Trump blasts Harvard, wants ‘names and countries’ of international students

Trump blasts Harvard, wants 'names and countries' of international students

President Trump on Sunday took new shots at Harvard University, saying he wants to know exactly who the foreign students it enrolls are after the Department of Homeland Security last weeksought to blockthe prestigious school's agility to enroll foreign students. "Why isn't Harvard saying that almost 31% of their students are from FOREIGN LANDS, and yet those countries, some not at all friendly to the United States, pay NOTHING toward their student's education, nor do they ever intend to," Trump wrote. "Nobody told us that! We want to know who those foreign students are, a reasonable request since we give Harvard BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, but Harvard isn't exactly forthcoming. We want those names and countries. Harvard has $52,000,000, use it, and stop asking for the Federal Government to continue GRANTING money to you!" Harvard enrolled about 6,800 international students during the 2024-2025 academic year — about 27 percent of the entire student population, according tothe university's recordsavailable online. Those students and their families pay tuition to Harvard. International students studying in the United States are much more likely to be paying full tuition and arguably subsidize costs for U.S. students. Some observers at the same time have noted that Trump's efforts to cut off foreign students from Harvard, if they are successful, could conceivably allow more U.S. students to attend the school. Trump has been wagingan ongoing waragainst the nation's oldest and richest university, fueled by his allegations of antisemitism and discrimination on campus. Harvard's endowment is more than $52 billion, but the attacks on foreign students and Trump's efforts to cut off federal research grants could hurt the school. A federal judgetemporarily blockedthe move to block foreign students from going to Harvard on Friday after Harvard filed a legal challenge. The universityalso is suingthe Trump administration over billions in federal dollars that were frozen after Harvard refused to end its diversity initiatives. Trump's actions have been widely seen as a threat to higher education more broadly, as schools seek to take steps to escape the president's ire over a host of issues, including pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.

byDan Dunne

in

May 25, 2025

Trump blasts Harvard, wants ‘names and countries’ of international students

Trump blasts Harvard, wants 'names and countries' of international students President Trump on Sunday took new shots at Harvard Univ...

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Opinion - Congress can decrease opioid deaths, but it will require more investment

Opinion - Congress can decrease opioid deaths, but it will require more investment

Illicit fentanyl and other synthetic opioids continue to devastate communities across America. Accidental opioid overdoseremains the leading cause of death for Americans 18 to 44and senior citizens are seeing a troubling rise in opioid overdoses. The nationwide decline in opioid overdose deaths reported at the end of 2024 was promising. Still, the 80,000 Americans who died from this crisis remains too many. Congress must not see the decline in overdose deaths as the finish line. It should view them as an opportunity to double down on the strategies we've seen saving lives in communities nationwide. When I served as secretary of Health and Human Services, the department took a broad, locally led approach to combatting opioid deaths. We worked to deploy nearly half a billion dollars in grants to states. We recognized that states and local communities were in the best position to decide what worked for them. Whether it's investing in drug prevention education at schools, increasing the availability of addiction treatment services, or supporting first responders, our role was to give them the support they needed to save lives, not to micromanage their efforts. That principle still holds. Washington should not dictate a one-size-fits-all solution to addiction. Instead, it should reinforce the tools that have already been shown to work on the ground. Among those tools is naloxone, a medication that can reverse an opioid overdose when administered promptly. It's not a cure for addiction, and it shouldn't be treated as such. But when someone is overdosing, naloxone is the lifesaving bridge that can at least buy more time — for parents to get their children into treatment or for law enforcement to intervene. It buys more time for a second chance. In 2017, we helped expand access to naloxone for first responders and caregivers. Today, this tool remains a basic part of any practical overdose response toolkit, but many states and localities are experiencing shortages of it. The fiscal 2026 budget should fix that. It should also help accelerate the use of prescription drug monitoring programs. These are state-run databases that track prescriptions for controlled substances and help flag dangerous patterns, like doctor shopping or excessive refills. Prescription drug monitoring programs don't interfere with clinical decision-making, and they give prescribers valuable information that can help reduce unnecessary or duplicative opioid prescribing. Most states now operate robust prescription drug monitoring programs, and when used consistently, they've been shown to reduce opioid-related deaths. Supporting these systems with modest federal investment would represent a commonsense step that could yield a strong return. Of course, funding emergency tools alone is not enough. What often gets lost in the political debate is the importance of long-term solutions — building up treatment capacity, ensuring providers are trained and supported, and reducing the barriers people face when they seek help. Many states are already making progress in this area, but without reliable federal support, that progress can stall. That's why it's so important that the fiscal 2026 budget reflect a clear, bipartisan commitment to fighting opioid addiction with a combination of compassion and discipline. Compassion, because we are dealing with human lives and families in crisis. Discipline, because not every flashy program is effective — and because every dollar spent should be measured against real outcomes. I understand the need for fiscal responsibility. As a former Budget Committee chair in Congress and a physician, I've long believed that we must be judicious in how we allocate resources. But there is nothing fiscally responsible about letting preventable deaths continue because we failed to invest in interventions that are proven to work. Nor is there anything conservative about ignoring the safety, health and security consequences of an unchecked addiction and fentanyl epidemic. Congress has an opportunity to recommit to a smarter approach. Not one that is overly centralized or politicized, but one that empowers local communities, respects the dignity of those struggling with addiction, and insists on measurable results. We've made progress before. With the right balance of resources, leadership and humility, we can do it again. Dr. Tom Price served as the 23rd U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services and a member of Congress from Georgia from 2005 to 2017, including as chair of the House Budget Committee from 2015 to 2017. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.

