The Republican-led US House of Representatives voted Thursday to approve President Donald Trump’s sprawling tax relief and spending cuts mega-bill that critics warn would decimate health care while ballooning the debt.The “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” — which now moves to the Senate — would usher into law Trump’s vision for a new “Golden Age,” led by efforts to shrink social safety net programs to pay for a 10-year extension of his 2017 tax cuts.”Legislation of this magnitude is truly nation shaping and life changing,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson ahead of the largely party-line vote, which capped a marathon debate that went through the night.”It’s the kind of transformational change that future generations will study one day. They’ll look back at this day as a turning point in American history.”The mammoth package passed along party lines — 215 votes to 214 — after Republican leadership quelled a rebellion on the party’s right flank that threatened its passage.It is the centerpiece of Trump’s domestic policy agenda that could define his second term in the White House, and he took to social media to celebrate its success.”‘THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ has PASSED the House of Representatives!” Trump posted. “This is arguably the most significant piece of Legislation that will ever be signed in the History of our Country!”But the package had faced skepticism from Republican fiscal hawks who say the country is careening toward bankruptcy, with independent analysts warning it would increase the deficit by as much as $4 trillion over a decade. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicted it would boost the incomes of the richest 10 percent while making the bottom 10 percent poorer, through hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to health care and food aid.The White House Council of Economic Advisors has made hugely ambitious projections, well outside the mainstream consensus, that the package will spur growth of up to 5.2 percent.And Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed the bill “does not add to the deficit,” and would actually save $1.6 trillion through spending cuts.But investors were unconvinced as the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note surged to its highest level since February on Wednesday, amid worries over the budget-busting bill’s bottom line adding to the $36 trillion US debt burden.- ‘Devastating’ -Democrats called the bill “devastating” for the middle class, pointing to CBO estimates that its cuts to public health insurance for low-income Americans would deprive 8.6 million people of coverage. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the bill “the largest cut to health care in American history… in order to enact the largest tax breaks for billionaires in American history.” Trump has seen his polling numbers plummet in his early months back in office, but success in the House for his signature legislation underlined his continued sway over the party’s quarrelsome and deeply polarized lawmakers.The president had pressured the party to back the controversial  package in a rare Capitol Hill visit Tuesday after it hit a series of roadblocks pitting conservative fiscal hawks against moderate coastal Republicans. Speaker Johnson was only able to lose three members in Thursday’s vote. Multiple conservatives initially appeared ready to reject the bill, but a follow-up meeting with Trump on Wednesday was credited with persuading some of the holdouts to fall into line.Fiscal hawks were unhappy that proposed cuts of more than $700 billion to the Medicaid health insurance program were not deeper — a red line for moderates and possibly for Trump, who told the party in coarse terms not to touch the social safety net.To appease his right flank, Johnson moved up the enforcement of work requirements for Medicaid recipients by two years to the end of 2026 and agreed to phase out clean energy tax credits earlier.Meanwhile a group of moderate northeastern Republicans pushing for huge increases in the state and local tax write-off secured a compromise of a four-fold hike, from $10,000 to $40,000.But the bill is likely to undergo at least a month of significant rewrites in the Senate, which plans to get the package to Trump’s desk by July 4. 

Two Israeli embassy staffers, one of them an American, were shot dead outside a Jewish museum in Washington by a gunman who shouted “free Palestine” as he was arrested.US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led global condemnation of the attack, both of them blaming anti-Semitism.”Blood libels against Israel are paid in blood — and they must be fought relentlessly,” Netanyahu said in a statement, ordering a boost in security at Israeli embassies around the world.Shots rang out on the sidewalk outside the Capital Jewish Museum, a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the White House, late Wednesday as it held an event for young professionals and diplomatic staff.Emergency vehicles remained at the scene in the early hours of Thursday after police taped off the area in the heart of the US capital.Israel identified the victims as Yaron Lischinsky, an Israeli citizen, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, a US employee of the embassy, and said they were a couple who may have been planning to marry. Lischinsky was a research assistant at the Israeli embassy, while Milgrim worked for its public diplomacy department, according to their LinkedIn profiles. Lischinsky was Christian, according to The Times of Israel, for whom he had previously worked as a blogger. Germany’s foreign minister said he also held a German passport. Washington’s police chief identified the shooter as a 30-year-old from Chicago,  Elias Rodriguez, and said he was in custody. Video of his arrest by police showed the bearded man in a jacket and white shirt shouting “free, free Palestine” as he was led away.The attack came days after the museum was awarded a grant to boost security, as anti-Semitism surges worldwide since Israel’s devastating invasion of Gaza, prompted by the October 7, 2023 attack by Palestinian militants Hamas.- ‘What happened? -Witnesses reportedly said that security personnel appeared to mistake the man for a victim of the shooting and allowed him into the museum, where he was comforted by bystanders before claiming responsibility for the attack.”Some of the people at the event brought him water. They sat him down. ‘Are you OK? Were you shot? What happened?’ And he’s like ‘somebody call the cops’,” Yoni Kalin, who was in the museum, told US media.Washington Police Chief Pamela Smith told reporters that the suspect was observed pacing back and forth outside of the museum before the shooting around 9:00 pm on Wednesday (0100 GMT Thursday). “He approached a group of four people, produced a handgun and opened fire,” she said.First responders found a man and a woman unconscious and not breathing. Despite life-saving efforts, both were pronounced dead.”After the shooting, the suspect then entered the museum and was detained by event security,” Smith said.She said the man told them where he discarded the gun.- ‘Despicable’ -“These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW!” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.”We are witnessing the terrible price of antisemitism and the wild incitement against the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said in his statement.”My heart aches for the families of the beloved young man and woman, whose lives were abruptly cut short by a despicable antisemitic murderer.”Britain and France — who have stepped up their condemnation in recent days of Israel’s actions in Gaza — as well as Germany were among those condemning the shooting. Israel’s foreign minister accused European governments of “incitement.””There is a direct line connecting anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli incitement to this murder,” Gideon Saar told a press conference.”This incitement is also done by leaders and officials of many countries and international organizations, especially from Europe.”The targeted event was an annual reception hosted by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) for young Jewish professionals and the Washington diplomatic community.AJC CEO Ted Deutch said in a statement that the organization was “devastated” by the shooting.Israel’s Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter, who said he spoke with Trump by telephone, told reporters the young staffers were a couple about to get engaged. “The young man purchased a ring this week with the intention of proposing to his girlfriend next week in Jerusalem,” Leiter said.”They were a beautiful couple.”