Category: Blog

U.S. President Donald Trump addressed concerns Wednesday that legislation funding the federal government past a March 14 deadline would include controversial cuts to social safety net programs such as Medicaid and Social Security.  “We’re not going to touch it,” Trump told reporters, “Now we are going to look for fraud. I’m sure you’re OK with that, like people that shouldn’t be off, people that are illegal aliens and other criminals.”   Those cuts are one of the issues lawmakers are racing to resolve before a short-term spending bill runs out in just over two weeks. The House of Representatives passed a budget resolution 217-215 late Tuesday when Speaker of the House Mike Johnson secured enough votes from within his party.   “We promised to deliver President [Donald] Trump’s full agenda, not just a part of it, not just a little bit of it now and return for the rest,” Johnson told reporters earlier Tuesday.    The House and Senate bills will now have to be compromised to be signed into law.   Before the vote, several members of the House Republican conference were still concerned about the size of the spending measure, how and when to enact a proposed extension of the 2017 tax cuts, and the political impact of cutting social safety net programs that benefit many American voters.     “Not only are we working to find savings for the American taxpayer, a better, more efficient use of their dollar, which we are morally obligated to do, we also have a moral obligation to bend the curve on the debt,” Johnson said Tuesday.    Trump has called for lawmakers to pass “one big, beautiful bill” that will be a key part of enacting his domestic policy agenda.    Despite Trump expressing his preference for the House version of the budget, the Senate last week passed a funding resolution that provides $150 billion in military funding and $175 billion for border security. That measure also avoids the controversial Medicaid cuts of the House version.    In a statement Wednesday, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham warned, “Time is of the essence when it comes to border security. ICE will run out of money in weeks, not months. Stalling President Trump’s border security agenda is not only bad politics, it is dangerous.”  Trump posted on Truth Social last week that “The House and Senate are doing a SPECTACULAR job of working … “US lawmakers seek compromise on government funding bills” →

Ukraine and the United States are set to sign a landmark minerals agreement, marking a significant step toward strengthening economic ties between the two nations. However, security experts tell VOA that concerns persist about the broader implications of the deal.  Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers approved the agreement Wednesday and U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit the White House on Friday to sign it. The deal includes provisions for the co-ownership and management of a post-war reconstruction fund for Ukraine, to which Ukraine will allocate 50% of future revenues from the country’s natural resources. The agreement states that the U.S. will maintain a “long-term financial commitment to the development of a stable and economically prosperous Ukraine.”  The deal makes no direct reference to efforts to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, though, or about future security arrangements for the Eastern European country, apart from a single line: “The Government of the United States of America supports Ukraine’s efforts to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace.”  While the deal aims to unlock Ukraine’s mineral wealth and bolster its economic recovery, security experts warn it may fall short in addressing Ukraine’s ongoing security challenges amid continued Russian aggression.  American business perspective  Andy Hunder, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, explained to VOA by telephone that the deal aims to establish a new American-Ukrainian fund, focusing on state-owned enterprises and Ukraine’s rich subsoil resources, including gas, oil, and critical minerals. A representative of American business in Ukraine, Hunder expressed optimism about the agreement’s potential impact: “We’re excited. Professional fund managers can turn these enterprises profitable very quickly. This is a win-win for both Ukrainian and American taxpayers,” he told VOA on Wednesday.  Hunder said the fund could unlock profits rapidly by introducing professional management to Ukraine’s state-owned enterprises, which currently face mismanagement issues.  “Ukraine has the second highest number of state-owned enterprises in the world, many of which are being managed, or some are being mismanaged, by the Ukrainian state. So, I think we get new professional fund managers into these entities, and this is where you could seal profits and turn them around very, very quickly,” he said.   Hunder revealed that discussions about Ukrainian economic potential were high on the agenda between the two countries in 2024, “[s]tarting when Senator Lindsey Graham came in March and May of 2024, and we have looked … “Security experts highlight pros, cons of Ukraine-US minerals deal” →

