(WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Friday the USNS Harvey Milk is being renamed the USNS Oscar V. Peterson, after he ordered the Navy to strike the name of the pioneering gay rights activist from the ship.
Hegseth made the announcement in a video posted to X.
“We are taking the politics out of ship naming,” Hegseth said. “We’re not renaming the ship to anything political. This is not about political activists, unlike the previous administration. Instead, we’re renaming the ship after a United States Navy Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, as it should be.”
Peterson, Hegseth said, was a chief watertender who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism during an attack on the USS Neosho by Japanese bombers during the Battle of Coral Sea in 1942.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration is looking to speed up its ability to fine those in the United States illegally — up to $1,000 per day — according to a rule set to be published Friday in the Federal Register that was obtained by ABC News.
Currently, the government can alert those in the U.S. illegally 30 days before it starts issuing fines.
The rule proposed by the departments of Justice and Homeland Security allows the government to immediately start fining those in the U.S. illegally. “DHS believes that the nature of the failure-to-depart and unlawful entry penalties supports the need for more streamlined procedures,” the proposed rule says.
The new process will apply to those who enter the U.S. illegally, ignore final orders of removal, and those in the U.S. illegally who do not comply with a judge’s voluntary departure order.
Fines will range from $100 to $500 per illegal entry into the U.S., up to almost $10,000 for failure to voluntary deport after a judge orders it, and up to $1,000 per day for those who do not comply with a removal order.
Fining migrants illegally in the U.S. started during President Donald Trump’s first term in office and was stopped during the Biden administration. Trump started it again after he took office in January.
“The law doesn’t enforce itself; there must be consequences for breaking it,” said Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Thursday. “President Trump and [DHS] Secretary [Kristi] Noem are standing up for law and order and making our government more effective and efficient at enforcing the American people’s immigration laws. Financial penalties like these are just one more reason why illegal aliens should use CBP Home to self-deport now before it’s too late.”
Those who use the Customs and Border Protection’s CBP Home app to self-deport will have any fines levied against them waived, according to the DHS. As of June 13, DHS has issued 10,000 fine notifications.
Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo will stay on the New York City mayoral ballot in November on the independent ballot line that he qualified for, a source close to the campaign confirmed to ABC News.
Cuomo qualified in May to run on the “Fight and Deliver” ballot line in the general election through an independent nominating petition submitted to the New York City Board of Elections, which at the time he said was meant to reach voters disillusioned with the Democratic Party. He would have been allowed to appear on both the Democratic Party and “Fight and Deliver” lines on the general election ballot if he had won the Democratic primary.
CNN first reported on Thursday night that Cuomo, who conceded to state assemblymember Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor on Tuesday, would not withdraw from the independent ballot line but had not yet decided whether to actively campaign in the coming months.
In a speech to supporters Tuesday night, Cuomo told supporters, “Tonight was not our night; tonight was Assemblyman Mamdani’s night… He deserved it. He won. We’re going to take a look and make some decisions.”
Candidates have until the end of Friday, June 27 to withdraw from running on an independent ballot line they qualified for, according to the New York State Board of Elections calendar. A source close to the campaign told ABC News on Thursday that the former governor is looking at all of the data, including that the New York City Board of Elections would only start releasing ranked-choice voting tabulations on July 1.
Cuomo told CBS 2 New York on Wednesday, “So I have that independent line. I qualified for that. And I’m on that line in November. And we’re going to be looking at the numbers that come in from the primary. And then we have to look at the landscape in the general election, which is a totally different landscape.”
He added later, “We’ll take it one step at a time because we haven’t even gotten the [full] numbers yet from the primary election, and we have some time.” Cuomo’s run for mayor comes four years after he resigned as governor after several women accused him of sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct. He has denied the allegations and recently told The New York Times he regrets resigning.
On Thursday, incumbent Democratic Mayor Eric Adams, who’s also running as an independent in the general election, officially kicked off his reelection campaign.
Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa and independent candidate Jim Walden will also be on the ballot in November.
(WASHINGTON) — Despite a setback to President Donald Trump’s megabill Thursday morning, the president is set to hold an event in the East Room of the White House to rally Republicans behind his tax legislation.
