In in the present day’s situation:
- Texas reels from lethal rain
- Netanyahu, Trump to give attention to Gaza truce
- Trump provides new uncertainty to tariffs
- U.S. halt to Ukraine support in query
The Texas demise toll from torrential weekend rain and flooding climbed to at least 82 people as rescuers desperately looked for others nonetheless lacking, together with 10 women and a counselor from a summer season camp. About 850 individuals have been rescued, based on officers.
President Trump on Sunday mentioned he would “in all probability” go to the area on Friday.
Division of Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem pledged assistance on Saturday to these experiencing losses after the equal of six months of rain within four hours inundated a Central Texas space susceptible to flash flooding. The Guadalupe River rose to the peak of a two-story constructing within two ferocious hours on July 4.
A minimum of 167 individuals needed to be rescued by helicopter. “Some had been clinging to timber to save lots of their lives,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) mentioned.
Extra storms that pose life-threatening flood hazard are forecast in the present day, the governor warned.
“These households are enduring an unimaginable tragedy, with many lives misplaced, and plenty of nonetheless lacking,” Trump wrote Sunday on Truth Social after declaring a serious catastrophe and noting Noem’s work with the governor “to assist the individuals of his Nice State.”
AP photographers captured the scale of the destruction, and one among Texas’ largest rescue and restoration efforts.
A lot of the nationwide focus turned to the lacking women who had been staying at Camp Mystic near Hunt, Texas. Authorities are nonetheless fielding questions on why the younger campers had been allowed to stay as potential hazard mounted in Kerr County. Native officers, calling the occasion a once-in-a-century flood, mentioned they’d not anticipated such an intense downpour.
“There’s going to be loads of finger-pointing, loads of second-guessing and Monday morning quarterbacking,” said Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), whose district consists of Kerr County. “There’s lots of people saying ‘why’ and ‘how,’ and I perceive that.”
Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) wrote on social media Saturday that his daughters had been evacuated from the camp and reunited with the household.
Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) on Sunday wrote on social media that his granddaughters had been saved from the Texas flooding, however mentioned their cousin was killed.
For the meteorologists and hydrologists monitoring the climate patterns that led to the lethal floods, essentially the most pressing advisories weren’t deployed till late, information retailers reported.
In the meantime, the White House faces criticism for its spending and staffing reductions affecting climate forecasting and planning, together with the roles of the U.S. Forest Service, the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Federal Emergency Administration Company. Democrats fear the administration’s strikes are imperiling emergency preparedness and response to anticipated pure disasters, together with this 12 months’s California wildfire season and the Atlantic hurricane season, which stretches by means of November.
Meteorologists joined Trump and the administration in defending the Nationwide Climate Service. The president informed reporters on Sunday that “no person anticipated” the flooding, which he described as a “100-year catastrophe.”
The Atlantic: Hurricane science was nice whereas it lasted.
Congress is prone to return to a smoldering debate between Washington and crimson and blue states about whether or not and by how a lot to approve federal emergency catastrophe help. Trump in January, following the California wildfires and his criticisms of the state, recommended he may block federal catastrophe support except the state enacted voter ID laws.
The Hill: Former President George W. Bush mentioned in an announcement he and former first woman Laura Bush are “heartbroken by the lack of life,” together with youngsters, within the Texas floods.
▪ The Hill: Former President Obama mentioned Sunday that he and former first woman Michelle Obama had been praying for these affected by the “heartbreaking” flash flooding in Texas.
SMART TAKE with NewsNation’s BLAKE BURMAN
The Military slogan, “Be all you will be,” is among the most recognizable phrases within the nation. Coming off America’s birthday, it’s value mentioning that the Military has been hitting its recruiting goals in current months.
As warfare adjustments within the trendy period, the Military can be casting a wider web to draw new kinds of expertise. Simply final month, it launched Detachment 201: The Army’s Executive Innovation Corps. Leaders from key tech firms Palantir, Meta, OpenAI and Considering Machines Lab at the moment are lieutenant colonels within the Military Reserves.
The Military says it needs to assist merge the navy with cutting-edge tech, inspiring individuals to serve with out leaving their careers. It’s additionally an indication that the navy is adapting to altering wants in an evolving menace surroundings.
3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY
▪ Right here’s how Affiliate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson turned her independent streak loose on fellow justices.
▪ Homebuyers who gambled on decrease mortgage charges are paying the price.
▪ Practically half of U.S. murderers are getting away with their crimes. The low remedy price for crime emboldens criminals and potentially leads to extra violence.
LEADING THE DAY
© The Hill | Getty Photographs
ISRAEL:Trump is welcoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White Home in the present day as he pushes for a ceasefire in Gaza, and on the heels of Israel’s U.S.-assisted strikes on Iran.
“We’ve got already remodeled the face of the Center East past recognition, and we now have the chance and the power to vary it even additional and convey a terrific future to the State of Israel, the individuals of Israel, and your entire [region],” Netanyahu said as he departed for Washington.
