The Latest: Trump tries to rally divided Republicans around his 'big beautiful bill'

Here's the latest:

Rubio says he shut down USAID programs, not Musk

The secretary of state's comments came after Democratic lawmakers pressed him on a February tweet by Elon Musk, who bragged he had spent the past weekend “feeding USAID into a wood chipper.”

Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency played a central role in gutting USAID programs, often leaving USAID staffers and others uncertain who it was ordering program terminations as Musk and the administration disabled the agency.

“I did,” Rubio told lawmakers on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Researchers sue over federal government cutting off research funding for LGBTQ+ health

A group of health researchers and organizations that represent them are suing the National Institutes of Health over cutting off federal research funding aimed at LGBTQ+ health.

Tuesday’s filing in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland, is one of more than 30 so far challenging the Trump administration on funding decisions. It’s also one of more than a dozen that deal with LGBTQ+ issues.

The groups say the grants have helped address a history of hostility and bigotry in health research. They contend that more than $800 million worth of LGBTQ+-related research grants were terminated because the NIH took the research off its list of priorities.

How much money is the Middle East investing in the US? Trump’s estimates keep going up by trillions of dollars

It’s hard to know just how much money Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates plan to invest in the United States after President Donald Trump went to those countries last week. The figure has gone from $2 trillion last week to potentially $7 trillion as of Tuesday, but now new details have been provided on the math.

THURSDAY: With his Mideast trip still under way, Trump told reporters on Air Force One: “We just took in $4 trillion.”

FRIDAY: A White House statement said Trump’s “first official trip was a huge success, locking in over $2 trillion in great deals.”

MONDAY: “We brought back about $5.1 trillion,” Trump said in remarks to the Kennedy Center’s leadership. “That’s not bad. And, it’s being credited as one of the, maybe, the most successful visit that anybody’s ever made to any place. There’s never been anything like this.”

TUESDAY: “They’re spending $5.1 trillion, probably it’s going to be $7 trillion by the time we stop,” Trump said before a U.S. Capitol meeting with Republican House members.

The White House did not respond to a request to explain the sources of Trump’s escalating claims.

After Trump’s visit to the Capitol, some Republicans still oppose big bill

Speaker Mike Johnson says Trump’s “one, big, beautiful, bill will require one, big, beautiful vote”, but holdouts remain.

The chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, said they’re still “a long ways away” from agreement. And other key Republicans said they were still a no vote.

Johnson headed to the Senate to update Republicans there on the path ahead.

Trump has a sweet tooth: His favorite candies are pink Starbursts and Tootsie Rolls

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shared that detail about the president under questioning from a group of children whose parents are journalists who report on the White House.

Leavitt held a mock briefing for the youngsters as part of the White House’s observance of Take Your Daughters and Sons to Work Day.

Asked how much candy Trump eats every day, Leavitt said, “a good amount.”

She said he likes pink Starbursts and Tootsie Rolls.

Hegseth directs Air Force to plan to modify jet from Qatar

Newly confirmed Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told senators at a hearing about the defense secretary’s directive to develop the plans for the $400 million Boeing 747 Qatar has gifted to the U.S.

The service will consider the security upgrades that will be required for the jet, which is currently in San Antonio, to operate as the president’s plane. Meink said “significant modifications” would be necessary to overhaul it.

Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth asked the service to ensure this latest replacement jet would not further delay the overhaul of two other 747s that Boeing is converting to replace the current aging Air Force One.

Rubio says US pursuing ‘voluntary’ resettlement of Gaza civilians in other countries

The secretary of state acknowledged Tuesday that the Trump administration was approaching foreign governments about taking mass numbers of civilians from Gaza, but said any such displacement of Gaza’s people would be “voluntary.”

“There’s no deportation,” Rubio told lawmakers of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“We’ve asked countries preliminarily whether they will be open to accepting people not as a permanent solution, but as a bridge to reconstruction” in Gaza, Rubio said, adding he was not aware of Libya being among the countries approached by the U.S.

Democrat Sen. Jeff Merkley sharply disagreed, calling it a “strategy of forced migration.”

Trump ‘Golden Dome’ missile defense announcement expected

President Trump is expected to announce the concept he wants for his future Golden Dome missile defense program.

It would cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars and take years to make a reality.

Golden Dome for the first time will put U.S. weapons in space, which could be fired to destroy an incoming missile during flight.

Pentagon planners have been developing options for the system, which a U.S. official described as medium, high and extra high choices based on their cost.

The administration picked the high version, with an initial cost ranging between $30 billion and $100 billion, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to detail plans that have not been made public.

