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House Republicans Advance Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’

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House Republicans Advance Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’

The House Budget Committee late Sunday night revived President Trump’s stalled bill to cut taxes and spending, after a handful of fiscally conservative Republicans relented and allowed it to advance even as they continued to press for deeper reductions to health and environmental programs.

The vote signaled a temporary resolution to a remarkable revolt from a group of hard-liners on the panel, who on Friday joined Democrats in opposing the bill in committee, tanking it over concerns that it did not do enough to rein in the nation’s ballooning debt.

On Sunday, after a weekend of intensive negotiations with House Republican leaders and White House officials, they switched their votes to “present,” allowing the measure to move forward without lending their explicit support. It sent the bill past a crucial procedural hurdle but indicated that there was still major trouble ahead for the package, which Speaker Mike Johnson has said he wants to be considered by the full House before Memorial Day.

“Deliberations continue to this very moment,” Representative Jodey C. Arrington of Texas, the chairman of the panel, said as he opened the session late Sunday night. “They will continue on into the week and, I suspect, right up until the time we put this big, beautiful bill on the floor of the House.”

Mr. Arrington added: “I don’t know anything about side deals or any deals. I just know we’re at a place where we can take a vote today.”

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The vote was 17 to 16, with all four Republicans who initially voted to defeat the legislation — Representatives Chip Roy of Texas, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma, Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Andrew Clyde of Georgia — voting “present.”

In a lengthy statement on social media minutes after the vote, Mr. Roy said he and the three other conservatives had secured commitments for changes to the bill that include speeding implementation of new work requirements for Medicaid and further curtailing clean energy tax credits created by the Inflation Reduction Act. He did not offer more details about either proposal, and Republican leaders provided no information on what concessions they had promised.

But Mr. Roy did say that “the bill does not yet meet the moment,” and alluded to wanting deeper cuts to Medicaid, in a sign of the difficult path ahead.

The legislation would make the 2017 tax cuts permanent and eliminate taxes on tips and overtime pay, fulfilling the president’s campaign promise. It also would raise spending on the military and immigration enforcement. Cuts to Medicaid, food stamps, education and subsidies for clean energy would offset part of the price of the bill, though they would not cover the entire cost of $3.8 trillion over 10 years.

The four Republicans on the panel voted against the legislation the first time the budget panel met, protesting the timeline for the work requirements for Medicaid recipients — which the bill would not impose until 2029, after the next presidential election — and the provisions targeting the clean energy tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act, which the measure would partially but not completely repeal.

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Work requirements are broadly popular among congressional Republicans, and even those who have balked at other cuts to Medicaid have said they could support such requirements.

In an interview on Sunday on Fox News, Mr. Johnson said Republican leaders were trying to strike a balance between moving up the implementation date for new work requirements and giving states the time they needed to update their systems and ensure that the new laws could be enforced.

“I think we’ve got to compromise on that,” he said. “We’ll get everyone in line to do it.”

Winning support across the House G.O.P. conference for rolling back the clean energy tax credits created under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in the Inflation Reduction Act could be trickier.

The bill would sharply curtail most big tax credits for clean energy, but it did not eliminate all of the provisions in the law. That was a key demand of the ultraconservatives, who said their party should have no problem repealing a statute that Democrats passed on their own through reconciliation, over unified Republican opposition.

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But at least three dozen Republicans in the House, many who represent districts that have benefited from the clean energy tax credits, have called for preserving at least some of the incentives, such as for nuclear power or domestic manufacturing, to protect jobs and bolster U.S. energy security.

There are still other outstanding issues that must be resolved in order for the legislation to pass on the House floor.

One group of moderate holdouts from New York and other higher-tax states is threatening to withhold its votes unless the bill includes a substantial increase to the state and local tax, or SALT, deduction.

Some Republicans, including Representative Nick LaLota of New York, have floated the idea of paying for the larger deduction by allowing the top income bracket to revert to where it was before the 2017 tax cuts, jumping back to 39.6 percent from 37 percent.

“It’s a fiscally responsible move that reflects the priorities of the new Republican Party,” Mr. LaLota wrote in a social media post. “Protect working families, address the deficit, fix the unfair SALT cap, and safeguard programs like Medicaid and SNAP, without raising taxes on the middle class.”

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Maya C. Miller and James C. McKinley Jr. contributed reporting.

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Pritzker pushes prosecutions of Trump officials as part of Dem ‘Project 2029’ agenda

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Pritzker pushes prosecutions of Trump officials as part of Dem ‘Project 2029’ agenda

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Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker said that Democrats should seek criminal prosecution against Trump administration and law enforcement officials who have “broken the law” if they were to gain control of the White House in 2028.

