Trump pushes for Senate to pass ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ before July 4 amid scrutiny
President Donald Trump turned to social media on Monday evening to sell Americans on his vision for the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” calling it an opportunity to turn the U.S. around after what he called “four disastrous years” under former President Joe Biden.
The House passed the spending bill in late May and it is now in the Senate’s hands.
“We will take a massive step to balancing our Budget by enacting the largest mandatory Spending Cut, EVER, and Americans will get to keep more of their money with the largest Tax Cut, EVER, and no longer taxing Tips, Overtime, or Social Security for Seniors — Something 80 Million Voters supported in November,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “It will unleash American Energy by expediting permitting for Energy, and refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. It will make American Air Travel GREAT AGAIN by purchasing the final Air Traffic Control System.”
The president said the bill includes the construction of The Gold Dome, which he says will secure American skies from adversaries. The bill will also secure the border by building more of the wall and “supercharging the deportation of millions of Criminal Illegals” that he said Biden allowed into the U.S.
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“It will kick millions of Illegals off Medicaid, and make sure SNAP is focused on Americans ONLY! It will also restore Choice and Affordability for Car purchases by REPEALING Biden’s EV Mandate, and all of the GREEN NEW SCAM Tax Credits and Spending,” Trump wrote. “THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL also protects our beautiful children by stopping funding for sick sex changes for minors.”
The Senate returned to Washington on Monday, and in his post, Trump called on his Republican allies in Congress to work quickly to get the bill on his desk before July 4.
In a separate post, Trump addressed what he referred to as false statements about the bill, reiterating that it is the “single biggest Spending Cut in History.”
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He noted that there will not be any cuts to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid, adding they will be saved from “the incompetence of the Democrats.”
“The Democrats, who have totally lost their confidence and their way, are saying whatever comes to mind — Anything to win!” Trump said. “They suffered the Greatest Humiliation in the History of Politics, and they’re desperate to get back on their game, but they won’t be able to do that because their Policies are so bad, in fact, they would lead to the Destruction of our Country and almost did.
“The only ‘cutting’ we will do is for Waste, Fraud, and Abuse, something that should have been done by the Incompetent, Radical Left Democrats for the last four years, but wasn’t,” he concluded.
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Senate Republicans will get their turn to parse through the colossal package and are eying changes that could be a hard sell for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who can only afford to lose three votes.
Congressional Republicans are in a dead sprint to get the megabill — filled with Trump’s policy desires on taxes, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt — onto the president’s desk by early July.
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If passed in its current state, the bill is expected to add roughly $3 trillion to the national debt, including interest, according to the Committee for Responsible Federal Budget.
Treasury secretary reminds CBS host of past remarks over tariff inflation concerns
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called out CBS “Face the Nation” anchor Margaret Brennan on Sunday for warning in March that Trump administration tariffs on imported goods would raise prices for American consumers after inflation cooled to a four-year low in April.
During an interview on Sunday, the CBS anchor again challenged Bessent to respond to the economic concerns President Donald Trump‘s tariffs posed to consumers, but Bessent argued that “alarmist” predictions about inflation increasing had been wrong before.
“Everything has been alarmist, that the inflation numbers are actually dropping,” he said, referring to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics report showing that the inflation rate fell to 2.3% in April, the lowest level in over four years.
Brennan pressed Bessent about retail giants like Walmart and Target weighing price hikes due to the uncertainty surrounding the tariffs.
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“When you go back-to-school shopping, things are going to cost more,” Brennan told Bessent.
Bessent disagreed, saying retailers like Home Depot have said they don’t plan to raise prices in response to the tariffs.
Brennan insisted consumers would feel economic pain from Trump’s strategy. She quoted from a Wall Street Journal opinion piece by Karl Rove warning that companies like Walmart would not be able to break even if they couldn’t absorb the tariff costs.
“But, for consumers, the reality is, there will either be less inventory or things at higher prices, or both,” she said.
Bessent reminded Brennan that in March, when he previously appeared on “Face the Nation,” she had reported that tariffs could lead to inflation.
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“Margaret, when we were here in March, you said there was going to be big inflation. There hasn’t been any inflation,” Bessent retorted. “Actually, the inflation numbers are the best in four years. So why don’t we stop trying to say this could happen and wait and see what does happen?”
“Just trying to gauge for people planning ahead here,” Brennan replied before moving on to ask about how much Trump’s recent announcement that he was doubling the tariffs on steel would impact the construction industry.
During that March interview, Brennan cited a study from the think tank, The Peterson Institute, predicting that Trump’s then-10% tariffs on China and 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico would cost U.S. households an additional $1,200 a year.
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Brennan previously clashed with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick over Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement during an April interview where she asked whether “AI” was used to craft the tariff announcement.
Trump’s tariff strategy faced legal challenges last week after a federal court ruled unanimously to block the sweeping tariffs he imposed on dozens of countries.
