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Here’s where things stand on Thursday 3 July 2025:
- US President Donald Trump’s spending and tax cuts bill has cleared procedural hurdles in the House of Representatives, with a final vote expected in the coming hours.
- The proposed legislation has faced opposition by Democrats and within Trump’s Republican Party, where members have voiced concerns about the trillions it is likely to add to the national debt and cuts to social safety-net programmes such as Medicaid.
- New figures show US employers added 147,000 jobs in June while the unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped to 4.1 percent.
- A federal judge has ruled Trump exceeded his authority by imposing a blanket ban on asylum at the southern US border, blocking the decision.
House speaker begins address ahead of final vote
Mike Johnson has begun an address ahead of the final vote, saying that Trump’s election victory represented a mandate for passing the bill.
“My friends and colleagues on both sides of the aisle, we’ve waited long enough, some of us have literally been up for days,” he said.
“But this day, this day is a hugely important one in the history of our nation,” he said.
“With one big, beautiful bill, we are going to make this country stronger, safer and more prosperous than ever before, and every American is going to benefit from that,” he said.
He praised Trump as “bold, visionary, fearless”.
Jeffries finishes floor speech, setting up final vote
Minutes after breaking the record for the longest House speech, Jeffries has left the floor of the chamber.
He ended the speech by invoking “some of our civil rights heroes and foot soldiers”.
“Many of us had the great honor of serving with Congressman John Lewis,” he said. “The great John Lewis said do not get lost in a sea despair”.
“Dr [Martin Luther] King said that if you can’t fly, run. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, crawl. But, at all times, press on…we’re gonna press on,” he said. “I yield back.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson is now set to give a brief address before moving to a vote on the bill, which is expected to pass along party lines.
Jeffries sets new House speech record
Jeffries has officially broken the eight-hour and 32-minute previous record for the longest House speech. The House minority leader has been speaking since 4:53am (08:53 GMT), in a bid to delay voting on the sweeping bill.
While filibusters are not allowed in the House, Jeffries has been taking advantage of his “magic minute” – a loophole that allows House leaders unlimited speaking time after debate has stopped.
Jeffries has been using his time to delay vote on the bill, which Trump and a range of party members and leadership suggest they have enough votes to pass. In his lengthy speech, Jeffries has repeatedly urged “just four” Republicans to vote against the bill, and spent hours highlighting the effects that the cuts to healthcare, food benefits, and more would have on Americans.
“We are better than this,” he urged his colleagues.
The previous record for the longest House speech was set in 2021 by California Republican Kevin McCarthy, who spoke for eight hours and 32 minutes against then-President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” bill during the COVID-19 pandemic.
US Treasury Secretary says Vietnam trade deal ‘agreed to in principle’
Scott Bessent has told CNBC news that he understands a US trade deal with Vietnam has been “agreed to in principle”.
The statement appeared to back away somewhat from Trump’s claim yesterday that he had “just made a deal with Vietnam”.
In a subsequent post on Truth Social, Trump said the US will impose a 20 percent tariff on Vietnam, as well as a 40 percent tariff for “transshipping”, in a move aimed at preventing China from using Vietnam as a shipping intermediary.
In return, Trump said Vietnam will give the US “total access” to their markets.
Vietnam’s government has so far spokenly positively about a possible deal with the US, but have not confirmed that a final agreement had been reached.
What is the ‘magic minute’?
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries is less than half an hour away from breaking the record for longest speech in the House.
The final vote to move to bringing this measure to the floor for a final vote did not happen until about 8:30 GMT. Then afterwards, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries invoked his right a couple of hours later to do a speech, which is known as the “magic minute”, which isn’t a minute long. It means that he can speak as long as he wants. It’s a longstanding House of Representatives tradition.
Jeffries said that he would do so in order to make it clear to the US public the damage that he and other congressional Democrats believe this budget would entail if it is approved by the full House of Representatives.
Remember, the Republicans hold a very slim majority. They have been working very hard to try to bring about those who are opposed to the fact that this bill would increase the federal deficit to vote for the measure and give the White House an important economic and legislative win. But it’s not clear whether those opposed are actually going to vote for this measure or if they’re going to break ranks and vote with the Democrats – all of whom are opposed.
How will the tax bill energise Trump’s deportation efforts?
