Rebels in Republican; Trump on edge- When will US president sign his ‘Big Beautiful Bill'?
Trump is seeking final House approval for the bill after its razor-thin passage in the Senate, but divisions within his own party have left the legislation teetering. Fiscal hawks bristle at ballooning deficits; moderates fear historic cuts to Medicaid and other safety net programs could cost them re-election.
Trump vented his frustration on Truth Social saying, "Largest Tax Cuts in History and a Booming Economy vs. Biggest Tax Increase in History, and a Failed Economy. What are the Republicans waiting for??? What are you trying to prove??? MAGA IS NOT HAPPY, AND IT'S COSTING YOU VOTES!!!"
House Speaker Mike Johnson, caught between these factions, kept procedural votes open for hours, including one that set a record as the longest in House history, while his team huddled behind closed doors with holdouts.
"We're going to get there tonight. We're working on it and very, very positive about our progress," Politico quoted Johnson saying.
Meanwhile, Trump turned up the pressure saying, "FOR REPUBLICANS, THIS SHOULD BE AN EASY YES VOTE. RIDICULOUS!!!"
Republican leaders had hoped to quickly push Trump's massive tax-and-spending bill through the House on Wednesday, aiming for a smooth approval well ahead of the president's self-imposed July 4 deadline.
But their plans hit turbulence as the 887-page legislation, already tweaked in the Senate to appease hardliners, faced resistance from within.
One conservative balked at the prospect of adding to the $37 trillion national debt, while two moderates worried about nearly $1 trillion in healthcare cuts that could leave 17 million Americans without insurance and shutter rural hospitals.
The sprawling $4.5 trillion package delivers on several of Trump's campaign promises, increased military spending, mass deportation funding, and extended tax cuts from his first term.
But it also adds $3.4 trillion to the deficit over a decade and slashes nearly $1 trillion from health care programs, raising alarms about millions losing insurance and rural hospitals shuttering.
With House Democrats unified in opposition and eyeing the bill as a potent campaign weapon for 2026, the pressure is squarely on Trump and Republican leaders to unite their fractured caucus and deliver the legislative victory the president demands.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
11 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Mark Zuckerberg crashes Trump's classified Oval Office briefing, asked to leave: report
In a scene that left Pentagon brass stunned, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly wandered into a classified Oval Office briefing on the US military's next-generation fighter jet. Earlier this year, top Air Force generals arrived at the Oval Office for a classified briefing on the 'F-47,' America's sixth-generation stealth fighter jet, named in honour of Trump as the 47th US president. But the secure meeting reportedly took an unexpected turn when Meta CEO walked in unannounced, according to an NBC News report cited by The Independent. Zuckerberg's sudden entrance raised eyebrows, as White House officials were concerned the tech mogul lacked the security clearance required for such a high-level defence discussion. Though Zuckerberg was eventually asked to step out, the incident rattled military leaders. 'They were mystified and a bit unnerved by the lack of privacy,' one official told NBC, suggesting that they even questioned whether sensitive information had been compromised. The scene, insiders say, is emblematic of the 'bizarro world' atmosphere inside the Trump White House, where formality has been replaced by chaos and walk-ins are common. President Trump, who has reportedly nicknamed the Oval Office 'Grand Central Terminal' after New York's bustling transit hub, has embraced a freewheeling, drop-in style for meetings. Cabinet secretaries, advisers, and even business leaders are said to wander in and out — often staying around for unrelated meetings just in case decisions are made. 'He likes to schmooze and bounce things off whoever is around,' a White House aide told The Independent. That includes billionaire guests like Zuckerberg, who allegedly visited for a separate meeting but found himself in the room during one of the most secretive defence briefings of Trump's presidency. One person who's been present at these chaotic meetings told NBC: 'No one wants to miss the decision.' The reported culture shift is a stark contrast to past administrations, where Oval Office access was tightly managed. Even senior officials are said to now linger at the White House, hoping to have the president's ear — or at least catch a key moment. The report didn't clarify whether Zuckerberg overheard any classified material, but the optics have raised questions about protocol, national security, and Trump's governing style. The Pentagon and Secret Service have not officially commented on the incident.