Netanyahu, whose domestic popularity surged after the battle with Iran, continues to face criticism amongst Israelis for his failure to safe a truce and hostage launch deal. A number of hostages remain in Gaza, lots of them useless. Israel has additionally come beneath hearth for the humanitarian emergency in Gaza; greater than 55,000 Palestinians have died within the enclave since Oct. 7, 2023, and Israeli forces are ramping up their assaults. An 11-week support blockade, and haphazard meals distribution as soon as humanitarian organizations had been allowed again in, has resulted in Israeli military attacks on Palestinians in search of meals.
Trump, who has positioned himself as a world dealmaker, vowing to finish the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, will again try to persuade Netanyahu to simply accept a deal. The president has had a detailed — however these days generally strained — relationship with the Israeli chief. Trump not too long ago known as for Israel’s courts to drop a collection of corruption instances in opposition to Netanyahu.
And there’s unfinished enterprise with Iran. Assessments differ about how efficient Israeli and U.S. assaults had been in setting again Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
“It’s a victory lap with a caveat,” Alon Pinkas, a political commentator and Israeli former diplomat, told The New York Times. “Netanyahu is aware of the reality — that Iran retains some capabilities.”
Israel reportedly agreed to a U.S. proposal for a 60-day ceasefire with Hamas. Hamas mentioned Friday that it was ready to begin negotiations with Israel “instantly.” Forward of Netanyahu’s White Home go to, Israel sent a delegation to Qatar on Sunday to proceed ceasefire negotiations.
The Hill’s Laura Kelly breaks down 5 key issues to look at for.
▪ CNN: Israel carried out its first strikes in opposition to Houthi targets in Yemen because the Israel-Iran ceasefire.
▪ The New York Times: Israel’s airstrikes on Tehran’s Evin jail, together with the hospital ward, have turned it from a hated image of oppression into a brand new rallying cry.
UKRAINE: Final week, the Protection Division held up a cargo of U.S. weapons for Ukraine over what officers mentioned had been considerations about low stockpiles. However NBC News reports an evaluation by senior navy officers discovered that the help bundle wouldn’t jeopardize the U.S. navy’s ammunition provides. The transfer to halt the weapons cargo blindsided the State Department, members of Congress, officers in Kyiv and European allies.
Rep. Adam Smith (Wash.), the highest Democrat on the Home Armed Providers Committee, mentioned it was disingenuous of the Pentagon to make use of navy readiness to justify halting support. Smith mentioned he and his workers had seen the stockpile numbers and “we aren’t at any decrease level, stockpile-wise, than we’ve been within the 3 1/2 years of the Ukraine battle.”
Politico: Inside Trump’s chaotic Nationwide Safety Council.
WHERE AND WHEN
- The president will signal government orders at 4 p.m. within the Oval Workplace. Trump will welcome Netanyahu to the White Home at 6:30 p.m. for a dinner that begins at 6:35 p.m. within the Blue Room.
- Vice President Vance is in San Diego, Calif., and is scheduled to take part in a roundtable event today.
- The Home convenes at 10 a.m.
- The Senate holds a professional forma session at 10:15 a.m.
ZOOM IN
© The Related Press | Nam Y. Huh
THE POLITICS OF HEALTH CARE are enjoying out on a battleground Democrats know effectively.
The GOP’s $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts signed into regulation by Trump final week don’t take full impact till 2028, a presidential election 12 months, however Republican midterm candidates are braced for speedy blowback. They’ve seen Democrats in motion, and so they know the assault adverts and speaking factors they face.
Republicans for months have been portrayed by their foes as the other of Robin Hood — as lawmakers who take from the poor to profit the wealthy by means of provisions of Trump’s price range agenda. An estimated 12 million low-income beneficiaries are anticipated to lose their medical health insurance by 2034 due to the largest federal retreat in Medicaid assist in its 60-year historical past. Federal cuts should not projected to be made up by state budgets.
Republicans argue the adjustments they put into regulation are crucial to handle waste and fraud in this system, making certain that “able-bodied” adults and non-citizens aren’t profiting from the system.
However with 1 in 5 People enrolled in Medicaid, Democrats hope the “big, beautiful bill” becomes political poison for Republicans in 2026. The terrain unites a Democratic Get together with loads of expertise advocating for Medicare, enacting the Youngsters’s Well being Insurance coverage Program (CHIP) in 1997 and the 2010 passage of the Inexpensive Care Act, which inspired states to develop Medicaid with Uncle Sam’s backing and progressively reeled in bipartisan public assist for ObamaCare.
“The important thing right here for Republicans going into the midterms is to obviously go on offense and outline the talk round Medicaid specifically in the present day, not tomorrow, not subsequent month, not within the fall, not subsequent 12 months,” Kristin Davison, associate on the GOP consulting agency Axiom Methods, informed The Hill.
▪ The Hill: Here is the place Trump’s approval rankings stand on key points.
▪ The Hill: Virginia emerges as key bellwether forward of the midterms.
RED, BLUE, NEW? Billionaire Elon Musk has been making main threats against Republican candidates for backing Trump’s “massive, stunning” agenda, which grew to become regulation over Musk’s objections that the laws explodes the nationwide debt.
Musk then turned his publicly explosive cut up from Trump right into a name for a brand new political celebration on Saturday.