Immigrant rights groups have warned that Trump’s tax bill will kick his deportation efforts into overdrive, with the administration already taking increasingly drastic measures to escalate the number of arrests.
Despite being constrained by resources, the administration has pushed agents to increase immigration arrests by 3,000 a day.
Rights monitors say that quota has prompted agents to detain undocumented people who are longtime members of their communities, rather than the criminals Trump claims to target.
The bill in its current form would include:
- $45bn to build immigration detention centres for families and adults. That is 13 times the budget that Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) had for detention in fiscal year 2024.
- $30bn for hiring and training more ICE agents
- $10bn for a fund to support the governments of border states in their immigration enforcement efforts
- $4.1bn to hire more Customs and Border Patrol personnel
- $46.6bn toward construction of a wall along the US-Mexico border
In turn, the bill would raise fees for several immigration applications.
IMF says US tax bill runs counter to deficit-cutting advice
Spokesperson Julie Kozack has said the Trump-backed tax bill runs counter to the IMF’s recommendations that Washington reduce fiscal deficits over the medium term.
Kozack told a regular news briefing that there was a broad consensus that the Republican fiscal policy bill will add to US fiscal deficits. That comes at a time when the US needs to start a fiscal consolidation, she said.
“From the IMF side, we have been consistent in saying that the US will need to reduce its fiscal deficit over time to put public debt-to-GDP on a decisive downward path,” Kozack said.
“Of course, the sooner that process starts to reduce the deficit, the more gradual the deficit reduction can be over time.”
US envoy planning nuclear talks with Iran’s top diplomat next week: Report
The Axios news website has reported that Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, is planning to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Oslo, Norway, next week.
The two countries have not held nuclear talks since Israel’s surprise attack on Iran on June 13, which led to a 12-day war.
Shortly before reaching a ceasefire, the US bombed three of Iran’s nuclear facilities although the extent of the damage has remained unclear.
Sources told Axios that Witkoff and Araghchi have been in direct contact in recent days and Oman and Qatar were involved in mediation. The sources said no date for the meeting has been set.
What happens when Jeffries stops talking?
The top Democrat in the House has been on a roll, but will eventually have to end his speech.
After that, the House is expected to move to a final vote on the bill.
But before that, House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has championed the legislation, will have an opportunity to speak.
Johnson has said his speech will be “much shorter” than Jeffries.
If the bill is passed, it will then go to the president, who has indicated he wants to sign it during an event on Friday, US Independence Day.
US imposes new sanctions targeting Iran oil trade, Hezbollah
The United States has imposed sanctions against a business network that allegedly smuggles Iranian oil disguised as Iraqi oil, the Treasury Department said.
Since at least 2020, a network of companies run by Iraqi businessman Salim Ahmed Said has been buying and shipping billions of dollars worth of Iranian oil disguised as, or blended with, Iraqi oil, according to the department.
In addition, the Treasury Department sanctioned several vessels that are accused of engaging in the covert delivery of Iranian oil, intensifying pressure on Iran’s “shadow fleet”.
And further sanctions were imposed on several senior officials and one entity associated with the Hezbollah-controlled financial institution Al-Qard Al-Hassan.
The officials, the department said, conducted millions of dollars in transactions that ultimately benefitted Hezbollah.
Rep Clyde tells Jeffries: ‘Enough’
As Jeffries continues to speak, Republican Congressman Andrew Clyde took to social media to tell him, “Enough.”
“Let’s get on to passing the One Big Beautiful Bill!”
The eagerness to vote represents an about-face for Clyde, who had been among the Republican holdouts in the House. Trump and GOP leaders have spent much of yesterday and last night wrangling recalcitrant party members to get onside.
President, GOP spent the night whipping up votes
Overnight, it wasn’t just the members in the House of Representatives who were working. It was also the US president who was making phone calls and whipping up votes, meaning counting or cajoling the final Republican holdouts who were concerned about overspending, to support his agenda in terms of this “One Big Beautiful Bill”.
We know that the bill is going to be extending the tax cuts that Donald Trump first put in place in 2017. This is what Republicans say led to prosperity during Donald Trump’s last term. It’s what they say he promised on the campaign trail, and now they will deliver to the American people.
But I can tell you that Democrats feel very differently, and so that’s what we’re seeing right now. The House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries, has been talking for about four hours now, trying to delay this ultimate vote on this legislation. But it does look like this is coming to an end. [After Jeffries], Speaker of the House Mike Johnson will be speaking and then we’ll finally get this vote on this legislation that the President said he wanted to be able to sign before July 4.
