Month: March 2017

President Donald Trump says that empowering and promoting women in business are priorities in his administration.   In a round-table discussion, the president is telling a group of female business owners that his team will work on barriers women face. He says the administration is also trying to make childcare more affordable and accessible.  …

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who has famously declared himself “not a big media press access person,” isn’t alone in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet. But it’s too early to call him a trendsetter, either. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Transportation Secretary Elaine Cho, both with extensive private sector backgrounds, have similarly been press-averse at the…

The chairman of the U.S. House intelligence committee, David Nunes, met a source on White House grounds before making his disclosure last week that President Donald Trump was caught up in “incidental” surveillance, according to his spokesman. Nunes’ spokesman Jack Langer told reporters Monday that “Nunes met with his source at the White House grounds…

U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and key adviser, Jared Kushner, has agreed to be questioned as part of a Senate investigation into Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election, according to the White House. Kushner is the closest Trump ally to be questioned so far by the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is investigating ties…

President Donald Trump’s aides opened the door to working with moderate Democrats on health care and other issues while Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer quickly offered to find common ground with Trump for repairing former President Barack Obama’s health care law. Schumer said Sunday that Trump must be willing to drop attempts to repeal his…

The coming week will see Republicans attempting to regroup and reignite momentum behind a conservative agenda that failed its first major test of 2017: repealing and replacing former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports, last week’s legislative train wreck showed that, despite controlling the White House and both houses of…

A scuffle broke out on a Southern California beach where supporters of President Donald Trump were marching when counter-protesters doused organizers with pepper spray, authorities said Saturday. The violence erupted when the march of about 2,000 people at Bolsa Chica State Beach reached a group of about 30 counter-protesters, some of whom began spraying the…

The day after the flaming out of U.S. President Donald Trump’s first major legislative initiative, his supporters across America were lashing out — at conservatives, at Democrats, at leaders of his Republican Party in Congress. Only Trump himself was spared their wrath. Many voters who elected him appeared largely willing to give him a pass…

The United Nations begins negotiations Monday on a legally binding treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons. This comes as the United States commences a review of what role its nuclear weapons should now play. “Shortly after taking office, the president directed a new Nuclear Posture Review to ensure that the United States nuclear deterrent is modern,…

The United Nations is to begin negotiations Monday on a legally binding treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons. This comes as the United States begins a review of the role its nuclear weapons should now play. VOA White House Bureau Chief Correspondent Steve Herman reports. …

U.S. President Donald Trump is turning his attention to tax reform following the collapse of the effort to repeal and replace the nation’s health care plan. “I would say that we will probably start going very, very strongly for the big tax cuts and tax reform. That will be next,” Trump said at the White…

U.S. Sen. John McCain is urging President Donald Trump to nominate a team of senior officials at the State Department to back up new Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, spoke Saturday during an event in Brussels. He pointed to “confusion” over whether Tillerson would attend a…

One extra day could not buy President Donald Trump and his Republican Congress the first major legislative victory they needed to set the tone for the new administration. Republicans canceled a crucial health care bill vote at the last minute Friday rather than lose a battle of numbers on the floor of the U.S. House…

In a major blow to President Donald Trump, the U.S. House of Representatives, led by Republicans, failed to pass a health care bill. The House Speaker withdrew the measure to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, a key Trump campaign promise, less than an hour before a floor vote was scheduled. VOA congressional correspondent…

Some Americans breathed a sigh of relief, others bubbled with frustration, and nearly all resigned themselves to the prospect that the latest chapter in the never-ending national debate over health care would not be the last. The withdrawal of the Republican-sponsored health bill in the face of likely defeat Friday in the U.S. House seemed…

Friday’s surprising move by U.S. Republican leadership to pull the bill known as the American Health Care Act was partly because of its rejection by a small group of conservative Republicans known as the Freedom Caucus. The leader, Mark Meadows of North Carolina, said in a statement Friday that he had promised voters he would…

The U.S. congressional committee tasked with investigating allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign has asked the heads of the FBI and National Security Agency to testify again about the matter, the head of the committee said Friday. Republican Rep. Devin Nunes told reporters the follow-up testimony from FBI director James Comey and…