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US House passes Trump’s showpiece tax bill

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US House passes Trump’s showpiece tax bill

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The US House of Representatives has passed Donald Trump’s showpiece tax bill by a single vote after days of wrangling between disparate factions of his Republican party, paving the way for the first big legislative success of his second term.

The Republican-controlled House voted just before 7am on Thursday in Washington by 215-214 to approve the more than 1,000-page legislation, which would slash taxes, reduce social spending and increase federal debt.

“This is arguably the most significant piece of Legislation that will ever be signed in the History of our Country!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

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“Now it’s time for our friends in the United States Senate to get to work, and send this Bill to my desk AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!” he added.

The sprawling legislation, which Trump has called his “big, beautiful bill”, has been at the centre of a fierce battle among Republican lawmakers in recent days.

House Speaker Mike Johnson had battled to overcome sticking points including cuts to state-backed healthcare spending and clean-energy tax credits, and the level of state and local taxes that can be deducted from federal levies.

Moments before its passage, Johnson hailed the legislation as a “turning point in American history”, adding that its Democratic opponents were voting for “the largest tax increase” in US history.

But Hakeem Jeffries, the minority leader of the House, said the bill would deprive at least 13.7mn people of their healthcare insurance, “taking food out of the mouths of children, disabled Americans, veterans and older Americans” because of cuts to food stamps.

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“It’s one, big ugly bill,” he said. “It’s an assault on the economy . . . to enact the largest tax breaks for billionaires in American history.”

The bill’s razor-thin passage by the House marks a big political victory for Trump, whose approval ratings have languished following weeks of market turmoil triggered by his trade war.

The non-partisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that the legislation will increase US national debt by more than $3.3tn over the next decade, increasing federal government debt held by the public from about 98 per cent of GDP to a record 125 per cent.

Investors have closely watched the bill amid concerns about the US’s growing fiscal deficit, which led Moody’s to strip the US of its triple A credit rating last week and pushed up bond yields, which move inversely to prices.

The yield on 30-year US Treasuries climbed to 5.14 per cent following the passage of the bill, extending a rise of more than 0.2 percentage points this week.

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The S&P 500 share index had fallen 1.6 per cent on Wednesday as concern about the deficit spilled into equity markets. Futures indicated a further 0.5 per cent decline on Thursday.

The bill would make tax provisions from Trump’s first administration — including individual income tax cuts — that would otherwise expire at the end of this year.

It would also slash taxes on tips and overtime pay, following Trump’s pledges during his successful 2024 presidential campaign and increase spending on border security.

Republicans have sought to reduce the price tag of the bill by slashing nearly $800bn from Medicaid — the US healthcare scheme for those on low incomes — and hundreds of billions more from the food stamp programme and clean energy tax credits.

Shares in solar energy companies fell sharply in premarket trading following passage of the bill.

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Sunrun fell by as much as 40 per cent in pre-market trading on Thursday. Enphase Energy stock was down 19 per cent. NextEra, the largest renewables developer in the US, fell by 4 per cent. 

Thursday’s vote came after Republicans who opposed the bill met Trump at the White House the day before.

The president also visited Capitol Hill this week to urge his party to pass the legislation after conservatives expressed concern about its cost and moderate Republicans pushed for a greater state and local tax deduction.

Russell Vought, Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, has said that the legislation includes the most significant spending cuts in the past three decades.

While some conservatives had pushed for further cuts, only two Republicans voted against the bill — Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Warren Davidson of Ohio — because of its impact on the US debt.

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“Deficits do matter and this bill grows them now,” Davidson posted on X.

The bill’s passage also came a day after the death of Gerald Connolly, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, whose vote could have denied the Republicans a majority.

Additional reporting by Jamie Smyth

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Man Charged With Posting Bomb Instructions Used in New Orleans Attack

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Man Charged With Posting Bomb Instructions Used in New Orleans Attack

Federal prosecutors have filed charges against a former Army serviceman they accused of distributing instructions on how to build explosives that were used by a man who conducted a deadly attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day last year.

The former serviceman, Jordan A. Derrick, a 40-year-old from Missouri, was charged with one count of engaging in the business of manufacturing explosive materials without a license; one count of unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device; and one count of distributing information relating to manufacturing explosives, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Wednesday. The three charges together carry a maximum sentence of 40 years in federal prison.

Starting in September 2023, the authorities said, Mr. Derrick was using various social media sites to share videos of himself making explosive materials, including detonators. His videos provided step-by-step instructions, and he often engaged with viewers in comments, sometimes answering their questions about the chemistry behind the explosives.

