The Senate parliamentarian has advised that a Medicaid provider tax overhaul central to President Donald Trump's tax cut and spending bill does not adhere to the chamber's procedural rules, delivering a crucial blow as Republicans rush to finish the package this week.
Guidance from the parliamentarian is rarely ignored and Republican leaders are now forced to consider difficult options. Republicans were counting on big cuts to Medicaid and other programs to offset trillions of dollars in Trump tax breaks, their top priority. Additionally, the Senate's chief arbiter of its often complicated rules had advised against various GOP provisions barring certain immigrants from health care programs.
Trump wants the legislation, which includes tax reductions, Medicaid cuts, and border enforcement, passed by July 4.
Here's the latest:
Spain’s PM sticks by decision to break with NATO spending goal despite Trump tariff threats
Pedro Sánchez walked away from this week's NATO summit with an opt-out from spending more on defense. He also left with fresh threats of tariffs from Trump.
On Thursday the progressive prime minister stuck by his decision to break with NATO allies and responded to Trump's comments by pointing out that it was the European Commission — not Spain — that decided the bloc's trade policy.
“What is clear is that trade policy is a policy directed from here, from Brussels,” Sánchez said. “Spain is an open country. It is a country that is friendly to its friends, and we consider the United States a friend of Spain.”
At the summit Wednesday, NATO members agreed to raise their defense spending to 5% of GDP. But Sánchez secured the last-minute exemption, saying Spain will only spend up to 2.1%, which he called “sufficient and realistic.”
Supreme Court has 6 cases to decide, including birthright citizenship
The high court is in the final days of a term that has lately been dominated by the Trump administration's emergency appeals of lower court orders seeking to slow the president's efforts to remake the federal government.
But the justices also have six cases to resolve that were argued between January and mid-May. One of the cases was an emergency appeal, the administration's bid to be allowed to enforce Trump's executive order denying birthright citizenship to U.S.-born children of parents who are in the country illegally.
The remaining opinions will be delivered Friday, Chief Justice John Roberts said.
▶ Read more about some of the biggest remaining cases
US signs agreements with Guatemala and Honduras to take asylum seekers
The two nations signed the agreements to potentially offer refuge to people from other countries who otherwise would seek asylum in the U.S., Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said at the conclusion of her Central America trip.
The agreements expand the Trump administration’s efforts to provide flexibility in sending migrants not only to their own countries but also to third countries as it attempts to ramp up deportations.
Noem said the agreements were in the works for months, with the U.S. government applying pressure on Honduras and Guatemala to get them done.
“Honduras and now Guatemala after today will be countries that will take those individuals and give them refugee status as well,” Noem said. “We’ve never believed that the United States should be the only option, that the guarantee for a refugee is that they go somewhere to be safe and to be protected from whatever threat they face in their country. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the United States.”
Lawmakers remove ‘revenge’ tax provision from Trump’s big bill after Treasury requests its removal
After Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made the request, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Missouri, said, “we will remove proposed tax code Section 899.”
“Congressional Republicans stand ready to take immediate action if the other parties walk away from this deal or slow walk its implementation,” they said.
Section 899 would let the federal government impose taxes on companies with foreign owners, as well as investors from countries judged as charging "unfair foreign taxes" on U.S. companies.
The measure was expected to lead many companies to avoid investing in the U.S. out of concern that they could face steep taxes.
Bessent said via the social platform X that he made his request after reaching an agreement with other countries on the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Global Tax Deal.
He said that after “months of productive dialogue,” they would “announce a joint understanding among G7 countries that defends American interests.”
Justice Department says it intends to try Kilmar Abrego Garcia on federal smuggling charges
The department said Thursday that it intends to try him before it moves to deport him.
“This defendant has been charged with horrific crimes, including trafficking children, and will not walk free in our country again,” DOJ spokesperson Chad Gilmartin told The Associated Press.
Gilmartin made the statement after a federal prosecutor told a federal judge in Maryland that the Trump administration plans to deport Abrego Garcia to a country that is not his native El Salvador after he's released from jail in Tennessee.
Justice Department attorney Jonathan Guynn said removal proceedings would be to a “third country.” But the prosecutor also said there were “no imminent plans” to deport Abrego Garcia and the U.S. government would comply with all court orders.
