Trump news at a glance: Republicans scramble to pass ‘one big, beautiful bill' as deadline looms

The Guardian

15 hours ago

Senate Republicans are racing to meet Donald Trump's self-imposed 4 July deadline to pass the president's massive tax-and-spending 'one big, beautiful bill'. In a marathon session, senators convened at the Capitol to propose amendments to the legislation over many hours.
Democrats, who universally oppose the bill, are expected to use the process to force their opponents into politically tricky votes that they will seek to wield against them in elections to come.
Even if it passes the Senate, the bill will still need to go back through the House, which is being called back to session for votes as soon as Wednesday.
Here's the latest:
As the marathon session kicked off on Monday morning, Senate majority leader John Thune sounded optimistic that the measure would soon clear his chamber. 'Let's vote. This is good for America, this is good for the American people, it is good for working families,' he said.
Chuck Schumer the Senate minority leader said the bill 'steals people's healthcare, jacks up their electricity bill, take away their jobs – all to pay for tax breaks for billionaires'. He said Democrats would offer amendments to 'see once and for all if Republicans really meant all those nice things they've been saying about 'strengthening Medicaid' and 'protecting middle-class families', or if they were just lying'.
Republican Senator Thom Tillis said 'this bill will betray the promise Donald Trump made,' a few hours after announcing he would not seek re-election in politically competitive North Carolina.
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The Trump administration has codified its efforts to strip some Americans of their US citizenship in a recently published justice department memo that directs attorneys to prioritize denaturalization for naturalized citizens who commit certain crimes.
The memo, published on 11 June, calls on attorneys in the department to institute civil proceedings to revoke a person's United States citizenship if an individual either 'illegally procured' naturalization or procured naturalization by 'concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation'.
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The United States has said that Canada's prime minister Mark Carney 'caved' to demands from the White House after his government abruptly scrapped their digital services tax on US technology companies, which was set to go into effect on Monday.
'It's very simple. Prime minister Carney and Canada caved to president [Donald] Trump and the United States of America,' press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a daily briefing.
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The Trump administration has concluded that Harvard University violated federal civil rights law in its handling of Jewish and Israeli students, and it threatened the school with a potential 'loss of all federal financial resources' as a result, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In a Monday letter addressed to the Harvard president, Alan Garber, administration attorneys stated that the university was aware Jewish and Israeli students felt unsafe on campus but failed to take meaningful action. The letter, obtained by the Journal, accused Harvard of 'deliberate indifference' toward those concerns.
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Donald Trump has signed an executive order to lift some financial sanctions on Syria in a move that the White House says will help stabilise the country after the ousting of Bashar al-Assad.
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The US dollar has had its worst first half-year in more than 50 years, as the financial markets over the last six months were dominated by geopolitical crises and Donald Trump's trade war.
The dollar has fallen by 10.8% against a basket of currencies since the start of 2025. That is its worst performance over the first six months of any year since 1973, and the worst half-year since the second half of 1991.
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The US Department of Homeland Security has for the first time built a national citizenship database that combines information from immigration agencies and the social security administration.
The Trump administration is on track to oversee one of the deadliest years for immigrants in detention after the recent deaths of two men – one from Cuba and another from Canada – while in federal custody.
The US supreme court agreed on Monday to hear a case that could further erode restrictions on money in politics, in a challenge that comes in part from vice-president JD Vance.
Catching up? Here's what happened 29 June.