On the knife's edge
As the sun rose over the Capitol, the US Senate has been in session round the clock, through the night debating President Trump’s big policy bill. A vote is expected sometime today. Then it will be sent with many changes back to the House, which has a very thin Republican majority. In the House democrats typically vote as told, in a solid block. Surely it will be that way when it comes to Trump's agenda. Republicans must put aside regional concerns and pass the Senate Bill.
Unfortunately, there is no back up plan. All the eggs are in one basket. In the Senate 4 "no" votes from Republicans will kill it all. Vice President JD Vance just arrived in case he needs to break a tie. If the bill is not passed there will be an automatic tax increase coming later in the year. The bill also slows down the rapid growth of Medicaid which is strangling the federal budget. Senate Republicans have beaten back democrats' efforts to remove the bill’s cuts to Medicaid and tax cuts for the so-called wealthy.
Controlling Medicaid is vital as is delivering a tax break to working people, but they are far from the only elements in the sprawling 940-page bill. The legislation also touches on food stamps, clean energy, mass deportations, student loans, military spending and more. Passing the bill has become tenuous and thing that may save it is the prospect of not passing it.
In other news:
The Trump administration goes after Harvard for violating civil rights law.
California rolled back a landmark environmental law. It has now been blamed for the housing shortage in CA.
A federal court is considering whether Trump can use a national security law to deport immigrants he says are members of a Venezuelan gang.
In the midst of the US stock market's meteoric rise many countries are working to strike trade deals with the U.S. before this month’s tariff deadline.
A Republican House member who has often criticized Trump, Don Bacon, said he would retire.
The Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge to longstanding limits on how much political parties can spend to elect political candidates.
A New York City panel approved a rent increase for what was supposed to be "rent stabilized" apartments.
The Gulf states have moved to quickly invest in Syria, and to expand their influence, after its dictator fell last year. Trump signed an executive order that lifted sanctions on Syria.
The police in Idaho identified a 20-year-old man as their suspect in a deadly ambush against firefighters responding to a brush fire. The man was found dead after the attack. Should he have been in a mental institution instead of on the streets?
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Good morning and welcome to the news since the morning newspaper.
As we speak Russia is planning a major offensive:
"Russia has amassed approximately 110,000 troops for a major offensive effort aimed at the city of Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast, making it the "hottest spot" on the entire front line.
-According to Ukraine's military chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, Russia's goal is to break through to the administrative border of the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region."
Russia Is Massing 110,000 Soldiers to ‘Breakthrough’ Ukraine Battle Lines
Brian Kohberger has entered into a plea deal which helps him escape the death penalty.
Bryan Kohberger accepts plea deal in Idaho student murders: source | Fox News
you would think his billions of dollars could have paid for decent plastic surgery for his lady
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Are people making $40,000 and over wealthy?
Why are you pretending that most of the tax cuts go to the working class and lower middle class?
I'm not pretending anything. You made the claim that the cuts go to the wealthy.
I call.
PROVE IT.
LOL
Don't feel bad John, the New York Times can't prove it either.
The Senate FAILED TO REMOVE illegal aliens from the Medicaid program because the Parliamentarian changed the vote requirement to a 60 votes instead of 51.
The Parliamentarian does not make or change rules. The Senate does that. The Parliamentarian advises the Senate so that it follows its own rules. The rest of know that as “integrity.”
The Senate is following her advice.
As they should.
Or do you want a two year court battle over the bill being passed in violation of Senate rules?
She's a partisan democrat and needs to be fired.
OMG, what garbage! You’re the partisan one. You sound like Trump. “The judge ruled against me. She must be corrupt and partisan.”
She has held the position for over a decade and her findings have frustrated both Republicans and Democrats. She has also been praised by members in both parties.
The bill is supposed to be about the budget. If you want to pass it with a simple majority, you can’t just throw in unrelated policy changes, too. Those are the rules.
No, that's just partisan thinking. I remember back to 2021 when the Democrats were trying to pass a pandemic stimulus bill and tried to include such things as a federal minimum wage increase and immigration reforms. She ruled that those could not be included in the bill and at the time there were Democrats calling for her to be fired.
I may not agree with everything she does but she does appear to be non-partisan in her approach to her duties. The simple fact that she can from time to time piss off each party should show that.
Breaking:
Senate Leader John Thune just got Murkowski's vote and says he now has enough votes to pass the Bill.
As soon as they wrap up the democrat's game playing, a vote will soon be taken.
She and Collins are both drones. They market themselves as moderates, but in the end, they just do what they’re told.
They aren't the threat they once were.
by both sides................they aren't always lockstep with the Repubs.
Oh.
So they might actually be independent? Interesting.
Let's see. Republicans have a President who has kept his biggest campaign promise by shutting down the flow of illegal immigrants into the country. A Republican President who attempted to rival Bill Clinton's reinvention of government by eliminating tens of thousands of Federal jobs, eliminating Federal programs, cutting regulations, and ending the boondoggles of his Democratic predecessor. A Republican President who played a large role in winning a war against a persistent enemy that many Presidents failed to rein in. A Republican President who has strengthened NATO by convincing the member nations to strengthen themselves. With all that political capital, Republicans can't push a 'small government' budget bill that embodies the decades old party brand across the finish line?
