House GOP fiscal hawks demand big changes to megabill
As we’ve reported, members of the House Freedom Caucus were expected to meet with the president this morning. Earlier, caucus chairman Andy Harris earlier told CNN:
I’m still voting no on the rule. We have to get this thing right.
And Texas representative Chip Roy, among the most vocal critics of the Senate’s version of the bill, said that he and many other conservatives remain opposed to the bill and still want major changes. He told CNN:
It’s not ‘take it or leave it.’ I don’t need take-it-or-leave-it legislating. How about we send it back to him? We say, ‘Take it or leave it,’ all right? So the Senate doesn’t get to be the final say on everything.
He said he and other hardliners were in ongoing discussions with the White House about the changes they want, adding:
I think we need more spending restraint, and I think we need to fix what they did in the Senate.
Meanwhile, Kentucky representative Thomas Massie, who is not a member of the caucus but has consistently voted against the bill over his deficit concerns, said he intends to stand firm in that position. Asked by CNN if there was anything at all leadership could do to win his vote, he said:
We could go back to drawing board to a skinny bill.
He called the 4 July deadline “arbitrary”, adding:
There’s no reason to bankrupt the country because you want to go shoot off some fireworks.
Key events
‘All we need are four Republicans’: Jeffries urges GOP to show ‘John McCain-level courage’ and reject megabill
Earlier, House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries called on four House Republicans to vote “hell no” on Trump’s signature tax and spending megabill (the GOP’s majority is so slim, they can only afford three no votes if the bill is to pass).
Invoking the late Republican senator John McCain’s decisive vote to sink the GOP’s 2017 effort to repeal Obamacare during Donald Trump’s first term, Jeffries said from the steps of the Capitol:
What type of party would bring a bill to the House floor that rips away Medicaid from those in need? What kind of party would bring a bill to the House floor that literally robs food from the mouths of children, veterans and seniors? And all of this is being done to provide massive tax breaks to their billionaire donors. It’s unconscionable; it’s unacceptable; it’s un-American.
All we need are four Republicans – just four – to show John-McCain-level courage.
He and other Democrats also called out several Republicans facing tough re-election contests in battleground districts next year – Scott Perry and Rob Bresnahan, both of Pennsylvania, and David Valadao and Young Kim, both of California.
Judge blocks Kristi Noem from ending temporary protected status for Haitians
A federal judge last night blocked the Trump administration’s bid to end temporary deportation protections and work permits for approximately 521,000 Haitian immigrants before the program’s scheduled expiration date.
Earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Security rescinded Joe Biden’s extension of temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitians through 3 February. It called for the program to end on 3 August, and last week pushed back that date to 2 September.
The US district judge Brian Cogan in Brooklyn, however, said the homeland security secretary Kristi Noem did not follow instructions and a timeline mandated by Congress to reconsider the TPS designation for Haitians.
“Secretary Noem does not have statutory or inherent authority to partially vacate a country’s TPS designation”, making her actions “unlawful”, Cogan wrote. “Plaintiffs are likely to (and, indeed, do) succeed on the merits.”
Cogan also said Haitians’ interests in being able to live and work in the United States “far outweigh” potential harm to the US government, which remains free to enforce immigration laws and terminate TPS status as prescribed by Congress.
In a statement, Tricia McLaughlin, homeland security spokesperson, said Haiti’s TPS designation had been granted following the 2010 earthquake in that country, and was never intended as a “de facto” asylum program.
“This ruling delays justice and seeks to kneecap the President’s constitutionally vested powers,” she said. “We expect a higher court to vindicate us.”
More than 1 million people, more than half of them children, are displaced within Haiti, where gang violence is prevalent despite a UN-backed security mission that began last year.
Trump administration sued for giving Medicaid data to deportation officials
David Smith
The Trump administration violated federal privacy laws when it turned over Medicaid data on millions of enrollees to deportation officials, a group of 20 states allege in a lawsuit.
Last month health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s advisers ordered the release of a dataset that includes the private health information of people living in California, Illinois, Washington state and Washington DC to the Department of Homeland Security.
All allow non-US citizens to enroll in Medicaid – a jointly funded federal and state health insurance programme for lower-income individuals and underserved groups – that pay for their expenses using only state taxpayer dollars.
