White House comes out with sharp spending cuts in Trump’s 2026 budget. See how Friday unfolded.

By the Washington Post

White House officials have in recent weeks brainstormed strategies for enshrining into law the government cuts implemented by billionaire Elon Musk’s team, aiming to turn the US DOGE Service’s moves into lasting policy shifts.

So far, however, administration officials are running into resistance not just from Democrats, but also from congressional Republicans, who have in private conversations made clear that it would be difficult to codify even a small fraction of the measures that Musk’s team unilaterally implemented, according to lawmakers and several other people familiar with the discussions.

GOP members of Congress have also raised concerns about tackling cuts as Republicans are trying to corral their rowdy and tiny majorities into extending tax cuts in one “big, beautiful bill” that President Trump has demanded.

As the White House released its budget proposal Friday, the impasse over DOGE reflects a looming challenge for the administration’s vision of a sprawling overhaul of federal agencies. With both the courts and Congress refusing to provide legal cover to spending cuts that Musk forced through, the administration is running out of options for ensuring that its unilateral reductions take effect — potentially limiting DOGE’s lasting impact despite the disruption it brought to the government.

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By the Associated Press

President Trump’s administration is conducting a nationwide, multi-agency review of 450,000 migrant children who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border without their parents during President Joe Biden’s term.

Trump officials say they want to track down those children and ensure their safety. Many of the children came to the U.S. during surges at the border in recent years and were later placed in homes with adult sponsors, typically parents, relatives or family friends.

Migrant advocates are dubious of the Republican administration’s tactics, which include dispatching Homeland Security and FBI agents to visit the children. Trump’s zero-tolerance approach to immigrants in the U.S. illegally, which has resulted in small children being flown out of the country, has raised deep suspicion his administration may use the review to deport any sponsors or children who are not living in the country legally.

Trump officials say the adult sponsors who took in migrant children were not always properly vetted, leaving some at risk for exploitation. The Department of Justice has indicted a man on allegations he enticed a 14-year-old girl to travel from Guatemala to the U.S. and then falsely claimed she was his sister to gain custody as her sponsor.

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By the Associated Press

The president in an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press” said the U.S. economy is in a “transition period” but he expects it to do “fantastically.”

Trump, in an excerpt of the interview that is to air Sunday, snipped at NBC’s Kirsten Welker when she noted that some Wall Street analysts have expressed concerns that chances of a recession are increasing.

“Well, you know, you say, some people on Wall Street say,” Trump said. “Well, I tell you something else. Some people on Wall Street say that we’re going to have the greatest economy in history.”

Wall Street extended its gains to a ninth straight day Friday, marking the stock market’s longest winning streak since 2004 and reclaiming the ground it lost since Trump escalated his trade war in early April.

But financial markets have been volatile. Consumer confidence is at its lowest level in five years. And economists say recession risks are rising.

By the Associated Press

The Army on Friday confirmed there will be a military parade on Trump’s birthday in June, as part of the celebration around the service’s 250th birthday.

Plans for the parade, as first detailed by The Associated Press on Thursday, call for about 6,600 soldiers to march from Arlington, Virginia, to the National Mall along with 150 vehicles and 50 helicopters. Until recently, the Army’s anniversary festival plans did not include a massive parade, which officials say will cost tens of millions of dollars.

But Trump has long wanted a military parade, and discussions with the Pentagon about having one in conjunction with the anniversary festival began less than two months ago.

The Army’s 250th birthday happens to coincide with Trump’s 79th birthday on June 14.

In a statement Friday, Army spokesperson Steve Warren said the Army’s birthday celebration will include “a spectacular fireworks display, a parade, and a daylong festival on the National Mall.”

By the Associated Press

The Trump administration apparently has backed away from a proposal to eliminate funding for Head Start, the early education program that serves some of the nation’s neediest preschoolers.

Backers of the program were fretting after a leaked Trump administration proposal suggested defunding it. Project 2025, the conservative blueprint drawn up by the Heritage Foundation and co-authored by Trump’s current budget chief, also called for cutting Head Start.

