WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump's Cabinet members faced tough questions from Democrats and Republicans in Congress over the administration's border and economic agenda as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney visited the White House to talk about the U.S. tariffs that have prompted a trade war with its Northern neighbor.
Trump's abbreviated spending blueprint for the year starting Oct. 1 aims to cut $163 billion from nonmilitary programs. But the Department of Homeland Security is one of the places where Trump would bolster spending, if Congress agrees.
Members of the House Appropriations Committee are questioning Trump's Cabinet secretaries about his spending proposals for DHS and the Treasury Department in separate hearings.
As the legislative hearings concluded, Trump was hosting Carney at the White House. The Canadian leader's Liberal Party victory April 28 was credited to opposing Trump's tariffs and the U.S. president's calls to annex the country as the 51st state.
Here is what to know about the hearings and meetings involving Trump's priorities:
President Donald Trump detoured away from his meeting with Canada's prime minister to offer to help former President Barack Obama build his library in Chicago.
Trump, who was a New York-based real estate mogul in his private life, was talking about the difficulties of construction when he took a detour to take jabs at his predecessor's troubled project.
"President Obama -- and if he wanted help, I'd give him help because I'm a really good builder and I build on time, on budget -- he's building his library in Chicago, and it's a disaster," Trump said.
The Obama library is being built as a tribute to the former president but has been besieged by significant delays and going over budget. Its initial cost of $350 million has ballooned to $830 million, for instance.
Trump then went further, however, by arguing the Obama library's woes were due to its emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion hiring practices.
"And (Obama) said something to the effect of 'I only want DEI. I only want woke.' He wants woke people to build it," Trump added. "Well, he's got woke people."
Earlier this year, a racial discrimination lawsuit by a Black-owned contractor who worked on the center.
Obama's office did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment. - Phillip M. Bailey
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told President Donald Trump that Canada is "not for sale" as the two men kicked off their bilateral meeting just weeks after Carney's election victory.
"As you know from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale," Carney said to Trump. "Having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign the last several months, it's not for sale. It won't be for sale ever."
"The opportunity is in the partnership and what we can build together," Carney added.
Carney's comments came after Trump told reporters he still believes Canada would be better off being part of the United States.
"I still believe that, but it takes two to tango, right?" Trump said. "I mean, I believe it would be a massive tax cut for the Canadian citizens. You get free military, you get tremendous medical cares and other things. There would be a lot of advantages."
Carney began his remarks by thanking Trump for his hospitality and leadership." You're a transformational president," Carney said, point to Trumps "focus on the economy, with a relentless focus on the American worker." - Joey Garrison
President Donald Trump told Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney that he was "probably the greatest thing that happened to him" as the two leaders kicked off a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office.
"But I can't take full credit," Trump said. "His party was losing by a lot, and he ended up winning. So, I really want to congratulate him with probably one of the greatest comebacks in the history of politics, maybe even greater than mine."
In his recent election victory, the Liberal Party's Carney was able to seize on Trump's rhetoric targeting Canada, including his hopes to make Canada the "51st state" to catapult him to victory after trailing considerably in polls. - Joey Garrison
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Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Connecticut, blasted a Department of Homeland Security ad campaign to promote immigration enforcement as "propaganda ads" for Republicans. But DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said Trump proposed the ad campaign because he was confident news reporters wouldn't cover tougher enforcement.
"This sounds like a payout to Republican political consultants," DeLauro said of the campaign she said cost $200 million, a figure Noem disputed. "It's really kind of the height of arrogance."
Noem had told the Conservative Political Action Conference that Trump directed her to make "beautiful ads" about the border and he wanted her face in them, thanking him.
"President Trump was very clear from the very beginning that he recognized the fake news in this country was not going to tell the truth of the work that had been done at the border to secure this country," Noem told lawmakers on May 6. "The flow has stopped." - Bart Jansen
President Donald Trump would like to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency and instead provide grants to states to handle disasters, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem told lawmakers.
The top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, questioned Trump's plan for the embattled agency after his budget proposed to cut $644 million in FEMA grants.
"Federal disaster relief should be readily available across the United States, regardless of where you live," DeLauro said. "Natural disasters happen everywhere."
DeLauro argued that states couldn't handle disasters on their own. But Noem said Trump proposed to provide states with federal grants rather than the bureaucracy.
"He believes that FEMA and its response in many, many circumstances has failed the American people, and that FEMA as it exists today should be eliminated," Noem said.
DeLauro asked for evidence of FEMA's failure. Noem said the agency still has claims open from Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and from fire claims a decade ago.
"What the president has said is he's sick and tired of federal agencies that pick and choose who wins and who loses," Noem said.
Rep. John Rutherford, R-Florida, said his state has been hit with many hurricanes and "frustration levels are off the chart" because FEMA payments lag for years while cities and states pay interest on disaster costs.
"It's not that FEMA shows up and everything's OK," Rutherford said. "It's quite the contrary, actually." - Bart Jansen
President Donald Trump suggested in a post on Truth Social that he will ask Ottawa to increase its defense spending and close a trading gap with the United States but would not push a controversial plan to annex the country when he meets with Canada's prime minister.
"I very much want to work with him, but cannot understand one simple TRUTH - Why is America subsidizing Canada by $200 Billion Dollars a year, in addition to giving them FREE Military Protection, and many other things?" Trump wrote.
Trump argued ahead of the meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney that the U.S. does not need Canadian energy and goods. "We don't need ANYTHING they have, other than their friendship, which hopefully we will always maintain," he said. - Francesca Chambers
Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Illinois, questioned the federal cost for security at Trump's planned military parade on June 14, which coincides with the Army's 250th anniversary and the president's 79th birthday.
Underwood said plans call for a full military presence crossing the Potomac River from the Pentagon to Constitution Avenue. Because DHS declared it a national security event, costs will be covered by the government, she said.
Underwood asked how much the parade would cost and whether the government will hold parades for the anniversaries of military branches that aren't on Trump's birthday.
"I can get those details and get back to you. I don't have them with me today," Noem said. - Bart Jansen
Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-W