“Later this afternoon, here at the White House, the president will host a ‘One Big, Beautiful Event’ in the East Room to rally Republicans to get the one big, beautiful bill across the finish line. At that event, he will be joined by everyday Americans from across the country, who will massively benefit from the common-sense policies and provisions within this bill,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during the briefing Thursday afternoon.
Among the special guests expected at the event are delivery drivers, a barber from Arkansas, law enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents, Leavitt added. Border czar Tom Homan is also expected to deliver remarks.
This event will “show the American people how this bill works for them and how there are provisions in this bill that will change their lives,” she said.
Earlier Thursday, the Senate parliamentarian rejected key Medicaid provisions in the bill — a major blow to Senate Republicans and their plan to slash costs in the budget package.
When asked if there is enough time for Congress to work through the issues that come up with the parliamentarian’s ruling, the White House remained adamant that the president expects to sign it next week on Independence Day.
“We expect that bill to be on the president’s desk for signature by July Fourth. I know that there was a ruling by the Senate parliamentarian this morning. Look, this is part of the process. This is part of the inner workings of the United States Senate. But the president is adamant about seeing this bill on his desk here at the White House by Independence Day,” she said.
This comes as frustrated Republican senators balked at the parliamentarian’s ruling — with some seeking to rework the language in order to get it passed.
When asked what the president is doing to push his legislation across the finish line, Leavitt indicated that the president is hosting meetings at the White House.
(WASHINGTON) — “We didn’t do it for recognition. We did it out of duty to one another and to our country.”
Those are the humble words of Pfc. John Wardell, 99, as he and U.S. Army Ranger veterans from World War II were honored with the Congressional Gold Medal on Thursday.
“To be a Ranger is to live by a code: Courage. Sacrifice. Resolve,” Wardell said. “That legacy lives on in every Ranger who follows. Our motto has stood the test of time, and it always will. Rangers lead the way!”
Wardell, who served in E Company, 2nd Ranger Battalion, joined Sgt. Joe Drake as two of five surviving Army Rangers — among more than 6,500 who served in WWII — for a patriotic ceremony in Emancipation Hall at the U.S. Capitol.
“On behalf of all the Rangers, I accept this special award,” Drake, 100, said. “I’d like to thank each member of this Congress for giving me and every Ranger this extraordinary award.”
The Congressional Gold Medal, which is struck from 24-karat gold, is the highest civilian award given by Congress to people who have made a major and long-standing impact on American history and culture.
“This band of brothers is so deserving, and this day, to be frank, is long overdue,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said. “They formed the spearhead of American special operations in the Second World War, and today, we express our most profound gratitude for their courageous contributions with the highest honor that this body can bestow, and that is the Congressional Gold Medal.”
Today marked the 159th time that Congress has awarded the medal. Ranging from its first recipient George Washington to Robert Frost, Walt Disney, Rosa Parks and the Tuskegee Airmen, Speaker Johnson remarked the U.S. Army Rangers who served in World War II came from “every corner of American life,” from welders and waiters to factory hands and musicians.
“There were ordinary men called to extraordinary valor, who stared death in the face and by the grace of God, achieved the incredible and defended freedom,” Johnson said. “They were America’s best.”
That sentiment was bipartisan, as congressional leaders and military officials honored the Rangers.
“What the Army Rangers achieved in Normandy, they did again and again and again throughout the war, across every theater, against overwhelming odds,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said. “With the fate of the free world on the line, Army Rangers led the way.”
It was during the D-Day invasion on the beaches of Normandy in France that the Rangers gained their motto.
Following the United States’ strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites last weekend and a trip with President Donald Trump to a NATO summit at The Hague earlier this week, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth appeared at the ceremony, as did Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“Today we celebrate real heroes,” Hegseth said. “We point the spotlight exactly where it deserves to go.”
“It is altogether fitting and proper that we are here today honoring these two men and the other three at home, and all the Army Rangers of World War Two and all generations who’ve been willing to put it all on the line for the rest of us,” Hegseth said. “There are heroes among us, ordinary people who did extraordinary things.”
(WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday said the U.S. military bomb strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities had “significantly damaged [Iran’s] nuclear program” and “set it back by years” in a confrontational news conference called to counter an early intelligence assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency that said Iran’s program had been set back only by months.
Hegseth described news reports about the leaked DIA report as “half-truths” intended “to cause doubt and manipulate” and instead said he would focus on what he called the “bottom line” of Saturday’s strikes involving seven B-2 stealth bombers that dropped 14 massive ordnance penetrators on two of the three Iranian sites.
“President Trump directed the most complex and secretive military operation in history, and it was a resounding success, resulting in a ceasefire agreement and the end of the 12-day war” in Iran, Hegseth said.
“Because of decisive military action, President Trump created the conditions to end the war, decimating – choose your word – obliterating, destroying Iran’s nuclear capabilities.”
Asked twice during the briefing about enriched uranium that may have been moved from nuclear sites before the attack — a key outstanding question as the intelligence community assesses post-strike realities — Hegseth said the Pentagon was “watching every aspect” and did not say the U.S. believed it was under rubble at the sites.
But he said he hasn’t reviewed any intelligence “that says things were not where they were supposed to be,” whether “moved or otherwise.”
The director general of the UN’s nuclear oversight agency, Rafael Grossi, has said he believes the material was moved from the sites before the attacks.
Hegseth lashed out against news media reporting about the early DIA assessment and said it was a “re-strike report” intended to gauge whether a site would need to be hit again.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, standing next Hegseth, referred questions about damage assessments to the intelligence community.
Hegseth said Caine told him in the White House Situation Room “that the first reports are almost always wrong.”
“They’re almost always incomplete,” he said Caine told him.
The defense secretary appeared to read from the preliminary DIA assessment that he said “admits itself, in writing, that it requires weeks to accumulate the necessary data to make” the assessment it made.
That assessment was made with “low confidence,” according to Hegseth, and was not coordinated with the broader intelligence community.
Hegseth said the DIA report was based on a “linchpin assumption,” which, he said, means “your entire premise is predicated on a linchpin” and “if you’re wrong, everything else is wrong.”
Caine, who had noticeably refrained from repeat Presdient Trump’s “obliterated” claim at a Sunday news conference the morning after the strikes, told reporters Thursday that “the Joint Force does not do [battle damage assessments] … the intelligence community does.”
Instead, he focused on tactical details and seemingly described a mission that unfolded without a hitch.
Describing “what we know,” Caine said “the weapons functioned as designed, meaning they exploded.” Planners “accounted for everything,” the chairman said.
“We know that the trailing jets saw the first weapons function and the pilots stated, quote, ‘This was the brightest explosion that I’ve ever seen. It literally looked like daylight.'”
Hegseth told reporters it was “my lane” as the top civilian leader at the Defense Department, to “do politics.” He said it was part of his job to “translate and talk about those types of things.”
“So, I can use the word ‘obliterated.’ He could use ‘defeat, destroyed,’ [and] assess all of those things.”
When asked, “Have you been pressured to change your assessment or give a more rosy intelligence assessment to us by any political factors, whether it’s the president or the secretary? And if you were, would you do that?” Caine said that was an “easy” question to answer.
“I’ve never been pressured by the president or the secretary, to do anything other than tell them exactly what I’m thinking,” he said. “And that’s exactly what I’ve done.”
(WASHINGTON) — Many Republican senators dismissed the idea of overruling the Senate parliamentarian after she rejected key Medicaid provisions in Trump’s tax and immigration bill Thursday, which dealt a blow to Republicans’ plan to slash costs in the budget package.
This sentiment comes as Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said for months that he was opposed to going against the Senate’s rule enforcer.
Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough on Thursday denied the GOP plan to cap states’ ability to collect more federal Medicaid funding through health care care provider taxes — a controversial provision that would have funded much of the bill’s tax cuts. Most of the savings in the bill came from the changes in Medicaid.
MacDonough’s ruling means that Senate Republicans will need to retool the provision or scrap it entirely if they want to move forward with attempting to pass the bill using only GOP votes.
