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CBS News
a day ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Michigan lawmakers, officials react to passage of federal spending bill
The U.S. Senate narrowly passed President Trump's massive tax and spending bill Tuesday, with a tie ultimately broken by Vice President JD Vance. The bill that was referred to by Republicans as the "Big, Beautiful Bill" now goes back to the House for a final vote and then to the president's desk, possibly by the end of this week. All Senate Democrats voted against the bill, including Michigan Senators Gary Peters and Elissa Slotkin. Here are some of the reactions and statements issued by Michigan officials and organizations as the vote was announced. U.S. Senator Gary Peters, D-Michigan "Democrats did everything in our power to stop this legislation, but President Trump and Republicans in Congress are dead set on selling out hardworking Michiganders so they can pay for a massive tax cut for billionaires. This bill is reckless, irresponsible, and an unconscionable betrayal of American families. I voted no," Sen. Gary Peters said. U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin, D-Michigan "After more than 25 hours on the Senate floor, I voted no on the so-called 'One Big Beautiful Bill.' No matter which way you slice it – health care, energy, housing – the President just rammed through a bill that will make Michiganders pay in every part of their lives. All so the wealthiest among us can get a tax break," Sen. Elissa Slotkin said. Curtis Hertel, chair of the Michigan Democratic Party "Millions of Michiganders will see their costs go up thanks to Republicans in DC choosing to help billionaires over working families. Republicans are trying to gut Medicaid and SNAP programs and put thousands of jobs, and even more lives, at risk as hospitals are forced to close and families lose coverage," Michigan Democratic Party chair Curtis Hertel said. "This budget is not just cruel, it's stupid and a financial disaster for our state and the whole country." Charlesetta Wilson, director of nursing homes at SEIU Healthcare Michigan "This legislation is a direct attack on the health and dignity of Michigan's working families. It would rip more than a trillion dollars from Medicaid and other essential programs our communities rely on just to fund more tax breaks for billionaires. ... We're calling on Michigan's U.S. House delegation to vote no," Charlesetta Wilson, director of nursing homes at SEIU Healthcare Michigan, said. Michigan League for Public Policy "The shock of this bill is hard to overstate. Republican leaders just voted to spend trillions of dollars to increase poverty and hunger, to strip away health coverage, and to create the biggest redistribution of wealth from poor to rich in U.S. history. Much of the bill — including billions of dollars to be spent on a 'mass deportation plan' that could upend our nation's immigration system — lacks specificity and gives full discretion to the Trump administration, not Congress. And this shortsighted, harmful bill also adds $2.4 trillion to the nation's deficit. It's just staggering," read a statement from the Michigan League for Public Policy.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
U.S. Eyes Chinese AI Exclusion
A bipartisan group in Congress has rolled out the No Adversarial AI Act to keep Chinese-made AI tools out of federal government systems. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Signs with NVDA. The measure, spearheaded by Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), would ban models developed by foreign adversaries, including DeepSeek. Sen. Scott warned that the Communist Chinese regime will use any means necessary to spy, steal, and undermine the United States, adding that it's absolutely insane to let federal agencies rely on platforms that could hand sensitive data to Beijing. Sen. Peters said the bill strikes a balance between embracing AI's promise and protecting government systems from security risks. DeepSeek grabbed headlines in January by claiming it matched leading models from OpenAI at a fraction of the cost and GPU usage. That announcement briefly rattled shares of Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), but investors quickly shrugged off concerns and sent AI-linked stocks higher. A former Chinese Communist Party official this week predicted China could produce 100 DeepSeek-style breakthroughs over the next 18 months, underscoring the country's rapid AI advances. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bondi hedges on masked ICE agents, says it's ‘the first time the issue has come to me'
During her latest appearance before a Senate committee, Attorney General Pam Bondi covered a fair amount of ground. The Republican struggled with a question about the administration following court orders, clumsily tried to dodge a question about why she thinks the availability of automatic firing devices on semiautomatic weapons would make Americans 'safer,' and took the hearing in a rather intemperate direction after being asked about Donald Trump's allegedly corrupt crypto schemes. But there was another exchange that stood out to me as especially notable. The Guardian reported: [Bondi] professed ignorance of reports of immigration officials hiding their faces with masks during roundups of undocumented people, despite widespread video evidence and reports that they are instilling pervasive fear and panic. Challenged at a Wednesday Capitol Hill subcommittee hearing by Gary Peters, a Democratic senator for Michigan, Bondi, who as the country's top law officer has a prominent role in the Trump administration's hardline immigration policy, implied she was unaware of plain-clothed