United States

United States


What does having the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on hold mean for consumers?

NEW YORK (AP) — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which Congress established to monitor credit card companies, mortgage providers, debt collectors and other segments of the consumer finance industry, is the latest U.S. government agency to have its work halted by the Trump administration. Conservatives have long targeted the work of the CFPB. Critics complain […]

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Judge leaves intact a ban on DOGE access to Treasury records pending a hearing Friday

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday made some clarifications but left intact a ban for now that prevents Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Treasury Department records containing sensitive personal data for millions of Americans. Judge Jeannette A. Vargas in Manhattan issued an order to continue a ban prior to […]

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With firings and lax enforcement, Trump moving to dismantle government’s public integrity guardrails

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the first three weeks of his administration, President Donald Trump has moved with brazen haste to dismantle the federal government’s public integrity guardrails that he frequently tested during his first term but now seems intent on removing entirely. In a span of hours on Monday, word came that he had forced […]

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Judge orders fired head of whistleblower agency reinstated while fight continues over Trump removal

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. judge on Monday ordered the fired head of the federal agency dedicated to protecting whistleblowers to be reinstated while a court fight continues over his removal by President Donald Trump. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson’s order came hours after Hampton Dellinger sued the Republican president over his removal as […]

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Labor unions sue to block DOGE access to sensitive information at US agencies

WASHINGTON (AP) — A coalition of labor unions filed a lawsuit Monday asking a federal court to stop Elon Musk’s team from accessing private data at the Education Department, the Treasury Department and the Office of Personnel Management. The suit, led by the American Federation of Teachers, alleges the Trump administration violated federal privacy laws […]

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DOGE’s access to Treasury data risks US financial standing and raises security worries, experts warn

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Government Efficiency’s embed into the federal government has raised a host of concerns, transforming a debate over how to cut government waste into a confrontation over privacy rights and the nation’s financial standing in the world. DOGE, spearheaded by billionaire Donald Trump donor Elon Musk, has rapidly burrowed deep […]

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Judge set to rule on Justice Department’s demands that Musk resume access to Treasury records

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge is likely to quickly decide whether to grant Justice Department demands that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency be allowed to immediately resume accessing Treasury Department records containing personal data for millions of Americans. Judge Jeannette A. Vargas had ordered lawyers to meet and confer over any changes […]

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Trump administration orders consumer protection agency to stop work, closes building

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to stop nearly all its work, effectively shutting down an agency that was created to protect consumers after the 2008 financial crisis and subprime mortgage-lending scandal. Russell Vought, the newly installed director of the Office of Management and Budget, directed the CFPB, […]

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Vance and Musk question the authority of the courts as Trump’s agenda faces legal pushback

WASHINGTON (AP) — Top Trump administration officials are openly questioning the judiciary’s authority to serve as a check on executive power as the new president’s sweeping agenda faces growing pushback from the courts. Over the past 24 hours, officials ranging from billionaire Elon Musk to Vice President JD Vance have not only criticized a federal […]

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Supreme Court that Trump helped shape could have the last word on his aggressive executive orders

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will need the Supreme Court, with three justices he appointed, to enable the most aggressive of the many actions he has taken in just the first few weeks of his second White House term. But even a conservative majority with a robust view of presidential power might balk at […]

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The US stopped allowing passport gender marker changes. Here are some of the people affected

The day after President Donald Trump returned to office, Lisa Suhay took her 21-year-old daughter, Mellow, to a passport office in Norfolk, Virginia, where they live. Getting a passport for Mellow, who is transgender, was urgent. In an executive order Trump signed the night before, the president used a narrow definition of the sexes instead […]

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Democrats ask for an investigation into DOGE’s access to Treasury’s payment systems

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic lawmakers are seeking a Treasury Department investigation of the access that Elon Musk’s team was given to the government’s payment system, citing “threats to the economy and national security, and the potential violation of laws protecting Americans’ privacy and tax data.” The lawmakers sent letters Friday to Treasury’s deputy inspector general […]

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