The White House and the Pentagon didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Melania Trump decorates a wooden American flag during kids’ day at the White House

The first lady joined a few dozen children whose parents work in the Executive Office of the President in decorating wooden American flags.

She used a glue stick to attach two silver glittery stars to her red, white and blue flag after she sat down at one of two tables in the Jaqueline Kennedy Garden on the South Lawn.

She admired their work and was heard telling several children their creations were “beautiful.”

The event is part of the White House’s observance of Take Our Sons and Daughters to Work Day.

President Donald Trump is having his own event later Tuesday. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt will also answer questions at a mock press briefing for children whose parents are White House journalists.

Rubio denies knowing anything about Trump family deals with foreigners

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy grilled Rubio on the point Tuesday, asking if he worried that Trump’s upcoming dinner with buyers of a Trump meme coin would be “contravening national security interests” by giving foreign buyers direct access to him.

Rubio denied any knowledge of any profiting by Trump from the deals he and his family have made with foreign officials and others abroad.

And he claimed not to know about the widely reported dinner, which Trump interests have promoted on social media.

“I don’t keep the president’s social schedule,” Rubio said. “It’s not on my phone. It’s not in my pocket.”

IRS Commissioner nominee grilled about Trump’s comments on Harvard’s tax-exempt status

“This is about more than Harvard, it’s a threat to anyone who poses a threat to the president,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren asked Billy Long. “Can the president of the United States legally tell the IRS to revoke a taxpayers’ tax exempt status?”

Trump has said he wants Harvard University and other non-profit organizations to lose their tax-exempt status.

“I’m gonna follow the law,” the former Missouri congressman said. “I’d have to go to the lawyers.”

“What do you understand this law to be saying?” the Massachusetts Democrat asked.

Long responded that he would not be able to answer.

After the back and forth, Warren said “you shouldn’t be within a thousand miles of the directorship of the IRS.”

Trump’s new prosecutor drops case against Newark mayor, charges NJ congresswoman instead

Federal prosecutors accuse Rep. LaMonica McIver of pushing and grabbing officers while attempting to block the arrest of Mayor Ras Baraka outside an immigration detention facility on May 9.

Interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba announced on social media that she dismissed a trespassing charge against the mayor and is charging the congresswoman instead.

The complaint unsealed Tuesday charges McIver with two counts of assaulting, resisting and impeding agents for Homeland Security Investigations and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

McIver accused the agents of escalating the situation and denounced the charge as a “purely political” effort to deter legislative oversight.

Said Trump Tuesday: “She was shoving federal agents. She was out of control. The days of that crap are over in this country. We’re going to have law and order.”

▶ Read more about the federal charges against the Democratic representative

Annual COVID-19 shots for healthy younger adults and children will no longer be routinely approved

Top officials for the Food and Drug Administration laid out the major new policy shift on Tuesday.

They say yearly updates to COVID shots will remain available to adults 65 and older as well as children and younger adults with at least one health problem that puts them at higher risk. They say this could include between 100 million and 200 million adults.

But the FDA framework published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine urges companies conduct large, lengthy studies before tweaked vaccines can be approved for healthier people.

The change raises questions about people who may still want the shots but don’t clearly fall into one of the categories.

“Is the pharmacist going to determine if you’re in a high-risk group?” asked Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “The only thing that can come of this will make vaccines less insurable and less available.”

▶ Read more about the FDA's COVID vaccine policy changes

Qatari leader defends 747 gift

The country’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, said the potential donation of a new Air Force One plane is “a normal thing that happens between allies.”

He made the remarks at a Bloomberg conference in Doha, rejecting allegations that providing the jet would function as a bribe.

The prime minister said it’s being done “in full transparency, and very legally, and it’s part of the cooperation that we’ve always been doing together for decades.”

Trump has been eager to replace the current Air Force One planes, which are nearly 40 years old, and he’s been frustrated that it’s taken Boeing too long to build new ones.

“Why wouldn’t I accept a gift?” Trump recently told Sean Hannity on Fox News. “We’re giving to everyone else.”

Secretary of State says Syria’s interim government could be ‘weeks’ from collapse

Rubio stressed the importance of U.S. engagement with Syria, saying Tuesday that otherwise, he fears the interim government there could be weeks or months “away from a potential collapse and a full-scale civil war of epic proportions.”

In this photo released by the Saudi Royal Palace, President Donald Trump, centre, looks to Saudi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, right, shake hands with Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (Bandar Aljaloud/Saudi Royal Palace via AP)

Rubio’s comments addressed Trump’s pledge to lift sanctions on Syria’s new transitional government, which is led by a former militant chief who led the overthrow of the country’s longtime oppressive leader late last year.

