Overnight, two Israeli Embassy staffers were killed in a shooting outside the Jewish Museum in Washington. The suspect turned himself in and was arrested. He chanted “free Palestine!” Read more here.
The House of Representatives in the early morning hours of May 22 approved legislation to enact President Donald Trump’s agenda, capping off weeks of negotiations and uncertainty within the House Republican conference.
The House narrowly approved the bill in a party-line 215-214 vote. The vote came just before 7:00 a.m. after an all-night debate in the lower chamber.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) celebrated the victory moments after the vote, saying, “It’s a great day to be an American. It’s great to be a Republican.”
Johnson said the bill reflects the conservative values of the party, including limited government, individual freedom, and fiscal responsibility.
The speaker acknowledged that he at times questioned whether the party would unite over the bill. “I give glory to God,” he said. “There’s a lot of prayer that brought this together.”
Some Republicans declined to support the legislation over spending concerns.
“It’s a debt bomb,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) told The Epoch Times.
Massie and Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) voted against the bill. Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), chair of the House Freedom Caucus, voted present.
Trump hailed the bill’s passage, calling the package “arguably the most significant piece of Legislation” in the country’s history.
The bill now heads to the Senate, which is expected to make revisions to the package. Any differences will then need to be resolved in conference before moving to Trump’s desk.
The House session, beginning around 11:00 p.m. on Wednesday, came after a marathon 21-hour hearing in the House Rules Committee which cleared the package for the floor vote.
Republican leaders unveiled an amendment to the megabill in the evening on May 21, tailored to address objections from fiscal conservatives and moderates in the Republican conference.
Dubbed a “manager’s amendment” in Capitol Hill parlance, the changes were unveiled following a marathon 19-hour debate in the House Rules Committee on the legislation. Its release followed a day of hurried negotiations between Trump, Johnson, and conservative members of the House Freedom Caucus.
The amendment makes consequential changes to several key components of the bill, including the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction and Medicaid.
It would accelerate the start date of Medicaid work requirements—which are strengthened under the bill—from 2029 to 2026. It also speeds up the phasing out of Inflation Reduction Act energy tax credits for wind, solar, and battery storage in 2028, with some exceptions.
The amendment also bumps the SALT deduction cap up to $40,000 per household with an income of up to $500,000.
Those two changes could assuage conservatives, who have demanded steeper cuts, as well as a contingent of purple district moderates who have pushed for increasing the SALT deduction and gradual phasing-out of certain Inflation Reduction Act projects.
The amendment also includes $12 billion in potential grants to states for border security actions.
It also includes a provision to remove the requirement to register silencer attachments under the National Firearms Act of 1934, a move that was immediately celebrated by gun rights groups.
—Nathan Worcester, Joseph Lord, Lawrence Wilson
BOOKMARKS
Microsoft warns that around 390,000 computers worldwide have been infected with Lumma Stealer malware, a widely used program that hijacks passwords, bank and credit card information, and cryptocurrency wallets. Microsoft, with the help of other tech companies and the Department of Justice, has crippled the program’s central infrastructure.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is moving to lower prescription drug prices by challenging more than 200 patents blocking the production of generic medications. “The American people voted for transparent, competitive, and fair healthcare markets, and President Trump is taking action,” FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said on Wednesday.
Los Angeles County has paid off $183 million in medical bills for some of its residents, “no strings attached,” as part of its Medical Debt Relief Program. “If you get a letter in the mail from LA County and Undue Medical Debt this week—open it,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn said last week.
Andriy Portnov, former deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential administration before the country’s 2014 revolution, was assassinated by several gunmen outside a private school in Madrid on Wednesday morning. Portnov had been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2021 on charges of bribery and corruption.
The European Union will lift sanctions on Syria, officials announced on May 20. “We want to help the Syrian people rebuild a new, inclusive and peaceful Syria,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.
—Stacy Robinson
