Saturday, May 31, 2025
■ The Week in Review
One expert critic said the updated request "confirms once again that the president continues to break his promises to lower families' costs and help people who are struggling to make ends meet."
By Jon Queally • May 31, 2025
Progressive critics and Democratic lawmakers responded with predictable fury and contempt after President Donald Trump delivered new details for his 2026 budget request in a Friday night news dump that appeared timed to attract as little attention as possible from the voting public.
"It's telling that President Trump has chosen to release his budget on a Friday night with no fanfare whatsoever," said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Senate Budget Comittee, following the administration's release of approximately 1,200 pages of budget documents. "That's probably because his budget would raise costs for working people, destroy basic services we all count on, and let our adversaries run circles around us—all while President Trump works to shower billionaires like himself in new tax breaks."
Murray added that, for Trump, "it’s no billionaire left behind—and good luck to everyone else."
As his Republican allies in Congress continued work on a major reconciliation bill that would offer sweeping tax cuts to the nation's corporate giants and wealthiest Americans while gutting Medicaid and food assistance programs for the poor, the more detailed budget request from Trump offers a deeper look into the far-right president's desired slash-and-burn approach to the nation's social safety net, valued programs, and key institutions relied upon by tens of millions.
While the topline target of the Trump proposal aims to cut $163 billion from the 2026 fiscal budget, a lack of critical details withheld by the White House appears to be part of a concerted effort to limit public outrage over the impact it would have—on people and communities as well as the overall economy. As the Washington Post's Jeff Stein explains:
With little fanfare, the budget office released 1,224 pages that spell out its spending plans in detail, expanding on the abbreviated "skinny budget" it unveiled this month. So far, though, the administration has addressed only the portion of federal outlays known as discretionary spending, which doesn't cover programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid that make up the bulk of the federal budget.
Typically, the White House releases a comprehensive budget proposal each year that provides 10-year estimates of federal spending, revenue and deficits, as well as projections of economic growth, interest rates and other important indexes. These numbers are hotly contested and typically initiate a debate over the White House's priorities. But the Trump administration appears to be trying to avoid that debate, at least for now, by ignoring the traditional process for releasing a budget.
Slashed funding for key programs, however, are clear throughout the documents released by the administration, with cuts for healthcare initiatives, public education, loan support for students, environmental and labor protections, food aid, and housing assistance for poor Americans among the most prominent.
According to the New York Times:
The updated budget reiterated the president's pursuit of deep reductions for nearly every major federal agency, reserving its steepest cuts for foreign aid, medical research, tax enforcement and a slew of anti-poverty programs, including rental assistance. The White House restated its plan to seek a $33 billion cut at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, for example, and another $33 billion reduction at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Targeting the Education Department, the president again put forward a roughly $12 billion cut, seeking to eliminate dozens of programs while unveiling new changes to Pell grants, which help low-income students pay for college.
Sharon Parrott, president of the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), said the updated request "confirms once again that the president continues to break his promises to lower families' costs and help people who are struggling to make ends meet."
Parrott emphasized that the updated Trump budget request cannot be separated from what the GOP are trying to push through Congress in their spending package.
"To get the full picture of the administration's harmful agenda requires including the Trump-backed bill under consideration in Congress, which gives massive tax cuts to the wealthy partly paid for by raising costs and taking away health coverage and food assistance from millions," explained Parrott. "Policymakers of both parties in Congress need to see this budget, and this entire agenda, for what it is—an irresponsible tax giveaway at the expense of everyday families and investments in our future—and plan a better course for the country."
An estimate by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office that looked at an earler version of Trump's budget forecast the plan would add over $2 trillion to the federal debt over the next decade.
Rep. Brendan F. Boyle (D-Pa.), ranking member of the House Budget Committee, decried the budget request update as a "half-baked proposal" which only serves to prove Trump's determination "to make life harder for struggling families" nationwide.
