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The latest in politics and policy. Direct to your inbox. Sign up for the Morning Report newsletter SubscribeIn today’s issue:
Thune urges Senate action by July 4 Trump’s judge-bashing and legal slow-walking Hochul vs. deputy in N.Y. governor’s race Ukraine has cards left against RussiaThe “big, beautiful” megabill just ran into an Elon Musk-shaped roadblock.
President Trump’s signature tax and domestic policy bill, which faces consideration in the Senate this week, has been on thin ice for months. The massive, sweeping piece of legislation barely passed the House, and now faces an even tougher crowd in the upper chamber.
Then came Musk, who posted Tuesday on his social platform X that he “just can’t stand it anymore.”
“This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination,” he wrote.
The Hill’s The Memo: Musk dropped a bomb on Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.”
Musk quickly garnered support from Rep. Thomas Massie (Ky.), one of the Republicans who did not vote for the bill in the House, and Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah).
“The Senate must make this bill better,” Lee wrote in a reply to Musk.
Trump made a series of calls in recent days as he begins the effort to get the bill through the Senate, where it faces calls for more spending cuts from the likes of Paul and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). Although members concede Trump’s impact is more acute with House members, given the political dynamics in the chamber, they still see the president as having real sway to get the package over the finish line.
“He’s the closer,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told The Hill. “The president clearly is very dialed in right now.”
Politico: “A ton of tradeoffs”: Thune acts fast to cut deals and move Trump’s megabill.
The president publicly criticized Paul for his opposition to the bill, as Republican leaders sought to downplay Musk’s criticism. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said he had talked to Musk on Monday, and that the tech billionaire “seemed to understand” the importance of the legislation.
“For him to come out and pan the whole bill is to me just very disappointing, very surprising,” Johnson said. “With all due respect, my friend Elon is terribly wrong.”
Senate Republican committee chairs will begin rolling out sections of the bill this week for colleagues to begin negotiating in committee-level breakout groups. Members of the powerful Senate Finance Committee will go to the White House to meet with the president this afternoon.
As that discussion begins, The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports the window is fast closing on Senate conservatives who want to add more deficit-reduction measures, and moderates and a coalition of other GOP lawmakers who want to rewrite House-drafted cuts to Medicaid.
Thune on Monday outlined an ambitious timeline for the bill.
“I think we're on track — I hope, at least — to be able to produce something that we can pass through the Senate, send back to the House, have them pass and put on the president's desk by the Fourth of July,” he told reporters.
▪ NBC News: The White House on Tuesday sent congressional leaders a request to claw back $9.4 billion in approved spending, most of it for foreign aid.
▪ The Hill: Republicans are seeking a major rollback of ObamaCare coverage under the House-passed megabill that would result in millions of people losing insurance coverage.
▪ The Hill: Republicans are increasingly on the defensive over the party’s handling of Medicaid cuts in the party’s “big, beautiful bill,” underscoring how the issue has become an early flash point ahead of next year’s midterms.
Conservative spending hawks in the House are worried about changes to the bill that Senate Republicans are eyeing — and they may soon face a moment of reckoning. Under heavy pressure from Trump and his MAGA base, GOP spending hawks held their noses and voted for the bill last month, hoping the Senate would shift the massive package closer to being deficit neutral.
Instead, the opposite is now expected to happen, as moderate GOP senators leery of the House Medicaid cuts and efforts to phase out green energy subsidies seek to restore some of those benefit programs, potentially making the bill even more costly than the House version. With just a slim Senate majority, Thune will need the support of those moderates if he hopes to pass the bill.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), a prominent spending hawk, was even more forceful, saying GOP senators “can’t unwind what we achieved” in the House or the bill would have a tough path upon its return to the lower chamber.
“And those are going to be red lines,” he warned.
SMART TAKE with NewsNation’s BLAKE BURMAN:
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) voted for the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, but she’s now changing her mind over one part she didn’t see before casting her vote. Greene worries the bill could prevent states from regulating artificial intelligence for ten years, which she views as a violation of states’ rights.
“I find it so problematic that I'm willing to come forward and admit that those are two pages that I didn't read, because I never want to see a situation where state rights are stripped away,” Greene told me. “I think we have to protect states' rights to be able to regulate and make laws that they need to make for their states.”
An issue that seemed settled is clearly not, and Greene’s comment is just the latest example showing how the legislation is still likely to morph.