But the budget summary released Friday, which outlined programs set to receive drastic cuts or boosts, did not mention Head Start. An administration official, who insisted on anonymity to preview the budget plan on a call with reporters, said there would be “no changes” to it.

By the Associated Press

US District Judge Beryl Howell said the executive order against the law firm of Perkins Coie violated multiple provisions of the Constitution and ordered that it be immediately nullified.

The order sought to punish the firm by stripping the security clearances of its lawyers, blocking its employees from accessing federal buildings and canceling federal contracts involving the firm.

By the Associated Press

The nation’s public broadcasting system — decades-long home to Big Bird, Ken Burns documentaries and “All Things Considered” — faces the biggest crisis in its nearly 60-year history with President Donald Trump’s order to slash federal subsidies.

A court fight seems inevitable, with the heads of PBS, NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting all suggesting Friday that Trump’s order is illegal.

“We will vigorously defend our right to provide essential news, information and life-saving services to the American public,” said Katherine Maher, NPR’s president and CEO. “We will challenge this executive order using all means available.” Her counterpart at PBS, Paula Kerger, said Trump’s order was blatantly unlawful.

The public broadcasting system dates back to the late 1960s, devised as an educational and public service-oriented alternative to commercial broadcasters available at the time. In his order, Trump said the system has become politically biased and time has passed it by.

“Today the media landscape is filled with abundant, diverse and innovative news options,” the president said in his order, issued just before midnight Thursday. “Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary, but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.”

By the Associated Press

The White House has launched a video of a cartoon Trump seated in the Oval Office and scribbling on a paper, while a list of promises his administration has made scrolls past. Each item on the list is then followed by headlines suggesting Trump kept his word on the issue.

The video is titled “Lo-fi MAGA Video to Relax/Study To” and puts a political “Make American Great Again” spin on a genre of online content that can relax some listeners.

It features a serious-faced Trump in a suit and tie who scribbles wordlessly and endlessly on a page with several lines of unintelligible print. The moon and stars are visible out the window behind him.

The song “Mid August” by sero plays on a loop for the entirety of the video, which resets after about 20 minutes.

By the Associated Press

Lawyers for Babbitt’s estate and the Justice Department told a judge in Washington’s federal court that they have reached a settlement in principle, but the details are still being worked out and the final agreement has not yet been signed. The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed.

Babbitt’s estate filed the $30 million lawsuit last year over her fatal shooting when she attempted to climb through the broken window of a barricaded door leading to the Speaker’s Lobby inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The Capitol Police officer who shot her was cleared of wrongdoing by the US. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, which concluded that he acted in self-defense and in the defense of members of Congress. Capitol Police also cleared the officer.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Harvard president Alan Garber on Friday responded to President Trump’s latest threat to revoke the university’s tax-exempt status, saying in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that the step would be “highly illegal” and “destructive” to the school.

“The message that it sends to the educational community would be a very dire one, which suggests that political disagreements could be used as a basis to pose what might be an existential threat to so many educational institutions,” Garber said.

“Tax exempt status is granted to educational institutions to enable them to successfully carry out their mission of education and, for research universities, of research,” he added. “Obviously that would be severely impaired if we were to lose our tax exempt status.”

By the Associated Press

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to clear the way for Elon Musk‘s Department of Government Efficiency to access Social Security systems containing personal data on millions of Americans.

The emergency appeal comes after a judge in Maryland restricted the team’s access under federal privacy laws.

Social Security holds personal records on nearly everyone in the country, including school records, bank details, salary information and medical and mental health records for disability recipients, according to court documents.

By the Associated Press

Trump’s first 100 days included a wide range of attacks on environmental and climate initiatives. His proposed budget does the same.

The document released looks to curtail or cut billions of dollars for everything from drinking water, clean energy and weather satellites to national parks, emergency management and environmental justice, to name a few.

That aligns with Trump’s aggressive targeting of climate policy and crackdown on diversity initiatives as he pushes fossil fuel investment. Federal agencies are racing to bolster coal power and oil and gas while blocking renewable energy sources, rolling back landmark water and air regulations and attacking scientists in federal weather work tied to climate research.

