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Exclusive: Big Tech group tells Pentagon’s Hegseth they are ‘concerned’ about declaring Anthropic a supply-chain risk

March 4, 2026 6:45 PM UTC / Reuters

U.S. Department of War and Anthropic logos are seen in this illustration taken March 1, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

March 4 (Reuters) – A Big Tech industry group on ​Wednesday expressed concern to U.S. Secretary of Defense ‌Pete Hegseth about his declaring AI company Anthropic a supply-chain risk, saying it creates uncertainty for companies that could threaten the military’s ​access to the best products and services.

“We are concerned ​by recent reports regarding the Department of War’s ⁠consideration of imposing a supply chain risk designation in ​response to a procurement dispute,” the Information Technology Industry Council, ​whose members include Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab, Amazon.com (AMZN.O), opens new tab and Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab, said in a letter dated Wednesday that did not directly name Anthropic.

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Last week, capping off a ​heated weeks-long dispute with Anthropic over technology guardrails on ​Claude tools used by the military, President Donald Trump announced a federal ‌agency-wide ⁠ban on the company with a six-month phaseout period and Hegseth ordered Pentagon suppliers to purge Anthropic’s prized AI tools from their supply chains.

The letter, sent to Hegseth on ​Wednesday, also stated ​that the ⁠declaration threatens “to undermine the government’s access to the best-in-class products and services from American companies ​that serve all agencies and components of the ​federal ⁠government.”

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The Department of Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The letter is the first significant support Anthropic ⁠has ​seen from the tech industry, a ​group of companies that includes its investors, suppliers and customers.

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Reporting by Karen Freifeld ​in New York; Editing by Chris Sanders and Matthew Lewis

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Cuba charges 6 suspects with terrorism over fatal shooting involving U.S.-flagged speedboat

March 4, 2026 / 11:53 AM EST / CBS/AP

Cuba said Wednesday it has filed terrorism charges against six suspects it claims were aboard a Florida-flagged speedboat that is alleged to have opened fire on soldiers in waters off the island’s north coast.

The Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement that the suspects of Cuban origin remain in pretrial detention, adding that it will ensure “due process” as it continues to act “in defense of our people and the country’s institutions.”

The government has said 10 heavily armed Cubans from the U.S. who were on board the boat opened fire as they tried to infiltrate the island to commit acts of terrorism. It said that Cuban soldiers returned fire, killing four suspects.

However, the White House confirmed to CBS News last week that at least one American was one of the four people killed. The news was first reported by Axios.

In addition to the American citizen who was killed, a U.S. official confirmed to CBS News that at least one U.S. citizen was also among those arrested. At least one of the boat’s occupants had a K-1 visa, the official said, which allows a citizen’s fiancé to travel to the U.S. to get married, and others are believed to be legal permanent residents of the U.S., although it was not clear how many.

According to the official and an incident report from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office in Florida, the boat’s owner alleged that the vessel had been stolen by an employee.

The Cuban government unveiled items said to have been found on the boat, including a dozen high-powered weapons, more than 12,800 pieces of ammunition and 11 pistols.

Weapons that Cuban authorities say were recovered from a speedboat in Cuban waters following a deadly confrontation are displayed in Havana, Feb. 27, 2026. AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa

Chief prosecutor Edward Robert Campbell has told The Associated Press that terrorism charges carry a possible sentence of up to 30 years in prison or even the death penalty, although Cuba has maintained a moratorium on the latter since 2003.

The brother of one of the men who was killed in the incident said his sibling was fixated on overthrowing Cuba’s government.

Misael Ortega Casanova, brother of Michael Ortega Casanova, told the AP that his brother had fallen into an “obsessive and diabolical” quest to free Cuba from its communist government. Cubans in the United States and Cuban Americans have long protested the current Cuban government, and accused the island’s leadership of human rights violations.

“They became so obsessed that they didn’t think about the consequences nor their own lives,” Casanova said of his brother and the other men who were aboard the boat.

Iran says a girls’ school was hit by a deadly air strike. Here’s what we know.

