JULY 2025 - POLITICAL NEWS

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s ability to pass the “big, beautiful bill” is hinging on Sen. Lisa Murkowski. The Alaska senator has been the subject of an intense whip effort by GOP leaders over the past couple of hours as they try to offer her reassurances on Medicaid and food assistance. Thune, Finance Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso talked to Murkowski on the floor for roughly an hour overnight.

Senate conservatives are dropping their push for a vote on scaling back a key Medicaid funding mechanism, according to three people granted anonymity to discuss private deliberations. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and allies were expected to get a vote on an amendment to scale back the federal share of Medicaid costs for those enrolled under the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid starting in 2031.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Monday night signed his final budget — and faced rare and biting criticisms from within his own administration and longtime allies. Two members of his own Cabinet called parts of the $58.8 billion spending plan a “terrible idea” and “a great disappointment.” 

Hell hath no fury like a social media platform-owning billionaire scorned. In another round of late-night jabs between Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the U.S. president suggested that Tesla magnate’s government subsidies and contracts could come under threat.

“Elon may get more subsidies than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social website.

John Cornyn is not going down without a fight. After months of polls showing the four-term Texas senator trailing in the Republican primary, a pro-Cornyn super PAC raised almost $11 million in the most recent fundraising period.

Former Rep. Colin Allred is jumping back into the Texas Senate race, after losing to Ted Cruz eight months ago. In a video released Tuesday, Allred, who flipped a red-leaning district in 2018, pledged to take on “politicians like [Texas Sen.] John Cornyn and [Attorney General] Ken Paxton,” who “are too corrupt to care about us and too weak to fight for us,” while pledging to run on an “anti-corruption plan.”

The first American academics fleeing Donald Trump's America for France have arrived. Aix-Marseille University last week introduced eight U.S.-based researchers who were in the final stage of joining the institution's “Safe Place for Science" program, which aims to woo researchers who have experienced or fear funding cuts under the Trump administration. AMU offers the promise of a brighter future in the sun-drenched Mediterranean port city.

Ideally, science and politics — like oil and water — should not mix. But in the world's premier climate science institution, oil is fighting to gain the upper hand.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is embroiled in a series of behind-closed-door controversies, stoked by fossil fuel-producing countries and the withdrawal of the United States as an active participant.

President Donald Trump and his top deputies have started their final public push to get the “big, beautiful bill” over the finish line as the Senate struggles to finish up the legislation. Stephen Miller, Trump’s top policy aide, appeared on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity” on Monday night, about 12 hours into the Senate “vote-a-rama,” to angrily rebut criticisms of the bill and fiercely defend its contents.

Europe must act quickly to face extreme heat as temperatures surpass 40 degrees and thousands of excess deaths are predicted in the coming days. Southern Europe is in the midst of a soaring heatwave with temperatures reaching up to 46 degrees Celsius in Spain’s Huelva region — a new national record for June. Meanwhile, Italy, Greece, Portugal and the Western Balkans are also facing scorching highs, along with wildfires and civilian victims.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn has pulled her support for a five-year deal on a moratorium against state and local artificial intelligence laws that she struck with Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz just one day earlier. Blackburn’s reversal is a boost for those looking to strike the AI moratorium from the underlying GOP megabus, which senators are currently debating on the floor.

The Senate rejected a bid by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) to raise taxes on the ultra-wealthy and boost money for rural medical providers in the GOP’s megabill. The chamber voted 78-22 against a procedural motion related to her amendment, which would have increased a rural hospital fund from $25 billion over five years to $50 billion and allowed a wider range of health providers to tap it. The amendment also would have raised the top tax rates for individuals who earn more than $25 million a year and couples earning more than $50 million starting next year.