The Trump administration and DOGE are continuing their efforts to slash federal spending, with major cuts to the Health Department announced Thursday. Trump takes “presidential action” against the elite law firms that targeted him. And, voters in Maine overwhelmingly support keeping men out of women’s sports – but the state’s Democratic governor is still defying Trump’s order to do so.
It’s Friday, March 28th, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
DOGE Cuts HHS
(Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Topline: The Trump administration and DOGE are continuing their efforts to slash federal spending, with major cuts to the Health Department announced Thursday.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Thursday morning that his department will cut more than 10,000 jobs – more than 20% of HHS’ workforce.
Among others, the Food and Drug Administration will let go of 3,500 employees, though Kennedy said the cuts would not impact inspectors looking at drugs, medical devices, and food. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will lose 1,200 workers, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) 300, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2,400. The overhaul will also eliminate 13 of the department’s 28 existing divisions and create a new Administration for a Healthy America. According to Kennedy, the cuts will save taxpayer money and force health agencies to become more efficient.
“When I arrived I found that over half of our employees don’t even come to work,” Kennedy said. “As part of President Trump’s DOGE workforce reduction initiative, we’re gonna streamline HHS to make our agency more efficient and effective. … We’re gonna eliminate an entire alphabet soup of departments and agencies while preserving their core functions.”
Context: America’s health care system ranks last in health among 38 developed nations, but spends 2 to 3x more per capita on each patient. HHS funding increased by nearly 40 percent under the Biden administration, as staffing went up almost 20 percent – this week’s cuts will reduce the number of employees to pre-pandemic levels.
These aren’t the only cuts being made to HHS. A day earlier, Kennedy moved to pull nearly $12 billion in COVID funding that had been allocated to state health departments, NGOs, and an assortment of international groups. Those funds were being used for COVID testing, COVID vaccines, etc. According to a DHS spokesman, “The COVID-19 pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago.” Instead, they say, “HHS is prioritizing funding projects that will deliver on President Trump’s mandate to address our chronic disease epidemic.”
According to the CDC, 6 in 10 Americans suffer from a chronic disease, while 4 in 10 suffer from at least two.
Trump vs. Law Firms
(Photo by Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Topline: President Trump is taking action against top law firms that have ties to people who drove investigations and litigation against him.
On Monday, Trump signed an executive order targeting the law firm Jenner & Block. The order is similar to a few others he’s signed in recent weeks – it blocks the firm from entering federal buildings and revokes its attorneys’ security clearances. It also bars federal agencies from contracting with the firm.
“I just think that the law firms have to behave themselves,” Trump said. “We have others that want to make a settlement also having to do with the elections and other things, they’ve behaved very badly … our elections are very dishonest. Very corrupt.”
A federal judge blocked one of these Trump orders earlier this month – that order targeted Perkins Coie, the Clinton-tied law firm at the center of the Russian collusion conspiracy in 2016. The judge in that case, Beryl Howell, was appointed by Barack Obama and called Trump’s order “unlawful” and a violation of the First Amendment.
The targeted firms all have deep ties to the Democratic Party and Trump’s top antagonists. In fact, Trump’s latest order singles out Andrew Weissmann. He was a partner at Jenner & Block from 2021 to 2022 – but before that, he was the top deputy of special counsel Robert Mueller and is thought to have been a key player in propagating the “Russiagate” hoax.
These orders don’t appear to be final – Trump has suggested that he will negotiate with the law firms if they come to the table. When asked if his actions amounted to “coercion” by a reporter, Trump responded, “The law firms all wanna make deals. You mean the law firms that we’re going after that went after me for 4 years ruthlessly, violently, illegally? I mean, are those the law firms you’re talking about? They’re not babies. They’re very sophisticated people.”
One prominent firm in the hot seat – Paul Weiss – has agreed to make several commitments to avoid sanctions, including $40 million worth of pro bono work for causes the White House supports.
Maine Defies Title IX
(Photo by Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Topline: Public universities in Maine are backing down from their transgender policies, but Governor Janet Mills (D) is still refusing to comply with Trump’s order on girls’ sports.
The public spat between President Trump and Governor Mills over an executive order barring men from women’s sports has gone on for more than a month. Mills maintains that the EO does not carry the force of law and has stated flatly that she has no intention of complying with it.
“My issue is about the rule of law, pure and simple,” Mills said in a statement posted to X. “[The Constitution] doesn’t allow [the president] him to make laws out of whole cloth by tweet or instagram post or press release or executive order.”
Congressional Republicans have been slow to codify Trump’s order on girls’ sports. However, Title IX separates sports based on sex to ensure equal opportunity. Only during the Biden administration did the federal government decide to interpret Title IX through the lens of so-called gender identity. Eight public universities in Maine have already said they will comply with Trump’s order in response to the Department of Agriculture threatening to withhold federal funding over the issue.
Other departments have also opened investigations into Maine’s transgender policies. For example, Health and Human Services said it found Title IX violations and gave the state ten days to comply with Trump’s order – that letter was sent on March 19.
“The letter stipulated that if there is no voluntary compliance on the part of Maine, it’s going to be referred to the Justice Department for prosecution,” Steve Robinson, editor-in-chief of The Maine Wire (no relation) told Morning Wire. “I think there’s a lot of ego and stubbornness here. They’re not used to being told that they’re wrong or that they don’t have the authority to do something.”
New polling from the American Parents Coalition – which was exclusively shared with The Daily Wire – shows that Maine residents side with Trump on this issue — 63% said school sports participation should be based on biological sex. 60% said they’d support a ballot measure to protect girls’ sports, including 64% of independents.
