Senate passes Trump’s big tax and spending cuts bill as Vance breaks a 50-50 tie WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans hauled President Donald Trump’s big tax breaks and spending cuts bill to passage Tuesday by the narrowest of margins, pushing past o
Senate passes Trump’s big tax and spending cuts bill as Vance breaks a 50-50 tie
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans hauled President Donald Trump’s big tax breaks and spending cuts bill to passage Tuesday by the narrowest of margins, pushing past opposition from Democrats and their own GOP ranks after a turbulent overnight session.
The outcome capped an unusually tense weekend of work at the Capitol, the president’s signature legislative priority teetering on the edge of approval or collapse. In the end that tally was 50-50, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote.
Three Republican senators — Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky — joined all Democrats in voting against it.
“In the end we got the job done,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota said afterward.
The difficulty for Republicans, who have the majority in Congress, to wrestle the bill to this point is not expected to let up. The package now goes back to the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana had warned senators not to overhaul what his chamber had already approved. But the Senate did make changes, particularly to Medicaid, risking more problems ahead. House GOP leaders scheduled a Wednesday vote and vowed to put it on Trump’s desk by his July Fourth deadline, which is Friday.
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What’s in the latest version of Trump’s big bill that passed the Senate
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are getting closer to the finish line in getting their tax and spending cut bill through Congress with a final House vote possible on Wednesday.
At some 887 pages, the legislation is a sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending cuts and other Republican priorities, including new money for national defense and deportations. President Donald Trump has admonished Republicans, who hold majority power in the House and Senate, to skip their holiday vacations and deliver the bill by the Fourth of July.
Democrats are united against the legislation, but are powerless to stop the bill if Republicans are united. The Senate passed the bill, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote. The House passed an earlier iteration of the bill in May with just one vote to spare. Now, it will take up the Senate-amended measure.
Here’s the latest on what’s in the bill. There could be changes as GOP lawmakers continue to negotiate.
Republicans say the bill is crucial because there would be a massive tax increase after December when tax breaks from Trump’s first term expire. The legislation contains about $4.5 trillion in tax cuts.
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Bryan Kohberger is due to appear in court to plead guilty in University of Idaho stabbings
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — More than two years after the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students shocked the rural community of Moscow, Idaho, the former criminal justice doctoral student charged in the murders is expected in court Wednesday to plead guilty in a deal to avoid the death penalty.
Bryan Kohberger agreed to the plea deal in the past few days, just weeks before his trial was to begin, after his attorneys tried but failed to have execution stricken as a possible punishment. The deal drew mixed reactions from the victims’ families, ranging from support to outrage that Kohberger would live.
“Bryan Kohberger facing a life in prison means he would still get to speak, form relationships, and engage with the world,” Aubrie Goncalves, the 18-year-old sister of victim Kaylee Goncalves, wrote in a Facebook post. “Meanwhile, our loved ones have been silenced forever. That reality stings more deeply when it feels like the system is protecting his future more than honoring the victims’ pasts.”
The small farming community of Moscow, in the northern Idaho panhandle, had not had a homicide in about five years when Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen were found dead at a rental home near campus on Nov. 13, 2022. Autopsies showed the four victims were all likely asleep when they were attacked. Some had defensive wounds and each was stabbed multiple times.
The killings prompted a massive hunt for the perpetrator. That included an elaborate effort to track down a white sedan that was seen on surveillance cameras repeatedly driving by the rental home, using genetic genealogy to identify Kohberger as a possible suspect, and using cellphone data to pinpoint his movements the night of the killings.
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Hamas says it’s ready for a ceasefire but wants a complete end to the war in Gaza
CAIRO (AP) — Hamas suggested Wednesday that it was open to a ceasefire agreement with Israel, but stopped short of accepting a U.S.-backed proposal announced by U.S. President Donald Trump hours earlier, insisting on its longstanding position that any deal bring an end to the war in Gaza.
Trump said Tuesday that Israel had agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsen. The U.S. leader has been increasing pressure on the Israeli government and Hamas to broker a ceasefire, and hostage agreement and bring about an end to the war.
Trump said the 60-day period would be used to work toward ending the war — something Israel says it won’t accept until Hamas is defeated. He said that a deal might come together as soon as next week.
But Hamas’ response, which emphasized its demand that the war end, raised questions about whether the latest offer could materialize into an actual pause in fighting.
Hamas official Taher al-Nunu said that the militant group was “ready and serious regarding reaching an agreement.”
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Wildfire kills 2 people in Spain as parts of Europe bake in heat wave
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Two people died in Spain in a wildfire that spread quickly before firefighters brought it under control, authorities said, as a European heat wave sent thermometers soaring again on Wednesday.
The blaze broke out in the rural province of Lleida. It created an enormous thick plume of ash and smoke that reached 14,000 meters (45,000 feet) of altitude, making it the largest registered by firefighters in Catalonia, a northeastern region of Spain.