"Republicans are already pushing a bill that would inflict the largest losses of health care coverage and food assistance in our nation's history," added Boyle. "This funding request goes even further, decimating critical public- and mental-health programs and slashing housing aid, home-energy support, and job-training grants. Republicans will claim these cuts are about fiscal responsibility, yet they're happy to add trillions to the deficit to shower billionaires with tax breaks."
For his part, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), vowed committed opposition from his party in the upper chamber.
"Trump's radical 2026 budget would be a gut punch to working families and a windfall for billionaires—raising prices for American families while hollowing out the programs critical to families across the country," Schumer said on Saturday. "Senate Democrats will never let it become law."
"We're at the point where a U.S. senator is saying healthcare and hunger don't matter because we all die eventually."
By Jake Johnson • May 30, 2025
Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst on Friday brushed off her constituents' concerns about the life-threatening consequences of her party's proposed cuts to Medicaid and federal nutrition assistance, telling a town hall audience, "Well, we all are going to die."
Ernst's remark came after a person in the crowd warned that "people will die" if the safety net cuts proposed in the House-passed budget reconciliation package become law.
The Iowa senator began by waving away the crowd's response, saying, "People are not... " After trailing off, Ernst said facetiously that "we all are going to die."
"So, for heaven's sakes," she added with a smile.
Ernst, echoing Republican leaders, repeatedly denied that the reconciliation bill would cut Medicaid or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, claiming the legislation only targets "overpayments" and those who are currently on the programs' rolls but aren't eligible.
Throughout the town hall, people in the audience called Ernst a "liar" and shouted in protest as she attempted to justify the reconciliation bill's safety net cuts.
As written, the GOP measure includes roughly $1 trillion in combined cuts to Medicaid and SNAP—the largest-ever spending reductions for the programs—as well as draconian work reporting requirements that analysts say would strip benefits from millions of people across the country.
The bill also includes a provision that would require some low-income Americans to pay more for Medicaid benefits—an effective cut.
"We're at the point where a U.S. senator is saying healthcare and hunger don't matter because we all die eventually," the progressive media organization More Perfect Union wrote on social media in response to Ernst's comments.
"Joni Ernst is worth at least $7 million," added the advocacy group Social Security Works. "She won't die due to lack of healthcare. But she thinks you should."
Research published earlier this month found that Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act has saved tens of thousands of lives since 2010—an indication that the severe Medicaid cuts included in the GOP reconciliation package could have deadly consequences.
The Center for American Progress recently estimated that the work requirements Republicans are seeking to impose on many Medicaid recipients "would lead to more than 21,600 avoidable deaths nationally each year."
"At a moment when U.S. democracy is threatened by MAGA authoritarianism and deep inequality, doubling down on private-sector solutions while ignoring redistributive policy is a dangerous distraction," said one critic.
By Brett Wilkins • May 29, 2025
"Given the high stakes of the budget bill—soaring inequality as benefits for the poor are slashed to finance tax cuts for the rich—every tool at Senate Democrats' disposal should be employed," wrote journalist David Dayen.
By Jake Johnson • May 29, 2025
"We will have to keep up the pressure, scrutiny, and eventually formal oversight until we finally take back our government from Musk and the entire billionaire class," said Rep. Greg Casar.
By Jake Johnson • May 29, 2025
Billionaire Elon Musk announced late Wednesday that he is leaving the Trump administration after spearheading a monthslong, lawless rampage through the government that hollowed out entire agencies, hurled critical functions such as the distribution of Social Security benefits into chaos, and installed many unqualified lackeys whose work will continue in the coming months and years.
Musk's announcement came just ahead of the official May 30 deadline for his departure as a special government employee. That designation allowed the world's richest man to play a key role in the Trump White House without facing Senate confirmation or the full slate of ethics rules that apply to ordinary federal officials.
"As my scheduled time as a special government employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President [Donald Trump] for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending," Musk wrote on his social media platform, X. "The DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government."
