Trump administration live updates: House turns to Senate-passed GOP agenda bill
The House is preparing to hold a procedural vote this morning on President Donald Trump's "big beautiful bill" — a day after Senate Republicans made changes that irked many of their House GOP colleagues.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he's hoping a final vote on the bill will take place today or tomorrow at the latest. One wild card, he said, is the weather: Storms in many parts of the country led to canceled flights that have made it harder for some lawmakers to get to Washington.
Trump visited a newly built detention center in the Everglades yesterday that Republicans have dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz — an effort by state Republicans to coordinate with the Trump administration on the president's immigration crackdown.
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Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Iranian nuclear program degraded by up to two years, Pentagon says
WASHINGTON, July 2 (Reuters) - The Pentagon said on Wednesday that U.S. strikes 10 days ago had degraded Iran's nuclear program by up to two years, suggesting the U.S. military operation likely achieved its goals despite a far more cautious initial assessment that leaked to the public. Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesman, offered the figure at a briefing to reporters, adding that the official estimate was "probably closer to two years." Parnell did not provide evidence to back up his assessment. "We have degraded their program by one to two years, at least intel assessments inside the Department (of Defense) assess that," Parnell told a news briefing. U.S. military bombers carried out strikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities on June 22 using more than a dozen 30,000-pound (13,600-kg) bunker-buster bombs and more than two dozen Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles. The evolving U.S. intelligence about the impact of the strikes is being closely watched, after President Donald Trump said almost immediately after they took place that Iran's program had been obliterated, language echoed by Parnell at Wednesday's briefing. Such conclusions often take the U.S. intelligence community weeks or more to determine. "All of the intelligence that we've seen (has) led us to believe that Iran's -- those facilities especially, have been completely obliterated," Parnell said. Over the weekend, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, said that Iran could be producing enriched uranium in a few months, raising doubts about how effective U.S. strikes to destroy Tehran's nuclear program have been. Several experts have also cautioned that Iran likely moved a stockpile of near weapons-grade highly enriched uranium out of the deeply buried Fordow site before the strikes and could be hiding it. But U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week he was unaware of intelligence suggesting Iran had moved its highly enriched uranium to shield it from U.S. strikes. A preliminary assessment last week from the Defense Intelligence Agency suggested that the strikes may have only set back Iran's nuclear program by months. But Trump administration officials said that assessment was low confidence and had been overtaken by intelligence showing Iran's nuclear program was severely damaged. According to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, the strikes on the Fordow nuclear site caused severe damage. "No one exactly knows what has transpired in Fordow. That being said, what we know so far is that the facilities have been seriously and heavily damaged," Araqchi said in the interview broadcast by CBS News on Tuesday.
South Wales Guardian
an hour ago
- South Wales Guardian
House of Lords votes to block expulsion of hereditary peers
Peers supported by 280 votes to 243, majority 37, an amendment to the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill that would instead see a gradual reduction of bloodline peers. The amendment, put forward by shadow culture minister Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay, would abolish the aristocratic by-elections, meaning the number of hereditary peers would decrease as individuals die or retire. There are currently 92 seats reserved for members of the Lords who are there by right of birth, but there are only 86 currently sitting. This is because by-elections were suspended after Labour won the election last year and six hereditary peers have left the House since then by death, retirement or moving on. Lord Parkinson argued that current sitting hereditary peers have 'served here with distinction and, in many cases, with more conspicuous industry than those who have been appointed'. He told peers: 'I hope, through this modest amendment, we can applaud their diligence and their public service and seek to harness it for the benefit of the nation for a while longer.' There have been numerous attempts to end the hereditary by-elections since their inception 26 years ago, including from Labour peer Lord Grocott. Lord Parkinson said: 'The formulation he (Lord Grocott) has proposed in every parliamentary session since 2016, apart from this one, is exactly the same as the one we advance today. 