Closing summary
Our live coverage is ending now. In the meantime, you can find all of our live US politics coverage here. Here is a summary of the key developments from today:
The Senate passed Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending megabill by the narrowest of margins – 51-50 – with vice-president JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote after three Republicans – Thom Tillis, Rand Paul and Susan Collins – voted no. While the bill has cleared a major hurdle, it’s by no means guaranteed that Trump’s self-imposed 4 July deadline will be met, with a number of Republicans in the House – which passed its version of the bill last month also by a single vote – already vocalising opposition to the Senate’s changes.
Trump announced on his social media platform that Israel has agreed to a 60-day ceasefire in its war in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept the terms of the agreement. The news comes as Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is scheduled to visit the White House on 7 July.
Trump toured “Alligator Alcatraz”, a controversial new migrant detention jail in the remote Florida Everglades, and celebrated the harsh conditions that people sent there would experience. Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, and Homeland Security secretary, Kristi Noem, said detainees could arrive at the rapidly constructed facility as soon as tomorrow. Trump later revisited his idea of “renovating and rebuilding Alcatraz”, with a view to reopening the infamous island prison in San Francisco, which has been closed for over 60 years.
The Pentagon has halted shipments of air defense missiles and other precision munitions to Ukraine over concerns that US stockpiles are too low. On Sunday, Moscow fired more than 500 aerial weapons at Ukraine overnight, in a barrage that Kyiv described as the biggest air attack so far of the three-year war.
USAID will officially stop implementing foreign aid starting today, secretary of state Marco Rubio said. He added that the US’s assistance in the future will be targeted and limited, focusing on trade rather than aid.
The Trump administration raised the possibility of stripping Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic mayoral candidate for New York City, of his US citizenship over his vocal support for Palestinian rights. Democrat senator Chris Murphy slammed the idea as “racist bullshit”.
A federal judge has ruled that mass layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services were likely unlawful. US district judge Melissa DuBose ordered the Trump administration to halt its efforts to downsize and restructure the health agency, granting a preliminary injunction that will block the administration from finalizing or continuing layoffs it began in March. In another court ruling today, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to release nearly $13m in funding it had promised Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to continue reporting in countries with restricted press freedoms.
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Sixteen states filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration today for ending more than $1bn in mental health grants designed to support students after mass shootings, the Washington Post reports.
The Trump administration ended the grants beginning under a series of policy moves targeting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, saying schools had misused the funds when they hired mental health providers from diverse backgrounds.
In the lawsuit, the states contend that the education department sent “boilerplate notices to Plaintiffs claiming that their grants conflicted with the Trump Administration’s priorities and would not be continued”.
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House Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing members of his caucus to pass the budget bill that the Senate voted on today. Although the House has already voted on Donald Trump’s sweeping spending, the chamber must approve it again with the amendments added by the Senate.
Johnson has urged Republicans to unite and “finish the job” ahead of Trump’s self-imposed 4 July deadline for the budget.
“I’m having lots of discussion with lots of members about lots of ideas, so we’ll see. But we need to move this, this process to a conclusion. And we’re committed to doing that and on as quick a timetable as possible. So, stay tuned,” Johnson said. “I’ve got to play the cards that are dealt to me, and we’re working through that, talking to all members and all caucuses and everybody else. So – but we remain optimistic we’re going to land this plane.”
The Senate passed the spending and tax bill earlier this afternoon after the longest “vote-a-rama” in Senate history.
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During an appearance in Florida alongside Donald Trump this afternoon, homeland security secretary Kristi Noem said the administration is weighing suing CNN for publishing a story about ICEBlock, an app that alerts users when immigration agents are nearby.
“We’re going to actually go after them and prosecute them,” Noem told reporters, according to the New York Times.
“This is an app that is publicly available to any iPhone user who wants to download it,” CNN said in a statement. “There is nothing illegal about reporting the existence of this or any other app, nor does such reporting constitute promotion or other endorsement of the app by CNN.”
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The White House has confirmed that the United States will halt shipments of air defense missiles and other precision munitions to Ukraine over concerns that US stockpiles are too low.
“This decision was made to put America’s interests first following a DOD review of our nation’s military support and assistance to other countries across the globe,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement. “The strength of the United States Armed Forces remains unquestioned – just ask Iran.”
The US has provided Ukraine with more than $66bn in weapons since Russia launched its full-scale invasion into the country in February 2022. The missiles and other munitions the Trump administration is withholding were promised to Ukraine under the Biden administration.
On Sunday, Moscow fired more than 500 aerial weapons at Ukraine overnight, in a barrage that Kyiv described as the biggest air attack so far of the three-year war. You can find all our coverage of Ukraine here.
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Trump announces Israel has agreed to 60-day ceasefire in Gaza
Donald Trump announced today on his social media platform that Israel has agreed to a 60-day ceasefire in its war in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept the terms of the agreement.
“The Qataris and Egyptians, who have worked very hard to help bring Peace, will deliver this final proposal. I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better – IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE,” he wrote.
The news comes as Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is scheduled to visit the White House on 7 July.
Last month, Trump similarly announced a ceasefire agreement in the Israel-Iran conflict on his social media platform before either country could confirm they had agreed to the arrangement.
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In another court ruling today, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to release nearly $13m in funding it had promised Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to continue reporting in countries with restricted press freedoms.
US district judge Royce C Lamberth voiced his disapproval with the Trump administration for similarly delaying funding in April and May.
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A federal judge has ruled that mass layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Servies were likely unlawful.
US district judge Melissa DuBose ordered the Trump administration to halt its efforts to downsize and restructure the health agency, granting a preliminary injunction that will block the administration from finalizing or continuing layoffs it began in March.
DuBose said the states who filed suit against the Trump administration had shown “irreparable harm” and were likely to succeed in their case claiming: “HHS’s action was both arbitrary and capricious as well as contrary to law.”
The department stands by its decision “to realign this organization with its core mission and refocus a sprawling bureaucracy that, over time, had become wasteful, inefficient and resistant to change”, HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told the Associated Press.
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The United States denied visa requests for the Cuba women’s volleyball team ahead of their visit to Puerto Rico to play in the NORCECA Women’s Final Four in Manati.
The Cuban Volleyball Federation told the Associated Press that 12 athletes, a referee and several coaches from the team had their visa requests denied.
“It’s really disappointing not to be able to participate in the competition, which is what I’ve been preparing myself for,” player Laura Suarez said.
In June, the United States added Cuba to a list of 12 countries with entry restrictions. Yesterday, the Trump administration issued a new memo concerning its policy toward the island nation.
