Politics and views in the United States.

Speaker Johnson says safety net programs will be "protected" in House budget. Secretary of State Rubio defends the administration's revoking of hundreds of student visas, and rural libraries could close as federal funding is cut.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2025 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

We're going to protect the essential programs for everybody who's eligible to receive those.

And you'll see that reflected in the final bill.

But I think it's very important for us to note that we'll be looking for $1.5 trillion in savings.

House Speaker Mike Johnson insists President Donald Trump and Republicans will not touch Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security.

The House reached agreement with the Senate to pass a budget outline in line with Trump's tax cut, immigration and military spending priorities.

When lawmakers return from a two-week recess, Republicans will face the hard job of identifying specific cuts.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries says Democrats are demanding investigation into insider trading by lawmakers during the recent stock market surge caused by an administration about face on tariffs.

We need to get to the bottom of the possible stock manipulation that is unfolding before the American people, including what, if any, advanced knowledge did members of the House Republican Conference have of Trump's decision to pause the reckless tariff that he put into place.

Just ahead of announcing a 90-day tariff pause which caused stocks to skyrocket, Trump posted on social media that it was, quote, "a great time to buy."

But before that post, bets on a market surge rose by more than 2,000 percent in a single hour.

Stocks crashed again Thursday.

In response to U.S. 125 percent tariffs on Chinese goods, China just put an 84 percent levy on U.S. products.

The State Department is defending its move to revoke international student visas.

Even as legal observers charge they are specifically targeted to silence critics of U.S. foreign policy.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio repeated Thursday that student visas are a privilege, not a right.

He says the revocations will continue.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has abruptly ended a key disaster preparedness effort, sparking concerns for hurricane season.

The Building, Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program distributed billions for projects including floodplain restoration and storm restraint infrastructure.

Em Donohoe with the National Wildlife Federation says Congress should reverse the decision.

We know that every dollar invested in natural disaster resilience and preparedness saves approximately $13 in long-term economic savings and damages and costs avoided post-disaster.

Trump has signed an executive order to dismantle the agency by which the federal government funds local libraries.

The American Library Association's Cindy Hull says that especially puts rural libraries on the chopping block.

When we're looking at our small and rural communities, if we see a decrease in federal funding to the point of where it's a third or even a half of their budget, those libraries will have to make difficult decisions and they may have to close.

I'm Alex Gonzalez for Pacific Network and Public News Service.

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