02a U.S. Politics – Conservative

Of Course, USAID’s Fingerprints Are All Over the Russian Collusion Hoax– townhall.com
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USAID is no more. What’s left of the desiccated corpse of this agency has been absorbed into the State Department, with most of its workers laid off and its overseas missions shut down. The veneer of aid work has been obliterated, thanks to the work of President Donald J. Trump and DOGE, which uncovered a litany of wasteful spending. It was a primary driver of favors and pork for the political class. The gravy train derailed, and the vehicle for moving slush funds was deactivated. That’s why the Left freaked out about the end of USAID.

The agency also played a part in the impeachment of Trump, subsidizing and being a quasi-lord protector at the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which is supposed to be independent but was anything but when you review the dynamics. USAID approved its staff hires and action plan, and OCCRP was cited numerous times in a CIA whistleblower’s complaint that launched the Ukraine quid pro quo circus. So, it’s not too shocking that USAID was also involved in the Russian collusion delusion. Public’s Michael Shellenberger and Alex Gutentag once again dove into this sordid world of (supposed) NGO activity and government funding: they found that OCCRP pushed the Trump-Russian bank/money laundering myth.

The State Democrats of New York are looking to demonstrate to the world what little regard they have for “democracy” as they move to pass a bill that would prevent a special election for Elise Stefanik’s (R-NY) current House seat. The representative looks to soon be confirmed as the U.S.’s next Ambassador to the UN.

The New York Dems are looking to avoid a law that would force them to hold a special election in short order. It would delay the special election until November. The Republicans have a 218-215 majority in the House, counting Stefanik’s currently held seat. The Democrats are desperate to gain a House majority before the next midterm to trigger more impeachments and kangaroo courts.

New York State Democrats Want to Delay Special Election to Replace Stefanik Until November – PJ Media– pjmedia.com
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The party that claims to want to “defend democracy” has decided to abandon the struggle in New York.

New York state Democrats are going to pass a bill that allows Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul to delay scheduling special elections until November. Current law requires Hochul to schedule a special election 90 days after a vacancy is declared.

The nomination of former Rep. Elise Stefanik to be UN ambassador will create a vacancy in her deep red district once the Senate confirms her nomination. Once the bill passes (Democrats have large majorities in both Houses), Hochul could deny citizens of New York’s 21st Congressional District any representation for an extra six months.

The move has profound national implications. Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson will have one fewer vote to pass Trump’s agenda. Currently, Johnson has a 218-215 majority with two vacancies, as well as Stefanik’s seat once she’s confirmed. In addition to Stefanik’s seat, Florida’s Mike Walz resigned to become Trump’s national security advisor, and Rep. Matt Gaetz resigned when Trump nominated him for attorney general.

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The H5N1 bird flu is still raging across America, leading the destruction of 148 million birds since 2022. As a result, the price of eggs has continued to go up, and now companies like Costco, Kroger, and Whole Foods are now putting restrictions on how many eggs each customer can buy. The question remains to some whether the bird flu is more hype and the chicken slaughtering is sabotage.

Grocery Chains Ration Eggs After Mass Chicken Slaughter For Bird Flu – PJ Media– pjmedia.com
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The Democrats have been running the “what about egg prices?” line of attack against Trump hot and heavy lately, making the argument that egg prices are still astronomical and growing despite Trump promising to bring them down and having a full three weeks to reverse five years of economic sabotage by his predecessor.

What they conveniently leave out of the egg price narrative is that the Public Health™ authorities have been busy slaughtering poultry by the hundreds of millions for at least three years now.

Via CBS News (emphasis added):

Whether it’s ducks or chickens, since the current strain of bird flu, H5N1, reached the United States in 2022, over 148 million birds have been ordered euthanized.

“It’s a staggering number, there is no doubt,” said Jodie Guest, a professor of epidemiology with Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta. “But it is, and always has been a policy across administrations, with the USDA, that this is how they handle infections like this among poultry. And as we’ve seen bird flu move [across] species, it becomes even more important to try to contain that infection in the flocks that it’s in, so that we don’t continue to see spread.”

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President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that requires the executive branch to work in cooperation with DOGE in its efforts to purge the government of waste. The order is called “Implementing the president’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ workforce optimization initiative.