The United States said Wednesday it is nearing a deal on Ukraine’s lucrative rare earth minerals needed for technology products to compensate Washington for the more than $100 billion worth of munitions it has sent to Kyiv to defend itself against Russia’s three-year war of aggression. “We’re very close to the finish line,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. In Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at a news conference that the framework of an economic deal is complete, but that U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine that the Kyiv government views as vital have yet to be settled. Zelenskyy is expected to visit Washington on Friday for talks with President Donald Trump, who has long expressed skepticism about continued U.S. military support for Ukraine. In recent weeks, he has refused to say he wants Ukraine to win the war and has initiated talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin without Kyiv’s involvement to settle the conflict that started with Russia’s invasion three years ago this week. Trump said Tuesday of Zelenskyy, “Certainly, it’s okay with me if he’d like to” visit the White House. “He would like to sign [the economic deal] together with me. I understand that. It’s a big deal.” Trump has called Zelenskyy a dictator, without blaming Putin for the invasion. The U.S. leader has said he is particularly peeved that his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, agreed to the Ukraine military assistance without any provision that Ukraine would pay back the cost. Biden led the coalition of Western allies in providing the military aid to fight Russian aggression without sending their own troops to fight alongside Ukrainian forces. Zelenskyy says the U.S. military aid was a grant and not a loan that needed to be repaid. Zelenskyy said he expects to have wide-ranging substantive discussions with Trump. “I want to coordinate with the U.S.,” Zelenskyy said. The Ukrainian leader said he wants to know whether the U.S. plans to halt military aid and, if so, whether Ukraine would be able to purchase weapons directly from the U.S. He also wants to know whether Ukraine can use frozen Russian assets for weapons investments and whether Washington plans to lift its economic sanctions on Russian entities and high-level associates and friends of Putin. Elements of the deal Earlier, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told the country’s public television channel that Ukraine and the United States had reached … “US, Ukraine near minerals deal, but security issues unsettled” →

Most homebuyers get to know the people who live next door after they move in. But a new real estate app allows future homebuyers to learn a potential neighbor’s political leanings before they make what, for many people, is the biggest purchase of their life. “The purpose of Oyssey [the app] is to democratize data for buyers in their home search experience … to get you, as a prospective buyer, a feel for the area and community,” says Darian Kelly, co-founder of Oyssey. “It’s to get you to the understanding of, when I move here, these are the type of people that I might be inviting over for dinner. The type of people that I will be raising my child alongside.” The Oyssey data is pulled from sources like election results, campaign contributions and information from marketing research firms. The app has only launched in Florida and New York so far, but its founders say they expect to take it nationwide later this year. Realtors subscribe to Oyssey and then give their homebuyer clients access to the service. For the initial launch, the platform breaks down political affiliation block by block, but Kelly says potential homebuyers will eventually be able to look up whether their prospective new neighbor is a registered Democrat or Republican. Ben McCartney, an assistant professor of commerce at the University of Virginia, co-authored a study published in 2024 that found that 1 of every 100 moves is politically motivated, and that the people most likely to relocate for this reason tend to be less involved in politics. “They don’t want politics to be part of their everyday life, but then they get a new neighbor, and that new neighbor is not only very politically vocal, but also affiliated with the opposite party, and there’s where we see the strongest tensions arise,” McCartney says. The study found that current residents are slightly more likely to move away if they get new neighbors with different political views than if the new neighbor is affiliated with the same political party. “So, political polarization isn’t just a social media phenomenon but is affecting real economic decisions, as well,” McCartney says. The study found the numbers of Democrats and Republicans who wanted to move away from neighbors with different political views to be roughly even. That’s why an app like Oyssey makes sense to McCartney. “People do seem to care about … “New app lets homebuyers know about future neighbor’s politics “ →