byDan Dunne

in

May 25, 2025

Opinion - Congress can decrease opioid deaths, but it will require more investment

Opinion - Congress can decrease opioid deaths, but it will require more investment Illicit fentanyl and other synthetic opioids continue to ...

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GOP senators say Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ needs spending cuts

GOP senators say Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' needs spending cuts

Two conservative GOP senators on Sunday said the "big, beautiful bill" passed at President Trump's behest by House Republicansneeds to be cut down to size, signaling huge challenges in enacting Trump's plans in the Senate. The two GOP senators, Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, are both Trump allies, but they signaledthey are unhappywith House legislation that they say will bust the budget. "I think the cuts currently in the bill are wimpy and anemic, but I still would support the bill even with wimpy and anemic cuts if they weren't going to explode the debt," Paul said in an interview on "Fox News Sunday." Paul had earlier said he was ahard "no"on the House GOP bill, which was passed by the House on Thursday. On Sunday, Paul said "the math doesn't add up" and that language allowing the government to increase the debt ceiling by $4 trillion has to be removed because it is "not conservative." "There's got to be someone left in Washington who thinks debt is wrong and deficits are wrong and wants to go in the other direction," he said. "Somebody has to stand up and yell, 'The emperor has no clothes,'" Paul added. "And everybody's falling in lockstep on this, pass the 'big, beautiful bill,' don't question anything." Johnson has not said he would vote against the House bill, but he was similarly dismissive on Sunday. "We need to be responsible, and the first goal of our budget reconciliation process should be to reduce the deficit,"Johnson saidin an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" with Jake Tapper. "This actually increases it." Johnson warned the bill is not going to get to Trump's desk in its current form, expressing confidence there were enough votes in the Senate to stop it. "I think we have enough [senators] to stop the process until the president gets serious about the spending reduction and reducing the deficit," Johnson said in remarks likely to be noticed in the White House. Republicans are using special budgetary rules to move the Trump package through the Senate and around a Democratic filibuster. As a result, Democrats cannot block the bill given the GOP's 53-47 seat majority. Every Democrat in the House opposed the package, along with two House Republicans. If Johnson and Paul both opposed the bill but the other 51 Republicans in the Senate were unified in support, the bill could still inch through the Senate and even still lose another vote, with Vice President Vance positioned to a break a 50-50 tie in such a circumstance. However, Johnson and Paul's defiance likely signals problems for the bill from other conservative senators. Even in the House, there were conservatives who reluctantly provided votes for the bill despite their worries it would add trillions to annual deficits. "The consequences of this bill will add to the debt, and if we don't get the bond market under control, then we're going to be paying a whole lot of money," Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas), a Freedom Caucus member,said after the vote. "We're already close to a trillion dollars in debt payments now. That is a real concern. It ought to be a concern of more people in Washington that this is an unsustainable path. We've got to get that under control." At the same time, there is likely to be pressure in the Senate to make some changes to the bill that could actually increase the measure's cost. Reforms to Medicaid that according to the Congressional Budget Office could cause more than 7 million people to lose coverage have particularly caused heartburn. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) has described cutting Medicaid as bad politically and politically suicidal given the large number of GOP voters who enjoy Medicaid benefits. His concerns have been joined by some other Republican senators, such as Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Reductions to green energy tax credits in the House bill have also won scorn from some GOP senators, indicating another battle in the Senate. The House bill includes a big change to the ceiling for state and local taxes that was a big win for a group of New York House Republicans. It may be targeted in the Senate by Republicans seeking to pay for other changes to the bill, but that could cost the package votes in the lower chamber, where it would need to be approved again. Both chambers are also dealing with some huge deadlines. Treasury Department Secretary Scott Bessent has said the debt ceiling will need to be raised in July, which sets up one critical deadline for the package. The "big, beautiful" bill's key provisions are the extensions of the 2017 Trump tax cuts. Congress has essentially the rest of the year to get those extended and prevent a massive tax hike, raising the possibility that the debt ceiling portion of the bill could be cut off from the rest of the package. But getting a debt ceiling increase done separately may not be easy given the reluctance of many Republicans in both chambers to take such a vote. Johnson in his remarks on Sunday was careful to compliment Trump's work on the bill, but he also emphasized the need to reduce spending. "I have nothing but support for what President Trump is trying to do, and I love the way he's acting boldly and swiftly, decisively, to fix the enormous messes left by the Biden administration," Johnson said. "We have to reduce the deficit, and so we need to focus on spending, spending, spending." For his part, Paul said it was critical for conservatives to stand up and be counted. "Well, conservatives do need to stand up and have their voice heard," he said. "This is a problem we've been facing for decades now, and if we don't stand up on it, I really fear the direction the country is going." Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.