While Musk came nowhere close to his initially stated goal of slashing $2 trillion in federal spending, his team's infiltration and efforts to gut federal agencies inflicted lasting damage, progressive lawmakers and watchdog groups said in response to news of his departure.
"DOGE is not a way of life, it's a mantra of destruction," said Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen. "The legacy of Elon Musk is lost livelihoods for critical government employees, hindered American education, loss of funding for scientists, and the violation of Americans' personal privacy, all in the service of corrupt tech-bro billionaire special interests."
"The carnage is even more horrifying internationally, as Musk's chainsaw will lead to the pointless and needless deaths of likely millions of people in the developing world," Gilbert added. "This is a legacy of carnage and corruption that will haunt us for many years to come."
Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, called Musk's exit a win for "the anti-corruption, anti-billionaire movement in American politics" but warned that the Tesla and SpaceX CEO's "likely goal is to continue exercising corrupt influence—just from behind a curtain, as billionaires too often do."
"We will have to keep up the pressure, scrutiny, and eventually formal oversight until we finally take back our government from Musk and the entire billionaire class," Casar said.
Next week, the Trump White House plans to send to the Republican-controlled Congress a $9.4 billion rescission package that, if passed, would codify some of the spending cuts pursued by Musk's team. Politicoreported that the package "will target NPR and PBS, as well as foreign aid agencies that have already been gutted by the Trump administration."
The impact of DOGE-led attacks on federal agencies and Trump's withholding of hundreds of billions of dollars of congressionally approved spending will persist long after Musk's exit.
Reuters highlighted one example last week, reporting that "Head Start preschool programs for low-income U.S. children are scrambling to cope with funding cuts and delays, as they feel the squeeze of President Donald Trump's cost-cutting drive."
"Adding to the strain," the outlet noted, "Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency released $943 million less in congressionally approved funding for distribution through April 15 compared with the previous year."
"It's hard to overstate how badly wrong bringing in foreign mercenaries, such as those allied with Erik Prince, will likely go given the current security, social, and political dynamics," one journalist warned.
By Jessica Corbett • May 28, 2025
"What could possibly go wrong?"
That's a questionNew York Times readers sarcastically asked on social media Wednesday, after the newspaper reported that Erik Prince, founder of the notorious mercenary firm Blackwater and a key ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, is working with Haiti's interim government "to conduct lethal operations against gangs that are terrorizing the nation and threatening to take over its capital."
The newspaper noted that Prince declined to comment, and while Blackwater is now defunct, the former Navy SEAL "owns other private military entities." The reporting is based on unnamed American and Haitian officials and other security experts.
"Haiti's government has hired American contractors, including Mr. Prince, in recent months to work on a secret task force to deploy drones meant to kill gang members," who "have been killing civilians and seizing control of vast areas of territory" in the Caribbean country, the Times detailed.
"Mr. Prince's team has been operating the drones since March, but the authorities have yet to announce the death or capture of a single high-value target," according to the paper. Pierre Espérance, executive director of the National Human Rights Defense Network in Haiti, said the drone attacks have killed more than 200 people.
American journalist Michael Deibert said on social media, "If this story is accurate, on what authority does Haiti's unelected, temporary interim [government] invite foreign forces into the country and by what means—with whose money—do they intend to pay them for their work there?"
The U.S. State Department has poured millions into Haiti's National Police but told the Times it is not paying Prince.
Deibert said that "as someone who has reported on Haiti's armed groups for 25 years, it's hard to overstate how badly wrong bringing in foreign mercenaries, such as those allied with Erik Prince, will likely go given the current security, social, and political dynamics in the country."
Also weighing in on social media, Keanu Heydari, a history Ph.D. candidate at the University of Michigan, said: "A lot's going on here! A majority-Black nation, hollowed out by decades of foreign intervention, 'turning to' a white war profiteer to restore 'order.' That is not about logistics, this is about coloniality."
