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8 hours ago
The US House of Representatives passed Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill on Thursday, handing the president the first major legislative victory of his second term, with the bill expected to supercharge immigration enforcement and slash federal safety net programs.
For decades, Republicans have argued that the US would be better off if taxes were low, and programs to help low-income Americans were harder to access. Thursday’s bill will in effect make this a reality, fundamentally reordering two major social safety net programs, slashing funding and imposing new work requirements. Nonpartisan estimates say it will cost millions of people their benefits and the ripple effects, experts say, will be felt across the country, and not just by the poor.
Meanwhile big tax cuts that were set to expire this year will be made permanent, with these provisions expected to generally benefit high earners more than most.
Here’s the latest:
Trump’s tax-and-spending bill passes in major win for president
The 218-214 vote came after weeks of wrangling over the measure that Trump demanded be ready for his signature by Friday, the Independence Day holiday. Written by his Republican allies in Congress and unanimously rejected by Democrats, the bill traveled an uncertain road to passage that saw multiple all-night votes in the House and Senate and negotiations that lasted until the final hours before passage.
Ultimately, Republicans who had objected to its cost and contents folded, and the bill passed with just two GOP defections: Thomas Massie, a rightwing Kentucky lawmaker, and Brian Fitzpatrick, who represents a Pennsylvania district that voted for Kamala Harris in last year’s election.
Analysis: Trump’s big bill achieved what conservatives have been trying to do for decades
Despite the many cuts to the social safety net, the bill is still hugely expensive. The CBO forecasts it will add $3.3tn to the deficit through 2034, mostly due to the tax cuts.
For fiscal hawks concerned about the sustainability of the country’s budget deficit, which has yawned higher in recent years as Washington DC battled the Covid-19 pandemic with massive fiscal stimulus, there’s little beauty in Trump’s bill.
Supreme court clears way for deportation of migrants to South Sudan
The supreme court on Thursday cleared the way for the deportation of several immigrants who were put on a flight in May bound for South Sudan, a war-ravaged country where they have no ties.
The decision comes after the court’s conservative majority found that immigration officials can quickly deport people to third countries. The majority halted an order that had allowed immigrants to challenge any removals to countries outside their homeland where they could be in danger.
US supreme court to weigh transgender student sports bans
The US supreme court announced on Thursday that it will consider a bid by West Virginia and Idaho to enforce their state laws banning transgender athletes from female sports teams at public sector schools.
The decision means the court is prepared to take up another civil rights challenge to Republican-backed restrictions on transgender people.
New book details Obama slamming Biden’s re-election bid
Barack Obama, the former US president, sounded the alarm about Joe Biden’s ailing re-election bid almost a year before polling day, warning his former vice-president’s staff “your campaign is a mess”, a new book reveals.
Former CBS anchor slams Paramount settlement with Trump as ‘a sellout’
A former CBS News anchor and 60 minutes correspondent, Dan Rather, has blasted the $16m settlement between Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, and Donald Trump, calling it a “sad day for journalism”.
“It’s a sad day for 60 Minutes and CBS News,” Rather, a veteran journalist who was a CBS News anchor for over 20 years, told Variety in an interview published on Wednesday. “I hope people will read the details of this and understand what it was. It was distortion by the president and a kneeling down and saying, ‘yes, sir,’ by billionaire corporate owners.”
Scientists warn US will lose a generation of talent because of Trump cuts
A generation of scientific talent is at the brink of being lost to overseas competitors by the Trump administration’s dismantling of the National Science Foundation (NSF), with unprecedented political interference at the agency jeopardizing the future of US industries and economic growth, according to a Guardian investigation.
Catching up? Here’s what happened on 2 July 2025.
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