Senate GOP faces turmoil as Trump’s domestic agenda falters in marathon vote-a-rama... President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda has entered a period of high-stakes uncertainty as Senate Republicans endured a grueling, nearly 20-hour “vote-a-rama” with no clear resolution in sight. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is locked in a fierce scramble for votes to pass the centerpiece “One Big Beautiful Bill,” as internal divisions and key defections threaten its fate.
Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) remain opposed, while Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) are still holdouts. With only three GOP defections allowed, Thune’s margin is razor-thin.
In a major blow, Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled that a carve-out to protect Alaska from Medicaid cuts violates the Byrd Rule, pushing Murkowski into the “no” camp. She upheld a separate provision addressing SNAP cuts, but the GOP leadership has since been engaged in late-night negotiations to win her back, so far without success.
Paul opposes the bill’s $5 trillion debt-limit hike and has proposed a drastically lower alternative, which GOP leaders and the White House strongly oppose.
Adding to the complexity, the Senate overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan amendment by Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) to remove a 10-year moratorium on state-level regulation of AI — a blow to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and his allies who favored the original restriction.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News he expects the Senate to pass the tax and spending bill this afternoon.
Even if Thune can secure Senate passage, the bill faces an even rockier path in the House. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is dealing with deep frustration among conservatives who argue the bill’s $1.5 trillion in spending cuts fall short of the $2 trillion promised. Medicaid cuts near $1 trillion have also alarmed GOP moderates. Johnson’s leadership team had pushed for last-minute amendments to bring the bill closer to the House-passed version, but Senate leaders have so far rebuffed these efforts.
The House Rules Committee will begin preparing the bill for floor consideration at noon ET, with a full House vote expected Wednesday, but as of now, both chambers are mired in division and uncertainty about the path forward for Trump’s signature legislative package.
Farm bill showdown averted: Grassley tables amendment on farmer payment limits... Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) withdrew his push for a Senate vote on a contentious amendment to tighten income limits and eligibility criteria for federal farm subsidies, temporarily defusing a major flashpoint in this year’s farm bill debate. The move follows intense negotiations and lobbying over the weekend, resulting in a private agreement between Grassley and Senate Ag Chair John Boozman (R-Ark.). The deal commits to revisiting Grassley’s priorities — such as stricter income caps and a narrower definition of “actively engaged” farmers — through separate legislation or a potential “skinny” farm bill package later in the year.
Grassley’s proposal would have required subsidy recipients to personally perform at least 25% of the total management hours on a farming operation, or 500 hours annually, to qualify for payments. The amendment also aimed to cap federal payments to a single recipient per operation, eliminating loopholes that allow multiple individuals — including absentee owners and non-farming relatives — to each claim up to $125,000 per year. Supporters, including the National Farmers Union and the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, argued the reforms would focus aid on working farmers and save taxpayers roughly $5 billion.
Opposition was fierce, however, from nearly 50 major farm groups as well as several conservation organizations. Critics argued the amendment would undo progress made in the broader One Big Beautiful Bill Act, limit disaster aid and make conservation program access more difficult for full-time producers.
The episode highlighted ongoing divisions among Senate Republicans over the $67 billion farm bill via reconciliation and the direction of U.S. farm policy. Although Grassley’s amendment is off the table for now, debate over payment caps and eligibility is expected to return in future legislative talks.
USDA set to launch disaster aid signup July 7, with additional relief rules coming this fall... USDA is on track to open signups for its Supplemental Disaster Relief Program (SDRP) on July 7, after the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) completed its review of the program’s final rule. SDRP will provide aid to producers who suffered revenue, quality or production losses from weather-related events in 2023 and 2024.
For certain “shallow losses” — especially for producers with quality losses who lack crop insurance — USDA says more time is needed to collect data. The agency plans to submit a separate final rule on these uncovered losses to OMB by Aug. 19, aiming for its approval by Sept. 9 and a signup launch on Sept. 15.
