Dakoda Trithara
@trithara.bsky.social
Assistant Professor of Political Science at University of South Carolina Aiken. Views my own.
It's not just the elimination of the EV tax credit that irks Elon. Commercial space flight companies, so SpaceX, will have to pay fees for their launches and reentries, a measure intended to help the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation keep up with the industry’s rapid growth.
7 little-known items in Trump’s big agenda bill | CNN Politics
Lawmakers tucked a long list of measures that won’t grab headlines into the massive tax and spending package.
www.cnn.com
July 7, 2025 at 1:30 PM
It's not just the elimination of the EV tax credit that irks Elon. Commercial space flight companies, so SpaceX, will have to pay fees for their launches and reentries, a measure intended to help the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation keep up with the industry’s rapid growth.
Immigration is seeing a mass increase in spending. The BBB allocates more than $100 billion to ICE and border enforcement through 2029. For context, ICE's existing annual budget is about $8 billion. The budget prioritizes building walls and camps over feeding and providing medical care to people.
How the GOP spending bill will fund immigration enforcement
The bill allocates more than $100 billion to ICE and border enforcement through September 2029.
www.axios.com
July 4, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Immigration is seeing a mass increase in spending. The BBB allocates more than $100 billion to ICE and border enforcement through 2029. For context, ICE's existing annual budget is about $8 billion. The budget prioritizes building walls and camps over feeding and providing medical care to people.
In energy, the law phases out clean electricity investment (from 2005) and production tax credits (around since 1992) for wind and solar, crucial for renewable energy growth. Biden's IRA extended both until at least 2032. Meanwhile, coal pays reduced royalties for mining on more federal land.
Trump megabill gives the oil industry everything it wants and ends key support for solar and wind
President Donald Trump wants the U.S. to rely on oil, gas, coal and nuclear to meet its energy needs.
www.cnbc.com
July 4, 2025 at 8:00 PM
In energy, the law phases out clean electricity investment (from 2005) and production tax credits (around since 1992) for wind and solar, crucial for renewable energy growth. Biden's IRA extended both until at least 2032. Meanwhile, coal pays reduced royalties for mining on more federal land.
For higher ed, workforce pell and changes to student loans. Glad the Senate axed plans to 1) eliminate subsidized fed undergrad loans, and 2) require Pell Grant students to take 30 credit hours per academic year to receive the max award, and 15 credit hours to be eligible for Pell Grants at all.
What Republicans’ Sprawling Policy Bill Means for Higher Ed
Trump’s signature legislation now heads to his desk after passing the House. It hikes some endowment taxes, remakes student aid, and introduces a new accountability standard for colleges.
www.chronicle.com
July 4, 2025 at 8:00 PM
For higher ed, workforce pell and changes to student loans. Glad the Senate axed plans to 1) eliminate subsidized fed undergrad loans, and 2) require Pell Grant students to take 30 credit hours per academic year to receive the max award, and 15 credit hours to be eligible for Pell Grants at all.
People working in "an occupation which customarily and regularly received tips" and earning less than $150,000 will be able to deduct $25,000 in tips annually from their taxable income. This limited, temporary tax exemption expires in 2028. Serves a small portion of the workforce, but hope it helps.
Congress passed no tax on tips in Trump's 'big, beautiful bill.' Here's how it works
Congress passed the tax cut and spending megabill with President Trump's legislative priorities which includes new tax exemptions for tipped hourly workers. But how will it work?
www.npr.org
July 4, 2025 at 8:00 PM
People working in "an occupation which customarily and regularly received tips" and earning less than $150,000 will be able to deduct $25,000 in tips annually from their taxable income. This limited, temporary tax exemption expires in 2028. Serves a small portion of the workforce, but hope it helps.
Medicaid cuts ($1T over 10 years) and impacts to the healthcare industry are massive. To ease the pain rural hospitals will face, Republican senators added a $50 billion fund to help keep hospitals in business. They would rather just give hospitals money than provide poor people with healthcare.
5 ways Trump's megabill will limit health care access
With spending cuts poised to hit medical providers, Medicaid recipients and Affordable Care Act enrollees, here's how the bill will affect health care access for millions in the U.S.
www.npr.org
July 4, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Medicaid cuts ($1T over 10 years) and impacts to the healthcare industry are massive. To ease the pain rural hospitals will face, Republican senators added a $50 billion fund to help keep hospitals in business. They would rather just give hospitals money than provide poor people with healthcare.
Spain is apparently not going to aim for the 5% goal, but will work towards hitting the 2% target.
bsky.app/profile/reut...
bsky.app/profile/reut...
Spain agrees with NATO to skip 5% defence spending target reut.rs/3FRnlC9
Spain agrees with NATO to skip 5% defence spending target
Spain agreed with the NATO military alliance to be excluded from spending 5% of its gross domestic product on defence, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Sunday.
reut.rs
June 25, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Spain is apparently not going to aim for the 5% goal, but will work towards hitting the 2% target.
bsky.app/profile/reut...
bsky.app/profile/reut...
The accounting for the second bucket will be interesting. It won’t be missiles and tanks. It might look like investments in cybersecurity and AI, updating energy infrastructure, and aid to Ukraine.
Here is the official declaration www.nato.int/cps/en/natoh...
Here is the official declaration www.nato.int/cps/en/natoh...
The Hague Summit Declaration issued by NATO Heads of State and Government (2025)
www.nato.int
June 25, 2025 at 1:33 PM
The accounting for the second bucket will be interesting. It won’t be missiles and tanks. It might look like investments in cybersecurity and AI, updating energy infrastructure, and aid to Ukraine.
Here is the official declaration www.nato.int/cps/en/natoh...
Here is the official declaration www.nato.int/cps/en/natoh...
For those unfamiliar with section 1016 (me): “Section 1016 authorizes the Comptroller General to bring suit to compel the release of impounded funds when such release is required by the Act.”
www.gao.gov/assets/b-200...
www.gao.gov/assets/b-200...
www.gao.gov
June 24, 2025 at 3:09 AM
For those unfamiliar with section 1016 (me): “Section 1016 authorizes the Comptroller General to bring suit to compel the release of impounded funds when such release is required by the Act.”
www.gao.gov/assets/b-200...
www.gao.gov/assets/b-200...