After days of deliberations that went late into the night on Tuesday, the Senate passed Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending cuts megabill, taking the deeply divisive piece of legislation one step closer to becoming law.
At the 11th hour, minority Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer won a small victory in having the name of Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” stricken, but it wasn’t enough to stop its passage – the act was passed just minutes later.
The bill needs approval by the House of Representatives, which previously passed it by just one vote. If it becomes law, it would allow Trump to deliver on many of his election pledges, including making temporary tax cuts from his first term permanent, a major boost in spending on border protection and defense, and more oil and gas production. That will be partly funded by slashing spending on Medicaid and health programs, food stamps, student loans and clean energy tax credits.
Here are the day’s key stories:
Senate Republicans pass Trump’s sweeping policy bill
The passage of Donald Trump’s major tax and spending bill is a victory for Senate Republicans, who faced infighting and deep divisions over measures like Medicaid cuts and even saw one lawmaker choose to retire after clashing with Trump.
It remains unclear if changes made by the Senate will be accepted by the House. While Republicans control both house of Congress, factionalism in the lower chamber is particularly intense.
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Trump visits ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ in Florida
Trump on Tuesday toured “Alligator Alcatraz”, a controversial new migrant detention jail in the remote Florida Everglades, and celebrated the harsh conditions that people sent there would experience.
The president was chaperoned by Florida’s hard-right governor, Ron DeSantis, who hailed the tented camp on mosquito-infested land 50 miles west of Miami as an example for other states that supported Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
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Trump team threatens to prosecute CNN
Trump and administration officials have threatened CNN over what they said was its promotion of a new app that allows users to track and try to avoid Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents.
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Trump claims Israel ready for Gaza peace deal
Donald Trump claimed that Israel was ready to agree to a peace deal with Hamas as he seeks to broker a ceasefire to the war in Gaza that has claimed almost 60,000 lives.
In a post on Truth Social, the US president wrote: “Israel has agreed to the necessary conditions to finalize the 60 Day CEASEFIRE, during which time we will work with all parties to end the War.”
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Leavitt raises stripping Zohran Mamdani of citizenship
The Trump administration raised the possibility of stripping Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic mayoral candidate for New York City, of his US citizenship as part of a crackdown against foreign-born citizens convicted of certain offences.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, appeared to pave the way for an investigation into Mamdani’s status after Andy Ogles, a rightwing Republican representative for Tennessee, called for his citizenship to be revoked on the grounds that he may have concealed his support for “terrorism” during the naturalization process.
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Key climate change reports removed from US government websites
Legally mandated US national climate assessments seem to have disappeared from the federal websites built to display them, making it harder for state and local governments and the public to learn what to expect in their back yards from a warming world.
Scientists said the peer-reviewed authoritative reports save money and lives. Websites for the national assessments and the US Global Change Research Program were down Monday and Tuesday with no links, notes or referrals elsewhere. The White House, which was responsible for the assessments, said the information will be housed within Nasa to comply with the law, but gave no further details.
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What else happened today:
The US is halting some shipments of weapons to Ukraine amid concerns that its own stockpiles have declined too much, officials said Tuesday, a setback for the country as it tries to fend off escalating attacks from Russia.
The chair of the Federal Reserve blamed Trump’s tariffs for preventing the immediate interest rate cuts the president has demanded.
Months after Trump expressed negative opinions about a portrait of him in the Colorado state capitol, a White House-approved replacement now hangs in its place.
A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s bid to end temporary deportation protections and work permits for approximately 521,000 Haitians before the program’s scheduled expiration date.
Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s reignited feud continued on Tuesday with the former political allies trading sharp public threats of retribution.
Catching up? Here’s what happened on 30 June 2025.
Source: US Politics - theguardian.com
