Politics and views in the United States.

Trump faces backlash for restricting press access. The Defense Secretary's ties to a controversial church spark debate, Speaker Mike Johnson struggles with votes for a budget that includes health care cuts. Arkansas expands school meals, and Western voters push back against cuts to wilderness agencies.

TRANSCRIPT

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

The White House press team and this administration will determine who gets to enjoy the very privileged and limited access in spaces such as Air Force One and the Oval Office.

White House Press Secretary Carolyn Leavitt says the administration will decide which media outlets get access, not the White House Correspondents Association, which has done so for a century.

The Associated Press has already been barred for refusing to rename the Gulf of Mexico.

A federal judge is reviewing the legality of the ban, which free speech advocates are decrying.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's ties to a Tennessee church with Christian nationalist ties is sparking alarm.

Some congregations in the communion of Reformed Evangelical churches advocate what they call biblical law, including denying women the vote.

Hegseth has previously opposed women in the military, although he has moved away from that stance.

After briefly delaying a vote, the House has passed a budget resolution.

Dissent from moderate Republicans over cuts to health care and from hardliners seeking more deficit reduction did not stop the spending outline.

Alaska health care workers are warning against a plan to take $800 billion out of Medicaid to pay for extending tax cuts that mostly go to corporations and high-income households.

Shannon Davenport with the Alaska Nurses Association says the program covers more than a third of the people in that rural state.

We would have people going without health care, children going without preventative health care, from vaccines, checkups, something as basic as I start out with a cold, but now I've got pneumonia and I have to be admitted to a hospital, which could have been avoided.

Meanwhile, more than 20 civil service employees have resigned from DOJ, citing concerns over dismantling public services.

In a joint letter, they wrote, "We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution.

We can no longer honor those commitments."

A new poll finds Western voters largely oppose cutting federal land and wildlife agencies.

Dave Metz with FM3 Research says there's bipartisan support for national parks and conservation services.

The answers are overwhelming.

They would oppose such cuts.

Three-quarters of Western voters overall express opposition, and that sentiment is thoroughly bipartisan.

That survey came before the Trump administration fired thousands of National Park and Forest Service workers.

Arkansas is expanding free breakfast to include all students, even those at charter and private schools.

The new food insecurity fund will cover the cost through general funds, grants and medical marijuana taxes.

Sylvia Blain of the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance says one in four children there faces hunger.

We know that there's a lot of kids out there that are not being fed three meals a day at home.

To know that they can come to school and get breakfast, it's hard to have anyone argue against that.

I'm Farah Siddiqui for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org. org.