Indian Express
11 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Bihar roll revision aimed at snatching voting right: Congress targets EC
A day after a multi-party delegation of INDIA bloc met the Election Commission to express concerns about the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar, the Congress Thursday alleged that the exercise was aimed at disenfranchising about 2 crore votes, who might be unable to furnish the documents sought by the poll panel. At a press conference at the AICC headquarters, Congress's Media and Publicity Department chairman Pawan Khera alleged that the special intensive revision was a 'clear conspiracy to disenfranchise the Bihar voters and deny them their basic right to vote'. 'The way the EC is being run poses a serious threat to democracy — not just against the Opposition, but against each and every voter,' Khera said, adding, 'With all humility at my command, I warn the EC that power is a transient thing. Why are you being so servile to them (the BJP)? It would be better if you followed the Constitution.' Bihar PCC president Rajesh Kumar alleged that the special intensive revision was an attempt 'to snatch away the basic voting right of the Bihar voters'. Claiming that there will be practical difficulties in carrying out the exercise in just one month, he alleged that 'it seems as if they (EC) have resolved to strip away the rights of 20% of Bihar voters'. He claimed that the move 'to disenfranchise about 2 crore voters' was fuelled by the growing popularity of the Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi in Bihar. He questioned how the poll panel will reach out to over 3 crore people who have migrated to Delhi, Mumbai, Punjab and Haryana for livelihood. Bihar Congress in-charge Krishna Allavaru dubbed the special intensive revision yet another 'arbitrary decision' of the PM Narendra Modi-led government being imposed on people. 'It is clear that the Election Commission is showing interest in removing people from the voter list. This is a conspiracy in which people's right to vote will be taken away,' Allavaru said. In a statement Thursday, the EC said that it met representatives of the Congress, RJD, SP, DMK, NCP (SCP), JMM, CPI(M), CPI(ML) Liberation, CPI and Shiv Sena (UBT) on Wednesday and told them that the special intensive revision drive was being conducted 'in a planned, structured and a phased manner to facilitate the inclusion of all eligible citizens'. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar asked the parties to appoint more booth level agents to help voters. The poll panel said that in the first phase, from June 25 to July 3, enumeration forms are being printed and distributed to the around 7.9 crore voters in Bihar.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
12 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Donald Trump aims to shut trade loopholes China uses to evade tariffs
By Claire Jiao, Philip J. Heijmans and Katia Dmitrieva President Donald Trump's two-tiered trade deal with Vietnam aims squarely at practices China has long used to skirt US tariffs: The widespread legal shifting of production to Southeast Asian factories and the murkier and illegal 'origin washing' of exports through their ports. The agreement slaps a 20 per cent tariff on Vietnamese exports to the US and a 40 per cent levy on goods deemed to be transshipped through the country. With details still scarce, economists said much will hinge on the framework Washington establishes to determine what it sees as 'Made in Vietnam' and what it sees as transshipments. Complicating matters is the fact that Chinese businesses have rushed to set up shop across Southeast Asia since Trump launched his first trade war back in 2018. The lion's share of Vietnam's exports to the US are goods like Airpods, phones or other products assembled with Chinese components in a factory in Vietnam and then shipped to America. That's not illegal. 'A lot will depend on how the 40 per cent tariffs are applied. If the Trump administration keeps it targeted, it should be manageable,' said Roland Rajah, lead economist at the Lowy Institute in Sydney. 'If the approach is too broad and blunt, then it could be quite damaging' for China, Vietnam and for the US, which will have to pay higher import prices, he said. The think tank estimates that 28 per cent of Vietnamese exports to the US were made up of Chinese content in 2022, up from 9 per cent in 2018. Pham Luu Hung, chief economist at SSI Securities Corp. in Hanoi, said a 40 per cent levy on transshipped goods would have limited impact on Vietnam's economy because they aren't of Vietnamese origin in the first place. Re-routed exports accounted for just 16.5 per cent of Vietnam's shipments to the US in 2021, a share that's likely declined over the past couple of years amid stronger enforcement actions by both governments, Hung said. 'An important caveat is that the rules of origin remain under negotiation,' Hung said. 'In practice, these rules may have a greater impact than the tariff rates themselves.' Devil in Details Duncan Wrigley, chief China economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said he's skeptical the latest deal will be effective in stamping out Chinese exports via Vietnam to the US. 