The ruling is a major setback for Republican leadership, who are under pressure to expeditiously move it to the Senate floor to meet Trump’s Fourth of July deadline for passage. This ruling will require potentially major reworks of the bill with relatively little time to accomplish them. And no matter how they change it, leaders are likely to frustrate some faction of the Republican conference, which could imperil the bill’s passage.
A number of Republicans said on Thursday morning that they’d work to tweak language in the bill and send it back to MacDonough for review — but would not overrule her. It’s also unlikely that the Senate would move forward with the bill without the provider tax provisions, some said.
The Senate has “no intention of overruling her,” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said of MacDonough. “But I think we’ll take another shot.”
Other Republican senators said that this will delay the timeline for passing the bill, which was set to move through the chamber this weekend.
“I think we’ll make another run at it … my guess is that they’ll continue to work,” Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt said.
“Yeah, could push [the timeline] back,” Schmitt said about MacDonough’s ruling. “We’ll see. But we’re committed to being here through the weekend, so I don’t think it changes that overall time frame.”
Republican Sen. Rick Scott said MacDonough’s ruling is “pretty frustrating,” but rejected the idea that the Senate would overrule the parliamentarian.
“What we’ve got to do is work through this process and come up with something that fulfills the Trump agenda — also has fiscal sanity. So I’m going to keep working hard to do that,” Scott said, adding he’s “optimistic” it can be accomplished.
Republican Sen. John Kennedy stated clearly that “we would never overrule the parliamentarian.”
Other Republicans, however, fumed over the parliamentarian and her ruling.
Republican Sen. Tommy Tubberville came out brashly against MacDonough — calling for Thune to fire her “ASAP” and accused her of being partisan. He did not mention overruling her, however.
“The WOKE Senate Parliamentarian, who was appointed by Harry Reid and advised Al Gore, just STRUCK DOWN a provision BANNING illegals from stealing Medicaid from American citizens. This is a perfect example of why Americans hate THE SWAMP,” Tubberville said in a post on X.
“Unelected bureaucrats think they know better than U.S. Congressmen who are elected BY THE PEOPLE. Her job is not to push a woke agenda. THE SENATE PARLIAMENTARIAN SHOULD BE FIRED ASAP,” he added.
Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin suggested that MacDonough made her rulings as part of a “political decision.”
“I’m concerned about the parliamentarian’s ability to make these decisions,” Mullin said.
He later added, “If it’s a political decision on [her] part, then that’s not OK.”
The provider tax credit provisions had been emerging as a thorn in leadership’s side even before MacDonough’s ruling.
For days, a small but critical faction of the Senate GOP conference has been raising major flags about the way this cut to states’ Medicaid revenue might kneecap rural hospitals in their states. A number of Republicans in the Senate were threatening to withhold their votes for the package because of these changes to the provider tax, so for that group, MacDonough’s ruling is likely a welcome one.
If changes are made to the Medicaid provision to accommodate MacDonough’s ruling, all eyes will be on a handful of Senate Republicans. Some changes could be deal breakers for those whose vote is critical to moving the bill over the finish line.
Last weekend, MacDonough carefully scrutinized the House-passed bill for possible violations of the Senate’s rules. She has already issued a number of decisions that Democrats are touting as major victories.
This review, called the Byrd Bath — named after the late Sen. Robert Byrd, who helped institute the rules governing budget reconciliation packages, is still underway in the Senate.
Any provision that MacDonough rules out of order with the Senate’s rules will have to be stripped or else the legislation will be subject to the 60-vote threshold in the Senate. Republicans need to avoid this, or they won’t be able to pass the bill.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Thursday offered enthusiastic praise of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s briefing at the Pentagon, where he provided more information about the U.S. strikes on Iran and defended the president.
“One of the greatest, most professional, and most ‘confirming’ News Conferences I have ever seen! The Fake News should fire everyone involved in this Witch Hunt, and apologize to our great warriors, and everyone else!” Trump wrote on his conservative social media platform, where earlier he had encouraged followers to tune in.
Hegseth’s news conference came amid a full-court press from Trump’s top officials dispute a preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment that said the bombings may have only set it back by a few months.