Of note is the section on “Reduction of Force,” which states “Agency Heads shall promptly undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force (RIFs), consistent with applicable law, and to separate from Federal service temporary employees and reemployed annuitants working in areas that will likely be subject to the RIFs.  All offices that perform functions not mandated by statute or other law shall be prioritized in the RIFs, including all agency diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives…”

Trump supercharges DOGE with new executive order, sets stage for ‘large-scale’ layoffs– www.theblaze.com
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President Donald Trump signed an
executive order Tuesday setting the stage for “large-scale” layoffs and requiring federal agencies to further aid the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency with the governmental streamlining process, further empowering the Elon Musk-led outfit.

The order titled “Implementing the president’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ workforce optimization initiative” builds on Trump’s
Jan. 20 order establishing the DOGE and requires federal agency heads to make “preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force (RIFs), consistent with applicable law, and to separate from Federal service temporary employees and re-employed annuitants working in areas that will likely be subject to the RIFs.”

In the order, Trump tasked Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought with producing a master plan outlining how to reduce the federal bureaucracy through “efficiency improvements and attrition.” The plan must require that each agency can hire only one employee for every four employees kicked to the curb — a ratio that won’t apply to jobs related to immigration, public safety, or law enforcement.

Agency heads must in turn develop hiring plans in consultation with the DOGE team leader assigned to their agency, ensuring the strategic and timely placement of new career appointment hires as well as continued absences in positions the DOGE figures better left unmanned.

Trump further made clear that offices that “perform functions not mandated by statute or other law,” especially those surviving offices that engage in DEI initiatives, should be prioritized for house cleaning.

‘It’s just something we’ve got to fix.’

#TrumpFactor: King of Jordan Does The Unexpected After White House Meeting, Predicts Egypt is Next– wltreport.com
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Once again he floats a plan that the entire world says is impossible, only to find that steps are being taken in the “impossible” direction.

President Trump hosted King Abdullah of Jordan today at the White House.

The planned discussion topic centered on the situation in Gaza, and of course, President Trump’s plan to do something amazingly different than has ever been tried or conceived of in the past.

Except, some of his plan does include what has been attempted in the past — it’s just that no one has ever been able to pull it off.

Trump Admin Moves To Dissolve “Impermissible and Anti-Constitutional” Weekend TRO Against Treasury– legalinsurrection.com
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The emergency and ex parte Temporary Restraining Order entered just after midnight Friday night (1 a.m. Saturday, reportedly) by the emergency duty judge in the Southern District of New York, without any opportunity for the government to be heard, has created what legitimately is a constitutional crisis. In addition to the gamesmanship by New York and other blue states of a Friday night filing where there was no legitimate emergency requiring a ruling that night, the Judge effectively decapitated the Treasury Department by forbidding any political appointee from having access to the Treasury payment system. The documents and analysis are in our post, Judge Issues Emergency Order Halting DOGE Access To Treasury Payment Systems.

It’s worse than I thought. In an Emergency Motion to Dissolve the TRO, filed early this morning, the Trump administration demonstrates not just the legal impropriety of the Judicial Branch removing political control from the Executive Branch, but also that there was no widespread access by political appointees. The Emergency Motion only addresses the removal of authority from political appointees, the underlying merits will be addressed in papers in opposition to the plaintiffs’ overall motion.

Judge stops USAID layoffs amid backlash from government workers, unions | The Post Millennial– thepostmillennial.com
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The judge noted in his order that the unions had presented a “strong showing of irreparable harm” if the court did not intervene.

A judge has temporarily put a halt on the Trump administration’s attempt to downsize the US Agency for International Development (USAID), making it so that approximately 2,700 employees who were placed on leave can return to work.

US District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, issued the order on Friday in response to a lawsuit filed by the largest US government workers’ union and an association of foreign service employees. The unions argued that the administration’s actions overstepped executive authority and caused undue harm to USAID personnel.

Nichols’ ruling, which remains in effect until February 14, prevents the administration from placing an additional 2,200 USAID employees on paid leave starting Saturday and reinstates 500 workers who had already been furloughed. It also blocks the administration from moving USAID humanitarian workers stationed overseas.

The judge noted in his order that the unions had presented a “strong showing of irreparable harm” if the court did not intervene. However, Nichols declined to grant other union requests, such as reopening USAID offices and restoring funding for agency grants and contracts. A hearing scheduled for Wednesday will determine whether a longer-term injunction will be put in place.

Trump challenges order barring DOGE from Treasury– www.washingtonexaminer.com
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The Justice Department late on Sunday asked a federal court to overturn or modify an emergency order blocking the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing the Treasury Department’s payment system.