'The devil is in the details, but I think China's exports will either go via other markets to the US, or some value-added will be done in Vietnam so the product counts as made in Vietnam, rather than a transshipment,' he said. As officials across Asia rushed to negotiate lower US tariff levels with their US counterparts this year, Chinese businesses have been just as quick to ramp up their exports through alternative channels in order to skirt punitive US levies. Shipments from China to Southeast Asia have reached record highs in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam this year. And there's been a 'significant increase in correlation' to the region's increase in exports to the US during the same period, Citigroup Inc. economists said in a recent report. Much of that is likely due to the shifting of legitimate production across the region. Goods destined for the US market may be sent from their factories in Southeast Asia, and what they make in their factories in China will be sent to the rest of the world, said Derrick Kam, Asia economist at Morgan Stanley. 'If you try to represent that in the trade data, it will look exactly like rerouting, but it's not,' Kam said. 'It's essentially the supply chain working itself out.' But it's transshipment that's been a major concern for Trump's top trade advisers including Peter Navarro, who described Vietnam as 'essentially a colony of communist China' during an April interview with Fox News. And it's not just been happening in Vietnam. Not long after Trump unveiled his 'Liberation Day' tariffs on April 2, garment makers in Indonesia started receiving offers from Chinese companies to be 'partners in transshipment,' said Redma Gita Wirawasta, chairman of the Indonesian Filament Yarn and Fiber Producers Association. Chinese products would be rerouted to Indonesia, undergo minimal processing like repacking or relabeling, then secure a certification that they were made in the Southeast Asian country, Wirawasta said. When the goods are then exported to the US, they'd be subject to the 10 per cent universal levy that Trump has imposed on nearly all countries, instead of the tariff for China that still equates to an effective level of over 50 per cent, even after a recent 'deal' that lowered levies from a peak of 145 per cent. With the huge scope for arbitrage, coupled with little policing, that process will prove tough to stamp out. 'Chinese exporters and their affiliates and partners in Southeast Asia are highly skilled at adapting to changing rules, identifying loopholes, and sometimes overstating the extent of value-add by non-China countries,' said Gabriel Wildau, managing director at advisory firm Teneo Holdings LLC in New York. Some final assembly or transshipment may shift to rival Southeast Asian transshipment hubs like Cambodia, Thailand and Singapore, or farther afield to Turkey, Hungary or Poland, Wildau said. 'Another possibility is that the definitions and enforcement mechanisms are fuzzy, rendering the latest deal cosmetic and toothless,' he said. 'Rigorous enforcement would also require a significant boost of resources to enable US customs to verify compliance with the tougher rules of origin.' There have been efforts across the region to at least be seen to be making an effort to curb the practice. Indeed, Vietnam has made a big deal about cracking down on trade fraud and illegal activity in recent months. In April, South Korea said it seized more than $20 million worth of goods with falsified origin labels — the majority of which were destined for the US. The Airfreight Forwarders Association of Malaysia issued a warning in May as Chinese brokers promoted illegal rerouting services on social media. Malaysia has centralized the issuance of certificates of origin with its Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry, while tapping its customs agency to help curb transshipment. Thailand has expanded its watch list for high-risk products, including solar panels, cars and parts, and is mulling stricter penalties for violators. Red Tape Casey Barnett, the president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia, is already seeing the changes in action. One factory that exports to major US retailers, including Walmart, Home Depot and Lowe's, said that customs officials were very carefully reviewing their products before being sent to the US, he said. 'It's creating some additional paperwork and a little bit of red tape here,' Barnett said. A senior manager at a logistics company in Cambodia, who asked not to be identified because the matter is sensitive, said export processing time has now stretched to as much as 14 working days — double what it was before. But in Indonesia, getting a certificate of origin is fairly quick and painless when goods are marked for export, often just requiring a product list and a letter to the provincial trade office, according to Wirawasta. Authorities prioritize checking products that enter the country to ensure they pay the right duties and comply with regulations, he explained. It's rare for them to inspect factories where an export good was supposedly made. So much so that sometimes, Chinese companies don't even need to muster up some local processing. 'The T-shirt could be finished in China, with a 'Made in Indonesia' label already sewn on,' Wirawasta said. 'Some traders won't even bother to unload the goods from the shipping container,' he added. 'Unloading costs money.'
