The Latest: Trump's pledge to fix national debt faces skepticism from some Republicans

Toronto Star

4 days ago

President Donald Trump faces the challenge of convincing Republican senators, global investors, voters and even Elon Musk that he won't bury the federal government in debt with his multitrillion-dollar tax-break package.
Financial markets have remained skeptical, as the deficit continues to grow despite Trump's promises to curb spending.
Here's the latest:
Trump and Xi set to talk this week about trade challenges
Trump is 'likely' to talk this week with Chinese President Xi Jinping, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says.
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The two leaders are slated to talk as trade tensions have intensified after both nations agreed in May to reduce tariffs for a 90-day negotiation period. But the U.S. is displeased with problems over China exporting critical minerals, while China is frustrated by U.S. efforts to limit their access to advanced computer chips.
Leavitt told reporters that the White House would provide a readout of the call between Trump and Xi.
Pennsylvania senators mostly agree during forum on bipartisanship, and politely disagree
Pennsylvania's two U.S. senators, Democrat John Fetterman and Republican David McCormick sat on Monday for 30 minutes to take questions from Shannon Bream, anchor of Fox News Sunday, at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute in Boston as part of an effort to promote bipartisanship.
They found it easy to agree on certain questions, such as foreign policy, and politely disagreed on others, including President Trump's tax breaks, spending cuts and border security bill.
Fetterman says he won't support cuts to Medicaid and food aid. McCormick stresses the need for tax relief, spending cuts and border security. But he also says they agree that the federal government shouldn't take benefits away from vulnerable people.
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Fetterman and McCormick have struck up a friendship following McCormick's victory last November over longtime Democratic Sen. Bob Casey, Fetterman's mentor in the Senate. Fetterman has had something of a warm embrace from Republicans over his ideological split with Democrats on Israel and border policy.
On foreign policy, both men are strong backers of Israel in its war against Hamas and preventing a nuclear-armed Iran, even if it means Israel striking Iran's nuclear facilities to destroy them.
Trump's lawyers file emergency appeals weekly to Supreme Court
Trump administration lawyers have filed emergency appeals with the nation's highest court a little less than once a week on average since Trump began his second term.
The court is not being asked to render a final decision but rather to set the rules of the road while the case makes it way through the courts.
The justices have issued orders in 11 cases so far, and the Trump administration has won more than it has lost.
Among the administration's victories was an order allowing it to enforce the Republican president's ban of on transgender military service members. Among its losses was a prohibition on using an 18th century wartime law called the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans alleged to be gang members to a notorious prison in El Salvador.
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Trump officials visit Alaska to discuss a gas pipeline and oil drilling
The Trump administration is sending three Cabinet members to Alaska this week as it pursues oil drilling in the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and reinvigorating a natural gas project that's languished for years.
The visit by Department of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin comes after Trump signed an executive order earlier this year aimed at boosting oil and gas drilling, mining and logging in Alaska.
The three officials are appearing at an energy conference convened by Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy and at events with industry representatives and Alaska Native leaders who support drilling.
Trump lashes out at Leonard Leo and Federalist Society
Trump has lashed out at Leonard Leo, the conservative legal activist who has worked to dramatically reshape the country's courts.
Trump is blaming Leo and the group he used to head for encouraging him to appoint judges who are now blocking his agenda. Leo is the former longtime leader of the conservative Federalist Society, who, during Trump's first term, helped the president transform the federal judiciary and closely advised him on his Supreme Court picks.
He is widely credited as an architect of the conservative majority responsible for overturning Roe v. Wade.
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Can Trump fix the US debt?
President Donald Trump faces the challenge of convincing Republican senators, global investors, voters and even Elon Musk that he won't bury the federal government in debt with his multitrillion-dollar tax breaks package.
The response so far from financial markets has been skeptical as Trump seems unable to trim deficits as promised.
The tax and spending cuts that passed the House last month would add $5.1 trillion to the national debt in the coming decade if they are allowed to continue. That's according to the Committee for a Responsible Financial Budget, a fiscal watchdog group.
Spike in steel tariffs could imperil Trump promise of lower grocery prices
President Donald Trump's doubling of tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum could hit Americans in an unexpected place: grocery aisles.
The announcement Friday of a staggering 50% levy on those imports stoked fear that big-ticket purchases from cars to washing machines to houses could see major price increases. But those metals are so ubiquitous in packaging, they're likely to pack a punch across consumer products from soup to nuts.
'Rising grocery prices would be part of the ripple effects,' says Usha Haley, an expert on trade and professor at Wichita State University, who added that the tariffs could raise costs across industries and further strain ties with allies 'without aiding a long-term U.S. manufacturing revival.'
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Trump's return to the White House has come with an unrivaled barrage of tariffs, with levies threatened, added and, often, taken away, in such a whiplash-inducing frenzy it's hard to keep up. He insisted the latest tariff hike was necessary to 'even further secure the steel industry in the U.S.'
Trump withdrawing the nomination of Musk associate to lead NASA
Trump says he is withdrawing the nomination of tech billionaire Jared Isaacman, an associate of Trump adviser Elon Musk, to lead NASA, saying he reached the decision after a 'thorough review' of Isaacman's 'prior associations.'
It was unclear what Trump meant and the White House did not respond to an emailed request for an explanation.
'After a thorough review of prior associations, I am hereby withdrawing the nomination of Jared Isaacman to head NASA,' Trump wrote late Saturday on his social media site. 'I will soon announce a new Nominee who will be Mission aligned, and put America First in Space.'