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Here’s where things stand on Tuesday 1 July 2025:
- The United States Senate has started voting on changes to President Donald Trump’s megabill on tax breaks and sweeping cuts to healthcare and food programmes.
- The 940-page proposal has been met with strong criticism from the Democratic Party as well as some members of Trump’s Republican Party.
- Senators narrowly approved the motion to start the debate, with two Republicans siding with 47 Democrats in voting against it and prompting criticism from the president.
- The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has said the bill would increase the deficit by an estimated $3.3 trillion over a decade, while 11.8 million more people in the US would become uninsured by 2034 if it became law.
Trump to visit ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detention centre in Florida
Trump will attend the opening of a migrant detention centre in the Florida Everglades, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” on Tuesday, according to the White House.
The 5,000-bed facility located in an abandoned airfield in the Everglades wetlands is surrounded by “dangerous wildlife and unforgiving terrain,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday.
It “will be informally known as Alligator Alcatraz,” she added.
The mega-bill currently being debated in the senate includes billions of dollars in additional funding for Trump’s immigration and border control policies, including as much as “$45 billion for building new immigration detention centres, including family detention facilities”, according to the American Immigration Council.
The new Florida detention centre will be one of many new facilities where people are being held in immigration detention, as the Trump administration continues to call for 3,000 daily immigration arrests.
Senator says Republicans have enough votes to pass Trump’s bill
Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma has told reporters that his party has the 50 votes needed to pass the tax and spending bill.
He put down the delay on a final vote to sorting out amendments and the wait on a ruling from the Senate rules referee on whether Alaska and Hawaii can be exempt from cuts to food assistance programmes.
“There’s some people that have been waiting vote on some things for quite some time,” he was quoted as saying by The Hill. “So we’re just waiting on some of those, giving them the opportunity. However, we’ve all come to the conclusion that when they’re done, we’re done.”
Photos: Protesters decry cuts to food aid, healthcare at US Capitol
Republicans await key ruling on food assistance for Hawaii, Alaska
It’s now been more than 12 hours since the Senate deliberations began.
The Hill is reporting that Senate Republicans are stalling for time, awaiting a key ruling from the chamber’s parliamentarian, who is also known as the rules referee.
The nonpartisan Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough is considering whether Senate rules allow Alaska and Hawaii to be exempted from cuts to the food programme known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
This could determine whether Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski would support the bill.
According to the Alaska Beacon, some 77,000 Alaskans receive food aid, while one in three Alaskans receive their healthcare through Medicaid, which is also facing cuts.
The Republicans can only afford to lose a maximum of three votes. As we’ve been reporting, Senators Thom Tillis and Rand Paul are expected to vote no. The Hill also reports that Senator Susan Collins of Maine appears more likely to oppose it than back it.
When will the final vote be held?
Republicans have repeatedly expressed hope for a final vote on Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” by midnight local time (04:00 GMT on Wednesday), but that timeline now appears in jeopardy, according to the Associated Press news agency.
This comes as Senate Democrats lob one protest amendment after another at the bill in what is called the vote-a-rama.
None of these has passed yet.
Here’s how the AP described the atmosphere at the Capitol at dinnertime:
“Card games were played in the reception room, cigars were smoked on the balcony, and many boxes of pizza were carried through the halls of Congress. Many energy drink cans and iced coffees were in hand by all present. Groans about the process, which is likely to extend well into the morning, could be heard from staffers and senators alike.”
‘This may be a while’
Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse says it may still be quite some time before the Senate votes on Trump’s bill.
“This may be a while,” he wrote on X.
The “Byrd bath” process – or the parliamentary rule that prevents tangential material from being included in a budget reconciliation bill in the Senate – is still “not complete, so text is not final”, Sheldon said.
Additionally, there are “major issues still disputed among Republicans”, while House lawmakers are “not happy and likely making demands,” he wrote.
Trump approves new Montana oil pipeline at US-Canada border
The White House says Trump has given a “Presidential permit” for a pipeline that would import crude oil from Canada via Toole County, Montana.
Trump has promised to “Drill, Baby, Drill” for oil as president.
His mega-bill, currently being considered by the Senate, includes sweeping cuts to solar and wind renewable energy projects championed by former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
Biden had also cancelled the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline from Canada to the US on his first day in office over climate change concerns. It would have transported oil from Alberta’s tar sands through Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska to reach an existing pipeline with connections to the US South.