Pritzker, who is running for a third gubernatorial term, sat down for an interview with the New York Times in which he proposed Democrats adopt their own version of Project 2025 — the Heritage Foundation’s conservative policy blueprint for presidential administrations released in nearly every election cycle since the 1980s. Pritzker dubbed the Democrats’ counter “Project 2029,” urging it to be quickly implemented to “restore the rule of law.”

“I don’t think you can speak of it in shorthand, but we’ve got to restore the rule of law, and that means holding people accountable who’ve broken the law,” Pritzker said. “I’m talking about the people in this administration who’ve broken the law and federal agents who’ve broken the law.”

New York Times reporter Lulu Garcia-Navarro asked Pritzker whether this meant Trump officials and law enforcement agents would face criminal prosecution.

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TRUMP SAYS CHICAGO MAYOR, ILLINOIS GOVERNOR ‘SHOULD BE IN JAIL FOR FAILING TO PROTECT’ ICE OFFICERS

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker speaks to members of the media at Manny’s Cafeteria and Delicatessen during a primary election in Chicago, Illinois, on Tuesday, March 17, 2026.  (Credit: Christopher Dilts / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“Criminally prosecuted, civilly prosecuted,” Pritzker said. “Whatever it is that we can do.”

Trump and Pritzker have been at odds over Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda for months.

Last October, Pritzker filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago. The lawsuit argued that the deployment of the National Guardsmen to the Windy City was “unconstitutional and/or unlawful.”

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PRITZKER CLAIMS COUNTRY UNDER TRUMP WORSE THAN COVID PANDEMIC WHERE PEOPLE DIED ‘IN DROVES’

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents walk down a street during a multi-agency targeted enforcement operation in Chicago, Illinois, on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025. President Donald Trump has pledged to carry out the largest deportation effort in U.S. history, vowing to ultimately deport all people living in the country without legal status. (Christopher Dilts / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

U.S. District Judge April Perry issued a temporary restraining order preventing the deployment of National Guard troops to the state as the lawsuit worked its way through the legal system. The Supreme Court also upheld Perry’s decision. The Trump administration withdrew federal troops from the state in January.

Pritzker and Trump have also clashed over the tactics used by federal immigration enforcement agents in Illinois. Pritzker has accused federal agents of “waging war on our people” and “acting like jackbooted thugs.”

U.S. President Donald Trump attends a tour of a Thermo Fisher Scientific facility in Reading, Ohio, on March 11, 2026. Trump is highlighting his administration’s push to lower drug prices at the biotechnology and pharmaceutical company. (Andrew Harnik / Getty Images)

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The Trump administration faces another lawsuit stemming from accusations of immigration enforcement agents’ alleged misconduct during Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit accused federal agents of violating protesters’ constitutional rights through their use of tear gas and force. District Judge Sara Ellis issued a preliminary injunction barring federal agents’ use of force and tear gas on protesters, but an appeals court overturned her decision earlier this month.

Fox News Digital reached out to Pritzker’s office and the White House for comment.

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Pentagon orders 2,500 troops, 3 warships from California to the Middle East

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Pentagon orders 2,500 troops, 3 warships from California to the Middle East

The Pentagon is reportedly sending three California-based warships and roughly 2,500 Marines to the Middle East, the second significant deployment in a week.

The three warships are part of the San Diego-based USS Boxer amphibious ready group. The Marines are from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based at Camp Pendleton. The deployments were reported Friday by the Associated Press, citing Pentagon sources.

A 2,500-strong Marine unit accompanied by the USS Tripoli warship launched from Japan on Saturday.

The major reinforcement comes as the war’s economic shock waves are felt throughout the globe, as Washington seeks to secure vital shipping lanes and deter further attacks on energy infrastructure around the Persian Gulf.

President Trump has continued pressing allies to join his proposed coalition to patrol the Iranian-controlled Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane through which about 20% of the world’s oil supply passes. So far, Europe, Japan, China and Australia have refused to heed the call.

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Trump on Thursday said Iran “is close to demolished,” but that securing the Strait of Hormuz remained a struggle. He suggested the U.S. was working to secure the strait not for its own oil needs, but “just to be nice” to other countries that rely on oil from the region to a much larger degree than the U.S.

“They complain about the high oil prices they are forced to pay, but don’t want to help open the Strait of Hormuz, a simple military maneuver that is the single reason for the high oil prices. So easy for them to do, with so little risk. COWARDS, and we will REMEMBER!” Trump wrote Friday on Truth Social.