The authorities said that Mr. Derrick’s videos were downloaded by Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, 42, who was accused of ramming a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on Jan. 1, 2025, in a terrorist attack that killed 14 people and injured dozens. Mr. Jabbar was killed in a shootout with the police. Before the attack, Mr. Jabbar had placed two explosives on Bourbon Street, the authorities said, but they did not detonate.

The authorities later recovered two laptops and a USB drive in a house that Mr. Jabbar had rented. The USB drive contained several videos created by Mr. Derrick that provided instructions on making explosives. The authorities said the explosives they recovered were consistent with the ones Mr. Derrick had posted about.

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Mr. Derrick’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.

Mr. Derrick was a combat engineer in the Army, where he provided personnel and vehicle support, the authorities said. He also helped supervise safety personnel during demolitions and various operations. He was honorably discharged in February 2013.

The authorities did not say whether Mr. Derrick had any communication with Mr. Jabbar, or whether the men had known each other. In some of Mr. Derrick’s videos and comments, he indicated that he was aware that his videos could be misused.

“There are a plethora of uh, moral, you know, entanglements with topics, any topic of teaching explosives, right?” he asked in one video, according to the affidavit. “Of course, the wrong people could get it.”

The authorities also said that an explosion occurred at a private residence in Odessa, Mo., on May 4, and the occupant of the residence told investigators that he had manufactured explosives after watching online tutorials from Mr. Derrick.

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Mr. Derrick’s YouTube account had more than 15,000 subscribers and 20 published videos, the affidavit said. He had also posted content on other platforms, including Odysee and Patreon. Some videos were accessible to the public for free, while others required a paid subscription to view.

“My responsibility to my countrymen is to make sure that I serve the function of the Second Amendment to strengthen it,” Mr. Derrick said in one of his videos, according to the affidavit. “This is how I serve my country for real.”

Outside of the income he received through content creation, Mr. Derrick did not have any known employment. He did receive a monthly disability check from Veterans Affairs, the affidavit stated.

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The Girls: “This isn’t ringing alarms to y’all?” : Embedded

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The Girls: “This isn’t ringing alarms to y’all?” : Embedded
Allegations pile up, but Child Protective Services declines to investigate and the school district continues to promote Ronnie Stoner. We include an update at the end of the episode. “The Girls” is a 4-part series from the Louisville Public Media’s investigative podcast, Dig.
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Chud the Builder, Known for Racist Confrontations, Charged With Attempted Murder

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Chud the Builder, Known for Racist Confrontations, Charged With Attempted Murder

A streamer known for hurling racist slurs in public settings under the nickname “Chud the Builder” was charged with attempted murder after a shooting outside a Tennessee courthouse on Wednesday, the authorities said.

The streamer, Dalton Eatherly, 28, was involved in a confrontation with an unidentified man that escalated to gunfire outside the Montgomery County Court in Clarksville, about 50 miles northwest of Nashville, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. Both men sustained gunshot wounds and were in stable condition, the office said.

In addition to attempted murder, Mr. Eatherly was charged with employing a firearm during dangerous felony, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, the sheriff’s office said.

Mr. Eatherly, who is white, has accumulated an online audience by livestreaming confrontations in which he uses racist language toward Black people in public.

Law enforcement did not provide any details about the second man involved in Wednesday’s shooting. Mr. Eatherly posted an audio recording online of paramedics treating his wounds in which he claims he shot the man in self-defense.

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A video posted by the website Clarksville Now shows Mr. Eatherly on a stretcher with a microphone attached to his lapel.

Mr. Eatherly is being held at the Montgomery County Jail, pending arraignment, the sheriff’s office said.

According to court records, Mr. Eatherly was scheduled to appear for a court hearing on Wednesday morning in an unrelated case brought by Midland Credit Management, a collections agency.

A lawyer listed in court records from a separate harassment case in which Mr. Eatherly was a defendant in November did not respond to a request for comment.

On Sunday, three days before the shooting in Clarksville, Mr. Eatherly was arrested in Nashville. According to a police affidavit, Mr. Eatherly live streamed his meal at a restaurant, Bob’s Steak and Chop House, on Saturday even though the restaurant had asked him ahead of time not to do so.

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When he was confronted, Mr. Eatherly “became disruptive and started making racial statements, yelling, screaming and otherwise creating a scene,” according to the affidavit.

He then refused to pay for his $370 meal. Mr. Eatherly was charged with theft of services, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. He was released on $5,000 bond.

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