U.S. and world news for May 22

House passes budget legislation that cuts Medicare, Medicaid

The House voted early this morning to pass President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending cuts package, a major victory for the president and Speaker Mike Johnson after GOP leaders won over key holdouts. The vote was 215 to 214. The legislation still faces major challenges ahead. It will next go to the Senate, where Republicans have signaled they plan to make their own changes to it. Although all of the details about the massive legislative package have not yet been released, It does include: Nearly $1 trillion in cuts from Medicaid and food stamps; $500 billion in cuts to Medicare; Raising the debt ceiling by $4 trillion; Keeping the cap on state and local tax deductibility while raising the cap; Making trillions of dollars of income tax breaks permanent.

Israeli Embassy workers shot and killed in D.C.

Two Israeli Embassy staff members were shot and killed while standing outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., last night. Authorities say the suspected gunman was observed pacing back and forth outside the museum before opening fire on a group of people. He then entered the building and waited to be detained. Police said the 30-year-old man showed officers where to find the weapon and chanted “Free Free Palestine” while in custody. The victims, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, were a young couple who soon planned to get engaged, according to Israel’s ambassador to the U.S.. “I am devastated by the scenes in Washington D.C.,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in a statement. “This is a despicable act of hatred, of antisemitism, which has claimed the lives of two young employees of the Israeli embassy.”

Trump ambushes South African president

Donald Trump was ready and waiting to put South Africa’s president on the spot in an Oval Office meeting yesterday. This came against the background of Trump’s Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump and his staffers berated him for not wearing a suit and for not thanking Trump enough for the money the U.S. has given to the war effort. When Trump met with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, he went on a tirade about defending Canada militarily and then told the press to leave before Carney could respond. In his latest Oval Office event this week, Trump ambushed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa — who once served as Nelson Mandela’s chief negotiator during talks to end White minority rule — with false claims about White South African farmers being victims of genocide. For his part, Ramaphosa pushed back gently whenever he could, but he didn’t raise his voice or show anger, displaying his decades of negotiation experience.

Defense Department accepts $400M jet from Qatar

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has accepted a Boeing 747 from Qatar that President Trump plans to use as the next Air Force One. The controversial transfer has sparked a political furor, with both Democrats and Republicans opposing the luxury jet on ethical grounds. While details about its transfer have not yet been released, Trump told reporters that Qatar was “giving the United States Air Force a jet, okay, and it’s a great thing.” Earlier this week, sources said it was the Trump administration that had first approached Qatar about acquiring the Boeing 747. It’s also unknown how much it’ll cost to strip down the entire aircraft for surveillance and safety checks and then retrofit it to the required security specifications, but early estimates put the figure at $1 billion.

Trump moves to end oversight of police departments

The Trump Administration is moving to dismiss federal oversight agreements with several major U.S. police departments. The agreements, called consent decrees, are used as a monitoring system at police departments where the Justice Department has found a pattern of misconduct. In court filings the DOJ asked judges in Minnesota and Kentucky to dismiss the consent decrees reached with the police departments in Louisville and Minneapolis. They were approved by a federal judge and enacted following the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor and the police killing of George Floyd.

Trump to decide on future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mae

Donald Trump says he soon plans to decide whether to privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored entities that help provide stability and affordability to America’s home mortgage market. He said he’s considering closing them as government operations and making them public corporations. “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are doing very well, throwing off a lot of CASH, and the time would seem to be right,” Trump said in a social media post. Many of Trump’s allies in the Republican Party have long advocated for ending the government conservatorship that Fannie and Freddie were placed under after their role in the 2008 global financial crisis. Trump attempted to remove Fannie and Freddie from government control in 2019 during his first administration and failed.