'Just as with peers who proposed private bills under the last Labour government, he has found it difficult to make progress with his bills under Conservative governments.' However, he said: 'On this, we give in… We yield to the mandate that they've won at the ballot box and take it at their word that further reform will follow.' The Tory frontbencher concluded that, in return, he asks for 'clemency and generosity' to those hereditary peers currently sitting in the Lords to allow them to remain for the rest of their life if they wish. Meanwhile, Lord Groccot said: 'I'm finding it difficult to compute exactly what's going on today because Friday after Friday, bill after bill, to a three-quarters empty House, I have been faced with substantial opposition, not just from individual members – not exclusively from the Tory Party, but overwhelmingly – but also from the Government, and the bill's got no further. 'And here we are now with a pretty full House all agreed that these by-elections are farcical.' He said his motive in bringing forward his bills were to 'stop this absurdity' and lamented that 'time and time again' his bills were rejected and filibustered. Lord Grocott said he had thought that no-one in the upper chamber could think a by-election to get into the House should be exclusively for men, or that it is feasible to have 'an electorate of three when you've got seven candidates'. The Labour peer added: 'I'm flattered, I suppose, to find that suddenly everyone seems to be agreed on this. We could have saved ourselves so much time when I brought this in first in 2016.' However, he said he prefers plans to expel the hereditary peers over ending the by-elections because it's 'better' and 'does the job more effectively', allowing the conversation to move on to further reform. Lord Grocott concluded: 'Thank heavens that we are removing the hereditary principle as a mechanism for membership of this House. It's long, long, long overdue. 'It could have been dealt with much earlier, but let's not cry over spilt milk, let's just get on with this and get on with it quickly.' Leader of the House of Lords Baroness Smith of Basildon said she is sure the Tories 'regret' not taking up her offer to ensure Lord Grocott's bill passed through the House. She said: 'We could have done that and that opportunity was lost. It's a shame it was lost, but that's where we are now. We now are debating a manifesto commitment from the Labour Party… 'The principle of this was established 25 years ago that the hereditary principle would not be a route into this House. 'That does not decry any individual member who's arrived by that route, but the time has come to an end.' It is expected that the House of Commons will reject this amendment to the Bill. Before the vote, former senior diplomat Lord Kerr of Kinlochard warned that ping-pong between the two Houses would be 'poison' and 'disastrous' for the image of the Lords. Later, peers rejected a move by the Liberal Democrats that would have forced the Government to bring forward proposals for an elected House of Lords. The bid to secure 'a democratic mandate' for the upper chamber was defeated by 263 votes to 84, majority 179.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Jerome Powell: Trump calls for US central bank head to quit immediately
US President Donald Trump has called for the chair of the Federal Reserve to quit "immediately", in an escalation of his attacks on Jerome Powell."'Too Late' should resign immediately!!!", Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. He also included a link to a news article about a US federal housing regulator calling for Mr Powell to be investigated over his testimony about renovations to the central bank's Washington nominated Mr Powell to be the Fed chair during his his first term. Since then, he has repeatedly criticised him for not cutting interest rates but it's unclear whether the president has the authority to remove him from the post. Despite the president's continued criticism of Mr Powell, he said earlier this year that had "no intention of firing him".Trump wants the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates to help boost economic Powell said on Tuesday that the Fed would have cut rates already had it not been for the impact of the Trump's tariff asked during a meeting of central bankers in Portugal whether US rates would have been cut this again this year if the administration had not announced its plan to sharply increase tariffs on countries around the world Mr Powell responded, "I think that's right."The US Federal Reserve declined to comment about Trump's remarks when contacted by the BBC. Ahead of Trump's return to the White House at the start of this year, Mr Powell said he would not step down if the president asked him to and that it is "not permitted under law" for the White House to force him members of independent federal agencies like the Federal Reserve can only be forced out before their terms expire "for cause," according to a landmark US Supreme Court ruling in Trump has often challenged political norms, including firing some independent regulators, actions that have been contested in court. On Wednesday, Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte, who has previously strongly criticised Mr Powell, called for him to be investigated."I am asking Congress to investigate Chairman Jerome Powell, his political bias, and his deceptive Senate testimony, which is enough to be removed 'for cause,'" he posted on week, Mr Powell told the Senate that reports about soaring costs and expensive features at the Fed's headquarters were "misleading and inaccurate in many, many respects." Follow the twists and turns of Trump's second term with North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher's weekly US Politics Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.
