매하는 프로그램의 일부로도 사용될 것이라고 말했다.
샤헔은 "그것은 그 4억 달러를 제공한 의회의 의도가 아니었다"고 반박했다.
국방부의 현재 예산 요청에는 우크라이나를 위한 자금이 포함되지 않는다.
합참의장 댄 케인 장군은 상원의원들에게 러시아 블라디미르 푸틴 대통령이 이란의 전쟁 노력을 도왔다고 말했다.
그는 청문회의 공개적 성격을 이유로 세부 사항을 들어가기를 거부했지만, "확실히 거기에 어떤 조치가 있다"고 말했다.
위원회의 의장인 공화당 로저 위커 상원의원은 "블라디미르 푸틴의 러시아가 이란에서 우리의 성공 노력을 훼손하기 위해 심각한 조치를 취하고 있다는 것에는 의문의 여지가 없다"고 동의했다.
"어제 말했듯이, 그리고 나는 오늘 다시 말하겠다, 우리가 이 시점에서 직면한 가장 큰 적은 무분별한 회의론자들과 의회 민주당원들의 패배주의적 말과 일부 공화당원들"이라고 헉스스는 상원 패널에 대한 그의 개시 성명에서 말했다.
트럼프의 예산 요청을 방어하면서, 헉스스는 대통령이 "미국 우선 정책에 의해 관통된 방어 산업 기반을 물려받았으며, 이는 강력한 힘을 투사할 수 있는 능력의 감소로 인해 결과했다"고 말했다.
수요일 하원 위원회에 대한 그의 발언과 유사하게, 댄 케인 장군은 합참의장으로서 그의 의무가 "우리의 민간 지도력이 포괄적인 범위의 군사 옵션과 국가의 가장 어렵고 복잡한 결정을 내리기 위해 필요한 관련 위험을 갖도록 하는 것"이라고 말했다.
미국 비밀경호국 요원들이 2026년 4월 25일 토요일 워싱턴의 백악관 기자 만찬 무대에서 대응한다. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
콜 토머스 알렌은 미국 판사관 모질라 우파디야야 앞에서 목요일에 간단히 나타나는 동안 항소를 제출하지 않았다.
검사들은 앨런이 자신의 공격을 계획하고 토요일 밤 장총을 들고 워싱턴 힐튼의 금속탐지기를 통해 달렸기 전에 온라인에서 트럼프의 움직임을 추적했다고 주장하며 국가 수도에서 가장 높은 프로필 연례 행사 중 하나를 방해했다.
앨런은 공격 중에 부상을 입었지만 총을 맞지 않았다. 비밀경호국 장교가 총을 맞았지만 방탄 조끼를 입고 있었고 생존했다고 관리자들은 말한다. 검사들은 앨런이 최소한 한 번 산탄총을 발사했으며 비밀경호국 요원이 5발을 발사했다고 믿는다. 그들은 앨런의 총알이 요원의 조끼를 친 것이 아니라고 공개적으로 확인하지 않았다.
중국 외교부장 왕이는 목요일에 미국 국무장관 마르코 루비오와 통화했으며 지도자 수준의 외교를 중국-미국 관계의 "지도별"이라고 불렀으며 중국 외교부는 말했다.
이 통화는 트럼프 대통령이 2017년 이후 처음으로 중국을 여행할 계획이고 중국 지도자 시진핑과 담판을 나눌 약 2주 전에 나왔다.
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The U.S. Capitol is seen Thursday, April 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
People wave Iranian flags during a state-organised rally in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 29, 2026, celebrating the birthday of Imam Reza, the 8th Shiite Muslims’ Imam, and showing their support to the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
The U.S. Capitol is seen Thursday, April 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
The U.S. Capitol is seen Thursday, April 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
People wave Iranian flags during a state-organised rally in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 29, 2026, celebrating the birthday of Imam Reza, the 8th Shiite Muslims’ Imam, and showing their support to the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
People wave Iranian flags during a state-organised rally in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 29, 2026, celebrating the birthday of Imam Reza, the 8th Shiite Muslims’ Imam, and showing their support to the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Passage of the Homeland Security appropriations bill comes one day after the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced it was implementing an emergency status that prioritizes spending on “lifesaving and life-sustaining” efforts.
FEMA triggered the Immediate Needs Funding status after its disaster funds fell under $3 billion, the first time it had been forced to do so during a lapse in appropriations, according to an agency statement. The DHS bill replenishes FEMA’s disaster fund with over $26 billion.
The defense secretary is exiting the hearing room after a nearly three-hour hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Hegseth faced some tough questions from senators, especially Democrats, on a range of issues, including the Iran war, his efforts to remake military culture, the management of munition supplies and U.S. support for Ukraine.
Hegseth fired back at Democrats during several exchanges, and he emerged with a number of Republicans expressing support for his leadership.
At the hearing’s end, a solitary anti-war protester shouted her disapproval of the Iran war as she exited the room.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Hegseth is telling senators that the Pentagon needs the $1.5 trillion proposed by the Trump administration, which would be a historic boost to defense spending and increase the Pentagon’s budget by over 40% from the previous year.
Sen. Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat, questioned whether such an increase was really necessary and told Hegseth that “some of this stuff we either don’t need or it’s not going to work.”
“The budget reflects the realities of the world we live in and the capabilities we’re going to need,” he said.
The House on Thursday approved funding for much of the Department of Homeland Security after weeks of delays, while leaving out immigration enforcement operations.
Speaker Mike Johnson, who had previously dismissed the Senate-passed bill as a “joke,” praised the chamber for ending the longest agency shutdown in history. He acknowledged that “the process around here is cumbersome,” but said “Republicans continue to deliver for the American people.”
“Democrats got absolutely nothing for their political charades and shenanigans,” Johnson said.
He added that the week’s work shows why Republicans “are going to win the midterms so that grown-ups can stay in charge here.”
Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly is questioning Hegseth publicly for the first time since the defense secretary tried to punish the senator, a former Navy pilot, for participating in a video that called on troops to resist unlawful orders.
A federal judge in February temporarily blocked the Pentagon from carrying out Hegseth’s formal censure of Kelly.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat who also participated in the video, is on the Senate Armed Services Committee and questioned Hegseth as well.
They both grilled him on the war with Iran. Kelly pressed Hegseth to distance himself from a March 13 statement in which the defense secretary said there should be “no quarter, no mercy for our enemies.”
Kelly pointed out that stance would violate the Pentagon’s Law of War manual for dealing with combatants who have surrendered.
But Hegseth responded, “We fight to win and we follow the law.”
“Your response here right now,” Kelly said, “makes it clear to the American people exactly why you are not right for this job.”
The defense secretary angrily fired back at Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s questions about whether he had invested in any defense manufacturers shortly ahead of the war with Iran.
“I’ll give it to you as a big fat negative,” Hegseth retorted.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Still, Warren pressed him on what limits are put in place at the Pentagon to prevent defense officials from profiting off of their knowledge of planned military actions.
“I’m not looking for money. I don’t do it for money,” Hegseth said. “I don’t do it for profit. I don’t do it for stocks. And that’s part of the reason why I’m able to be effective in this job. Because no one owns me.”
After weeks of delay, the House voted Thursday to fund much of the Department of Homeland Security, but not its immigration enforcement operations, and sent the bipartisan package to Trump to sign, ending the longest agency shutdown in history.
The White House has warned that temporary funding Trump tapped to pay Transportation Security Administration and other agency personnel would “soon run out,” and that sparked new threats of airport disruptions.
DHS has been without routine funds since Feb. 14, causing hardship for workers, though much of Trump’s immigration agenda that is central to the dispute is being funded separately.
“It is about damn time,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, who proposed the bill more than two months ago.
The House swiftly voted by voice, without a formal roll call, to pass the measure.
Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine told military officials he had serious concerns about the legal justification being used to strike alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean when there is not necessarily clear evidence that they are carrying narcotics.
He said that there is a “profound mismatch” between how the operations are being carried out and the legal opinion that the Trump administration is using to justify the strikes.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, responded to the questions by saying that the military was closely following the legal boundaries of the campaign.
Yet Hegseth also jumped in to say, “There’s no willy-nilly targeting of drug boats. We know exactly who these people are affiliated with.”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
The Trump administration is running up against a 60-day limit for the Iran war that is instituted by the War Powers Act of 1973. The law requires that Congress must declare war or authorize the use of force, although it does provide for presidents to have a 30-day extension to draw down hostilities if it notifies Congress.
The 60-day limit for the Iran war will be reached Friday. However, Hegseth told senators, “We are in a cease fire right now, which our understanding means the 60-day clock pauses or stops in a ceasefire.”
Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine responded, “I do not believe the statute would support that,” and added that he had “serious constitutional concerns.”
Saying she was “disappointed” to see Gen. Randy George’s retirement “hastened,” Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa noted that the officer “pulled the Army out of its worst recruiting crisis since the Vietnam era” and trimmed “nonessential” Army positions.
George is one of several top military officers to be dismissed since Trump returned to office. In early April, the Pentagon said George would be “retiring from his position as the 41st Chief of Staff of the Army effective immediately.”
George had held the post of Army chief of staff, which typically runs for four years, since August 2023.
“He had 38 years of honorable service. He achieved the greatest Army recruitment and modernization effort in a generation,” Ernst said. “So I want to thank him for his service.”
Senators wanted to know what the Defense Department is doing to prevent deaths of civilians, especially after outdated intelligence contributed to the U.S. striking an elementary school in Iran and killing over 165 people.
Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand asked Hegseth, “What is your response to targeting that has resulted in the destruction of schools, hospitals, civilian places? Why did you cut by 90% the division that’s supposed to help you not target civilians?”
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., questions Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, as Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. looks on during the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., questions Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, as Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. looks on during the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Hegseth responded that the Pentagon has an “ironclad commitment” to do more than other countries to prevent civilian deaths.
Still, Sen. Mike Rounds, a South Dakota Republican, continued Gillibrand’s line of questioning. He asked Hegseth whether the Pentagon still has the resources necessary to protect civilians.
Hegseth said it has “every resource necessary” and that humans are kept in the loop when AI is involved in military decisions.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, pushed Hegseth and other defense officials for details on how the Pentagon plans to use $400 million that Congress has allotted for Ukraine.
Hegseth told lawmakers Wednesday that the funding had been released. His actions came after Sen. Mitch McConnell, the former Senate Republican leader, penned an op-ed slamming the delay in releasing the funds.
But Shaheen pointed out that the Pentagon has not given Congress details on how it plans to spend the money. Hegseth told her that it would also be used as part of a program to sell military equipment first to NATO allies.
Shaheen shot back that it “was not the intent of Congress in providing that $400 million.”
The Defense Department’s current budget request includes no funding for Ukraine.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, told senators Russian President Vladimir Putin has aided Iran’s war effort.
He declined to go into details, citing the public nature of the hearing, but said, ”There’s definitely some action there.”
The chair of the committee, Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, agreed, saying “there’s no question that Vladimir Putin’s Russia is taking serious action to undermine our efforts for success in Iran.”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
“As I said yesterday, and I’ll say it again today, the biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless naysayers and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans,” Hegseth said in his opening statement to the Senate panel.
Defending Trump’s budget request, Hegseth said the president “inherited a defense industrial base that had been hollowed out by years of America last policies, resulting in a diminished capacity to project strength.”
Similar to his Wednesday remarks to a House committee, Gen. Dan Caine said it was his duty as Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman “to ensure our civilian leadership has a comprehensive range of military options and the associated risks required to make the nation’s hardest and most complex decisions.”
U.S. Secret Service agents respond on stage during the White House Correspondents Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
U.S. Secret Service agents respond on stage during the White House Correspondents Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Cole Thomas Allen did not enter a plea during his brief appearance Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Moxila Upadhyaya.