Ukrainian officials said Wednesday that Russian aerial attacks in the Kyiv and Donetsk regions killed at least seven people.    Donetsk Governor Vadym Filashkin said on Telegram that preliminary information indicates Russian forces used guided bombs to hit the city of Kostyantynivka, killing at least five people and injuring eight others.  In the Kyiv region, Governor Mykola Kalashnyk said Russian attacks killed at least two people and injured two others.  Kalashnyk said on Telegram that the attack also damaged nine houses and four multi-story residential buildings.   The Ukrinform news agency said journalist Tetyana Kulyk was one of those killed. It said a Russian drone struck her house.    Fragments from destroyed drones damaged apartment buildings, a university building, and a theater in the Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine, the regional governor said Wednesday.     Ukraine’s military said Wednesday it shot down 110 of the 177 drones that Russian forces used in their latest overnight attacks.     Russia’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday its air defenses destroyed 130 Ukrainian drones, more than half of which were shot down over the Krasnodar region located along the Black Sea.     Krasnodar Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said on Telegram that the attacks damaged homes in three districts but did not hurt anyone.     Russian air defenses also shot down drones over Russia-occupied Crimea, the Sea of Azov, the Black Sea and Russia’s Bryansk and Kursk regions, the Defense Ministry said.     Some information for this story was provided by Agence France-Presse and Reuters.  …

PENTAGON — President Donald Trump’s nominee for deputy secretary of defense is warning that China’s military is resolute on surpassing the United States and is calling for a fix to “significant” military shortages at a time when administration leaders are trying to make big budget cuts. “China is incredibly determined, they feel a great sense of urgency, and they’ll be fully dedicated to becoming the strongest nation in the world and having dominance over the United States,” Steve Feinberg told members of the Senate Armed Service Committee on Tuesday.   Feinberg, a businessman and investor, said the U.S. military shortages include “shipbuilding, nuclear modernization, aircraft development, cyber defense, hypersonics, counter space, defending our satellites [and] counter drones.” “We really need to plug these shortages, focus on our priorities, get rid of legacy programs, be very disciplined, while at the same time focusing on the economics. If we do that, given America’s great innovative capability, entrepreneurship, we will defeat China. If we don’t, our very national security is at risk,” Feinberg said. The hearing comes as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has called on the department to cut 8% — roughly $50 billion — to reinvest in priorities aligned with a “more lethal fighting force.” Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Tuesday pushed back against the move saying, “Slashing the defense budget will not create efficiency in our military. It will cripple it.” The concern about cuts to the military has echoed on both sides of the aisle. Republican committee Chairman Roger Wicker told the Breaking Defense news organization last month that he hoped to increase defense spending by as much as $200 billion in coming years. And Republican Senator Dan Sullivan on Tuesday called for prioritizing solutions to shipbuilding to counter threats from China and others. “We’re in the worst crisis in shipbuilding in over 40 years. The Chinese are building a giant navy. It’s already bigger than ours,” he said. China’s military has about 370 warships, according to the Pentagon’s latest China Military Power Report, while the U.S. military has about 300. Feinberg acknowledged that the shipbuilding shortage is “a tough problem” for the military. “Our supply chain is definitely weak. Our workforce needs to be improved. But a big piece of improving our supply chain is working more closely with our private sector. We have companies that can get at where our … “Nominee for No. 2 spot at Pentagon warns China ‘incredibly determined’ to surpass US” →