2026-03-04T12:10:00-0500 / CBS News

Mourners gathered in the Iranian city of Minab on Tuesday for the funerals of victims of what Iranian authorities say was an air strike at a school they have blamed on Israel and the U.S.

Neither the U.S. nor Israel has said it was behind the strike. An Israeli military spokesman told CBS News they had not “found any connection to our operations.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the Pentagon was investigating.

Iranian authorities said the explosion in Minab, in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, took place on the first day of the war on Saturday and is the largest single loss of civilian life so far reported in the conflict. Iranian health officials and state media say as many as 175 people were killed, most of them schoolgirls between the ages of 7 and 12 years old.

Journalists from international news organizations have not had unfettered access to the location to independently verify the toll or the circumstances. Iranian authorities have to give explicit approval to foreign media organizations wishing to report outside Tehran.

Here is what we know so far:

Footage of alleged incident

---

Footage filmed from a parking lot showed black smoke billowing from a damaged building adorned with murals featuring drawings of crayons, children and an apple.

CBS News has geolocated the clip to a building in Minab. Iranian media identified the building as the Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school. Saturdays are regular school days in Iran.

CBS News has also confirmed the building was located in close proximity to two sites controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including the IRGC Seyyed Al-Shohada Barracks.

People and rescue forces work following a reported strike on a school in Minab, Iran, February 28, 2026. Abbas Zakeri/Mehr News/WANA via Reuters

The Shahid Absalan clinic, under the supervision of the IRGC navy’s medical command, lies 780 feet from the site, Agence France-Presse reported.

AFP could not independently verify the date the footage from the parking lot was filmed.

Minab is strategically located close to the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most vital shipping lanes, especially for oil and gas.

What Iran says

---

Iranian state television and a local official identified the site as the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school in Minab.

Iran has said more than 170 people were killed in what President Masoud Pezeshkian described as U.S.-Israeli strikes on the school.

Pezeshkian said on social media that “attacks on schools target a nation’s future,” and that a hospital was also hit.

“Targeting patients and children blatantly violates humanitarian principles,” he said. “The world must condemn it. I stand with my grieving nation. Iran will not remain silent or yield to these crimes.”

According to state media, Iran on Tuesday held funerals for at least 165 people including students killed in the alleged strike.

Iranian media showed graves being prepared for the victims of a reported strike on a school in Minab, Iran, March 2, 2026. Iranian Foreign Media Department/WANA/Handout via REUTERS

Hossein Kermanpour, a spokesman for Iran’s health ministry, claimed in a post on X that dozens killed at the school were “young child martyrs.”

State television carried images showing a large crowd of mourners in Minab weeping over what appear to be bodies wrapped in white shrouds. Other images released by state media on Tuesday show individuals preparing coffins draped in the Iranian flag — some bearing photographs of children.

A third clip also shared by state media shows a large crowd gathered around similar caskets with a caption in Persian reading: “Prayer service for the children of Minab who perished.”

Another aerial image showed excavators digging out at least 100 graves at an unidentified mass burial site.

AFP has been unable to independently verify the date the images were taken or access the location to verify the circumstances surrounding the events.

Pentagon investigation

---

When asked by BBC News on Wednesday about the alleged incident at a news briefing, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon was investigating.

“All I can say is that we’re investigating, and that we of course never target civilian targets,” Hegseth said, without elaborating.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday said that the United States would not intentionally target a school.

“The United States would not deliberately target a school. Our objectives are missiles, both the ability to manufacture them and the ability to launch them,” he told reporters.

Israel “not aware” of a strike at the location

---

Israeli military spokesman Nadav Shoshani told CBS News that the IDF had not “found any connection to our operations,” when asked about the alleged school strike.

Asked by CBS News’ Matt Gutman if he was saying the claim of a strike on the school was Iranian misinformation, Shoshani said he was suggesting “caution when using information that’s provided by a regime that massacres their own people.”

