President Donald Trump proclaimed while speaking for a National Day of Prayer event at the White House that his administration is bringing religion back to the United States.

“We’re bringing back religion in our country, and we’re bringing it back quickly and strongly. Because for America to be a great nation, we must always be one nation under God,” Trump said.

At one point during his remarks, he brought up a number of people onto the platform, including Dr. Phil, who thanked him for bringing back religion.

“As we defend religious freedom in America, we’re also standing up against religious persecution around the world,” Trump added. “With us today, the parents of Edan Alexander, the last living American held hostage by Hamas.”

Trump said he cannot imagine the pain of Alexander’s parents.

“But we’re all alongside of you. We stand by you, and we’re going to do everything possible in a very short period of time. You know, as you know, things are heating up there. I’ve gotten a lot of hostages out,” Trump said.

When prayers got underway, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., took to the podium and said a prayer. Other leaders from different faiths also said prayers at the podium.

After a worship song and rendition of “Amazing Grace,” Trump signed an executive order to create a Presidential Commission on Religious Liberty, which he said during his remarks is “why we’re here more than any other reason.”

Democratic Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Tim Kaine, with the backing of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, filed a resolution Thursday to require the State Department to publish a human rights report on the prison conditions in El Salvador where Americans are being held, including if any U.S. aid has been used to assist with the deportation efforts.

“If you think you can take steps like this without Congress challenging your executive overreach, you’re wrong. We’re going to challenge your overreach at every instance when we can,” Kaine said.

Van Hollen then explained that the resolution would force a floor vote within 10 days of it being filed, and should it pass, would force the report without House passage.

“If no report is produced within 30 days, the law specifies that all security assistance to El Salvador will be cut off. If the report is produced, whether it’s good, bad, a whitewash, insufficient, you know, a two pager, we then have a privileged motion that we can bring up to terminate security assistance,” he said.

The Trump administration will not renew $1 billion in Biden-era grants aimed at boosting mental health services in schools, a Department of Education spokesperson confirmed to ABC News on Thursday.

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications Madi Biedermann claimed in a statement that grant recipients “used the funding to implement race-based actions like recruiting quotas in ways that have nothing to do with mental health.”

She did not provide more details.

The decision comes as the Trump administration takes action to eliminate DEI programs and alleged racial discrimination practices in schools.

However, multiple courts have partially blocked efforts to ensure schools certify compliance with the administration’s demands.

General Motors has cut its profit guidance and said that tariffs could cost up to $5 billion in a new shareholder letter. The company has not yet announced any price increases for consumers. Ford, another major U.S. automaker, has said it can’t commit to not raising prices as a result of President Donald Trump’s tariff policy.

“Is the administration open to doing more to give automakers relief?” ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce asked White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller at Thursday’s briefing.

Miller did not directly respond to the question, instead saying U.S. automakers “have announced dramatic investments and expansions inside the United States. American auto plants are growing. They are expanding.”

“But in the meantime, while manufacturing ramps up, American consumers may pay more. Do you agree?” Bruce asked Miller.

“They won’t because, again, there’s now a massive economic incentive for automobile producers to expand production in the United States and whatever they make here, there will be no tariffs,” Miller said.

Elon Musk at the White House on Wednesday described his first 100 days in Washington leading his Department of Government Efficiency as “very, very intense,” and, while he said he was proud of his team’s work, he blamed what he called an “entrenched set of interests” for hindering their effectiveness so far.

Speaking to a small group of reporters in the Roosevelt Room, Musk was joined by fellow DOGE lieutenants Steve Davis and Antonio Gracias.

Musk was asked what he would have done differently with DOGE after 100 days and said while he believes they have made progress and have been effective, he said DOGE hasn’t been “as effective as I’d like.”

“I think we’ve been effective, not as effective as I’d like, I think we could be more effective, but we made progress.”

Musk was pressed multiple times on whether he still believed his DOGE team would reach their $1 trillion cost-cutting goal – telling reporters he still believes it is “possible” but acknowledged “it’s really difficult.”

“I think it’s possible to do that, but there’s that. It’s a long road to go and, you know, this, this, this really, it’s really difficult,” he said. “But our rate of savings per day is pretty good. You know, we’re like, $1.6 billion a day, 100 days in.”

Musk claimed that if DOGE is going to get to $1 trillion in cuts, it may come down to “how much pain is, you know, the cabinet and Congress going only to take. It can be done, but it requires dealing with a lot of complaints.”

Asked by ABC News what specifically those obstacles were blocking him from reaching that $1 trillion goal, Musk blamed “an entrenched set of interests in the vast federal bureaucracy that wants to keep things as they were before and increase the expenses.”

He described what he called the “default” of the federal bureaucracy as “spend what you did last year plus 5% indefinitely… So in order to change that, it’s like changing the direction of a fleet of supertankers.”

“We are making as much progress as we can… there’s a lot of inertia in the government… So it’s like, it’s not easy. This is, this is a way to make a lot of enemies and not that many friends.”

Pushed again, Musk said is it possible: “Absolutely.”

But the biggest question is does Musk and DOGE have the support.

“Is there a sufficient political will in Congress and elsewhere to actually do that?” he said. “It remains to be seen. If we can do it. We will is it? Is it possible to do, Yes.”

