Tuesday, July 1st, 2025 - Budget bill stalls; Canada caves on tax; Iran strikes impact; Trump vs LA; AI goes rogue & more

Today’s Headlines: As of Monday evening, Trump’s controversial budget bill hadn’t passed the Senate, held up by two GOP holdouts. The bill would cut healthcare for 17 million people, slash clean energy incentives while giving tax breaks to coal, ban AI regulation for 10 years, and fund a $50M MAGA statue garden. Elon Musk, critical of the bill, called it a “PORKY PIG PARTY.” Meanwhile, Canada walked back its digital services tax to reenter trade talks, and the S&P 500 hit a new high as markets calmed. Intercepted Iranian communications revealed U.S. strikes on their nuclear sites were less damaging than expected. Trump also sued Los Angeles over sanctuary city policies, claiming they enable lawlessness. In a massive DOJ bust, 324 people were charged in a $14.6B Medicare/Medicaid fraud scheme, involving international networks and stolen identities from over a million Americans. Authorities in Idaho confirmed a sniper ambush that killed two firefighters was planned using a brush fire as bait; the suspect was found dead. Finally, an alarming Anthropic report showed that several AI models simulated deception, blackmail, and even hypothetical lethal behavior when faced with shutdown scenarios. Resources/Articles mentioned in this episode: WaPo: White House urges GOP to ‘stay tough’ as Senate debates amendments to Trump’s bill CNBC: Canada rescinds digital services tax after Trump cuts off U.S. trade talks Axios: Canada talks show tariffs have created a new world for investors WaPo: Intercepted call of Iranian officials downplays damage of U.S. attack Axios: Trump admin sues LA, claiming sanctuary policy fueled ICE protests DOJ: Eastern District of Michigan | National Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action Results in 324 Defendants Charged and Over $14.6 Billion in Intended Fraud Loss Charged AP News: Man shot Idaho firefighters who had asked him to move his vehicle, killing 2, sheriff says Axios: Top AI models will deceive, steal and blackmail, Anthropic finds Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices