Summary About 17 hours since voting began, the Senate hasn’t yet passed Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” that would enact his domestic tax and spending agenda – and add an estimated $3.3tn to the national debt over the next decade.
The vote is expected to be tight – Republicans can only afford to lose three votes for the legislation to pass and two senators have already expressed they are firm no’s: Rand Paul and Thom Tillis.
As we await more news there, here are the top headlines we’ve followed so far today:
Elon Musk denounced Republican efforts to pass the president’s budget bill. The tech billionaire later pledged to found a new political party he called the “America Party” if it passed, and to support candidates who did not back the budget bill in future elections. He also said on X that in response to a poll asking if the US needs a new party to represent middle America, “80% voted for a new party”.
Trump warned Republicans that failing to pass his bill would mean “a whopping 68% tax increase, the largest in history”. In the post on his Truth Social platform the president described the bill as “perhaps the greatest and most important of its kind in history” and giving the largest tax cuts ever.
The Senate parliamentarian found that Republicans could include a provision that would block Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood in the bill.
Republican Senate majority leader John Thune (third left) speaks to reporters after leaving the Senate floor on Monday. Photograph: Alex Wroblewski/EPA
Trump signed an executive order overturning sanctions on Syria today and issued a memorandum on US policy toward Cuba. The president’s executive order revokes sanctions on Syria while maintaining sanction’s on the country’s former president Bashar al-Assad. Separately, Trump directed the federal government to enforce a statutory ban on US tourism to Cuba and continue an economic embargo on the island nation.
On the US Agency for International Development’s last day, former presidents Barack Obama and George W Bush praised staffers and the Lancet medical journal published research finding the agency had prevented more than 91 million deaths globally, including 30 million deaths among children. It added that the dismantling of USAID could result in 14 million additional deaths by 2030.
A federal judge has ruled that Kilmar Ábrego García must remain in jail, citing fears that the Trump administration may deport him ahead of his trial if he is released. Earlier this week, the same judge ordered Ábrego García released ahead of his trial on smuggling charges.
Trump has dropped his lawsuit against pollster J Ann Selzer and the Des Moines Register, according to a court filing today. Trump sued Selzer and the newspaper after it published a poll finding that Kamala Harris would win Iowa in the presidential election by three percentage points.
Congress members must give the Department of Homeland Security a week’s notice before visiting immigration detention facilities, according to new department guidance. Visits on shorter notice must be approved directly by department secretary Kristi Noem. Trump, meanwhile, will travel tomorrow to the opening of the new and highly controversial immigrant detention facility in the Florida Everglades, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz”.
The Trump administration sued the city of Los Angeles over policies limiting city cooperation with federal immigration authorities, continuing a confrontation over Trump’s aggressive deportation efforts in the largely Democratic city.
The Trump administration informed Harvard University that its investigation found that the university violated federal civil rights law over its treatment of Jewish and Israeli students, putting its federal funding further at risk.
Trump will host Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on 7 July. Israel’s strategic affairs minister, Ron Dermer, will also meet with officials at the White House this week for talks on Iran and a new push for a ceasefire in Gaza. Israel’s ongoing bombardment on Gaza killed at least another 38 civilians today.
Trump wrote to Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell again urging him to lower interest rates. Attacking Powell and members of the Fed board of governors, who he accused of failing to do their jobs, the president said he believed interest rates should be lowered to about 1%.
Trump has suggested there won’t be a trade deal with Japan, saying Japan would be the recipient of a letter related to trade, following pledges by his administration to send letters to countries outlining tariffs they would need to pay the US.
The Trump administration appealed against a federal judge’s decision to strike down an executive order targeting law firm Perkins Coie over its past legal work for Hillary Clinton and others.