(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to terminate Temporary Protected Status for approximately 350,000 Venezuelans who were protected from deportation and allowed to work in the United States.
The court approved the administration’s request to lift a lower court’s order that barred it from ending the protections.
In their application to the high court, lawyers representing the government had said the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California undermined “the Executive Branch’s inherent powers as to immigration and foreign affairs,” when it halted the administration from ending protections and work permits in April 2025 as opposed to the original date in October 2026.
Ahilan Arulanantham, who is representing TPS holders in the case, said he believes this to be “the largest single action stripping any group of non-citizens of immigration status in modern U.S. history.”
“This is the largest single action stripping any group of non-citizens of immigration status in modern U.S. history. That the Supreme Court authorized this action in a two-paragraph order with no reasoning is truly shocking,” Arulanantham said. “The humanitarian and economic impact of the Court’s decision will be felt immediately, and will reverberate for generations.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — A Mexican Navy sailboat with 277 people on board crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday evening, killing two people and injuring more than a dozen others who were on board in a dramatic scene along the New York City waterfront, according to authorities.
The crash occurred at 8:30 p.m., resulting in at least 19 people injured, according to the New York Police Department. Four people were left with serious injuries, according to city officials, who gave a press briefing late Saturday evening.
Mayor Eric Adams said early Sunday that two people were dead following the crash. Two others remained in critical condition, he said in a statement posted to social media.
On Sunday, Mexican Sen. Manuel Huerta identified the two sailors killed in the crash as América Yamilet Sánchez and Adal Jair Marcos.
The National Transportation Safety Board is sending a go-team to New York City to investigate the crash, the federal agency said Sunday. They began arriving that same day. The multidisciplinary investigative team is comprised of experts in nautical operations, marine and bridge engineering and survival factors, the NTSB said.
The captain, who was maneuvering the ship, lost power and mechanical function, and the current caused the ship to go right into the pillar of the bridge, hitting the mast of the ship where there was a couple of sailors,” NYPD Chief Wilson Aramboles said during a press briefing.
The sailors were injured as a result of the mast striking the bridge, according to Aramboles.
The U.S. Coast Guard, which responded to the incident, described the vessel, called the Cuauhtémoc, as a 297-foot-long training ship. The Coast Guard said all three of the tall ship’s masts were damaged as a result of the collision with the bridge.
Numerous cellphone videos from nearby onlookers captured the moment the ship’s masts, decorated with lights, collided with the bottom of the Brooklyn Bridge. Members of the ship’s crew were seen dangling from the masts after the collision.
No one fell into the water, according to officials. Officials said they did not believe the bridge sustained any structural damage. The bridge has since been reopened to traffic, Adams said just after midnight, adding that “we can confirm that the bridge sustained no damage” after a preliminary inspection.
“We are praying for everyone on board and their families and are grateful to our first responders who quickly jumped into action, ensuring this accident wasn’t much worse,” he said.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said in a statement on Sunday evening that the Mexican government is coordinating with local authorities and the U.S.
“The injured are being attended to first and foremost and our solidarity always goes out to a cadet and a sailor who died, and we are going to be attending to them,” Sheinbaum said.
She also said that the cause of the accident is “being reviewed” by the Mexican naval secretary and the relevant authorities.
The ship was disembarking from Pier 17 and heading to Iceland, officials said.
The NTSB was on site immediately after the crash and said it will begin its investigation into the cause, but preliminary information shows it was likely a mechanical issue with the sailboat, according to officials.
ABC News’ Bill Hutchinson, Josh Margolin, Clara McMichael and Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Around 30 million people from Texas to Illinois are bracing for another day of potentially destructive storms following a tornado outbreak that slammed communities across the Heartland to the East Coast.
Since Thursday, at least 28 people have been killed, including 19 in Kentucky, where a powerful EF-3 twister tore through Laurel County in the southeastern part of the state, officials said.
At least 250 tornadoes were reported since Thursday. They killed two people in Virginia and seven in Missouri, where a funnel cloud with a preliminary intensity rating of EF-3 — on the Enhanced Fujita Scale of zero to five — and packing 152 mph buzzsaw-like winds wreaked havoc in St. Louis, officials said.
Overnight, officials said suspected tornadoes hit Stafford, Reno and Grove Counties in Kansas, causing massive damage to the cities of Plevna and Grinnell. Grapefruit-size hail was also reported in Arnett in Anderson County, Kansas.
As first responders across the Heartland continued to search for victims on Monday morning and devastated residents combed through the rubble of their destroyed homes, more severe weather is being forecast.
According to the National Weather Service, eastern Oklahoma — including the cities of Oklahoma City and Tulsa — was under a moderate risk of receiving destructive storms on Monday, as well as the cities of Fort Smith in northwest Arkansas and Joplin, Missouri. Possible high-end, long-track tornadoes, large hail and destructive thunderstorms could hit the areas, officials said.
An enhanced risk of severe weather is forecast from Dallas, Texas, to Kansas City and Columbia, Missouri.
Storms are expected to quickly explode and intensify on Monday afternoon from northeast Texas to eastern Kansas.
The bad weather is expected to spill into Tuesday. Flash flooding is possible in southwest Missouri and northern Arkansas through Tuesday morning.
A line of storms is forecast to sweep through the South on Tuesday, reaching Memphis and Nashville by Tuesday afternoon.
Rain is forecast to spread to Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York City early Wednesday and scattered showers are expected to linger through Thursday.
Part of what’s been fueling the severe weather outbreak has been extremely hot temperatures, which are expected to continue through at least Wednesday.
In Texas, Dallas is expected to be in the mid-80s over the next three days, while San Antonio has the potential to break a daily high temperature record on Tuesday, when it is expected to reach 102 degrees. Houston could also see a daily record fall on Tuesday, when the temperature is forecast to rise to 98.
Meanwhile, Orlando, Florida, could break daily high temperature records with back-to-back days of 97-degree weather on Monday and Tuesday. Savannah, Georgia, could also set a new daily high temperature mark on Tuesday, when it is expected to reach 96 degrees.
(LONDON) — A high-stakes phone call between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin is underway, as the White House continues its push for an end to Moscow’s 3-year-old invasion of Ukraine after last week’s peace talks in Istanbul, Turkey.
“The subjects of the call will be, stopping the ‘bloodbath’ that is killing, on average, more than 5,000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers a week, and trade,” Trump wrote in a post to his conservative social media website on Saturday.
“I will then be speaking to President Zelenskyy of Ukraine and then, with President Zelenskyy, various members of NATO,” Trump added.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at Monday morning’s briefing the public can expect to hear from President Trump or the White House following the calls.
ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott pressed Leavitt if Trump will set a new deadline for peace talks during his conversation with Putin, but Leavitt said she wouldn’t get ahead of Trump on any specific timeline.
“His goal is to see a ceasefire and to see this conflict come to an end, and he’s grown weary and frustrated with both sides of the conflict,” she said.
Leavitt also said she believed Trump “would certainly be open” to meeting with Putin but “let’s see how this call goes today.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed to journalists on Monday that the call would take place at 5 p.m. Moscow time — 10 a.m. ET — the state-run Tass news agency reported.
“The conversation is important given the talks that took place in Istanbul,” Peskov said, as quoted by Tass. “We have already said everything we could about the talks, what the main positional points are,” he said. “We will wait and give the best possible message based on the results of the conversation.”
Renewed direct contact with Putin — the last publicly known direct phone call between the two presidents took place in February — comes after Trump’s hopes for peace talks progress in Istanbul were scuppered, Putin having declined to attend despite Zelenskyy’s invitation to do so.
The Istanbul talks were the first known meeting between representatives of Moscow and Kyiv since spring 2022, when the Turkish city hosted the final round of unsuccessful peace negotiations to end Russia’s unfolding invasion.
Once it became clear Putin would not attend, Trump told reporters of the peace effort, “Nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together, okay?”
“And obviously he wasn’t going to go,” Trump added. “He was going to go, but he thought I was going to go. He wasn’t going if I wasn’t there. And I don’t believe anything’s going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together, but we’re going to have to get it solved, because too many people are dying.”