“Basic democratic accountability requires that every executive agency’s work be supervised by politically accountable leadership, who ultimately answer to the president,” DOJ attorneys told Manhattan-based U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas, calling a judge’s weekend order barring DOGE personnel from accessing the payment system “impermissible” and “anti-constitutional.”

Elon Musk Has a Great Idea To Get Rid of Activist Judges – PJ Media– pjmedia.com
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A federal judge dropped a bombshell on Saturday, issuing an order that no only temporarily blocks the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing essential data on federal payments but also bars Treasury officials from accessing data managed by the agency.

According to the order, only “civil servants with a need for access to perform their job duties within the Bureau of Fiscal Services who have passed all background checks and security clearances and taken all information security training called for in federal statutes and Treasury Department regulations” can access the data, while “all political appointees, special government employees, and government employees detailed from an agency outside the Treasury Department” cannot, pending a hearing scheduled for February 13.

The judge also ordered that any Treasury data that has already been collected must be destroyed.

Since the Treasury secretary is a political appointee, this outrageous ruling essentially bars him from viewing or managing the sensitive financial data of his own department. This unprecedented act not only strips the Treasury secretary of a fundamental responsibility but also undermines the executive branch’s authority to effectively oversee its financial operations.

Immigrant group suing Trump receives federal funds– www.washingtonexaminer.com
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An immigrant group behind a major lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship receives millions of dollars in government funding annually, a Washington Examiner analysis of public records has found.

CASA, an organization that helps migrants find work regardless of their legal status, filed the lawsuit alongside the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project and five pregnant noncitizens in January, arguing that Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship is unconstitutional. The pro-immigration group received roughly $5 million in government grants and $7 million in government contracts between July 2022 and June 2023, according to its most recent tax disclosures.

Tax filings from prior years show that CASA has long relied on millions of dollars in government funding to keep its programs running. In a review of federal spending records, the Washington Examiner identified grants from the Departments of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, Justice, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security funding a variety of programs offered by CASA.

Some of the grants to CASA are even ongoing, per federal records.

HUD, for instance, granted CASA $1.5 million in 2023 as part of its “economic development initiative” program to fund a project that will stretch well into 2031. Grants offered under this program cover a “wide variety of projects such as housing, homelessness prevention, workforce training, public facilities, parks, resilience planning and other critical infrastructure and services,” according to the agency’s website.

Rogue Judge Blocking Trump Agenda Exposed As Democrat Megadonor– trendingpoliticsnews.com
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New revelations show that a federal judge responsible for blocking key Trump administration policies is a longtime Democratic mega-donor. Judge John J. McConnell Jr., appointed by former President Barack Obama, has a history of contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic campaigns and political action committees.

Judge McConnell, who has served as a U.S. District Judge in Rhode Island since 2011, was previously a personal injury lawyer. Records from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) indicate that before taking the bench, he made significant donations to Democratic politicians, including former Presidents Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Hillary Clinton.

His contributions also extended to Democratic PACs and various Senate and House campaigns. Public filings show that McConnell’s donations amount to several hundred thousand dollars, making him one of the more politically active federal judges in terms of campaign contributions.

McConnell has been a consistent donor to Democratic candidates and committees over multiple election cycles. His contributions primarily support Democratic congressional campaigns, national committees, and political action committees.

Dems And Judges Shredding Article II Are A Threat To Democracy– thefederalist.com
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For a solid week, blue states, labor unions, and non-profit organizations have descended on federal courts up and down the East Coast seeking to halt President Donald Trump’s agenda. And they have found receptive partners in a handful of federal judges willing to enter temporary restraining orders, or TROs, to immediately — and sometimes without any notice — prohibit the normal functioning of the executive branch.

To be clear, the TROs entered are not addressing specific disputes between Trump and the litigants, where the plaintiffs allege a particular action injures them in some concrete way. Rather, the country is seeing large coalitions of plaintiffs who oppose the president’s agenda filing lawsuits challenging the broad policies and the management of the executive branch.

Consider, for instance the lawsuit more than twenty states, led by New York, filed in a federal court in Rhode Island: In that case, New York v. Trump, the states initially challenged an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Directive to agencies to temporarily pause activities and disbursement of federal funds that conflict with various executive orders. The OMB later rescinded that directive. Yet federal judge John J. McConnell, Jr., a Barack Obama appointee, entered a TRO ordering the President of the United States not to “pause, freeze, impede, block, cancel, or terminate” federal financial assistance to the states.