Lawmakers scrutinize Trump administration’s massive foreign policy changes

Senate Foreign Policy Committee Chairman Jim Risch opened Tuesday’s hearing with praise for the Trump changes and spending cuts. He welcomed what he called the administration’s promising nuclear talks with Iran.

Risch also noted what he jokingly called “modest disagreement” with Democratic lawmakers, who are using Tuesday’s hearing to confront Rubio about Trump administration moves they say are weakening U.S. influence globally.

Elon Musk says he’ll reduce political donations

The richest person in the world said Tuesday that he’ll be spending less on political campaigns.

“I’m going to do a lot less in the future,” Musk said via videoconference during a Bloomberg forum in Doha.

Asked why, he responded, “I think I’ve done enough.”

Musk's decision could be a challenge for Republicans ahead of next year's midterm elections. He spent at least $250 million supporting Trump in the presidential campaign.

IRS nominee gets confirmation hearing amid agency upheaval

Former Rep. Billy Long, who sponsored legislation that called to abolish the Internal Revenue Service, gets his confirmation hearing to lead the agency before the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday. The IRS has been churning through acting commissioners as it awaits the installation of a permanent leader. Expected questions include:

“Bottom line, the American people have the right to know whether the future IRS commissioner is a crook,” Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden said in his opening statement.

Authors condemn Trump’s firing of the Librarian of Congress

Seven former National Ambassadors of Young People’s Literature, including such prize-winning authors as Jacqueline Woodson, Kate DiCamillo and Jason Reynolds, are condemning the Trump administration’s firing of Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden.

The librarian’s responsibilities include appointing the ambassador, a position the Library of Congress established in 2008 “to raise national awareness of the importance of young people’s literature.”

“Her wisdom and vision, along with her unfailing ability to work impartially with all constituents, are unparalleled,” reads Tuesday’s statement, with endorsers also including Jon Scieszka, Katherine Paterson, Gene Luen Yang and Meg Medina. “Dr. Hayden’s dismissal is deeply disturbing and should alarm all Americans.”

Trump promised last September: I’ll take care of SALT

The president’s pessimistic tone Tuesday toward raising the deduction on state and local taxes is at odds with what he promised as he campaigned for another term last year.

“I will cut taxes for families, small businesses and workers, including restoring the SALT deduction, saving thousands of dollars for residents of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and other high-cost states,” Trump said last September during a campaign rally.

Trump had made this pledge while campaigning on Long Island, which is represented by Rep. Nick LaLota, one of the loudest proponents among House Republicans of increasing the SALT deduction.

Trump said as he walked into the House Republican conference meeting on Tuesday morning that increasing the deduction only helps Democratic governors.

Trump attacks Thomas Massie again: ‘I think he should be voted out of office’

The president took a swing at the Kentucky congressman, who has criticized how the GOP’s massive reconciliation bill will balloon the national debt.

“I don’t think Thomas Massie understands government,” Trump said when asked about Massie on Tuesday morning. “I think he is a grandstander, frankly.”

Massie hasn’t made his plans explicit but is assumed to be a “no” on the bill, which raises the nation’s debt limit in addition to extending current tax rates and making significant investments in border security and defense.

Massie, a known maverick in the House Republican conference, has been targeted by Trump before — when the lawmaker was set to oppose a stopgap funding bill in March to keep the government running, Trump called for a primary challenger.

Trump insists getting rid of ‘waste, fraud and abuse’ is the only Medicaid change he wants

Democrats claim the federal-state health care program for low-income people will be in for steep cuts under Trump’s bill. The Republican president insisted that “we’re not changing Medicaid.”

Before entering the private meeting with the House Republicans caucus, Trump repeated that he only wants to cut “waste, fraud and abuse” from the program.

At least 7.6 million fewer people would have health insurance with the Medicaid changes proposed in the bill, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. And 3 million fewer people each month would receive food aid through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Trump: State and local tax breaks benefit Democratic states

The president took a discouraging tone on increasing the federal SALT deductions — a must-have for a handful of blue-state Republicans.

Before entering his meeting with House Republicans on the party’s massive budget reconciliation bill, Trump said the people calling for larger federal deductions to offset state and local taxes are Democratic governors such as California’s Gavin Newsom, whom he called “Newscum.”

“Those are the people that want this, and they’re Democrat states, they’re all Democrat states,” Trump said. He said the “biggest” beneficiaries of SALT relief would be governors from New York, Illinois and California.

Trump has arrived at the US Capitol ahead of a meeting with House Republicans

Trump arrived after the short drive down Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House.

He's making the rare visit to try to unite divided House Republicans behind his multibillion-dollar tax cut and spending package. Trump's "one big, beautiful bill" is at risk of collapsing due to internal divisions even before scheduled votes this week.

