Reuters US Domestic News Summary

The White House and the department did not immediately respond to requests for comment late on Wednesday. US foreign aid contractors go to judge after Supreme Court boost A day after getting a boost from the Supreme Court, U.S. foreign aid contractors and grant recipients go before a federal judge on Thursday to try to restore funding halted by President Donald Trump's administration in his drive to shut down American humanitarian efforts globally.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

US House starts reprimand of Democrat Al Green for disrupting Trump speech

The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives kicked off a process on Wednesday that could lead lawmakers to censure Democrat Al Green, who was kicked out of the chamber after yelling at President Donald Trump during an address. Representative Green, a Texas Democrat who has been in Congress for 20 years and has repeatedly called to impeach Trump, is facing a House censure resolution for yelling at the president, waiving his black cane and refusing to sit down during Trump's Tuesday night speech.

US Supreme Court won't let Trump withhold payment to foreign aid groups

A divided U.S. Supreme Court declined on Wednesday to let President Donald Trump's administration withhold payment to foreign aid organizations for work they already performed for the government as the Republican president moves to pull the plug on American humanitarian projects around the world. Handing a setback to Trump, the court in a 5-4 decision upheld Washington-based U.S. District Judge Amir Ali's order that had called on the administration to promptly release funding to contractors and recipients of grants from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department for their past work.

US judge bars Trump administration from cutting NIH research funding

A U.S. judge on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump's administration from carrying out steep cuts to federal grant funding for research that universities and Democratic-led states warn would lead to layoffs, lab closures and a curtailment of scientific and medical studies. U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Boston issued a nationwide injunction at the request of 22 Democratic state attorneys general, medical associations and universities that argue the National Institutes of Health's planned funding cuts were unlawful.

Exclusive-US Marshals providing security to health secretary Kennedy, email shows

The U.S. Marshals Service is providing security to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an email seen by Reuters on Wednesday showed, in what sources described as an unusual arrangement. The arrangement was disclosed in a February 12 email, in which the HHS Office of the Inspector General said it was winding down its protective services operations. The email said Attorney General Pam Bondi would arrange security for Kennedy going forward.

Trump's FDA chief pick Makary to face overhauling agency, keeping Kennedy happy

Martin Makary, President Donald Trump's nominee to run the U.S. FDA, will be tasked with maintaining the agency's gold standard status among international drug regulators while contending with cost cuts, and answering to a vaccine skeptic for a boss in Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He is set to take over an agency already embroiled in controversy after the mass firing of federal employees and the cancellation of a meeting of Food and Drug Administration advisers meant to discuss the seasonal flu vaccine shortly after Kennedy was confirmed.

US announced job cuts surge 245% in February on federal government layoffs

Layoffs announced by U.S.-employers jumped to levels not seen since the last two recessions amid mass federal government job cuts, canceled contracts and fears of trade wars, offering the clearest sign yet of the toll taken on the labor market by the policies of President Donald Trump's administration. Global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said on Thursday that planned job cuts vaulted 245% to 172,017 last month, the highest level since July 2020, when the economy was in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the highest February total since the Great Recession 16 years ago.

Trump exempts some automakers from Canada, Mexico tariffs for one month

U.S. President Donald Trump will exempt automakers from his punishing 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico for one month as long as they comply with existing free trade rules, the White House said on Wednesday, a development that halted at least for now Wall Street's steepest skid in nearly three months. Trump is also open to hearing about other products that should be exempted from the tariffs, which took effect Tuesday, the White House said.

Senate Republicans push to codify DOGE cuts after Musk meeting

U.S. Senate Republicans pushed for the U.S. Congress to codify spending cuts identified by billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency on Wednesday, after the Supreme Court declined to let President Donald Trump withhold payments to foreign aid organizations. After a lunch meeting with Musk, Republican lawmakers acknowledged the 5-4 court ruling did not bode well for White House hopes of taking unilateral action to cut spending allocated by Congress through a controversial process known as impoundment.

Trump to order US Education Department abolished, WSJ reports

President Donald Trump is expected to issue an executive order aimed at his long-held goal of abolishing the U.S. Department of Education, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The order may come as soon as Thursday, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter whom it did not name. The White House and the department did not immediately respond to requests for comment late on Wednesday.

US foreign aid contractors go to judge after Supreme Court boost

A day after getting a boost from the Supreme Court, U.S. foreign aid contractors and grant recipients go before a federal judge on Thursday to try to restore funding halted by President Donald Trump's administration in his drive to shut down American humanitarian efforts globally. The case before U.S. District Judge Amir Ali represents an early test of the legality of Trump's aggressive moves since returning to the presidency in January to assert power over federal spending including funding approved by Congress.