The Senate, led by Republicans, is set to approve the appointment of Russ Vought as the head of the Office of Management and Budget, a key figure in Project 2025. The confirmation is expected to go ahead on Thursday, despite Democrats giving non-stop speeches in an attempt to block it. Vought, who is collaborating closely with Elon Musk, aims to significantly downsize and streamline the operations of the federal government, which is the largest employer in the country.
Meanwhile, while Vought is awaiting confirmation, Elon Musk has put in place an unprecedented financial incentive to encourage people to resign from their government positions. Musk is offering several months’ salary as a reward for those who choose to leave. Over 2 million employees are facing a deadline of 11:59 p.m. EST on Thursday to make their decision about resigning.
Controversy surrounds President Trump’s plan to take control of the war-torn Gaza Strip and rebuild it without its current 2.3 million Palestinian residents. The proposal has been met with strong opposition from Palestinians and U.S. allies in the Middle East, except for Israel, which is making arrangements to relocate the Palestinians using various modes of transportation. Critics, including Human Rights Watch, are condemning the plan as a form of “ethnic cleansing,” referring to the forced removal of an entire population through violent means.
Here’s the latest:
Trump says his Gaza rehab plan can be done without US troops
President Donald Trump says “no soldiers by the U.S. would be needed” to carry out his proposal for the United States to take over the Gaza Strip and redevelop the war-torn territory.
The comments come two days after Trump, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by his side, laid out his vision for relocating Gaza residents and redeveloping the land for people from around the world.
“The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting,” Trump said in a posting on his Truth Social platform. He added that Palestinians would be “resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region.”
He added that the U.S. would work “with great development teams from all over the World,” and “slowly and carefully begin the construction of what would become one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on Earth.”
Trump reasserted his commitment to his Gaza plan the day after his top diplomat and his chief spokesperson walked back that the president is advocating for the permanent relocation of Palestinians from Gaza, after American allies and even Republican lawmakers rejected the U.S. taking “ownership” of the territory.
Senate Democrats pulling an all-nighter to protest Vought
The Republican-led Senate is expected to confirm a chief architect of Project 2025 as director of the Office of Management and Budget on Thursday.
Senate Democrats vowed to give around-the-clock speeches to protest Trump’s nomination of Russ Vought to the influential position, and all 47 of them said they would vote against him. But as the minority party in the Senate, that’s not enough to stop his confirmation.
Vought also is influential in the effort to broadly dismantle the federal government, led by Elon Musk’s DOGE team.
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