The White House said late on Friday that it would cancel $810 million in spending that Congress had already approved, using a rarely used budget device known as a pocket rescission. The largest item was $567 million in Health and Human Services funding for programmes that serve noncitizens. Other cuts targeted health and education services and support for immigrants, refugees and minority-owned businesses. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins said lawmakers were told without warning or consultation, and that the Office of Management and Budget appeared to have withheld the money for months. The Government Accountability Office has called pocket rescissions illegal. The fiscal year ends on September 30.
President Donald Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House on Thursday for a state visit centred on trade, artificial intelligence, Taiwan and the war with Iran. The two sides agreed the day before to extend a one-year trade truce, which had been due to expire on November 10, by two months. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the leaders may support a notification mechanism for AI incidents that could affect national security. Xi said AI development must always stay under human control. China wants Washington to halt arms sales to Taiwan and ease export controls on advanced chips.
A federal judge ruled on 24 September that the White House must restore press credentials for CNN, MS NOW and Politico, a week after President Donald Trump banned the three outlets from the building. Secret Service officers had turned their reporters away on 19 September and seized their press passes. The three organisations sued on 21 September, arguing the ban violated the First Amendment, and said credentials had been pulled without notice or process. The ruling restores access, but the administration controls pool rotations and travel seats, and further legal fights are expected.
The Pentagon has told Congress that the war with Iran has cost $45.1 billion so far. Officials put war costs at $43.6 billion as of 3 September, plus an extra $1.5 billion for fuel, according to two sources familiar with the briefing. The figure is not a full accounting. It leaves out the cost of repairing damaged bases and buildings, and lawmakers did not get the detailed breakdown of indirect operating costs they had asked for. The estimate landed as fuel prices stay high and the midterm election campaign turns on the cost of living. Congress still has to decide how to fund the next phase of operations, and the price tag is expected to keep climbing.
The White House has barred CNN, MS Now and Politico from routine press access, a step the administration links to what it calls unfair coverage. Correspondents for the three outlets have been excluded from briefings and pooled events since September 21, according to reports, and the organisations say they are still reporting from outside the building. Three news companies are now suing the administration, arguing that naming individual outlets violates the First Amendment. On Capitol Hill, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee is demanding documents and answers about how the ban was decided. Lawmakers also say they were not briefed before the administration announced a new AI Force, and want details on its size, mandate and budget before any funding moves.
Three White House reporters lost their credentials and were denied entry on September 19 after President Donald Trump banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the press pool. Photographs showed CNN's Betsy Klein, MS NOW's Akayla Gardner and Politico's Cheyenne Haslett outside the gates with their hard passes confiscated. The pool is a rotating group of correspondents who travel with the president and share material with the wider press corps, so removing outlets narrows what the public sees. The White House Correspondents' Association objected and media lawyers are weighing a court challenge. Past fights over access have turned on whether a press pass is a presidential privilege or a First Amendment process.
President Donald Trump said he is banning three major news organizations from White House press access, naming CNN, MS NOW and Politico. Politico reported the move after a week in which the administration suffered court setbacks, including a Supreme Court decision that blocked parts of his mail-in ballot plan. The White House has tightened access for reporters it says are unfair, while press groups argue the practice limits public scrutiny of the president. The announcement came the same week Trump said the United States had reached a security and investment agreement with Denmark over Greenland, and as he pressed Republican lawmakers on healthcare and data center rules ahead of the midterms.
President Donald Trump signed a sweeping Russia sanctions bill into law on Saturday, targeting oil revenue while Russian voters cast ballots in a parliamentary election. The measure is named for Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and moved through Congress with support from both parties. Ukraine and Russia both reacted quickly. Voting for all 450 State Duma seats is in its second day; Moscow said its electronic voting system came under a powerful, non-stop cyberattack overnight. Most anti-war candidates were barred before voting began, and President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of trying to hinder the vote. United Russia is expected to keep its dominance in the tightly controlled system.
A federal judge ordered the Kennedy Center to give 30 days' notice before demolishing its main building or making other major physical changes, a step that blocks quick action by the Trump administration. Judge Christopher Cooper issued the order on Thursday and denied a request from Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat on the board, for an emergency hearing. The board, chaired by President Donald Trump, voted on Tuesday to proceed with a $257 million renovation, and the building closed to the public on Wednesday. The closure was justified by structural deterioration that officials called a safety risk. A May ruling had found the center illegally added Trump's name to the building.
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the European Union would face very serious tariffs, or a halt to large parts of transatlantic trade, if it moves ahead with a plan to bring Canada in as an associate member. Trump called Canada a terrible trade partner and described the idea as laughable. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said the EU is opening the door for Canada to become the bloc's first associate member, a category that does not exist in current EU treaties and would need ratification by every member state. Canadian officials say no formal offer is on the table, and EU diplomats describe the plan as a political signal.