His criticism of Trump, the Republican presidential nominee he backed with a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in 2024, prompted the president to recommend the Tesla and SpaceX CEO would undergo if federal contracts and subsidies are withheld from his firms.
The rupture between the 2 males has mesmerized Washington and Wall Road.
Musk mentioned he needs to bankroll a new political party, which he calls “the America Get together,” though he had not filed the required paperwork on the time of his social media announcement. Throughout a May interview with Bloomberg Information, he recommended he may step away from nationwide politics to focus on Tesla and his different companies.
The president on Sunday said on Truth Social that Musk was “off the rails” and he denounced the third celebration concept as “ridiculous.”
In the USA, third-party efforts up to now sparked extra curiosity than conquests. H. Ross Perot got here nearer to success throughout hispresidential bid in 1992 as an unbiased when he racked up greater than 19 million votes. What third events lack throughout the U.S. system are sturdy foundations of assist and the infrastructure and funding to compete.
ELSEWHERE
© The Related Press | Ng Han Guan
TARIFFS: Trump this week will begin sending letters today to different international locations setting a tariff price on their imports, re-escalating his commerce struggle. The 90-day tariff pause, set to lapse July 9, gave companies and different international locations a short lived reprieve, however markets are bracing for the resurgence of tariff-related motion.
Trump did not say which nations can be focused, or what charges can be set for the tariffs, solely that they might go into impact Aug. 1 and will attain as excessive as 70 p.c. The brand new date provides international locations an extra three-week reprieve but also sends importers into an prolonged interval of uncertainty.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that about 100 letters will likely be despatched to small international locations “the place we don’t have very a lot commerce,” lots of that are “already on the baseline 10 p.c.”
Trump additionally threatened to impose an additional 10 percent tariff on international locations “aligning” themselves with the “anti American” BRICS bloc of creating nations.
We’ve been right here earlier than. Since Trump’s preliminary April 2 tariff announcement, the president has both paused tariffs, struck offers with particular person international locations or lowered charges. As Wednesday’s deadline approaches, the White Home has celebrated new trade agreements with international locations together with China, the U.Okay. and Vietnam, whereas the standing of different pacts stays beneath wraps.
International locations that Trump administration officers see as negotiating in good religion may as soon as once more be given an extended runway. Trump on Friday touted letters because the “higher” choice for international locations that fail to barter offers by the deadline.
▪ The Washington Post: The U.S. seeks a restricted commerce cope with the European Union as Trump’s deadline approaches.
▪ The Associated Press: U.S. tariffs on European items threaten to shake up the world’s largest commerce relationship.
▪ The New York Times: How Europe bought caught between China and the U.S.
Canada’s determination to rescind its digital companies tax to restart commerce negotiations with the U.S. represents a boon for major tech firms and will spell hassle for related efforts by different international locations. The Canadian authorities introduced final week that it could scrap the tax on U.S. tech corporations in a bid to carry the Trump administration again to the desk and keep away from heightened tariffs.
“Going ahead, I feel the truth that Trump managed to bully or cajole … Canada into dropping its DST implies that this will likely be a giant merchandise that he insists on in talks with Europe and any international locations in all these commerce negotiations,” mentioned Gary Hufbauer, a nonresident senior fellow on the Peterson Institute for Worldwide Economics. “I see this as a harbinger of a extra basic repeal of digital companies taxes,” he added, calling it a “fairly massive deal and an actual victory for Trump.”
OPINION
■ Netanyahu’s legacy received’t be made on the battlefield alone, by Dennis Ross, visitor essayist, The Washington Post.
■ Why weren’t Texas flood victims warned earlier? by the Houston Chronicle editorial board.
THE CLOSER
© The Hill | Getty Photographs
And eventually … Flashback to July 7, 1976, when women for the first time were allowed to enroll within the U.S. Navy Academy in New York, based by Congress in 1802 and easily generally known as West Level.
By Could 28, 1980, 62 of the feminine West Level cadets graduated and had been commissioned as second lieutenants. Forty-five years later, girls make up about 22 p.c of the 4,500 college students on the prestigious navy coaching academy run by the U.S. Military. Males nonetheless dominate.
On the time of the 1976 breakthrough for ladies who sought to check on the academy, simply 19 girls served within the Home and there have been no feminine senators. However girls’s rights and roles within the U.S. had been increasing, together with elsewhere within the federal authorities. Some girls within the navy — effectively earlier than variety, fairness and inclusion (DEI) had been pushed out of favor this 12 months — urged lawmakers to assume creatively in regards to the role they play in steering gifted feminine college students to West Level. Suggestion: Nominate extra.
By regulation, West Level solely considers candidates who’ve been nominated by a member of Congress from their state, and lawmakers make their nominations based mostly on an software and in-person interview course of that varies from workplace to workplace on Capitol Hill.
A 2021 report found that lawmakers who most frequently acted as “gateways to alternative” by selling feminine college students for the navy academies didn’t tilt towards one celebration or the opposite. However the choice course of every lawmaker established, whether or not reliant on workers or volunteers, made a distinction.
Keep Engaged
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