U.S. consumer confidence plunged in February in its biggest monthly decline in more than four years, a business research group said Tuesday. The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index dropped from 105.3 in January to 98.3 this month, the largest month-to-month decline since August 2021. With U.S. consumer spending accounting for about 70% of the world’s largest economy, the three major stock indexes on Wall Street all fell on news of the report. The tech-heavy NASDAQ dropped by more than a percentage point. The Conference Board said in a statement, “Views of current labor market conditions weakened. Consumers became pessimistic about future business conditions and less optimistic about future income. Pessimism about future employment prospects worsened and reached a 10-month high.” Separately, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent contended Tuesday that the U.S. economy is more fragile under the surface than economic indicators suggest, and he vowed to “reprivatize” growth by cutting government spending and regulation. In his first major economic policy address, Bessent told a group at the Australian Embassy in Washington that interest rate volatility, enduring inflation and reliance on the public sector for job growth have hobbled the American economy, despite general national economic growth and low unemployment. Bessent blamed “prolific overspending” under former President Joe Biden and regulations that have hindered supply-side growth as the main drivers of “sticky inflation.” “The previous administration’s over-reliance on excessive government spending and overbearing regulation left us with an economy that may have exhibited some reasonable metrics but ultimately was brittle underneath,” he said. Bessent said that 95% of all job growth in the past 12 months has been concentrated in public and government-adjacent sectors, such as health care and education, jobs offering slower wage growth and less productivity than private-sector jobs. Meanwhile, he said jobs in manufacturing, metals, mining and information technology all contracted or flatlined over the same period. “The private sector has been in recession,” Bessent said. “Our goal is to reprivatize the economy.” Consumers had appeared increasingly confident heading toward the end of 2024 and spent generously during the holiday season. But U.S. retail sales dropped sharply in January, with unusually cold weather throughout much of the U.S. taking some of the blame. Retail sales fell 0.9% last month from December, the Commerce Department reported last week. The decline, the biggest in a year, came after two months of robust gains. With inflation remaining a concern … “US consumer confidence drops sharply, survey shows” →

WASHINGTON — The United States has expanded an existing visa restriction policy to target Cuban officials believed to be tied to a labor program that sends Cuban workers overseas, particularly health care workers, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday. In a statement, Rubio said the expanded restrictions target individuals and immediate family members of individuals believed to be responsible for the program, which he described as “forced labor.” The U.S. has already imposed restrictions on several people, including some Venezuelans, he added. The Caribbean island nation’s health service generates major export earnings by sending health workers around the world. “Cuba’s labor export programs, which include the medical missions, enrich the Cuban regime, and in the case of Cuba’s overseas medical missions, deprive ordinary Cubans of the medical care they desperately need in their home country,” Rubio said. The Cuban government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The United States and Cuba have had a strained relationship since Fidel Castro took over in a 1959 revolution, and a U.S. trade embargo has been in place for decades. …

For more than 50 years, WHUR has been broadcasting to listeners in the U.S. capital from Howard University, a historically black institution. A commercial station owned by the university, it offers music, news and education opportunities. During Black History Month, VOA’s Cristina Caicedo Smit met the team behind the unique station. …

Washington — The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out the murder conviction and death penalty for Richard Glossip, an Oklahoma man who has steadfastly maintained his innocence and averted multiple attempts by the state to execute him. The justices found that Glossip’s trial violated his constitutional rights. The justices heard arguments in October in a case that produced a rare alliance in which lawyers for Glossip and the state argued that the high court should overturn Glossip’s conviction and death sentence because he did not get a fair trial. The victim’s relatives had told the high court that they want to see Glossip executed. Oklahoma’s top criminal appeals court had repeatedly upheld the conviction and sentence, even after the state sided with Glossip. Glossip was convicted and sentenced to death in the 1997 killing in Oklahoma City of his former boss, motel owner Barry Van Treese, in what prosecutors have alleged was a murder-for-hire scheme. Glossip has always maintained his innocence. Another man, Justin Sneed, admitted robbing Van Treese and beating him to death with a baseball bat but testified he only did so after Glossip promised to pay him $10,000. Sneed received a life sentence in exchange for his testimony and was the key witness against Glossip. …

U.S. President Donald Trump plans to send 30,000 undocumented migrants to Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. naval base in Cuba. While it is most well known for housing terror suspects after 9/11 — and for drawing condemnation from human rights groups — Guantanamo has been occasionally used as a processing center for immigrants trying to reach the U.S., mostly from Haiti and Cuba. Although Guantanamo’s Migrant Operations Center is separate from the high-security jail, that doesn’t mean it has escaped scrutiny. …

