US lawmakers see two realities at Florida's ‘Alligator Alcatraz'
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz called conditions 'vile,' with 32 men crammed into cage-like units sharing just three toilet-sinks. Temperatures hit 83°F in supposedly air-conditioned areas, with grasshoppers swarming everywhere.
Though guards prevented direct talks with detainees, Rep. Maxwell Frost heard shouts of 'I'm an American!' and chants of 'Libertad!' (freedom). Florida Democrats had sued to access the facility after being turned away on July 3.
Republican state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia saw the same facility differently, calling it 'well-run' with clean quarters and working AC.
He dismissed Democrats' criticism as exaggerated: 'It's a detention center, not the Four Seasons' . Florida officials insist the site meets all standards, providing three meals daily, showers, and medical care .
The Everglades camp, built in 8 days, holds up to 3,000 detainees and was praised by former President Trump during his July 3 visit . Its nickname references both the infamous prison and DeSantis' joke that escaping would require 'running from alligators'.
Before the tour, detainees described grim conditions in phone calls. Leamsy La Figura, a Cuban musician, said food contained maggots, water for bathing was unavailable for days, and stadium-like lights burned 24/7.
A Colombian man reported withheld medication and confiscated Bibles, saying 'They told us there's no right to religion here'.
Families echoed these claims, with one detainee's wife calling treatment 'horrible' and noting toilets overflowed onto floors.
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Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Japan's SMEs ready to adapt to Trump tariffs
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The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
House gives final approval to Trump's $9 billion cut to public broadcasting, foreign aid
The House gave final approval to U.S. President Donald Trump's request to claw back about $9 billion for public broadcasting and foreign aid early Friday (July 18, 2025) as Republicans intensified their efforts to target institutions and programmes they view as bloated or out of step with their agenda. The vote marked the first time in decades that a President has successfully submitted such a rescissions request to Congress, and the White House suggested it won't be the last. Some Republicans were uncomfortable with the cuts, yet supported them anyway, wary of crossing Trump or upsetting his agenda. Also Read | Trump orders release of grand jury transcripts from Epstein case The House passed the bill by a vote of 216-213. It now goes to Mr. Trump for his signature. 'We need to get back to fiscal sanity and this is an important step,' said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. Opponents voiced concerns not only about the programmes targeted, but about Congress ceding its spending powers to the executive branch, as investments approved on a bipartisan basis were being subsequently cancelled on party-line votes. They said previous rescission efforts had at least some bipartisan buy-in and described the Republican package as unprecedented. No Democrats supported the measure when it passed the Senate, 51-48, in the early morning hours Thursday. Final passage in the House was delayed for several hours as Republicans wrestled with their response to Democrats' push for a vote on the release of Jeffrey Epstein files. The package cancels about $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and nearly $8 billion for a variety of foreign aid programmes, many designed to help countries where drought, disease and political unrest endure. The effort to claw back a sliver of federal spending came just weeks after Republicans also muscled through Mr. Trump's tax and spending cut bill without any Democratic support. The Congressional Budget Office has projected that the measure will increase the U.S. debt by about $3.3 trillion over the coming decade. "No one is buying the the notion that Republicans are actually trying to improve wasteful spending,' said Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries. Heavy blow to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting The cancellation of $1.1 billion for the CPB represents the full amount it is due to receive during the next two budget years. The White House says the public media system is politically biased and an unnecessary expense. The corporation distributes more than two-thirds of the money to more than 1,500 locally operated public television and radio stations, with much of the remainder assigned to National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service to support national programming. 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The White House argued that many of the cuts would incentivise other nations to step up and do more to respond to humanitarian crises and that the rescissions best served the American taxpayer. 'The money that we're clawing back in this rescissions package is the people's money. We ought not to forget that,' said Rep Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., chair of the House Rules Committee. After objections from several Republicans, Senate GOP leaders took out a $400 million cut to PEPFAR, a politically popular programme to combat HIV/AIDS that is credited with saving millions of lives since its creation under Republican President George W. Bush. Looking ahead to future spending fights Democrats say the bill upends a legislative process that typically requires lawmakers from both parties to work together to fund the nation's priorities. Triggered by the official rescissions request from the White House, the legislation only needed a simple majority vote to advance in the Senate instead of the 60 votes usually required to break a filibuster. That meant Republicans could use their 53-47 majority to pass it along party lines. Two Republican senators, Murkowski and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, joined with Democrats in voting against the bill, though a few other Republicans also raised concerns about the process. 'Let's not make a habit of this,' said Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker of Mississippi, who voted for the bill but said he was wary that the White House wasn't providing enough information on what exactly will be cut. Russ Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, said the imminent successful passage of the rescissions shows 'enthusiasm' for getting the nation's fiscal situation under control. 'We're happy to go to great lengths to get this thing done,' he said during a breakfast with reporters hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. In response to questions about the relatively small size of the cuts — $9 billion — Vought said that was because 'I knew it would be hard' to pass in Congress. Vought said another rescissions package is 'likely to come soon.'
