Victoria Spartz Blasts Senate Parliamentarian For Blocking Medicaid Cuts In Big Beautiful Bill
Congresswoman Victoria Spartz (R-IN) joined "Forbes Newsroom" to discuss the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, as well as the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Watch the full interview above.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
A week of shifting descriptions of Iran attack spark ongoing questions
A week after President Donald Trump ordered a U.S. attack on three Iranian nuclear sites, the explanations and descriptions of what happened voiced by him, top aides and early intelligence reports paint contrasting pictures of the extent of the damage to Iran's nuclear program. While the president and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth repeatedly claimed that Iran's nuclear program has been "obliterated," preliminary assessments — including from the Pentagon's own intelligence wing — painted an evolving picture as the week went on. Trump said he ordered the attack on June 21 to strike a uranium enrichment site located in 300 feet deep in a mountain in Fordo in northwestern Iran, an uranium enrichment site in Natanz and the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center following reports that Iranian officials failed to comply with international nuclear regulations. And as those early damage assessments cast doubt on the extent to which Iran nuclear program was crippled, several of Trump's top aides and allied lawmakers also appeared to scale back the stated goals of the attack. Here are some of the accounts and characterizations over the last week. On Sunday morning, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed Trump's statement from Saturday night, just after the strikes, that the sites had been "obliterated." MORE: 'Way too early' to know full damage done to Iran nuclear sites, Joint Chiefs chairman says "It was clear we devastated the Iranian nuclear program," he added. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, however, declined to go as far, saying it would take more time to assess the extent of the damage done. Hegseth acknowledged that damage assessment was ongoing but stuck by the description he and Trump were using. "All of our precision munitions struck where we wanted them to strike and had the desired effect, which means especially the primary target here, we believe we achieved destruction of capabilities there," he said. Officials and inspectors from outside Iran have not been able to gain direct access to the bombed sites to make a first-hand assessment. MORE: Centrifuges at Fordow nuclear facility 'suffered a great deal,' IAEA director says Trump officials had a more nuanced take after news reports surfaced Tuesday about an initial Defense Intelligence Agency assessment that said the attack set back Iran's nuclear program only by months. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the leaks of the military's report but did not go as far as to claim that the sites were obliterated. Instead, he insisted that "very significant, substantial damage was done" to key components of Iran's nuclear program, "and we're just learning more about it." At the same time, Rubio provided more details about the attack, including that the bunker-buster bombs were dropped on ventilation shafts leading deep inside Fordo's heavily fortified facility -- buried, officials and experts said, 200 to 300 feet inside a mountain. He ultimately acknowledged that it was difficult to get a read on damage inflicted to Fordo at this point, but asserted "the bottom line is real damage was done." That same day, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard claimed in a statement that the three facilities were destroyed. The director general of the U.N.'s nuclear oversight agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, said Wednesday that he believed some of Iran's enriched uranium had been moved from the sites before the attacks. Trump refuted that analysis. "It would have taken two weeks, maybe. But it's very hard to remove that kind of material, very hard and very dangerous. Plus, they knew we were coming, and if they know we're coming, they're not going to be down there," he said Wednesday. Trump reiterated that the sites and the uranium were buried under rubble and inaccessible, adding that trucks seen in satellite images at the plant before the attack -- which some speculated could have been used to move the nuclear material -- were construction vehicles being used to cover the ventilation shaft openings with protective concrete. According to the two people familiar with the DIA's classified report, the bombing sealed off the entrances to two of the three nuclear sites targeted in the attack but most of the damage was done to structures above ground, leaving the lower structures intact. The assessment also found that at least some enriched uranium remained – possibly moved from the nuclear sites ahead of the blasts. The next day, on Thursday, Hegseth held a news conference where he slammed the news media over reporting but did not make the same assessment on the nuclear materials. Asked twice during the briefing if he could be more definitive about whether the enriched uranium was moved before the attack, Hegseth said the Pentagon was "watching every aspect." At that same Thursday briefing, Caine noted it's not his job to assess the damage, saying, "We don't grade our own homework." Hegseth also highlighted what appeared to be a different goal of the mission, arguing the attack had succeeded because it led to stopping the fighting between Iran and Israel — rather than the facilities' destruction because it destroyed Iran's nuclear program. "We got that peace, that ceasefire, that option because of strength, because of [Trump's] willingness to use American military might that no one else on the planet can do with the kind of planners and operators that the chairman just laid out," he said. Then, on Friday, Trump echoed that sentiment. "They put out that fire once that happened, once those bombs got dropped out, that war was over," he said. Still, the president claimed again that the sites were obliterated during a news conference. MORE: Secrets on Iran nuclear strike spill into open as Pentagon defends bombing "We finished them off," he said, adding, "I don't believe that they're going to go back into nuclear anytime soon." Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister said on Iranian State TV Thursday, however, the facilities were not destroyed and his country will have leverage in negotiations. On Capitol Hill on Thursday, after administration officials gave lawmakers a classified briefing on the strikes, Republican lawmakers acknowledged that the U.S. strikes may not have destroyed Iran's cache of enriched uranium. But they said that wasn't part of the mission. "The purpose of the mission was to eliminate certain particular aspects of their nuclear program. Those were eliminated. To get rid of the nuclear material was not part of the mission,' Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., told CNN. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the "program was obliterated at those three sites," but added, "I don't know where the 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium exists. But it wasn't part of the targets there."