Trump’s repeated threats of further sanctions on Russia have so far failed to precipitate any notable shift in Moscow’s war goals — which, according to public statements by officials, still include Ukraine’s ceding of four regions — which Russian forces do not fully control — plus Crimea, as well as a permanent block on Kyiv’s accession to NATO.
Putin said Sunday that any peace deal with Ukraine should “eliminate the causes that triggered this crisis” and “guarantee Russia’s security.”
Kyiv and its European backers are still pushing for a full 30-day ceasefire, during which time they say peace negotiations can take place. Moscow has thus far refused to support the proposal, suggesting that all Western military aid to Ukraine would have to stop as part of any ceasefire.
Contacts between U.S., Russian and Ukrainian officials continued after the end of the talks in Istanbul. On Saturday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Rubio welcomed a prisoner exchange agreement reached during the Istanbul meeting and emphasized Trump’s call for an immediate ceasefire.
Vice President JD Vance also met with Zelenskyy at the Vatican on Saturday, following Pope Leo XIV’s offer to host a bilateral meeting.
After the meeting, Zelenskyy wrote on X that he had “reaffirmed that Ukraine is ready to be engaged in real diplomacy and underscored the importance of a full and unconditional ceasefire as soon as possible.”
“We have also touched upon the need for sanctions against Russia, bilateral trade, defense cooperation, battlefield situation and upcoming prisoners exchange,” Zelenskyy continued. “Pressure is needed against Russia until they are eager to stop the war.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Monday wrote on X that the Istanbul meeting highlighted a “stark difference” between Moscow and Kyiv. “Ukraine is forward-looking, focused on the full and immediate ceasefire to kickstart the real peace process.”
“To the contrary, Russia is completely focused on the past, rejecting the ceasefire and instead talking constantly about the 2022 Istanbul meetings, attempting to make the same absurd demands as three years ago,” the foreign minister said.
“This is yet another reason why pressure on Russia must be increased,” Sybiha added. “Moscow must now understand the consequences of impeding the peace process.”
Meanwhile, long-range strikes by both sides continued. On Sunday night into Monday morning, Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 112 drones into the country, 76 of which were shot down or jammed. Damage was reported in five regions of Ukraine, the air force said in a post to Telegram.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Monday morning that its forces had downed 35 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Israeli Defense Forces / IDF / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images
(LONDON) — Edan Alexander — the American-Israeli hostage freed from Gaza last week — was “weak and exhausted” upon his dramatic release, his mother Yael told ABC News, recalling her son’s first moments of freedom after 584 days as a Hamas captive.
“I was screaming and running until I bumped into him,” Yael said of her reunion with Edan at Israel’s Re’im military base near the Gaza border.
Edan “was so weak that he almost fell because he was also so excited, but he was so exhausted,” Yael continued. “I start crying like crazy. Because, that was the moment, you know? That’s it. I got it. My son is here. He’s in my arms.”
Edan, from New Jersey, moved to Israel at the age of 18. He was serving in the Israel Defense Forces when captured from his base close to the Gaza border during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. He was 19 when abducted and spent two birthdays in captivity.
Edan was the last living American citizen still believed to be held hostage by Hamas. The terror group is believed to also be holding the bodies of four dead American hostages, according to U.S. officials.
His father Adi told ABC News that Edan was “held in a facility” consisting of “a very dark and narrow room” with steel construction rebar. “You can call it the cage if you think about it,” he said.
News of a possible release broke on May 11, Mothers Day, but Adi nearly missed it. When he finally glanced at his phone he said he noticed eight missed phone calls from Steve Witkoff — President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy — who was involved in direct negotiations with Hamas.
“My phone was on silent and I was working with the blower outside and it was too noisy,” he recalled. “I saw those eight missed calls and called them back immediately,” Adi continued, saying Witkoff then told him and Yael that within 10 minutes they would be hearing good news.
Fifty-seven hostages remain in Gaza, including over 20 who are believed to be alive, according to Israeli officials.
The IDF has now launched a new expanded operation in Gaza which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said is intended to both free the remaining hostages and conclusively defeat Hamas in the strip. The families of remaining hostages, though, have criticized the new operation, saying it puts surviving captives in danger.