Heydari continued:
This isn't a story about drones and gangs. It's about how the world has made it structurally impossible for Haiti to govern itself—then offers mercenaries as a "solution." Haiti's sovereignty has been chipped away by debt, coups, U.N. missions, and now private warlords.
Why does Erik Prince show up where Black and Brown countries are in crisis? Because the global market rewards violence disguised as security, especially when it's sold by Westerners to postcolonial states. It's racial capitalism in full view.
The NYT missed the story: This isn't a desperate government making tough choices. It's a story of empire outsourcing control, where mercenaries profit from the very chaos empire helped produce. Haiti deserves justice, not occupation by other means.
The Times article follows The Economist's reporting earlier this month that Haiti's interim government, the Transitional Presidential Council, "is so desperate that it is exploring deals with private military contractors. It has been talking to Osprey Global Solutions, a firm based in North Carolina. The founder of Blackwater, Erik Prince, visited Haiti in April to negotiate contracts to provide attack drones and training for an anti-gang task force. The council declined to comment."
In response to that paragraph in the May 7 article, Jake Johnston, director of international research at the Center for Economic and Policy Research and author of Aid State: Elite Panic, Disaster Capitalism, and the Battle to Control Haiti, also asked, "What could possibly go wrong?"
"Doing the same old thing (or nothing) nets the same dismal results," wrote one petition signer.
By Eloise Goldsmith • May 28, 2025
The vigil at Harvard University took place as UNICEF said that at least 50,000 Palestinian children have been killed or wounded in Gaza during 600 days of Israeli bombs, bullets, and blockades.
By Brett Wilkins • May 28, 2025
Community members concluded a 24-hour vigil at Harvard University on Wednesday during which the names of almost 12,000 children slain in Gaza by Israeli forces were read aloud, signifying only a partial list of child casualties documented by the United Nations Children's Fund, which found that at least 50,000 Palestinian children have been killed or wounded in the embattled enclave during 600 days of U.S.-backed genocidal slaughter.
They All Have Names—a coalition of parents, educators, students, healthcare workers, faith leaders, and other community members—gathered at Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts to hold the vigil ahead of Harvard University's commencement ceremonies on Thursday.
"These children—lives that should never be reduced to numbers—are now part of a long, harrowing list of unimaginable horrors."
According to the Harvard branch of Students for Justice in Palestine, it took nearly an hour-and-a-half just to read the names of infants killed by Israeli forces since October 7, 2023. Victims' names were read in ascending order of their ages.
"At least 17,400 children have been killed in Gaza since October 7," said Dr. Lara Jirmanus a family physician and clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School. "They include at least 825 babies who could not celebrate their first birthday; 895 one-year olds; 3,266 preschoolers; 4,032 between the ages of 6 and 10; 3,646 middle schoolers; and 2,949 teenagers."
"We gather today to remember them, their hopes, and dreams," Jirmanus added. "And to remember that we have the power to stop this unspeakable catastrophe, by demanding our elected officials stop sending arms for genocide."
The vigil occurred against a backdrop of continued genocide denial and aspersions of casualty data provided by the Gaza Health Ministry—figures that Israeli military officials have repeatedly found to be accurate, and that peer-reviewed research published in The Lancet, one of the world's preeminent medical journals, has determined to likely be a vast undercount.
Jirmanus told Common Dreams that the names of around 12,000 children killed in Gaza between October 2023 and October 2024 were recited during the vigil at a rate of about 500 names per hour.
As the vigil took place, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)—which has called Gaza "the world's most dangerous place to be a child"—announced its latest estimate that 50,000 Palestinian children have been killed or injured in Gaza since Israel began attacking and besieging the strip in retaliation for the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023.
All told, the Gaza Health Ministry says that at least 191,285 Palestinians have been killed or wounded by Israeli forces, including upward of 14,000 people who are missing and believed to be dead and buried beneath rubble of hundreds of thousands of bombed buildings.
