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Get the latest news on President Donald Trump's second term in the White House and the Republican-led Congress.
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President Trump worked the phones and welcomed Republicans to the White House to cajole them into supporting his megabill. They left with signed merchandise and photos of the Oval Office.
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After a contentious round of last-minute negotiations, President Trump's budget bill has passed in the Senate, squeaking by thanks to Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote. Three Republicans joined Senate Democrats in voting "no" on the bill, which gives tax cuts to the rich and makes historic cuts to Medicaid and food assistance. The bill now heads to the House of Representatives, where Republicans hold a slim majority, for a final vote before Trump's July 4 deadline. Citizen groups, including the grassroots political organization ?Indivisible?, are calling on Americans, particularly those living in Republican and swing districts, to contact their House representatives and urge them to vote against the bill. "It's not a done deal," says Indivisible's co-founder and co-executive director Ezra Levin. "They do not have the votes."
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Democrats are sharpening their political arguments against their opposition as the president's major policy bill moves through Congress.
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Senate lawmakers are debating President Trump's 940-page so-called big, beautiful bill as Republicans race to meet a Trump-imposed July 4 deadline and are set to vote on key amendments. Senate Republicans have deepened the cuts to Medicaid while cutting taxes for the wealthy and increasing the national deficit. "Basically, you have Republicans taking food and medicine and other things away from vulnerable people in order to finance tax cuts for the rich," says David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect.
Dr. Adam Gaffney, a critical care physician and professor at Harvard Medical School, co-authored a report that found the bill could lead to 1.3 million Americans going without medications, 1.2 million Americans being saddled with medical debt, 380,000 women going without mammograms, and over 16,500 deaths annually. "I work in the ICU. I see patients with life-threatening complications of untreated illness because they didn't get care because they couldn't afford it. What happens when we add to that number massively?" says Gaffney.
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