While the IDF pressed its new offensive, Netanyahu said Israel would simultaneously allow the resumption of a “basic” level of humanitarian aid to Gaza after a 10-week freeze, citing pressure from the U.S. as a key driver in the decision.
(LONDON) — President Donald Trump is expected to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin at around 10 a.m. ET on Monday, as the White House continues its push for an end to Moscow’s 3-year-old invasion of Ukraine after last week’s peace talks in Istanbul, Turkey.
“The subjects of the call will be, stopping the ‘bloodbath’ that is killing, on average, more than 5,000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers a week, and trade,” Trump wrote in a post to his conservative social media website on Saturday.
“I will then be speaking to President Zelenskyy of Ukraine and then, with President Zelenskyy, various members of NATO,” Trump added.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at Monday morning’s briefing the public can expect to hear from President Trump or the White House following the calls.
ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott pressed Leavitt if Trump will set a new deadline for peace talks during his conversation with Putin, but Leavitt said she wouldn’t get ahead of Trump on any specific timeline.
“His goal is to see a ceasefire and to see this conflict come to an end, and he’s grown weary and frustrated with both sides of the conflict,” she said.
Leavitt also said she believed Trump “would certainly be open” to meeting with Putin but “let’s see how this call goes today.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed to journalists on Monday that the call would take place at 5 p.m. Moscow time — 10 a.m. ET — the state-run Tass news agency reported.
“The conversation is important given the talks that took place in Istanbul,” Peskov said, as quoted by Tass. “We have already said everything we could about the talks, what the main positional points are,” he said. “We will wait and give the best possible message based on the results of the conversation.”
Renewed direct contact with Putin — the last publicly known direct phone call between the two presidents took place in February — comes after Trump’s hopes for peace talks progress in Istanbul were scuppered, Putin having declined to attend despite Zelenskyy’s invitation to do so.
The Istanbul talks were the first known meeting between representatives of Moscow and Kyiv since spring 2022, when the Turkish city hosted the final round of unsuccessful peace negotiations to end Russia’s unfolding invasion.
Once it became clear Putin would not attend, Trump told reporters of the peace effort, “Nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together, okay?”
“And obviously he wasn’t going to go,” Trump added. “He was going to go, but he thought I was going to go. He wasn’t going if I wasn’t there. And I don’t believe anything’s going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together, but we’re going to have to get it solved, because too many people are dying.”
Trump’s repeated threats of further sanctions on Russia have so far failed to precipitate any notable shift in Moscow’s war goals — which, according to public statements by officials, still include Ukraine’s ceding of four regions — which Russian forces do not fully control — plus Crimea, as well as a permanent block on Kyiv’s accession to NATO.
Putin said Sunday that any peace deal with Ukraine should “eliminate the causes that triggered this crisis” and “guarantee Russia’s security.”
Kyiv and its European backers are still pushing for a full 30-day ceasefire, during which time they say peace negotiations can take place. Moscow has thus far refused to support the proposal, suggesting that all Western military aid to Ukraine would have to stop as part of any ceasefire.
Contacts between U.S., Russian and Ukrainian officials continued after the end of the talks in Istanbul. On Saturday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Rubio welcomed a prisoner exchange agreement reached during the Istanbul meeting and emphasized Trump’s call for an immediate ceasefire.
Vice President JD Vance also met with Zelenskyy at the Vatican on Saturday, following Pope Leo XIV’s offer to host a bilateral meeting.
After the meeting, Zelenskyy wrote on X that he had “reaffirmed that Ukraine is ready to be engaged in real diplomacy and underscored the importance of a full and unconditional ceasefire as soon as possible.”
“We have also touched upon the need for sanctions against Russia, bilateral trade, defense cooperation, battlefield situation and upcoming prisoners exchange,” Zelenskyy continued. “Pressure is needed against Russia until they are eager to stop the war.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Monday wrote on X that the Istanbul meeting highlighted a “stark difference” between Moscow and Kyiv. “Ukraine is forward-looking, focused on the full and immediate ceasefire to kickstart the real peace process.”