[#item_full_content]
[[{“value”:”
The Trump administration and DOGE are continuing their efforts to slash federal spending, with major cuts to the Health Department announced Thursday. Trump takes “presidential action” against the elite law firms that targeted him. And, voters in Maine overwhelmingly support keeping men out of women’s sports – but the state’s Democratic governor is still defying Trump’s order to do so.
It’s Friday, March 28th, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
DOGE Cuts HHS
(Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Topline: The Trump administration and DOGE are continuing their efforts to slash federal spending, with major cuts to the Health Department announced Thursday.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Thursday morning that his department will cut more than 10,000 jobs – more than 20% of HHS’ workforce.
Among others, the Food and Drug Administration will let go of 3,500 employees, though Kennedy said the cuts would not impact inspectors looking at drugs, medical devices, and food. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will lose 1,200 workers, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) 300, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2,400. The overhaul will also eliminate 13 of the department’s 28 existing divisions and create a new Administration for a Healthy America. According to Kennedy, the cuts will save taxpayer money and force health agencies to become more efficient.
“When I arrived I found that over half of our employees don’t even come to work,” Kennedy said. “As part of President Trump’s DOGE workforce reduction initiative, we’re gonna streamline HHS to make our agency more efficient and effective. … We’re gonna eliminate an entire alphabet soup of departments and agencies while preserving their core functions.”
Context: America’s health care system ranks last in health among 38 developed nations, but spends 2 to 3x more per capita on each patient. HHS funding increased by nearly 40 percent under the Biden administration, as staffing went up almost 20 percent – this week’s cuts will reduce the number of employees to pre-pandemic levels.
These aren’t the only cuts being made to HHS. A day earlier, Kennedy moved to pull nearly $12 billion in COVID funding that had been allocated to state health departments, NGOs, and an assortment of international groups. Those funds were being used for COVID testing, COVID vaccines, etc. According to a DHS spokesman, “The COVID-19 pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago.” Instead, they say, “HHS is prioritizing funding projects that will deliver on President Trump’s mandate to address our chronic disease epidemic.”
According to the CDC, 6 in 10 Americans suffer from a chronic disease, while 4 in 10 suffer from at least two.
Trump vs. Law Firms
(Photo by Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Topline: President Trump is taking action against top law firms that have ties to people who drove investigations and litigation against him.
On Monday, Trump signed an executive order targeting the law firm Jenner & Block. The order is similar to a few others he’s signed in recent weeks – it blocks the firm from entering federal buildings and revokes its attorneys’ security clearances. It also bars federal agencies from contracting with the firm.
“I just think that the law firms have to behave themselves,” Trump said. “We have others that want to make a settlement also having to do with the elections and other things, they’ve behaved very badly … our elections are very dishonest. Very corrupt.”
A federal judge blocked one of these Trump orders earlier this month – that order targeted Perkins Coie, the Clinton-tied law firm at the center of the Russian collusion conspiracy in 2016. The judge in that case, Beryl Howell, was appointed by Barack Obama and called Trump’s order “unlawful” and a violation of the First Amendment.
The targeted firms all have deep ties to the Democratic Party and Trump’s top antagonists. In fact, Trump’s latest order singles out Andrew Weissmann. He was a partner at Jenner & Block from 2021 to 2022 – but before that, he was the top deputy of special counsel Robert Mueller and is thought to have been a key player in propagating the “Russiagate” hoax.
These orders don’t appear to be final – Trump has suggested that he will negotiate with the law firms if they come to the table. When asked if his actions amounted to “coercion” by a reporter, Trump responded, “The law firms all wanna make deals. You mean the law firms that we’re going after that went after me for 4 years ruthlessly, violently, illegally? I mean, are those the law firms you’re talking about? They’re not babies. They’re very sophisticated people.”
One prominent firm in the hot seat – Paul Weiss – has agreed to make several commitments to avoid sanctions, including $40 million worth of pro bono work for causes the White House supports.
Maine Defies Title IX
(Photo by Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Topline: Public universities in Maine are backing down from their transgender policies, but Governor Janet Mills (D) is still refusing to comply with Trump’s order on girls’ sports.
The public spat between President Trump and Governor Mills over an executive order barring men from women’s sports has gone on for more than a month. Mills maintains that the EO does not carry the force of law and has stated flatly that she has no intention of complying with it.
“My issue is about the rule of law, pure and simple,” Mills said in a statement posted to X. “[The Constitution] doesn’t allow [the president] him to make laws out of whole cloth by tweet or instagram post or press release or executive order.”
Congressional Republicans have been slow to codify Trump’s order on girls’ sports. However, Title IX separates sports based on sex to ensure equal opportunity. Only during the Biden administration did the federal government decide to interpret Title IX through the lens of so-called gender identity. Eight public universities in Maine have already said they will comply with Trump’s order in response to the Department of Agriculture threatening to withhold federal funding over the issue.
Other departments have also opened investigations into Maine’s transgender policies. For example, Health and Human Services said it found Title IX violations and gave the state ten days to comply with Trump’s order – that letter was sent on March 19.
“The letter stipulated that if there is no voluntary compliance on the part of Maine, it’s going to be referred to the Justice Department for prosecution,” Steve Robinson, editor-in-chief of The Maine Wire (no relation) told Morning Wire. “I think there’s a lot of ego and stubbornness here. They’re not used to being told that they’re wrong or that they don’t have the authority to do something.”
New polling from the American Parents Coalition – which was exclusively shared with The Daily Wire – shows that Maine residents side with Trump on this issue — 63% said school sports participation should be based on biological sex. 60% said they’d support a ballot measure to protect girls’ sports, including 64% of independents.
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