USA News and Discussions

[weatheriscool]

[firestar464]

States can block Medicaid money for health care at Planned Parenthood, the Supreme Court says

https://apnews.com/article/supreme-cour ... 000181f43d

[weatheriscool]

Senate votes to move forward on Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’

Senate Republicans took a major step toward delivering President Donald Trump his “big, beautiful bill” on Saturday, though the fate of the bill is still in question as other hurdles remain.

With a key procedural vote cleared, Republican leaders must now satisfy numerous holdouts still demanding changes to the bill. Trump’s multitrillion-dollar bill would lower federal taxes and infuse more money into the Pentagon and border security agencies, while downsizing government safety-net programs including Medicaid.

The timeline is extremely tight: Trump has demanded to sign the bill on the Fourth of July, but the bill must still go back to the House.

This story and headline have been updated with additional developments.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/28/politics ... genda-bill

[weatheriscool]

The parliamentarian has ruled that increased federal Medicaid payments for Alaska and Hawaii violate the Byrd rule.
Larry Levitt
‪@larrylevitt.bsky.social‬

The parliamentarian has ruled that increased federal Medicaid payments for Alaska and Hawaii violate the Byrd rule. Also increased Medicare rates for outpatient hospitals in those states. https://www.budget.senate.gov/ranking-m ... tiful-bill

[firestar464]

The Smear Campaign Against Zohran Mamdani Failed. That’s a Huge Deal.

https://www.thenation.com/article/polit ... ine-mayor/

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[firestar464]

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/30/poli ... reme-court

[weatheriscool]

Trump's megabill squeaks through Senate, but House can still reject changes

Source: CNBC

Published Tue, Jul 1 2025 10:52 AM EDT Updated 9 Min Ago

The Senate on Tuesday passed President Donald Trump’s megabill after days of negotiations and a marathon amendment session that at times appeared to imperil the domestic policy package.

The final vote was 51-50, with Vice President JD Vance casting a final, tie-breaking vote. Republican Sens. Thom Tillis, N.C., Rand Paul, Ky., and Susan Collins, Me., all broke with their party and voted against the massive spending bill.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s victory in the upper chamber may be short-lived, however, as the megabill now goes to the House, where it faces an uncertain future amid firm GOP hold-outs.

The House, which just squeaked out its version of the bill, must accept the Senate’s substantial changes to the package, a daunting task especially as some GOP lawmakers have expressed continued concerns over the bill’s impact on the deficit. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects the bill will add at least $3 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/01/trump-b ... -vote.html

[weatheriscool]

[Cyber_Rebel]

Trump team axes contracts with publishing giant Springer Nature
The action comes as high-ranking US officials criticize top journals as ‘woke’ and ‘corrupt’.

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02080-1

The administration of US President Donald Trump this month has cut some government agencies’ subscriptions to journals at Nature’s publisher, Springer Nature. And at least three government agencies say they are terminating all their contracts with the company.

The move comes amid criticisms of top academic journals by high-ranking Trump officials, and will mean that staff members at the affected agencies will no longer be able to easily access the company’s more than 3,000 journals, including the flagship title Nature. (The Nature news team is editorially independent of its publisher, Springer Nature.)

----------------------------------------------

Yeah, I think I'll simply be "self-deporting" soon. America's time, even assuming superintelligence even can somehow salvage it, is basically over. Country is beyond a joke at this point. Have fun with feudal style Cyberpunk, I guess.

[weatheriscool]

Trump administration targets ATF, with plans to cut jobs and ease gun restrictions

Source: NPR

July 2, 2025 5:00 AM ET

The Trump administration has set its sights on restructuring the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, including plans to loosen gun regulations and significantly reduce its budget.

Two weeks ago, the administration sent staff from the Department of Government Efficiency, the administration's government-slashing initiative, into the agency with a goal of cutting regulations quickly, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke to NPR on the condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation.

As the federal agency responsible for regulating the gun industry, the ATF investigates illegal gun trafficking, inspects gun dealers to ensure they're following the law, and issues citations and revokes licenses if they're not.