“To the contrary, Russia is completely focused on the past, rejecting the ceasefire and instead talking constantly about the 2022 Istanbul meetings, attempting to make the same absurd demands as three years ago,” the foreign minister said.
“This is yet another reason why pressure on Russia must be increased,” Sybiha added. “Moscow must now understand the consequences of impeding the peace process.”
Meanwhile, long-range strikes by both sides continued. On Sunday night into Monday morning, Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 112 drones into the country, 76 of which were shot down or jammed. Damage was reported in five regions of Ukraine, the air force said in a post to Telegram.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Monday morning that its forces had downed 35 Ukrainian drones overnight.
(NEW YORK) — Stocks slumped at the open of trading on Monday after a downgrade of U.S. credit triggered a spike in debt yields that threatened to raise borrowing costs throughout the nation’s economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 295 points, or 0.7%, while the S&P 500 fell 0.9%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq plunged 1.2%.
Moody’s, a top ratings agency, cut the U.S. credit rating on Friday, dropping it one notch from the top rating of Aaa to a lower classification of Aa1.
The credit downgrade unleashed a selloff of U.S. debt, sending Treasury yields higher, which in turn raised the cost of U.S. borrowing and stoked investor fears about wider impact across the economy.
“This is a major symbolic move as Moody’s were the last of the major rating agencies to have the U.S. at the top rating,” a Deutsche Bank analyst said in a client note shared with ABC News.
The Treasury selloff sent long-term yields soaring above the level attained in the immediate aftermath of President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs. That spike in yields helped persuade Trump to suspend a major swathe of the tariffs, Trump later said.
The current spike in debt yields coincides with U.S. House Republicans’ push to pass a domestic policy bill that includes broad tax cuts. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office warned last month that the bill would raise the nation’s debt, which now stands at about $36 trillion.
(WASHINGTON) — Joe and Jill Biden said on Monday they were thankful for the “love and support” they’ve received since the former president’s office announced his cancer diagnosis on Sunday.
“Cancer touches us all,” the couple said in a post on Joe Biden’s social media account. “Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support.”
The post included a photo of the couple, along with their cat, Willow.
Biden’s office on Sunday said he had been diagnosed on Friday with prostate cancer, saying that while it was “a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management.”
“The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians,” the statement said on Sunday.
Biden’s cancer diagnosis comes after a small nodule was found in the former president’s prostate after “a routine physical exam” on Tuesday. The discovery of the nodule “necessitated further evaluation,” his spokesperson said at the time.
The sentiment about being stronger in the “broken places” is derived from a well-worn line in “A Farewell to Arms,” a novel by Ernest Hemingway, which says, “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” It’s a citation that Biden has often applied in difficult and important moments, both in his life and for the general public.
Biden used the phrase in 2016, as he opened his speech at the Democratic National Convention. He then quoted the line in March 2021, as the country marked the first anniversary of the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic. And he repeated it in September 2021, on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, using Hemingway’s words in his tribute to the victims.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Averi Harper, Brittany Shepherd, Eric M. Strauss and Leah Sarnoff contributed to this report.
A tentative agreement has been reached to end New Jersey’s first statewide transit strike in more than 40 years, according to the union representing the engineers and train operators.
Trains are set to resume operations on Tuesday, according to NJ Transit. The union had previously indicated trains would resume on Monday.
“We will have a deal. Strike will end,” the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) said in a statement.
Terms of the agreement, which have not yet been released, will be sent to the union’s 450 members who work as locomotive engineers or are trainees for their consideration, according to the union.
The BLET will begin to conduct a ratification vote by electronic ballot for participating members and the agreement will also be voted on by the NJ Transit board at their next meeting on June 11.
“While I won’t get into the exact details of the deal reached, I will say that the only real issue was wages and we were able to reach an agreement that boosts hourly pay beyond the proposal rejected by our members last month and beyond where we were when NJ Transit’s managers walked away from the table Thursday evening,” Tom Haas, the general chairman for BLET, said in a statement.
The strike, which lasted just three days, shut down trains on Friday, leaving some 350,000 commuters scrambling to find other modes of transportation.