Prosecutors allege Allen planned his attack for weeks and tracked Trump’s movements online before he ran through a magnetometer at the Washington Hilton on Saturday night while holding a long gun and disrupted one of the highest-profile annual events in the nation’s capital.
Allen was injured during the attack but wasn’t shot. A Secret Service officer was shot but was wearing a bullet-resistant vest and survived, officials say. Prosecutors have said they believe Allen fired his shotgun at least once and that a Secret Service agent fired five shots. They have not publicly confirmed that it was Allen’s bullet that struck the agent’s vest.
Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on Thursday spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and called leader-level diplomacy the “guiding star” of the China-U.S. relations, the Chinese foreign ministry said.
The call came just about two weeks before President Trump plans to travel to China for the first time since 2017 and hold talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Wang credited the “strategic leadership” by Xi and Trump for the overall stability in China-U.S. relations and said both sides should cherish it and well prepare for “high-level interactions.”
Wang urged the U.S. side to make the “right choice” over the Taiwan issue, which he said is the most risky in China-U.S. relations. Beijing considers the self-governed island part of Chinese territory and vows to seize it by force if necessary, while Washington opposes use of force in the Taiwan Strait.
A protester in a pink shirt disrupted Hegseth’s opening statement before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The man stood, unfurled a hand-written sign and yelled, “Pete Hegseth, you’re a war criminal.”
Within seconds, he was removed by Capitol Police officers. Several other people dressed in similar pink shirts have also left the hearing room.
The committee chair, Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, continued the hearing by saying he respected First Amendment rights to free speech, but that anyone who disrupts the hearing would be removed.
Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, did not hold back in his opening statement directed toward Hegseth.
From the war with Iran to Hegseth’s efforts to remake military culture, Reed dressed down the defense secretary’s actions and warned they could do long-term harm.
Reed argued that the war with Iran has left the U.S. in a worse strategic position than when it was started because the Strait of Hormuz is closed and 13 U.S. military members have been killed. Many others have been injured, and equipment has been destroyed.
“The American people’s trust in our military took 250 years to build. You are dismantling it in a fraction of that time,” Reed concluded.
In opening remarks, GOP Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi outlined threats to the United States he said were a “growing alliance” of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, saying the current moment represents “the most dangerous security environment since World War II.”
Saying Chinese President Xi Jinping led a “growing alliance” among the countries, Wicker said they shared a goal ”to oppose America’s interests and the interests of other like minded, democratic countries across the globe.”
“Ties have never been closer among these four dictators,” Wicker said. “Among these four dictatorships, they support each other’s aggressive endeavors.”
The Republican Florida governor told reporters Thursday he would not delay signing the new congressional map the GOP-dominated Legislature passed Wednesday at his and President Trump’s urging.
There had been some speculation that DeSantis could hold the bill for as long as possible — as much as two weeks or so depending on when the Legislature adjourns — to delay when the bill’s critics can file lawsuits challenging the measure.
The new map is intended to help Republicans gain as many as four more U.S. House seats in November, making the GOP advantage in Florida up to 24-4.
DeSantis said Wednesday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision curtailing the strength of nonwhite voters in redistricting vindicated his decision to call a special session for what he insists is a “race neutral” map.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is sitting before senators in what’s expected to be another fiery hearing on the Hill.
The defense secretary’s hearing is ostensibly to discuss the Pentagon’s $1.5 trillion budget request to Congress, but it’s the first time that senators will get to publicly question him since the Iran War began nearly two months ago. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, is also seated beside Hegseth.
The defense secretary also appeared for a House hearing Wednesday and he drew a large crowd of anti-war protesters to the hallways of the House office building where the hearing was held.
On Thursday, things feel a bit more low-key in the Senate, although there are a handful of people in the hearing room wearing pink shirts that state “Peace with Iran.”
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on Thursday spoke by video with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, China’s state media reported, ahead of a planned state visit by President Trump to Beijing in mid-May.
The two sides had a “candid, in-depth and constructive” exchange, the state broadcaster China Central Television said. The Chinese side lodged “solemn concerns” over recent restrictive trade measures imposed by the U.S. on China, but the statement didn’t specify the measures.
Last week, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned a China-based oil refinery and 40 shippers involved in transporting Iranian oil. The U.S. Trade Representative Office this week held a hearing on the use of forced labor in foreign goods.
The president is continuing to pillory German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who’s been increasingly critical of the U.S.-Israel war against Iran.
Trump in a social media post said Merz “should spend more time on ending the war with Russia/Ukraine” and “fixing his broken Country, especially Immigration and Energy” and less time concerning himself with the Iran war.
The latest criticism by Trump of Merz came the day after the U.S. president announced he was reviewing the U.S. military presence in Germany, a NATO ally that hosts several American military installations.
U.S. officials are appealing a judge’s order that blocks the government from cutting the number of vaccines recommended for every U.S. child.
Government lawyers on Wednesday filed the one-sentence appeal.
It was a delayed response to a March 16 order by U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy, who blocked an order by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. — announced in January — to end broad recommendations for all children to be vaccinated against flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis and RSV.
Murphy’s order also stopped a meeting of a Kennedy-appointed vaccine advisory committee. The stay continues while the appeal is considered.
The Trump administration is constrained by the 1973 law, which requires several notification and approval steps meant to keep a commander-in-chief’s military powers in check.
One of its provisions is that military action authorized by the president must end after 60 days unless Congress has explicitly approved it, or has declared war. That 60-day clock runs out Friday.
One White House official said the administration is in “active conversations” with lawmakers on addressing the deadline, but did not elaborate. The official was granted anonymity to discuss private deliberations. The administration can request a 30-day extension by telling Congress in writing that there’s a continued need for military action. The White House, which has long stressed that the president is working toward a diplomatic option in Iran, hasn’t indicated publicly whether Trump will seek that extension.
