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June 30, 2025
Senate begins marathon vote series on Trump's bill as GOP eyes July 4 deadline
(CBS News) The Senate kicked off a "vote-a-rama" on President Trump's massive tax bill Monday, beginning what's expected to be a marathon session after the chamber debated the bill into the wee hours of the morning as the Republicans efforts to pass the centerpiece legislation of Mr. Trump's second-term agenda.
Go to discussionRetiring GOP senator savages Medicaid cuts in Trump's
(Axios) Fresh off announcing he'll retire next year, Sen. Thom Tillis gave a lengthy floor speech Sunday night attacking cuts to Medicaid in the "big, beautiful bill." The North Carolina Republican is accusing the GOP of breaking President Trump's campaign promises to protect Medicaid. Tillis voted Saturday against starting debate on the bill, and has declared he'll vote "no" on the final version. "What do I tell 663,000 people in two years, three years, when President Trump breaks his promise by pushing them off of Medicaid because the funding's not there anymore," Tillis asked.
Go to discussionThe worst bill in modern history
(Jennifer Rubin) Senate Republicans over the weekend decided to move forward on the big, ugly bill to rip healthcare coverage from 17 million people, deprive millions of food assistance, and use that money to pay (only partially!) for gigantic tax cuts for the super-rich. Their version is far worse than the House’s handiwork; Senate Republicans want to cut more than $1 trillion from Medicaid. Apparently, they concluded the House’s $700 billion cut did not throw a sufficient number of people off their healthcare coverage. An estimated 17 million (including those priced out of the Affordable Care Act exchanges) would lose healthcare coverage.
Go to discussionMusk Reignites Feud, Labels Trump Bill 'Insane, Destructive'
(Time) Elon Musk has renewed his criticism of President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful, Bill,” showcasing his fierce opposition to the measure at a critical time. As Senate Republicans scrambled to advance the newly-revised 940-page proposal, Musk took to social media on Saturday to highlight his disapproval. “The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country,” Musk said to his more than 220 million followers on X. “Utterly insane and destructive. It gives handouts to industries of the past, while severely damaging industries of the future.”
Go to discussionImmigration raids leave crops unharvested, California farms at risk
(Reuters) Lisa Tate is a sixth-generation farmer in Ventura County, California, an area that produces billions of dollars worth of fruit and vegetables each year, much of it hand-picked by immigrants in the U.S. illegally. Tate knows the farms around her well. And she says she can see with her own eyes how raids carried out by agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the area’s fields earlier this month, part of President Donald Trump’s migration crackdown, have frightened off workers.
Go to discussionAt least 11 people have died in ICE detention under Trump, as administration on pace for deadliest year in decades
(The Independent) Donald Trump’s administration is on pace to have one of the worst years for deaths in immigrant detention in decades following the recent deaths of a Canadian citizen and a Cuban man in federal custody. A 75-year-old Cuban man died in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week, CBS News reports, citing a notice sent to Congress of the alleged death. The agency has not publicly disclosed the death yet, though it often announces such fatalities at a delay. His death would bring the total to at least 12 dead in ICE custody since Trump took office. At least two of those deaths were suicides.
Go to discussionTrump expected to visit the 'Alligator Alcatraz' detention facility this week
(NBC News) President Donald Trump is expected to be at the formal opening Tuesday of a controversial immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades that state leaders have dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.” The Palm Beach Post reported Sunday that Federal Aviation Administration data indicated that Trump would be in South Florida for the opening. Two White House officials and a Florida official familiar with the travel confirmed to NBC News that Trump is “likely” to be there.
Go to discussionWhy Is Trump Returning MS-13 Leaders to El Salvador?
(NY Times) When Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, agreed earlier this year to imprison deportees from the United States, he had a specific request of the Trump administration: the return of top MS-13 leaders in American custody. For the past several months, a team of New York Times reporters has been investigating how their return is affecting President Trump’s pledge to dismantle the transnational gang and why Mr. Bukele would want top gang leaders back in his country.
Go to discussionKristi Noem Secretly Took a Cut of Political Donations
(ProPublica) In 2023, while Kristi Noem was governor of South Dakota, she supplemented her income by secretly accepting a cut of the money she raised for a nonprofit that promotes her political career, tax records show. In what experts described as a highly unusual arrangement, the nonprofit routed funds to a personal company of Noem’s that had recently been established in Delaware. The payment totaled $80,000 that year, a significant boost to her roughly $130,000 government salary.
Go to discussionIran's nuclear enrichment 'will never stop', nation's UN ambassador says
(The Guardian) Amir-Saeid Iravani, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, said on Sunday that the Islamic republic’s nuclear enrichment “will never stop” because it is permitted for “peaceful energy” purposes under the treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. “The enrichment is our right, an inalienable right, and we want to implement this right,” Iravani told CBS News, adding that Iran was ready for negotiations but “unconditional surrender is not negotiation. It is dictating the policy toward us.”
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