
Harris rips GOP megabill after Senate passage: ‘There is still time to stop this'
'Thanks to Senate Republicans, 17 million people will lose their health care,' Harris wrote on the social media platform X, citing an estimate from The Washington Post that combines several projections from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
'Thanks to Senate Republicans, rural hospitals will close. Thanks to Senate Republicans, three million Americans, including veterans and seniors, will lose food assistance. Thanks to Senate Republicans, families will see their energy bills go up by $400 a year,' she added.
These appear to be Harris's first public comments about the bill. The former vice president has kept a low profile since the November election, although rumors have swirled that she is interested in a run for California governor.
Harris joins a chorus of Democrats furious over the bill's passage that are vowing to continue fighting as it heads back to the House.
A number of House Republicans have expressed serious concerns about the bill's Senate version, particularly over changes to Medicaid and the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap. The House Rules Committee met this afternoon to discuss the measure.
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a member of the Rules Committee, called the Senate's version a 'nonstarter' in the hours after it passed and said he would vote 'no' on any procedural measure.
In her Tuesday post, Harris urged people to call their representatives and tell them to vote 'no' on the bill, writing 'There is still time to stop this bill.'
President Trump has maintained that he wants the bill on his desk by July 4, a line that GOP congressional leadership reiterated after the Senate version passed Tuesday.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Fox News
25 minutes ago
- Fox News
Violent criminal gangs have 'near-total control' of world nation's capital, UN says
Haiti's criminal gangs have exerted "near-total control" over the capital, as escalating violence pushes the Caribbean nation "closer to the brink," senior U.N. officials warned Wednesday. Gangs control an estimated 90% of Port-au-Prince, Ghada Fathy Waly, executive director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, told the U.N. Security Council. Waly noted that gangs are expanding into previously peaceful areas. "Southern Haiti, which until recently was insulated from the violence, has seen a sharp increase in gang-related incidents," she said. "And in the east, criminal groups are exploiting land routes, including key crossings like Belladere and Malpasse, where attacks against police and customs officials have been reported." U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenca informed the council that "the ongoing gang encirclement of Port-au-Prince" and their strengthened foothold in the capital and beyond is "pushing the situation closer to the brink." "Without increased action by the international community, the total collapse of state presence in the capital could become a very real scenario," he warned. Gangs have gained power since President Jovenel Moïse's assassination in July 2021, previously controlling 85% of the capital. Haiti has not had a president since the assassination. A new U.N. report covering last October through February highlights that gangs have exploited political turmoil and Haiti's disorganized security response, saying competing political ambitions and corruption allegations within transitional governing bodies have hindered action. "While the expansion of territorial control brings gangs additional sources of revenue and bargaining power," the U.N. experts said in the report, "these attacks are also backed by individuals trying to destabilize the political transition for their own political goals." The U.S. State Department issued a travel advisory for Haiti in September 2024, warning Americans against visiting due to kidnapping, crime, civil unrest and limited healthcare. In May, the Trump administration designated two of Haiti's most powerful gang networks, Viv Ansanm and Gran Grif, as foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists.


CBS News
25 minutes ago
- CBS News
Watch Live: House nearing final vote on Trump's "big, beautiful bill"
Washington — The House is nearing a final vote Thursday on President Trump's "big, beautiful bill" after Republican leaders overcame resistance from GOP holdouts in a dramatic overnight session and advanced the Senate version of the measure early Thursday morning. "We'll have the votes," House Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday morning. "We'll land this plane before July 4th." Republicans are trying to approve the final version of the legislation ahead of the self-imposed Friday deadline to get the bill to the president's desk. After hours of delay, the House voted 219-213 to advance the bill, scoring a key victory for Johnson. Lawmakers began voting at about 9:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday, but didn't wrap up until about 3:20 a.m. Thursday, as GOP leaders and the White House spoke with holdouts for hours to overcome their objections. "What are the Republicans waiting for??? What are you trying to prove??? MAGA IS NOT HAPPY, AND IT'S COSTING YOU VOTES!!!" Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social shortly after midnight. Following the procedural vote, the House began debating the bill. Just before 5 a.m., House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries began addressing the chamber for a "magic minute," which allows the leader unlimited speaking time. Seven hours later, the New York Democrat is still addressing the chamber, pledging to "take his time" as he highlighted the Americans who he said would suffer because of the bill. "I rise today in strong opposition to Donald Trump's one, big ugly bill," Jeffries said as he began speaking. "This disgusting, abomination, the GOP tax scam, that guts Medicaid, rips food from the mouths of children, seniors and veterans, and rewards billionaires with massive tax breaks. Every single Democrat stands in strong opposition to this bill because we're standing up for the American people." Johnson is expected to speak after Jeffries concludes, followed by the final vote. House hardliners push back against Senate changes After