Thursday, July 17, 2025
All civic learning topics for this day
Today's Topics
Senate advances Fox host Pirro to prosecute Trump's enemies
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines July 24, 2025, to advance former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro as U.S. Attorney for Washington D.C., giving the controversial TV personality prosecutorial power over January 6 cases and political investigations. Democrats strongly objected to placing a partisan media figure in charge of the office that prosecutes federal crimes in the nation's capital.
Trump creates new job category to remove policy staff between presidencies
President Trump signed an executive order July 17, 2025, creating "Schedule G"—a new federal employee classification for policy-making roles that must resign when administrations change. The order fills a "gap" between career civil servants and political appointees, allowing agencies to hire non-career staff for "policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating" positions. Unlike protected career employees, Schedule G workers serve at presidential pleasure, expanding political control over previously nonpartisan government functions.
House GOP slashes $9B, restores HIV aid funding
On July 17, 2025, the U.S. House passed a GOP-led resolution cutting $9 billion from foreign assistance and public broadcasting accounts while reinstating $400 million for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The package also included a nonbinding demand for full public release of Jeffrey Epstein–related documents—a symbolic gesture that fell short of judicial compulsion but highlighted bipartisan pressure for greater transparency. (Reuters reporting, July 18, 2025)
House cuts $9 billion from media and foreign aid
On July 17, 2025, the GOP-led House approved a rescissions package that strips $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and $7.9 billion from foreign aid, forcing a test of presidential veto power over existing appropriations, according to Reuters reporting.