Among those maimed by Israel's onslaught are thousands of children who have had one or more limbs amputated, often without anesthesia due to the Israeli blockade. Many surviving Palestinian children have also lost one or both parents. Some have lost their entire families. A new acronym has even been coined to describe some of these orphans: WCNSF, or "wounded child, no surviving family."
"In a 72-hour period this weekend, images from two horrific attacks provide yet more evidence of the unconscionable cost of this ruthless war on children in the Gaza Strip," UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Edouard Beigbeder said in a statement.
"On Friday, we saw videos of the bodies of burnt, dismembered children from the al-Najjar family being pulled from the rubble of their home in Khan Younis," Beigbeder noted. "Of 10 siblings under 12 years old, only one reportedly survived, with critical injuries."
"Early Monday, we saw images of a small child trapped in a burning school in Gaza City. That attack, in the early hours of the morning, reportedly killed at least 31 people, including 18 children," he continued.
"These children—lives that should never be reduced to numbers—are now part of a long, harrowing list of unimaginable horrors: the grave violations against children, the blockade of aid, the starvation, the constant forced displacement, and the destruction of hospitals, water systems, schools, and homes," Beigbeder added. "In essence, the destruction of life itself in the Gaza Strip."
Last year, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres for the first time added Israel to his so-called "List of Shame" of countries that kill and injure children during wars and other armed conflicts.
The Harvard vigil took place as Israeli occupation forces pressed ahead with Operation Gideon's Chariots, a campaign of conquest, indefinite occupation, and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza to make way for new Israeli settlements.
They All Have Names noted:
Conditions in Gaza are more catastrophic than ever, as Israel has blocked humanitarian aid for nearly three months, only recently allowing a few trucks of aid, which the U.N. warned was "nowhere near enough." Using starvation as a weapon of war is a war crime. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Doctors without Borders, and an independent U.N. commission have all concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
As officials in Gaza report hundreds of deaths—mostly of children and elders—from malnutrition and lack of medical care, even Israeli officials are speaking out against what former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert recently called a "war of extermination."
Extermination and forced starvation are among the alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity for which current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The other Hague-based global tribunal, the International Court of Justice, is currently weighing a genocide case against Israel brought by South Africa and backed by dozens of countries, either individually or as members of regional blocs.
The 24-hour vigil also took place as U.S. President Donald Trump and his Republican administration—which continues to offer billions of dollars in arms as well as diplomatic support for Israel even as it acknowledges the mass starvation Gaza—wage a rhetorical and financial war against Harvard.
While the administration claims its moves to strip Harvard of federal funding and contracts and block international students from attending the nation's oldest university are responses to its failure to adequately address alleged antisemitism on campus, many critics argue Trump is targeting the Ivy League school over its defiance of the president's "war on woke" and to bend other powerful institutions to his will.
"While we are relieved that Harvard has not conceded to all of the Trump administration's demands, we continue to be alarmed by the university's repressive measures which have been aimed at silencing dissent and protest against genocide, and eliminating teaching and research about Palestine," vigil co-organizer Sandra Susan Smith, who is a professor of criminal justice at Harvard Kennedy School, said Tuesday.
"We call on Harvard to defend free speech, academic freedom, and to adopt an ethical investment policy to ensure that it is not funding human rights abuses with its $50 billion endowment," she added.
Vigil participants and UNICEF both called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.
"The children of Gaza need protection. They need food, water, and medicine. They need a cease-fire," said Beigbeder. "But more than anything, they need immediate, collective action to stop this once and for all."
The delivery hub was run by the Israel- and U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which aid agencies have boycotted.
By Julia Conley • May 28, 2025
After walking an average of 9.3 miles to an aid distribution hub set up by the U.S.- and Israel-backed private foundation that Israel has allowed to provide humanitarian relief in Gaza, Palestinians on Tuesday faced gunfire from Israeli troops at the site, with at least one person killed and 48 wounded—and rights groups' worst fears about the aid scheme confirmed.