A boat sails past a tanker anchored on the Strait of Hormuz off the coast Qeshm island, Iran, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Asghar Besharati, File)
A boat sails past a tanker anchored on the Strait of Hormuz off the coast Qeshm island, Iran, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Asghar Besharati, File)
Under the plan, the United States would continue its blockade on Iranian ports, while coordinating with allies to impose higher costs on Iran’s attempts to subvert the free flow of energy, according to a senior administration official.
Trump is weighing multiple diplomatic and policy options to push Iran to end its chokehold on the waterway, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
U.S. jobless aid applications for the week ending April 25 fell by 26,000 to 189,000, down from the previous week’s 215,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s well below the 214,000 new applications analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet were expecting.
Filings for unemployment benefits are considered a proxy for U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.
The four-week moving average of jobless claims, which evens out some of the weekly volatility, came in at 207,500, about 3,500 lower than the previous week.
The total number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the previous week ending April 18 fell to 1.79 million, a decrease of 23,000.
The per-gallon prices for regular unleaded and diesel fuel are displayed on a sign outside a Murphy Express gasoline station, Tuesday, April 28, 2026, in Centennial, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
The per-gallon prices for regular unleaded and diesel fuel are displayed on a sign outside a Murphy Express gasoline station, Tuesday, April 28, 2026, in Centennial, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
But the outlook is clouded by the Iran war.
The Commerce Department reported Thursday that gross domestic product — the nation’s output of goods and services — rebounded from a lackluster 0.5% expansion the last three months of 2025. The federal government’s spending and investment grew at a 9.3% annual rate in the first quarter, adding more than half a percentage point to growth after lopping off 1.16 percentage points in fourth-quarter 2025.
Growth in consumer spending, which accounts for 70% of U.S. economic activity, slowed to 1.6% in the first quarter from 1.9% at the end of 2025. But business investment, likely driven by investments in artificial intelligence, rose at an 8.7% pace.
Iran has blocked the Strait of Hormuz through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passes. That has driven energy prices higher, fueling inflation and hurting consumers.
It’s the latest sign that the Iran war is pushing up the cost of living and delaying any interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
An inflation gauge monitored by the Fed rose 0.7% in March from February, up slightly from the previous month. Compared with a year ago, prices rose 3.5%, the biggest increase in almost three years.
Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core inflation rose 0.3% in March from February, and it was 3.2% higher than a year earlier. The annual figure is above February’s reading of 3%.
Rising gas prices have caused inflation to move further away from the Fed’s 2% target, which has caused the central bank to keep its key short-term interest rate unchanged after cutting it three times last year. The Fed typically keeps rates elevated — or even raises them — to combat higher inflation.
President Trump has again threatened that the United States could reduce its military presence in Germany, a key NATO ally and the European Union’s largest economy. Europeans have heard this before.
Trump’s social media post on Wednesday followed comments by Chancellor Friedrich Merz that the U.S. was being “humiliated” by Tehran as it slow-walks its diplomacy over the U.S.-Israel war against Iran.
Trump has mused for years about reducing America’s military presence in Germany, and has recently repeatedly railed against NATO for the its refusal to assist the U.S. in its two-month-old war.
U.S. allies at NATO have been waiting for the Trump administration to pull troops out since just after it came to office, warning that Europe would have to look after its own security, and that of Ukraine, in the future.
A divided federal appeals court said Wednesday it won’t grant a rare meeting of its active judges to hear an appeal of an $83 million verdict against President Donald Trump for defaming a magazine advice columnist over an encounter three decades ago.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision to reject a so-called “en banc” hearing comes several months after Trump appealed to the Supreme Court another jury’s decision to grant $5 million the writer, E. Jean Carroll, after concluding he had sexually abused her in a department store dressing room in 1996 and later defamed her. The high court hasn’t yet decided whether to hear the case.
Lawyers for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, said in a statement that her client was “eager for this case, originally filed in 2019, to be over so that she can finally obtain justice.”
Lee Zeldin, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, delivers a speech at the reception of the Indo-Pacific Energy Security Ministerial and Business Forum at U.S. Ambassador’s Residence Friday, March 13, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
Lee Zeldin, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, delivers a speech at the reception of the Indo-Pacific Energy Security Ministerial and Business Forum at U.S. Ambassador’s Residence Friday, March 13, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
Senate Democrats accused the Trump administration of abandoning the Environmental Protection Agency’s mission to protect human health and the environment at a congressional hearing Wednesday, slamming agency leadership over a proposal to cut its budget in half.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s appearance before the Senate environment committee was his last of three budget hearings this week where he argued for sharply reduced funding for the agency, which already has seen its staffing reduced to its lowest level in decades under his leadership. During much of the week, the former Republican congressman from New York took an aggressive approach, responding to Democrats in the House and Senate with his own questions and at times accusing them of being unprepared or failing to care about the EPA’s track record.
Zeldin has eliminated major climate change programs, promoted deregulatory efforts he calls the biggest in American history and canceled billions of dollars in Biden-era environmental justice grants to halt what he calls “EPA’s radical diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.”
The price of Brent crude oil briefly surged past $126 a barrel early Thursday as stalled U.S.-Iran talks raised doubts over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and a permanent end to the Iran war.
Brent crude to be delivered in June jumped 3.3% to $121.90 after briefly soaring past $126 per barrel. Brent to be delivered in July rose 1.4% to $112.02.
Benchmark U.S. crude climbed 1.3% to $108.28 per barrel.
Before the war began in late February, Brent crude was trading around $70 per barrel.
There’s no clear path to an end to the war. The U.S. has continued its blockade of Iranian ports while the Strait of Hormuz is closed, pushing oil prices higher. Reports Thursday suggesting a possible escalation by Trump doused hopes for a quick end to the conflict.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speaks at a news conference at the Federal Reserve, following the Federal Open Market Committee meeting, in Washington, Wednesday, April 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speaks at a news conference at the Federal Reserve, following the Federal Open Market Committee meeting, in Washington, Wednesday, April 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Jerome Powell said Wednesday he plans to remain on the board of the Federal Reserve after his term as chair ends next month “for a period of time, to be determined,” saying the “unprecedented” legal attacks by the Trump administration have put the independence of the nation’s central bank at risk.
