Politics and views in the United States.

House Democrats won't back the GOP budget bill. Ontario reacts to Trump trade moves by enacting energy export tariffs, and a new report finds mass deportations don t help the labor market. 

TRANSCRIPT

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

The House Republican so-called spending bill does nothing to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Quite the opposite.

The Republican bill dramatically cuts health care, nutritional assistance for children and families, and veterans benefits.

Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries says House Democrats won't support the stopgap measure to fund the government through September.

The bill increases defense funding but cuts non-defense spending to 2024 levels.

President Donald Trump is backing the bill, saying it'll provide Congress an opportunity to get national finances in order.

A vote on the bill will be held today to avoid a partial government shutdown beginning Friday at midnight.

Jeffries says Democrats also want guarantees in any budget deal and debt limit increase that Congress controls spending and won't be unilaterally overruled by the White House.

While many Americans may feel the pinch of reduced federal funding and benefits cuts and worse customer service, Washington, D.C. will see its impacts more directly.

The stopgap bill omits a provision to let the city spend the remainder of its 2025 budget, instead forcing it to reduce to 2024 levels, like any other government agency.

D.C.'s non-voting House Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton calls it fiscal sabotage.

The CR would result in a projected cut of $1 billion, which would force dramatic reductions in essential services the city provides, including D.C. police, EMS and schools.

Meanwhile, in response to Trump's trade moves, Ontario is putting a 25 percent tariff on electricity exported across its southern border, hitting New York, Minnesota and Michigan.

Conservative Ontario Premier Doug Ford discussed the situation with CNN.

Uncertainty is what people don't like hearing in general life, not to mention the markets are tumbling and investors from around the world are looking twice at America and Canada to invest in.

Ford says he's considering terminating these exports as the U.S.-Canada trade war progresses.

Trump has delayed or eased some tariffs, but has refused to rule out a recession, sending the stock market down sharply.

Some economists say if a recession occurs now, the country could recover before 2026, which could buoy Republicans in the midterm elections.

Trump and his congressional allies say extending his tax cuts could boost economic confidence.

A new report finds U.S. presidents have a long history of blaming immigration for the country's economic troubles, even when research shows the opposite.

University of Colorado economic professor Chloe East says mass deportations and raids incite fear and leave vacant jobs that U.S. citizens are unlikely to fill.

We really don't see this substitution between unauthorized immigrants and U.S.-born workers in the way that we're promised we will by politicians.

In fact, the effect sort of goes even beyond this lack of substitution.

Previous research has found migrants are more likely to start businesses and create jobs than native-born people.

I'm Edwin J. Vieira for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.