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Trump’s “Big, Beautiful” Tax-and-Cuts Juggernaut Survives Last-Minute GOP Revolt, Squeaks Through Senate

Yeshiva World News -

Senate Republicans hauled President Donald Trump’s big tax breaks and spending cuts bill to passage Tuesday on the narrowest of margins, pushing past opposition from Democrats and their own GOP ranks after a turbulent overnight session. The outcome capped an unusually tense weekend of work at the Capitol, the president’s signature legislative priority teetering on the edge of approval or collapse. In the end that tally was 50-50, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote. Three Republican senators — Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky — joined all Democrats in voting against it. “The big not so beautiful bill has passed,” Paul said after the vote. The difficulty it took for Republicans, who have the majority hold in Congress, to wrestle the bill to this point is not expected to let up. The package now goes back to the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson had warned senators not to deviate too far from what his chamber had already approved. But the Senate did make changes, particularly to Medicaid, risking more problems as they race to finish by Trump’s Fourth of July deadline. The outcome is a pivotal moment for president and his party, which have been consumed by the 940-page “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” as it’s formally titled, and invested their political capital in delivering on the GOP’s sweep of power in Washington. Trump acknowledged it’s “very complicated stuff,” as he departed the White House for Florida. “I don’t want to go too crazy with cuts,” he said. “I don’t like cuts.” What started as a routine but laborious day of amendment voting, in a process called vote-a-rama, spiraled into a round-the-clock slog as Republican leaders were buying time to shore up support. The droning roll calls in the chamber belied the frenzied action to steady the bill. Grim-faced scenes played out on and off the Senate floor, amid exhaustion. Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota was desperately reaching for last-minute agreements between those in his party worried the bill’s reductions to Medicaid will leave millions without care, and his most conservative flank, which wants even steeper cuts to hold down deficits ballooning with the tax cuts. The GOP leaders have no room to spare, with narrow majorities. Thune could lose no more than three Republican senators, and two — Tillis, who warned that millions of people will lose access to Medicaid health care, and Paul, who opposes raising the debt limit by $5 trillion — had already indicated opposition. Attention quickly turned to two other key senators, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Collins, who also raised concerns about health care cuts, as well as a loose coalition of four conservative GOP senators pushing for even steeper reductions. Murkowski in particular became the subject of the GOP leadership’s attention, as they sat beside her for talks. She was huddled intensely for more than an hour in the back of the chamber with others, scribbling notes on papers. Then all eyes were on Paul after he returned from a visit to Thune’s office with a stunning offer that could win his vote. He had suggested substantially lowering the bill’s increase in the debt ceiling, according to two people familiar with the private meeting and granted anonymity to discuss […]

Brother of Israeli Hostage Says Hamas Tortured Him to Death, Believing He Was a Pilot

Yeshiva World News -

An Israeli hostage died after suffering a heart attack under torture while being interrogated by Hamas, his brother told lawmakers Monday, describing details shared with the family by intelligence officials a day earlier. Dani Elgarat, speaking during a heated meeting of the Knesset House Committee, said his brother, 68-year-old Itzik Elgarat, was abducted from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz during Hamas’s October 7 attack. Elgarat said Hamas suspected Itzik was a pilot because he had an eagle tattoo on his arm. “They took him for interrogation and he never came back,” Dani Elgarat told the committee. According to the family, Itzik Elgarat was shot through the door of his safe room and wounded before being captured. He was initially held with Edan Alexander, a U.S.-Israeli IDF soldier who was later freed in a goodwill gesture to President Donald Trump. Alexander reportedly asked where Itzik was after he was taken away, and guards replied, “He has gone.” “Itzik died, was murdered, he suffered a heart attack during interrogation under torture,” Dani Elgarat told the committee, without elaborating further. Hamas returned Itzik’s body to Israel in February as part of a ceasefire deal that included the release of both living and deceased hostages. He was buried near his home in Nir Oz. At the funeral, Dani Elgarat accused Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of having “dug his grave” due to government policies toward Hamas. During Monday’s Knesset hearing, security guards removed Dani Elgarat after he loudly accused Netanyahu of having funded Hamas, referencing the transfer of Qatari cash to Gaza before the October 7 attack as part of an arrangement to maintain a fragile ceasefire. Tensions were already running high at the committee meeting. Hadash-Ta’al MK Ofer Cassif was twice ejected after clashing with bereaved father Itzik Bonzel, who lost his son in Gaza, during a debate over a move to impeach Hadash-Ta’al chairman Ayman Odeh for remarks equating Israeli hostages with Palestinian security prisoners. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