Trumps drop ‘Made in the USA’ label for new phone and a debate ensues: How to define ‘made’?
The four words that just a few days ago appeared on a website where customers can pre-order the new, Trump-branded $499 phones with an American flag etched on the back have disappeared.
In their place are much vaguer words, such as “proudly American” and “brought to life right here in the U.S.A.”
It’s not clear why the Trump family is changing the language, but the Federal Trade Commission requires that items labeled “Made in USA,” be “all or virtually all” produced domestically. Several companies have been sued over misusing the term.
The Trump Organization has not explained the change and has not responded to a request for comment. Neither did an outside public relations firm handling the Trumps’ mobile phone business, including a request to confirm a statement made to another media outlet.
“T1 phones are proudly being made in America,” Trump Mobile spokesman Chris Walker said, according to USA Today. “Speculation to the contrary is simply inaccurate.”
Trump says he hopes bill can be passed by July 4 as celebration event ends
The president shook hands with the people who stood on stage behind him before he left the East Room.
Asked on the way out if the bill will be finished by Congress’ self-imposed July 4 deadline, he said, “we hope so.”
Trump’s border czar says it will be ‘hard road’ to make US safer without the tax cut and spending bill
The president asked Tom Homan to say a few words, and Homan said he didn’t understand what the holdup is in Congress.
He said it’s a “no-brainer” that national security and public safety should be a nonpartisan issue.
Homan said the bill has money for more agents, beds and deportation flights to detain and get bad people out of the country.
“I get irritated. I get pissed off, because I’m sick of meeting angel moms and dads,” Homan said, using a description that refers to parents of children killed by immigrants in the country illegally.
“You want to talk about family separation. They bury their children.”
Homan said making the country safer without the bill will be a “hard road.”
Senators diverge sharply on damage done by Iran strikes after classified briefing
Senators emerged with sharply different assessments of the U.S. bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites, with Republicans calling the mission a clear success and Democrats expressing deep skepticism.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, came to Capitol Hill to give the classified briefings, originally scheduled for Tuesday.
Many Republicans left satisfied, though their assessments of how much Iran’s nuclear program was set back by the bombing varied. Sen. Tom Cotton said a “major blow” and “catastrophic damage” had been dealt.
“Their operational capability was obliterated. There is nobody working there tonight. It was highly effective. There’s no reason to hit those sites anytime soon,” Sen. Lindsey Graham said.
Democrats remained doubtful and criticized Trump for not giving Congress more information. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said the briefing “raised more questions than it answered.”
Trump says his ‘no taxes on tips’ campaign pledge originated with a waitress in Las Vegas
The president says she came over when he was at a dinner at his hotel in the city. He asked how she was doing, and she told him the government was “killing me on tips.”
“She said, ‘sir, there should be no tax on tips,’” Trump said at a White House event organized to promote the sweeping bill that would end taxes on tips.
Trump said he said, “that’s the coolest thing I’ve ever heard.”
He said he later walked outside to hundreds of waiting journalists and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, please announce tonight, there will be no tax on tips. And a legend was made.”
Mexico’s president criticizes sanctions on Mexican banks by Trump administration
Claudia Sheinbaum responded sharply Thursday to the U.S. government sanctions to block transfers from three Mexican financial institutions, saying Washington has not shown evidence of its allegations of money laundering.
“The Treasury Department hasn’t provided a single piece of evidence to show that any money laundering was taking place,” Sheinbaum said. “We aren’t going to cover for anyone, there isn’t impunity here. They have to be able to demonstrate that there was actually money laundering, not with words, but with strong evidence.”
Shortly after ward Mexico’s banking authority announced that it was temporarily taking over management of two of the institutions, CIBanco and Intercam Banco, to protect creditors.
The U.S. Treasury Department announced the sanctions Wednesday on those two banks and brokerage Vector Casa de Bolsa, alleging that they facilitated millions of dollars in money transfers for drug cartels.
Trump holds celebration to spur action on tax cut and spending bill pending in the GOP-controlled Senate
The White House East Room is packed for the celebration of the president’s signature domestic policy bill.
Several Cabinet members are there, and on stage are about 35 individuals who Trump and the White House say will benefit from the bill.
Senate Republicans are struggling with how to cut billions from health care without harming people or hospitals and others care providers.
