Harris rips move from Trump’s playbook in a pitch to voters that feels all too familiar
Vice President Kamala Harris is under fire from critics and conservatives for “copying” former President Trump’s campaign vow to not tax service industry employees’ tips after the Biden-Harris administration rolled out a plan to crack down on waiters’ tips.
“Now is a good time to remind everyone that #CopyCatKamala’s administration rolled out a new enforcement program JUST LAST YEAR to collect more taxes on tips! She could stop it now… but she won’t, because she’s a dishonest fraud!” Trump campaign political director James Blair posted to X.
Blair was responding to Harris revealing at a campaign rally in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday that she supports the elimination of taxes on service industry workers’ tips.
”It is my promise to everyone here when I am president we will continue to fight for working families, including to raise the minimum wage and eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers,” Harris said at the rally.
BIDEN’S IRS PLANS TO CRACK DOWN ON WAITERS’ TIPS
Trump had already vowed earlier this summer that he would eliminate taxes on service industry tips if re-elected to the Oval Office, and included the promise on the 2024 GOP platform.
“This is the first time I’ve said this and for those hotel workers and people that get tips, you’re going to be very happy, because when I get to office we are going to not charge taxes on tips, people making tips… It’s been a point of contention for years and years and years, and you do a great job of service, you take care of people, and I think it’s going to be something that really is deserved,” Trump said back in June during a rally in Las Vegas.
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Harris joining Trump in calling for the elimination of the tax on tips comes after the Biden administration rolled out a voluntary tip reporting system last year for industry workers that works to streamline tax compliance on tips.
“The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service today issued Notice 2023-13, which contains a proposed revenue procedure that would establish the Service Industry Tip Compliance Agreement (SITCA) program, a voluntary tip reporting program between the IRS and employers in various service industries,” the IRS said in a press release last year of the plan.
The plan was criticized by tax experts at the time as a crackdown on “waitresses’ tips” after the IRS hired 87,000 new agents under the Biden administration, Fox News Digital reported last year.
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“Washington has a spending problem, not a revenue problem,” Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., the chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Tax, told Fox News Digital at the time. “Now, the IRS is going after middle-income families and working moms and dads who are just trying to make ends meet and put food on the table.”
“My colleagues and I have warned for months that the IRS would start targeting hardworking Americans in the Biden administration’s quest for more taxpayer dollars. Now, we’re starting to see some of these concerns come to fruition,” he added.
Following Harris saying Saturday that she also wants to eliminate taxes on tips, Trump accused Harris of stealing the plan and slammed her as a “copycat.”
TRUMP PLEDGES TO ELIMINATE TAXES ON TIPS FOR SERVICE WORKERS DURING LAS VEGAS RALLY
”Kamala Harris, whose ‘Honeymoon’ period is ENDING, and is starting to get hammered in the Polls, just copied my NO TAXES ON TIPS Policy,” Trump wrote.
“The difference is, she won’t do it, she just wants it for Political Purposes! This was a TRUMP idea—She has no ideas, she can only steal from me,” he added.
REPUBLICANS BLAST BIDEN ADMIN OVER PLAN TO CRACK DOWN ON WAITERS’ TIPS
Other critics on social media slammed Harris for “copying” Trump as the veep squares up against the 45th president after President Biden dropped out of the race last month amid mounting concerns surrounding his mental acuity and 81 years of age. Critics frequently used the hashtag “#CopyCatKamala” when calling out the vice president for “copying” Trump, sparking the hashtag to trend on X over the weekend.
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The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the criticisms and SITCA program.
Gov takes action after being fed up with footing medical bills for illegal immigrants
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, issued an executive order mandating that public hospitals in the state gather data on patients’ immigration statuses to report to the state government.
Order GA 46, issued on Thursday, directs the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to collect information on illegal immigrants who use public hospitals for inpatient and emergency care and report the healthcare costs, so the state can track how much money was spent on illegal immigrants’ medical treatment and send the bill to the Biden administration, which the governor blames for the influx of illegal migrants entering the U.S. through the Southern Border.
