Giant Trump tax bill faces make-or-break vote in Congress
The party's senators passed the sprawling package by a tie-breaking vote Tuesday after a bruising 27 hours of infighting over provisions set to balloon the national debt while launching a historic assault on the social safety net.
It was originally approved by the House of Representatives in May but must return for a rubber stamp of the final wording in the lower chamber - and success is far from guaranteed.
"This bill is President Trump's agenda, and we are making it law," House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement, projecting confidence that Republicans were "ready to finish the job."
The package honors many of Trump's campaign promises, boosting military spending, funding a mass migrant deportation drive and committing $4.5 trillion to extend his first-term tax relief.
But it piles an extra $3.3 trillion over a decade onto the country's fast-growing deficits, while forcing through the largest cuts to the Medicaid health insurance program since its 1960s launch.
AFP | Drew ANGERER
Fiscal hawks, meanwhile, are chafing over spending cuts that they say fall short of what they were promised by hundreds of billions of dollars.
Johnson has to negotiate incredibly tight margins, and can likely only lose three lawmakers among more than two dozen who have declared themselves open to rejecting the bill.
"It's hard for me to conceive that it will pass as is. There's some amazingly bad stuff in here," Arizona conservative Andy Biggs told his local radio station, KTAR News.
- 'Abomination' -
Lawmakers are expected to return from recess Wednesday morning to vote immediately, although they have a cushion two days before Trump's self-imposed July 4 deadline.
AFP | Jim WATSON
The 887-page text only passed in the Senate after a flurry of tweaks that pulled the House-passed text further to the right.
Republicans lost one conservative who was angry about adding to the country's $37 trillion debt burden and two moderates worried about almost $1 trillion in health care cuts.
Some estimates put the total number of recipients set to lose their health insurance at 17 million, while scores of hospitals are expected to close.
Meanwhile changes to federal nutrition assistance are set to strip millions of the poorest Americans of their access to food stamps.
Johnson will be banking on Trump leaning on waverers, as he has in the past to turn around contentious House votes that were headed for failure.
The president indeed applied further pressure Tuesday in a post on his Truth Social platform, calling on House Republicans to "GET IT DONE."
Approval by Congress will mark a huge win for Trump, who has been slammed for governing by executive edict in other areas of his domestic agenda as a way of sidestepping scrutiny.
He has spent weeks cajoling wayward Republicans in both chambers who are torn between angering welfare recipients at home and incurring Trump's wrath.
GETTY IMAGESvia AFP | ALEX WONG
House Democrats have signaled that they plan to campaign on the bill to flip the chamber in the 2026 midterms, pointing to analyses showing that it represents a historic redistribution of wealth from the poorest Americans to the richest.
"Shame on Senate Republicans for passing this disgusting abomination," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters.
"And shame on House Republicans for continuing to bend the knee to Donald Trump's extreme agenda."
By Frankie Taggart
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Eyewitness News
4 hours ago
- Eyewitness News
Hamas says discussing Gaza ceasefire proposals from mediators
GAZA CITY, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES - Palestinian militant group Hamas said Wednesday it was discussing proposals from mediators for a ceasefire with Israel in Gaza, after US President Donald Trump said Israel had agreed to a 60-day truce. Hamas said in a statement it was "conducting national consultations to discuss what we received from the proposals of the... mediators". It said it sought "to reach an agreement that guarantees ending the aggression, achieving the withdrawal (of Israel from Gaza) and urgently aiding our people in the Gaza Strip". Qatar and Egypt have been mediating efforts to end the conflict that erupted in October 2023, when a deadly Hamas attack on Israel prompted a devastating Israeli offensive against the group. A Palestinian source familiar with the negotiations told AFP: "There are no fundamental changes in the new proposal" under discussion compared to previous terms presented by the United States. The source said the new proposal "includes a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release half of the (22) living Israeli captives in the Gaza Strip, in exchange for Israel releasing a number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees". Another source with knowledge of the discussions told AFP that the system of aid deliveries to Gaza "presents a major obstacle, as under the current mechanism, large segments of our people are deprived of access to food". The United Nations and international aid groups have criticised the aid distribution system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). GHF, a US- and Israeli-backed body, has been giving out meals in Gaza since May when Israel partially eased a two-month blockade following warnings of famine. GHF has distanced itself from repeated reports of aid seekers being killed near its centres. Out of 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants during Hamas's 2023 attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
Daily Maverick
4 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
Conspiracy theories simply ignore history
