This artist hopes to be chosen to make a sculpture for Trump's ‘Garden of American Heroes'
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Washington Post
31 minutes ago
- Washington Post
EPA says Trump's big bill should help in its fight to freeze billions in green bank funds
WASHINGTON — The sprawling tax and policy bill that passed Congress repeals a multibillion-dollar green bank for financing climate-friendly projects, and the Trump administration should be allowed to freeze its funding and cancel related contracts with nonprofits, federal officials said in a court filing. Climate United Fund and other nonprofits in March sued the Environmental Protection Agency, its administrator Lee Zeldin and Citibank, which held the program's money. The lawsuit argued the defendants had illegally denied the groups access to billions awarded last year through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, commonly referred to as a 'green bank.' The program was created by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
Fox News
41 minutes ago
- Fox News
SCOTT BESSENT: President Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' will unleash parallel prosperity
The same issues that drove the Founders to declare independence from the Crown in 1776 drove 77 million Americans to the polls in 2024: heavy taxes, weak leadership, and an overreaching government numb to the needs of its citizens. President Trump won in a landslide victory by offering powerful solutions to each of these problems. He is the American people's declaration of independence from business as usual in Washington. The president seeks to serve "the forgotten men and women of America." And the One Big, Beautiful Bill, which he signs into law today, is central to that mission. This historic legislation will make life more affordable for all Americans by unleashing parallel prosperity—the idea that Main Street and Wall Street can grow together. The One Big, Beautiful Bill represents the priorities of the new Republican Party, which includes millions of working-class Americans who once called themselves Democrats. This bill builds on the blue-collar renaissance started by President Trump. Since President Trump took office in January, blue-collar wages have increased 1.7%. This represents the largest increase in working-class wages to start a presidency in more than 50 years. For comparison, working-class wages decreased during the same period under every single president since Richard Nixon with only one exception—President Trump in his first term. Key to sparking the president's second blue-collar boom has been his efforts to end illegal immigration. The open-border policy of previous administrations accelerated our nation's affordability crisis. The influx of millions of illegal aliens put an unsustainable strain on healthcare, housing, education and welfare. It also supported a black market in labor that artificially suppressed working-class wages for decades. But that ends with the One Big Beautiful Bill. The One Big Beautiful Bill is more than just a tax bill. It works to ensure that illegal immigrants are not taking advantage of the safety net created for Americans. The bill also funds the completion of the border wall and provides resources to hire thousands of additional federal agents to protect our country against future illegal immigration. The goal is to redirect the estimated $249 billion in annual wages paid to illegal workers to lawful workers and American citizens. Ending the black market of undocumented labor by funding enforcement of our existing immigration laws will result in a massive pay raise for the working class. We have seen American workers benefit from the president's economic approach before. Under President Trump's 2017 tax cuts, the net worth of the bottom 50% of households increased faster than the net worth of the top 10% of households. That will happen again under the One Big Beautiful Bill. The bill prevents a $4.5 trillion tax hike on the American people. This will allow the average worker to keep an additional $4,000 to $7,200 in annual real wages and allow the average family of four to keep an additional $7,600 to $10,900 in take-home pay. Add to this the president's ambitious deregulation agenda, which could save the average family of four an additional $10,000. For millions of Americans, these savings are the difference between being able to make a mortgage payment, buy a car, or send a child to college. The president is delivering on his promise to seniors as well. The bill provides an additional $6,000 deduction for seniors, which will mean that 88% of seniors receiving Social Security income will pay no tax on their Social Security benefits. The One Big Beautiful Bill also codifies no tax on tips and no tax on overtime pay—both policies designed to provide financial relief to America's working class. These tax breaks will ensure Main Street workers keep more of their hard-earned income. And they will bolster productivity by rewarding Americans who work extra hours. All Americans can learn how President Trump's tax cuts will impact their lives for the better with a new White House calculator. These productivity-enhancing measures dovetail with the second booster in the blue-collar boom: providing 100% expensing for new factories and existing factories that expand operations, plus car loan interest deductibility to support Made-in-America. Economic security is national security. This became especially clear during COVID, which exposed glaring vulnerabilities in our critical supply chains. By providing 100% expensing for factories—in addition to rebalancing trade to encourage greater domestic production—President Trump is fortifying our supply chains and reawakening the might of America's industrial base. To help fuel this effort, the president is unleashing American energy by removing onerous regulations, increasing oil and gas lease sales, eliminating the perverse subsidies of the Green New Scam, and refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. These measures will make life more affordable for American families by bringing down the costs of gas and electricity across the country. Through the One Big Beautiful Bill, President Trump is taking a bottom-up approach to restoring the economy. To that end, the bill makes the 2017 tax cuts permanent to give businesses of all sizes the certainty they need to grow, hire, and plan for the long term. It also provides targeted relief for small businesses by more than doubling the cap on overall small business expensing. These tax provisions will put billions of dollars back in the hands of America's small business owners, which they can then use to expand their workforce and reinvigorate Main Street. The intent of all these policies—be it tax cuts for the working class, full expensing for manufacturers, or new deductions for small businesses—is the same: to improve the lives of Americans on every rung of the economic ladder. With visionary leadership, President Trump is laying the foundation for the Golden Age he promised through tax deals, trade deals, peace deals, and deregulation. The One Big Beautiful Bill will Make America Affordable Again. It will cement the blue-collar boom, reignite U.S. manufacturing, and unleash the commercial potential of the greatest economy in the world. Today marks the passage of the largest tax cut in history for our nation's workers. It is a tribute to the Founders who demanded lower taxes themselves and is the perfect way to begin America's 250th anniversary celebration.