House Republicans increasingly opposed to Senate’s version of Trump’s bill: Report
The Hill is reporting that “at least six moderate House Republicans are planning to vote ‘no’ on the Senate bill in its current form” due to concerns about cuts to Medicaid and green energy, among other provisions.
The bill, if it passes the Senate, will go to the House, where the Republicans control 220 seats and the Democrats control 213.
The outlet named the Congressmen as David Valadao, Jeff Van Drew and Young Kim. It also said two others who spoke to them anonymously said they were against the bill.
The sixth is Nick LaLota.
The Hill reported that House lawmakers are fuming about the state of the legislation as they watch the Senate’s deliberations.
“On the text chains, on the phone calls, everyone is complaining,” one moderate House Republican told The Hill. “There’s a few little provisions people will say something positive about, but no one is happy with the Senate version.”
“It’s amazing to a lot of us – how did it get so much f****** worse?” they added.
What could the bill mean for rural hospitals?
- The US Senate this afternoon rejected an amendment put forward by Democratic Senator Ed Markey, which he said would have helped protect “300 rural hospitals across the country at risk of closing or stopping services”.
- This comes after American Hospital Association (AHA) President Rick Pollack wrote to senators saying the $930bn cuts to Medicaid, which provides health coverage for low-income people, will “result in irreparable harm to access to care for all Americans and undermine the ability of hospitals and health systems to care for our most vulnerable patients”.
- He said the loss of coverage for 11.8 million Americans means “service line reductions and staff reductions [at health facilities], resulting in longer waiting times in emergency departments and for other essential services, and could ultimately lead to facility closures, especially in rural and underserved areas”.
- Earlier, the chiefs of all of Louisiana’s hospitals and largest healthcare systems also penned a letter to senators saying that healthcare providers in their state alone would have “an estimated annual loss of more than $4 billion in total Medicaid funding”.
US approves $510m arms sale to Israel
The US Department of State said the sale includes more than 7,000 bomb guidance kits for two different types of Joint Direct Attack Munitions.
The latest sale comes after Israel expended significant munitions in its recent attacks on Iran.
The State Department approved the possible sale, and the Defense Security Cooperation Agency has provided the required notification to the US Congress, which still needs to sign off on the transaction.
USAID cuts may cause over 14 million additional deaths by 2030
A study published in The Lancet medical journal says USAID-funded programmes have prevented more than 91 million deaths globally over the past two decades.
The figure includes 30 million deaths among children.
The study found that USAID funding was associated with a 65 percent reduction in mortality from HIV/ AIDS, 51 percent from malaria and 50 percent from other tropical diseases.
However, the ongoing steep funding cuts could result in more than 14 million deaths in all age groups by 2030, the researchers said.
This includes 4.5 million deaths among children younger than five years.
The US is the world’s largest humanitarian aid donor, amounting to at least 38 percent of all contributions recorded by the United Nations. It disbursed $61bn in foreign assistance last year, just over half of it via USAID, according to government data.
“Our estimates show that, unless the abrupt funding cuts announced and implemented in the first half of 2025 are reversed, a staggering number of avoidable deaths could occur by 2030,” the study said.
US Capitol Police arrest 38 people protesting Trump’s bill
The Associated Press news agency is reporting that police have arrested 38 people protesting the Republican tax and spending cut bill so far at the US Capitol.
The arrests took place at two sites, inside the Capitol Rotunda and at an intersection near the Capitol, US Capitol Police said. Those arrested were charged with crowding, obstructing and incommoding.
A group called Repairers of the Breach said in a statement that its members led the effort. It said they were calling on “Congress to reject extremism and pass a moral budget that responds to the urgent needs of the poor”.
Musk says he will create a new political party if bill passes
The billionaire, who was once a key ally of the US president, has continued his criticism of Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” in a series of posts on social media.
He has now said a new political party would be formed, if the bill passes.
“If this insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day,” Musk said.
“Our country needs an alternative to the Democrat-Republican uniparty so that the people actually have a VOICE.”
Voting on amendments continues
It’s been a long day on the US Senate floor already, with several amendments to the bill, none of which have been successful.
But every vote is taking this closer to Trump’s desk.
The Republican leadership say it delivers on a lot of the president’s election promises.
It’ll mean tax cuts, no tax on tips, no tax on overtime. It will mean more money for border security and also an increase to military spending, which also includes Trump’s Golden Dome project, to protect the United States.
But there is some concern in the Republican camp, and also with the Democrats, about blowing up the deficit.