“Due to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ open border policies, Texas has had to foot the bill for medical costs for individuals illegally in the state,” Abbott said in a statement. “Texas should not have to shoulder the burden of financially supporting medical care for illegal immigrants.”
“That is why I issued an Executive Order requiring the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to collect and report healthcare costs for illegal immigrants in our state,” he continued. “Texas will hold the Biden-Harris Administration accountable for the consequences of their open border policies, and we will fight to ensure that they pay back Texas for their costly and dangerous policies.”
GOP STATES SUE TO STOP BIDEN ADMIN EXTENDING OBAMACARE TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
The new rule takes effect November 1.
The hospitals must report the data quarterly, with the first submissions due on March 1. Beginning on January 1, 2026, annual reports must be provided to the governor, lieutenant governor, and the state’s Speaker of the House on the previous year’s costs for medical care provided to illegal immigrants.
The order also states that hospitals are required to inform patients that federal law mandates that their responses to questions about immigration status will not affect medical care.
The League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, is criticizing the executive order as “political rhetoric.”
“It’s pretty vague. It’s like ‘Hey, let’s just get the data.’ Well, what are you doing to do with the data?,” Gabriel Rosales, the state director for LULAC in Texas, told Fox 26.
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LULAC emphasized that the executive order could keep some immigrants from seeking the medical care they require.
“It just creates a lot of fear that’s unnecessary,” Rosales said. “They need to create a pathway to citizenship.”
This comes as politicians in Texas and elsewhere are calling on the Biden administration to do more to address the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Undocumented immigrants contribute $26.2 billion to this country, nationally,” Sergio Lira, the president of Greater Houston LULAC, told Fox 26. “2.6 billion dollars to the state and local taxes.”
Lira also said the federal government “subsidizes and supplements a lot of the medical costs, locally, statewide.”
Secret Service breaks into salon, covers cameras to use bathroom during Harris event
The U.S. Secret Service was forced to apologize to a Massachusetts salon owner after using her building’s bathroom without permission ahead of a fundraiser for Vice President Kamala Harris last week.
The salon owner, Alicia Powers, says Secret Service agents put duct tape over her security cameras and broke into her building by picking the lock. They then allowed various people to use the salon’s bathroom over a two-hour period.
Powers told Business Insider that she was aware she had to close her salon but was not informed about the Secret Service’s other plans.
“They had a bunch of people in and out of here doing a couple of bomb sweeps again – totally understand what they have to do, due to the nature of the situation,” Powers told Business Insider. “And at that point, my team felt like it was a little bit chaotic, and we just made the decision to close for Saturday.”
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Footage from the salon’s front-door Ring security camera shows a Secret Service agent approaching the door with a roll of tape and observing the locked door and the camera. The agent then grabbed a nearby chair and stood on it to tape over the security camera.
“There were several people in and out for about an hour-and-a-half – just using my bathroom, the alarms going off, using my counter, with no permission,” Powers told BI.
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“And then when they were done using the bathroom for two hours, they left, and left my building completely unlocked, and did not take the tape off the camera,” she added.
Powers told the outlet that an EMS worker later told her the Secret Service agent in charge of security that day “was telling people to come in and use the bathroom.” The Secret Service told BI that its agents “would not” have used the building without permission, but they acknowledged that an agent had taped over the camera.
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“Whoever was visiting, whether it was a celebrity or not, I probably would’ve opened the door and made them coffee and brought in donuts to make it a great afternoon for them,” Powers told BI. “But they didn’t even have the audacity to ask for permission. They just helped themselves.”
The building’s landlord, Brian Smith, says no one gave the Secret Service officers permission to use the building or even enter it.
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“Me and my dad own the building, and I have a crazy eccentric guy that lives upstairs,” Smith told BI. “And he didn’t tell the Secret Service they could use it, and I didn’t tell them, and my father didn’t tell them, and they had no permission to go in there whatsoever.”
Powers says a representative for the Secret Service’s Boston field office called her to apologize after BI contacted the agency about the incident.
“He said to me everything that was done was done very wrong,” Powers told the outlet. “They were not supposed to tape my camera without permission. They were not supposed to enter the building without permission.”