The U.S. Court of International Trade ruled Wednesday that Trump overstepped his authority to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
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On Thursday, a federal appeals court temporarily paused the lower court’s ruling, allowing the policy to stay put as the legal battle plays out, according to Reuters.
Record-breaking number of illegal alien arrests made in blue-state ICE dragnet
Operation Patriot, the largest ever ICE operation, resulted in the arrest of nearly 1,500 illegals, including murderers, rapists, drug traffickers and child sex predators, in the deep blue sanctuary city-heavy state of Massachusetts.
Operation Patriot concluded on Saturday after netting 1,461 illegal aliens throughout the Greater Boston area and the state of Massachusetts, which includes numerous sanctuary jurisdictions.
Sources at ICE told Fox News that 790 of those arrested had criminal convictions or charges and 277 had final removal or deportation orders. The sources said that all the targeted criminals were roaming the streets of Massachusetts cities freely before being apprehended.
The operation ran throughout May and included ICE teams from other states in the Northeast and authorities from the FBI, DEA, and ATF.
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Fox News was embedded with ICE Boston on Thursday as part of this operation. While Fox News was embedded with ICE, agents arrested a murderer, two child rapists, including one living next to a playground, one fentanyl trafficker, one adult rapist, and one child sexual assaulter, all within the span of a few hours.
Prior to this, the largest ICE operation was Operation Tidal Wave in Florida, which netted 1,120 arrests. Fox News was told Operation Patriot was significantly more difficult because, unlike Florida, ICE received no local assistance from Massachusetts sanctuary jurisdictions.
Sources said the operation was in direct response to leaders in the city of Boston and Massachusetts refusing to cooperate with ICE.
The sources said “hundreds” of the arrested targets had been released by local sanctuary jurisdictions with ICE detainers ignored. ICE also said it encountered daily interference from anti-ICE activist groups throughout Massachusetts.
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Massachusetts Democratic Governor Maura Healey has responded to ICE’s operations in her state with outrage. Healey took to social media on Sunday evening to demand answers after ICE agents arrested 18-year-old Marcelo Gomes, who was an illegal and a junior at Milford High School in Milford, Massachusetts.
In her post, Healey says she is “disturbed and outraged” and that she wants answers immediately explaining why the student was taken into immigration enforcement’s custody.
Healey asserted that “the Trump Administration continues to create fear in our communities, and it’s making us all less safe.”
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Speaking during a press conference on Monday, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons commented on the resistance from Massachusetts leaders, saying: “If sanctuary cities would change their policies and turn these violent criminal aliens over to us into our custody instead of releasing them into the public, we would not have to go out to the communities and do this.”
Lyons said the operation “just showed we need to come back and we’re going to keep coming back because ICE is going to make sure that we keep our community safe and keep our neighborhood safe from these sex offenders and these criminal aliens.”
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The press conference was held the same day that an illegal alien in Massachusetts named Lorenzo Lopez Alcario was arraigned on charges of raping a child with force. A copy of the charges obtained by Fox News Digital alleges that the child was tied during the rape.
Commenting on the arraignment and on Operation Patriot, Jon Fetherston, a former Massachusetts migrant shelter director, told Fox News Digital that Democratic Governor Maura Healey’s resistance to federal immigration enforcement operations is “not only unsafe for ICE agents, it’s unsafe for all of us.”
Fetherston added that Healey’s policies are “creating a climate of lawlessness, where even convicted criminals are shielded from federal enforcement.”
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“That’s not compassion — it’s recklessness,” he said.
Healey’s office did not immediately respond to a request by Fox News Digital for comment.
Ex-Cowboys star blasts NFL’s Pride Month video, calls messages ‘wild statements’
Former NFL star Dez Bryant took issue with the league’s message as it celebrated the start of Pride Month on Sunday.
The NFL released a 30-second video telling its audience what “football is.”
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The video showed the words, “Football is gay,” “football is lesbian,” “football is beautiful,” “football is queer,” “football is exciting,” “football is transgender,” “football is bisexual,” “football is power,” “football is American,” “football is accepting,” and “football is everything,” among other messages in the clip.
Bryant, who spent most of his NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys, expressed his frustration with the ad.
“Football is gay. Football is queer. Football is transgender… these are wild statements to make… excuse my silliness,” Bryant wrote on X. “I’m going to proudly tell my boys football is none of these things. I have nothing against Gays but this is far from right.”
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Bryant’s social media post sparked debate and he fiercely defended himself.
“It’s gay players in the NFL.. but forcing it in people’s faces… especially children… can send the wrong message… Football is a real community, like the gay community. Imagine telling gays they have to advocate for straight people… they probably would have a problem,” he added.
Several NFL teams fired off messages for Pride Month on social media on Sunday.