Powell confirms Fed would have cut interest rates by now were it not for Trump's tariffs
Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said earlier this morning that the central bank would likely have already cut interest rates this year had it not been for the economic shock caused by Donald Trump’s tariff policies.
When asked if Trump’s tariffs on imported goods held up the Fed’s plan to cut interest rates, Powell replied:
I think that’s right.
Speaking at a central banking conference in Portugal, he went on:
In effect, we went on hold when we saw the size of the tariffs and essentially all inflation forecasts for the United States went up materially as a consequence of the tariffs.
In response, Trump attacked Powell once again during his tour of the controversial new detention facility in Florida this morning. Asked if he intended to announce his pick for the next Fed chair, Trump said: “Anybody would be better than Jay Powell.”
The day so far
The Senate passed Trump’s sweeping tax and spending megabill by the narrowest of margins – 51-50 – with vice-president JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote after three Republicans – Thom Tillis, Rand Paul and Susan Collins – voted no. While the bill has cleared a major hurdle, it’s by no means guaranteed that Trump’s self-imposed 4 July deadline will be met, with a number of Republicans in the House – which passed its version of the bill last month also by a single vote – already vocalising opposition to the Senate’s changes. As my colleague Chris Stein highlights, the GOP remains sharply divided between “rightwing fiscal hardliners demanding deeper spending cuts, moderates wary of dismantling safety-net programs, and Republicans from Democratic-led states expected to make a stand on a contentious tax provision. Any one of these groups could potentially derail the bill’s passage through a chamber where the GOP can lose no more than three votes.” With all that to come this week (the high-stakes House vote is set for tomorrow), for now this marks a major victory for Trump, who is one step closer to enacting his domestic agenda, implicating everything from tax breaks for the wealthy to building the border wall to slashing Medicaid and SNAP, all the while adding an estimated $3.3tn to the deficit through 2034. At least we don’t have to call it the “one big, beautiful bill” any more.
Elsewhere:
Trump toured “Alligator Alcatraz”, a controversial new migrant detention jail in the remote Florida Everglades, and celebrated the harsh conditions that people sent there would experience. “You’ll have a lot of people that will deport on their own because they don’t want to end up in an Alligator Alcatraz, or some of these other places,” Florida governor Ron DeSantis said. Both he and Trump urged other states to follow the model and open similar facilities. DeSantis and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said detainees could arrive at the rapidly constructed facility as soon as tomorrow
Trump then revisited his idea of “renovating and rebuilding Alcatraz”, with a view to reopening the infamous island prison in San Francisco, which has been closed for over 60 years. He posted on Truth Social: “Conceptual work started six months ago, and various prison development firms are looking at doing it with us. Still a little early, but lots of promise!”
The Pentagon has halted some shipments of air defense missiles and other precision munitions to Ukraine over concerns that US stockpiles are too low, Politico reports, citing people familiar with the issue.
Pro-Palestinian Georgetown University student, Badar Khan Suri, from India, detained by Donald Trump’s administration but then released on a judge’s order, can remain free while fighting deportation efforts, a US appeals court ruled.
USAID will officially stop implementing foreign aid starting today, secretary of state Marco Rubio said, adding that America’s assistance in the future will be targeted and limited, focusing on trade rather than aid.
Trump and administration officials threatened to prosecute CNN over what they said was its promotion of a new app that allows users to track and try to avoid Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents.
The Trump administration raised the possibility of stripping Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic mayoral candidate for New York City, of his US citizenship over his vocal support for Palestinian rights. Democrat senator Chris Murphy slammed the idea as “racist bullshit”.
Trump and Elon Musk’s feud reignited this week with the former political allies trading sharp public threats of retribution from Doge to deportation, ending a period of rapprochement between two of the world’s most powerful men.
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US halts some missile shipments to Ukraine over low stockpiles - Politico
The Pentagon has halted some shipments of air defense missiles and other precision munitions to Ukraine over concerns that US stockpiles are too low, Politico is reporting, citing people familiar with the issue.
“The decision was made in early June to withhold some aid promised to Kyiv under former president Joe Biden but it is only taking effect now as Ukraine is beating back some of the largest Russian barrages of missiles and drones at civilian targets in Kyiv and elsewhere,” the report added.
On Sunday, Moscow fired more than 500 aerial weapons at Ukraine overnight, in a barrage that Kyiv described as the biggest air attack so far of the three-year war. You can find all our coverage of Ukraine here.
Pro-Palestinian Georgetown student can remain free, US appeals court rules
A pro-Palestinian Georgetown University student from India, detained by Donald Trump’s administration but then released on a judge’s order, can remain free while fighting deportation efforts, a US appeals court has ruled.
A three-judge panel of the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th US circuit court of appeals ruled 2-1 against the administration’s request that Badar Khan Suri be returned to immigration detention. The 4th circuit said it found no grounds to overturn the decision by US district judge Patricia Tolliver Giles to order Suri’s release.
“To allow the government to undermine habeas jurisdiction by moving detainees without notice or accountability reduces the writ of habeas corpus to a game of jurisdictional hide-and-seek,” judge James Andrew Wynn wrote on Tuesday.
Suri, 41, was arrested in Virginia in March and then moved by the US government to Texas, where he was released in May after the ruling by Giles. Suri is a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown’s Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, part of the Jesuit university’s School of Foreign Service.
The Trump administration has attempted to deport foreign pro-Palestinian student protesters while accusing them of being antisemitic, threats to American foreign policy and extremist sympathizers.
Suri has denied the federal government’s allegations that he spread Palestinian militant propaganda and antisemitism on social media.
Protesters, including some Jewish groups, have said the US government has conflated criticism of Israel’s military assault in Gaza with antisemitism and advocacy for Palestinian rights with support for extremism.
Human rights advocates have raised free speech and due process concerns over the administration’s actions toward these students.
Other pro-Palestinian students who were arrested by the government and subsequently released under judicial orders include Columbia University students Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi and Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk.
Suri’s wife, Mapheze Saleh, is a US citizen. Saleh is from Gaza, according to the Georgetown University website, which said she has written for Al Jazeera and Palestinian media outlets and worked with the foreign ministry in Gaza. Saleh was not arrested.
Trump and Musk’s feud blows up again with threats of Doge and deportation
Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s feud reignited this week with the former political allies trading sharp public threats of retribution. The blowup, centered around Musk’s opposition to Trump’s signature tax bill as it moves through Congress, ends a period of rapprochement between two of the world’s most powerful men.
Musk posted escalating attacks against the sweeping tax and spending bill – which passed through the Senate earlier today by a single vote, with three Republicans voting no – on his social media platform X late last night, calling the legislation “insane” and vowing to form a new political party if it passed.
