Politics Election category, Page 5
Trump’s trade blitz produces few deals but lots of uncertainty
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and his advisers promised a lightning round of global trade negotiations with dozens of countries back in April. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro predicted “90 deals in 90 days.” Administration officials declared that other countries were desperate to make concessions to avoid the massive...
Trump administration looks to ban sale of U.S. farmland to Chinese buyers
The Trump administration is moving to ban the sale of American farmland to buyers from China and other countries deemed adversaries, citing national security concerns. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said during a news conference Tuesday that the administration also would work to “claw back what has already been purchased...
New book claims Gov. Shapiro’s Jewish faith was not why he lost out as VP pick
According to a new book, Gov. Josh Shapiro’s Jewish faith was not a reason for former Vice President Kamala Harris spurning him as her running mate last year, contradicting accusations made by President Donald Trump. The Forward, a Jewish publication, obtained excerpts of “How Trump Retook the White House and...
Trump’s scheduled summit at Carnegie Mellon meets backlash
Carrie McDonough was appalled upon learning that President Donald Trump would appear at a summit hosted by Carnegie Mellon University. She immediately began formulating an open letter to the administration, condemning what she saw as a dangerous legitimization of the Trump administration’s values. “Trump is a harmful person,” said McDonough,...
Temporary status to be removed from roughly 80,000 Hondurans, Nicaraguans after 25 years in US
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is ending the temporary status for nearly 80,000 Hondurans and Nicaraguans that has allowed them to live and work in the U.S. for a quarter of a century after a devastating hurricane hit Central America, according to federal government notices — a move that comes...
Trump and Netanyahu may take a victory lap on Iran, but the Gaza war looms over their meeting
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump might look to take a victory lap on Monday after their recent joint strikes on Iran, hailed by both as an unmitigated success. But as they meet for the third time this year, the outwardly triumphant...
U.S. tariffs on European goods threaten to shake up the world’s largest 2-way trade relationship
FRANKFURT, Germany — America’s largest trade partner, the European Union, is among the entities awaiting word Monday on whether U.S. President Donald Trump will impose punishing tariffs on their goods, a move economists have warned would have repercussions for companies and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic. Trump imposed...
Elon Musk declares ‘America Party’ formed after Trump’s bill signed
Elon Musk said a new political party he has been threatening to start up “is formed,” a day after President Donald Trump signed a tax-cut and spending bill that the Tesla Inc. billionaire chief executive officer has denounced. Musk made the announcement on his X social network after posting the...
U.S. expands militarized zones to 1/3 of southern border, stirring controversy
COLUMBUS, N.M. — Orange no-entry signs posted by the U.S. military in English and Spanish dot the New Mexico desert, where a border wall cuts past onion fields and parched ranches with tufts of tall grass growing amidst wiry brush and yucca trees. The Army has posted thousands of the...
Trump signs his tax and spending cut bill at the White House July 4 picnic
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed his package of tax breaks and spending cuts into law Friday after his cajoling produced almost unanimous Republican support in Congress for the domestic priority that could cement his second-term legacy. Flanked by Republican legislators and members of his Cabinet, Trump signed the multitrillion-dollar...
Judge blocks immigrants’ deportation to South Sudan one day after Supreme Court clears the way
A federal judge on Friday briefly halted deportations of eight immigrants to war-torn South Sudan, sending the case to another judge, in Boston, the day after the Supreme Court greenlighted their removal. District Judge Randolph Moss sent the case north from Washington after an extraordinary Fourth of July hearing on...
Rural hospitals brace for financial hits or even closure under Republicans’ $1 trillion Medicaid cut
OMAHA, Neb. — Tyler Sherman, a nurse at a rural Nebraska hospital, is used to the area’s aging farmers delaying care until they end up in his emergency room. Now, with Congress planning around $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts over 10 years, he fears those farmers and the more than...
Democrats see Trump’s big bill as key to their comeback. It may not be so easy
WINDSOR HEIGHTS, Iowa — It is big and it is beautiful, President Donald Trump says. But for many Democratic leaders, the tax break and spending cut package passed by Trump’s Republican allies in Congress on Thursday represents the key to the Democratic Party’s resurgence. Even before the final vote, Democratic...