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By the Associated Press

Wall Street extended its gains to a ninth straight day, marking its longest winning streak since 2004 and reclaiming the ground it lost since Trump escalated his trade war in early April. The rally on Friday was spurred by a better-than-expected report on the job market and resurgent hope of a ratcheting down of the trade showdown with China.

The S&P 500 climbed 1.5 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.4 percent, and the Nasdaq composite rose 1.5 percent. Treasury yields rose in the bond market after the government reported that employers added more jobs than forecast in April.

By the Associated Press

The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in President Xi Jinping’s government: Come work with us.

America’s premier spy agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted to YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day.

The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost both the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted U.S. officials with its own espionage operations.

The videos are “aimed at recruiting Chinese officials to steal secrets,” Ratcliffe said in a statement to The Associated Press. He said China “is intent on dominating the world economically, militarily, and technologically.”

By the Associated Press

President Trump’s administration agreed to halt all efforts to freeze funds intended for a Maine child nutrition program after initially suspending those dollars due to a disagreement between the state and Trump over transgender athletes.

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By the Associated Press

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said that every American should be concerned about “chilling” suggestions from Trump’s top border adviser that he could be arrested over guidance the Democrat issued to state employees about what to do if confronted by federal immigration agents.

“I’m not afraid,” Evers said in the extraordinary video posted on YouTube. “I’ve never once been discouraged from doing the right thing and I will not start today.”

At issue is guidance Evers’ administration issued last month in response to state workers who asked what they should do if agents with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement show up at their offices.

By Emily Spatz, Globe Correspondent

Senator Ed Markey, Massachusetts Democrat, said during a news conference Friday that Trump’s threats to Harvard are “more than just an attempt to settle the score.”

“Amid repeated disregard for the law, termination of funding allocated by Congress, and detention of people for nothing more than their protected speech, President Donald Trump is trying to use the power of the federal government to coerce an institution of higher education to comply with his MAGA ideology,” he said, speaking at the JFK Federal building. “That is unconstitutional.”

Markey, who convened reporters to discuss Trump’s moves to revoke Harvard’s tax exempt status his executive order to defund NPR and PBS, said Trump’s orders are “authoritarian” and “illegal” and that the president’s threat to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status is a “chilling strike against freedom.”

He also said he doesn’t believe Trump will stop at private institutions.

“I don’t think they are excluding public universities from their attempt to intimidate the ways in which universities operate,” he said. “I am afraid of what the Trump administration is attempting to do to influence what is taught on university campuses.”

Markey likened the administration’s actions to the era of McCarthyism during the 1950s, when various public figures were accused of having Communist ties with little evidence.

Still, Markey said he “knows” Republicans in Congress share his concerns about government intrusion into universities.

“We need to hopefully elicit the courage from them to stand up,” he said.

By the Associated Press

Two major scientific societies on Friday said they will fill the void from the Trump administration’s dismissal of scientists writing a cornerstone federal report on what climate change is doing to the United States.

The American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union said they will work together to produce peer-reviewed research documents assessing the current and future national impacts of climate change because a science-based report required by law is suddenly in question and being reassessed by President Donald Trump’s White House.

Earlier this week, Trump’s Republican administration told about 400 scientists working on the National Climate Assessment that they were no longer needed and that the report was being reevaluated. That report, coming once every four to five years, is required by a 1990 federal law and was due out around 2027. Preliminary budget documents show slashing funding or eliminating offices involved in coordinating that report, scientists and activists said.

By the Associated Press

As Trump faces significant pushback from federal judges, a new poll shows US adults are more likely to believe the president is the one overstepping his power rather than the courts — although Republicans largely think the opposite.

According to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, about half of Americans say the president has “too much” power in the way government operates these days. On the other hand, Americans are more likely to believe the federal courts have an appropriate amount of authority. Only about 3 in 10 US adults say that federal judges have “too much” power.

