Live updates: Trump's pledge to fix national debt faces skepticism from some Republicans

Associated Press

02-06-2025

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.
Update:
Date: 2025-06-02 11:52:11
Title:
Trump officials are visiting Alaska to discuss a gas pipeline and oil drilling
Content: 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 comes after Trump signed an executive order earlier this year aimed at boosting oil and gas drilling, mining and logging in Alaska. It also comes amid tariff talks with Asian countries that are seen as possible leverage for the administration to secure investments in the proposed Alaska liquefied natural gas project.
While it's not unusual for U.S. officials to visit Alaska during warmer weather months, Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy's office said the officials' visit is significant. Dunleavy, a Trump ally, said he is thankful for an administration that 'recognizes Alaska's unique value.'
▶ Read more about the upcoming trip
Update:
Date: 2025-06-02 11:49:53
Title:
Trump, frustrated with some judges, lashes out at former ally and conservative activist Leonard Leo
Content: Conservative legal activist Leonard Leo helped Trump transform the federal judiciary in his first term. He closely advised Trump on his Supreme Court picks and is widely credited as the architect of the conservative majority responsible for overturning Roe v. Wade.
But Trump last week lashed out at Leo, blaming his former adviser and the group Leo used to head for encouraging him to appoint judges who are now blocking his agenda.
Trump's broadsides came after a three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of International Trade blocked his sweeping tariffs, ruling that he had overstepped his authority when he invoked the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to declare a national emergency and levy tariffs on imports from almost every country in the world.
While an appeals court soon intervened and allowed the administration to continue collecting the tariffs while the legal fight plays out, the decision — and Trump's fury at Leo — underscored the extent to which the judiciary is serving as a rare check on Trump's power as he pushes the bounds of executive authority.
▶ Read more about Trump and Leo
Update:
Date: 2025-06-02 11:47:37
Title:
China blasts US for its computer chip moves and for threatening student visas
Content: China blasted the U.S. on Monday over moves it alleged harmed Chinese interests, including issuing AI chip export control guidelines, stopping the sale of chip design software to China, and planning to revoke Chinese student visas.
'These practices seriously violate the consensus' reached during trade discussions in Geneva last month, the Commerce Ministry said in a statement.
That referred to a China-U.S. joint statement in which the United States and China agreed to slash their massive recent tariffs, restarting stalled trade between the world's two biggest economies.
But last month's de-escalation in Trump's trade wars did nothing to resolve underlying differences between Beijing and Washington and Monday's statement showed how easily such agreements can lead to further turbulence.
The deal lasts 90 days, creating time for U.S. and Chinese negotiators to reach a more substantive agreement. But the pause also leaves tariffs higher than before Trump started ramping them up last month. And businesses and investors must contend with uncertainty about whether the truce will last.
▶ Read more about China's comments
Update:
Date: 2025-06-02 11:43:42
Title:
Ask AP a question
Content:
Update:
Date: 2025-06-02 11:43:19
Title:
Here are some of the headlines from the weekend
Content: Just catching up on the news from the weekend? Here are some of the major headlines:
Update:
Date: 2025-06-02 11:40:52
Title:
Can Trump fix the national debt? Republican senators, many investors and even Elon Musk have doubts
Content: 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.
'All of this rhetoric about cutting trillions of dollars of spending has come to nothing — and the tax bill codifies that,' said Michael Strain, director of economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a right-leaning think tank. 'There is a level of concern about the competence of Congress and this administration and that makes adding a whole bunch of money to the deficit riskier.'
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the 'blatantly wrong claim that the 'One, Big, Beautiful Bill' increases the deficit is based on the Congressional Budget Office and other scorekeepers who use shoddy assumptions and have historically been terrible at forecasting across Democrat and Republican administrations alike.'
▶ Read more about the reaction to Trump's pledge to fix the national debt