Iran continued sweeping attacks on Mideast energy facilities, a retaliation to Israeli strikes on its Iran’s South Pars field, the world’s largest natural gas field Wednesday. The fallout has dragged the Gulf states into the war amid the largest energy supply disruption in history.

Iranian shahed drones hammered Kuwait’s largest oil refinery Friday. Similar attacks triggered fires at Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar, bringing energy product screaming to a halt at the largest natural gas hub in the globe. Repairs are expected to take years.

Meanwhile, United Arab Emirates’ air defense systems were countering Iranian missiles overnight, and Saudi Arabia said it might respond with force if Iran continues to attack facilities in the kingdom.

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Israel said Friday it had killed Esmail Ahmadi, a senior intelligence official in Iran’s Basij and deputy to its commander, in an airstrike. Officials described Ahmadi as “one of the most important pillars” of the Basij volunteer paramilitary force.

Even as Israel carries out daily decapitation airstrikes in Tehran and the U.S. deploys renewed forces to its front door, the Islamic Republic has not faltered.

Abolfazl Shekarchi, a senior spokesperson for Iran’s armed forces, said American and Israeli officials could be targeted worldwide.

“From now on, based on the information we have, even recreational and tourist locations around the world will not be safe for you,” Shekarchi said.

Oil prices have surged past $100 a barrel and found a volatile new floor amid the chaos.

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Financial markets have reacted with sustained losses. Wall Street has now posted its fourth consecutive week of declines, with investors increasingly pricing in the risk that higher energy costs could slow economic growth while reigniting inflation. Analysts warn that persistently elevated crude prices are likely to squeeze corporate margins and weigh on consumer spending in the United States and beyond.

The International Monetary Fund has cautioned that the conflict could push inflation higher, too. The Federal Reserve is now facing renewed uncertainty as they weigh whether to hold interest rates higher for longer in response to rising energy costs.

At a White House event on Friday, Trump maintained that the United States’ military operation is “going extremely well in Iran.”

“The difference between them and us is they had a navy two weeks ago and they have no navy anymore. It’s all at the bottom of the sea,” Trump said. “Fifty-eight ships were knocked down in two days and we have the greatest navy in the world. It is not even close.”

The president did not take questions from reporters in the room. But in unprompted remarks, he said the United States and Iran are not engaging in talks because their leaders “are all gone,” adding to the uncertainty about the war’s exit strategy.

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“We are having a hard time, we want to talk to them and there is nobody to talk to,” he said. “We have nobody to talk to and you know what? We like it that way.”

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Video: Trump Makes Pearl Harbor Joke In Meeting With Japan’s Prime Minister

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Video: Trump Makes Pearl Harbor Joke In Meeting With Japan’s Prime Minister

new video loaded: Trump Makes Pearl Harbor Joke In Meeting With Japan’s Prime Minister

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Trump Makes Pearl Harbor Joke In Meeting With Japan’s Prime Minister

President Donald Trump made a joke about the Japanese attack on Dec. 7, 1941, which led the United States into World War II, during a press conference with Japan’s prime minister Sanae Takaichi on Thursday. The president has been pressing Japan’s leader for military help in the Middle East to ease the oil crisis.

“Who knows better about surprise than Japan?” Reporter: “Why didn’t you tell U.S. allies in Europe and Asia, like Japan, about the war before attacking Iran?” “The one thing you don’t want to signal too much. When we go in, we went in very hard and we didn’t tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor, OK? Reporter: “Do you intend to potentially put U.S. troops or more troops in the region?” “No, I’m not putting troops anywhere. If I were, I certainly wouldn’t tell you. I hate to make this excursion, but we’re going to have to do it. I wanted to put out that fire and I said, if I do that, oil prices will go up. The economy will go down a little bit. I thought it would be worse, much worse, actually. I thought there was a chance it could be much worse. It’s not bad, and it’s going to be over with pretty soon.” Reporter: “If the war is almost over, why is the Pentagon going to ask Congress for an additional $200 billion?” “Well, we’re asking for a lot of reasons beyond even what we’re talking about in Iran. This is a very volatile world. So we’re in very good shape. But we want to be in the best shape, the best shape we’ve ever been in. We want to be sure, and it’s a small price to pay to make sure that we stay tippy top.”

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President Donald Trump made a joke about the Japanese attack on Dec. 7, 1941, which led the United States into World War II, during a press conference with Japan’s prime minister Sanae Takaichi on Thursday. The president has been pressing Japan’s leader for military help in the Middle East to ease the oil crisis.

By Meg Felling

March 19, 2026

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