The first day of operations for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which has enlisted private U.S. security contractors to help with aid distribution in southern Gaza, came 11 weeks into Israel's total blockade on humanitarian aid.
The blockade has pushed the enclave toward famine and resulted in the entire population facing "high levels of acute food insecurity," according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.
With thousands of Palestinian children facing malnutrition and their parents left without any way to help them in recent weeks, crowds of people broke through fencing and rushed toward the distribution site on Tuesday.
Amid the chaotic scene, an Associated Press journalist reported hearing Israeli tank and gun fire and seeing flares from a military helicopter.
Israel has said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would not be involved in GHF operations, but told the AP that it had fired "warning shots."
It was not clear whether the reported casualties were the result of IDF gunfire or private contractors working with GHF, which said its contractors "fell back" before returning to the site and resuming aid operations.
Ajith Sunghay, head of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in the occupied Palestinian territories, said Wednesday that the IDF caused the casualties.
"It is through gunshots," Sunghay told reporters in Geneva. "We are trying to confirm what has happened to them in the sense of seriousness [of the injuries]. What we know is that it was shooting from the IDF."
He said the number of injuries and deaths at the distribution point could increase as experts continue gathering information, and noted that Israeli troops have fired on Palestinians who were retrieving humanitarian aid before.
"From January to March 2024, our office has documented 26 incidents where the Israel Defense Forces fired shots while people were collecting humanitarian aid, causing casualties at Al Kuwaiti roundabout and Al Naburasi roundabout," Sunghay toldUN News.
The U.N. and other humanitarian agencies have refused to work with GHF, saying its plan to distribute aid only at four distribution points in southern Gaza—which Palestinians must travel to and from with aid boxes weighing up to 44 pounds—will forcibly displace people who have already been forced to leave their homes and place them in harm's way.
In a press briefing on Tuesday, U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce would not answer questions about whether the Palestinians who travel south for aid would be able to return to their homes or if the operation would expand to other parts of Gaza to reach more starving civilians, many of whom are injured and can't travel easily to distribution points.
Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said the U.N.—which has years of experience providing relief in Gaza—has long been prepared to provide aid to people across the enclave but has been prevented from doing so by Israel's blockade.
"Right now, nearly 180,000 pallets of food and other life-saving aid stand ready to enter Gaza, the hungriest place on earth," he told UN News. "The supplies have already been paid for by the world's donors. It is cleared for customs, approved, and ready to move. We can get the aid in—immediately, at scale, and for as long as necessary."
Jake Wood, a former U.S. marine who was appointed executive director of GHF, resigned this week, saying the Geneva-based group's plan for distributing aid violated the "humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence."
The Washington Postreported Tuesday that the foundation's chief operating officer, David Burke, also resigned. A former U.S. Agency for International Development official has stepped in as interim executive director.
GHF said Wednesday that it was continuing operations, providing food boxes that are expected to feed "5.5 people for 3.5 days, totaling 840,262 meals."
Emma DeSouza, founder of Civic Initiative, reported that the boxes only contain "two bags of flour, some dry pasta, lentils, and biscuits."
Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, said that "the humanitarian community in Gaza, including UNRWA, is ready" to provide aid safely and effectively to Palestinians.
"We already have an aid distribution system that is fit for purpose," Lazzarini said. "We have the experience and expertise to reach people in need. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking towards famine, so humanitarian [work] must be allowed to do its life-saving work now."
"That was effectively impossible a few years ago," said one expert.
By Jake Johnson • May 28, 2025
A World Meteorological Organization report released Wednesday predicts there's a small chance that the average global temperature will exceed 2°C of warming above the preindustrial average in at least one of the next five years—an occurrence that one expert said would be "completely unprecedented."
"That was effectively impossible a few years ago," Adam Scaife, a researcher at the U.K. Met Office, said during a media briefing. Over the long term, 2°C of warming is associated with more frequent and deadly heatwaves, destructive extreme weather, more rapid sea-level rise, and accelerated biodiversity loss.