“You want to call it destroyed. You want to call it defeated. You want to call it obliterated. Choose your word. This was an historically successful attack and we should celebrate as Americans,” a defiant Hegseth said from the podium as he railed against the news media coverage of the events and the leaked initial intelligence assessment.
“This is preliminary but leaked because someone had an agenda to try to muddy the waters and make it look like this historic strike wasn’t successful,” he said.
“Classified information is leaked or peddled for political purposes to try to make the president look bad,” he added.
The day prior, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard posted statements saying their intelligence supported Trump’s description of the damage inflicted by the U.S. military operation.
“CIA can confirm that a body of credible intelligence indicates Iran’s Nuclear Program has been severely damaged by the recent, targeted strikes,” Ratcliffe wrote in a statement.
Gabbard wrote on X: “New intelligence confirms what @POTUS has stated numerous times: Iran’s nuclear facilities have been destroyed. If the Iranians chose to rebuild, they would have to rebuild all three facilities (Natanz, Fordow, Esfahan) entirely, which would likely take years to do.”
Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, who on Sunday had said it was “way too early” to make complete damage assessments, at Thursday’s news conference declined to give a detailed assessment.
“By design, we don’t grade our own homework. The intelligence community does,” Caine said.
“But here’s what we know following the attacks and the strikes on Fordo,” Caine continued. “First, that the weapons were built, tested and loaded properly. Two, the weapons were released on speed and on parameters. Three, the weapons all guided to their intended targets and to their intended aim points. Four, the weapons functioned as designed, meaning they exploded.”
“We know this through other means, intelligence means that we have that we were visibly able to see them,” Caine added. “And we know that the trailing jets saw the first weapons function and the pilots stated quote this was the brightest explosion that I’ve ever seen. It literally looked like daylight.'”
Caine was asked if he felt any political pressure on how to describe the strikes or their impact. “No, I have not, and no, I would not,” Caine responded.
Hegseth momentarily interrupted the questioning.
“The chairman here, who’s not involved in politics, he doesn’t do politics. That’s my lane — to understand and translate and talk about those types of things. So, I can use the word ‘obliterated,'” Hegseth said, the term Trump has used repeatedly.
Still, several questions remain not fully answered, particularly how far exactly the strikes set back Iran’s nuclear capabilities and whether Iran was able to move uranium away from the Fordo site before the bombings.
Hegseth and Caine were asked about the uranium during their 45-minute news conference. Neither provided a clear answer.
Hegseth first attacked the news reporter who asked the question, before saying: “We’re looking at all aspects of intelligence and making sure we have a sense of what was where.”
President Trump, who was watching the news conference, took to his social media account to weigh in on speculation that Iran may have moved uranium because of satellite images showing trucks lined up at Fordo in the days leading up to the attack.
“The cars and small trucks at the site were those of concrete workers trying to cover up the top of the shafts. Nothing was taken out of facility. Would take too long, too dangerous, and very heavy and hard to move!” Trump wrote on his social media site.
(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Thursday said individual Medicaid recipients do not have a right to sue over their state’s decision to cut off Planned Parenthood from the government-funded health insurance program for low-income residents.
The 6-3 decision, which broke along ideological lines, was a significant victory for conservative efforts to defund the private health clinic network, clearing the way for other states to follow suit.
“The Supreme Court rightly restored the ability of states like South Carolina to steward limited public resources to best serve their citizens,” said John Bursch, the attorney who defended South Carolina before the high court.
Planned Parenthood draws more than a third of its revenue from government grants, contracts and Medicaid reimbursements for non-abortion care, like cancer screenings and contraception treatments.
“Today’s decision is a grave injustice that strikes at the very bedrock of American freedom and promises to send South Carolina deeper into a health care crisis,” Planned Parenthood South Atlantic president Paige Johnson said in a statement.
The organization, which said it has served more than 50,000 state Medicaid beneficiaries so far this year, vowed to continue operations at its two South Carolina clinics.
