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The US House of Representatives passed on Tuesday a budget blueprint designed to deliver President Donald Trump’s hardline agenda on immigration, tax reform and deep government spending cuts. It was the first real test of Trump’s agenda in Congress, and after a nail-biting session, the Republicans’ resolution passed by 217 to 215, with a lone ruling party holdout joining all of the chamber’s Democrats in voting against.The resolution sets the blueprint for the 2025 federal government budget, with House committees now tasked with finding more than $1.5 trillion in spending reductions and $4.5 trillion in extended tax cuts over a decade.Democrats say the cuts, as mandated in the resolution, will target social welfare programs, including Medicaid, which many lower-income US families rely on.Republicans, however, touted the resolution as being necessary to fund President Trump’s agenda.”Today, House Republicans moved Congress closer to delivering on President Trump’s full America First agenda — not just parts of it,” said Speaker Mike Johnson. It had not been plain sailing for Johnson, a key Trump ally who spent days corralling members of his own party to back the bill.Some Republicans had suggested the proposed cuts did not go deep enough, while others were focused on stopping the ever-growing US national debt or worried about Medicaid cuts.In a dramatic turn of events, Republican leaders pulled the vote at the last minute on Tuesday night, as they held intense negotiations with holdouts from their own party. Then, minutes later, they called it once again.- ‘Not one’ vote -Looming over Tuesday’s debate was the March 14 deadline for Congress to agree a budget proposal outline or face a US government shutdown.Democrats had set a defiant tone ahead of the vote, vowing not to provide their opponents with a single vote.”Let me be clear, House Democrats will not provide a single vote to this reckless Republican budget. Not one,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. One of the Democratic unmet demands was an assurance that funding approved by Congress is actually spent — rather than being chopped by Trump’s billionaire adviser Elon Musk, whose so-called Department of Government Efficiency is seeking to slash the entire US budget.While Democrats held the line, it proved ultimately not to matter, with at least three Republican holdouts choosing to flip their votes to back the bill.The lone remaining Republican ‘no’ vote was from Representative Thomas Massie, who consistently criticized the proposal as not cutting the budget deficit enough.”Their own numbers, if the Republican plan passes, under the rosiest assumptions which aren’t even true, we’re going to add $328 billion to the deficit this year,” he said ahead of the vote.- ‘Big beautiful bill’ -The debate on the resolution boiled down to where the more than $1.5 trillion in spending cuts that will fund Trump’s extended tax credits — which he put in place in his first term, and which expire at the end of the year — and programs will come from.With the resolution in its current form, Republicans appear set to make up to $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid and other social safety net programs, including food stamps, if they want to extend the tax cuts. Such a move could weaken Republican lawmakers in politically vulnerable districts for the midterm elections, due in two years. Johnson has suggested factoring Musk’s spending cuts and revenue earned from Trump’s rash of trade tariffs into the budget to address the deficit.Last week, the Senate passed a competing budget blueprint that did not include the tax cuts, but President Trump had pushed for “one big beautiful bill” to come from the House.On Tuesday, he appeared to soften his stance, but would no doubt be pleased with the final outcome, with the House now tasked with building and passing a budget bill, before it goes to the Senate.Speaker Johnson said he expected to have the budget on Trump’s desk at the White House by early May. 

US President Donald Trump unveiled plans Tuesday to sell new “gold card” residency permits for a price of $5 million each — and said Russian oligarchs may be eligible.Trump said sales of the new visa, a high-price version of the traditional green card, would bring in job creators and could be used to reduce the US national deficit.”We’re going to be selling a gold card. You have a green card, this is a gold card. We’re going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.The Republican president, who has made the deportation of millions of undocumented migrants a priority of his second term, said the new card would be a route to highly prized US citizenship.”A lot of people are going to want to be in this country, and they’ll be able to work and provide jobs and build companies,” Trump said. “It’ll be people with money.”Sales of the cards would start in about two weeks, Trump added.”We’ll be able to sell maybe a million of these cards. We have it all worked out from a legal standpoint,” Trump added.The billionaire former real estate tycoon said that all applicants for the new gold cards would be carefully vetted.But asked if wealthy Russians would also be able to apply, Trump said it was a possibility.”Possibly. I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people. It’s possible,” Trump said. “They’re not as wealthy as they used to be. I think they can. I think they can afford $5 million.”A number of Russian oligarchs have been hit by western sanctions since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine three years ago.Trump has caused shock in European capitals by suddenly opening negotiations with Russia to end the war, amid fears that he could be willing to sell Ukraine short.The US president told reporters that lifting sanctions on Russia was possible “at some point” but was not currently on the table.US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, standing at Trump’s side in the Oval Office, said of the gold cards that “we can use that money to reduce our deficit.”Trump, who has branded a series of hotels and casinos in a long business career, even suggested the new cards could also be named after him.”Somebody said, ‘Can we call it the Trump gold card?’ I said, ‘If it helps, use the name Trump,'” he said.

