🗞️Cuts to defense spending coming

February 19th, 2025

What happened today 🇺🇸,

• The Trump administration orders the Pentagon to be ready for major budget cuts and to plan on slashing 8% from the defense budget in each of the next 5 years

• The U.S. Department of Transportation has terminated the approval of New York City’s congestion pricing system, which was put in place to thin traffic and fund mass transit by imposing high tolls on drivers entering some parts of Manhattan…the state of NY has said they will fight this in court

• Musk has said that he wants to send a “DOGE dividend” to Americans, this would be a refund check that could be as high as $5,000 to taxpayers and the money would come from the savings from the Department of Government Efficiency…President Trump has said he is considering a situation where 20% of DOGE savings go back to Americans and other savings go to paying down debt and working towards eliminating the deficit

• Former NY governor, Andrew Cuomo, is reportedly seriously thinking about running for NYC mayor and will likely announce his candidacy by the end of the month

• Federal agencies can only hire 1 new employee for every 4 that leave under Trump's executive orders, per Business Insider

• Apple has officially released their iPhone 16E and it will cost $599 when it goes on sale later this month, Pre-orders open Friday and it will be available in stores February 28th

• KFC is moving its headquarters from Kentucky to Texas, 100 current employees will relocate to Texas over the next 6 months

• Chipotle will hire 20,000 new workers as it gets into its busy spring season

• DOW up .16% / S&P up .24%

• Australia’s government will ban foreign investors from buying established houses for the next two years in an attempt to address the increasing prices of homes in the country and make homes more affordable

• Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said Trump is living in a Russian “disinformation space” and Trump lashed back at Zelenskyy calling him a “dictator without elections” this rift will almost certainly cause problems in ending the war in Ukraine…for more on the situation between the two leaders click here

Plus: A look at the best states for raising a family

Please follow The Simple American on X @TSimpleAmerican x.com/Tsimpleamerican

Quote of the day: "Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game." — Babe Ruth

Have a great night!

P.S. We love connecting with our readers so…

Please email us at [email protected] for more info on any news points in the letter, feel free to give us any feedback you have, or let us know what you want more of!