The Trump administration has proposed punitive new fees on international shipping that would target vessels owned by Chinese companies or manufactured in Chinese shipyards, promising to dramatically alter the economics of global trade. The new policy would charge Chinese-owned cargo ships, as well as third-country flagged vessels built in China, $1 million or more per port-of-call in the U.S. Large container ships often make multiple stops when delivering goods to the U.S., and would face new fees at each port. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) published the proposal Friday, tying it to an investigation into allegations by several U.S. labor unions that China has unfairly distorted the international shipbuilding industry. The investigation, conducted under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, determined that the Chinese government has pursued a policy of subsidizing its domestic shipbuilding industry with the aim of “targeting for dominance” the global market. Growing market share The investigation pointed out that over the past 25 years, China’s share of the global shipbuilding industry has exploded. China accounted for about 5% of the total tonnage of ships manufactured in 1999. By 2023, the Chinese share of the market surpassed 50%. The USTR found that Chinese policy “burdens or restricts U.S. commerce by undercutting business opportunities for and investments in the U.S. maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors; restricting competition and choice; creating economic security risks from dependence and vulnerabilities in sectors critical to the functioning of the U.S. economy; and undermining supply chain resilience.” The results of the investigation, which began during President Joe Biden’s administration, were announced last month. The proposal is open for public comment until March 24, at which point the administration will determine whether or not to implement it. Chinese reaction On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian sharply criticized the U.S. move. “[T]o serve its political agenda at home, the U.S. has abused Section 301 investigation[s], which seriously violated WTO [World Trade Organization] rules and further undermined the multilateral trading system,” he said. “We call on the U.S. side to respect facts and multilateral rules and immediately stop its wrongdoings.” The China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (CANSI) and China Shipowner Association had previously blasted the USTR investigation as being “conclusions full of lies and distortion of facts.” In a statement issued when the results of the investigation were released, CANSI said, “Development of China’s shipbuilding industry strictly … “Trump administration proposes steep fees on Chinese cargo ships” →

Washington — The United States has started sending more migrants deemed by officials to be “high threat” criminal aliens to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, just days after emptying out the base’s migrant facilities. A U.S. defense official confirmed to VOA that a C-130 military cargo plane carrying migrants left Fort Bliss in Texas and arrived at Guantanamo Bay on Sunday. A second defense official said all 17 migrants were assessed to be “high threat” and are being held at the base’s detention facility. Both officials spoke to VOA on the condition of anonymity to discuss the deportation operations. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which is spearheading the U.S. deportation efforts, along with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has not yet responded to questions about the identities of the latest round of detainees sent to Guantanamo Bay, their countries of origin, or the crimes with which they are charged. The latest flight carrying migrants to Guantanamo Bay comes as U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is set to visit the base Tuesday to review the military’s efforts to support the mass deportations ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump. Hegseth, according to a Pentagon statement, “will receive briefings on all mission operations at the base, including at the Migrant Operations Center and the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility.” “The Secretary’s trip underscores the Department’s commitment to ensuring the security and operational effectiveness of Guantanamo Bay Naval Station,” the statement added. ICE announced last Thursday that it had transported 177 migrants being held at Guantanamo Bay to Honduras, where they were to be picked up by the Venezuelan government. U.S. officials had previously said that more than 120 of those detainees were dangerous criminals, including members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan street gang designated by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization. The approximately 50 other individuals who were deported Thursday had been held at the base’s migrant facility, designed to hold nonviolent individuals. Earlier this month, the commander of U.S. Southern Command, which oversees operations at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, told lawmakers that the base’s migrant facility had the capacity to hold about 2,500 nonviolent detainees. Efforts are under way to allow it to house as many as 30,000 nonviolent migrants slated for deportation. The American Civil Liberties Union, along with several immigration rights groups, earlier this month filed a lawsuit against DHS, alleging the detainees held … “US again sends ‘high threat’ migrants to Guantanamo Bay” →