Burman hosts “The Hill” weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation.
3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY:
▪ U.S. tariffs doubled today to 50 percent on steel and aluminum imports. The levies rankled Canada, Europe, automakers, plane manufacturers, home builders, oil drillers, can manufacturers for food products and other companies that rely on metal purchases.
▪ JOIN THE HILL THIS MORNING at 8 a.m. for “Invest in America,” a half-day summit featuring titans from Washington and Wall Street. Participants will share insights about economic developments, tariffs, artificial intelligence, crypto, taxes and more. RSVP HERE.
▪ Also TODAY, check out The Hill’s Open Mic “Across the Aisle" with former Senate leaders Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and Trent Lott (R-Miss.). Live stream starts at 2 p.m.; register HERE.
LEADING THE DAY
© Associated Press | Lynne Sladky
CONTRETEMPS OR CONTEMPT? Federal judges in Trump deportation cases who seek to determine whether violations have taken place have faced evasion and delays from the administration, which, in turn, has experienced no serious repercussions for tactics aimed at giving little ground. But three judges in three different courthouses who have been overseeing deportation cases have said they are considering whether to hold the administration in contempt. Justice Department lawyers are in difficult positions in some cases and have admitted to federal judges that their “clients” in agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security, have refused to provide information sought by the courts.
JUDGING THE JUDGES: Trump has made no secret during public remarks and in social media posts that he evaluates judges based on his political aims and his perception of theirs. When it comes to the high court, he has been swayed by allies on the right. Trump has complained privately about Justice Amy Coney Barrett, his most recent appointee, according to CNN, as well as Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, also members of the Supreme Court’s conservative majority. Last week, as Trump raged over a three-judge panel’s decision against his tariff plan, he took aim at Federalist Society leader Leonard Leo, who played a major role in helping Trump select nominees to the federal bench.
The New Republic: The conservative legal movement’s problem is that Trump does not really need them anymore. His grip over the Republican Party is ironclad.
COURTS AND TECH: The Federal Trade Commission and Meta have wrapped up a six-week trial focused on an alleged social networking monopoly by the parent of Facebook and Instagram. Here’s what to know as the judge in the case weighs the trial’s outcome.
WHERE AND WHEN
The House will convene at 10 a.m. The Senate today will meet at 10 a.m. The president will receive his intelligence briefing at 2 p.m. Trump will sign proclamations at 3 p.m. He will host a social event the White House calls a “Summer Soiree” at 7 p.m.ZOOM IN
© Associated Press | Bebeto Matthews
New York Democrats are bracing for a potentially fraught primary in next year’s gubernatorial race after Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado (D) took the unusual step on Monday of launching a campaign to challenge his boss, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D).
Delgado and the governor’s rocky relationship had been evident, but his decision drew pushback from some Democrats as the party faces a potentially competitive general election campaign in a state where Republicans have gained ground in recent elections.
Meanwhile, New York City Democratic mayoral candidate and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo told The New York Times during an interview that he regrets resigning in 2021.
Virginia: Voters in a September special election will select a successor to the late Rep. Gerald Connolly, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Tuesday. The district has been Democratic since Connolly joined the House in 2008.
Iowa: Sen. Joni Ernst’s (R-Iowa) recent controversial remarks on Medicaid have become a political liability for the incumbent as she faces reelection next year. “It is very, very early, but there is no question that that comment from [Ernst] will be on Iowa airwaves for the better part of the next 15 months,” said one Iowa Republican strategist. Ernst drew the ire of Democrats when she responded to town hall concerns about potential Medicaid cuts by saying “we all are going to die.” Despite swift backlash, Ernst doubled down on the remarks in a video posted Saturday on social media in which she appeared to be recording from a cemetery.
Sabato’s Crystal Ball on Tuesday shifted its rating for the Iowa 2026 Senate race from “safe Republican” to “likely Republican” following Iowa Democratic state Rep. J.D. Scholten’s entry in the race.
Scholten told The Washington Post that he had already been thinking about running, but the controversy convinced him. The senator’s comments, he said, were “horrific and tone deaf.”
? PHONE FORENSICS: What’s on Trump’s smartphone? A stolen glance from photographers and more reporting from The Atlantic reporters (who discovered the president picked up when they cold called his personal iPhone) adds to the lore.