Trump will address House Republicans behind closed doors at their weekly meeting.

Senate Democrats get first chance to publicly grill Trump’s top diplomat

Senate Democrats are getting their first chance to publicly confront Rubio over dramatic cuts in foreign aid and other major changes in U.S. foreign policy.

Democrats on the Foreign Relations Committee have urged the former senator for months to come answer their questions about the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Trump’s clashes with traditional allies including Canada and other drastic changes.

In her prepared remarks, the ranking Democrat, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, argues that the Trump administration has “eviscerated six decades of foreign policy investments” and given China openings around the world.

“Mr. Secretary, I urge you to stand up to the extremists of the administration,” Shaheen says.

‘Today, America is back,’ Rubio will tell the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Rubio’s testimony echoes the line President Joe Biden used when he took office and ended many of Trump’s first-term “America First” policies.

Rubio’s prepared remarks claim four months of foreign policy achievements, even as these efforts remain frustratingly inconclusive: the resumption of nuclear talks with Iran, efforts to bring Russia and Ukraine into peace talks and efforts to end to the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.

And he’ll praise agreements with El Salvador and other Latin American countries to accept migrant deportees, saying “secure borders, safe communities and zero tolerance for criminal cartels are once again the guiding principles of our foreign policy.”

Secretary of State is defending cuts of nearly 50% to his department’s budget

Marco Rubio says in his prepared remarks to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday that the cuts serve America’s foreign policy interests by eliminating waste, duplicative programs and unnecessary personnel. He asserts that by focusing on core priorities, the cuts actually strengthen the U.S. position on the global stage.

“Every bureau and office will have a clear mission. The Department will speak with one voice, guided by our statutory mandates and national interests — not fads or fringe academic theories,” Rubio will say.

The proposed budget of $28.5 billion reflects the recession of some $20 billion in what Rubio called “ideologically driven programs” focusing on diversity, equality, inclusion and climate change.

Trump is heading to Capitol Hill to persuade divided GOP to unify around his ‘big, beautiful’ bill

Trump is heading to Capitol Hill early Tuesday to seal the deal on his “big, beautiful bill,” using the power of political persuasion to unify divided House Republicans.

Trump has implored GOP holdouts to "STOP TALKING, AND GET IT DONE." But negotiations are slogging along and it's not at all clear that the president's top domestic priority of extending the tax breaks while pumping in money for border security and deportations and imposing new limits on Medicaid has the support needed from the House's slim Republican majority.

Conservatives are insisting on quicker, steeper cuts to federal programs to offset the costs of the trillions of dollars in lost tax revenue. At the same time, a core group of lawmakers from New York and other high-tax states want bigger tax breaks for their voters back home. Worries about piling onto the nation’s $36 trillion debt are stark.

House Speaker Mike Johnson is determined to push the bill forward and needs Trump to provide the momentum, either by encouragement or political warnings or a combination of both.

A key committee hearing is set for the middle of the night Tuesday in hopes of a House floor vote by Wednesday afternoon.

▶ Read more about Trump's visit to Capitol Hill

Things are getting nasty between Springsteen and Trump

They have some similarities, Bruce Springsteen and Donald Trump — guys in their 70s with homes in New Jersey and big constituencies among white American men middle-aged and older. And both, in very different respects, are the boss.

That’s about where it ends.

The veteran rock star, long a political opponent of the president, stood up as one of Trump’s most prominent cultural critics last week with a verbal takedown from a British stage.

As is his nature, Trump is fighting back — hard. He calls Springsteen a “dried out prune of a rocker” and is even bringing Beyoncé into the fray.

On Monday, the president suggested Springsteen and Beyoncé should be investigated to see if appearances they made on behalf of his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, last fall represented an illegal campaign donation.

Opening a tour in Manchester, England, Springsteen told his audience last Thursday that "the America I love, the America I've written about that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration."

▶ Read more about the spat between Trump and Springsteen

Trump vows to turn the Kennedy Center around as he seeks to remake arts and culture in America

Trump hosted the Kennedy Center 's leadership at the White House on Monday night, reinforcing his efforts to overhaul the social and ideological dynamics of the national arts scene.

The meeting of the center's board in the State Dining Room followed Trump firing its previous members and announcing in February that he'd serve as the board's chair. The new board, which unanimously approved Trump as its chair, is stocked with loyalists.

Trump has called the center's past programming "woke" and "terrible," while more broadly seeking to slash federal funding for the arts — complaining that too much programming promotes leftist ideology and political correctness. In his view, molding the Kennedy Center to his own liking can go a long way toward creating a new arts and social culture nationwide.

▶ Read more about Trump's plans for the Kennedy Center

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