The Latest: House leaders rush toward a final vote as Democrats hold the floor
Final debates began in the predawn hours after another chaotic day and night at the Capitol following a series of closed-door meetings.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Musk forms 'America Party' opposing Trump's tax bill
The dispute between US President Donald Trump and campaign financier Elon Musk has taken another fractious turn after the space and automotive billionaire announced the formation of a new political party, saying Trump's "big, beautiful" tax bill will bankrupt America. A day after asking his followers on his X platform whether a new US political party should be created, Musk declared in a post on Saturday that "Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom." "By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!" he wrote. By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 5, 2025 The announcement from Musk comes after Republican President Trump signed his self-styled "big, beautiful" tax-cut and spending bill into law on Friday, which Musk fiercely opposed. Musk, who became the word's richest man thanks to his Tesla car company and his SpaceX satellite firm, spent hundreds of millions on Trump's re-election and led the Department of Government Efficiency from the start of the president's second term aimed at slashing government spending. The first sign of investor dissatisfaction with Musk's announcement followed later in the day. Investment firm Azoria Partners will postpone the listing of a Tesla exchange-traded fund, Azoria CEO James Fishback said in a post on X. Fishback, who has asked Tesla's board to clarify Musk's political ambitions, said the new party undermined the confidence shareholders had that he would focus more on the company after leaving government service in May. Elon has gone too investment firm (@InvestAzoria) has decided to postpone next week's public listing of our Azoria Tesla Convexity decision comes in direct response to @ElonMusk's announcement that he is launching a new national political party. This creates… — James Fishback (@j_fishback) July 6, 2025 Musk said previously that he would start a new political party and spend money to unseat lawmakers who supported the bill. Trump earlier this week threatened to cut off the billions of dollars in subsidies that Musk's companies receive from the federal government. Republicans have expressed concern that Musk's on-again, off-again feud with Trump could hurt their chances to protect their majority in the 2026 midterm congressional elections. Asked on X what was the one thing that made him go from loving Trump to attacking him, Musk said: "Increasing the deficit from an already insane $US2T under Biden to $2.5T. This will bankrupt the country." There was no immediate comment from Trump or the White House on Musk's announcement. The feud with Trump, often described as one between the world's richest man and the world's most powerful, has led to several precipitous falls in Tesla's share price. The stock soared after Trump's November re-election and hit a high of more than $US488 ($A745) in December, before losing more than half of its value in April and closing at $315.35 on Friday. Despite Musk's deep pockets, breaking the Republican-Democratic duopoly will be a tall order, given that it has dominated American political life for more than 160 years and Trump's approval ratings in polls during his second term have generally held firm above 40 per cent, despite often divisive policies.
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
Trump's ‘reciprocal' tariff pause is about to expire. Cue the confusion
The 90-day deadline President Donald Trump set for countries to make trade deals with the United States or risk substantially higher tariffs is just days away. What will happen after that's reached at 12:01 a.m. ET on July 9 is anyone's best guess. The stakes could not be higher, with the entire global economy on notice. On April 2, a date Trump dubbed 'Liberation Day,' he unveiled new, 'reciprocal' tariff rates for key US trading partners, with some levies as high as 50%. Collectively, the rates were the highest the US has charged on foreign goods in over a century. Economists quickly sounded alarms about a recession hitting not just certain countries, but rather the whole world. As the tariffs went into effect on April 9, they sparked a sell-off on Wall Street and the bond market rebelled, forcing Trump to announce a three-month pause to give countries more time to solidify deals with the US, saying investors 'were getting a little bit yippy, a little afraid.' Since then, almost all goods the US imports have been subject to a minimum 10% tariff. Stocks, meanwhile, have not only recovered all those losses but have set multiple new record highs. And inflation has barely budged. But if tariffs start to rise again and inflation roars back, those gains could quickly get erased all over again. After months of meeting with foreign government officials and countless claims that several trading partners were on the cusp of completing deals, only three have been announced. One of those, with Vietnam, has yet to be finalized and few details are known about it. Still, the Trump administration is advertising that a flurry of deals are forthcoming. At the same time, the president has threatened to send letters to countries that don't ink deals, telling them the rate at which their exports to the US will be taxed. Leading up to July 9, Trump administration officials threatened to simply return to April tariff rates, or possibly even higher levies. They also floated the possibility of extending the pause for countries 'negotiating in good faith,' without defining what that means or which it includes. It's not clear where Trump, who will get the ultimate say, stands. 'We can do whatever we want. We could extend it; we could make it shorter,' Trump recently said. 'I'd like to make it shorter. I'd like to just sent letters out to everybody, 'Congratulations, you're paying 25%.'' 'We'll look at how a country treats us — are they good, are they not so good — some countries we don't care, we'll just send a high number out,' Trump also recently said. On Friday, he said he'd begin sending letters over the coming days. 'They'll range in value from maybe 60% or 70% tariffs to 10% and 20% tariffs,' Trump said. For many countries, such rates would deal an even bigger economic blow compared to the levels Trump announced in April. But countries may have the opportunity to still negotiate, given Trump said most new rates won't take effect until August 1. The deal Trump announced on Wednesday with Vietnam, which calls for minimum tariffs of 20% on Vietnamese goods, double the rate throughout the three-month pause, has raised the possibility that countries may not be able to score lower rates even if they reach a trade agreement. But considering tariffs on Vietnam were set to rise to a minimum of 46% if the rates Trump announced in April held — which was among the highest Trump announced — 20% suddenly feels like a relief. That may be an intentional strategy on Trump's part, allowing him to stick to his major campaign promise of levying higher tariffs on other nations in an effort to raise revenues and bring manufacturing jobs back to the US. 'On balance, we take the US-Vietnam accord as a positive step toward more durable bilateral deals for the US and toward greater clarity for investors,' Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, global head of equities at UBS Global Wealth Management, said in a note last week. 'Headline risks around trade may persist as negotiations continue, but we think the market impact should moderate as President Trump's negotiating tactics become increasingly familiar,' he said. 'Ultimately, we expect the US administration to prioritize economic stability over more maximalist tariffs, especially ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.'