At issue in the case was whether the Medicaid Act — which guarantees a “free choice of provider” that is willing and qualified — allows beneficiaries to sue their state if the government infringes on the ability see a preferred provider.
In 2018, South Carolina’s Republican Gov. Henry McMaster issued executive orders disqualifying Planned Parenthood from participation in the state’s Medicaid program, which is a jointly funded federal-state initiative.
Julie Edwards, a Medicaid beneficiary and type-1 diabetic who sought medical care at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Columbia, South Carolina, sued the state alleging a violation of the law.
Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the court’s majority, said that Congress never intended to allow individual recipients to sue states to enforce terms of the Medicaid Act and that it retains the sole responsibility through power of the purse.
“It generally belongs to the federal government to supervise compliance with its own spending programs,” Gorsuch wrote.
In dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, said that the decision thwarted the will of lawmakers and undermined a key civil rights law.
“Today’s decision is likely to result in tangible harm to real people,” she wrote. “At a minimum, it will deprive Medicaid recipients in South Carolina of their only meaningful way of enforcing a right that Congress has expressly granted to them. And, more concretely, it will strip those South Carolinians — and countless other Medicaid recipients around the country — of a deeply personal freedom: the ability to decide who treats us at our most vulnerable.”
South Carolina’s two Planned Parenthood clinics have served mostly low-income, minority women for more than 40 years.
“By denying Medicaid enrollees the ability to enforce their right to choose among qualified providers, the Court has effectively closed the courthouse doors to those seeking to protect their access to care,” said Jane Perkins, legal director at the National Health Law Program, a nonprofit advoacy group. “This decision disproportionately impacts low-income individuals who rely on Medicaid for essential health services.”
Anti-abortion groups, which have long targeted Planned Parenthood as the nation’s largest provider of abortion services, hailed the Supreme Court decision.
“Planned Parenthood’s taxpayer-funded gravy train is swiftly coming to an end,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America.
Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough found that a provision that cracks down on states’ use of health care provider taxes to help collect additional Medicaid funding is not in keeping with the rules governing a package like the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which senators are making changes to as Republicans work to meet Trump’s Fourth of July deadline for passage.
MacDonough’s ruling means that Senate Republicans will need to retool the provision or scrap it entirely if they want to move forward with attempting to pass the bill using only GOP votes.
The ruling is a major setback for Republican leadership, who are under pressure to expeditiously move it to the Senate floor to meet the July deadline. This ruling will require potentially major reworks of the bill with relatively little time to accomplish them. And no matter how they change it, leaders are likely to frustrate some faction of the Republican conference, which could imperil the bill’s passage.
The provider tax credit provisions had been emerging as a thorn in leadership’s side even before MacDonough’s ruling.
For days, a small but critical faction of the Senate GOP conference has been raising major flags about the way this cut to states’ Medicaid revenue might kneecap rural hospitals in their states. A number of Republicans in the Senate were threatening to withhold their votes for the package because of these changes to the provider tax, so for that group, MacDonough’s ruling is likely a welcome one.
But changes to the provider tax rate was one of the major ways that Republicans planned to reform Medicaid and cut costs. Getting rid of this provision will either raise the cost of the package and risk rankling a number of conservative Republicans, or force Senate Republicans back to the drawing board to find another way to cut costs.
If changes are made, all eyes will be on a handful of Senate Republicans. Some changes could be deal breakers for those whose vote is critical to moving the bill over the finish line.
This review, called the Byrd Bath — named after the late Sen. Robert Byrd, who helped institute the rules governing budget reconciliation packages, is still underway in the Senate.
Any provision that MacDonough rules out of order with the Senate’s rules will have to be stripped or else the legislation will be subject to the 60-vote threshold in the Senate. Republicans need to avoid this, or they won’t be able to pass the bill.
There are already cries from some Republicans for Majority Leader John Thune to lead the Senate in a vote to overrule the parliamentarian. The Senate technically can overrule MacDonough with a simple majority of votes. But Thune has long said he won’t overrule her because he has vowed not to touch the Senate’s filibuster rules.
It’s not yet clear whether this ruling will force a further delay in efforts by leadership to get the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to the Senate floor late this week or over the weekend.