Firefighters said that the fire spread at 28 kph (17 mph) at one point, making it one of the fastest fires registered in Europe, they said.
Catalan regional president Salvador Illa announced the deaths, which occurred late Tuesday, in a social media post around midnight. Firefighters said that the two victims were found near the small village of Cosco in the county of La Segarra near a vehicle. Regional official Nuria Parlón said that the two victims were a farmer and one of his workers. She said that it appears that they were caught by the flames as they were trying to flee the farm.
Two firefighters also needed to be treated a local hospital for injuries.
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Russia ramps up offensives on 2 fronts in Ukraine as both sides seek an advantage before the fall
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — An emboldened Russia has ramped up military offensives on two fronts in Ukraine, scattering Kyiv’s precious reserve troops and threatening to expand the fighting to a new Ukrainian region as each side seeks an advantage before the fighting season wanes in the autumn.
Moscow aims to maximize its territorial gains before seriously considering a full ceasefire, analysts and military commanders said. Ukraine wants to slow the Russian advance for as long as possible and extract heavy losses.
Kremlin forces are steadily gaining ground in the strategic eastern logistics hub of Pokrovsk, the capture of which would hand them a major battlefield victory and bring them closer to acquiring the entire Donetsk region. The fighting there has also brought combat to the border of the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time.
In an effort to prevent Moscow from bolstering those positions in the east, Ukrainian forces are trying to pin down some of Russia’s best and most battle-hardened troops hundreds of kilometers away, in the northeast Sumy region.
“The best-case scenario for Ukraine,” said Russian-British military historian Sergey Radchenko, “is that they’re able to stall or stop the Russian advance” in the Ukrainian industrial heartland known as Donbas, which includes the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Then Ukraine could “use that as the basis for a ceasefire agreement.”
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US won’t send some weapons pledged to Ukraine following a Pentagon review of military aid
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is halting some shipments of weapons to Ukraine amid concerns that its own stockpiles have declined too much, officials said Tuesday, a setback for the country as it tries to fend off escalating attacks from Russia.
Certain munitions were previously promised to Ukraine under the Biden administration to aid its defenses during the more than three-year-old war. The pause reflects a new set of priorities under President Donald Trump and came after Defense Department officials scrutinized current U.S. stockpiles and raised concerns.
“This decision was made to put America’s interests first following a 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.”
That was a reference to Trump recently ordering U.S. missile strikes against nuclear sites in Iran.
The Pentagon review determined that stocks were too low on some weapons previously pledged, so pending shipments of some items won’t be sent, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide information that has not yet been made public.
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Trump tours Florida immigration lockup and jokes about escapees having to run from alligators
OCHOPEE, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday toured a new immigration detention center surrounded by alligator-filled swamps in the Florida Everglades, suggesting it could be a model for future lockups nationwide as his administration races to expand the infrastructure necessary for increasing deportations.
Trump said he’d like to see similar facilities in “really, many states” and raised the prospect of also deporting U.S. citizens. He even endorsed having Florida National Guard forces possibly serve as immigration judges to ensure migrants are ejected from the country even faster.
“Pretty soon, this facility will handle the most menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet,” Trump said of the Florida site known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”
The president said the moniker is “very appropriate because I looked outside and that’s not a place I want to go hiking anytime soon.”
“The only way out, really, is deportation,” Trump added.
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Jury in Diddy’s sex trafficking trial to resume deliberations after reaching partial verdict
NEW YORK (AP) — The jury in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex trafficking trial is set to resume deliberations Wednesday after reaching a yet-to-be-disclosed verdict on all but one of the five charges the hip-hop mogul faces.
U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian ordered the jury to continue its closed-door discussions for a third day after the panel of eight men and four women said Tuesday that it was unable to reach consensus on the top count: racketeering conspiracy.
The judge agreed with prosecutors and Combs’ defense team that less than 13 hours of deliberations was too soon to give up on reaching a verdict on all counts.
The jury’s decision on the other charges — two counts of sex trafficking and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution — remains under wraps for now.
In a note to the court late Tuesday, the jury said “unpersuadable opinions on both sides” among some jurors had prevented the group from reaching a unanimous verdict on the racketeering conspiracy charge.
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Paramount to pay $16 million in settlement with Trump over ’60 Minutes’ interview
In a case seen as a challenge to free speech, Paramount has agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump over the editing of CBS’ “ 60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris in October.
Paramount told media outlets the money will go to Trump’s future presidential library, not to the president himself. It said the settlement did not involve an apology.
Trump’s lawyer said the president had suffered “mental anguish” over the editing of the interview by CBS News, while Paramount and CBS rejected his contention that it was edited to enhance how Harris sounded. They had sought to get Trump’s lawsuit dismissed.
There was no immediate word from the White House about the settlement of the case, which Trump filed in Amarillo, Texas.
The case has been closely watched by advocates for press freedom and by journalists within CBS, whose lawyers called Trump’s lawsuit “completely without merit” and promised to vigorously fight it after it was filed.
The Associated Press