Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of US politics and the secondTrump administration.
The US Senate is holding a marathon voteon a sprawling budgetthat 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 - 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 billionaireElon 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.
TheSenate parliamentarianfound thatRepublicanscan include a provision that would blockMedicaidfunding fromPlanned Parenthoodin the “big, beautiful bill”.
Trumpsigned an executive order overturning sanctions onSyriatoday and issued a memorandum on US policy towardCuba.
TheTrump administrationsued the cityofLos Angelesover policies limiting city cooperation with federal immigration authorities, continuing a confrontation over Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation efforts in the largely Democratic city.
TheTrumpadministration informedHarvard Universitythat its investigation found that the universityviolated federal civil rights lawover its treatment of Jewish and Israeli students, putting its federal funding further at risk.
Trumpwill hostIsraeliprime ministerBenjamin Netanyahuat the White House on 7 July.
Trumpwrote to Fed chairJerome Powellagain urging him to lower interest rates.