Teens to receive banned puberty blockers as new gender clinics for kids are set to open
The United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) announced it would be opening six new gender identity clinics by 2026 that will “provide tailored gender services,” based on recommendations from a recent report, according to the NHS announcement.
Following the publication of a comprehensive report by Dr. Hilary Cass in April, which was independently commissioned by the NHS to document practices and care for children reporting gender identity disorders, the NHS is now transforming its gender healthcare services for children and young people. The new clinics will reportedly focus more on providing a “holistic” approach that includes supporting kids with mental health conditions, which is in line with Dr. Cass’s recommendations.
The Cass Review found medical professionals reported “no guidance, no evidence, no training” regarding gender disorders and were “afraid” to discuss the topic.
The former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, detailed in the 388-page report that there was “no good evidence” for the medical push to transition children’s gender, noting the push had been “built on shaky foundations.”
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The report also found that puberty blockers did not help youth suffering from gender dysphoria feel better about their bodies, noting that evidence on the treatments’ mental effects was insufficient, which sparked backlash from activists and politicians who insisted its researchers intentionally ignored crucial scholarship.
“I am pleased that NHS England is planning to fully implement the recommendations of my Review and the next important step will be the most challenging – turning it into a reality,” Dr. Cass said in the NHS announcement. “The vision of the Review – reflected in the implementation plan – is to increase available services for gender-questioning young people which take a holistic approach to care addressing the needs of each individual, and which put in place a full package of care which can be delivered as close to home as possible.”
The NHS also said it will enforce stricter standards for referrals to specialist clinics, requiring all new referrals to specialist gender services be made through mental health or pediatric services “to ensure every child or young person has had a thorough assessment of need,” the announcement read.
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“These plans set out in detail how we will establish a fundamentally different and safer model of care for children and young people,” Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, said. “The work Dr. Cass has undertaken has been invaluable in helping us shape the new service offer, and we have already begun our transformation of these services by opening two new regional centers this year.”
The NHS ordered the London-based gender identity clinic at the Tavistock and Portman Trust to shut its doors in July 2022 amid safety concerns raised in the Cass Report that it was rushing children into transgender procedures. In March, the NHS banned the use of puberty blockers for children seeking treatment for gender dysphoria, citing limited research.
“As well as rolling out new services, NHS England is setting up a clinical trial to establish the evidence on puberty blockers, because children’s healthcare should always be led by evidence,” Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said. “I want trans people in our country to feel safe, accepted, and able to live with freedom and dignity.”
Two new NHS Children and Young People’s Gender Services, London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, opened in April, according to the announcement. The next new clinic will open in Bristol, becoming operational by November 2024 with plans to mobilize a clinic for the East of England over the course of 2024 and 2025. NHS England has also published plans for a review into adult gender services, following recommendations from Dr. Cass, which will look at the effectiveness, appropriateness and stability of current services.
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Katie Couric rips former employer CBS News for move she calls ‘odd’
Katie Couric accused her former employer of being “out of touch” on Sunday after “CBS Evening News” announced it would be replacing host Norah O’Donnell with two male anchors, which she argued was “odd.”
“It was more than a little disappointing to read that Ms. O’Donnell would be replaced by two men, John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois,” Couric wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times, noting that she respected both Dickerson and DuBois. “The two people who will be greeting Americans watching evening newscasts will be men.”
O’Donnell announced in July that she would be stepping down from her position as lead anchor on “CBS Evening News” to move to a different role at CBS. Couric also previously held the lead anchor position at “CBS Evening News,” and left the network in 2011.
“It’s odd and more than a little out of touch that even while CBS has announced a restructuring that introduces an additional layer of women executives, the leading editorial decision makers will mostly be men,” Couric continued.
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She argued that Vice President Harris’ presidential campaign demanded a diverse group of reporters.
“We’re also in the midst of a campaign that could result in the election of the first woman president, and first woman of color as president. It’s a potentially historic story — one that needs a diverse group of journalists covering it,” Couric wrote.
CBS News announced that “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan would also be providing regular reporting for the program from Washington, D.C.
Couric argued it was even more disappointing that the people behind the scenes at “CBS Evening News” are “three White men: Bill Owens, Guy Campanile and Jerry Cipriano.”