An exclusive menu of cocktails for Hollywood’s hottest night was unveiled Tuesday, as the drinks for the Oscars after party were announced.Tequila will feature heavily as Mexico-set narco musical “Emilia Perez” vies for a number of Academy Awards.Celebrities partying it up at the Governors Ball after scooping a statuette — or looking to drown their sorrows after missing out to a rival — will be offered a slate of drinks underpinned by the spirit.They include “The Clear Winner,” which features a block of ice with a white Oscar figurine inside, bathed in tequila, lime juice, tamarind and flor de Jamaica tea.”Standing Ovation” offers a pick-me-up for those looking to party the night away, blending espresso and tequila with fig syrup and smoked salt water.”Class Act” matches lemon juice, milk, syrup and tequila, while “Golden Age Gimlet” offers rosemary-infused Lillet Blanc, apple cordial, syrup and tequila.For those on the wagon, “The Thespian” blends agave, lime and mango syrup.Mixologist Charles Joly, who created the menu with Eric Van Beek, told AFP the drinks were a celebration.”We’re celebrating actors, were celebrating directors, we’re celebrating cinema,” he said.The drinks, which were crafted specially for Hollywood’s biggest evening, begin with a simple idea, said Joly.”What’s important this year? What do we want to kind of get through to people? And it’s the flavors of Mexico. It’s highlighting the tequilas,” he said.Stars will also be able to help themselves to Lallier champagne, which is making its debut at the party this year. And for those rare celebs who are not on a diet, there will be all manner of sumptuous offerings from top-notch Austrian chef Wolfgang Puck, whose Spago restaurant in Los Angeles is very much a place to be seen.Puck, who has been feeding stars at the Oscars party for three decades, will serve appetizers including small smoked salmon statuettes, tuna tartare and mini Wagyu burgers.There will also be chicken pot pie, macaroni and cheese, and agnolotti with peas. More than thirty different desserts will be on offer at the gala.And for those who didn’t get their hands on the real thing, there will be plenty of solid chocolate statuettes, which can be savored slowly, taken home for the kids, or have their heads bitten off, depending on how the evening went.The 97th Oscars takes place in Hollywood this Sunday.

The White House on Tuesday stripped journalists of the nearly century-old power to decide which of them cover US presidential events, with Donald Trump boasting that he was now “calling those shots” on media access.Trump’s spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt made the surprise announcement at a daily briefing, saying that the independent White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) would no longer have a “monopoly” on choosing members of the “press pool.” The press pool is a small group of reporters that covers the US president in often cramped spaces like the Oval Office and Air Force One, and shares their material with other news organizations.The WHCA — of which AFP is a member — said the decision “tears at the independence of the free press.” The 78-year-old Trump was in the Oval Office — with a pile of red baseball caps on his desk saying “Trump was right about everything” — when he was asked to comment on the move.”We’re going to be calling those shots,” Trump said about media access.The move came amid an escalating battle between the White House and the Associated Press news agency, which Trump has barred from presidential events in a row over his renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.”- ‘Intimate spaces’ -Former reality TV star Trump — who has long had an antagonistic relationship with the media even as he courts their attention — called AP “terrible” and “radical left.” The Republican then turned towards a map saying “Gulf of America” behind him and added: “I’m just admiring it as I look at it. I’m getting teary eyed.”The history of the White House “press pool” goes back nearly a century. It has long been a way of pooling resources among competing outlets, especially in cramped spaces in the West Wing.But Leavitt, the youngest White House press secretary in history at age 27, said the WHCA had “long dictated which journalists get to ask questions of the president of the United States in these most intimate spaces.” “Not anymore. I am proud to announce that we are going to give the power back to the people,” she added. “Moving forward, the White House press pool will be determined by the White House press team.”Leavitt said “legacy outlets” would still be allowed to join the press pool, but that access would also be opened to “deserving outlets who have never been allowed to share in this awesome responsibility.”She appeared flanked by two large video screens saying “Victory” and “Gulf of America.”Shortly afterward, senior White House advisor Jason Miller said on X: “R.I.P. @WHCA 1914-2025″ along with a picture of mourners bearing a coffin.- ‘Free country’ -The press pool on the presidential jet consists of 13 newspaper and wire service journalists, photographers and TV and radio reporters, while for events in the White House itself it is slightly larger.Some organizations have permanent places while others rotate through positions. Details of the White House’s changes weren’t immediately available.WHCA President Eugene Daniels criticized the move, saying the White House had not given any advance notification.”This move tears at the independence of a free press in the United States. It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president,” Daniels said in a statement.”In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps.”Fox News Senior White House Correspondent Jacqui Heinrich, a WHCA board member, said on X: “This move does not give the power back to the people — it gives power to the White House.”The move is the latest in a series of controversial attempts by Trump to stamp his mark on everything from the US bureaucracy to the media since his second term began on January 20.The White House began blocking Associated Press journalists from presidential events two weeks ago over the Gulf of Mexico row.A US judge on Monday declined to immediately order the White House to restore full access to the agency, but set a date next month for a more extensive hearing.

