The Daily Signal - Democrats Blocked From Education Department, Japan’s Prime Minister Meets with Trump, Jobs Report Letdown | Feb. 7

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Starting point is 00:00:25 We'd love to talk, business. Doge is far from done. New efforts to shrink the federal government rattled Washington, D.C. today. I'm Virginia Allen, and this is the Daily Signal's top news in 10 for Friday, February 7th. The Trump administration's work of shrinking the federal government continued today. The White House has issued a memo calling for the review of all federal funds that the U.S. sends to NGOs. The White House memo directs the heads of government executive departments and agencies. to review all funding that agencies provide to NGOs.

Starting point is 00:01:11 Trump says it is the policy of my administration to stop funding NGOs that undermine the national interest. And all future funding decisions, Trump says, are to be made in alignment with interests of the United States and with goals and priorities of my administration. Of course, one of the Trump administration's most significant paredowns has been of USAID, but Democrats are pushing back. Today, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee announced that they are looking into Trump's shutdown of the agency. The ranking Democrat member, Jerry Connolly, sent a letter to the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, today.

Starting point is 00:01:52 Rubio is currently acting as the head of USAID. In the letter, Connolly argues that the Trump administration has engaged in an opaque and Orwellian effort to dismantle the world's premier development and foreign assistance agent. Democrats on the Oversight Committee argue that since USAID was established by Congress, it cannot be dismantled through an executive order. This does still remain a legal question, so stay tuned. But Trump is far from done with his federal cuts. He has indicated that a major paredown is coming to the Department of Education, and he might even shut down the entire department. So today, a group of Democrat lawmakers

Starting point is 00:02:36 went to the Department of Education and tried to enter. And what do you do here? What do you do here? Security responsibility? Get out of the way. We pay for your job. We pay you.

Starting point is 00:02:49 We pay you. Nobody has accepted me. You are, you are, we haven't heard that from your secretary. We have heard that from a spokesman. I'm relayed now. You are not the spokesman for the department. You are a security guard.

Starting point is 00:03:02 So here you can hear. a security officer telling the Democrat members of Congress that their request for a meeting with officials at the Department of Education was not accepted. Democrat Congresswoman Maxine Waters was one of the members seeking to get inside, and on camera she berated the man who was blocking the door. Get a good copy of him. Let him get recorded in history for what he's doing today. Let his children see him.

Starting point is 00:03:30 Let his children know that he was standing in. in the way of all children being educated. Look them in their eye. Come on, hold your face up. Look at them. Let them see you. This is him. Look at it. The department employs about 4,400 people. We will, of course, keep you all posted as this situation continues to unfold. The Prime Minister of Japan, Shiba, was in Washington, D.C. today and met with President Trump. The two med held a joint press conference this afternoon. Trump said he is confident that the relationship with Japan and the U.S. will remain strong and praise the military and economic relationship that the two nations hold. In addition to being vital for our shared security, Japan is one of the top purchases of

Starting point is 00:04:18 U.S. military exports and equipment. And I'm pleased to say that this week, my administration approved nearly a billion dollars in foreign military sales to Tokyo. The United States is totally committed to the security of Japan, we will extend the full strength of American deterrence capabilities in defense of our friend and ally, 100%. The Prime Minister of Japan also gave remarks. He spoke in Japanese and his comments were translated into English. Take a listen. President and I concurred to strengthen the deterrence and response capabilities of the alliance

Starting point is 00:04:57 and to work closely in addressing strategic challenges that, both countries are facing in this region. I conveyed to the president that Japan as an ally of the United States is ready to share responsibilities and to play its own role. I also reiterated Japan's unwavering commitment to fundamentally reinforcing its defense capabilities and we confirmed the unwavering commitment by the United States to the defense of Japan. Trump's meeting with Ishiba was his second meeting with a foreign leader since taking office. His first, of course, being with Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. The January jobs report is out today.

Starting point is 00:05:44 The U.S. added 143,000 jobs to the economy in January. The Labor Department also reports that the unemployment rate fell to 4%. The new jobs numbers are fewer than Wall Street had anticipated by about 26,000. A frequent guest on this show and Heritage Foundation Director for the Center for Federal Budget, Richard Stern, responded to the news on X today. He called the latest jobs report yet another massive downward revision of the job numbers and said that the numbers are a parting gift from the outgoing Bidonomics regime. According to Stern, 68.5 percent of job growth in January was in areas that are held. heavily subsidized by the government. Despite the number of jobs that were added in January following below estimates,

Starting point is 00:06:38 the stock market did rise in response to the release of the report. The Federal Reserve is holding interest rate steady for now. Up next is today's news flash. Your government is out of control. It's doing things it has no business doing. It spends way too much money. It gets involved in way too many wars. It not only tells you what you can and can't say,

Starting point is 00:06:58 It actively censors you. And the things your government should do, it can't, or worse, won't do it all. It can't keep your streets clean of crime and filth. It can't keep your neighborhoods safe enough for kids to play outside. It can't even prevent your country from being invaded by millions of illegal immigrants. Why is that? Because your leaders no longer represent you, they represent themselves and their friends. In my new show, The Signal Sit Down,

Starting point is 00:07:23 we'll expose how the sausage really gets made in Washington, D.C., with guests who have experience on the inside. side. Fingers will be pointed. Names will be named. You ready? A search is underway for a small airplane in Alaska that has vanished. The plane was carrying 10 people. The families of the passengers have been notified, but the identities of those passengers have not yet been released as a Friday afternoon. The Daily Signal's Elizabeth Mitchell reported today that Texas Republican Representative Chip Roy has introduced a new bill to prevent passports from being used to remote radical gender ideology. The bill is called the Passport Sanity Act. If the bill is

Starting point is 00:08:11 passed, it will prohibit the Secretary of State from issuing a passport, passport card, or consular report of birth abroad that includes the unspecified ex-gender designation. Trump announced today that he is doing away with the paper straw push. Trump wrote on true social, I will be signing an executive order next week, ending the ridiculous Biden push for paper straws, which don't work. Back to plastic. Elon Musk shared a screenshot of that post on X this morning, and it had earned over 20 million views within a matter of hours. Seems like people are excited about the end of paper straws. Speaking of the president, Trump will be at the Super Bowl on Sunday. He praised both teams in a post on social media, writing two great quarterbacks in this game,

Starting point is 00:09:07 and also an unbelievable running back, and the absolute best tight end in football ever. Incredible coaching, if they would only get rid of that really weird-looking new kickoff deal, which actually makes football more dangerous, they would be doing everybody, especially the fans, a big favor. Anyway, it will be a great game, according to the president. Trump also added that he will be doing the interview before the game at 3 p.m. Enjoy the Super Bowl this weekend. With that, we're going to leave it right there for today's show. Thanks for joining us for Top News in 10. And hey, if you want a little bit of great content before you get into watching the Super Bowl this weekend, check out my interview with Congressman Pat Harrigan. It's going to go out on Sunday morning. We've got to

Starting point is 00:09:56 discussed the readiness of the U.S. military and why Congressman Harrigan says that the disastrous fall of Afghanistan has left the United States in such a challenging place from a national security perspective. Catch that conversation Sunday. And don't forget to hit like and subscribe so you never miss out on brand new shows from the Daily Signal podcast. Today's show was edited and produced by Katrina Trinko and John Pop. Have a great weekend. We'll see you back here for on Monday.

The Daily Signal - Democrats Blocked From Education Department, Japan’s Prime Minister Meets with Trump, Jobs Report Letdown | Feb. 7

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