House Votes to Roll Back Food Aid for Women and Children Amid Rising Food Prices
The proposed cut is estimated to strip modest fruit and vegetable benefits from nearly 5.4 million WIC participants.

The job market has been recovering this year from a miserable 2025, so far shrugging off higher energy prices and increased economic uncertainty
The proposed cut is estimated to strip modest fruit and vegetable benefits from nearly 5.4 million WIC participants.
Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee voted along party lines late Thursday to advance President Donald Trump’s effort to rename the Department of Defense as the Department of War, approving the change as part of the $1.15 trillion fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act. The committee adopted an amendment from Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), […]
Hiring in the US surged in May. 172,000 jobs were created topping all forecasts. The estimate was for 88,000. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%. Bloomberg's Michael McKee has more on this blowout report on Bloomberg Surveillance. (Source: Bloomberg)
U.S. employers added jobs for the third month in a row in May, while the unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%. But wage gains softened and likely failed to keep pace with rising prices.
A new jobs report exceeded expectations despite the U.S. economy facing inflation and record debt. U.S. payrolls rose by 172,000 last month, far above the Dow Jones’ 80,000 […]
The ceasefire has held just enough to prevent a return to all-out war, but neither side is close to achieving peaceThe US-Iran ceasefire is entering yet another round of escalation since it came into effect on 8 April. This week, there have been further strikes on Iran by the US, and Iranian retaliation on Kuwait and Bahrain, alongside Israeli escalation in Lebanon. Earlier flare-ups over the past two months were quickly contained. Both sides have tried to keep the balance between no war and no peace. But as this ceasefire drags on it risks becoming yet another Middle East stalemate, albeit one with international economic and political consequences.Four obstacles are preventing progress. The first is trust. Iran does not believe Donald Trump can deliver a deal, much less stick to one. The fear is not only that Washington will walk away again but that the goalposts will keep moving, where first nuclear limits are imposed, followed by missiles, then regional policy and finally further political concessions dressed up as security guarantees.Sanam Vakil is the director of the Middle East and North Africa programme at Chatham HouseDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
The latest United States-brokered ceasefire in Lebanon did not last a day, with columns of smoke rising from Tyre in South Lebanon from new Israeli strikes. It’s a setback to President Donald Trump’s efforts to achieve a peace deal with Iran. NBC’s Richard Engel reports for TODAY.
President Donald Trump faced a new GOP Senate “rebellion” early Friday, and one that included “more than just the usual suspects” in what Punchbowl News described as a “potential preview of what’s to come as Republicans seek distance from Trump with November approaching.”Senate Republicans failed to advance a bill to extend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a law that permits national intelligence agencies to monitor overseas communications without a warrant, including those of Americans. A priority for Trump, the bill failed to advance due to insufficient GOP support, which itself was “prompted by” Trump’s nomination of Bill Pulte — who has no intelligence or national security experience — to serve as director of National Intelligence, Punchbowl News reported.“I don’t think he thinks about the impact on this and the timing,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) of Trump, Punchbowl News reported. “I don’t think he’s connecting that. Which is unfortunate, because [FISA] really has had an impact.”The vote to advance the bill to extend FISA ultimately failed with a vote of 47-52, and that followed an 18-hour marathon session in the Senate to advance the GOP reconciliation bill to fund federal immigration agencies, one that Punchbowl News described as an “arduous process” that, again, faced GOP opposition prompted by Trump’s actions.“The marathon voting session on the reconciliation bill laid bare the consequences of Trump’s recent moves, from the toppling of two GOP incumbents to the political toxicity of the White House’s handling of an ‘anti-weaponization’ fund for his political allies,” Punchbowl News’ report read.“What was supposed to be a straightforward reconciliation bill to fund immigration enforcement became a major headache for Senate GOP leaders because of this controversial fund. Republicans and Democrats alike tried to add language to the measure to ban the fund.”Even Senate Majority Leader John Thune shared a blunt assessment as to who carried the blame for the Senate GOP’s challenging night.“This would have been done several hours ago if we weren’t having to deal with some of the issues around the fund, which doesn’t exist — which is the point we’re making,” a “frustrated” Thune said, Punchbowl News reported.