HISTORIC WIN! School Choice Survives in the Senate: One Step Away from President’s Desk

Yeshiva World News -

Agudath Israel of America celebrates the Senate’s inclusion of a permanent and unlimited scholarship tax credit. Earlier today, the United States Senate voted to include a permanent scholarship tax credit in the budget reconciliation bill. The groundbreaking federal school choice proposal survived two attempts to eliminate it and had to be revised in order to comply with the ruling of the Senate parliamentarian. “On Friday, news reports proclaimed that the school choice provision in the reconciliation bill was dead,” said Rabbi A.D. Motzen, Agudath Israel of America’s National Director of Government Affairs. “Thanks to Senator Ted Cruz and Senate champions, the report of its demise was greatly exaggerated. The Senate saved school choice for American families.” The bill provides a dollar-for-dollar tax credit to donors who contribute to a nonprofit scholarship granting organization (SGO). The SGOs then take the pooled funds and distribute scholarships to eligible students for qualified educational expenses. The beneficiaries can include most families as the income threshold is above $300,000 in many areas (see chart). The revised version allows every taxpayer to receive a credit of up to $1700 and removed the annual cap on donations among other changes. Agudah expects that this will help generate hundreds of millions of dollars in K-12 scholarships for those wishing to attend Jewish schools. The revised bill must now pass the House before being sent to the President for his signature

WATCH: Rudy Giuliani On Mamdani: “If This Guy Becomes Mayor, the City is Gone”

Matzav -

Zohran Mamdani is the Muslim socialist who doesn’t believe billionaires should exist, who just won a stunning victory in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City – and already some of his policies are raising eyebrows.

Joining to debate all this is former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani – who has some choice words to say about Mamdani – plus The Young Turks’ Cenk Uygur, NewsNation’s Geraldo Rivera and former DNC fundraiser Lindy Li.

WATCH:

{Matzav.com}

Pini Einhorn’s iPhone Stolen During Wedding Performance

Matzav -

In a shocking incident on Sunday night, singer Pini Einhorn said that he had his iPhone stolen while performing at a chareidi wedding at Keter HaRimon Hall in Bnei Brak.

The wedding was that of the son of Rav Yosef Niddam, rosh mosdos of Mishkenos Yosef, and brother of Baruch Niddam, head of ZAKA Tel Aviv’s International Division, as well as singer and baal tefillah Rav Shmuel Niddam.

Einhorn took to social media to share his frustration and disbelief: “It’s been 24 hours that I’ve been cut off from the world,” he said in a video message. “Yesterday at the event, my iPhone just vanished—disappeared like the earth swallowed it up.”

Footage from the wedding shows Einhorn energetically singing while riding a ZAKA motorcycle into the hall, an unusual and lively entrance to what turned into an unfortunate evening for the singer.

Currently using a temporary phone, Einhorn explained the difficulty of working without his device. “Right now I’m using a replacement phone,” he said. “It’s basically like singing with a toy microphone. I really hope the old one finds its way back. It holds materials that are worth gold. My whole life is in there.”

Einhorn reflected on the experience with perspective: “Over the past day, I’ve realized just how addicted I am to my phone. But everything is from Hashem.”

{Matzav.com Israel}

Trump: New York Would Be ‘Crazy’ to Elect ‘Communist’ ‘Nutjob’ Mamdani

Matzav -

President Donald Trump took aim at Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic contender for New York City Mayor, slamming him as a hardline leftist and warning that electing him would be disastrous for the city.

“I think he’s terrible. He’s a communist. The last thing we need is a communist,” Trump told reporters gathered outside the White House. “I think I’m going to have a lot of fun watching him because he has to come right through this building to get his money.”

Trump didn’t hold back in his criticism, going further by saying, “Frankly, I heard he’s a total nutjob. I think the people of New York are crazy, if they go this route, I think they’re crazy.”

The President also took issue with Mamdani’s policy proposals, particularly those related to government control of commerce. “We will have a communist, for the first time, a pure, true communist. He wants to operate the grocery stores. What about the people who are there? I think it’s crazy,” the President stated.

