Hello and welcome to theUS politicslive blog.
We start with news that several key provisions inDonald Trump’s“big, beautiful bill” must be reworked or dropped, a Senate parliamentarian has said.
The New York Timesreports that Elizabeth MacDonough, the parliamentarian who enforces the Senate’s rules, has rejected a slew of major provisions, sending GOP leaders into a frenzy to try to salvage the legislation before next week’s 4 July deadline.
The publication reports that MacDonough has said several of the measures in the legislation that would “provide hundreds of billions of dollars in savings could not be included in the legislation in their current form”.
They include one that would “crack down on strategies that many states have developed to obtain more federal Medicaid funds and another that would limit repayment options for student loan borrowers,” the NYT reports.
The report added that MacDonough “has not yet ruled on all parts of the bill” and that the tax changes at the centerpiece of Trump’s agenda “are still under review”.
In his final pitch to congressional leaders and cabinet secretaries at the White House on Thursday,Donald Trump also made no mention of deadlines,as his marquee tax-and-spending bill develops a logjam that could threaten its passage through the Senate.
Meanwhile, Robert F Kennedy Jr’s reconstituted vaccine advisory panel recommended against seasonal influenza vaccines containing specific preservative thimerosal – a change likely to send shock through the global medical and scientific community and possibly impact future vaccine availability. About two weeks ago, Kennedy fired all 17 experts on the panel and went on to appoint eight new members, at least half of whom have expressed scepticism about some vaccines, theNew York Timesreports. Separately, the panel also recommended a new treatment to prevent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in infants.
In other developments:
Donald Trumphas threatened to sue theNew York TimesandCNNover the outlets’ reporting on a preliminary intelligence assessment on the US strikes in Iran that found the operation did less damage to nuclear sites than the administration has claimed.
NBC Newsis reporting that theWhite House plansto limit intelligence sharing with members of Congress after an early assessment of damage caused by US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites were leaked this week, a senior White House official confirmed to the network.
Secretary of stateMarco Rubiohas announced a new visa restriction policy he said was aimed at stopping the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs into the United States.
US ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy leaves Moscow, the US embassy in Russia says, according to Reuters.
The White House has recommended terminating US funding for nearly two dozen programs that conductwar crimes and accountability work globally, including in Myanmar, Syria and on alleged Russian atrocities in Ukraine, according to three US sources familiar with the matter and internal government documents reviewed by Reuters.
Donald Trumphas not decided on a replacement forFederal Reserve ChairJerome Powell and a decision isn’t imminent, a person familiar with the White House’s deliberations said on Thursday, as one central bank policymaker said any move to name a “shadow” chair would be ineffective.
Donald Trump’sadministration is planning to deport migrantKilmar Abregofor a second time, but does not plan to send him back to El Salvador, where he was wrongly deported in March, a lawyer for the administration told a judge on Thursday. The deportation will not happen until after Abrego is tried in federal court on migrant smuggling charges, a White House spokesperson said.
TheUS Supreme Courtmay rule on Friday onDonald Trump’sattempt to broadly enforce his executive order tolimit birthright citizenship, a move that would affect thousands of babies born each year as the president seeks a major shift in how theUS Constitutionhas long been understood, Reuters reports.
The administration has made an emergency request for the justices to scale back injunctions issued by federal judges in Maryland, Washington and Massachusetts blocking Trump’s directive nationwide.
The judges found that Trump’s order likely violates citizenship language in the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
On his first day back in office, Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to refuse to recognise the citizenship of children born in the United States who do not have at least one parent who is an American citizen or lawful permanent resident, also called a “green card” holder.
TheUnited Stateshas postponed sanctions against theRussian-owned Serbianoil company NIS for a fourth time until 29 July, Serbia’s mining and energy ministerDubravka Đedović Handanovićsaid on Friday.
NIS has so far secured three reprieves, the last of which was due to expire later on Friday.
“Sanctions have been formally postponed ... overnight we have received written confirmations ... after a hard and tiring diplomatic struggle,” she told reporters.
The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control initially placed sanctions on Russia’s oil sector on 10 January, and gave Gazprom Neft 45 days to exit ownership of NIS.
The United States Department of Treasury did not reply to a Reuters inquiry about the latest sanctions reprieve.
byJoseph GedeonandRobert Taitin Washington
RepublicanandDemocraticsenators have offered starkly contrasting interpretations ofDonald Trump’sbombing of Iranian nuclear facilities after a delayed behind-closed-doors intelligence briefing that the White House had earlier postponed amid accusations of leaks.
Thursday’s session with senior national security officials came after the White House moved back its briefing, originally scheduled for Tuesday, fueling Democratic complaints that Trump was stonewalling Congress overmilitary actionthe president authorised without congressional approval.