In response, Trump claimed he could “look into” deporting the South Africa-born billionaire, while also suggesting he could cut government subsidies for Musk’s companies or set the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) on its former leader.
“Doge is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon. Wouldn’t that be terrible?” Trump asked reporters earlier today.
He was later asked by a reporter if he was concerned about his on-again off-again buddy ripping into the bill again and if he was worried Republicans would be swayed by the tech billionaire and his money. The president replied:
I think what’s going to happen is Doge is going to look at Musk, and if Doge looks at Musk we’re going to save a fortune.
Trump added:
I don’t think he should be playing that game with me.
Musk’s attempt to derail the tax bill was a major factor in his falling out with the president last month, and the Tesla CEO’s renewed offensive comes at a sensitive time as Trump seeks to shepherd the legislation through Congress before his self-imposed 4 July deadline.
The fight could test Musk’s political influence over the Republican party as he seeks to peel away votes for the bill, as well as further deteriorate his once-close relationship with Trump.
Trump team threatens to prosecute CNN over reporting on Ice-tracking app
Donald Trump and administration officials have threatened CNN over what they said was its promotion of a new app that allows users to track and try to avoid Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents.
Speaking to reporters in Florida on a trip to visit a new Ice detention center in the Everglades, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz”, the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, said her department and the Department of Justice were looking at prosecuting CNN over its reporting on the app, called IceBlock.
“We’re working with Department of Justice to see if we can prosecute them,” Noem said, “because what they’re doing is actively encouraging people to avoid law enforcement activities and operations. We’re going to actually go after them and prosecute them. What they’re doing is illegal.”
Trump joined in, saying the news network – a frequent target of his ire – should also be prosecuted for what he said were “false reports on the attack on Iran”, referring to the leak of a Pentagon assessment that suggested US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities did not destroy the core components of the country’s nuclear program and had probably only set the program back by months.
CNN defended its reporting of the app through a spokesperson, saying:
This is an app that is publicly available to any iPhone user who wants to download it. There is nothing illegal about reporting the existence of this or any other app, nor does such reporting constitute promotion or other endorsement of the app by CNN.
Noem’s comments came hours after Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, also criticized the news outlet for its reporting on the IceBlock app.
“It’s disgusting,” Homan said during an appearance on the rightwing commentator Benny Johnson’s internet show. “I can’t believe we live in a world where the men and women in law enforcement are the bad guys. It’s already a dangerous job.”
Homan had been asked about the app, which was created to report sightings of Ice agents in any given area. Software developer Joshua Aaron recently told CNN that he had launched the app “when I saw what was happening in this country”.
“I wanted to do something to fight back,” Aaron said, telling the network that the administration’s deportation efforts were, to him, reminiscent of Nazi Germany. “We’re literally watching history repeat itself,” Aaron said.
Homan also suggested CNN was complicit in putting federal law enforcement in danger.
“This is horrendous that a national media outlet would be out there trying to forecast law enforcement operations,” he said. “I think DoJ needs to look at this. They’re crossing that line.”
He added: “We need to send a strong message that we need to protect the law enforcement officers.”
Trump administration raises possibility of stripping Zohran Mamdani of US citizenship
The Trump administration has raised the possibility of stripping Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic mayoral candidate for New York City, of his US citizenship as part of a crackdown against foreign-born citizens convicted of certain offences.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, appeared to pave the way for an investigation into Mamdani’s status after Andy Ogles, a rightwing Republican congressman for Tennessee, called for his citizenship to be revoked on the grounds that he may have concealed his support for “terrorism” during the naturalization process.
Mamdani, 33, who was born in Uganda to ethnic Indian parents, became a US citizen in 2018 and has attracted widespread media attention – and controversy – over his vocal support for Palestinian rights.
It follows a chorus of Islamophobic attacks on his Muslim faith following his victory in last week’s New York mayoral primary, when he finished first, 12 percentage points ahead of Andrew Cuomo, the former New York state governor and favored candidate of the Democratic establishment.
It also comes after the Trump administration instructed attorneys to prioritize denaturalizing foreign-born US citizens who had committed specified crimes. A justice department memo instructs lawyers to institute proceedings against naturalized citizens who ares suspected of having “illegally procured” naturalization or having done so by “concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation”.
Chris Murphy, a Democratic senator for Connecticut who has become one of the Trump administration’s most effective critics, called the demand to denaturalize Mamdani “racist bullshit”. He wrote:
Trump will stop at nothing to protect billionaires and price gouging corporations, even racist bullshit like this. Zohran won because he ran a campaign laser focused on putting power back in the hands of working people. And that’s a threat to the Mar-a-Lago crowd.
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Schumer forces name change of Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' moments before Senate approval
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer got the name of Trump’s sweeping tax and spending package struck off moments before it passed through the upper chamber, meaning it will no longer be called the “one big, beautiful bill”.
Schumer argued the title of the megabill violated Section 313 B1A of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, or what’s commonly referred to as the “Byrd Rule”.
“This is not a ‘big, beautiful bill’ at all. That’s why I moved down the floor to strike the title. It is now called ‘the act’. That’s what it’s called. But it is really the ‘big ugly betrayal’, and the American people know it,” Schumer told reporters.
“This vote will haunt our Republican colleagues for years to come. Because of this bill, tens of millions will lose health insurance. Millions of jobs will disappear. People will get sick and die, kids will go hungry and the debt will explode to levels we have never seen.”
“This bill is so irredeemable that one Republican literally chose to retire rather than vote yes and decimate his own state,” Schumer added, referring to senator Thom Tillis, who announced yesterday he would not be seeking re-election after clashing with Trump over his opposition.
Private prison firms looking at renovating and rebuilding Alcatraz, says Trump
Donald Trump has revisited his idea of “renovating and rebuilding Alcatraz”, which a view to reopening the infamous island prison in San Francisco, which has been closed for over 60 years.
He wrote on his Truth Social platform:
I saw a picture of ALCATRAZ looking so foreboding, and I said, “We’re going to look into renovating and rebuilding the famous ALCATRAZ Prison sitting high on the Bay, surrounded by sharks. What a symbol it is, and will be!” Conceptual work started six months ago, and various prison development firms are looking at doing it with us. Still a little early, but lots of promise!
Federal prison officials visited Alcatraz last month after Trump’s earlier announcement of plans to reopen the island facility.
David Smith, the superintendent of the Golden Gate national recreation area (GGNRA), told the San Francisco Chronicle last month that officials with the Federal Bureau of Prisons were planning to return for further structural assessments. “They have been out here. They’ll be coming out again to do assessments of the structure,” he told the news outlet.