Shoshani also told reporters: “At this point not aware of an Israeli or an American strike there. … We’re operating in an extremely accurate manner.”

“Ensure accountability”

---

United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk is calling for a prompt, impartial and thorough investigation into the attack.

U.N. human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said, “The onus is on the forces that carried out the attack to investigate it.”

Norway-based rights group Hengaw said it was seeking information about the identities of the victims. In a statement, the organization said that at the time of the incident, the Shajare Tayyebeh school was holding its morning session and reportedly had about 170 students present.

The rights group said that the strike’s intended targets were reportedly the nearby IRGC facilities — a claim that news outlets have not been able to independently verify.

“The establishment and expansion of military facilities in close proximity to schools and public spaces place civilians at heightened risk,” Hengaw said.

A crowd attends the funeral of people killed in what Iranian officials said was a Feb. 28 strike on a girls’ elementary school in Minab, Iran, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. Abbas Zakeri/Mehr News Agency via AP

Pentagon sought fresh supply of 13 critical minerals day before Iran attack

March 4, 2026 5:03 PM UTC / Reuters / By Ernest Scheyder

The Pentagon building is seen in Arlington, Virginia, U.S. October 9, 2020. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

March 4 (Reuters) – The U.S. military asked mining companies on Friday to help boost domestic supplies of 13 critical minerals used to make semiconductors, weapons and other products, a ​document reviewed by Reuters showed.

The request, the day before the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran, is ‌the latest example in recent weeks of Washington’s push for more access to the materials used widely in warfare.

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The Pentagon asked members of the Defense Industrial Base Consortium (DIBC), a group of more than 1,500 companies, universities and others that supply the military, for proposals to be submitted ​by March 20 for projects that could mine, process or recycle select minerals, the document showed.

There was no ​immediate indication whether the timing was intentionally coordinated to coincide with the start of the ⁠strikes on Iran.

The list of 13 minerals sought includes arsenic, bismuth, gadolinium, germanium, graphite, hafnium, nickel, samarium, tungsten, vanadium, ​ytterbium, yttrium and zirconium.

The U.S. is reliant on imports for most of the 13. China is a dominant global producer of all ​of them.

The Pentagon asked for detailed information on the costs, including labor and material, needed to build a mine or processing facility. Projects could be awarded development funds ranging from $100 million to over $500 million, according to the request.

The document did not specify why only those ​13 minerals were chosen. Some — including germanium, graphite and yttrium — have been subject to export restrictions by China, the top ​global producer.

Yttrium shortages, especially, have set off alarm bells throughout the aerospace industry. One of the 17 rare earths, yttrium is used ‌in coatings ⁠that keep engines and turbines from melting at high temperatures. Without regular application of these coatings, engines cannot be used.

Nickel is a widely traded metal and Indonesia is the top global producer. Yet Jakarta has been throttling exports of the metal used widely in stainless steel and battery production.

The White House, DIBC and Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests ​for comment.

LATEST REQUEST

---

DIBC’s request is ​just the latest attempt by ⁠the Trump administration to increase U.S. supply of key critical minerals. China has been using its market control as diplomatic leverage in ongoing trade disputes with Washington.

Last month, Trump officials ​launched a $12 billion minerals stockpile backed by the U.S. Export-Import Bank and proposed a preferential minerals ​trading bloc ⁠with more than 50 allies.

That trading bloc would aim to use reference prices for minerals derived in part by a Pentagon-created artificial intelligence program, Reuters reported last week.

The administration has also taken equity stakes in rare earths miner MP Materials, Lithium Americas, and copper-and-cobalt developer Trilogy ⁠Metals.

Separately on ​Wednesday, the Defense Logistics Agency, which buys a range of goods ​for the U.S. military, asked for information from miners on potentially acquiring lithium, chromium and tellurium for military stockpiles.

Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Additional reporting by ​Jarrett Renshaw in Washington and Polina Devitt in London; Editing by Veronica Brown, Chizu Nomiyama, Peter Graff and Diane Craft

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

“Deadliest Catch” deckhand Todd Meadows dies after falling overboard in Alaska, Coast Guard says

Updated on: March 4, 2026 / 1:47 PM EST / CBS/AP

A deckhand on the reality television show “Deadliest Catch,” which documents the lives of crab fishermen working in one of the world’s harshest environments, died after he was reported to have fallen overboard, the U.S. Coast Guard said Tuesday.

The Coast Guard received a notification shortly after 5 p.m. Feb. 25 from the Aleutian Lady that crew member Todd Meadows had fallen overboard about 170 miles north of Dutch Harbor, Alaska, Chief Petty Officer Travis Magee, a spokesperson with the Coast Guard’s Arctic District, said by email Tuesday.

“He was recovered unresponsive by the crew approximately ten minutes later,” Magee wrote. Efforts to resuscitate Meadows were unsuccessful, and the crew brought his body to Dutch Harbor, he said.

The Coast Guard is investigating.

Meadows, from Montesano, Washington, was in his first year as a cast member of the Discovery Channel show. He joined the series last May but no episodes for the new season have aired.

“We lost our brother,” Aleutian Lady Capt. Rick Shelford said in a social media post that did not detail how Meadows died. Shelford called it the “most tragic day in the history of the Aleutian Lady on the Bering Sea.”

Meadows was the newest member of the boat’s crew but quickly became family, Shelford wrote.

“Todd’s love for his children, his family, and his life was evident in everything he did. He worked hard, loved deeply, and brought joy to those around him,” Shelford wrote.

A statement released by the Discovery Channel called Meadows’ death “a devastating loss, and our hearts are with his loved ones, his crewmates, and the entire fishing community during this incredibly difficult time.”

“Todd got involved with fishing with me probably from the time he was three,” Lucas Meadows, Todd’s father, told Alaska’s News Source. “It’s been a passion of his, his whole life.”

An online fundraiser had brought in nearly $40,000 by Wednesday to assist Meadows’ family, including his three sons, and pay for funeral costs and other expenses. The fundraiser said Meadows, 25, died what doing what he loved best: crabbing on Alaska waters.

“He was a determined dad to three amazing little boys who were his entire world,” the GoFundMe site said. “Everything he did was for them — their smiles, their futures, and the memories they will carry with them.”

The death is the latest for cast members of the show detailing dangerous crab fishing on the Bering Sea. The show first aired in 2005.

In 2021, crewman Todd Kochutin, 30, died as a result of injuries he received while aboard the fishing vessel Patricia Lee, according to his obituary.

Several other cast members have died of substance abuse or natural causes. They include Capt. Phil Harris of the fishing vessel Cornelia Marie, who died in 2010 at age 53 following a massive stroke, NPR reported.

Collins presses Leavitt on Hegseth’s comments on death of service members | CNN Politics

Published 2:23 PM EST, Wed March 4, 2026 / Source: CNN

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defends Pete Hegseth’s comments that media coverage of troop’s deaths are intended to make Trump “look bad.”

02:22 • Source: CNN

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Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales faces ethics probe over sexual harassment allegations | Fox News

By Elizabeth Elkind, Fox News
Published March 4, 2026 12:01pm EST

This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 800-273-TALK (8255).

The House of Representatives is launching an internal investigation into a GOP lawmaker accused of having an affair with and sexually harassing an aide who committed suicide last year.

The House Ethics Committee revealed on Wednesday that it is launching an investigative subcommittee on Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, in response to allegations he “engaged in sexual misconduct towards an individual employed in his congressional office” and “discriminated unfairly by dispensing special favors or privileges.”

Gonzales narrowly avoided defeat in his GOP primary race on Tuesday night but failed to clinch an outright majority of the vote. He’ll be facing conservative social media personality Brandon Herrera in a runoff election in May.

The Texas Republican has denied the affair with his Uvalde-based late aide, Regina Santos-Aviles, and accused her husband of extortion.

Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, arrives for a press conference in the U.S. Capitol on March 25, 2025.(Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

“During my six years [in Congress,] not a single formal complaint has been levied against my office. Now days away from an election, coordinated political attacks reign in. IT WON’T WORK. Halfway through early voting and the intensity resides w/ TG voters. I’d rather be us than them,” he posted on X in late February.

He told Fox News Digital in response to the probe on Wednesday, “I welcome the opportunity to present all the facts to the committee.”

It’s not immediately clear what impact the allegations had on his performance or how they will play out between now and his next election. Gonzales defeated Herrera by less than 2% in his 2024 Republican primary.

But the growing scandal has spurred calls for his resignation, notably by some of his fellow House Republicans.

Republican congressional candidate Brandon Herrera speaks during a campaign rally in Somerset, Texas, on Feb. 26, 2026.(Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

“I would encourage him to consider resigning,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., told reporters last week.

His fellow Texas lawmaker, Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, urged Gonzales not to run for re-election. “America deserves better. Tony should drop out of the race,” he posted on X.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., who has also called for his resignation, announced just this week that she is forcing a vote on a measure requiring the House Ethics Committee to disclose information on lawmakers accused of sexually harassing their staff.

Regina Santos-Aviles, a staffer for Gonzales, died Sept. 13, 2025.(Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images; Regina Santos-Aviles Facebook)

She told Fox News Digital that Gonzales’ situation was the impetus for her effort, “I mean, literally, this girl killed herself in the most heinous way. She literally lit herself on fire and died, and we’re just going to sit here and say, let the process play out? No.”

Gonzales, for his part, previously told reporters that he had no intention of resigning.

The traditionally secretive House Ethics Committee does not give a set timeline for its probes, nor does it typically forecast regular updates on them.

Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.

Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com

Tariff refund delays could cost U.S. taxpayers $700 million a month in interest, report finds

March 4, 2026 / 2:10 PM EST / CBS News

The federal government is estimated to owe American businesses up to $175 billion in tariff refunds after the Supreme Court struck down much of the Trump administration’s import duties last month. But the U.S. could end up owing considerably more money, according to a new analysis — in interest payments.

Research from the Cato Institute, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C., said that the delay in refunding companies for emergency tariffs invalidated by the high court is costing U.S. importers a total of $700 million per month, or $23 million per day, based on the interest owed on the illegally collected duties.

“If you import a good and pay a duty on it that the government assesses was wrong, you get your money back with interest, because that capital was tied up,” Scott Lincicome, vice president of general economics at the Cato Institute, told CBS News.

The Trump administration had said it would issue refunds if the duties targeting nearly every U.S. trading partner around the world were found unlawful by the Supreme Court.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Cato’s findings.

Refund barrier removed

---

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Monday denied the Trump administration’s request to delay the refund process. The decision opens the door for the U.S. Court of International Trade to set up a process to reimburse the small businesses that successfully challenged Mr. Trump’s global tariffs.

Cato’s calculation of how much the government owes in additional interest payments assumes the U.S. had collected $175 billion in tariffs when they were struck down in February, basing that figure on estimates from the Penn Wharton Budget Model at the University of Pennsylvania and other sources.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection data shows that, through the end of 2025, the federal government had collected $134 billion in duties under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

Delays in providing tariff refunds “would leave American taxpayers on the hook for billions in interest that the government would owe importers on top of the tariff refunds — interest that the government has already acknowledged in multiple public filings and has promised to pay,” Cato said in its report.

Interest payments required

---

Interest payments on tariff overpayments are required under U.S. customs rules, with the Code of Federal Regulations stating that the government must pay interest on reimbursable duties. The IRS’ corporate overpayment rates establish interest rates on refunds.

Under current U.S. trade laws, the tax rate on imports worth less than $10,000 is 6% and 4.5% for larger volumes of goods worth more than $10,000. Based on those rates, delaying refunds for one year could result in additional interest payments on the illegal IEEPA tariffs of $8.4 billion, according to Cato.

“I don’t know what the administration will argue, but the law says — and courts have been clear — that they are going to require refunds with interest,” Lincicome said.