USDA plans phased reopening of southern ports for Mexican livestock imports... USDA will begin a phased reopening of southern border ports to cattle, bison and equine imports from Mexico, following a nearly two-month closure triggered by the New World screwworm outbreak. The reopening process starts July 7, with the Douglas, Arizona port — the lowest-risk entry point due to its geography and longstanding cooperation between Sonora officials and USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
The reopening schedule is as follows:
- Douglas, Arizona: July 7
- Columbus, N.M.: July 14
- Santa Teresa, N.M.: July 21
- Del Rio, Texas: Aug. 18
- Laredo, Texas: Sept. 15
Each port’s reopening will be followed by a risk evaluation to ensure that enhanced biosecurity measures are effective, and the pest does not reemerge. USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins stressed commitment to “heightened vigilance,” noting equines entering reopened ports will undergo a seven-day quarantine as a precaution. No significant increase in screwworm cases or northward spread has been reported in the past eight weeks, supporting the gradual reopening. USDA will continue risk assessment and adapt its strategy as needed to safeguard U.S. livestock.
Meanwhile, Mexico’s Ag Minister Julio Berdegue requested some of the deadlines for reopening be accelerated. Mexico said it will ban the movement of livestock without proof of inspection and treatment for screwworm from affected areas to central and northern Mexico starting July 7.
SCOTUS again rejects challenge to California’s Prop 12... The U.S. Supreme Court on June 30, declined to hear a challenge from the Iowa Pork Producers Association seeking to overturn California’s Proposition 12, effectively allowing the law’s animal welfare standards for pork sold in California to remain in place. The Court did not provide an explanation for its decision, though Justice Brett Kavanaugh indicated he would have granted review.
Proposition 12, passed by California voters in 2018, prohibits the sale of uncooked pork in the state unless the animals were raised according to specific animal welfare requirements, regardless of where they are produced. Pork producers and several states have argued that the law places an unfair burden on out-of-state producers and violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The Supreme Court previously upheld the law in a 2023 decision, ruling it did not violate the Commerce Clause, and this latest denial of certiorari leaves that ruling in place.
This marks the 19th consecutive federal court defeat for pork producers and their allies in challenges to Proposition 12 and similar state animal welfare laws. The Supreme Court’s action ensures that the Ninth Circuit’s decision upholding Proposition 12 remains binding.
Labor Dept. moves to roll back Biden’s H-2A farmworker protections... The Department of Labor (DOL) announced plans to rescind major elements of a 2024 Biden administration rule that expanded protections for migrant farmworkers under the H-2A visa program, which authorizes U.S. employers to hire temporary foreign agricultural laborers. Unveiled on June 30, the proposal would eliminate requirements for increased wage transparency and worker organizing rights, reversing safeguards introduced to protect H-2A workers from employer retaliation and exploitation.
The Biden-era regulation sought to address gaps in federal labor law — particularly the exclusion of farmworkers from the National Labor Relations Act — by introducing new protections against retaliation and wage abuse for H-2A workers. However, the Trump administration criticized the rule as unnecessarily burdensome, asserting that it increased compliance costs and discouraged participation in the H-2A program, potentially driving more employers toward undocumented labor.
Earlier in June, the Trump administration suspended enforcement of the Biden rule nationwide, citing ongoing legal challenges and a patchwork of federal court injunctions that created uncertainty for agricultural employers. DOL’s new proposal would revert the calculation of the adverse effect wage rate (AEWR) — the minimum wage for H-2A jobs — to its pre-2024 methodology, a shift supported by many Republicans and farm groups who contend that the Biden changes inflated labor costs.
A 60-day public comment period on the proposed rollback is now open, with the department aiming to finalize the rule by year’s end. Simultaneously, the Trump administration is pursuing broader reforms to the H-2A program, focused on streamlining the application process and reducing paperwork to help stabilize the agricultural workforce amid recent labor shortages linked to stepped-up immigration enforcement.
DOL’s move highlights a deepening policy divide between strengthening farmworker protections and easing regulatory burdens for agricultural employers, marking a significant shift in the federal government’s approach to H-2A labor oversight.