Alcatraz has been closed since 1963, when then attorney general Robert F Kennedy ordered its shutdown amid high operating costs, limited space and multiple escape attempts.
Although California lawmakers have dismissed the Alcatraz proposal as a “distraction” and not a serious plan, Trump’s update is further evidence that his administration is actively working – with the help of private prison companies – to reopen this and other facilities, some of which are already back in operation.
It follows Trump’s visit to a newly opened immigrant detention facility in the Florida Everglades, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz”, today, during which he praised governor Ron DeSantis and encouraged other red states to open similar facilities.
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USAID ends operations as state department abandons aid for trade
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) will officially stop implementing foreign aid starting today, secretary of state Marco Rubio said, adding that America’s assistance in the future will be targeted and limited.
In a statement marking the transfer of USAID to the state department as part of Trump’s unprecedented push to shrink the federal government, Rubio said the US was abandoning what he called a charity-based model and would focus on empowering countries to grow sustainably.
“We will favor those nations that have demonstrated both the ability and willingness to help themselves and will target our resources to areas where they can have a multiplier effect and catalyze durable private sector, including American companies, and global investment,” he wrote.
This new model, he added, would prioritize trade over aid and investment over assistance, adding it would put Washington in a stronger place to counter Beijing.
The Trump administration has frozen and then cut back billions of dollars of foreign aid since taking office, saying it wants to ensure US taxpayer money goes only to programs that are aligned with Trump’s “America First” policies.
The cutbacks have effectively shut down USAID, leading to the firing of thousands of its employees and contractors. That jeopardized the delivery of life-saving food and medical aid and has thrown global humanitarian relief operations into chaos.
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A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from moving forward with plans to overhaul the US Department of Health and Human Services by reorganizing several of its agencies and substantially cutting their workforce.
US district judge Melissa DuBose in Providence, Rhode Island, issued an injunction at the behest of a group of Democratic-led states who challenged a plan HHS secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr announced in March to consolidate agencies and fire 10,000 of the department’s employees.
The layoffs, in addition to earlier buyout offers and firings of probationary employees, reduced the number of full-time HHS employees to 62,000 from 82,000 and left key offices unable to perform statutory functions, the states alleged.
DuBose, an appointee of former president Joe Biden, agreed, saying the states had established a likelihood of proving HHS’s action was arbitrary and capricious as well as contrary to law.
“The Executive Branch does not have the authority to order, organize, or implement wholesale changes to the structure and function of the agencies created by Congress,” she wrote.
She ordered HHS to halt mass job cuts and restructurings at the four agencies, which also included the US Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.
“Today’s order guarantees these programs and services will remain accessible and halts the administration’s attempt to sabotage our nation’s health care system,” New York attorney general Letitia James said in a statement.
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Zohran Mamdani has officially won New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary. A new vote count today under the city’s ranked choice voting system confirmed the progressive legislator’s stunning upset of Andrew Cuomo.
Mamdani declared victory last week after taking a commanding lead just hours after the polls closed. Cuomo conceded the contest on the night of the election but is contemplating whether to run in the general election on an independent ballot.
The field of candidates in the general election will also include incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, independent candidate Jim Walden and Republican Curtis Sliwa.
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AOC says 'Vance was the deciding vote to cut Medicaid across the country'
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also known as AOC, responded to the bill’s passing on social media. She wrote on X:
“JD Vance was the deciding vote to cut Medicaid across the country. An absolute and utter betrayal of working families.”
California governor Gavin Newsom also alluded to the bill’s passing, reposting a video of Trump speaking about the governor while visiting the Florida immigration detention center dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz”. Newsom wrote:
“Trump would rather talk about alligators than his major, signature ‘big beautiful bill’ for a reason.”
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The Senate’s massive budget bill that passed today will make it harder to develop wind and solar energy projects, despite removal of some contentious energy provisions, industry advocates and lawmakers say.
The US Senate dropped a proposed excise tax on solar and wind energy projects that don’t meet strict standards after last-minute negotiations with key Republican senators seeking better terms for renewables.
Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, fellow Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley and Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, whose votes were crucial to the bill’s passage, had introduced an amendment calling for removal of that tax, which caught lawmakers by surprise after it made it into the last draft text.
Trump's tax bill - explained
What’s in Trump’s massive tax and spending bill? My colleague Chris Stein has this helpful explainer on the GOP’s sweeping legislation that will boost the wealthy, fund Trump’s border wall and risk an added $3tn to the national deficit:
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Collins cites Medicaid cuts as 'primary' reason for her no vote
Republican senator Susan Collins, one of the three dissenters, has said that she voted against the bill “primarily” because of her concerns about cuts to Medicaid.
Collins, of Maine, said the Medicaid cuts would threaten her constituents’ access to health care and that the bill had “additional problems”, including the phasing out of energy tax credits.
In a length statement posted on X, she said:
While I continue to support the tax relief I voted for in 2017, I could not support these Medicaid changes and other issues.
She said a provision creating a fund to help rural hospitals was not “sufficient” to counterbalance other changes to the Medicaid program.
I strongly support extending the tax relief for families and small businesses. My vote against this bill stems primarily from the harmful impact it will have on Medicaid, affecting low-income families and rural healthcare providers like our hospitals and nursing homes.
I am pleased that the bill contains a special fund that I proposed to provide some assistance to our rural hospitals, but it is not sufficient to offset the other changes in the Medicaid system.
She continued:
This bill has additional problems. The tax credits that energy entrepreneurs have relied on should have been gradually phased out so as not to waste the work that has already been put into these innovative new projects and prevent them from being completed. The bill should have also retained incentives for Maine families who choose to install heat pumps and residential solar panels.
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'Music to my ears': Trump welcomes Senate passage of 'big, beautiful bill'
Donald Trump said the Senate’s passage of his tax and spending bill was “music to my ears”.
While holding a roundtable discussion at the highly controversial new migrant detention facility in Florida dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz”, a reporter broke the news to the president. He replied.
Wow, music to my ears.
I was also wondering how we’re doing, because I know this is primetime, it shows that I care about you.
Trump also commended his vice-president, JD Vance, who cast the tie-breaking vote.
He’s doing a good job.
Asked what was his message to GOP holdouts in the House who aren’t satisfied with the Senate’s changes to the measure, Trump said:
It tells you there’s something for everyone. ... It’s a great bill. There is something for everyone, and I think it’s going to go very nicely in the House. Actually, I think it will be easier in the House than it was in the Senate.
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'Your kids, your job, and your elderly relatives don’t matter': DNC chair slams GOP passage of Trump's bill
Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin has slammed the Republicans’ passage of their bill for Trump’s agenda, calling it “a massive scheme to steal from working folks, struggling families and even from nursing homes – all to enrich the already rich with a tax giveaway”.