On Tuesday, California attorney general Rob Bonta and 19 other states’ attorneys general sued over the move. They alleged that the Trump administration’s data release infringes on federal health privacy protection laws, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
“This is about flouting seven decades of federal law policy and practice that have made it clear that personal healthcare data is confidential and can only be shared in certain narrow circumstances that benefit the public’s health or the Medicaid programme,” Bonta said during a press conference.
The complaint argues that if “members of our community cannot trust that the government will keep their medical history and other personal data safe, they will think twice about going to the doctor when needed”. This loss of trust will lead to “irreparable damage due to increased morbidity and mortality”.
Trump and House GOP leaders scramble to rally holdouts ahead of critical vote on tax and spending bill
There’s nothing on Donald Trump’s schedule today, freeing him up for meetings with GOP holdouts across the ideological spectrum on the Hill and at the White House to press them to back his bill as the critical House vote looms.
Speaker Mike Johnson met with members of the House Freedom Caucus this morning, who are now at the White House to meet with Trump. Per The Hill, caucus chair Andy Harris said “nothing’s changed” after the meeting with Johnson.
“The Speaker is going to have to decide if he’s going to bring this closer to the House framework,” Harris said. As I reported on Monday, the ultraconservative bloc said that the legislation in the Senate is “not what we agreed to”, underscoring discontent among the fiscal hawks with the higher deficit spending, among other things, in the Senate’s version of the bill.
Another member of the hardline caucus told The Hill following the meeting with Johnson:
There is still a real, big problem with the rule vote if they’re not going to amend the bill and send it back.
I and a number of others are of the view that we cannot support the rule or the underlying bill… without changes.
The problems we have are real: deficits, gutting of the green new scam provisions we put in place, and other, Medicaid for illegals, etc.
Some House GOP moderates also oppose the Senate’s version of the bill on the grounds of greater cuts to social safety net programs, especially Medicaid, among other things. NBC reports that Trump is meeting with the Republican Main Street Caucus, whose members are moderate-leaning, today to discuss the bill.
CNN reports that centrists Mike Lawler of New York, David Valadao of California, Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, Stephanie Bice of Oklahoma, Dusty Johnson of South Dakota, Dan Newhouse of Washington and Andrew Garbarino of New York were all seen arriving at the West Wing at around 10am ET.
For Lawler, for example, the biggest point of contention with Trump’s policy legislation is the state and local tax deduction (Salt).
Trump just made a vague announcement on social media regarding trade with Vietnam. He wrote: “I just made a Trade Deal with Vietnam. Details to follow!”
House in procedural vote as Democrats attempt to derail Trump’s tax-and-spending bill
The House is currently in the process of taking a procedural vote, a move necessitated by Democrats who are trying to derail the bill before it can come to a final vote.
Democrats lack the votes for the strategy to work, but with the weather affecting attendance, it will give Congress an accurate account of who is back in Washington as well as an early assessment of how much, if any Republican opposition there is to the bill.
Speaker Mike Johnson expressed concern over attendance as he arrived in the Capitol on Wednesday morning.
“I am worried about flights,” Johnson said. “We don’t know if we have a full House, so that’s what we’re working on.”
Republicans will need every one of their 220 House members to pass the bill, but several haven’t yet made it to Washington.
Thunderstorms and heavy rain on Tuesday evening canceled flights to Washington. In addition to some Republicans, some Democrats are also opting for a road trip to Washington.
Illinois representative Raja Krishnamoorthi drove, hosting a Zoom townhall during his 14-hour drive. Representatives Chris DeLuzio of Pennsylvania and Derek Tran of California drove together after being stranded in Pittsburgh.
Democratic mayors sue over Trump’s efforts to restrict Obamacare signups. New Trump administration rules that give millions of people a shorter timeframe to sign up for the Affordable Care Act’s health care coverage are facing a legal challenge from Democratic mayors around the country.
The rules, rolled out last month, reverse a Biden-era effort to expand access to the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance, commonly called “Obamacare” or the ACA. The previous Democratic administration expanded the enrollment window for the coverage, which led to record enrollment.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rolled out a series of new restrictions for Obamacare late last month, just as Congress was weighing a major bill that will decrease enrollment in the healthcare program that Donald Trump has scorned for years. As many as 2 million people – nearly 10% – are expected to lose coverage from the health department’s new rules.
The mayors of Baltimore, Chicago and Columbus, Ohio, sued the federal health department on Tuesday over the rules, saying they will result in more uninsured residents and overburden city services.