{Matzav.com}

Justice Department Charges North Korea in Scheme to Fund Weapons Program Through U.S. Tech Jobs

Yeshiva World News -

The Justice Department announced criminal charges Monday in a scheme by North Korea to fund its weapons program through the salaries of remote information technology workers employed unwittingly by U.S. companies. The charges arose from what law enforcement officials described as a nationwide operation that also resulted in the seizure of financial accounts, websites and laptops that were used to carry out the fraud. Separate cases in Georgia and Massachusetts represent the latest Justice Department effort to confront a persistent threat that officials say generates enormous revenue for the North Korean government and in some cases affords workers access to sensitive and proprietary data from the American corporations that hire them. The scheme involved thousands of workers who, armed with stolen or fake identities, were dispatched by the North Korean government to find work as remote IT employees at American companies, including Fortune 500 corporations. The companies were duped into believing that the workers they hired were based in the U.S. when many were actually stationed in North Korea or China, and the wages the victimized companies paid were transferred into accounts controlled by co-conspirators affiliated with North Korea, prosecutors say. “These schemes target and steal from U.S. companies and are designed to evade sanctions and fund the North Korean regime’s illicit programs, including its weapons programs,” Assistant Attorney General John Eisenberg, the head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said in a statement. In one case exposed on Monday in federal court in Massachusetts, the Justice Department said it had arrested one U.S. national and charged more than a half dozen Chinese and Taiwanese citizens for their alleged roles in an elaborate fraud that prosecutors say produced several millions of dollars in revenue and affected scores of companies. The conspiracy, court papers say, involved the registration of financial accounts to receive the proceeds and the creation of shell companies and fake websites to make it look like the remote workers were associated with legitimate businesses. Enablers inside the United States facilitated the workers’ remote computer access, tricking companies into believing the workers were logging in from U.S. locations. The Justice Department did not identify the companies that were duped, but said that some of the fraudulent workers were able to gain access to and steal information related to sensitive military technology. The case filed in Georgia charges four North Korean IT workers with stealing virtual currency worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from their employers. The defendants remain at large. The Justice Department has filed similar prosecutions in recent years, as well as created an initiative aimed at disrupting the threat. (AP)

“I Was Scared”: Yair Netanyahu Reveals Why He Left Israel, “Not a Real Democracy”

Matzav -

Yair Netanyahu, son of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, opened up in a new interview about the intense pressure and fear that led him to leave Israel and spend an extended period in Miami. Speaking on the TOV channel’s Standpoint program, hosted by Gabe Groisman, Netanyahu described the turning point that made him realize he needed to step away.

Yair, who returned to Israel ahead of his younger brother Avner’s planned wedding—a wedding that was later postponed due to the launch of Operation KeLavi—said he had no intention of coming back otherwise. “What broke me,” he recounted, “was the night of the Gallant incident. I was home alone, and I was sure the protesters were going to break in.”

He described the chaos and fear of that night: “They were on the fences with torches, trying to climb into the house. That’s a clear fascist symbol, especially as they were shouting that they were going to kill me. And I saw that the police weren’t doing anything, that there were instructions from the top to let the protesters have a free hand. That’s when I understood I was in real danger and couldn’t stay here.”

Asked why he chose to live in Miami, Netanyahu said, “I felt hunted, me and my family. I truly felt that my life was in danger.” Yet even in Miami, he claims, he wasn’t left alone. “They launched a surveillance operation on me with private investigators that cost millions of dollars. They didn’t give me any peace.”

Discussing the broader political atmosphere, Yair launched into a sharp critique of Israel’s governance. “The current system here isn’t a real democracy. The citizens’ votes at the ballot box barely matter,” he said. “It’s important to understand that the deep state in Israel is just a branch of the American deep state. It doesn’t operate independently. What we experienced here was a color revolution—the same kind the U.S. carries out in many third-world countries to topple governments it doesn’t like.”

He also spoke about his father’s decades-long battle against the Iranian nuclear threat. “The Iranian nuclear program has been my father’s life mission for 30 years. He’s been fighting the entire world on this, including eight years against Obama’s nuclear deal, which was designed to keep the ayatollahs happy.”

{Matzav.com Israel}

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