Republicans see it the other way: Roughly half say the federal judiciary has too much power, and only about 2 in 10 say the president does.

By Brooke Hauser, Globe Staff

With his Truth Social post, Trump “just effectively signed a statement that he is committing a crime, violating a criminal statute enacted with overwhelming bipartisan majorities. (It passed 96-2 in the Senate),” Lily Batchelder, a law professor at NYU Law, wrote in an email to the Globe.

Batchelder, a former assistant secretary for tax policy at the Treasury Department, added that if the president can announce he’s revoking the tax-exempt status of a charity, “we have crossed a rubicon that has no clear end,” and asked, then, what would stop Trump or any president “from weaponizing the IRS to intimidate any political opponent or group he dislikes into silence?”

By Hilary Burns, Globe Staff

Eric S. Maskin, Harvard professor of economics, has seen firsthand the impacts of authoritarianism on higher education in Russia.

Maskin served on an international advisory board to a Russian university called the Higher School of Economics, which was founded shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union. The university for years was doing well, Maskin said, and many hoped that as the institution strengthened, so too would “the prospects for democracy in Russia.”

Those hopes were dashed when Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022 and the head of the university signed a letter applauding the incursion. Members of the university had previously been critical of Putin, but Maskin said they had been “silenced” by the government.

The advisory committee soon disbanded.

“The purpose of the advisory committee was to give the leaders of the university advice about the next steps they should take for strengthening the university,” Maskin said. “But the university leadership had become captured by Putin.”

Though the university has not been shut down, it has lost a major function “to criticize from an independent vantage point ... I would hate to see something like that happen in the US,” Maskin said. “I think Russia has deteriorated far more than we have, but we have to guard against that. Universities have to remain independent.”

For Trump, academics represent “experts and elites who he feels are opposing him,” Maskin said.

“He knows that public support for places like Harvard has declined in recent years, and so he can generate support for himself by attacking us as a bogeyman,” Maskin said. “Basically, he perceives us as the enemy. The vice president used that exact term. And if you were an authoritarian like Trump, it’s very convenient to have an enemy who may not be that popular with the public.”

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

Representative Ayanna Pressley is defending the Smithsonian Institution against what she called a “whitewash of our history” by President Trump and his executive order requiring changes in the operation of its museums.

“Trump’s executive order attacking the Smithsonian and attempting to whitewash our history is wrong & illegal,” Pressley wrote on social media Friday.

Pressley and Representative Paul Tonko of New York are pushing the inspector general’s office at the Smithsonian to investigate the order’s “harmful impact so we can protect the integrity of our museums” including the American Art Museum, the American Women’s History Museum, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

In his order signed March 27, Trump appointed Lindsey Halligan “to remove improper ideology” from the museums “that distort our shared history.” It wasn’t clear what that referred to.

Last week, the Smithsonian denied as “inaccurate” social media posts that it had removed from display a historic “whites only” lunch counter from a Woolworth’s store that civil rights activists occupied in Greensboro, N.C., in the 1960s.

Read the full letter:

By the Associated Press

Vance says the Trump administration is keeping its promises.

In an opinion piece published by the Washington Post, Vance writes that he and Trump campaigned on reversing what they said are failures by the previous administration and returning to “successful, proven policies” from Trump’s first term.

“And we’re delivering,” Vance says.

He cites the crackdown on illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border, “reindustrializing” of the American economy and “rebalancing” relations with trading partners. He doesn’t mention tariffs.

Trump’s tariffs plans have caused worldwide economic uncertainty.

Vance ends by promising that “the best is yet to come.”

By Alyssa Vega, Globe Staff

House Democratic whip Katherine Clark condemned Trump’s move to strip Harvard of its tax-exempt status, warning that the decision “will have profound consequences far beyond its faculty and students.”

In a statement Friday, Clark said Trump is “weaponizing” the federal government against those who refuse to “bow down” to him, from universities to private citizens.