“I worry these attacks are battering this institution and putting at risk the things that really matter to the public,” Powell said in remarks at a press conference after the Fed announced its decision to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged.
Powell’s decision to stay — the first time a Fed chair will remain on the board as a governor since 1948 — denies Trump a chance to fill a seat on the central bank’s seven-member governing board with his own appointee. The Senate Banking Committee earlier approved Powell’s successor as chair, Trump appointee Kevin Warsh, on a party-line vote. Powell will continue as a Fed governor, possibly until January 2028. Warsh, if confirmed, will take a seat currently held by Stephen Miran, a previous Trump appointee, whose term ended in January.
Hegseth will face a second day of grilling from Democrats on Capitol Hill, with senators getting their first opportunity on Thursday to confront or praise the Pentagon chief over his handling of the Iran war.
Hegseth battled with Democrats — and some Republicans — a day earlier during a nearly six-hour House Armed Services Committee hearing, where he faced sharp questioning over the war’s costs in dollars, lives and the diminishing stockpiles of critical weapons.
The Senate Armed Services Committee will hear a similar presentation on the Trump administration’s 2027 military budget proposal, which would boost defense spending to a historic $1.5 trillion. Hegseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, will again stress the need for more drones, missile defense systems and warships.
They are now also likely to face tough questions about American troop levels in Europe after President Donald Trump on Wednesday leveled a new threat against NATO ally Germany, suggesting he could soon reduce the U.S. military presence in the country as he feuds with Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the Iran war.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
People wave Iranian flags during a state-organised rally in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 29, 2026, celebrating the birthday of Imam Reza, the 8th Shiite Muslims’ Imam, and showing their support to the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
The U.S. Capitol is seen Thursday, April 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
The U.S. Capitol is seen Thursday, April 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
People wave Iranian flags during a state-organised rally in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 29, 2026, celebrating the birthday of Imam Reza, the 8th Shiite Muslims’ Imam, and showing their support to the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
People wave Iranian flags during a state-organised rally in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 29, 2026, celebrating the birthday of Imam Reza, the 8th Shiite Muslims’ Imam, and showing their support to the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Passage of the Homeland Security appropriations bill comes one day after the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced it was implementing an emergency status that prioritizes spending on “lifesaving and life-sustaining” efforts.
FEMA triggered the Immediate Needs Funding status after its disaster funds fell under $3 billion, the first time it had been forced to do so during a lapse in appropriations, according to an agency statement. The DHS bill replenishes FEMA’s disaster fund with over $26 billion.
The defense secretary is exiting the hearing room after a nearly three-hour hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Hegseth faced some tough questions from senators, especially Democrats, on a range of issues, including the Iran war, his efforts to remake military culture, the management of munition supplies and U.S. support for Ukraine.
Hegseth fired back at Democrats during several exchanges, and he emerged with a number of Republicans expressing support for his leadership.
At the hearing’s end, a solitary anti-war protester shouted her disapproval of the Iran war as she exited the room.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Hegseth is telling senators that the Pentagon needs the $1.5 trillion proposed by the Trump administration, which would be a historic boost to defense spending and increase the Pentagon’s budget by over 40% from the previous year.
Sen. Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat, questioned whether such an increase was really necessary and told Hegseth that “some of this stuff we either don’t need or it’s not going to work.”
“The budget reflects the realities of the world we live in and the capabilities we’re going to need,” he said.
The House on Thursday approved funding for much of the Department of Homeland Security after weeks of delays, while leaving out immigration enforcement operations.
Speaker Mike Johnson, who had previously dismissed the Senate-passed bill as a “joke,” praised the chamber for ending the longest agency shutdown in history. He acknowledged that “the process around here is cumbersome,” but said “Republicans continue to deliver for the American people.”
“Democrats got absolutely nothing for their political charades and shenanigans,” Johnson said.
He added that the week’s work shows why Republicans “are going to win the midterms so that grown-ups can stay in charge here.”
Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly is questioning Hegseth publicly for the first time since the defense secretary tried to punish the senator, a former Navy pilot, for participating in a video that called on troops to resist unlawful orders.
A federal judge in February temporarily blocked the Pentagon from carrying out Hegseth’s formal censure of Kelly.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat who also participated in the video, is on the Senate Armed Services Committee and questioned Hegseth as well.
They both grilled him on the war with Iran. Kelly pressed Hegseth to distance himself from a March 13 statement in which the defense secretary said there should be “no quarter, no mercy for our enemies.”
Kelly pointed out that stance would violate the Pentagon’s Law of War manual for dealing with combatants who have surrendered.
But Hegseth responded, “We fight to win and we follow the law.”
“Your response here right now,” Kelly said, “makes it clear to the American people exactly why you are not right for this job.”
The defense secretary angrily fired back at Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s questions about whether he had invested in any defense manufacturers shortly ahead of the war with Iran.
“I’ll give it to you as a big fat negative,” Hegseth retorted.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Still, Warren pressed him on what limits are put in place at the Pentagon to prevent defense officials from profiting off of their knowledge of planned military actions.
“I’m not looking for money. I don’t do it for money,” Hegseth said. “I don’t do it for profit. I don’t do it for stocks. And that’s part of the reason why I’m able to be effective in this job. Because no one owns me.”
After weeks of delay, the House voted Thursday to fund much of the Department of Homeland Security, but not its immigration enforcement operations, and sent the bipartisan package to Trump to sign, ending the longest agency shutdown in history.
The White House has warned that temporary funding Trump tapped to pay Transportation Security Administration and other agency personnel would “soon run out,” and that sparked new threats of airport disruptions.
DHS has been without routine funds since Feb. 14, causing hardship for workers, though much of Trump’s immigration agenda that is central to the dispute is being funded separately.