Treasury secretary asks lawmakers to remove ‘revenge’ tax provision from Trump tax bill
Scott Bessent asked them to scrap Section 899, which would let the federal government impose taxes on foreign-parented companies and investors from countries judged as charging “unfair foreign taxes” on U.S. companies.
The measure is anticipated to cause companies to avoid investing in the U.S. out of concern that they could face steep taxes.
Bessent said via the social platform X that its removal will provide “greater certainty and stability for the global economy and will enhance growth and investment in the United States and beyond.”
Trump invites Republicans to White House
House Speaker Mike Johnson and GOP lawmakers are heading to the White House as Trump hosts an event designed to urge Congress to pass his big tax cuts bill.
As Republicans struggle to push the package to passage, one invited GOP holdout, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, said it’s probably going to be “a mass arm-twisting.”
State Department confirms it approved $30M for Israeli-backed group distributing food in Gaza
Deputy department spokesman Tommy Pigott told reporters Thursday that the funding for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and its work “should be commended and supported” and called on other nations to contribute to it.
The private aid organization providing humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza that has been criticized by the United Nations and relief organizations for attempting to rebuild a distribution system for aid that has long existed.
The U.S. has said that traditional means of distributing aid to Gaza have been compromised by Hamas.
The Associated Press and other news organizations reported Tuesday that the money had been approved, citing unidentified officials.
Trump and Emmanuel Macron discuss the situation in Ukraine and the Middle-East
Trump called his French counterpart, Macron’s office said.
The phone call took place as Macron was in Brussels for an EU summit during which European leaders were to discuss the world’s major crises.
Trump and Macron “decided to maintain close coordination” on these issues, according to Macron’s office, without providing other details.
Kennedy’s advisers have endorsed flu vaccines for just about every American
But they threw in a twist: Only use certain shots free of an ingredient antivaccine groups have falsely tied to autism.
What is normally a routine step in preparing for the upcoming flu season drew intense scrutiny after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. abruptly fired the influential 17-member Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and handpicked replacements that include several vaccine skeptics.
That seven-member panel bucked another norm Thursday: It deliberated the safety of a preservative used in less than 5% of U.S. flu vaccinations based on a presentation from an antivaccine group’s former leader — without allowing the usual public airing of scientific data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
▶ Read more about flu vaccines and the committee.
WTO warns goods trade could slow in the coming months
The World Trade Organization reported Thursday that goods trade rose strongly in the first part of 2025 as importers frontloaded purchases in anticipation of expected higher tariffs. But it also cautioned that export orders have begun to weaken, suggesting that the momentum earlier in the year may not last.
The Geneva-based trade body said its latest goods trade barometer — which tracks trends in global trade — rose to 103.5 in April, up 0.7 percentage points from the last reading in March.
A reading of 100 is considered the baseline, so any reading over that is above trend.
However, the tracker on new export orders came in at 97.9.
The report alluded to uncertainty caused by sweeping U.S. tariffs under the Trump administration launched in early April that have since largely been eased.
Prosecutors say the US plans to initiate removal proceedings against Abrego Garcia
Federal prosecutors told a judge Thursday that the government plans to deport Abrego Garcia to a country that is not El Salvador upon his release from a Tennessee jail.
But the prosecutors also said that they would comply with all court orders and that their plans are not imminent.
Trump tries to push his legislative agenda over the finish line
Before wrapping up her briefing, Leavitt expressed confidence that the “big beautiful bill” will be approved by Congress on the president’s timeline.
“I know everyone looks forward to being here at the White House for the bill signing next week,” she said.
Trump is holding an event later in the afternoon to press his case. He wants the legislation, which includes tax reductions, Medicaid cuts, and border enforcement, passed by July 4.
‘When you have a totalitarian regime, you have to save face’
The White House brushed off the ayatollah’s defiant message.
“Any commonsense, open-minded person knows the truth about the precision strikes on Saturday night,” Leavitt said. “They were wildly successful.”
Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s lawyers ask judge to order him returned to Maryland when he’s released from jail
The lawyers say that would prevent attempts by immigration officials to deport Abrego Garcia when he is released from jail in Tennessee.
A federal judge in Tennessee has ruled that Abrego Garcia has a right to be released while he awaits trial on federal human smuggling charges. But she hasn’t released him over concerns of deportation.