“Trump is weaponizing the federal government against anyone who doesn’t bow down to him — universities, news outlets, charitable organizations, law firms, museums, and even private citizens,” Clark said in a statement. “Every day, Trump shows us that he cares more about attacking the American people than fighting to improve their lives.”

Clark pointed to Harvard’s role as a global leader in scientific research, saying the university’s work “produces cures and hope for patients and drives our innovation economy.”

“Revoking Harvard’s tax-exempt status will have profound consequences far beyond its faculty and students. Harvard is a global leader in scientific research that produces cures and hope for patients and drives our innovation economy.”

“President Trump can’t change a fundamental truth: There are no kings in this country. This illegal action will not stand,” Clark added.

By the Associated Press

The strategy is the main blueprint that lays out the department’s priorities as it moves to confront national security threats around the world.

It will be Hegseth’s opportunity to highlight what he wants the U.S. military to focus on for the next several years, and how the department will shift toward Trump’s America First doctrine.

The draft also will have to reflect the impact of Hegseth’s sweeping personnel cuts and decisions to merge a number of military commands.

The order was signed Friday.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

The National Council of Nonprofits is throwing its support behind Harvard’s fight with the Trump administration, which has threatened to revoke the university’s tax exempt status.

Diane Yentel, president of the National Council of Nonprofits, said more than Harvard is at risk.

“If the Trump Administration can silence universities today, who will be next? This is not just an isolated policy; it’s an existential threat to the entire nonprofit sector,’’ she said in a statement Friday. “Make no mistake, this action would not improve American lives, but instead actively harm them.”

The council said it represents 30,000 non-profit organizations across the country.

“President Trump’s latest threat directed at Harvard University is a dangerous abuse of executive authority that sets a chilling precedent,” Yentel said. “When the President and his administration vilify academia and other nonprofit organizations, they undermine the very institutions that uphold our democracy.”

By Alyssa Vega, Globe Staff

Democratic Representatives Richard E. Neal of Massachusetts and Jerry Nadler of New York have condemned Trump’s comments that his administration plans to revoke Harvard University’s tax-exempt status.

In a statement Friday, Neal defended Harvard and blasted Trump’s move as “unconstitutional” and “illegal.”

“Harvard has done nothing wrong,” Neal said in a statement. “President Trump is a threat to the rule of law, and by revoking Harvard’s tax-exempt status, he’s weaponizing the power of our government to attack any institutions that stand up for the rule of law. It’s unconstitutional, it’s illegal, and reeks of weakness.”

In a post on X, Nadler slammed Trump’s push to strip Harvard’s tax-exempt status as “clearly unlawful,” warning it’s part of a broader effort to “crush dissent and war against free speech and academic freedom.”

“Trump’s directive to the IRS to revoke Harvard’s tax exempt nonprofit status is clearly unlawful,” Nadler wrote. “It can’t be done without legitimate cause and the courts will not allow it to happen. But it goes directly to Trump’s attempt to crush dissent and his war against free speech and academic freedom.”

“Any institution of higher learning who he disagrees with and who refuses to bow down to his views he will try to destroy. That is un-American and undemocratic and we must not allow it to happen,” Nadler added.

Meanwhile, in a post on X, New York Representative Elise Stefanik, who has previously criticized Harvard for its handling of antisemitism on campus, shared a report about Trump’s social media post Friday that said, “It’s what they deserve!”

By Brooke Hauser, Globe Staff

Steven Levitsky, a professor of government and Latin American studies at Harvard University, was unequivocal about Trump’s threat to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status. “This is just textbook authoritarian behavior,” he said Friday. “You will never find, in a democracy, a government attacking a private institution in this selective and arbitrary manner.”

And if the Trump administration follows through on its threat, he added, “this is about as blatantly authoritarian an act as he’s committed in his four-month presidency.”

Levitsky, the co-author of the best-selling book “How Democracies Die,” noted Trump’s latest moves are steps toward killing a democracy. “We’re not living in an era of military coups and juntas and tanks in the streets,” he said. “We’re living in an era in which democracy is killed by elected leaders who weaponize the machinery of government — meaning, purge our government agencies of professional civil servants; pack them with loyalists; and then turn them into weapons against their rivals.”