While the WMO report puts the chance of breaching the 2°C threshold before 2030 at just 1%, Scaife stressed that "the probability will increase as the climate warms."
"It is shocking that 2°C is plausible," said Scaife.
"We have just experienced the ten warmest years on record. This WMO report provides no sign of respite over the coming years."
The WMO, Met Office, and other organizations behind the report said there's an 80% chance that at least one of the next five years will surpass 2024 as the hottest on record, as the continued extraction and burning of fossil fuels worldwide relentlessly warm the planet.
The report suggests it's even more probable—86%—that the average global temperature in at least one of the next five years will breach the critical 1.5°C warming threshold set by the Paris climate accord. Last year was the first in which the average global temperature exceeded 1.5°C above its pre-industrial level.
Arctic warming is expected "to be more than three and a half times the global average," WMO said, portending further loss of sea ice.
"We have just experienced the ten warmest years on record," WMO Deputy Secretary-General Ko Barrett said in a statement. "Unfortunately, this WMO report provides no sign of respite over the coming years, and this means that there will be a growing negative impact on our economies, our daily lives, our ecosystems, and our planet."
The report is the latest piece of evidence that the international community is badly failing to constrain runaway planetary heating, which is wreaking havoc globally in the form of increasingly extreme weather, severe public health impacts, and more.
In the U.S.—the world's top economy and largest historical contributor to planet-warming emissions—oil and gas production surged to a record high last year, and President Donald Trump is doing everything in his power to further boost fossil fuels while shredding green-energy initiatives and withdrawing from global efforts to combat the climate crisis.
MUST READ!
"The Trump tax scam is a grift for the ultrarich, including those who are in charge of passing this legislation themselves, and a betrayal to hardworking Americans everywhere," said the head of Accountable.US.
By Jessica Corbett • May 27, 2025
As U.S. President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans' so-called "Big Beautiful Bill" heads to the Senate, a watchdog group on Tuesday released a report highlighting that dozens of GOP members of Congress worth a total of $2.5 billion are set to benefit from the package, which would cut food and healthcare benefits for millions of working-class Americans.
The group, Accountable.US, found that the top 10 richest Republican senators and top 25 richest GOP members of the House of Representatives have a collective net worth of over $1.1 billion and over $1.4 billion, respectively, "allowing them to take advantage of tax breaks granted by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 that they are currently seeking to extend."
"While pushing for more tax cuts to line their own pockets," the report notes, "many of the richest Republican members are pushing for draconian cuts to the very social programs that millions of their constituents rely on," including federal student aid, Medicaid, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
According to Accountable.US, "6.3 million constituents represented by the top 10 richest senators and 2.1 million constituents represented by the top 25 richest representatives use SNAP and are at risk of losing their food security."
Additionally, "9.2 million constituents represented by the top 10 richest senators and 4 million constituents represented by the top 25 richest representatives use Medicaid and are at risk of losing critically needed healthcare," the report warns.
The watchdog also found that 3 million and 930,000 federal student aid grants were given to constituents within these lawmakers' states and districts, respectively, and proposed cuts threaten "to price students out of pursuing higher education."
The richest Republican senator, by a significant margin, is Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, who made his money from the nation's for-profit healthcare system before serving as governor of his state. As of mid-May, his estimated net worth was around half a billion dollars, according to the new report.
Nine of the 10 senators—all but Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah)—"sit on five committees instrumental in shaping budget reconciliation," the report points out, as the upper chamber takes up the package following its passage in the House last week.
"As Trump's Big Beautiful Bill moves to the Senate, we must make it clear: There is nothing 'beautiful' about giving huge tax breaks to billionaires while cutting healthcare, nutrition, and education for working families. It is grossly immoral and, together, we must defeat it," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has been traveling the country for his Fighting Oligarchy Tour, said on social media Tuesday.
