Mind's Eye

Posted by Matt Kiser

https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2025/07/01/day-1624/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=daily_update

https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2025/07/01/day-1624

1/ Senate Republicans passed Trump’s $3.3 trillion tax and spending bill by a 51-50 vote after JD Vance cast the tie-breaking vote. The legislation makes Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent, expands deductions for high earners, adds new breaks for tips and overtime, lifts the SALT cap to $40,000, and raises the debt ceiling by $5 trillion. A Yale study found low-income Americans would lose $560 a year on average, while the wealthiest gain over $118,000. The bill cuts over $1 trillion from Medicaid and other health programs and makes major changes to SNAP, adding work rules and paperwork that experts say will drop at least 17 million from health coverage and push millions more off food aid. Vance, nevertheless, dismissed concerns over the health cuts, saying, “Everything else […] is immaterial compared to the ICE money.” The bill includes more than $290 billion for border enforcement, immigration detention, and ICE operations. It also eliminates the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit after September and phases out renewable energy credits starting in 2028. Republicans struggled for 27 hours to pass the bill before securing Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s support with carveouts for Alaska, $50 billion for rural hospitals, and the removal of a solar and wind tax she opposed. Murkowski called the process “agonizing,” admitted she “struggled mightily with the cuts to Medicaid,” but said the bill “still needs work” — minutes after voting for it. Speaker Mike Johnson said the House would move quickly, but warned the Senate bill “went further than many of us preferred,” and several Republicans are threatening to vote no. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / NPR / CNN / Reuters / Axios / Semafor / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / Politico / New Republic / Axios / Washington Post / Politico / CNBC)

• What’s in the Senate bill:

• Medicaid Cuts and Work Requirements – Cuts nearly $1 trillion in federal-state health coverage for low-income people; Adds 80-hour/month work rules, copays, and tighter eligibility.

• Clean Energy Tax Rollback – Ends tax credits for renewable energy like wind and solar after 2027 unless projects are fully operational.

• Food Stamp Cuts and State Cost-Sharing – Expands SNAP food assistance for low-income households work rules to age 64; Makes some states pay 5–15% of benefit costs.

• EV Credit Elimination – Ends $7,500 tax credit for buying new EVs after September 30, 2025.

• Mass Deportation and Border Spending – $46.5B for wall, $45B for detention, $30B for ICE expansion; Aims to deport 1 million per year.

• State and Local Tax Cap – Raises cap to $40,000 on how much state and local taxes can be deducted from federal taxes through 2029, then returns to $10,000; Phases out above $500,000 income.

• Tip and Overtime Tax Exemption – Exempts up to $25,000 in tips and $12,500 in overtime through 2028; Phases out at $150,000 income.

• Rural Hospital Funding – Allocates $50 billion to offset Medicaid-related losses.

• Auto Loan Interest Deduction – Up to $10,000 interest deduction on car loans for U.S.-made cars (2025–2028).

• Corporate Tax Break Extension – Makes 2017 business tax cuts permanent, including 100% expensing for equipment, R&D, and business interest.

• Bigger Subsidies for Chipmakers – Increases credit for building semiconductor plants from 25% to 35% for new projects started by 2026.

• Expanded Child Tax Credit – Increases federal tax credit to $2,200 per child, permanently; Indexed for inflation.

• Tax-Deferred Investment Accounts for Children – Creates “Trump Accounts” with $1,000 deposit for U.S.-born children (2025–2028); Up to $5,000/year contributions.

• $5 Trillion Debt Limit Increase – Raises debt limit by $5 trillion.

• Sources: Bloomberg / Associated Press / CNBC / CBS News / The Hill

2/ Elon Musk threatened to support primary challengers against Republicans who support Trump’s tax and spending bill, calling it “DEBT SLAVERY” and “the biggest debt increase in history.” He warned they “will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.” Musk also said he would create a new “America Party” if the bill becomes law, calling for “an alternative to the Democrat-Republican uniparty.” Musk spent nearly $300 million backing Trump in 2024, but now calls Republicans the “PORKY PIG PARTY.” (CBS News / Politico / Bloomberg / CNBC / Gizmodo / Salon / Axios / Associated Press / Washington Post)

3/ Trump said he would “take a look” at deporting Elon Musk and threatened to investigate his companies, saying Musk receives “more subsidy than any human being in history.” After Musk threatened to fund primary challengers against Republicans who support Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” Trump said “DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon.” (CNN / Politico / ABC News / Bloomberg / The Hill / NBC News / Axios)

4/ The Senate voted 99-1 to remove a provision from Trump’s budget bill that would have blocked states from passing AI laws. The tech industry and White House supported the ban, but opponents said it would block states from protecting consumers, artists, and children from AI harms, even though no federal rules exist. (The Verge / TechCrunch / New York Times / Bloomberg)

5/ Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell confirmed that the Fed would have already cut interest rates this year if Trump hadn’t imposed tariffs. “We went on hold when we saw the size of the tariffs,” Powell said, adding they raised inflation forecasts. Trump has pressured the Fed to lower rates, calling Powell a “moron” and sending a handwritten note demanding cuts to “1% or better.” Despite the pressure, Powell said rate cuts depend on incoming data, and wouldn’t commit to action in July. “I wouldn’t take any meeting off the table or put it directly on the table,” he said. (Politico / ABC News / CNN / CNBC / NBC News)

6/ Trump’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development could lead to more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030. Researchers estimated USAID-funded programs prevented over 91 million deaths since 2001, including 30 million children. Secretary of State Rubio, nevertheless, ha canceled 83% of USAID’s programs, claiming they failed to serve U.S. interests. “Unless the abrupt funding cuts […] are reversed, a staggering number of avoidable deaths could occur by 2030,” the study said. (Reuters / Bloomberg / The Guardian / NBC News / New York Times)

The midterm elections are in 490 days.

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