EPA puts on leave 139 employees who spoke out against policies under Trump
The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday put on administrative leave 139 employees who signed a “declaration of dissent” with its policies, accusing them of “unlawfully undermining” the Trump administration’s agenda. In a letter made public Monday, the employees wrote that the agency is no longer living up to its mission...
What’s in Trump’s big bill?
WASHINGTON — Republicans muscled President Donald Trump’s tax and spending cut bill through the House on Thursday, the final step necessary to get the bill to his desk by the GOP’s self-imposed deadline of July 4. At nearly 900 pages, the legislation is a sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending...
Law enforcement groups oppose proposed anti-drug program cuts
WASHINGTON — Law enforcement agencies and associations are pushing for Congress to reject a Trump administration proposal to cut funding for a program aimed at reducing drug trafficking and illicit drug production, as well as change where it is run in the government. The Trump administration’s fiscal 2026 budget request...
Western Pa. Republicans see hope, Democrats doom in passage of Trump policy bill
Republicans in Western Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation celebrated the passage of President Trump’s domestic policy package Thursday afternoon, touting measures to extend and expand tax relief enacted in 2017, secure the nation’s southern border and expand domestic production of oil, coal and natural gas. Democratic leaders warned the package will be...
Hakeem Jeffries took his ‘sweet time’ holding the floor to delay Trump’s tax bill
WASHINGTON — There’s no filibuster in the House, but Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries essentially conducted one anyway. Jeffries held the House floor for more than eight hours Thursday, taking his “sweet time” with a marathon floor speech that delayed passage of Republicans’ massive tax and spending cuts legislation and gave...
Putin and Trump discuss Iran and Ukraine in 6th phone call this year, Kremlin official says
MOSCOW — U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed Iran, Ukraine and other issues on Thursday in a “frank and constructive” phone call, the Kremlin said, in their sixth publicly disclosed chat since Trump returned to the White House. While discussing the situation around Iran and in...
House passes Trump’s big tax bill and sends it to him to sign
WASHINGTON — House Republicans propelled President Donald Trump’s $4.5 trillion tax breaks and spending cuts bill to final congressional passage Thursday, overcoming multiple setbacks to approve his signature second-term policy package before a Fourth of July deadline. The tight roll call, 218-214, came at a potentially high political cost, with...
Hundreds of thousands in Pa. could lose Medicaid, SNAP benefits under Trump bill, Shapiro says
More than 300,000 Pennsylvanians could lose Medicaid coverage if the Senate-approved version of President Donald Trump’s domestic policy bill passes the House, while nearly 150,000 people who receive SNAP benefits could lose access to food assistance, Gov. Josh Shapiro said Wednesday. “Every member of Congress who votes for this reconciliation...
America’s debt surpasses $36T and would keep growing under Trump bill. How did we get here?
As it begins its 249th year in business as a country, the United States owes more than $36 trillion in debt and spends nearly $2 trillion more per year than it collects. Those numbers won’t be decreasing if the One Big Beautiful Bill Act becomes law. The legislation, named and...
Analysis shows Trump’s tariffs would cost U.S. employers $82.3 billion
WASHINGTON — An analysis finds a critical group of U.S. employers would face a direct cost of $82.3 billion from President Donald Trump’s current tariff plans, a sum that could potentially be managed through price hikes, layoffs, hiring freezes or lower profit margins. The analysis by the JPMorganChase Institute is...
House back to work as GOP leaders try to win over holdouts on Trump’s tax bill
WASHINGTON — The House sprang back to action late Wednesday after a prolonged stalemate as Republican leaders spent the afternoon and evening working furiously to convince skeptics to support President Donald Trump’s tax and spending cuts package and send it to his desk by the Fourth of July deadline. The...
Lindsey Graham gets GOP primary challenge from André Bauer, South Carolina’s former lieutenant governor
CHAPIN, S.C. — Former South Carolina Lt. Gov. André Bauer is mounting a GOP primary challenge to Sen. Lindsey Graham, arguing the incumbent isn’t conservative enough to represent the state. Bauer, a wealthy developer, is a longtime backer of President Donald Trump. His candidacy sets up a midterm grudge match...