New York Post
4 hours ago
- New York Post
Senate votes 51-49 to advance President Trump's ‘big beautiful' spending bill — despite opposition from 2 GOP lawmakers
The Senate voted Saturday to launch into debate on President Trump's 'big beautiful' spending bill, after Republican leaders spent hours working to gain enough support to approve the 940-page document. The multi-trillion dollar bill narrowly advanced in a 51-49 procedural vote, despite opposition from two Republican lawmakers who joined their Democratic colleagues in an attempt to block the measure from reaching the Senate floor. Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Rand Paul (R-KY) were the holdouts after they publicly declared that they wouldn't be backing the bill in its current form. Advertisement The Capitol dome in Washington DC on June 28, 2025. REUTERS Debate will now begin on the spending bill – and that could take hours as New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer has promised to have the nearly 1,000-page measure read before a final vote on passing it can happen. Trump has lobbied for House and Senate Republicans to fast-track the legislation so it lands on his desk by his self-imposed July 4 deadline. Advertisement The measure would make Trump's 2017 tax cuts permanent, end taxation on tips and overtime, boost border security funding and scrap green-energy tax credits passed during the Biden administration. The legislation would also have to raise the debt ceiling by roughly $5 trillion in order to cram in all the provisions. Trump warned potential dissenters earlier Saturday that refusal to support his bill would be an 'ultimate betrayal' – later lashing out at Tillis on social media for making a 'big mistake' and threatening to primary him for turning his back on the spending bill. 'Numerous people have come forward wanting to run in the Primary against 'Senator Thom' Tillis,' Truth posted on Truth Social as the vote stalled late Saturday night. 'I will be meeting with them over the coming weeks, looking for someone who will properly represent the Great People of North Carolina and, so importantly, the United States of America. Thank you for your attention to this matter!'
The Hill
5 hours ago
- The Hill
Rubio condemns Iran's threats against IAEA chief
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has condemned calls in Iran for the arrest and execution of Rafael Mariano Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, following the U.S.'s attack on three of Iran's nuclear sites last week. 'Calls in Iran for the arrest and execution of IAEA Director General Grossi are unacceptable and should be condemned,' Rubio wrote on X Saturday. 'We support the lAEA's critical verification and monitoring efforts in Iran and commend the Director General and the lAEA for their dedication and professionalism. We call on Iran to provide for the safety and security of IAEA personnel.' The extent of threats against Grossi was not immediately clear. Last week, Ali Larijani, a top advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, wrote on X, 'When the war ends, we will settle the score with Grossi' in Arabic. Iran also recently elected to ban the head of the nuclear watchdog and remove agency cameras from its nuclear facilities, claiming that the Israeli government had been able to obtain sensitive data. The IAEA is responsible for monitoring the nuclear program of Iran as well as other countries. Iran previously allowed the agency to access and inspect its nuclear plants as part of the 2015 Obama-era nuclear deal. However, access has become more difficult after President Trump withdrew in 2018, although the IAEA has negotiated with Tehran to continue monitoring. The day before Israel began launching missiles at Iranian nuclear and military sites, the nuclear agency said that Tehran had amassed a worrying quantity of enriched uranium and that the country was in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in 20 years. The IAEA has also examined the impact of American airstrikes on the Iranian nuclear sites of Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. Grossi said Saturday that the facilities had sustained serious damage, although he was unsure whether the IAEA would have the access needed to establish whether nuclear activity was still proceeding.