Conspiracy theorists and conspiracies are thriving on social media. Sometimes these conspiracy theories are clearly bunk, and stem from intellectual laziness. Sometimes they are reproduced by people who feel aggrieved and believe that the world is against them. At other times, they stem from rich, fertile and quite creative minds, but most of the time, when it's not dangerous, conspiracy theorising is laughable. Among the things about conspiracy theories which is especially noxious is the misrepresentation and manipulation, the torturing or wilfully ignoring of facts. This noxiousness and self-dramatising apostasy are distinct markers of Donald Trump's corte milione. Trump is the cynosure of il millione, the braggart who knows more about anything and everything than anyone alive, and his retinue, unabashedly obeisant, provide the vacuous encomia. We probably should not dismiss out of hand the likelihood that conspiracy theories can be titillating – we should also not ignore the pleasure and self-satisfaction gained from reproducing conspiracies. Very many statements by our politicians evidence the appeal (among their followers) of conspiracy theories, often couched in polite terms or language which help shore up their self-senses of importance, legitimacy and, of course, eternal innocence. But let's move on from the public politics and discuss the fun stuff. As a starting point, I should state at the outset two things. The first (something which I have worked on for decades) is that there is no capitalist conspiracy in the sense that a group of people sit down every day and work out how to intentionally destroy the lives of people. Capitalism is, itself, a beast that destroys people, families, communities and society through alienation, excessive individualism, the belief that individual utility maximisation (and the dictum made famous by that auntie who headed the British government that there is no such thing as society), and 'market forces' or 'the invisible hand' necessarily being the ultimate arbiter of human life and agency. Don't give me that 'well capitalist technological innovation'… Soviet innovation (those darn communists!) was at the forefront of the technology that gave us the first human space flight and early satellite technologies. From personal inquiry a generation ago (and things have improved significantly), the infant mortality rate in Cuba (those pesky communists) was/is lower than in the US. The Chinese (communists) have led the world in infrastructure development, scientific innovation and development of social safety nets… And don't dump Pol Pot or Stalin's horrors on my plate. Kaiser Wilhelm II and Adolf Hitler were famous for being virulently anti-communist (in the case of Hitler) and between them were responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of Germans, Poles, Hungarians, Dutch, French and Russians, among others, between 1914 and 1945. The second thing is that the 'theory' part of a conspiracy theory should be taken seriously – until the evidence proves it to be wrong. Careful now, or you'll spill your beer! What I am suggesting is that, yes, there may be a sighting of a UFO (unidentified flying object), until the flying object has been identified. Imagine how many sightings there have been of UFOs (or stories of ghosts, for that matter), but we have yet to see evidence, and have it corroborated. So, this same thing may be said about any conspiracy theory. Sure, state your theory, but, and I paraphrase Richard Feynman, it does not matter how thrilling or exciting or beautiful or seductive your theory is, if the evidence does not support it, either abandon the theory or start all over again… Mushrooming conspiracies of our times The first conspiracy theory I heard of was about the Bermuda Triangle. It was the 1960s, and I was a prepubescent lad who spent a lot of time listening to the BBC World Service (I have progressively been avoiding the BBC since it began to resemble CNN) and reading whatever texts I came across. It was at about the same time, or maybe a little later, when I first learnt about Marco Polo, about which I have written elsewhere. The Bermuda Triangle was fascinating. As young children, teenagers, we spoke about it with much authority. It was all real. True. For the uninitiated, the Bermuda Triangle is an area in the North Atlantic where ships and aeroplanes mysteriously 'disappeared'. It was all based on supernatural and paranormal beliefs – and nonsense. Today, in the third decade of the 21st century, new life has been given to the assassination of former US president JF Kennedy, Malcolm X, former Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Patrice Lumumba, former Secretary-General of the UN, Dag Hammarskjöld or the former president of Mozambique, Samora Machel. The conspiracies of 9/11 have been growing exponentially, and the real doozy is the moon landings. In terms of the latter, I follow the scientists, and with the former, I have always avoided walks during blizzards of half-truths and titillating tales. In these senses, I stick to the official version of stories – until there is actually evidence to prove otherwise. There are very many creative minds out there, some of which can be quite darkly creative. Others are pernicious and tend to be shaped by biases and prejudices. One theory is about a particular group of people who 'rule the world' and who have won a disproportionate share of Nobel Prizes. I will not give these theories oxygen. What I will say is this, going back to wearing my other hat, Europeans dominated the world in arts and science, and in propagating their successes (and the supremacy of the European Enlightenment) most aggressively since what they refer to as the 'Glorious Revolution' in 1688. (Conveniently occluding things like slavery, witch burnings, the cruel injustices of empires, etc). It stands to reason, then, that the most celebrated composers and music theorists like Peter Tchaikovsky, or Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev (my favourite composer) or Arnold Schönberg were European. Not dissimilarly, the liberal capitalist economics fundamentalism that Adam Smith is associated