Democrat moans ‘I want to go to the beach' instead of passing Trump's tax bill
John Fetterman, appearing disgruntled, said he just wanted 'to go home' as the Senate continued its marathon voting session on the president's 'big, beautiful bill'.
'Oh my God, I just want to go home. I've already... missed our entire trip to the beach,' he told reporters.
'There's no drama. I don't think it's really helpful to put people here till some ungodly hour.'
Video-> pic.twitter.com/d04uw8e2Rp
— Alan He (@alanhe) June 30, 2025
Senators hunkered down on Monday to rush through proposed amendments to Mr Trump's bill, which he expects to sign by his self-imposed deadline of July 4.
Potential changes were being considered in what's called a vote-a-rama, although most are expected to fail, and the bill is expected to pass back to the House.
The endless stream of voting is expected to take all day and it could churn into the night. It means lawmakers like Mr Fetterman face a long evening on Capitol Hill.
The day will be pivotal for the Republicans, who have control of Congress, and are racing against the president's deadline.
Mr Trump has become increasingly frustrated with his party's politicians voting against his flagship bill, accusing them of grandstanding for a moment in the spotlight.
By a 51-49 tally and with JD Vance, the vice-president, on hand to break a potential tie, the bill passed the procedural vote despite opposition on Saturday.
The White House said it was counting on Republican lawmakers to 'get the job done'.
'Republicans need to stay tough and unified during the home stretch,' Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said.
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The Independent
25 minutes ago
- The Independent
A day outside an LA detention center shows profound impact of ICE raids on families
At a federal immigration building in downtown Los Angeles guarded by U.S. Marines, daughters, sons, aunts, nieces and others make their way to an underground garage and line up at a door with a buzzer at the end of a dirty, dark stairwell. It's here where families, some with lawyers, come to find their loved ones after they've been arrested by federal immigration agents. For immigrants without legal status who are detained in this part of Southern California, their first stop is the Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in the basement of the federal building. Officers verify their identity and obtain their biometrics before transferring them to detention facilities. Upstairs, immigrants line up around the block for other services, including for green cards and asylum applications. On a recent day, dozens of people arrived with medication, clothing and hope of seeing their loved one, if only briefly. After hours of waiting, many were turned away with no news, not even confirmation that their relative was inside. Some relayed reports of horrific conditions inside, including inmates who are so thirsty that they have been drinking from the toilets. ICE did not respond to emailed requests for comment. Just two weeks ago, protesters marched around the federal complex following aggressive raids in Los Angeles that began June 6 and have not stopped. Scrawled expletives about President Donald Trump still mark the complex's walls. Those arrested are from a variety of countries, including Mexico, Guatemala, India, Iran, China and Laos. About a third of the county's 10 million residents are foreign-born. Many families learned about the arrests from videos circulating on social media showing masked officers in parking lots at Home Depots, at car washes and in front of taco stands. Around 8 a.m., when attorney visits begin, a few lawyers buzz the basement door called 'B-18" as families wait anxiously outside to hear any inkling of information. 9 a.m. Christina Jimenez and her cousin arrive to check if her 61-year-old stepfather is inside. Her family had prepared for the possibility of this happening to the day laborer who would wait to be hired outside a Home Depot in the LA suburb of Hawthorne. They began sharing locations when the raids intensified. They told him that if he were detained, he should stay silent and follow instructions. Jimenez had urged him to stop working, or at least avoid certain areas as raids increased. But he was stubborn and 'always hustled.' 'He could be sick and he's still trying to make it out to work,' Jimenez said. After learning of his arrest, she looked him up online on the ICE Detainee Locator but couldn't find him. She tried calling ICE to no avail. Two days later, her phone pinged with his location downtown. 