Judge Chutkan’s Defiance Of Trump Over J6 Case Is Disqualifying– thefederalist.com
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Last Monday, I published “D.C. Federal Judges Join the Resistance.” It focused on one D.C. federal district judge, Beryl Howell, who let her emotions get the better of any prudent legal judgment when she refused to implement the president’s direction to the attorney general to dismiss all pending indictments against Jan. 6 defendants “with prejudice.”

She first vented her spleen against the defendants and President Donald Trump (whom she accused of perpetrating a “revisionist myth”) in a wholly gratuitous screed about why the prosecutions were necessary and proper. She then finally admitted that she had no legal right to refuse to dismiss the case. But to show the president who was boss, she refused to dismiss the case with prejudice. That left open the potential for a refiling of the same charges. It was, of course, totally contrary to the president and DOJ’s clear intent.

In that same article, I pointed out that Judge Howell had company. Three of her rebellious colleagues in the D.C. district court also refused to dismiss pending J6 cases with prejudice — including one particularly confused opinion by anti-Trump Judge Tanya Chutkan.

Corrupt Obama Judge Amy Berman Jackson Rules in Favor of Fired Biden Holdover, Allows Him to Keep His Job | The Gateway Pundit– www.thegatewaypundit.com
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Another Biden holdover in the Executive Branch caught up in President Trump’s firing spree filed a lawsuit to get his job back – and a corrupt Obama judge sided with him.

As previously reported, President Trump fired Hampton Dellinger, Special Counsel of the Office of Special (not to be confused with a special counsel hired as a federal prosecutor) on Friday.

“On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as Special Counsel of the US Office of Special Counsel is terminated, effective immediately. Thank you for your service,” Sergio Gor, Director of the White House Presidential Office wrote to Hampton Dellinger, according to Politico.

Dems Turn To Activist Judges To Defy Trump– thefederalist.com
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What’s happening right now is that Democrats, having been thrown out of power by American voters in a landslide victory for Trump, have decided they’re going to deploy a widely-used tactic from Trump’s first term to thwart the president’s agenda: use the federal judiciary. Under the false pretext that the federal judiciary is a “coequal branch of government” with the executive, they’re aiming to shut down Trump’s reform efforts with a fusillade of preliminary injunctions.

In recent days dozens of lawsuits have been filed against the Trump administration by Democrat attorneys general and various left-wing groups. These groups have carefully selected their venues, ensuring the lawsuits come before rabidly anti-Trump activist judges. So far, the tactic seems to be working. As of this past weekend, eight different rulings from the federal bench have temporarily halted the president’s executive orders.

Federal judges in Democrat-majority districts have issued preliminary injunctions blocking Trump’s executive actions to end birthright citizenship, reform and downsize the United States Agency for International Development, and offer buyouts to federal bureaucrats. A federal judge this past weekend blocked Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and all other political appointees in the Trump administration — including the Treasury secretary and his deputies — from accessing payment data at the Treasury Department.

Trump, Vance challenge limits of judicial authority, sparking separation-of-powers debate– www.theblaze.com
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President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance seem to be gearing up for a battle about the separation of powers after weighing in on whether the federal judiciary should be able to curtail executive authority.

Early Saturday morning, U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer issued a ruling that temporarily blocks Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency from gaining access to the payment system of the Treasury Department, which is under the purview of the executive branch. The judge also ordered anyone outside the Treasury Department who has already gained access to the system to destroy all downloaded information.

Musk and DOGE have attempted to audit the agency to uncover possible fraud, waste, and other inefficiencies.

Engelmayer’s ruling is set to expire on Friday, when a hearing will be held before a federal judge in New York, who will consider the issue on a more permanent basis. The case was brought by 19 state attorneys general — all Democrats — who argued that Musk and DOGE should not have access to sensitive data within the payment system.

Elon Musk Demands Impeachment of ‘Corrupt’ Obama-Appointed Judge for Blocking DOGE Access to Key Treasury Payment System | The Gateway Pundit– www.thegatewaypundit.com
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Tech mogul and free speech advocate Elon Musk has called for the impeachment of an Obama-appointed federal judge after a controversial decision to block the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing a crucial Treasury payment system.

The ruling, handed down by Judge Paul A. Engelmayer, effectively cripples the department’s ability to carry out its mandate to root out waste and streamline government spending.

Judge Engelmayer’s ruling, prompted by a lawsuit from 19 far-left state attorneys general led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, claims that DOGE’s access to Treasury systems poses risks of “disclosure of sensitive and confidential information” and increases the “risk that the systems in question will be more vulnerable than before to hacking.”