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Celebrating Pride Month had been a contentious topic in sports over the last few years. The Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Flyers, Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays have been among the organizations involved in controversies over the topic.
NFL star marries actress Hailee Steinfeld, comedian makes surprise appearance
Josh Allen finally has a ring.
No, it may not be a Super Bowl ring that Buffalo Bills fans might prefer him to have, but the reigning MVP has a more important one after tying the knot with Hailee Steinfeld on Saturday.
It was a quick engagement for the couple – Allen proposed to Steinfeld back in November.
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Allen went with the classic-black tuxedo, while Steinfeld rocked a strapless dress with arm-length gloves in their Montecito, California, celebration.
Allen’s teammate, Dion Dawkins, said earlier last year the quarterback was “in love” with the “Starving” singer. The two have been dating since May 2023.
Comedian Larry David was also in attendance for the wedding but it was unclear why he was there. David is a noted New York Jets fan and it’s likely he and Allen have had interactions in the past.
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Allen’s Bills fell short in the AFC title game once again, losing to the Kansas City Chiefs in the playoffs for the fourth time in the last five years.
He led the NFL with a 77.3 QBR, leading his squad to yet another division title. The doubters were out after Buffalo traded Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans in the offseason, but the Bills were the first team to clinch a division in the league this past season.
Allen started in all 17 games in the 2024 season – he played one snap in the season finale to keep his consecutive-starts streak alive. He threw for 3,731 yards and 28 touchdowns while rushing for another dozen.
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He has finished inside the top-5 of MVP voting in four of the last five years.
Pennsylvania senator bucks party on border, Israel amid progressive backlash
Sen. John Fetterman is comfortable taking a sharp stance against his own party, a point that he reiterated during a forum moderated by Fox News’ Shannon Bream alongside his Republican counterpart, Sen. Dave McCormick.
The Democratic maverick has made a name for himself as willing to buck his party’s marching orders, oftentimes siding with Republicans on thorny policy issues since coming to the Senate two years ago. Indeed, the lawmaker agreed on many issues with his fellow Pennsylvanian McCormick during the roughly half-hour forum.
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Fetterman addressed the repercussions that tend to come from his brand of bipartisanship when discussing his agreement with President Donald Trump’s handling of nuclear talks with Iran or the president’s push for a rare earth minerals agreement with Ukraine.
“That’s part of the bipartisanship where, you know, it’s getting more and more kind of, punitive to just agree with some of these things in the middle of the party right now,” he said.
He also called out his own party for his colleagues’ stances on Israel and immigration, and worked in a subtle jab at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s handling of the government funding fight earlier this year.
Fetterman condemned the recent attack in Boulder, Colorado, and noted that parts of his party had “lost the argument” when it came to bucking antisemitism and standing behind Israel.
“For me, that moral clarity, it’s really firmly on Israel,” he said. “I refuse to allow to try to turn Israel into a pariah state, and that’s right in the middle of that.”
Fetterman also dug in on his support of immigration policies pushed by the GOP.
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He said that while he largely did not support Republicans’ efforts to ram Trump’s agenda through Congress, there was common ground to be had with his colleagues across the aisle when it came to putting a dent in the nation’s debt, and injecting more funding into the White House’s priorities at the southern border.
In fact, the only thing he said he supported among the sea of policy changes and spending would be the over $150 billion in the colossal package that would go toward building Trump’s border wall, bolstering Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the building of new immigration detention centers and facilities, among others.
“That’s a mistake that our party made, and that’s the border,” he said. “I absolutely support those kinds of investments to make our border secure as well.”
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He contended that Democrats did not handle the border properly when they controlled the White House, and noted the hundreds of thousands of migrants that were able to make their way into the U.S. under the Biden administration’s porous border policies.
“We can all agree that’s wrong,” he said. “Being very pro-immigration as [a] Democrat, it’s like you’re trying to think two things must be true, and sometimes that’s put me at the odds of my party and my base to assume that I changed my values, and that’s never changed. That’s never changed.”
He also levied subtle criticism of how Schumer, D-N.Y., handled the government funding showdown earlier this year, which saw the Democratic leader ultimately back down at the last minute from his desire to shutter the government over the GOP’s funding plan.
“I refuse to ever shut our government down,” Fetterman said. “And when we have that opportunity in September to do that, I will still be there, and … I’ll take the beating, because that’s, I think, what defines leadership.”
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But Fetterman’s rogue-like tendencies have led to intensified scrutiny in recent weeks for alleged erratic behavior, skipping out on votes and droves of staff leaving his office, criticism that Fetterman has rebuked.
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s editorial board argued in an opinion piece published on Sunday that if the lawmaker couldn’t handle the scrutiny, he should “step aside.” In response, Fetterman couched the criticism as part of a campaign against him for his position on Israel, the border and his dances with bipartisanship.
“It’s just part of a smear, and it’s just not accurate,” he said.