Even the party line puppets are having some difficulty swallowing this bitter pill. Ronald Reagan is truly and completely dead. Republicans have bumped up against the abysmal brink of austerity. It's only going to become more difficult moving forward.
Leadership matters. Ronald Reagan didn’t just have a vision, he tried to be a decent man. Was his compassion perfect? No, but he was a saint compared to the POS we have now. As president, he took this responsibility seriously and surrounded himself with intelligent, hard working patriots instead of incompetent sycophants.
That's like trying to sell his mother's testicles. Maybe Democrats would buy them. But that doesn't make them real. Granted Reagan could win on style; Reagan was a better speaker than JFK. But Reagan was just a governor, like Jimmy Carter, ran as an outsider, and was just as ignorant about the workings of Washington D.C. The only reason Reagan has been mythologized, particularly by Democrats, is because he was a Californian.
Ronald Reagan wasn't more honest than Trump. Reagan wasn't less dismissive and disparaging than Trump. Reagan was actually more racist than Trump. Reagan's biggest advantage was that he was trained to deliver propaganda and misinformation during World War II; that was his job in the Army. Ronald Reagan really was a professional liar.
He was the best president of my lifetime.
For those wondering, the President is in Florida touring a wonderful new place in the heart of the Everglades to house illegal migrants.
The vote for the Big Beautiful Bill is now underway in the US Senate.
Fox News is covering it live
The Department of Justice is suing the city of Los Angeles over its sanctuary city policy, alleging it interferes with the enforcement of federal immigration laws, officials announced on Monday.
The Bill has now passed!
Its funny how you think this is some great achievement. Trumps ass lickers do whatever he tells them to do. I truly believe there are MAGAs who would have their right arm amputated if Trump told them to.
What is the explanation for a bill being passed that 2/3 of Americans say is a pile of shit?
That's a lot of opposition. Can you prove it?
Do you ever look at any other news besides your own?
64 percent opposed to GOP megabill: Survey
Gee, John, according to your source less than half opposed it. Why did you say two thirds?
Exaggeration is a friend to the losing side of a debate ….
Lisa Murkowski's cowardice will live in infamy.
She got something for her state.
U.S. Senator is a national position. Thats why she is in Washington DC and not Juneau.
And lefts epic gaslighting offensive WILL truly live on in infamy. Just like the previous decade or so.
You are fooling no one but morons.
A muddle, but it’s pretty good on immigration and infinitely better than what Harris and the democrats would have passed. Give the way the party is trending, it would have been race tax raises for whites and jewish people, no taxation for others, deportation of Jewish people only and open borders for everyone else. Probably a declaration of war on Israel and funding for sharia courts in Minnesota and Detroit too.
JD Vance is bragging about "no taxes on tips and overtime" as if this is some ground breaking advance for humanity.
The fact is people pay income tax on their reported INCOME ,it doesnt matter how they get it. Should someone who makes 30,000 a year , some of it coming from tips, pay less income tax than someone who makes 30,000 at a retail store?
Same principle applies to overtime.
Sometimes its hard to believe how stupid people are.
Way to besmirch the reputation of people who earn tips. it's not like 90% of all tips are on credit receipts.
Not really.
Yep. I (and a lot of people that I know) pay for the meal with a card but always leave cash for the tip.
You dont get the point.
I get the point perfectly; your comment shows no respect for hard working people. do you think that Trumps kept promise is a good thing that will benefit servers and people who work overtime?
No, you dont. If a waitress makes 30,000 a year and half of it is from tips, why is that different, for taxing purposes, from someone who makes 30,000 and none of it is from tips? It is the sum of income that matters, not how they got it.
What they are trying to do is get people to tip more so the restaurant owners dont have to pay their people.
That is one twisted way to look at it. How does not taxing tips ease the pain of the owner/manager AND compel patrons to tip more??
And they have to pay their people. It is the law.
What a stupid fucking comment, If I know that i normally tip 20% and now they get to keep all of that tip instead of losing 25% to taxes you have to be an idiot to think that will make people tip more, a lot will probably tip less.
I asked a simple question, which you have not come close to answering.
Why should someone who makes 30,000 a year, half coming from tips, be taxed differently from someone making 30,000 a year at a job with no tips? They both make the same amount of money.
The person making a 30,000 dollar a year salary has guaranteed income of 30,000, the tip earner doesn't, also the 30,000 dollar employee gets overtime if he works more than 40, or 8 depending on the state, this will be tax free for them also.
Now John, will you answer my question?
You dont pay taxes on what you might make next year, you pay it on what you made last year. Next year the restaurant worker might have a different job.
So, you won't or can't pay the same courtesy that was given to you.
do you think that Trumps kept promise is a good thing that will benefit servers and people who work overtime?
of course it will benefit servers and people who work overtime.
You can't deflect from answering, Do you think it is a good thing?
we're done. i have given my opinion.
Why can't you say that it is a good thing for people who live on tips and overtime can get a tax break thanks to President trump. why?
I’ll take a stab at it. To say it’s a good thing would be equal to saying trump did something good. Can’t have that, no sirrreeee!
Let me help. Say "Trump did something good". I have faith in you.