Bobbie CEO Laura Modi opens up about her journey to baby formula success
NBC News' Savannah Sellers interviewed Bobbie CEO Laura Modi about her journey to creating a healthy and successful baby formula company. Bobbie is the first and only USDA-certified organic baby formula manufactured in America. Modi's goals are to support families and make the world a healthier place for children.Feb. 18, 2025
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NBC News
3 hours ago
- NBC News
'No plans' for a Trump-Musk call to tamp down their feud, White House chief of staff says
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will not be calling billionaire Elon Musk on Friday after their feud exploded into public, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. 'There are no plans for that today," Wiles told NBC News when asked about reporting by Politico that White House aides scheduled a call Friday with the billionaire Tesla CEO to try to patch things up between the two men. Trump is "not interested" in a call, a senior White House official told NBC News. White House press secretary said Trump is focused on the "One Big Beautiful Bill," the GOP domestic policy bill that Musk trashed, which triggered their falling out. "That's the mindset he left the Oval Office in yesterday," Leavitt said. A Trump administration official added, 'There could be anything — I'd like to de-escalate a very unfortunate situation. But there are no calls on the books, at least not now.' The spat began Thursday when Trump criticized Musk's recent attacks on the Republican policy measure over its estimated increase to the deficit, and turned into a full-scale blow-up that sent ripples through the halls of Congress and Tesla's stock prices. 'I'm very disappointed because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here, better than you people,' Trump told reporters in the Oval Office during a bilateral meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. 'I'm very disappointed in Elon," Trump said. "I've helped Elon a lot.' Trump suggested that Musk, who earlier this week called the GOP bill a 'disgusting abomination,' was upset that the bill cut out a tax credit implemented by the Biden administration to incentivize electric vehicle purchases. Musk denied he was knowledgeable about the legislation. "False, this bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!" Musk wrote in a post to X. The two men spent the rest of the day Thursday lobbing insults at each other on their own social media platforms — Musk on X and Trump on Truth Social.
NBC News
6 hours ago
- NBC News
7 senators to watch as Republicans make changes to Trump's big bill
WASHINGTON — As Senate Republican leaders push to a massive bill for President Donald Trump's agenda by July 4, they are juggling a host of competing demands. Some senators are genuine threats to vote against the legislation, while others are expected to support it in the end after using their demands to shape it. Several of them have complicated political considerations. The Republicans who are speaking out most loudly point to a variety of ways the House-passed bill may change in the Senate, as party leaders seek to ease enough of their concerns. With all Democrats expected to vote against the package, Republicans will need at least 50 votes to pass it, as Vice President JD Vance could break a tie. Here are seven key senators to watch. Rand Paul Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is the only Republican senator who has voted against this legislation every step of the way. He has blasted the spike in military spending, the huge increase in deficits and, in particular, the $5 trillion debt limit hike. Paul does support a key part of the package — an extension of the Trump's 2017 tax cuts — but he wants to offset it with trillions of dollars in additional spending cuts, which the GOP has no hope of finding consensus on. Paul typically doesn't play games with his red lines. Barring an uncharacteristic about face, expect him to vote against the bill. Susan Collins Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is the sole surviving GOP senator to represent a state that Democrats consistently win at the presidential level. And she faces re-election this year. Her trajectory has been revealing, from supporting the initial budget resolution to voting against the revised version. A key reason for her opposition? Concerns that the Medicaid cuts would harm low-income and elderly constituents. She also expressed reservations about going after waste and fraud in Medicare, as GOP leaders have begun to consider. In addition, Collins and others like Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, would firmly oppose overruling the parliamentarian, the Senate's in-house referee who settles rule disputes, if she disqualifies some policies. Collins voted for the party's 2017 tax law, but she has been willing to vote against major GOP bills in the past. Party leaders will need to take her demands seriously in order to win her vote. Lisa Murkowski When Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, voted for the budget blueprint in April that kickstarted the process of writing the legislation, she quickly followed it up with a broad set of grievances that will need to be addressed, or she'll be 'unable to support' the final product. Among other things, she took issue with Medicaid cuts and an accounting trick her party is using to obscure the cost of the tax cuts. Two months later, her concerns persist. Asked Thursday by NBC News what she wants to change in the emerging bill, Murkowski replied dryly, 'Oh, I'll give you a list.' Murkowski has criticized the phaseout and repeal of clean energy tax credits that benefit her state, writing a letter in April with three of her colleagues — Sens. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Curtis — highlighting the importance of America's energy independence, which they argued could be weakened as a result of this bill. Murkowski has shown an independent streak and a willingness to take political arrows when standing her ground. Mike Crapo Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, is the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and will help craft some of the biggest and most contentious pieces of the bill — including the tax cuts and Medicaid cuts. Despite his soft-spoken and non-confrontational style, Crapo won't be able to make everybody happy. And any changes he makes in the Senate would have to be palatable to the wafer-thin House Republican majority, which engaged in painstaking negotiations before passing its version of the bill by a one-vote margin. One example of the disconnect is the expanded $40,000 cap on state and local tax deductions, to placate a group of blue-state House Republicans. But there are no GOP senators representing blue states where that is a big issue. Crapo said "there's not a strong mood in the Senate Republican caucus right now" to expand SALT. The bill represents his biggest test since taking the powerful gavel. Thom Tillis Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said he wants to adjust the phaseouts of the clean energy tax credits with a more 'targeted' approach to protect U.S. businesses that are already invested in existing projects. He said there's 'general consensus that the House proposed language will be modified.' Senate Environment and Public Works Chair Shelley Moore Capito, agreed, telling NBC News some phaseouts will likely be pushed back. A member of the Finance Committee, Tillis has sounded generally positive about the direction of the bill, making him a likely 'yes' vote. But he's skeptical that the Senate will meet the Independence Day deadline: 'There's a lot of things that have to go perfectly right to get all that done and be out by July 4.' Tillis faces a tough political balancing act: He's up for re-election next year in a state that Democrats will be targeting; but first he needs to get through a Republican primary, which means staying on Trump's good side. Ron Johnson Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., has railed against the bill and its estimated $2.4 trillion contribution to the deficit, insisting he can't vote for it as written. He has slammed the idea of a mega-bill, calling for breaking it up and limiting the debt ceiling hike. Trump asked him to be 'less negative' during a meeting at the White House on Wednesday, Johnson said. 'I think we had a good, lively discussion between the two of us,' Johnson told NBC News. 'He obviously would like me to be a little less negative, a little more positive, which I'm happy to do.' Johnson said he isn't trying to make Trump and GOP leaders' jobs harder. And the senator zig-zagged his way to 'yes' on the 2017 tax law after initially coming out against it, so party leaders have reason to be optimistic that he won't sink this legislation. Josh Hawley Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has been the Senate GOP's most vocal opponent of cutting Medicaid "benefits' — and he's been specific about which parts of the House bill he's worried about, citing the Medicaid provider tax and cost-sharing provisions. Notably, Hawley said he's fine with coverage losses resulting from Medicaid work requirements and expanded proof-of-eligibility provisions. Those make up the bulk of the House bill's savings. Hawley has also expressed reservations about including any provisions in the bill related to Medicare, which Republicans recently said they would discuss related to savings connected to so-called 'waste, fraud, and abuse.' Hawley called that 'a terrible idea,' telling reporters Thursday, 'If you don't ever want to win an election again, just go fiddle around with people's Medicare that they've worked hard for, paid into.'
Reuters
17 hours ago
- Reuters
Bumper Brazilian corn crop could spoil US exporters' fun: Braun
NAPERVILLE, Illinois, June 5 (Reuters) - If anything can wreck the party for U.S. corn exporters, it's Brazil. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has sky-high goals for U.S. corn exports in both the current and upcoming marketing years, but the overall potential may be confined by Brazil's current harvest success. As of May 29, U.S. corn exporters had sold 99% of USDA's full-year export outlook for 2024-25, which ends August 31. That is the fullest coverage by this point in a decade, and the figure would generally indicate that the current export target is too low. But by how much? U.S. corn has recently been able to maintain competitive pricing versus Brazil, and 2024-25 U.S. export sales over the last several weeks have been safely above average. However, Brazil just began harvesting its heavily exported second corn crop, and some production estimates have risen notably over the last week or so. Ever since Brazil's second corn output – and exports – exploded in 2011-12, U.S. exporters' ability to make corn sales in the final quarter of the marketing year has been somewhat limited whenever Brazil's crop is strong. Conab's May estimates showed Brazil's 2024-25 second-corn harvest up 11% from last year. Similar past years might imply that the next three months could feature an additional couple million metric tons of U.S. corn sales for 2024-25. USDA pegs 2024-25 U.S. exports at 66 million tons, second to the 69.8 million shipped in 2020-21 when China was a major player. The platform for 2024-25's success started building in the prior year, which boasted a record U.S. corn harvest. But the urge to compare this year with last year should come with extra caveats. Not only was corn cheap and plentiful a year ago, but Brazil's second crop shrank 12% on the year, facilitating above-average sales at the tail end of the 2023-24 U.S. season. Some analysts have surmised that tariff fears caused U.S. corn customers to stock up early on purchases, which cannot be confirmed or denied but could be another possible short-term limitation on U.S. corn sales. USDA's aspirations for U.S. corn exports in 2025-26 are even bigger than in 2024-25, but the feasibility is unclear given that the big 2024-25 Brazilian crop will be hogging global business through the next several months. As of May 29, U.S. exporters had sold just over 3 million tons of corn for export in 2025-26, slightly more than in the last two years but nothing special. Like old-crop sales, new-crop U.S. corn sales are also limited just prior to the start of the marketing year whenever Brazil's second-corn output is solidly up on the year. This can be extended to the other corn exporters, too. Combined 2024-25 corn output in Brazil, Argentina and Ukraine is set to rise 2% on the year, which could keep a lid on 2025-26 U.S. corn sales over the next three months. Apart from Brazil, U.S. exporters' potential success in 2025-26 depends on what happens at home. Although things are not perfect, the 2025-26 U.S. corn crop is off to a promising start with mostly benign weather expected for the first half of June. Over the last two decades, U.S. corn exports have almost never disappointed from initial expectations whenever production meets or exceeds the initial expectations. This offers a chance for U.S. exporters to retain control of their destiny despite ample Brazilian offerings if they can get cooperation from one very finicky source: Mother Nature. Karen Braun is a market analyst for Reuters. Views expressed above are her own.