Here are some extracts from Martin’s statement:
Donald Trump and Senate Republicans have sent a clear message to the American people: Your kids, your job, and your elderly relatives don’t matter.
This is one of the worst bills in the history of Congress. It’s a massive scheme to steal from working folks, struggling families, and hell, even from nursing homes – all to enrich the already rich with a tax giveaway.
The families who will be devastated by this billionaire budget scam aren’t just numbers, they are constituents that Republicans promised to represent – 17 million Americans who will lose their healthcare and more than 5 million Americans who will be at risk of losing their food assistance.
Billionaires don’t need more help, working families do. Democrats will stand shoulder to shoulder with working families to kick these Republicans out of their seats in 2026.
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House GOP leaders reaffirm commitment to pass Trump's bill by 4 July
House GOP leaders said they will “immediately” consider the Senate’s reconciliation bill, adding they’ll send it to the president by the self-imposed 4 July deadline.
“The House will work quickly to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill that enacts President Trump’s full America First agenda by the Fourth of July,” said the statement from speaker Mike Johnson, majority leader Steve Scalise, majority whip Tom Emmer and conference chair Lisa McClain. “The American people gave us a clear mandate, and after four years of Democrat failure, we intend to deliver without delay.”
Bill heads to back to House where GOP wafer-thin majority faces high-stakes vote
With the battle in the House to come next, several Republicans in that chamber have already said they don’t support the version that has emerged from the Senate, which the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates will add $800bn more to the national debt than the House’s version.
As I reported yesterday, the House Freedom Caucus, a group of hardline conservatives who repeatedly threatened to withhold their support for the tax bill, is pushing for deeper spending cuts than what the Senate has offered.
“The Senate’s version adds $651bn to the deficit – and that’s before interest costs, which nearly double the total,” the caucus posted online yesterday. “That’s not fiscal responsibility. It’s not what we agreed to.”
On the other side of the GOP divide, a group of more moderate House Republicans, especially those who represent lower-income areas, object to the steeper Medicaid cuts in the Senate’s plan, fearing that a crackdown on a funding mechanism for the health program could lead to service cutbacks in rural areas.
“I will not support a final bill that eliminates vital funding streams our hospitals rely on,” representative David Valadao, a California Republican, said during the weekend debate.
They have also struggled to agree on a tax break for state and local tax (Salt) payments that is a top priority for a handful of House Republicans from high-tax states including New York, New Jersey and California.
Still, House Republicans are likely to face enormous pressure to fall in line from Trump in the days to come. And so far, his party has largely toed the line, with few willing to defy the president.
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As we’ve reported, only three of the Senate’s 53 Republicans joined with Democrats to vote against the package, which passed 51-50 after vice-president JD Vance cast the tie-breaking vote.
Three was the maximum number of votes the GOP could afford to lose in order to get the bill through the chamber.
The high-stakes vote in the House, where Republicans also hold a razor-thin 220-212 majority, is likely to be close as well. When the bill first passed through the lower chamber in May, it did so by only a single vote.
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The bill, which would enshrine many of Trump’s top priorities into law while adding $3.3tn to the national debt, will now head back to the House for final approval.
Trump earlier indicated some flexibility on his 4 July deadline for the bill to land on his desk.
Senate narrowly passes 'big, beautiful bill' after JD Vance casts tie-breaking vote
The Senate has just passed Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill after more than 24 hours of negotiations.
The vote was 50-50 and vice-president JD Vance was in the chamber to cast the tie-breaking vote. Republicans Thom Tillis, Rand Paul and Susan Collins voted no, along with all Democrats.
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Donald Trump is now holding a press conference on “Alligator Alcatraz”. I’ll bring you all the key lines here.
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'Anybody would be better than Jay Powell,' says Trump as he keeps up attacks on Fed chair over interest rates
Asked if he intends to announce his pick for the next Fed chair, Trump gestures to Ron DeSantis and Kristi Noem to imply they would both be good candidates, before adding:
Anybody would be better than Jay Powell.
He’s costing us a fortune because he keeps the rate way up.
Trump has repeatedly personally attacked and called on Jerome Powell to lower interest rates, to which the Fed has said it takes independent economic decisions.
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First detainees at 'Alligator Alcatraz' expected tomorrow, says DeSantis
After touring the detention facility, Trump is asked by a reporter when the first person will be “checking in to their room” (it is not a hotel and there are no rooms), DeSantis replies: “Tomorrow.”
Noem adds, “hopefully within the next 24 hours”.
DeSantis says there will be a security sweep first and then the facility will be “ready to receive” people, gesturing towards Noem whom he says “has people in the queue”.
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Trump again implies Doge should 'look at Musk' and says former buddy 'should not play that game with me'
Asked if he was concerned about Elon Musk ripping in his “big, beautiful bill” again and if he was worried Republicans would be swayed by the tech billionaire and his money, Trump replied:
No, I don’t think so.
I think what’s going to happen is Doge is going to look at Musk, and if Doge looks at Musk we’re going to save a fortune.
Before walking off, he added of Musk:
I don’t think he should be playing that game with me.
Musk, Trump’s on-again off-again buddy, has been sharply critical of the “big, beautiful bill”, and has threatened to launch a new political party, as well as launching primary challenges to Republican senators, if the Senate passes it.
Trump earlier indicated to reporters outside the White House that Musk, head of the electric car company Tesla, was upset at losing the electric vehicle mandate (a tax subsidy for those who buy one) but “could lose a lot more than that”.
“We might have to put Doge on Elon,” Trump said, referring to the government of department efficiency that Musk headed before their fallout, and which has eliminated billions of dollars in government spending.
Musk, through Tesla, and especially from government contracts to SpaceX, has been the recipient of billions himself.
Trump went on:
You know what Doge is? Doge is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon. Wouldn’t that be terrible? He gets a lot of subsidies.
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Trump also seemed to very briefly admit for the first time that his strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities last month did not in fact “obliterate” the sites – before swiftly insisting again that they did.
Referring to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington next week, Trump said:
There’s going to be a very quick celebration. We had a great hit that was an “obliteration” – now it turns out, it wasn’t an “obliteration”.
He then quickly pivots to go on a familiar tangent about how the media supposedly disrespected American soldiers (by reporting on an early Pentagon assessment that found the strikes had actually only set back Iran’s nuclear program by a few months).
Trump, characteristically, then pivots again to insist once more that actually “it was a complete and total obliteration”.
The president and his administration officials have been on a messaging blitz since the strikes, insisting that the US “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capabilities, despite evidence to the contrary.