US President Donald Trump’s hardline agenda on everything from immigration to tax reform faced a key reality test in Congress on Tuesday, where Republicans have an ultra-thin majority and are struggling to agree on a budget.Members of the House of Representatives are to vote on a resolution that would set the blueprint for the 2025 federal government budget, with more than $1.5 trillion in spending reductions and $4.5 trillion in extended tax cuts over a decade on the docket.Republican Speaker Mike Johnson, a key Trump ally, has been working to corral his party’s lawmakers to back the bill, which Democrats say will result in deep cuts to the Medicaid program that many lower-income US families rely on.Johnson has been pressured by his own party, too, and on Tuesday hinted that the vote may get pushed back.The speaker said Republicans were “very, very close” to a deal.Lawmakers have opened the debate on the resolution, which those in favor argue is needed to fund Trump’s agenda.Some Republicans suggest the proposed cuts do not go deep enough, while others are focused on stopping the ever-growing US national debt or worried about Medicaid cuts.Republicans across the country faced opposition to the resolution in their constituencies last week, US media reported, with most protests focusing on cuts to social welfare programs.Trump’s party has only a 218-215 cushion over the Democrats in the House, meaning it can afford only one defection, assuming all the opposition members vote against.On Monday, Johnson conceded that he would likely need to find help from across the aisle.- ‘Not one’ vote -Looming over Tuesday’s debate is the March 14 deadline for Congress to agree a budget proposal outline or face a US government shutdown.For Democrats, this is a test of their willingness to play hardball. “Let me be clear, House Democrats will not provide a single vote to this reckless Republican budget. Not one,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. One of the Democratic demands is an assurance that funding approved by Congress is actually spent — rather than being chopped by Trump’s billionaire adviser Elon Musk, whose so-called Department of Government Efficiency is seeking to slash the entire US budget.Republicans have shown no willingness to limit Trump’s power, with some even seeking to codify Musk’s cuts.On Tuesday, Senate majority leader John Thune addressed the possibility the impasse could lead to another government shutdown.”We’re keeping all options on the table,” he said. “But we are running out of time.”- ‘Big beautiful bill’ -Ultimately, the debate boils down to where the more than $1.5 trillion in spending cuts that will fund Trump’s extended tax credits — which he put in place in his first term, and which expire at the end of the year — and programs will come from.With the resolution in its current form, Republicans appear set to make huge cuts to Medicaid and other social safety net programs, including food stamps, if they want to extend the tax cuts. Such a move would weaken Republican lawmakers in politically vulnerable districts for the midterm elections, due in two years. Johnson has suggested factoring Musk’s spending cuts and revenue earned from Trump’s rash of trade tariffs into the budget to address the deficit.”We have new revenue inputs that really ought to be factored into this,” he said at a forum on Monday.Last week, the Senate — where Republicans hold a slim majority — passed a competing budget blueprint that does not include tax cuts, with leaders saying they would vote on those separately.Trump, however, has pushed for “one big beautiful bill” to come from the House.On Tuesday, he appeared to soften that stance, saying he was “not involved” in the effort to wrangle votes for the House resolution.”The house has a bill and the Senate has a bill, and I’m looking at them both, and I’ll make decisions, but I don’t know where they are in the vote,” said Trump.