The United States differs from other cases of democratic crisis, he noted, and “I’m not saying the United States is going to go as far down the path towards authoritarianism as these other countries, but Trump has actually been much more aggressively authoritarian in his first four months than [Tayyip] Erdogan in Turkey, than [Viktor] Orban in Hungary, than [Hugo] Chavez in Venezuela.”

Despite the threats, “we have many exit ramps,” and US democracy is “hard to kill,” Levitsky said. He pointed to Harvard as one example of building a resistance against Trump, and said that amid civil society there’s a lot more financial, organizational, and talent “muscle” to mobilize.

“If we push back, we will be able to resist Trump,” he said, “but if we stay on the sidelines, if we chicken out, if we acquiesce to Trump’s bullying — we’re in serious trouble.”

By the Associated Press

The high-stakes meeting comes as Trump continues his trade war and annexation threats.

Carney’s Liberal Party scored a stunning comeback victory in a vote widely seen as a rebuke of Trump, whose trade war and attacks on Canadian sovereignty outraged voters.

“Canadians elected a new government to stand up to President Trump and build a strong economy,” Carney said in his first remarks since since election night.

Carney also said King Charles III will deliver a speech outlining the Canadian government’s priorities on May 27, when Parliament resumes. Charles is the head of state in Canada, which is a member of the British Commonwealth of former colonies.

By Hilary Burns, Globe Staff

Noah Feldman, Harvard Law professor, said the Trump administration’s repeated threats to take away Harvard’s tax-exempt status are part of a “pattern of retaliation,” and they violate the First Amendment.

“Taking away the tax-exempt status because of his grievances with the university, that means violating Harvard’s First Amendment rights by targeting them for their speech,” Feldman said.

Additionally, Feldman said federal law says “the president can’t tell the IRS to investigate or target a specific person or entity.”

The Trump administration has already said “it’s just a coincidence that the IRS would be targeting Harvard, and that’s obviously preposterous,” Feldman added.

“Trump’s repeated statements to this effect serve to prove that this is directed by the president,” Feldman said.

The third problem, Feldman said, is that Harvard has not violated any of the rules governing nonprofit status.

“There’s literally no good legal ground for this, even if it were lawful for Trump to do it, which it isn’t,” Feldman said. “And even if it weren’t unconstitutional, which it is. There’s no ground for it.”

By Diti Kohli, Globe Staff

Harvard University’s $53 billion endowment is currently taxed at 1.4 percent, a rate established during President Trump’s first term. Right now, the tax applies to net investment income, gains that Harvard earns from its endowment each year, or around $4.5 billion in 2024, according to the school’s financial report. But since the endowment tax was established, questions have persisted about what funds can be taxed, said Sally Bednar, a college consultant and the former head of the higher education team at Wells Fargo.

Revoking Harvard’s tax-exempt status would make those questions even murkier. It’s possible that the percent at which the endowment’s investment income is taxed would increase — something the budget committee in the House of Representatives proposed before the pressure campaign at Harvard began. The federal government could also opt for a more aggressive stance by instituting an asset tax, which applies to the entire endowment fund — not just the gains it sees year over year. Or it could simply tax endowment income the same way it taxes investment returns for private entities.

Either way, “it’s going to be complicated how it’s calculated,” Bednar said.

The existing tax has already drawn millions from universities whose endowments exceed $500,000 per student. It rose from $68 million in 2021 to more than $380 million in 2023, according to the Tax Foundation. The 2023 collections came from 56 institutions, including Harvard, MIT, and Brown.

By the Associated Press

The head of PBS said that Trump’s executive order aiming to slash public subsidies to PBS and NPR was blatantly unlawful.

Public Broadcasting Service CEO Paula Kerger said the Republican president’s order “threatens our ability to serve the American public with educational programming, as we have for the past 50-plus years.”

“We are currently exploring all options to allow PBS to continue to serve our member stations and all Americans,” Kerger said.