BLET members had been threatening to go on strike unless NJ Transit officials and the union were able to agree on new contract terms and conditions for the workers who drive the trains.
The day before the strike commenced, a deal with the union was close but not reached, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said at the time.
Both sides met for eleventh-hour negotiations to avert the strike on Thursday, in addition to a meeting in Washington, D.C., on Monday with the National Mediation Board, but no resolution was reached.
Union leaders said during a press conference on May 9 that it’s been five years since train engineers working for NJ Transit have received a pay increase.
“Reasonable people would vote for an agreement that is fair,” BLET National President Mark Wallace said at the time.
BLET chairman Haas said during the same news conference that engineers working for NJ Transit earn an average salary of $113,000 a year. If NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri agrees to an average salary of $170,000 a year for engineer operators, then “we got a deal,” Haas said.
Following the news of the tentative strike deal, Kolluri said supplemental bus service and park and rides will be operational as planned on Monday, along with the light rail.
“If you can work from home, please do that one more time tomorrow,” he added.
NJ Gov. Murphy celebrated the agreement, saying, “I am delighted to report that NJ Transit and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen have reached a tentative agreement and as a result, New Jersey’s first rail strike in decades has officially come to an end.”
The House Budget Committee voted late Sunday night to advance President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” after several GOP hard-liners blocked the measure from moving forward Friday.
The vote passed down party lines 17-16, with four Republicans voting present.
Conservative Reps. Chip Roy, Andrew Clyde, Josh Brecheen and Ralph Norman all voted present — a change from their no votes on Friday.
Next, the Rules Committee will hold its meeting midweek, teeing up a vote on the floor by the end of the week.
The vote’s passage in the House Budget Committee comes after House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Sunday that “talks have gone great.”
Sources told ABC News ahead of the vote that lawmakers had not yet reached a deal on several sticking points related to SALT and Medicaid reform.
Key components of the bill look to provide major tax breaks by cutting spending elsewhere, including hundreds of billions in cuts to Medicaid.
The House Freedom Caucus released a statement after the vote, saying, that the bill “does not yet meet the moment.”
“As written, the bill continues increased deficits in the near term with possible savings years down the road that may never materialize,” the caucus said on X.
A group of Budget Committee hard-liners on Friday voted to block the package from moving forward — partly over concerns with a starting date for Medicaid work requirements — defying Trump and Republican leaders. As the legislation is currently written, Medicaid requirements take effect in 2029. However, conservatives are pushing for the requirements to start much earlier, as soon as 2027.
“Some of the states have — it takes them some time. We’ve learned in this process to change their systems and to make sure that these stringent requirements that we will put on that to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse, can actually be implemented. So, we’re working with them [hardliners] to make sure what the earliest possible date is to put into law something that will actually be useful. I think we’ve got to compromise on that. I think we’ll work it out,” Johnson claimed.
What about the Senate?
Johnson said both chambers have been working in “close coordination” and hopes the Senate won’t alter the House bill.
“The package that we send over there will be one that was very carefully negotiated and delicately balanced, and we hope that they [Senate] don’t make many modifications to it, because that will ensure its passage quickly,” he said.
Johnson added that Congress must pass the package by July 4, especially given the mid-July “deadline” to address the debt limit to avoid a default.
“We’ve got to get this done and get it to the president’s desk by that big celebration on Independence Day. And I’m convinced that we can,” he added.
Reaction to Moody’s downgrade over debt
On Friday, Moody’s Ratings downgraded the U.S. government from a gold-standard Aaa to Aa1 rating, citing its failure to stop a rising tide of debt.
Moody’s is the last of the three major rating agencies to lower the federal government’s credit. Standard & Poor’s downgraded in 2011 and Fitch Ratings followed in 2023.
“Moody’s is not incorrect, but that’s why that emphasizes the very need for the legislation we’re talking about, historic spending cuts. I mean, this will help to change the trajectory for the U.S. economy and send that message of stability to our allies and even our enemies around the world,” Johnson said. “President Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill” will be passed, and that will be the key to turning this thing around. We have to get this done, and it just shows more of the urgency of why we’re doing exactly what we’re doing with the legislation.”
