July 3 2025
Late-Night BBB Drama; Harvard's $1b Budget Hit; Gen Z Drinks More; Tesla Sales Funk; Vietnam Trade Pact
Following Late-Night Drama, House GOP Appears on Track to Pass Trump's ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ This Morning
Harvard Faces Potential Billion-Dollar Budget Hit From Trump Policies
Study: Gen Z Drinking on the Rise as Baby Boomers Cut Back
Tesla Sales in 'Deep Funk' as Musk Pivots Focus to AI and Robots
Trump Announces Vietnam Trade Pact, Includes Crackdown on China Trans-shipping
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Following Late-Night Drama, House GOP Appears on Track to Pass Trump's ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ This Morning
WASHINGTON—The House of Representatives is heading toward a final vote early Thursday to pass President Trump’s sprawling tax-and-spending bill, after party leaders worked through resistance from a handful of rank-and-file members. On Wednesday evening, five GOP lawmakers—Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Keith Self of Texas, Victoria Spartz of Indiana, Andrew Clyde of Georgia and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania—voted with Democrats against a procedural “rule” vote, blocking the party from proceeding to final passage for several hours. A handful of other Republicans held back from voting. “What are the Republicans waiting for???,” Trump posted on Truth Social shortly after midnight. He followed up in an all-caps message: “For Republicans, this should be an easy yes vote. Ridiculous!!!” There were signs of potential movement around 1:30 a.m., when Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) told reporters that there had been productive conversations with holdouts and that Trump, Vice President JD Vance, attorneys and federal agencies were involved. Johnson predicted that the final vote would happen Thursday morning. At about 3 a.m., Johnson said he had the votes and predicted that the final vote would happen by about 8 a.m. After Rep. Scott Perry returned to Washington from Pennsylvania, Johnson took a photo of the holdouts on the House floor. Self, Clyde, Massie and Spartz changed their votes and enough Republicans backed the procedural question to move forward at 3:23 a.m.
WSJ
Harvard Faces Potential Billion-Dollar Budget Hit From Trump Policies
Harvard University would face a budget shortfall of about a billion dollars a year if President Trump follows through on all of his plans and threats spanning research funding, tax policy and student enrollment, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal. That grim math helps explain why Harvard has taken steps toward negotiating with the administration after months of defiance. The Journal’s estimate, based on publicly available data, is for a worst-case scenario in which Harvard loses all federal research funding, federal student aid and its ability to enroll international students, and Congress hikes its annual endowment tax to 8%. A sustained shortfall of that magnitude would severely strain Harvard’s ability to manage its $6.4 billion annual operating budget. Though Harvard has a $53 billion endowment, more than 80% of the money is subject to donor restrictions, meaning it can’t be touched to patch budget gaps without inviting lawsuits. “They’ve got enough money to keep going for a while, but eventually they’re going to have to make substantial cuts,” said Robert Kelchen, a professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, who studies education finance. “You would change the future of the institution.” The Trump administration has sought to make Harvard a poster child in its fight against institutions it says haven’t taken concerns about antisemitism and diversity programs seriously. Harvard has said it is working to promote intellectual openness in the classroom and to enroll students willing to engage across perspectives. Talks between the two sides were under way as recently as mid-June, according to a social-media post by the president.
WSJ
Study: Gen Z Drinking on the Rise as Baby Boomers Cut Back
Drinking has become more prevalent among Gen Z as baby boomers cut back their alcohol consumption, according to an extensive new study that challenges the narrative that abstinence among young people is driving the industry’s decline. An IWSR survey of more than 26,000 people across the 15 largest alcoholic drinks markets found 73 per cent of Gen Z respondents — people of legal drinking age to 27 — had consumed alcohol in the previous six months, compared with 66 per cent two years ago. That was the biggest increase of any generation, according to IWSR, a market researcher for the global beverage industry. Meanwhile, 72 per cent of baby boomers — people aged 60 and over — said they had drunk alcohol over the same time period, compared with 73 per cent two years ago, said IWSR, which also found overall alcohol consumption was still moderating across generations.
FT
Tesla Sales in 'Deep Funk' as Musk Pivots Focus to AI and Robots
Tesla sales are in a deep funk. Elon Musk insists he doesn’t care. The electric-car pioneer is stuck in one of its worst sales streaks, with the company reporting Wednesday that global vehicle sales fell 13.5% in the second quarter, compared with a year ago. Vehicle deliveries also dropped 13% in the first quarter. Rivals from General Motors to China’s BYD, in the meantime, have churned out high-tech vehicles, stealing market share. And Congress is preparing to pull the plug on U.S. tax credits for electric vehicles—at a time when consumers are shifting back to buying traditional cars. “I’d encourage people to look beyond the bumps and potholes of the road immediately ahead of us,” Musk told investors in April. “Lift your gaze to the bright shining citadel on the hill.” Up on that hill is Musk’s promise of self-driving taxis and humanoid robots. Even though three-quarters of Tesla’s roughly $100 billion in revenue in 2024 came from selling cars, Musk has been telling investors that he has shifted his focus to transforming the company with autonomous vehicles and robots.
WSJ
Trump Announces Vietnam Trade Pact, Includes Crackdown on China Trans-shipping
Donald Trump said the US had struck a trade agreement with Vietnam in a deal that would lower Washington’s “reciprocal tariff” on exports from the Asian country to 20 per cent. The new tariff level represents a more than halving of the 46 per cent levy Trump initially imposed on Vietnam during his “liberation day” tariff blitz on April 2, but is higher than the 10 per cent rate it was lowered to for 90 days as trade talks took place. The deal makes Hanoi one of the few capitals to reach a trade agreement with Washington in the past three months. But the steep level of the tariffs remaining in place could unnerve countries still hoping to secure significant relief from the levies announced in April, which triggered a financial market sell-off at the time and upended global trade. Describing the deal as “something that they have never done”, Trump said in a Truth Social post on Wednesday detailing the agreement that Vietnam would give the US “TOTAL ACCESS” to its market and that “we will be able to sell our product into Vietnam at ZERO Tariff”. The US will also charge Vietnam a 40 per cent tariff on “trans-shipping” as Washington seeks to crack down on businesses sending products made in China through other countries to avoid high levies on Chinese goods.
FT
July 3, 1775: George Washington takes command of Continental Army
George Washington rides out in front of the American troops gathered at Cambridge common in Massachusetts and draws his sword, formally taking command of the Continental Army. Washington, a prominent Virginia planter and veteran of the French and Indian War, had been appointed commander in chief by the Continental Congress two weeks before. In agreeing to serve the American colonies in their war for independence, he declined to accept payment for his services beyond reimbursement of future expenses.
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Sources
- https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-pushes-republicans-to-pass-stalled-megabill-dc84b7fc?mod=hp_lead_pos1
- https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/harvard-trump-funding-budget-cuts-1dc5bf2f?mod=hp_lead_pos7
- https://www.ft.com/content/1ae55e45-64a6-463a-b04b-198ee324115e
- https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/tesla-elon-musk-robotaxi-robots-95ae80a4?mod=hp_lead_pos2
- https://www.ft.com/content/69260592-2c59-4750-a6a9-229fe0f84145
Contact: greg@loql.ai