Jeffries slams Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski for passing ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ in Senate
Minority Leader Jeffries continues to plug away at his hours-long speech, calling out Republicans by name to urge them to oppose Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill”.
But while he spoke largely to his audience in the House of Representatives, Jeffries reserved some criticism for a member in the Senate: Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski.
The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 51 to 50, meaning that Murkowski’s vote was critical to its passage. But afterwards, Murkowski expressed unease, telling reporters: “Do I like this bill? No.”
Jeffries used those remarks to skewer the Alaska Republican on the House floor.
“Senator Murkowski in her chamber turns out to be the deciding vote for a bill that she says, Mr Speaker, is not good enough for the rest of the nation,” Jeffries said.
He described Murkowski as begging the House “to fix the bill” after her vote in its favour.
“That is not how the people’s business should be done in the United States Congress. We have a responsibility to stand up for what is right — and stand up for what is right in the chamber that we serve in. That’s what we should all be doing.”
Jeffries hits 6-hour mark
The House minority leader has just passed the six-hour mark in his marathon speech, seeking both to delay the vote on the bill and persuade at least four Republicans to jump ship.
Jeffries, who began speaking at 4:53am (08:53 GMT), may soon beat the House record. That was set in 2021 by California Republican Kevin McCarthy, who spoke for eight hours and 32 minutes against then-President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” bill during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Democrats say ‘not too late’ for Americans to call their representatives
Several Democrats have been appealing to US citizens to call their House representatives, maintaining it’s not too late to change the minds of the Republicans who plan to support the bill.
“We’ve been at it nonstop. We won’t allow the Big Ugly Bill to pass without putting up a fight. Our health care, our energy bills, & our children’s future are all on the line,” Congresswoman Kristen McDonald Rivet wrote in a social media post.
“It’s not too late to stop it.”
In another post, Representative Pramila Jayapal said: “Call. Your. Representative. Now.”
Nearly all Republicans in the House voted to advance the bill earlier this morning, with just one siding with Democrats in opposition.
Jeffries calls on Republicans to ‘show John McCain-level courage’
“All we need are four Republicans – just four – to show John McCain-level courage.”
The Democratic minority leader has used his marathon speech to invoke one of the Republican Party’s most enduring figures: the late Senator John McCain.
A former prisoner of war, McCain forged a reputation for bipartisanship in the Senate. But critics also credit his presidential campaign in 2008 for pushing the Republican Party further right with his pick of Sarah Palin as his running mate.
Some go so far as to argue that McCain’s embrace of Palin paved the way for Trump’s presidency.
But during Trump’s first term, McCain stood up to the president, famously blocking an attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act – a landmark piece of healthcare legislation – by voting with a dramatic thumbs-down.
Democrats have since pointed to that incident as an example of Republicans voting with their conscience and have called for current party members to follow in McCain’s footsteps.
If you’re just joining us
- House Republicans advanced Trump’s tax bill, putting it on course for a final vote later today.
- Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrat in the chamber, has been speaking on the floor in a long-shot delay tactic, repeatedly noting his allowed time is “unlimited”.
- Trump is heading to Iowa for an event kicking off the US’s 250th anniversary celebrations.
- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said the bloc is aiming for a trade agreement in principle with the US by Trump’s July 9 deadline.
Trump heads to Iowa to kick off United States’ 250th anniversary, reassure farmers on trade
President Donald Trump travels to Iowa on Thursday to kick off celebrations marking the United States’ 250th anniversary next year, and to tout recent trade and legislative actions to heartland voters who helped propel his return to the White House.
Trump will deliver a campaign-style speech at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, a familiar stop for presidential candidates in the early primary state. Trump won Iowa’s 2024 Republican caucuses by a historically large margin and carried the state by 13 percentage points in the general election.
His latest visit comes before a Friday deadline he set for Congress to pass his sweeping tax and spending legislation, a cornerstone of his second-term domestic agenda that touches everything from immigration to energy policy.
In remarks mixing patriotism and policy, Trump will aim to reassure Iowa’s voters that his administration is defending their interests and delivering tangible results, according to a person with knowledge of the speech.
