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Here are today’s key developments:
The Trump administration fired hundreds of workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), the US’s pre-eminent climate research agency housed within the Department of Commerce, the Guardian learned. On Thursday afternoon, the commerce department sent emails to employees saying their jobs would be cut off at the end of the day. Other government agencies have also seen huge staffing cuts in recent days.
A federal judge in California has ruled that the office of personnel management must rescind memos directing agencies to carry out mass terminations of probationary employees, stating that the agency exceeded its legal authority. OPM is also required to inform other federal agencies that it had no power to issue such a directive.
The Donald Trump administration has taken down the online application form for several popular student debt repayment plans, causing confusion among borrowers and likely creating complications for millions of Americans with outstanding loans.
The Social Security Administration is expected to lay off at least 7,000 people from its workforce of 60,000, the Associated Press reported. The workforce reduction could be as high as 50%, according to a person who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Those seeking payment plans are unable to access the applications for income-driven repayment plans (IDRs), which cap what borrowers must pay each month at a percent of their earnings, as well as the online application to consolidate their loans on the US Department of Education website.
Donald Trump suggested Vladimir Putin can be trusted in the peace talks with Ukraine because “we had to go through the Russian hoax together”. “I’ve known him for a long time now, and I don’t believe he’s going to violate his word,” Trump said during his Oval Office meeting with Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister. For more updates from Trump’s press conference with Starmer, follow the UK politics live blog.
Trump announced he would move forward with imposing 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada next week, after he initially delayed that policy by one month. In a post on Truth Social, Trump blamed Mexico and Canada for allowing illegal drugs to flow into the US, writing: “We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA, and therefore, until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled.”
The top Democrat on the Senate finance committee warned that Trump’s tariffs threats are “driving the US economy straight into a wall”. “Slapping tariffs on everything Americans buy from Canada, Mexico, and China will mean higher prices on groceries, gas and cars, with fewer jobs and lower pay when our closest trading partners respond to Trump’s trade war by buying fewer American products,” senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat of Oregon, said in a statement.
Democrats on the Senate foreign relations committee slammed the Trump administration over a decision to eliminate as much as 90% of USAid’s foreign aid contracts. “It is clear that the Trump Administration’s foreign assistance ‘review’ was not a serious effort or attempt at reform but rather a pretext to dismantle decades of US investment that makes America safer, stronger and more prosperous,” the Democrats said in a joint statement.
The US justice department released additional files related to the late disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The justice department gave a statement on Thursday evening, saying the release largely contained documents that had been “previously leaked but never released in a formal capacity by the US government”.
Refugee aid groups said in a federal court filing Thursday that President Donald Trump’s administration appears to be trying to circumvent a ruling this week that blocked his efforts to suspend the nation’s refugee admissions program, the Associated Press reports.
US Postal Service employees should ignore rumors and reports that Trump could unilaterally seize control of the agency, Post Office Operator General Louis DeJoy said in a video seen by Reuters on Thursday.
Iowa lawmakers became the first in the nation to approve legislation removing gender identity protections from the state’s civil rights code Thursday, despite massive protests by opponents who say it could expose transgender people to discrimination in numerous areas of life.
Iowa lawmakers approve legislation removing gender identity protections
Iowa lawmakers became the first in the nation to approve legislation removing gender identity protections from the state’s civil rights code Thursday, despite massive protests by opponents who say it could expose transgender people to discrimination in numerous areas of life.
The measure raced through the legislative process after first being introduced last week. The state Senate was first to approve the bill on Thursday, on party lines, followed by the House less than an hour later. Five House Republicans joined all Democrats in voting against it.
The bill would remove gender identity as a protected class from the state’s civil rights law and explicitly define female and male, as well as gender, which would be considered a synonym for sex and “shall not be considered a synonym or shorthand expression for gender identity, experienced gender, gender expression, or gender role.”
The measure would be the first legislative action in the US to remove nondiscrimination protections based on gender identity, said Logan Casey, director of policy research at the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ+ rights thinktank.
The bill now goes to Republican Governor Kim Reynolds, who signed earlier policies banning sports participation and public bathroom access for transgender students. A spokesperson for Reynolds declined to tell the Associated Press whether she would sign the bill. If she does, it will go into effect on 1 July.