“It is about damn time,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, who proposed the bill more than two months ago.
The House swiftly voted by voice, without a formal roll call, to pass the measure.
Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine told military officials he had serious concerns about the legal justification being used to strike alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean when there is not necessarily clear evidence that they are carrying narcotics.
He said that there is a “profound mismatch” between how the operations are being carried out and the legal opinion that the Trump administration is using to justify the strikes.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, responded to the questions by saying that the military was closely following the legal boundaries of the campaign.
Yet Hegseth also jumped in to say, “There’s no willy-nilly targeting of drug boats. We know exactly who these people are affiliated with.”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
The Trump administration is running up against a 60-day limit for the Iran war that is instituted by the War Powers Act of 1973. The law requires that Congress must declare war or authorize the use of force, although it does provide for presidents to have a 30-day extension to draw down hostilities if it notifies Congress.
The 60-day limit for the Iran war will be reached Friday. However, Hegseth told senators, “We are in a cease fire right now, which our understanding means the 60-day clock pauses or stops in a ceasefire.”
Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine responded, “I do not believe the statute would support that,” and added that he had “serious constitutional concerns.”
Saying she was “disappointed” to see Gen. Randy George’s retirement “hastened,” Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa noted that the officer “pulled the Army out of its worst recruiting crisis since the Vietnam era” and trimmed “nonessential” Army positions.
George is one of several top military officers to be dismissed since Trump returned to office. In early April, the Pentagon said George would be “retiring from his position as the 41st Chief of Staff of the Army effective immediately.”
George had held the post of Army chief of staff, which typically runs for four years, since August 2023.
“He had 38 years of honorable service. He achieved the greatest Army recruitment and modernization effort in a generation,” Ernst said. “So I want to thank him for his service.”
Senators wanted to know what the Defense Department is doing to prevent deaths of civilians, especially after outdated intelligence contributed to the U.S. striking an elementary school in Iran and killing over 165 people.
Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand asked Hegseth, “What is your response to targeting that has resulted in the destruction of schools, hospitals, civilian places? Why did you cut by 90% the division that’s supposed to help you not target civilians?”
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., questions Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, as Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. looks on during the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., questions Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, as Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. looks on during the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Hegseth responded that the Pentagon has an “ironclad commitment” to do more than other countries to prevent civilian deaths.
Still, Sen. Mike Rounds, a South Dakota Republican, continued Gillibrand’s line of questioning. He asked Hegseth whether the Pentagon still has the resources necessary to protect civilians.
Hegseth said it has “every resource necessary” and that humans are kept in the loop when AI is involved in military decisions.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, pushed Hegseth and other defense officials for details on how the Pentagon plans to use $400 million that Congress has allotted for Ukraine.
Hegseth told lawmakers Wednesday that the funding had been released. His actions came after Sen. Mitch McConnell, the former Senate Republican leader, penned an op-ed slamming the delay in releasing the funds.
But Shaheen pointed out that the Pentagon has not given Congress details on how it plans to spend the money. Hegseth told her that it would also be used as part of a program to sell military equipment first to NATO allies.
Shaheen shot back that it “was not the intent of Congress in providing that $400 million.”
The Defense Department’s current budget request includes no funding for Ukraine.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, told senators Russian President Vladimir Putin has aided Iran’s war effort.
He declined to go into details, citing the public nature of the hearing, but said, ”There’s definitely some action there.”
The chair of the committee, Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, agreed, saying “there’s no question that Vladimir Putin’s Russia is taking serious action to undermine our efforts for success in Iran.”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
“As I said yesterday, and I’ll say it again today, the biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless naysayers and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans,” Hegseth said in his opening statement to the Senate panel.
Defending Trump’s budget request, Hegseth said the president “inherited a defense industrial base that had been hollowed out by years of America last policies, resulting in a diminished capacity to project strength.”
Similar to his Wednesday remarks to a House committee, Gen. Dan Caine said it was his duty as Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman “to ensure our civilian leadership has a comprehensive range of military options and the associated risks required to make the nation’s hardest and most complex decisions.”
U.S. Secret Service agents respond on stage during the White House Correspondents Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
U.S. Secret Service agents respond on stage during the White House Correspondents Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Cole Thomas Allen did not enter a plea during his brief appearance Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Moxila Upadhyaya.
Prosecutors allege Allen planned his attack for weeks and tracked Trump’s movements online before he ran through a magnetometer at the Washington Hilton on Saturday night while holding a long gun and disrupted one of the highest-profile annual events in the nation’s capital.
Allen was injured during the attack but wasn’t shot. A Secret Service officer was shot but was wearing a bullet-resistant vest and survived, officials say. Prosecutors have said they believe Allen fired his shotgun at least once and that a Secret Service agent fired five shots. They have not publicly confirmed that it was Allen’s bullet that struck the agent’s vest.
Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on Thursday spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and called leader-level diplomacy the “guiding star” of the China-U.S. relations, the Chinese foreign ministry said.
The call came just about two weeks before President Trump plans to travel to China for the first time since 2017 and hold talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Wang credited the “strategic leadership” by Xi and Trump for the overall stability in China-U.S. relations and said both sides should cherish it and well prepare for “high-level interactions.”
Wang urged the U.S. side to make the “right choice” over the Taiwan issue, which he said is the most risky in China-U.S. relations. Beijing considers the self-governed island part of Chinese territory and vows to seize it by force if necessary, while Washington opposes use of force in the Taiwan Strait.
A protester in a pink shirt disrupted Hegseth’s opening statement before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The man stood, unfurled a hand-written sign and yelled, “Pete Hegseth, you’re a war criminal.”
Within seconds, he was removed by Capitol Police officers. Several other people dressed in similar pink shirts have also left the hearing room.
The committee chair, Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, continued the hearing by saying he respected First Amendment rights to free speech, but that anyone who disrupts the hearing would be removed.
Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, did not hold back in his opening statement directed toward Hegseth.