“Senators deserve full transparency, and the administration has a legal obligation to inform Congress precisely about what is happening,” the Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, said following the initial postponement, which he termed “outrageous”.
Even as senators were being briefed, Trump reignited the row with a Truth Social post accusingDemocratsof leaking a draft Pentagon report that suggested last weekend’s strikes had only set back Iran’s nuclear program by months – contradicting the president’s insistence that it was “obliterated”.
“The Democrats are the ones who leaked the information on the PERFECT FLIGHT to the Nuclear Sites in Iran. They should be prosecuted!”he wrote.
Read the full report here:
TheUS Supreme Courtis expected to rule on Friday in a bid by Christian and Muslim parents inMarylandto keep their elementary school children out of certain classes when storybooks with LGBT characters are read, Reuters reports.
Parents with children in public schools in Montgomery County, located just outside of Washington, appealed after lower courts declined to order the local school district to let children opt out when these books are read.
The court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, has expanded the rights of religious people in several cases in recent years.
The school board in Montgomery County approved in 2022 a handful of storybooks that feature LGBT characters as part of its English language-arts curriculum in order to better represent the diversity of families living in the county.
The storybooks are available for teachers to use “alongside the many books already in the curriculum that feature heterosexual characters in traditional gender roles,” the district said in a filing.
The district said it ended the opt-outs in 2023 when the mounting number of requests to excuse students from these classes became logistically unworkable and raised concerns of “social stigma and isolation” among students who believe the books represent them and their families.
Japanand theUnited Statesare arranging for US secretary of stateMarco Rubioto visit Japan for the first time in early July, Kyodo news agency reported on Friday.
Rubio is also planning to visitSouth Koreaalongside attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers’ meetings in Malaysia in July, Kyodo reported, without mentioning sources, Reuters reports.
Hello and welcome to theUS politicslive blog.
We start with news that several key provisions inDonald Trump’s“big, beautiful bill” must be reworked or dropped, a Senate parliamentarian has said.
The New York Timesreports that Elizabeth MacDonough, the parliamentarian who enforces the Senate’s rules, has rejected a slew of major provisions, sending GOP leaders into a frenzy to try to salvage the legislation before next week’s 4 July deadline.
The publication reports that MacDonough has said several of the measures in the legislation that would “provide hundreds of billions of dollars in savings could not be included in the legislation in their current form”.
They include one that would “crack down on strategies that many states have developed to obtain more federal Medicaid funds and another that would limit repayment options for student loan borrowers,” the NYT reports.
The report added that MacDonough “has not yet ruled on all parts of the bill” and that the tax changes at the centerpiece of Trump’s agenda “are still under review”.
In his final pitch to congressional leaders and cabinet secretaries at the White House on Thursday,Donald Trump also made no mention of deadlines,as his marquee tax-and-spending bill develops a logjam that could threaten its passage through the Senate.
Meanwhile, Robert F Kennedy Jr’s reconstituted vaccine advisory panel recommended against seasonal influenza vaccines containing specific preservative thimerosal – a change likely to send shock through the global medical and scientific community and possibly impact future vaccine availability. About two weeks ago, Kennedy fired all 17 experts on the panel and went on to appoint eight new members, at least half of whom have expressed scepticism about some vaccines, theNew York Timesreports. Separately, the panel also recommended a new treatment to prevent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in infants.
In other developments:
Donald Trumphas threatened to sue theNew York TimesandCNNover the outlets’ reporting on a preliminary intelligence assessment on the US strikes in Iran that found the operation did less damage to nuclear sites than the administration has claimed.
NBC Newsis reporting that theWhite House plansto limit intelligence sharing with members of Congress after an early assessment of damage caused by US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites were leaked this week, a senior White House official confirmed to the network.
Secretary of stateMarco Rubiohas announced a new visa restriction policy he said was aimed at stopping the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs into the United States.
US ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy leaves Moscow, the US embassy in Russia says, according to Reuters.
The White House has recommended terminating US funding for nearly two dozen programs that conductwar crimes and accountability work globally, including in Myanmar, Syria and on alleged Russian atrocities in Ukraine, according to three US sources familiar with the matter and internal government documents reviewed by Reuters.
Donald Trumphas not decided on a replacement forFederal Reserve ChairJerome Powell and a decision isn’t imminent, a person familiar with the White House’s deliberations said on Thursday, as one central bank policymaker said any move to name a “shadow” chair would be ineffective.
Donald Trump’sadministration is planning to deport migrantKilmar Abregofor a second time, but does not plan to send him back to El Salvador, where he was wrongly deported in March, a lawyer for the administration told a judge on Thursday. The deportation will not happen until after Abrego is tried in federal court on migrant smuggling charges, a White House spokesperson said.