DOGE has been working with officials at the ATF on changes to around 50 regulations, including making a background check for a firearm purchase valid for 60 days instead of 30, and allowing gun dealers to destroy records after 20 years, rather than keep them indefinitely, according to the people NPR spoke with. Many of the changes might not seem consequential in isolation, but taken together, those people said, a larger picture emerges of a new regime aiming to deregulate the firearms industry.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/07/02/nx-s1-54 ... strictions

[caltrek]

'Deal-killer': Several House Republicans Flatly Reject Senate's 'Dud' Megabill
By Daniel Hampton
July 1, 2025

Introduction:

(Raw Story) The Senate's changes to President Donald Trump's signature spending bill aren't even a day old, but House Republicans are already coming out in force to oppose the legislation.

The New York Times flagged multiple notable House GOP responses to the bill after the divided Senate passed its version of the "One Big Beautiful Bill," including Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN), who called it a “dud” that “guts key Trump provisions.”

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) said the new bill isn't aggressive enough on clean energy tax credits, calling it “a deal-killer of an already bad deal.”

Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN) called the Senate's changes "unacceptable" as they increase "the national debt and the deficit." He warned that the changes will make "passage in the House difficult."

“We cannot in good faith pass a bill through our chamber that hinges on cut corners and earmarks,” Stutzman wrote on social media. “The American people won’t stand for it.”

Also identified as a definite “no” is Representative Ralph Norman (R-SC).

Read more here: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politic ... 8&ei=60

[caltrek]

[caltrek]

- Phil Plait

[caltrek]

American Science to Soon Face Its Largest Brain Drain in History
By Ethan Segal
July 2, 2025

Introduction:

(Big Think)
• Throughout the 20th and the first quarter of the 21st centuries, the US became a world leader in science, technology, healthcare, and education by investing in scientific research.

• In 2025, that is rapidly changing, as unprecedented federal cuts, the defunding and closing of many institutions, and devastatingly reduced budgets present an extinction-level event for American science.

• Just as the exodus of scientists and scientific projects from Nazi Germany became known as “Hitler’s gift” to the rest of the world, the actions of the US today seem similarly poised to reward the rest of the world. Here’s an insider’s view into what’s happening.

From World War II until 2024, the US stood unchallenged as the scientific leader of the free world. Across practically every discipline — physics, materials science, astronomy, chemistry, biology, medicine, geology, etc. — American scientific missions and initiatives, often in collaboration with European, Canadian, Asian, and many other global partners, brought us new advances and breakthroughs, paving the way for generations of scientists to thrive. In a society that values facts, scientific truths, education, and the public good, this recipe led to multiple generations of continued breakthroughs and advances.

Since late January of this year, however, all of that has rapidly changed. Many of the most valuable scientific organizations in the world, including NOAA, NASA, the NSF, the CDC, the EPA, and the FDA, have experienced a set of unprecedented internal attacks.

Read more here: https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-ban ... -drain/

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[caltrek]

House Republicans Hold Out Against Trump Tax Bill for Hours, Then Cave
By Arthur Delaney
July 3, 2025

Introduction:

(Huffpost) WASHINGTON ― House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) had hoped the House would quickly act after the Senate passed Republicans’ big bill cutting taxes and Medicaid, but progress slowed on Wednesday.

Republicans got bogged down on procedural votes before they could get to an eventual final roll call on the bill itself. After holdouts came around on one so-called “rule” vote, Republicans got stuck down on another rule vote that dragged into the late hours.

As Wednesday turned into Thursday, what appeared to be a delay in passing the bill started looking like a more serious setback. But then, after 3 a.m., Republican holdouts flipped, the rule passed, and Republicans appeared on the brink of passing the tax bill and sending it to President Donald Trump’s desk.

Several House Republicans had voiced concerns about the Senate version of the so-called Big Beautiful Bill. Johnson had essentially tried to call their bluff by making them return to Washington and daring them to defy Trump and vote against the legislation.

Members of the hardline House Freedom Caucus and moderates resisted, even though there’s no way to change the bill without blowing Trump’s arbitrary July 4 deadline to pass it.

Read more here: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/big-bea ... 8dccc22f2

caltrek’s comment: Such brilliant and effective arm twisting toward such an evil end.

[weatheriscool]