Several major corporations, including Bausch & Lomb, Dyson, FedEx and L’Oreal, have sued the federal government for refunds on the tariffs they paid under IEEPA. FedEx has also pledged to refund shippers and consumers who paid the charges if the business is ultimately made whole.

Edited by Alain Sherter

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/what-to-know-about-potential-tariff-refunds-after-last-weeks-supreme-court-ruling/

Trump promises to endorse either Cornyn or Paxton – and to push the other to drop out

PUBLISHED Mar 4, 2026, 2:00 PM ET

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PUBLISHED Mar 4, 2026, 2:00 PM ET

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, left, and Sen. John Cornyn.

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President [Donald Trump] announced Wednesday that he would be endorsing in Texas’ Republican primary for US Senate between incumbent John Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton – and demanding that the candidate he doesn’t choose drop out.

“IT MUST STOP NOW!” The president wrote on Truth Social of the primary race. “We have an easy to beat, Radical Left Opponent, and we have to TOTALLY FOCUS on putting him away, quickly and decisively! Both John and Ken ran great races, but not good enough. Now, this one, must be PERFECT! “

Trump added that he would ask the other candidate “to immediately DROP OUT OF THE RACE!”

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The president’s announcement comes after months of staying neutral in the nasty Texas GOP primary that is now set to become a bruising and expensive [runoff election].

As Trump decides, top Senate Republicans ramped up a furious push to persuade the president to endorse Cornyn. They pointed to Cornyn leading Paxton after Tuesday’s results, which they say proves that he can win the 12-week runoff.

• Key Race

Senate: Texas

---

| CANDIDATE | PERCENT | VOTES |
| — | — | — |
| John Cornyn* Republican | 41.9% | 903,948 26,118 ahead |
| Ken Paxton Republican | 40.7% | 877,830 |
| Wesley Hunt Republican | 13.5% | 291,803 |

Est.

98%
votes in

Updated just now

Incumbent

Advances to runoff

“If the president endorses early, it saves everybody a lot of money,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said of the runoff, where national Republicans are expected to spend tens of millions to support the incumbent.

Thune added that Republicans are eager to avoid “10 weeks of a spirited campaign on our side that keeps us from spending time focusing on the Democrats.”

This latest push by Thune and other GOP senators to get Trump fully behind Cornyn carries more urgency than in past months. The winner of the GOP primary will face off against the one Democrat that party leaders hoped they would not face in November: [state Sen. James Talarico].

The 36-year-old seminarian has run a campaign designed to pry moderate voters away from the GOP and is widely considered a greater threat to Republicans than liberal firebrand Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who came in second place.

“Of course, it’s not helpful,” Thune said of Talarico’s name at the top of the ticket for Democrats, before adding: “Which is why if the president can weigh in, it would be enormously helpful.”

Republicans also fear Talarico and national Democrats could have another edge in the race, since Talarico isn’t facing a runoff.

Sen. John Barrasso, the No. 2 Senate Republican, stressed that the party needed to rally behind Cornyn as they work to combat higher-than-expected Democratic turnout in the primary on Tuesday, which has raised alarm bells across the GOP. He insisted that only Cornyn can beat a highly motivated Democratic electorate.

“There were actually more Democrats that voted in the primary than Republicans that voted in the primary, which shows that the Democrats in Texas are motivated,” Barrasso said. “John Cornyn wins that race for the Republicans and for the people of Texas. I support him fully.”

“It’s time for us to come together as a Republican Party and let’s get John Cornyn back here,” added Sen. John Curtis of Utah.

For his part, Paxton has said he hopes to get “closer on the money” with Cornyn and warned nominating him would lead to “six more years of … a guy that’s going to work against the values that we believe in.” In a radio interview, the Texas attorney general spoke with Hunt on Tuesday night and has said he hopes the congressman will “give us a little lift” by encouraging his supporters to side with the Paxton camp in the run-off.

“His decision is his decision, and I respect that, and I’m certainly hopeful that he’ll help us to beat John Cornyn,” Paxton said Wednesday in an interview with The Chris Salcedo Show.

