By Jade Walker

Should the Department of Government Efficiency be required to release public records under the Freedom of Information Act, or can it keep such files hidden due to executive privilege? That’s the question the Trump administration wants the Supreme Court to decide. What is known is that in the past four months, DOGE has fired more than 120,000 federal workers, slashed agency budgets, accessed sensitive computer systems and cut billions in research grants, prompting a wave of federal lawsuits.

Here's what else you need to know to get up to speed and on with your day.

Emergency personnel work at the site where two Israeli embassy staff were shot dead near the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC. Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

Embassy shooting

Two Israeli Embassy staff members were shot and killed while standing outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, last night. Authorities say the suspected gunman, who was observed pacing back and forth outside the museum before opening fire on a group of people. He then entered the building and waited to be detained. Police said the 30-year-old man showed officers where to find the weapon and chanted “Free Free Palestine” while in custody. The victims, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, were a young couple who soon planned to get engaged, according to Israel’s ambassador to the US. “I am devastated by the scenes in Washington D.C.,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in a statement on X. “This is a despicable act of hatred, of antisemitism, which has claimed the lives of two young employees of the Israeli embassy.”

Budget cuts

The House voted 217 to 212 overnight to clear a key procedural hurdle and bring President Donald Trump’s domestic policy bill to the floor for a full vote. House Speaker Mike Johnson is determined to pass the bill before Memorial Day, which has prompted weeks of difficult negotiations within the GOP and a visit from the president to tell Republicans to get on board. Although all of the details about the massive legislative package have not yet been released, it does include:

• Nearly $1 trillion in cuts from Medicaid and food stamps
• Work requirements for Medicaid starting at the end of 2026
• Raising the debt ceiling by $4 trillion
• Spending $150 billion on defense programs
• Limiting judges’ power to hold the Trump administration in contempt
  
• Phasing out Biden-era energy tax credits sooner than planned 
• Increasing the state and local tax deduction
  
• Making trillions of dollars of income tax breaks permanent
  
• Allocating $45 billion to build new immigration detention facilities
  
• Allowing certain taxpayers to deduct income from tips on tax returns 

The Congressional Budget Office said the bill will increase the budget deficit by $3.8 trillion between 2026-2034.

Ramaphosa-Trump meeting

Fans of President Trump’s reality TV show “The Apprentice” will likely not be surprised by how he’s been treating world leaders in televised Oval Office meetings. In a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump and his staffers berated him for not wearing a suit and for not thanking Trump enough for the money the US has given to the war effort. When Trump met with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, he went on a tirade about defending Canada militarily and then told the press to leave before Carney could respond. In his latest Oval Office event this week, Trump ambushed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa — who once served as Nelson Mandela’s chief negotiator during talks to end White minority rule — with false claims about White South African farmers being victims of genocide. For his part, Ramaphosa pushed back gently whenever he could, but he didn’t raise his voice or show anger, displaying his decades of negotiation experience.

Qatar jet

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has accepted a Boeing 747 from Qatar that President Trump plans to use as the next Air Force One. The controversial transfer has sparked a political furor, with both Democrats and Republicans opposing the luxury jet on ethical grounds. While details about its transfer have not yet been released, Trump told reporters on Wednesday that Qatar was “giving the United States Air Force a jet, okay, and it’s a great thing.” Earlier this week, sources said it was the Trump administration that had first approached Qatar about acquiring the Boeing 747. It’s also unknown how much it’ll cost to strip down the entire aircraft for surveillance and safety checks and then retrofit it to the required security specifications.

Police reform

The Trump administration is moving to dismiss federal oversight agreements with several major US police departments. The agreements, called consent decrees, are used as a monitoring system at police departments where the Justice Department has found a pattern of misconduct. In court filings on Wednesday, the DOJ asked judges in Kentucky and Minnesota to dismiss the consent decrees reached with the police departments in Louisville and Minneapolis. They were enacted following the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor and the police killing of George Floyd. 

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Double-checking the calendar
Memorial Day weekend may mark the unofficial start of summer, but the Northeast and parts of the mid-Atlantic will be experiencing a rare May nor’easter. Some areas of New Hampshire and Vermont may even see snow.

Rare side effect to be highlighted on vaccine packaging
The FDA is now requiring some Covid-19 vaccines to use expanded warning labels detailing a small risk for myocarditis. The vaccines’ old labels already provided a warning about the heart condition. 

No NFL ban for controversial ‘tush push’
The nearly unstoppable running play was used to great success by the Philadelphia Eagles last year. 

Manny Pacquiao: I’m back
The Mexican-American boxer will come out of retirement this summer to face Mario Barrios for the WBC welterweight championship. In 2019, Pacquiao became the oldest welterweight world champion in history at the age of 40.

She knew him when
Peruvian TikToker Luciana Marquez traveled to Rome last year to meet a family friend. They recorded a TikTok video. Now, he’s Pope Leo XIV.

10

That’s how many minutes a Lufthansa flight carrying 205 people went without a pilot last year after the co-pilot fainted while he was alone in the cockpit.  

“These staff cuts and the potential budget cuts make the United States more at risk for a tsunami and earthquake, and they will have devastating impacts for coastal populations and the US economy.”

— Corina Allen, who, like thousands of other probationary federal employees, was recently fired from her job as a manager at NOAA’s National Weather Service Tsunami Program.

Oh baby, baby!
Britney Spears’ album, “Oops! … I Did It Again,” turns 25 this year. To celebrate, Sony Music will release an expanded edition.

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