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
Trump's ‘reciprocal' tariff pause is about to expire. Cue the confusion
The 90-day deadline President Donald Trump set for countries to make trade deals with the United States or risk substantially higher tariffs is just days away. What will happen after that's reached at 12:01 a.m. ET on July 9 is anyone's best guess. The stakes could not be higher, with the entire global economy on notice. On April 2, a date Trump dubbed 'Liberation Day,' he unveiled new, 'reciprocal' tariff rates for key US trading partners, with some levies as high as 50%. Collectively, the rates were the highest the US has charged on foreign goods in over a century. Economists quickly sounded alarms about a recession hitting not just certain countries, but rather the whole world. As the tariffs went into effect on April 9, they sparked a sell-off on Wall Street and the bond market rebelled, forcing Trump to announce a three-month pause to give countries more time to solidify deals with the US, saying investors 'were getting a little bit yippy, a little afraid.' Since then, almost all goods the US imports have been subject to a minimum 10% tariff. Stocks, meanwhile, have not only recovered all those losses but have set multiple new record highs. And inflation has barely budged. But if tariffs start to rise again and inflation roars back, those gains could quickly get erased all over again. After months of meeting with foreign government officials and countless claims that several trading partners were on the cusp of completing deals, only three have been announced. One of those, with Vietnam, has yet to be finalized and few details are known about it. Still, the Trump administration is advertising that a flurry of deals are forthcoming. At the same time, the president has threatened to send letters to countries that don't ink deals, telling them the rate at which their exports to the US will be taxed. Leading up to July 9, Trump administration officials threatened to simply return to April tariff rates, or possibly even higher levies. They also floated the possibility of extending the pause for countries 'negotiating in good faith,' without defining what that means or which it includes. It's not clear where Trump, who will get the ultimate say, stands. 'We can do whatever we want. We could extend it; we could make it shorter,' Trump recently said. 'I'd like to make it shorter. I'd like to just sent letters out to everybody, 'Congratulations, you're paying 25%.'' 'We'll look at how a country treats us — are they good, are they not so good — some countries we don't care, we'll just send a high number out,' Trump also recently said. On Friday, he said he'd begin sending letters over the coming days. 'They'll range in value from maybe 60% or 70% tariffs to 10% and 20% tariffs,' Trump said. For many countries, such rates would deal an even bigger economic blow compared to the levels Trump announced in April. But countries may have the opportunity to still negotiate, given Trump said most new rates won't take effect until August 1. The deal Trump announced on Wednesday with Vietnam, which calls for minimum tariffs of 20% on Vietnamese goods, double the rate throughout the three-month pause, has raised the possibility that countries may not be able to score lower rates even if they reach a trade agreement. But considering tariffs on Vietnam were set to rise to a minimum of 46% if the rates Trump announced in April held — which was among the highest Trump announced — 20% suddenly feels like a relief. That may be an intentional strategy on Trump's part, allowing him to stick to his major campaign promise of levying higher tariffs on other nations in an effort to raise revenues and bring manufacturing jobs back to the US. 'On balance, we take the US-Vietnam accord as a positive step toward more durable bilateral deals for the US and toward greater clarity for investors,' Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, global head of equities at UBS Global Wealth Management, said in a note last week. 'Headline risks around trade may persist as negotiations continue, but we think the market impact should moderate as President Trump's negotiating tactics become increasingly familiar,' he said. 'Ultimately, we expect the US administration to prioritize economic stability over more maximalist tariffs, especially ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.'