? HURRICANE SEASON: The Federal Emergency Management Agency has reverted to its old hurricane guidance from last year rather than wait for a new plan to carry out its responsibilities during hurricane season, which has begun and lasts through November. The agency is struggling with a loss of personnel and eliminations of some programs under the Trump administration, The Wall Street Journal reports.
ELSEWHERE
© Associated Press | Andrii Marienko
UKRAINE: Ukraine said Tuesday that it hit the bridge connecting Russia and the occupied Crimean Peninsula with explosives planted underwater. The strike marked Kyiv’s third attack on the vital supply line for Moscow’s forces since the full-scale war began in 2022.
Ukraine’s audacious drone attack on Russian warplanes has shown Kyiv has a few cards up its sleeve to combat Moscow’s aggression, even as Trump pressures hard concessions to achieve a ceasefire. It’s not yet clear whether Ukraine’s Operation Spiderweb achieved new leverage with Trump, who views the country as on the brink of defeat, or Russia — where peace talks in Istanbul on Monday concluded without any major breakthroughs.
A memorandum of Russian President Vladimir Putin's demands to Ukraine for an end to the war underscores a position the West has always suspected: no compromise. The conditions, which included Ukraine withdrawing from vast swaths of territory and fulfilling a list of Russian-set conditions, confirm that Putin and his forces “are going to have to kill their way out of this war,” a Western official told NBC News on Tuesday, predicting “more violence.”
Axios: Ukraine's drone triumph opens a window to the future of the war.
GAZA: A U.S. consulting firm quit the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S. and Israel-backed Gaza humanitarian aid effort, amid criticism. Boston Consulting Group, which helped design and run the effort’s business operations, withdrew its team from the aid delivery program.
The move comes as witnesses and international medical teams report daily attacks by Israeli troops on aid distribution sites. Israeli soldiers opened fire Tuesday before dawn on Palestinians who were converging on the new aid distribution site, killing 27. It was “total carnage,” according to a foreign witness.
The Israeli military said, “several suspects” moved toward Israeli forces “deviating from the designated access routes.” Troops “carried out warning fire … additional shots were directed near a few individual suspects who advanced towards the troops.”
CHINA: Trump said he wants to hold a call with Chinese President Xi Jinping to help reset souring trade talks. But even if the leaders talk this week, which the White House said is “likely,” it’s doubtful to be the breakthrough Trump is hoping for. Politico reports the administration is under “a lot of pressure” because of Beijing’s block on critical minerals
“I don’t think Xi is too interested in exporting any more rare earths or magnets to the United States, he’s made his position clear,” said a person familiar with the talks, though they predicted there’s a “good likelihood” Xi would take the call. “The president has some leverage, and the question is when he’s ready to impose maximum pressure on the Chinese government.”
The Wall Street Journal: He Lifeng, Beijing’s economic gatekeeper, has a clear mandate from Xi: China won’t be catering to the U.S.
IRAN: Nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran appear to have stalled. Trump insisted on Monday that he would not allow Iran to enrich uranium as part of any nuclear deal, despite reports that Washington would have been willing to tolerate a low level of enrichment. Tehran “is drafting a negative response” to the American proposal, an Iranian diplomat told Reuters.
Axios: Tehran is open to basing a nuclear deal with the U.S. around the idea of a regional uranium enrichment consortium, as long as it is located within Iran.
OPINION
■ Ukraine’s drone strike is a warning — for the U.S., by The Wall Street Journal editorial board.
■ Ukraine’s attack exposed America’s Achilles heel, by W.J. Hennigan, columnist, The New York Times.
THE CLOSER
© Associated Press | Don Ryan
And finally … ?Summer reading season spotlights gimmicks and trends and here are two to watch: works inspired by and constructed around opinion polling, and separately, 2025’s AI encroachment into the book world under the guise of human authorship.
Released Tuesday, “People’s Choice Literature,” by Tom Comitta from Columbia University Press, is a 584-page volume with two different tales: “The Most Wanted Novel” and “The Most Unwanted Novel,” each incorporating results of an opinion poll on the literary preferences of 1,045 readers from across the U.S. It lends new meaning to “finding an audience.”
And while the ongoing trend of “self-published AI slop,” as one commentator put it, has been around since large language models such as ChatGPT began emulating creative writing, readers recently noted telltale evidence of AI mimicry in a recent fantasy novel.
It was accidentally published including the human author’s prompt to an AI chatbot creating portions of the book with a request to copy a rival writer’s style.
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