At least one Republican who has stayed neutral in the race said Wednesday he intends to maintain that position. Sen. Ted Cruz told reporters that he will not be endorsing Cornyn or Paxton in May’s runoff.

“John Cornyn is a good friend of mine, Ken Paxton is a good friend of mine. I have endorsed both of them previously, I’ve campaigned with both of them previously, and as I’ve said from the beginning of this race, I’m staying out of the race. I trust the voters of Texas,” Cruz said.

Pressed on if he’ll remain neutral through the runoff, he said, “Yes.”

CNN’s Arlette Saenz, Alison Main and Morgan Leason contributed to this report.

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US Postal Service hiring restructuring advisers as it could run out of money in 2027

March 4, 2026 7:39 PM UTC / Reuters

By David Shepardson

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Item 1 of 2 A postal worker transports boxes filled with packages at the United States Postal Service (USPS) Processing & Distribution Center in Los Angeles, California, U.S., December 2, 2025. REUTERS/Daniel Cole

[1/2]A postal worker transports boxes filled with packages at the United States Postal Service (USPS) Processing & Distribution Center in Los Angeles, California, U.S., December 2, 2025. REUTERS/Daniel Cole Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

• Summary
• Companies

• Postmaster General to testify before Congress March 17
• USPS has lost $120 billion since 2007
• ‘We are out of cash in 12 months’ without changes, Steiner says

WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) – The U.S. Postal Service is hiring restructuring advisers to help address its mounting financial troubles, ​Postmaster General David Steiner told Reuters in an interview.

Reuters first reported in December that Steiner believed the ‌Postal Service could run out of money as soon as early 2027. USPS has reported net losses of about $120 billion since 2007 as first-class mail, its most profitable product, has fallen to its lowest volume since the late 1960s.

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USPS hired consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal for a brief ​engagement to help with planning for all scenarios, Steiner said.

“We are out of cash in 12 months if ​we don’t do anything different,” Steiner told Reuters Thursday. “I do not want to be in a ⁠position where we’re six weeks out from running out of cash, and we say, Oh heck, what are we going ​to do?”

Steiner will testify before the U.S. House of Representatives on March 17 to talk about the Postal Service’s financial ​situation and will warn that without improvements there could be no Valentine’s Day cards delivered in February 2027.

Steiner noted that USPS mail volumes are down 110 billion pieces of mail per year from the peak 15 years ago, which translates into $86 billion in revenue at current prices.

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​Last month, USPS reported a net quarterly loss of $1.25 billion. USPS has called on policymakers to reform the Postal Service ​Civil Service Retirement System obligations, give USPS more flexibility over pricing and increase its $15 billion statutory debt limit, which it hit years ago.

“If ‌we can’t ⁠get help from the outside, from either our regulator or from Congress on the debt limit — everything’s got to be on the table,” Steiner said.

Steiner wants to be able to raise prices over the current 78 cents for first-class mail and thinks Americans would be willing to pay 90 or 95 cents per letter, when much of the world pays $2 or more.

​USPS in January launched an ​online bidding platform to take ⁠proposals for access to its last‑mile delivery network, opening more than 18,000 destination delivery units and local processing centers nationwide to a broader range of customers that could raise badly needed ​funds.

USPS delivers to more than 170 million U.S. addresses six days a week, with ​the last mile ⁠the most expensive part of deliveries. The last mile is also expensive for companies like FedEx FDX.N, opens new tab UPS UPS.N, opens new tab and Amazon.com.

In 2022, Congress provided about $50 billion in financial relief over a decade and required its future retirees to enroll in a government health insurance plan.

⁠The law ​eliminated requirements for USPS to pre-fund retiree health benefits for current and ​retired employees for 75 years, a requirement no business or other federal entity faces. Steiner’s predecessor, Louis DeJoy, told Congress in 2021 the postal service was ​on a “death spiral” without reforms.

Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington and Aishwarya Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed and David Gregorio

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