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Asked if other states are following the model of “Alligator Alcatraz”, Trump said Louisiana, Alabama and others – notably red states, he says, “and not too many blue states, for whatever reason” – are already doing it.
He said:
The red states, Republican-run states, are doing it. The blue states don’t do very well at policing and security, unfortunately.
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'Alligator Alcatraz' will encourage people to 'deport on their own', says DeSantis, as he urges other states to create similar facilities
Florida governor Ron DeSantis said the facility – and others like it, should other red states take similar steps – would act as a deterrent, saying:
You’ll have a lot of people that will deport on their own, because they don’t want to end up in an ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ or some of those other places.
So I think this is a model, but we need other states to step up.
Trump praises 'Alligator Alcatraz' in Florida Everglades
After touring the detention facility in Florida, Donald Trump is speaking to reporters alongside state governor Ron DeSantis and homeland security secretary Kristi Noem.
Trump said of the visit:
The trip was nice and the job they’ve done is fantastic. And this is what you need.
Asked if this is the model going forward, Trump said:
It can be.
You don’t always have land so beautiful and so secure. They have a lot of bodyguards and a lot of cops in the form of alligators, you don’t have to pay them so much. But I wouldn’t want to run through the Everglades for long. It will keep people where they’re supposed to be.
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Trump wavers on 4 July deadline for tax and spending bill
As the Senate continues its record vote-a-rama session on amendments to the legislation, which has now gone beyond 24 hours, Donald Trump earlier told reporters he was open to moving the 4 July deadline he gave fellow Republicans to get behind the tax and spending bill, amid deep divisions within the party.
But he also said it would be wise for Republicans to get on board. He said he expected to get the legislation passed in the end.
“I’d love to do July 4 but I think it’s very hard to do July 4,” he told reporters outside the White House before leaving for Florida. “I would think maybe July 4, but somewhere around there.”
Even if the bill passes the Senate, the House needs to vote on it again before it lands on Trump’s desk.
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The Senate “vote-a-rama” on the tax and spending bill, already a record for passing 45 consecutive votes, has now passed the 24-hour mark.
CNN is reporting that a final vote for passage could yet take place this morning, citing Wyoming Republican senator John Barrasso. The network says Lisa Murkowski of Alaska (see previous post) is indicating that a deal “is in the copy machine”.
Donald Trump, meanwhile, has indicated he is happy for the original 4 July deadlineto pass slip a bit.
The intrigue continues, and we are here to bring you all of it.
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“Don’t run in a straight line. Look, like this!” Donald Trump makes a zigzag gesture to journalists at the White House as a demonstration of how immigration detainees should run away from alligators, if they escape Florida’s harsh new “Alligator Alcatraz” camp.
The president was speaking before departing for the Florida Everglades, where he will join Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis to tour the facility, which is opening Tuesday.
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The Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell is due to speak at a European Central Bank event in Portugal, a day after Trump upped the pressure on him to lower interest rates.
In a Truth Social post on Monday, Trump demanded the US should have rates of 1% or less, adding that Powell and members of the Fed board of governors had failed to do their jobs.
Trump wrote:
If they were doing their job properly, our country would be saving trillions of dollars in interest cost. We should be paying 1% Interest, or better!
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Donald Trump said migrants would need to know “how to run away from an alligator” to flee the new detention center he’s visiting in a remote area of the Florida Everglades.
Trump is on his way there for a walk of the facility, which the White House suggested would be especially secure given its dangerous natural surroundings. The detention center has been assembled on an isolated airstrip.
It has drawn protests over the potential impact on a delicate ecosystem and for a potentially cruel message the Republican president is trying to send to immigrants. A key selling point for the White House is the site’s remoteness.
Republican leaders huddling with Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski, seen as a holdout to the big, beautiful bill, as proceedings in the chamber slow almost to a halt, the Washington Post is reporting.
If three Republicans vote against the bill, it will fail, and Murkowski’s support is seen as crucial. She voted to advance it to the full Senate at the weekend, but has not committed to vote for it there.
Donald Trump called out Murkowski during his huddle with the media on the White House lawn a little earlier in what was clearly an effort to pressure her:
Alaska’s done so well with me. There’s never been a president who’s been better to Alaska than me. But it doesn’t mean people appreciate it.
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Today is opening day for Florida’s so-called Alligator Alcatraz, a harsh, state-run immigration detention in the heart of the mosquito-infested Everglades. Naturally, Donald Trump is on his way there to take a look around and give his nod of approval.
The camp, which is slated to host an initial 500-1,000 undocumented immigrants flown in from around the country after they have been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), is the brainchild of Florida’s hard right attorney general James Uthmeier, a close ally of Republican governor Ron DeSantis, and a Trump sycophant in the eyes of critics.
The site is a remote, largely disused airfield, and crews have been working for days to set up tents where the detainees will be housed, patrolled by the Florida National Guard. Eventually, the capacity could reach 5,000.
Uthmeier, and also Trump at his White House gaggle with reporters just now, seem to be thriving on what opponents say is the cruelty of keeping hundreds of people outdoors during the heat and humidity of the Florida summer, where the heat index regularly tops 100F.
Trump, waving his arms in a zig-zag motion, had advice for those who tried to escape the camp, which is surrounded by alligators and pythons:
The states are fast, but alligators [are faster]. We’re going to teach them how to run away from an alligator if they escape prison. Don’t run in a straight line, look, like this, and you know what? Your chances go up about 1%. Not a good thing.
Trump will tour the facility later this morning with homeland security secretary Kristi Noem, DeSantis and other state officials. They will be greeted by protests at the gate.
An alliance of environmental groups, immigration advocates, and the Miccosukee and Seminole Tribes of Indians, oppose the camp, and a lawsuit was filed Friday to halt it arguing that a required environmental study hadn’t taken place.
Read more:
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Trump says 'Doge is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon'
Donald Trump has just been speaking with reporters on the White House lawn as he departs for Florida, and a trip to tour the new immigration detention facility known as Alligator Alcatraz (more on that shortly).
The president had a lot to say, not least a broadside at his on-again, off-again buddy Elon Musk, who has been critical of Trump’s big, beautiful bill, and has threatened to launch a new political party, as well as launching primary challenges to Republican senators, if the Senate passes it.
Trump indicated that Musk, head of the electric car company Tesla, was upset at losing the electric vehicle mandate (a tax subsidy for those who buy one) but “could lose a lot more than that”.
“We might have to put Doge on Elon,” Trump said, referring the the government of department efficiency that Musk headed before their fallout, and which has eliminated billions of dollars in government spending.
Musk, through Tesla, and especially from government contracts to SpaceX, has been the recipient of billions himself.