Trump signed the order late Thursday, alleging “bias” in the broadcasters’ reporting.

The order instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other federal agencies to “cease Federal funding” for PBS and National Public Radio and further requires that they work to root out indirect sources of public financing for the news organizations. The White House, in a social media posting announcing the signing, said the outlets “receive millions from taxpayers to spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news.’”

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By the Associated Press

rump’s 2026 budget plan would slash non-defense domestic spending by $163 billion while increasing expenditures on national security, according to statements released by the White House on Friday.

The budget showed a desire to crack down on diversity programs and initiatives to address climate change. But the administration has yet to release detailed tables on what it wants income taxes, tariffs or the budget deficit to be — a sign of the political and financial challenge confronting Trump when he’s promising to cut taxes and repay the federal debt without doing major damage to economic growth.

Budgets do not become law but serve as a touchstone for the upcoming fiscal year debates. Often considered a statement of values, this first budget since Trump’s return to the White House carries the added weight of defining the Republican president’s second-term pursuits, alongside his party in Congress.

By the Associated Press

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier to remain in the Middle East for the second time, a US official says.

Hegseth is keeping it there one more week to maintain two carrier strike groups in the region to battle Yemen-based Houthi rebels, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.

In late March, Hegseth also extended the deployment of the Truman and the warships in its group for a month as part of a campaign to increase strikes on the Iran-backed Houthis.

The official said Hegseth signed the latest order Thursday and it’s expected that the Truman will head home to Norfolk, Virginia, after the week is up.

It has been rare in recent years for the US to have two aircraft carriers in the Middle East at the same time.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

By Emily Spatz, Globe Staff

Senator Ed Markey announced he’s holding a press conference at 1:30 p.m., during which he’ll speak on the Trump administration’s “latest attacks on Massachusetts,” including his increased rhetoric to revoke Harvard’s tax exempt status and defund PBS and NPR.

The press conference will take place in front of the John F. Kennedy Federal Building.

Markey joined three other US senators, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, in sending a letter to US Inspector General Heather Hill on Friday requesting she investigate the “alarming reports” that Trump is asking the IRS to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status.

By Hilary Burns, Globe Staff

Benjamin Eidelson, professor at Harvard Law School, said in an interview Friday that it is “blatantly unconstitutional for the government to penalize institutions financially because it disagrees with their academic activities or viewpoints.”

“A regime in which the president wields that kind of discretion would be a fundamental threat to civil society, far beyond Harvard or even academia,” Eidelson said.

By the Associated Press

The Food and Drug Administration is bringing back some of the 100 recently fired staffers who process document requests under the Freedom of Information Act.

Staffers across several parts of the agency were notified of the decision Thursday in writing or by phone, according to two agency staffers who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss agency matters. The notifications went out to employees who work in the centers for drugs, tobacco and other product areas. The FDA responds to thousands of FOIA requests each year from lawyers, journalists, companies and physicians.

In recent days, the FDA has missed multiple court-ordered deadlines to hand over documents to parties suing the agency, which can result in hefty fines. The missed deadlines prompted the decision to bring back FOIA staffers.

By Spencer Buell and Catherine Carlock, Globe Staff

It’s been a common refrain across Cambridge for decades that Harvard — which does not have to pay property tax on its billions of dollars’ worth of institutional buildings in Cambridge and Boston — should have to share more of its vast wealth with its neighbors.

But now someone else is joining that chorus: Donald Trump.

READ MORE

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

US Senators Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey of Massachusetts called for the Department of Treasury’s acting inspector general to determine whether Trump’s effort to end Harvard’s tax exempt status is a federal crime.

“It is illegal and unconstitutional – not to mention immoral – for the IRS to use politically motivated reasons to revoke the tax-exempt status of schools, hospitals, churches, or any other tax-exempt entities,” the senators wrote in a statement Friday. “There must be an investigation into potential criminal activity related to this decision and to see if the Trump Administration is using the IRS to take other politically-motivated actions.”