Roughly a third of staffers at Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have resigned in protest, saying that they will not push through demanded changes that put the country at risk.”We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations,” 21 staffers of DOGE wrote in a letter, seen by AFP on Tuesday, to White House chief of staff Susan Wiles.”However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments,” they added.The workers initially worked for the United States Digital Service, which was transformed into DOGE after President Donald Trump took office on January 20th, with Musk effectively taking over the department.Musk is the political force behind DOGE, with a small group of employees faithful to the multi-billionaire being dispatched across government and working toward gutting federal staffing and spending.While Musk is not the formal administrator of DOGE, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO is nonetheless directing operations and will even attend Trump’s first cabinet meeting on Wednesday.The world’s wealthiest person and a top Trump donor, Musk has no ministerial portfolio or formal decision-making authority but has status as a “special government employee” and “senior adviser to the president.”He downplayed the significance of the departures, saying that the workers were “political holdovers” who worked remotely and refused to return to the office as ordered by Trump.”They would have been fired had they not resigned,” he added on X, the platform he owns.The signatories describe a chaotic transition process that began on January 21 with hastily conducted interviews by unidentified individuals wearing White House visitor badges.The interviewers questioned staff about political loyalty, attempted to create division among team members, and displayed “limited technical ability.”Tensions escalated on February 14 when approximately one-third of USDS staff were abruptly terminated via anonymous email.The dismissed employees had been working on modernizing critical government systems including Social Security, veterans’ services, tax filing, healthcare, and disaster relief platforms, the letter said.”Their removal endangers millions of Americans who rely on these services every day. The sudden loss of their technology expertise makes critical systems and Americans’ data less safe,” the letter stated.The employees explicitly refused to participate in what they described as efforts to “compromise core government systems, jeopardize Americans’ sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services.”- Software for firing -The USDS was established in 2014 during Barack Obama’s administration and has historically operated as a non-partisan technology unit tasked with improving government digital services.The mass resignation came days after Musk engineered a mass email to the federal government’s two million workers, ordering them to justify their work in an email or risk being fired.Government departments on Monday largely told staff to either ignore the DOGE-inspired email or downplayed the risks of not answering it.According to Wired magazine, engineers at DOGE are working on new software that could assist mass firings of federal workers across the government.So far, thousands of mainly probationary workers — employees who are recently hired, promoted, or otherwise changed roles — have been terminated since Trump’s inauguration.The new software would streamline the dismissal process, known as a reduction in force, for firing federal workers with stronger civil service protections.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday visited Guantanamo, the US military base in Cuba known for holding suspected militants that President Donald Trump’s administration is now using to detain undocumented migrants.Trump unveiled a surprise plan last month to hold up to 30,000 migrants at the base — a facility notorious for abuses against terror suspects detained after the September 11, 2001 attacks — as part of his sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration.”Arrived at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay on the front lines of the war against America’s southern border,” Hegseth wrote in a post on X that included a video of him saluting and shaking hands with troops at the base in southeastern Cuba, where he once served as a military officer.He later posted that he had toured the detention facilities at the base, saying it is “a critical temporary stop in processing these dangerous illegal aliens for eventual removal from our country.”A Pentagon announcement on Hegseth’s trip said it “underscores the department’s commitment to ensuring the security and operational effectiveness” of the base and “provides an opportunity to engage with the dedicated service members and personnel who play a vital role in the base’s mission.”The United States began flying migrants to Guantanamo earlier this month, more than 170 of whom were repatriated to Venezuela last week.-‘Unparalleled notoriety’ -US Southern Command said Tuesday there were “17 high threat illegal aliens” who arrived at the base over the weekend and are being held there.Hegseth posted on X on Tuesday that he had witnessed the arrival of a US military aircraft carrying more detained migrants, but did not specify how many.The Trump administration has launched what it cast as a major effort to combat illegal migration that has included immigration raids, arrests and deportations, including via Guantanamo.The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other advocacy groups said earlier this month that they had filed a suit seeking access to migrants held at the base.”By hurrying immigrants off to a remote island cut off from lawyers, family, and the rest of the world, the Trump administration is sending its clearest signal yet that the rule of law means nothing to it,” Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said at the time.The Guantanamo prison was opened in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and has been used to indefinitely hold detainees