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
U.S. House sends bill regulating stablecoins to Trump
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'Around the world, payment systems are undergoing a revolution,' said House Financial Services Chair French Hill of Arkansas as lawmakers debated the stablecoin legislation Thursday morning. Hill said the bill will 'ensure American competitiveness and strong guardrails for our consumers.' After Mr. Trump declared it 'crypto week,' the bills were stalled for more than a day amid disagreements among House Republicans about how to combine the legislation. In the end, GOP leaders put the three bills for a separate votes, leaving the fate of the other two bills unclear in the Senate. The internal dissent could foreshadow challenges ahead for the more sweeping crypto legislation that Trump has demanded and the industry has poured millions into advancing. The stablecoin measure is seen by lawmakers and the industry as a step toward adding legitimacy and consumer trust to a rapidly growing sector. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in June that the legislation could help that currency 'grow into a $3.7 trillion market by the end of the decade.' The bill outlines requirements for stablecoin issuers, including compliance with U.S. anti-money laundering and sanctions laws, and mandates that issuers hold reserves backing the cryptocurrency. Without such a framework, Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee in a statement warned, 'consumers face risks like unstable reserves or unclear operations from stablecoin issuers." After the votes, House Republicans strongly urged the Senate to take up the second bill, which would create a new market structure for cryptocurrency. Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., said the 294-134 vote on that legislation shows broad bipartisan support and a 'massive energy' on the issue. But it is so far unclear whether the Senate would consider the House bill or try to write its own. That legislation aims to provide clarity for how digital assets are regulated. The bill defines what forms of cryptocurrency should be treated as commodities regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and which are securities policed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. In general, tokens associated with 'mature' blockchains, like bitcoin, will be considered commodities. The third bill, passed on a narrower 219-210 margin, prohibits the U.S. from offering what's known as a 'central bank digital currency,' which is like a government-issued form of digital cash. The crypto industry has long complained that unclear laws have made it difficult to operate in the U.S. and that the Biden administration tried to regulate it through enforcement actions rather than transparent rulemaking. Getting this bill passed has been a top priority for the industry, which has quickly become a major power player in Washington thanks to heavy campaign donations and lobbying. Advocates said the passage of the bills marks a key moment in cryptocurrency's winding path toward mainstream adoption. Patrick McHenry, the former chair of the House Financial Services Committee and now vice chair of the crypto firm Ondo Finance, said the legislation will have a 'massive generational impact,' similar to the securities laws Congress passed in the 1930s that helped make Wall Street the center of the financial world. 'These bills will make the United States the center of the world for digital assets,' he said. While the bill has significant bipartisan support, it has also faced pushback from Democrats who say the legislation should address Mr. Trump's personal financial interests in the crypto space. 'No one should be surprised that these same Republicans' next order of business is to validate, legitimize, and endorse the Trump family's corruption and efforts to sell the White House to the highest bidder,' said California Rep. Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the Financial Services panel. A provision in the stablecoin bill bans members of Congress and their families from profiting off stablecoins. But that prohibition does not extend to the president and his family, even as Mr. Trump builds a crypto empire from the White House. In May, the Republican president hosted a private dinner at his golf club in Virginia with top investors in a Trump-branded meme coin. His family holds a significant stake in World Liberty Financial, a crypto project that launched its own stablecoin, USD1. Mr. Trump reported earning $57.35 million from token sales at World Liberty Financial in 2024, according to a public financial disclosure released in June. A meme coin linked to him has generated an estimated $320 million in fees, though the earnings are split among multiple investors. Some Democrats also criticised the bill for creating what they see as an overly weak regulatory framework that could pose long-term financial risks. They've also raised concerns that the legislation opens the door for major corporations to issue their own private cryptocurrencies. 'If this bill passes, it will allow Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg to issue their own money. The bill still permits Big Tech companies and other conglomerates to issue their own private currencies,' said Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee.