During his town hall on NewsNation Wednesday evening, President Donald Trump joined by phone and fielded questions from the moderators, which mainly focused on the economy and the current status of his tariffs.

As Trump’s ever-changing tariff plans continued to impact the economy, he was asked when Americans should expect him to announce trade deals with countries such as South Korea and Japan, which the administration has said have been ongoing.

Trump said he’s not in a hurry to make trade deals and that other countries need us more than we need them.

“Well, we have potential deals with that, yeah… I’ll tell you this. I’m in less of a hurry than you are. We are sitting on the catbird seat. They want us. We don’t need them,” Trump said.

Asked if there’s been a perception problem with the tariffs he’s implemented, Trump said yes.

“Yeah, but I’m an honest guy, and I — we have to save the country,” Trump said during the town hall.

Despite three Senate Republicans voting with Democrats on a resolution seeking to block Trump’s tariffs, the legislation failed to reach a simple majority.

Republican Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joined Democrats in supporting the measure, but Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky — both backers of past Senate efforts to kneecap Trump’s tariff policies — were notably absent for the vote, which was 49-49.

Whitehouse appeared to be en route back to the U.S. from South Korea. While the vote was ongoing, he said in a post on X that he was returning from the 10th Our Ocean Conference.

It’s unclear why McConnell was absent, but the senator’s team broadly affirmed his opposition to tariffs when asked about his vote.

“The Senator has been consistent in opposing tariffs and that a trade war is not in the best interest of American households and businesses. He believes that tariffs are a tax increase on everybody,” David Popp, a spokesperson for McConell told ABC News.

The resolution was expected to pass with the same razor-thin margins that an earlier bill, led by Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota to repeal Trump’s tariffs on Canada, passed earlier this month. That legislation had bipartisan support from the three Republicans who also backed tonight’s efforts and McConnell also voted for that bill.

ABC News’ Selina Wang asked Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins if the administration would consider relief for farmers because of President Donald Trump’s retaliatory tariffs on China.

Rollins said she hopes it doesn’t come to that, but she added that Trump would step in “if necessary.”

“If necessary, this president will step in the gap. He’s already did it once in the first term and will do it again,” she said.

Farmers are being hit especially hard by China’s retaliatory tariffs. China buys more soybeans from the U.S. than any other country, paying U.S. farmers nearly $13 billion last year.

During the first Trump administration, $28 billion was given to farmers because of Trump’s trade war.

While answering questions at the end of his Cabinet meeting, President Donald Trump seemed to acknowledge the real impacts his trade war with China could have on Americans.

Trump has previously said that there would be disruptions, but for the first time, he acknowledged that many Americans might have to do with less as a result of the tariff standoff.

“They made $1 trillion with Biden, $1 trillion, even a $1.1 trillion, with Biden selling us stuff, much of it we don’t need. You know, somebody said, ‘Oh, the shelves are going to be open.’ Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls. You know, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally. But, we’re not talking about something that we have to go out of our way,” Trump said.

Trump argued that the result of the trade war will be worse for the Chinese, who rely on the U.S. as a market to sell their goods. Trump was asked whether he’d spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump said: “It’ll happen.”

Trump continued to insist that Americans don’t need many of the goods that are imported from China.

“They have ships that are loaded up with stuff, much of which, not all of it, but much of which we don’t need. And we have to make a fair deal. We’ve been ripped off by every country in the world. But China, I would say, is the leading, the leading one and the leading, candidate for the chief-ripper-offer,” Trump said.

President Donald Trump continued to blame former President Joe Biden for the issues facing the stock market and economy, even though he claimed he didn’t “view the stock market as that abnormal.”

Trump claimed that the economic issues could continue next quarter because of Biden.

“This is Biden. And you could even say the next quarter is sort of Biden, because it doesn’t just happen on a daily or an hourly basis, but we’re turning it around. It’s a big ship to turn around,” he said.

ABC News White House Correspondent Karen Travers asked President Donald Trump, “You told ABC News yesterday that you could get [Kilmar] Abrego Garcia back if you wanted to. Do you think President Bukele would turn you down if you made that request?”

“I really don’t know. I know that he’s been a great friend of our country,” Trump responded, before going on to praise Bukele for his handling of crime and prisons in El Salvador.

“I don’t know, I haven’t spoken to him,” Trump said. “I really leave that to the lawyers. And I take my advice from Pam [Bondi] and everybody that is very much involved. They know the laws and we follow the laws exactly.”

“You have been treated unfairly but the vast majority of people in this country really respect and appreciate you, and this whole room can say that very strongly. You’ve really been a tremendous help. You opened up a lot of eyes as to what could be done,” President Trump told Elon Musk at Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting.

“And we just want to thank you very much,” Trump continued. “And, you know, you’re invited to stay as long as you want. At some point, I guess, he wants to get back home to his cars.”

The room then offered Musk a round of applause.

“It’s also an honor to work with your incredible Cabinet. I’d just like to say thank you everyone for, you know, it’s great to work with you,” Musk said.

Unlike previous Cabinet meetings, Musk did not talk at length about the work of the Department of Government Efficiency.