“Cloaked in the pretense of government efficiency and fraud prevention, the 2025 Rule creates numerous barriers to affordable insurance coverage, negating the purpose of the ACA to extend affordable health coverage to all Americans, and instead increasing the population of underinsured and uninsured Americans,” the filing alleges.
Two liberal advocacy groups – Doctors for America and Main Street Alliance – joined in on the complaint.
Severe weather could be a factor in Washington as House aims to vote on Trump tax bill
Severe weather is impacting air travel to Washington DC, causing disruptions for members of Congress needing to return for a crucial vote on Trump’s bill.
Thunderstorms and heavy rain forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights to Washington-area airports, including Reagan National, according to the aviation tracker FlightAware.
Many members of the House are opting to drive their cars to Washington instead, avoiding the risk of last-minute flight delays or cancellations. Representative Nancy Mace and representative Russell Fry, both Republicans from South Carolina, posted videos on social media announcing their plans to drive to the capitol.
Trump referred to New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani as a “communist lunatic” on social media. He seemed to allude to reports that the White House is considering stripping Mamdani of his US citizenship as part of a crackdown against foreign-born citizens, saying he won’t allow him to “destroy New York”.
Trump wrote:
“As President of the United States, I’m not going to let this Communist Lunatic destroy New York. Rest assured, I hold all the levers, and have all the cards. I’ll save New York City, and make it “Hot” and “Great” again, just like I did with the Good Ol’ USA!”
Speaking to Jen Psaki on MSNBC last night, Democratic representative Maxwell Frost of Florida said that he is hearing at least 20 House Republicans are planning to vote against Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” in its current form.
Republicans can only afford three “no” votes in order for the bill to pass, assuming all Democrats vote against it.
Trump defends tax-and-spending bill, saying it will bring ‘growth’ to US economy
Trump is defending his bill, which just barely passed in the Senate yesterday, on social media. He emphasized that the bill will bring “growth” to the US. It is estimated that the bill would grow the national deficit by $3.3tn through 2034, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.
Trump wrote:
“Nobody wants to talk about GROWTH, which will be the primary reason that the Big, Beautiful Bill will be one of the most successful pieces of legislation ever passed. THIS GROWTH has already begun at levels never seen before. Trillions of Dollars are now being invested into the USA, more than ever before. Likewise, hundreds of Billions of Dollars in Tariffs are filling up the coffers of Treasury. The Tariff money has already arrived and is setting new records! We are growing our way out of the Sleepy Joe Biden MESS that he and the Democrats left us, and it is happening much faster than anyone thought possible.
Our Country will make a fortune this year, more than any of our competitors, but only if the Big, Beautiful Bill is PASSED! As they say, Trump’s been right about everything, and this is the easiest of them all to predict. Republicans, don’t let the Radical Left Democrats push you around. We’ve got all the cards, and we are going to use them. Last year America was a “DEAD” Nation, with no hope for the future, and now it’s the “HOTTEST NATION IN THE WORLD!” MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Edward Helmore
Donald Trump and administration officials have threatened CNN over what they said was its promotion of a new app that allows users to track and try to avoid Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents.
Speaking to reporters in Florida on a trip to visit a new Ice detention center in Everglades, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz”, the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, said her department and the Department of Justice were looking at prosecuting CNN over its reporting on the app, called IceBlock.
“We’re working with Department of Justice to see if we can prosecute them,” Noem said, “because what they’re doing is actively encouraging people to avoid law enforcement activities and operations. We’re going to actually go after them and prosecute them. What they’re doing is illegal”.
Trump joined in, saying the news network – a frequent target of his ire – should also be prosecuted for what he said were “false reports on the attack on Iran”, referring to the leak of a Pentagon assessment that suggested US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities did not destroy the core components of the country’s nuclear program and had probably only set the program back by months.
“They were totally obliterated,” Trump countered. “Our people have to be celebrated, [and] not come home to, ‘What do you mean we didn’t hit the targets?’”
CNN defended its reporting of the app through a spokesperson, saying: “This is an app that is publicly available to any iPhone user who wants to download it. There is nothing illegal about reporting the existence of this or any other app, nor does such reporting constitute promotion or other endorsement of the app by CNN”.
Noem’s comments came hours after Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, also criticized CNN for its reporting on the IceBlock app.