From the war with Iran to Hegseth’s efforts to remake military culture, Reed dressed down the defense secretary’s actions and warned they could do long-term harm.
Reed argued that the war with Iran has left the U.S. in a worse strategic position than when it was started because the Strait of Hormuz is closed and 13 U.S. military members have been killed. Many others have been injured, and equipment has been destroyed.
“The American people’s trust in our military took 250 years to build. You are dismantling it in a fraction of that time,” Reed concluded.
In opening remarks, GOP Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi outlined threats to the United States he said were a “growing alliance” of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, saying the current moment represents “the most dangerous security environment since World War II.”
Saying Chinese President Xi Jinping led a “growing alliance” among the countries, Wicker said they shared a goal ”to oppose America’s interests and the interests of other like minded, democratic countries across the globe.”
“Ties have never been closer among these four dictators,” Wicker said. “Among these four dictatorships, they support each other’s aggressive endeavors.”
The Republican Florida governor told reporters Thursday he would not delay signing the new congressional map the GOP-dominated Legislature passed Wednesday at his and President Trump’s urging.
There had been some speculation that DeSantis could hold the bill for as long as possible — as much as two weeks or so depending on when the Legislature adjourns — to delay when the bill’s critics can file lawsuits challenging the measure.
The new map is intended to help Republicans gain as many as four more U.S. House seats in November, making the GOP advantage in Florida up to 24-4.
DeSantis said Wednesday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision curtailing the strength of nonwhite voters in redistricting vindicated his decision to call a special session for what he insists is a “race neutral” map.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is sitting before senators in what’s expected to be another fiery hearing on the Hill.
The defense secretary’s hearing is ostensibly to discuss the Pentagon’s $1.5 trillion budget request to Congress, but it’s the first time that senators will get to publicly question him since the Iran War began nearly two months ago. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, is also seated beside Hegseth.
The defense secretary also appeared for a House hearing Wednesday and he drew a large crowd of anti-war protesters to the hallways of the House office building where the hearing was held.
On Thursday, things feel a bit more low-key in the Senate, although there are a handful of people in the hearing room wearing pink shirts that state “Peace with Iran.”
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on Thursday spoke by video with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, China’s state media reported, ahead of a planned state visit by President Trump to Beijing in mid-May.
The two sides had a “candid, in-depth and constructive” exchange, the state broadcaster China Central Television said. The Chinese side lodged “solemn concerns” over recent restrictive trade measures imposed by the U.S. on China, but the statement didn’t specify the measures.
Last week, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned a China-based oil refinery and 40 shippers involved in transporting Iranian oil. The U.S. Trade Representative Office this week held a hearing on the use of forced labor in foreign goods.
The president is continuing to pillory German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who’s been increasingly critical of the U.S.-Israel war against Iran.
Trump in a social media post said Merz “should spend more time on ending the war with Russia/Ukraine” and “fixing his broken Country, especially Immigration and Energy” and less time concerning himself with the Iran war.
The latest criticism by Trump of Merz came the day after the U.S. president announced he was reviewing the U.S. military presence in Germany, a NATO ally that hosts several American military installations.
U.S. officials are appealing a judge’s order that blocks the government from cutting the number of vaccines recommended for every U.S. child.
Government lawyers on Wednesday filed the one-sentence appeal.
It was a delayed response to a March 16 order by U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy, who blocked an order by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. — announced in January — to end broad recommendations for all children to be vaccinated against flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis and RSV.
Murphy’s order also stopped a meeting of a Kennedy-appointed vaccine advisory committee. The stay continues while the appeal is considered.
The Trump administration is constrained by the 1973 law, which requires several notification and approval steps meant to keep a commander-in-chief’s military powers in check.
One of its provisions is that military action authorized by the president must end after 60 days unless Congress has explicitly approved it, or has declared war. That 60-day clock runs out Friday.
One White House official said the administration is in “active conversations” with lawmakers on addressing the deadline, but did not elaborate. The official was granted anonymity to discuss private deliberations. The administration can request a 30-day extension by telling Congress in writing that there’s a continued need for military action. The White House, which has long stressed that the president is working toward a diplomatic option in Iran, hasn’t indicated publicly whether Trump will seek that extension.
A boat sails past a tanker anchored on the Strait of Hormuz off the coast Qeshm island, Iran, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Asghar Besharati, File)
A boat sails past a tanker anchored on the Strait of Hormuz off the coast Qeshm island, Iran, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Asghar Besharati, File)
Under the plan, the United States would continue its blockade on Iranian ports, while coordinating with allies to impose higher costs on Iran’s attempts to subvert the free flow of energy, according to a senior administration official.
Trump is weighing multiple diplomatic and policy options to push Iran to end its chokehold on the waterway, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
U.S. jobless aid applications for the week ending April 25 fell by 26,000 to 189,000, down from the previous week’s 215,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s well below the 214,000 new applications analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet were expecting.
Filings for unemployment benefits are considered a proxy for U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.
The four-week moving average of jobless claims, which evens out some of the weekly volatility, came in at 207,500, about 3,500 lower than the previous week.
The total number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the previous week ending April 18 fell to 1.79 million, a decrease of 23,000.
The per-gallon prices for regular unleaded and diesel fuel are displayed on a sign outside a Murphy Express gasoline station, Tuesday, April 28, 2026, in Centennial, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
The per-gallon prices for regular unleaded and diesel fuel are displayed on a sign outside a Murphy Express gasoline station, Tuesday, April 28, 2026, in Centennial, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
But the outlook is clouded by the Iran war.
The Commerce Department reported Thursday that gross domestic product — the nation’s output of goods and services — rebounded from a lackluster 0.5% expansion the last three months of 2025. The federal government’s spending and investment grew at a 9.3% annual rate in the first quarter, adding more than half a percentage point to growth after lopping off 1.16 percentage points in fourth-quarter 2025.
