GOP Senators Push Back on NASA Budget Cuts
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The Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank and a pursuant to license by MasterCard International Incorporated. Card may be used everywhere MasterCard is accepted. Venmo purchase restrictions apply. Here is your morning brief for Friday, June 6th. I'm Kate Bullivant for The Wall Street Journal.

Senate Republicans are pushing back on a recent White House proposal to cut NASA's budget by around 25%. If passed by Congress, the budget would prompt layoffs at the agency, reduce funding for the International Space Station, impose big cuts to science programs and unwind the current setup of the Artemis mission to return American astronauts to the moon as soon as 2027.

In response, GOP officials are discussing directing $10 billion toward programmes facing reductions, with lawmakers saying the lunar programme is essential for returning NASA astronauts to the moon before China.

President Trump's second attempt to bar international students from Harvard has been blocked by a federal judge in Boston after the university argued the action was part of a campaign of retribution over the exercise of its First Amendment rights. The ruling means Harvard can continue enrolling foreign students while the case proceeds.

And India's central bank delivered a larger-than-expected rate cut today, despite the ongoing uncertainty around US tariffs. The Reserve Bank of India's decision comes as cooling inflation and solid economic growth in India supported a continuation of an easing cycle which kicked off in February.

Meanwhile, China's central bank has pumped around $139 billion of medium-term liquidity into markets today. The move via reverse repos aims to ease liquidity concerns for Chinese lenders amid signs the US-China trade truce is cracking.

Stock markets in Asia ended the day mixed. European markets are looking for direction in midday trading. And US stock futures are gaining ahead of the jobs report due out at 8.30am Eastern. And we have a lot more coverage of the day's news on the WSJ's What's News podcast. You can add it to your playlist on your smart speaker or listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.