Calling the Trump effort an “organizational death sentence” for non-profits without Harvard’s financial muscle, Warren and Markey were jointed by Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer of New York and Sen. Ron Wyden, top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee that oversees the IRS.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

A Harvard spokesperson responded to Trump’s latest threat to revoke the university’s tax exempt status. Read it here:

The government has long exempted universities from taxes in order to support their educational mission. The tax exemption means that more of every dollar can go toward scholarships for students, lifesaving and life-enhancing medical research, and technological advancements that drive economic growth. There is no legal basis to rescind Harvard’s tax-exempt status. Such an unprecedented action would endanger our ability to carry out our educational mission. It would result in diminished financial aid for students, abandonment of critical medical research programs, and lost opportunities for innovation. The unlawful use of this instrument more broadly would have grave consequences for the future of higher education in America.

By Sean P. Murphy, Globe Staff

Such a move could have significant implications for Harvard. And while the federal designation doesn’t have a direct effect on the property taxes Harvard avoids on its voluminous local properties, it raises new questions about how state and local officials might react to Trump’s efforts.

Here are some answers to the basic questions about what the tax dispute might mean.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

President Trump said in a post to Truth Social on Friday morning that the administration is moving to strip Harvard of its tax-exempt status.

“It’s what they deserve!” Trump wrote.

Harvard is among the vast majority of public and private universities and colleges that are tax-exempt.

Under the law, the Internal Revenue Service initiates investigations based on established criteria and procedures, not based on presidential directives. The IRS is expected to operate independently and without political pressure.

If the IRS found that Harvard’s tax-exempt status should be revoked, Harvard would need to be warned and given an opportunity to contest the finding. It would also have the opportunity to challenge the IRS in court, according to CNN.

Reports first emerged last month that Trump was pushing the IRS to revoke the school’s tax-exempt status. In a statement last month, a Harvard spokesperson said, “There is no legal basis to rescind Harvard’s tax-exempt status.”

By the Associated Press

 Japan’s massive holdings of US Treasurys can be “a card on the table” in negotiations over tariffs with the Trump administration, Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato said Friday.

“It does exist as a card, but I think whether we choose to use it or not would be a separate decision,” Kato said during a news show on national broadcaster TV Tokyo.

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By the Associated Press

The Trump administration could gut research on the effectiveness of child welfare programs, with plans to terminate dozens of university grants studying improvements to Head Start and child care policy, according to a spreadsheet mistakenly made public this week.

The document listed more than 150 research projects under consideration for termination by the US Department of Health and Human Services. It covered grants funded by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, which says it “builds evidence to improve lives” by helping policymakers evaluate programs that help low-income children and families.

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By The New York Times

The Trump administration on Friday officially eliminated a loophole that had allowed American shoppers to buy cheap goods from China without paying tariffs. The move will help US manufacturers that have struggled to compete with a wave of low-cost Chinese products, but it has already resulted in higher prices for Americans who shop online.

The loophole, called the de minimis rule, allowed products up to $800 to avoid tariffs and other red tape as long as they were shipped directly to U.S. consumers or small businesses. It resulted in a surge of individually addressed packages to the United States, many shipped by air and ordered from rapidly growing e-commerce platforms like Shein and Temu.

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By the Associated Press

President Trump on Thursday signed an executive order aiming to slash public subsidies to PBS and NPR as he alleged “bias” in the broadcasters’ reporting.

The order instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other federal agencies “to cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS” and further requires that they work to root out indirect sources of public financing for the news organizations. The White House, in a social media posting announcing the signing, said the outlets “receive millions from taxpayers to spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news.’”

The broadcasters get roughly half a billion dollars in public money through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and have been preparing for the possibility of stiff cuts since Trump’s election, as Republicans have long complained about them.

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By the Associated Press

China’s Commerce Ministry said Friday that Beijing is evaluating multiple approaches by the Trump administration for trade talks.

However, in a ministry statement, it said one-sided tariffs of up to 145 percent remain an obstacle, undermining trust.

The statement reiterated China’s stance that is open to talks, but also that Beijing is determined to fight if it must.

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