Trump said:
You know what Doge is? Doge is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon. Wouldn’t that be terrible? He gets a lot of subsidies.
Trump also said he thought the Senate’s wrangling over the bill was going well;
I don’t want to go too crazy with cuts. I don’t like cuts. There are certain things that have been cut, which is good. I think we’re doing well. We’re going to see, it’s very complicated stuff.
[There’s] great enthusiasm, as you know. And I think in the end, we’re going to have it.
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What is already the longest voting session in Senate history looks likely to go a while yet, at least according to Scott Bessent, the treasury secretary, who has just been on Fox & Friends in a confident mood:
I think we’ll get it this afternoon.
According to the Washington Post, Bessent blames Democrats for holding up progress of the so-called big, beautiful bill, although much of the delay appears to be in Republican ranks as they try to secure the numbers needed for it to pass.
It’s Richard Luscombe in the US taking over from my colleague Tom Ambrose to guide you through the day.
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'Vote-a-rama' sets new record for longest in Senate history after 45 consecutive votes
As the Republican’s tax and spending cuts bill debate continues in the Senate, it is clear the marathon voting session is taking its toll on some staffers.
Here are some pictures…
The voting session has now reached 45 consecutive votes, setting a new record for the longest ‘vote-a-rama’ in Senate history.
The previous record of 44 votes was set in March 2008.
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A brutal stretch of severe weather has taxed communities on the eastern fringes of tornado alley this spring and early summer, while harsh staffing cuts and budget restrictions have forced federal meteorologists to attempt to forecast the carnage with less data.
As of 30 June, there have already been more than 1,200 tornadoes nationwide.
More than 60 people have died due to this year’s tornadoes, most of which have centered on the Mississippi River valley – about 500 miles east of the traditional heart of “tornado alley” of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. That unusual eastward shift may also be making tornado outbreaks more dangerous, bringing them in closer proximity to more people than the relatively sparsely populated plains states.
In addition to the tornadoes, it’s also been a burdensome year for flash flooding.
On 14 June, more than three inches of rain fell in just half an hour in West Virginia, washing away a young boy and prompting frantic emergency rescues across two counties in the northern part of the state. According to National Weather Service statistics, rainfall that intense could only be expected to happen about once every thousand years in a stable climate.
As the weather has worsened, there have been fewer federal scientists to alert the public of it.
Stanford University will cut $140m from its budget, citing ‘federal policy changes’
Stanford University will cut $140m from its budget in the coming academic year, citing “consequences from federal policy changes” including “reductions in federal research support and an increase in the endowment tax”. The news came in a letter Jon Levin, the university president, and Jenny Martinez, the provost, sent to faculty and staff last week.
The budget cuts will likely necessitate staff layoffs, deepening the impact of a staff hiring freeze the university announced in February. The university will continue hiring faculty, “although the pace may be somewhat slowed”, Levin and Martinez wrote. The cuts exclude the School of Medicine, which will make its own budget reductions.
“We believe deeply in the value of universities, in federal support for basic research, and in the endowment model that underpins financial aid and graduate fellowships. We will continue to advocate for these things,” Levin and Martinez said. “At the same time, we need to be realistic about the current landscape and its consequences.”
You can read the full story here:
The US national debt sits at $36tn, according to the treasury department. Trump’s budget bill will add an estimated $3.3tn to that debt, something so-called fiscal Conservatives are finding difficult to accept.
The bill contains a $5tn debt ceiling increase. The debt ceiling is a cap on the total amount the government can borrow.
As Reuters reports, the failure to pass some version would present lawmakers with a serious deadline later this summer, when the treasury department could come close to exhausting its borrowing authority and thus risk a devastating default.
The debt limit increase has caused Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky to come out in opposition to the bill.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Paul, who represents Kentucky, said:
We have never raised the debt ceiling without actually meeting that target. So you can say it doesn’t directly add to the debt, but if you increase the ceiling $5 trillion, you’ll meet that.
And what it does is it puts it off the back-burner. And then we won’t discuss it for a year or two.
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As we mentioned in the opening summary, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he’s going to Washington next week to meet with his close ally, US president Donald Trump, and other officials.
Speaking to a meeting of his cabinet, Netanyahu did not elaborate on the contents of his visit, except to say he will discuss a trade deal.
On Friday, Trump told reporters he believed a ceasefire in Gaza was close. Talks between Israel and Hamas have stalled over whether the war should end as part of any ceasefire.
Netanyahu, who is in the midst of a long-running corruption trial, has been accused of deliberately prolonging negotiations – and blocking their progress – to ensure his own political survival by having the assault on Gaza continue.
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Beginning early on Monday and so far having run for roughly 19 hours, it remains unclear how long the voting in the marathon ‘vote-a-rama’ will last.
Republicans can afford to lose no more than three votes in either chamber to pass a bill the Democrats are united in opposition to.
If approved in the Republican-controlled Senate, Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act will return to the lower House of Representatives, also Republican controlled, which passed its own version by a single vote at the end of May (215 to 214).
In the House, a full vote on the Senate’s final version of the bill could then come as early as Wednesday morning.
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The senate has adopted an amendment offered by Republican senator Joni Ernst – who represents Iowa - to prevent jobless millionaires from claiming unemployment compensation.
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AI regulation ban struck from bill with 99-1 vote
Lawmakers voted 99-1 to strike the AI regulation ban from the bill by adopting an amendment offered by Republican senator Marsha Blackburn.
Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who announced his retirement on Sunday after voting not to proceed with the megabill, was the lone lawmaker who voted to retain the ban.
The Senate version of Trump’s legislation would have only restricted states regulating AI from tapping a new $500m fund to support AI infrastructure.
Major AI companies, including Alphabet’s Google and OpenAI, have expressed support for Congress taking AI regulation out of the hands of states.
Blackburn presented her amendment to strike the provision a day after agreeing to compromise language with Senate Commerce Committee chair Ted Cruz that would have cut the ban to five years and allowed states to regulate issues such as protecting artists’ voices or child online safety if they did not impose an “undue or disproportionate burden” on AI.
But Blackburn withdrew her support for the compromise before the amendment vote.
In a statement, the Tennessee Republican said:
The current language is not acceptable to those who need these protections the most.
Until Congress passes federally preemptive legislation like the Kids Online Safety Act and an online privacy framework, we can’t block states from making laws that protect their citizens.
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US Senate strikes AI regulation ban from Trump megabill
The Republican-led US Senate has voted overwhelmingly to remove a 10-year federal ban on state regulation of AI from Trump’s mega bill, Reuters is reporting. More details soon…
Trump officials create searchable national citizenship database
Johana Bhuiyan is a senior tech reporter and editor for Guardian US, based in San Francisco
The US Department of Homeland Security has for the first time built a national citizenship database that combines information from immigration agencies and the social security administration.
