Politics

The Hill reports: The Senate on Tuesday passed a bill that would eliminate federal taxes on tips, advancing with the help of Democrats a top campaign promise of President Trump. Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) brought the bill to the floor with the expectation that it would be blocked, but Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) declined to. It passed via unanimous consent. …

NBC News reports: The Senate advanced a major cryptocurrency regulation bill Monday on a bipartisan vote two weeks after every Senate Democrat united to block it. The procedural vote on the GENIUS Act — which would establish the first regulatory framework for issuers of stablecoins, digital tokens pegged to fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar — was 66-32. Sixteen Democrats …

“States like New York and New Jersey and Connecticut and Illinois and California, are donor states, we regularly send billions of dollars more to the federal government than we get back in return. We are donor states! So we’re not going to be lectured by people who are actually in what has sometimes been referred to as taker states, who …

NBC News reports: Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former Atlanta mayor who more recently served in top posts at the Democratic National Committee and in former President Joe Biden’s White House and 2024 campaign, is running for governor of Georgia. She announced her campaign Tuesday morning, releasing a video on social media that recounts her upbringing and tight-knit family and criticizes …

The Heartland Signal reports: Despite Missouri voters overwhelmingly approving a ballot measure guaranteeing paid sick leave and minimum wage increases last November, the state Republican Party passed a law repealing the provision just days after it went into effect. Last November, 1,693,064 voters, or 57.57%, approved Proposition A, and its passage was upheld in the state Supreme Court last month. …

“Well, I’ve decided today’s the day I’m going to take the opportunity — since a lot of you are here — to make an announcement of my own. Some of you have already guessed, so it won’t surprise you at all, but I have the same cancer Joe Biden has. So I also have prostate cancer that has also spread …

The Washington Post reports: There’s a long way to go yet in Poland’s presidential election but Sunday’s first round was a good day for candidates on the political right and far right, and it flashed a big red warning signal for the moderate government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Tusk’s candidate, liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, and a conservative opponent …

Bloomberg News reports: The centrist mayor of Bucharest won Romania’s presidential runoff on Sunday, quashing the ambitions of a far-right Donald Trump loyalist as voters came out in force to ensure that the Black Sea nation held steady on a pro-European path. Nicusor Dan, an independent and one-time math prodigy, secured more than 54% of the vote in the contest, …

Florida Politics reports: Key Florida Democrats will oppose the removal of David Hogg as Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). A release from the Florida Democratic Party announced that eight delegates to the DNC representing Florida, including FDP Chair Nikki Fried, intend to vote against resolutions removing both Hogg and Malcolm Kenyatta of Pennsylvania, who both won Vice …

Politico reports: Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday he supports a ban on stock trading by members of Congress amid controversy about well-timed trades during recent market volatility. “You want me to tell you my honest opinion on that? I’m in favor of that, because I don’t think we should have any appearance of impropriety here,” he said at a Wednesday …

Politico reports: The House Ways and Means Committee approved Republicans’ sweeping tax package Wednesday, after a marathon hearing in which they shot down a string of attempts by Democrats to rewrite the plan. Approval came on a party-line 26-19 vote, and sends the bill — stocked with tax cuts and some notable tax hikes on GOP targets like Ivy League …

The Associated Press reports: Pete Buttigieg returned to Iowa on Tuesday with some subtle and not-so-subtle messages about what’s changed since he ran in the state’s 2020 Democratic presidential caucuses. His speech included mentions of his adopted twins, a boy and a girl, and how he explained to his daughter the different nicknames for the American flag. He talked of …

The New York Times reports: President Trump announced on Tuesday that he would end sanctions on Syria, saying at the start of his four-day tour of the Middle East that he had decided to do so after consulting with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and the President of Turkey. Mr. Trump’s announcement drew rousing applause from the crowd at an investment …

The Guardian reports: Canada’s Liberal party has inched closer to a majority government after a judicial recount found the party had won an electoral district by just a single vote. But a voter has also claimed her ballot wasn’t counted, throwing the result once more into disarray. Officials at Elections Canada at the weekend finished a recount for the Quebec …

Axios reports: The DNC is moving forward with a challenge to David Hogg’s election and that of another DNC vice chair just months after they attained their roles. Hogg, 25, is alleging it is connected to his plans to spend $20 million trying to oust older Democratic members of Congress in primaries. The DNC’s credentials committee voted 13 to 2, …

The Daily Beast reports: Senators have raised ethical concerns about the U.S. president replacing Air Force One with a plane supplied by a foreign government. Others have expressed worries about safety issues and potential legal complications. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said: “If Qatar gives a plane to the president of the United States, it seems to me that raises …

San Francisco’s ABC affiliate reports: Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday urged California’s local governments to clear homeless encampments, escalating the state’s efforts to ban the growing number of makeshift camps on sidewalks and in parks that are the most visible signs of the crisis of people living on the streets. The announcement of a new model ordinance for counties, cities …

Punchbowl News reports: Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) trails Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton by 16 points in a new poll commissioned by the Senate Leadership Fund, the GOP-leadership backed super PAC. SLF is supporting Cornyn. Their poll has Cornyn trailing Paxton 56-40, according to two people briefed on the survey. In a three-way contest with Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas), who …

Sen. Josh Hawley writes for the New York Times: Polls show Democrats down in the dumps at their lowest approval level in decades, but we Republicans are having an identity crisis of our own, and you can see it in the tug of war over President Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill.” The nub of the conflict: Will Republicans be a …

Politico reports: State Sen. Jason Pizzo, who recently proclaimed the Florida Democratic Party “dead” before leaving the party, said Friday he will run for governor as an independent in 2026. Pizzo has been hinting for months that he planned to mount a run to succeed Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who cannot run again due to term limits. The Miami state …