magid

Posted by Matt Kiser

https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2025/06/26/day-1619/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=daily_update

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1/ The Senate parliamentarian ruled that key Medicaid cuts in Trump’s tax and spending bill violate Senate budget rules, forcing Republicans to drop or rewrite large portions of their plan if they want it to pass under reconciliation. The decision blocks Republican efforts to cut provider taxes, deny coverage to undocumented immigrants, and restrict gender-affirming care, eliminating an estimated $250 billion in savings – undermining the bill’s fiscal math. Republicans had relied on those cuts to win conservative support and offset Trump’s tax breaks. Moderates, however, are warning that the changes would lead to hospital closures, while House Republicans say the Senate bill “breaks the deal” and are threatening to block final passage. Trump, meanwhile, is pressuring lawmakers to pass the bill by July 4, but Senate leaders can only lose three Republican votes, and the House must accept any final version without changes under reconciliation rules to avoid a collapse. Republicans wanted to pass Trump’s signature bill via reconciliation in order to shield it from a filibuster by Democrats. And, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he won’t overrule the parliamentarian, saying “That would not be a good outcome for getting a bill done.” (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / Bloomberg / USA Today / Axios / NPR / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / The Hill)

2/ The Supreme Court ruled 6–3 that Medicaid patients can’t sue states for cutting Planned Parenthood from Medicaid. Because federal law already bans Medicaid funding for most abortions, the ruling effectively allows South Carolina to block funding for other services Planned Parenthood provides, like cancer screenings and contraception. The ruling overturned lower court decisions that had blocked South Carolina’s 2018 order removing Planned Parenthood clinics in Columbia and Charleston from the state’s Medicaid network. The conservative majority said the law doesn’t give patients the right to enforce the “qualified provider” rule in court. “That is not the law we have,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote, dismissing language that patients “may obtain” care from any willing provider. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, however, warned the decision “will deprive Medicaid recipients [..] of their only meaningful way of enforcing a right that Congress has expressly granted to them.” The ruling will likely prompt other Republican-led states to take similar action. Planned Parenthood, which relies heavily on Medicaid funding, said it may reduce clinic hours and services. About one-fifth of South Carolina residents are enrolled in the program. (Washington Post / CNN / Politico / NBC News / NPR / New York Times / USA Today / Associated Press / Axios / Wall Street Journal)

3/ Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attacked the media for reporting on a leaked Defense Intelligence Agency assessment that said U.S. airstrikes only delayed Iran’s nuclear program by months. Hegseth accused reporters of trying to “muddy the waters” and downplay what Trump claimed was the “obliteration” of Iran’s nuclear sites. CIA Director Ratcliffe said new intelligence showed “several key” facilities were destroyed and they would take years to rebuild, but no intelligence official has confirmed Trump’s assessment. Gen. Dan Caine said the bombs functioned as designed, but deferred damage assessments to the intelligence community. Meanwhile, Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, has been sidelined from key briefings after publicly contradicting Trump’s claims about Iran’s nuclear program. The White House is downplaying her absence and now limiting intelligence sharing with Congress, prompting Democrats to accuse the administration of violating its legal obligations and suppressing inconvenient findings. (ABC News / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / Bloomberg / CNN / New York Times / NBC News)

4/ The Trump administration sued all 15 federal judges in Maryland, calling their order blocking fast-track deportations “unlawful” and “antidemocratic.” The Justice Department said Chief Judge George Russell’s standing order that pauses removals for 48 hours after a habeas petition is filed “instituted an avowedly automatic injunction” without proper legal basis. Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed the judiciary had “undermined” Trump’s authority with “an endless barrage of injunctions.” The administration asked all Maryland judges to recuse themselves and requested an out-of-state judge take the case. (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / The Guardian / USA Today)

• Immigration drove nearly all U.S. population growth last year, according to new census data. From 2023 to 2024, the number of Americans 65 and older rose by 3.1%, while the number of children fell by 0.2%. Nearly half of U.S. counties – and a third of metro areas – now have more older adults than children. (Washington Post)

5/ ICE plans to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a third country, even after a federal judge ordered his release from jail. The Trump administration admitted in March that it had wrongly deported him to El Salvador, where he was held in a prison, despite a 2019 court order blocking his removal. After flying him back to the U.S., officials jailed him on smuggling charges and now say he will be deported again regardless of the trial’s outcome. “He will never go free on American soil,” DHS official Tricia McLaughlin said. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers filed an emergency request to block his removal, warning the government is trying to “repeat the fiasco.” (NOTUS / NPR / Bloomberg / Axios)

6/ Trump nearly won the Latino vote in 2024, receiving 48% support compared to Harris’s 51%. That marks the strongest showing by a Republican among Latino voters in modern polling history, narrowing a gap that stood at 38 points in 2016 to just 3 points in 2024. The analysis also found that higher voter turnout would have helped Trump, not Harris — challenging the idea that turnout benefits Democrats, a theory based on decades of data showing that nonvoters are disproportionately young, nonwhite, and lower-income, and have historically leaned Democratic. Among eligible nonvoters, 44% said they would have backed Trump, compared to 40% for Harris. In 2020, 46% of eligible voters nonvoters said they would’ve voted for Biden, while 35% said they would’ve voted for Trump. (Pew Research Center / Washington Post / Politico / Axios / New York Times / New York Times)

The midterm elections are in 495 days.

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