seized during the wars and other operations that followed.Conditions there have prompted outcry from rights groups, and UN experts have condemned it as a site of “unparalleled notoriety.”The base still holds 15 people incarcerated for militant activity or terrorism-related offenses, among them several accused plotters of the 9/11 attacks, including self-proclaimed mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order putting a halt to refugee admissions in the United States.The ruling by a district judge in Seattle came in response to a lawsuit filed by refugee aid groups, and marks the latest legal setback to the president’s efforts to re-shape America’s relationship with immigration.Granting a preliminary injunction that prevents the executive order from taking effect until the court case is adjudicated, US District Judge Jamal Whitehead said the executive order likely violates the 1980 Refugee Act, the Seattle Times reported.Trump’s order was part of a flurry of executive actions the president took when he arrived at the White House in January, with a number of them taking aim at immigration and the border.The order, signed with a flourish in the Oval Office in front of cameras, said the refugee program was “detrimental to the interests of the United States.”Days later, federal funding to resettlement agencies was frozen.The lawsuit had been brought by Jewish refugee non-profit HIAS, Christian group Church World Service, Lutheran Community Services Northwest and a number of individuals.Those nonprofits said in their lawsuit the funding freeze had left them “struggling to keep their lights on and their staff employed, let alone continue to serve the vulnerable refugees at the core of their missions.”It said several people who had been about to travel, having sold all their belongings in their own country, were abruptly left in limbo by the order.There are no readily available official figures for the number of people affected by Trump’s order.But in 2023, the last year for which numbers are available, 60,050 people were admitted to the United States as refugees, according to the Department for Homeland Security.Refugee resettlement had been one of the few legal routes to eventual US citizenship, and had been embraced by former president Joe Biden, who expanded eligibility for the program to include people affected by climate change.Trump’s White House campaign was marked by vitriol about immigrants, who he said were “poisoning the blood of our country.”Other Trump initiatives since his return to office have included an attempt to overturn the constitutional notion of birthright citizenship. That order has also been suspended by federal judges.He has also pushed a vigorous program of deportations, with highly publicized military flights taking handcuffed people to countries in Latin America.The UN high commissioner for refugees estimates that there are 37.9 million refugees in the world, among some 122.6 million displaced people.

A Missouri woman pleaded guilty on Tuesday to hatching a “brazen scheme” to steal ownership of Graceland, the historic home of Elvis Presley, from the family of the King of Rock and Roll and put it up for auction.Lisa Jeanine Findley had falsely claimed that Elvis’s only child, Lisa Marie Presley, had pledged the historic landmark as collateral for a loan that she failed to repay before her death.Findley, who is in her early 50s, pleaded guilty in a federal court in Tennessee to one count of mail fraud in exchange for the dismissal of a separate count of identity theft, according to court documents.Nicole Argentieri, the former head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said Findley had created numerous false documents with forged signatures as “part of the brazen scheme.”Findley claimed that Lisa Marie Presley, who died in January 2023, had borrowed $3.8 million in 2018 from a company called Naussany Investments, pledging Graceland as collateral for the loan, and failed to repay the debt.A foreclosure sale of Graceland had been scheduled to be held in May, but a Tennessee judge blocked the auction of the Memphis property at the last minute after Elvis’s granddaughter, actress Riley Keough, filed a lawsuit alleging the loan documents were forgeries.Findley faces a maximum of 20 years in prison but is likely to receive a lesser sentence as the result of her plea agreement.Judge John Thomas Fowlkes, Jr set sentencing for June 18.

The White House announced Tuesday that it would decide which journalists get access to President Donald Trump’s events — removing the power from an independent association of media outlets that has done so for decades.The move comes amid a legal battle with the Associated Press news agency, which the White House has barred from events in spaces such as the Oval Office and Air Force One in a row over the naming of the Gulf of Mexico. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) had “long dictated” which journalists were in the so-called “pool,” the small group of journalists given access to “intimate spaces.””Not anymore. I am proud to announce that we are going to give the power back to the people who read your papers, who watch your television shows and who listen to your radio stations,” Leavitt said.”Moving forward, the White House press pool will be determined by the White House press team.” AFP is a member of the White House Correspondents Association and is part of the White House pool.Leavitt said that “legacy outlets” would still be allowed to join the press pool, but that access would also be opened to “deserving outlets who have never been allowed to share in this awesome responsibility.”The White House began blocking Associated Press journalists from the presidential events two weeks ago over the wire service’s decision to keep using “Gulf of Mexico,” despite a Trump executive order renaming the body of water as the “Gulf of America.”A US judge on Monday declined to immediately order the White House to restore full access to the agency, but set a date next month for a more extensive hearing about the dispute.