agents concealing their faces while carrying out arrests but suggested it was for self-protection. In fact, pressed on masked ICE agents, the attorney general responded, 'Senator Peters, that's the first time that issue has come to me, about them, you're saying law enforcement officers when they cover their faces? ... I'd be happy to look at that issue.' To be fair, Bondi didn't explicitly say she was unfamiliar with the issue, but given the context, her sworn testimony certainly gave that impression. Indeed, she literally said this was 'the first time' she'd been confronted with this, which seemed hard to believe given that this has been a subject of considerable public debate of late. As for the attorney general's suggestion that ICE agents are entitled to anonymity, to prevent 'doxxing,' The New York Times' Jamelle Bouie explained otherwise in his latest column. ... ICE officers aren't anonymous commentators on a social network; they are representatives of the state, acting on its behalf and empowered to use force if necessary. As a federal agent, an ICE officer is a public servant whose ultimate responsibility lies with the people. And the people have the right to know who is operating in their government. If an ICE officer does not want to risk identification — if he does not want the public he serves to hold him accountable for his actions — then he can choose another line of work. That ICE has claimed this right to anonymity — which is to say, the right to evade responsibility for its actions in the field — is a testament to the ways that Trump has, in his pursuit of impunity, warped and undermined the idea of a public trust. Revisiting our earlier coverage, every day, in communities nationwide, police officers do their jobs with a high degree of transparency: The public can see the officers' faces, badge numbers, rank and, in most instances, even their last names featured on uniforms. Though many cops are forced to deal with threats and violence, there isn't a police department in the United States that allows officers to wear masks or hide their identities while they carry out day-to-day duties. Indeed, that's the American norm across agencies, departments and jurisdictions. State troopers don't wear masks. Neither do FBI agents. U.S. marshals don't wear masks; sheriffs don't wear masks; prosecutors don't wear masks; and Secret Service agents don't wear masks. But Immigration and Customs Enforcement appears to be operating under different standards. Indeed, it's become rather common in recent months to see ICE agents, acting at the president's behest, snatching people off American streets while hiding their identities. Bondi is now 'happy to look at that issue.' I'll be eager to learn the results of her examination. This article was originally published on
Daily Mail
7 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Pam Bondi stunned after Democrat puts her on the spot about a familiar incognito ICE tactic
Pam Bondi claimed she did not know ICE agents were wearing masks to conceal their faces during raids while she was being grilled on Capitol Hill. Trump's Attorney General was put on the spot by Democrat Michigan Senator Gary Peters during a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee. 'Given the number of DOJ employees currently conducting immigration enforcement activities in support of DHS, how are you going to ensure that the safety of the public and the officers, if they continue to not follow required protocol to identify themselves as law enforcement?' Peters pressed Bondi. 'Senator Peters, that's the first time that issue has come to me,' Bondi responded back, before pivoting to defend the actions of law enforcement officers. 'I can assure you that if they're covering their faces now, it's to protect themselves, but they also want to protect all citizens, and that's that's something we can work together on,' Bondi added. The Daily Mail reported back in February that photos, names and personal details of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were being posted on fliers in a bid to dox federal agents carrying out mass deportation raids. The notices resembling Wanted Posters appeared in Los Angeles and showed the agents' faces, ages, their phone numbers and what part of city they're in as part of a growing plot to interfere in immigration raids. Los Angeles is not the only city where agents have been doxxed. The Democrat Mayor of Nashville, Freddie O'Connell, clashed with Republican Congressman Andy Ogles over the issue. O'Connell defended the public release of names of federal immigration officers involved in mass migrant round ups, claiming that the real concern isn't their safety, but that masked agents are 'whisking people' away. Names of agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were posted to online by the City of Nashville, as part of a public records request that mandates information about immigration be posted online to a city website. Back in March, Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish student who is currently studying at Tufts University in Massachusetts, was swarmed by a group of agents near her off-campus home. Footage of her being taken in showed a group of six people approaching her from angles, all of whom are masked and wearing gold identification badges. 'We're the police,' members of the group are heard saying in the video. A man is heard on camera saying, 'Why are you hiding your faces?' The group put in her handcuffs and grab her backpack from her before pulling her towards a black SUV parked across the street. Notably, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a division within the United States Department of Homeland Security under the purview of Secretary Kristi Noem.