'My mom's in shock,' Jimenez said. 'She goes from being very angry to crying, same with my sister.' Jimenez says his name into the intercom – Mario Alberto Del Cid Solares. After a brief wait, she is told yes, he's there. She and her cousin breathe a sigh of relief — but their questions remain. Her biggest fear is that instead of being sent to his homeland of Guatemala, he will be deported to another country, something the Supreme Court recently ruled was allowed. 9:41 a.m. By mid-morning, Estrella Rosas and her mother have come looking for her sister, Andrea Velez, a U.S. citizen. A day earlier, they saw Velez being detained after they dropped her off at her marketing job at a shoe company downtown. 'My mom told me to call 911 because someone was kidnapping her,' Rosas said. Stuck on a one-way street, they had to circle the block. By the time they got back, she says they saw Velez in handcuffs being put into a car without license plates. Velez's family believes she was targeted for looking Hispanic and standing near a tamale stand. Rosas has her sister's passport and U.S. birth certificate, but learns she is not there. They find her next door in a federal detention center. She was accused of obstructing immigration officers, which the family denies, but is released the next day. 11:40 a.m. About 20 people are now outside. Some have found cardboard to sit on after waiting hours. One family comforts a woman who is crying softly in the stairwell. Then the door opens, and a group of lawyers emerge. Families rush to ask if the attorneys could help them. Kim Carver, a lawyer with the Trans Latino Coalition, says she planned to see her client, a transgender Honduran woman, but she was transferred to a facility in Texas at 6:30 that morning. Carver accompanied her less than a week ago for an immigration interview and the asylum officer told her she had a credible case. Then ICE officers walked in and detained her. 'Since then, it's been just a chase trying to find her,' she says. 12:28 p.m. As more people arrive, the group begins sharing information. One person explains the all-important 'A-number,' the registration number given to every detainee, which is needed before an attorney can help. They exchange tips like how to add money to an account for phone calls. One woman says $20 lasted three or four calls for her. Mayra Segura is looking for her uncle after his frozen popsicle cart was abandoned in the middle of the sidewalk in Culver City. 'They couldn't find him in the system,' she says. 12:52 p.m. Another lawyer, visibly frustrated, comes out the door. She's carrying bags of clothes, snacks, Tylenol, and water that she says she wasn't allowed to give to her client, even though he says he had been given only one water bottle over the past two days. The line stretches outside the stairwell into the sun. A man leaves and returns with water for everyone. Nearly an hour after family visitations are supposed to begin, people are finally allowed in. 2:12 p.m. Still wearing hospital scrubs from work, Jasmin Camacho Picazo comes to see her husband again. She brought a sweater because he had told her he was cold, and his back injury was aggravated from sleeping on the ground. 'He mentioned this morning (that) people were drinking from the restroom toilet water,' Picazo says. On her phone, she shows footage of his car left on the side of the road after his arrest. The window was smashed and the keys were still in the ignition. 'I can't stop crying," Picazo says. Her son keeps asking: "Is Papa going to pick me up from school?' 2:21 p.m. More than five hours after Jimenez and her cousin arrive, they see her stepfather. 'He was sad and he's scared," says Jimenez afterwards. 'We tried to reassure him as much as possible.' She wrote down her phone number, which he had not memorized, so he could call her. 2:57 p.m. More people arrive as others are let in. Yadira Almadaz comes out crying after seeing her niece's boyfriend for only five minutes. She says he was in the same clothes he was wearing when he was detained a week ago at an asylum appointment in the city of Tustin. He told her he'd only been given cookies and chips to eat each day. 'It breaks my heart seeing a young man cry because he's hungry and thirsty,' she says. 3:56 p.m. Four minutes before visitation time is supposed to end, an ICE officer opens the door and announces it's over. One woman snaps at him in frustration. The officer tells her he would get in trouble if he helped her past 4 p.m. More than 20 people are still waiting in line. Some trickle out. Others linger, staring at the door in disbelief.