Yahoo
41 minutes ago
- Yahoo
BRICS Aspires to Occupy Ground Vacated by US Under Trump
(Bloomberg) -- Ever since BRICS was founded more than a decade ago, the group of emerging-market nations has struggled to identify a common purpose. President Donald Trump's tariffs may have solved that problem. Foreign Buyers Swoop on Cape Town Homes, Pricing Out Locals Massachusetts to Follow NYC in Making Landlords Pay Broker Fees NYC Commutes Resume After Midtown Bus Terminal Crash Chaos Struggling Downtowns Are Looking to Lure New Crowds What Gothenburg Got Out of Congestion Pricing BRICS leaders meeting in Rio de Janeiro this weekend for a summit hosted by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are expected to sign up to a joint statement decrying 'the rise of unjustified unilateral protectionist measures' and the 'indiscriminate raising' of tariffs. That's what foreign ministers from the bloc named for oldest members Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa agreed to in April, and several officials said the text would remain in the communique. The concluding language is unlikely to directly cite the US. But the group is sending an unmistakable signal to the Trump administration on the eve of the July 9 deadline for his levies to take effect. BRICS members all agree that 'these tariffs are not productive,' Ambassador Xolisa Mabhongo, South Africa's lead negotiator, or sherpa, said in an interview. 'They are not good for the world economy. They are not good for development.' As Trump alienates traditional allies and pursues his America First agenda, BRICS is seeking to occupy the ground the US leader has ceded. The upshot is that the group long presumed to be forging an alternative to the US-led world order is now projecting itself as defender of those same core values, including free trade and multilateralism. 'Multilateralism is going through its worst moment since the World War II,' Lula said Friday during a meeting of the New Development Bank, the financing arm of the BRICS. China will work with member states to 'strengthen the BRICS strategic partnership and safeguard multilateralism,' Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in a briefing in Beijing on Wednesday. Even with Trump providing some elements of a unity of purpose, the BRICS grouping is still likely to fall far short of wielding the global influence its members have long sought. Chinese President Xi Jinping, who held a state visit to Brasilia in November and is expected to attend the COP30 climate summit in Brazil later this year, is skipping the BRICS meeting. Vladimir Putin of Russia will stay away to avoid putting Brazil's government in the uncomfortable position of having to arrest a president wanted for war crimes in Ukraine. Founded in 2009, the original BRICS group has long suffered from a lack of shared values among members who have little in common beyond their status as large, emerging economies that wanted a voice in global affairs dominated by Washington and the West. Its rapid expansion to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates bolstered its representation — the new BRICS accounts for about 40% of global GDP and roughly half the planet's population — but threatens to make it even less coherent. What Bloomberg Economics Says The group is held together primarily by a shared sense that emerging markets should have a louder voice in the global order and a desire to build a multipolar world. In the absence of a clearer shared agenda, though, the group's geopolitical gravitas will probably continue to increase only gradually, in line with its economic heft or, potentially, its further expansion. —Jimena Zuniga, Latin America geoeconomics analyst Read the full report here. Notably, the bloc is divided on references to war, with Russia and China against any significant mention, according to several delegations. Egypt is pushing for a mention of peace and security in the Middle East, by which it mainly means resolving the war on its border in Gaza, according to a person familiar with the matter. Trump's aggression offers the bloc something of a dilemma. While his tariffs push gives it a degree of shared resolve, some members are keen to maintain balanced relations with both the US and China. Paradoxically, Trump's threat to slap 100% levies on the bloc if it ditches the dollar in bilateral trade has spurred interest in developing local payment systems and other instruments that can facilitate commerce and investment between the nations. The idea of abandoning the dollar isn't under discussion, according to Brazilian officials. Trade among the five original BRICS nations grew 40% between 2021 and 2024 to $740 billion a year, according to International Monetary Fund data. Lula's government is optimistic that leaders will make progress on collective alternatives, in part because Trump's trade threats have given countries incentives to forge consensus and new partnerships, according to two Brazilian officials familiar with the discussions. The BRICS group is also discussing mechanisms to boost climate finance among members for the first time, the officials said, an issue that has taken on greater importance after Trump pulled the US out of the Paris agreement. China continues to engage with other BRICS nations on climate, also as a way to show it is a friendlier and more reliable ally than the US. Along with Indonesia, Beijing has held discussions with Brazil about the agenda for the UN's annual climate summit. For its part, India sees no major hurdles to a joint declaration from the summit, according to a government official familiar with the preparations, who asked not to be named discussing ongoing diplomacy. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is undertaking a state visit in Brazil after the Rio gathering ends. Lula will also welcome Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in back to back pageantry. Yet divisions among BRICS members — and especially between its old guard and new arrivals — could still surface. Egypt and Ethiopia had balked at supporting South Africa for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, something that had been one of the bloc's few unifying themes. There are also simmering tensions between the group's two largest economies. China and India both vie to lead the BRICS and the Global South as a whole. Modi will stake his claim as leader when he takes over the BRICS presidency for 2026, just three years after Xi skipped India's G-20 summit. At a time when BRICS is trying to prove it's more than just a catchy acronym, another snub from Xi wouldn't be a good look. --With assistance from Mirette Magdy, Sudhi Ranjan Sen and Jing Li. (Updates with comment from Lula in sixth paragraph.) SNAP Cuts in Big Tax Bill Will Hit a Lot of Trump Voters Too America's Top Consumer-Sentiment Economist Is Worried For Brazil's Criminals, Coffee Beans Are the Target How to Steal a House Sperm Freezing Is a New Hot Market for Startups ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