Abrego Garcia lived in Maryland for more than a decade before the Trump administration mistakenly deported him to his native El Salvador in March.mistakenly deported him in March to El Salvador.
▶ Read more about Abrego Garcia's case.
White House says Iran didn’t move uranium
The fate of Iran’s uranium stockpile is a critical question after U.S. strikes over the weekend.
Leavitt said the White House believes it was not whisked away from nuclear facilities between American missiles and bombs landed.
“We were watching closely and there was no indication to the United States that any of that enriched uranium was moved,” she said.
White House says Trump ended ‘the immediate threat’ of Iranian nuclear program
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt began Thursday’s briefing by touting a U.S. mission that “will go down in the history books” as an “overwhelming success.”
She also said Trump “wants peace” and U.S. officials are in communication with Iranian leaders.
“Right now we’re on a diplomatic path with Iran,” Leavitt said.
Israelis love Trump. But some are unnerved by vow to ‘save’ Netanyahu from his corruption trial
Trump’s call for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial to be thrown out has plunged the American leader into one of Israel’s most heated debates, unnerving some in its political class just days after they unanimously praised his strikes on Iran.
Trump's social media post condemning the trial as a "WITCH HUNT," and his vow that the United States will be the one who "saves" Netanyahu from serious corruption charges, came just two days after he called off an Israeli bombing raid in Iran to preserve a ceasefire.
Both were dramatic interventions in the affairs of an ally that previous U.S. administrations had always insisted was a sovereign nation that made its own decisions. Now the one leader nearly all Israelis seem to support has fully embraced the one who most divides them.
“With all due respect for Trump, he is not supposed to interfere in a legal process in an independent country,” opposition leader Yair Lapid told Israeli media.
▶ Read more about Trump and Netanyahu
Gov. Pritzker dodges questions on presidential bid after announcing gubernatorial campaign
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker was at a Thursday morning rally launching his bid for a third term in office next year.
“I’m running for governor today because I want to be governor of Illinois,” the Democrat told reporters.
Pritzker, a vocal critic of Trump who was a top contender as Kamala Harris’ running mate in 2024, has often been mentioned as a potential presidential candidate for his party.
Pritzker also beat back against Trump on Thursday, calling the president “a megalomaniac narcissist” and the GOP “fascist freak show fanatics” aiming to end democracy.
“Our story doesn’t have a king telling us what to do,” he said as hundreds of supporters cheered “JB” at Chicago’s Grand Crossing Park Field House, where Pritzker announced his first gubernatorial bid in 2017.
RFK says US is pulling funding from global vaccine group Gavi
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says the country is pulling its support from the vaccines alliance Gavi, saying the organization has "ignored the science" and "lost the public trust."
A video of Kennedy's short speech was shown to a Gavi meeting in Brussels on Wednesday, where the organization that has paid for more than 1 billion children to be vaccinated through routine immunization programs was hoping to raise at least $9 billion for the next five years.
Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, mentioned Gavi’s partnership with the World Health Organization during COVID-19, accusing them of silencing “dissenting views” and “legitimate questions” about vaccine safety.
Gavi said in a statement Thursday that its "utmost concern is the health and safety of children," adding that any decision it makes on vaccines to buy is done in accordance with recommendations issued by WHO's expert vaccine group.
▶ Read more about Kennedy's announcement on the vaccine group
Trump is now fundraising with ‘Daddy’ shirts
The president and his allies are taking a liking to the “Daddy” nickname, inspired by comments made by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, and are now selling $35 orange T-shirts with his image and the word.
The new merchandise benefits his fundraising efforts linked to his and Vice President JD Vance’s leadership political action committees and the Republican National Committee.
In a news conference with Trump, Rutte said “daddy has to sometimes use strong language” when the two were talking about his dealings with warring Israel and Iran.
The White House shared a mashup video on social media with highlights from the NATO summit in the Netherlands and the soundtrack of Usher’s song “Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home).”
Trump officials will give their first classified briefing to Congress on the Iran strikes
Senators are set to meet with top national security officials Thursday as some lawmakers question Trump's decision to bomb three Iranian nuclear sites and whether those strikes were ultimately successful.