with was picked up by (European) economists from Alfred Marshall to Paul Samuelson, and more latterly by European settler colonists in North America, people like Paul Krugman or Joseph Stiglitz. It's hard to believe, then, that there is some genetic disposition towards genius or greatness among people who 'rule the world' – other than the (more readily acceptable) fact that the Europeans have dominated the world for most of the past 500 years. For what it's worth, classical music has historically been dominated by white people and jazz by black people. The conspiracy that one particular people rule the world is just nonsense. It's probably safer to say that capitalism has dominated the world, that it sprang from a corner of England in the 18th century, and on the backs of empires, was spread around the world. On this point, I will leave the last word to that other European, Karl Marx (a statement about capitalism which is empirically verifiable): 'The need of a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the entire surface of the globe. It must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connections everywhere.' As for conspiracy theories. Well, they are part of what makes us ugly and dangerous. Everyone does, actually, have one or two favourite conspiracy theories. Among mine are that Marco Polo never did get to China, and that Donald Trump has not read a whole book in his adult life (a book that is not about himself, that is), and that his adviser, Stephen Miller, is one of the most awful, cruel and objectionably racist white supremacists. For the rest of it, I follow the official conclusions of the 11 September 2001 attacks on New York City and Washington, and the official conclusions on the assassination of John F Kennedy. I believe that there are things like UFOs, until they are identified, which is almost immediate – that is, besides the fact there is no actual, verifiable, evidence of their existence. There is no such thing as a ghost, because there is no evidence. I also believe that the moon landing is (for now) humanity's greatest scientific achievement. 'For now' refers to a time in the future when (hopefully) we find a cure for cancer, or eradicate things like infant blindness in Africa. DM
eNCA
6 hours ago
- eNCA
Trump says Vietnam to face 20% tariff under 'great' deal
President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he had struck a trade deal with Vietnam under which the country would face a minimum 20 percent tariff and open its market to US products. The deal comes less than a week before Trump's self-imposed July 9 deadline for steeper tariffs on US trade partners to take effect if agreements are not reached. Shares in clothing companies and sport equipment manufacturers -- which have a large footprint in Vietnam -- rose on the news, but later declined sharply after the president released details including the continued tariffs, which were higher than expected. If confirmed, the terms of the agreement will significantly increase the price of shoes and clothing that Vietnam exports to the United States, but Hanoi escapes the threat of the more severe 46 percent tariff threatened by Trump in April. "It is my Great Honor to announce that I have just made a Trade Deal with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam after speaking with To Lam, the Highly Respected General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. He said that under the "Great Deal of Cooperation," imports of Vietnamese goods will face a 20 percent US tariff, while goods that pass through Vietnam to circumvent steeper trade barriers -- so-called "transshipping" -- will see a 40 percent tariff. - 'Total Access' - Trump's trade advisor Peter Navarro has called Vietnam a "colony of China," saying that one third of Vietnamese products are in fact relabelled Chinese goods. Trump said that "in return, Vietnam will do something that they have never done before, give the United States of America TOTAL ACCESS to their Markets for Trade," he said. "In other words, they will 'OPEN THEIR MARKET TO THE UNITED STATES,' meaning that we will be able to sell our product into Vietnam at ZERO Tariff." The president said he believed US-made SUVs, "which do so well in the United States, will be a wonderful addition to the various product lines within Vietnam." In a government statement, Vietnam confirmed that negotiating teams had come to an agreement to address the reciprocal tariff issue, but did not detail any tariff terms. Trump "affirmed that the US will significantly reduce reciprocal taxes for many Vietnamese export goods and will continue to cooperate with Vietnam in resolving difficulties affecting bilateral trade relations, especially in areas prioritized by both sides," the statement said. Trump's announcement comes a week before the threatened US reimposition of steep tariffs on dozens of economies, including the European Union and Japan, many of which are still scrambling to reach deals that would protect them from the measures. Those higher tariffs are part of a package Trump initially imposed in April, citing a lack of "reciprocity" in trading relationships, before announcing a temporary lowering to 10 percent. Without a deal, Vietnam's "reciprocal tariff" would have risen from the baseline 10 percent to 46 percent. Since April, Washington had so far only announced a pact with Britain and a deal to temporarily lower retaliatory duties with China. Both involve the United States maintaining some of Trump's tariffs on the trading partners. The terms of the UK deal are more narrowly focused than those announced by Trump with Vietnam, with London and Washington agreeing to cut US tariffs on cars from 27.5 percent to 10 percent, with a limit of 100,000 vehicles a year. It also fully eliminated the 10 percent tariff on goods such as engines and aircraft parts. In return, Britain agreed to further open its market to US ethanol and beef. By Alex Pigman