Trump’s trade policies have whipsawed agricultural communities in Iowa, creating economic uncertainty and testing loyalties. Iowa farmers have been hit hard, especially with China’s retaliatory tariffs slashing soya bean exports and prices.
In a Truth Social post on Tuesday announcing his trip, Trump called Iowa “one of my favorite places in the world”.
“I’ll also tell you some of the GREAT things I’ve already done on Trade, especially as it relates to Farmers. You are going to be very happy with what I say,” Trump said.
At recent Republican town halls in Iowa, tensions flared as farmers and constituents pressed congressional leaders, including Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, to push back against Trump’s retaliatory tariffs.
Some Republicans also worry that deep cuts to the Medicaid health program in their sweeping tax bill will hurt the party’s prospects in the 2026 midterm elections.
EU aiming first for trade agreement in principle with US, von der Leyen says
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday that the European Union was aiming first for a trade agreement in principle with the United States by Trump’s tariff deadline of July 9.
“What we are aiming at is an agreement in principle,” she told a news conference after being asked if the EU wanted a brief agreement with the United States ahead of the deadline and then to hash out the details afterwards.
Trump’s 90-day pause in global reciprocal tariffs is set to expire on July 9 and a number of countries in recent days have sought deals with the US president.
Republicans defiant amid Jeffries speech
Jeffries has repeatedly acknowledged that he has unlimited time to speak on the House floor in his role as the top Democrat in the chamber.
But it remains unclear how long the delay tactic will persist. Meanwhile, several House Republicans have taken to the social media platform X to ridicule Jeffries and argue it’s only a matter of time before Trump’s tax bill is passed.
“I’ve been doing fine staying awake since 5am Wednesday morning until this guy started talking. Snooze fest!” wrote Representative Mike Collins.
“Not sure if his batteries are running low or if he’s just low-T, but someone needs to hand Discount Dollar Store Obama some caffeine ASAP,” wrote Representative Andy Ogles.
Murkowski ‘folded like a cheap suit’: Gallego
Senator Ruben Gallego of Arizona, a Democrat, has criticised Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski during a virtual town hall organised by the Alaska Democratic Party, saying she “folded like a cheap suit” on Trump’s bill.
In advance of the Senate vote, Murkowski had signalled she would not back the bill without major amendments.
In the end, the final Senate bill included two provisions that helped secure her vote: one that sends more food-aid funding to Alaska and several other states, and another providing $50bn to help rural hospitals cope with the sweeping cuts to Medicaid.
Gallego decried the Alaska carveouts Murkowski secured in exchange for her vote, calling the deal the “Kodiak kicker”, while Alaska’s other Republican senator, Dan Sullivan, “didn’t even attempt to fight”,
He said the bill hurts working-class families across the country, adding that Sullivan and Murkowski “rigged these working-class people to benefit the uber-rich”.
Photos: One more cup of coffee for the vote
147,000 jobs added in June
New figures by the US Labor Department show employers in the country added 147,000 jobs last month.
The department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said hiring increased modestly from a revised 144,000 in May, surpassing expectations of fewer than 118,000 new jobs.
Meanwhile, June’s unemployment rate stood at 4.1 percent, slightly down from 4.2 percent the previous month.
House floor ‘a crime scene’: Jeffries
Here’s a round-up of remarks by Jeffries during his House speech:
- “This one big, ugly bill – this reckless Republican budget – this disgusting abomination is not about improving the quality of life of the American people.”
- “Shame on the people who decided to launch that kind of all-out assault on the health and the wellbeing of everyday Americans.”
- “I never thought that I’d be on the House floor saying that this is a crime scene.”
- “Democrats want no part of it.”
And, as his speech continues for more than three-and-a-half hours, let’s not forget: “I’m planning to take my sweet time.”
What about record-setting House speeches?
In 2018, minority leader Nancy Pelosi set a new record for the longest speech ever made in the House of Representatives after telling the stories of young undocumented immigrants for more than eight hours.
The Democrats’ record was surpassed three years later, when then-minority leader Kevin McCarthy spoke for eight hours and 32 minutes in a bid to delay a vote on former President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better social safety net plan.
It was all possible due to the so-called “Magic Minute”, a procedure that allows the majority leader and the minority leader to speak for an unlimited amount of time.
That time when Corey Booker spoke at the Senate for 25 hours and 4 minutes
He’s still a long, long way from that, but Hakeem Jeffries’ speech has echoes of Democratic Senator Cory Booker’s record-setting speech earlier this year.