The classified briefing, originally scheduled for Tuesday, also comes as the Senate is expected to vote this week on a resolution that would require congressional approval if Trump were to order another strike on Iran.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are expected to brief the senators.
Democrats, and some Republicans, have said the White House overstepped its authority when it failed to seek the advice of Congress. They also want to know more about the intelligence Trump relied on when he authorized the attacks.
▶ Read more about the classified briefing to Congress
Trump’s latest rejection of intelligence assessments reflects a long distrust of spy agencies
President Trump's fights with the intelligence community were a running theme of his first term as he raged against an investigation into his campaign's alleged links to Russia. Now, a sequel is playing out as Trump battles to shape the public's understanding of his foreign policy gamble in Iran.
An early U.S. intelligence assessment said Iran's nuclear program has been set back only a few months after American strikes on three sites last weekend. The Republican president has rejected the report and pronounced the program "completely and fully obliterated."
The dispute is unlikely to fade anytime soon. Top administration officials are pressing Trump's case, with Hegseth scolding the media at a Pentagon briefing Thursday for "breathlessly" focusing on an intelligence report he downplayed as preliminary. Briefings also are scheduled for lawmakers, though the White House plans to limit the sharing of classified information after the initial assessment leaked this week.
▶ Read more about Trump's relationship with the intelligence community
States can cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, the Supreme Court rules
The ruling handed down Thursday comes amid a wider Republican-backed push to defund the country’s biggest abortion provider.
The case centers on funding for other health care services Planned Parenthood provides in South Carolina, but the ruling could have broader implications for Medicaid patients.
Public health care money generally can’t be used to pay for abortions. Medicaid patients go to Planned Parenthood for things like contraception, cancer screenings and pregnancy testing, in part because it can be tough to find a doctor who takes the publicly funded insurance, the organization has said.
South Carolina's Republican governor says no taxpayer money should go the organization. The budget bill backed by Trump in Congress would also cut Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood. That could force the closure of about 200 centers, most of them in states where abortion is legal, the organization has said.
▶ Read more about the Supreme Court's ruling on Planned Parenthood
Trump is satisfied by Pentagon news conference on Iran strikes
“One of the greatest, most professional, and most ‘confirming’ News Conferences I have ever seen!” the president wrote on social media. “The Fake News should fire everyone involved in this Witch Hunt, and apologize to our great warriors, and everyone else!”
Trump also emphasized his belief that Iran did not remove nuclear material from its facilities before the U.S. attacked.
“Would take too long, too dangerous, and very heavy and hard to move!” he wrote.
Key Medicaid provision in Trump’s big bill found to violate Senate rules
The Senate parliamentarian has advised that the Medicaid provider tax overhaul that's central to Trump's big tax cut and spending bill doesn't adhere to procedural rules, delivering a crucial blow to Republicans rushing to finish the massive package this week.
The guidance Thursday from the parliamentarian is rarely ignored and forces GOP leaders to consider options. Senate leaders could try to revise or strip it from the package. Otherwise, the provision could be challenged during floor votes, requiring a 60-vote threshold to keep it, a tall order in the narrowly split Senate. Democrats are unified against the Republican president’s bill.
▶ Read more about the tax bill in Congress
Hegseth’s media criticism included Fox News, where he was been an anchor
Hegseth criticized his former Fox News colleague, Jennifer Griffin, as “about the worst, the one who misrepresents the most intentionally what the president says” in his Pentagon news conference Thursday.
Griffin, Fox’s chief national security correspondent, said “I take issue with that” and defended her reporting on the U.S. bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Hegseth, a Fox News anchor before Trump appointed him defense secretary, repeatedly criticized the media for its reporting on an initial assessment of the weekend’s bombing that questioned how much damage was done to Iran’s nuclear program.
Griffin had asked Hegseth about whether there was any certainty that highly enriched uranium was stored at the mountain bunker bombed by the U.S., given satellite photos that showed more than a dozen trucks were seen there two days in advance.
“Of course, we’re watching every single aspect,” Hegseth said. “But, Jennifer, you’ve been about the worst, the one who misrepresents the most intentionally what the president says.”
Trump’s schedule today, according to the White House
1 p.m. — Press secretary Karoline Leavitt will host a news briefing
4 p.m. — Trump will participate in a “One, Big, Beautiful Event” related to his signature bill
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
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