They say it would add $3 trillion to the deficit over 10 years, and also it could mean 11 million people lose health coverage, either through national and state programmes, or through losing their ability to pay for their own individual programme, known as Obamacare.
Certainly, Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, said the Republicans need to stand up against Donald Trump.
Republicans are convinced they’ll be able to get this bill through.
Remember, three defections, and there are three people who’ve said that considering voting no means that the Vice President JD Vance will have to come in and break the tie.
Four defections will kill it in the Senate.
But the Republicans still believe they will be able to push it through and it will be on Trump’s desk by the Fourth of July.
Photos: Scenes from US Capitol as Senate debate on Trump’s bill continues
Voters favoured casting early and mail ballots in last year’s presidential election, report shows
Casting mailed ballots remained popular among voters in last year’s US presidential election, even as Trump has tried to undercut the process through a wide-ranging executive order.
A report released Monday by the US Election Assistance Commission also found a surge in early in-person voting and robust use of ballot drop boxes, which have been a target of conspiracy theorists since the 2020 election.
The findings, based on data collected at the local level and submitted by states, illustrate the sustained popularity of alternate voting methods even as they have come under attack in recent years from Republicans.
“Notwithstanding the rhetoric from some, our election process continues to reflect the expectations voters have about where, when and how to vote,” said David Levine, a former county election official in Idaho who is now a senior fellow at the University of Maryland’s Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement. “Once voters try voting before Election Day, they often continue to do so for future elections.”
Overall, more than 158 million ballots were counted for the November 2024 presidential election, according to the report. Turnout was three percentage points lower than in 2020 but nearly four percentage points higher than during the 2016 presidential election.
If you’re just joining us
Let’s get you up to speed with the latest developments:
- The US Senate continues to debate a mammoth tax and spending package that is one of the key legislative priorities for President Donald Trump’s administration. Analysis by the Congressional Budget Office indicates that the bill will add $3.3 trillion to the national debt and leave 11.8 million more people uninsured by 2034.
- Trump announced sanctions relief for Syria, dismantling a sanctions regime that was originally put in place to target the government of former leader Bashar al-Assad, but that advocates said would severely limit Syria’s ability to chart a new course and recover economically from years of violent civil war.
- The US Supreme Court announced some of the cases that it will hear during its upcoming term, including some that touch on issues such as environmental protections, copyright disputes, and campaign finance laws.
- Former US Presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama have slammed the Trump administration’s decision to gut the international assistance agency USAID and slash funding for global health programmes.
Trump drops lawsuit against Iowa pollster
A lawyer for Trump told a federal court that the US president was no longer pursuing a lawsuit against Ann Selzer and her former employer, the Des Moines Register, as well as the newspaper’s parent company, Gannett.
The lawsuit was filed by Trump after Selzer, a well-known pollster in the swing state, released a poll before the 2024 presidential election that showed Trump trailing Democratic rival Kamala Harris.
The lawsuit called the poll “brazen election interference”, although Trump won the state by 13 points. Trump has frequently brought lawsuits against groups and individuals he sees as unfriendly to his political agenda.
No reason was given for the decision to give up the lawsuit, which was criticised as a baseless attack on First Amendment rights by a number of press freedom groups.
Trump lawyer says no immediate deportations under birthright citizenship order
President Donald Trump’s administration will not deport children deemed ineligible for US citizenship until his executive order curtailing birthright citizenship takes effect on July 27, a government lawyer said after being pressed by two federal judges.
During separate hearings in lawsuits challenging Trump’s order, US District Judges Deborah Boardman in Greenbelt, Maryland, and Joseph LaPlante in Concord, New Hampshire, set expedited schedules to decide whether the order can be blocked again on grounds that the US Supreme Court’s ruling on Friday curbing the ability of judges to impede his policies nationwide does not preclude injunctions in class action lawsuits.
Both judges on Monday asked US Department of Justice lawyer Brad Rosenberg, who represented the government in both cases, for assurances that the Trump administration would not move to deport children who do not have at least one parent who is a US citizen or legal permanent resident at least until the executive order takes effect.
Rosenberg said it would not, which Boardman and LaPlante respectively asked him to confirm in writing by Tuesday and Wednesday.
In the Maryland case, immigrant rights advocates revised their lawsuit just a few hours after the 6-3 conservative majority US Supreme Court on Friday ruled in their case and two others challenging Trump’s executive order.
The New Hampshire lawsuit, a proposed class action, was filed on Friday. The Supreme Court ruling did not address the merits or legality of Trump’s birthright citizenship order, but instead curbed the ability of judges to issue “universal” injunctions to block the Republican president’s policies nationwide.
