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A New Test of Federal Judges' Power, and Overdose Deaths Plummet

A New Test of Federal Judges' Power, and Overdose Deaths Plummet

New York Times15-05-2025
Hosted by Tracy Mumford
Produced by Will Jarvis and Ian Stewart
Edited by Ian StewartJessica Metzger and Tracy Mumford
Featuring Abbie VanSickle and Julia Jacobs
In Birthright Citizenship Case, Supreme Court Examines the Power of District Judges, by Abbie VanSickle
House Republicans Push Forward Plan to Cut Taxes, Medicaid and Food Aid, by Catie Edmondson and Margot Sanger-Katz
Kennedy, Defending Downsizing, Clashes With Democrats in Tense Hearings, by Sheryl Gay Stolberg
Drug Overdose Deaths Plummeted in 2024, C.D.C. Reports, by Jan Hoffman
Cassie Ventura Says Sean Combs Used Sex Videos as Blackmail Tools, by Julia Jacobs, Joe Coscarelli and Thomas Fuller
How to Win Eurovision in 7 Easy Steps, by Alex Marshall and Miriam Quick
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  • New York Post

Epstein furor undermines public trust, Republican election hopes, two US lawmakers say

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Vice President JD Vance is on the road again to sell the Republicans' big new tax law
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Vice President JD Vance is on the road again to sell the Republicans' big new tax law

In West Pittston, Pennsylvania, Vance told attendees at an industrial machine shop that they should be able to keep more of their pay in their pockets, highlighting the law's new tax deductions on overtime. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Vance also discussed a new children's savings program called Trump Accounts and how the new law promotes energy extraction, while decrying Democrats for opposing the bill that keeps the current tax rates, which would have otherwise expired later this year. Advertisement The legislation cleared the GOP-controlled Congress by the narrowest of margins, with Vance breaking a tie vote in the Senate for the package that also sets aside hundreds of billions of dollars for Trump's immigration agenda while slashing Medicaid and food stamps. The vice president is also stepping up his public relations blitz on the bill as the White House tries to deflect attention away from the growing controversy over Jeffrey Epstein. Advertisement The disgraced financier killed himself, authorities say, in a New York jail cell in 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. Trump and his top allies stoked conspiracy theories about Epstein's death before Trump returned to the White House and are now reckoning with the consequences of a Justice Department announcement earlier this month that Epstein did indeed die by suicide and that no further documents about the case would be released. Questions about the case continued to dog Trump in Scotland, where he on Sunday announced a framework trade deal with the European Union. Asked about the timing of the trade announcement and the Epstein case and whether it was correlated, Trump responded: 'You got to be kidding with that.' 'No, had nothing to do with it,' Trump told the reporter. 'Only you would think that.' The White House sees the new law as a clear political boon, sending Vance to promote it in swing congressional districts that will determine whether Republicans retain their House majority next year. The northeastern Pennsylvania stop is in the district represented by Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan, a first-term lawmaker who knocked off a six-time Democratic incumbent last fall. On Monday, Vance will be in the district of Democratic Rep. Emilia Sykes, who is a top target for the National Republican Congressional Committee this cycle. Polls before the bill's passage showed that it largely remained unpopular, although the public approves of some individual provisions such as increasing the child tax credit and allowing workers to deduct more of their tips on taxes.

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