Growth in consumer spending, which accounts for 70% of U.S. economic activity, slowed to 1.6% in the first quarter from 1.9% at the end of 2025. But business investment, likely driven by investments in artificial intelligence, rose at an 8.7% pace.
Iran has blocked the Strait of Hormuz through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passes. That has driven energy prices higher, fueling inflation and hurting consumers.
It’s the latest sign that the Iran war is pushing up the cost of living and delaying any interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
An inflation gauge monitored by the Fed rose 0.7% in March from February, up slightly from the previous month. Compared with a year ago, prices rose 3.5%, the biggest increase in almost three years.
Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core inflation rose 0.3% in March from February, and it was 3.2% higher than a year earlier. The annual figure is above February’s reading of 3%.
Rising gas prices have caused inflation to move further away from the Fed’s 2% target, which has caused the central bank to keep its key short-term interest rate unchanged after cutting it three times last year. The Fed typically keeps rates elevated — or even raises them — to combat higher inflation.
President Trump has again threatened that the United States could reduce its military presence in Germany, a key NATO ally and the European Union’s largest economy. Europeans have heard this before.
Trump’s social media post on Wednesday followed comments by Chancellor Friedrich Merz that the U.S. was being “humiliated” by Tehran as it slow-walks its diplomacy over the U.S.-Israel war against Iran.
Trump has mused for years about reducing America’s military presence in Germany, and has recently repeatedly railed against NATO for the its refusal to assist the U.S. in its two-month-old war.
U.S. allies at NATO have been waiting for the Trump administration to pull troops out since just after it came to office, warning that Europe would have to look after its own security, and that of Ukraine, in the future.
A divided federal appeals court said Wednesday it won’t grant a rare meeting of its active judges to hear an appeal of an $83 million verdict against President Donald Trump for defaming a magazine advice columnist over an encounter three decades ago.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision to reject a so-called “en banc” hearing comes several months after Trump appealed to the Supreme Court another jury’s decision to grant $5 million the writer, E. Jean Carroll, after concluding he had sexually abused her in a department store dressing room in 1996 and later defamed her. The high court hasn’t yet decided whether to hear the case.
Lawyers for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, said in a statement that her client was “eager for this case, originally filed in 2019, to be over so that she can finally obtain justice.”
Lee Zeldin, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, delivers a speech at the reception of the Indo-Pacific Energy Security Ministerial and Business Forum at U.S. Ambassador’s Residence Friday, March 13, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
Lee Zeldin, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, delivers a speech at the reception of the Indo-Pacific Energy Security Ministerial and Business Forum at U.S. Ambassador’s Residence Friday, March 13, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
Senate Democrats accused the Trump administration of abandoning the Environmental Protection Agency’s mission to protect human health and the environment at a congressional hearing Wednesday, slamming agency leadership over a proposal to cut its budget in half.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s appearance before the Senate environment committee was his last of three budget hearings this week where he argued for sharply reduced funding for the agency, which already has seen its staffing reduced to its lowest level in decades under his leadership. During much of the week, the former Republican congressman from New York took an aggressive approach, responding to Democrats in the House and Senate with his own questions and at times accusing them of being unprepared or failing to care about the EPA’s track record.
Zeldin has eliminated major climate change programs, promoted deregulatory efforts he calls the biggest in American history and canceled billions of dollars in Biden-era environmental justice grants to halt what he calls “EPA’s radical diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.”
The price of Brent crude oil briefly surged past $126 a barrel early Thursday as stalled U.S.-Iran talks raised doubts over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and a permanent end to the Iran war.
Brent crude to be delivered in June jumped 3.3% to $121.90 after briefly soaring past $126 per barrel. Brent to be delivered in July rose 1.4% to $112.02.
Benchmark U.S. crude climbed 1.3% to $108.28 per barrel.
Before the war began in late February, Brent crude was trading around $70 per barrel.
There’s no clear path to an end to the war. The U.S. has continued its blockade of Iranian ports while the Strait of Hormuz is closed, pushing oil prices higher. Reports Thursday suggesting a possible escalation by Trump doused hopes for a quick end to the conflict.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speaks at a news conference at the Federal Reserve, following the Federal Open Market Committee meeting, in Washington, Wednesday, April 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speaks at a news conference at the Federal Reserve, following the Federal Open Market Committee meeting, in Washington, Wednesday, April 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Jerome Powell said Wednesday he plans to remain on the board of the Federal Reserve after his term as chair ends next month “for a period of time, to be determined,” saying the “unprecedented” legal attacks by the Trump administration have put the independence of the nation’s central bank at risk.
“I worry these attacks are battering this institution and putting at risk the things that really matter to the public,” Powell said in remarks at a press conference after the Fed announced its decision to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged.
Powell’s decision to stay — the first time a Fed chair will remain on the board as a governor since 1948 — denies Trump a chance to fill a seat on the central bank’s seven-member governing board with his own appointee. The Senate Banking Committee earlier approved Powell’s successor as chair, Trump appointee Kevin Warsh, on a party-line vote. Powell will continue as a Fed governor, possibly until January 2028. Warsh, if confirmed, will take a seat currently held by Stephen Miran, a previous Trump appointee, whose term ended in January.
Hegseth will face a second day of grilling from Democrats on Capitol Hill, with senators getting their first opportunity on Thursday to confront or praise the Pentagon chief over his handling of the Iran war.
Hegseth battled with Democrats — and some Republicans — a day earlier during a nearly six-hour House Armed Services Committee hearing, where he faced sharp questioning over the war’s costs in dollars, lives and the diminishing stockpiles of critical weapons.
The Senate Armed Services Committee will hear a similar presentation on the Trump administration’s 2027 military budget proposal, which would boost defense spending to a historic $1.5 trillion. Hegseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, will again stress the need for more drones, missile defense systems and warships.
They are now also likely to face tough questions about American troop levels in Europe after President Donald Trump on Wednesday leveled a new threat against NATO ally Germany, suggesting he could soon reduce the U.S. military presence in the country as he feuds with Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the Iran war.