Reuters
31 minutes ago
- Reuters
Asian stocks waver, dollar frail as Trump's tariffs, US rate path weighs
SINGAPORE, July 2 (Reuters) - Asian stocks slipped on Wednesday and the dollar languished near 3-1/2-year lows as investors weighed the prospect of U.S. interest rate cuts and the scramble for trade deals ahead of President Donald Trump's July 9 deadline for tariffs. Trump said he was not considering extending the July 9 deadline for countries to negotiate trade deals with the United States, and cast doubts again that an agreement could be reached with Japan, although he expects a deal with India. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS), opens new tab eased 0.23% in early trading, inching away from the November 2021 top it touched last week. Japan's Nikkei (.N225), opens new tab fell 0.78%, dragged by tech stocks. Tech-heavy Taiwan stocks (.TWII), opens new tab and South Korea's Kospi Index (.KS11), opens new tab also fell after U.S. tech firms were hit hard following a strong rally in June. Data on Tuesday showed the U.S labour market remained resilient with a rise in job openings for May, sharpening the focus on the payrolls report due on Thursday as investors try to gauge when the Federal Reserve is likely to cut rates next. Fed Chair Jerome Powell, under fire from Trump to cut rates immediately, reiterated that the U.S. central bank plans to "wait and learn more" about the impact of tariffs on inflation before lowering interest rates. Traders are pricing in 64 basis points of cuts this year from the Fed with the odds of a move in July at 21%. That maintained a bearish bias on the dollar. The euro last bought $1.1793, just below the three-and-half-year high it touched on Tuesday. The yen was steady at 143.52 per dollar. "Any disappointing economic data can prompt further dovish repricing of FOMC rate cuts and another round of USD selling," said Carol Kong, a currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. "The 'One Big Beautiful Bill' Act (OBBBA) and trade developments also have the potential to further weaken the USD if they undermine investor confidence about the U.S. economy." Investor focus over the last few days has pivoted to the progress of Trump's massive tax-and-spending bill, which is expected to add $3.3 trillion to the national debt. The legislation heads to the House of Representatives for possible final approval after U.S. Senate Republicans passed it by the narrowest of margins. The bill has stoked fiscal worries but the reaction was relatively muted after it passed the Senate. The benchmark U.S. 10-year yields were steady at 4.245% having touched a two-month low in the previous session. Aninda Mitra, head of Asia macro strategy at BNY Investment Institute, said the legislation "hard wires" a steady deterioration of the fiscal position and the debt trajectory of the U.S. government. "The near-term impact is mostly in the price, but the uncertainty factor could keep term premia elevated. We don't think long-term yields will fall back materially in the 6-12 month horizon." The fiscal worries, trade uncertainties and the U.S. rate path trajectory have all led investors to flee U.S. assets and look for alternatives. Investors worry that Trump's chaotic trade policies could hit U.S. economic growth. That has left the dollar unloved, with the greenback down over 10% for the year in its worst first half performance since the 1970s. The dollar index , which measures the U.S. currency against six rivals, was at 96.649, near its lowest since March 2022. In commodities, spot gold eased to $3,332.19 per ounce, after surging 1% in the previous session. The yellow metal is up 27% this year on safe-haven flows.
The Independent
35 minutes ago
- The Independent
Federal judge blocks Trump administration from ending temporary legal status for many Haitians
A federal judge in New York on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from ending temporary legal status for more than 500,000 Haitians who are already in the United States. District Court Judge Brian M. Cogan in New York ruled that moving up the expiration of the temporary protected status, or TPS, by at least five months for Haitians, some of whom have lived in the U.S. for more than a decade, is unlawful. The Biden administration had extended Haiti's TPS status through at least Feb. 3, 2026, due to gang violence, political unrest, a major earthquake in 2021 and several other factors, according to court documents. But last week, the Department of Homeland Security announced it was terminating those legal protections as soon as Sept. 2, setting Haitians up for potential deportation. The department said the conditions in the country had improved and Haitians no longer met the conditions for the temporary legal protections. The ruling comes as President Donald Trump works to end protections and programs for immigrants as part of his mass deportations promises. The judge's 23-page opinion states that the Department of Homeland Security 's move to terminate the legal protections early violates the TPS statute that requires a certain amount of notice before reconsidering a designation. 'When the Government confers a benefit over a fixed period of time, a beneficiary can reasonably expect to receive that benefit at least until the end of that fixed period,' according to the ruling. The judge also referenced the fact that the plaintiffs have started jobs, enrolled in schools and begun receiving medical treatment with the expectations that the country's TPS designation would run through the end of the year. Manny Pastreich, president of the Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, which filed the lawsuit, described the ruling as an 'important step' but said the fight is not over. 'We will keep fighting to make sure this decision is upheld," Pastreich said in a statement. "We will keep fighting for the rights of our members and all immigrants against the Trump Administration – in the streets, in the workplace, and in the courts as well. And when we fight, we win." DHS did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press requesting comment. But the government had argued that TPS is a temporary program and thus 'the termination of a country's TPS designation is a possibility beneficiaries must always expect." Haiti's TPS status was initially activated in 2010 after the catastrophic earthquake and has been extended multiple times, according to the lawsuit. Gang violence has displaced 1.3 million people across Haiti as the local government and international community struggle with the spiraling crisis, according to a report from the International Organization for Migration. There has been a 24% increase in displaced people since December, with gunmen having chased 11% of Haiti's nearly 12 million inhabitants from their home, the report said. In May, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to strip Temporary Protected Status from 350,000 Venezuelans, potentially exposing them to deportation. The order put on hold a ruling from a federal judge in San Francisco that kept the legal protections in place. The judge's decision in New York also comes on the heels of the Trump administration revoking legal protections for thousands of Haitians who arrived legally in the U.S. through a humanitarian parole program.