Back in April, the New Jersey senator entered the annals of history after holding the Senate floor for more than 25 hours, shattering the previous Senate record set by the late segregationist Senator Strom Thurmond while railing against Trump’s policies.
With only occasional pauses to take questions from fellow senators, Booker held forth for 25 hours and four minutes, 46 minutes longer than Thurmond’s 1957 filibuster against the Civil Rights Act.
House Democratic leader keeps going on
Hakeem Jeffries has now been speaking for close to three hours.
“Keep your hands off social security and Medicare, the earned benefits of the American people,” he repeats to applause from the Democrats behind him.
We cannot know for sure, but there is no indication he plans to finish any time soon. Every now and then, he does pause momentarily to take a sip from a white cup.
What happened at the Senate?
On Tuesday, Republican senators passed Trump’s megabill by a tie-breaker, following intense negotiations and a marathon voting session on amendments.
Vice President JD Vance cast the decisive vote that allowed the bill to pass 51-50.
It came after three Republican senators voted against it.
Susan Collins of Maine opposed, due to deep Medicaid cuts affecting low-income families and rural healthcare. Thom Tillis of North Carolina cited concerns over Medicaid reductions to his constituents. Tillis also announced that he will not seek re-election, amid threats from Trump that he would back a Republican challenger to Tillis. Rand Paul of Kentucky also voted “no” on fiscal grounds, warning that the bill would significantly worsen the national deficit.
Every member of the Democratic caucus, a total of 47 senators, had voted against the bill, too.
When will the vote take place?
As Jeffries keeps outlining on the House floor his opposition to what he calls the “one big, ugly bill”, we still don’t have a clear indication of when the final, make-or-break vote will take place.
Speaker Johnson is expected to follow Jeffries once he’s done, but a reminder that the House Democratic leader has unlimited time to speak.
Johnson, for his part, is expected to deliver a much shorter speech, which is likely to be followed swiftly by the final vote.
What’s in the bill?
Here are the main aspects of the bill:
Tax cuts
In 2017, Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which lowered taxes and increased the standard deduction for all taxpayers, but it primarily benefitted higher-income earners. Those tax breaks are set to expire this year, but the new bill would make them permanent. It also adds some more cuts he promised during his campaign.
There is a change to the US tax code, called the SALT deduction (state and local taxes). This lets taxpayers deduct certain state and local taxes (like income or property taxes) on their federal tax return.
Currently, people can deduct only up to $10,000 of these taxes. The new bill would raise that cap from $10,000 to $40,000 for five years.
Taxpayers would also be allowed to deduct income earned from tips and overtime, as well as interest paid on loans for buying cars made in the US.
The legislation contains about $4.5 trillion in tax cuts.
Children
If the bill does not become law, the child tax credit, which is now $2,000 per child each year, will fall to $1,000, starting in 2026.
But if the Senate’s current version of the bill is approved, the credit would rise to $2,200.
Border wall and security
The bill sets aside about $350bn for Trump’s border and national security plans. This includes: $46bn for the US-Mexico border wall; $45bn to fund 100,000 beds in migrant detention centres; billions more to hire an extra 10,000 ICE agents.
Cuts to Medicaid and other programmes
To help offset the cost of the tax cuts and new spending, Republicans plan to scale back Medicaid and food assistance programmes for low-income families.
Currently, more than 71 million people depend on Medicaid, and 40 million receive benefits through SNAP. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the bill would leave an additional 11.8 million Americans without health insurance by 2034 if it becomes law.
Clean energy tax cuts
Republicans are pushing to significantly scale back tax incentives that support clean energy projects powered by renewables like solar and wind.
A tax break for people who buy new or used electric vehicles would expire on September 30 this year if the bill passes in its current form, instead of the end of 2032 under current law.
Debt limit
The legislation would raise the debt ceiling by $5 trillion, going beyond the $4 trillion outlined in the version passed by the House in May.
Photos: Journalists, politicians floored as sun rises in DC
‘I’m planning to take my sweet time’: Jeffries
Hakeem Jeffries appears to have no plan to end his House speech any time soon.
“I’m planning to take my sweet time,” the representative of New York said.
As House Democratic leader, Jeffries is allowed to speak for an unlimited amount of time during a floor debate.