Courts Test Boundaries As Trump Admin Sparks Showdown Over Executive Authority– americanactionnews.com
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“If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal,” Vance wrote on X. “If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that’s also illegal.”

“Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power,” he continued.

President Trump signs executive order banning males from female sports – Standing for Freedom Center– www.standingforfreedom.com
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President Donald Trump signed an executive order yesterday, recognized as National Girls and Women in Sports Day, prohibiting males claiming to be female from competing in girls’ and women’s sports.

The order called the practice of schools and athletic associations allowing males to compete against females, “demeaning, unfair, and dangerous” and that it “denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports”.

The document notes that Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 requires educational institutions that receive federal funding to provide equal opportunity for females. As such, it stated, “it is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy.”

The order requires the Secretary of Education to take action to protect “all-female athletic opportunities and all-female locker rooms.”

Gavin Newsom to Victims of California Fires: ‘You Can’t Rebuild the Same, Have to Rebuild With Climate Reality in Mind’ (VIDEO) | The Gateway Pundit– www.thegatewaypundit.com
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Last month, comedian Adam Carolla went viral in a video where he talked about how horrible the rebuild process would be for the victims of the California fires because of progressive policies in the state. Carolla said:

So here’s what’s going to happen. All these people who are deep blue Democrats are now going to have to pull a permit to rebuild, and they’re going to get the 28 year old bitch from the Coastal Commission telling them to go fuck off and then they’re going to vote for Trump or whoever’s Trumpian next.

When they start getting the regulation, they’re going to go nuts. And when they start running into the bureaucracy and the red tape, they’re going to start going nuts and they’re going to vote for Rick Caruso next time.

Trump’s Government Purge Hits Major Roadblock As Judge Puts Brakes on ‘Fork in the Road’ Buyout – RedState– redstate.com
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Employees of the federal government who have been waffling about whether or not to take the “Fork in the Road” buyout offer from the Trump administration have been given the gift of some breathing room, courtesy of U.S. District Judge George O’Toole, a Clinton appointee.

With the midnight Thursday decision deadline looming for millions of federal workers, O’Toole hit the brakes and scheduled a hearing for Monday during which he’ll consider blocking the buyout offer altogether.

“I enjoined the defendants from taking any action to implement the so-called ‘Fork Directive’ pending the completion of briefing and oral argument on the issues. I believe that’s as far as I want to go today,” said O’Toole, who described the brief hearing as a “table setting session” just to schedule arguments for Monday afternoon. He did not say anything about the merits of the dispute over the buyout.

As RedState’s Susie Moore previously reported, the Trump administration—who’ve been very transparent about their intention to reduce the size and scope of the federal government—sent a letter to nearly all of the federal workforce, which comes in at about two million strong, offering them the opportunity to dip out of government service effective 11:59 p.m. Thursday while continuing to be paid through September 30, 2025.

There’s good news for federal employees who were unhappy to learn they were expected to return to working in the office under the new Trump administration: They have another option — a buyout.

The White House will issue a memo Tuesday offering to pay federal workers who don’t want to return to the office through Sept. 30, as long as they resign by Feb. 6, an administration official tells Axios.

BREAKING: Trump ends ‘every single media contract’ at the GSA | The Post Millennial– thepostmillennial.com
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Trump told the General Services Administration to terminate “every single media contract.”

On Thursday, President Donald Trump ordered the termination of all media contracts within the General Services Administration (GSA). This comes after it was revealed that the federal government was paying millions to Politico for Politico Pro.

According to Axios, Trump told the General Services Administration to terminate “every single media contract.” In an email, the White House wrote two points, “Pull all contracts for Politico, BBC, E&E (Politico sub) and Bloomberg,” as well as, “Pull all media contracts for just GSA – cancel every single media contract today for GSA only.”

U.S. Department of the Treasury Announces Plans to Borrow $1.665 TRILLION Over Next 6 Months– conservativeroof.com
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The U.S. Treasury plans to borrow $1.665 trillion over the next six months, the department announced on Feb. 3 in its first estimate under Secretary Scott Bessent.

According to the Treasury Refunding Estimate, the Treasury projects borrowing $815 billion from January to March. This is $9 billion lower than the October forecast, driven by a higher beginning-of-quarter cash balance.

In the April to June period, the Treasury anticipates borrowing $123 billion.

The Treasury confirmed that it borrowed $620 billion during the October to December quarter, $74 billion higher than initially estimated. Additionally, it finished the three-month span with a cash balance of $722 billion.