The database was created in collaboration with the “department of government efficiency” (Doge) in an effort to bridge the gaps between disparate information sources to make it easier to determine whether someone is a citizen, according to NPR, which first reported the details of the database.
The database is the result of an expansion of the systematic alien verification for entitlements (Save) program, made up of smaller databases within the homeland security department, and an integration with information from the Social Security Administration.
The centralized repository is searchable and can be accessed by state and local election officials to look up the names of anyone trying to vote to determine if they are citizens, according to NPR. Until now, election officials had to ask potential voters for documents verifying their citizenship or rely on a hard-to-navigate patchwork of databases.
You can read the full story here:
Some more news from the US senate now, where Republicans are – for the most part – still trying to pass Trump’s mega-bill.
Maine’s Republican senator Susan Collins has blamed Democrats for tanking her amendment to increase the bill’s rural hospital relief fund, saying they are “hypocrites” for championing themselves as protectors of Medicaid but then opposing her efforts to reduce the impacts of the legislation on rural hospitals.
“I was surprised at the hypocrisy of the Democrats on it, had they voted for it would have passed easily,” ABC News quoted Collins as having told reporters this morning.
Only two Democrats out of 22 senators supported Collins’ amendment, which would have seen the creation of a new top marginal tax rate used to double the size of the proposed rural hospital relief fund from $25bn to $50bn.
Collins added:
They complained repeatedly about the distribution in this bill of Medicaid cuts, hurting individuals in rural hospitals and tax cuts being extended for people who are wealthy. And yet, when we tried to fix both those problems, they took a very hypocritical approach.
Rural and smaller hospitals are at risk of bankruptcy because of the steep Medicaid cuts being proposed in the budget bill.
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Musk vows to unseat lawmakers who support Trump’s bill and threatens forming an ‘America Party’ if it passes
Elon Musk has vowed to unseat lawmakers who support Donald Trump’s sweeping budget bill, which he has criticized because it would increase the country’s deficit by $3.3tn.
Musk wrote on his social media platform, X:
Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!
And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.
A few hours later he added that if “insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day”.
With these threats, lobbed at lawmakers over social media, the tech billionaire has launched himself back into a rift with the US president he helped prop up.
Since taking leave from his so-called “department of government efficiency”, or Doge, Musk has sharply criticized Trump’s budget bill, which he has said will undermine his work at Doge by increasing spending.
You can read the full story by my colleague, Maanvi Singh, here:
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What are some key elements contained within the budget bill?
The Senate bill includes $4.5tn in tax cuts, according to the latest analysis from the congressional budget office, making permanent Trump’s 2017 rates, which would expire at the end of the year if Congress fails to act.
The Senate package would roll back billions of dollars in green energy tax credits, which Democrats warn will wipe out wind and solar investments nationwide.
It would impose $1.2tn in cuts, largely to Medicaid and food stamps, by imposing stricter work requirements, making sign-up eligibility more stringent and changing federal reimbursements to states. Medicaid provides government-sponsored health care for low-income and disabled Americans.
The bill would provide a $350bn infusion for border and national security, including for deportations, some of it paid for with new fees charged to immigrants.
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Democrats vow to bring 'amendment after amendment to the floor'
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer says Democrats will bring “amendment after amendment after amendment to the floor, so Republicans can defend their billionaire tax cuts.”
He said Democrats would offer amendments to “see once and for all if Republicans really meant all those nice things they’ve been saying about ‘strengthening Medicaid’ and ‘protecting middle-class families’, or if they were just lying”.
As the marathon session grinds into the early hours of the morning, some lawmakers are finding ways to relax or vent away from the heat of the chamber.
GOP senators took breaks from the Senate floor as well.
Republican US senator Tommy Tuberville, of Alabama, smoked a cigar on the Capitol terrace at sunset while other GOP senators took calls and chatted in rooms near the Senate chamber.
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This weekend’s dramatic senate session saw a narrow 51-49 passing of a procedural vote on Saturday night to advance the budget bill and a forced reading of the 940-page bill by Democrats, a political manoeuvre that was deployed to stall its progress.
Two Republicans sided with Democrats in voting against opening debate, wanting to change parts of the contentious legislation.
One of these Republicans was the North Carolina moderate Thom Tillis, who said the package was a betrayal of Donald Trump’s promise not to withdraw healthcare from people, something he fears could happen if rural hospitals close. The other was Rand Paul of Kentucky.
The bill must now clear a formal Senate vote and be returned to the lower House for approval – which Trump wants done before a self-imposed Fourth of July holiday deadline.
As my colleague Chris Stein explains in this story, after Tillis declined to vote for the bill, Trump attacked him and the senator announced he would not stand for re-election next year, potentially improving Democrats’ chances of picking up the purple state’s seat.
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US Senate votes on amendments to Trump's 'big, beautiful bill'
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of US politics and the second Trump administration.
The US Senate is holding a marathon vote on a sprawling budget that is vital to Donald Trump’s agenda and would see sweeping tax breaks and cuts to healthcare and food programmes if passed.
Senators have convened at the Capitol for a process known as “vote-a-rama”, in which lawmakers will propose amendments to the legislation over what is expected to be many hours.
Democrats say the bill’s tax cuts would disproportionately benefit the wealthy at the expense of social programs for lower-income Americans.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (yes, it is formally called this) is expected to add an estimated $3.3tn to the national debt over the next decade. Republicans are rushing to pass the bill Trump’s self-imposed deadline of 4 July.
Republicans - who control both chambers of Congress and are generally loyal to Trump - are heavily divided over how deep welfare cuts should be in order to extend tax breaks in the legislation.
It is about 2.30am in Washington and it has been over 16 hours since voting began. We are expecting a result in around two and a half/ three hours time. Stay with us for all the latest developments.
In other news:
Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars in support of Trump’s candidacy, has pledged to found a new political party he called the “America Party” and support candidates who did not back the budget bill in future elections.
The Senate parliamentarian found that Republicans can include a provision that would block Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood in the “big, beautiful bill”.
Trump signed an executive order overturning sanctions on Syria today and issued a memorandum on US policy toward Cuba.
The Trump administration sued the city of Los Angeles over policies limiting city cooperation with federal immigration authorities, continuing a confrontation over Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation efforts in the largely Democratic city.
The Trump administration informed Harvard University that its investigation found that the university violated federal civil rights law over its treatment of Jewish and Israeli students, putting its federal funding further at risk.
Trump will host Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on 7 July.
Trump wrote to Fed chair Jerome Powell again urging him to lower interest rates.
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