The Guardian
25-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Pam Bondi denies knowing Ice agents wore masks during raids despite video evidence
The attorney general, Pam Bondi, professed ignorance of reports of immigration officials hiding their faces with masks during roundups of undocumented people, despite widespread video evidence and reports that they are instilling pervasive fear and panic. Challenged at a Wednesday Capitol Hill subcommittee hearing by Gary Peters, a Democratic senator for Michigan, Bondi, who as the country's top law officer has a prominent role in the Trump administration's hardline immigration policy, implied she was unaware of plain-clothed agents concealing their faces while carrying out arrests but suggested it was for self-protection. 'I do know they are being doxxed … they're being threatened,' she told Peters. 'Their families are being threatened.' Bondi's protestations appeared to strain credibility given the attention the masked raids carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents have attracted on social media and elsewhere. Civil rights campaigners and democracy experts have criticised the raids as evocative of entrenched dictatorships and police states, and say it is a warning sign that the US is descending into authoritarianism. Peters said he understood officers' concerns at being doxxed but said the failure to wear identifying insignia endangered both themselves and detainees. 'The public risk being harmed by individuals pretending to be immigration enforcement, which has already happened,' he told Bondi. 'And these officers also risk being injured by individuals who think they're basically being kidnapped or attacked by some unknown assailant. 'People think: 'Here's a person coming up to me, not identified, covering themselves. They're kidnapping.' They'll probably fight back. That endangers the officer as well, and that's a serious situation. People need to know that they're dealing with a federal law enforcement official.' Bondi reiterated her proclamation of ignorance, saying: 'It sounds like you have a specific case and will be happy to talk to you about that at a later time, because I'm not aware of that happening.' She turned the tables later in the hearing after Bill Hagerty, a Republican from Tennessee, condemned Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor and the Democratic vice presidential candidate in last year's election, for comparing Ice agents with Nazi Gestapo officers. 'This is dangerous for our agents, it's wrong, and it cuts against and it undercuts the rule of law,' said Hagerty, who invited Bondi to explain how she intended to tackle 'leftwing radicals' who he said were attacking Ice agents. In response, the attorney general said that it was protesters who were concealing their identities when assailing officers. 'Those people are the ones who have really been wearing the mask and trying to cover their identities,' she said, citing the recent demonstrations in Los Angeles, against which Donald Trump deployed national guard units. 'We've been finding them. We have been charging them with assault on a federal officer.' Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion Lisa Murkowski, a Republican senator from Alaska who has some voiced criticism of the Trump administration, told Bondi that her constituents were worried that resources had been transferred to immigration crackdowns at the expense of tackling violent crime. 'We don't have much of an Ice presence in Alaska,' she said. 'All of a sudden, we're now on the map. We have those that are being detained in our local jail that were flown up to the state several weeks ago to be detained up there.' She also cited the case of a restaurant owner who had been detained by Ice agents after living in the Alaskan city of Soldotna for 20 years. 'His children are all integrated into the community,' Murkowski said. 'The specific ask is whether or not immigration enforcement is being prioritized over combatting violent crime. And senator, before you walked in, I think senators on both sides of the aisle shared that same concern.' Bondi replied: 'It is not and it will not. A lot of it does go hand in hand though, getting the illegal aliens who are violent criminals out of our country.'
