Politics and views in the United States.

Senate Republicans say they'll change the House's budget resolution. Trump questions whether he called the Ukrainian president a 'dictator' ahead of his White House visit, and environmental groups question EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin's call for deregulation. 

TRANSCRIPT

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

I have a very good relationship with President Putin.

I think I have a very good relationship with President Zelensky.

And now we're, you know, we're doing the deal, then we're going to be in there.

We're going to be actually in there digging, digging our hearts out.

President Donald Trump says he looks forward to meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House today to finalize an agreement giving the U.S. access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals.

During a meeting with British Prime Minister Kier Starmer, Trump denied calling Zelensky a dictator, despite using the term about the Ukrainian leader on social media last week.

After the meeting, Starmer stressed the European position that any Ukraine peace deal must stop Russian President Vladimir Putin from deciding to invade again, as he did twice in a dozen years.

Senate Republicans have said they'll likely make hefty changes to the budget resolution the House just passed.

Majority Leader John Thune says any Republican tax bill must include a permanent extension of Trump's 2017 tax cuts.

EPA head Lee Zeldin has urged the White House to strike down a 2009 determination that greenhouse gases endanger human health, which led the agency set limits on CO2 from cars and power plants.

Stephanie Reese with Moms Clean Air Force says that contradicts Zeldin's promise to follow the science.

"He must keep EPA on course and rein in climate and air pollution.

To do otherwise is a cynical and shameful betrayal, one that history will not forget."

Conservatives say the repeal is a necessary step towards ending burdensome regulations.

Environmentalists say climate change and fossil fuel air pollution itself kill tens of thousands every year.

Transgender service members, including those diagnosed with gender dysphoria, will be forced from the military without a special waiver under a new Pentagon policy. 24-year-old Clayton McAllister, a transgender man in the Air Force, says there's no reason to treat it differently than any health diagnosis.

"Any kind of procedure that a trans person would go through is the same downtime for someone that needs to have knee surgery.

I know a lot of active duty people that have to have knee surgery or anything like that."

The new defense secretary has said being trans contradicts a soldier's commitment to an honorable, truthful and disciplined lifestyle.

Fox News anchor Brett Baier says he's concerned about the White House taking control of which media outlets will be allowed to travel with the president and cover events with limited space.

"This is a reordering.

We'll have to see how it shakes out.

I worry about setting precedent that changes things down the road and maybe they don't realize the implications of it."

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

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.