byDan Dunne

in

May 25, 2025

GOP senators say Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ needs spending cuts

GOP senators say Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' needs spending cuts Two conservative GOP senators on Sunday said the "big, b...

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'Changed the world': George Floyd's family reflects on his legacy five years after his death

'Changed the world': George Floyd's family reflects on his legacy five years after his death

George Floyd's family reflected on his legacy and called again for police reform during a press conference on Sunday to mark the five-year anniversary of Floyd's death. The press conference took place outside the Houston, Texas cemetery where Floyd is buried and followed a private memorial that was held there by the family. "I feel like it took nine minutes and 29 seconds to change the world, but it takes for us to be the change that we want to see," said Floyd's niece Brooke Williams, who also called on the community to engage politically and vote for local officials who support police reform and social justice efforts. Floyd's death, which wasruled a homicide, sparked widespread backlash after a video went viral of then-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvinkneeling on Floyd's neck for nine minutes and 29 secondson May 25, 2020. Derek Chauvin was ultimatelyconvictedon multiple charges stemming from Floyd's death and was sentenced to 22-and-a-half years in prison. Three other officers who participated in the incident were also found guilty of related charges and sentenced to prison. "My uncle changed the world," Floyd's great niece, Arianna Delane, said on Sunday, reflecting on the international movement that was sparked after his death, which included protests and calls for police reform and accountability. Justice Department moves to drop police reform agreements with Louisville, Minneapolis The protests in 2020 also refocused the national spotlight on other Black men and women who died following or during police-involved incidents. The backlash led the U.S. Department of Justice to launch several probes into police departments across the country to investigate alleged misconduct. The five-year anniversary of Floyd's death came days after the U.S. Department of Justice said on Wednesday that it is moving todrop police reform agreements, known as consent decrees, that the Biden-era department reached with the cities of Louisville, Kentucky and Minneapolis. The agreements, which had yet to be certified by federal judges when Trump took office in January, were born out of probes launched after the 2020 police killings of Floyd and Breonna Taylor, the latter of whom was shot and killed on March 13, 2020 during a botched raid by Louisville police officers. The consent decrees were intended to address Justice Department findings of alleged systemic unconstitutional policing and civil rights violations. In announcing the decision, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon on Wednesday claimed that Biden administration officials relied on "faulty legal theories" and "cherry-picked" statistics in order to accuse departments of widespread misconduct. She further claimed that consent decrees can increase bureaucracy for police, which she said makes recruiting and retaining officers more difficult. 5 years after George Floyd's death, Minneapolis police work to rebuild trust and a 'decimated' force Attorney Ben Crump, who represents the families of Floyd and Taylor, also spoke during the Sunday press conference, criticizing the Trump administration for what he said was backing away from enforcing police reform on the federal level. He also called out the Justice Department for what he described as efforts to "minimize and roll back the incremental progress" that was made after Floyd was killed. "Their efforts to try to make the world unsee what we saw on this day five years ago will not be judged kindly by history," Crump said. Gianna Floyd, George Floyd's 11-year-old daughter, reflected on her father's legacy in an interview with ABC stationKTRKin Houston, saying that his death has defined her life's purpose. "I want to help people," she said, adding that her father's memory still lives with her and that she knows that she is "going to see [him] again one day." 'Changed the world': George Floyd's family reflects on his legacy five years after his deathoriginally appeared onabcnews.go.com