But while the Supreme Court restricted the ability of judges to issue injunctions that cover anyone other than the parties appearing before them, Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s opinion held out the possibility that opponents of a federal policy could still obtain the same type of relief if they instead pursued cases as class actions.
Trump’s order goes beyond sanctions relief
It was a vast-ranging executive order that President Trump signed, basically removing the entire sanctions programme against Syria, while at the same time keeping sanctions in place on the former leader Bashar al-Assad and those who supported and left the country with him.
But in addition to that, it’s not just lifting the sanctions programme. He’s also asked the US secretary of state to review Syria’s designation as a state sponsor of terror, he’s asked the secretary of state to review Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s designation as a foreign terrorist organisation, and also the designation of its leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who, incidentally, President Trump did meet during a visit to Riyadh.
So it’s a wide-ranging lifting of all the sanctions programme on Syria.
Trump orders review of ‘terrorist’ designation of Syrian president
As part of the decree to remove US sanctions against Syria, Trump has ordered US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to review the designation of interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist”.
The US president also ordered a review of the status of al-Sharaa’s group, al-Nusra Front – now Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – as a designated “foreign terrorist” organisation. Al-Nusra was al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria, but al-Sharaa severed ties with the group in 2016.
Al-Nusra later became known as Jabhat Fath al-Sham before merging with other rebel groups as HTS.
Al-Sharaa was the de facto leader of a rebel enclave in Idlib in northwest Syria for years before leading the offensive that overthrew former President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.
Trump met with al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia in May and praised the Syrian president as “attractive” and “tough”.
Elon Musk suggests he could assist efforts to primary lawmakers who vote for tax bill
In a social media post attacking Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”, the billionaire, who was once a key ally of the president, seemed to suggest that he would help those seeking to run against conservative lawmakers who vote in favour of the bill.
“Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!” Musk said in a post on X, his social media website.
“And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.”
Some Trump allies revert to Islamophobia to attack NYC’s Zohran Mamdani
Over the past year, Islamophobia within the Republican Party appeared to be receding as Trump courted and praised Muslim voters.
But now several of the president’s close allies are using Islamophobic tropes and bigoted language to attack New York City’s presumptive Democratic nominee for mayor.
Read our report here on how Zohran Mamdani’s victory is sparking an Islamophobic backlash in the US.
Opposing tax bills, Democrats focus on healthcare cuts
On the Senate floor, Democrats are taking turns sounding the alarm about the cuts that the bill proposes to the Medicaid programme, which critics say could deny healthcare to millions of people.
- Jeanne Shaheen: “President Trump calls this the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’, but it is a big betrayal of the American people. There’s nothing beautiful about taking away healthcare and food from working families to give more money to billionaires.”
- Dick Durbin: “This bill is designed to take health insurance away from 11 million families in America. Eleven million families in America in a period of time will not have peace of mind that they have access to the best care because they lost their health insurance.”
- Tammy Baldwin: “Cutting Medicaid may save money on a spreadsheet. But it will cost lives in real communities and put the expensive burden of care back on our communities.”
Trump formally orders revoking Syria sanctions
The US president has signed an executive order dismantling a sanctions programme put in place over decades to penalise the Syrian government.
Trump promised to remove the sanctions during a visit to the Middle East in May, months after armed opposition groups overthrew the government of former President Bashar al-Assad.
“The United States is committed to supporting a Syria that is stable, unified, and at peace with itself and its neighbours,” Trump said in a statement.
“A united Syria that does not offer a safe haven for terrorist organizations and ensures the security of its religious and ethnic minorities will support regional security and prosperity.”
Republican tax bill opponent invokes Elon Musk’s criticism
Senator Thom Tillis, one of two Republicans who voted against advancing the bill, cites the billionaire investor’s criticism of the measure.
Musk, a former Trump aide, had called the bill’s cuts to solar energy a “strategic error” that would boost China’s push to excel in renewable energy.
Tillis embraced Musk’s criticism. “We should take his warnings seriously. We can’t let Communist China become the long-term winner,” he wrote in a social media post.
Welcome to our live coverage
Hello, and thank you for joining our live coverage of the Trump administration.
Senators could vote as early as today on the president’s signature tax-cutting spending bill, which has divided members of his Republican Party and is fiercely opposed by the Democrats.
Stay with our live team as we bring you all the latest developments, reactions and analyses throughout the day.