the Senate approved the bill Tuesday, House GOP leaders had aimed to move ahead quickly on the signature legislation of Mr. Trump's second-term agenda, which includes ramped-up spending for border security, defense and energy production and extends trillions of dollars in tax cuts, partially offset by substantial cuts to health care and nutrition programs. But some House Republicans, who voted to pass an earlier version of the bill in May, were unhappy with the Senate's changes. Holdouts, including moderates and members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, met with Mr. Trump on Wednesday as the White House pressured House Republicans to vote for the bill. While some lawmakers described the meetings as productive, a number of conservatives said ahead of a rule vote Wednesday afternoon that they thought the procedural vote would fail. Johnson spent weeks pleading with his Senate counterparts not to make any major changes to the version of the bill that passed the lower chamber by a single vote in May. He said the Senate bill's changes "went a little further than many of us would've preferred." The Senate-passed bill includes steeper Medicaid cuts, a higher increase in the debt limit and changes to the House bill's green energy policies and the state and local tax deduction. Other controversial provisions that faced pushback in both chambers, including the sale of public lands in nearly a dozen states, a 10-year moratorium on states regulating artificial intelligence and an excise tax on the renewable energy industry, were stripped from the Senate bill before heading back to the House. Before the critical procedural vote ended, Johnson told reporters that Mr. Trump was "directly engaged" in conversations with skeptical members. "Members wanted to hear certain assurances from him about what's ahead, what the future will entail, and what we're going to do next, and all of that," Johnson said. "And he was very, very helpful in that process." In the wee hours on Thursday, five House Republicans had voted no on the rule vote, which was enough to tank the vote with a razor-thin GOP majority in the lower chamber, and eight possible holdouts had not voted. But the vote remained open as GOP leaders worked to shore up support, allowing lawmakers to change their votes from no to yes. Mr. Trump had taken to Truth Social as a handful of Republican holdouts didn't appear to be budging, declaring "FOR REPUBLICANS, THIS SHOULD BE AN EASY YES VOTE. RIDICULOUS!!!" Republican leaders ultimately won the support of about a dozen GOP opponents to the rule. And when the vote finally came to an end, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania was the sole Republican opposed. , and contributed to this report.


Axios
28 minutes ago
- Axios
Inside Hakeem Jeffries' decision to filibuster Trump's big bill
The overwhelming consensus on Capitol Hill was that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) would only delay President Trump's "big, beautiful bill" by about an hour. As noon approached on Thursday, that expectation was shattered. Why it matters: For months, the Democratic base has been demanding their party's leaders " fight harder" and use every tool at their disposal to stymie the GOP agenda. In the eyes of many lawmakers, this is Jeffries delivering. Jeffries blasted the GOP's marquee tax and spending bill as an "immoral document," vowing to "stand up and push back against it with everything we have on behalf of the American people." As of late Thursday morning, Jeffries was on track to surpass then-Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's (R-Calif.) record-breaking, 8-and-a-half hour speech to delay the Build Back Better vote in 2021. If Jeffries keeps speaking until 1:23pm ET, he will have set a new record. What we're hearing: One of Jeffries' central motivations, numerous Democratic sources told Axios, was to ensure that Republicans were forced to pass the bill during daylight hours and not in the dead of night. Jeffries said in his speech: "I ask the question, if Republicans were so proud of this one big, ugly bill, why did debate begin at 3:28am in the morning?" "This is about fighting for the American people ... forcing it into the daylight and telling some stories about the real impacts," House Democratic caucus chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) told Axios. Zoom in: Jeffries spoke with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) ahead of the speech to warn him about his plans, two sources familiar with the discussion told Axios on the condition of anonymity to share details of a private conversation. The House Democratic leader communicated that he was "just going to do an hour," one of the sources said, but that it "may be longer now." Another source said Jeffries made that decision "when he learned [Johnson] was going to stay all night until he got the votes." What he's saying: "Budgets are moral documents, and in our view ... budgets should be designed to lift people up," Jeffries said in his speech. "This reckless Republican budget that we are debating right now on the floor on the House of Representatives tears people down ... and every should vote 'no' against it," he said. Jeffries was consistently surrounded by dozens of House Democratic colleagues, who raucously applauded him throughout his speech. Yes, but: The Democratic leader did face a bit of frustration from his caucus for leaving even his inner circle in the dark about his plans. "No one is upset Hakeem wanted to do this, but to not tell members, 'be prepared, book multiple flights, be flexible,'" one House Democrat vented, grumbling that it is particularly hard to rebook flights around the July 4 holiday. Another House Democrat fumed that a "heads up would have been nice." Between the lines: Jeffries' marathon speech comes after Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) delivered a 25-hour filibuster in April that earned him plaudits from the Democrats' grassroots as a resistance hero. Later that month, Jeffries and Booker held a day-long sit-in on the Capitol steps in protest of Republicans' fiscal plans. The bottom line:"The base wants to see certain things and we have to show them those things, otherwise they don't believe we're fighting hard enough," another House Democrat told Axios of Jeffries' speech.