byDan Dunne

in

May 25, 2025

'Changed the world': George Floyd's family reflects on his legacy five years after his death

'Changed the world': George Floyd's family reflects on his legacy five years after his death George Floyd's family reflected...

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Putin shows more signs of ignoring Trump on ending Ukraine war

Putin shows more signs of ignoring Trump on ending Ukraine war

Russian President Vladimir Putin is increasingly showing signs of ignoring President Trump's entreaties to work toward an end to the Ukraine war, something Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had long warned. Russia overnight launched one of thelargest missile and drone attackson Ukraine yet, killing at least a dozen people and injuring scores more. Zelensky in posts on social media said nearly 300 attack drones had been launched by Russia overnight, as well as 70 million of various types, including ballistic missiles. Kyiv was attacked as part of the onslaught, along with 11 other regions, Zelensky said. "These were deliberate strikes on ordinary cities. Ordinary residential buildings were destroyed and damaged. In Kyiv, dormitories of the university's history department were hit," he said. "There were also strikes on enterprises. Tragically, people were killed, including children." Zelensky, who Trump memorablychewed outin an Oval Office meeting in February, said the new strikes were a justification of new sanctions on Russia, which he accused of dragging out the war. "The world may go on a weekend break, but the war continues, regardless of weekends and weekdays. This cannot be ignored," said Zelensky, who argued that "silence of America, silence of others around the world only encourage Putin." Trump vowed to end the Russia-Ukraine war during last year's presidential campaign but has had little success in doing so. The new assault by Russia comes after diplomatic efforts by Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to push Putin toward the negotiating table. Rubio earlier this month said peace would only be possible after a Putin and Trump phone call, essentially saying lower-level negotiators could do little without a push from Putin. On Monday, Trumpheld a two-hour callwith Putin and later spoke with Zelensky. After the call, he said Kyiv and Moscow needed to discuss a peace plan, effectively backing away from his previous calls for an immediate ceasefire. Trump has outlined a global sanctions regime in which Russia's crucial oil exports are cut off, by imposing penalties on both Russia and its key trading partners. Following the calls on Monday, hetold reporters he remained optimisticthat Putin would come around to peace. "I think he's had enough. It's been a long time. This has been going on for more than three years," Trump said. He added that Putin was having trouble "extraditing" himself from the war, echoingcomments fromVice President Vance heading into the discussion. "I'm not sure that Vladimir Putin has a strategy himself for how to unwind the war," Vance told reporters on Air Force Two. Other observers might argue that Putin has little interest in ending the war. At times it also has appeared that Putin is calling Trump's bluff by concluding that the U.S. president will not follow through on threats of sanctions against Russia. Zelensky, for his part, said Sunday there would be little progress unless Trump truly followed up with efforts to pressure Russia. "Without truly strong pressure on the Russian leadership, this brutality cannot be stopped. Sanctions will certainly help. Determination matters now — the determination of the United States, of European countries, and of all those around the world who seek peace," he wrote. "The world knows all the weaknesses of the Russian economy. The war can be stopped, but only through the necessary force of pressure on Russia. Putin must be forced to think not about launching missiles, but about ending the war." Trump envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg condemned the violence Sunday in a post on the social platform X, though his statement did not explicitly single out Russia or Putin for blame. "This is Kyiv. The indiscriminate killing of women and children at night in their homes is a clear violation of the 1977 Geneva Peace Protocols designed to protect innocents. These attacks are shameful. Stop the killing. Ceasefire now," Kellogg wrote. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.

byDan Dunne

in

May 25, 2025

Putin shows more signs of ignoring Trump on ending Ukraine war

Putin shows more signs of ignoring Trump on ending Ukraine war Russian President Vladimir Putin is increasingly showing signs of ignoring Pr...

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