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She praised Cipriano, who she said was her “right-hand writer,” while she worked at the network, but lamented “male writers occasionally have blind spots.”
“While I was at CBS, I read copy written by one of my male colleagues describing Hillary Clinton in a way that struck me as subtly sexist. I asked my team, ‘Would you describe a male candidate this way?’ We rewrote it,” Couric said.
“‘CBS Evening News’ has been in third place for decades. While I couldn’t move the needle during my time as anchor, I had hoped to open minds,” Couric concluded. “Traditional broadcast news may be waning, but more than half of the viewing population should still demand more from the industry. Until then, once again, nightly network newscasts are the purview of a few good men.”
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CBS News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
US Olympic officials fire back after medal stripped in latest twist
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) said Sunday it will appeal the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS) decision to revert Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise score to her original mark, which would lose her the bronze medal she was awarded at the Paris Olympics.
The CAS ruled that the U.S. missed the deadline that bumped Chiles’ score 0.1 points to give her the bronze medal over Romania’s Ana Barbosu. The Romanian Gymnastics Federation made the initial appeal, saying the U.S. missed the deadline by four seconds.
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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) determined earlier Sunday that Chiles must give her bronze medal back. But the USOPC believes Chiles “rightfully earned the bronze medal” and that errors were made by the CAS and the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG).
“The initial error occurred in the scoring by FIG, and the second error was during the CAS appeal process, where the USOPC was not given adequate time or notice to effectively challenge the decision,” the USOPC said in a statement, via USA Today.
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“As a result, we were not properly represented or afforded the opportunity to present our case comprehensively. Given these circumstances, we are committed to pursuing an appeal to help Jordan Chiles receive the recognition she deserves. We remain dedicated to supporting her as an Olympic champion and will continue to work diligently to resolve this matter swiftly and fairly.”
It’s unclear how much of a chance the U.S. has in overturning the decision as the CAS usually stands as the final judge for international sporting issues.
The CAS said Saturday that Chiles should be moved to fifth in the standings with Barbosu moving to bronze-medal position and Romanian Sabrina Maneca-Voinea to fourth. The court left the decision to FIG to decide who would get the medal.
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The FIG said it was the IOC’s call on whether to relocate the medal and the IOC confirmed it would seek to have Chiles’ medal withdrawn.
Jon Taffer warns of the perfect storm that’s crushing American families and their dreams
Small businesses are under siege in America and the country needs a change, “Bar Rescue” host Jon Taffer warned viewers during Saturday’s “One Nation with Brian Kilmeade.”
Taffer, who has helped hundreds of failing businesses regain footing, told Kilmeade that higher costs and lower traffic have created a recipe for disaster, leading many in the restaurant industry with no choice but to file for bankruptcy.
“I drive through a downtown area, and I see all the vacant stores. I don’t [just] see vacant stores. I see crushed families and crushed dreams. The impact is powerful,” he said.
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“Whether you’re on the left or on the right – no matter what your political desires are – prosperity drives everything. No side can implement any agenda if we don’t have prosperity… Our government is almost against small business now, and, if we don’t protect these businesses, how do we keep unemployment low? How do we have the tax base to grow and develop our country? Do research and development new products?”
He continued, “Everything falls apart without prosperity, and we are facing a continuing agenda that I believe is disarming our ability to find that prosperity. We need a change.”
Taffer’s comments come on the heels of a discussion surrounding former President Trump’s pledge to eliminate taxes on tips for workers in the service industry if elected in November, a promise that garnered attention in the subsequent months.
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Vice President Harris mirrored that pledge at a campaign rally in Las Vegas over the weekend, prompting Trump to accuse her of stealing the idea.
Taffer, weighing in on that proposal, praised it as a “win-win” for workers and consumers alike.
“Sure it does [help service industry workers].” he said.
“In essence, it puts 25% or more of the tips back in their pocket. As a consumer, I like that, too. If I leave a $20 tip or whatever my tip is, I like the idea that 100% of it’s going to the employee, so it’s a win-win, and it does give our employees a substantial raise, and they go home with that money every night. That’s terrific.”
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