May 22 2025

BREAKING: GOP PASSES TRUMP'S 'ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL' AMID DEBT WARNINGS

DETAILS EMERGE: FASTER MEDICAID WORK RULES, 'TRUMP ACCOUNTS' IN GOP BILL

Israeli Embassy Staff Killed in DC; Suspect Shouted "Free Palestine"

Altman: OpenAI to Ship 100M AI 'Companions'; Ive to Lead Design

Trump: Putin Not Ready for Peace, Sees Russia Winning

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BREAKING: GOP PASSES TRUMP'S 'ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL' AMID DEBT WARNINGS

House Republicans approved President Donald Trump’s sprawling tax and immigration agenda Thursday morning, sending to the Senate legislation that the GOP hopes will transform the federal government and the economy and power the White House’s drive to deport immigrants and build up the military. Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, as the measure is formally known, extends trillions of dollars in tax cuts from his first term along with new campaign promises — including no taxes on tips and overtime wages — and hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending. But the legislation, which passed 215-214-1 after marathon talks, carries a hefty price tag. The latest projection from Congressional Budget Office, lawmakers’ nonpartisan bookkeeper, showed it will add $2.4 trillion over 10 years to the national debt, which already exceeds $36 trillion.

Washington Post

DETAILS EMERGE: FASTER MEDICAID WORK RULES, 'TRUMP ACCOUNTS' IN GOP BILL

A. Among the concessions Mr. Johnson made to conservatives in the hopes of winning their votes was speeding up when work requirements for Medicaid would kick in by two years — from 2029 to the end of 2026. The legislation is projected to cause around 10 million Americans to become uninsured, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The bill now also contains a faster phaseout of existing tax credits for low-carbon electricity. Under the new language, companies building solar, wind, geothermal or battery plants could only claim the credit if they started construction within 60 days of the bill passing into law and then put the plant in service by the end of 2028, a narrow window that many businesses might struggle to meet. In a nod to the blue-state Republicans in the conference, G.O.P. leaders also included a larger increase to the $10,000 limit on the state and local tax deduction, a key demand from a small group of lawmakers from New York, New Jersey and California. The legislation would set the cap at $40,000, an increase from the $30,000 limit in the earlier draft of the legislation. The size of the deduction would shrink for people making more than $500,000 a year, rather than the $400,000 level included under the previous version of the bill.

B. When Republicans first rolled out a proposal last week to invest $1,000 on behalf of every American baby born over the next four years, they were not exactly subtle about whom the public should credit for the cash. The original draft called for the funds to be put into new a “money account for growth and advancement,” or, as the bill suggested they be called, a “MAGA account.” Apparently, though, endowing the accounts with the name of President Trump’s political movement was not clear enough. As part of a series of last-minute changes House Republicans made to their broad fiscal package Wednesday night, they decided to just cut to the chase. The money would now be deposited in a “Trump account.”

NYT

Israeli Embassy Staff Killed in DC; Suspect Shouted "Free Palestine"

A young Israeli couple was shot dead near the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington late Wednesday by a gunman who chanted “free, free Palestine” after the shooting, according to authorities. A suspect was in custody. The victims were both Israeli Embassy employees, authorities said. They were exiting the museum in Northwest Washington after attending an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee when the gunman opened fire, authorities said.

Washington Post

Altman: OpenAI to Ship 100M AI 'Companions'; Ive to Lead Design

OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman gave his staff a preview Wednesday of the devices he is developing to build with the former Apple designer Jony Ive, laying out plans to ship 100 million AI “companions” that he hopes will become a part of everyday life. Employees have “the chance to do the biggest thing we’ve ever done as a company here,” Altman said after announcing OpenAI’s plans to purchase Ive’s startup, named io, and give him an expansive creative and design role. Altman suggested the $6.5 billion acquisition has the potential to add $1 trillion in value to OpenAI, according to a recording reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The Journal earlier reported that the device won’t be a phone, and that Ive and Altman’s intent is to help wean users from screens. Altman said that the device isn’t a pair of glasses, and that Ive had been skeptical about building something to wear on the body. For months, Ive’s team has been speaking with vendors who will be able to ship the device at scale. “We’re not going to ship 100 million devices literally on day one,” Altman said, predicting that OpenAI would ship that large quantity of high-quality devices “faster than any company has ever shipped 100 million of something new before.” Altman said the goal is to release a device by late next year. OpenAI is already bleeding cash. The startup told investors last fall that it wouldn’t generate a profit until 2029, and that it expects to lose $44 billion before doing so, the Journal has reported. Editors note: Jony Ive is legendary in tech circles and is credited with many of Apples iconic product designs. He left Apple in 2019.

WSJ

Trump: Putin Not Ready for Peace, Sees Russia Winning

On a call Monday, President Trump told European leaders that Russian President Vladimir Putin isn’t ready to end the Ukraine war because he thinks he is winning, according to three people familiar with the conversation. The acknowledgment was what European leaders had long believed about Putin—but it was the first time they were hearing it from Trump. It also ran counter to what Trump has often said publicly, that he believes Putin genuinely wants peace. The White House declined to comment and referred to Trump’s social-media post on Monday about his conversation with Putin. “The tone and spirit of the conversation were excellent. If it wasn’t, I would say so now,” he said. Although Trump appears to have come around to the idea that Putin isn’t ready for peace, that hasn’t led him to do what the Europeans and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have been arguing he should do: double down on the fight against Russia.

WSJ

May 22, 1843: A thousand pioneers head West on Oregon Trail as part of the Great Emigration

The Great Migration along the Oregon Trail helped transform America into a continental superpower, beginning notably on May 22, 1843, when approximately 1,000 pioneers departed Elm Grove, Missouri in over 100 wagons with 5,000 livestock. This marked the first major wagon train to the northwest and accelerated westward expansion that had begun with smaller groups of 70 pioneers in 1841 and 100 in 1842. Economic depression in the Midwest combined with propaganda from traders, missionaries, and government officials drove this exodus, as farmers sought better opportunities in Oregon's fertile lands. Despite dangers from river crossings, accidents, and occasional Native American encounters, most travelers survived the 2,000-mile journey through the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains. By 1845, nearly 3,000 migrants made the trip annually, continuing until 1884 when the transcontinental railroad rendered wagon travel obsolete. This massive migration of over 400,000 people secured American presence in the Pacific Northwest, complementing earlier railroad development and solidifying the nation's coast-to-coast dominance.

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Sources

1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/05/22/trump-tax-bill-house-republicans/
2. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/us/politics/trump-bill-house-vote-passes.html?smid=url-share
3. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/21/us/politics/bill-would-give-newborns-1000-in-trump-accounts.html
4. https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/05/21/dc-shooting-capital-jewish-museum/
5. https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/what-sam-altman-told-openai-about-the-secret-device-hes-making-with-jony-ive-f1384005?mod=hp_lead_pos10
6. https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/trump-putin-call-russia-ukraine-83a6ef59?mod=hp_lead_pos3