Just two House Republicans, Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Warren Davidson of Ohio, joined Democrats in opposing the bill, and GOP Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, chair of the House Freedom Caucus, voted present.
All other Republicans present voted in favor of the bill—even though, as Accountable.US detailed last week, a dozen wrote to GOP leadership last month saying that they represent "districts with high rates of constituents who depend on Medicaid," so they "cannot and will not support a final reconciliation bill that includes any reduction in Medicaid coverage for vulnerable populations."
The watchdog stressed that six of those Republican lawmakers—Reps. Rob Bresnahan of Pennsylvania, Rob Wittman of Virginia, Jen Kiggans of Virginia, Young Kim of California, Juan Ciscomani of Arizona, and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey—could directly benefit from the expansion of the "pass-through deduction" in the package.
Meanwhile, Tuesday's report calls out the richest House GOP members, led by Rep. Vern Buchanan of Florida, and Rep. Darrell Issa of California, who are each worth nearly a quarter-billion dollars.
"The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is the definition of promises made and promises kept," Buchanan, vice chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, said in a statement after last week's vote. "This is a commonsense, pro-growth, pro-family, America First bill. We will not stop fighting until we get this bill across the finish line and to the president's desk."
Of the top 25 Republicans in the House, by estimated net worth, 19 sit on five key panels, the report states.
"The richest Republicans in Congress are happy to raise costs for millions of their own constituents and jeopardize healthcare for millions more, while they get a tax cut for themselves," said Accountable.US executive director Tony Carrk in a statement. "The Trump tax scam is a grift for the ultrarich, including those who are in charge of passing this legislation themselves, and a betrayal to hardworking Americans everywhere."
"It's cruel and inexcusable," said Rep. Judy Chu.
By Jessica Corbett • May 27, 2025
Yet another Trump administration deportation case is sparking outrage: This time, a 4-year-old Mexican girl and her parents face expulsion, despite the family coming to the United States legally and the child's risk of death if she loses the medical care she is receiving in California.
The Los Angeles Times on Tuesday shared the story of the family, which came to the United States on humanitarian grounds in 2023: the young girl, identified by her initials, S.G.V.; her mom, 28-year-old Deysi Vargas, who is also Mexican; and her 34-year-old dad, who is from Colombia.
They have been living in Bakersfield, and S.G.V. has been receiving care for her short bowel syndrome at the Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA). However, the family received a letter last month stating that their legal status had been terminated and urging them to leave the United States of their own accord, to avoid deportation.
While spokespeople for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services as well as CHLA declined to comment, the Times reported on a letter written by Dr. John Arsenault at the family's request:
If there is an interruption in her daily nutrition system, called Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN), the doctor wrote, "this could be fatal within a matter of days."
"As such, patients on home TPN are not allowed to leave the country because the infrastructure to provide TPN or provide immediate intervention if there is a problem with IV access depends on our program's utilization of U.S.-based healthcare resources and does not transfer across borders," Arsenault wrote.
"This is a textbook example of medical need," said the family's attorney, Rebecca Brown of the pro bono legal firm Public Counsel, who petitioned for continuation of their temporary humanitarian legal status. "This child will die and there's no sense for that to happen. It would just be a cruel sacrifice."
Readers of the reporting quickly called out U.S. President Donald Trump and other key officials in his administration, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, who was behind the family separation policy from Trump's first term.
"Heartbreaking: A 4-year-old came here legally with her family for lifesaving care. Yet Trump still seeks to deport her despite doctors warning she could die. It's cruel and inexcusable," said Congresswoman Judy Chu (D-Calif.), whose district is in Los Angeles County.
Adrian Carrasquillo, who writes the immigration-focused newsletter "Huddled Masses" at The Bulwark, an anti-Trump conservative outlet, stressed that "this is being done in our name."
The Trump administration has provoked legal battles and intense scrutiny for deporting various people in recent months, including multiple children who are U.S. citizens—among them, a 4-year-old cancer patient.
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